EXCELLENCE, EQUITY,
AND INCLUSIVENESS
HIGH QUALITY TEACHING FOR ALL
THE 2014 INTERNATIONAL SUMMIT
ON THE TEACHING PROFESSION20
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About Asia SocietyAsia Society is the leading global and pan-Asian organization
working to strengthen relationships and promote understanding
among the people, leaders, and institutions of the United States
and Asia. The Asia Society Partnership for Global Learning
focuses in part on creating forums for educators in the United
States, Asia, and elsewhere in the world to exchange ideas on
how education systems can be improved to support academic
achievement and global competence. Building on a decade of
experience, the Asia Society Partnership for Global Learning
seeks to create opportunities for nations and regions to
spotlight effective practices for systemic reform and consider
how these practices can be adapted and implemented in their
own contexts. AsiaSociety.org/education
This report is available at: AsiaSociety.org/teachingsummit.
Introduction 2
ResultsofPreviousSummits 6
AttractingHigh-QualityTeachersandLeaderstoSchoolsofGreatestNeed 11
AchievingEquityinIncreasinglyDevolvedEducationSystems 16
CreatingLearningEnvironmentsthatAddresstheNeedsofAllChildren 22
ConclusionsandNextSteps 27
Participants 32
TABLE OF CONTENTS
EXCELLENCE, EQUITY,AND INCLUSIVENESSHIGH QUALITY TEACHING FOR ALL
THE 2014 INTERNATIONAL SUMMIT ON THE TEACHING PROFESSION
2
Tena koutou katoa—greetings!FromthespectacularviewsofWellingtonHarbourtotheresonating
challengeandsongsofthe pōwhiri welcomingceremony,tothesettingsforthediscussionsinthenationalmuseumTePapaTongarewaandthebeehiveshapedParliamentBuilding,tothecommunitycelebrationofeducationontheWellingtonwaterfrontandthefarewellporoporoaki,the2014InternationalSummitontheTeachingProfessionhadadistinctlyNewZealandflavor.
Althoughculturalsettingsdiffer,governmentsfacesimilarchallengesinprovidingequaleducationalopportunitytoalltheirstudents—whetherinMāoriandPasifikacommunitiesinNewZealand,ordeprivedurbanneighborhoods,isolatedruralareas,andnewimmigrantpopulationsinmanyothercountries.Thischallengeisgrowingmoreacuteasindividualsandsocietiesincreasinglyneedhigher-levelskillstoprosperinthemodern,knowledge-basedeconomy.The2014InternationalSummitontheTeachingProfessionwashostedbyNewZealandMinisterofEducationHekiaParata,andorganizedincooperationwiththeOrganisationforEconomicCooperationandDevelopment(OECD),EducationInternational,andtheNewZealandteachers’unions,NZEIandPPTA.PreviousSummits,heldintheUnitedStatesandtheNetherlands,hadfocusedonraisingthequalityandstatusoftheteachingprofessionaskeydriversofthequalityofmoderneducationsystems.ThisSummitbuiltonthoseearlierdiscussionsbyfocusingonthefundamentalissueofhowtosimultaneouslyachieveexcellence,equity,andinclusiveness—high-qualityteachingforall.
TheSummitbroughttogetherofficialdelegationsofministersofeduca-tion,unionleaders,outstandingteachers,andothereducationexpertsfromCanada,China-HongKong,Denmark,Estonia,Finland,Germany,Japan,theNetherlands,NewZealand,Poland,Singapore,Sweden,theUnitedKingdom(Scotland),andtheUnitedStatesofAmerica.ThesecountriesareallhighachieversorrapidperformersasmeasuredbyperformanceonOECD’s2012ProgrammeforInternationalStudentAssessment(PISA).Inadditiontotheseofficialdelegations,observerdelegationsattendedfromAustralia,Brazil,Hungary,Malaysia,Mexico,andVietnam.Specialdelegationsalsoattended,asguestsoftheNewZealandgovernment,fromCookIslands,Niue,Samoa,SolomonIslands,Tokelau,Tonga,andVanuatu.TheSummitdiscussiondidnot
INTRODUCTION
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HIGH QUALITY TEACHING FOR ALL: THE 2014 INTERNATIONAL SUMMIT ON THE TEACHING PROFESSION
onlytakeplaceintheformalmeetingsofministersandteacherleaders.MorethanonehundredNewZealandeducatorsattendedtheSummitandwerelivelyparticipantsintheinformalsessionsthatsur-roundedtheofficialSummit.
