tag:theconversation.com,2011:/ca/topics/john-hattie-14907/articlesJohn Hattie – The Conversation2023-03-26T19:12:48Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2019522023-03-26T19:12:48Z2023-03-26T19:12:48ZEducation expert John Hattie’s new book draws on more than 130,000 studies to find out what helps students learn<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/516245/original/file-20230320-22-6xqi1b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=22%2C7%2C5081%2C3364&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>In 2008, I published my book <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11159-011-9198-8">Visible Learning</a>, which aimed to explain what works best to help student learning. At the time, others claimed it was the world’s largest evidence-based study into the factors that improve learning. </p>
<p>The book was based on 800 meta-analyses (a statistical analysis that combines the results of multiple studies) of 50,000 smaller studies. It <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00220272.2011.576774">found</a> that, among six groups of factors influencing successful learning in schools - the student, home, school, teacher, curricula and teaching – teachers seemed to have the strongest in-school effect. </p>
<p>Since 2008, our partners have implemented the “visible learning” approach in more than 10,000 schools, with the aim of making student learning as visible as possible.</p>
<p>This means enabling students to see how their efforts and learning strategies are contributing to their learning, and teachers to see the impact of their teaching through the eyes of their students. It turns the focus from teaching to learning, and from talking about teaching methods to the impact of these methods. </p>
<p>This is crucial to making classrooms and schools safe, fair and inviting places to fail, learn, collaborate, grow and flourish.</p>
<h2>My new study</h2>
<p>It’s been 15 years since the book was published, and much has changed. There have been more than 1,300 new meta-analyses, COVID has disrupted schools, and we have learned a lot from the more than 100,000 teachers who have been using visible learning. </p>
<p>Visible Learning: The Sequel is <a href="https://www.routledge.com/blog/article/what-is-visible-learning">published this month</a>. It is informed by more than 2,100 meta-analyses about achievement drawn from more than 130,000 studies and conducted with the participation of more than 400 million students aged three to 25, mainly from developed countries.</p>
<p>It confirms the finding that high-impact is still the most important factor when it comes to student learning. This describes teachers who focus on the impacts of their teaching and who work together with other educators to critique their ideas about impact – about what was taught well, who was taught well, and the size of the improvement. </p>
<p>But many other findings also came out of the analysis.</p>
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<img alt="A teacher talks to young primary students in a classroom." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/515975/original/file-20230317-2075-eh5ddr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=65%2C49%2C5398%2C3563&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/515975/original/file-20230317-2075-eh5ddr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/515975/original/file-20230317-2075-eh5ddr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/515975/original/file-20230317-2075-eh5ddr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/515975/original/file-20230317-2075-eh5ddr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/515975/original/file-20230317-2075-eh5ddr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/515975/original/file-20230317-2075-eh5ddr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Teaching is still the most important factor when it looking at student achievement.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
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<h2>New findings</h2>
<p>My analysis shows a student’s achievement levels are affected negatively by many new factors. These include boredom, <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14616734.2020.1751987">teacher-student dependency</a> (where a student is over-reliant on their teacher) and corporal punishment. </p>
<p>I also identified a range of factors that improve students’ performance, including: </p>
<ul>
<li><p>computer tutoring that provides immediate feedback, particularly when using artificial intelligence </p></li>
<li><p>“<a href="https://www.adelaide.edu.au/flipped-classroom/the-flipped-classroom-explained">flipped learning</a>”, whereby students are given the content to learn before coming to class</p></li>
<li><p>teachers outlining and summarising learning materials </p></li>
<li><p>students being taught how to rehearse and memorise content </p></li>
<li><p>“phonological awareness” – teaching students to recognise and manipulate parts of sentences and words when learning to read </p></li>
<li><p>“<a href="https://pencilcase.org/visible-learning-john-hattie/cognitive-task-analysis">cognitive task analysis</a>,” which is about teaching students how to think about how to problem solve</p></li>
<li><p>the “<a href="https://learningcurrents.weebly.com/the-jigsaw-method.html">Jigsaw method</a>”, which involves both individual and group learning to solve a problem. </p></li>
</ul>
<h2>How teachers matter</h2>
<p>The most important thing for teachers to do is to have high expectations for all students. This means not labelling students (as “bright”, “strugglers”, “ADHD” or “autistic”), as this can lead to lower expectations in both teachers and students but seeing all students as learners who can make leaps of growth in their learning. </p>
<p>Teachers need to be very clear with their students about the content and goals of their learning.</p>
