November 2004 Newsletter

Volume 8 Issue 9  November 2004

Education in the 21st Century

 Welcome to the dinner party of a lifetime!

Part 1

 Mark Treadwell

Occasionally in history events conspire together to bring about fundamental change across an entire social landscape.  We are presently witnessing one such event; the complete rebuilding of what we understand education to be.  The transition to the second education paradigm is changing education forever, and those countries which recognise this opportunity and have the social and political willpower to make the transition will dominate the knowledge economies of the 21st century.  The choice is quite stark: realise the opportunity, invest in it and reap the rewards or pretend that nothing is happening, that change is too difficult and become trapped in an education never-never land and watch as social, economic and knowledge potential withers and dies.  Countries must choose to make the transition and do so knowingly and with a sense of purpose and commitment.  Choosing to do nothing is a choice.

Introduction

The claims on which we currently based our secondary schooling, served a world that many of today's adolescents do not wish to aspire to and is not real for so many of them (Steinberg,1996).  The problem of engagement will become the greatest problem to face our schools, and this is further underlined when it is recognised that non-engagement is a major adolescent malaise.  Engagement is in the hands of excellent teachers and inspiring teaching.  John Hattie: The Knowledge Wave Conference in New Zealand 2003 http://www.knowledgewave.org.nz/forum_2003/speeches/Hattie%20J.pdf

The purpose of this article is to provide an overarching framework that describes education in the 21st century, not as it is but rather what it could be.  One of the most successful teaching practices is the use of metaphor and in order to provide this overarching framework we have used the metaphor of the dinner party.  Our first task is to establish the purpose of a dinner party and from there we can then set about deciding what constitutes a successful menu that would meet the purpose of holding a dinner party.

With the advent of the second education paradigm [www.teachers.work.co.nz/archive_Aug_2004.htm]  there are many philosophical, managerial and infrastructural issues that need to be addressed and these need to sit within an integrated strategic plan which facilitates consistency within the compulsory teaching  and learning environment. The menu for this to be successful is set out below:

The Successful Menu

The purpose of a dinner party is multifaceted.  On the one hand it is a social occasion, a reason to bring people together in a single place and enjoy each other's company.  On the other hand it is also a time for animated and passionate discussion with people holding wide-ranging views across many different topics and interests.  It is also a time when the body receives necessary sustenance (and sometimes more than it needs), and it is also a time where the hosts enjoy to share their home with close friends; “their community”, and also to integrate new members into that community.

The wine selection is very important as this will assist in setting the palate for the meal.  We would recommend a quite heady and recently bottled vintage, based around the cognitivist and constructivist grape varieties with a strong underpinning of values laden fruits providing a soft but rich and enduring aftertaste.

The entree sets the scene for the rest of the meal and for your enjoyment tonight we have a single "second paradigm" entree which may appear a very simple fare on its own but when we add to it the PD sauce the result is a taste that your palate will never forget.

The main course will provide the essential framework for the remainder of the meal.  The main course tonight will be based around an "essential competency pie" which is a departure from the traditional main course of boiled skills which has a tendency to be somewhat dry and leaves a rather bland aftertaste in the mouth following the meal.  The main course may take some years to fully digest and we recommend strongly that you do not rush this course and that you enjoy the fresh accompanying “content” vegetables picked from the local garden.

Dessert is a very rich multilayered gateau including a sweet but stable selection of hardware biscotti layers separated with an Ministry/Department of Education advice flavoured liqueur cream topped off with a soft[ware] and enticing meringue. This is accompanied by a light infrastructure fruit salad and served with lashings of interoperability gelato to provide a refreshing compliment to the sweet gateau.  There is also a selection of rich ICT sauces that patrons can add to suit their own taste.

