tag:theconversation.com,2011:/us/topics/education-policy-955/articlesEducation policy – The Conversation2023-12-13T03:05:44Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2178872023-12-13T03:05:44Z2023-12-13T03:05:44ZStandardised testing could be compulsory in NZ primary schools – what can we learn from the past?<p>New Zealand primary and intermediate schools could <a href="https://www.national.org.nz/teaching_the_basics_brilliantly">soon be required</a> to test children’s reading, writing and maths at least twice a year, using a standard template to report results to parents. </p>
<p>The proposal makes up a central part of the National Party’s education policy, but is it the best way to assess student progress? That could depend on how the policy is shaped – and what is done with the test results once they are collected. </p>
<p>But before education minister Erica Sanford completely revamps how students are assessed, she would be wise to learn from Aotearoa New Zealand’s <a href="https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/national-standards-are-they-working/TYGFLYLBS343WSLYAZOQAFHGEM/">recent history with primary assessment</a> as well as overseas experience.</p>
<h2>National standards past and present</h2>
<p>Introduced by National in 2010, the <a href="https://www.nzcer.org.nz/research/national-standards">National Standards</a> set out levels all children should reach in reading, writing and maths in each of their first eight years of school. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.beehive.govt.nz/release/national-standards-key-lifting-achievement">promise behind the policy</a> was that it would raise achievement across primary and intermediate schools, a goal it <a href="https://doi.org/10.26686/nzaroe.v22i0.4142">failed to achieve</a>. </p>
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<p><a href="https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/primary-school-braces-for-more-bureaucracy/EF64TJHP5LJGXFWMEF7AIWYZRQ/">Primary teachers were quick</a> to <a href="https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/3438282/Key-prefers-to-work-with-rebel-schools">push back</a> against National Standards, worried that students would be <a href="https://researchcommons.waikato.ac.nz/handle/10289/839">labelled based on performance</a> rather than progress.</p>
<p>Some <a href="https://researchcommons.waikato.ac.nz/handle/10289/8394">researchers warned</a> the damage National Standards were doing to school cultures outweighed any gains, while others noted the standards failed to recognise neurodiverse learners and those with socioeconomic barriers. </p>
<p>Labour <a href="https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/346011/national-standards-ditched-by-government">scrapped</a> National Standards when it came to power in 2017.</p>
<h2>Overseas experience of standardised testing</h2>
<p>New Zealand will not be the first country to introduce mandatory standardised testing.</p>
<p>In 2007, Australia implemented the National Assessment Program: Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN), promising to <a href="https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1017709.pdf">increase transparency and accountability</a> and improve teaching and learning by measuring school performance. The government of the day also said using national data would help disadvantaged school communities lift their performance.</p>
<p>A public website, <a href="https://www.myschool.edu.au/">MySchool</a>, was created in 2008 to collate NAPLAN data. The website meant NAPLAN was evaluating not only students but also schools and teachers. </p>
<p>This approach drew <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/304378304_The_performative_politics_of_NAPLAN_and_Myschool">critical commentary</a>, especially given NAPLAN results were seen to <a href="https://doi.org/10.14507/epaa.v22.1571">indicate school quality</a>. </p>
<p>The publication of results transformed NAPLAN into a high-stakes test, creating <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/304378304_The_performative_politics_of_NAPLAN_and_Myschool">pressure and competition</a> between schools.</p>
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<a href="https://theconversation.com/teachers-need-a-lot-of-things-right-now-but-another-curriculum-rewrite-isnt-one-of-them-202438">Teachers need a lot of things right now, but another curriculum 'rewrite' isn't one of them</a>
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<p>This pressure led to an intensification of rote learning and “<a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/43896306?seq=1">teaching to the test</a>”. English and maths squeezed out other subjects as the curriculum narrowed. And it reduced teacher morale, affected their wellbeing and eroded trust in their professional judgement.</p>
<p>In England, standardised assessment tests (<a href="https://educationhub.blog.gov.uk/2022/05/05/everything-you-need-to-know-about-sats/">SATs</a>) have long been embedded in primary schools, with similar outcomes. A government website for the public sharing of results enables parents to “<a href="https://www.compare-school-performance.service.gov.uk/">compare school and college performance</a>”. </p>
<p>Using test data, successive governments have turned schooling into a marketplace for parents to choose “the best” school. Much like in Australia, this has effectively narrowed the curriculum to just English and maths.</p>
<p>This approach makes sense if you believe comparing schools will raise standards. But the data-driven approach to education is a <a href="https://bera-journals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/curj.202">highly questionable</a> way of understanding child development. And given <a href="https://schoolsweek.co.uk/record-rate-of-teacher-departures-as-40000-leave-sector-last-year/">England’s teacher retention crisis</a>, it does not seem to appeal to teachers.</p>
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<h2>Government should listen before changing the policy</h2>
<p>Notably absent from National’s proposed education policy is an examination of the effects these changes might have on students. </p>
<p>One potential benefit of the policy is a possible <a href="http://psychnet.wustl.edu/memory/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Roediger-Karpicke-2006_PPS.pdf">improvement in students’ long-term retention of information</a> cultivated by regular testing.</p>
<p>Additionally, student performance is <a href="https://centaur.reading.ac.uk/65981/3/CD%202015-229%20Pekrun%20et%20al.%20Emotion%20Achievement%20Prepublication%20Manuscript%20June%202016.pdf">influenced by how they feel</a>, so earlier exposure to standardised testing provides an opportunity for students to gain experience in the process and to become more confident. </p>
<p>Without careful implementation, however, this could have the opposite effect. Negative experiences may result in <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Nathaniel-Von-Der-Embse/publication/238075255_Test_Anxiety_Interventions_for_Children_and_Adolescents_A_Systematic_Review_of_Treatment_Studies_from_2000-2010/links/5ab022c6a6fdcc1bc0be10db/Test-Anxiety-Interventions-for-Children-and-Adolescents-A-Systematic-Review-of-Treatment-Studies-from-2000-2010.pdf">test anxiety</a> and <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/255779892_Unmotivated_or_Motivated_to_Fail_A_Cross-Cultural_Study_of_Achievement_Motivation_Fear_of_Failure_and_Student_Disengagement">students disengaging</a> earlier in their education. </p>
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<p>To combat this, the <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Natasha_Segool/publication/238061980_Heightened_test_anxiety_among_young_children_Elementary_school_students'_anxious_responses_to_high-stakes_testing/links/6019b26e45851589397a3bcd/Heightened-test-anxiety-among-young-children-Elementary-school-students-anxious-responses-to-high-stakes-testing.pdf">performance stakes</a> need to be minimised and clearly communicated. The results should not limit future learning opportunities. </p>
<p>Maximising student <a href="https://kops.uni-konstanz.de/bitstream/123456789/13732/2/goetz_frenzel_barchfeld_etal.pdf">control over success</a> will support positive test-taking experiences. This requires resources to be available for all students. </p>
<p>National’s election policy reads: “Students deserve equal opportunities to benefit from assessment, regardless of their location, school or teacher”. But there are known gender equity issues in testing. For example, <a href="https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.552355/full">research has shown</a> girls have much lower self-confidence during maths testing than boys, impacting their overall performance in the subject.</p>
<h2>A tool, not a stick</h2>
<p>Most of the harmful consequences of standardisation are not caused by children sitting tests, but by what the tests come to mean about students, teachers, and schools. </p>
<p>The more they become an indicator of worth or value – because they change a school’s ranking, or label a child as “above” or “below” average – the more likely they are to cause fear, anxiety, risk avoidance, and box-ticking – from children and adults alike.</p>
<p>National has proposed using an existing assessment tool called <a href="https://e-asttle.tki.org.nz/">e-asTTle</a> that many teachers are familiar with. This is good news in terms of teacher workload and a big contrast to National Standards. </p>
<p>Unlike Australia or England, it seems the exact timing of tests will be up to schools, avoiding some of the frenzied collective panic of national test days.</p>
<p>It will be important that tests don’t become a stick to beat schools with. Test results must never be linked to school funding, <a href="https://ero.govt.nz/">ERO</a> visit frequency, or official statements about school quality. </p>
<p>The ACT Party’s <a href="https://www.act.org.nz/education-foundation">education policy</a> is to publish schools’ test results online to create choice, a move that has had disastrous consequences overseas. This is not in the party’s <a href="https://assets.nationbuilder.com/nationalparty/pages/18466/attachments/original/1700778592/National_ACT_Agreement.pdf?1700778592">coalition agreement with National</a> – it is crucial it stays that way.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/217887/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>David Pomeroy receives funding from the Teaching and Learning Research Initiative (TLRI). </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Nick Pratt is affiliated with the UK Green Party</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jessica Shuker, Kaitlin Riegel, and Rafaan Daliri-Ngametua 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>The new government needs to tread carefully as it looks to reintroduce standardised testing. A one size fits all approach to testing students can have negative consequences for everyone involved.David Pomeroy, Senior Lecturer in Teacher Education, University of CanterburyJessica Shuker, Initial Teacher Education Lecturer , University of CanterburyKaitlin Riegel, Postdoctoral Fellow, University of CanterburyNick Pratt, Associate Professor of Education, University of PlymouthRafaan Daliri-Ngametua, Lecturer in Education, Australian Catholic UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2178172023-11-23T15:00:08Z2023-11-23T15:00:08ZEthiopia’s education system is in crisis – now’s the time to fix it<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/560341/original/file-20231120-19-nuyhmx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The COVID pandemic set pupils back, but the problems in Ethiopia's education system have deep roots.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Minasse Wondimu Hailu/Anadolu Agency</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>In October 2023, Ethiopia’s minister of education, Berhanu Nega, <a href="https://youtu.be/9PYrlOHTiv4?si=bWDGFE3jgimp_L7H">disclosed</a> several shocking figures on the outcomes of the 12th-grade national examination. Of the 3,106 schools that administered the 12th grade (secondary school leaving) examination for the 2022/23 academic year, 43% reported that none of their students had passed. </p>
<p>And, for the second consecutive year, more than 96% of students who participated in the national school leaving examination scored less than the mark (an average of 50%) required to pass. This means that hundreds of thousands of students could not qualify for university education. </p>
<p>For comparison, more than 1.6 million <a href="https://www.thisdaylive.com/index.php/2023/08/08/waec-records-80-pass-in-maths-english-language">Nigerian</a> secondary school students took the West African Senior School Certificate Examination in 2023. Approximately 80% (1.3 million) of them attained a passing grade or higher.</p>
<p>A robust education system is not merely about exam results. But these figures underscore the sad fact that Ethiopia’s secondary education sector is in crisis. This has been building for many years. In 2015/16, 49% of students scored 50% or more for the <a href="https://moe.gov.et/EduStat">grade 12 examination</a>. The following year the proportion dropped to 41%. A lack of consistent national data on examination results makes it challenging to fully illustrate the trend. </p>
<p>Ethiopia, like other nations in the region and globally, has grappled with learning setbacks resulting from <a href="https://riseprogramme.org/publications/learning-losses-during-covid-19-pandemic-ethiopia-comparing-student-achievement-early">the COVID lockdowns</a>. This, combined with <a href="https://theconversation.com/ethiopia-tigray-war-parties-agree-pause-expert-insights-into-two-years-of-devastating-conflict-193636">ongoing internal conflict</a> since 2020, likely contributed to the most recent national exam scores.</p>
<p>However, the crisis has deep roots. As <a href="https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-981-10-7933-7">policy</a> experts, <a href="https://www.educ.cam.ac.uk/people/staff/tiruneh/">researchers</a> and longtime observers of the Ethiopian education system, we believe the shockingly poor exam results indicate underlying structural issues that extend far beyond the realm of individual student performance. They are also a perfect opportunity for all stakeholders – particularly the government – to tackle the structural problems holding the system back. Now is the time to embark on swift reform with commitment and vision.</p>
<h2>Roots of the problem</h2>
<p>The seeds of the secondary education crisis are planted early. Hundreds of thousands of children in Ethiopia continue to complete primary school without grasping the fundamentals of <a href="https://riseprogramme.org/sites/default/files/2021-05/Understanding_Achievement_Numeracy_Among_Primary_School_Children_Ethiopia.pdf">literacy and numeracy</a>. </p>
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<a href="https://theconversation.com/covid-19-has-dealt-a-blow-to-ethiopias-private-higher-education-institutions-153398">COVID-19 has dealt a blow to Ethiopia's private higher education institutions</a>
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<p>This learning crisis stems partly from poor school infrastructure. Inadequate allocation of school resources following the massification of the education system is another problem. The rapid expansion of primary education seen in the past decade has considerably increased the proportion of students (and especially girls) from relatively <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/03054985.2020.1741343">disadvantaged backgrounds</a>. That includes children from regions with historically low access to education, such as Afar, Benishangul-Gumuz, and Somali.</p>
<p>This impressive achievement in the expansion of primary education has substantially increased the demand for secondary education. The secondary gross enrolment ratio has doubled over the <a href="https://moe.gov.et/storage/Books/ESAA%202014%20EC%20(2021-22%20G.C)%20Final.pdf">past decade</a>, from 23% in 2011/12 to 46% in 2021/22. Although much progress has been made in terms of <a href="https://riseprogramme.org/publications/disadvantaged-schools-and-students-ethiopia-why-geqip-e-reform-necessary">resource allocation</a>, the education system still struggles with inadequate infrastructure and resources to match the rapid enrolment. </p>
<p>In addition, teachers were not properly trained to manage the significant change in student demographics. Preservice teacher training curricula and approaches to teaching need to be <a href="https://www.ajol.info/index.php/bdje/article/view/249011">overhauled</a> in view of the transformation of the Ethiopian education system from elite to mass education. Further, as the country’s <a href="https://moe.gov.et/PoliciesStrategies">new education policy</a> acknowledges, there has been a disconnect between student learning experiences and the country’s broader societal goals. </p>
<p>But any changes to curricula and teaching methods must be done thoughtfully, in consultation with all stakeholders. Abrupt policy changes create confusion and disruption. For example, following recent <a href="https://moe.gov.et/PoliciesStrategies">policy changes</a>, the government ditched the grade 10 national examination. This was initially set up to select students who would qualify for a two-year secondary education to prepare them for university education. In the absence of a viable mechanism to identify early academically underprepared students, it becomes impossible to provide targeted support in preparation for the national examination.</p>
<p>Challenges like under-resourced schools, unprepared teachers, outdated curricula, and political instability not only impede student learning. They also erode the nation’s human capital. A stark illustration is Ethiopia’s decline in the global human development ranking, from surpassing 22 countries <a href="https://hdr.undp.org/content/human-development-report-1992">in 1992</a>, to outperforming only 16 after <a href="https://hdr.undp.org/content/human-development-report-2021-22">three decades</a>. </p>
<p>To harness Ethiopia’s <a href="https://theconversation.com/ethiopia-can-convert-its-youth-bulge-from-a-political-problem-into-an-opportunity-75312">burgeoning youth population</a>, the school sector requires urgent attention. Secondary education, beyond university qualification, is crucial for <a href="https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/server/api/core/bitstreams/df1be5f5-e5f8-584b-9a3f-fa8ebdfc4870/content">equipping young people</a> with knowledge and skills required for a productive workforce.</p>
<h2>Don’t waste a crisis</h2>
<p>There has been widespread <a href="https://www.universityworldnews.com/post.php?story=20231018103529310">public fury</a> about the recent national exam results. But these <a href="https://addisstandard.com/in-depth-is-ethiopias-education-system-under-a-serious-threat/">outcries</a> come and go. The current crisis should not be a wasted opportunity. All stakeholders must seize the opportunity and deliberate on structural and systemic forces that underlie the mass failure in the 12th-grade examination. </p>
<p>As one of us has argued <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10734-022-00899-5#:%7E:text=When%20education%20systems%20are%20seen,be%20realised%20through%20the%20policy.">elsewhere</a>, crisis makes swift reform possible – if key stakeholders seize the moment with commitment and vision. </p>
<p>Vietnam offers a useful example. Years of war and political upheaval pushed the nation to the brink of collapse. The <a href="https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-030-93951-9_5">Vietnamese education</a> system grappled with a range of issues. These included a theory-heavy curriculum, outdated teaching and assessment methods, inadequate teacher quality, and high inequality. Then, a decade ago, Vietnam underwent a comprehensive reform of its education system. This has led to <a href="https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-030-93951-9_5">positive transformation</a> in both its economy and society.</p>
<p>The Ethiopian government and other stakeholders should not waste a crisis. Now is the time to act, with a sense of urgency and purpose.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/217817/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>The shockingly poor exam results indicate underlying structural issues that extend far beyond the realm of individual student performance.Tebeje Molla, Senior Lecturer, School of Education, Deakin UniversityDawit Tibebu Tiruneh, Research Associate, University of CambridgeLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2142072023-10-03T20:15:50Z2023-10-03T20:15:50ZDo ‘sputnik moments’ spur educational reform? A rhetoric scholar weighs in<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/551805/original/file-20231003-29-sbo7n2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=12%2C18%2C4105%2C4043&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The quest for space dominance has long sparked discussions about the quality of American education.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/communications-satellite-orbiting-above-earth-royalty-free-image/AB23479?phrase=space+race&adppopup=true">Adastra/The Image Bank via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Ever since the USSR surprised the United States with the Oct. 4, 1957, launch of <a href="https://2001-2009.state.gov/r/pa/ho/time/lw/103729.htm">the world’s first artificial satellite</a> – Sputnik 1 – U.S. politicians and other public figures have used the term “sputnik moment” to describe times of crisis, where some sort of action is urgently needed in the realm of education.</p>
<p>From the publication of the landmark <a href="http://edreform.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/A_Nation_At_Risk_1983.pdf">A Nation at Risk</a> report on education in 1983 to the <a href="https://www.wsj.com/graphics/elections/2016/divided-america/">polarizing election</a> of Donald Trump, one moment after another has been compared to the sputnik episode.</p>
<p>As a professor who studies the rhetoric of education reform, I know that what politicians and others call sputnik moments do not always live up to that name. Often, sputnik gets invoked to try and create a <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/40236733">rhetorical situation</a>, or the impression that an important event has occurred that the public needs to talk about. Some sputnik moments spark enduring public debates, while others are easily forgotten.</p>
<h2>American education called into question</h2>
<p>Upon learning of sputnik, <a href="https://books.google.com/books/about/The_Heavens_and_the_Earth.html?id=qp0sAAAAYAAJ">many Americans wondered</a> how the USSR beat the U.S. into space.</p>
<p>One popular theory blamed K-12 schools for <a href="https://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,825347,00.html">focusing too much</a> on extracurricular activities, like school plays, whereas students in Russia were studying foreign languages and advanced mathematics.</p>
<p>In the spring of 1958, Life magazine ran a series of articles entitled: “Crisis in Education.” <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=PlYEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA26&lr=&source=gbs_toc_r&cad=2#v=onepage&q&f=false">One Life article</a> compared the rigor of U.S. education unfavorably with that of the Soviets. It claimed that Soviet students were grade levels ahead in science. Another Life article <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=PlYEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA36&lr=&source=gbs_toc_r&cad=2#v=onepage&q&f=false">referred to American education as a “carnival.</a>” </p>
<p>President Dwight Eisenhower <a href="https://link.springer.com/book/9780230600102">read the Life articles</a> and began advocating for what would become the <a href="https://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/history/minute/Sputnik_Spurs_Passage_of_National_Defense_Education_Act.htm">National Defense Education Act of 1958</a>. It was a first-of-its-kind intervention in education policy and funding. The legislation was designed to close the supposed educational gap between the U.S. and the USSR.</p>
<p>Ever since, pivotal events for education in the U.S. have been called sputnik moments. Here are three examples that all involved American presidents.</p>
<h2>Reagan and a flailing education system</h2>
<p>In 1983, the National Commission on Excellence in Education published <a href="http://edreform.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/A_Nation_At_Risk_1983.pdf">A Nation at Risk</a>. The report warned of a “rising tide of mediocrity” in education, and compared it to an “act of war.” The language prompted President Ronald Reagan to reflect during a <a href="https://www.reaganlibrary.gov/archives/speech/remarks-regional-forum-national-commission-excellence-education-whittier-california">1983 speech at Pioneer High School</a> in Whittier, California: “The last time education was the focus of such intense public debate was during the 1950’s. This Nation then was shaken when the Soviets launched their Sputnik. We responded by making math, science, and engineering education a priority.”</p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">President Reagan at Pioneer High School in 1983.</span></figcaption>
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<p>Reagan cited NASA’s space shuttle program as evidence that the nation had succeeded. But he also said the commission’s report showed a need for the nation to “take a hard look at our educational system and tell us where we’d gone wrong.”</p>
<p>“Now it’s up to us to respond as positively as we did in the 1950’s,” Reagan said.</p>
<p>A Nation at Risk was about lagging test scores, not one dramatic event. But like sputnik, it spurred <a href="https://www.tcpress.com/from-a-nation-at-risk-to-no-child-left-behind-9780807749227">decades of discussion</a> about the rigor of public education in the U.S.</p>
<h2>Obama on competition with China</h2>
<p>In his <a href="https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/address-before-joint-session-the-congress-the-state-the-union-16">2011 State of the Union address</a>, President Barack Obama called the rise of the Chinese economy and the aftermath of the 2007-08 mortgage crisis “our generation’s Sputnik moment.” To meet the moment, he proposed an <a href="https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/the-press-office/2011/03/08/president-obama-highlights-shared-responsibility-education-reform">Advanced Research Projects Agency for education</a>, which was to be like <a href="https://www.darpa.mil/">the one the U.S. maintains for defense</a>.</p>
<p>Obama needed to sell his proposal to the nation and to the House of Representatives, which the Republicans had taken control of in the <a href="https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/elections/2010/results/house.html">2010 midterm elections</a>. Unlike Reagan’s description of “a nation at risk,” Obama’s use of the term “Sputnik moment” did not result in a lasting public discussion. It also did not result in the creation of an Advanced Research Projects Agency for education.</p>
<h2>Donald Trump’s election</h2>
<p>In 2016, <a href="https://tcf.org/experts/richard-d-kahlenberg/">author Richard Kahlenberg</a> and <a href="https://www.democratandchronicle.com/story/news/education/2020/02/19/clifford-janey-dies-obit-former-rcsd-superintendent-rochester-newark-washington/4809462002/">educator Clifford Janey</a> declared that the rise of Donald Trump “<a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2016/11/is-trumps-victory-the-jump-start-civics-education-needed/507293/">should be a Sputnik moment for civics education</a>.” Among other things, they argued that public schools were failing to prepare young people to be “reflective citizens” who would “resist the appeals of demagogues.” They also wrote that the 2016 election should spur schools to “instill in children an appreciation for civic values” and not just skills to get jobs.</p>
<p>Sure enough, Trump’s election did revitalize the national discussion of civic education. Since 2016, a series of prominent reports have taken on the subject. Those reports include the <a href="https://www.educatingforamericandemocracy.org">Educating for American Democracy</a> report by iCivics, the <a href="https://naeducation.org/civic-reasoning-and-discourse/">Educating for Civic Reasoning and Discourse</a> report by the National Academy of Education, and <a href="https://www.learningforjustice.org/frameworks/teaching-hard-history/american-slavery">Teaching Hard History</a> by the Southern Poverty Law Center.</p>
<p>There was also the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/hast.1221">Civic Learning for a Democracy in Crisis</a> by the Hastings Center. Even the Trump administration joined in the conversation with its <a href="https://trumpwhitehouse.archives.gov/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/The-Presidents-Advisory-1776-Commission-Final-Report.pdf">1776 report</a>, which called for a patriotic form of civic education.</p>
<h2>Why do we have sputnik moments?</h2>
<p>Sputnik moments can be spontaneous or constructed through rhetoric after the fact, or they can fall somewhere in between. Even the original moment was not an open-and-shut case.</p>
<p>At first, President Eisenhower tried to downplay sputnik, calling it “<a href="https://www.google.com/books/edition/Sputnik/XODEDwAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=0">one small ball in the air</a>.” But for critics of the standard U.S. education during the 1950s, such as <a href="https://books.google.com/books/about/Educational_Wastelands.html?id=onoLAQAAIAAJ">Arthur Bestor</a> or <a href="https://play.google.com/store/books/details?id=uE0vAAAAMAAJ&rdid=book-uE0vAAAAMAAJ&rdot=1&pli=1">Adm. Hyman Rickover</a>, sputnik was an opportunity to refocus U.S. schools on rigorous academic instruction. </p>
<p>In the late 1950s, critics of American education made the most of their moment by demanding a greater emphasis on math, science and language. The National Defense Education Act delivered just that. Because they capitalized on their moment, policymakers and education reformers have continued to be vigilant for more moments like sputnik ever since.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/214207/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Mark Hlavacik does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Policymakers and others often invoke the 1957 Russian launch of sputnik when trying to spark a discussion about education reform. A rhetoric scholar examines how often they succeed.Mark Hlavacik, Associate Professor of Communication Studies, University of North TexasLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2121942023-09-03T20:02:38Z2023-09-03T20:02:38Z‘Co-design’ is the latest buzzword in Indigenous education policy. Does it live up to the hype?<p>Co-design is the new buzz word being applied to relationships between Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples.</p>
<p>It has been used as a key part of the <a href="https://www.indigenous.gov.au/news-and-media/announcements/indigenous-voice-co-design-final-report">Indigenous Voice process</a>. But it is also talked about when it comes to <a href="https://aci.health.nsw.gov.au/projects/co-design/working-together-with-aboriginal-communities">health policy</a> and <a href="https://www.wsp.com/en-au/insights/creating-a-new-cultural-legacy-in-australia">infrastructure design</a>. </p>
<p>Even fashion brand Country Road has talked about <a href="https://www.countryroad.com.au/stories/our-australian-made-co-design-with-kieren-karritpul.html">co-design</a> in its work with Ngen’giwumirri artist, Kieren Karritpul to develop a homewares range.</p>
<p>Co-design is also increasingly used in <a href="https://education.qld.gov.au/about-us/budgets-funding-grants/grants/state-schools/core-funding/local-community-engagement-through-co-design">education</a> circles. </p>
<p>Educational policies are emphasising the importance of schools and Indigenous peoples and communities working together in improving educational outcomes for Indigenous peoples. </p>
<p>But what does it mean and does it stand up to the hype? Our research has identified three clear ways we can improve co-design.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/10-questions-about-the-voice-to-parliament-answered-by-the-experts-207014">10 questions about the Voice to Parliament - answered by the experts</a>
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<h2>What is co-design?</h2>
<p>Co-design is open to interpretation and can mean something different to each person who comes to process.</p>
<p>It originally comes from academic work on participatory principles and <a href="https://anzsog.edu.au/research-insights-and-resources/research/the-promise-of-co-design-for-public-policy/">public sector innovation</a>. It is generally understood to be a process that gives marginalised people a say on policy or programs that affect them. </p>
<p>But it is more than a consultation process. It is <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s13384-022-00581-w">supposed to</a> improve outcomes through collaborative relationships.</p>
<p>It is not without <a href="https://caepr.cass.anu.edu.au/research/publications/codesign-indigenous-policy-domain-risks-and-opportunities">risks</a>. So far, there is not a lot evidence around what effective co-design looks like in Indigenous settings and how it works in practice, without reinforcing existing power imbalances. </p>
<p>It may also see Indigenous peoples blamed if a program fails. </p>
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<h2>Our research on co-design</h2>
<p>So it is a critical time to explore how co-design is defined and by whom and its potential to shift outcomes. </p>
<p>We are looking at co-design in Indigenous education policy and practice across three domains: conceptualisation (how we define it), process (how we do it) and evaluation (how we measure its success). </p>
<p>Our <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s13384-022-00581-w">ongoing research</a> includes case studies of primary and secondary schools and a review of existing research on co-design in education. We will also conduct a survey later this year. </p>
<p>Our work so far has shown us there are three clear opportunities to improve how co-design works. </p>
<h2>1. What is the problem?</h2>
<p>A crucial issue in co-design is the identification of problems and who does this. </p>
<p>If governments or schools have already decided what the problem is and then they seek Indigenous people to co-design a solution, this is not a co-designed process. </p>
<p>We have heard examples of schools doing “co-design”, which is really the school presenting the community with a range of solutions and asking for their help to implement them. </p>
<p>The priorities of the community may well be different to the priorities of the school. For the community, the priorities might be addressing transport barriers so students can attend school more easily. For the school, it may be improving literacy and numeracy outcomes. </p>
<p>These examples show why it is important Indigenous people are part of identifying problems and priorities. Building Indigenous peoples and communities’ strengths means deep listening before the process even begins. </p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-budget-makes-glossy-announcements-on-indigenous-education-but-real-change-requires-more-than-just-money-205387">The budget makes glossy announcements on Indigenous education, but real change requires more than just money</a>
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<h2>2. Who really has the power?</h2>
<p>Addressing power imbalances is an obvious ingredient to good co-design. However, governments and schools are hierarchical places that have typically not enabled Indigenous leadership in their structures. </p>
<p>This means good co-design builds in genuine collaboration and power sharing dynamics.</p>
<p>One principal we spoke to talked of the need for “distributive leadership”. This means “everybody having a voice and respecting that voice as well”. </p>
<p>Another Aboriginal community liaison officer told us how at their school, they </p>
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<p>have an Aboriginal person that sits down and makes decisions with the principal […] including Elders […] basically empowering the community to have a say.</p>
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<h2>3. How involved are Indigenous peoples?</h2>
<p>Our research so far has shown us how different people’s expectations and ideas can be about the co-design process. </p>
<p>Indigenous people are telling us there is an expectation mob are part of the process from the problem location to the evaluation of it’s success.</p>
<p>But in our systematic literature review of 15 papers on co-design in Indigenous education, only six showed evidence of Indigenous engagement from the early design phase and on. </p>
<p>We have also seen the importance of understanding and respecting Indigenous protocols and leadership throughout. This includes understanding traditional owners in the process. </p>
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<h2>Where co-design could take us</h2>
<p>Co-design can encompass many ideas – <a href="https://research.acer.edu.au/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1027&context=aer">already advocated over past decades</a> – such as strengthening school and community relationships and giving Indigenous people a greater say in how schools serve their families and communities. </p>
<p>Our research is focused on consolidating the limited research we already have on co-design in Indigenous education and generating new, Indigenous and evidence-based understandings of co-design in schools. </p>
<p>The next key step is evaluation, to look at whether whether co-design is effective and to make the most of its potential to transform outcomes in education. </p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/what-did-the-public-say-about-the-governments-indigenous-voice-co-design-process-163803">What did the public say about the government’s Indigenous Voice co-design process?</a>
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<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/212194/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Marnee Shay receives funding from the Australian Research Council and the Australian Government.