<p>It is important teachers work with other teachers to see different sides of their impact on students and different ways for them to succeed in their teaching. What matters is the power of multiple interpretations about what is happening in classrooms, the results of assessments and examples of student work.</p>
<h2>Why we need to be ‘greedy’</h2>
<p>So many debates about curriculum and learning outcomes are phrased as either more “knowledge-rich” (teaching content) or more “problem-based discovery learning” (teaching how to discover ideas). </p>
<p>But it is not a question of either/or. We need to be greedy and want both. We need to harness the power of two: two success criteria (one about content, and one about deeper learning), two assessments, two activities – so it is clear we want both the knowledge and the relationships between ideas. </p>
<p>So, I advocate for a model of “intentional alignment”. That is, teachers need to consciously align their teaching methods, activities, assessments, feedback, with either the acquisition of knowledge or discovering of ideas. </p>
<h2>The importance of parents</h2>
<p>Parents are not “first teachers” but “first learners” – as the parents learn, so do their children. Parental expectation about learning is among the most powerful home influences, and the home needs to promote a “language and love of learning”. </p>
<p>This means parents talk to their children about their learning at school and home. This also means they enjoy the struggle, failures and successes when learning together, and set fair boundaries to take on increased challenges and learning safely. </p>
<p>This might mean being clear about what success looks like for a child cleaning their room. It might mean allowing multiple opportunities to succeed, and talking about errors and failure as opportunities to learn. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-to-avoid-annoying-your-kids-and-getting-stressed-by-proxy-during-exam-season-200719">How to avoid annoying your kids and getting 'stressed by proxy' during exam season</a>
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<h2>What about technology?</h2>
<p>We have been told for 50 years the answer to our education problems is technology, but my analysis shows the overall effects remain low. </p>
<p>We have used technology as a substitute: video instead of paper mache, word processing programs instead of using pens, online activities instead of work sheets. So often the powers of technology are rarely exploited.</p>
<p>There are major messages from the huge body of studies about technology. My book highlights some of them, including: the importance of students learning from each other via technology and the value of technology in providing multiple opportunities to learn. </p>
<p>Social media is also an important way for teachers to hear students are thinking. Many students will talk about how they are thinking, where they are struggling, and ask questions about their work using social media that they will not do verbally even when their teacher or peers are standing beside them.</p>
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<img alt="A young girl talks to other students on a laptop." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/516246/original/file-20230320-22-8m4yg2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/516246/original/file-20230320-22-8m4yg2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=388&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/516246/original/file-20230320-22-8m4yg2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=388&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/516246/original/file-20230320-22-8m4yg2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=388&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/516246/original/file-20230320-22-8m4yg2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=488&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/516246/original/file-20230320-22-8m4yg2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=488&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/516246/original/file-20230320-22-8m4yg2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=488&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">John Hattie’s analysis found there are opportunities for students to learn from each other, using technology.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
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<h2>What teachers think is important</h2>
<p>One of the key things I have learned in the process of writing this second book is what teachers <em>think</em> is more important than what they they <em>do</em>. </p>
<p>It is not about using a particular teaching method but their skills in evaluating the impact on their students, modifying and adapting, and making the school or class an inviting place to come, learn, master, and enjoy learning.</p>
<p>Every child is a learner, is teachable, can grow, and can be taught to love learning. Students have expectations, and the educator’s role is to help students exceed what they think is their potential. Students need to be taught to take on challenges, with safety nets when they fail. </p>
<p>I remain amazed at the excellence in our schools and fascinated we are not as skilled and focused on scaling up success but instead love to <a href="https://theconversation.com/no-wonder-no-one-wants-to-be-a-teacher-world-first-study-looks-at-65-000-news-articles-about-australian-teachers-186210">focus on school failures</a>.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/our-study-found-new-teachers-perform-just-as-well-in-the-classroom-as-their-more-experienced-colleagues-200649">Our study found new teachers perform just as well in the classroom as their more experienced colleagues</a>
