This article employs Rittel and Webber’s ‘wicked’ problem as a heuristic device for enhancing understanding about National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) testing in the Australian education context. Using a research project with seven independent schools in New South Wales, Australia, which analysed NAPLAN data from primary (elementary) students in years 3 and 5, this article highlights the ‘wicked’ nature of the problem of NAPLAN testing, and standardised testing more generally. The research project, as a catalyst for the article, evidenced a set of difficulties, particularly for smaller primary schools, and highlighted the ways in which these schools experienced many of the challenges that the literature indicates are evident in the current regimes of standardised testing. The article focusses on problematising NAPLAN’s use in Australia and uses the literature to critique its application. It then outlines Rittel and Webber’s criteria that determine whether a problem might be ‘wicked’ and applies this as a lens for considering NAPLAN testing. In problematising NAPLAN testing and applying wicked problem theory to the issue, this article asserts that many of the challenges can be managed and indeed may empower and liberate stakeholders.
Project-based learning (PBL) is an active student-centred form of instruction which is characterised by students’ autonomy, constructive investigations, goal-setting, collaboration, communication and reflection within real-world practices. It has been explored in various contexts and in different phases of schooling, from primary to higher education. The majority of the reviewed studies were based on a quasi-experimental pretest–posttest design with some baseline equivalence established but no random allocation of participants to control and experimental groups, and as a result, a causal link between PBL instruction and positive student outcomes cannot be established with certainty. Modern digital technology, group processes of high quality, teachers’ ability to effectively scaffold students’ learning and provide guidance and support, the balance between didactic instruction with in-depth inquiry methods and well-aligned assessment have been identified in the literature as facilitating factors in the implementation of PBL. The article concludes with six key recommendations considered to be essential for the successful adoption of a PBL approach in the mainstream school setting.
This article presents an analysis of school principals’ perspectives on networking concerning schools and school clusters from areas of social vulnerability (Educational Territories of Priority Intervention (TEIP)) in Northern Portugal. The meanings, purpose, benefits and difficulties of networking in education are examined, based on interviews with school principals. The concept of networking has a theoretical, conceptual and methodological organising function. The data show that networking, partnership and collaboration are used similarly when considering the work inside the school and between schools, as well as with the outside community. Networking is viewed as crucial for the school, and benefits are underlined both for the school and for students and teachers. The culture of isolation and individualism in teachers’ work is a challenge schools face. Although there is a wide recognition of the value of networking in education, there is an equally wide and diverse perspective on it as well as on strategies to implement it.
This article provides evidence of a new teacher professionalism whereby teachers, acting as collaborative individuals working together, are the key to effectively meeting the needs of diverse student cohorts. Drawing on data from Australian school contexts and the work of researchers from the Leadership Research International team, new professional images of teachers’ work have emerged as the result of a whole-school improvement process – the Innovative Designs for Enhancing Achievements in Schools (IDEAS) process. Such processes facilitate collective engagement enabling teachers to refine and share individual strengths, as well as build capacity in areas of challenge. This reimaging of teachers is related to the concept of three-dimensional pedagogy where teachers weave personal pedagogical beliefs and authoritative pedagogical frameworks with schoolwide pedagogical principles which are known as the school’s schoolwide pedagogy (SWP). A SWP, clearly aligned with the school’s vision for a preferred future, is derived by staff as a sign of their collective commitment to contextualized, high-yield teaching and learning practices. The focus is on meeting the needs of ‘our students’ in ‘our context’ while being sensitive to systemic direction. Teachers lead the process of developing SWP, working with it, refining it and embedding principles into shared pedagogical action. What emerges is the concept of micro-pedagogical deepening, a process of critiquing and defining contextualised practice. Such practices, led by the new teacher professional, are not only changing the professional image of teachers but also the look, feel and sound of educational workplaces.
This article raises important questions about whether the increasing control of early years education through performance data is genuinely a means for school improvement. This composite article, examines the pervasiveness of attainment data in early years education professional activity, its impact on early years teachers’ consciousness and identity and the narrowing and instrumentalisation of early years pedagogy. The authors argue that, rather than improving quality, the current obsession with performance data and its stretch down the age range has the potential to undermine the foundations for children’s personal development and learning. The article also points to the ways in which a triage effect has led to the neglect of some children in order to push targeted children over specific performativity hurdles. The discussion applies Foucault to the early education sector in England and builds upon other early childhood researchers such as Moss.
This article examines a government attempt to impose testing of 4-year-olds as a baseline against which to ‘hold primary schools accountable’ for children’s subsequent progress. It examines the various forms of baseline testing in this experiment and analyses the misleading claims made for the ‘predictive validity’ of baseline scores. The article also takes a broader look at standardised ways of tracking children’s attainment and progress to the end of primary school and tacit assumptions of linear progress underpinning large-scale data-based accountability processes.