Marnee Shay is a member of the Queensland Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Education and Training Advisory Committee with the Department of Education Queensland.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Grace Sarra receives funding from the
Australian Research Council</span></em></p>Everything from the Voice to Country Road homewares is talking about ‘co-design’. New research identifies three clear ways to improve the way it works in education.Marnee Shay, Associate Professor, Principal Research Fellow, The University of QueenslandGrace Sarra, Associate Professor, Faculty of Education, Queensland University of TechnologyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2070662023-06-13T09:57:26Z2023-06-13T09:57:26ZKenya’s budget doesn’t allocate funds for new education initiatives – this will stall innovation in the country<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/530394/original/file-20230606-19-nycs2i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Kenya has over 18.2 million children and youth in educational institutions.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Wolfgang Kaehler/LightRocket via Getty Images</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>President William Ruto’s first budget for Kenya sets no education priorities. The <a href="http://www.parliament.go.ke/sites/default/files/2023-05/THE%20FINANCE%20BILL%20%2C%202023_compressed.pdf">Finance Bill 2023</a> doesn’t make it clear what Kenya is trying to achieve – stronger foundational learning, technical and vocational skills, or innovation. </p>
<p>This is despite the <a href="https://www.education.go.ke/president-ruto-technical-training-will-drive-our-economic-growth">importance</a> placed on deepening technical capacity to drive economic growth, and education reforms spelt out in the <a href="https://www.education.go.ke/sites/default/files/2022-05/COMPETENCY-BASED-EDUCATION-AND-TRAINING-CBET-POLICY-FRAMEWORK1.pdf">official policy</a>. This also comes against the backdrop of a <a href="https://africacheck.org/sites/default/files/media/documents/2022-08/Kenya%20Kwanza%20UDA%20Manifesto%202022.pdf#page=51">political campaign promise</a> to “bridge current teacher shortage gap of 116,000 within two financial years”.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.treasury.go.ke/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/2023-Budget-Policy-Statement.pdf#page=66">allocation</a> to education in the 2023/24 budget stands at KSh597.2 billion (US$4.59 billion) compared to US$4.19 billion in the previous year, an increase of 10%. This is far above the US$3.52 billion combined allocations for <a href="https://www.treasury.go.ke/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/2023-Budget-Policy-Statement.pdf#page=115">health</a>, <a href="https://www.treasury.go.ke/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/2023-Budget-Policy-Statement.pdf#page=59">agriculture</a>, <a href="https://www.treasury.go.ke/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/2023-Budget-Policy-Statement.pdf#page=68">security</a> and the <a href="https://www.treasury.go.ke/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/2023-Budget-Policy-Statement.pdf#page=118">executive office of the president</a>. </p>
<p>The four main spending areas for education are: basic education (primary and secondary); technical and vocational training; higher education and research; and the Teachers’ Service Commission (the national teachers’ employer). Of these, basic education has received the biggest increase in funds.</p>
<p>But it appears the spending won’t be directed to anything new. As usual, the government will subsidise basic education, provide bursaries and loans to students in tertiary institutions, and pay teachers in public institutions. The budgetary allocations imply that there will be no new initiatives in the next financial year. </p>
<p>As a researcher with more than 20 years of <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Moses-Ngware">experience</a> in the education sector, I think a failure to allocate more funds for priority initiatives – such as competence-based education and junior secondary schools – will hamper the sector’s resilience (after <a href="https://theconversation.com/deeper-divide-what-kenyas-pandemic-school-closures-left-in-their-wake-176098">COVID-19 school closures</a>), stall improvement in learning outcomes and delay Kenya’s capacity for innovation.</p>
<h2>Teacher budget</h2>
<p>The Teachers’ Service Commission is set to receive 54% of the education budget in 2023/24 (down from 55% in last fiscal year).</p>
<p>The allocation – mainly to pay salaries – is set to increase by about 8%. The <a href="https://www.knbs.or.ke/consumer-price-indices-and-inflation-rates-for-may-2023/">annual inflation rate</a> is 8%. </p>
<p>But the number of teachers will increase by about 3,700. Between 2021 and 2022, the number of primary school teachers <a href="https://www.knbs.or.ke/download/economic-survey-2023/">declined</a> by about 0.4%, while that of secondary school teachers increased by 4%. So the budget increase won’t make much real difference to teacher pay. </p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/kenyas-school-reform-is-entering-a-new-phase-in-2023-but-the-country-isnt-ready-197202">Kenya's school reform is entering a new phase in 2023 -- but the country isn't ready</a>
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<p>The increase in the number of teachers won’t improve the pupil-teacher ratio (number of pupils for every teacher) either. In regions such as <a href="https://sokodirectory.com/2022/03/poor-student-teacher-ratio-affecting-learning-outcomes-across-kenya/">North Eastern</a> Kenya, the ratio is at 70 pupils to one teacher. It doesn’t cater for the <a href="https://www.knbs.or.ke/download/economic-survey-2023/">growing</a> number of pupil enrolments: 245,000 a year. </p>
<p>While the <a href="https://www.tsc.go.ke/index.php/downloads-b/category/99-current-adverts">policy intent</a> is to increase the number of teachers in support of quality of education, the Finance Bill 2023 cannot afford this. If the government were to employ an additional 20,000 teachers for primary and secondary schools, over and above replacing teachers who retired or resigned, their pay would account for 60% of the education budget. </p>
<h2>Higher education and research</h2>
<p>University enrolment <a href="https://www.treasury.go.ke/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/KNBS-Popular-Version-BOOK-PRESS-%E2%88%9A.pdf#page=26">grew</a> marginally by 0.16%, from 562,100 to 563,000 last year.</p>
<p>In the 2023/24 budget, public universities and research are allocated 20% of the education budget, the same as in the previous year. The university allocation covers both staff costs and direct programme costs. The National Research Fund and National Commission for Science, Technology and Innovation draw from this budget. </p>
<p>The university education budget has increased by about 7%, mainly to cater for changes in staff pay, enhance student higher education loans and deal with pending bills. This implies a “business as usual” approach for university education. </p>
<p>The budget for research and development (Ksh847 million or US$6.52 million) has declined by almost 20% from the previous financial year, implying the government’s low priority for research and development. </p>
<p>This dims the hopes of fostering a research and innovation-driven economy. There is no country in the world that has ever achieved its social and economic goals without heavy investment in research and development.</p>
<p>The research and development financing gap will likely be filled by NGOs and external partners who, in the absence of strong research co-design mechanisms, will most likely push their own research agenda, not the domestic research priorities defined by ministries.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.unesco.org/en/articles/report-reveals-relatively-high-researcher-density-mauritius">Mauritius’ spending </a> on research and development stands at 0.37% of GDP while Kenya’s is at 0.01% of GDP. </p>
<h2>Basic education</h2>
<p>Kenya has <a href="https://www.knbs.or.ke/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/2022-Economic-Survey1.pdf#page=338">18.2 million</a> children and youth in education and training institutions. Of these, 14.2 million are in primary and secondary schools, and <a href="https://www.knbs.or.ke/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/2022-Economic-Survey1.pdf#page=341">2.9 million</a> in early childhood education.</p>
<p>The non-salary allocation to basic education is 22% of the education budget, the same proportion as the previous year. Basic education’s budget grows by 17% in 2023/24. </p>
<p>This is partly explained by the inclusion of curriculum reforms into this budget. The reforms emphasise acquisition of competencies, and also changed the structure of the education system where learners now spend two years in pre-primary, six in primary, six in secondary schools and three in tertiary institutions.</p>
<p>The budgetary allocation doesn’t reflect <a href="https://www.worldbank.org/en/news/press-release/2022/06/23/70-of-10-year-olds-now-in-learning-poverty-unable-to-read-and-understand-a-simple-text">needs created by the COVID-19</a> school closures, such as addressing the <a href="https://www.worldbank.org/en/news/press-release/2022/06/23/70-of-10-year-olds-now-in-learning-poverty-unable-to-read-and-understand-a-simple-text">decline</a> in learning, and providing resources for foundational literacy and numeracy. </p>
<h2>Technical and vocational education and training</h2>
<p>Kenya <a href="https://www.treasury.go.ke/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/KNBS-Popular-Version-BOOK-PRESS-%E2%88%9A.pdf#page=26">had 580,500</a> young people in technical and vocational education and training in 2022, representing 11.6% growth over 520,200 in 2021.</p>
<p>This sector is critical because unemployment among youth aged 15 to 24 <a href="https://www.statista.com/statistics/812147/youth-unemployment-rate-in-kenya/#:%7E:text=In%202022%2C%20the%20youth%20unemployment,unchanged%20at%20around%2013.35%20percent">stands at around 13.4%</a>. The budget for the sector has risen by about 10% compared to the previous financial year. It gets a very small but growing proportion (about 5%) of the education budget. </p>
<p>At this rate, technical institutions will <a href="https://www.education.go.ke/president-ruto-technical-training-will-drive-our-economic-growth">overtake</a> the university budget in future, a deliberate policy. Currently, enrolment in technical institutions in Kenya matches enrolment in universities. </p>
<p>But the Finance Bill 2023 could have done more. Like its predecessors, it has failed to provide for training in the workplace, a move that would make skills more relevant to employers.</p>
<h2>What lies ahead</h2>
<p>The Finance Bill 2023 provides an indication of where education money is going and it’s clear that the silent budgeting policy was largely to maintain the status quo. </p>
<p>On the positive side, the increments will cushion the system against high prices of goods due to inflation, unpaid bills, staff annual statutory increments and deductions. </p>
<p>On the downside, it will expose the system to learning crises and low productivity in good research and innovation.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/207066/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Moses Ngware receives funding from Echidna Giving, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Center for Global Development, and Well Springs Philanthropic Fund. </span></em></p>Kenya’s budgetary allocation misses opportunities to improve basic education and address unemployment.Moses Ngware, Senior Research Scientist, African Population and Health Research CenterLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1961042022-12-21T20:08:06Z2022-12-21T20:08:06ZShould you answer a call to crowdfund our under-resourced teachers?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/502233/original/file-20221220-13-vpj8cs.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=114%2C13%2C1418%2C1004&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Quinta Brunson, creator and actor of the show 'Abbott Elementary,' uses TikTok to fundraise for school supplies. Although it's a sitcom, it's talking about the real-life needs of under-resourced teachers.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Quinta Brunson for ABC)</span></span></figcaption></figure><iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100px; border: none; position: relative; z-index: 1;" allowtransparency="" allow="clipboard-read; clipboard-write" src="https://narrations.ad-auris.com/widget/the-conversation-canada/should-you-answer-a-call-to-crowdfund-our-under-resourced-teachers" width="100%" height="400"></iframe>
<p>In an episode of <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt15715994/"><em>Abbott Elementary</em></a>, the sitcom about a group of teachers in an under-resourced Philadelphia school, novice teacher Janine takes to TikTok. The joke is that she needs to use TikTok to fundraise to get her classroom much needed school supplies.</p>
<p>Although played for laughs in <a href="https://www.emmys.com/shows/abbott-elementary">this award-winning</a> show created by Quinta Brunson, one education <a href="https://theeducatorsroom.com/abbott-elementary-the-dreaded-teacher-wishlist/">blogger</a> wrote: “In tonight’s episode … we learned the lesson that all teachers know — schools are underfunded, and [supply] wishlists have the ability to make teachers REALLY happy.”</p>
<p>Actually, crowdfunding for schools in real life can provide immediate and necessary resources. There is even early research to say that crowdfunding leads to better learning outcomes for students. </p>
<p>In this season of giving, that is something to think about as you decide where to put your money.</p>
<p>Although individual donations cannot compensate for the structural conditions of general underfunding and inequitable funding of public schools, a crowdfunded teacher’s classroom may have better outcomes than one that is not.</p>
<h2>Diverse learning needs</h2>
<p>One study from California showed how extra funds from teacher crowdfunding efforts allowed teachers to run projects that fully address the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/00222437211033536">diverse learning needs of their students</a>.</p>
<p>Another study shows how educators’ crowdfunding efforts are linked to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1287/isre.2020.0968">higher test scores</a> for students, even when the crowdfunding is unsuccessful.</p>
<p>However, any benefits of crowdfunding in education should not gloss over the fact that there is a systematic lack of public support for public education teachers. <a href="https://www.epi.org/publication/public-education-funding-in-the-us-needs-an-overhaul/">This is especially relevant for the most under-resourced schools: those that serve low-income communities,</a> both urban and <a href="https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1286832.pdf">rural.</a></p>
<p>This is part of the broader crisis in public education.</p>
<h2>Pervasive under-resourcing of schools</h2>
<p>To meet the needs of their students and classrooms, educators in the United States have been paying out-of-pocket or using private sponsors to pay for books, <a href="https://marketbrief.edweek.org/marketplace-k-12/teachers-paying-ed-tech-pockets-survey-finds/">software</a>, pencils and paper, classroom decorations, prizes, snacks and even <a href="https://www.epi.org/blog/teachers-pay-out-of-pocket-to-keep-their-classrooms-clean-of-covid-19-teachers-already-spend-on-average-450-a-year-on-school-supplies/">cleaning supplies</a>. </p>
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<img alt="A teacher seen sitting at a desk cutting things with a laptop behind her on a desk." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/501688/original/file-20221218-26-qlfedr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C1219%2C3842%2C2703&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/501688/original/file-20221218-26-qlfedr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/501688/original/file-20221218-26-qlfedr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/501688/original/file-20221218-26-qlfedr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/501688/original/file-20221218-26-qlfedr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/501688/original/file-20221218-26-qlfedr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/501688/original/file-20221218-26-qlfedr.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">A teacher sits in her classroom.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Matt Rourke)</span></span>
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<p><a href="https://www.nea.org/advocating-for-change/new-from-nea/out-pocket-spending-school-supplies-adds-strain-educators">According to an estimate by the National Education Association,</a> 90 per cent of teachers spend money on their students. This year, many will spend an average of US$820, which is a $500 increase since before the pandemic.</p>
<p>No wonder educators are turning to crowdfunding sites, like <a href="https://www.fox17online.com/news/local-news/michigan/19-michigan-educators-chosen-for-clear-the-list-campaign">Amazon Wishlists</a> and DonorsChoose, the not-for-profit crowdfunder which makes “it easy for anyone to <a href="https://www.donorschoose.org/about">help a teacher in need</a>.” </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/tiktok-is-more-than-just-a-frivolous-app-for-lip-syncing-and-dancing-podcast-182264">TikTok is more than just a frivolous app for lip-syncing and dancing – Podcast</a>
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<p>In a sign of support for teachers, as well as to take a stand on the dismal <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/cars.12210">state of funding for education in the U.S.</a>, the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) <a href="https://www.aft.org/press-release/aft-fulfills-400000-donorschoose-requests-school-supplies-teachers">donated $400,000</a> to educators through DonorsChoose in March 2022. </p>
<p>At the time of the donation, AFT President Randi Weingarten said: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>“We’re spreading hope and expressing gratitude to teachers and school staff who’ve sacrificed so much to ensure a better life for our children and our communities. And we’re also shining a spotlight on decades of underfunding and the urgent need to invest in our kids and the schools they attend.”</p>
</blockquote>
<h2>Job satisfaction is dropping; strikes are increasing</h2>
<p>The teaching profession was already facing challenges before the COVID-19 pandemic. The pandemic intensified stressors on educators and the public school system. Similar to Canada, teachers in the U.S. face <a href="https://files.epi.org/pdf/165729.pdf">low salaries</a> as well as inadequate resources for academic programming, <a href="https://okpolicy.org/support-staff-pay-raise-and-restoring-cuts-is-key-to-improving-oklahomas-schools/">support staff</a> and social supports. Staffing shortages among teachers that began prior to the pandemic are now reaching <a href="https://www.nea.org/sites/default/files/2022-10/29302-solving-educator-shortage-report-final-oct-11-2022.pdf">crisis</a> levels. </p>
<p>Contributing to these challenges is the fact that public schools are increasingly sites of <a href="https://idea.gseis.ucla.edu/publications/educating-for-a-diverse-democracy/publications/files/diverse-democracy-report">political conflict</a>, as conservative activists and state legislatures take aim at, among other things, how to teach about race and LGBTQ+ rights and contest books stocked in classrooms and libraries.</p>
<p>Among public educators, job satisfaction is low. </p>
<p>As a testament to the dissatisfaction of educators being asked to do too much with too little, 2022 saw another <a href="https://www.edweek.org/teaching-learning/why-teachers-are-going-on-strike-this-fall-and-what-could-come-next/2022/09">wave of strikes</a> among K-12 teachers’ unions. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Striking education workers seen with picket signs walking on a sidewalk." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/501686/original/file-20221218-20-g9ikip.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/501686/original/file-20221218-20-g9ikip.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/501686/original/file-20221218-20-g9ikip.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/501686/original/file-20221218-20-g9ikip.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/501686/original/file-20221218-20-g9ikip.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/501686/original/file-20221218-20-g9ikip.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/501686/original/file-20221218-20-g9ikip.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">Teachers from Roosevelt High School in Seattle picket during a strike over pay, mental health support and staffing ratios, September 2022.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Jason Redmond)</span></span>
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<p>Strike demands include pay increases; resources for academic programming; smaller class sizes; investment in counsellors, nurses and social workers; and addressing <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/think/opinion/teacher-strike-columbus-ohio-air-conditioning-students-rcna44849">hot and poorly ventilated classrooms</a>, among other issues. </p>
<p>Educators also continue to leave the profession. </p>
<p>A <a href="https://www.nea.org/advocating-for-change/new-from-nea/out-pocket-spending-school-supplies-adds-strain-educators">report</a> from the National Education Association identifies under-resourcing and the expectation that educators will spend their personal money as factors driving educators away from the profession.</p>
<h2>Public school system needs investments</h2>
<p>Canada is also <a href="https://theconversation.com/provinces-should-act-fast-to-avert-a-teacher-shortage-now-and-after-covid-19-154930">seeing educators leaving the profession</a> and increased strike mobilization. In both countries, these are signs that the people doing the critical work of education feel that their conditions of work are unsustainable. </p>
<p>The benefits of a good public education system include a healthy community and democracy and therefore we need to ensure that students have access to them. Crowdfunding is one solution to help fill immediate resource shortages. At the same time, we also need to demand policies that make necessary investments in our public schools.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/196104/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Rachel K. Brickner does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Gifting teachers through crowdfunding sites may make an immediate difference but can’t compensate for underfunding and inequitable funding of public schools.Rachel K. Brickner, Professor of Politics, Acadia UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1619562022-06-22T07:31:05Z2022-06-22T07:31:05ZThe school Cat Stevens built: how Conservative politicians opposed funding for Muslim schools in England<p>When Yusuf Islam – the artist formerly known as Cat Stevens – had his first child, he wrote her <a href="https://catstevens.com/media/songs/a-is-for-allah/">a song</a>. Her name was Hasanah and the song was a kind of ABC of the Muslim faith: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>A is for Allah, nothing but Allah … Ka is for kalima, a word we’re taught to teach us what is good and what is not.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>It became <a href="https://www.thenationalnews.com/arts-culture/music/songs-of-praise-12-of-the-best-nasheed-songs-to-hear-this-ramadan-from-yusuf-islam-to-nusrat-fateh-ali-khan-1.1013618">a hit</a> across the Muslim world. But, as the artist explained <a href="https://www.mosaicnetwork.co.uk/mosaic-q-and-a-with-yusuf-islam/">in a 2015 interview</a>, he needed to go further than that.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>I suddenly thought ‘Hang on, what school am I going to send her to?’ … I had a job to teach my child not only to be academically successful, but how to live. </p>
</blockquote>
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<p>Hasanah was born in 1980, by which point England had a <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/01419870600665284">substantial Muslim population</a>. Stevens, who had converted to Islam in 1977 and adopted his new name in 1978, was an increasingly prominent figure in London’s Muslim community. Along with his wife, Fauzia Mubarak Ali, and a group of friends, in 1983 he set up a small primary school in a house in Brondesbury Park, in the north-west of the city. It was to be run by the Islamic Circle Organisation. And according to the minutes of a June 1985 meeting between Yusuf Islam and Brent council’s education committee, the admissions policy was that “parents of a child should be dedicated to Islam and Islamic education”. </p>
<p>The Islamia primary school was <a href="https://www.proquest.com/docview/186575421/pageviewPDF/6ADC26A0BF2945B8PQ/1?accountid=8630">not the only</a> Muslim private school in England. Nor was it the only <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-muslim-faith-schools-are-teaching-tolerance-and-respect-through-islamicised-curriculum-32239">Muslim school</a> considering an application for state funding in the 1980s. There were other schools in <a href="https://www.newspapers.com/image/259893095/">Batley</a>, Bradford, and in the London borough of <a href="https://theguardian.newspapers.com/image/260124136/?terms=london%20school%20of%20islamics&match=1">Newham</a>. </p>
<p>For my PhD research, I have extensively consulted files from the Department of Education and Science (DES) in England, as the Department for Education was known between 1964 and 1992. The documents I have studied are held in the National Archives and in local government files in archives around England. </p>
<p>What set Islamia apart was the fact that it was founded by non-immigrant converts who had the knowledge and the clout to effectively navigate the British education system. Despite this, and even before the school’s application was submitted, my research <a href="https://eprints.bbk.ac.uk/id/eprint/40375/1/Helen%20Carr%20Final%20Thesis%20for%20Printing.pdf">shows</a> that the UK government decided that Muslim schools should not receive state funding – even though they were arguably legally entitled to it.</p>
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<p>I found that in 1988 the DES engineered a new criterion by which to judge whether schools should receive state funding. The application was subsequently turned down without the DES having to engage on deeper questions about the position of Muslims in British society. </p>
<p>It is hard not to interpret this as Islamophobic discrimination by the state. This interpretation is bolstered by research. In a 1995 comparative study of Islamic schools in England and the Netherlands, scholars Claire Dwyer and Astrid Meyer <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/1369183X.1995.9976471">found that</a> Muslims were treated “in isolation from the principle of religious state-funded schooling in other denominations”. </p>
<p>To put this in context, in 1985, there were roughly <a href="https://hansard.parliament.uk/commons/1985-07-19/debates/f65e6a07-cbe3-406f-b746-7dbab06889c7/Voluntary-AidedAndChurchSchools">8,000 voluntary schools in England</a> (both aided and controlled, a distinction which refers to the relative level of autonomy and the extent of the state funding.) The vast majority of these voluntary schools were associated with a Christian foundation – either Anglican or Catholic – and a small minority were Jewish schools.</p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/288776/original/file-20190820-170910-8bv1s7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/288776/original/file-20190820-170910-8bv1s7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/288776/original/file-20190820-170910-8bv1s7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/288776/original/file-20190820-170910-8bv1s7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/288776/original/file-20190820-170910-8bv1s7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/288776/original/file-20190820-170910-8bv1s7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/288776/original/file-20190820-170910-8bv1s7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<p><strong><em>This story is part of Conversation Insights</em></strong>
<br><em>The Insights team generates <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/topics/insights-series-71218">long-form journalism</a> and is working with academics from different backgrounds who have been engaged in projects to tackle societal and scientific challenges.</em></p>
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<p>In the wake of the publication of The Satanic Verses in 1988, Iran’s supreme leader, the Ayatollah Khomeini, issued a fatwa against the author <a href="https://theconversation.com/thirty-years-on-why-the-satanic-verses-remains-so-controversial-102321">Salman Rushdie</a>. Analysising how the British government responded to British Muslims following the Rushdie affair, Dwyer and Meyer <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/1369183X.1995.9976471">argued</a> that, “Muslims are constructed as outsiders who need to understand the British way of life and their British citizenship is seen as conditional on their recognition of their responsibilities to the British state.”</p>
<p>Researchers have shown that such anti-Muslim sentiment stems from the <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1111/j.1467-954X.2008.00784.x">persistent</a> and – as the fallout from the 2014 <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-trojan-horse-affair-islamophobia-scholar-on-the-long-shadow-cast-by-the-scandal-176281">Trojan Horse scandal</a> in Birmingham demonstrates – harmful idea that Islam is in opposition to western values. </p>
<p>In Birmingham in 2014, an anonymous letter sent to the city council alleged a plot by fundamentalist Muslims, dubbed Operation Trojan Horse, to wrest control of local schools. Numerous subsequent <a href="https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/340526/HC_576_accessible_-.pdf">investigations </a>found no evidence to support this claim, but the scandal <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/01425692.2017.1406334?journalCode=cbse20">continues</a> nonetheless to <a href="https://archive.discoversociety.org/2014/07/01/operation-trojan-horse-how-a-hoax-problematised-muslims-and-islam/">adversely impact</a> Muslim communities in the city. </p>
<h2>Islamia primary school’s battle to expand</h2>
<p>When the Islamia school first opened in 1983, it was a nursery catering for a mere <a href="https://www.brondesburycollege.co.uk/the-school/history/">13 children</a>. It quickly outgrew the house in which it was located and, according to its own <a href="https://www.islamiaschools.com/the-school/history/">history</a>, was substantially oversubscribed: the demand was there for more places. </p>
<p>To be eligible for funding, as a primary school, it needed to be able to cater for at least 175 pupils. Created by the 1944 Education Act, voluntary-aided status applied to religious schools which met certain criteria and submitted to state monitoring. If successful in their applications, schools received a substantial proportion of capital costs and 100% of running costs. </p>
<p>Amid discussions with the council about becoming voluntary-aided, the school’s first task was to secure suitable premises which would allow it to expand. </p>
<p>Having the local authority on board was crucial in this process, but negotiating with Brent Council in the 1980s was not an easy thing to do. In his book, <a href="https://www.waterstones.com/book/stepping-on-white-corns/dr-james-g-moher/9780955710704">Stepping on White Corns</a>, former Brent councillor and social historian James Moher explores the history of Brent in the 1980s and 1990s. He quotes local journalist Bill Montgomery, who, in an article in the Willesden and Brent Chronicle dated July 12, 1985, described the council chamber at the time as “a cross between a bullfight and visiting an institution for the criminally insane”.</p>
<p>Archival records show that the council was initially somewhat resistant to supporting Islamia. It took the school to task on subjects of race, Darwininsm in the curriculum, how women are treated in Islam and the qualifications of teaching staff. </p>
<p>Minutes from a meeting on June 3, 1985, between Yusuf Islam and Brent Council’s education committee – held in the Brent local archives – record that Islam stated that the prophet Mohammed said that it was “incumbent on all Muslims, men and women, to seek knowledge” and that the mixing of sexes was allowed before puberty in Islam. Though the records do not specify to what exactly this was in response to, the meeting minutes list Yusuf Islam’s statement under the heading “Equal Opportunities”, suggesting that this point was raised in response to questions about Brent Council’s equal opportunities policies. Yusuf Islam also stated that the school’s curriculum intended to meet DES requirements; that three quarters of teachers at the school already had the requisite qualifications; and that the remaining teachers would follow suit. </p>
<p>After multiple meetings, in April 1986, the council’s education committee finally agreed to lend the school its support in its bid to expand and apply for voluntary-aided status. This indicates that at local authority level, the school was deemed to have met the educational threshold for state funding. </p>
<p>Yusuf Islam was <a href="http://www.salaam.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/lslamia-Primary-School-Brent-delays-it-again.-January-1987-.pdf">reportedly overjoyed</a>. In a 1987 issue of Inquiry magazine, he was quoted as saying: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>We hope that Brent will set the trend for other multireligious, multicultural boroughs in the country. Brent Council is proving that it intends to live up to its declared policy of equal treatment for all. </p>
</blockquote>
<h2>Difficulties at planning stage</h2>
<p>That joy was to be shortlived. The education committee might have been on board, but the main struggle, at council level, was about planning applications. While Islamia first submitted its application in August 1986, it was only considered months later, in January 1987. </p>
<p>In a non-bylined article entitled “Anti Muslim claim as Brent drags its heels” in the Willesden and Brent Chronicle, dated November 21, 1986, the Islamic Circle Organisation was quoted as saying: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>This is widely regarded within Brent’s 15,000 strong Muslim community as open discrimination by a Labour-controlled borough pledged to fight racism and blatant proof that segments of the local Labour party seem determined to hinder the school’s progress as much as possible.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The school’s application to expand was initially refused. The council reasoned that having a larger school in a residential area would be noisy and obtrusive for neighbouring properties. It would lead to a loss of outlook and privacy and also bring extra traffic. The fact that the school was a Muslim school did not arise explicitly. </p>
<p>It would perhaps be remiss to not consider this refusal in the light of wider concerns among Brent Council’s ranks about Islamia. The decision to deny the school permission to expand was taken within the wider context of discussions about the school’s application for state funding. This application is mentioned in the minutes of the planning department (officially, the Development Control Sub-Committee). </p>