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<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/201952/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>John Hattie is entitled to receive a share of proceeds from the sale of the book described in this article.</span></em></p>In 2008 the groundbreaking education book ‘Visible Learning’ was released. A sequel published this month finds teaching is still the most important factor when it comes to student learningJohn Hattie, Professor, Melbourne Graduate School of Education, The University of MelbourneLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1601812021-05-27T20:02:43Z2021-05-27T20:02:43ZJohn Hattie: why I support the education minister’s teacher education review<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/399768/original/file-20210510-5613-1dqasbn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/smiling-female-lecturer-helping-student-during-1145576060">Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Last month, Federal Education Minister <a href="https://ministers.dese.gov.au/tudge/initial-teacher-education-review-launched">Alan Tudge launched</a> a six month <a href="https://www.dese.gov.au/quality-initial-teacher-education-review">review into teacher education</a>. The review aims to attract and select high quality candidates into teaching and prepare graduates to be more effective teachers.</p>
<p>The announcement was met with criticism from many in the sector. Some education experts have said the <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/teacher-training-review-key-to-arresting-declining-academic-results-tudge-20210414-p57j6i.html">review’s focus on teacher education</a> is too limited. Others found it offensive of the minister to suggest Australia’s teachers are not already effective.</p>
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<p>But the review is necessary. Its focus complements and adds to the previous review into teacher education in 2014.</p>
<h2>What’s happened since the previous review?</h2>
<p>In 2008, prominent education academic <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/249035674_101_Damnations_The_persistence_of_criticism_and_the_absence_of_evidence_about_teacher_education_in_Australia">William Louden noted</a> there had been around 101 reviews or inquiries into teacher education since 1979. It’s understandable then, why many people believe another is unnecessary.</p>
<p>But the current review’s terms of reference don’t double up on the last review, in 2014. In fact, they continue its progress.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.dese.gov.au/teaching-and-school-leadership/teacher-education-ministerial-advisory-group">Teacher Education Ministerial Advisory Group</a> was put together in 2014 to review teacher education with a focus on student outcomes. Its report’s title <a href="https://www.dese.gov.au/teaching-and-school-leadership/resources/action-now-classroom-ready-teachers-report-0">Action Now: Classroom Ready Teachers</a> summed up the mission.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/minister-pyne-announces-yet-another-education-review-23470">Minister Pyne announces... yet another education review</a>
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<p>Since then, many universities offering teacher education and organisations such as the Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership (AITSL) have been engaged in implementing the report’s 30+ recommendations. These include:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>a review of accreditation standards for teacher education programs. (The <a href="https://www.aitsl.edu.au/deliver-ite-programs/standards-and-procedures">revisions to the standards occured in 2015</a>, with further updates made in 2018 and 2019)</p></li>
<li><p>ensuring higher education providers select the best candidates into teaching courses. (Guidelines were agreed to by all Australian education ministers in September 2015 and a <a href="https://www.aitsl.edu.au/tools-resources/resource/action-now-selection-of-entrants-into-initial-teacher-education---guidelines">document developed</a> by the Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership)</p></li>
<li><p>for course providers to use a <a href="https://teacheredtest.acer.edu.au/">national literacy and numeracy test</a> to demonstrate all pre-service teachers are in the top 30% of the population in personal literacy and numeracy. (The Australian government instituted the Literacy and Numeracy Test for Initial Teacher Education Students (<a href="https://www.dese.gov.au/teaching-and-school-leadership/literacy-and-numeracy-test-initial-teacher-education-students">LANTITE</a> in <a href="https://education.unimelb.edu.au/study/current-students/literacy-and-numeracy-test-for-initial-teacher-education-students-lantite">2016</a>) </p></li>
<li><p>improved data on <a href="https://www.aitsl.edu.au/research/australian-teacher-workforce-data">teacher supply and demand</a> (The AITSL now hosts the Australian Teacher Workforce Data (<a href="https://www.aitsl.edu.au/research/australian-teacher-workforce-data">ATWD</a>), which connects data on teacher education and the workforce around Australia. Its <a href="https://www.aitsl.edu.au/docs/default-source/atwd/reports/new-pipeline-report/2020_aitsl-atwd_pipelinereport.pdf">first report</a> came out in 2020)</p></li>
<li><p>help for graduate teachers starting their careers (such as AITSL’s <a href="https://www.aitsl.edu.au/teach/start-your-career/my-induction-app">My Induction app)</a> </p></li>
<li><p>for course providers to equip all primary student teachers with at least one subject specialisation, prioritising science, maths or a language. (This became part of the accreditation standards for teacher education programs. AITSL <a href="https://www.aitsl.edu.au/docs/default-source/default-document-library/aitsl_primary_specialisation_guidelines_2020.pdf?sfvrsn=7f15fe3c_2">requires course providers</a> to publish specialisations available on their websites and report numbers of commencing, enrolled and completing graduates per specialisation annually). </p></li>
