tag:theconversation.com,2011:/ca/topics/education-reform-8745/articlesEducation reform – The Conversation2024-02-28T12:34:10Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2220442024-02-28T12:34:10Z2024-02-28T12:34:10ZHow educator Gloria Jean Merriex used dance, drills and devotion to turn around a failing elementary school in a year<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/577609/original/file-20240223-16-smmyyk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C3%2C1311%2C531&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Movement was an essential part of Gloria Merriex's lessons at Duval Elementary School in Gainesville, Fla.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Courtesy of Boaz Dvir</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>When Duval Elementary – a school that served mostly Black and poor students in East Gainesville, Florida – failed the state’s <a href="https://www.fldoe.org/accountability/assessments/k-12-student-assessment/archive/fcat/">high-stakes standardized</a> test in 2002, district leaders pressured the school’s educators to more closely follow the curriculum.</p>
<p>But Gloria Jean Merriex, who taught third and fourth grade reading and fifth grade math, wasn’t interested. She argued that doing more of the same would yield more of the same results. She rebelled by creating a customized curriculum and going out of sequence, teaching the hardest units first.</p>
<p>Opting for a more kinetic approach to learning, she introduced music and movement. She revamped math and reading instruction by infusing the lessons with hip-hop, dance and other innovations.</p>
<p>And she got results, leading Duval from an <a href="https://www.gainesville.com/story/news/2004/03/02/fcat-season-has-arrived/31659297007/">F to an A in 2003</a> and maintaining that academic excellence until she died of a diabetic stroke in 2008. Her students <a href="https://www.gainesville.com/story/news/2008/05/21/duval-math-teacher-remembered/31566316007/">achieved the greatest gains in math among all of Florida’s fifth graders</a>. </p>
<p>As one who has spent years researching Merriex’s career for “<a href="https://vimeo.com/manage/videos/832309250">Class of Her Own</a>,” a documentary set for national release on April 16, 2024, I believe the example she set could help students from economically poor families make up the <a href="https://www.gse.harvard.edu/ideas/news/23/05/new-data-show-how-pandemic-affected-learning-across-whole-communities">considerable ground they lost</a> during the COVID-19 pandemic.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/577582/original/file-20240223-18-59hove.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A movie poster shows a Black woman who is an educator with the words 'Class of her own' in a chalk-type font." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/577582/original/file-20240223-18-59hove.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/577582/original/file-20240223-18-59hove.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=864&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/577582/original/file-20240223-18-59hove.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=864&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/577582/original/file-20240223-18-59hove.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=864&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/577582/original/file-20240223-18-59hove.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1085&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/577582/original/file-20240223-18-59hove.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1085&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/577582/original/file-20240223-18-59hove.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1085&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">Gloria Jean Merriex is the focus of a documentary titled ‘Class of Her Own,’ which is set to be released in April 2024.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Courtesy of Boaz Dvir</span></span>
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<p>The pandemic cost these students three-fourths of a year in math and more than a third of a year in reading, according to the <a href="https://educationrecoveryscorecard.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/ERS-Report-Final-1.31.pdf">Education Recovery Scoreboard</a>, a collaboration between educational researchers at Harvard and Stanford who are examining learning loss and recovery across the country. These students suffered more than twice the pandemic-induced math skills erosion than students from families of great economic means, the scoreboard shows.</p>
<p>Merriex’s students <a href="https://www.tmea.org/wp-content/uploads/Advocacy/CollegeBoardVoices_in_the_arts.pdf">consistently outscored their peers</a> until her <a href="https://www.gainesville.com/story/news/2008/05/23/duval-teacher-gloria-merriex-dies-at-58/31566470007/">death at the age of 58</a>.</p>
<p>Based on what I learned of her approach in the classroom, here are some of the most important takeaways from Merriex’s life and career:</p>
<h2>1. Meet your students where they are, from where you are</h2>
<p>Merriex breathed new life into this somewhat vague cliché by being uncompromisingly authentic. She wasn’t always that way. For much of her time at Duval, she followed the cookie-cutter curricula. But when Duval failed the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test, she felt she’d been letting down her students all those years. </p>
<p>Merriex started incorporating community and cultural concepts into her curriculum. </p>
<p>A church choir member, she also began keeping her students on task by snapping her fingers, lighting a fire under them by turning static class exercises into dance routines and engaging them in call-and-response. In one exchange depicted in the documentary, Merriex calls out “one-fourths equal,” “two-fourths equal,” and her class responds in unison “25%,” “50%” and so on until they reach 100%. </p>
<p>In another, after giving an incorrect answer, one of her fifth graders says: “I made a mistake.” Merriex calls out, “It’s OK. Why?” Her students respond, “Not too many.”</p>
<p>It was out of this authentic stance that Merriex wrote the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lB7B_7JdHUI&t=10s">“Math Rap” and other hip-hop-fueled educational songs</a>. Her teaching style exemplifies research that has found Black students learn best through “<a href="https://ecommons.luc.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1352&context=luc_diss">culturally relevant curriculum</a>” and by having classroom activities connected to “prior knowledge and … real life.”</p>
<p>Personally, <a href="https://www.centredaily.com/news/local/education/penn-state/article169726862.html">Merriex preferred other musical genres</a>, but she knew rap would resonate with her students. </p>
<h2>2. Make repetition a habit</h2>
<p>Merriex turned repetition into an art. She demonstrated that saying it once means simply mentioning it; to teach, you must repeat. And, through her reverse sequencing of teaching the most challenging concepts at the outset, she gave herself plenty of chances to revisit them throughout the year. </p>
<p>Several <a href="http://www.lingref.com/bucld/42/BUCLD42-16.pdf">domestic</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1088/1755-1315/175/1/012148">international</a> studies illustrate the benefits of repetition to a <a href="https://www.doi.org/10.1128/jmbe.00158-21">variety of students</a>.</p>
<h2>3. Get parents involved</h2>
<p>Merriex believed parental involvement boosted student success – a notion that is <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10648-005-3949-7">backed up by research</a>.</p>
<p>“If a kid forgot their homework, she’d get on the phone with their mom,” University of Texas at San Antonio assistant dean of research Emily Bonner says in the documentary.</p>
<p>To enable parents to keep up with their children, Merriex offered them evening math and reading classes. “And she sometimes used to go by their house, especially kids that are really going through a lot,” parent volunteer Anthony Guice says in the documentary.</p>
<p>Guice continues to share Merriex’s math and reading raps and dance routines with North Florida residents. </p>
<h2>4. Show you care</h2>
<p>Merriex provided free after-school tutoring and Saturday sleepover test prep at Duval. She sewed school uniforms and graduation gowns. She cooked meals. “She put us before anything, before her own health,” former student Brittany Daniels says in the documentary.</p>
<p>A diabetic, Merriex could ill-afford to do that. Research shows overwork can be <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s10648-005-3949-7">hazardous to your health</a>, potentially even deadly.</p>
<p>“She only missed three days out of 30 years of school,” her daughter, Tayana Davis, a certified nurse, says in the documentary. “That’s when she was in the hospital.”</p>
<p>Thus, Merriex has provided us with two lessons, one unintentionally: Care, in a multitude of ways, for your students – and yourself.</p>
<h2>5. Embrace standardized testing</h2>
<p>Critics have long called standardized testing <a href="https://www.ascd.org/blogs/15-reasons-why-standardized-tests-are-problematic">inequitable and unfair</a>. Their <a href="https://www.nea.org/professional-excellence/student-engagement/tools-tips/history-standardized-testing-united-states">criticism reached a crescendo with passage of President George W. Bush’s 2001 No Child Left Behind Act</a>, which required yearly assessments and carried consequences such as being forced to restructure or or replace staff, including the principal, for schools that didn’t make adequate yearly progress.</p>
<p>In recent years, states have opted for less ominous evaluations through the <a href="https://nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/assessments/">National Assessment of Educational Progress</a>. Most universities have <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/michaeltnietzel/2022/11/15/more-than-80-of-four-year-colleges-wont-require-standardized--tests-for-fall-2023-admissions/?sh=5d7971887fb9">scrapped SAT and ACT requirements</a> from their applications. </p>
<p>Yet Merriex, who rejected other educational mandates, welcomed Florida’s standardized test. She viewed it as an equalizing factor. She used the exam to raise expectations and motivate her students. One of the means to a bigger end, it played a part in her mission to give her students the knowledge and skills needed to succeed in school and beyond.</p>
<p>Recent studies show she had a point. Researchers have found a correlation between <a href="https://www.pnas.org/doi/full/10.1073/pnas.1315746110">how K-12 students do on standardized tests and how they do in college</a>. For this reason, some universities, such as <a href="https://fortune.com/2024/02/07/dartmouth-college-admissions-sat-testing-standardized-exams/amp/">Dartmouth</a> and <a href="https://sg.news.yahoo.com/yale-university-brings-back-standardized-200720370.html">Yale</a>, have reinstated the SAT and ACT. </p>
<p>Florida’s test certainly leveled the playing field for Merriex’s students. Their success transformed Duval from an underserved school into a well-funded <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=AGFcXrLjKScC&pg=PA22&lpg=PA22&dq=On+the+2003+FCAT,+Merriex+led+Duval+from+an+F+to+an+A&source=bl&ots=MmUEPuN-8H&sig=ACfU3U3t-r3qFhHbMrUVONk1FeA9JkcZ0A&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjAnsyF0ryEAxVwrokEHZDjDtYQ6AF6BAgLEAM#v=onepage&q=Duval%20arts%20academy&f=false">magnet arts academy</a> in 2005.</p>
<p>It was quite telling that after her students took Florida’s state test every spring, Merriex continued drilling its concepts through the end of the year. </p>
<p>The most relevant Merriex lesson, however, has nothing to do with state tests or hip-hop or chanting. “You’ve got to know who your students are, and you need to teach those students,” Bonner, the research dean from Texas, says in the documentary.</p>
<p>Not every group of students responds to rap or chanting, but children respond to a teacher who knows and cares about them, seeks to genuinely connect with them and unleashes their true self in the classroom to bring out the best in them.</p>
<p>The year after Merriex died, 2009, <a href="https://www.gainesville.com/story/news/2010/03/06/students-pumped-up-about-fcat/31745230007/">Duval failed</a> the state test. The school never regained its academic footing and ultimately <a href="https://www.gainesville.com/story/news/2015/06/10/so-long-duval-elementary/31882978007/">closed in 2015</a>.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/222044/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Boaz Dvir receives funding from Kellogg and Smallwood Foundations for the production of the documentary </span></em></p>A new documentary highlights teaching techniques of an educator who went the extra mile for her students.Boaz Dvir, Associate Professor of Journalism, Penn StateLicensed 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/2017482023-03-24T12:37:33Z2023-03-24T12:37:33Z40 years ago ‘A Nation at Risk’ warned of a ‘rising tide of mediocrity’ in US schools – has anything changed?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/517029/original/file-20230322-20-hk7i3n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=22%2C22%2C5069%2C3282&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Academic gains made over the past four decades have begun to erode.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/classroom-of-teenage-students-during-class-royalty-free-image/141090015?phrase=diverse%20high%20school%20classroom&adppopup=true">Troy Aossey/The Image Bank via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The National Commission on Excellence in Education’s release of a report titled “<a href="http://edreform.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/A_Nation_At_Risk_1983.pdf">A Nation at Risk</a>” in 1983 was a pivotal point in the history of American education. The report used dire language, lamenting that “the educational foundations of our society are presently being eroded by a rising tide of mediocrity that threatens our very future as a Nation and a people.”</p>
<p>Using Cold War language, the report also famously stated: “If an unfriendly foreign power had attempted to impose on America the mediocre educational performance that exists today, we might well have viewed it as an act of war.”</p>
<p>The report ushered in four decades of ambitious education reforms at the state and federal levels. Those reforms included landmark policy shifts like George W. Bush’s <a href="https://www.edweek.org/policy-politics/no-child-left-behind-an-overview/2015/04">No Child Left Behind Act</a>, Barack Obama’s <a href="https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/issues/education/k-12/race-to-the-top">Race to the Top</a> program and major state reforms in areas including teacher quality, school choice and test-based accountability for schools and teachers. But what is the legacy of “A Nation at Risk” 40 years after its publication? And what are the implications for school reform in the coming years?</p>
<p>As a scholar of education who <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?hl=en&user=SWYJJ_YAAAAJ&view_op=list_works&sortby=pubdate">specializes in standards-based reform and accountability</a>, I believe important lessons can be learned about American education by examining what has taken place since the release of the report. Here are three: </p>
<h2>1. Education reform has improved outcomes, but progress has slowed or reversed in the past decade</h2>
<p>The U.S. has had major challenges with educational performance that long predate “A Nation at Risk.” One is that too many students are not mastering grade-level material. Another is that not enough are enrolling in and completing college given the <a href="http://hanushek.stanford.edu/publications/education-and-economic-growth">benefits of college to individuals and society</a>. Additionally, large gaps exist in both of those areas based on race and ethnicity and income. </p>
<p>Since the report, students from all racial, ethnic and socioeconomic groups have <a href="https://www.educationnext.org/half-century-of-student-progress-nationwide-first-comprehensive-analysis-finds-gains-test-scores/">continuously made achievement gains</a>, and gaps have narrowed considerably since the 1970s – especially in the early grades. Yet low levels of achievement and gaps in achievement remain. For instance, even before the COVID-19 pandemic, <a href="https://www.nationsreportcard.gov/reading/nation/achievement/?grade=4">34% of fourth graders scored below the “basic” level</a> on the National Assessment of Educational Progress, meaning they weren’t reading at grade level. Since COVID-19, national assessment results in reading and math indicate the pandemic <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/01/us/national-test-scores-math-reading-pandemic.html">erased two decades of achievement gains</a>; for instance, in eighth grade math the number of students scoring below basic <a href="https://www.nationsreportcard.gov/mathematics/nation/achievement/?grade=8">increased from 31% in 2019 to 38% in 2022</a>.</p>
<p>The nation has also made tremendous progress in outcomes beyond academic tests. For instance, the <a href="https://nces.ed.gov/pubs2020/2020117.pdf">high school dropout rate has plummeted</a>, dropping from about about 14% around the time of the report to about 6% now. Meanwhile, the proportion of 25-to-29-year-olds <a href="https://www.census.gov/content/dam/Census/library/working-papers/2016/demo/SEHSD-WP2016-04.pdf">with a four-year college degree has doubled</a> to about <a href="https://www.census.gov/newsroom/press-releases/2022/educational-attainment.html">38%</a>.</p>
<h2>2. The reforms did not address the root causes of the problems</h2>
<p>The report spurred four decades of intense reform led by states and the federal government. But these reforms have largely not addressed the major causes of poor educational performance – poverty and other factors outside of school, as well as highly decentralized educational systems that thwart meaningful school improvement.</p>
<p>For example, <a href="https://assets.aecf.org/m/resourcedoc/aecf-2022kidscountdatabook-2022.pdf">child poverty is still widespread</a>; <a href="https://nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/display.asp?id=516">many students lack access</a> to quality early childhood education; and many children live in <a href="https://www.nationsreportcard.gov/reading/nation/achievement/?grade=4">polluted environments that affect their learning</a>.</p>
<p>The result of these factors in the early years is that only about half of children <a href="https://publications.aap.org/pediatrics/article/144/2/e20191766/38558/School-Readiness?autologincheck=redirected">enter kindergarten healthy and ready to learn</a>, and even <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/2332858416657343">fewer among children from low-income families</a>.</p>
<p>While schools can help lessen these disparities in school readiness between more and less advantaged children, the report failed to look beyond schools for solutions to problems that stem from social inequality. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A boy writes on a booklet while seated at a desk." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/517265/original/file-20230323-1108-byvjnl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/517265/original/file-20230323-1108-byvjnl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/517265/original/file-20230323-1108-byvjnl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/517265/original/file-20230323-1108-byvjnl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/517265/original/file-20230323-1108-byvjnl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/517265/original/file-20230323-1108-byvjnl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/517265/original/file-20230323-1108-byvjnl.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">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Gaps in educational performance persist along racial and socioeconomic lines.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/children-writing-in-classroom-royalty-free-image/158313145?phrase=american%20classroom&adppopup=true">Blend Images - JGI/Jamie Grill/Tetra Collection via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The narrow view of “A Nation at Risk” is notable because the widely accepted wisdom of the time, especially among Republicans, and going back to the 1966 <a href="https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED012275.pdf">Coleman Report</a>, was that schools aren’t a primary driver of inequality. After all, the Coleman Report found that differences in school resources, like money and books, didn’t account for differences in student achievement between more and less advantaged children.</p>
<p>Even the education efforts since the report have not been able to address the structural barriers in U.S. education to large-scale improvement. For instance, in a recent book I show that state and federal policies over the past 30 years that focus on improving schools through better and clearer standards have <a href="https://www.hepg.org/hep-home/books/beyond-standards">only modestly improved teaching</a>. </p>
<p>A big part of why standards and other education reforms have failed has to do with the fact that school systems in the U.S. are remarkably decentralized. About <a href="https://www.edweek.org/leadership/education-statistics-facts-about-american-schools/2019/01">13,000 school districts</a> and their individual teachers exercise <a href="https://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674019904">substantial control</a> over what actually happens in classrooms. The inability of policymakers at higher levels – such as states or the federal government – to meaningfully change school practice partially explains why other major reforms have failed to achieve real results. Examples include the <a href="https://www.the74million.org/article/8-lingering-questions-to-confront-after-the-failure-of-obamas-7b-school-turnaround-plan/">Obama administration’s US$7 billion school turnaround plan</a> and <a href="https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=4386595">teacher evaluation reforms</a>. In a more centralized system, policies enacted at the state and federal levels could be implemented as intended; that is rarely the case in U.S. education.</p>
<h2>3. The political coalitions that brought reform have fallen apart</h2>
<p>As on other topics, Americans are <a href="https://www.educationnext.org/partisan-rifts-widen-perceptions-school-quality-decline-results-2022-education-next-survey-public-opinion/">highly polarized on education policy</a>. From “A Nation at Risk” through even much of the Obama administration, many aspects of the education reform agenda had bipartisan agreement. <a href="https://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674013223">Governors of both parties came together</a> to enact standards and testing reforms that set expectations for student learning and measured student progress against those expectations in the 1980s and 1990s. <a href="https://ballotpedia.org/No_Child_Left_Behind_Act#:%7E:text=articles%20about%20federalism-,President%20George%20W.,45%20on%20May%2023%2C%202001.">Congress voted overwhelmingly</a> for the No Child Left Behind Act in 2001, calling for more rigorous standards and more frequent testing to drive educational improvement.</p>
<p>And some versions of school choice – especially charter schools – were <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/juaf.12163">supported by Republican and Democratic</a> administrations in Washington and nationwide. Even the <a href="https://www.gse.harvard.edu/news/ed/14/09/what-happened-common-core">now-controversial Common Core standards</a>, which aimed to create consistent expectations for student learning in math and English nationwide, were <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/06/us/common-core.html">originally bipartisan</a>. That is, they were created and endorsed by leaders from both parties.</p>
<p>This broad reform coalition is no more. </p>
<p>Debates over what to teach children in schools are <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2022/10/12/poll-teaching-lgbtq-crt-books/">driving a partisan wedge</a> between schools and parents. Republican states are removing racial and LGBT-related topics from the curriculum. Meanwhile, <a href="https://www.lgbtqhistory.org/about-fair-education-act/">Democratic states</a> <a href="https://www.mass.gov/info-details/safe-schools-program-for-lgbtq-students#:%7E:text=Inclusive%20Curriculum%20Materials,-The%20Regulations%20for&text=76%2C%20Sec.,national%20origin%20or%20sexual%20orientation.%E2%80%9D">mandate their inclusion</a>.</p>
<p>And <a href="https://www.edweek.org/policy-politics/the-push-for-school-choice-is-accelerating/2023/01">expanding choice programs</a> continue to drive down public school enrollment in states across the nation. Over <a href="https://www.urban.org/research/publication/where-kids-went-nonpublic-schooling-and-demographic-change-during-pandemic">a million students</a> have been lost from public schools, and private school enrollment has increased 4% since the onset of COVID-19.</p>
<p>The result of these trends is that the reform consensus that brought about a broadly national approach to education reform is splintering into red state and blue state versions. I expect red state reform will likely emphasize school choice and a back-to-basics curriculum focused on reading, math and the avoidance of controversial topics. I expect blue state reform will likely emphasize whole-child supports like mental health, social-emotional learning and curriculum that is intended to reflect the culture of the nation’s increasingly diverse student body.</p>
<p>The problems raised in “A Nation at Risk” remain as important as they were in 1983. In my view, national leaders need to continue to improve educational opportunity and performance for America’s schoolchildren. Improved education benefits individuals – those with college degrees have <a href="https://www.economist.com/graphic-detail/2021/03/17/educated-americans-live-longer-as-others-die-younger">longer life expectancies</a>, <a href="https://www.newamerica.org/education-policy/edcentral/college-pays-off/">higher earnings and wealth</a> and even <a href="https://doi.org/10.1257/jep.25.1.159">more happiness</a> than those with a high school degree or lower. Education also <a href="http://hanushek.stanford.edu/publications/education-and-economic-growth">benefits societies</a>, leading to greater economic growth. But 40 years after the report, policymakers don’t seem to have learned the lesson that schools alone won’t solve the nation’s educational problems. And if that’s true, the nation remains at risk.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/201748/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Morgan Polikoff 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>Polarization among the public and politicians threatens to undermine educational progress made over the past few decades.Morgan Polikoff, Associate Professor of Education, University of Southern CaliforniaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1988892023-02-01T07:36:00Z2023-02-01T07:36:00ZGeorge Magoha was a force for better education in Kenya. But he had his flaws<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/507349/original/file-20230131-26-ctpv5k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Prof George Magoha, then Kenya's cabinet secretary for Education, with school pupils and parents in Nairobi, in September 2019. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Simon Maina/AFP via Getty Images</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The death of former Kenyan education minister Professor <a href="https://www.standardmedia.co.ke/national/article/2001465940/in-his-own-words-when-prof-magoha-told-parliament-who-he-was">George Magoha</a>, 71, closes a vibrant chapter in education policymaking and leadership. It was a chapter marked by unmatched commitment to educational reforms, but equally coloured by controversy and missteps.</p>
<p>Magoha was the cabinet secretary for education from 2019 to 2022. He also served as the chairman of the Kenya National Examinations Council from 2016 to 2019. </p>
<p>He was forceful and uncompromising, both under President Uhuru Kenyatta and during the transition to William Ruto.</p>
<p>His impact is unmistakable in higher education, basic education, and in national examinations in Kenya. </p>
<p>For example, Magoha captured the public imagination when he <a href="https://www.standardmedia.co.ke/education/article/2001307126/after-restoring-sanity-at-exam-agency-magoha-looks-to-exit">took over the helm</a> of the Kenya National Examination Council in 2016. This followed massive <a href="https://nation.africa/kenya/news/education/knec-remains-steadfast-in-face-of-attacks-over-exam-leakage-97532">examination fraud</a>. Sophisticated syndicates <a href="https://nation.africa/kenya/news/knec-board-dissolved-over-exam-leakage-1182906">involving examination officials</a>, school heads and teachers had taken over the conduct of examinations. This had led to massive exam leakages, to the detriment of disadvantaged schools and students. </p>
<p>Magoha replaced the top officials of the council, and ensured their acolytes in the field and schools were dismissed. He and his diverse team visited examination centres on inspection and invigilation sessions, often excluding council officials. At the end of his three-year tenure the <a href="https://nation.africa/kenya/news/education/key-players-who-delivered-credible-kcpe-exams-224354">examination cartels had been vanquished and exam credibility restored</a>.</p>
<p>However, Magoha’s hands-on management style, while laudable, veered into micromanagement. This left many field education officers hamstrung in the execution of their duties. Rather than focus on policy initiatives and oversight, the purview of cabinet secretaries, his visit to schools on inspection and implementation tours left field officers with little to do.</p>
<p>In addition, he attempted to micromanage the University of Nairobi by usurping the role of the university council in reforms and appointments. His efforts were only <a href="https://www.the-star.co.ke/news/2020-02-27-magoha-withdraws-case-against-uon-vice-chancellor-kiama/">thwarted by the judiciary</a> following a mutual settlement.</p>
<p>Magoha’s public service embodied contradictions. He showed Kenyans what commitment to educational leadership was. And what it was not.</p>
<h2>University of Nairobi</h2>
<p>Magoha’s long career in education included teaching at the University of Nairobi’s Medical School. Trained in Nigeria, Ghana, Ireland and the UK, he rose rapidly through the ranks from an assistant lecturer to professor. He held a number of administrative appointments. These included chair of the surgery department, dean of the school of medicine, principal of the college of health sciences, deputy vice-chancellor of finance and administration (2002-2005), and finally, vice-chancellor from 2005 to 2015. </p>
<p>Internal efficiency was his mantra. As the vice-chancellor, he transformed the institution from an inefficient, fully state-funded university to an efficient state-owned university largely funded by private sources. </p>
<p>When he took over as the deputy vice-chancellor (finance and administration) and as vice-chancellor, the university was in a financial crisis. State grants had <a href="https://kenyasocialscienceforum.files.wordpress.com/2019/12/pdf-sifuna-and-kamere-decline-in-government-funding-and-the-quality-of-instructional-progrmmes-in-public-universities-in-kenya.pdf">continued to decline</a> even as student enrolment increased. At the same time income-generating activities remained weak. </p>
<p>He oversaw the growth of private revenues and the <a href="https://www.academia.edu/28593926/Income_Generation_at_Public_Universities_A_Case_of_the_University_Of_Nairobi_Enterprises_and_Services_Limited">creation</a> of the University of Nairobi Enterprise and Services to manage all income-generating activities. </p>
