Ei-iE

Fostering the role of education unions as key voices within education reform processes and advancing teacher professionalisation through collaborative teaching practices, were some of the main issues that arose during the second day of the 9th EI annual Research Network meeting, held on 11 April in Brussels.

Reshaping reform discourses Dr. Nina Bascia from the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education at the University of Ontario, Canada, presented a study being commissioned by the EI Research Institute on “Teacher Union-Governmental Relations in the context of educational reform”.

The research analyses the relationships between governments and education trade unions in four case studies: Sweden, England, South Africa, and the province of Alberta, in Canada.

Bascia defined these relationships as being, essentially, ‘fragile’. Nevertheless, the aim of the research is to identify the common factors that contribute to the success of relations between teacher unions and governments and to share good practices among trade unions worldwide.

In today’s environment of heavy educational reform, where reforms target teachers directly, Bascia emphasised the critical role of education trade unions as a ‘bridge’ between policy makers and teachers.

Teachers and their unions are key partners in making any kind of educational reform successful. Therefore, finding ways of working together with governments is crucial to effectively implementing education policies that achieve quality and equality in public education systems worldwide.

Professionalisation a collective processDirk van Damme, Head of the Centre for Educational Research and Innovation at the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), presented a research project that addressed ways in which to advance teacher professionalisation and increase educators’ autonomy and self-efficacy.

The articulation of professional learning communities is central to developing good teaching practices and pedagogical innovation, according to van Damme. Towards this aim, one of the main challenges is the so-called ‘deprivatisation of practice’,  that is, finding ways in which educators can make their everyday work in classrooms more public and open to collegial conversation.

Collaborative action, such as teaching jointly, is central to this process. A large repertoire of teaching practices, both innovative and traditional, and teaching beliefs is better than only one focus. However, he stated, “some teachers don’t enter into collaborative ways and consider their work as individualist”.

Moreover, he added, many school leaders do not like collaborative teaching either, as “they see it as 'threat' to their own power. It makes it more difficult to control teachers”.

Community perspectiveVan Damme highlighted the need to challenge the “process of individualisation of the teaching profession and overcoming an individual definition of teacher quality”. Instead, he advocated for a systemic approach to teaching, including systems of evaluation that take collaborative practices into account, going beyond individual perspectives.

“The power of community life and social capital is higher in Southern 'emerging' countries. The future of our societies is linked to a community view of development. This is something to be learned in Europe and other countries,” he pointed out.

New developments in PISAEI Senior Consultant to the General Secretary John Bangs highlighted new developments around the OECD’s Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), including the introduction of a financial literacy topic in the 2012 assessment round and that PISA will be entirely computer-based from 2015.

Participants were critical of the PISA tests for schools arguing that it may undermine PISA as a system level assessment, or may lead to PISA becoming a standardised test in which schools can compete against each other. A critical question raised is how the results of the PISA tests for schools will be used.

Additional links:

To access Nina Bascia Presentation at the 9th ResNet meeting, please click here

Please click here to read an interview with Nina Bascia on her EI research study.

Bascia’s research study, “Teacher Union-Governmental Relations in the context of educational reform”, will be available on the EI website from May 2013.

To access the presentation of Dirk van Damme, Head of the Centre for Educational Research and Innovation at the OECD in Paris, please click here.