Appeals to reform science education by policy makers are not new phenomena. To be sure, while science reform efforts have been ongoing occurrences for nearly six decades, perpetual educational reform efforts as a whole have been evolving and gaining momentum in number for more than a century. The general motivation for continual reform appears to focus on unifying educational outcomes that can be implemented globally. Relentless clarion calls for science reform appear to parallel the mergers of corporations whose constituents wish to gain access to national education systems and their methods of curriculum, instruction, and assessment. Accordingly, scientists and science educators must reconsider what is taught in science classes at all levels. In this article, the authors examine the research on reform efforts in science education and several past science education reform initiatives, which are then placed in the context of the time when each was endorsed and sanctioned. Based on unifying strands of inquiry regarding past science education reform efforts, the authors conclude with four general recommendations for progressive reform that are believed to be beneficial to authentic science learning experiences.
Although good visual capacity is essential for children’s learning, we have limited understanding of the various visual functions among school starters. In order to extend this knowledge, a small-scale study was undertaken involving 24 preschool children age 5–6 years who completed a test battery originally designed for visual impairment specialists to measure visual acuity for distance and close work, and for visual attention and reaction capacity in the field of vision. The results revealed that school starters have a less mature visual acuity at a close reading distance than at a far distance. In this group, there were significant gender differences in visual acuity and reaction time in the visual field. This article discusses whether the level of visual development and gender differences may influence how pupils react, behave and learn in school, and questions whether this insight ought to have an impact on our expectations with regard to children’s school performance. In the context of pressures to begin formal teaching of literacy and numeracy earlier in some countries, the question of visual readiness becomes critical. The question should also make educators alert to the dangers of expecting all children to succeed in learning to read at the same early age, and of labelling those who do not succeed in making an early start as intellectually deficient.
In seeking to improve student outcomes, governments may choose to exercise direct control over schools, as in many centralised systems, or to provide frameworks for intermediate bodies to engage in improvement activities. One such body is the National College for School Leadership (NCSL), now the National College for Teaching and Leadership (NCTL) in England. The Department of Education of the South African province of Gauteng (GDE) has also chosen to implement its school improvement programmes partly through two specialist units, the Sci-Bono Discovery Centre, which focuses on maths, science and technology (MST), and the Matthew Goniwe School of Leadership and Governance (MGSLG), which specialises in school leadership, management, governance and teacher development. The purpose of this article is to report on an evaluation of the work of these two bodies, commissioned by the GDE as part of its 20th anniversary commemorations, through an analysis of relevant documents and interviews with 11 key actors in the operation of these specialist bodies. The article adopts loose coupling as its theoretical framework.
Loris Malaguzzi (1920–1994) was one of the great educationalists of the last century, helping to create a system of public (or municipal) schools in his home city of Reggio Emilia in Northern Italy that is, arguably, the most successful example of radical or progressive education that has ever been. The article gives an introduction to Malaguzzi and his work, starting with a short overview of his career, then outlining some of the most important understandings, values and practices that came to define his pedagogical thinking and work, and counterpointing this with the attention he paid to organisation, which he believed was vital but always subservient to values and practice. Finally, the article considers his significance to education today, expanding on how Malaguzzi and the schools of Reggio Emilia provide both provocation and hope for a renewed public education. The author draws on a recently published translation and collection of Malaguzzi’s writings and speeches, on which he worked as co-editor, ‘Loris Malaguzzi and the schools of Reggio Emilia’.
This article presents an overview of literacy teaching and learning, based on the author’s extensive research and, in particular, the recently revised and extended Learning to be Literate: Insights from Research for Policy and Practice (Routledge, 2016). It is set against a background in England in which government policy dictates synthetic phonics as the method of teaching reading, supported by a high-stakes phonics test including nonsense words. The article points to the lack of evidence for such an approach, the complex nature of English orthography and the problems for the increasing number of children not learning to read in their first language.
This article draws on an inquiry into the design and implementation of the curriculum in a case study urban primary school in the north of England. In response to the introduction of the revised National Curriculum in September 2014, teachers and the school head engaged in a critical discourse around their perceptions of students’ attainment and engagement across the curriculum, and explored alternative curriculum design and pedagogies. Supported by ‘academic partners’, teachers were introduced to the ‘Storyline’ approach and encouraged to consider a shift from a rigid and functional curriculum towards more flexible approaches which emphasise problem solving, critical literacy and communication in multiple form. The argument presented here is twofold: first, it is suggested that moving towards more ‘open architectures’ improves students’ engagement with learning by reducing teaching to the test and creating more socially responsive and real-life learning experiences; this is then contrasted with current ‘top-down’ models of prescriptive curriculum design tied to a raft of high-stakes standardised tests which constrains teachers’ efforts to engage in this process.