<p>By 2003 the <a href="https://journals.codesria.org/index.php/jhea/article/view/1675/1735">highly successful self-sponsored programme</a> had 22,000 students and generated Ksh. 3 billion (US$130 million).</p>
<p>His <a href="https://www.standardmedia.co.ke/national/article/2001465940/in-his-own-words-when-prof-magoha-told-parliament-who-he-was">efficiency-oriented management style</a> saw him introduce performance targets for both teaching and non-teaching staff. Prior to this staff had worked without performance contracts and the attendant evaluations. As a vice-chancellor he introduced a system of contract renewal based on performance, the right-sizing of units (departmental mergers and letting go of redundant staff) and the rapid result initiatives (where services were delivered at the agreed timeline).</p>
<p>He was also deeply concerned by the rising tide of student strikes. To govern student affairs, he devised a consultative leadership style under which <a href="https://www.universityworldnews.com/post.php?story=20100521162903792">student leaders had direct access to his office</a>. He invested in a system of direct consultation with students to discuss issues of immediate concern. As a result the university experienced the <a href="https://nation.africa/lifestyle/weekend/Prof-Magoha-The-buffalo-who-tamed-university-students/1220-3943516-qeyfh5z/index.html">lowest levels of student disruptions</a> during the 10 years of his leadership.</p>
<h2>Overseeing change</h2>
<p>Magoha oversaw the implementation of Kenya’s new competence-based curriculum learning in 2017. In the midst of criticism and concerns, he was <a href="https://www.standardmedia.co.ke/education/article/2001432917/cbc-is-here-to-stay-education-cs-george-magoha">unyielding</a> as its chief advocate, declaring the new system was there to stay. </p>
<p>His messianic approach saw him travel to schools to inspect the construction of facilities to show progress. It also included addressing stakeholders to <a href="https://www.tuko.co.ke/education/477028-george-magoha-defends-parents-role-cbc-s-parent-illiterate/">soften resistance</a>.</p>
<p>Magoha will also be remembered for efficiently spearheading school reopening and reforms amid a devastating COVID-19 pandemic. Almost one year after closure, he ordered the reopening of schools on the recommendation of a task force he had established. He personally supervised their reopening <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-schools-kenya/parents-worry-as-crowded-kenyan-schools-reopen-after-coronavirus-shutdown-idUSKBN29912E">despite protests and concern</a>. He never second guessed his decision, <a href="http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/2020-11/16/c_139520183.htm">stating</a>: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>We are confident that we will remain on the right trajectory to finding the winning formula that will ensure our learning institutions are safe for learners and teachers. </p>
</blockquote>
<h2>Achilles heel</h2>
<p>Notwithstanding his successes, Magoha had vulnerabilities. His extensive commercialisation of the University of Nairobi elicited questions about the quality of academic learning in self-sponsored programmes. </p>
<p>Early 2016, the state moved to <a href="https://www.universityworldnews.com/post.php?story=20191127071215142">shut down the programmes and abolish branch campuses</a> in the university and in <a href="https://doi.org/10.6017/ihe.2016.86.9370">all public universities</a>.</p>
<p>Magoha also lacked the moderate temperament required for high profile public office. In a fit of anger he <a href="https://nation.africa/kenya/counties/uasin-gishu/education-boss-who-was-humiliated-by-prof-magoha-mourns-him-hails-his-legacy-4099366">publicly humiliated</a> a county director of education, calling him a “fool” and kicking him out of his entourage. </p>
<p>This resulted in his being <a href="https://www.pd.co.ke/news/magoha-praises-his-management-style-after-psc-stripped-off-his-powers-58938">stripped of his human resource powers</a> by the public service commission.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/198889/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ishmael Munene 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>Magoha’s impact is unmistakable in higher education, basic education, and in national examinations in Kenya.Ishmael Munene, Professor of Research, Foundations & Higher Education, Northern Arizona UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1972022023-01-18T13:22:36Z2023-01-18T13:22:36ZKenya’s school reform is entering a new phase in 2023 – but the country isn’t ready<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/504853/original/file-20230117-14-tcl4tj.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">Simon Maina/AFP via Getty Images</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The <a href="https://www.standardmedia.co.ke/education/article/2001460374/school-calendar-returns-to-normalcy-in-january-2023">start</a> of the 2023 school year in Kenya marked an important occasion: the first cohort of pupils to adopt a new curriculum in 2017 entered <a href="https://www.businessdailyafrica.com/bd/economy/state-directs-primary-schools-host-cbc-s-junior-secondary-4040036">junior secondary school</a>.</p>
<p>The <a href="http://www.ibe.unesco.org/en/glossary-curriculum-terminology/c/competency-based-curriculum">competence-based curriculum</a>, as it is known, was launched in 2017 to replace the 8-4-4 system that had been in place for 32 years. The older system was <a href="https://kicd.ac.ke/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/Needs-Assessment-Rpt-ilovepdf-compressed.pdf">criticised</a> for its emphasis on teachers instructing students and on examinations. An <a href="http://kenya.elimu.net/Policy_Law/Education_Policies/Koech/Koech_Report-Executive_Summary.htm">evaluation</a> in 1998, 13 years after it was introduced, detailed numerous shortcomings. These include subjecting students to a <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/1745499917711550">heavy workload</a>. </p>
<p>The new curriculum aims at learners constructing their own knowledge and skills through exposure to challenging situations and experience. It is learner-centred and adaptive to the changing needs of students by encouraging innovativeness and creativity. Learners explore and find solutions in classrooms that are connected to real-life situations. </p>
<p>Since 2017, the new curriculum has been introduced in phases. Children who entered grade 1 at all public schools and all but a handful of private schools that year have been taught the new curriculum since day one. Six years on, <a href="https://nation.africa/kenya/news/education/grade-six-assessment-results-to-be-announced-today-4088712">approximately 1.2 million</a> of those pupils, aged around 12, are entering grade 7. This grade, along with grade 8 next year, will be known as junior secondary school – a stage which hasn’t previously existed in Kenya. This stage will be housed in primary rather than in secondary schools.</p>
<p>But that is about all Kenyans know for sure about junior secondary school. Schools are <a href="https://nation.africa/kenya/news/education/delay-school-opening-to-build-labs-classrooms-parents-say-4075978">poorly prepared</a> to host and instruct junior secondary classes. Classrooms are incomplete, laboratories are lacking and learning materials have yet to be delivered to schools. </p>
<p>On top of this, the presidential Working Party on Education <a href="https://educationreforms.go.ke/homepage">set up</a> in September 2022 to assess hurdles to implementation and other practical questions has yet to publish its recommendations on implementation. The practical issues include a widespread perception that the new system is a <a href="https://nation.africa/kenya/news/education/parents-rue-burden-of-new-curriculum-3513864">financial burden for poor parents</a>. </p>
<p>The government’s immediate task is therefore two-fold. First, it must try to ensure that the quality of education does not suffer. Second, it must provide education without discriminating against any learner based on their social or economic background. This would allay fears that the new system favours the rich.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/6-priorities-to-get-kenyas-curriculum-back-on-track-or-risk-excluding-many-children-from-education-195235">6 priorities to get Kenya's curriculum back on track – or risk excluding many children from education</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>The main challenges</h2>
<p>There are three major hurdles to successfully implementing the new curriculum.</p>
<p>The first relates to preparedness of teachers and teaching material. Facilities like laboratories and workshops that are a key requirement for successful implementation of the curriculum are yet to be built, and the teaching materials are not ready for grade 7 learners. </p>
<p>Three years ago, Kenya’s main teachers’ union <a href="https://www.standardmedia.co.ke/education/article/2001326443/sossion-why-we-are-opposed-to-cbc">reported</a> that an internal survey found that few primary school teachers across all 47 counties had been trained to roll the curriculum out. The union said training was truncated from the stipulated five days to just two or three days per school term. Teachers, by their own admission, lack the knowledge and skills they need to follow the curriculum.</p>
<p>This problem is compounded by chronic under-staffing in most schools across Kenya. The teacher deficit stands at over 90,000. This is mainly due to a <a href="http://wbgfiles.worldbank.org/documents/hdn/ed/saber/supporting_doc/AFR/Kenya/TCH/20130515_041150.pdf">freeze in employment</a> imposed in 1997 owing to budgetary constraints. Until the 2022 order to <a href="https://nation.africa/kenya/news/teachers-service-commission-to-hire-30-000-teachers-in-january-4024066">hire 30,000 new teachers</a>, only enough were employed to replace those retiring or leaving the profession through natural attrition. The new hires, though welcome, are a drop in the ocean.</p>
<p>The second hurdle is physical facilities: there simply isn’t enough room for the new pupils. The lack of infrastructure is a challenge which the government hasn’t met over the years. Some learners continue to attend lessons under trees. </p>
<p>Finally, the curriculum has been labelled as very expensive especially for parents in rural areas and those with low incomes. This is because parents are frequently called upon to buy materials for practical classwork. The assumption that all parents can afford smartphones and have access to a computer or printing services for some assignments has also not gone down well.</p>
<p>This would appear to advantage some students at the expense of others and add to existing disparities. This raises concern because education is a basic human right. </p>
<h2>Way forward</h2>
<p>One of the biggest challenges in Kenya is implementation of policies. This was also <a href="http://kenya.elimu.net/Policy_Law/Education_Policies/Koech/Koech_Report-Executive_Summary.htm">evidenced</a> in the early years of the education system that is now being phased out. This is partly due to the failure to involve all stakeholders in education and the private sector to enhance partnerships and collaboration. Working together could promote innovation and research to make the education system relevant and practical. </p>
<p>Faced with the current challenges, the government can borrow a leaf from UNESCO’s <a href="https://www.unesco.at/en/education/education-2030/global-education-monitoring-gem-report/gem21-22#:%7E:text=UNESCO%20calls%20for%20better%20oversight%20of%20private%20education,educational%20institutions%E2%80%99%20high%20costs%20and%20weak%20government%20regulation.">guidelines</a> on quality education for all. The recommendation calls for partnerships of all actors to learn, compile and evaluate good practices, provide resources enabling practitioners to exchange experiences, and pilot and scale up good ideas. </p>
<p>The government needs to ensure quality education without discriminating against any learner based on their social or economic background.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/197202/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Janerose Mutegi Kibaara 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>Kenya faces the challenge of delivering quality education without discriminating against learners based on social or economic background.Janerose Mutegi Kibaara, Lecturer of Education Management and Policy, Kenyatta UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1952352022-11-29T07:35:51Z2022-11-29T07:35:51Z6 priorities to get Kenya’s curriculum back on track – or risk excluding many children from education<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/497385/original/file-20221125-12-hp2nad.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Getty Images</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Kenya’s education curriculum was reformed in 2017 to improve its quality – but now many Kenyans are calling for change again. Public <a href="https://nation.africa/kenya/life-and-style/dn2/we-don-t-hate-cbc-we-just-want-its-implementers-to-be-realistic-3947316">disillusionment</a> with the competency-based curriculum has forced a <a href="https://www.education.go.ke/he-president-ruto-appoints-task-force-evaluate-cbc">government review</a>. </p>
<p>Frustrations with the curriculum centre around the complexity of learning activities and its sustainability given the high costs involved in its delivery.</p>
<p>The previous <a href="https://www.schoolsnetkenya.com/critical-review-of-8-4-4-education-system-in-kenya/">8-4-4</a> curriculum, launched in 1985, required eight years of primary schooling and four years each of secondary and tertiary education. Critics were unhappy with its emphasis on rote learning and teacher-centered pedagogical practices. They also noted that graduates of the 8-4-4 curriculum were <a href="https://www.businessdailyafrica.com/bd/news/fresh-graduates-gap-in-skills-in-job-market-worrying-2217574">ill-prepared</a> for the workforce. A 2009 <a href="https://kicd.ac.ke/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/Needs-Assessment-Rpt-ilovepdf-compressed.pdf">government evaluation</a> found the system had limited practical training opportunities and a heavy focus on examinations. </p>
<p>In 2011, the government <a href="https://kenyauptodate.blogspot.com/2011/02/8-4-4-system-review-team-unveiled.html?m=1">appointed a task force</a> to review 8-4-4. This review eventually led to the competency-based curriculum, a <a href="https://www.nexxushub.com/blog/CBC-New-Kenya-Education-System">2-6-3-3-3 system</a>. It requires two years of pre-primary education, six years of primary education, three years each of junior secondary and senior secondary school, and a minimum three years of tertiary education. </p>
<p>The competency-based curriculum emphasises student-centered teaching and practical experiences that better equip learners with 21st-century skills like critical thinking and problem-solving.</p>
<p>As experience from numerous countries shows, education reforms can be messy and rollouts messier. Success requires adequate planning. </p>
<p>In our view as education researchers, the adoption of the competency-based curriculum in Kenya shows glaring gaps in design, planning and execution. At the very basic level, there is a looming question on whether the curriculum is well understood. It is vastly different from 8-4-4, and many stakeholders, including parents and teachers, aren’t clear about how it works and what it requires of them. </p>
<h2>Uphill task</h2>
<p>A national curriculum provides a framework and guidance on the core knowledge students need to learn in key subjects. It’s a critical driver in teaching and learning. However, it exists within an intricate set of interconnected educational components that require intentional planning and execution to function optimally. </p>
<p>Failure to take multiple aspects into consideration – such as teaching capacity, assessments, transitions and resources – compromises the best intentions and harms a large population of learners. </p>
<p>In Kenya’s case, the competency-based curriculum ship has sailed; scrapping it now would do more harm than good. </p>
<p>Firstly, large financial investments have been made. According to the <a href="https://kicd.ac.ke/about-us/">Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development</a>, the government <a href="https://arena.co.ke/we-will-lose-sh-200-billion-and-more-if-we-scrap-cbc-warns-kicd-boss/">has spent</a> more than US$1.6 billion on curriculum reform. This includes the money spent on research, assessments and a two-year pilot study. </p>
<p>Secondly, we believe that the competency-based curriculum may potentially improve Kenya’s education system and provide learners with rich learning experiences. </p>
<p>The government has taken the first step in addressing discontent with the curriculum by <a href="https://www.education.go.ke/he-president-ruto-appoints-task-force-evaluate-cbc">appointing</a> a task force to address the <a href="https://www.pd.co.ke/news/public-engagement-in-cbc-reforms-start-156272/">public’s concerns</a>.</p>
<p>A new academic year begins in January 2023, with the first cohort of 1.3 million learners expected to join junior high school. Kenyans needs <a href="https://www.the-star.co.ke/news/realtime/2022-11-17-ruto-will-make-final-decision-on-junior-secondary-cs-machogu/">clear guidance</a> on this transition. They need to know where junior high schools will be located, for instance, and the costs involved. This will help <a href="https://www.standardmedia.co.ke/entertainment/education/article/2001460093/junior-secondary-classes-dominate-talks-on-cbc">ease the frustrations</a> caused by current uncertainties.</p>
<p>Based on our research experience on curriculum development, teaching and education systems, we have drawn up a list of six priorities the task force should consider. These include acknowledging that Kenyans’ frustrations with the curriculum change are legitimate, and that to be successful, the system needs adaptations.</p>
<h2>What’s wrong?</h2>
<p>The competency-based curriculum focuses on the development of competencies across subject areas, with a shift from students demonstrating what they know to demonstrating what they can do.</p>
<p>Some parents are receptive and enthusiastic about these aspects of the new curriculum. For those against it, the <a href="https://www.pd.co.ke/news/experts-fault-enactment-of-cbc-system-127178/">complaints</a> have focused on affordability and feasibility. </p>
<p>At face value, practical experiences are relevant and can enrich students’ learning. However, challenges arise when resources are unavailable and parents are required to constantly purchase and improvise resources.</p>
<p>In an <a href="https://www.oxfam.org/en/kenya-extreme-inequality-numbers">already unequal society</a>, this model strains many families, particularly those who live in low-resourced households, outside urban centres, and those in places without access to basic infrastructure like electricity.</p>
<p>The curriculum also demands more <a href="https://kicd.ac.ke/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/SERIES-5-FParental-Roles.pdf">parental engagement</a> than 8-4-4 did. Some parents feel unprepared to <a href="https://theconversation.com/education-in-kenyas-informal-settlements-can-work-better-if-parents-get-involved-heres-how-192149">get involved</a>. </p>
<p>The frustrations with the competency-based curriculum may be magnified because of a familiarity with 8-4-4 – in place for 32 years – and the difficulties that come with change. Yet, concerns about its demands, both financial and skill-based, are legitimate for many parents who see the curriculum as catering only to those with particular skills and those who can afford the time and resources required. </p>
<p>Kenya isn’t the first country in the east African region to launch a competency-based curriculum. Rwanda did it in <a href="https://reb.rw/fileadmin/competence_based_curriculum/index0.html">2015</a>. Comparing the experiences of these two countries requires caution, given the differences in contexts, education policies, and political and cultural environments. Rwanda, however, faced some <a href="https://www.ajol.info/index.php/rje/article/view/202582#:%7E:text=Major%20challenges%20included%20the%20lack,to%20overcome%20the%20identified%20challenges">challenges similar to Kenya’s</a>, including limited availability of resources and a persistence of old teaching practices. </p>
<h2>Next steps</h2>
<p>There’s an immediate need for stakeholders, particularly ardent supporters of the curriculum, to lessen the grip on their vision and evaluate where the curriculum rollout in Kenya missed the mark.</p>
<p>Task forces can create change by bringing stakeholders together and forging alliances. But they can also be costly. They have a reputation for under-delivering beyond publishing reports. </p>
<p>The curriculum task force should consider these six priorities.</p>
<ul>
<li><p>Reassure Kenyans that the stakes are high and providing a quality curriculum for learners is the priority. Take steps to rebuild public trust by addressing pressing challenges, such as financial strain accruing from the costs of learning materials. Guide schools on how to address this challenge.</p></li>
<li><p>Provide the public with information that fills knowledge gaps. For instance, teacher training, assessments and transitions.</p></li>
<li><p>Explain how the curriculum works in low-resourced households and schools, among students with special needs, and in settings with large class sizes and high student-teacher ratios.</p></li>
<li><p>Re-evaluate expectations on parents, remove extraneous demands, avoid blaming them and invite them as collaborators.</p></li>
<li><p>Identify the right drivers of change and avoid replicating avoidable mistakes. For instance, prioritise students and set aside the politics and in-fighting among educational agencies and associations.</p></li>
<li><p>Embrace local solutions and creatively use existing resources. Avoid surface-level solutions and remove existing barriers drawing on empirical evidence.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>There is value in curriculum reforms and in adapting best practices from different contexts. However, many challenges with the Kenyan curriculum stem from mismatches with the local context, inadequate preparation and foresight. </p>
<p>Ignoring the realities of large populations of learners and parents, and making sweeping assumptions doesn’t make these realities go away. </p>
<p>The task force has a monumental and urgent responsibility to bring Kenyans closer to a resolution.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/195235/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>Ignoring local realities risks excluding children from learning.Elisheba Kiru, Postdoctoral Research Scientist, African Population and Health Research CenterBrenda Wawire, Associate Research Scientist, African Population and Health Research CenterLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1769142022-04-07T12:03:56Z2022-04-07T12:03:56ZEngland’s planned school reform is just more of the same – innovation expert proposes radical alternative<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/455536/original/file-20220331-27-kzgyp8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=7%2C0%2C4785%2C3197&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/group-teenage-students-collaborating-on-project-749503528">SpeedKingz/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The educational landscape needs overhauling in England. The school system is based on a <a href="https://www.news.co.uk/2021/05/the-times-launches-the-times-education-commission/">20th century framework</a> that is no longer relevant in an increasingly digital world. Now, after school closures and the disruption caused by the pandemic, is the time for reform. We have a unique opportunity for transformation.</p>
<p>The government’s <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/opportunity-for-all-strong-schools-with-great-teachers-for-your-child">schools white paper</a> is its response to this challenge.</p>
<p>It proposes a 32.5 hour school week that will add ten minutes to some secondary school days, though many are <a href="https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/the-times-view-on-the-schools-white-paper-could-do-better-zpqb0wgmt">already meeting this target</a>. There are higher targets for students in core subjects, and a focus on tracking attendance. </p>
<p>There is a parent pledge for children’s outcomes in key skills, and more teacher training. The government continues its focus on academies, providing funding to encourage multi-academy trusts to move into new “education investment areas”.</p>
<p>Overall, the white paper feels more like a continuation of current policy rather than a vision as to how schooling and learning could be developed. Although it does promise high speed broadband for all schools and the provision of online resources, it does not focus enough on what has happened during the last couple of years or how digital technologies could truly transform schools. </p>
<h2>Learning from school closures</h2>
<p>The loss of traditional face to face teaching and the development of predominately online alternatives during the pandemic was a <a href="https://www.routledge.com/Education-for-All-in-Times-of-Crisis-Lessons-from-Covid-19/Leask-Younie/p/book/9780367726232">profound challenge</a> for teachers. </p>
<p>By the second lockdown in England, however, there was a general embrace of technology by teachers. It was used to communicate and collaborate with pupils, and to engage them in their learning. Teachers’ increasing expertise in effectively using chat rooms and other online learning features <a href="https://www.pearson.com/uk/news-and-policy/news/2021/04/schools-see-multi-generational-upskilling-in-digital.html">is well documented</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Girl working at laptop at home" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/455544/original/file-20220331-23-6o7p71.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/455544/original/file-20220331-23-6o7p71.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/455544/original/file-20220331-23-6o7p71.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/455544/original/file-20220331-23-6o7p71.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/455544/original/file-20220331-23-6o7p71.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/455544/original/file-20220331-23-6o7p71.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/455544/original/file-20220331-23-6o7p71.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">Students and teachers quickly gained skills in online learning.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/teen-girl-school-pupil-wearing-headphones-1701863359">fizkes/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The school closures also provided a unique opportunity to assess the efficacy of what had preceded lockdown. It made the limitations of the current national curriculum clear, in particular its narrow content. Educators were being asked to create real-time or recorded materials for young people to access at home. However, there was little connection between the various subject elements being studied.</p>
<p>In addition, it highlighted the challenges some learners faced in accessing and engaging with online lessons in different subjects day after day.</p>
<p>Crucially, children’s access to technology varied, and online learning served to exacerbate the “digital divide” between pupils from richer and <a href="https://www.suttontrust.com/our-research/remote-learning-the-digital-divide/">poorer backgrounds</a>. This will remain a problem and must be addressed.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-lockdown-highlighted-educational-inequality-in-ireland-new-research-177413">How lockdown highlighted educational inequality in Ireland – new research</a>
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<p>A radical approach to education reform would see online learning fully <a href="https://www.apa.org/monitor/2021/09/cover-remote-learning">integrated into the school system</a>. This would allow pupils to learn more easily, collaborate, and work on areas they need to concentrate on most. Tech access for disadvantaged children would be prioritised, to help to prepare pupils for their future in an increasingly digital world.</p>
<p>This links with the idea of <a href="https://www.theschoolrun.com/what-flexi-schooling">flexible schooling</a>, where pupils spend some time in school and some learning at home. This allows children to follow their interests and needs while also keeping touch with school structure. Schools provide opportunities for <a href="https://planninglearningspaces.com/">meeting spaces</a> for learners as well as specialist advice, pastoral support, and gaining qualifications. <a href="https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1098325.pdf">Research has indicated</a> positive academic results from such flexible learning. </p>
<h2>Focus on interests</h2>
<p>Imagine a system where knowledge was freely available and learners could follow their own interests, with a more personalised curriculum. Students would be assessed continuously, in ways that more effectively reflected and accurately <a href="https://www.golearn.guru/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Why-Continuous-Assessment-Is-Redefining-Global-Education-Whitepaper.pdf">captured their learning</a>.</p>
<p>The assessment process needs to be significantly overhauled for it to be suitable for young people finding their place in a world that requires more skills than those demonstrated by a written exam. A mix of spoken, practical, online, coursework and controlled assessment would be better. <a href="https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000255511">Work by UNESCO</a> points to the comprehensive nature of continuous assessment, which allows a more rounded picture of a student’s varied abilities and can encompass aspects such as perseverance and collaboration. </p>
<p>Schools should also be able to link with businesses and other organisations in order to focus on skills – green energy, the creative industries, manufacturing, food, and hospitality, for instance.</p>
<p>The curriculum needs to be reviewed to broaden out its content. The new <a href="https://hwb.gov.wales/curriculum-for-wales/introduction/">curriculum for Wales</a> is proactive in this approach. It has six areas of learning and three cross curriculum themes. These help learners to develop wider skills like <a href="https://www.nysut.org/%7E/media/files/nysut/resources/2015/april/edvoiceviii_final.pdf?la=en">critical thinking</a> and problem solving, planning and organisation and creativity.</p>
<p>We also need to provide opportunities to link subjects together in a way that connects traditional subject disciplines and mirrors how we actually learn. This is known as providing <a href="https://recyt.fecyt.es/index.php/pixel/article/view/88209">transdisciplinary learning opportunities</a>, which engages pupils and gives them the opportunity to pursue their personal interests and aspirations. This approach allows for greater collaboration and personalisation, and broadens learning outcomes across subjects.</p>
<p>For example, a unit studying the history of the Troubles in Northern Ireland could be supported by Seamus Heaney’s poetry in English, protest murals in art, and Irish folk music. Pupils could show their understanding of the unit through a choice of art, digital media, drama, music presentations and writing. </p>
<p>Above all, the skills that teachers and learners have developed through remote learning should be preserved and built upon in a re-imagining of education.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/176914/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sarah Younie is a member of the Fabian Society.