Althoughdelegateshadtravelledalongwayaroundtheglobeandrepresentededucationsystemsofverydifferentsizesandconfigurations,theyfoundtheysharedsimilarchallenges.ThepurposeoftheSummit,therefore,wastoshareemergingbestprac-ticesandissuesaroundthefollowingquestions:
• How can high-quality teachers and leaders be attracted to the schools of greatest need?
• What are the levers for increasing equity in increasingly devolved education systems?
• How are learning environments created that address the needs of all children and young people?
ThisreportisnotaproceedingsoftheSummit,buttriestocapturethethemesofthemainpresentationsandtheissuesthataroseduringthegeneraldiscus-sion.Itattemptstoshowwheretherewasagreementandwheretherewasdisagreement,aswellaswherethereissimplynotenoughevidencetoevaluatedif-ferentpaths.ItsintentionistospreadthediscussionthattookplaceintheNewZealandParliamenttoawiderglobalaudienceofpeopleinterestedinhoweducationsystemscanprovidehigh-qualityteachingandlearningforall.
SUMMIT OPENING
TheNewZealandDeputyPrimeMinister,theHonourableBillEnglish,welcomedSummitpartici-pantstotheNewZealandParliament.Notingthatafundamentalroleofpubliceducationsystemsistoensureladdersofopportunityforthemostdisad-vantaged,hewelcomedtheSummit’sfocusonequityandinclusivenessandsaidthatNewZealandhopedtolearnfromtheexperienceofothercountriesasitfocusesmoreenergeticallyonthischallenge.
Inheropeningremarks,HekiaParata,NewZealandMinisterofEducation,emphasizedthecriticalimportanceofengagingparentsandyoungpeople,especiallythosefromdisadvantagedcommunities,sothattheycanmovefrombeingbystanderstoac-tiveparticipantsintheirowneducation.Thegoalofnationaleducationsystemsshouldbetohelpyoungpeoplegaintheskillsandknowledgetheyneedfortheglobalknowledge-basedeconomy,whileretain-ingtherichnessoftheirownculturalidentity.Shesaidthatteachers,withtheirtrainingandexpertise,withtheirexperienceandinsight,andwiththeircareandcommitment,arecriticaltothelearningjourneyofeverychild.Shecalledonthedelegatesto“doinourtimewhatisneededtoprepareallyoungpeoplefortheirtime.”
U.S.SecretaryofEducation,ArneDuncan,hostofthe2011and2012Summits,reflectedonhowtheSummithadgrownfromsmallbeginningsoverabreakfastconversationinWashington,D.C.,toalandmarkinternationalbenchmarkingevent,
providingpracticaladviceforindividualgovernmentsaswellasaglobalplatformforadvancingtheinterestsofchildrenaroundtheworld.JetBussemaker,MinisterofEducation,CultureandScienceoftheNetherlandsandhostofthe2013Summit,describedhowtheSummitshadhelpedtheNetherlandstoimproveitsclinicaltrainingforprospectiveteachers,expandprofessionaldevelopmentforexistingteachers,andintroducepeerevaluation.
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EXCELLENCE, EQUITY, AND INCLUSIVENESS
SpeakingfortheOECD,BarbaraIschinger,DirectorforEducationandSkills,stressedthateducationcanbethegreatequalizer,theoneforcethatcanconsis-tentlyovercomedifferencesinbackgroundandcul-ture.Thispromise,however,onlyholdstruewheneverystudenthasaccesstogreatteachers.Shealsoarguedthatschoolsystemscannotmeetthechal-lengesofovercominginequalityontheirown:theyneedtodevelopeffectivepartnerships—betweenteachers,betweenschools,andbetweenschoolsandthewidercommunity.
