Answering the Unanswered Questions : What It Mean To Say That A School Is Doing Well?

Elliot W. Eisner (2016) raise pertinent rhetorical questions in his piece entitled What Does It Mean to Say a School Is Doing Well? While he answers some questions, he often leaves most questions unanswered for the reader to introspect and mull over. The purpose of this paper is to select three of such unanswered questions and expand on them. The aim has been to develop answers to these questions on the basis of personal experience of being an International Baccalaureate (IB) Middle Years Programme (MYP) educator and at the same time a product of a public education system that has a been a matter of public discourse among the national policymakers, intellectual community and dissent voices for years now.

First of the questions identified in the paper is in the last paragraph on page 301 where Eisner (2016) asks“ What connections are students helped to make between what they study in class and the world outside of school?” He goes on to argue that a major aim of education should be what psychologists say “transfer of learning”. In the context of his article, Eisner implies that there is hardly or no connection made between what students learn in class and its application in the real world scenario since most often than not the focus is on test scores. What I am awestruck by is the phrase where he argues that 'if what students learn is used only as a means to increase their scores then, “we may win the battle but lose the war”. This statement is poignant in itself because, in certain countries that are battling the issue of access to education, regurgitation of subject learning and national assessments resort to be the end goal. Although many young teachers who have been a product of a dissatisfying public education system have started to employ new strategies by integrating innovative experiential learning techniques to make subject learning relevant to the real-life application. However, it is yet to happen on a large scale. In an IB curriculum, Individuals and Societies teachers besides employing experiential learning techniques like field trips to a local river, farm or factories in order for students to understand the issue of Fair Trade or Environmental degradation, create a possibility for the students to take appropriate community actions to improve the world they inhabit. To quote an example in order to elaborate on the case successful student action is in fact “Vidyashilp Academy” which is India’s first Fair Trade School[1]. IB curriculum has identified six essential Global Contexts (GC) in the MYP for students to be able to connect their learning experiences with their lives and the world. According to IB, with the use of the GC, students develop an understanding of common humanity and shared guardianship of the planet. Application of concepts within a particular lens of GC not only endures learning but also provides students the pathway to explore various aspects of life which also enables their development of 21st Century Skills. Many teachers resort to Project-Based Learning or Problem Based Learning (PBL) which perfectly fits with the IB and provide opportunities for students to authentically connect their work to the real world. Moreover Personal Projects, Genius Hour, Interdisciplinary Units are other ways in which personal inquiry of students is deepened further. Albeit structured, in a way that assesses students’ process of learning, investigation skills, evaluation skills and self-management, these projects are still mostly owned and driven by students.

To quote David N. Perkins (2014) “Learning is made meaningful when it is Worthy of Learning”. On page 303, first paragraph lies the second question where Eisner (2016) asks “Do students participate in the assessment of their own work? If so, how?” In most cases, especially in public government schools where high test score is the end goal, students are mostly passive consumers and not critical creators of assessments. Whereas, IB MYP students are not only critical drivers and owners of their own learning, but they also determine the ‘what’ and ‘how’ of their assessment for learning to gauge their progress. In the case of Personal Project, for instance, a year 4 & 5 (Grade 9 & 10) student works on a year-long individual inquiry which is product-based and develops success criteria to assess the outcome against it. Depending on the task and different abilities, teachers often employ self-assessment checklists,peer assessment methods using a rubric, reflection methods to help direct students toward self-improvement. Eisner urges for “different representational forms of learning”, coinciding with Student Choice and Voice promoted by IB, which various stakeholders have come to realize the importance of. The learning is often than not presented in various formats such as role-plays, poems, blogs, events, exhibition, Student-Led Conferences. This practice also ensures that every child is included and reach their individual potential.

Lastly, Eisner (2016) raises a pertinent question about professional development in the second paragraph of page 303, where he asks “To what degree is professional discourse an important aspect of what being a teacher means in the school?”. He further argues that it is important to address the “real needs of teachers”. UNESCO (2016) also emphasizes that the quality of student learning depends to a great extent on the quality of teaching. The reality remains that there is disparity in the ways education systems view teaching and learning. Although many teachers in many parts of the world – especially the developing world- feel alienated from their fruits of labor because of lack of opportunities for continuous professional development; there are examples of well-funded private schools that give utmost importance to the empowerment of teachers through in-school Master Classes, Professional Learning Networks (PLN) or Pineapple Chart practices[2]. Teachers world over have been receptive especially in the current scenario of the pandemic, where they have had to move their teaching online thus enabling Blended Learning[3]. This has resulted in teachers all across the world share best practices and strategies with each other across platforms to ensure the

effective learning of students.

To conclude one may argue that the aim is not to arrive at one standard response to the various questions that Eisner (2016) poses because there are multiple ways to answer them based on individual experiences, country-specific case- studies and sophisticated literature. It is important that questions are raised, especially in times of rapid changes, in order to ensure the discourse on curriculum and education.

References

Perkins, D. N. (2014). Fu

ture wise: educating our children for a changing world. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

Eisner, E (2016). What does it mean to say a school is doing well?. In Flinders, D. J., & Thornton, S. J. (Eds.), The Curriculum Studies Reader, Fourth Edition (pp.297-305). New York, NY: Routledge.

Iborganization. (n.d.). MYP curriculum. Retrieved from https://www.ibo.org/programmes/middle-years-programme/curriculum/

UNESCO International Bureau of Education (UNESCO-IBE). (2016). What makes a quality curriculum? Current and Critical Issues in Curriculum and Learning (2), pp.1-41.

[1] Vidyashilp Academy: The Fairt

rade School. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://vidyashilp.com/fairtrad

e-school.php [2] How Pineapple Charts Revolutionize Professional Development. (2019, July 26). Retrieved from https://www.cultofpedagog

y.com/pineapple-charts/

[3] Dans, E. (2020, April 13). The Coronavirus Pandemic Has Unleashed A Revolution In Education: From Now On, Blended Learning Will Be The Benchmark. Forbes. Retrieved from https://www.forbes.com/sites/enriquedans/2020/04/13/the-coronavirus-pandemic-has-unleashed-a-revolution-in-education-from-now-on-blended-learning-will-be-the-benchmark/#293f9c7b536f