Bitesize Research: Themes Emerging In Education Internationally

By Jaya Carrier

I hope you’re all having a good week so far and that you’re looking forward to the half term - when it gets here, I wish you all a well earned rest! This week, I was interested to look at the OECD’s triennial report entitled ‘Trends Shaping Education,’ which was released in 2022.

Objectives: To understand what the emerging key themes in education are internationally. 

Summary: 

• The report concludes that the following themes are emerging as trends in education internationally; climate, equity and inclusion, preparing a new workforce for new global markets, digitisation and knowledge democracies.

• For climate, the report argues that a changing climate will inevitably impact educational practices, both logistically, and in terms of the curriculum. The report also argues about the importance of equipping students to become empowered about climate action.

• For equity and inclusion, the report acknowledges a potential tension between acceptance of oneself, but also of having ambitions and goals. It argues that educators need to find a balance between these two important things.

• For preparing a new workforce for new global markets, the article suggests that the global workforce are increasingly required to have high-level, complex thinking skills. The article argues that education systems need to consider how best to prepare young people for success within this market.

• For digitisation, the report suggests that blended or hybrid learning is likely to be an increasingly prevalent feature of the education system.

• For knowledge democracies, the report argues that social media has given access to a huge array of information and this amplifies the risks of misinformation. 

How does this impact me and my practice?: Some reflections arising from this that might be helpful to consider are: 

• How does this link to our status as an IB school? 

• Do you agree that these are the key themes? Why? Why not?

• How much am I currently discussing and considering these themes? How could I include them further in my practice?

• What support do I need within these themes to further my practice? 

Please do get in touch if you would like to talk further about this - I’d love to hear from you!

Bitesize Research: How Do Standards Frameworks Impact Teacher Professional Development

 By Jaya Carrier

I hope everyone has had a good first week back! To start off the academic year, particularly in thinking about teachers creating bespoke performance management targets, I was interested in the inherent tensions between teacher autonomy and a heavily standards-driven profession. As such, I was interested to read the work of Mockler, written in 2020: see here for access to the report - https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/19415257.2020.1720779 Objectives: To understand the impacts of standards frameworks on the teaching profession and on teacher professional development. Summary: The key findings were:

• Neoliberal influences on education around the world - including greater regulation and standardisation - have often constrained more authentic forms of professional learning. One consequence of this is that teacher professionalism is undermined
• It focuses on a case study from New South Wales, Australia, wherein the creation of a set of very rigid professional standards led to a significant undermining of teacher professionalism
• Mockler concludes that to mitigate against this, school cultures need to privilege and value risk-taking and trust in teachers, which in turn heightens senses of teacher autonomy and ownership

How does this impact me and my practice?:

Some reflection questions arising from this that might be helpful to consider are:

• This argues that the standardisation of teacher practices has mostly negative impacts; what, if any, are the positives impacts of the standardisations of teacher practices?
• What is the balance between the standardisation of teacher practice and teacher autonomy?
• How do my own practices of professional learning fit into this?

If you would like to discuss this further with me - please let me know! I’d be delighted to open up these discussions and conversations.

Thanks, Jaya

Bitesize Research: Understanding The Nature Of Debates In Educational Research

 By Jaya Carrier

I hope everyone has had a great week so far! This week, I was interested in a paper published by the University of Cambridge about the nature of educational research discourse on social and traditional media in the UK and Australia. This was published by Globalisation, Societies and Education in February 2021. Objectives: To understand the nature of the debates in educational research in the UK and Australia and how this shapes educational policy. Summary: The key findings were:

• Education debates in the UK and Australia show evidence of ‘micropopulism’. This is not quite populism in the sense of Brexit or Trumpism, but has salient features of populism insofar as it is deeply divisive, and looks to pit the ‘underserved’ against the ‘elite’.
• In particular, it looks to position those with more traditional views on education against more progressive ones, wherein traditional educators may claim that they are forced by more progressive educators to adopt student-centred teaching methods that have very little basis in educational research.
• The paper suggests that this kind of polarisation does not reflect the true reality of classrooms, which is usually a purposeful mixture of the two.
• These debates, in turn, are influenced by broader so-called ‘culture wars’ on social media and appear to be able to influence policy.
• The authors argue that educators need to be aware of how their own participation in such debates may inadvertently support ‘micropopulist’ tactics that influence policy.

How does this impact me and my practice?: Some reflection questions arising from this that might be helpful to consider are:

• How do I interact with this debate on traditional or social media? What do I think about this?
• How does my teaching fit within this debate? What do I think about this?

If you would like to discuss this further with me - please let me know! I’d be delighted to open up these discussions and conversations.