Educational Policy Innovations: Levelling Up and Sustaining Educational Achievement PDF
Preview Educational Policy Innovations: Levelling Up and Sustaining Educational Achievement
Education Innovation Sing Kong Lee Wing On Lee Ee Ling Low Editors Educational Policy Innovations Levelling Up and Sustaining Educational Achievement Springer Education Innovation Book Series Series Editors Wing On LEE David Wei Loong HUNG Laik Woon TEH Executive Editor Siao See TENG For furthervolumes: http://www.springer.com/series/10092 Springer Education Innovation Book Series Educationholdsthekeytounlockhumanresourcesthatasocietyneedstosurvive andflourish.Thisisparticularlysalientinaborderlessknowledgeeconomy.Forthe past decades, the sterling performance of economies such as Hong Kong, Finland, Japan,SingaporeandTaiwanininternationalstudies(e.g.TIMSS,PIRLSandPISA) haschanneledmuchattentionawayfromthetraditionalcentersofeducationresearch in America and Western Europe. Researchers, policy makers and practitioners all over the world wish to understand how education innovations propel the emerging systems from good to great to excellent, and how different their trajectories were compared to the systems in America and Western Europe. The Education Innovation Book Series, published by Springer, will delve into education innovations enacted by the Singapore education system and situate theminboththelocalandtheboarderinternationalcontexts.Primaryfocuswillbe given to pedagogy and classroom practices; education policy formulation and implementation;schoolandinstructionalleadership;andthecontextandinterface betweeneducationresearch,policyandpractice.Webelievethatthelatteriscritical inmakingeducationinnovationscometobear.Eachvolumewilldocumentinsights and lessons learned based on empirical research (both quantitative and qualitative) and theoretical analyses. Implications to research, policy and professional practice will be surfaced through comparing and synthesizing Singapore’s experience with those of successful systems around the world. The audience of the edited volumes and monographs published in this series includes researchers, policy makers, practitioners and students in the fields of educationandteachereducation,andpublicpoliciesrelatedtolearningandhuman resources. Series Editors Wing On LEE David Wei Loong HUNG Laik Woon TEH Office of Education Research National Institute of Education Nanyang Technological University Singapore Executive Editor Siao See TENG Office of Education Research National Institute of Education Nanyang Technological University Singapore Sing Kong Lee (cid:129) Wing On Lee (cid:129) Ee Ling Low Editors Educational Policy Innovations Levelling Up and Sustaining Educational Achievement Editors SingKongLee WingOnLee NationalInstituteofEducation NationalInstituteofEducation NanyangTechnologicalUniversity NanyangTechnologicalUniversity Singapore,Singapore Singapore,Singapore EeLingLow NationalInstituteofEducation NanyangTechnologicalUniversity Singapore,Singapore ISSN2211-4874 ISSN2211-4882(electronic) ISBN978-981-4560-07-8 ISBN978-981-4560-08-5(eBook) DOI10.1007/978-981-4560-08-5 SpringerSingaporeHeidelbergNewYorkDordrechtLondon ©SpringerScience+BusinessMediaSingapore2014 Thisworkissubjecttocopyright.AllrightsarereservedbythePublisher,whetherthewholeorpart of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation,broadcasting,reproductiononmicrofilmsorinanyotherphysicalway,andtransmissionor informationstorageandretrieval,electronicadaptation,computersoftware,orbysimilarordissimilar methodologynowknownorhereafterdeveloped.Exemptedfromthislegalreservationarebriefexcerpts inconnectionwithreviewsorscholarlyanalysisormaterialsuppliedspecificallyforthepurposeofbeing enteredandexecutedonacomputersystem,forexclusiveusebythepurchaserofthework.Duplication ofthispublicationorpartsthereofispermittedonlyundertheprovisionsoftheCopyrightLawofthe Publisher’s location, in its current version, and permission for use must always be obtained from Springer.PermissionsforusemaybeobtainedthroughRightsLinkattheCopyrightClearanceCenter. ViolationsareliabletoprosecutionundertherespectiveCopyrightLaw. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publicationdoesnotimply,evenintheabsenceofaspecificstatement,thatsuchnamesareexempt fromtherelevantprotectivelawsandregulationsandthereforefreeforgeneraluse. While the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication,neithertheauthorsnortheeditorsnorthepublishercanacceptanylegalresponsibilityfor anyerrorsoromissionsthatmaybemade.Thepublishermakesnowarranty,expressorimplied,with respecttothematerialcontainedherein. Printedonacid-freepaper SpringerispartofSpringerScience+BusinessMedia(www.springer.com) Series Editors’ Foreword WeareverypleasedtopresentyouthispioneervolumeoftheSpringerEducation Innovation(SEI)BookSeries–EducationalPolicyInnovations:Levellingupand SustainingEducationalAchievement,editedbySingKongLee,WingOnLeeand EeLingLow. ThisSeriesaims torecord theeducationalinnovationsthathavetakenplacein the Singapore education system over the last 40 years. The Series will provide a widespectrumofanalysesonpedagogyandclassroompractices;educationpolicy formulation and implementation; school and instructional leadership; and the context and interface between education research, policy and practice which make these innovations possible. Complementary notions of teacher education arealsoanalysedandinterpretedinthecontextoftheeducationalsystem. Changes in education policy, education and organisational structure, teacher education, school management, curriculum, instruction and assessment over the last30yearshavecontributedtothesharpriseinthequalityofeducationsincethe 1980s. While Singapore’s successes are notable, the process, reasons and factors thathavecontributedtotheprocesstowardssuccesshave,asyet,notbeensystem- aticallycapturedinacomprehensivemanner.Thebookseriesaimstofillthegapby analysing various aspects of education innovations in Singapore, drawing on knowledge and research done both internationally and locally, highlighting how Singaporehassuccessfullymobilisedresourcesandeffortstoimprovelearningand teaching across the various subject disciplines and education sectors. The Series willcompareandsynthesisetheSingaporeexperiencewiththewiderinternational experience. Truetothisspirit,thisfirstvolumewillkick-starttheSeriesandisarichresource for policymakers, educators and teacher educators who wish to gain a greater insight of high performing education systems (HPES) – defined as those systems that have gained international attention for their successful implementation of innovative educational policies that have both raised and sustained educational achievement. This is also one of the pioneering books that have approached this topic froman introspective insiders’ approach. This volume beginswith adiscus- sion of educational policy and planning and teacher education that aims to v vi SeriesEditors’Foreword strengthentheeducationsystem,andgoesontoprovideadiscussionontheequity andqualityissuesinHPES.Thevolumewillthenincludeaseriesofcountrycase chapters authored by renowned scholars and educators from HPES. The volume will be concluded by a comparative analysis of a common feature in these HPES wheretheteacher,teachingandteachereducationaretakenveryseriouslyinthese systems. The volume is designed as a platform for dialogue between policymakers and scholars,thusincludingauthorswhoarebothfromwithinHPESandoutsidethem. Andreas Schleicher’s and A. Lin Goodwin’s chapters have offered their valuable insights,lookingatthevarioussignificantissuessuchaseducationandeconomics andemployment,theissuesofequityandquality,andthesignificanceofteachers. Goodwin particularly cautions that we should not look at teachers’ workload just from the perspective of working hours, particularly implying that working longer hoursneednotbeacriticalfactorforsuccess.Interestingly,insteadofcelebrating success, HPES are generally criticalabout their own systems, choosing instead to useaself-reflectivelenstointerpretthesuccessesbutalsotoidentifythepotential challenges that lie ahead. The book provides a valuable perspective in that while manycountriesaresomewhatalarmedbythesuccessofHPES,thosefromwithin arekeenlyawareoftheirownweaknessesandquicktoidentifypotentialchallenges thatlieaheadinthecontinuedsustainabilityoftheirsuccess.Perhapsitissuchself- reflection and constructive criticism that is behind the ability not just to achieve success in the first place, but to ensure that the success attained, thus far, is sustainableinthelongerrun. NationalInstituteofEducation