Christopher Harris, a teacher researcher, contributed to this article.</span></em></p>School closures were hard, but led to new skills that should be built upon.Sarah Younie, Professor of Education Innovation, De Montfort UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1611452021-06-06T12:15:52Z2021-06-06T12:15:52ZEnd of topsy-turvy school year: 5 education issues exposed by the COVID-19 pandemic<p>Concern for kids’ pandemic well-being prevails as the school year winds down for the second year in a row.</p>
<p>In Ontario, after parents spent the end of May wondering <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/covid-19-ontario-may-27-2021-update-1.6042352">if and when children could be sent to in-person learning</a>, they finally heard <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/ford-lecce-school-announcement-1.6049729">schools won’t re-open this school year</a>. </p>
<p>After announcing home learning would continue to the end of the year, Nova Scotia <a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/7907374/ns-covid-update-may-31-2021/">reversed direction</a>, so as of June 3, all students found themselves back in school. </p>
<p>These are the latest signs of how, over the past 15 pandemic months, Canada’s kindergarten to Grade 12 education system has been turned upside down.</p>
<p>School disruptions have exposed the fragility of the modern, centralized, bureaucratic education state, which I analyzed in my 2020 book, <a href="https://www.mqup.ca/state-of-the-system--the-products-9780228000846.php"><em>The State of the System</em></a>.</p>
<p>Parents, learning experts and pediatricians report that “<a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-the-kids-are-not-all-right-educators-worry-about-absences-as-covid-19/">the kids are not all right</a>.” There are real concerns about the “<a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/literacy-young-learners-lag-1.6014533">snowball effect</a>” of losses in literacy, skill development and the preparation of graduating students.</p>
<p>The pandemic education shock has raised five critical issues that demonstrate how student achievement and social well-being are far from mutually exclusive. </p>
<h2>1. Myth of “21st century” learning</h2>
<p>The heavily promoted <a href="https://www.oecd.org/pisa/publications/21st-century-readers-a83d84cb-en.htm">and much-anticipated age</a> of “<a href="http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/policyfunding/memos/feb2014/WhatWeHeard.pdf">21st century learning</a>,” characterized by curricula touting broad, <a href="https://www.springer.com/gp/book/9789811042409">holistic</a> learning and a emphasis on
technological skills rang hollow when students and teachers were struggling to master technology for continuous learning.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/teachers-are-on-the-front-lines-with-students-in-the-coronavirus-pandemic-149896">Teachers are on the front lines with students in the coronavirus pandemic</a>
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<p>Thrust into the COVID-19 pandemic crisis, what emerged was emergency triage learning <a href="https://policyoptions.irpp.org/magazines/july-2020/the-educational-experience-has-been-substandard-for-students-during-covid-19">slapped together on the fly</a>.</p>
<p>The educational technology giants, exemplified by Microsoft, Pearson International and Google, achieved dominance through the spread of their educational technology. Some scholars, teachers and parents are <a href="https://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674089044&amp;content=reviews">critically scrutinizing</a> their <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/opinion/opinion-distance-learning-education-covid-1.5547062">incursion into education</a>.</p>
<p>Sitting around their kitchen tables helping their children with home learning has also opened the eyes of thousands of parents to the everyday realities of technology-driven 21st-century learning, and laid bare student skill deficits in mathematics and literacy.</p>
<h2>2. Student learning loss</h2>
<p>Since September of 2020, the full extent of the “<a href="https://policyoptions.irpp.org/magazines/february-2021/how-will-the-education-system-help-students-overcome-covid-learning-loss/">learning slide</a>” affecting all students, and particularly the most disadvantaged, became more visible.</p>
<p>Much like earlier studies generated in the <a href="https://osf.io/xnh9c/">Netherlands</a>, <a href="https://blog.nomoremarking.com/baseline-secondary-writing-have-year-7-pupils-gone-backwards-5497ac10b894">United Kingdom</a> and the <a href="https://www.the74million.org/article/lost-learning-lost-students-covid-slide-not-as-steep-as-predicted-nwea-study-finds-but-1-in-4-kids-was-missing-from-fall-exams/">United States</a>, the first wave of Canadian <a href="https://troymedia.com/education/online-learners-falling-behind-in-their-reading-skills/">research reports</a> and <a href="https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/11-631-x/11-631-x2020003-eng.htm">surveys</a> testify to the combined academic and psycho-social impacts on children and families.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/strong-relationships-help-kids-catch-up-after-6-months-of-covid-19-school-closures-145085">Strong relationships help kids catch up after 6 months of COVID-19 school closures</a>
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<p>A more recent <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/teacher-questionnaire-pandemic-yearend-1.6025149">May 2021 CBC investigation</a>, based on responses from nearly 9,500 teachers in eight provinces, revealed that three out of four respondents were behind schedule with their curriculum, and more than half reported students were not meeting the expected learning outcomes.</p>
<p>The Canadian public has been left in the dark about the impact of pandemic learning loss, particularly on the development of Canada’s youngest learners. One of the few Canadian literacy impact studies, conducted by <a href="https://thegatewayonline.ca/2021/02/u-of-a-professor-finds-covid-19-is-impairing-young-readers-learning-proficiency/">University of Alberta education researcher George Georgiou</a> is alarming. He found that readers in grades 1 to 3 were lagging six to eight months behind. </p>
<h2>3. Student absenteeism and disengagement</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/education-pandemic-missing-students-1.5971911">Both teachers</a> and educational experts have sounded alarm bells about students disengaging from remote schooling.</p>
<p><em>The Globe and Mail</em> reports that about 360 students in the <a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-the-kids-are-not-all-right-educators-worry-about-absences-as-covid-19">Thunder Bay Catholic District School Board have been “persistently absent,”</a> and missed 16 or more days — the benchmark of chronic absenteeism. Record numbers of students are missing attendance checks or not reporting in at all.</p>
<p>Research in the U.S. suggests there is a significant cohort of students worried about <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2020/04/24/high-school-students-face-a-new-reality-due-to-coronavirus.html">parents or guardians having enough money to pay the bills and who have decided to work to earn money</a> after high school.</p>
<h2>4. Blurring of parent and teacher roles</h2>
<p>Conventional school-home boundaries have blurred as home learning becomes more common. There are signs of what human relations expert Pauline Boss termed “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1545-5300.1984.00535.x">family boundary ambiguity</a>.”</p>
<p>Under stressful conditions, parents have been expected to establish regular routines and take on the instructor role. Teachers face new challenges adapting to radically different, mostly unfamiliar tech-enabled teaching.</p>
<p>In Alberta, education professor Bonnie Stelmach’s research for the Alberta Schools Councils’ Association <a href="https://www.albertaschoolcouncils.ca/education-in-alberta/education-and-covid-19/it-takes-a-virus-research-report">unearthed unreported problems</a> associated with the incredible burden home learnng shifts to parents. </p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">Bonnie Stelmach discusses research about parent-teacher relations during COVID-19 at-home learning.</span></figcaption>
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<p>Based upon a survey of 1,067 parents and 566 teachers, plus 10 in-depth interviews with parents, and 10 with teachers, the study demonstrated the profound effects of the pandemic on parent-teacher relations.</p>
<p>The study documented widespread confusion in how to interpret “ministry directives” when it came to expected time on task (hours per week), real-time online instruction and student outcomes. Diploma exams for Grade 12 were suspended, as were provincial achievement tests for students in grades 6 and 9. The Minister of Education that announced that all students would progress to the next grade. Parents and teachers reported that especially for older students, this removed any motivation <a href="https://www.albertaschoolcouncils.ca/education-in-alberta/education-and-covid-19/it-takes-a-virus-research-report">to work through to the end of the year</a>. Those issues cry out for further research in other provinces.</p>
<h2>5. Need for “future-proof learning”</h2>
<p>We are in the midst of what comparative social researcher <a href="http://cosmos.sns.it/person/loris-caruso/">Loris Caruso</a> termed “<a href="https://www.springerprofessional.de/en/digital-innovation-and-the-fourth-industrial-revolution-epochal-/12466856">epochal social change</a>.” Schooling<a href="https://www.oecd.org/education/The-economic-impacts-of-coronavirus-covid-19-learning-losses.pdf"> may never be the same again</a>.</p>
<p>Students and families will increasingly be offered <a href="https://toronto.citynews.ca/2021/05/07/tdsb-releases-plan-for-2021-22-school-year/">a choice between in-person and virtual learning</a> for their children.</p>
<p>What students, teachers and families really need is <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0895904818802086">“future-proof” learning</a>. That term, coined by <a href="https://www.the-learning-agency-lab.com/the-learning-curve/how-learning-happens">educational psychologist Paul A. Kirschner</a>, provides a viable and much-needed alternative to pursuing holistic, ill-defined 21st-century skills or embracing competency-based student graduation standards. According to Kirschner, the best way forward in pandemic times is focussing on “the acquisition of knowledge, skills, and attitudes necessary to continue to learn in a stable and enduring way in a rapidly changing world.”</p>
<p>Overcoming the pandemic education shock will call for decidedly new strategies. Months ago, UNESCO warned that we were facing a “<a href="https://en.unesco.org/news/secretary-general-warns-education-catastrophe-pointing-unesco-estimate-24-million-learners-risk">generational catastrophe</a>.” A recent university study demonstrates the <a href="https://scholars.wlu.ca/laso_faculty/1/">significant educational effects in Ontario</a> of mass and localized school closures and gaps in support for students with disabilities.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/coronavirus-distance-learning-poses-challenges-for-some-families-of-children-with-disabilities-136696">Coronavirus: Distance learning poses challenges for some families of children with disabilities</a>
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<p>International education expert Prachi Srivastava notes the time has come to <a href="https://ir.lib.uwo.ca/edupub/173/">to reframe the challenges facing K–12 education</a> by addressing learning loss and “extend[ing] cross-sectoral approaches prioritizing the vulnerable and at-risk.”</p>
<p>Post-pandemic education is looking more like a rescue mission — one that needs to begin by putting the pandemic generation back on the path to sound education. That way, <a href="https://www.edcan.ca/articles/shore-up-the-foundations-for-future-proof-education">today’s schoolchildren will be better prepared to lead meaningful, productive lives</a>.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/161145/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Paul W Bennett 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 pandemic education shock has raised five critical issues that demonstrate how student learning and achievement and social well-being are far from mutually exclusive.Paul W Bennett, Adjunct Professor of Education, Saint Mary’s UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1543392021-05-17T21:19:37Z2021-05-17T21:19:37ZMachines can’t ‘personalize’ education, only people can<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/400572/original/file-20210513-16-1h6flwv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=834%2C46%2C2989%2C1804&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Schools are facing accelerated COVID-19 pressures to integrate technology into children's education, and how they do has far-reaching implications. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>In the past year, COVID-19 abruptly disrupted schooling, and forced the question of <a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/7726753/covid-19-online-in-person-school-choice-2021-2022/">how much kindergarten to Grade 12 education should or will rely on online teaching in the near and distant future</a>. Education has taken a decided technological turn in its massive adaptation to online learning. This is precipitating a critical debate in education right now, with a most uncertain future and much depending on its outcome. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/ontarios-choice-of-fully-online-school-would-gamble-on-children-for-profit-158292">Ontario's ‘choice’ of fully online school would gamble on children for profit</a>
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<p>One key concern when considering both online learning and the tech platforms teachers may rely on in classrooms is a long-standing issue of how education should accommodate student individuality. For at least 150 years, education in the western world has been <a href="https://books.google.ca/books/about/The_Underground_History_of_American_Educ.html?id=p55tQgAACAAJ">conflicted over this issue</a>. </p>
<p>Education advocates like homeschooling champion <a href="https://simplycharlottemason.com/what-is-the-charlotte-mason-method/">Charlotte Mason</a> and <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/John-Dewey">education reformer John Dewey</a> advocated for recognition of students as unique persons whose interests and backgrounds shaped them in particular ways. Writing in 1897, Dewey argued it was <a href="https://books.google.ca/books?id=EgwVAAAAIAAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false">critical for educators to note and consider students’ unique qualities when designing curriculum</a>. </p>
<p>Mason’s and Dewey’s philosophies and the schooling approaches they advocated helped spur <a href="https://journal.jctonline.org/index.php/jct/article/view/807">educational debates about the meaning of “personalized learning.”</a> These also pitted them against others like scientific management guru <a href="https://www.bl.uk/people/frederick-winslow-taylor">Frederick Taylor</a> who argued for mass standardization in education. </p>
<p>This conflict remains central to education debates unfolding today. For example, while some proponents of remote learning argue <a href="https://www.d2l.com/en-apac/blog/personalize-learning-digital-classroom/">teachers can still offer personalized learning online</a>, there are also industries focused on the notion that <a href="https://www.edweek.org/technology/q-a-the-promise-and-pitfalls-of-artificial-intelligence-and-personalized-learning/2019/11">AI can also “personalize” student experiences</a>. But machines aren’t persons.</p>
<p>Emerging research <a href="https://edsource.org/2020/disappointing-grades-technology-glitches-and-glimpses-of-learning-fun/641615">shows wide variability in student experiences</a> across technology-based approaches and platforms. Even when particular teachers are successful in delivering remote learning with students’ personal <a href="https://www.transformativelearningfoundation.org/faculty/michael-maser-v2/">and holistic interests</a> in mind, they are working in an educational context with <a href="https://theconversation.com/tax-pandemic-profiteering-by-tech-companies-to-help-fund-public-education-155705">increased marketing, uptake and profiting from educational technologies</a>. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/teachers-have-been-let-down-by-a-decade-of-inaction-on-digital-technologies-142938">Teachers have been let down by a decade of inaction on digital technologies</a>
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<p>Specific tech “solutions” like buying particular software for schools are often “Taylorist” insofar as the school or classroom is now committed to particular way of interacting and learning. In some cases <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/21/technology/silicon-valley-kansas-schools.html">school communities come to complain that personal contact has been replaced with computerization</a>. </p>
<p>Technology surely has a role in education, but determining what it will be, and whose interests it will really serve, is a critical public debate. To this end, here are three thinkers who can help guide parents, educators and administrators in considering how education can adapt to changing technological circumstances while centering students as people and fostering caring human communities. </p>
<h2>1. Nel Noddings</h2>
<p>In her <a href="https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520275706/caring">ground-breaking book, <em>Caring</em></a>, educational ethicist Nel Noddings describes the importance of seeing and “confirming” students as persons. Noddings says such “confirmation” elicits a practice of dialogue in which educators “see and receive the other” as they really are, as a teaching and moral responsibility. </p>
<p>I believe that truly “seeing” and acknowledging students is a feasible response in videoconferencing environments like Zoom and should be recognized as a best practice. The same is also true for how educators direct students to apps that enable students to pursue learning activities reflecting personal choices: for example, platforms like DIY.org, Khan Academy, YouTube and others. Teachers can can and should validate students’ particular interests as they engage these sources.</p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">Interview with Ian McGilchrist on the divided brain and the search for meaning.</span></figcaption>
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<h2>2. Iain McGilchrist</h2>
<p>In a recent text, <a href="https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/ways-attending-iain-mcgilchrist/e/10.4324/9781003049876-2">“Ways of attending: How our divided brain constructs the world</a>,” Scottish neuroscientist Iain McGilchrist asserts that technological thinking and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dFs9WO2B8uI">compartmentalization have come to dominate human thinking</a>. </p>
<p>This is thinking rooted in the brain’s left hemisphere and exemplified by mathematical reasoning and rationalization. He says the brain’s right hemisphere, responsible for whole-person, big-picture thinking, and moral decision-making, plays a secondary role. McGilchrist contends that new digital technologies driven by machine logic are effectively hijacking human attention, forcing us to become more machine-like. </p>
<p>McGilchrist advises everyone to study how we are interacting with technology to better understand how technology is influencing behaviours, including how it distracts us and channels our attention. If we don’t better perceive this, he warns, we risk becoming increasingly alienated from the feelings and moral decision-making that define our humanity. </p>
<h2>3. Ursula Franklin</h2>
<p>Scientist, <a href="https://alchetron.com/Ursula-Franklin">acclaimed humanitarian</a> and pacifist Ursula Franklin described in her <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/radio/ideas/the-humane-world-of-ursula-franklin-a-scientist-who-wanted-us-to-question-technology-1.5825485">1989 Massey Lecture series and book</a>, <a href="https://houseofanansi.com/products/the-real-world-of-technology-digital"><em>The Real World of Technology</em></a> how the Industrial Revolution set in motion technological processes, like assembly lines, that ushered in sweeping societal changes.</p>
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<span class="caption">Ursula Franklin speaks in Ottawa in July 1970. Franklin argued that money spent by Canada on warfare research could be better spent on environmental research.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">CP PHOTO/Chuck Mitchell</span></span>
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<p>She characterized such processes as “prescriptive” in how they engineered human behaviour through compliance and conditioning, resulting in an “enormous social mortgage.” Franklin contrasts prescriptive technologies with “holistic” technologies that are controlled by an individual user, like personal craftsmanship. </p>
<p>To Franklin, holistic technologies enable people to enact caring gestures, and are spontaneous and flexible, where prescriptive technologies are rigid and mechanistic. Franklin’s philosophy points to the idea that we should recognize the limits and power of technology. </p>
<p>Franklin’s insights should lead us to remember that while <a href="https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007%2F978-3-030-13743-4_9">collaboration amongst students can be enhanced in technological environments</a>, some education researchers also caution that technological tools themselves don’t create holistic, inclusive or creative communities. Only humans can do this. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/digital-platforms-alone-dont-bridge-youth-divides-121222">Digital platforms alone don't bridge youth divides</a>
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<h2>Serving people</h2>
<p>The insights of Noddings, McGilchrist, Franklin and others urge us to deeply consider the technologies we choose to use in our schools and what role they play. This does not mean that we reject the integration of technology into education. I believe many educators have demonstrated it is possible to strike a healthy balance when integrating technology with educational goals. </p>
<p>But future educational paths will reflect choices we make now. In facing today’s unprecedented challenges, educators and school administrators must continue to support education as an endeavour that holds at its core the mission of serving all people.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/154339/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>michael maser has previously received funding from mitacs. </span></em></p>Insights of neuroscientist Ian McGilchrist, philosopher Nel Noddings and physicist Ursula Franklin help centre students and our collective future in debates about education and technology.Michael Maser, PhD candidate - Faculty of Education, Simon Fraser 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/1523552021-02-17T16:07:30Z2021-02-17T16:07:30ZHow to spark change within our unequal education system: Don’t Call Me Resilient EP 3<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/384786/original/file-20210217-19-tcz338.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=38%2C0%2C4276%2C2242&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">COVID-19 has highlighted longstanding racial inequalities in the education system. Educators say there is a way forward and out of this. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Leonardo Burgos/Unsplash)</span></span></figcaption></figure><iframe height="200px" width="100%" frameborder="no" scrolling="no" seamless="" src="https://player.simplecast.com/ead87c71-07ea-4f35-bded-948e7f703681?dark=true"></iframe>
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<p>Official reports have been declaring systemic racism in North America’s education system for more than 30 years. What will it take to change?</p>
<p>Even before COVID-19, education experts were sounding the alarm about the future of racialized children in our schools. And the COVID-19 pandemic has only underscored — even deepened — the divide. </p>
<p>On this episode of <em>Don’t Call me Resilient</em>, we speak with Kulsoom Anwer, a high school teacher who joined us from her classroom in one of Toronto’s most marginalized neighbourhoods. With her is Carl James, professor of education at York University. Together we discuss the injustices and inequalities in the education system and, in the conversation, we also explore some possible ways forward. </p>
<p>Every week, we highlight articles that drill down into the topics we discuss in the episode. This week, both articles say that combating racism in schools is not only possible, but also that solutions are in the hands of educators. </p>
<p>To make change, teachers must not only question existing power dynamics, but they must also acknowledge and validate the racism that is experienced by Black, Indigenous and racialized youth. </p>
<p><strong>This week:</strong></p>
<ul>
<li><p>Tanitia Munroe says that while school boards may not be ready to find systemic ways to combat anti-Black racism in Black youth’s lives, educators are in a <a href="https://theconversation.com/drafts/150489/edit">unique position to correct these injustices</a>. </p></li>
<li><p>Jerome Cranston says one-off anti-racism training won’t help. What we need instead (besides a fairer education system) is <a href="https://theconversation.com/short-term-anti-racist-training-is-not-enough-to-counter-systemic-racism-in-canadian-education-152725">long-term, embedded critical race curricula</a>. </p></li>
<li><p><a href="https://theconversation.com/canadian-universities-10-years-of-anti-racist-reports-but-little-action-153033">Canadian universities: 10 years of anti-racist reports but little action </a>: Given the evidence of historical anti-racist work at universities, administrators can not claim to lack the knowledge of what needs to be done.</p></li>
<li><p>In case you missed it, check out <a href="https://theconversation.com/black-history-how-racism-in-ontario-schools-today-is-connected-to-a-history-of-segregation-147633">Black History: How racism in Ontario schools today is connected to a history of segregation</a></p></li>
</ul>
<p>For a full transcript of this episode of <em>Don’t Call Me Resilient</em>, go <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-to-spark-change-within-our-unequal-education-system-dont-call-me-resilient-ep-3-transcript-155092">here</a>.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/short-term-anti-racist-training-is-not-enough-to-counter-systemic-racism-in-canadian-education-152725">Short-term anti-racist training is not enough to counter systemic racism in Canadian education</a>
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<p>You can listen or subscribe on <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/dont-call-me-resilient/id1549798876">Apple Podcasts</a>, <a href="https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5zaW1wbGVjYXN0LmNvbS9qZFg0Ql9DOA">Google Podcasts</a>, <a href="https://open.spotify.com/show/37tK4zmjWvq2Sh6jLIpzp7">Spotify</a> or <a href="https://dont-call-me-resilient.simplecast.com/">wherever you listen to your favourite podcasts</a>. <a href="mailto:theculturedesk@theconversation.com">We’d love to hear from you</a>, including any ideas for future episodes. Join The Conversation on <a href="https://twitter.com/ConversationCA">Twitter</a>, <a href="https://www.facebook.com/TheConversationCanada">Facebook</a> and <a href="https://www.instagram.com/theconversationdotcom/">Instagram</a> and use #DontCallMeResilient.</p>
<p><em>This podcast is produced by The Conversation with a grant for Journalism Innovation by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council. It is hosted and produced by Vinita Srivastava. The producer is Nahid Buie. Production help from Ibrahim Daair, Anowa Quarcoo, Latifa Abdin, Vicky Mochama, Nehal El-Hadi. Sound engineer: Reza Dahya. Audience development: Lisa Varano. Theme music by <a href="https://sixshooterrecords.com/artists/zaki-ibrahim/">Zaki Ibrahim</a>. Logo by Zoe Jazz. Saniya Rashid is our research assistant supported by MITACS. Our CEO is Scott White. Thanks to Jennifer Moroz for her advice. Launch team: Imriel Morgan/<a href="https://contentisqueen.org/">Content is Queen</a>.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/152355/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
