During my week of
annual leave, I had time to delve into the ‘The Global Fourth Way’ by Hargreaves
& Shirley (2012), below are some thoughts and observations from this.
The globalisation of education
has led to extensive policy borrowing and transmission across continents. In
their book ‘The Global Fourth Way’ Hargreaves and Shirley (2012) discuss the
changing paradigms of education across the globe and build on their previous
work in investigating the conditions and readiness of education systems to move
forward and react to our 21st century learners.
Global education has
many influencers and as we are influenced by a global economy we are in danger
of education moving from being a traditional and altruistic venture into what Diana
Ravich calls “venture philanthropy”. This is where prominent individual who
create education foundations “converged in support of reform strategies that
mirrors their own experience in acquiring huge fortunes, such as competition,
choice, deregulations, incentives, and other market driven approaches” (p2).
This backward looking model also has a foothold in the aspirations of parents
who have a nostalgic attachment to traditional schools and their familiarity.
This is well meaning and brings much needed money into the system but the
direction of travel can be regressive referencing at ‘what worked for me’ and
trying to replicate this in a different time not taking into consideration
changes and developments.
Moving to a more
innovate way of being and learning requires change. Christensen et al put
forward their theory of disrupting innovation which predicts that a “vast wave
of innovation” will overtake schools, leading to a transformation in public
education. They warn that this may include the termination of schooling as we
know it, unless the education system can adapt to digital innovations and embrace
alternative providers. The current thinking of subject silos is one of the
inhibiting factor which may prevent a reinvention of schooling but there has to
be a will to change from the ‘purity and hierarchy’ of subjects and manage the
backlash which will inevitably come from any innovation that challenges this
particularly at ‘life determining points’ for high achieving children.
The Third Way found in
some countries, e.g. England and Canada, evidenced some gains in terms of teacher’s
morale and student achievement. The Third Way emphasises a top down model where
data, in the form of target setting, is championed. The extensive use of data
usually goes hand in hand with the use of technologies to support the data
driven education system. Hargreaves & Shirley give caution here as
technology can quickly become ‘overextended, distracting, and self-defeating’
(p39) and ‘exacerbate an already excessive belief in or dependence on data’
(p39) as a mean of improvement.
This leads us onto the
Fourth Way which can be characterised by an ‘inspiring and shared moral purpose
to transform learning and achievement for all’, with targets being
self-directed ‘not politically imposed’ (p9). A broad curriculum with a range of
learning for all young people, where teachers develop the curriculum
collaboratively are also in integral to the Fourth Way of educational
change. Alongside this is an aspiration
of data to inform teacher inquiry and decision making within communities of
learning, where leadership is ‘about developing and sustaining responsibility
for innovating and changing together’ (p9) – collective responsibility
The issue of assessment
and testing is one that is predominant in the discourse in Scotland at the
moment as the National Improvement Framework is being actioned. An issue with
high stakes testing is that it can lead to a distortion of learning and
teaching as teacher can ‘teach to the test’. Assessment should be seen as a
signpost for the learning that has happened and how well it has been taught. It
is more about the progress in learning rather than the product of learning at a
particular point in time. Hargreaves & Shirley frame this as “learning is
the true purpose of schools and the point to testing and all assessment should
be to support that learning, not diminish and distort it” (p182). In the Fourth
Way testing is
‘prudent, not
pervasive. It is part of the system but does not dominate or distort it”
Hargreaves &
Shirley define five principles of professionalism, which are
·
Professional
capital
·
Strong
professional associations
·
Collective
responsibility
·
Teaching
less to learn more
·
Mindful
uses of technology
Professional capital is
the product of human capital, social capital and decisional capital. Valuing
professionals begins with the signals of trust and respect sent from leaders
and policy makers. Where professionals are highly respected and engage with the
public, they can enact their social capital that has a positive influence on
the lives of their colleagues and the young people they work with.
The expectation of
professional educators is in line with all professionals who are expected to
undertake professional learning to upgrade their skills and knowledge,
professional reflection on their own and the practice of others, professional
enquiry through engaging with and in research. Hargreaves & Shirley go further
as state that “being a professional means going far beyond what is in any
written contract. If you are fixated on your contract then you have a job, not
a profession” (p196).
All improvement should
have impact on the pupil experience and outcome. As describes by UNESCO,
learning should be about “know and learning to do” but also “learning to be,
personally and spiritually, and learning to live together in community and
society” (p189).
However, there are
limitation in the cycle of improvement, described by Hargreaves & Shirley
as the paradox of improvement which is “knowing you have to quit when you are
still look like you’re ahead”. So know where you want improve, know how to
improve and the impact of that improvement but be aware of when to quit and move
on before you reach the attrition point, Hargreaves & Shirley state this as
the need to “harmonise incremental improvements and disruptive innovations”
(p27).
Reference
Hargreaves,
A. & Shirley, D. (2012) The Global Fourth Way – The quest for Education
Excellence: Sage Publications: London
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