<p>Those involved with the school were duly sceptical about the development sub-committee’s motives. In the Willesden and Brent Chronicle, Yusuf Islam commented that the 19 Christian and Jewish denominational schools in the area were partly supported by rates and taxes paid by Muslims:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>This is grossly unfair. The decision to refuse planning permission for a new extension to Islamia primary school for fear of extra traffic and noise goes against all human logic and is clearly an act of discrimination. </p>
</blockquote>
<h2>Application for voluntary-aided status</h2>
<p>The school persisted in its bid to expand. By mid-1989, the council had finally granted it permission to move to new premises in Queens Park, that could house the requisite 175 pupils. The school’s application for state funding, however, was no less fraught a process. </p>
<p>In outlining the requirements for schools to obtain voluntary-aided status, the 1944 Education Act did not specify religions or denominations. Theoretically all, including Muslims, were eligible. However, the negotiations over state-funded faith schools, which led to the creation of the voluntary-aided category of schools in the 1944 act, were held between the Board of Education and leaders of Christian and Jewish communities in England. Muslim community leaders were not consulted.</p>
<p>In 1988, the <a href="https://yesodeyhatorah.org">Yesodey Hatorah school</a>, a Charedi orthodox Jewish school in Hackney, London, applied to be voluntary-aided. Archival materials show there was concern at the Schools Branch II (the branch of the DES that oversaw the educational needs of children from ethnic minorities) that approving Yesodey Hatorah’s application could trigger applications from other minority religious communities. The same materials mentioned the impending Islamia application, before commenting that “the Secretary of State will wish to consider whether such a signal would be appropriate”. </p>
<p>This sentiment was repeated in meeting minutes dated February 3, 1988. These suggested that approval of the Yesodey Hatorah application would be a “signal that narrowly religious schools can be given a place in the maintained sector”, before mentioning – yet again – Islamia. The minutes then went on to state that “many of the other 17 Muslim independent schools would consider following suit” and that if “Yesodey Hatorah is accepted there would arguably be a case for ‘come one, come all’”. Ministers should be aware of the implications, the note cautioned. </p>
<h2>The surplus-places criterion</h2>
<p>When the Islamia school applied, it did indeed face opposition. The application was twice <a href="https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/Geo6/7-8/31/section/15/enacted">denied</a> – first in May 1990 and then on appeal, in 1993. In both instances, the reason given was that there were surplus school places in the borough and, consequently, no case for establishing a new school. </p>
<p>My research shows that this surplus-places criterion was in fact introduced, in the spring of 1988, in response, precisely, to Islamia’s ambitions. Specifically, held in the National Archives is a series of drafts and redrafts of a 1988 DES briefing paper, as well as extensive notes and correspondence about the question of state-funded religious schooling. Together, these documents reveal that the requirement for there to be no surplus school places in an area in order for a new school to be granted funding, was added only after the DES had determined that it was unlikely to be able to refuse Islamia on existing criteria (regarding curriculum, premises and admissions). </p>
<p>On May 20, 1988, a meeting took place between the secretary of state for education, Kenneth Baker, and the home secretary, Douglas Hurd. The minutes of this meeting are held in the Schools Branch II file in the National Archives relating to the Yesodey Hatorah School. </p>
<p>Baker questioned whether it was right for the government to provide assistance for schools which, as he put it, “specifically set out to teach children a different way of life from the country at large”. He mentioned “the strict Muslim teaching with regard to the role of women”. This chimes with other concerns voiced in the media and among politicians at the time. </p>
<h2>Government fear of ‘extreme sects’</h2>
<p>The DES minutes of the meeting state that the home secretary’s view was that the secretary of state for education should refuse applications for voluntary-aided schools by “extreme sects” where he had grounds for thinking that they would “emphasise separateness”. </p>
<p>As government reports, including the <a href="http://www.educationengland.org.uk/documents/swann/swann1985.html">1985 Swann report</a>, show, the fear at the time was that if so-called separate schools grew in numbers, it would lead to “de facto racial segregation”, to quote a 1990 report entitled Schools of faith: religious schools in a multicultural society (a copy of which is <a href="http://explore.bl.uk/primo_library/libweb/action/display.do?tabs=moreTab&ct=display&fn=search&doc=BLL01012044701&indx=1&recIds=BLL01012044701&recIdxs=0&elementId=0&renderMode=poppedOut&displayMode=full&frbrVersion=&frbg=&&dscnt=0&scp.scps=scope%3A%28BLCONTENT%29&vl(2084770704UI0)=any&tb=t&vid=BLVU1&mode=Basic&srt=rank&tab=local_tab&dum=true&vl(freeText0)=schools%20of%20faith&dstmp=1645430225060">in the British Library</a>). </p>
<p>The first draft of the briefing paper, written by Schools Branch II, outlined Baker’s views. In it, the secretary of state for education argues that were he to approve the Yesodey Hatorah proposal, “I would not find it easy thereafter to resist the demands, particularly of the Moslem [sic] community, for separate schools”. </p>
<p>Baker then says that he shall not be able to depend on finding educational reasons for rejecting such proposals. “The proposers will often be able to make a persuasive case that they will be able to comply with my requirements for aided status and their applications may have considerable educational strengths, as indeed has that of Yesodey Hatorah. The introduction of the national curriculum in the maintained sector will provide a surer base on which to judge whether applicants are putting forward sound proposals, but it would be unwise to consider that they will prove unwilling or unable to do so.” </p>
<p>A subsequent redraft of the paper then states, “there will need to be not only a denominational need for new school places but an overall need for such places in the area of the local education authority (LEA).” </p>
<p>During a discussion in the spring of 1988 regarding the drafting and redrafting of this briefing paper, as recorded in the DES file in the National Archives, the question was raised as to whether schools should demonstrate that they were already teaching a suitable curriculum – in line with the national curriculum – or whether they should show that they would do so once they received the funding. BM Norbury, a member of Schools Branch II, noted that, “to this layman, Islamia primary school in Brent might qualify even under this criterion”. </p>
<p>It is clear then that at both local authority and governmental levels, the Islamia school had been found likely to be able to meet the stated requirements for receiving voluntary-aided status. The DES had effectively decided not that it should approve state funding for Islamia, but that it should seek other justifications for refusing it. The surplus-places criterion provided this. </p>
<p>Tellingly, and by contrast, subsequent archival documents reveal that that same surplus-places criterion was not applied to Yesodey Hatorah or to other <a href="https://www.kkshs.uk/">Jewish schools</a>, which were approved in the early 1990s on the basis of denominational, but not overall, need. </p>
<p>A DES internal note, dated July 1988 and held in the National Archives, explicitly stated that “the fact that there were surplus places in voluntary and county schools in the area should not be a material factor in determining the Yesodey Hatorah application.” Those surplus places, the note specified, were the Inner London Education Authority’s responsibility: “They would not be filled by the children who attended the Yesodey Hatorah schools.” In other words, the exception made for the children of this Jewish faith-based school was not extended to those from Islamia, a Muslim faith-based school. </p>
<h2>Muslims in Britain</h2>
<p>By the time the Islamia school had submitted its application for state funding, the Rushdie affair was in full swing. The Times Educational Supplement couched these governmental decisions in what it called “a jittery religious and political climate”, amid the growth of Islamic fundamentalism. </p>
<p>A debate about the place of Muslims in Britain was unfolding in the press. In May 1989, a Times newspaper leader column opposed state-funded Muslim schools, asserting that “Islam is not a European faith, and indeed defines itself as a separate and comprehensive civilisation at odds with many key European cultural and political values”. </p>
<p>That same year, the home office minister, Tim Renton, gave a speech (the text of which is held in the National Archives) to the Coventry Conservative Anglo-Asians, in which he argued against state-funded Muslim schools. “In this country,” he said, “our tradition favours the equal treatment of women – affording girls the same educational and career chances as boys.”</p>
<p>Yet, as I have found, the one place that discussion was not playing out was between the state and Muslim schools. The government simply refused to explain why it did not want to fund them. </p>
<p>When John Greenway, Conservative MP for Ryedale, enquired on behalf of a constituent on January 11, 1989, the DES replied (in correspondence found in the National Archives) that he should assert the right of any religious group to apply for voluntary-aided schooling. Each school, the department’s response stated, would be considered according to its individual merits. </p>
<p>The archive shows that others enquiring about Muslim schooling at this point received similar responses. Another internal DES memo (held in the National Archives) refers to this response as “the standard line in explaining how the secretary of state will consider all applications for voluntary-aided status. It does not enter into debate on the case for and against Muslim schools”.</p>
<p>Paddy Ashdown, then leader of the Liberal Democrats, according to the Muslim News in August 1991, put it bluntly: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>The present government is indeed operating double standards over the granting of voluntary-aided status to Muslim schools. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>This only confirmed what some people in Muslim communities had long suspected. As Islamia co-founder Ibrahim Hewitt said, in an article in the Times Educational Supplement from November 1, 1991, the approval of funding for Jewish schools at this time showed “that there is one law for one group and another law for another group”. </p>
<p>When Islamia school’s application for state funding was refused, for a second time in 1993, Yusuf Islam <a href="https://www.upi.com/Archives/1993/08/19/Muslim-school-denied-state-funding-in-Britain/4790745732800/">reportedly expressed frustration</a> at this double standard. He noted that around 4,000 Christian and Jewish schools were recipients of government funding. “We have seen it all before,” he said. “We are now in danger of closing because of the lack of funds.” </p>
<p>And when it emerged, in August 1994, that the Jewish Hasmonean primary school, a nearby establishment in the London Borough of Barnet, had been approved for voluntary-aided status shortly after Islamia’s second refusal, these feelings of rejection among the Muslim communities were only amplified. </p>
<p>The Hasmonean decision had been kept secret for several months. Ahmed Versi, editor of the Muslim News, called the government out. In a Times Education Supplement article, dated August 5, 1994, he said: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>This is discriminatory. Unfortunately, Muslims are not protected because there is no specific law of religious discrimination, so we cannot take the government to court. </p>
</blockquote>
<h2>The first state-funded Muslim school</h2>
<p>The Islamia school did not see itself as a separate school. From the outset it consistently aimed to work with the state education system. This is evidenced as early as 1986, in the introduction to the school’s proposal for new premises: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>We have been trying to obtain voluntary-aided status, wanting –- as we do –- to “opt-in” to the LEA –- because we value the input that the LEA provides. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>A similar sentiment was expressed in an oral submission the Islamia School Trust made to Brent Council’s working party on post-primary reorganisation in 1988. </p>
<blockquote>
<p>The trust wished to be involved in the education system of the authority. It wished to dispel the feeling of the school being a ghetto institution outside the norms. In addition, the school wished to be able to benefit from the advisory and support services which the authority was able to offer.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>And in 1994, even as he accused the government of discrimination and fear of Islam, principle Azam Baig reiterated the school’s aim: “We don’t want to be a Saudi school or a Libyan school or a Pakistani school,” <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1994/01/06/muslim-school-seeks-aid-status-in-uneasy-london/f10ce330-305d-47ba-9b70-71581d655b87/">he told the Washington Post</a>. “No, we want to be a British school.”</p>
<p>When asked, <a href="https://www.mosaicnetwork.co.uk/mosaic-q-and-a-with-yusuf-islam">in a 2015 interview</a>, how he came to set up the Islamia school in the first place, Yusuf Islam commented that as a proactive person, he didn’t rely on others to do what he needed to do. “We didn’t know how successful it would be,” he said, “the intention was to simply provide for my child.” </p>
<p>His dedication to seeing it through was complete. He was there every morning, helping out with PE and admin. As the headmaster <a href="https://majicat.com/yusufislam/aramco.html">put it</a> once in the school’s early years, “Yusuf is totally devoted and this is his mission”. The Washington Post feature of 1994 noted that, despite tuition fees and private donations, he personally remained the school’s primary benefactor.</p>
<p>That dedication paid off. Finally, in 1998, the Islamia school was eventually <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/muslim-schools-win-historic-fight-for-state-funding-1137679.html">granted state funding</a>. </p>
<p>Along with the Al Furqan School in Birmingham, Islamia was <a href="https://www.islamiaschools.com/the-school/history/">the first Muslim school in the UK</a> to achieve this. It had taken over a decade of, as Yusuf Islam’s website puts it, “ceaseless campaigning”.</p>
<p>Reporting on the decision, the Times Education Supplement commented that, “for the Muslims, the decision marks a milestone. One of the main religions in Britain, it is the only one to have been consistently rejected for public funding for its schools”. A further comment piece in the paper argued that Muslim schools had felt largely ignored by the educational establishment and had seemed somewhat isolated and defensive. </p>
<p>It is a sentiment for which, as I have shown, there were undeniable grounds. It is also a sentiment borne out by the treatment of Muslims in the Trojan Horse affair in Birmingham, most recently aired in the eponymous New York Times and Serial investigative collaboration, The <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/culture/podcast-dept/the-trojan-horse-affair-works-best-when-studying-itself">Trojan Horse Affair podcast</a>. That scandal has cast a shadow so long as to, <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-trojan-horse-affair-islamophobia-scholar-on-the-long-shadow-cast-by-the-scandal-176281">in the words of extremism scholar Chris Allen</a>, have the potential to stigmatise an entire generation of Muslims. </p>
<p>In 2010, <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna11729800">NBC journalist Jennifer Carlile</a> noted that the Islamia primary school now counted 3,500 children on its waiting list and Prince Charles and Muhammed Ali among its friends. “It sets the standards,” Carlile wrote,“ for budding non-Christian state-funded schools.” </p>
<p>If that reads like a victory of sorts, there is no question that it was hard-earned. The Islamophobic suspicion at governmental level that long plagued Islamia – despite its evident success as an educational institution – <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-37484358">persisted</a> well into the 21st century. </p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/313478/original/file-20200204-41481-1n8vco4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/313478/original/file-20200204-41481-1n8vco4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=112&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/313478/original/file-20200204-41481-1n8vco4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=112&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/313478/original/file-20200204-41481-1n8vco4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=112&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/313478/original/file-20200204-41481-1n8vco4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=140&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/313478/original/file-20200204-41481-1n8vco4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=140&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/313478/original/file-20200204-41481-1n8vco4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=140&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
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<li><p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/londons-olympic-legacy-research-reveals-why-2-2-billion-investment-in-primary-school-pe-has-failed-teachers-178809?utm_source=TCUK&utm_medium=linkback&utm_campaign=TCUKengagement&utm_content=InsightsUK">London’s Olympic legacy: research reveals why £2.2 billion investment in primary school PE has failed teachers</a></em></p></li>
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<p><em>To hear about new Insights articles, join the hundreds of thousands of people who value The Conversation’s evidence-based news. <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/newsletters/the-daily-newsletter-2?utm_source=TCUK&utm_medium=linkback&utm_campaign=TCUKengagement&utm_content=InsightsUK"><strong>Subscribe to our newsletter</strong></a>.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/161956/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Helen Carr does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Archival documents show that in the 1980s, British education officials refused to engage with Muslim communities about funding faith-based schooling.Helen Carr, Lecturer in Secondary History Education, University of BirminghamLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1834522022-05-24T20:05:05Z2022-05-24T20:05:05ZAlmost 60% of teachers say they want out. What is Labor going to do for an exhausted school sector?<p>During the 2022 federal election campaign, <a href="https://theconversation.com/kids-dont-vote-but-teachers-and-parents-sure-do-what-are-the-parties-offering-on-schools-182597">schools barely rated a mention</a>. </p>
<p>While the Labor government’s cabinet will not be finalised until next week, we expect Tanya Plibersek to become education minister. She will have plenty to do. </p>
<p>The education sector presents the new government with several pressing challenges. These range from <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/00049441221086654">teacher shortages</a> to concerns about school funding and student and teacher safety and well-being. </p>
<p>Here are some of the good, the bad, and the missing from Labor’s existing plans. </p>
<h2>The good</h2>
<p>With COVID still circulating widely, <a href="https://openletter.earth/open-letter-we-must-continue-to-protect-all-australians-e2e85395">health experts say there is more to be done</a> to ensure students and teachers are safe in schools. </p>
<p>To answer this call, Labor has promised A$440 million for new ventilation systems and open-air learning spaces, as well as support for mental health services. This is a good start. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/its-almost-like-a-second-home-why-students-want-schools-to-do-more-about-mental-health-179644">'It's almost like a second home': why students want schools to do more about mental health</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Labor will also spend <a href="https://www.alp.org.au/policies/safe-kids-are-esmart-kids">$6 million</a> on a digital licence for school students. As Plibersek explained, “this is the pen licence for the digital age”, helping kids stay safe and use the internet wisely. There will also be a program for secondary students to think more critically online.</p>
<p>Schools and parents are likely to embrace this initiative, especially given how much virtual and in-person learning have become intertwined during the pandemic. However, some computer experts say it needs <a href="https://news.csu.edu.au/opinion/proposed-$6-million-esmart-digital-license-program-not-enough-to-keep-children-safe">greater funding</a> to be effective. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Tanya Plibersek speaks to school children." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/464907/original/file-20220524-21-iwjk34.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/464907/original/file-20220524-21-iwjk34.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/464907/original/file-20220524-21-iwjk34.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/464907/original/file-20220524-21-iwjk34.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/464907/original/file-20220524-21-iwjk34.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/464907/original/file-20220524-21-iwjk34.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/464907/original/file-20220524-21-iwjk34.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">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Tanya Plibersek has been Labor’s education spokesperson since 2016, and is expected to be the new education minister.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Glenn Hunt/AAP</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Labor’s proposal also focuses on individual student privacy and safety, which some experts <a href="https://theconversation.com/if-only-politicians-focused-on-the-school-issues-that-matter-this-election-is-a-chance-to-get-them-to-do-that-177554">claim oversimplifies the issue</a>. </p>
<p>There is <a href="https://educationhq.com/news/what-are-the-dangers-tech-companies-influence-growing-in-schools-expert-warns-118621/">mounting concern</a> about the increased involvement of private ed-tech companies in education. A recent <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/17508487.2020.1855597?casa_token=PhiHO4ZRgJ8AAAAA%3AXdErgDJYQVQmnqGtdS-gY8hGp1Ein3fpryyluK8te5LN9AYqKE59vxDJMhbCqoZNZA8EjETReOGa">analysis</a> found that data collected through Google Classroom, for example, can be used for improving other Google products. As these actors play an increasingly important role in schools, the government has a responsibility to make sure private involvement is held to account and monitored closely. </p>
<h2>The bad</h2>
<p>The greatest emergency in education right now is the growing <a href="https://www.sydney.edu.au/news-opinion/news/2022/01/19/covid-and-schools-australia-teacher-shortage-crisis-education-expert.html">teacher shortage across Australia</a>. </p>
<p>Teachers are leaving the profession in record numbers, with no end in sight for when this might turn around. Monash University education researcher Amanda Heffernan and colleagues <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/00049441221086654">recently surveyed</a> 2,444 Australian primary and secondary school teachers, and found a staggering 59% said they intended to leave the profession. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/covid-and-schools-australia-is-about-to-feel-the-full-brunt-of-its-teacher-shortage-174885">COVID and schools: Australia is about to feel the full brunt of its teacher shortage</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Labor campaigned on this awareness but offered a solution that many experts warn is misguided. The <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2022/may/09/labor-to-announce-scholarship-plan-for-high-achieving-students-to-become-teachers">plan</a> is to offer high-achievers (based on ATAR scores over 80) $10,000 per year of study to do an education degree. Students who commit to remote teaching will be offered $12,000 per year. </p>
<p>Labor is right to acknowledge this looming crisis, and to consider financial supplements as a potential remedy. However, the proposal fundamentally misunderstands the reasons teachers are leaving in droves. </p>
<p>Their narrow focus on recruitment <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/00049441221086654">fails to address</a> the unbearable workloads, poor working conditions and excessive testing that created the problem in the first place. Teachers are feeling <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/0305764X.2021.2002811">demoralised, exhausted and undervalued</a>, which has only been exacerbated by increased responsibilities during COVID. </p>
<p>Since the time of the announcement, no education expert or major teacher organisation has publicly praised this initiative, which is quite telling. If Labor ignores the root causes of declining retention numbers, and fails to establish a long-term and meaningful recruitment strategy, this problem will continue to worsen over the coming years. </p>
<h2>What’s missing?</h2>
<p>Labor has been surprisingly quiet on the issue of school funding, despite this being one of its <a href="https://www.theage.com.au/politics/federal/labor-commits-to-fully-funding-gonski-as-part-of-election-year-education-reform-plan-20160128-gmfovf.html">major priorities in the past</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A teacher speaks to primary students, who are sitting on the floor." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/464909/original/file-20220524-43418-xdk3at.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/464909/original/file-20220524-43418-xdk3at.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/464909/original/file-20220524-43418-xdk3at.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/464909/original/file-20220524-43418-xdk3at.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/464909/original/file-20220524-43418-xdk3at.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/464909/original/file-20220524-43418-xdk3at.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/464909/original/file-20220524-43418-xdk3at.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">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">School funding has been an elephant in the room during the campaign.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Erik Anderson/AAP</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Concern about inequitable funding between government and non-government schools continues to be a hot topic for <a href="https://theconversation.com/still-waiting-for-gonski-a-great-book-about-the-sorry-tale-of-school-funding-178016">education experts and parents alike</a>. Earlier this year, public school advocacy group Save our Schools <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2022/feb/16/private-school-funding-has-increased-at-five-times-rate-of-public-schools-analysis-shows">analysed</a> ten years of funding data. It found funding for public schools increased by $703 per student, while Catholic and independent schools increased by $3,338 per student. </p>
<p>Now with concerns over “learning loss” from COVID, these disparities are even more troubling. Therefore, it is disappointing Labor hasn’t more forcefully addressed the need for greater equity of funding and resources across the various school sectors. </p>
<p>However, with the Greens potentially <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/green-wave-in-brisbane-gives-party-influence-over-labor-government-20220521-p5ancv.html">having more influence</a> in federal parliament, this issue may receive more attention. The Greens campaigned on fully funding the <a href="https://theconversation.com/catholic-schools-arent-all-the-same-and-gonski-2-0-reflects-this-93722">Gonski recommendations</a> with a promise of $49 billion for public schools. </p>
<h2>What now?</h2>
<p>There are other important issues glossed over in Labor’s education plans, which also boil down to equity. </p>
<p>At the top of this list is the need to redress the historically under-resourced schools that primarily serve Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students. Similarly, schools are becoming <a href="https://theconversation.com/australian-schools-are-becoming-more-segregated-this-threatens-student-outcomes-155455">more segregated</a> based on students’ relative advantage. This means disadvantaged students are concentrated in disadvantaged schools, which has big implications for students’ achievement and a “fair go”. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/3-big-issues-in-higher-education-demand-the-new-governments-attention-183349">3 big issues in higher education demand the new government's attention</a>
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<p>Having Labor education ministers at the federal and most of the state levels might mean greater policy coherence overall. However, I would be reluctant to predict a complete ceasefire over some contentious matters, such as the ongoing <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/national-curriculum-wars-important-to-ensure-the-best-outcome-for-kids-acara-boss-20220301-p5a0km.html">curriculum wars</a>.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/183452/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jessica Holloway receives funding from the Australian Research Council. </span></em></p>Schools barely rated a mention in the election campaign. But the incoming Albanese government faces a sector in crisis.Jessica Holloway, Senior Research DECRA Fellow, Institute for Learning Sciences and Teacher Education, Australian Catholic UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1825972022-05-17T20:01:18Z2022-05-17T20:01:18ZKids don’t vote but teachers and parents sure do – what are the parties offering on schools?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/463502/original/file-20220517-15-umj8ik.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Bianca De Marchi/AAP</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The 2022 election campaign has not exactly been a policy fest. And one critical area we have heard very little about is schools. </p>
<p>This is surprising and concerning. Not only have schools and students weathered two years of disruptions under COVID, but the sector faces serious issues, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2018/feb/25/report-revealing-australias-educational-decline-a-real-worry-says-birmingham">including a drop in student performance</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/higher-salaries-might-attract-teachers-but-pay-isnt-one-of-the-top-10-reasons-for-leaving-177825">teacher retention</a>, inequity particularly for marginalised groups and <a href="https://theconversation.com/education-funding-is-unfair-and-public-schools-asking-parents-to-chip-in-makes-it-worse-157144">ongoing funding issues </a> dating back a decade.</p>
<p>There <a href="https://www.afr.com/policy/health-and-education/education-goes-missing-in-election-action-20220502-p5ahu4">has been speculation</a> the Coalition is hesitant to campaign on schools because education minister, Alan Tudge is <a href="https://theconversation.com/alan-tudge-will-not-return-to-education-post-178552">currently in career limbo</a> (and has been limiting his public appearances). </p>
<p>Meanwhile, Labor’s education spokesperson, Tanya Plibersek, appeared to be <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/the-chosen-and-the-frozen-plibersek-shorten-benched-during-labor-s-campaign-20220426-p5ag5a.html">initially frozen</a> out of the campaign, although in the past couple of weeks has been more visible.</p>
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<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/heres-what-the-major-parties-need-to-do-about-higher-education-this-election-180855">Here's what the major parties need to do about higher education this election</a>
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<p>Politics aside, what are the major parties offering? </p>
<p>The Coalition, ALP, and The Greens are all pledging a similar investment in mental health and well-being services, and support for respectful classrooms, particularly regarding violence against women. The largest difference between them is an (ongoing) <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-national-history-curriculum-should-not-be-used-and-abused-as-an-election-issue-176783">ideological divide</a> when it comes to the curriculum. Meanwhile, the big issues go ignored.</p>
<h2>The Coalition</h2>
<p>The Coalition is focusing its efforts on “<a href="https://www.liberal.org.au/our-plan-raising-school-standards">raising school standards</a>” and “improving the quality of teacher training”. </p>
<p>This includes creating a one-year diploma for <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/calls-for-the-return-of-the-one-year-teaching-qualification-20210625-p584bo.html">initial teacher education</a>. Given the current demands on accreditation bodies, this might create administrative burden. It would also need schools to shoulder a greater responsibility for “on-the-job” training.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Prime Minister Scott Morrison during a school visit in Sydney in December 2021." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/463498/original/file-20220517-16-1yg8aw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/463498/original/file-20220517-16-1yg8aw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/463498/original/file-20220517-16-1yg8aw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/463498/original/file-20220517-16-1yg8aw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/463498/original/file-20220517-16-1yg8aw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/463498/original/file-20220517-16-1yg8aw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/463498/original/file-20220517-16-1yg8aw.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">Prime Minister Scott Morrison during a school visit in Sydney in December 2021.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Bianca De Marchi/AAP</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The Coalition also has a focus on traditional skills such as literacy, numeracy and STEM, with a clear focus on what the LNP terms “traditional classrooms”, which one can assume to be of students seated in rows with a single classroom teacher. There is an emphasis on Christian and ANZAC content and <a href="https://theconversation.com/explainer-what-is-phonics-and-why-is-it-important-70522">phonics</a> for reading. </p>
<p>It also includes specified teaching methods through explicit instruction, which is the teacher standing at the front providing information for students to learn rather than explore or discover.</p>