WingOnLee NanyangTechnologicalUniversity,Singapore DavidWeiLoongHung LaikWoonTeh Foreword Why is it that Finland, Canada and Singapore do so well on international tests on student achievement in schools while Australia, the United States and the United Kingdomdonot?WhyisitthatDenmark,NorwayandSweden,whichinvestmore heavily in schools and have very similar social policies, rank considerably lower than a country like Finland, which traditionally has been looked upon as more economically backward and culturally isolated than its Nordic neighbours? Why has Singapore skyrocketed past its contiguous neighbours on international tests whileothernationsinitsregionhavehadfargreaternaturalresourcestoboosttheir economiesandtheirschools? Someeducators(Hopmann,Brinek,&Retzel,2007;Spring,2011;Zhao,2009) arescepticalofinternationalcomparisonssuchastheProgrammeforInternational Student Assessment (PISA) of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development(OECD).Thesescholarsarguethatculturalandlinguisticdifferences among peoples are too large to develop objective measures of learning. Others (Braun, 2013; Solano-Flores, Contreras-Nin˜o, & Backhoff, 2013) value the infor- mation that the tests can provide, but worry that they are misinterpreted by policymakers and the public, who tend to focus on the relatively crude postings intherankingsratherthancorrespondingscoredifferencesandwhoarenotaware of other distortions in results. Finally, still others (Carnoy & Rothstein, 2013; Levin, 2013) contend that the tests are subject to sampling errors and they overemphasisecognitiveskillsattheexpenseofnon-cognitiveorientations. Alloftheseconcernsareimportant.Buteveniftheyareimperfectinstruments– allhuman artefacts, alas, are tainted with imperfection– we can learnmuch from thefindingsofvariousinternationalassessmentsgeneratedbyPISA,theTrendsin International Math and Science Studies (TIMSS), and the Programme in Interna- tionalReadingandLiteracySurvey(PIRLS).Likewise,wecanalsolearnfromthe interpretations of the data provided by international consultancies such as McKinsey & Company (Barber & Mourshed, 2007; Mourshed, Chijoke, Barber, & McKinsey & Company, 2010) and think-tanks like the National Center on Education and the Economy (Tucker, 2011) in the USA. These have taken the necessary first steps to aggregate nations into sectors and to establish criteria for vii viii Foreword liftingschoolsfromonesectortothenext.Finally,interpretationsbyindependent scholars (Darling-Hammond, 2010; Hargreaves & Shirley, 2009, 2012; Wagner, 2008)whoraisequestionsaboutthestrengthsandweaknessofthetestsalsoenrich ouron-goingjourneyinpolicylearningacrossprovinces,statesandnations. However, as the editors of this outstanding new anthology indicate, up to the presentmomentoneperhapsparadoxicalphenomenonofinternationaleducational change has been that high-achieving jurisdictions have been collectively quiet on thereasonsfortheirachievement.Itmaybethecasethatacertainsharedcultureof modesty and reluctance to grandstand contributes to a focus on what needs to be learntnextratherthanthevicesofboastingandbragging.Ingeneral,thesourcesof much of the testing data have been located geographically outside of high- achieving regions – for example, with OECD in Paris, McKinsey & Company in London,andNCEEinWashington,DC. This anthology offers an important contrast to the prevailing orthodoxy. Scholars based predominantly in Singapore, Hong Kong, Shanghai and South Korea have examined their own school systems to investigate the riddle of their top-level achievement on international assessments. Simultaneously, they have solicited contributions from other top scholars for commentaries. Andreas Schleicher of the OECD, Ben Levin of Ontario, Canada, Hannele Niemi from Finland, and A. Lin Goodwin from the USA provide additional lenses for under- standing the preconditions and supports needed for optimal student learning. The net effect is to acquire a kaleidoscope of rich and variegated interpretations that reinforce the message that a common set of policies and values promote high achievement. Educators, political leaders and the public should be sure to read throughthechapterscarefullyandrepeatedlyandconsiderdeeplytheimplications ontheirownstudentsandschools. The