The education landscape is rich with contemporary theory that serves as a solid base for contemporary practice.
The following is a sample of the theories I am currently using to inform my work as a system leader. It challenges and stretches you as a professional and gives rise to those ’lightbulb’ moments.
As educators, we owe it to our school communities to be up to speed with contemporary theory, research and best practice.
What I personally think, prefer or believe provides a lens though which I view these theories but it should never replace it.
The most recent work of Sir Ken Robinson who questions the purpose of schooling, Brian Caldwell who calls for a more balanced curriculum and John Hattie whose evidence on what makes the greatest difference to student learning provides diverse yet sound approaches to school improvement.
This is why intellectual rigour is so important – it reguires an engagement on the part of everyone to be discerning and critically reflect on current theories and research that informs practice. What can you add to the list?
In his address, Caldwell urges educators and parents to adopt ‘the language of radical dissent’ and wrest back control of education before our government take us down the path that England has chosen. Interesting to see Gordon Brown’s refreshing approach to educational policy and reform!
Mark Kelly, the global head of education for architect firm Woods Bagot has joined the chorus of public school principals concerned about the federal government’s school rebuilding program.
In Tuesday’s Australian , Kelly urged the federal government to move away from traditional one-size-fits-all templates to more innovative and sustainable school designs that promote collaborative models of learning and teaching.
I believe these comments have helped move the debate on contemporary school design forward. By bringing light to this issue, it forces school to think about what kinds of learning spaces are needed to promote/encourage collaborative learning.
However, buildings and laptops are only resources used by good teachers to enhance learning and therefore improve learning outcomes.
We know that if you begin with the fundamentals: good models of teacher development and you understand how today’s students learn, you can design agile spaces that support and empower teachers in their work.
Unfortunately, what is always missing from these debates is a fundamental element - pedagogy.
Contemporary learning spaces depend on contemporary approaches to learning and teaching. Sadly, it is futile building innovative learning spaces if teachers continue championing 20th century pedagogies.
On a glass panel in my office I have written the seven principles of the instructional core from Elmore et al’s Instructional Rounds in Education. I have done this to keep right at the forefront of my thinking on a daily basis, what I believe to be the best articulation of a foundation for 21st century pedagogy.
The seven are: (the italics are mine )
increases in student learning occur only as a consequence of improvements in the level of content, teachers’ knowledge and skill and student engagement
if you change any single element of the instructional core, you have to change the other two
if you can’t see it in the core, it’s not there
task predicts performance
the real accountability system is in the tasks students are asked to
we learn to do the work by doing the work, not telling other people to do the work, not by having done the work at some time in the past, and not by hiring experts who can act as proxies for our knowledge about how to do the work
description before analysis, analysis before prediction, prediction before evaluation
Novelty aside, the principles have become a talking point for curious colleagues and visitors. It’s interesting to listen to the conversation outside my door as teachers and non-teachers discuss which of the seven resonate. This is an important point because we need time to discuss and reflect on the importance of these principles.
Quite clearly they place the work of the teacher squarely in the centre of improving learning for all kids. They also make the point that the tasks teachers set for students is more important than the process of assessment.
These principles challenge some long held beliefs that the student is usually at fault if no improvement takes place and that by nature of their training and in-service course attendance, teachers are always equipped to provide outstanding learning experiences for all students.
The best surgeons are the ones who are in theatre everyday dealing with new and complex challenges as they occur and discussing them with the team. Tiger Woods knows all the theory of the perfect golf swing, but after every tournament he goes straight back out the next day to practice. The work of golfing is golfing. In the same way the work of teaching has to be more teaching.
Numbers 3 and 6 are the two that hit the mark for me and are the ones I’m talking to educators about. Which ones resonate with you?
A thought-provoking article (The New Yorker) written by Malcolm Gladwell (Tipping Point, Blink etc) using basketball analogies to demonstrate how substituting effort for ability can be a successful strategy particularly for the underdogs.
The points that Gladwell makes are:
1. be relentless – don’t give up
2. think outside the square – always question the norm
3. trust that your team can step-up
4. the end result is never as important as the strategy because these strategies when implemented give rise to other opportunities ( Henry Mintzberg).
For schools it means being courageous, proactive and willing to examine what can be done differently and better when it comes to student learning.