Carl James and Kulsoom Anwer discuss the injustices and inequalities in the Canadian education system.Vinita Srivastava, Host + Producer, Don't Call Me ResilientLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1531632021-02-16T19:38:26Z2021-02-16T19:38:26ZAlberta curriculum: End the failed partisan politics over what kids should learn<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/384076/original/file-20210212-13-vhme1m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=26%2C549%2C3567%2C1956&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A circus of political theatre shouldn't determine what children learn at school. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nathan Denette</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The COVID-19 pandemic has given many Canadians a crash course on how governments make decisions about <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/public-health/corporate/publications/chief-public-health-officer-reports-state-public-health-canada/from-risk-resilience-equity-approach-covid-19.html">public health</a> and <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/covid-high-school-public-edmonton-1.5886712">educational policy</a>, among other areas of responsibility. We should take advantage of this time and consider the ways we might improve how such decisions are made. </p>
<p>With regards to education, what kids should formally learn in schools via a provincial curriculum is a perennial political football and is often used to avoid other classroom concerns <a href="https://theconversation.com/large-classes-make-it-hard-to-notice-off-task-kids-with-bigger-questions-115122">such as class size</a> and inequitable access to enrichment activities. </p>
<p>Alberta has recently provided a textbook example of curriculum change as political theatre. Albertans learned last week that the Ministry of Education <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/two-more-out-of-province-advisers-hired-for-ongoing-and-contentious-alberta-curriculum-review-1.5908177">has hired two more out-of-province advisers</a> to review the curriculum the former NDP government created: That’s now 19 advisers hired by the current United Conservative Party government at a cost of more than $100,000.</p>
<p>This news follows public backlash and criticism last fall after people learned of leaked draft school curricula that would see <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/education-experts-slam-leaked-alberta-curriculum-proposals-1.5766570">students learn Bible verses as poetry</a>.</p>
<h2>Lost decade of reform proposals</h2>
<p>But <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/math-teacher-defends-alberta-curriculum-1.2501009">curriculum debates</a> have been ongoing in the province. The promise to Albertans 10 years ago to <a href="https://www.alberta.ca/release.cfm?xID=29415F46B264C-9777-ACDD-134EC17413CACE12">“transform” education</a> turned into a patchwork of incoherent proposals and polarizing rhetoric papering over a decade of expensive whimsical partisan system leadership. This should stop. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/welcome-to-the-latest-wave-of-modernizing-progressive-school-reforms-in-ontario-113348">Welcome to the latest wave of 'modernizing,' 'progressive' school reforms in Ontario</a>
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<p>Between 2009 and 2019, as <a href="https://apps.ualberta.ca/directory/person/kdenheye">a professor</a> <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/00933104.2019.1583988">who researches curriculum</a>, I served as a university education faculty representative on the Alberta Teachers’ Association provincial curriculum committee. This committee interfaces with the Education Ministry about current and proposed changes to provincial kindergarten to Grade 12 curriculum and assessment.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/384091/original/file-20210213-13-7fqk1z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Dave Hancock." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/384091/original/file-20210213-13-7fqk1z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/384091/original/file-20210213-13-7fqk1z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=632&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/384091/original/file-20210213-13-7fqk1z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=632&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/384091/original/file-20210213-13-7fqk1z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=632&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/384091/original/file-20210213-13-7fqk1z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=795&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/384091/original/file-20210213-13-7fqk1z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=795&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/384091/original/file-20210213-13-7fqk1z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=795&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Former Alberta Premier Dave Hancock, shown here in August 2014, earlier served as education minister in Ed Stelmach’s government after the 2008 election.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Andrew Vaughan</span></span>
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</figure>
<p>Based on what I learned on this committee, and my knowledge of <a href="https://doi.org/10.14288/ce.v8i12.186203">why quality curriculum urgently matters in education</a>, I propose a resolution: “Be it resolved that no Alberta Minister of Education henceforth have responsibility for the contents of K-12 curricula, their renewal, revision or change. Ministers retain all other currently legislated responsibilities.”</p>
<p>I believe this is a helpful suggestion for several reasons. Over the years, this committee heard from bureaucratic representatives of five different education ministers from the three different provincial parties that formed government. </p>
<p>What we watched unfold was a lost decade of expensive failed attempts to renew curricula, starting with Education Minister Dave Hancock’s 2010 report “<a href="https://open.alberta.ca/publications/9780778586104">Inspiring Education</a>” under Ed Stelmach’s Progressive Conservative government. This report promised to “transform” Alberta’s K-12 programs around competencies. After the next two ministers, and still waiting to be transformed, we then heard from another government who wanted to “innovate” <a href="https://www.stalberttoday.ca/local-news/locals-like-what-they-see-in-new-curriculum-1299321">programs around concepts</a>. </p>
<h2>Research-informed decisions</h2>
<p>In contrast, Canadians for the most part have been well served with dispassionate professional judgements about matters of public interest: for instance, the <a href="https://www.fja.gc.ca/scc-csc/2019/qualifications-eng.html">appointments of Supreme Court judges</a> or expanding Alberta pharmacists’ professional scopes of practice <a href="https://dailyhive.com/calgary/alberta-pharmacists-practice-healthcare-strain">during the pandemic</a>.</p>
<p>Such trust in the research-informed decisions in legal and medical matters stand in stark contrast to successive Alberta government’s marginalization of the teaching profession and the faculties of education in the renewal of Alberta’s programs of study. When the province has included the profession in curriculum reform, that role was only to provide feedback via prescribed ways to achieve end goals already decided. </p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/384090/original/file-20210213-23-72la7e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Adriana LaGrange" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/384090/original/file-20210213-23-72la7e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/384090/original/file-20210213-23-72la7e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=605&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/384090/original/file-20210213-23-72la7e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=605&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/384090/original/file-20210213-23-72la7e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=605&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/384090/original/file-20210213-23-72la7e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=760&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/384090/original/file-20210213-23-72la7e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=760&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/384090/original/file-20210213-23-72la7e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=760&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Minister of Education Adriana LaGrange faced criticism in the fall after the public saw leaked curriculum.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jason Franson</span></span>
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<p>The toxicity of using education as a wedge issue is not unique to Alberta, and we should learn from what does not serve the interests of students. </p>
<p>The state of Michigan, starting in 2013, for example, conducted a broad professional and public consultation about proposed social studies standards. Three respected education scholars wrote that the consultation went well until “<a href="https://www.freep.com/story/opinion/contributors/2018/06/24/social-studies-standards-michigan/725085002">the process became politicized in 2017</a>,” when politicians introduced “partisan perspectives that not only insert politics into education, but interfere with and undermine the efforts of educators who know students [and] classrooms.” These politicians sought to remove any content that might challenge their partisan goals.</p>
<h2>Committing to change</h2>
<p>All curricula reflect a world view, as do recommendations for Canada’s Food Guide or views about who should be appointed as judges. It would be naive to claim that we can remove politics from <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-873X.2008.01435.x">curriculum, when deciding what children learn is part of larger public policy</a>.</p>
<p>We can, however, reduce hyper-partisanship and name-calling that disrupt professionally informed long-term study, action and care to get back to the basics: research-informed consultations and decisions. What’s at stake is the kind of human beings we hope education might support <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/dwayne-donald-1169613/articles">children to become</a>.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/leaked-alberta-school-curriculum-in-urgent-need-of-guidance-from-indigenous-wisdom-teachings-148611">Leaked Alberta school curriculum in urgent need of guidance from Indigenous wisdom teachings</a>
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<p>As with any harmful pattern of behaviour, we must first recognize the problems with how provinces seek to change curriculum. Let’s get inspired to reflect about how we adults might do better for our youth. </p>
<p>As detailed in ample research <a href="https://www.routledge.com/K12-Education-as-a-Hermeneutic-Adventurous-Endeavor-Toward-an-Educational/Yosef-Hassidim/p/book/9780367889357">that explores effective ways of producing curriculum</a>, we could begin to imagine, for example, a joint curriculum council. A joint provincial council could consist of subject matter experts put forth from universities, practising teachers, representatives from parent councils and the professional teacher associations all <em>supported</em> by subject-based program managers in ministries. </p>
<h2>Avoid more of the same</h2>
<p>Regardless of what models are adopted for curriculum change, we know successful curriculum reform requires a system-wide <a href="https://edpolicy.stanford.edu/library/publications/543">commitment to social equity, government supported high quality university-based teacher education and local school flexibility to meet curricular objectives</a>. </p>
<p>Any talk of curriculum innovation that ignores these basics is just more of the same partisan political theatre Albertans have already endured for far too long.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/153163/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kent den Heyer 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>Canadians for the most part have been well served with dispassionate professional judgements about matters of public interest, except when it comes to what kids learn at school.Kent den Heyer, Professor of Secondary Education, Faculty of Education, University of AlbertaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1499022021-02-01T19:45:31Z2021-02-01T19:45:31Z‘School choice’ policies are associated with increased separation of students by social class<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/380309/original/file-20210123-19-qtl924.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=95%2C5%2C3898%2C2191&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Advocates of 'school choice' are often talking about wanting public funding for models like charter schools, but specialized programs should also be considered part of school choice debates. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p><a href="https://nationalpost.com/opinion/chris-selley-school-choice-is-a-better-way-than-the-public-school-pandemic-panic">Some commentators believe the COVID-19 crisis has accelerated</a> the need for parents to have more “school choice,” while others <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/stem-charter-school-in-calgary-approved-by-education-minister-1.5873575">say the pandemic shows the urgency of new schooling models</a> developed under <a href="https://www.brookings.edu/events/school-choice-in-a-time-of-transition/">school choice</a> policies.</p>
<p>But what is school choice? </p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/donald-trump-betsy-devos-and-school-choice-eight-essential-reads-62800">Donald Trump, Betsy DeVos and school choice: Eight essential reads</a>
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<p>The language of school choice supports the idea that education funding should follow students to the schools they believe best fit their learning needs. Education is then managed according to the free-market dynamics of consumer choice.</p>
<p>What this means is parents can choose among a variety of models that receive both state funds and financial support from personal and/or corporate sponsors. In the United States, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a8TZIhpIV6c">and more recently</a> <a href="https://www.edcan.ca/articles/the-alberta-public-charter-school-system/">in Canada</a>, when people talk about “<a href="https://edmontonjournal.com/news/politics/david-staples-people-power-takes-another-step-forward-in-alberta-schools">school choice</a>” they’re often talking about how parents can or should be able to access funded or semi-funded school models like <a href="https://www.vox.com/2014/4/30/18076968/charter-schools">charter schools</a>, <a href="https://www.understood.org/en/school-learning/your-childs-rights/basics-about-childs-rights/school-vouchers-what-you-need-to-know">school vouchers</a>, home schooling or private schools. </p>
<p>In England, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/may/03/choice-inequality-education-system-social-segregation">academy schools, enabled</a> under <a href="https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2000/21/contents">Tony Blair’s New Labour government</a>, and more traditional <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/education-34538222">grammar schools</a> are selective schools that enable school choice. Both are a <a href="https://www.ucl.ac.uk/ioe/news/2018/may/governments-grammar-school-funding-wont-improve-childrens-outcomes-say-experts">source of debate</a> in terms of how effective they are for student outcomes and <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/education/2018/jun/30/coalition-education-reform-academies-fuelling-inequality">students’ social mobility</a>.</p>
<p>School choice alternatives position parents as consumers, and in many cases divert students and funding away from <a href="https://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Comprehensive_school">comprehensive public schools</a>. This has been a noticeable trend in virtually all western industrialized democracies for more than 25 years. </p>
<h2>Reform agendas</h2>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/380311/original/file-20210123-13-1d8pidi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Brian Mulroney and Margaret Thatcher." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/380311/original/file-20210123-13-1d8pidi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/380311/original/file-20210123-13-1d8pidi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=851&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/380311/original/file-20210123-13-1d8pidi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=851&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/380311/original/file-20210123-13-1d8pidi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=851&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/380311/original/file-20210123-13-1d8pidi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1070&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/380311/original/file-20210123-13-1d8pidi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1070&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/380311/original/file-20210123-13-1d8pidi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1070&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Prime Minister Brian Mulroney welcomes Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher to the Economic Summit at Toronto City Hall, June 1988.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Fred Chartrand</span></span>
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<p>We should be concerned about advocacy for school choice models, because recent cross-national research shows <a href="https://www.springer.com/gp/book/9789811398629">increased school choice is associated with increased social stratification in terms of social class</a>. School choice and competition tend to be associated with <a href="https://ec.europa.eu/jrc/sites/jrcsh/files/fairness_pb2019_educational_inequalities.pdf">larger gaps between high and low socio-economic status student groups and lower student achievement outcomes nationally</a>. </p>
<p>The rise of school choice advocacy has coincided with and followed neo-liberal school reforms in industrialized countries since the 1980s. <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/2016/apr/15/neoliberalism-ideology-problem-george-monbiot">Margaret Thatcher’s British government</a> of the late 1980s is largely credited with the close <a href="https://www.springer.com/gp/book/9789400740945">coupling of curriculum requirements with standardized testing</a> that popularized the adoption of market logic to the realm of public institutions and schools. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/what-exactly-is-neoliberalism-84755">What exactly is neoliberalism?</a>
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<p>A key assumption is that choice and competition, like private sector companies, leads to a better product — in this case, better student outcomes and more effective schools and systems that are in the best interests of students. </p>
<p>School choice options such as charter schools are not as prominent in Canada as in other countries such as the U.S. and England: <a href="https://theconversation.com/charter-schools-what-you-need-to-know-about-their-anticipated-growth-in-alberta-141434">Only Alberta now has charter schools</a>.</p>
<p>But <a href="https://www.fraserinstitute.org/article/charter-schools-largely-ignored-in-canada">think tanks like the Fraser Institute</a> in Canada <a href="https://www.fraserinstitute.org/blogs/six-reasons-to-support-school-choice-in-canada">continue to call for greater options for schooling outside of traditional publicly funded settings</a>. </p>
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<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/charter-schools-what-you-need-to-know-about-their-anticipated-growth-in-alberta-141434">Charter schools: What you need to know about their anticipated growth in Alberta</a>
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<h2>Beyond the neighbourhood</h2>
<p>When students can enrol in schools beyond their local neighbourhood, this is a sign that school choice is increasing. <a href="https://bc.ctvnews.ca/students-in-choice-programs-out-of-catchment-schools-face-dilemma-if-homeschooled-this-fall-1.5066854">French immersion</a>, arts-based schools and other specialized schools must therefore be considered part of the school choice debate since some parents may be more adept at seeking out and securing spots in these programs. </p>
<p>In the <a href="http://www.oecd.org/publications/balancing-school-choice-and-equity-2592c974-en.htm">vast majority of education systems in developed countries around the world</a>, students are assigned to schools within their catchment area based on their home address. However, examples abound of how middle- and upper-class families have been able to use <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/01425692.2014.968245">strategies such as choosing rare curricular options to avoid attending assigned schools</a> — thereby further contributing to social segregation between schools.</p>
<p>In <a href="https://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/education/how-are-school-choice-policies-related-to-social-diversity-in-schools_2d448c77-en">one analysis conducted by the OECD between 2000 and 2015</a>, the share of 15-year-old students who were admitted to school based on their home address shrank by 20 per cent or more in Denmark, Hong Kong (China), Iceland, Japan, Sweden and the U.S., and by six per cent on average across <a href="https://www.oecd.org/">28 OECD countries</a> with comparable data. In Canada, more than 60 per cent of students attend schools that use residence-based criteria. These findings reflect a global and national trend of the availability of greater school-choice options for families.</p>
<h2>Impact of school choice</h2>
<p>It is difficult to make general statements about the impact of school choice and increased school competition that is applicable to all provinces or countries. Nevertheless, research does suggest some general patterns — many of which have remained fairly stable over time.</p>
<p>One analysis of <a href="https://www.oecd.org/pisa/pisaproducts/pisainfocus/pisa-in-focus-n42-(eng)-final.pdf">65 countries</a> suggested that education systems where parents chose schools, and schools competed for enrolment, are often more socially segregated — often in relation to socio-economic differences. </p>
<p>The process of segregation is driven not only by parental preferences, but also by institutional factors. For example, schooling that promotes market-like dynamics are more likely to accentuate the separation of students based on socio-economic background. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Student on a city bus." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/380312/original/file-20210123-17-1pfj0tl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/380312/original/file-20210123-17-1pfj0tl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/380312/original/file-20210123-17-1pfj0tl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/380312/original/file-20210123-17-1pfj0tl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/380312/original/file-20210123-17-1pfj0tl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=533&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/380312/original/file-20210123-17-1pfj0tl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=533&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/380312/original/file-20210123-17-1pfj0tl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=533&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">An OECD analysis correlated a rising number of students attending school outside their neighbourhoods with rising school choice.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
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<p>Some of the factors that may aggravate socio-economic segregation in school-choice settings are the participation of for-profit providers, the use of school fees or tuition add-ons and allowing student selection. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-fun-fair-and-all-school-fundraising-may-carry-hidden-costs-to-society-118883">The fun fair, and all school fundraising, may carry hidden costs to society</a>
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<p>These institutional features may be an important reason why socio-economic segregation has not <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s10888-019-09437-3">significantly decreased in recent decades</a>.</p>
<p>Not only has for-profit participation been shown to be related to greater segregation, but it raises concerns about equity and the use of <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-big-winners-from-swedens-for-profit-free-schools-are-companies-not-pupils-29929">public funding</a>. Reports of discriminatory practices towards <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/03050068.2020.1744239">socio-economically disadvantaged students and those deemed “low achievers” are frequently reported in market-driven educational systems that allow academic selection</a>. </p>
<h2>System effectiveness and selectivity</h2>
<p>Countries (or in Canada, provinces) that demonstrate high student achievement outcomes and smaller achievement gaps between groups of students (high- versus low-socio-economic status, boys versus girls, non-immigrants versus immigrants) are generally lauded internationally. Other regions seek to <a href="https://www.routledge.com/The-PISA-Effect-on-Global-Educational-Governance/Volante/p/book/9780367884529">emulate their success and they become known as “reference societies</a>.”</p>
<p>Over the past two decades, countries such as <a href="https://www.routledge.com/The-PISA-Effect-on-Global-Educational-Governance/Volante/p/book/9781138217416">Finland and Singapore, and education authorities in Canada (particularly Alberta), to name a few, have traditionally been viewed as effective systems</a> for simultaneously possessing high achievement and equity when judged against their international counterparts.</p>
<p>These countries differ substantially based on a variety of key dimensions such as cultural context, size of their student population and homogeneity, teacher training and compensation, to name but a few. Schools in these places are also less likely to select students, which reduces the prospect of social stratification. </p>
<p>It remains to be seen in Alberta how recent <a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/7000587/alberta-government-ucp-charter-schools-home-schooling-education-may/">charter school legislation</a> will affect equitable learning opportunities and outcomes. </p>
<h2>Education and evidence-based policy</h2>
<p>Although collaboration and co-operation are often at odds with private sector companies competing for market share, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/13632430701379354">research suggests</a> these attributes are critically important for raising the prospects of all students within education systems. </p>