Cheese and Port conclude any good meal and these leave a pleasant memory in the mouth. Please ensure that the meal is not overwhelmed with this final course but rather that it compliments and encourages the meal, allowing the patron to leave with a good taste in the mouth and a feeling of having partaken in a successful dinner party.  We suggest a mixture of assessment cheeses and a glass of [re]Port[ing] that has matured well, has a rich flavour but carries a softness that does not overwhelm the meal just enjoyed.

The Guest List defines the success or otherwise of the dinner.  In the past not everyone was invited to the dinner. Only people who appreciated the finer things in life were invited. For this dinner everyone is invited.  If the community of patrons is pleasant, amiable and there is a consistent focus on the purpose of the dinner, then dinner can be an enjoyable time, not rushed, but with each course savoured and enjoyed for its own sake, but at the same time each course contributing to the overall sense of a satisfying meal. A successful dinner should be punctuated by animated and passionate discussion with a wide variety of views expressed but at the conclusion of the meal each patron goes away having contributed to the discussion, they have felt listened to, and so can depart with a warm afterglow that transforms a mere dinner into a sumptuous banquet with everyone looking forward to the next time they meet.

An After-Dinner Mint provides a fresh and alive flavour in the mouth. The purpose of the mint is not for sustenance but rather to refresh and inspire; it is small but it is the taste you leave the dinner with.

"But, alas, none of these achievements makes us better men. There is no equation between bank accounts and goodness of heart. Knowledge is by no means the same thing as wisdom or nobility of spirit... The world has never seen before such an immense army of educators at work on the youth of the country, nor has there ever been before in the history of the world, such a generous outlay of money for education, both lower and higher. The total effect, however, is disappointing, and misses the central point. Our institutions of learning produce some good scholars and give a body of scientific facts to a great number. But there is a pitiable failure in the main business of education which is, or should be, the formation of character, the culture of the spirit, the building of the soul."

- Jones, Rufus M., The Need for a Spiritual Element in Education, World Unity Magazine, October 1928. [quoted from http://laluni.helloyou.ws/netnews/bk/intellect/inte1007.html]

 Chapter 1:  The Purpose of the Dinner Party

So what is the purpose of having dinner with a group of friends?  You could of course have dinner on your own and for that matter the meal could be quite bland and it would still meet all the dietary requirements that your body required, but it would not be a particularly pleasurable and satisfying experience.  Get any group of people in the same environment and immediately you have a variety of opinions, ideas, philosophies and personal worldviews of what education should and could be. Being human beings these worldviews are not always as sensible and logical as you may expect.

Martin Luther King in 1947 had this to say in regard to the purpose of education:

“We must remember that intelligence is not enough. Intelligence plus character--that is the goal of true education. The complete education gives one not only power of concentration, but worthy objectives upon which to concentrate. The broad education will, therefore, transmit to one not only the accumulated knowledge of the race but also the accumulated experience of social living.”

 http://www.stanford.edu/group/King/publications/papers/vol1/470200-The_Purpose_of_Education.htm

Being “intelligent” is all very well, being able to access and use vast information and communication resources is useful, being able to be critically literate is impressive and being able to synthesize and distill new knowledge is powerful but all these traits were shown by a small group of people who flew two planes into two large buildings, killed thousands of people and changed the world forever. The purpose of education must extend beyond this; it must contain an ethical underpinning and promote values that we can aspire to as a community especially as society increasingly take on a more and more non sectarian position for in our every-busy lives where else are our children going to obtain an education in what it right and moral.

As we provide more and more tools and processes which allow for significantly increased knowledge and understanding by each individual increasingly the education system and all its members have a moral responsibility to accompany that knowledge and understanding with a framework of agreed on values and ethics in order to provide our young people with a framework to guide the use of their new found knowledge and understanding.

The purpose of education is an expressed goal; an outcome that we would desire for all citizens, not just children. We could debate forever the purpose of education but in order to be serviceable the defined purpose of education needs to be succinct and inclusive and for that reason we defer to the following purpose:

The purpose of education is to provide each member of society the capability to contribute to the collective goals, (philosophical, idiosyncratic, practical and social), of that society where these goals are based around the accepted values of the community and that those goals and values are based on the historical and cultural wisdom of that community.

