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L I T E R A RY R E V I E W O F C A N A D A
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education systems in the world. In various
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especially given Canada’s diverse population, is t=Getting+to+Better+Schools)
***
The public discussion of schooling is full of calls for the
“transformation” of schools, whether through greater use of
technology, new forms of learning or other means. Yet it is hard to
see a convincing rationale for throwing out what has worked quite
well on the basis of guesses about the future. So far, Canada has
avoided some of the simplistic and counterproductive approaches to
education policy that have dominated in other English-speaking
countries. We have not, for example, adopted the logic of the
marketplace in education. Charter schools in the United States,
supposedly freed from the restraints of bureaucracy and collective
agreements, do not perform better on average than do public
schools. Sweden, which adopted massive decentralization and
privatization of its schools, has seen its school outcomes decline and
inequalities worsen. We have not gone for a heavy-handed
accountability that assumes that if people are punished for lack of
success, they will work harder and more effectively. Systems that
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have adopted such punitive approaches, notably in the United States 16-12-17 02:34
but also in England, have not shown greater success.
Instead of punishing people for failure,
Getting to Better Schools | Literary Review of Canada Canada has embraced an
http://reviewcanada.ca/magazine/2013/06/getting-...
school staff was surprised, and not happily, to discover that they did
not know how many minority students they had in the school, nor
that those students felt that they were often seen as deficient by the
school. They realized that they did not really know their students or
the community around the school, and as a result were not providing
the right programs and supports to help students succeed.
Consider, on the other hand, another school in the same city,
whose students were mostly aboriginal and poor. This school was
deeply engaged with the community, organizing a food co-op so
that families could eat better, providing adult literacy to mothers and
looking for ways to generate more employment for parents in that
community.
The first example is common, the second one unusual in
Canadian schools. At one level, everyone in education recognizes
that links to parents, families and communities are essential to
school success. Children who grow up without family supports, such
as children in care, have some of the worst outcomes in our system.
A consistent research finding in education is that teachers often
think parents are uninterested in their children’s education, while
parents (and students) have the opposite view—that schools are not
very interested in them. Many minority families feel that the schools
see them as problems while not focusing on unfair school practices.
Each side tends to blame the other, and the result is a missed
opportunity to build the strong partnerships that will truly benefit
students.
While widely seen as important, the work of creating and
maintaining these connections is typically a low priority for school
boards. To say this is not to cast blame on anybody. Teachers and
principals are busy. They are responsible for many children, often
5 de 14 with very diverse backgrounds and views. Finding the time to do the 16-12-17 02:34
work of building these relationships ishttp://reviewcanada.ca/magazine/2013/06/getting-...
a real challenge, especially
Getting to Better Schools | Literary Review of Canada
would transform education (the same was said even earlier about
radio and television). But after all the effort and expenditure, the
research shows no real effect of computer use on student learning.
And yet we continue to hear calls for more technology in schools,
and many school systems continue to invest in laptops or tablets.
Many more examples could be cited. Schools are urged to take
up these projects only to find that they either do not have any value
or cannot be sustained. Parents rightly worry that their children are
being subjected to someone’s pet idea. Indeed, schools are not
resistant to innovation; they are inundated with it.
The problem with innovation in any field is that most
innovations are failures. Most new businesses fail, most new
products do not generate much return, most inventions are never put
into production. One common estimate is that it may take
3,000 ideas to generate one really valuable outcome. But with
children’s futures involved, some caution is surely advisable.
The answer is not to have less
innovation, but to be more thoughtful Schools are not resistant to
and careful about how we approach innovation; they are
innovation in education. If new ideas inundated with it.
were less a matter of someone’s
enthusiasm and more strongly related to the evidence on what really
makes a difference to students, there would be a stronger basis for
assessing potential innovations. If we evaluated new approaches
carefully and then ensured that those with strong support were
spread across the entire system, we would get more benefit from our
efforts.
Look at the business model. In successful companies new
products typically come from intensive research and development
9 de 14 and then are subject to careful testing of effects and value. The many 16-12-17 02:34
that do not measure up are quickly dropped;
Getting to Better Schools | Literary Review of Canada the few that truly add
http://reviewcanada.ca/magazine/2013/06/getting-...
***
These two ideas are not new. So why rehash them again here? First,
because they represent areas where modest efforts could yield
relatively large benefits. They are not highly disruptive, would not
engender strong resistance, can be done with current knowledge and
are not expensive. That seems to me a good list of favourable points.
A small step in the right direction seems better than a big and
expensive step that is unlikely to produce positive outcomes,
whatever the rhetoric.
What would it actually take to generate these improvements?
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Education is a large and complex enterprise. Lasting change rarely16-12-17 02:34
happens through the issuing of orders or adoption of policies
because practice is so much controlledhttp://reviewcanada.ca/magazine/2013/06/getting-...
Getting to Better Schools | Literary Review of Canadaby individual schools and
even individual teachers. So even though the ideas being put
forward here are not particularly remarkable, achieving them
consistently across the whole country presents a large challenge.
Space does not permit a full discussion of these issues. However, it
can be said that effective adoption of new practices requires political
leadership at multiple levels, public support or at least tolerance,
consistency of policy over time and ongoing efforts, over years, to
help people learn to do things in new ways and then make those
practices habitual. Making progress is by no means beyond our
intellectual and financial capacities, even at a time of intense
pressures on the public purse.
I hope that readers take away from this essay a sense of optimism
about what schools in Canada currently are and about what they
could be. Our education system does not require revolution, which
often leaves a trail of disappointment and destruction. It does need
the thoughtful application of ideas for improvement grounded in
evidence. Many people and organizations outside the school stand
ready to help in this work.
***
This essay was written with the generous support of Max Bell
Foundation (http://www.maxbell.org), as part of The 40th Anniversary
Max Bell Essays and Lectures (/mbforty).
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Ben Levin is a professor and Canada Research Chair at the Ontario Institute for Studies
in Education.
Getting to Better Schools He previously
| Literary served
Review as deputy
of Canada minister of education in Manitoba and in
http://reviewcanada.ca/magazine/2013/06/getting-...
Ontario. This essay was written with the generous support of Max Bell Foundation, as
part of the 40th Anniversary Max Bell Essays and Lectures.
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