<p>Ultimately, policymakers need to continually interrogate research findings, free from political interference. They need to carefully consider both the positive and negative effects of a shift away from comprehensive public education systems.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/149902/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Louis Volante receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC).</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Dominic Wyse has research funding from the Helen Hamlyn Trust, The Education Endowment Foundation (EEF), and The Nuffield Foundation. He is the President of the British Education Research Association (BERA).</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Gabriel Gutiérrez receives funding from CONICYT PIA CJE grant number CIE160007 and the Economic and Social Research Council (ES/T008911/1). </span></em></p>Letting parents choose which school their child attends positions parents as consumers, and often diverts students and funding away from public schools.Louis Volante, Professor of Education, Brock UniversityDominic Wyse, Professor of Education, UCLGabriel Gutiérrez, Postdoctoral research fellow, London School of Economics and Political ScienceLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1151492019-04-17T13:59:59Z2019-04-17T13:59:59ZKenya’s universities need deep reform – not just a hike in fees<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/268984/original/file-20190412-76856-1jqtmwv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Th University of Nairobi. Universities in Kenya are struggling to keep afloat.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Flickr/Nzomo Victor</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Vice-chancellors of Kenya’s 33 public universities are demanding a three-fold <a href="https://www.universityworldnews.com/post.php?story=20190304130216137">tuition fee increase</a>. They <a href="https://www.universityworldnews.com/post.php?story=20190304130216137">point out</a> that the proposed fee increase will merely meet the actual cost of providing university education. </p>
<p>Set 30 years ago, the current fee structure applies to all degree programmes irrespective of actual instructional cost. Over <a href="https://www.standardmedia.co.ke/article/2001231157/report-quality-of-kenyan-graduates-from-public-universities-wanting">49,000 students graduate</a> from public universities annually.</p>
<p>The proposed increase is a reflection of the changing landscape in financing university education in Kenya. The once financially healthy universities are in financial straits, putting in doubt their long-term sustainability.</p>
<p>Most public universities are unable to meet basic operating expenses such as salaries, pensions, health care, and maintenance of plant and equipment. The flagship University of Nairobi, for instance, has a debt of 1.6 billion Kenya shillings (US$16 million) in <a href="https://www.universityworldnews.com/post.php?story=20190213104207905">unpaid pensions and other statutory contributions</a>. The total <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.6017/ihe.2019.97.10789">debt</a> of the 33 public institutions is around 110 billion Kenya shillings (US$1.10 billion). That’s equivalent to the state’s budgetary allocation over one year. The <a href="https://www.universityworldnews.com/post.php?story=20181129132142395">government spends</a> around 27% of its budget on education. Universities get around 100.3 billion (US$1.03 billion) compared to 200 billion (US$ 2 billion) for basic education. </p>
<p>To manage the debt burden, universities have <a href="https://www.nation.co.ke/news/education/Amina-asks-varsities-to-lay-off-staff-in-cost-cutting-bid/2643604-4736934-78f8gwz/index.html">come under pressure to downsize</a> their bloated non-essential staff. They have also introduced a range of <a href="https://www.universityworldnews.com/post.php?story=20180824074737190">austerity measures</a>. The effect has been a decline in morale.</p>
<p>A tuition increase will provide much needed revenue to stabilise university finances. Universities are likely to use the extra funds in a number of ways. These could include improving the morale of both academic and administrative staff, improving the quality of instruction and better maintenance of plant and equipment.</p>
<p>But the proposed tuition increase comes with risks. A one-size-fits all raise fails to take into account the cost differential of various degree programmes. Medical, engineering and construction programmes, for instance, cost more than humanities and social sciences. Tuition fees should reflect these differences. If they don’t, under-investment in costly programmes will continue. </p>
<p>In addition, the tuition increase shouldn’t happen in isolation. It should be matched with a commitment by the government to restore university funding to previous levels. This will ensure that a bigger burden of financing universities doesn’t fall on students. </p>
<h2>Diminishing revenue</h2>
<p>The gloomy financial picture contrasts sharply with the healthy financial position that public universities enjoyed a decade ago. Then, universities had balanced budgets and even surpluses. </p>
<p>In 2011, for instance, total revenues earned by universities through tuition fees, programme fees and other income generating activities slightly exceeded government funding. </p>
<p>From 2010 to 2011 <a href="https://www.businessdailyafrica.com/corporate/Public-universities-revenues-hit-record-level/539550-1190922-nvump5/index.html">revenue growth</a> in the five top public universities ranged from 2% – 21%. </p>
<p>There were a number of reasons <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.6017/ihe.2019.97.10789">for the financial crisis</a>. These included diminishing revenue from privately-sponsored students who were a source much needed tuition revenues. Privately-sponsored students who did not attain the required high school graduation points to be awarded government scholarships. So they pay the full tuition in public universities. </p>
<p>The other reasons included declining government funding, closure of satellite campuses, and more stringent supervision of high school examinations that has reduced the number of university applicants and, therefore, fewer university enrolments. </p>
<p>In addition, poor financial management, and universities inability to develop robust income generating activities, and overall growth of the university institutions relative to demand have compromised university finances. </p>
<p>The fee increase <a href="https://www.nation.co.ke/news/education/VCs-want-student-fees-increased-/2643604-4995414-10xygjp/index.html">proposal</a> doesn’t come close to covering the actual cost of a basic non-science degree. And universities argue that the fees aren’t enough meet the increasing costs of providing quality education and running the institutions.</p>
<h2>Opportunity for reform</h2>
<p>I believe that by simply introducing a blanket tuition increase without addressing the problems ailing the public university sector, the government is missing a golden opportunity for much deeper reform.</p>
<p>Increasing tuition fees without consolidation of the public university sector is throwing good money after bad. The government should face the fact that a good number of public universities were established to give the government political legitimacy because they were <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1057%2Fhep.2012.18">established for political expediency</a> in 2012-2013. Quite a few operate under capacity.</p>
<p>In addition, the proposed tuition rate increase was arrived at without broad consultations with key stakeholders. The whole process has been administrator-driven. As a result, students have <a href="https://www.nation.co.ke/news/education/University-students-threaten-to-hold-demos-over-fees-/2643604-4998644-lq4i2gz/index.html">threatened</a> to go on strike while academics have <a href="http://dailyactive.info/index.php/2019/03/05/lecturers-reject-vice-chancellors-plea-to-increase-university-fee/">called for a review</a>. </p>
<p>Another problem is that the vice-chancellors’ fee increase proposal comes with no safeguards to mitigate its effects on poor students. Students from disadvantaged backgrounds experience difficulties even with the current fee structure. Without a clear specification of financial aid programmes for vulnerable students, the fee proposal will only make a bad situation worse.</p>
<p>Any tuition fee increase needs to be undertaken in the wider context of reforming the financing of university education in Kenya. A knee jerk policy like the one proposed by the vice-chancellors leaves too many policy challenges unresolved.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/115149/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ishmael Munene 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>Kenya’s once financially healthy universities are in financial straits.Ishmael Munene, Professor of Research, Foundations & Higher Education, Northern Arizona UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1080182018-12-03T11:37:21Z2018-12-03T11:37:21ZGeorge H.W. Bush laid the foundation for education reform<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/248483/original/file-20181203-194932-1ri33m3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">President George H.W. Bush in 1990.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/washington-dc-usa-1990-president-george-718857319?src=M0-3E8Z8HAlcSliupLb0VQ-1-1">Mark Reinstein/www.shutterstock.com</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>George H.W. Bush fulfilled his desire – articulated late in his 1988 campaign for president – to be <a href="https://govinfo.library.unt.edu/negp/reports/negp30.pdf">“the education president</a>.” It just took three decades.</p>
<p>It’s true that Bush passed no education bills during his one term as president.</p>
<p>His next three successors, by contrast, all produced signature education legislation: <a href="https://www2.ed.gov/legislation/GOALS2000/TheAct/index.html">Goals 2000</a> for Bill Clinton, <a href="https://www2.ed.gov/nclb/landing.jhtml">No Child Left Behind</a> for George W. Bush and both <a href="https://www2.ed.gov/programs/racetothetop/index.html">Race to the Top</a> and the <a href="https://www.ed.gov/essa">Every Student Succeeds Act</a> for Barack Obama. All, however, followed a plan drawn up by George H.W. Bush. He was – in my view as an <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=d-pest4AAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">education historian</a> – the architect of sweeping change.</p>
<p>The cornerstone of the Bush education blueprint was an elite bipartisan consensus. Like his predecessor in the White House – Ronald Reagan – Bush was sympathetic to the free market. But unlike Reagan, Bush was a <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/taxanalysts/2014/05/16/george-h-w-bushs-profile-in-pragmatism/#3516f4181a3d">pragmatist</a>, and as vice president had watched Reagan fail in his push for tuition vouchers. But Bush was also a consummate Washington insider, less intent on dismantling government than on improving it. In the long wake of the alarmist <a href="https://www2.ed.gov/pubs/NatAtRisk/risk.html">A Nation at Risk</a> report, which suggested that American students were falling behind their international peers, Bush offered a new vision for federal involvement in education. Rather than choosing between the unregulated market and the heavy hand of government to fix schools, Bush offered a third way, <a href="https://www.c-span.org/video/?22949-1/america-2000-education-initiatives">making the case</a> that entrepreneurial activity in education should be encouraged and carefully monitored by the state. That vision, which shaped an entire generation of education reformers, remains the foundation of an enduring consensus among liberals and conservatives alike.</p>
<h2>Federal government as catalyst</h2>
<p>Beyond establishing a vision, Bush threw his energies into school reform projects large and small. In keeping with his belief that the federal government could <a href="https://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/PPP-1991-book1/html/PPP-1991-book1-doc-pg395-2.htm">“serve as a catalyst”</a> in promoting change, he was an early advocate for charter schools, which he successfully <a href="https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED327985.pdf">framed</a> as a bipartisan marriage of entrepreneurism and government, and which he pitched not as devices of the free market, but as <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1991/04/28/opinion/school-choice-without-harm.html">an experimentation</a> against inequality. Through the <a href="https://philanthropynewsdigest.org/npo-spotlight/new-american-schools">New American Schools Development Corporation</a>, for instance, Bush funded the Community Learning Centers of Minnesota project – the first endeavor <a href="https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED371513.pdf">“based on the charter school concept, a variation of the school choice approach</a>.” In so doing, he created a model that would be replicated a thousand times over.</p>
<p>Perhaps most significantly, Bush laid the foundation for <a href="https://govinfo.library.unt.edu/negp/reports/negp30.pdf">standards-based accountability</a>. Before he took office, the federal government had little involvement in the governance of public schools. President Lyndon Johnson had increased Washington’s reach through the <a href="https://www.edweek.org/ew/section/multimedia/the-nations-main-k-12-law-a-timeline.html">Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965</a>, which channeled vast new sums to schools. But Johnson and his successors – including Jimmy Carter, who <a href="https://education.laws.com/department-of-education">elevated</a> the Department of Education to the Cabinet – had done little to position the federal government as a kind of executive suite in public education. Bush changed that, and sought to do so by developing top-down accountability through curricular standards and aligned tests.</p>
<p>Less than a year after taking office, the Bush administration worked with the National Governors’ Association to organize the <a href="https://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2014/09/24/05summit.h34.html">1989 Charlottesville education summit</a> – a meeting at which then-Arkansas Governor Bill Clinton distinguished himself as an ally. A few short months later, in his <a href="https://www.infoplease.com/homework-help/us-documents/state-union-address-george-hw-bush-january-31-1990">1990 State of the Union address</a>, Bush proposed his <a href="http://www.capenet.org/pdf/Outlook171.pdf">America 2000</a> legislation, which called for standardized tests that would “tell parents and educators, politicians, and employers just how well our schools are doing.”</p>
<h2>Enduring influence</h2>
<p>At the time he was defeated in his bid for reelection, Bush had little to show for his plans. The charter sector in the early 1990s remained minuscule. Congress sank America 2000 shortly after it was proposed.</p>
<p>Over time, however, Bush’s grand design was gradually realized. Rechristening Bush’s failed America 2000 legislation as Goals 2000, Bill Clinton gave incentives to states to create curricular standards and aligned tests, and he doled out millions of dollars in grants to charter school developers. George W. Bush advanced his father’s work through No Child Left Behind, as well as through strong support for the charter sector, which doubled in size under his administration. Barack Obama offered continued support to the charter sector, while also ensuring the future of accountability testing through <a href="https://www.ed.gov/essa?src=rn">Every Student Succeeds Act</a>. In short, the Bush paradigm has had remarkable endurance across time and across different administrations.</p>
<p>This is not to say that federal policy has had a positive effect on schools over the past quarter-century. No Child Left Behind is today viewed by policy experts, educators and even many of its original backers as a <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/pam.21978">failure</a>. And charter schools, despite receiving generally positive press, have produced <a href="https://www.annualreviews.org/doi/abs/10.1146/annurev-soc-073014-112340">mixed results</a> while largely <a href="https://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2016/08/24/we-must-diversify-charter-school-options.html">failing to produce real innovation</a>.</p>
<p>Nevertheless, the endurance of these efforts reveals Bush’s particular genius for working within complex democratic bureaucracies to build lasting power. The Department of Education, once a sleepy backwater, today exercises tremendous influence. And in wielding that influence, Bush’s successors – both Republicans and Democrats – have also advanced his administrative agenda. Phrases like “standards and accountability” and “school choice,” once deployed only by policy wonks, are now common terms in the national education dialogue.</p>
<p>George H.W. Bush’s ideas persisted well after he left office. That’s because they were rooted in compromise between elites on both sides of the aisle and because they were patiently developed through bureaucratic institutions and the law. For good or ill, it seems, true power lies not in the issuance of ideological proclamations or executive orders – it lies in statecraft. Leaders, after all, may come and go. But their policies can continue to shape the world long after they leave office.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/108018/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jack Schneider 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>Though his education initiative staggered while he was in office, the late former President George H.W. Bush had an influence that continues to shape education policy, an education historian says.Jack Schneider, Assistant Professor of Education, UMass LowellLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/932762018-04-12T22:52:53Z2018-04-12T22:52:53ZStop treating students like customers and start working with them as partners in learning<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/210907/original/file-20180318-104639-1d54ru.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Students and lecturers at the University of Queensland researching 'students as partners' activities across Australian universities. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">The University of Queensland</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>University is a big investment. Students want value for money because a future of debt is scary. But there is also a danger when we talk about higher education only in financial terms. It shifts the conversation away from how universities develop students as learners, thinkers, and future leaders. It turns students into customers.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/no-university-is-not-a-waste-of-time-and-money-92263">No, university is not a waste of time and money</a>
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<h2>Perils of treating students like customers</h2>
<p>When lecturers think of students as customers, it influences how they teach. Pushing students out of their comfort zones, challenging the logic of their thinking, or giving critical feedback on assignments are all important for learning. Fear of <a href="https://www.timeshighereducation.com/student/news/10-thoughts-academics-have-about-their-students-university-workplace-survey-2016">bad teaching evaluations</a> from students influences the extent to which lecturers challenge them.</p>
<p>Likewise for students, when they act like customers, <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/03075079.2015.1127908">it affects how they learn</a>. The idea of being a customer shifts the responsibility of learning onto the lecturers, leaving students with a passive role to play. Yet, we know students need to take <a href="http://www.pnas.org/content/111/23/8410">active ownership of their own learning</a>. Numerous <a href="http://psycnet.apa.org/record/2015-13426-005">studies</a> demonstrate grades suffer – and students learn less – when they are passive learners.</p>
<p>When universities talk about students as customers, they are contributing to the us-versus-them divide. This influences the quality of learning in higher education by reducing its measure to customer satisfaction. Students who say they had a good quality university experience <a href="http://nsse.indiana.edu/pdf/EIs_and_HIPs_2015.pdf">report</a> deeper, more meaningful interactions with lecturers in contrast to transactional relationships. They <a href="http://news.gallup.com/poll/168848/life-college-matters-life-college.aspx">report</a> having lecturers who care about them - who <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/higher-education-network/2018/mar/16/students-want-most-treated-with-respect-academics-anonymous?CMP=new_1194&CMP=">treat them as people</a>.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/universities-are-failing-their-students-through-poor-feedback-practices-86756">Universities are failing their students through poor feedback practices</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Change the conversation by including students</h2>
<p>Universities that care about learning value an educational culture in which the student-lecturer relationship is at the heart of teaching and learning. Staff at these universities tend to do more than talk at, about, or survey students, they <a href="https://www.wiley.com/en-us/Engaging+Students+as+Partners+in+Learning+and+Teaching%3A+A+Guide+for+Faculty-p-9781118434581">talk <em>with</em> them</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/210908/original/file-20180318-104635-eflrjn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/210908/original/file-20180318-104635-eflrjn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=284&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/210908/original/file-20180318-104635-eflrjn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=284&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/210908/original/file-20180318-104635-eflrjn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=284&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/210908/original/file-20180318-104635-eflrjn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=357&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/210908/original/file-20180318-104635-eflrjn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=357&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/210908/original/file-20180318-104635-eflrjn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=357&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Students and staff talking at the annual Australian Students as Partners Roundtable event.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Author provided/public domain</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Recently, students and staff worked together on <a href="http://itali.uq.edu.au/content/transforming-practice-program">year-long projects</a> at UQ to re-imagine Australian university education as a partnership. Students and staff from 11 Australian universities <a href="http://rdcu.be/IhyT">reported</a> the values-based idea of partnership - students as partners - offered a counter-narrative to the all-too-common narrative of students as customers. Working in partnership was a chance for cultural change and a new way of “doing” higher education, they argued. </p>
<h2>Learning and teaching partnership</h2>
<p>Engaging students as partners is first and foremost about the values and principles of partnership: </p>
<ul>
<li><p>mutual respect</p></li>
<li><p>open and ongoing communication</p></li>
<li><p>shared purpose and passion</p></li>
<li><p>appreciation of different experiences and expertise </p></li>
<li><p>willingness to take seriously what our partners say</p></li>
<li><p>an openness to negotiate ideas, and</p></li>
<li><p>a sense of adventure about creating something new or different.</p></li>
</ul>
<p><a href="http://itali.uq.edu.au/content/about-students-partners">Core values of students as partners</a> are grounded in principles that highlight how students and staff can work together as co-researchers, co-teachers, and co-creators. <a href="http://itali.uq.edu.au/content/case-studies">Practical case studies</a> show the creative ways partnership values are being translated into practice. Here are five examples: </p>
<ol>
<li><p>Students observing and discussing classes with lecturers.</p></li>
<li><p>Students and staff working together to revise or co-create new subjects or classes.</p></li>
<li><p>Students and lecturers negotiating the syllabus at the start of the semester.</p></li>
<li><p>Students and staff collaborating to address complicated university issues together (such as cheating or sexual harassment). </p></li>
<li><p>Students and staff co-designing new programs to make university more inclusive for non-traditional and under-represented students (such as first-in-family or Indigenous students).</p></li>
</ol>
<p>The focus on partnership signals the importance of dialogue between students and university staff in learning and teaching.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Gwry1O55CIM?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Jarred Turner and Kelly Matthews talking about students as partners in an interview with Peter Copeman at the University of Canberra.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The possibilities for partnership extend beyond universities and national borders. There is a new, open access international <a href="https://mulpress.mcmaster.ca/ijsap/index">academic journal</a> capturing research on students as partners, co-edited by students and lecturers. There is an annual <a href="https://macblog.mcmaster.ca/summer-institute/">International Students as Partners Institute</a> attended by students and staff. It is co-facilitated by students and lecturers. </p>
<p>We are beginning to see practices <a href="https://repository.brynmawr.edu/tlthe/vol1/iss21/">emerge across Australian universities</a> enabled by this new language of students as partners – changing the conversation and hopefully university cultures.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/universities-run-as-businesses-cant-pursue-genuine-learning-43402">Universities run as businesses can't pursue genuine learning</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Join the conversation</h2>
<p>A growing body of research demonstrates <a href="http://itali.uq.edu.au/content/about-students-partners">numerous benefits</a> when students and staff work together as partners. There is room for more voices in the <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/studentsaspartners?src=hash">#studentsaspartners</a> conversation. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/210909/original/file-20180318-104694-99euk1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/210909/original/file-20180318-104694-99euk1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=370&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/210909/original/file-20180318-104694-99euk1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=370&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/210909/original/file-20180318-104694-99euk1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=370&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/210909/original/file-20180318-104694-99euk1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=465&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/210909/original/file-20180318-104694-99euk1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=465&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/210909/original/file-20180318-104694-99euk1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=465&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">More Australian universities are embracing students as partners in learning and teaching, and supporting students in these new roles where they work alongside lecturers and staff to shape higher education.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Author provided/public domain</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>We need more examples of how students and staff are working differently, as partners, in universities. Share your examples, experiences, and ideas below so we can keep this conversation going.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/93276/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kelly E Matthews receives funding from the Office for Learning and Teaching. </span></em></p>When higher education is thought of as a commodity, students and teachers lose out. A new partnership-based approach can provide a much richer learning experience.Kelly E Matthews, Associate Professor and Australian Learning & Teaching Fellow, The University of QueenslandLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/932432018-03-12T17:51:30Z2018-03-12T17:51:30ZDeVos and the limits of the education reform movement<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/209947/original/file-20180312-30979-1xvip4p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Betsy DeVos, shaking hands at a school choice rally shortly before she became education secretary in 2017</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/DeVos-School-Choice/556a1f9c988d423db1a57a34fa67c3f9/2/0">AP Photo/Maria Danilova</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Betsy DeVos