</ul>
<p>Improvements such as those above can be credited to deans, teacher registration boards and education staff. </p>
<p>Overall, teacher education is improving. In Victoria, where the minimum ATAR to get into teaching has been 70 since 2019, average ATAR scores <a href="https://www.vtac.edu.au/files/pdf/reports/atar-profiles-2019.pdf">have risen</a>. The percentage of students and school principals who argue graduates are well prepared for teaching <a href="https://www.qilt.edu.au/qilt-surveys/employer-satisfaction">has increased</a>, and the number of <a href="https://www.aitsl.edu.au/deliver-ite-programs/apl">teacher education programs</a> across Australia has dropped (to 359 — a decrease from 425 in 2013).</p>
<p>We do have excellent teacher education programs across Australia. The aim now is to make more programs attain a high level of excellence. </p>
<h2>Why we need this review</h2>
<p>Despite what many critics and pundits may say, the current review is not a review of teaching in general. Rather, it’s specific to some of the issues that have arisen out of the implementation of the 2014 TMAG report. </p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/yes-quality-teaching-improves-student-outcomes-but-that-means-all-teachers-need-support-not-just-those-in-training-160101">Yes, quality teaching improves student outcomes. But that means all teachers need support – not just those in training</a>
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<p>One example of such an issue is how universities assess their student teachers as classroom ready.</p>
<p>A major recommendations of the 2014 review was for the Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership (AITSL) to develop a national assessment framework to help universities assess the classroom readiness of student teachers throughout the duration of their program. </p>
<p>The teaching institute did <a href="https://www.aitsl.edu.au/deliver-ite-programs/teaching-performance-assessment#:%7E:text=What%20is%20a%20teaching%20performance,their%20initial%20teacher%20education%20program.">promote teacher performance assessments</a> (or TPAs) which require student teachers to collect evidence of their positive impact on students during the final term of their study.</p>
<p>Universities must have their TPAs reviewed by an expert advisory group to ensure the quality of these is consistent across providers. While many universities have had their teacher performance assessments reviewed, some have yet to do so. </p>
<p>The first half of the current review attends to issues of classroom readiness — particularly improving the teacher performance assessment process. It asks about the extent of evidenced-based teaching practices in the teacher education programs. </p>
<p>It invites discussion on how student teachers can get practise in schools (COVID highlighted some of the problems) and how school staff play a greater role in developing teacher education programs (and help reduce first year of teaching shock for some).</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-education-minister-wants-graduating-teachers-to-be-classroom-ready-but-the-classroom-is-not-what-it-used-to-be-159051">The education minister wants graduating teachers to be 'classroom-ready'. But the classroom is not what it used to be</a>
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<p>It also asks how teacher education providers can play a stronger role in ongoing professional development and support of teachers.</p>
<p>The other half is about attracting and selecting high-quality candidates into the teaching profession.</p>
<p>In 2017, the <a href="https://www.aitsl.edu.au/docs/default-source/atwd/reports/new-pipeline-report/2020_aitsl-atwd_pipelinereport.pdf">average age of starting a teacher education course</a> was 23-29, so many come as a second career. </p>
<p>Giving up two years of earnings is a high price to pay, so finding ways to make programs attractive needs debate, as does ways to entice high performing and motivated school leavers to choose teaching as a career. </p>
<p>Teaching is a hard career to move into for mid to late career professionals. The announced review asks if there are ways to make this transition more feasible.</p>
<p>Almost half the students who enrol into teaching programs don’t complete their course (about <a href="https://www.aitsl.edu.au/docs/default-source/atwd/reports/new-pipeline-report/2020_aitsl-atwd_pipelinereport.pdf">30,000 enter each year and 18,000 complete</a>). Of the students who
started an undergraduate teacher education program in 2012, 47% had completed their study after six years (the length of an undergraduate course is usually four years full time). </p>
<p>There is little evidence on who drops out and why. </p>
<p>The teacher workforce in <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/apr/08/were-all-your-teachers-white-ive-often-been-the-only-one-who-looks-like-my-students">many schools</a> is mostly female and white. This does not reflect the school population. Are there ways we can attract a more diverse cohort into studying teaching so teachers better mirror the diversity in school and society?</p>
<p>The review aims to answer these questions. It’s a critical enquiry, aiming to build on the success teaching educators have built over the past seven years. It is focused, addressing unresolved issues from the last review, and it deserves submissions from as many people as possible representing a broad range of views. </p>