As you can see we then get to defining culture, wisdom, what the goals should be and what are acceptable values.  If you would like more background reading on this then you may like to read the essay on wisdom written earlier in the year [http://www.teachers.work.co.nz/archive_July_2004.htm] . Debate on this is very necessary and should not be disregarded as it forms the fundamental notion of what education will be within each community.  Therefore by definition it is necessary for the Department/Ministry of Education to ensure that be education system allows for the local, identified values and goals to become embedded in the delivery of what we call "education".  In other words education should be flexible and capable of meeting local needs. This of course relies on the acceptance of individuality but at the same time acknowledges that no generic system no matter how localized will deliver exactly what each individual learner requires at any given point in their learning continuum no matter how carefully we try and meet the local needs.

There was a time when the “use-by date” for knowledge was counted in centuries but now it can figure in days and months, especially for scientific and research based knowledge. That we can potentially know more now than ever before is beyond doubt but access to knowledge and the capability to process, manage and apply it is not equitable. In order to make this socially equitable the essential competencies to build understanding when it is required; the capacity to be a lifelong learner, must be available to all. That is one of the prime functions of the public school system; to ensure that every learner is provided with the same opportunity to make of life what they choose, what or how they choose to do with that potential is an individuals choice but the capability must be available to all. The role of schools is to even the scales and make sure all are using the same judgment weights.

Three hundred years ago the first modern education paradigm was brought into play through the printing press, where knowledge became available to all through the price of books being reduced considerably and the resulting increased accessibility. The first education paradigm enabled everyone to “know”.  In the 21stC the second modern education paradigm is emerging where the cost and accessibility of knowledge is such that we are overwhelmed by it; so much so that as educators we can see the potential not just for everyone to “know” but that everyone has the potential to understand the world they live in. Suddenly the purpose of the dinner is not just to consume food for survival but rather to appreciate the food, the company and enjoy the event.

The second education paradigm has arrived and it will revolutionise our society, but just as the first education paradigm took time to permeate all levels of society and government this one will too.  But the choice to take on the second education paradigm is not linked to a technology (the printing press) that was slow to replicate or to be heard about in far off lands; this technology is here now for all to see but for many the Emperors clothes look just fine.

The Emperor has no clothes!

There are mo boundaries, there are no limits and as the Nike© advert say “passion has no volume control” so lets turn up the volume and deliver the second paradigm. The purpose of education has not fundamentally changed but its delivery and its focus has changed forever. The following chapters describe those changes. 
 

Chapter 2:  The Wine

There are numerous education philosophies that we could tap into and use but not all are based on the premises underpinning the first education paradigm [http://www.teachers.work.co.nz/archive_Aug_2004.htm] so it is important that we select a philosophical model that is in keeping with the emerging second education paradigm.  There are numerous teaching strategies and processes and an equally vast number of learning strategies and processes which could be encouraged and be bought into by the teaching fraternity so the overarching philosophy must accommodate an extraordinarily large set of permutations of these teaching and learning toolsets.

Gwen Gawith, in a recent article under the heading "Learning for Meaning" in the journal “Good Teacher” [Term 4 2004 http://www.ed-media.co.nz/] presented a quite insightful statement: "while teachers often shy away from theory, the point I am making becomes a lot clearer if you examine it in the context of theory>pedagogy.  In short, the recent marriage between cognitivist and constructivist theory has given rise to a rich pedagogy (the science and art of teaching and learning) which represents research based support for concrete strategies for turning the rhetoric of 'teaching for meaning' into the describable, measurable reality of 'learning for meaning'.   