<p>They also have pledged A$61.4 million <a href="https://theconversation.com/school-chaplains-may-be-cheaper-than-psychologists-but-we-dont-have-enough-evidence-of-their-impact-148521">to continue the school chaplaincy program</a>. </p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/if-only-politicians-focused-on-the-school-issues-that-matter-this-election-is-a-chance-to-get-them-to-do-that-177554">If only politicians focused on the school issues that matter. This election is a chance to get them to do that</a>
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<h2>The Labor Party</h2>
<p>Labor’s <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2022/may/09/labor-to-announce-scholarship-plan-for-high-achieving-students-to-become-teachers">headline policy</a> is to offer students with an ATAR score over 80 up to $12,000 a year to study education. </p>
<p>This is part of the party’s bid to improve teacher standards, although it has been <a href="https://www.theeducatoronline.com/k12/news/will-cash-payments-entice-more-people-into-the-role-of-teaching/280172">criticised by experts</a> who say it implies the current teacher workforce is not up to scratch, which could be interpreted as quite insulting.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Labor leader Anthony Albanese and education spokesperson Tanya Plibersek visit Albanese's old school in Sydney." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/463499/original/file-20220517-18-f00tpl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/463499/original/file-20220517-18-f00tpl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/463499/original/file-20220517-18-f00tpl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/463499/original/file-20220517-18-f00tpl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/463499/original/file-20220517-18-f00tpl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/463499/original/file-20220517-18-f00tpl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/463499/original/file-20220517-18-f00tpl.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">Labor leader Anthony Albanese and education spokesperson Tanya Plibersek visit Albanese’s old school in Sydney on day 29 of the campaign.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Lukas Coch/AAP</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Like the Coalition, it also offers no significant investment or policy to address current staffing shortages or teacher workloads – this is presumably being left to the states to “fix”. </p>
<p>Labor <a href="https://www.alp.org.au/policies/your-education">has promised $440 million</a> for building upgrades, improving air quality and mental health support. The ALP also made a $6 million commitment to <a href="https://www.news.com.au/technology/online/internet/children-to-get-digital-licence-to-use-the-internet-under-labor-plan/news-story/83831f1f924c24d0a253f0a0e32fa4a2">e-safety in schools</a>. In terms of the curriculum, the ALP provide little detail - they do not detail teaching methods or content.</p>
<h2>The Greens</h2>
<p>The <a href="https://greens.org.au/platform/education#public-schools">Greens</a> have pledged $49 billion to fully fund public schools to the <a href="https://theconversation.com/still-waiting-for-gonski-a-great-book-about-the-sorry-tale-of-school-funding-178016">Gonski model</a>. At the moment, public schools are funded to <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2022/feb/16/private-school-funding-has-increased-at-five-times-rate-of-public-schools-analysis-shows">only 90% </a>of their recommended school resource standard.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/still-waiting-for-gonski-a-great-book-about-the-sorry-tale-of-school-funding-178016">Still 'Waiting for Gonski' – a great book about the sorry tale of school funding</a>
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<p>Like Labor, they also promise $400 million for infrastructure, with an additional $224 million to improve air quality post COVID. </p>
<p>Uniquely, the Greens also have made a commitment to close segregated school settings, but have not costed this. Segregated settings are where particular groups of students are taught separate to mainstream students, such as schools for children with a disability. The United Nations and multiple research studies have <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/02671522.2020.1849372">highlighted significant issues</a> with this segregated settings.</p>
<h2>One Nation and the United Australia Party</h2>
<p>One Nation have <a href="https://www.onenation.org.au/education">very little policy</a> detail available on education. In one paragraph, they say they want to focus more on traditional values and teaching methods. Then they say they don’t want to see “Western, white, gender, guilt” shaming in the classroom but students should be taught the benefits of a “free-thinking” society.</p>
<p>Similar to One Nation, the United Australia Party has <a href="https://www.unitedaustraliaparty.org.au/national_policy/#EDUCATION">just a few</a> sentences of education policy, which is to remove HECS debt and inject $20 billion into education, although how this money can be used is left unspecified.</p>
<h2>The bigger picture</h2>
<p>Overall, the critical issues facing education have been left to the states to deal with.</p>
<p>There is new funding available, but neither the Coalition nor Labor are offering significant change from what we are currently doing in schools.</p>
<p>Both are looking at initial teacher education and thus the quality of teachers to improve results (which is highly denigrating to current teachers and does not support the current system). </p>
<p>But much more change is required. It’s important to note that additional funding over the past decade has not changed Australia’s educational decline. Tinkering with the curriculum has also <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00220620.2021.187250">not changed the decline</a>, and neither have previous attempts to so called improve “teacher quality”.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A bucket of glue sticks and sharpened pencils on a desk." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/463505/original/file-20220517-24-34r1gs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/463505/original/file-20220517-24-34r1gs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/463505/original/file-20220517-24-34r1gs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/463505/original/file-20220517-24-34r1gs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/463505/original/file-20220517-24-34r1gs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/463505/original/file-20220517-24-34r1gs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/463505/original/file-20220517-24-34r1gs.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">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Overall, the critical issues facing education have been left to the states to deal with.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Con Chronis/ AAP</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Genuine solutions would include an increase to teacher wages, relieve administrative workloads, and allow teacher to focus on planning and teaching within reasonable time requirements and greater support to <a href="https://www.education.act.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0010/1234657/Future-Of-Education-Why-does-educational-equity-matter.pdf">disadvantaged students</a>.</p>
<p>In other words, it needs a <a href="https://www.theeducatoronline.com/k12/news/what-can-be-done-to-improve-the-state-of-australian-education-in-2022/280141">significant reappraisal</a> of the schooling system and conditions for students and staff.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/planning-kids-you-should-know-the-major-parties-parental-leave-policies-before-you-vote-181785">Planning kids? You should know the major parties' parental leave policies before you vote</a>
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<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/182597/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>David Roy has and continues to work with and consult politicians in Education across all parties, without prejudice.</span></em></p>The 2022 election campaign has not exactly been a policy fest. And one critical area we have heard very little about is schools.David Roy, Lecturer in Education, University of NewcastleLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1819662022-05-04T09:27:21Z2022-05-04T09:27:21ZFive ways the new sustainability and climate change strategy for schools in England doesn’t match up to what young people actually want<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/460266/original/file-20220428-18-brzds4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=6%2C6%2C4087%2C2719&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Youth protestors in London in 2019.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/london-uk-united-kingdom-15th-february-1315212515">Ben Gingell/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The UK government has introduced a new <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/sustainability-and-climate-change-strategy/sustainability-and-climate-change-a-strategy-for-the-education-and-childrens-services-systems">sustainability and climate change strategy</a> for schools. However, our research shows that it does not go far enough to meet what young people and teachers want.</p>
<p>Last year, together with colleagues, we conducted <a href="https://bera-journals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/berj.3803">research</a> with over 200 teachers, teacher educators (the people who train teachers) and young people aged 16-18 from the UK to understand how they wanted schools to tackle sustainability and climate change. Participants were recruited via email and Twitter.</p>
<p>Our research allows us to assess how far the government’s new strategy aligns with what teachers and young people want. Here are five key things that teachers, teacher educators and young people would like to see in schools – and how the government’s sustainability and climate change strategy matches up. </p>
<h2>1. Sustainability education for all</h2>
<p>Many teachers already provide opportunities for pupils to learn about sustainability, such as eco-clubs, recycling projects and sustainable fashion shows. However, this work is optional and tends to happen outside the curriculum, meaning that not all young people have opportunities to take part.</p>
<p>Teachers and young people in our research wanted environmental sustainability to feature across the curriculum, not just in geography (which not all students study after the age of 14) and science.</p>
<p>The government’s strategy includes a new natural history GCSE, which will be taught from 2025. This will increase opportunities for young people to learn about the natural world and sustainability. However, this subject will be optional and so will not ensure that every young person has access to climate change and sustainability education, regardless of their age or subject choice. </p>
<p>The government’s new strategy does include other ways to learn about the environment. Pupils can take part in a climate leaders award, carrying out extra-curricular activities in connection with sustainability, but this is also optional. This means that environmental sustainability remains unlikely to be prioritised or to involve everyone. </p>
<h2>2. Training for teachers</h2>
<p>Teachers we spoke to wanted professional development opportunities so they could feel more confident teaching sustainability in the classroom. As one teacher said: “We can lack confidence because we are navigating this ourselves and do not feel like experts where we might in our subject.”</p>
<p>While the new strategy offers support for teachers through resources and training, there is no promise of time to access this, and there is no fundamental change to existing school or teacher education curriculums in England.</p>
<h2>3. Put knowledge into action</h2>
<p>Teachers and young people do not just want to pass on knowledge – they want to be able to make a difference. We heard that teachers and students wanted education to be more about critical thinking, data literacy, doing research, taking action and communicating and networking with others. As one young person said:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>We should be taught about big business and corporations - what their impact actually is. A lot of greenwashing goes on with big companies making individuals feel as if they are solely responsible … Education should empower us to demand change and to demand the rights we should have. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>The focus of the government’s strategy is on learning more about sustainability, climate change and the natural world, not empowering young people to act for the environment or challenging the root causes of climate change. </p>
<h2>4. Make schools sustainable</h2>
<p>Teachers and young people wanted greater attention to environmental sustainability in school operations, including handling of energy, waste, transport and food. There is currently little requirement for schools in England to learn about or act for environmental sustainability. </p>
<p>The government’s strategy focuses on net zero targets and promises action on waste by requiring schools to increase recycling and reduce landfill. It also promises at least four new low-carbon schools and one college. </p>
<p>In other aspects of school operations - food, transport and energy - there is encouragement and support in the strategy, which may or may not translate into action. </p>
<h2>5. Make schools community hubs for climate action</h2>
<p>Young people and teachers saw schools as community hubs where people from across different generations could take part in sustainability focused activities. They saw starting sustainability education with young children and incorporating this throughout their lives as vital.</p>
<p>Introducing the climate leaders award provides a way for the contribution young people are already making to environmental sustainability in schools and communities to be recognised and valued. The young people we worked with called for such a scheme and wanted it at no cost. However, the description of the climate leaders award in the government’s sustainability and climate change strategy references existing awards such as the <a href="https://www.dofe.org/">Duke of Edinburgh’s award</a>, which is <a href="https://www.dofe.org/do/costs/">not free of charge</a>. </p>
<p>Teachers and young people told us that at present, there is little support for environmental sustainability in education. The government’s new strategy does little to change this status quo.</p>
<p>We need further change to put sustainability and climate change at the heart of education. This could be done by climate change and sustainability into the core curriculum, making it part of exam specifications and school inspections and part of the core framework for teacher training – in other words, the things that teachers must prioritise.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/181966/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Dr Elizabeth Rushton received funding from the British Educational Research Association for this research project. She currently receives funding from the UKRI Economic and Social Research Council for other research relating to education and teacher professional development and from The Leverhulme Trust for research relating to climate resilience. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Lynda Dunlop currently receives funding from the Education Endowment Foundation, the Templeton World Charity Foundation, and the Economic and Social Sciences Research Council and the University of York.
She received funding from the British Educational Research Association for this research project. Principal partners on this research project included the Association for Science Education, Black Environment Network, Centre for Alternative Technology, Liverpool World Centre, Routes The Journal for Student Geographers, TEESNet (Teacher Education for Equity and Sustainability Network) and the University of Strathclyde. The manifesto was illustrated by Maisy Summer. </span></em></p>Teachers and young people told us that action was needed in classrooms, schools, communities and from the government.Elizabeth Rushton, Associate Professor of Education, UCLLynda Dunlop, Senior Lecturer in Science Education, University of YorkLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1775542022-03-20T19:01:51Z2022-03-20T19:01:51ZIf only politicians focused on the school issues that matter. This election is a chance to get them to do that<p>The political attention education issues are getting in the lead-up to the federal election may be an opportunity to demand politicians focus on issues that matter to schools and their communities. </p>
<p>Education has recently been characterised as a “<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-national-history-curriculum-should-not-be-used-and-abused-as-an-election-issue-176783">political football</a>”. The Coalition (LNP) government has focused on the <a href="https://theconversation.com/i-will-never-be-considered-human-the-devastating-trauma-lgbtq-people-suffer-in-religious-settings-176360">impacts of gender and sexuality legislation</a> on religious schools and <a href="https://theconversation.com/10-things-every-politician-should-know-about-history-170626">nationalistic history</a> as part of the Australian Curriculum. The Labor Party, should it win office, plans to <a href="https://www.news.com.au/technology/online/internet/children-to-get-digital-licence-to-use-the-internet-under-labor-plan/news-story/83831f1f924c24d0a253f0a0e32fa4a2">require students to get a “digital licence”</a> to protect them from online dangers. </p>
<p>Local school experiences, teachers’ expertise and the educational research that should inform Australian schooling will tell you these issues are all framed too simply. Some have <a href="https://www.aare.edu.au/blog/?p=11982">called on the media</a> to be more responsible in reporting education issues.</p>
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<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-national-history-curriculum-should-not-be-used-and-abused-as-an-election-issue-176783">The national history curriculum should not be used and abused as an election issue</a>
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<h2>So why do politicians focus on issues like these?</h2>
<p>The reason for building a political platform on moral panic is that politics today is tapping into a <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/1367877920912257">general fear of either change or being left behind</a>. This is a solid strategy, especially when <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-02-20/anxiety-young-people-is-increasing-across-australia-covid/100829836">anxiety is on the rise</a>. </p>
<p>The LNP’s issues of choice are typically conservative. They offer voters a <a href="https://www.aare.edu.au/blog/?p=7020">romanticised view of school</a> before rapid change swept the world. </p>
<p>The issue chosen by the ALP is typically progressive. It presents education as a process of catching up to overcome an uncertain future. But the ALP is also trying to play a romantic game by linking outdated, non-inclusive understandings of internet safety to outdated, non-inclusive “<a href="https://magiclinkhandwriting.com/the-sad-truth-behind-the-pen-licence/">pen licences</a>”.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1490444828567433221"}"></div></p>
<p>Understanding why politicians frame education in the ways they do can help teachers and parents make sense of the issues raised by the major parties. And if they understand what is happening, <a href="https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9781003145806-3/democracy-decline-developing-democratic-re-orientations-plurality-deliberation-bev-rogers">voters can apply localised pressure</a> to the parties in the election campaign.</p>
<h2>Why moral panics?</h2>
<p>Politicians are no longer connected to localised issues. The diversity and complexity of these issues, coupled with the ubiquity of information on the internet, present a problem for politicians trying to understand the “typical Australian”. So much information is available that it is difficult to know what policy promises to make. </p>
<p>To solve this problem, governments and political parties have drawn on a new class of knowledge brokers to decipher the information and make recommendations. Federal politicians use their partisan knowledge brokers, often employed at think tanks, to look for issues that appeal to their interpretation of the average Australian. These think tanks work as a buffer between politics and the public. </p>
<p>We are researching the effects that buffer organisations, like think tanks, have on education policy development and the politics that goes along with education reform. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/still-waiting-for-gonski-a-great-book-about-the-sorry-tale-of-school-funding-178016">Still 'Waiting for Gonski' – a great book about the sorry tale of school funding</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>We have concentrated <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14767724.2021.1882292">our research</a> at this stage on the partisan organisations. But even if they claim to be non-partisan, their work often reveals gaps in their knowledge about education issues.</p>
<p>For example, a recent <a href="https://grattan.edu.au/report/making-time-for-great-teaching-how-better-government-policy-can-help/">analysis of teachers’ workloads</a> recommended creating materials for teachers to use, so they could concentrate on how to teach, rather than what to teach. </p>
<p>What this recommendation failed to note was that such a scheme has been running in Queensland for nearly a decade. The <a href="https://education.qld.gov.au/curriculum/stages-of-schooling/C2C">Curriculum into the Classroom</a> (or C2C) project has been <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0883035515301701?casa_token=6_vyEo68diUAAAAA:w3YbJn1wDTNhy3dQ8RoeFMMUx5NX-xCGwIpQW8CmrKcrk1SsiZXEjcpZAFyIglMrp930ED5JEg">highly problematic</a>. It has even <a href="https://search.informit.org/doi/abs/10.3316/ielapa.499261648498076?casa_token=xM4CASghuRQAAAAA%3AA_exHyAVNMeD-JAfzC7hP-OjKWDdbg9wWFnuIpVYdkMspoXkA6YNGObrkIOW0dT8BbsCnhwbImdQTnQ">reportedly increased teacher workloads</a>.</p>
<h2>What can voters do about it?</h2>
<p>The election presents an opportunity for the public to demand courageous education policy. With <a href="https://theconversation.com/whats-going-on-with-independent-candidates-and-the-federal-election-173587">more and more independent candidates</a> standing in their local electorates, voters don’t need to engage with moral panic. Independents present an opportunity for schools and their communities to pitch the local education issues of most concern to them. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/whats-going-on-with-independent-candidates-and-the-federal-election-173587">What's going on with independent candidates and the federal election?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Ultimately, local candidates represent local issues, but party candidates will always have to balance local concerns with the party platform. Truly independent candidates can be more receptive to issues locals regard as important. Local issues raised with these candidates are more likely to be reflected in their platforms. </p>
<p>The major parties are increasingly fearful of being outflanked by independent candidates. As a result, these parties could feel the need to adopt aspects of the independents’ policies, or pay more attention to the concerns they raise.</p>
<h2>What sort of issues are we talking about?</h2>
<p>At a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MS1Nm0tbg8Y">symposium in June 2020</a>, Keith Heggart and Steven Kolber asked teachers, principals, politicians, journalists, education researchers, parents, public intellectuals and community members to discuss democratic issues faced by Australian schools. The two authors have compiled a soon-to-be-published edited collection based on the symposium. They summarise key issues as:</p>
<ul>
<li>teachers’ rapidly increasing workload</li>
<li>lack of trust in teachers and their professional judgment</li>
<li>lack of scrutiny of the expensive adoption of new technology</li>
<li>the quality of research used for so-called evidence-based policy. </li>
</ul>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/want-to-improve-our-education-system-stop-seeking-advice-from-far-off-gurus-and-encourage-expertise-in-schools-165320">Want to improve our education system? Stop seeking advice from far-off gurus and encourage expertise in schools</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Suggested approaches for tackling these issues include:</p>
<ul>
<li>more effective and personalised professional learning for teachers</li>
<li>more parental and community involvement in schools</li>
<li>more targeted support for early-career teachers by linking them to professional networks and teaching communities</li>
<li>a revitalisation of teacher unions, including a return to grassroots work with members, but also through expanding connections with the broader education community, including parents, professional associations and think tanks. </li>
</ul>
<p>Underpinning all of these issues was a central theme: teachers must have the flexibility, trust and quality of research essential for education that serves local needs. </p>
<hr>
<p><em>Thank you to Cameron Malcher and Tom Mahoney for their assistance.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/177554/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Keith Heggart receives funding from the Independent Education Union of Australia. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Naomi Barnes and Steven Kolber 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>Election time presents teachers, parents and citizens with an opportunity to put pressure on local candidates and demand courageous policy that will improve education in ways the community needs.Naomi Barnes, Senior Lecturer, School of Teacher Education & Leadership, Queensland University of TechnologyKeith Heggart, Lecturer in Learning Design, University of Technology SydneySteven Kolber, Research Assistant, School of Education, Deakin UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1733152022-01-18T13:40:06Z2022-01-18T13:40:06ZMore than masks and critical race theory – 3 tasks you should be prepared to do before you run for school board<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/440547/original/file-20220112-35588-1rkswn4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=33%2C0%2C5500%2C3691&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">School board elections are increasingly contested. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/chris-tough-reacts-in-objection-during-a-portland-public-news-photo/1236153993?adppopup=true">Nathan Howard/Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>When people run for school board these days, they often are motivated to <a href="https://ballotpedia.org/Conflicts_in_school_board_elections,_2021-2022">campaign on a controverisial topic</a>. That’s according to Ballotpedia, a nonprofit that tracks political elections in the U.S.</p>
<p>In an analysis of school board elections in <a href="https://ballotpedia.org/School_board_elections,_2021">463 school districts in 2021</a>, the organization found elections that were once uncontested had drawn candidates who were “<a href="https://apnews.com/article/health-education-coronavirus-pandemic-school-boards-e41350b7d9e3662d279c2dad287f7009">galvanized by one issue or another</a>.”</p>
<p>Three issues came up the most. The most oft-cited issue was race in education, more specifically, the <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/education/2021/11/03/school-board-races-show-mixed-results-critical-race-theory/6271364001/">teaching of critical race theory</a>. The second most frequently cited issue was <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2021/11/03/politics/school-board-elections/index.html">school policies on the pandemic</a> – that is, requirements to wear masks or get vaccinations, or school reopening. The third most-cited was <a href="https://ballotpedia.org/Conflicts_in_school_board_elections_about_sex_and_gender_in_schools,_2021-2022">sex and gender in schools</a>, such as gender-specific facilities.</p>
<p>As of January 2022, Ballotpedia discovered 287 school districts in 25 states where candidates took a position on race in education; 199 school districts in 23 states where candidates took a position on responses to the coronavirus pandemic; and 144 school districts in 18 states where candidates took a position on sex and gender in schools.</p>
<h2>A worrisome trend</h2>
<p>As a former school board member – and as a <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=6gc1wl0AAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">researcher who studies educational leadership and policy</a> – I find it worrisome when polarizing issues generate so much attention from candidates. The reason I worry is that I know from firsthand experience that being an effective school board member is never just about taking a stance on a few hot-button topics. Rather, it’s about much broader issues, such as meeting the educational needs of all students in the school district.</p>
<p>Too often, support for candidates hinges on the positions they take on the most controversial issues. For instance, in Florida, Gov. Ron DeSantis, speaking on behalf of his state’s Republican Party, <a href="https://floridapolitics.com/archives/434128-political-apparatus/">pledged</a> to withhold support from “any Republican candidate for school board who supports critical race theory in all 67 counties or supports mandatory masking of schoolchildren.” </p>
<p>As impassioned as people may be about issues like mask requirements, keeping schools open or confronting issues of race in the curriculum, running a school district is about much more than any one of those single issues. With that in mind, here are three actions that future school board candidates should be prepared to take.</p>
<h2>1. Set district policy</h2>
<p>A primary function of the school board is to develop, review and approve district policy. These policies can include implementing state mandates – such as establishing <a href="https://www.ecs.org/high-school-graduation-requirements/">high school graduation requirements</a> – or formulating a <a href="https://kappanonline.org/mapping-teacher-evaluation-plans-essa-close-amrein-beardsley-collins/">plan to evaluate teachers</a>.</p>
<p>Some policies take on broad issues that affect all students. For instance, a policy might express a goal to make sure <a href="https://www.edweek.org/policy-politics/making-sure-every-child-has-home-internet-access-8-steps-to-get-there/2020/09">all students have access to the internet at home</a>. Other policies might deal with smaller matters, such as whether <a href="https://hudsonvalleyone.com/2017/01/25/should-homeschooled-kids-be-able-to-participate-in-all-school-clubs/">home-schooled students can participate in extracurricular activities</a> at the local public school.</p>
<h2>2. Make tough budget decisions</h2>
<p>One of the most difficult tasks that school board members must do is decide how to spend the school district’s limited revenue.</p>
<p>The vast majority of a district’s budget – about <a href="https://www.aasa.org/uploadedfiles/policy_and_advocacy/files/schoolbudgetbrieffinal.pdf">80% to 85%</a> – goes to personnel costs, such as salaries and benefits for school staff. Paying for these employee expenditures is becoming more challenging because of the <a href="https://www.asbonewyork.org/news/407485/School-District-Health-Care-Costs-Rise-Faster-than-Inflation-and-Total-Spending.htm">rising cost of health insurance</a>. </p>
<p>To stay within budget, school board members may have to cut positions or programs. It’s usually a matter of assessing tradeoffs: Do we cut our gifted and talented program to keep our school safety officer? Do we cut teaching positions to make the budget, and if so, which ones? </p>
<p>Each decision comes with consequences. For instance, cutting a gifted and talented program would make some families upset. Continued funding of a night school program might require a series of budget reductions in other areas, such as field trips or late buses.</p>
<p>A tough budget choice I remember facing as a school board member was deciding whether to renovate an outdated and undersized school theater. The board members all agreed the theater was in desperate need of an upgrade but decided to put off the theater upgrade to deal with other needs. The high school would soon need a new roof and boiler that ultimately took priority.</p>
<h2>3. Select a superintendent</h2>
<p>Selecting a district leader is critically important. So is deciding whether to keep or get rid of one. A good superintendent can make or break a district. The superintendent is the face of the school community and the district’s instructional leader.</p>
<p>Superintendents work with the school board to set the vision and goals for the district and then make sure they are achieved. They also hire and manage principals and other district leaders. Superintendents are expected to provide for the safety of children and staff and be good stewards of district finances.</p>
<p>Finding a good superintendent involves looking for leaders who have a proven track record in the areas of importance. Do they have a history of improving student achievement? Have they created a positive school climate and culture? Are they effective communicators? </p>
<p>If a school board chooses an ineffective superintendent, it usually sets a district back and the board ends up having to spend time and money to replace them.</p>
<p>A key distinction of American democracy is that candidates can develop platforms as they see fit, and it’s up to voters to decide if a particular candidate will represent their concerns. But when it comes to running a school system, it’s important to keep in mind that it involves much more than taking a stance on a few controversial issues. It’s also about making sound financial decisions and implementing policies that ensure all students get the education they deserve.</p>
<p>[<em>Get the best of The Conversation, every weekend.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/weekly-highlights-61?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=weeklybest">Sign up for our weekly newsletter</a>.]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/173315/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Casey D. Cobb is affiliated with the National Education Policy Center.</span></em></p>School board elections are becoming increasingly fractious and political events, with candidates focused on one or two issues. An education policy scholar explains why that’s a worrisome trend.Casey D. Cobb, Neag Professor of Educational Policy, University of ConnecticutLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1726202021-11-26T03:20:03Z2021-11-26T03:20:03ZAustralia’s strategy to revive international education is right to aim for more diversity<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/434070/original/file-20211126-25-1pndk0m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C412%2C5860%2C3921&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>The <a href="https://www.dese.gov.au/australian-strategy-international-education-2021-2030">Strategy for International Education</a> released today by the federal government highlights the importance of international education to the Australian economy and community.</p>