exposed the education reform movement’s pitfalls in her highest-profile media appearance to date.</p>
<p>President Donald Trump’s education secretary got the job based on her years of advocacy for expanding “school choice,” especially in <a href="https://www.crpe.org/thelens/devos-detroit-choice">Michigan</a>, her home state. Yet she stumbled when Lesley Stahl asked her in a <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/60-minutes/about-us/">widely watched</a> CBS “<a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/secretary-of-education-betsy-devos-on-guns-school-choice-and-why-people-dont-like-her/">60 Minutes</a>” interview to assess the track record for those efforts.</p>
<p>“I don’t know. Overall, I – I can’t say overall that they have all gotten better,” DeVos stammered.</p>
<p>It’s not just Michigan or Midwestern conservatives. Policymakers and philanthropists across the ideological spectrum and the nation have teamed up to reform public education for decades, only to find that their bold projects have fallen short. Regardless of the evidence, however, top-down reform remains the standard among politicians and big donors.</p>
<p>As an educational policy scholar, <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=d-pest4AAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">I have identified</a> a few reasons why school reform efforts so persistently get lackluster results, as well as why enthusiasm for reform hasn’t waned. Despite its <a href="http://www.pbs.org/makingschoolswork/hyc/bor/timeline.html">long-term failure</a>, large-scale education reform maintains consistent bipartisan support and is backed by roughly <a href="https://www.dissentmagazine.org/article/got-dough-how-billionaires-rule-our-schools">US$4 billion a year</a> in philanthropic funding derived from <a href="https://nonprofitquarterly.org/2016/04/11/plutocracy-bill-gates-philanthropy-washington-state/">some of the nation’s biggest fortunes</a>. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"972996794757140486"}"></div></p>
<h2>Shiny objectives</h2>
<p>DeVos may be a <a href="http://time.com/5053007/betsy-devos-education-secretary-2017-controversies/">uniquely polarizing figure</a>, but she is hardly the first federal leader to champion school reform. </p>
<p>Ever since 1983, when the Reagan administration published its “<a href="https://www2.ed.gov/pubs/NatAtRisk/risk.html">A Nation at Risk</a>” report bemoaning the quality of American public education, politicians have rallied public support for plans to overhaul the nation’s education system. Over the past quarter century, leaders from both parties have backed the creation of <a href="http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=19492">curricular standards</a> and <a href="https://www2.ed.gov/nclb/overview/intro/execsumm.html">high-stakes standardized tests</a>. And they have pushed <a href="http://www.latimes.com/opinion/op-ed/la-oe-meyerson-billionaire-charters-20170526-story.html">privately operated charter schools as a replacement for traditional public schools</a>, along with vouchers and other subsidies to defray the cost of <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-column-marksjarvis-529plans/column-using-529-funds-to-pay-for-private-school-check-new-rules-idUSKBN1FD384">private school tuition</a>.</p>
<p>All of these large-scale school reform efforts, whether pushed by the federal government or backed by billionaire philanthropists including the families of Facebook co-founder <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2017/10/16/what-did-zuckerbergs-100-million-buy-newark-bit-progress/769536001/">Mark Zuckerberg</a>, Microsoft co-founder <a href="https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2014/10/the-plot-against-public-education-111630">Bill Gates</a>, <a href="http://laschoolreport.com/eli-broad-giant-of-education-philanthropy-is-retiring/">homebuilder and insurance mogul Eli Broad</a>, <a href="http://cashinginonkids.org/brought-to-you-by-wal-mart-how-the-walton-family-foundations-ideological-pursuit-is-damaging-charter-schooling/">late Walmart founder Sam Walton</a> and <a href="https://www.politico.com/tipsheets/morning-education/2016/12/a-look-at-betsy-devos-charitable-giving-217695">DeVos herself</a> have encountered setbacks.</p>
<p>Still, the larger ethos of reform hasn’t changed. And none of the leaders of this effort, including DeVos, appear to be wavering in their efforts, even when <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2018/03/12/politics/betsy-devos-60-minutes/index.html">challenged with evidence</a>, as happened during her cringe-inducing “60 Minutes” interview.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/lOfioQR6WTI?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Former PBS NewsHour education correspondent John Merrow sums up his book ‘Addicted to Reform,’ which describes the pitfalls of the K-12 reform movement.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>A cycle of failure</h2>
<p>From George W. Bush’s <a href="https://www2.ed.gov/nclb/landing.jhtml">No Child Left Behind</a> to Barack Obama’s <a href="https://www2.ed.gov/programs/racetothetop/index.html">Race to the Top</a> and the <a href="https://www.ed.gov/essa?src=ft">Every Student Succeeds Act</a> that was signed into law in 2015, the federal government has taken a highly interventionist approach to education policy.</p>
<p>But it has routinely failed to produce promised results. Today, educators, scholars and policymakers now almost universally regard No Child Left Behind as <a href="https://blog.ed.gov/2015/12/secretary-duncan-finally-a-fix-to-no-child-left-behind/">a washout</a>. And many critiques of Obama-era reform efforts have been equally <a href="https://www.alternet.org/education/dismal-failure-arne-duncans-race-top-program">blistering</a>. </p>
<p>Nevertheless, the core approach to federal education policy has not markedly changed.</p>
<p>The chief reason that all this activity has produced so little change, in my view, is that the movement’s populist politics encourage reformers to make promises beyond what they can reasonably expect to deliver. The result, then, is a cycle of searing critique, sweeping proposal, disappointment and new proposal. The particulars of each recipe may differ, but the overall approach is always the same.</p>
<h2>Cookie cutters</h2>
<p>Beyond this dysfunctional cycle, the other big reason the school reform movement has consistently come up short has to do with an approach that is both too narrow and too generic.</p>
<p>Ever since 1966, when Johns Hopkins University sociologist <a href="http://pages.jh.edu/jhumag/0400web/18.html">James S. Coleman</a> determined in his government-commissioned report that low-income children of color benefit from learning in integrated settings, most education researchers have agreed that economic inequality and social injustice are among the most powerful drivers of educational achievement gaps. What students achieve in a school, in other words, reflects their living conditions outside its walls.</p>
<p>Yet rather than addressing the daunting issues like persistent poverty that shape children’s lives and <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2528798/">interfere with their learning</a>, education reformers have largely embraced a management consultant approach. That is, they seek systems-oriented solutions that can be assessed through bottom-line indicators. This has been particularly true in the case of conservatives like DeVos, who even in her stand against the public education “system,” has proposed a new kind of system – <a href="https://www.politico.com/story/2016/12/betsy-devos-michigan-school-experiment-232399">school choice</a> – as a solution.</p>
<p>This approach fails to address the core problems shaping student achievement at a time when researchers like <a href="https://cepa.stanford.edu/sean-reardon">Sean Reardon</a> at Stanford University find that <a href="https://cepa.stanford.edu/content/widening-academic-achievement-gap-between-rich-and-poor-new-evidence-and-possible">income levels are more correlated with academic achievement</a> than ever and the <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-rich-are-the-rich-if-only-you-knew-89682">gap between rich students and less affluent kids</a> is growing.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/hXZM4Qur76I?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Sean Reardon, a Stanford University professor, discusses the gap between how low-income and rich students perform academically.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>At the same time, reformers of all stripes have tried to enact change at the largest possible scale. To work everywhere, however, education reforms must be suitable for all schools, regardless of their particular circumstances. </p>
<p>This cookie-cutter approach ignores educational research. Scholars consistently find that schools don’t work that way. I believe, as others do, that successful schools are thriving <a href="https://www.chalkbeat.org/posts/ny/2012/02/06/a-new-model-schools-as-ecosystems/">ecosystems</a> adapted to local circumstances. One-size-fits-all reform programs simply can’t have a deep impact in all schools and in every community.</p>
<h2>Entrepreneurial outsiders</h2>
<p>Perhaps this flawed approach to education reform has survived year after year of disappointing results because policy leaders, donors and politicians tend not to challenge each other on the premise that the ideal of school reform requires a sweeping overhaul – even though they may disagree about the best route. DeVos may be criticized for her dogmatic demeanor, but her approach is fairly mainstream in <a href="https://www.propublica.org/article/devos-education-nominees-code-words-for-creationism-offshoot-raise-concerns">most regards</a>.</p>
<p>Additionally, many leading reformers generally subscribe to the ethos of <a href="http://www.thomastoch.com/wp/2011/education-entrepreneurs-on-the-potomac/">educational entrepreneurism</a>. They consider visionary leadership as essential, even when leaders have <a href="https://epaa.asu.edu/ojs/article/view/1706/1456">scant relevant professional experience</a>. That was the <a href="https://www.usnews.com/opinion/knowledge-bank/articles/2017-02-16/how-betsy-devos-compares-to-former-education-secretaries">case with DeVos</a> before she became education secretary. As outsiders operating within a complex system, however, reformers often fail take the messy real-world experiences of U.S. schools into account. </p>
<p>Finally, the reformers see <a href="https://thinkgrowth.org/100-leadership-entrepreneurship-quotes-e2164dd42f77">failure as an acceptable part of the entrepreneurial process</a>. Rather than second-guess their approach when their plans come up short, they may just believe that they placed the wrong bet. As a result, the constant blare of pitches and promises continues. And it’s possible that none of them will ever measure up, no matter the evidence.</p>
<p><em>Editor’s note: This article incorporates elements of a story published on March 8, 2018, and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is a strategic partner of The Conversation US and provides funding for The Conversation internationally.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/93243/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jack Schneider's current work, on how school quality is conceptualized and quantified, has been supported by the Spencer Foundation and the Massachusetts State Legislature. He is the director of research for the Massachusetts Consortium for Innovative Education Assessment, which is working to build an alternate model for educational measurement and accountability.</span></em></p>The cycle of overpromising and disappointment has left donors, politicians and policymakers of all stripes looking to improve K-12 public schooling with an underwhelming track record.Jack Schneider, Assistant Professor of Education, College of the Holy CrossLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/923272018-03-08T11:43:52Z2018-03-08T11:43:52ZWhy big bets on educational reform haven’t fixed the US school system<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/208970/original/file-20180305-146655-wsrnt9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">After years of claiming they want to fix what's wrong with public schools, education reformers are still hunting for solutions.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/bored-girl-reading-tablet-elementary-school-388664521?src=HUmf6AMELNI8qkdthRy6XQ-1-2">Monkey Business Images/Shutterstock.com</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The Gates Foundation is regrouping after its latest school improvement disappointment, but it’s not bowing out of the education reform business.</p>
<p>As the philanthropic powerhouse led by Bill and Melinda Gates explained in their latest annual letter to the public, it ended its effort to <a href="http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/teacherbeat/2018/02/teacher_evaluation_efforts_haven't_shown_results_bill_melinda_gates.html">overhaul teacher evaluation systems</a> after determining that these efforts were failing to generate intended results. </p>
<p>“We haven’t seen the large impact we had hoped for,” the <a href="https://www.gatesnotes.com/2018-Annual-Letter">Microsoft founder and his wife wrote</a> in the note they published in February. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/208568/original/file-20180301-152590-c02qlm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/208568/original/file-20180301-152590-c02qlm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/208568/original/file-20180301-152590-c02qlm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=851&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/208568/original/file-20180301-152590-c02qlm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=851&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/208568/original/file-20180301-152590-c02qlm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=851&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/208568/original/file-20180301-152590-c02qlm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1070&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/208568/original/file-20180301-152590-c02qlm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1070&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/208568/original/file-20180301-152590-c02qlm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1070&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Bill Gates, speaking at the 2009 ‘Get Schooled’ conference his foundation co-sponsored.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/Gates-Influence/d51045ef69414c65ba0c56960485448f/3/0">AP Photo/Jae C. Hong</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>It’s a familiar storyline. Again and again, policymakers and philanthropists have teamed up to reform public education, only to find that their bold projects have fallen short.</p>
<p>Like other educational policy scholars, <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=d-pest4AAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">we have observed</a> this pattern for years. And we have identified a few reasons why school reform efforts so persistently get lackluster results, despite consistent bipartisan support and roughly <a href="https://www.dissentmagazine.org/article/got-dough-how-billionaires-rule-our-schools">US$4 billion a year</a> in philanthropic funding derived from <a href="https://nonprofitquarterly.org/2016/04/11/plutocracy-bill-gates-philanthropy-washington-state/">some of the nation’s biggest fortunes</a>.</p>
<h2>Shiny objectives</h2>
<p>The Gates Foundation (which is a strategic partner of The Conversation US and provides funding for The Conversation internationally) poured <a href="http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/teacherbeat/2017/10/gates_ends_investment_in_teacher_evaluation_what_does_it_mean.html">at least $700 million</a> into upgrading teacher evaluation systems between 2008 and 2013, before quietly pulling the plug. The move echoed a similar about-face that occurred decade ago, when the funder acknowledged that the $2 billion it had spent on <a href="https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2014/10/the-plot-against-public-education-111630">making America’s large high schools smaller</a> hadn’t achieved the desired results.</p>
<p>But Gates is hardly the only major philanthropist to come up short. Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and his wife Priscilla Chan spent $100 million of their own money to improve the Newark school system, in an effort that attracted another <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2017/10/16/what-did-zuckerbergs-100-million-buy-newark-bit-progress/769536001/">$100 million from other donors</a>. Their goal in New Jersey, according to journalist Dale Russakoff, was to “<a href="https://www.npr.org/2015/09/21/442183080/assessing-the-100-million-upheaval-of-newarks-public-schools">develop a model for saving public education in all of urban America</a>.” The results, chronicled in Russakoff’s 2016 book “<a href="https://www.hmhco.com/shop/books/The-Prize/9780544810907">The Prize</a>,” were mixed at best. Though <a href="https://cepr.harvard.edu/evaluating-newark-school-reform">some education scholars have detected improvements</a> in Newark, and <a href="http://www.nps.k12.nj.us/press-releases/nps-parcc-results-show-continued-improvement/">test scores</a> have edged up since the experiment, it generally <a href="https://theconversation.com/lessons-from-newark-why-school-reforms-will-not-work-without-addressing-poverty-48212">failed to meet the funders’ lofty goals</a>.</p>
<p>Leaders in government have also been active in the school reform game. </p>
<p>Ever since 1983, when the Reagan administration published its “<a href="https://www2.ed.gov/pubs/NatAtRisk/risk.html">A Nation at Risk</a>” report bemoaning the quality of American public education, politicians have rallied public support for plans to overhaul the nation’s education system. Over the past quarter century, they have backed the creation of <a href="http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=19492">curricular standards</a> and <a href="https://www2.ed.gov/nclb/overview/intro/execsumm.html">high-stakes standardized tests</a>. And they have championed <a href="http://www.latimes.com/opinion/op-ed/la-oe-meyerson-billionaire-charters-20170526-story.html">privately operated charter schools as a replacement for traditional public schools</a>, along with vouchers and other subsidies to defray the cost of <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-column-marksjarvis-529plans/column-using-529-funds-to-pay-for-private-school-check-new-rules-idUSKBN1FD384">private school tuition</a>.</p>
<p>Along the way, reformers – those in government and the philanthropic world alike – have made big promises that American voters have often found <a href="https://www.focusonthefamily.com/socialissues/citizen-magazine/education/a-good-night-for-school-reform-march-2014">irresistible</a>, even though these grandiose proposals have tended to fall short.</p>
<figure>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">Former PBS NewsHour education correspondent John Merrow sums up his book ‘Addicted to Reform,’ which describes the pitfalls of the K-12 reform movement.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Not wavering</h2>
<p>Many other billionaires support education reform efforts, including the families of <a href="http://laschoolreport.com/eli-broad-giant-of-education-philanthropy-is-retiring/">homebuilder and insurance mogul Eli Broad</a>, <a href="http://cashinginonkids.org/brought-to-you-by-wal-mart-how-the-walton-family-foundations-ideological-pursuit-is-damaging-charter-schooling/">late Walmart founder Sam Walton</a> and <a href="https://www.politico.com/tipsheets/morning-education/2016/12/a-look-at-betsy-devos-charitable-giving-217695">Education Secretary Betsy DeVos</a>. </p>
<p>Individually, their projects have differed. While Gates has favored small schools and teacher evaluation, Broad’s foundation has emphasized <a href="https://broadfoundation.org/the-broad-prize-for-public-charter-schools/">charter schools</a> and <a href="https://www.broadcenter.org/broad-academy/">training school superintendents</a>. Collectively, however, they have sought to transform the way schools look and operate.</p>
<p>All have encountered setbacks. Still, the larger ethos of reform hasn’t changed, and none of these billionaires appear to be wavering in their efforts.</p>
<p>For their part, lawmakers have been equally committed to large-scale reform. From George W. Bush’s <a href="https://www2.ed.gov/nclb/landing.jhtml">No Child Left Behind</a> to Barack Obama’s <a href="https://www2.ed.gov/programs/racetothetop/index.html">Race to the Top</a> and the <a href="https://www.ed.gov/essa?src=ft">Every Student Succeeds Act</a> that he signed into law in 2015, the federal government has taken a highly interventionist approach to education policy. Educators, scholars and policymakers now almost universally regard No Child Left Behind as <a href="https://blog.ed.gov/2015/12/secretary-duncan-finally-a-fix-to-no-child-left-behind/">a washout</a>. And many critiques of Obama-era reform efforts have been equally <a href="https://www.alternet.org/education/dismal-failure-arne-duncans-race-top-program">blistering</a>. But the core approach to federal education policy has not markedly changed.</p>
<p>The chief reason that all this activity has produced so little change, in our view, is that the movement’s populist politics encourage reformers to make promises beyond what they can reasonably expect to deliver. The result, then, is a cycle of searing critique, sweeping proposal, disappointment and new proposal. Indeed, the Gates Foundation announced in October 2017 that it would carry on with its education reform efforts, <a href="https://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2017/10/19/gates-foundation-announces-new-17b-for-k-12.html">putting $1.7 billion</a> into new strategies to bolster K-12 education.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/208971/original/file-20180305-146661-n8p42h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/208971/original/file-20180305-146661-n8p42h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/208971/original/file-20180305-146661-n8p42h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=427&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/208971/original/file-20180305-146661-n8p42h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=427&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/208971/original/file-20180305-146661-n8p42h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=427&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/208971/original/file-20180305-146661-n8p42h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=536&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/208971/original/file-20180305-146661-n8p42h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=536&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/208971/original/file-20180305-146661-n8p42h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=536&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Betsy DeVos, shaking hands at a school choice rally a few weeks before she became education secretary in 2017.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/DeVos-School-Choice/556a1f9c988d423db1a57a34fa67c3f9/2/0">AP Photo/Maria Danilova</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Cookie cutters</h2>
<p>Beyond this dysfunctional cycle, the other big reason the school reform movement has consistently come up short has to do with an approach that is both too narrow and too generic.</p>
<p>Ever since 1966, when Johns Hopkins University sociologist <a href="http://pages.jh.edu/jhumag/0400web/18.html">James S. Coleman</a> determined in his government-commissioned report that low-income children of color benefit from learning in integrated settings, most education researchers have agreed that economic inequality and social injustice are among the most powerful drivers of educational achievement gaps. What students achieve in a school, in other words, reflects their living conditions outside its walls.</p>
<p>Yet rather than addressing the daunting issues like persistent poverty that shape children’s lives and <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2528798/">interfere with their learning</a>, education reformers have largely embraced a management consultant approach. That is, they seek systems-oriented solutions that can be assessed through bottom-line indicators.</p>
<p>This approach fails to address the core problems shaping student achievement at a time when researchers like <a href="https://cepa.stanford.edu/sean-reardon">Sean Reardon</a> at Stanford University find that <a href="https://cepa.stanford.edu/content/widening-academic-achievement-gap-between-rich-and-poor-new-evidence-and-possible">income levels are more correlated with academic achievement</a> than ever and the <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-rich-are-the-rich-if-only-you-knew-89682">gap between rich students and less affluent kids</a> is growing.</p>
<figure>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">Sean Reardon, a Stanford University professor, discusses the gap between how low-income and rich students perform academically.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>At the same time, reformers have tried to enact change at the largest possible scale. To work everywhere, however, education reforms must be suitable for all schools, regardless of their particular circumstances. </p>
<p>This cookie-cutter approach ignores educational research. Scholars consistently find that schools don’t work that way. We believe, as others do, that successful schools are thriving <a href="https://www.chalkbeat.org/posts/ny/2012/02/06/a-new-model-schools-as-ecosystems/">ecosystems</a> adapted to local circumstances. One-size-fits-all reform programs simply can’t have a deep impact in all schools and in every community.</p>
<p>Unfortunately for the Gates Foundation and their allies, successful K-12 reform probably requires abandoning this one-size-fits-all approach. That, however, is unlikely to happen. “We’ve learned a lot about what works in education, but the challenge has been to replicate the successes widely,” Bill and Melinda Gates wrote in <a href="https://www.gatesnotes.com/2018-Annual-Letter">their letter</a>.</p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">Bill Gates, discussing teacher quality in a 2009 TED talk.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Entrepreneurial outsiders</h2>
<p>Perhaps this flawed approach to education reform has survived year after year of disappointing results because policy leaders, donors and politicians tend not to challenge each other on the premise that the ideal of school reform requires a sweeping overhaul – even though they may disagree about the best route.</p>
<p>Additionally, many leading reformers generally subscribe to the ethos of <a href="http://www.thomastoch.com/wp/2011/education-entrepreneurs-on-the-potomac/">educational entrepreneurism</a>. They consider visionary leadership as essential, even when leaders have <a href="https://epaa.asu.edu/ojs/article/view/1706/1456">scant relevant professional experience</a>. That was the <a href="https://www.usnews.com/opinion/knowledge-bank/articles/2017-02-16/how-betsy-devos-compares-to-former-education-secretaries">case with DeVos</a> before she became President Donald Trump’s education secretary and it seems to be true of <a href="https://www.townandcountrymag.com/society/money-and-power/g13733977/laurene-powell-jobs-facts/">Laurene Powell Jobs</a>. The widow of Apple co-founder Steve Jobs, a <a href="https://ballotpedia.org/Laurene_Powell_Jobs">supporter of the Democratic Party</a> who worked on Wall Street before starting a family, is now out to <a href="http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2016/10/laurene-powell-jobss-mission-to-disrupt-high-school.html">revamp</a> American high schools. As outsiders operating within a complex system, however, reformers often fail take the messy real-world experiences of U.S. schools into account. </p>
