Bridging..• key questions• troubled waters• glocal potential• European pointers• education ecosystem• school activity system• school system learning• bridge over troubled waters• where water meets the ice • the future: between the rock and the whirlpool• fractal views

Learning Lab - Kasteelhoeve Wange, 24 August 2013 - Francesca Caena

• what is a good school like?opportunities x learning, facilities, organization,

management, mission, vision, networks…

• what is a good teacher like?competences, knowledge, skills, attitudes, values,

passion…

• what is a good citizen like?active participant in work and society, professional

competences, transversal competences, openness, tolerance…

• what is ‘good’??effective/successful teaching/learning/(inter-)action +

morally, rationally sound (Fenstermacher & Richardson, 2005)

SchoolingFunctional vs

transformative view

Professional preparation

Formal learningIndividual

developmentSocial justice

(Hansen, 2008)

‘School is a place to better

understand yourself…’

Curriculum• Realistic = professional,

social skills• Classical=knowledge and

culture tradition• Rational = discovery

learning & research skills• Moral = active

participation and democratic attitudes, values

(Snoek & Žogla, 2009)

Teacher paradigms

• Scholar-professional: subject knowledge• Technical expert: specific skills, techniques

and actions• Skilled craftsman: manage, organize, plan

teaching/learning• Reflective professional and adaptive expert• Educational guide: identity development • Social agent: engagement in social context

(Charlier, 2006; Paquay et al., 2006)

‘Teachers reduce

complexity in context’

Troubled waters

(Giddens, 1990, 1999)

Rethinking Education

Key support teaching professions for their exceptional impact on pupil outcomes

Need efficient, effective investments, policy support and motivation teaching staff

Ageing teacher workforce; background economic crisis; swift changes society, knowledge & learning

Fields, strategies, priority actions for education improvement

(European Commission, 2012)

Supporting the teaching professions

• realistic, tailored initial teacher education, systematic induction, collaborative CPD

• Teacher CPD: motivation, incentives, feedback, agency, ownership

• Selecting, attracting, recruiting, retaining quality teachers

• Quality teacher educators and school heads : policy support

• Networks schools, universities, local communities: partnerships, cooperation and dialogue focused on pupil, individual, organizational learning

(European Commission, 2012)

Education eco-system

Macro level

Meso level

Micro level

national institutions/governmentsSchools/Local institutions /organizationsTeachers/educators/

heads/administrators

control

autonomy, trust

Curriculum contents

Curriculum design & delivery

Organisation settings, times

Assessment

Expected outcomes

Selection

Qualifications

(Schwille & Dembélé, 2007; Snoek & Žogla, 2009)

Role of teacher

Activity system: the school

School administrators/authorities/staff

Curriculum delivery/organisation, settings, assessment

School communityRoles of teachers, staff and other actors

Exit profile

Pupils as future citizens

Curriculum contents, activities, tools, resources

global dimension

(Engeström, 1999, 2001)

Activity system contradictions: the school

School administrators/authorities/staff:Bildung VS Ausbildung mission

Curriculum delivery/organisation, settings, assessment: flexibility/customisationVS prescription, tradition

School community:Collaboration, interdependenceVS independence/ autonomy culture

Roles of teachers, staff and other actors: strategic, social VS formal, functional

Exit profile: focus competences/ values VS knowledge content

Pupils as future citizens:all-round individuals VSspecialists

Curriculum contents, activities, tools, resources : focus on learning processes VS products

global dimension

Screenagers, latchkey kids…

Short attention spanAlways ‘connected’; fragmented,

multiple identitiesInformal, non-formal learning

networks and contextsWide diversity learning styles, needs,

difficulties, interests and cultures

‘You cannot not learn’

interviews teacher education stakeholders (Caena, 2010)

..kindles sparks in

pupils

..is a good advertising

for learning

..makes teaching and

learning ’sexy’

..thinks action in context

The teacher makes pupils partners in a

discovery adventure, re-shaping

knowledge…

Teacher learning in schools

VisionMotivation UnderstandingPracticeReflectionCommunity (Shulman & Shulman, 2004)

School: bridge over troubled water…• Teachers’ empowerment : collaboration, decision

making; shared values & responsibilities; quality standards & monitoring; peer mentoring & support

• Professional learning community (PLC): student/teacher learning focus; reflective professional inquiry; flexibility, individualization; knowledge creation and sharing

• Key leadership and organizational factors: integrated top down/bottom up policy

• System, systematic view of change: link structural, cultural, political dimensions school environment; careful, long-term planning and management

(European Commission, 2011)

Where water meets the ice: challenges

• School as organization of experts• Professional bureaucracy• Identification with subject• Tricky quality control: complex services• Central office seen as nuisance factor• Flatarchy• Autonomy-parity syndrome• Key contribution target group/personal relations• Slow reaction to outer world change• Strategic development processes seen as

threats (Mintzberg, 1991; Grossmann, 1997)

The future: travelling along quadrants

• Internal and external forces pushing policy makers : international benchmarking, scarce resources, pressure groups…?

• Forces driving towards market oriented system: political ideology? Parent lobbies? Service providers? Employer groups? Mass media?

(McBeath, 2012)

closed

individual

open

social

Value

axis

Supply axis

expectations about schooling

socio-technical aspect of schooling

school geared to clients;

teaching as delivery service

equi-finality principle; widened role teachers

Future scenarios

• Reschooling = learning hub (core social centres/focused learning organizations)• Deschooling = ubiquitous learning(learner networks/market model extension) (OECD, 2001; McBeath, 2012) The future is already here,

just unevenly distributed. But first we have to know what we are looking for.

Between rock and whirlpool: bridging probable and desirable

H1: systematic

reform H2: ‘Cinderella’

zone

H3: Ideal, desirable

system

MEITT Intensive Programme - Vilnius, July 2010 - Caena Francesca

school activity system

policy making activity system

(g)local community/ies activity system(s)

Fractal views…

Maps and map makers

The state of translation is the common condition of all thinking beings.(Jokinen & Veijola, 1997)

…traveller, there is no path. We make the path by

walking.(Machado, 1907)

“No man is an island – he is a holon. A Janus-faced entity who, looking inward, sees himself as a self-contained unique whole, looking outward as a dependent part. (Koestler, 1967)

Mountains are in constant motion. So are islands: for one cannot occupy, unambiguously, a bounded cultural world. (Edwards & Usher, 2008)