This marriage between cognitive and constructivist theory has appeared to materialise out of nowhere over the past 10-20 years by flying in “beneath the radar.  In this marriage (cogno-constructivist or if you like constructo-cognitivist), the two partners both bring strong theoretical as well as practical based research to the union and in the process provide a powerful overarching philosophical base that could underpin the emerging second paradigm.  It should be remembered here that as with any new technology paradigm, such as education (technology: any collection of products, systems and environments that meets the needs or opportunities of a community), as the second paradigm first emerges it is by default inefficient while it puts down its roots and gets established in its new environment.  The new environment will either provide the nutrients and resources for growth that are appropriate for the second education paradigm or the emerging paradigm will not receive the nutrients, resources that are specific to its needs and it will wither and die. Initially it may appear to grow well but lacking particular essential nutrients it may never flower and fruit and while looking good it will never replicate itself and never be of any practical use other than looking good unless it receives the political, academic and public goodwill it requires.

Research in neuropsychological brain mapping has come along in leaps and bounds in the last five to 10 years as new technologies such as fRMI [Cognitive Neuroscience: Implications for Education http://www.brookes.ac.uk/schools/education/staffinfo/CWSE_26_1_02lores.pdf!]  allow us to more accurately peer inside the brain while its human owner carries out a range of tasks.  Much of this research is rewriting our fundamental understanding of how the mind works, the nature of consciousness and it is also directing educators as to how they can apply this new understanding to improve classroom teaching and learning practices.  As a relatively new area of research it holds the promise of providing us rich quantitative research in regards to learning as well as rewriting previously held anecdotally and predominantly qualitatively based theories.

Teaching students "thinking skills" has become a feature of 21st education practices however most teachers have taken the atomistic approach to thinking skills, teaching the use of individual thinking skills tools rather than overarching thinking process.  A common example of this is the teaching of de Bono’s Six Thinking Hats programme and having this being presented as if it were teaching “thinking skills”.  The Six Thinking Hat program is an excellent tool but it is not an overarching view of thinking but rather a particular cognitive tool used in particular situations to develop particular thinking habits.  Art Costa and Bena Kallick have written some considerable work on developing "Habits of Mind" [http://www.habits-of-mind.net/]  which describes different types of intelligent behaviours (such as assisting, metacognition, questioning, risk-taking, communicating  . . .  . and they refer to these as "habits of mind” but this still does not present a complete overarching view of thinking which teachers can then use and apply as necessary.  Four years ago we did a literature review on this topic and over the course of 18 months developed a thinking model that has been adopted by a number of schools which we will briefly outline here.

Defining thinking is a considerable academic challenge but in order to progress this overview we will define thinking as “the process which contributes to the reinforcement or the iterative changes that occur to persons world view". If this is a reasonable definition then we then need to investigate how our world view is built, and how it can be reinforced and modified.  This is the fundamental crux that underpins all teaching and learning processes and for this reason it is critical students understand thinking in order that they can reflect on their own thinking processes (metacognition).

Briefly the model [http://www.i-learnt.com/Thinking_What_is_2.html] contains six elements that contribute to a persons continually changing worldview. These intricately intertwined elements are discussed by a wide range of cognitive researchers, from which we have created a simplified flowchart. This flowchart, containing the six elements demonstrates the main interrelationships. The main contributors whose work we have used to develop this flowchart includes Marzano, Vygotsky, de Bono, Swartz, Browne, Papert, Dunlop, Grabinger, Dugoid, Collin, Campione, Brandt, Hughes, Harpaz, Lefstein, Jones, Presseisen, Rankin, Suhor, Bloom, Jonassen, Costa . . . . .

1.      Initiators of thinking: needs/wants/desires; imperatives; discourse; reflection (metacognition); mystery/intrigue; observation(s); communication; (oral/written/visual); opportunity; inspiration; high order thinking questions; competition; inflammatory/radical statements; purposeful research; serendipity*; interaction(s) . . . . .

2.      Thinking Processors: Creative Thinking; Critical Thinking; Metacognition; Values/Culture/Spirituality; Problem Solving; High Order Thinking Questions . . . . .

