school leadership and educational reform: interpreting national mandates bowden room
TRANSCRIPT
School leadership and educational reform:
interpreting national mandates
BOWDEN ROOM
Professor Tony BushProfessor of Educational Leadership
at the University of Nottingham
School leadership and educational reform:interpreting national mandates
SCHOOL LEADERSHIP AND EDUCATIONAL REFORM: INTERPETING NATIONAL MANDATES
Tony Bush
Educational reform – a global phenomenon
• England is not alone in seeking to reform education – many countries are doing so
• Reform is driven by concern for the impact of school outcomes on global competitiveness
• Reform is also underpinned by ideology – based on political beliefs about schooling
• Global comparisons of learner outcomes influence politicians and policy-makers
PISA RANKINGS 2012
• PISA rankings are the ‘world’s premier yardstick’ for evaluating the quality, equity and efficiency of school systems (OECD Secretary-General)
• ‘PISA allows governments and educators to identify effective policies [to] adapt to their own contexts (Ibid)
• The foci of PISA in 2012 were maths, reading and science, based on tests of 15 year olds
Comparing three countries
• Nottingham university operates in China (near Shanghai), Malaysia (near KL) and the UK
• Shanghai tops the world rankings but does it represent China?
• Malaysia is in the bottom quarter (and its Education ‘Blueprint’ focuses on how to improve its ranking)
• UK has a middle ranking, with little change since the 2009 evaluation
Selected PISA scores - Mathematics
1. Shanghai 6132. Singapore 5733. Hong Kong 561OECD average 49426. UK 49436. USA 48152. Malaysia 42165. Peru 368
Selected PISA scores - Reading
1. Shanghai 5702. Hong Kong 5453. Singapore 54223. UK 499OECD average 49624. USA 49859. Malaysia 39865. Peru 384
Selected PISA scores - Science
1. Shanghai 5802. Hong Kong 5553. Singapore 55120= UK 514OECD average - 50128. USA 49753. Malaysia 42065. Peru 373
PISA scores – what can we learn?
• Is the sampling reliable? • The top systems are in Asia (mainly Chinese)• Spending levels are not a reliable guide to
learning outcomes – see USA scores• Policy reforms appear to have limited impact –
PISA scores change only modestly over time• How can we improve English outcomes?
Factors influencing learner outcomes
• The socio-economic context – poverty, family structures, language capability & background
• The policy framework – formation and implementation
• Classroom practice – subject knowledge, pedagogy, classroom management
• School leadership – heads, senior leaders, middle leaders, leadership teams
Implementing reform in England
• Policy change is problematic in education • Many centres of change – 20,000 schools and up to
250,000 classrooms• Implementation varies according to the skills and
motivation of teachers and leaders• Enforcement (by Ofsted) leads to a uni-dimensional
approach • Changes are too frequent – 20 major acts since 1988
(Gibton 2013) – leading to implementation ‘fatigue’
NCSL – an agency for change?
• The NCSL (launched in 2000) was a prime vehicle for policy implementation (e.g. NPQH, modular curriculum, succession planning)
• Never the ‘independent voice of school leaders’ (Southworth 2004) but there was two-way communication
• Now amalgamated with the TA as NCTL• Now a government agency (no independence)• Leadership dimension has been reduced
Qualified teachers and leaders
• QTS has been compromised and now relies too much on subject knowledge
• The removal of mandatory status for NPQH is a backward step
• NPQH is not perfect but having qualified leaders is better than unqualified heads (think medicine, law, engineering, airlines)
• China and Singapore have mandatory headship training
Conclusion• Reform is a global phenomenon, driven by international
comparisons• England is ‘mid-table’ in the PISA rankings• Learner outcomes depend on context, policy imperatives,
teaching, and leadership• Implementation is problematic with so many schools and
classrooms • NCTL has been reduced to an agency with a narrow agenda (what
happened to research?)• Consistent policies are the key to success (see China and
Singapore)• What can we expect post-2015?
School leadership and educational reform:
interpreting national mandates