1. OUR CHALLENGE Professor Graham Donaldson The Robert Owen Centre University of Glasgow August 2014

2. Summary - Big Messages 21 st century poses new and fundamental challenges for school education Need to balance short-term impact with long-term growth – urgent does not always mean important CfE/TSF/HGIOS provide strong policy and professional context Invitation to have more professional engagement in educational change Significant implications for teachers, schools, local authorities and national government

3. Factors Driving Change Increased autonomy at local and school levels Increased accountability in public sector and demands for evidence- based policy making Information on school quality, including international comparisons Rising importance of education Knowledge and the economy International competition Growing expectations Demands to use public resources efficiently Technological developments, commercial interests & media

4. “...no education system can remain static. The world is changing rapidly, Technology is transforming our lives. The skills needed in the future will be very different from those needed today. Education offers each individual and nation the best chance of navigating an unknown future – coping with uncertainty, adapting to evolving conditions and learning how to learn.” Lee Hsein Loong, Prime Minister of Singapore 2012 (Oceans of Innovation, IPPR 2012) Trends and Forces Shaping Twenty-First Century Education

5. How the demand for skills has changed Economy-wide measures of routine and non-routine task input (US) (Levy and Murnane) Mean task input as percentiles of the 1960 task distribution

6. Beyond Leitch (Patel et al., 2009) Low skill jobs are vanishing Over the last six years, the UK economy has shed 400 no-qualification jobs every day

7. New and growing expectations? Instrumental pressure? Education is for work? Generational competition for resources? Growing inequality - deprivation and educational achievement? Education for democratic participation / citizenship? Uncertainty and lifelong learning? New conceptions of knowledge? Creativity, teamworking, problem-solving? Better learning or different learning? Anywhere, anytime learning? Hand-held connectivity? Social networking Some Implications

8. Some Interesting Challenges Defeating destiny – deprivation/expectation/aspiration Raising standards – particularly in maths and science and basic literacy and numeracy skills Establishing a broader, more secure and enduring base of education before qualifications Creating space for engaging teaching and learning Sustaining high quality and relevant education

9. Importance of  deeper conceptual understanding  connected and coherent knowledge  authentic knowledge in context  creativity and problem solving  learning in collaboration and to collaborate Move from what students should be learning towards what they should become? (Priestley and Biesta 2014) 21 st Century schooling?

10. continue to operate as they did “..many of today’s schools have not caught up as they continue to operate as they did in the earlier decades of the 20 th Century. “How can learning within and outside schools be reconfigured in environments that foster the deeper knowledge and skills so crucial in our new century?” “To succeed in this is not only important for a successful economy, but also for effective cultural and social participation and for citizens to live fulfilling lives.” OECD 2008

11. Package and push? Direct and demand? Manage and measure? Promise and punish? Hearts and heads? Network and nourish? Pervasive tension between immediate impact and long-term, sustainable growth Storming the classroom citadel

12. ‘... there is strong evidence from a variety of sources that two decades of reform have not led to anticipated levels of educational improvement, and certainly not commensurate with levels of investment in education, but have led to widespread teacher and headteacher dissatisfaction’ Hoyle and Wallace Educational Leadership: Ambiguity, Professionals and Managerialism 2005, pp. 4-5 Impact of Reform

13. Schools with more autonomy over curricula and assessments tend to perform better than schools with less autonomy when they are part of school systems with more accountability arrangements and/or greater teacher-principal collaboration in school management. Stratification in school systems, which is the result of policies like grade repetition and selecting students at a young age for different “tracks” or types of schools, is negatively related to equity; and students in highly stratified systems tend to be less motivated than those in less-stratified systems. Beyond a certain level of expenditure per student, excellence in education requires more than money: how resources are allocated is just as important as the amount of resources available. Across OECD countries, students who reported that they had attended pre-primary school for more than one year score 53 points higher in mathematics – the equivalent of more than one year of schooling – than students who had not attended pre-primary education. What might work? PISA 2012 OECD PISA Results in Focus 2014

14. Some students learn at high levels All students learn at high levels Student inclusion Routine cognitive skills for lifetime jobs Learning to learn, complex ways of thinking, ways of working Curriculum, instruction and assessment Taught to teach established content High-level professional knowledge workers Teacher quality ‘Tayloristic’, hierarchical Flat, collegial, differentiated and diverse careers Work organisation Primarily to authorities Also to peers and stakeholders Teacher evaluation and accountability SUCCESS FACTORS The pastThe most effective systems

15. Economic and Social Research Council Education in a Devolved Scotland 2013 Reading score of 15 year olds PISA, 2009 BUT PISA Reading 2009 Between Schools Within School England29%71% Wales17%83% NI51%49% Scotland18%82%

16. Cuban and Tyack in Hattie ‘Visible Learning ’ 2009 Teachers and change

17. The Reform ‘Programme ’ Broad, twenty-first century education for all (four capacities / outcomes- based general education between 3 and 15/Senior Phase) Deep learning and higher standards Literacy and numeracy across the curriculum Engaging, imaginative and purposeful pedagogy Assess what we profess – wider achievement AND A new paradigm of governance and change A revitalised teaching profession Distributive leadership Constructive accountability GIRFEC One aligned agenda

18. 21 st century schools need teachers who have high-levels of expertise – subject, pedagogy and theory have secure values – personal and professional accountability for the wellbeing of all young people ask hard questions of themselves and others take prime responsibility for their own development see professional learning as an integral part of educational change engage in well-planned and well-researched innovation are outward-looking and seek partnerships Teaching Scotland’s Future, Donaldson 2010

19. “She’s been on a course” Cascade – spray and pray “They should try teaching here” “When were they last in a classroom” From CPD to Career-Long Learning

20. Authentic – real issues in context Extended not one-off External stimulus and challenge Engaged in learning Collegiate – necessary but not sufficient Supportive leadership Funding/release time/voluntary or compulsory unrelated to influence on student outcomes Timperly et al quoted in Hattie ‘Visible Learning’ 2009 What Works Best?

21. Professional culture – collegiate, reinforcing and exploring Professional commitment Supporting structures and partnerships GTCS Standards PRD Focus on impact on learning Key Elements

22. Scottish Teacher Education Reform Clear national priorities New degrees – practicum reconceptualised Career-long professional learning – ITE/Induction New Standards Framework from GTCS More relevant, collegiate and challenging professional development Professional review and update Masters level profession – Scottish Masters Framework Scottish College of Educational Leadership (SCEL) Strong partnership approach - University engagement (Donaldson, Teaching Scotland’s Future 2010)

23. Do not feel imprisoned by the past or the context Active member of extended professional community Professional inquiry and exploration Engage with complexity Masters level thinking GTCS Standards and Professional Update Leadership is not about length of service Aspiration, reflection and optimism A revitalised teaching community Better experiences and outcomes for our young people What about you?

24. KEY MESSAGES The world is changing fast Schools are inherently sceptical about external solutions The answer lies in the school and the wider learning community Nobody can give you that answer but outside support and challenge matters Be clear and honest about your challenges – no conspiracies of ignorance The way forward is more about exploration than implementation Draw strength from colleagues – isolation is the enemy of improvement Break new ground – real action research