Developing effective novice teachers involves many components. Researchers have studied the impact of principals, induction programs, and mentors on the growth and development of novice teachers. Relationships with college/university faculty, students, parents, and support staff can also impact the growth of these novice professionals. The combination of these components creates a mentoring web that works together to empower the individual teacher as they begin their teaching career. The purpose of this article is to outline the mentoring web components and how the implementation of this web can ensure success for novice teachers in their initial years as professionals in the field of education.
Recent UK government policy suggests that all schools have a key role to play in building ‘character and resilience’ in children. This article draws on data from a wider research project, exploring the school experiences of mixed White/Black Caribbean and mixed White/Black African children in two London secondary schools. Because data from this project suggest that many children experienced adversity at school, a theoretical framework previously developed by Ungar et al. was used to assess how they coped with adversity and to what extent their schools supported them with it. Findings revealed that although positive relationships with adults were essential, teachers could not offer the necessary support and guidance because they were unaware of mixed heritage children’s needs and any challenges they faced. This article asks whether such a framework might prove useful in supporting teachers to understand what factors develop ‘character and resilience’ and the ways in which they might therefore support children to cope.
This article reports the results of a quasi-experimental study conducted to examine the efficacy of a new time management intervention designed for high school students. Participants were 149 students from a highly selective private high school in the northeastern United States who were in the ninth grade. Half of the students participated in a 5-week intervention, which involved an assessment of time management, feedback, and action plans, and 5 weekly homework assignments. After the intervention, academic advisors who were blind to condition rated student time management behaviors. Ratings were higher for the treatment group than for the control group. This difference reached significance for students who began the intervention low in time management skills. Implications and suggestions for improving the intervention are discussed.
Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (AD/HD) is one of the most frequently occurring disorders in school children, and information and communication technology (ICT) in education is one of the tools that is lately considered as helpful for the education of some children with disorders. This research is a case study – using mixed-methods – of the contribution of an ICT-based biology course for the improvement of school achievement of an AD/HD student. Interviews and observations using two independent observers were the research tools for the collection of data, whose analysis revealed that the AD/HD student preferred the ICT lesson, during which all three characteristics of the syndrome became less intense and he was more focused on the educational procedure in comparison with other times. The AD/HD student became more positive toward the biology course and he better understood the biology concepts.
This study is an analysis of the curriculum used to teach writing at one US high school in which outcomes for students were extremely strong. The study surfaces what was different in the approach used from what is typically understood and promoted as best practice in the teaching of writing. It does so in order to surface what elements of writing instruction are fruitful for further research. Findings identify an approach to teaching writing called progressive mastery through deliberate practice. This article articulates the five elements that constitute this approach (understanding the final product, breaking down its critical elements, creating a hierarchy among the elements, layering and progression of elements, and gradual release of scaffolds), as well as the ways they work in concert to bring about improved student writing and thinking.
This study explores typologies of modes of ethnic boundary-making among upper secondary school students in one school in Oslo, Norway, which has witnessed a seismic shift in its uptake of students who are mainly from non-White or ‘immigrant’ backgrounds. Wimmer’s typologies of modes of boundary-making – ‘contraction’ and ‘blurring’ – provide a useful heuristic framework to situate our findings. We employ an ethnographic approach in teasing out the challenges posed by a reconfiguration of majority–minority relations in an increasingly fragmented educational landscape where the elasticity of a discourse of egalitarianism has come under severe strain. Our study covers roughly two and a half school terms. Four classrooms in total – three first year classes and one final year class – have constituted the locus of study (91 students in total). The study finds that the stigma of difference is transvaluated into a discourse of empowerment.
This article sets out to explore how young people understand and experience the notions of democracy and participation in their secondary schools. We draw on their own words to examine their perspective on participation in everyday life at school to understand what kind of democratic education they are participating in. The article forms part of the Demoskole1 project, which studies democracy and the participation of school community members in secondary schools in Catalunya (Spain). To date, our fieldwork suggests that while, in most cases, the opportunity for pupils to participate in decision-making processes is limited, there are differences between schools. Two factors, in particular, appear to have a significant impact in terms of improving pupil participation. The existence of relationships based on trust and more horizontal forms of collaboration between teachers and pupils leads to a sense of wellbeing. This, in turn, has an effect on the atmosphere within the school. The article focuses on the characteristics that distinguish the three schools that took part in the study with the aim of analysing those elements that lead to the creation of a more or less democratic atmosphere in the relations between the various members of the school community.