<p>Finally, the reformers see <a href="https://thinkgrowth.org/100-leadership-entrepreneurship-quotes-e2164dd42f77">failure as an acceptable part of the entrepreneurial process</a>. Rather than second-guess their approach when their plans come up short, they may just believe that they placed the wrong bet. As a result, the constant blare of pitches and promises continues. And it’s possible that none of them will ever measure up.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/92327/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jack Schneider's current work, on how school quality is conceptualized and quantified, has been supported by the Spencer Foundation and the Massachusetts State Legislature. He is the director of research for the Massachusetts Consortium for Innovative Education Assessment, which is working to build an alternate model for educational measurement and accountability.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>David Menefee-Libey 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 cycle of overpromising and disappointment has left donors, politicians and policymakers looking to improve K-12 public schooling with an underwhelming track record.Jack Schneider, Assistant Professor of Education, College of the Holy CrossDavid Menefee-Libey, Professor of Politics, Coordinator of Program in Public Policy Analysis, Pomona CollegeLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/796452017-06-18T11:58:29Z2017-06-18T11:58:29ZWill the Greens let the teachers’ union bully them over schools funding?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/174293/original/file-20170618-10505-i1ooyb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Sarah Hanson-Young has come up against the pressure of the Australian Education Union.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Mick Tsikas/AAP</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Some Liberals love to deride Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young. In the past, the government’s immigration minister and attack dog, Peter Dutton, was particularly insulting when she was spokeswoman in his area.</p>
<p>Now it’s Hanson-Young, handling the education area for the Greens, who is battling to get her party to pass the schools package that, in political terms, Malcolm Turnbull desperately needs.</p>
<p>The package is a truer version of the original Gonski needs-based system, and so would benefit deserving government schools, which are Hanson-Young’s priority. She’s gone out on a limb within her own ranks to attempt to promote a deal.</p>
<p>The government hopes to have the legislation through this last week before the winter break. “We’ll make sure we land this,” Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce said on Sunday. The question is: who can it get to be its dancing partners? The Greens, or other crossbenchers?</p>
<p>Negotiations between Hanson-Young and Education Minister Simon Birmingham – one of the better ministers, with an admirably low-key style – have seen the government showing a good deal of flexibility.</p>
<p>Hanson-Young says what the government has put on the table moves the package closer to what the Greens have been advocating.</p>
<p>It involves setting up the independent body to oversee funding that was recommended originally by Gonski, and legislation to tie the states into pulling their weight on money. The negotiations have also canvassed shortening the timeframe of the government’s A$18.6 billion plan from ten years to possibly six years, which could cost the government an extra $4.5 billion-$5 billion over a decade.</p>
<p>The government is coy about the details of concessions it would make to the Greens. But if a deal with those sorts of changes could be done, you’d think the Greens would be trying to clinch it as quickly as possible. It would represent a major win for them.</p>
<p>There is, however, an internal battle – the party is divided. </p>
<p>This is an issue on which one would think Greens leader Richard Di Natale could adopt the more pragmatic style he seemed to promise when he became leader.</p>
<p>Yet on Sunday he showed he was conflicted when he appeared on Sky. Rather than displaying leadership and saying he will urge his party room to accept a deal if it is favourable – which would allow him to claim credit for delivering a better system – he stressed not being hurried and speaking to “all the key stakeholders”, who have in fact already been consulted.</p>
<p>So what’s going on here?</p>
<p>This is going on: the Australian Education Union (AEU) is standing on the Greens’ neck. The AEU wants this as an issue at the election. And the Greens are frightened of the union, especially what it could do to the party’s aspirations in inner city seats. </p>
<p>The teachers’ union has a lot of political clout and there is extensive overlap between its membership and the support base of the Greens. The New South Wales branch of the Greens is strongly identified with the union line.</p>
<p>On Sunday the union position was simply that the Greens must block the legislation this week. It will be lobbying them hard in Canberra over the next few days.</p>
<p>It’s a sordid tale of the power of politics over policy – and it leaves the Greens exposed in their periodic bids to present themselves as the party of principle.</p>
<p>Just as they are responsible for Australia not having a better climate change policy, because they refused to accept the Rudd government’s efforts to put one in place, so too if they don’t cut a schools deal, they will be open to the criticism of trying to stymie the introduction of a more needs-based schools policy.</p>
<p>But if they opt for staying pure – or indeed even if they don’t – the government might get its way via the rest of the crossbench.</p>
<p>These players have demands of their own. But it’s possible a deal with the non-Green crossbench could come at a cheaper price than one with the Greens. If that was the case, the Greens would likely find themselves sidelined.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, Labor’s performance has been hypocritical. It has said all along that because the government’s schools plan fell $22 billion short of the ALP’s original proposals, it wouldn’t even bother negotiating.</p>
<p>As far as one can see, Labor has three motives. </p>
<p>First, it wants to reap the advantage of the discontent in the Catholic system, which loses out in relative terms when there’s a more needs-based system, because it has been feather-bedded with special arrangements by successive governments.</p>
<p>Second, it doesn’t want to allow the Coalition any win on schools policy.</p>
<p>Third, like the Greens it is unwilling to get the teachers’ union offside.</p>
<p>If the ALP really cared as much as it claims about state schools, it would not oppose the government’s policy but promise at the election that a Labor government would top up the money.</p>
<p>But that would be putting policy ahead of politics.</p>
<p><strong>POSTSCRIPT</strong></p>
<p>The Coalition trails Labor 47-53% on the two-party vote for the third consecutive <a href="http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/newspoll/newspoll-turnbull-fails-to-turn-corner-with-power-battle/news-story/79ce414773ab471673e3cf1e1935f1f6">Newspoll</a> – the 14th consecutive one in which it has been behind.</p>
<p>Malcolm Turnbull and Bill Shorten both lost ground on net satisfaction – they are tied in deeply negative territory on minus 23. Turnbull’s satisfaction rating fell from 35% three weeks ago to 32%.</p>
<p>Turnbull has a 13-point margin over Shorten as better prime minister, 44-31%, compared with a 12-point lead in the last Newspoll.</p>
<p>The ALP primary vote is up one point to 37%. The Coalition vote is steady on 36%, for the fifth consecutive time. Pauline Hanson’s One Nation is up from 9% to 11%; the Greens are down from 10% to 9%. </p>
<iframe src="https://www.podbean.com/media/player/teu9e-6be86f?from=site&skin=1&share=1&fonts=Helvetica&auto=0&download=0" height="100" width="100%" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" data-name="pb-iframe-player"></iframe><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/79645/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
Some Liberals love to deride Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young. In the past, the government’s immigration minister and attack dog, Peter Dutton, was particularly insulting when she was spokeswoman in his…Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of CanberraLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/677882016-11-07T19:04:04Z2016-11-07T19:04:04ZExpansion is no longer the answer to improving the Australian education system<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/144148/original/image-20161102-12159-vi2enw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Governments must move away from seeing education solely as an economic benefit.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">from www.shutterstock.com</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>For 50 years, Australia’s policymakers have been persuaded that growth at every level of the education system would be a good thing in itself – and would drive economic growth and social progress.</p>
<p>That faith is now under unprecedented pressure. </p>
<p>While massive expansion has brought the benefits of education to millions, it has also created new problems, and left old ones unresolved.</p>
<h2>Human capital theory</h2>
<p>Belief in the power of education to lift lives and societies is hardly new. But “human capital theory” gave it a new form.</p>
<p>Developed by a small group of US economists in the late 1950s, human capital theory arrived in Australia via the OECD in 1964, when <a href="http://www.voced.edu.au/content/ngv%3A53781">L. H. Martin</a> became the first in a long line of Australian policymakers to argue that education was not a necessary expense but an investment. </p>
<p>Investment in education would make individuals and economies more productive, triggering a virtuous circle of economic growth, more equal opportunity, higher levels of health and civic-mindedness, and cultural enrichment. The economic rain would follow the educational plough.</p>
<p>It followed (as one Australian human capital theorist <a href="http://espace.library.uq.edu.au/view/UQ:10907">argued</a>) that,</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“education spending should be expanded up to the point where the rate of return to additional spending is equal to the general rate of return on capital”. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>Anything less will reduce the rate of economic growth and result in “a culturally impoverished and less cohesive society”. </p>
<p>In the meantime, education pays for itself (as another theorist put it) “<a href="http://theconversation.com/higher-education-pays-for-itself-many-times-over-61511">many</a> times over”.</p>
<h2>Promise and performance</h2>
<p>Governments have certainly done as advised. </p>
<p>In just two generations they have <a href="http://www.abs.gov.au/Ausstats/abs@.nsf/0/A75909A2108CECAACA2569DE002539FB?Open">tripled</a> the proportion of students completing 12 years of schooling, expanded <a href="http://trove.nla.gov.au/work/14178582?selectedversion=NBD2192846">numbers</a> in vocational education and training (VET) from a few tens of thousands to <a href="http://www.mitchellinstitute.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/VET_funding_in_Australia_Background_trends_and_future_directions.pdf">around</a> 1.5 million, and multiplied <a href="https://grattan.edu.au/report/mapping-australian-higher-education-2016/">higher education</a> numbers by thirteen.</p>
<p>But 50 years on it is clear the benefits of vastly expanded access to education are heavily offset in ways scarcely anticipated by the human capital argument:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>Despite claims that education pays for itself, the chronic problem of funding it has recently become acute, pushing minister Pyne from his portfolio, and his government toward a near-death electoral experience. </p></li>
<li><p>Even the OECD, the leading apostle of human capital theory, concedes that <a href="https://www.oecd.org/eco/growth/OECD-2015-The-future-of-productivity-book.pdf">“over-education”</a> is relatively pronounced in Australia. <a href="http://grattan.edu.au/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/816-mapping-higher-education-20142.pdf">Employment</a> and <a href="http://www.graduatecareers.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/GCA_GradStats_2015_FINAL.pdf">salary</a> returns to degree and diploma programs have fallen steadily, while at the lowest qualification levels <a href="http://www.ianwatson.com.au/pubs/watson_earnings_education_report_final_30may2011.pdf">returns</a> are negligible or even negative. On the other side of the transaction, employers continue to <a href="http://www.news.com.au/finance/work/careers/university-degrees-irrelevant-to-big-employers/news-story/8a0340dd2b8e70e35b8ce3302c8d0cc5">complain</a> about the employability and “job readiness” of graduates</p></li>
<li><p>Despite more years of schooling by many more people, a persistently large minority of students is <a href="http://www.mitchellinstitute.org.au/reports/new-approaches-to-persistent-problems-in-australias-schools/">“disengaged”</a>, and an even larger proportion of <a href="http://www.oecd.org/skills/piaac/Country%20note%20-%20Australia_final.pdf">adults</a> lacks the skills “to meet the demands of everyday life and work”.</p></li>
<li><p>Research dominates the universities and they dominate the system as a whole. The universities have been allowed to pursue their <a href="http://theconversation.com/poor-research-industry-collaboration-time-for-blame-or-economic-reality-at-work-50306">own</a> interests at the <a href="https://grattan.edu.au/news/keeping-public-priorities-in-public-universities/">expense</a> of teaching, and to undertake increasing amounts of educational work for which neither they nor their students are <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2016/aug/01/too-many-graduates-universities-chief-warns-against-degrees-for-all">well equipped</a>. Their dominance extends to the purposes and curriculum of schooling, and contributes to the perception of VET - <a href="http://www.mitchellinstitute.org.au/reports/expenditure-on-education-and-training-in-australia-update-and-analysis/">under-funded</a> and beset by <a href="http://www.theage.com.au/comment/rorted-by-the-public-sector--the-vocational-education-lesson-20151202-gldi64.html">scandal</a> - as an educational last resort.</p></li>
<li><p>There have been few or no gains in the social <a href="https://openresearch-repository.anu.edu.au/bitstream/10440/716/1/Leigh_Intergenerational2007.pdf">distribution</a> of opportunity in and through education. It seems likely that structural inequality - the distance between the best and worst educated, and the distribution of the population across that spectrum – has increased.</p></li>
<li><p>Growth has been in time served as well as numbers enrolled, causing costs for young people to rise as returns fall. They spend a steadily increasing proportion of their <a href="https://www.fya.org.au/report/how-young-people-are-faring-2014/">lives</a> in a limbo between childhood and fully adult <a href="http://education.unimelb.edu.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0005/1624532/LifePatterns_10YearFollowingGenY_FINAL_webversion.pdf">circumstances</a> and responsibilities in pursuit of <a href="http://theconversation.com/young-people-are-not-after-an-easy-ride-just-job-security-64494">employment</a> which may or may not materialise.</p></li>
</ul>
<h2>Growth still the solution?</h2>
<p>There are those who argue or assume that growth should still be the first objective of policy.</p>
<p>The most recent substantial review of higher education, for example, relied on human capital theory to argue for a much-expanded, <a href="https://theconversation.com/uncapping-of-university-places-achieved-what-it-set-out-to-do-so-why-is-it-dubbed-a-policy-failure-61082">demand-driven system</a>. </p>
<p>Deloitte Access Economics prosecutes the same <a href="https://www2.deloitte.com/au/en/pages/economics/articles/importance-universities-australias-prosperity.html">case</a>, claiming not just a long list of social, health and other benefits for expansion, but an 8.5% increase in GDP “because of the impact that a university education has had on the productivity”.</p>
<p>Australia’s most successful federal minister of education, John Dawkins, <a href="http://www.afr.com/news/politics/national/john-dawkins-throws-down-the-challenge-to-labor-on-university-reform-20160922-grmii0">recently called for</a> a comprehensive rethink, but with funding for further growth as the central question, a view apparently <a href="https://grattan.edu.au/news/slow-path-to-getting-fee-reform-in-university-sector/">shared</a> by the Grattan Institute.</p>
<p>The guns of policy are pointing in the wrong direction. We need a re-orientation for the next 50 years as substantial as that introduced by Martin 50 years ago.</p>
<h2>A different orientation for public policy</h2>
<p>The first question for policy should not be the size of the system or its funding but its disposition, character, and consequences:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>Policy has concentrated on the supply of skills and knowledge; it should now concentrate on their use and development in the workplace.</p></li>
<li><p>The effort to load up individuals with economically useful skills and knowledge via front-end, formal education should give way to expanding career and training paths and <a href="http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/education_culture/repository/education/library/publications/etf-wbl-handbook_en.pdf">work-based learning</a> across the broadest possible range of industries and occupations, including most of the professions.</p></li>
<li><p>The focus on the <a href="https://www.universitiesaustralia.edu.au/Media-and-Events/HIGHER-ED-ITION/Articles/2016/The-future-of-HEPPP">social distribution</a> of education should be widened to tackle structural inequality. Policy must be directed less toward opportunity to get the best, and more toward providing the highest possible proportion of the population with the best possible educational experience and attainment.</p></li>
<li><p>The priority currently given to the top half of the system and to those who do well at school and go on to higher education should be given to <a href="https://docs.education.gov.au/system/files/doc/other/review-of-funding-for-schooling-final-report-dec-2011.pdf">those</a> for whom education is a bad experience with bad consequences.</p></li>
<li><p>Policy should above all stop equating human capital with the consumption of formal education. That conflation has allowed occupational groups, including particularly the professions and those aspiring to professional status, to combine with education providers to use credentials to drive up amounts of education consumed. Educational provision should be seen within the larger frame of learning and its recognition, irrespective of where, when or how <a href="https://www.ncver.edu.au/publications/publications/all-publications/informal-learning-at-a-glance">undertaken</a>, but particularly learning and its use in workplaces.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>It is possible to detect the beginnings of such a re-orientation in some of the areas discussed; in others, it is not.</p>
<h2>Learning the lessons of experience</h2>
<p>Although human capital theory has gone largely unchallenged in policy debates, among economists it has been as much <a href="https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/25535/does-education-matter/">criticised</a> <a href="https://books.google.com.au/books/about/Education_and_jobs.html?id=tb9NAAAAMAAJ&redir_esc=y">and</a> <a href="http://www.jstor.org/stable/2722630?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents">rejected</a> as accepted. </p>
<p>Even those who work within the human capital framework often <a href="http://adminpanel.ceda.com.au/FOLDERS/Service/Files/Documents/15384%7Ecedaaustadjusting_web.pdf">distance</a> themselves from the growth argument appealed to by governments and others.</p>
<p>The rise of human capital theory from one among several accounts of the education-economy relationship to conventional wisdom owes as much to its political usefulness to governments and to the education industry as to its merits.</p>
<p>There is much more to the complex interaction of education and learning (on the one hand) and economic activity (on the other) than human capital theory comprehends, including particularly <a href="http://insidestory.org.au/powerhouse-or-gravy-train">competition</a> for economic advantage through education by occupational groups and by families and individuals. </p>
<p>There is also much more to education than its contribution to economic activity.</p>
<p>Martin depended upon a theory. Now we have experience. If the lessons of the past 50 years are to be learned, policymakers will need a much broader course of instruction than can be provided by human capital theory.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/67788/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Dean Ashenden 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>Massive expansion of the education system has created new problems, and left old ones unresolved.Dean Ashenden, Honorary Senior Fellow, Melbourne Graduate School of Education, The University of MelbourneLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/541782016-02-08T06:44:28Z2016-02-08T06:44:28ZVET funding can’t be fixed by sidelining TAFE<p>A leaked draft paper prepared by the federal government for the Council of Australian Governments (COAG) proposes that the Commonwealth assume responsibility for funding Australia’s vocational education and training (VET) system.</p>
<p>VET is currently funded under a shared funding agreement between the Commonwealth and the states. The states contribute A$4 billion and the Commonwealth $3 billion. The states fund VET providers including TAFE, while the Commonwealth operates VET FEE-HELP, under which VET students in diplomas and advanced diplomas can access an income-contingent loan to meet the costs of course fees.</p>
<p>Taking into account outlays through VET FEE-HELP, the Commonwealth contribution now exceeds state contributions in any one year. </p>
<p>The draft paper proposes that the federal government assume full funding for “mainstream” VET qualifications by bringing together subsidies and income-contingent loans in areas of national skills priorities. Funding would be fully competitive, with the Commonwealth funding TAFE at the same rate as other providers. Student fees would be deregulated. </p>
<p>The states would retain responsibility for ownership and management of their TAFE systems. The states could fund TAFE but only to the extent required to ensure “competitive neutrality” with other providers.</p>
<p>The proposal has drawn an adverse reaction from two state VET ministers. In the light of experience with the abuse of the Commonwealth’s VET FEE HELP scheme, they have expressed doubt that the Commonwealth can run a national VET funding system effectively. </p>
<p>Other critics <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/the-end-of-tafe-as-we-know-it-leaked-paper-details-federal-vocational-takeover-20160203-gmknwc.html">focused</a> on the proposed market funding model and its implications for TAFE.</p>
<p>In considering the Commonwealth’s proposal, it is important to separate which level of government should fund VET from how VET should be funded – including the important role of TAFE as the public VET provider.</p>
<p>At the outset it must be recognised that the VET funding system is failing.
Funding for VET by all states and territories <a href="https://www.ncver.edu.au/wps/portal/vetdataportal/restricted/media/!ut/p/a1/tZJLU8IwFIX_Ci5YZnKb1JAuQR5tHR4jotANE9IgcdoAbafqvzelOOqiwsZsMic5Z3Lz3YsjvMSREaV-EYXeG5FUOmLrwCF3vu9CyEe9PgST6STw7okDj8waVtYw80eM9CqDPwZrmD8Mx4M5Bd455YH0Xd_jEMJsyCEYskGHeIRMnsiFPLBL-Wcc4Uia4lDs8MrIUmVruTeFMkUbTtJu6i1vCRO3VGmP8zakKtailalEiVx9aXTWaKuNMFKLBGmz3WfpCUX1ykHqGK8IxAxEzBCjYoNc6TEkhCSIbCV1gXGAmJ5_BQ2rC5eormy-0_DtAKaA5z8KchjhHrlF4DgxcomkSDjCRRtbEGEd7gBVOLyiD_r1eIy6lmbF773AyxpnvhOZitsg90miZAXDIitVcQal0PcFIraGuiUXhuJPQ9X1ut5mgDWhJoSU_SJ0TcvCKya9gdC_DNwhXSxSTj-Q2PAPCnqWputx3r35BBuleG0!/dl5/d5/L2dBISEvZ0FBIS9nQSEh/">has declined since 2013</a>. </p>
<p>Subsidies for many courses have been reduced or removed altogether.
Thousands of VET students are facing higher upfront fees but cannot access income-contingent loans; other students are accruing high debts under VET FEE HELP. Publicly funded VET enrolments are in decline.</p>
<p>There is also a <a href="http://www.mitchellinstitute.org.au/reports/expenditure-on-education-and-training-in-australia-update-and-analysis/">serious and growing imbalance</a> in funding between higher education and VET. </p>
<p>The fundamental problem with the system is that no single level of government is fully responsible for VET funding. Under the current agreement, the states can reduce funding for VET while continuing to receive the same (or even) additional Commonwealth funding. </p>
<p>The Mitchell Institute has argued for a national tertiary education funding model across VET and higher education. <a href="http://www.mitchellinstitute.org.au/presentations/a-model-for-tertiary-education-funding-in-australia/">Under this model</a>, government would establish and fund all providers through an effective price required to deliver quality outcomes. All tertiary students would be able to access income-contingent loans. </p>
<p>The institute has modelled <a href="http://www.mitchellinstitute.org.au/reports/feasibility-and-design-of-a-tertiary-education-entitlement-in-australia/">the settings required</a> to extend income-contingent loans to VET Certificate III courses.</p>
<p>The Commonwealth proposal is broadly consistent with this approach and requires serious consideration. The Commonwealth has emphasised that the paper is a draft.</p>
<p>How VET is funded under a national system then becomes an important policy and design issue. It is therefore disappointing that the Commonwealth paper defaults to a simplistic, market-driven VET funding model based primarily on lowering costs and increasing efficiency, including competition through fee deregulation. </p>
<p>There is now ample evidence of the damage simplistic VET market funding models have done to the quality and reputation of the VET system – and to individuals’ lives.</p>
<p>Experience has shown that, given the opportunity, unethical and opportunistic providers driven by the chance to access public subsidies at minimal cost will do so – most recently in relation to <a href="http://www.news.com.au/finance/money/costs/this-is-a-blatant-ripoff-of-the-taxpayer-training-colleges-facing-audit-of-predatory-pricing/news-story/b82f5b31b12ccc58755939fbfdb6d66d">VET FEE HELP</a>.</p>
<p>High-quality and reputable public and private providers cannot operate effectively when unethical providers offer quickie qualifications at minimal or no cost to individuals. </p>
<p>The publicly funded VET market is an entirely publicly funded government construct. There are 1800 providers accessing public funding in Australia. A sophisticated funding and contractual model is required through which governments can fully assure students and employers that all providers they have contracted to deliver VET will do so at a fair and reasonable price and with rigorous and consistent assessment of learning outcomes. </p>
<p>It is also clear that state governments and the community will not allow their substantial, accessible and broadly based TAFE systems to be run into the ground by not funding the direct and indirect costs of TAFE as the public VET provider.
There are huge financial and political risks for the states in handing over VET funding to the Commonwealth and then having to manage community and industry expectations. </p>
<p>A contemporary national vision of the role of TAFE, how it should be funded and how it should operate is required as part of any new national VET funding system.
