ongoing developments (and half-formed ideas)
One of the rather absurd things about being a teacher is this recognition that at least some part of what we are doing in education is about preparing students for the world of work, yet what we are doing doesn’t prepare students for the world of work in a way that is particularly transparent or comprehensible. What I mean is that the things that are directly transferable to personal and professional development seem to be added in between the formal content. It’s like that cheesy youtube video where the professor fills a jar with stones and asks if it is complete. The students say yes, but he adds rocks, sand and water to fill the gaps further. The metaphor is the day will get filled no matter what, so we’d better put the important stuff in first.
I feel like the opposite is valid on most days. The excellent stuff in the classroom, like collaboration and the sense of discovery, rigour and idea generation, is happening in the spaces between the formal assessed curriculum. In addition to an add-on, a nice-to-have. The absurdity comes – at least for this teacher because the excellent stuff is happening to help facilitate learning of content, but (I sure hope none of my students is reading) most of the content for mandated assessment doesn’t seem particularly vital for success in life or broader society – personal or professional. My perception in reading research, blogs from pedagogical leaders and professional social media sites is that I am not alone in feeling this absurdity. And the feeling is not new:
During the twenty-five years from 1945 to 1970 educational systems and their environments the world over were subjected to a barrage of scientific and technical, economic and demographic, political and cultural changes that shook everything in sight. The consequence for education was a new and formidable set of tasks, pressures, and problems that far exceeded in size and complexity anything they had ever experienced. They did their heroic best to cope with these, but their tools of planning and management proved grossly inadequate in the new situation (Coombs, 1970, p. 20).
Oof.
The COVID pandemic shifted the ways that educators work and support students. It is unclear what the lasting impacts of these shifts might be. Still, I argue that one of the fundamental mechanisms for the status quo – external exit examinations – has shown at least some flexibility. The International Baccalaureate cancelled end-of-program examinations last year and calculated the grades based on coursework, teacher grades and a logarithm. True, there was criticism of how the grades were calculated, but I think this news coverage about widespread frustration missed the real significance – the examinations were cancelled. This year the end-of-program examinations have been modified to reduce to instructional and revision load for teachers and students. After these steps are taken in response to the shifting context, how can we ever argue again that there is no other way? My argument is not that there must be a revolutionary change to the global educational system (I’m sceptical about revolutionary innovations, after all). Still, the current context provides a meaningful opportunity for reflection and exploration of ways to integrate shifting technologies and needs into educational practice. In crisis response, we have found many adjustments and adaptations that could be made if the reasons were compelling and urgent. Although a meaningful policy change is most certainly not the same thing as a crisis response, the adjustments in domains like final assessment and university entrance procedures demonstrate, I think, that educational systems can adapt. This flexibility can provide a pathway for planned policy changes and pedagogical innovations in the proper context.
There is no shortage of research and protocols about how current realities in economics, shifting world populations and technological pressures demand a reorientation of global educational systems. Likewise, many pedagogical projects provide insights into what that reorientation might include. A recent report from the World Economic Forum explores how skill and competence development programs shape educational institutions worldwide. The report highlights several models of what a future school might include by investigating innovative schools already in operation.
(World Economic Forum, 2020)
Reports like this are not rare. There are many similar models about the future of education and the shifting need for education at all levels to place focus on skills and competence development as well as soft skills and learning how to learn. But how will these insights be put into practice?
One of the reasons I joined the MBA program in Tampere University of Applied Sciences was because I had heard so much about the success of the Finnish educational system. Most teachers will have at least a few statistics or soundbites about what makes the Finnish system so special. Most of these observations are wrong or at least fundamentally misunderstood. In my visits to educational institutions in Finland – both inside my own university and to also the various regional schools – it became quickly clear that there was nothing in terms of ideas, techniques or technologies that could be easily exported and result in major transformation of an educational organisation or system. The talking points often presented on social medial or praise of any particular element of the Finnish educational system (usually to support a particular ideological position about what education could be if only) does a major disservice to the truth of why the Finnish system works: it has been a real priority (not a political one) for several generations. There is widespread participation in the continuous development of the educational system and an honest recognition about the ongoing work required in making sure that education remain a priority in the country. What works in the Finnish educational system is that the stakeholders seem to recognise the complexity of the system – not a quick fix.
Coombs, P. H. (1970). What is educational planning? United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization.
World Economic Forum. (2020). Schools of the future: Defining new models of education for the fourth industrial revolution. World Economic Forum Reports 2020, January, 1–33. www.weforum.org