<p>We have a chance to be proactive, scale up success, and promote the high quality teacher education programs across Australia.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/160181/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>John Hattie is Chair of AITSL Board, appointed by the Minister of Education</span></em></p>The review into teacher education announced by the Federal Education Minister in recent months was met with criticism from many. But it is actually a necessary part of reforming the education system.John Hattie, Professor, Melbourne Graduate School of Education, The University of MelbourneLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/445862015-07-14T20:21:27Z2015-07-14T20:21:27ZSingle-sex schools: we wouldn’t segregate kids by race, so why do we still do it by gender?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/88287/original/image-20150714-11801-1drnpr6.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Haven't we moved on from this?</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/elgincountyarchives/4309551636/">Elgin County Archives/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>It was recently announced that for the first time in its history, The Armidale School of NSW would allow <a href="http://www.as.edu.au/content/uploads/2015/06/QA-Handbook-updated-June-.pdf">female students to enrol</a>. The prestigious school is one of several single-sex institutions making a move towards coeducational education, reflecting a trend in Australia and the United Kingdom.</p>
<p>The Armidale School’s announcement is a welcome decision, particularly given there is little evidence to <a href="http://www.educ.ethz.ch/halpern-09-23-11_1_.pdf">support the segregation of students</a> on the basis of sex or gender as a means to promote academic achievement. </p>
<p>In fact, single-sex schooling has the potential to <a href="https://theconversation.com/single-sex-schooling-relies-on-myths-of-higher-achievement-23975">cause more harm</a> than good.</p>
<h2>Single-sex schooling doesn’t promote achievement</h2>
<p>To date, research has failed to demonstrate that single-sex education produces better <a href="http://www.ncgs.org/Pdfs/Resources/RF171-5.pdf">academic outcomes</a> when compared to coeducational schooling. Proponents of single-sex schooling argue that girls flourish in calm environments, <a href="http://www.easse.org/en/content/414/Girls+thrive+in+single+sex+schools+because+they+do+not+have+to+impress+boys">free from the sexual pressures</a> represented by their “disruptive” male peers, and boys benefit from energetic, girl-free spaces. </p>
<p>Yet studies argue that any perceived academic advantages of single-sex schools disappear when other variables, <a href="https://uakron.edu/dotAsset/727162.pdf">such as socioeconomic background</a> and parental education levels, are considered. </p>
<p>A number of analyses have examined the impact of single-sex education on academic achievement. <a href="http://www.apa.org/pubs/journals/releases/bul-a0035740.pdf">In 2014</a>, a large-scale study of more than 20 nations examined the extent to which single-sex schooling led to superior academic outcomes. It found the difference between coeducational schooling and single-sex education to be negligible. This finding echoes many other <a href="http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED494925.pdf">studies</a> conducted <a href="http://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED369719">in Australia</a> and <a href="http://www.researchgate.net/profile/C_Kirabo_Jackson/publication/41821332_Single-Sex_Schools_Student_Achievement_and_Course_Selection_Evidence_from_Rule-Based_Student_Assignments_in_Trinidad_and_Tobago/links/0c96052dd8d8a9ad77000000.pdf">other countries</a> around <a href="http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED486476.pdf">the world</a>. </p>
<p>Similarly, when education researcher John Hattie examined the effect of gender separation on student outcomes in his well-known <a href="https://books.google.com.au/books?id=ZO8jmUjQbs0C&pg=PA96&lpg=PA96&dq=single+sex+visible+learning&source=bl&ots=1-MColZYlJ&sig=wVY7Vf5PkeitABe_xjBX6LX_-WQ&hl=en&sa=X&ei=aiKjVfeZNIjF0gTIka6gDg&ved=0CDYQ6AEwAw#v=onepage&q=single%20sex%20visible%20learning&f=false">meta-analysis of influences on learning</a>, there was little to suggest that gender-based segregation offered any academic advantage. </p>
<p>Results from the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) further support <a href="https://minnpost.com/sites/default/files/attachments/rtx120100010p-2.pdf">the lack of evidence</a> of any link between single-sex schooling and academic outcomes.</p>
<h2>Female and male brains <em>are</em> different – but gender is a more complex matter</h2>
<p>While it has been argued that boys and girls have different “learning preferences”, there is <a href="http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20130401151715/http://www.education.gov.uk/publications/eOrderingDownload/00599-2009BKT-EN.pdf">little evidence</a> that this is sex- or gender-specific, and <a href="http://www.leeds.ac.uk/educol/documents/156074.htm">no evidence</a> that teaching to those supposed differences makes any difference to students’ learning outcomes. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/88288/original/image-20150714-11804-19teaai.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/88288/original/image-20150714-11804-19teaai.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/88288/original/image-20150714-11804-19teaai.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/88288/original/image-20150714-11804-19teaai.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/88288/original/image-20150714-11804-19teaai.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/88288/original/image-20150714-11804-19teaai.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/88288/original/image-20150714-11804-19teaai.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/88288/original/image-20150714-11804-19teaai.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">The male and female brains do have subtle differences, but there’s no evidence to suggest this affects learning.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">from www.shutterstock.com</span></span>