<p>But, with the arrival of COVID-19, commencing international student numbers fell dramatically <a href="https://internationaleducation.gov.au/research/international-student-data/Pages/default.aspx">by 22%</a> in 2020. The impacts prompted the government to further rethink its ten-year plan for international education and <a href="https://theconversation.com/australias-international-education-market-share-is-shrinking-fast-recovery-depends-on-unis-offering-students-a-better-deal-162856">exposure to risks in foreign markets</a>, not to mention sector-wide budget overhauls, restructures and cost savings.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-the-international-education-crisis-will-linger-long-after-students-return-to-australia-170360">Why the international education crisis will linger long after students return to Australia</a>
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<p>Over the past ten years, international education in Australia had grown by 151% to the highest levels on record. International student numbers reached a <a href="https://internationaleducation.gov.au/research/international-student-data/Pages/default.aspx">peak of more than 956,000</a> in 2019.</p>
<p>International education has been a major export earner. Its value to the economy had grown to <a href="https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/economy/international-trade/international-trade-goods-and-services-australia/latest-release">A$40.3 billion a year</a> and supported 250,000 jobs. </p>
<h2>Why is a new strategy needed?</h2>
<p>Despite being a <a href="https://theconversation.com/universities-lost-6-of-their-revenue-in-2020-and-the-next-2-years-are-looking-worse-166749">major source of revenue</a>, international students have been highly concentrated in some universities. And most come from a limited number of source countries. </p>
<p>Before the pandemic, six universities accounted for <a href="https://www.dese.gov.au/higher-education-statistics/student-data/selected-higher-education-statistics-2019-student-data">half of all overseas student revenue</a>: Sydney, Melbourne, Monash, UNSW, RMIT and UQ. </p>
<iframe title="Enrolments from top 5 source countries by university" aria-label="Stacked Bars" id="datawrapper-chart-fYfB7" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/fYfB7/2/" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" style="border: none;" width="100%" height="1063"></iframe>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/which-universities-are-best-placed-financially-to-weather-covid-154079">Which universities are best placed financially to weather COVID?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Following public consultations under the Council for International Education, the government has released the new strategy. It’s based on four pillars:</p>
<ul>
<li>diversification </li>
<li>meeting Australia’s skills needs </li>
<li>students at the centre </li>
<li>growth and global competitiveness. </li>
</ul>
<p>The pandemic has been a key driver for rethinking the strategy. However, it has served as an amplifier of the need for reform rather than the sole rationale. </p>
<p>In its <a href="https://www.dese.gov.au/council-international-education/resources/2019-report-pm">2019 report</a> to the prime minister, the Council for International Education had already recommended a new plan. It highlighted concerns about increased competition, the sustainability of the sector and geopolitical rebalancing.</p>
<p>The report portrayed a major success story for Australian international education. It noted double-digit growth in the Philippines, Saudi Arabia, India and Sri Lanka. However, it also noted softening demand in other key markets, particularly China.</p>
<p>The risk of over-concentration in source countries was evident, but seriously underemphasised at the time. And this concern was connected mainly to worries about foreign interference and geopolitical tensions.</p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="Cover of Australian Strategy for International Education 2021-30." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/434068/original/file-20211126-23-cgxujm.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/434068/original/file-20211126-23-cgxujm.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434068/original/file-20211126-23-cgxujm.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434068/original/file-20211126-23-cgxujm.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434068/original/file-20211126-23-cgxujm.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434068/original/file-20211126-23-cgxujm.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434068/original/file-20211126-23-cgxujm.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The newly released Australian Strategy for International Education 2021-30.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.dese.gov.au/australian-strategy-international-education-2021-2030">DESE</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>A renewed focus on managing risks</h2>
<p>The new strategy aims for the sector to reposition itself to increase offshore and transnational education. Typically, one in five international students study in these ways. <a href="https://www.teqsa.gov.au/latest-news/publications/guidance-note-transnational-higher-education-australia">Transnational education</a> is often delivered through offshore campuses or in partnership with an overseas institution.</p>
<p>The strategy seeks greater diversity of courses, disciplines, source countries and delivery modes. The outcomes are to be measured through a diversification index, greatly increasing transparency for the sector.</p>
<p>Often a source of complex risk, increased transnational education and sustained offshore study may require the higher education regulator, TEQSA, to review its approach. Its <a href="https://www.teqsa.gov.au/latest-news/publications/guidance-note-transnational-higher-education-australia">guidelines</a> were last updated in October 2017. </p>
<p>In addition, the expansion of Australia-based transnational education may face increased global competition from other offshore providers.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/australias-international-education-market-share-is-shrinking-fast-recovery-depends-on-unis-offering-students-a-better-deal-162856">Australia's international education market share is shrinking fast. Recovery depends on unis offering students a better deal</a>
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<hr>
<p>For universities to diversify into new markets they will have to manage a risk associated with limited market knowledge. Market concentration has meant Australian universities have become geo-market experts with a focus on particular countries. This approach is ingrained into university operations, strategic aspirations and global partnerships. </p>
<p>Adopting the jack-of-all-trades approach that “everyone diversity” may require additional government efforts to avoid simply transferring the risk of market concentration to other risks to quality arising from limited market knowledge and a lack of geo-market specialisation.</p>
<p>One assumes the pathway to diversification is not only growth but also better distribution of international student demand across universities. This will require smaller universities to take on a greater share of Chinese and Indian student enrolments, now concentrated in the larger universities.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/universities-lost-6-of-their-revenue-in-2020-and-the-next-2-years-are-looking-worse-166749">Universities lost 6% of their revenue in 2020 — and the next 2 years are looking worse</a>
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</em>
</p>
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<h2>Engagement and a sense of belonging matter too</h2>
<p>The move to off-campus studies had major impacts on student satisfaction in 2020, as measured by the Quality Indicators of Learning and Teaching (<a href="https://www.qilt.edu.au/surveys/student-experience-survey-(ses)">QILT</a>). While universities were quick to adapt, learner engagement and sense of belonging deteriorated. These trends were key drivers of the decline in satisfaction. </p>
<p>A challenging aspect of the strategy is to reconcile its goals of increased transnational and offshore education while at the same time increasing the sense of belonging to Australian communities, and managing risks to quality. Such a result appears to be operationally counter-intuitive.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/our-unis-do-need-international-students-and-must-choose-between-the-high-and-low-roads-149973">Our unis do need international students and must choose between the high and low roads</a>
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</p>
<hr>
<p>A question that requires further detail is how the government plans both to enhance its regulatory framework to allow for greater flexibility and to cultivate greater capabilities across the sector in online, offshore and transnational education.</p>
<p>As the strategy notes, international education is one of Australia’s great success stories. At the heart of that story is the realisation of ambition for millions of students who have lifted themselves from poverty, learned new skills and joined a global community. The real test of whether the strategy holds water is if it satisfies its most central asset – our students.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/172620/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Omer Yezdani does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>International education is a huge source of income for the sector and the broader economy, but students are concentrated in a limited number of institutions and most come from a few source countries.Omer Yezdani, Director, Office of Planning and Strategic Management, Australian Catholic UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1693322021-11-04T12:26:27Z2021-11-04T12:26:27ZWhat American schools can learn from other countries about civic disagreement<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/429185/original/file-20211028-17-1wkw2bk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=25%2C0%2C5587%2C3744&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Learning how to discuss divisive issues and disagree with respect is good for democracy.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/CriticalRaceTheoryTeachers/10b751925f124e948ff076adf7795a7b/photo?Query=critical%20race%20theory&mediaType=photo&sortBy=arrivaldatetime:desc&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=31&currentItemNo=15">Mary Altaffer/AP</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Few areas of American life have experienced more conflict of late than public education. The conflict has <a href="https://www.axios.com/school-board-recalls-soar-critical-race-theory-86823daf-a7e1-4a55-965c-32f79b64954f.html">largely revolved</a> around how public schools should deal with the difficult subjects of <a href="https://theconversation.com/critical-race-theory-what-it-is-and-what-it-isnt-162752">race and racism</a>. The situation has become so inflamed that a national school board group asked the federal government to step in and protect school officials and educators from what they said were a <a href="https://nsba.org/-/media/NSBA/File/nsba-letter-to-president-biden-concerning-threats-to-public-schools-and-school-board-members-92921.pdf">growing number of attacks</a> from angry citizens. </p>
<p>As a historian who specializes in <a href="https://education.jhu.edu/directory/ashley-rogers-berner-phd/">education policy</a>, I believe it is worth asking: Is the United States the only place where debates rage about what should and shouldn’t be taught in public schools? </p>
<p>My experience <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=mi_mVqEAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">studying school systems throughout the world</a> tells me that the U.S. can learn a lot from how other countries handle divisive issues. </p>
<p>Put simply, other countries don’t necessarily view studying different ideas as the same as being forced to believe in them. That is to say, they don’t conflate exposure with indoctrination.</p>
<h2>Exposure vs. indoctrination</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.worldcat.org/title/indoctrination-education-and-god-the-struggle-for-the-mind/oclc/836346256&referer=brief_results">Indoctrination happens</a> when one set of claims about the world is presented to the exclusion of others. An example would be presenting the Marxist take on a historical event as if it were the only perspective, without naming it as a Marxist view and providing alternative understandings.</p>
<p>It is easy for Americans to associate indoctrination with <a href="https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/G/bo5972812.html">religious fundamentalist schools</a> in the U.S., but indoctrination can also be <a href="https://doi.org/10.2307/2673273">secular and tacit</a>. A school that avoids discussing religious beliefs across human history, or engaging with thorny topics of bioethics, for instance, is teaching young people something, too: that such questions are either unimportant or too divisive to discuss. </p>
<p>Exposure, by contrast, happens when students encounter competing ideas about the world and have a chance to discuss them together. Exposure works against indoctrination, by opening up new concepts and experiences for consideration. It also <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s11109-008-9063-z">builds students’ civic capacities</a> and their participation in what University of Virginia education professor E.D. Hirsch calls a democratic “<a href="https://www.harpercollins.com/products/how-to-educate-a-citizen-e-d-hirsch">speech community</a>” – a community in which a common body of knowledge is widely shared. </p>
<p>Students have to learn to make and respond to reasoned arguments. This ability doesn’t come naturally. Yet the habit of disagreeing with respect <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-73963-2">supports participation in democratic life</a> in adulthood – a finding that has <a href="https://www.brookings.edu/blog/brown-center-chalkboard/2020/04/10/in-a-polarized-america-what-can-we-do-about-civil-disagreement/">held steady for 40 years</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="People attend a rally in Virginia" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/426233/original/file-20211013-13-gf2kv5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=8%2C0%2C5341%2C3272&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/426233/original/file-20211013-13-gf2kv5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=368&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/426233/original/file-20211013-13-gf2kv5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=368&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/426233/original/file-20211013-13-gf2kv5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=368&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/426233/original/file-20211013-13-gf2kv5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=462&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/426233/original/file-20211013-13-gf2kv5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=462&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/426233/original/file-20211013-13-gf2kv5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=462&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Parents are divided on how schools should teach about dark themes in U.S. history, including slavery and systemic racism.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/people-talk-before-the-start-of-a-rally-against-critical-news-photo/1233450533">Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>How other countries handle divisive issues</h2>
<p>Some high-performing school systems, such as those in the Netherlands, Singapore and Alberta, Canada, promote exposure through mandatory curricular frameworks. They require a content-rich curriculum that all students must learn, regardless of the type of school they attend. This means that they separate the ethos of the schools – which vary considerably – from the curricular framework that all schools must teach. </p>
<p>For instance, <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Education-Britain-1750-1914-History-Perspective/dp/0312216246/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=9780312216245&linkCode=qs&qid=1634928441&qsid=141-9636377-1719543&s=books&sr=1-1&sres=0312216246&srpt=ABIS_BOOK">England has funded</a> religious schools since 1834 and secular schools since 1870. But all students in all English schools must learn about diverse religions and philosophies. </p>
<p>To put it bluntly, an English mother might enroll her child in a secular school, but that child still needs to understand the tenets and practices of Islam and Judaism. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/teaching-religion-terence-copley/1130296797">legal requirements</a> for “religious education,” as it is known, have not diminished despite the growing secularism of the English population. Learning what people deeply believe, and why, is seen as fundamental to exercising responsible democratic citizenship. </p>
<p>Most countries in the <a href="https://www.oecd.org/unitedstates/">Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development</a> – an international association that supports economic growth – follow suit and have <a href="https://www.routledge.com/Law-Religious-Freedoms-and-Education-in-Europe/Hunter-Henin/p/book/9781138261389">increased requirements</a> around learning about different religions and philosophies in the past two decades. </p>
<p>Here’s a more pointed example. </p>
<p>The Netherlands’ ministry of education funds 36 different kinds of schools, including creationist schools. Yet students in creationist schools must still <a href="https://research.vu.nl/en/publications/the-origins-of-creationism-in-the-netherlands-the-evolution-debat">demonstrate understanding of evolutionary theory</a> on national exams. They cannot be forced to believe that evolution is true, of course, but they have to master what evolutionary theory posits about the natural world. Other examples abound.</p>
<h2>Limits to exposure</h2>
<p>This widely used approach to curriculum and assessments can <a href="https://www.proquest.com/docview/218184376?accountid=11752&forcedol=true&forcedol=true">work well for students’ academic and civic success</a>. But it raises questions: How much exposure? At what age? </p>
<p>While the precise limits of exposure will need to rest on national and local contexts, a few broad principles might help clarify the “what” and the “when.” </p>
<p>First, there should be limits to exposure according to children’s age and developmental concerns. For instance, very young children <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/0305569940200105">may not be emotionally prepared</a> to manage details about the Holocaust or see graphic images of the 14th-century <a href="https://www.history.com/topics/middle-ages/black-death">Black Death</a> that wiped out a third of Europe. </p>
<p>Second, teachers should not entertain debates about what the University of Wisconsin’s Diana Hess calls “<a href="https://kappanonline.org/richardson-using-controversy-as-a-teaching-tool-an-interview-with-diana-hess/">settled issues</a>.” Whether human enslavement and racial discrimination are ever warranted, whether the Holocaust actually occurred, or <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/ed/2015/12/16/459673575/politics-in-the-classroom-how-much-is-too-much">whether climate change is happening</a> should not be brought to the classroom table. </p>
<p>Rather, debate should center on why particular events happened or are happening. For example, what factors contributed to Hitler’s rise to power? What, if anything, should governments do to remedy social and economic inequality? What are the economic trade-offs of different policy responses to climate change? </p>
<h2>Learning to disagree</h2>
<p>Beyond these guardrails, school and board policies matter a great deal in setting the expectation that students will encounter ideas with which they and their parents disagree – even profoundly. The <a href="https://go.boarddocs.com/fl/sbmd/Board.nsf/goto?open&id=BK6KN84FFC3B">Miami-Dade school board</a> puts it this way: </p>
<p>“Students are encouraged to participate in discussions, speeches, and other expressions in which many points of view, including those that are controversial, are freely explored. A controversial issue is a topic on which opposing points of view have been promulgated by responsible opinion or likely to arouse both support and opposition in the community.”</p>
<p>The Miami-Dade policy goes on to specify that the controversial conversations must serve an instructional purpose, and that teachers may not promote personal views in the classroom. </p>
<p>Another example comes from an independent school in Baltimore, McDonogh School. Its <a href="https://www.mcdonogh.org/about/academicfreedom">Freedom of Expression and Civil Discourse</a> policy acknowledges a clear democratic rationale for viewpoint diversity, even when it leads to discomfort: </p>
<p>“[Preparation for democratic participation] … requires the hard work of analysis, perspective-taking, debate, reflection, and application. Through such methods, we honor the diversity of thought in a pluralist culture as we work towards sound, evidence-based positions and conclusions. Members of our community may find certain ideas that emerge when wrestling with sensitive topics untenable – even offensive – from time to time; in such moments of friction, however, we can help our students learn to resolve conflict, to reason well, and to communicate their own positions.” </p>
<p>Both of these policies ask a lot of teachers, students and parents – patience, among them. But they simultaneously protect teachers’ efforts to teach young people to reasonably disagree. They also signal to parents that their children will be exposed to many opinions – and that that’s a good thing for the next generation. </p>
<p>[<em>Get the best of The Conversation, every weekend.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/weekly-highlights-61?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=weeklybest">Sign up for our weekly newsletter</a>.]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/169332/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ashley Berner is director of the Johns Hopkins Institute for Education Policy.</span></em></p>The controversy over critical race theory is an opportunity for Americans to examine how other democracies deal with diverse viewpoints in public schools, an education policy expert argues.Ashley Berner, Associate Professor of Education, Johns Hopkins UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1700632021-10-27T12:16:50Z2021-10-27T12:16:50ZWhy student absences aren’t the real problem in America’s ‘attendance crisis’<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/427648/original/file-20211020-19039-vtlwo4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=26%2C8%2C5964%2C3979&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Economic hardships, lack of transportation and family crises can keep kids out of school.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/upset-preteen-boy-not-wanting-to-go-to-school-royalty-free-image/855109936">Fertnig/E+ Collection via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Nationally, one in six children miss 15 or more days of school in a year and are considered <a href="https://www2.ed.gov/datastory/chronicabsenteeism.html#intro">chronically absent</a>. Education officials have lamented that all this missed instruction has <a href="https://www.latimes.com/local/la-xpm-2013-sep-30-la-me-truant-kids-20130930-story.html">for years</a> constituted an attendance crisis in U.S. elementary, middle and high schools.</p>
<p>The fear among policymakers is that these chronically absent students suffer academically because of all the classroom instruction they miss out on. In 2015, the U.S. secretary of education and other federal officials responded to this perceived crisis, urging communities to “support every student, every day to attend and be successful in school[.]” Their <a href="https://www2.ed.gov/about/inits/ed/chronicabsenteeism/toolkit.pdf">open letter</a> stated that missing 10% of school days in a year for any reason – excused or unexcused – “is a primary cause of low academic achievement.”</p>
<p>Worrying about whether children attend school makes sense. After all, if students don’t show up, teachers can’t teach them. </p>
<p>But what if America’s attendance crisis is about much more than students missing class? What if, instead, it is a reflection of family and community crises these students face – such as being evicted from the family apartment, fearing for their safety in their neighborhood or suffering an illness? These circumstances can both limit children’s academic achievement and keep them from getting to school.</p>
<h2>Excused vs. unexcused absences</h2>
<p>As <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=EzoNzxAAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">social scientists</a> who study <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=WT0vZX4AAAAJ&hl=en&oi=sra">inequality in schools</a>, and an <a href="https://www.madison.k12.wi.us/research-innovation/research-program-evaluation-office">education researcher and school district leader</a>, we investigated how excused and unexcused absences <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/08959048211049428">relate to children’s academic achievement</a>. </p>
<p>Excused absences are those for which a parent or guardian contacts the school, or responds to the school’s request for information, explaining why the child is not or won’t be in class. If that doesn’t happen, the child is marked “unexcused.”</p>
<p>Our study tracks how both types of absences are linked to elementary school reading and math test scores in Madison, Wisconsin, which is home to a <a href="https://www.madison.k12.wi.us/about">diverse urban public school district</a>.</p>
<p>We show that absences excused by a parent or guardian do little to harm children’s learning over the school year. In fact, children with no unexcused absences – but 15 to 18 excused absences – have test scores on par with their peers who have no absences.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, the average child with even just one unexcused absence does much worse academically than peers with none. For example, the average student in our study with no unexcused absences is at the 58th percentile of math test scores. The average student with one unexcused absence is at the 38th percentile of math test, and the average student with 18 unexcused absences is at the 17th percentile.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Two men in suits walk through a school gymnasium where adults are seated in rows of chairs" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/427649/original/file-20211020-20-1o30oe2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/427649/original/file-20211020-20-1o30oe2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=413&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/427649/original/file-20211020-20-1o30oe2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=413&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/427649/original/file-20211020-20-1o30oe2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=413&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/427649/original/file-20211020-20-1o30oe2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=520&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/427649/original/file-20211020-20-1o30oe2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=520&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/427649/original/file-20211020-20-1o30oe2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=520&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Department of Education officials visit a Washington, D.C., school in 2015 to announce a national initiative to address and eliminate chronic absenteeism.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/senior-advisor-delegated-the-duties-of-deputy-secretary-of-news-photo/513454550">Evelyn Hockstein/The Washington Post via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Signals of family crisis</h2>
<p>Does this mean schools shouldn’t worry about a student’s education as long as a parent calls in each time the child misses class?</p>
<p>Not exactly.</p>
<p>But our findings don’t make sense if absence from school affects achievement mainly because kids miss class time.</p>
<p>That is most apparent when considering the relationship between 18 unexcused absences and test score achievement. Accounting for differences among students unrelated to the current year of instruction – including their health conditions, prior academic achievement and family education and income – explains 88% of that relationship. That means children with so many unexcused absences would almost certainly have similarly low test scores even if their parents called in or if they had attended school more regularly.</p>
<p>Instead, we believe unexcused absence is a strong signal of the many challenges children and families face outside of school. Those challenges include <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41539-018-0022-0">economic</a> and <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/healthyschools/health_and_academics/index.htm">medical</a> hardships and insecurity with <a href="https://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/144/4/e20190824">food</a>, <a href="https://doi.org/10.3102/0162373717699472">transportation</a>, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/000312240707200203">family</a> and <a href="https://learningpolicyinstitute.org/sites/default/files/product-files/Students_Experiencing_Homelessness_REPORT.pdf">housing</a>. Unexcused absences can be a powerful signal of how those out-of-school challenges affect children’s academic progress.</p>
<p>[<em>Get the best of The Conversation, every weekend.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/weekly-highlights-61?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=weeklybest">Sign up for our weekly newsletter</a>.]</p>
<h2>Policy changes</h2>
<p>To be clear, our evidence suggests unexcused absences are problematic, but for a different reason than people often think. Absence from school, and especially unexcused absence, matters mainly as a signal of many crises children and their families may be facing. It matters less as a cause of lower student achievement due to missed instruction.</p>
<p>How researchers and the public choose to think of school absences matters for educational policy. National, state and school district attendance policies typically hold <a href="https://www.edweek.org/policy-politics/essa-puts-pressure-on-schools-to-reduce-student-absences-heres-how-they-might-do-it/2019/08">schools</a> and <a href="https://www.shouselaw.com/ca/defense/laws/truancy-laws/">families</a> accountable for all of the days children miss, regardless of whether they were excused or unexcused absences.</p>
<p>These policies assume that missing school for any reason harms children academically because they are missing classroom instruction. They also assume that schools will be able to effectively intervene to increase academic achievement by reducing student absences. We find neither to be the case.</p>
<p>As a result, these attendance policies end up disproportionately <a href="https://www.shouselaw.com/ca/defense/laws/truancy-laws/">punishing families</a> dealing with out-of-school crises in their lives and <a href="https://www.edweek.org/policy-politics/essa-puts-pressure-on-schools-to-reduce-student-absences-heres-how-they-might-do-it/2019/08">pressuring schools</a> who serve them to get students to school more often.</p>
<p>We instead suggest using unexcused absence from school as a signal to channel resources to the children and families who need them most.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/170063/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>I work for the Madison Metropolitan School District, the district studied in this report and the other key partner in the research-practice partnership.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Eric Grodsky receives funding from NIH and IES. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jaymes Pyne does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The problem with chronic absenteeism isn’t so much that kids are missing instruction time; it’s that unexcused absences may indicate crises at home, new research suggests.Jaymes Pyne, Quantitative Research Associate, Stanford UniversityElizabeth Vaade, Education Researcher, University of Wisconsin-MadisonEric Grodsky, Professor, University of Wisconsin-MadisonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1653202021-09-21T05:34:28Z2021-09-21T05:34:28ZWant to improve our education system? Stop seeking advice from far-off gurus and encourage expertise in schools<p>Over the past two decades, Australian governments have committed exorbitant energy and resources to transform our nation’s schools.</p>
<p>The driving force behind many reforms has been a narrative of panic and failure, often centred on <a href="https://www.acer.org/au/pisa/key-findings-2018">the steady decline</a> of Australian students on the OECD’s <a href="https://www.oecd.org/pisa/">Programme for International Student Assessment</a> (PISA).</p>
<p>When federal education minister Alan Tudge announced <a href="https://theconversation.com/john-hattie-why-i-support-the-education-ministers-teacher-education-review-160181">yet another review</a> of teacher education in May, he followed a predictable reform script. Australian students, <a href="https://ministers.dese.gov.au/tudge/being-our-best-returning-australia-top-group-education-nations">he said</a>, have “dropped behind” on global PISA rankings, are “being significantly outcompeted” and this will have grave consequences for the nation’s “long-term productivity and competitiveness”.</p>
<p>Tudge set a target to <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/teacher-training-review-key-to-arresting-declining-academic-results-tudge-20210414-p57j6i.html">return Australia to the top education nations globally</a> by 2030, and argued more national reforms are needed to make this happen. He was mirroring a long line of <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/pm-pledge-for-top-five-school-spot-20120902-258k5.html">similar goals and proclamations</a> from federal ministers who have argued we must pursue common national reforms based on <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/02680939.2016.1252855">evidence about “what works”</a>. </p>
<p>The problem is, these grand attempts to revolutionise schools are not working. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/pisa-doesnt-define-education-quality-and-knee-jerk-policy-proposals-wont-fix-whatever-is-broken-128389">PISA doesn't define education quality, and knee-jerk policy proposals won't fix whatever is broken</a>
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<p>Not only has Australia gone into <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/education/alarm-bells-australian-students-record-worst-result-in-global-tests-20191203-p53gie.html">a rapid free fall</a> on PISA but <a href="https://www.acara.edu.au/reporting/national-report-on-schooling-in-australia/national-report-on-schooling-in-australia-2019">multiple other measures of performance</a> have stagnated or gone backwards. Roughly <a href="https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports/australias-welfare/secondary-education-school-retention-completion">one in five young people</a> in Australia do not complete year 12, <a href="https://www.niaa.gov.au/sites/default/files/reports/closing-the-gap-2019/education.html">intolerable gaps</a> in outcomes persist between Indigenous and non-Indigenous students, and the race for <a href="https://andrewnorton.net.au/2018/02/22/higher-education-inequality-how-well-has-australia-limited-differential-access-levels-by-socioeconomic-status/">high ATARs</a> (and entry to elite universities) is dominated by young people from the wealthiest backgrounds.</p>