overall message is bracing and perhaps shocking for many contemporary school reformers. Systems such as Singapore have paid exquisite attention to the development and sustainability of an educational profession that is anchored systemically in the Ministry of Education, in the National Institute of Education at Nanyang Technological University, and in the schools themselves. Educators movewithinandacrossthesethreesectorsofthesystemcontinuously,promoting incessantcommunicationamongallcomponentsoftheprofessionandensuringthat research enriches practice. Innovation is valued, but not fetishised; there is a stubborn persistence in focusing on building a strong system first and foremost. While marketplace values saturate Singaporean society, there is abundant space withinandacrossschoolsforcontinualcollaboration,sothatwhatcompetitiondoes exist is supplemented with a collective professional ethic of learning and sharing acrossschools. TheauthorsofthisvolumedonotpretendthatSingaporeorotherhigh-achieving systemshaveachievedalloftheanswersintheinternationalquestforoptimaland persistent learning. The political discourse on education in Singapore is officially one that is moving into a ‘student-centric, values-driven’ phase in its educational development.However,likeotherEastAsianschoolsystems,therestillappearsto be a strong and perhaps excessive emphasis on test score results, though clear Foreword ix initiatives are in place toexplore otherforms of assessment. These should inform andenhancetheteachingandlearningprocessesinordertopromoteamoreholistic consideration of student learning outcomes through a discourse of ‘21st century competencies’ asdescribed inthechapterby SingKongLee andEeLing Lowof theNationalInstituteofEducation.Whileincreasingworkisundertakeninregard to teacher inquiry and research, it is not clear that teachers have, or know how to occupy, a cultural space in which they could have informed and spirited profes- sionalargumentswithoneanother.Ontheotherhand,thesystemhashadconsid- erable success in recent years in expanding extracurricular offerings and encouraging schools to develop themed identities that can work against systemic uniformityandconsequentanonymity. All of this fits into a broader analysis of the Singapore ‘miracle’. Like Hong Kong and Finland, Singapore has shown us that high achievement is entirely compatiblewithasmallpopulationandfewnaturalresources.Still,understanding themyriadoffactorsthatsupportthathighachievementrequirescarefulinvestiga- tionandskilfulcritiquelestoneisolatescontingentratherthanessentialphenomena and misapplies their lessons in other settings. For this reason alone, the present volume represents asuperlative new contribution tothe international literature on highachievement.Readon,forarichlyrewardingexperienceawaitsyou! LynchSchoolofEducation, DennisShirley BostonCollege,ChestnutHill,MA,USA References Barber,M.,&Mourshed,M.(2007).Howtheworld’sbest-performingschoolsystemscomeouton top.NewYork:McKinsey&Company. Braun,H.(2013).Prospectsforthefuture:Aframeworkanddiscussionofdirectionsforthenext generationofinternationallarge-scaleassessments.InM.vonDavier,E.Gonzalez,I.Kirsch, &K.Yamamoto(Eds.),Theroleofinternationallarge-scaleassessments:Perspectivesfrom technology,economy,andeducationalresearch(pp.149–160).Dordrecht,TheNetherlands: Springer. Carnoy,M.,&Rothstein,R.(2013).WhatdointernationaltestsreallyshowaboutU.S.student performance?Washington,DC:EconomicPolicyInstitute. Darling-Hammond, L. (2010). The flat world and education: How America’s commitment to equalitywilldetermineourfuture.NewYork:TeachersCollegePress. Hargreaves,A.,&Shirley,D.(2009).Thefourthway:Theinspiringfutureforeducationalchange. ThousandIslands,CA:Corwin. Hargreaves,A.,&Shirley,D.(2012).Theglobalfourthway:Thequestforeducationalexcellence. ThousandIslands,CA:Corwin. Hopmann,S.T.,Brinek,G.,&Retzl,M.(2007).PISAzufolgePISA(PISAAccordingtoPISA). Vienna:LIT. Levin,H.M.(2013).Theutilityandneedforincorporatingnoncognitiveskillsintolarge-scale educationalassessments.InM.vonDavier,E.Gonzalez,I.Kirsch,&K.Yamamoto(Eds.), Theroleofinternationallarge-scaleassessments:Perspectivesfromtechnology,economy,and educationalresearch(pp.67–86).Dordrecht,TheNetherlands:Springer.
Description:The list of books you might like