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<p>Female brains <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/225696052_Single-Sex_Education_and_the_Brain">do differ</a> from male brains, both anatomically and developmentally, but this differentiation is minor, not directly related to the child’s ability to learn and arises not only from genetic factors, but also sociocultural and environmental factors.</p>
<p>These differences are often <a href="http://www.michaelgurian.com/boys_and_girl_learn_differently_teachers.html">used to support</a> the claim that single-sex schools are necessary to provide differentiated education which better accommodates those neurological differences. </p>
<p>This is a reasonable hypothesis, but the real test of its validity is not the mere existence of those brain differences, but whether teaching to those differences actually leads to improved educational outcomes.</p>
<p>In the case of academic outcomes, <a href="http://www.sciencemag.org/content/333/6050/1706">such differentiation does not</a>. In fact, in the case of social, emotional, psychological and social- and gender-equity outcomes, it is clear single-sex schools can produce worse outcomes and may actually be <a href="http://ctanafterschool.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/Single-Sex-Schooling.pdf">harmful to children</a>. </p>
<p>Opponents of single-sex schooling in the United States have argued that separation on the basis of sex and gender is akin to racial segregation and facilitates <a href="http://education.seattlepi.com/disadvantages-schools-segregated-sex-2074.html">inequity between students</a>. </p>
<p>Like the outdated practice of segregating students based on race, sex- and gender-based segregation ignores the complexity of students, their sexuality and gender and sexual identities, facilitating a culture of <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/women-in-leadership/2013/oct/30/co-educational-schools-bad-for-girls">sexism</a> stereotypes and discrimination.</p>
<p>Single-sex schools also contribute to the construct of a false dichotomy between male and female gender. Forcing students into categories of <em>boys</em> and <em>girls</em> ignores how students perceive and talk about themselves in terms of their gender.</p>
<p>Single-sex education also perpetuates the myth that gender is synonymous with sex. It is not. Sex is predominantly but not exclusively binary, and is biologically determined. Gender and gender identity, however, are complex phenomena arising from an interaction of many ideological, psychological and sociocultural factors, all of which are culturally and temporally relative. </p>
<p>Delineating schools on the basis of this artificial dichotomy perpetuates the myth of both a gender binary and a gender-identity binary. For students who do not fall within these relative norms, or whose gender identities do not align with their biological sex, <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/society/2014/nov/19/young-transgender-suicide-attempts-survey">significantly higher rates of suicide</a>, suicide attempts, self-harm, depressive illnesses and bullying are the <a href="http://www.vocativ.com/culture/lgbt/transgender-suicide/">tragic outcomes</a>. </p>
<p>This is a notable indictment of single-sex education systems, as education has the power to undo these ill-founded and biologically inaccurate stereotypes. While increasing awareness of adolescent sex and gender issues is a step in the right direction, segregation based on students’ sex or gender is not.</p>
<h2>There’s no place for single-sex schooling in the Australian education landscape</h2>
<p><a href="http://www.theage.com.au/nsw/singlesex-schools-in-decline-as-coeducation-favoured-20150712-gi66t4.html">The decline of institutions</a> offering single-sex education in Australia and Britain reflects a welcome movement towards inclusive forms of education. </p>
<p>Just as it is not acceptable to segregate students on the basis of socioeconomic status, race or culture, there is no place for segregation on the basis of sex or gender. </p>
<p>While parents and carers have the right to select programs designed to enhance educational opportunities, Australian students also deserve an opportunity to interact and engage with each other, regardless of perceived and socially constructed “differences”. </p>
<p>Promoting such opportunities prepares students for life beyond the classroom, a skill that is more important than the purported myth of academic achievement driven by advocates of single-sex schools.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/44586/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Single-sex schools are in decline in Australia and elsewhere, and for good reason. It’s time we stopped segregating kids based on our constructs of sex and gender.Anna Dabrowski, Research Fellow, Melbourne Graduate School of Education , The University of MelbourneLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/434752015-06-19T02:46:29Z2015-06-19T02:46:29ZTest scores aren’t good quality indicators for schools or students<p><a href="http://apo.org.au/research/what-doesnt-work-education-politics-distraction">In a new research paper</a>, prominent education researcher John Hattie suggests current education policies aren’t improving our place in world education rankings because we are appealing to what parents want rather than doing what we know works in education. </p>
<p>He identifies five “distractions” we tend to focus on that have little or no effect on improving education outcomes: appeasing the parents; fixing the infrastructure; fixing the students; fixing the schools; and fixing the teachers.</p>