<p>Australia <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-02-02/educating-australia-why-our-schools-arent-improving/8235222">is replicating</a> a deeply inequitable and underperforming system.</p>
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<p>This begs a crucial question: if “what works” doesn’t actually work, then what should we be doing differently? In my new book, <a href="https://www.routledge.com/The-Quest-for-Revolution-in-Australian-Schooling-Policy/Savage/p/book/9780367681876">The Quest for Revolution in Australian Schooling Policy</a>, I outline multiple ways we could re-imagine schooling reform.</p>
<h2>What’s the problem with doing “what works”?</h2>
<p>All over the world, governments and policy makers are seeking to <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/02680939.2018.1545050">align schooling policies</a> to evidence that tells us “what works”.</p>
<p>Underpinning this reform movement is a seductive <a href="https://oxford.universitypressscholarship.com/view/10.1093/oso/9780199942060.001.0001/isbn-9780199942060">allure of order</a>, which assumes positive outcomes will flow from standardising diverse schooling systems around common practices that are apparently “proven to work”.</p>
<p>This logic has informed every major schooling reform since the late 2000s, from the introduction of standardised literacy and numeracy testing (<a href="https://www.nap.edu.au">NAPLAN</a>) to the creation of an <a href="https://australiancurriculum.edu.au">Australian Curriculum</a> based on common achievement standards.</p>
<p>To a casual observer it might seem logical we should aspire to be the world’s best and develop standards based on “the evidence” to achieve that. Yet there are multiple reasons why doing “what works” often doesn’t work at all. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/australian-schools-are-becoming-more-segregated-this-threatens-student-outcomes-155455">Australian schools are becoming more segregated. This threatens student outcomes</a>
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<p>The primary issue with this approach is that while there might be some evidence to tell us a reform works “somewhere”, proponents often take this to mean it will work everywhere.</p>
<p>This can produce a range of adverse impacts. For one, <a href="https://www.routledge.com/The-Politics-of-Evidence-From-evidence-based-policy-to-the-good-governance/Parkhurst/p/book/9781138570382">privileging evidence</a> that can apparently be applied across the board can devalue local and context-specific knowledge and evidence. </p>
<p>While it might be broadly useful to consider what “<a href="https://www.education.vic.gov.au/school/teachers/teachingresources/practice/improve/Pages/hits.aspx">high impact teaching strategies</a>” look like, we should never assume such evidence can be equally applied in all schools.</p>
<p>After all, what works best in a remote public school in Broome is highly unlikely to be the same as what works best in an elite private school in Darlinghurst. </p>
<p>Without critical and nuanced engagement with evidence claims, such lists and toolkits can act as powerful disincentives for the profession to generate and share locally-produced evidence. This, in turn, can lead to an erasure of evidence that does not align with dominant knowledge. </p>
<p>At its worst, when evidence is determined through top-down government intervention and based on global knowledge curated by leading think tanks, education businesses and organisations like the OECD, educators are relegated to being mere “implementers” of ideas from elsewhere.</p>
<p>At work here is <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4319563/">an arrogance of design</a> and a privileging of the perspectives of remote designers over that of professionals with deep knowledge of the local spaces in which they work.</p>
<h2>What is a better way forward?</h2>
<p>Australian schooling policy is being put together backwards. </p>
<p>My <a href="https://www.routledge.com/The-Quest-for-Revolution-in-Australian-Schooling-Policy/Savage/p/book/9780367681876">book outlines ways</a> to reverse the reform script. Let me briefly mention three.</p>
<p>First, Australia needs to stop listening to the loud voices of education gurus and members of the global “<a href="https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-319-48879-0_8">consultocracy</a>” who claim to have “the answer”.</p>
<p>Instead, we should invest energy and resources to inspire local networks of evidence creation and knowledge sharing. This organic and bottom-up approach puts faith in the profession to experiment, solve problems and collaborate to create solutions in context.</p>
<p>This is not an argument against experts and expertise but is a call for re-framing how we understand these terms. </p>
<p>Australia has fallen into a pattern where the experts and expertise that shape reforms are no longer in schools. This needs to be urgently re-balanced.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-has-education-policy-changed-under-the-coalition-government-113921">How has education policy changed under the Coalition government?</a>
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<p>Second, we need to move beyond industrial modes of thinking that liken the work of educators to those of factory workers on a production line. </p>
<p>Rather than investing millions in reforms that tie educators to lockstep standards and lists of strategies, we need to recognise that schools are complex and diverse social ecologies and the work of educators is <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4319563/">non-routine based</a> and always evolving. </p>
<p>So, while it can be useful to have some external evidence and standards to inform practices, its relevance to practical and local knowledge is only partial at best.</p>
<p>We only really <em>know</em> evidence works when we see it work in specific classrooms, and what works in one class won’t work in all classes.</p>
<p>Third, we need to move beyond the damaging assumption that sameness and commonality across systems and schools is the path to improvement. </p>
<p>Grand designs to revolutionise and homogenise practices are not the panacea.</p>
<p>Rather than approaching education reform as technicians seeking to make “the machine” work better, perhaps we should think and act more like gardeners, seeking to build the ecosystems needed for diverse things to grow and flourish.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/165320/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Glenn C. Savage receives funding from the Australian Research Council.</span></em></p>Australian governments have committed a lot of money and effort over the last few decades to improve schooling using “what works”. But this hasn’t worked. So what can we do to improve education?Glenn C Savage, Associate Professor of Education Policy, The University of Western AustraliaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1537922021-03-21T18:49:24Z2021-03-21T18:49:24ZBanning mobile phones in schools can improve students’ academic performance. This is how we know<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/389172/original/file-20210312-23-1ivvp2.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/no-mobile-phone-call-warning-prohibit-1200373825">Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The effects of mobiles phones and other technology at school is a <a href="https://theconversation.com/no-education-minister-we-dont-have-enough-evidence-to-support-banning-mobile-phones-in-schools-151574">hotly debated topic</a> in many countries. Some advocate for a complete ban to limit distractions, while others suggest using technology as a teaching tool.</p>
<p>Kids in public <a href="https://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/parenting/school-life/sa-government-bans-mobile-phone-use-at-states-primary-schools/news-story/c13e01ab2c2e6d5cbd3473201dfbe70a">South Australian primary schools</a> started the school year without being allowed to bring their mobile phones to class, unless they are needed for class activity. All students in public <a href="https://www.education.wa.edu.au/mobile-phones#:%7E:text=The%20Student%20Mobile%20Phones%20in,end%20of%20the%20school%20day.">Western Australian</a> <a href="https://www.education.vic.gov.au/parents/going-to-school/Pages/Mobile-phones-in-schools.aspx">Victorian</a>, and <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-02-05/tasmania-mobile-phone-ban-in-schools-proves-a-success/13113128#:%7E:text=The%20state%20school%20ban%20on,would%20ring%20throughout%20the%20day.">Tasmanian</a> schools have a mobile phone ban in place since for all or some of 2020. New South Wales also <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-12-13/nsw-phone-ban-aims-to-reduce-bullying/10612950">banned mobile phones</a> in public primary schools, with secondary schools having the option to opt in, since the start of 2020.</p>
<p>Education departments have introduced the bans for various reasons including to improve academic outcomes and decrease bullying. </p>
<p>Several recent papers point to positive impact of banning mobile phones at school on student performance and other outcomes. Understanding the evidence is crucial for best policy. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/no-education-minister-we-dont-have-enough-evidence-to-support-banning-mobile-phones-in-schools-151574">No, Education Minister, we don't have enough evidence to support banning mobile phones in schools</a>
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<p>In a 2015 <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0927537116300136?casa_token=BftSuGIPHFsAAAAA:Si6NTOo4pga0c0zwLi9owgonIiECr1raGURE3FrIsbFpR9QiDlfPE8nVCygV9R9Rb3_2hvRn9Q">paper</a>, we used a method — called a <a href="https://mixtape.scunning.com/difference-in-differences.html">difference-in-difference strategy</a> — as well as student data from England to investigate the effect of banning mobile phones on student performance. In this method, we compared schools that have had phones removed to similar schools with no phone bans. This allowed us to isolate the effect of mobiles phones on student performance from other factors that could affect performance. </p>
<p>We found banning mobile phones at school leads to an increase in student performance. Our results suggest that after schools banned mobile phones, test scores of students aged 16 increased by 6.4% of a standard deviation. This is equivalent to adding five days to the school year or an additional hour a week.</p>
<p>The effects were twice as large for low-achieving students, and we found no impact on high achieving students. </p>
<p>Our results suggest low-performing students are more likely to be distracted by the presence of mobile phones, while high performing students can focus with or without mobile phones.</p>
<p>The results of our paper suggest banning mobile phones has considerable benefits including a reduction in the gap between high- and low- achieving students. This is substantial improvement for a low-cost education policy.</p>
<h2>Other studies show similar results</h2>
<p>Recent studies from <a href="https://www.erices.es/upload/workingpaper/99_99_0420.pdf">Spain</a> and <a href="https://sites.google.com/view/saraabrahamsson/research?authuser=0">Norway</a>, using a similar empirical strategy to ours, also show compelling evidence on the benefit of banning mobile phones on student performance, with similar effect size. </p>
<p>In Spain, banning mobile phones has been shown to increase students’ scores in maths and science. Researchers also documented a decrease in incidences of bullying. </p>
<p>In Norway, banning phones significantly increased middle school students’ grade point average. It also increased students’ likelihood of attending an academic high school rather than choosing a vocational school. And it decreased incidents of bullying. </p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/390012/original/file-20210317-21-1rl9mfk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Man's hands holding mobile phone in front of open laptop." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/390012/original/file-20210317-21-1rl9mfk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/390012/original/file-20210317-21-1rl9mfk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/390012/original/file-20210317-21-1rl9mfk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/390012/original/file-20210317-21-1rl9mfk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/390012/original/file-20210317-21-1rl9mfk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/390012/original/file-20210317-21-1rl9mfk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/390012/original/file-20210317-21-1rl9mfk.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">Using any form of technology in class could be seen as a form of multitasking.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/side-view-shot-mans-hands-using-268450487">Shutterstock</a></span>
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<p>Evidence from <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/kykl.12214?casa_token=Suyowk5wjT8AAAAA%3AOLsCQOB4FXad_mQqgez2PpOxGAhcZcRl749eAeAkZTwWEzeFAp63yrwpFsVzWoItlYskdMs8y3PljBI">Belgium</a> suggests banning mobile phones can be beneficial for college student performance. This context might be different, but still informative as students are of similar age to those in high school. </p>
<p>Research from <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0272775719303966?casa_token=GRmr3vHvbZ8AAAAA:rxP1rcaYwFSNkqqYEuD1GfCygj6qhIZS49hqG3TvU33UcGeL9QcnvrckFldDxGqCS8_PTt-6IA">Sweden</a>, however, suggests little effect of banning mobile phones in high school on student performance. It is worth noting, however, the study did not find any detrimental effect of banning mobile phones.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/dont-blame-the-teacher-student-results-are-mostly-out-of-their-hands-124177">Don't blame the teacher: student results are (mostly) out of their hands</a>
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<p>A similar conclusion can be drawn from the literature on the effect of computers used at school. Evidence from <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0272775716307129?casa_token=XPKWuMLtDfQAAAAA:Kgma8uaSuiDJsI-jowomsz2ltDAr4AAJsExfdR4VgY1g01mDjvX1qvXRF0Jw57uXhwP_-9IySQ">the US</a> suggests using laptops in class is detrimental to learning, and the effects are <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0272775716303454?casa_token=RA9CuU-d89oAAAAA:NT86LqbLuWGV1FPdxv-lbamuIc9t7_4CLR9_QZUct9jgc7dH0O__tBfeHKnyh7JAf2cJDKWdmQ">large and more damaging</a> for low-performing students.</p>
<h2>Potential psychological mechanisms involved</h2>
<p>The psychological literature might shed lights on the potential mechanisms as to why mobile phones and other technology in school might affect student performance. This literature finds multitasking is detrimental to learning and task execution. </p>
<p>Many recent experimental papers present evidence mobile phone use while executing another task decreases learning and task completion. Research also shows <a href="https://www.pnas.org/content/106/37/15583">computers might be</a> a <a href="https://www.liebertpub.com/doi/10.1089/cyber.2010.0129">less efficient</a> way <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/03634523.2013.767917">to take notes</a> than pen and paper. </p>
<p>It may be that taking notes by hand allows you to remember the material better than typing those notes on a computer. This may be because students are not just typing out every word said, but thinking of how to summarise what they’re hearing.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/whats-the-best-way-to-take-notes-on-your-laptop-or-tablet-43630">What's the best way to take notes on your laptop or tablet?</a>
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<p>These findings do not discount the possibility mobile phones and other technology could be a useful structured teaching tool. However, ignoring or misunderstanding the evidence could be harmful to students and lead to long term negative social consequences.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/153792/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Louis-Philippe Beland does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>A study compared students’ performance in schools that had banned mobiles and schools that hadn’t. They found students who weren’t allowed to use mobile phones in class had higher test scores.Louis-Philippe Beland, Assistant Professor of Economics, Carleton UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1553582021-02-23T19:09:55Z2021-02-23T19:09:55ZA school system tailored to individual ability rather than age sounds good, but there’s no evidence it works<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/385725/original/file-20210223-15-l923kp.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/schoolgirl-sitting-desk-other-classmates-while-296378582">Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>One of the boldest recommendations in the review of the New South Wales curriculum was to introduce “untimed syllabuses”. According to the <a href="https://nswcurriculumreview.nesa.nsw.edu.au/home/siteAreaContent/2a12c8a4-2f17-4d66-a9a4-78e0d68643a3">review’s report</a> – delivered in June 2020 — these</p>
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<p>do not specify when every student must commence, or how long they have to learn, each syllabus. Students progress to the next syllabus once they have mastered the prior syllabus. Students who require more time have it; students ready to advance are able to do so.</p>
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<p>The idea of letting kids work at their own pace is at first glance appealing. The NSW government <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/schools-will-trial-untimed-syllabuses-before-ambitious-statewide-reform-20210216-p572v7.html">said recently it would trial</a> the concept on a small-scale basis in the coming years.</p>
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<p>But while some similar strategies have been researched, there is no evidence on how an “untimed syllabus” would work in schools. Such a proposal also presents serious disruptions to schooling and a range of risks.</p>
<h2>What available research shows</h2>
<p>Changing the delivery of the curriculum so students can progress at different rates is part of what’s known as a <a href="https://www.education.vic.gov.au/school/teachers/classrooms/Pages/approacheshitsdifferentiation.aspx">differentiated curriculum</a> approach. </p>
<p>A 2018 <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1747938X18301039?casa_token=jks6b1GbPZ8AAAAA:0rC9qMGcIPw4gkaic0SvEblUczJi9fZQLn7orZQgZMpWge9DEnDb2QpwNFcxxlpJXFfPWAIndw">review analysed 20 good quality studies</a> since 1995 on how differentiation affects language and math performance in primary schools.</p>
<p>They found where it was applied to and between classes, it had a small negative effect on low-ability students, and no effect on others. But when differentiation occurred as part of broader school reform, with teacher professional development and technology implementation for example, there was a small to moderate positive effect on students’ performance.</p>
<p>Another study published in 2019, of <a href="https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2019.02366/full">14 quality studies</a> on the effects of differentiated instruction in secondary schools, said the majority of the studies found small to moderate positive effects on student achievement. But the authors also noted:</p>
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<p>… there are still severe knowledge gaps. More research is needed before drawing convincing conclusions regarding the effectiveness and value of different approaches to differentiated instruction for secondary school classes.</p>
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<p>But the NSW curriculum review’s proposal for “untimed syllabuses” is a very different reform to what the reviews above looked at. These explored differentiated learning across specific classes, or lessons – not a whole education system.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-the-curriculum-should-be-based-on-students-readiness-not-their-age-155549">Why the curriculum should be based on students' readiness, not their age</a>
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<p>One <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1747938X19306487">recent review</a> examined 71 studies of implementation of personalised learning approaches in kindergarten through to year 12. Only two studies evaluated school-wide implementation and none evaluated a system-wide approach. </p>
<p>No studies examined the impact of an individualised curriculum alone, without other initiatives (such as teacher training), and there were no studies relevant to the “untimed syllabus” proposal. </p>
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<p>Wordwide, there hasn’t been one education system to try such an approach.</p>
<p>Such an approach is experimental and does not have sufficient preliminary evidence to ethically support it.</p>
<h2>It’s not only about academic outcomes</h2>
<p>While there is at least some evidence differentiated approaches can positively affect academic scores, there is a lack of rigorous research on how they might affect social or emotional outcomes, or change the nature of teaching. </p>
<p>Schools are complex ecosystems and they serve purposes beyond academic learning. Educational philosopher Gert Biesta <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%252Fs11092-008-9064-9">outlined three major purposes of schooling</a>: qualification, socialisation and subjectification. Subjectification is about individuation and can be understood as the opposite of the socialisation function. </p>
<p>A good education works towards all three goals and finds an agreeable balance between them. Educational progress in each of these also affects the other two. This means a policy changing the social interactions of a classroom can have wide-reaching repercussions. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/whats-the-point-of-education-its-no-longer-just-about-getting-a-job-117897">What's the point of education? It's no longer just about getting a job</a>
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<p>Shifting to an individualised or differentiated, untimed curriculum risks losing some important aspects of socialisation as a key driver of academic learning, as well as important social developmental outcomes. </p>
<p>Consider, for example, the peer-to-peer learning that occurs, in both directions, when a high achieving child is seated next to a low achiever and both work together on class activities. </p>
<p>Also consider the potential for “untimed syllabuses” to leave some students working alone on aspects of the curriculum that are either way behind or way ahead of their peers, and you start to see the magnitude of disruption to the social fabric of classrooms.</p>
<h2>A tech-heavy reform</h2>
<p>Practical implementation of <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/10494820.2020.1811735">a personalised curriculum requires online services</a> like the learning management systems, and integrated curriculum and assessment platforms. </p>
<p>If a curriculum system is to be truly “untimed” that requires personalised learning accounts. Many are currently in development. But a <a href="http://oro.open.ac.uk/56692/">recent independent review</a> from Germany acknowledges “hardly any evaluation studies have been done to prove the effectiveness of technology-enhanced personalised learning”.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/gonskis-vision-of-personalised-learning-will-stifle-creativity-and-lead-to-a-generation-of-automatons-124000">Gonski’s vision of 'personalised learning' will stifle creativity and lead to a generation of automatons</a>
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<p>It may be possible to create sensitive ways of implementing individualised approaches to curriculum, using technology while preserving a focus on social relationships. But developing these may take many years. </p>
<p>Until we have research documenting and evaluating such approaches, at scale across whole schools and systems, the risks far outweigh the potential benefits.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/155358/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Rachel Wilson does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The NSW curriculum review advocates for students to learn at their own pace. While this may work within a classroom, there is no research supporting the reform of a whole education system.Rachel Wilson, Associate Professor in Education, University of SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1554552021-02-17T19:11:47Z2021-02-17T19:11:47ZAustralian schools are becoming more segregated. This threatens student outcomes<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/384674/original/file-20210217-21-18mpsn2.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://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:MGS_Senior_Campus.jpg">Wikimedia Commons</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The Australian school system is concentrating more disadvantaged students in disadvantaged schools, with serious implications for student achievement. A <a href="https://www.gie.unsw.edu.au/structural-failure-why-australia-keeps-falling-short-its-educational-goals">report released today by the Gonski Institute</a> says schools in Australia are more regressive, divided and socially segregated than in most other rich countries.</p>
<p>Our report examines how well Australian education meets our agreed national educational goals. These were most recently articulated in the Alice Springs <a href="http://www.educationcouncil.edu.au/site/DefaultSite/filesystem/documents/Reports%20and%20publications/Alice%20Springs%20(Mparntwe)%20Education%20Declaration.pdf">(Mparntwe) declaration</a> as “improving educational outcomes for all young Australians” through “excellence and equity”.</p>
<p>When governments provide funding to schools, obligations and expectations rightly flow from this. If one of those is promoting “excellence and equity”, it’s time for a serious revision.</p>
<h2>We’re becoming more segregated</h2>
<p>The Australian school system is increasingly concentrating disadvantaged and advantaged students in separate schools.</p>
<p>For example, all Australian schools <a href="https://docs.acara.edu.au/resources/About_icsea_2014.pdf">have an ICSEA score</a>, which stands for the Index of Community Socio-Educational Advantage. ICSEA provides an indication of the socio-educational backgrounds of students. The higher the ICSEA, the higher the level of the school’s educational advantage.</p>
<p>Our analysis shows that in the government sector higher ICSEA schools are 26% bigger than they were in 2011, while lower ICSEA schools are marginally smaller than they were in 2011. Lower ICSEA Catholic schools are around 10% smaller than they were in 2011. </p>
<p>Our data show higher ICSEA schools in all sectors are not only growing in size, but have an increasing concentration of highly economically advantaged students. The reverse is happening in lower ICSEA schools.</p>
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<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/to-reduce-inequality-in-australian-schools-make-them-less-socially-segregated-95034">To reduce inequality in Australian schools, make them less socially segregated</a>
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<p>While some might think this is just the natural order of things, rising inequity creates major and ongoing structural problems that hold back our national education system. Both the <a href="https://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/education/equity-in-education_9789264073234-en">OECD</a> and <a href="https://www.unicef-irc.org/publications/995-an-unfair-start-education-inequality-children.html">UNICEF</a> have warned Australia of the risks of our growing educational inequity. </p>
<p>The rise in inequity is not just a problem for the most disadvantaged. It creates a burden with impacts across schooling. The distortions in school growth, according to level of advantage and location, mean management of the school system is unstable — and policies that give all students “a fair go” are actually difficult to implement. </p>
<p>This leads to “needs-based” approaches. But these are inevitably complex and often fail in implementation. The <a href="https://saveourschools.com.au/funding/the-facts-about-school-funding-in-australia">Gonski funding model</a> is one example.</p>
<h2>We’ve gone backwards since Gonski</h2>
<p>The first Gonski review argued additional funding for schools should be allocated on the basis of need. If implemented, this would have boosted equity funding to all sectors. But while funding since the Gonski review pays homage to the language of equity, the data about the overall distribution of funding don’t tell the same story.</p>
<p>Since 2011, the percentage increase in government per-student recurrent funding of Australia’s low ICSEA (under 1,000) schools has been more than the increase to high ICSEA (over 1,000) schools. However, funding aggregated from all sources shows less advantaged schools are no further ahead. And some schools and school sectors have received greater growth in funding – even when needs are matched and accounted for. </p>
<p>My School data also show Australia’s very remote schools, on average, received the same percentage funding increases as major city schools – despite metropolitan areas having clear social and educational advantage. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/384678/original/file-20210217-21-fyrpiy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A school bus sign on a rural road." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/384678/original/file-20210217-21-fyrpiy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/384678/original/file-20210217-21-fyrpiy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/384678/original/file-20210217-21-fyrpiy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/384678/original/file-20210217-21-fyrpiy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/384678/original/file-20210217-21-fyrpiy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=499&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/384678/original/file-20210217-21-fyrpiy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=499&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/384678/original/file-20210217-21-fyrpiy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=499&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Remote schools, on average, have received the same amount of funding as metropolitan schools — even under a needs-based funding model.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/school-bus-stop-warning-road-sign-398839681">Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>There is no simple answer to why this happens, but it is an inevitable consequence of a competitive system of schools. While the Gonski review recommended independent oversight of the funding arrangements, this was never implemented.</p>
<h2>So, what do we do?</h2>
<p>We acknowledge responses to the report will include the perennial “<a href="https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/catholic-leader-dismisses-school-funding-reform-as-flight-of-fantasy-20210217-p573a2.html">it’s too hard</a>”. </p>
<p>And while we acknowledge choice of schooling has a strong hold on the Australian psyche, we are calling for a new conversation about what obligations might contribute to more equitable outcomes in all schools. Our report offers ten policy recommendations.</p>
<p>These include fully funding non-government schools with comparable governance and accountability arrangements as government schools, and banning them from charging fees. This means reframing all schools, and consequent funding, as a “<a href="http://www.oecd.org/education/School-choice-and-school-vouchers-an-OECD-perspective.pdf">public good</a>” across all sectors. </p>
<p>The fully funded non-government private schools would still be run by the same organisations as before, and abide by the same educational philosophy. But no student would be turned away. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.sydney.edu.au/news-opinion/news/2020/03/16/myth-busted--private-schools-don-t-save-taxpayers--dollars.html#:%7E:text=Their%20report%2C%20'The%20School%20Money,culture%20publication%20Inside%20Story%20today.&text=The%20researchers%20said%20this%20is,level%20as%20similar%20public%20schools.">Our previous study</a> revealed combined state and federal recurrent funding of non-government schools is close to, and in many cases exceeds, combined government funding of government schools. </p>
<p>In effect, this means the taxpayer saves little by funding competing systems. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/australian-primary-private-schools-should-be-fully-funded-by-governments-but-banned-from-charging-fees-131753">Australian primary private schools should be fully funded by governments — but banned from charging fees</a>
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<p>One of the biggest barriers to achieving educational equity is the lack of routine reporting of school education outcomes relating to <a href="https://docs.education.gov.au/documents/2017-section-11-equity-groups">equity groups</a>, as is <a href="https://docs.education.gov.au/documents/2017-section-11-equity-groups">required in higher education</a>. For example, the ICSEA does not make a single appearance in any annual <a href="https://www.acara.edu.au/reporting/national-report-on-schooling-in-australia/national-report-on-schooling-in-australia-2018">national reports on schooling</a>. </p>
<p>To improve equity in schooling, we need clear analysis, monitoring and targeting of inequity. To gain due policy attention the <a href="https://www.acara.edu.au/reporting/national-report-on-schooling-in-australia/national-report-on-schooling-in-australia-2018">National Report on Schooling in Australia</a> needs to report on school data and student attainment across all equity groups, across time. We simply cannot allow this growing problem to go unrecognised in our annual national school report card. </p>
<p>Our report team includes two former school principals (one government, one non-government) and a former education minister. We are sensitive to the positioning of diverse interested voices, but we can’t help concluding that something’s got to give. </p>
<p>Rising school inequity means inclusive schooling, providing “a fair go” for all Australian children, is increasingly a pipedream. Growing segregation and residualisation among Australian schools also mean students are less likely to engage with peers from a wide range of backgrounds. In the long term both these issues will lead to shifts in Australian society and character.</p>