3.      Facilitatory Environments: Context; Construction; Collaboration; Conversation/Communication; Information . . .

4.      Thinking Skills Processes: Information Gathering Skills; Generating Skills; Focusing Skills; Remembering Skills; Analysing Skills; Integrating Skills; Evaluation Skills; Organising skills . . . . . . .

5.      Facilitatory Tools: Goal Setting; Brain Storming; Peer Tutoring; Conferencing; Concept Maps; Mind Mapping, Webquests; Microquests; Study Groups; Concept Scaffolding . . . .

6.      then there's . . . . . Human Nature: This is a selective/irrational and passionate filter which means that even after rational processes are employed, final decisions dismiss the thoughtful processes and unbelievably dumb decisions are made . . . . . on a reasonably regular basis!

This is a greatly simplified model and as such it should be noted that:

1. All models are fraught with assumptions and simplifications and by their very existence are flawed; BUT they are useful.

2. The way we behave (as a representation of our thinking/thought processes), is very dependent on the cultural setting we find ourselves in. i.e. how we behave in an academic environment, how we behave in our home environment, or on the sports field, are often very different.

3. We are not robots and by our very nature, as human beings, we are passionate, silly people who are fantastically varied and very interesting creatures to study!

Diagram 1
[note: although the diagram is depicted as a flow chart the thinking process has a high degree of "plasticity" and responds in any number of ways to any given circumstance]

Teaching & Learning Philosophy: Constructivist theory came to the table in the 70’s and 80s but was dogged by attitudes of senior educators that as a concept it was a soft option, applied to justify teachers who could not control student behaviour and where students ran the classroom in the absence of any structure. Recent refinements and a more disciplined set of parameters surrounding "constructivist theory" have led to a renaissance of “constructivism” but many misunderstandings of the concept still survive. 

In an excellent article by Martin Brooks and Jacqueline Grennon-Brooks the two authors identify five central tenets of constructivism [Grennon and Brooks and Brooks, 1993) Go to To See Beyond the Lesson for this article.

“The search for understanding motivates students to learn. When students want to know more about an idea, a topic, or an entire discipline, they put more cognitive energy into classroom investigations and discussions and study more on their own. We have identified five central tenets of constructivism”

·         First, constructivist teachers seek and value students' points of view. Knowing what students think about concepts helps teachers formulate classroom lessons and differentiate instruction on the basis of students' needs and interests.

·         Second, constructivist teachers structure lessons to challenge students' suppositions. All students, whether they are 6 or 16 or 60, come to the classroom with life experiences that shape their views about how their worlds work. When educators permit students to construct knowledge that challenges their current suppositions, learning occurs. Only through asking students what they think they know and why they think they know it are we and they able to confront their suppositions.

·         Third, constructivist teachers recognize that students must attach relevance to the curriculum. As students see relevance in their daily activities, their interest in learning grows.

·         Fourth, constructivist teachers structure lessons around big ideas, not small bits of information. Exposing students to wholes first helps them determine the relevant parts as they refine their understandings of the wholes.

·         Finally, constructivist teachers assess student learning in the context of daily classroom investigations, not as separate events. Students demonstrate their knowledge every day in a variety of ways. Defining understanding as only that which is capable of being measured by paper-and-pencil assessments administered under strict security perpetuates false and counterproductive myths about academia, intelligence, creativity, accountability, and knowledge.”

Marrying constructivist notions with our understanding of cognitive theories should result in a “best of both worlds” scenario as constructivism supplies the broad environmental landscape (pedagogy) and the cognitive sciences provide the science (epistemology) that underpins the learning, and directs the teaching processes.  In clearly defining that we wish to deliver the very best teaching and learning in our schools we are in a much better position to induct into our communities citizens that have a set of competencies that are far better aligned to 21st-century demands.