<p>Rather than label these quick-fixes as distractions, it may be better to reframe the debate and examine why, and indeed if, parents are concerned about Australia’s place in the world ranking of education systems.</p>
<h2>Education rankings: do people care about them?</h2>
<p>Comparing education systems across the world is a complex endeavour that is currently reduced to one indicator: the performance of 15-year-old students as measured by the Programme for International Student Assessment (<a href="http://www.oecd.org/pisa/">PISA</a>). </p>
<p>The value of standardised testing such as PISA is contestable. However, given the difficulties of attracting funding for long-term evaluations of other measures of success, the relatively quick and easy test score indicators are filling the gap.</p>
<p>Within any educational system, linking test scores to teacher effectiveness will ultimately result in teaching to the test rather than educating for life or, as Hattie points out, focusing on “surface” learning rather than “deep” learning.</p>
<p>Parents expect their children will develop a wide variety of skills during their school years, conscious that the ability to regurgitate information is now the work of search engines. In this way, standardised tests where students are simply asked to recall information are relics of the last century. </p>
<p>The skills we require of people are changing along with technological advances, so the way we assess students should change too. </p>
<h2>How do you measure school quality?</h2>
<p>“School quality” has become a buzz phrase in recent years. If it is to dominate the national debate, Australians need to carefully consider how “quality” is measured. </p>
<p>Are NAPLAN results or ATARs true indicators of school quality? Or is it higher fees? In a market system, price is generally viewed as an indicator of quality. However, in education, paying more guarantees more status and prestige but does it guarantee better quality?</p>
<p>Quality depends on what you value. If test scores are all that is valued then this is an easy measure to access via the MySchool website. However, apart from the average test scores for each school, the MySchool website reports on a range of other indicators that parents may value. </p>
<p>The ICSEA (Index of Cultural, Socio-Educational Advantage) mean is a measure of the average level of advantage of the students attending the school. The higher the ICSEA mean, the higher the level of advantage. The ICSEA quartiles provide an indication of the concentration of students with high, or low, levels of socio-educational advantage. </p>
<p>Parents wanting to increase their children’s awareness of differences in levels of socio-economic advantage may select a school with a relatively equal proportion of students in each quartile. </p>
<p>The percentages of students from non-English-speaking backgrounds (NESB) and Indigenous students are indicators of multiculturalism within the school. Therefore, parents wanting to increase their children’s cultural awareness may select schools with relatively high proportions of NESB and/or Indigenous students.</p>
<p>The MySchool website also provides information on the number of students and the number of teachers, allowing parents to estimate the student-to-teacher ratio. The number of non-teaching staff is also reported. On the finance page, parents are provided with information about the amount and sources of income and the level of funding per student.</p>
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<p>If we are to engage in a national debate about the quality of Australian schools, we should at least be clear about how we measure quality and why we need to measure it. If Australians are truly concerned with our “world ranking”, then perhaps it is timely to consider how this ranking is formulated and whether it is relevant to what we want to gain from education.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/43475/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jennifer Chesters is affiliated with The Australian Sociological Association.</span></em></p>New research says we’re doing the wrong things to improve “quality” in our schools, but the measures of quality used are not the right ones.Jenny Chesters, Research Fellow, University of CanberraLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/375132015-02-12T20:45:25Z2015-02-12T20:45:25ZChanges to teaching degrees are no guarantee of success for kids<p>The <a href="http://www.studentsfirst.gov.au/teacher-education-ministerial-advisory-group">Teacher Education Ministerial Advisory Group report released today</a> has much to live up to. After all, there have been <a href="http://theconversation.com/minister-pyne-announces-yet-another-education-review-23470">a couple of dozen reports</a> into teacher education over the past three decades. Is this one better, bigger, different?</p>
<p>The advisory group’s task was to investigate how teacher education in Australia could be improved, given the crucial role a quality teacher plays in achieving high student outcomes. </p>
<p>Their recommendations, which the government has substantially agreed to, all make for sensible reading, though many have been made before. A lot of them are “to do” tasks, which have been assigned to the <a href="http://www.aitsl.edu.au">Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership</a>. </p>
<h2>Overhaul course accreditation</h2>
<p>The first “to do” task is an overhaul of teacher education course accreditation processes and requirements. Teacher education accreditation already involves three different agencies: <a href="http://www.teqsa.gov.au/">TEQSA</a>, the federal agency which oversees accreditation of all university courses, <a href="http://www.aitsl.edu.au/">AITSL</a>, which provides national guidelines on the accreditation of teacher education courses, and each state and territory’s own teacher education accreditation agency.</p>