<p>We cannot continue to put the important work of structural school reform in the too-hard basket. If we do, countless students, teachers, communities and our nation will continue to suffer.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/155455/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>One recommendation to fix inequity in Australia is for the government to fund non-government schools to the same degree as government schools, while banning them from charging fees.Rachel Wilson, Associate Professor in Education, University of SydneyPaul Kidson, Lecturer in Educational Leadership, University of WollongongLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1503462021-01-25T21:34:32Z2021-01-25T21:34:32ZUniversities have thrived despite past disruptions and could grow even stronger after COVID-19<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/378330/original/file-20210112-15-1rr1aax.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C57%2C5365%2C2400&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">This past century, universities have proven to be nimble and entrepreneurial even while adroitly portraying themselves as guardians of tradition.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>In the past century, universities have risen to <a href="https://www.routledge.com/Universities-in-the-Knowledge-Economy-Higher-education-organisation-and/Temple/p/book/9781138020269">occupy a central place in the knowledge economy</a>, from fostering innovation to attracting promising international students and researchers, and being an <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.respol.2008.04.016">anchor for regional</a> and national <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/250151995_Editorial_Education_in_the_Knowledge_Economy">economic development</a>. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-universities-boost-economic-growth-65017">How universities boost economic growth</a>
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<p>Universities are <a href="https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED345653">integral to public policy</a>. Never before have institutions of higher education been so influential and powerful in the lives of families, communities and in the state. </p>
<p>At the same time, universities have never faced the intense pressure they do at the moment. The short-term pressure is to <a href="https://theconversation.com/6-ways-universities-are-being-put-to-the-test-by-coronavirus-142222">successfully pivot, in a matter of mere weeks and months, to delivering education online</a> and continue to conduct research in a primarily virtual manner. Yet that pressure extends considerably beyond the immediate <a href="https://www.macleans.ca/education/can-canadas-universities-survive-covid">impacts of COVID-19</a>. </p>
<p>They’re also facing pressure from students eager for good jobs after graduation, pressure from competitors located online or in other countries and <a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-ontario-to-tie-funding-of-universities-and-colleges-to-labour-market/">pressure from governments that demand tangible outcomes from public funds</a>.</p>
<h2>From insulated to post-war boom</h2>
<p>Before the 1940s, universities were <a href="https://theconversation.com/free-speech-on-campus-means-universities-must-protect-the-dignity-of-all-students-124526">small, and admitted only the elite who were educated for a limited number of professions</a>. Courses and programs changed little from year to year. Universities were largely insulated from each other and from activities and events elsewhere.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/376577/original/file-20201223-23-1q0vfna.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C384%2C2909%2C1620&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A campus after a fire." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/376577/original/file-20201223-23-1q0vfna.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C384%2C2909%2C1620&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/376577/original/file-20201223-23-1q0vfna.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=413&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/376577/original/file-20201223-23-1q0vfna.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=413&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/376577/original/file-20201223-23-1q0vfna.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=413&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/376577/original/file-20201223-23-1q0vfna.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=519&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/376577/original/file-20201223-23-1q0vfna.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=519&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/376577/original/file-20201223-23-1q0vfna.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=519&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">Passersby at University College at the University of Toronto after a fire in February 1890.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(CP PHOTO) 1999 (National Archives of Canada/Frank W. Micklethwaite ) RD-000515</span></span>
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<p>After the Second World War, <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/268512684_An_Introduction_to_Higher_Education_in_Canada">the role of the university shifted in two fundamental ways</a>. First, universities were charged with educating the rapidly growing middle class. New institutions, degrees, programs, disciplines and specializations proliferated.</p>
<p>Second, universities were charged by the state with supporting applied research, especially in science, technology, engineering, medicine and business. Universities increasingly sought and obtained funding from <a href="https://academicmatters.ca/the-role-of-governments-in-corporatizing-canadian-universities">government and private sources</a> for research, knowledge transfer, commercialization and related activities. </p>
<p>Corporations were eager for new knowledge that might be commercialized, while governments were keen to ensure that universities made contributions beyond conferring degrees.</p>
<p>In this new environment, students had more choice than ever in regard to institutions, programs and delivery modes, but a less clear path to the successful career their parents expected. </p>
<p>University administrations reacted by creating <a href="https://newrepublic.com/article/156378/rise-business-schools-corporate-university-crisis-higher-education">elite undergraduate programs such as in business and other professions</a> that charge high tuition (in part because they are largely taught by full-time members of the collegiate) and guarantee entry-level employment.</p>
<p>Beginning in the 1950s, <a href="https://academicmatters.ca/from-deference-to-defiance-the-evolution-of-ontario-faculty-associations/">university staff, including professors, unionized and became influential</a> in increasing compensation for full-time workers. Faculty unions pressed for smaller teaching loads (less hours in the classroom) to free up more time for research-related activities. </p>
<h2>Rise of contract staff, competition</h2>
<p>As professors became more expensive — and university administrators searched for lower-cost options such as contractually limited employees — relatively fewer were hired. </p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/what-striking-education-workers-and-climate-activists-have-in-common-125533">What striking education workers and climate activists have in common</a>
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<p>The rise of <a href="https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2015/11/12/study-explores-hiring-and-managing-practices-online-adjunct-faculty-members">online degrees provided further opportunities to hire contract employees</a> to teach courses.</p>
<p>Competition between universities increased for limited public and private funds, prestige and access to the best students and researchers. As the English language secured its dominance as the lingua franca of science, business and other fields of study, that competition became international. <a href="https://www.timeshighereducation.com/world-university-rankings/world-university-rankings-2020-reaching-critical-mass">Global ranking schemes</a> emerged comparing the performance of universities, programs and scholars.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/ignore-university-rankings-but-make-higher-education-an-election-issue-118434">Ignore university rankings, but make higher education an election issue</a>
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<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A university campus." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/378368/original/file-20210112-15-1cl5uzu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/378368/original/file-20210112-15-1cl5uzu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/378368/original/file-20210112-15-1cl5uzu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/378368/original/file-20210112-15-1cl5uzu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/378368/original/file-20210112-15-1cl5uzu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/378368/original/file-20210112-15-1cl5uzu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/378368/original/file-20210112-15-1cl5uzu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&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">Kyushu University in Fukuoka, Japan.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Thomas Klassen)</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
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<p>Competitors emerged outside of traditional academia when online delivery of content became low cost with the required technology available to the masses. In the past decade Udacity, Coursera, edX and other <a href="https://medium.com/@MyLeanMBA/breaking-down-the-top-3-mooc-platforms-coursera-udacity-edx-13e5ed481337">e-learning organizations</a>, some for-profit and some not-for-profit, sought to carve niches in the expanding online learning market. </p>
<p>Universities responded to the encroachment by launching their own online degrees and programs that carried far more prestige, came with more marketing power and a larger base of supportive alumni than could be mustered by the new competitors. Universities charge the same tuition fees for on-campus in-classroom degrees and those earned online at the same institution, thus blurring the differences between the two modes of delivery.</p>
<h2>International branch campuses</h2>
<p>Universities have also learned the value of <a href="https://wenr.wes.org/2019/05/the-complex-environment-of-international-branch-campuses">international branch campuses</a> as a means to market and protect their brands. American and British institutions have taken the lead in <a href="https://nyuad.nyu.edu/en/">creating offshore campuses</a>, especially in the emerging economies of Asia. </p>
<p>Several Canadian universities have <a href="https://schulich.yorku.ca/programs/mba-india">branch campuses</a> <a href="https://www.ivey.com.hk">in Asia</a> and <a href="https://www.ucalgary.edu.qa/">the Middle East</a>.</p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">University of Calgary in Qatar.</span></figcaption>
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<p>Furthermore, all universities now have a variety of joint/dual programs or at least a variety of partnership/exchange agreements that allow them to project their influence around the world.</p>
<p>The financial stakes implied in these disrupted global educational markets have not escaped the purview of banks. A report by RBC, <em>The Future of Post-Secondary Education: On Campus, Online and On Demand</em>, notes: “New forms of engagement with international students … <a href="https://thoughtleadership.rbc.com/the-future-of-post-secondary-education-on-campus-online-and-on-demand/">may include more in-country presence of Canadian institutions</a>.”</p>
<h2>Entrepreneurial & guardians of tradition?</h2>
<p>The institutions have demonstrated to governments that post-secondary education and research support public policy, especially in a global economy. Universities have also successfully facilitated social mobility, a concern that resonates particularly with middle-class voters.</p>
<p>Universities in the United States have been the most successful in adapting to, and prospering in, the new competitive conditions. In part they have done so by creating vast financial resources to support their operations and protect themselves from opponents. For example, Harvard University’s $40-billion <a href="https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2020/4/17/harvard-coronavirus-cfo-hollister-interview/">endowment fund</a> allows it to recruit the best students and staff, build state-of-the-art facilities, quickly react to new research priorities and otherwise out-muscle competitors.</p>
<p>It is telling that <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/what-did-chinas-first-daughter-find-in-america">Xi Mingzhe, the daughter of Chinese leader Xi Jinping</a>, completed her undergraduate studies at Harvard. Despite China’s growing global economic superpower role and the political instability in the United States, for the foreseeable future it’s inconceivable that the children or grandchildren of American leaders will complete post-secondary studies in China.</p>
<p>With a history stretching back a millennium, universities have proven to be nimble and entrepreneurial even while adroitly portraying themselves as guardians of tradition. Having successfully protected their franchise during nearly a century of disruption, there is little worry that they will perish in the foreseeable future. Indeed, their influence may well expand.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/150346/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Thomas Klassen does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Universities have successfully adapted during nearly a century of disruption. Will international branch campuses be the next development in navigating COVID-19?Thomas Klassen, Professor, School of Public Policy and Administration, York University, CanadaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1529142021-01-12T13:25:26Z2021-01-12T13:25:26ZThrough her divisive rhetoric, Education Secretary DeVos leaves a troubled legacy of her own<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/378102/original/file-20210111-17-yu4nsv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C5507%2C3702&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos speaks during the daily briefing on COVID-19 on March 27, 2020, in Washington, D.C. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/secretary-of-education-betsy-devos-speaks-during-the-daily-news-photo/1208441564?adppopup=true"> JIM WATSON/AFP via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>Editor’s note: U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos resigned from her post effective Jan. 8, 2021, saying there was “<a href="https://static.politico.com/8b/7a/29084d4f45b89aa9e49f4ba01690/devos-letter.pdf">no mistaking</a>” the impact that President Donald Trump’s rhetoric had on the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol. Here, five scholars offer their views on DeVos’ legacy at the federal agency she headed for four years</em>.</p>
<h2>Mark Hlavacik, associate professor of communication studies, University of North Texas:</h2>
<p>In her <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/context/betsy-devos-resignation-letter/cfd93504-2353-4ac3-8e71-155446242dda/?itid=lk_interstitial_manual_7">resignation letter</a>, Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos explained that her sudden departure from the administration was motivated by President Donald Trump’s <a href="https://www.rev.com/blog/transcripts/donald-trump-speech-save-america-rally-transcript-january-6">incendiary words</a> to the crowd that <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2021/politics/trump-insurrection-capitol/">went on to ransack</a> the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6. </p>
<p>“There is no mistaking the impact your rhetoric had on the situation,” she declared, “and it is the inflection point for me.”</p>
<p>Interestingly, DeVos has a history of using some rather caustic and divisive language herself. Although she never encouraged or condoned the use of force to achieve political ends, her insulting characterizations of public educators as “<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/answer-sheet/wp/2017/10/10/the-new-insult-betsy-devos-is-hurling-at-her-critics-and-why-it-matters/">sycophant[s] of the ‘system’</a>” and “<a href="https://www.ed.gov/news/speeches/prepared-remarks-us-education-secretary-betsy-devos-american-enterprise-institute">Chicken Littles</a>” will leave a troubled legacy of their own.</p>
<p>Much like democracy, public education is an enterprise that relies on a basic civic faith that Americans can come together as a nation and in their communities to do worthwhile things that benefit all. Traditionally, the secretary of education plays a key role as a rhetorical leader who brings the country together to face its educational challenges. But that has rarely been the case with DeVos. </p>
<p>As recently as October she <a href="https://www.ed.gov/news/speeches/prepared-remarks-secretary-devos-hillsdale-college">used her position to warn</a> that an “unholy mob” of young socialists who “hate freedom” are using a “Marxist playbook” to attack “the family.”
Rhetoric like that in her <a href="https://www.ed.gov/news/speeches/prepared-remarks-secretary-devos-hillsdale-college">speech to Hillsdale College</a> reflects an affinity for blaming that DeVos <a href="https://www.tamupress.com/book/9781623499068/demagogue-for-president/">shares with her former boss</a>.</p>
<p>As I have <a href="https://www.hepg.org/hep-home/books/assigning-blame">warned elsewhere</a>, such <a href="https://www.ed.gov/news/speeches">routine blaming</a> leaves the impression that any <a href="https://www.hepg.org/blog/the-paradox-of-public-blame-and-the-prospects-of-p">meaningful conversation</a> on an important issue like education will devolve into a war of accusations. </p>
<p>And that can leave not just the nation’s Capitol but also public education defenseless before a tide of extremism.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos testifies during a meeting." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/377817/original/file-20210108-21-17etg8o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/377817/original/file-20210108-21-17etg8o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/377817/original/file-20210108-21-17etg8o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/377817/original/file-20210108-21-17etg8o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/377817/original/file-20210108-21-17etg8o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/377817/original/file-20210108-21-17etg8o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/377817/original/file-20210108-21-17etg8o.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">U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos testifies before a Senate subcommittee.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/secretary-of-education-betsy-devos-testifies-during-a-news-photo/1133269507?adppopup=true">Zach Gibson/Getty Images)</a></span>
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<h2>Stanley Litow, visting professor of the practice in public policy, Duke University:</h2>
<p>Although college readiness, access and affordability are more important now than ever – particularly for people of color and those who are low-income – Betsy DeVos sadly did little to address these issues.</p>
<p>Expanding <a href="https://studentaid.gov/understand-aid/types/grants/pell">Pell Grants</a> – the major source of federal aid in defraying tuition costs for low-income students – should have been the focus of the Department of Education to ensure more people can afford college. The same is true of the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/student-loan-debt-crisis-college-cost-mind-blowing-facts-2019-700">growing crisis of college debt</a>, which now stands at a record <a href="https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/SLOAS">US$1.7 trillion and counting</a>.</p>
<p>While it was up to Congress to reauthorize the <a href="https://www.investopedia.com/terms/h/higher-education-act-of-1965-hea.asp">Higher Education Act</a> – a federal law that regulates federal student aid, among other things, and effectively funds higher education – passage wasn’t a priority for the leadership in the department, and it didn’t happen. This was particularly troubling in light of the fact that <a href="https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2020/05/05/public-higher-education-worse-spot-ever-heading-recession">state funding for higher education has declined by 18%</a> in the last two decades. </p>
<p>Also, instead of a focus on the divisive issues of <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/education/2019/03/27/charter-school-betsy-devos-school-choice/3251111002/">charter schools</a>, <a href="https://www.usnews.com/news/elections/articles/2020-10-20/betsy-devos-says-school-choice-is-coming-like-it-or-not">choice schools</a> and <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2020-02-18/betsy-devos-s-billion-dollar-voucher-boondoggle">vouchers</a>, the nation’s schools needed a laser-like focus on teaching. This is especially true when it comes to recruiting and retaining good teachers. But here, too, the Department of Education under DeVos’ leadership played little to no role. In fact, DeVos <a href="https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2020/05/05/public-higher-education-worse-spot-ever-heading-recession">pushed back on efforts to provide teachers with needed professional development</a>. </p>
<p>The Department of Education also fell short in terms of how it dealt with the COVID-19 pandemic. In spite of the escalating rate of hospitalizations and deaths, no issue was as important to America’s future – in my opinion – as its long-term impact on education. After months of school being largely online, K-12 students were projected to start the 2020-21 school year with <a href="https://doi.org/10.3102/0013189X20965918">significant losses in reading and math</a>. I believe the Department of Education’s support for remote learning was minimal at best, based on conversations I’ve had with school superintendents throughout the nation.</p>
<p>It was a total disaster for poor children. More than <a href="https://www.brookings.edu/blog/education-plus-development/2020/06/22/unequally-disconnected-access-to-online-learning-in-the-us/">1 in 4 children experience food insecurity</a>, and children in those homes similarly lack online access.</p>
<h2>Kevin Welner, professor of education, University of Colorado Boulder</h2>
<p>When Donald Trump was elected in 2016, there was little doubt that he would appoint a secretary of education who would support private school vouchers, oppose teacher unions and be reluctant to enforce civil rights statutes. That agenda is consistent with every Republican administration going back to Ronald Reagan. Why, then, did Betsy DeVos become “<a href="https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2020/jan/06/frederica-wilson/how-unpopular-betsy-devos">the most unpopular person in our government</a>”?</p>
<p>What set her tenure apart was not what she did – it’s that she personified those policies. </p>
<p>Unlike her predecessors, DeVos had no relevant experience in public education. She was never a governor or state legislator like <a href="https://bioguide.congress.gov/search/bio/A000360">Lamar Alexander</a>, or a legal scholar of education like <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/01/us/shirley-hufstedler-pioneering-judge-and-first-cabinet-level-education-secretary-is-dead-at-90.html">Shirley Hufstedler</a>, a K-12 teacher and school administrator like <a href="https://www.ecs.org/award/1985-terrel-h-bell/">Terrel H. Bell</a> or a university professor like <a href="https://www.encyclopedia.com/people/history/historians-miscellaneous-biographies/william-j-bennett">William Bennett</a>.</p>
<p>Also unlike her predecessors, she <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/education-nominee-betsy-devos-never-attended-a-public-school-theres-nothing-wrong-with-that/2017/01/29/5f63b2f6-e37c-11e6-a547-5fb9411d332c_story.html">never attended public school herself</a>, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/10/us/politics/betsy-devos-private-schools-choice.html">nor did she send her children to public schools</a>.</p>
<p>Instead, she made her mark as a <a href="https://mcfn.org/node/6043/devos-family-made-14-million-in-political-contributions-in-the-last-2-years-alone">political donor</a> and <a href="https://www.dbdvfoundation.org/news/dick-and-betsy-devos-lift-the-veil-on-their-139m-in-philanthropy">philanthropist</a>. Her advocacy for private school vouchers culminated in her founding of the <a href="https://www.federationforchildren.org">American Federation for Children</a> in 2010. </p>
<p>Upon taking office, she embarked on a “<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/a-quarter-of-the-k-12-schools-betsy-devos-has-visited-are-private/2017/10/27/02d5f7a2-a946-11e7-850e-2bdd1236be5d_story.html">Rethink Schools</a>” tour. Almost 40% of the schools she visited were private. “Even when DeVos has visited public schools, she has tended to bypass traditional neighborhood schools, instead making stops at charter schools and other schools of choice,” The Washington Post <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/a-quarter-of-the-k-12-schools-betsy-devos-has-visited-are-private/2017/10/27/02d5f7a2-a946-11e7-850e-2bdd1236be5d_story.html">noted in 2017</a>.</p>
<p>In short, DeVos stood out because she embraced the role of privatization advocate – a role she never relinquished. She made no pretense about this advocacy. For her, all that’s required for schooling to be considered “<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2019/02/28/betsy-devos-her-allies-are-trying-redefine-public-education-critics-call-it-absurd/">public education</a>” is public funding and use by the public, meaning that private schools can provide “public” education. DeVos, from the moment of her appointment, became a powerful symbol. That, more than any action she took while in office, set her apart.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Protesters rally against U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/377820/original/file-20210108-19-607b9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/377820/original/file-20210108-19-607b9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/377820/original/file-20210108-19-607b9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/377820/original/file-20210108-19-607b9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/377820/original/file-20210108-19-607b9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/377820/original/file-20210108-19-607b9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/377820/original/file-20210108-19-607b9.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">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Protesters rally against U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos outside of a banquet hall in New York.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/protestors-rally-against-u-s-secretary-of-education-betsy-news-photo/1140636202?adppopup=true">Drew Angerer/Getty Images</a></span>
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<h2>Dustin Hornbeck, postdoctoral research fellow of educational leadership and policy, University of Texas at Arlington</h2>
<p>Betsy DeVos made it clear in her confirmation hearings that she believed that public schools were not “<a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/betsy-devos-trump-s-pick-education-secretary-won-t-rule-n708171">working for the students that are assigned to them</a>,” while she refused to answer direct questions about whether she intended to work to privatize public schools.</p>
<p>In her four-year tenure as secretary of education, it could be said that her biggest achievement was making the role of the U.S. Department of Education less prominent, and, similar to Donald Trump, <a href="https://theconversation.com/betsy-devos-6-month-report-card-more-undoing-than-doing-81793">undoing that which was done during Barack Obama’s tenure</a>. DeVos made no bones about her dedication to school choice programs, <a href="https://www2.ed.gov/about/overview/budget/budget18/index.html">attempting to include $400 million in the 2018 budget</a>, which Congress rejected. She later argued that some of the funding in the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act – better known as the <a href="https://home.treasury.gov/policy-issues/cares">CARES Act</a> – intended for public schools should be <a href="https://www.ed.gov/news/press-releases/secretary-devos-issues-rule-ensure-cares-act-funding-serves-all-students">designated for private schools</a>. </p>
<p>Controversially, DeVos rolled back <a href="https://www.ed.gov/news/press-releases/secretary-devos-takes-historic-action-strengthen-title-ix-protections-all-students">Obama-era Title IX guidance</a> that gave victims of sexual assault additional recourse on college campuses. She also instituted a <a href="https://theconversation.com/heres-how-the-new-title-ix-regulations-will-affect-sexual-assault-cases-on-campus-138091">more complicated burden of proof</a>. Additionally, she rescinded guidance <a href="https://www.aclu.org/blog/lgbt-rights/lgbt-youth/betsy-devos-denies-trans-students-basic-rights">to protect transgender students’</a> ability to use toilet facilities and locker rooms that correlate with their gender identity. In another incident, she rescinded education department guidance about student discipline tactics intended to curb school suspensions and overly harsh punishments that <a href="https://www.edweek.org/policy-politics/betsy-devos-revokes-obama-discipline-guidance-designed-to-protect-students-of-color/2018/12">disparately impact students of color</a>.</p>
<p>Her administration <a href="https://panetta.house.gov/congressman-panetta-over-150-democrats-call-devos-release-more-information-about-department-s">dramatically slowed the approval of Public Service Loan Forgiveness</a>, which forgives federally subsidized student loans after a period of 10 years for public servants: that is, people who work for governmental agencies or for nonprofit organizations. As well, she <a href="https://studentaid.gov/sites/default/files/sweet-proposed-settlement-notification-sample.pdf">curtailed borrower defense practices</a> meant to protect consumers from predatory lending from for-profit colleges that might close before students earn a degree. She also <a href="https://www.smith.senate.gov/us-senator-tina-smith-leads-senate-colleagues-calling-secretary-devos-further-improve-program">scaled back the TEACH Grant program</a>, which gave future teachers federal money for college if they agreed to teach for a length of time in a high-need area.</p>
<p>While many of these actions have noticeably impacted educational policy, almost all of them can be overturned quickly in a new administration through direct administrative action. Few, if any, of DeVos’ school choice plans were codified and passed into law, making her legacy one of controversy and little action.</p>
<h2>Nicholas Tampio, professor of political science at Fordham University</h2>
<p>One of the great questions at the start of Betsy Devos’ tenure was whether she would enforce the federal education law signed by President Barack Obama at the end of his second term. Four years later, we know the answer: She did not try to undermine the federal testing regime instituted by the <a href="https://theconversation.com/devos-vows-to-require-standardized-tests-again-4-questions-answered-145979">Every Student Succeeds Act</a> of 2015.</p>
<p>At her contentious confirmation hearing in January 2017, Sen. Maggie Hassan, a New Hampshire Democrat, asked DeVos if she thought Congress took the right approach in preserving federal guardrails in education. One of these was the requirement that states test students annually in grades 3-8 and once in high school in reading and math. <a href="https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CHRG-115shrg23667/pdf/CHRG-115shrg23667.pdf">DeVos replied</a>: “I believe that Congress made great strides in returning the responsibility for education primarily to states and localities, where it belongs.”</p>
<p>Former Sen. Al Franken, a Minnesota Democrat, for one, was not sure whether DeVos really supported or understood the testing requirements of the law. After listening to her apparently struggle to explain the difference between testing for proficiency or growth, <a href="https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CHRG-115shrg23667/pdf/CHRG-115shrg23667.pdf">Franken replied</a>: “It surprises me that you don’t know this issue.” Every Democratic senator, and two Republicans, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/02/07/us/politics/betsy-devos-confirmation-vote.html">voted against her nomination</a>. DeVos became secretary only because Vice President Mike Pence cast the deciding vote. Before the vote, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/07/us/politics/betsy-devos-education-secretary-confirmed.html?searchResultPosition=1">Franken said</a>: “It was the most embarrassing confirmation hearing that I have ever seen.”</p>
<p>Senate Democrats, it turns out, did not need to worry about DeVos’ commitment to federal testing requirements.</p>
<p>In the spring of 2019, the U.S. Department of Education warned Arizona that it could lose <a href="https://www.edweek.org/education/devos-team-arizona-could-lose-340-million-for-skirting-essas-testing-requirements/2019/04">$340 million</a> in federal education funds. Why? Because their state education plan did not use a single test for all high school students in the state. Arizona wanted to offer school districts a “menu of assessments,” but the <a href="https://azsbe.az.gov/sites/default/files/media/AZ%20high%20school%20assessments%20waiver-%20final%20letter%2019-000167.pdf">Trump team rejected that plan</a>.</p>
<p>Miguel Cardona, President-elect Joe Biden’s choice for secretary of education, has <a href="https://www.edweek.org/policy-politics/where-bidens-choice-for-education-secretary-stands-on-key-k-12-issues/2020/12">reaffirmed</a> his commitment to federally mandated standardized testing as a tool of equity. Ultimately, DeVos’ reign at the Department of Education will not have changed the testing regime between the Obama and Biden administrations.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/152914/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 organization that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>US Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos has resigned. Five experts comment on the impact she had on education.Mark Hlavacik, Associate Professor of Communication Studies, University of North TexasDustin Hornbeck, Postdoctoral Research Fellow of Educational Leadership and Policy, University of Texas at ArlingtonKevin Welner, Professor, Education Policy & Law; Director, National Education Policy Center, University of Colorado BoulderNicholas Tampio, Professor of Political Science, Fordham UniversityStanley S. Litow, Visting Professor of the Pratice, Public Policy, Duke UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1509212020-12-01T17:14:52Z2020-12-01T17:14:52ZTeaching anti-terrorism: how France and England use schools to counter radicalisation<p>The murder of the schoolteacher Samuel Paty, beheaded by 18-year-old Abdoullakh Abouyedovich Anzorov in October 2020 after Paty had shown caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad during a civic education lesson, has understandably caused shock and fear among teachers in France. </p>
<p>Many teachers were already struggling to manage classroom discussions on sensitive topics such as the satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo’s publication of the controversial caricatures. Some now <a href="https://www.mediapart.fr/journal/france/091120/n-est-pas-des-cow-boys-des-referents-laicite-temoignent-de-leur-action-l-ecole">fear for their personal safety</a>. </p>
