Transcript Testing times - Danmarks Evalueringsinstitut

The Danish Evaluation Institute
10th Anniversary
15th September 2009
World class Primary &
Lower Secondary
Education
Peter Mortimore
Former Director Of The Institute of Education, University of London & Professor of Pedagogy,
University of Southern Denmark.
Plan
• Introduction – does the Danish system need to
improve?
• World context
• What do we mean by world class education?
• Some data on school systems
• How world class is the Danish system – an
outsider’s view
• Different ways to improve
• The challenge ahead.
World conditions
• 80% of people live on less than
$2.5 a day
• 25,000 children die of poverty
each day
• 72 million children cannot go to
school.
Use of resources by richest and
poorest tenth of population
Global Issues www.globalissues.org
60
59
50
40
30
20
10
0.5
0
Rich 10%
Poor 10%
2005 Human Development Index
(CIA world Factbook 2009)
0.949
1
0.968
0.937
0.86
0.9
0.946
0.829
0.8
0.677
0.7
0.6
0.5
0.4
0.3
0.2
0.1
0
0.548
0.65
0.553
0.521
0.674
Unicef Report Card 7 (2007)
Overall rank
COUNTRY
Average rank
1
2
3
4
5
#
#
20
21
Netherland
Sweden
Denmark
Finland
Spain
#
#
US
UK
4.2
5
7.2
7.5
8
#
#
18
18.2
Does Danish education need
to improve?
• No
• Done a good job up to now - why mess
with it?
• Yes
• It is not as good as it might be
• Too many young people are handicapped
by school failure
• All institutions need to keep improving or
they start to decline.
What do we mean by
education?
• Formal training through school
• Teaching/instruction by another
• Self learning.
Positive outcomes of
education
As well as skills for survival and employment
• Improved health
• New knowledge
• Respect
• ‘A trained mind’
• Empathy and imagination
• Appreciation and character.
Education and power
• Advantaged people create and control the formal
education system
• These advantaged people usually ensure their
children have better access to formal education
• As education enhances people’s ability it enables
them further to increase their wealth and power
• Thus education predominantly benefits families
which are already advantaged
• Yet the disadvantaged families are the ones who
need education most in order to change their lives.
What disadvantage means
•
•
•
•
•
Poorer diet, health and housing
Proximity to pollution, crime and drugs
More frequent disruption and accidents
Necessity for part-time paid work
Fewer books, computers, outings and
holidays
• The constant shame of poverty
• For some, the stress of racism.
•
•
•
•
•
•
So what might be the
characteristics of a world class
system ?
Equitable
Aspiring
Success-oriented
Patient
Broad
Fun.
Significantly different reading average
scores and standard deviations
600
547
527
494
500
482
484
508
472
495
461
400
300
200
100
96
89
81
94
105
100
99
89
102
0
Can
Den
Fin
Hun
Nor
Pol
Por
Spa
UK
% of population with
upper secondary education EAG 2009)
90
80
87
81
75
86
79
79
68
70
60
51
50
40
30
20
10
0
27
% of population with tertiary
education
50
(EAG 2009)
48
45
40
35
36
34
32
32
29
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
18
19
14
Adult literacy average scores
300
280
289
294
288
267
259
250
200
150
100
50
0
229
225
English reforms
• Ongoing since 1988
– Removal of local authority powers
– Abolition of HMI & creation of OFSTED
– Changes to Teacher Training
– National Curriculum
– New types of schools –Technology, Faith,
Specialist and Academies
– Marketisation of schooling based on league tables
– High stakes assessments.
Reactions to high stakes testing
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Teaching to test
Turning learners off
Unreliability
Collusion and even cheating
Stressed children/parents
Costs
Negative effects of league tables on all aspects
of schooling.
The Finnish system
•
•
•
•
•
•
Comprehensive system
No streaming or setting
Reading recovery type programmes
No inspections or national testing
5 year university-based teacher training
Trust and esteem.
Possible ways to improve an
education system
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
A pressure on equity as well as quality
A lifelong learning perspective
Maximum support for the disadvantaged
Teacher education only of highest quality
Autonomy for teachers within clear limits
Contestability of curriculum/methods
Constant search for improvement.
So what should Denmark do
to achieve world class?
• Build on strengths of existing system & work
with teachers not against them
• Use tests to support learning - not just for
accountability - and avoid league tables
• Adopt a reading recovery type programme
• Evoke a culture of evaluation in all schools to
raise expectations
• Encourage innovation & experiments.
Post script
• Hvad solskin er
For den sorte muld
Er sand oplysning
For muldets frænde.
The challenge for educators today
To do all that is possible (and a little bit more)
within the context of a society’s culture.
References
• Boston. J, Martin. J, Pallot. J and Walsh. P (1996) Public Management: The New
Zealand Model. Auckland: OUP
• Laukkanen. R in Nils C. Soguel and Pierre Jaccard - Governance and
Performance of Education Systems Springer Books 10.1007/978-1-40206446-3_14]
• Mortimore, P. & Whitty, G. (1997) Can School Improvement overcome the effects of
Disadvantage? London: IOE.
• National Commission on Education (1995) Success against the Odds: London:
Routledge.
• Poverty Facts and Stats http://www.globalissues.org/article/26/poverty-facts-andstats
• Twain. M (1898) Mark Twain's Notebook.
• Wells. H. G. (1919) The Outline of History Vol 120 Chap 41 Page 4. London: George
Newnes.
• Wilkinson. R & Pickett. K (2009) The Spirit Level. London: Allen Lane.
• World Health Organization (2008) Closing the gap in a generation: Health equity
through action on the social determinants of health. Geneva: WHO.
More references
• Mortimore. P (2000) Does educational research matter? British Journal Research
Journal 26. 1. 6 – 24.
• Noss. R & Pachler. N (1999) The challenge of new technologies: doing old things in a
new way, or doing new things in P. Mortimore (ed) Understanding pedagogy and its
impact on learning London: Paul Chapman Publishing.
• OECD (2001) Knowledge and skills for life: first results from PISA 2000 Paris: OECD.
• OECD (2004) Denmark: lessons from PISA 2000 Paris: OECD.
• OECD (2004) Learning for tomorrow’s world: results from PISA 2003 Paris: OECD.
• OECD (2007a) Science competences for tomorrow’s world: results from PISA 2006
Paris: OECD.
• OECD (2007b) No more failures: ten steps to equity in education. Paris: OECD.
• OECD (2007c) Education at a glance Paris: OECD.
• UNICEF (2007) Child well-being in rich countries IRC Report Card 7 Florence:
Innocenti Research Centre.