<p>The recommendation is not, unfortunately, an overhaul of this complicated, cumbersome and disconnected triumvirate, although it is suggested that TEQSA and AITSL could talk more. In fact, the report seemed keen to add a fourth regulatory body to the mix, but the government has decided not to accept that particular recommendation. And so, the “overhaul” is focused on AITSL providing further guidelines to their existing guidelines. </p>
<p>To achieve full course accreditation universities will have to prove their graduates have a positive impact on student learning, and that their employers are happy with them. </p>
<p>A key new guideline will be the requirement that all primary school teachers have a specialist subject, preferably maths, science or a language other than English. They need not teach this subject exclusively, but rather, be an expert in the school for others to consult. </p>
<p>No mention is made of specialists in the arts, health or other humanities, which seems remiss. However, Recommendation 17 is that all primary and secondary teachers should be teachers of literacy, which will require substantial reworking of some secondary education degrees.</p>
<h2>Identify best practice approaches for teacher candidate selection</h2>
<p>ATARs, or university entrance scores, will not be used as the only indicator of suitability for the teaching profession. AITSL has been charged with finding a better selection method.</p>
<p>The argument is made that academic competence alone is not sufficient to identify a good teacher. In the past, personality tests, interviews and essays have been offered as possible measures of suitability, so these will presumably be in the mix of what AITSL investigates. </p>
<p>However, while teacher education courses will not necessarily set minimum ATAR scores for entry, the government will require them to make their selection processes transparent. The aim of this is to instill public confidence in the quality of teacher candidates. Perhaps this transparency requirement in itself may prompt teacher education faculties to raise their ATAR entrance scores – if, of course, their universities are prepared to wear the subsequent drop in revenue.</p>
<p>Not requiring an ATAR still leaves the sticky problem of ensuring that teachers have good personal literacy and numeracy skills. To address this, from 2016, all graduating teacher education students will be required to pass a compulsory literacy and numeracy test. </p>
<p>This online test will check they know their “principle” from their “principal” and their “would ofs” from their “would haves”. While this is excellent news for all who despair of errors in the class newsletter, it won’t necessarily mean those teachers will be any better at teaching reading and writing. </p>
<p>As <a href="https://theconversation.com/whats-the-purpose-of-a-literacy-test-for-teachers-27103">I have argued before</a>, our children need teachers not copy editors. It will take more than a multiple-choice grammar test for teachers to build the literacy teaching skills the report identifies as missing in many graduates.</p>
<h2>The importance of practical experience</h2>
<p>The report claims, as have hundreds of studies before it, pre-service teachers need time in classrooms, with good supervising teachers, doing work that is connected to their university learning. </p>
<p>Currently, teaching students’ time in schools is decreasing, there aren’t enough “good” supervising teachers willing to take pre-service teachers and increasing workloads and decreasing face-to-face time in universities make partnerships with schools ever more challenging. </p>
<p>If this report can reverse each of those situations, teacher educators all over the country will be cheering.</p>
<h2>A national assessment framework for class readiness</h2>
<p>The report recommends both a “rigorous” assessment of class readiness before graduation, and quality mentoring and induction upon employment. The former is already well underway. The latter costs money that employers need to cough up. </p>
<p><a href="http://www.aitsl.edu.au/australian-professional-standards-for-teachers/standards/list?c=graduate">The Graduate Standards for teaching</a>, developed by AITSL, provide a detailed description of what a teacher needs to know and do in the classroom in order to graduate. Most teacher education institutions already use these as their assessment framework. </p>
<p>The report recognises good work is happening in teacher education faculties around the country, and the government has directed AITSL to collect these examples of best practice. </p>
<h2>A research focus on teacher education</h2>
<p>Perhaps the most encouraging part of the report is the recognition that teacher education needs to be researched. But research costs money and there is no mention of any funding in the government’s response to the report. Let’s hope AITSL Chair John Hattie managed to secure some funding when he was handed the “to do” list.</p>
<p>So, will teacher education courses change as a result of this report? </p>
<p>Probably. </p>
<p>Will student outcomes improve as a result of this report? </p>
<p>Hard to say, but hopefully there’ll be some real research funding attached to these recommendations and we can find out for sure.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/37513/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Misty Adoniou works as a teacher educator at the University of Canberra</span></em></p>The Teacher Education Ministerial Advisory Group report released today has much to live up to. After all, there have been a couple of dozen reports into teacher education over the past three decades. Is…Misty Adoniou, Senior Lecturer in Language, Literacy and TESL, University of CanberraLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.