This system should form part of an overall tertiary education funding framework to ensure balanced investment between VET and higher education, facilitate co-operation between the sectors and provide better pathways for students.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/54178/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Peter Noonan is a Professorial Fellow in the Mitchell Institute at Victoria University. The University is a public VET provider. </span></em></p>A leaked paper suggests that the federal government should take over funding VET courses. But it’s a path we should tread with great caution.Peter Noonan, Mitchell Professorial Fellow, Victoria UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/502112015-12-11T04:07:31Z2015-12-11T04:07:31ZWhy Cuba is an education success story and what it can teach Africa<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/101819/original/image-20151113-10417-vp0e9e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Education is free in Cuba, and is one of the island nation's top priorities.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Desmond Boylan/Reuters</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Cuba takes education very seriously. It became a top priority after Fidel Castro became prime minister in 1959 and this helped the country shake its mantle as the <a href="http://www.afrocubaweb.com/pedroperezsarduy/afroc-anth.htm">most unequal</a> of the Hispanic Caribbean territories during both the colonial and post colonial early 20th century periods. </p>
<p>The foundations of Castro’s new social – and socialist – order were premised on the common understanding that only good-quality, empowering education could conquer Cuba’s acute poverty, ignorance and underdevelopment.</p>
<p>Cuba invested heavily to make its education system world class. By the 1980s and 1990s, the country’s educational disbursements as a ratio of gross domestic product were among the <a href="http://web.worldbank.org/archive/website00238I/WEB/PDF/CUBA.PDF">highest in the world</a>. </p>
<p>Cuba has much to teach Africa about prioritising and reforming education. Its approach <a href="http://uctscholar.uct.ac.za/PDF/161937_Kronenberg_C.pdf">to education</a> has made a unique contribution to social change. There are <a href="https://www.cput.ac.za/newsroom/news/article/2390/leading-researcher-explores-cuban-education-system">valuable lessons</a> here for the continent and, as more than a decade of my research has shown, particularly for South Africa.</p>
<p>There are three major methods through which Cuba revolutionised teaching and learning after Castro’s socialist government came to government.</p>
<h2>1. Literacy</h2>
<p>The first was its celebrated 1961 <a href="http://www.maestrathefilm.org/activos/educators/Supko.pdf">Literacy Campaign</a>, which marked in concrete terms the importance of education for an embattled society in transition. In the space of barely one year, one million illiterate people were targeted by mobilising 250,000 literacy teachers and thousands of devoted school children.</p>
<p>By the end of 1961, 75% of those one million had achieved <a href="http://www.angelfire.com/pr/red/cuba/educational_policy_in_cuba.htm">rudimentary literacy</a>. There were extensive follow-ups concentrating also on adult education.</p>
<h2>2. Access for all</h2>
<p>While the literacy drive was underway, school enrolments grew rapidly – and <a href="http://web.worldbank.org/archive/website00238I/WEB/PDF/CUBA.PDF">more than doubled</a> a decade later. This was largely because education at all levels, including university and college, became free of charge. </p>
<p>The government launched programs for peasant girls, domestic workers, prostitutes and those who had dropped out before finishing school. These, along with the newly founded Organisation of Day Care Centres, sought to <a href="http://web.worldbank.org/archive/website00238I/WEB/PDF/CUBA.PDF">ensure</a> that education was <a href="http://www.angelfire.com/pr/red/cuba/educational_policy_in_cuba.htm">accessible to all</a>. The programmes also targeted those living in remote and isolated rural communities.</p>
<p>Cubans’ hard work has paid off. Since the <a href="http://www.angelfire.com/pr/red/cuba/educational_policy_in_cuba.htm">mid-1990s</a> net primary admission has been 99% for both girls and boys, compared to 87% in the Latin American region. At that time, 94% of Cuban primary students reached grade 5, contrasting steeply with 74% in the region. Gross secondary enrolments were 78% for boys and 82% for girls, compared to 47% and 51% in the region.</p>
<h2>3. Teachers matter</h2>
<p>Cuba knows the importance of good teachers. During <a href="http://www.cput.ac.za/blogs/bulletin/2015/08/19/novel-ideas-good-practices-and-success-stories/">extensive</a> fieldwork, I discovered that its teacher training institutions use wherever possible only the most-advanced, well-researched scientific teaching methods and strategies. Students generally are accepted as trainee teachers if they possess the virtues of intellect, good character, a proven commitment to social development and love for children.</p>
<p>At the turn of the millennium Cuba boasted the highest number of teachers per capita worldwide, <a href="http://www.angelfire.com/pr/red/cuba/educational_policy_in_cuba.htm">1:42</a>. At the 2015 <a href="http://www.pedagogiacuba.com/">International Pedagogia Conference</a> in Havana I was told by educational officials that the country’s student:teacher ratio as of 2015 is an astonishing 12:1. </p>
<h2>Education for social change</h2>
<p>Cuba’s methods are respected and applied way far beyond the island’s boundaries. By 2010 its literacy method had been adopted in 28 Latin American, Caribbean, <a href="http://www.radiohc.cu/en/noticias/nacionales/61297-over-one-million-angolans-learn-to-read-and-write-using-cuban-literacy-method">African</a>, European, and Oceanic countries. Its use had <a href="http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0023/002341/234154e.pdf">qualified</a> millions of formerly unschooled people the world over to read and write. </p>
<p>From my discussions with Cuban education officials during research trips, it is obvious that the country wants struggling countries to learn from its experiences. They say it is deplorable that nearly <a href="http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=39485#.VmkffLiGSko">800 million people</a>, two-thirds of them women, are illiterate around the world. It is likewise unpardonable that nearly <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/education/2010/sep/20/70m-get-no-education">70 million children</a> do not have access to basic schooling.</p>
<p>Ordinary Cubans and government officials alike argue that people’s minds must be highly developed for them to contribute to a world free of fear, ignorance and disease. Education, ultimately, empowers human beings to become seekers and guardians of progress and peace.</p>
<p>The Cuban government’s steadfast commitment to education is irrefutable. The island’s relatively modest economy makes its educational triumphs all the more astonishing. This sets the objective basis for more in-depth scrutiny of its methods, particularly by struggling nations. </p>
<p>After all, Cuba’s accomplishments are not a miracle or a coincidence. They are the outcome of years of devoted work, sacrifice and meeting crucial commitments on highly effective terms.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/50211/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Clive Kronenberg works for The Cape Peninsula University of Technology. He has received institutional funding to conduct research, and hereby acknowledges CPUT's 2015 URF Award. </span></em></p>Cuba used three major methods to revolutionise its education system from the 1960s. The hard work has paid off and the system holds many lessons for other countries.Clive Kronenberg, PhD and Research Fellow, Cape Peninsula University of TechnologyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/506042015-11-19T04:24:30Z2015-11-19T04:24:30ZStudent protests in South Africa have pitted reform against revolution<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/102046/original/image-20151116-4976-dje6sc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Most student protests in South Africa during 2015 have been peaceful and organised, but there have been moments of violent confrontation.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">REUTERS/Sydney Seshibedi</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>For more than two decades, any dialogue about change and decolonisation at South Africa’s universities has been smothered. Conservative institutional practices have remained entrenched. It is undoubtedly important that institutions be preserved. But they must also recognise when it’s necessary to move with the times.</p>
<p>The wave of student protests that <a href="https://theconversation.com/africa/topics/feesmustfall">rocked the country</a> in October and November 2015 offers such a moment for change. The protesters threw up a dual narrative: reform on the one hand, and revolution on the other.</p>
<p>Which narrative will triumph? Will universities reform? Or will they become a site of revolution in 2016 and beyond?</p>
<h2>Students feel excluded</h2>
<p>Since 1994, there has been only a slow and basic conformity with <a href="http://www.labour.gov.za/DOL/legislation/acts/basic-guides/basic-guide-to-affirmative-action">affirmative action</a> requirements. Universities have registered more students of different races. They’ve hired <a href="http://africacheck.org/reports/how-many-professors-are-there-in-sa/">a smattering</a> of black, coloured and Indian academic and administrative staff. But in reality, universities haven’t changed much at all. </p>
<p>Language policies still marginalise students who don’t speak English as a first language. Campuses are multiracial, but classrooms and curricula remain largely dedicated to one way of seeing the world - through a lens of Eurocentric <a href="https://theconversation.com/its-time-to-take-the-curriculum-back-from-dead-white-men-40268">cultural domination</a> and globalisation. This has contributed to alienating African students from their own academic spaces.</p>
<p>These perceived exclusive institutions have prompted many South African students to say that they don’t feel at home on their campuses. They have taken to reading authors like <a href="https://www.poets.org/poetsorg/poet/aim%C3%A9-c%C3%A9saire">Aimé Césaire</a> along with philosophers such as <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-fanon-continues-to-resonate-more-than-half-a-century-after-algerias-independence-43508">Frantz Fanon</a> and Jean-Paul Sartre to find solace while trapped in the claustrophobic presence of colonial oppressors like <a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-32236922">Cecil John Rhodes</a>. </p>
<p>They are looking beyond the issue that triggered the 2015 protests – student fees – to the future of African education. To some, a revolution may be construed as the only viable vehicle to reach that future. They view the system as so defunct that it must be torn down with their own hands.</p>
<h2>Rapid reform or violent revolution?</h2>
<p>It is this view that altered the nature of the student protests. They were, in October, largely organised and peaceful events. By early November calm had returned to some campuses. But others, like the universities of Johannesburg and the Western Cape, the Tshwane University of Technology and the Cape Peninsula University of Technology, erupted into mayhem. This happened after President Jacob Zuma had already declared a 0% fee rise for 2016.</p>
<p>The University of the Western Cape’s vice chancellor, Tyrone Pretorius, had to dodge a bottle hurled at him on campus while addressing angry students about their memorandum of demands. This was met by cheers from the <a href="http://pasma.blogspot.co.za/">Pan Africanist Student Movement of Azania</a>, who were in attendance with the protesters. </p>
<p>The crowd also chanted expletives at the institution’s Student Representative Council. On many campuses student representative councils have been accused by the civic movements of being co-opted by university hierarchies, gaining the tag of “sellouts”. </p>
<p>Instances such as these suggest that compromise and conciliation are not on the agenda. </p>
<p>This highlights the potential of a dual narrative contained within the 2015 protests suggested earlier. Do these students only form a small vandal and criminal aspect within a constitutional movement, or is there a robust portion of the mass movement that harbours revolutionary attitudes?</p>
<h2>Where revolutions begin</h2>
<p>Revolutions, understood historically and theoretically, constitute a complete destruction of the political and socioeconomic status quo. They are a response to systematic political and economic exclusion, and manifest as either struggles for independence or to fundamentally change a system of governance. For the majority of the 20th Century revolutions resulted in the decimation of fascism, autocracy and Soviet communism as alternatives to now popular multiparty democratic systems.</p>
<p>South Africa after apartheid is a country built on revolutionary foundations that most will contend were democratic. Others might say that South Africa’s liberation movement also carried a – later suppressed – propensity for socialist reconfiguration. This stems from liberation era rhetoric which called for all people to share in the wealth of the country. </p>
<p>One aspect from the student protests that cannot be ignored is the deep distrust shown by students towards the police and other state security services. The police service’s penchant for brutality during the 2012 Marikana massacre and officers’ seemingly unprovoked attacks on some student gatherings has heightened these feelings of fear and distrust. </p>
<p>If protesters start to view the state authorities as hostile guardians of a deeply corrupt government and economy, the consequences may be fatal for South African democracy.</p>
<p>It cuts both ways. In Reflections on Violence, political theorist Hannah Arendt argues that <a href="https://books.google.co.za/books?hl=en&lr=&id=_VM7xoPW6PsC&oi=fnd&pg=PP1&dq=hannah+arendt+reflections+on+violence&ots=l3muFMoRGJ&sig=53T5lxU278yRxuTo1qoCQccdsmY#v=onepage&q=hannah%20arendt%20reflections%20on%20violence&f=false">violence and power</a> do not necessarily tie perfectly together. Physical coercion by the state is traditionally understood as a means to enforce the law and the regime’s perceived legitimate power. But in many instances the use of violence against the state’s citizens must be condemned, especially when used gratuitously in a democratic dispensation. </p>
<p>Protest movements should also understand that a turn to violence by their members could severely deplete the ethical high ground they hold at the foundation of a legitimate struggle for social justice. </p>
<h2>Space for Constitutionalism?</h2>
<p>Constitutional democratic protest is, in theory, calm, rational and inclusive. It purports that the present system is not constitutional and so must be reformed as swiftly as possible. The <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-legacy-of-south-africas-freedom-charter-60-years-later-43647">Freedom Charter</a> of 1955 stated:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>The doors to learning and culture shall be opened to all.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>In the 1996 Constitution, this statement was reinterpreted to guarantee that all people will have access to quality education. Most in South Africa, particularly the poor and marginalised, are still waiting for the reforms that will include them in this promise. </p>
<p>Conversely, aspiring revolutionaries within the student movements who feel they have suffered the limits of exclusion by an inadequate democratic project may rally others toward violent upheaval as a means to finally be heard. The revolutionary faction may also want to throw out the Constitution along with the perceived colonised institutions that shackle their growth. </p>
<p>If student and other protests take a further unconstitutional turn, those citizens who still believe in realising the Freedom Charter may well be pushed to the side.</p>
<p>Only time will reveal whether new South African civic movements for social justice will achieve their objectives within constitutional bounds.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/50604/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Giovanni Poggi 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>Two narratives have emerged from student protests in South Africa: reform on the one hand - and revolution on the other. Which narrative will triumph?Giovanni Poggi, Lecturer in Political Science, Nelson Mandela UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/496632015-10-25T21:52:22Z2015-10-25T21:52:22ZAustralian education fails one in four young people – but not the wealthy ones<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/99443/original/image-20151023-27628-1vnzxlc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">How do we create an education system that works for all?</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">www.shutterstock.com</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>How do you know if an education system works well for all learners, not just those who are most likely to succeed?</p>
<p>Education is an important mechanism through which opportunity and success are determined.</p>
<p>Yet the opportunities offered by Australia’s education system are far from fairly and evenly distributed, according to new analysis from a report we’ve <a href="http://www.mitchellinstitute.org.au/reports/educational-opportunity-in-australia-2015-who-succeeds-and-who-misses-out/">published today</a>.</p>
<p>Using publicly available data, such as the National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy and the Australian Census, we look at educational progress from age five to 24 using four milestones as yardsticks for how well the system serves its students at each stage.</p>
<p>These milestones are: being developmentally ready for school, succeeding at year seven, completing school by age 19, and being fully engaged in education, training or work at age 24. </p>
<p>At each milestone, around one in four Australian learners are not on track.</p>
<p>It’s beyond the scope of any single report to identify all the factors that influence learner progress through the education system, but it is possible to highlight some areas that may stimulate policy discussion about how to make the system work for all.</p>
<p>The results show that while Australia’s highest-achieving students – who are more likely to be drawn from wealthier families – may be among the best in the world, there are vast differences in educational outcomes across social groups, challenging Australia’s claim of a fair education system.</p>
<p>This throws up clear challenges for policymakers for how to strengthen Australian education and training so that it meets the needs of the most disadvantaged groups. These include:</p>
<h2>Uneven access to quality early childhood care</h2>
<p>In early childhood, we briefly examine the relationship between quality of early childhood education and care services and levels of school readiness in communities. </p>
<p>We discover that the communities with the highest proportion of children who do not arrive at school ready to learn, are the same communities that have the highest proportions of early childhood services that do not meet national standards. </p>
<p>The challenge for governments begins with ensuring that high-quality early childhood services are available to the children who need them most.</p>
<h2>Learning gaps lead to disengagement through the middle years</h2>
<p>While most children arrive at school confident and connected, those who do not meet the learning milestone at year seven show a decline in their self-belief and school engagement from the early to middle years. </p>
<p>The system must work to change the experience of school for these children – who come to understand themselves as educational failures so early in their learning trajectories – and stem the destructive process of disengagement from school.</p>
<h2>Big gap in completion rates for students from different backgrounds</h2>
<p>Students’ attitudes towards learning in their final years of school are highly divided along socioeconomic lines, and students from wealthier backgrounds are more likely to complete year 12. </p>
<p>This gap is compounded by the growing segregation in the Australian school system, which is most apparent at secondary level. </p>
<p>Our system is increasingly divided between elite institutions serving the highest achieving and most highly engaged, and those that serve low achievers whose resistance to school is intensified by their exclusion from the most valuable educational opportunities.</p>
<h2>Second chances are important, but don’t work for all</h2>
<p>While most young people at age 24 are fully engaged in education or work, many are neither enrolled in study nor participating full time in the labour market; they are not investing in their human capital or earning income.</p>
<p>This represents a significant loss of economic opportunity for the nation as well as vulnerability for the young people themselves.</p>
<p>Our analysis shows that young people from disadvantaged backgrounds are more likely to be unemployed and less likely to be at university as they transition form school. </p>
<p>Data does show, however, that Vocational Education and Training plays a critical role in enabling young people to pursue further training towards rewarding careers, even if they have not thrived in the school system. </p>
<h2>Broader reform effort needed</h2>
<p>Taking a system-wide perspective can be overwhelming, but it is sometimes necessary to take a look at the forest, not only the trees. </p>
<p>Too often, our efforts at educational reform focus on the myriad small adjustments made at the level of individual education providers, or even individual practitioners, without considering the wider systemic context in which they operate. </p>
<p>The picture provided by our report shows that Australian education does provide well for most students, and offers some chances of remediation for those who fall behind – but which does not adequately honour its commitment to providing equal opportunity for all. </p>
<p>Changing this picture requires more than minor adjustments at the micro level, but a systemic rethink of how opportunity is distributed at all levels of lifelong learning.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/49663/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Stephen Lamb 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>New analysis of public data highlights flaws in the education system that is leaving disadvantaged students in the most vulnerable positions.Stephen Lamb, Research Chair in Education and Director of the Centre for International Research on Education Systems, Victoria UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/487902015-10-08T11:15:50Z2015-10-08T11:15:50ZArne Duncan’s legacy: growing influence of a network of private actors on public education<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/97632/original/image-20151007-7337-18abwsk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Arne Duncan opened the gates to a powerful network.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/edlabordems/3548577209/in/photolist-6pzonF-7H8kr6-fD9bky-6zavMm-6zavLU-66Nctj-8wqcn3-8LTYkp-7jtyH4-7jtytV-7jxrWL-a76BeF-7n972h-7n5dje-9TustP-9sPPF7-7bcqFX-sLViRf-suE8U4-fppmY9-nw9Xih-8MUsRz-br76jV-7bgeuu-7bgekC-hg9iLJ-7iAqwR-9nc6Bq-7bgdbY-9nc6zJ-br75FH-fpaaRv-hgb23h-7bcpzr-fpaeQ4-br75bZ-br76r8-br76dc-br75jX-br74HD-br75eV-br76y8-br74Vc-br76bM-br74Tr-br75Yg-br768r-br74JV-br75Ui-br765g">House Committee on Education and the Workforce Dem</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Arne Duncan is <a href="http://www.npr.org/sections/itsallpolitics/2015/10/02/445266796/arne-duncan-stepping-down-as-education-secretary">leaving</a> the US Department of Education in December. Reactions to his legacy have been mixed. Some see him as <a href="http://www.politico.com/agenda/story/2015/09/arne-duncan-education-profile-000231">a heroic reformer</a>, and others <a href="http://thehill.com/blogs/pundits-blog/education/256012-5-legacies-from-duncans-tenure-as-secretary-of-education">a well-intentioned but overreaching bureaucrat</a>. He has been called the <a href="http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2009/04/08/28obama_ep.h28.html">third secretary of education for George W Bush</a> or <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/education/wp/2015/10/02/education-secretary-arne-duncan-reportedly-will-step-down-at-end-of-year/">the center of stormy education politics</a>. </p>
<p>As researchers of education policy, we see him differently: the hub of a network of policy advocates. As the head of the federal Department of Education, he actively facilitated private actors’ influence on public education policy.</p>
<h2>Private actors and connections</h2>
<p>From early 2009, Arne Duncan opened the federal agency’s gates to a powerful network. He used the network, and was sometimes used by advocates for their own purposes.</p>
<p>Duncan was not just the cabinet secretary who played pickup basketball with the president. He was the head of <a href="http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1478474">the department with the highest number (five)</a> of early political appointees who had personal connections to President Obama.</p>
<p>He was joined in 2009 by some of the most powerful members of a Democratic-leaning group of education reformers: among them were Deputy Secretary Jim Shelton, a former leader of education policy at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and Joanne Weiss, the Chief Operating Officer at NewSchools Venture Fund who became Duncan’s chief of staff. <a href="http://www.newschools.org/">NewSchools Venture Fund</a> is a venture philanthropy firm that sponsors the growth of charter school chains. </p>
<p>In 2009, both organizations were part of a growing network of advocates which Michigan State University political scientist <a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/follow-the-money-9780199937738?cc=us&lang=en&">Sarah Reckhow has called</a> the Boardroom Progressives. </p>
<p>These reformers have largely consisted of private actors, including leaders of education nonprofits, charter school founders and other nontraditional school leaders whose essential resources for reform come from the private wealth of major foundations, an approach that Berkeley education professor Janelle Scott has termed <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0895904808328531">“venture philanthropy</a>.”</p>
<h2>Did those connections matter?</h2>
<p>The network that swirled around Duncan gave him ideas that he promoted through the Obama stimulus, and also the skilled personnel to run those programs.</p>
<p>Members of Duncan’s reform network were partly the genesis and <a href="http://epx.sagepub.com/content/early/2011/11/28/0895904811425911.abstract">potentially the beneficiary</a> of a grant program, <a href="http://epx.sagepub.com/content/early/2011/11/28/0895904811425911.abstract">Race to the Top</a>, that required applicants to expand opportunities for charter school creation, eliminate firewalls between student test scores and teacher evaluation, and commit to so-called “college and career-ready standards.” (The most common commitment of applicant states to such standards was to the <a href="http://www.corestandards.org/">Common Core State Standards</a>.) </p>
<p>Once Duncan’s department announced the Race to the Top program, the network connections were critical to promoting it. Under Duncan, Weiss ran the Race to the Top program.</p>
<p>But building support for his policies was also political: since 2001, federal education policy has often provided rhetorical and political license to state politicians who wanted support for policies they wanted anyway – Paul Manna, Government Professor at William & Mary College, called this license “borrowed authority” in his book <a href="http://press.georgetown.edu/book/georgetown/schools">School’s In</a> about the politics of the No Child Left Behind Act. </p>
<p><a href="http://epx.sagepub.com/content/early/2011/11/28/0895904811425911.abstract">Race to the Top</a> continued this pattern, and many members of the network of education advocacy organizations <a href="http://educationnext.org/fight-club/">supported</a> the Common Core and the expansion of charter schools in many states.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/97633/original/image-20151007-7337-9bluzb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/97633/original/image-20151007-7337-9bluzb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/97633/original/image-20151007-7337-9bluzb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/97633/original/image-20151007-7337-9bluzb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/97633/original/image-20151007-7337-9bluzb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/97633/original/image-20151007-7337-9bluzb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/97633/original/image-20151007-7337-9bluzb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">How did networks influence policy?</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/departmentofed/13130900394/in/photolist-m1kido-br76Bt-br75MF-br7618-br74PK-br764i-br75Pn-br75u2-br74Ci-br75JK-br75yX-br74tB-br74qp-br75nV-br74rV-br74ye-br75qB-br757D-br76wH-br75Lc-br75px-br74WD-br74B2-fpaf9z-fpptPA-fpahHB-7bgdHQ-fj8Zoj-7H8kax-fiTH5T-nCG7Y4-nWYaCg-m1knzQ-hgc3Ci-hw3Ehx-fiTD9D-hgaUFw-6pDwdS-66HUSk-p8zKmd-wH187A-hg9kn7-ovYTPP-r7nVWH-rLzVW5-s4bwoz-s4846a-rHbVF3-fNn8Jy-fMXAnH">US Department of Education</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Finally, the network was <a href="http://epx.sagepub.com/content/early/2012/11/14/0895904812465117.abstract">critical</a> to directly or indirectly building state capacity in the Race to the Top years. In some cases, network members became critical state leaders, as they had under Duncan in Washington, DC.</p>
<p>In other cases, members of the network served as free consultants or as paid contractors for states that did not have the expertise to apply for or carry out Race to the Top projects. The Gates Foundation provided <a href="http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d11658.pdf">US$250,000 worth of application consulting services</a> to states that agreed with the foundation’s <a href="http://www.edweek.org/media/criteria_and_support_for_states_for_rttp_applications.pdf">eight-point</a> set of criteria.</p>
<h2>Why care about these networks – isn’t this how politics works?</h2>
<p>At one level, the influence of the education reform network around Duncan is not a surprise: political scientists have written for decades about the relationships between private actors and public policy. That intrigue is the source of terms such as <a href="http://www.jstor.org/stable/2937958">regulatory capture</a> and <a href="http://www.transactionpub.com/title/The-Politics-of-Defense-Contracting-978-0-87871-012-6.html">iron triangles</a>.</p>
<p>If public-private relationships are not new in policymaking, we should also not assume that the network around Duncan has been monolithic or inherently cohesive. As political scientist <a href="http://educationnext.org/files/ednext_20123_mcguinn_full.pdf">Patrick McGuinn explained</a>, the alliances have been evolving rather than centralized and tightly planned.</p>
<p>And yet, we should worry when <a href="http://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-94-6209-383-6_4">policies are shaped</a> substantially outside ordinary public politics by an increasingly private set of actors, whose <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/01619560902973647">relationships</a> with the public sphere can simultaneously be rivalrous, symbiotic and parasitic. </p>
<p>One does not need to be paranoid to worry about the concentration of decision-making in the hands of people who are friends and who are not accountable to the general public.</p>
<h2>The legacy of Duncan</h2>
<p>Maybe you approve of Arne Duncan’s policies and are happy with his network because it moved policy. But after the Republicans swept the 2010 midterm elections in dozens of states, a conservative network <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0895904814528794">was able to exert its own, older</a> agenda in state house after state house.</p>
<p>That ascendant Republican network, the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), used the reform rhetoric and regulatory momentum of Arne Duncan for its own ends. Some of those goals mirrored Duncan’s – teacher evaluation tied to student test scores and expanded charter schools. </p>
<p>Others did not. Since 2010, many Republican-controlled states have attempted to restrict teacher collective bargaining and created or expanded private school voucher programs. </p>
<p>Arne Duncan did not invent political networks. And yet, to use <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/01619560902973647">a term of education professors Janelle Scott and Catherine DiMartino</a>, he has acted as a <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0895904812465117">“gatekeeper”</a> by bringing a private network to the fore in education, and further opening public education to privatized influences.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/48790/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sherman Dorn has received funding for past projects from the U.S. Department of Education as a PI and the Spencer Foundation as a center associate director. He is a National Education Policy Center fellow and has consulted in the past with the Center on Education Policy.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Amanda U. Potterton 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>By bringing private advocates to the fore in education, Arne Duncan further opened public education to privatized influences.Sherman Dorn, Professor of Education, Arizona State UniversityAmanda U. Potterton, Doctoral Student Educational Leadership & Policy Studies, Arizona State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.