<p>My PhD research explores the impact of Islamist terrorism on education policy and practice in England and France. As I come to the end of my study, these events give rise to an unwelcome sense of déjà vu. </p>
<h2>Controversy and criticism</h2>
<p>My interest in the topic began with the terrorist attacks on the offices of satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo in Paris in January 2015 after it published the caricatures. The interviews I have carried out over the past three years show that these cartoons continue to cause upset and anger among some Muslim students. This leads to challenging classroom moments for teachers. </p>
<p>In the first week of school following the murder of Paty, <a href="https://www.francetvinfo.fr/societe/religion/religion-laicite/assassinat-de-samuel-paty-il-y-a-eu-environ-400-violations-de-la-minute-de-silence-dans-les-etablissements-scolaires-annonce-jean-michel-blanquer_4170727.html">some 400 students</a> across France were reported to the ministry of education for refusing to take part in the minute’s silence in his honour.</p>
<p>Since Paty’s murder, there has been much talk about France’s “colour-blind” approach to cultural diversity, which emphasises that the same rights apply to all citizens. This is often considered to be in opposition to the <a href="https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-319-16256-0_4">multiculturalism</a> of countries such as the UK, which gives greater space to minority cultures and religions.</p>
<p>French president Emmanuel Macron <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/15/business/media/macron-france-terrorism-american-islam.html">has responded</a> to international criticism of his government’s response to the attacks by insisting on the singularity of the French approach, and the inability of Anglo-Saxon commentators to understand it. </p>
<p>However, this overlooks the <a href="https://www.palgrave.com/gp/book/9783030316419">striking similarities</a> in the way the English and French governments have used the education system as a tool to promote social cohesion and build young people’s resilience to radicalisation. </p>
<h2>Fundamental values</h2>
<p>Governments in both countries have sought to emphasise shared values in the education system. Since 2014, schools in England have been required <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/news/guidance-on-promoting-british-values-in-schools-published">to promote</a> the “<a href="https://policy.bristoluniversitypress.co.uk/tea-and-the-queen">fundamental British values</a>” of democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty, and mutual respect and tolerance for those of different faiths. </p>
<p>In French schools, there has been a renewed focus on promoting the Republican values of liberté, égalité, fraternité and the secular value of <a href="https://theconversation.com/frances-la-cite-why-the-rest-of-the-world-struggles-to-understand-it-149943">laïcité</a> – which limits the expression of religious beliefs in public institutions such as schools – <a href="https://www.gouvernement.fr/grande-mobilisation-de-l-ecole-pour-les-valeurs-de-la-republique">since the January 2015 attacks</a>.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/quest-ce-que-lenseignement-moral-et-civique-148493">Qu’est-ce que l’enseignement moral et civique ?</a>
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<p>Other policies in both countries target students who may be at risk of radicalisation. Teachers are expected to report concerns about radicalisation to the school leadership or outside agencies. Education professionals are also being trained in spotting the signs of radicalisation, although this approach is more widely employed <a href="http://eprints.hud.ac.uk/id/eprint/32349/">in the UK</a> than it is in France. </p>
<p>The issues raised by atrocities such as the murder of Paty also have implications for how teachers operate in the classroom in England and France. </p>
<h2>Difficult discussions</h2>
<p>In the case of France, the attacks on Charlie Hebdo highlighted the difficulties that some teachers already faced in managing discussions around issues such as laïcité and freedom of speech. </p>
<p>In England, the need to engage students in discussions on contemporary issues as part of the fundamental British values policy – and to help them make sense of ongoing terrorist attacks – has revealed some of the same problems. </p>
<p>Teachers, school leaders and policy officials in both countries frequently state that some teachers lack in-depth knowledge of the issues they are increasingly called on to address in class. What’s more, many are afraid of being unable to manage the emotive student responses that sensitive subjects sometimes generate, and, ultimately, of losing control of the situation. </p>
<p>This was a particular concern for some respondents in France, who felt that a tradition of teacher-centred learning – involving lots of teacher talk and little time for discussion – meant that some of their colleagues were particularly nervous about managing classroom debates.</p>
<p>In England, the declining importance of citizenship education in the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/04353684.2018.1434420">English education system</a> limits opportunities for engagement with civic values and contemporary issues. This has been compounded, as one school leader pointed out, by a lack of in-depth guidance from the government on how to promote fundamental British values. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"926143163714146304"}"></div></p>
<p>My research shows that teachers need to be better prepared for these difficult conversations. This preparation should take place through initial teacher training and continuing professional development. </p>
<p>This training does already exist in some areas of both France and England. In some parts of France, teacher trainers work closely with teams of teachers over extended periods of time on themes such as discussion and debate, students’ religious beliefs, and talking to young people about terrorism.</p>
<p>At a secondary school I visited in London, teachers plan and teach citizenship education days collaboratively. This provides teachers with a degree of support in handling tricky moments. </p>
<p>Participants in my research also underlined the importance of teachers showing respect towards their students in these conversations. There was a feeling among some school leaders and teacher trainers in France that <a href="http://ijse.padovauniversitypress.it/system/files/papers/2018-3-04.pdf">teachers’ own beliefs</a> and how they express them in classroom debates could contribute to some of the heated confrontations that have made the headlines. </p>
<p>It seems that teachers in both countries are not immune to a wider climate of anxiety around Islam and suspicion towards Muslim populations. This may lead teachers to enter into some conversations with a <a href="https://www.cairn.info/revue-cahiers-de-la-lcd-lutte-contre-les-discriminations-2016-2-page-99.htm">degree of hostility</a>.</p>
<p>This message will need to be delivered carefully. In a context where teachers may be fearing for their safety, it is important that such warnings are not experienced as criticism. At the same time, it would be unfortunate if the horrific murder of Samuel Paty made debate on some of the pressing issues at the heart of these challenges impossible.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/150921/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jonathan James is a member of the UK Labour Party </span></em></p>My PhD research explores the impact of Islamist terrorism on education policy and practice in England and France.Jonathan James, PhD Candidate, Department of Education, Practice and Society, UCLLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1438932020-08-05T02:35:21Z2020-08-05T02:35:21ZIndia’s impressive new education policy could create opportunities for Australian universities and young people<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/350986/original/file-20200804-18-18615ey.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/three-portrait-girls-smiling-school-1st-1244852419">Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>In recent days, the <a href="https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/education/news/national-education-policy-2020-all-you-need-to-know/articleshow/77239854.cms">Indian government approved</a> a new education policy — the first for 34 years. The policy comes after an expert group produced a <a href="https://theconversation.com/india-is-reforming-education-for-the-first-time-since-1986-heres-why-australia-should-care-121812">draft report</a> last year. </p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/india-is-reforming-education-for-the-first-time-since-1986-heres-why-australia-should-care-121812">India is reforming education for the first time since 1986 – here's why Australia should care</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>What’s in the policy?</h2>
<p>The <a href="https://www.mhrd.gov.in/sites/upload_files/mhrd/files/NEP_Final_English_0.pdf">National Education Policy</a> (NEP) is an impressive document. It would help deliver a school curricula that’s more flexible and multidisciplinary, and less exam-focused.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1288672658473639937"}"></div></p>
<p>It is also ambitious: the Indian government plans to have 50% of 18-21 year olds enrolled in university by 2030, an almost doubling of enrolment in ten years. </p>
<p>Among many notable features, the report focuses on universities as sites for holistic student development; calls for multidisciplinary approaches that combine physical, emotional, moral, social, intellectual and aesthetic learning; and seeks to break down the distinction between “curricular” and “extra-curricular” activities, for example via internships and community-related work. </p>
<p>“Service” is a key theme running through the document. Drawing on historical examples of India’s contributions to university development, the report calls for a new focus on universities as sites in which faculty and students serve their local and regional communities to help fulfil the public mission of universities. As the National Education Policy notes on page 33:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>The purpose of quality higher education is, therefore, more than the creation of greater opportunities for individual employment. It represents the key to more vibrant, socially engaged, cooperative communities and a happier, cohesive, cultured, productive, innovative, progressive, and prosperous nation.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Building on this vision, the National Education Policy sets out a series of sweeping changes to university education in the country. These include:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>establishing a single national regulatory body to oversee all aspects of university functioning</p></li>
<li><p>setting up a National Research Foundation </p></li>
<li><p>introducing four-year multidisciplinary degrees with multiple exit options (after one, two, three or four years)</p></li>
<li><p>encouraging internationalisation, for example through allowing foreign universities to operate in India</p></li>
<li><p>developing a set of elite multidisciplinary universities geared towards achieving the standing of Ivy League institutions in the US. The National Education Policy sees India as becoming a “world teacher” (<em>vishwa guru</em>).</p></li>
</ul>
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<h2>Will it work?</h2>
<p>There are many issues to think through in relation to implementation. For example, it is not wholly clear how the National Education Policy’s move to introduce a new national test for university sits alongside the emphasis on moving away from exams. Moreover, the process through which universities that currently work in specialist areas transition to become fully multidisciplinary institutions may be difficult.</p>
<p>The National Education Policy will require careful negotiation with state governments, who share responsibility for education, as well as consideration of how to ensure the benefits of educational change occur in all regions of India and benefit communities underrepresented in higher education.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/india-tomorrow-part-6-what-young-indians-want-117024">India Tomorrow part 6: what young Indians want</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>But these comments must be read in context: the National Education Policy navigates numerous complexities quite effectively and contains a wealth of important ideas.</p>
<h2>What does it mean for Australia?</h2>
<p>The policy allows for universities in the top 100 in the world to set up in India. Ultimately, this might encourage some Australian universities to start facilities in India. But this change will require the passing of a new law, and foreign universities are unlikely to build new facilities in India in the short term. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/351025/original/file-20200804-20-nbe19w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Students gather at a university in India." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/351025/original/file-20200804-20-nbe19w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/351025/original/file-20200804-20-nbe19w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=393&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/351025/original/file-20200804-20-nbe19w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=393&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/351025/original/file-20200804-20-nbe19w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=393&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/351025/original/file-20200804-20-nbe19w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=494&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/351025/original/file-20200804-20-nbe19w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=494&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/351025/original/file-20200804-20-nbe19w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=494&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The new policy could also help both countries reflect on the role of universities in the 2020s and beyond.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>What is more likely in the short and medium term is that Australian universities will use the National Education Policy and its emphasis on internationalisation and flexibility as an opportunity to enhance collaboration in specific areas such as:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>the co-development of new subjects and programs</p></li>
<li><p>the collaborative design of open and distance learning products and facilities, such as virtual classrooms</p></li>
<li><p>greater joint PhD supervision between Indian and Australian researchers</p></li>
<li><p>the development of post-doctoral research opportunities that bridge both countries building on the example of the New Generation Network developed by the <a href="https://www.aii.unimelb.edu.au/programs/new-generation-network/">Australia India Institute</a> </p></li>
<li><p>greater research collaboration on areas of mutual interest, for example in relation to water, health, education, energy, information technology, and the successful implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals</p></li>
<li><p>greater reflection between Australian and Indian higher educational institutions on how universities engage with industry, government and the community</p></li>
<li><p>building on the principle of India as a “<em>vishwa guru</em>”, efforts by Australian educator and administrators to examine what can be learnt from India’s history of education.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>Such collaboration could improve the quality, diversity and relevance of university education and research in India and Australia. It could widen understanding within both countries of the contributions of the other globally. </p>
<p>It could also help both countries reflect on the role of universities in the 2020s and beyond, a theme woven through the National Education Policy and now deserves much greater global discussion.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/143893/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Craig Jeffrey receives funding from the Australian Research Council (DP170104376, DP200102424). He is the Director of the Australia India Institute, which receives grants from the Department of Education, Skills and Employment as well as the Victorian Government. The views expressed in the article are the author's own.</span></em></p>India’s new National Education Policy is impressive, and could create opportunities for Australian universities. The key issues, however, relate to implementation.Craig Jeffrey, Director and CEO of the Australia India Institute; Professor of Development Geography, The University of MelbourneLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1429382020-07-21T16:00:25Z2020-07-21T16:00:25ZTeachers have been let down by a decade of inaction on digital technologies<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/348597/original/file-20200721-37-19txs3r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C8688%2C5774&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/teacher-giving-lesson-tablet-computer-classroom-441376753">wavebreakmedia/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The coronavirus pandemic has led to significant disruption to school education in England. Teachers have made a concerted effort to use digital technology and <a href="https://www.techuk.org/insights/opinions/item/17240-covid-19-online-learning-a-teachers-perspective">remote teaching and learning</a> to lessen the impact of this disruption on their students. </p>
<p>However, thanks to a decade of unambitious government policy, many have faced an uphill struggle. A general lack of preparedness for digital technology in England has left many children without the tools they need to access and benefit from remote learning.</p>
<p>Our <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0360131519302891?via%3Dihub">recent research</a> shows that teachers have been hampered by weak policies surrounding technology supported learning, and by the research behind these policies. To unlock the educational potential of digital technologies in the future, teachers need support which focuses on innovation and practice.</p>
<h2>A decade stood still</h2>
<p>The importance of using digital technology in teaching, and some of its associated challenges, were established well <a href="https://dera.ioe.ac.uk/1573/">over a decade ago</a>. </p>
<p>However, the coalition government of 2010 brought in policies that increasingly neglected the role of digital technologies in education. It began with the closure of the <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/news/dfe-to-close-arms-length-bodies-to-improve-accountability">British Educational and Communications Technology Agency</a> in 2011. </p>
<p>This organisation faced some <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13540600802661303">justified criticism</a>, including for its tendency towards uncritical adoption of educational technology. But it did play an important role, supporting schools in their attempts to acquire and integrate digital technologies in the classroom.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Teacher and teenagers using tablet and laptops." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/348603/original/file-20200721-31-1m1lj8h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/348603/original/file-20200721-31-1m1lj8h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/348603/original/file-20200721-31-1m1lj8h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/348603/original/file-20200721-31-1m1lj8h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/348603/original/file-20200721-31-1m1lj8h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/348603/original/file-20200721-31-1m1lj8h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/348603/original/file-20200721-31-1m1lj8h.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">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Teachers develop their own methods for using digital technologies.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/teenage-students-teacher-class-756316333">SpeedKingz/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In 2013, the National Curriculum for England was <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/national-curriculum-review-new-programmes-of-study-and-attainment-targets-from-september-2014">reviewed</a>. Changes included the end of the expectation, <a href="https://dera.ioe.ac.uk/18150/">established in 1999</a>, that the critical use of digital technologies in education was an important key skill, and that it should be supported both through the subject of information and communications technology (ICT) and in pupils’ <a href="https://dera.ioe.ac.uk/18150/">use of ICT across the curriculum</a>.</p>
<p>Past standards required trainee teachers to develop their knowledge and skills in ICT in their teaching practice and <a href="https://dera.ioe.ac.uafk//8005/">wider professional work</a>. However, all reference to the use of digital technologies for teaching and learning were removed from the 2010 <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/teachers-standards">Teacher Standards</a> which trainees need to demonstrate to gain Qualified Teacher Status in England.</p>
<p>These policies, as well as an era of <a href="https://www.ifs.org.uk/publications/14369">real-term cuts in education funding</a>, have left many schools’ access to digital technologies weakened. It is not surprising that many, though not all, have found the move to remote and digitally-supported learning during the coronavirus pandemic challenging.</p>
<h2>Unlocking future potential</h2>
<p>Research on the use of ICT in schools has an important role to play, involving teachers in identifying what works and what doesn’t. But the research used to inform government policy on ICT over the last decade has failed in this regard. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://educationendowmentfoundation.org.uk/evidence-summaries/teaching-learning-toolkit/digital-technology/">Education Endowment Foundation (EEF)</a>, funded by the Department for Education, has produced research which only adds very high level, comparatively common sense insights, such as that the use of <a href="https://educationendowmentfoundation.org.uk/evidence-summaries/teaching-learning-toolkit/digital-technology/">technology should not be an end in itself</a>.</p>
<p><a href="https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/4151887.pdf">Back in 2004</a> we already knew that effective teachers make their own critical judgements about how to use digital technologies. They do this by blending their knowledge about their subject, their knowledge of how learners understand it, and how the features of digital technologies relate to such knowledge. But a lack of support for teachers to hone these practices means that this knowledge is not passed on or developed. </p>
<p>The education sector has to constantly re-learn lessons about the unique challenges of integrating technologies into education. Different levels of access, as well as different attitudes towards or ways of using digital technology, can have an impact on the effectiveness of teaching and learning. But many trainee teachers are left to develop this understanding by chance. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Teacher and girl looking at computer tablet." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/348601/original/file-20200721-33-hze0xl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/348601/original/file-20200721-33-hze0xl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/348601/original/file-20200721-33-hze0xl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/348601/original/file-20200721-33-hze0xl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/348601/original/file-20200721-33-hze0xl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/348601/original/file-20200721-33-hze0xl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/348601/original/file-20200721-33-hze0xl.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">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Teachers may develop innovative ways of using ICT which are not then improved or passed on.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/teacher-young-schoolgirl-using-tablet-classroom-735971875">Monkey Business Images/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/initial-teacher-training-itt-core-content-framework">Core Content Framework</a> for Initial Teacher Training in England, which sets out the minimum entitlement for those in initial teacher education, perpetuates this shortcoming. It makes no reference to technology-supported learning. </p>
<p>In <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0360131519302891?via%3Dihub">our research</a>, we introduced the idea of “pedagogical provenance”. This means valuing teachers’ stories of how methods of teaching using digital technologies came to be used – like understanding the history of an object or artefact. This could include how <a href="https://media.nesta.org.uk/documents/decoding_learning_report.pdf">video conferencing</a> has been used to explore art exhibitions, or how text messaging among pupils can improve literacy and spelling. </p>
<p>Knowing the purpose and the context of how a particular teaching method or digital tool was introduced helps guide teachers’ future decisions about how to adapt them to their own classroom. But this kind of detail is so often absent. </p>
<p>For instance, a review of research on the use of <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/jcal.12123">tablet devices</a> in education found that there was a lack of detailed explanations provided to teachers “as to how, or why, using tablets within certain activities can improve learning”.</p>
<p>Teachers need to be supported by policy and research to help them develop expert knowledge on the use of digital technologies. Failure to do so may simply mean re-learning the same lessons over and over again. To help teachers prepare for the unknown challenges ahead we must build on the lessons of the past.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/142938/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Keith Turvey received funding from the Training and Development Agency for Schools (TDA) between 2006 - 2010. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Norbert Pachler received research funding from Becta between 2008 and 2010. </span></em></p>The education sector has to constantly re-learn lessons about using digital technologies in teaching.Keith Turvey, Principal Lecturer in Education, University of BrightonNorbert Pachler, Professor of Education and Pro-Vice-Provost: Digital Education, UCLLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1397362020-06-10T14:08:33Z2020-06-10T14:08:33ZThe 7 elements of a good online course<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/339942/original/file-20200604-67393-1dej576.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C22%2C994%2C633&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">It's likely that most universities will be conducting classes online in the fall. That doesn't mean learning will suffer.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>With very few exceptions, online teaching and learning will be <a href="https://www.universityaffairs.ca/news/news-article/several-universities-announce-their-fall-plans-with-instruction-primarily-online/">the primary mode of education for the majority of higher education students</a> in many jurisdictions this fall as concerns about COVID-19 extend into the new school year.</p>
<p>As an education researcher who has been studying <a href="https://muse.jhu.edu/book/73824">online education</a> and a professor who has been teaching in both face-to-face and online environments for more than a decade, I am often asked whether online learning at universities and colleges can ever be as effective as face-to-face learning.</p>
<p>To be clear: this isn’t a new question or a new debate. I’ve been asked this question in various forms since the mid-2000s and researchers have been exploring this topic since <a href="https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED013540">at least the 1950s</a>.</p>
<p>The answer isn’t as unequivocal as some would like it to be. Individual <a href="https://doi.org/10.3102%2F00346543074003379">cherry-picked studies can support any result</a>. But systematic analyses of the evidence <a href="https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ694412">generally show there are no</a> <a href="https://www.tcrecord.org/library/Abstract.asp?ContentId=16882">significant differences in students’ academic outcomes</a> between online and face-to-face education.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/textbooks-could-be-free-if-universities-rewarded-professors-for-writing-them-125470">Textbooks could be free if universities rewarded professors for writing them</a>
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<p>Researchers also find that <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/00221546.2014.11777343">some students perform worse</a> online than others — and that some of those differences can be <a href="https://www.doi.org/10.1126/science.aab3782">explained by socioeconomic inequities</a>. </p>
<h2>Advice for students and parents</h2>
<p>The problems with media comparison studies — that is, those that compare outcomes between one medium, such as face-to-face, to another medium, such as online — are such that many researchers advocate against them. How can students who enrol in online courses in the fall know they are receiving a good educational experience? What are some of the qualities of a good online course?</p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/339949/original/file-20200605-67351-lfdekb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/339949/original/file-20200605-67351-lfdekb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/339949/original/file-20200605-67351-lfdekb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/339949/original/file-20200605-67351-lfdekb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/339949/original/file-20200605-67351-lfdekb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/339949/original/file-20200605-67351-lfdekb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/339949/original/file-20200605-67351-lfdekb.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">Good online courses can be more personal and rewarding for students than the traditional learning in large lecture halls.</span>
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<p>Here’s some advice for students (and their parents) about what to look for as learning remains online.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>A good online course is informed by issues of equity and justice. It takes into account social, political and cultural issues — including students’ backgrounds and socioeconomic circumstances — to craft a learning experience that is just. This may take many forms. In practice, it may mean a diverse and intersectional reading list. It means audiovisual materials that don’t stereotype, shame or degrade people. It may mean that <a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/to-combat-soaring-textbook-costs-look-to-an-open-source-approach/article37477566/">open educational resources are prioritized over expensive textbooks</a>. </p></li>
<li><p>A good online course is interactive. Courses are much more than placeholders for students to access information. A good online course provides information such as readings or lecture videos, but also involves interactions between professor and students and between students and students. Interactions between professor and students may involve students receiving personalized feedback, support and guidance. Interactions among students may include such things as debating various issues or collaborating with peers to solve a problem. A good online course often becomes a social learning environment and provides opportunities for the development of a vibrant learning community.</p></li>
<li><p>A good online course is engaging and challenging. It invites students to participate, motivates them to contribute and captures their interest and attention. It capitalizes on the joy of learning and challenges students to enhance their skills, abilities and knowledge. A good online course is cognitively challenging.</p></li>
<li><p>A good online course involves practice. Good courses involve students in “doing” — not just watching and reading — “doing again” and in applying what they learned. In a creative writing class, students may write a short story, receive feedback, revise it and then write a different story. In a computer programming class, they may write a block of code, test it and then use it in a larger program that they wrote. In an econometrics class, they might examine relationships between different variables, explain the meaning of their findings and then be asked to apply those methods in novel situations. </p></li>
<li><p>A good online course is effective. Such a course identifies the skills, abilities and knowledge that students will gain by the end of it, provides activities developed to acquire them and assesses whether students were successful. </p></li>
<li><p>A good online course includes an instructor who is visible and active, and who exhibits care, empathy and trust for students. This individual understands that their students may have a life beyond their course. Not only do many students take other courses, but they may be primary caretakers, have a job or be struggling to make ends meet. Good online courses often include instructors who are approachable and responsive, and who work with students to address problems and concerns as they arise. </p></li>
<li><p>A good online course promotes student agency. It gives students autonomy to enable opportunities for relevant and meaningful learning. Such a course redistributes power - to the extent that is possible - in the classroom. Again, this may take many forms in the online classroom. In the culinary arts, it may mean making baking choices relevant to students’ professional aspirations. In an accounting course, students could analyze the financial statements of a company they’re interested in rather than one selected by the instructor. Such flexibility not only accommodates students’ backgrounds and interests, it provides space for students to make the course their own. In some cases it might even mean that you - the student - co-designs the course with your instructor. This is the kind of flexibility higher education systems need.</p></li>
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<p>These qualities aren’t qualities of good online courses. They are qualities of good courses, period. </p>
<p>Physical proximity isn’t a precondition for good education. Comparing one form of education to another distracts us from the fact that all forms of education can — and should — be made better.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/139736/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>George Veletsianos receives funding from the Canada Research Chairs program, SSHRC, and CIHR. He is affiliated with the Canadian Digital Learning Research Association.</span></em></p>Research shows few differences in academic outcomes between online and face-to-face university courses. A professor who’s been teaching online for years offers advice on good online courses.George Veletsianos, Professor and Canada Research Chair in Innovative Learning and Technology, Royal Roads UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.