A reminder here: Any teaching and learning philosophy that does not take into account the nature of what it is to be human: that we are irrational, passionate and silly people rather than the often assumed (in educational theory) logical, sensible and rational, is based on a false set of premises.  There is nothing wrong with being logical, sensible and rational and there are times when this is absolutely critical and to be encouraged, but the very people that fascinate us and that we enjoy to interact with are the passionate, the sometimes silly and the ones that question everything, who often appear to be somewhat irrational, continually testing the boundaries and questioning the norms!

Within this new framework we can begin to examine teaching practices that can synchronise with what we understand to be the way in which children learn best, noting that no two students learn in the same way, at the same place, across the same disciplines, with the same enthusiasm, with the same talents/giftings and with young people there is a tendency for every day to be a new day, with students bringing with them different attitudes to learning depending on a host of social, physical and emotional cycles and influences brought into the the school community from their greater familial and wider social community.

There is a global trend towards this philosophical skeleton being given some "substance" through the delivery of essential competencies within a curriculum framework.  This is a significant improvement on the previous focus on key skills, broadening the concept of skill to include "contexts that include cognitive and practical skills, as well as the knowledge, attitudes, values and motivation required in a particular context" [http://www.tki.org/r/nzcurriculum/docs/CompetenciesDiscussionPaper.doc]

One of the foci of the application of essential competencies is the need to reconcile the competitive dimension of education which highlights excellence and individuality with the cooperative dimension of education that highlights equity, tolerance and social justice. These are not mutually exclusive and a range of competencies will be developed that both encourage and develop these sets of identified attributes.

Various reports have supported the implementation of essential competencies as a more balanced measure for reflecting the purpose of education.  This will be discussed in more detail when we look at the main course later in this article.

While on the topic of education philosophy it is important to make mention of the global trend towards education processes being increasingly aimed at delivering “workplace skill sets".  The purpose of “primary education” is not just the creation of a skilled workforce just as the purpose of the meal is not just to provide the body sustenance.  Many education academics still argue that the transition from skills based education to competency based education institutionalises the "imperative of work" as being the keystone to education especially in the tertiary sector.  The second education paradigm however has a far more balanced view of education, reflecting necessary lifelong skills in the context of the development of cognitive/academic capability and the necessity for skills to be developed in our young people that empower them with the capability to become competent and confident citizens in a complex world.

The bottom line when it comes to effective teaching and student learning is the quality of our teachers.  No matter what the cost, we must encourage our best, our brightest and our most passionate to take up this mantle and inspire and encourage our young people, through a diverse and appropriate range of teaching strategies, through a curriculum that is relevant and where simplistic testing strategies are not the measure of success. . . . .  because the social and financial cost of not doing this greatly exceeds anything we can imagine.  Disengagement with schooling is reaching epidemic proportions and is spreading virally from the large “first world” cities to the small towns of the “third world” and unless we address this urgently the social cost will be catastrophic.

The Inquiry Learning Process:

The inquiry method of teaching and learning is built on some of the principles espoused by John Dewey who asserted that children are natural learners and are naturally curious.  From the New Zealand web site "living heritage" [http://www.livingheritage.org.nz/started/inquirylearn.shtml]

"Memorizing facts and information is not the most important skill in today's world.  Facts change, and information is readily available – what’s needed is an understanding of how to find, make sense of, and use relevant information for specific purposes."

Go here to download this article. [http://www.learningtolearn.sa.edu.au/Colleagues/pages/default/harpaz/]

In rich information and communication environments it is not just the resource content that is critical to the success of student research but also the capability of the student to access information through the ability to ask the right question.

Go here for Section 2 of this presentation

Comments and suggestions to

Mark Treadwell

Teachers@work.co.nz

home | newsletter & sites | top 1000 sites | surfing the web
online virtual library | internet policies | consultancy | lecture notes
teacher's toolkit | server hardware / software | connecting to the internet
publishing a web site | network architecture | international vacancies