We’ve been pursuing a rigorous intent in our system over the past few years. At the heart of the agenda is our ‘theory of action’, which places student learning at the centre of our work influenced by good teachers who continually reflect and improve their practice. We refer to this as teacher learning.
We have many examples across our school communities where our theory of action is permeating our collective understanding of what quality Catholic schooling is and looks like in today’s world.
Recently, there was an opportunity for teachers and students from a handful of schools to come together; utilising the tools available to enhance the learning experience.
These opportunities are challenging and rigorous as teachers reflect on their practice and question long held assumptions on how students learn and in what learning settings.
My feedback is that teachers enjoy the freedom ‘learning about learning’ provides. It is and can be transformative when you can let go of what is not working and embrace working in new ways that engage learners at every level.
This is how one teacher responded to the process of working in new ways with students, teachers and experts.
I’m reading Ken Robinson’s The Element, which explores how one finds or develops their passion/aptitude. It has particular ramifications for the education sector because as I wrote in an earlier post, Robinson believes teachers/schools have a social and moral obligation to cultivate students’ unique gifts and talents.
Early on in the book, Robinson explores the notion of intelligence and how our measurement of ‘academic’ intelligence emerged during the Enlightenment, which held scientific and verbal reasoning as the pinnacle of intellect.
Robinson argues rightly that public education in the 19th century was built on a limited understanding of knowledge and intellect. Schools existed to meet the demands of the Industrial Revolution and therefore depended on a quick one-size fits all approach of assessment.
A good read on this world view is given by Raymond E. Callahan in his book “Education and the Cult of Efficiency” who shows how the industrial model was codified in the first two decades of the 20th century.
Of course if we know this to be true, then why do we continue to validate standardised testing? Because as Robinson writes, we are framing the question incorrectly. It is not about how intelligent you are, rather how are you intelligent?
Mathematical and verbal reasoning while important are two elements of intelligence. It encompasses much more and while teachers may recognise the special skills and gifts in their students, they are restrained by a draconian system of assessment.
There is a pervasive and powerful view that still exists in our own society that students who don’t score high marks in the HSC are somehow less capable.
If we want to personalise learning for every child, then we need to seriously examine the way we assess student learning otherwise we will fail another generation of learners.
We had around 100 staff at a twilight session on Tuesday night to hear Marco Torres deliver an abbreviated version of his keynote at the Apple Leadership Summit in Hong Kong.
Here’s Marco’s presentation in a nutshell:
teachers don’t like taking risks
George Lucas (Star Wars genius) doesn’t know how to use email (see pt 3)
teachers don’t need to know everything – build a powerful learning network you can draw from
majority of 9th graders think school is boring – what would businesses do if clients described them as boring and out of touch?
knowledge isn’t enough in the google age – it’s what you do with it
Mythbusters is so popular with 14-16 year olds (9th graders) because kids are watching learning happening – it’s the process that’s important not the end result
despite the introduction of ‘digital tools’ into classrooms, kids are still receivers not producers of information
kids want to create – digital cameras have given them opportunities to make mistakes without consequences (think back to your schooling when writing outside the lines was a no no)
21st century skillset: communication and complex cognition
our students will solve the crises of this century
Leading US educator, Marco Torres is back in Parramatta this week working with 90 Year 5, 6 and 7 students from three local schools.
The students are undertaking project-based learning; exploring an issue that impacts on their local environment using multi-media.
It is immensely satisfying watching students learn but when you pause to reflect you realise that watching Marco in action is seeing a teacher who has a profound understanding about people learning.
For Marco the art of teaching is in the learning, focusing on the learner not the process or the structure. As he points out “schooling is a noun, learning is a verb.” When this happens the line between the teacher and the learner becomes more permeable and collaborative.
When I look around the room, I not only see students engaged and challenged but also teachers, principals and team leaders. And that’s really the point – great teachers inspire learners of all ages.
Saw great innovation in cllassroom. Inquisitive teachers eager to learn and refine. Developing robust disussion. We dint have to fear change 2 days ago
@mbw_61 trust is core to change. Teachers need to be in charge or the process not marginalise by it. Not some good past experiences maybe 1 week ago
Still much confusion over national curriculum. There are more pressing issues like building trust of teachers supporting innovative practice 1 week ago