Inhisopeningremarks,FredvanLeeuwen,GeneralSecretaryofEducationInternational,theglobalfed-erationofteachers’unions,emphasizedtheimpor-tanceofcontinuingthisuniqueannualgatheringofministersandteachers’unionleaders.Governmentsandunionscananddodifferoverpathstoeduca-tionreform,buttobesuccessful,educationsystemshadtobecoherentandenabling,providingsupporttoteachersinsharingknowledgeandpreparingthemprofes-sionally.HeparticularlywelcomedthethemeofthisSummitandtheopportunitytogodeeperthanideologicaldisputestoaskfundamentalques-tionsabouttheresponsi-bilitiesofgovernments,schoolcommunities,andteachersinmakingsurethat,whatevertheirbackground,allyoungpeopleachievetheirfullpotential.
AnOECDbackgroundreportpreparedbyAndreasSchleicher,entitled“Equity,ExcellenceandInclusivenessinEducation:PolicyLessonsfromAroundtheWorld”1servedtoframetheSummit’stwo-daydiscussionbylayingoutinternationalresearchevidence,bestpractices,generalprinciples,andinnovationsthatmightleadtobetterpoliciesinthisarea.Inhisopeningremarks,Schleicherempha-sizedthatinmodern,knowledge-basedeconomies,skillsdrivelivesandeconomies.Adultswithhigherskillshavebetteroutcomesinwork,health,andcivicparticipation.Ontheotherside,peoplewithlowskillshaveanuphillstruggleinlife,aproblemthatbothstemsfromandcontributestotheincreasingincomeinequalityacrossOECDmembercountries.2
Excellenceandequityareoftenseenascompetingpolicypriorities.Inmanycountries,thereisastrongrelationshipbetweenthesocio-economicback-groundofstudentsandtheiracademicperformance.Inthesecountries,schoolssimplyreproducetheexistingpatternsofsocio-economicadvantageanddisadvantage.However,thehopefulnewsisthattherearehigh-performingsystemsthatgetboththingsright:theycombinehighlevelsofstudentperformancewithanequitabledistributionoflearn-ingopportunities.Differencesinstudentattainmentbetweenhigher-performingandlower-performingsystemsaresostrikingthat,infact,thecountry
“�A�fundamental�role�of�public�education�systems�is�to�ensure�ladders�of�opportunity�for�the�most�disadvantaged.”
1TheOECDreport,“Equity,ExcellenceandInclusivenessinEducation,”canbefoundathttp://www.istp2014.org/assets/OECD_Report_-_Equity_Excellence_and_Inclusiveness_in_Education.pdf.
2TheOECDreport,“GrowingUnequal?:IncomeDistributionandPovertyinOECDCountries,”canbefoundathttp://www.oecd.org/els/soc/41527936.pdf.
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HIGH QUALITY TEACHING FOR ALL: THE 2014 INTERNATIONAL SUMMIT ON THE TEACHING PROFESSION
wherestudentsgotoclassismoreimportantthanwhatsocialclassstudentscomefrom.Thepoor-eststudentsinSingaporeandinShanghai,China,forexample,dobetterinmaththanstudentsinprofessionalclassesinsomeothercountries.OECDanalysesshowthattheleveloffinancialexpendi-turesinasystemisnotcloselyrelatedtoitsqualityorequity.Itishowtheresourcesareusedtoaddresskeychallengesthatmakeadifference.SchleicheroutlinedOECD’skeyresearchfindingsrelatedtotheSummit’sthreequestions,issuesthatweretakenupingreaterdepthinthesessionsthatfollowed.
JohnBangsreportedonEducationInternational’sbriefingpaperfortheSummit.Hereflectedonthefragilityofschoolsthatservelargenumbersofchildrenfromsociallydeprivedbackgroundsandonstrategiesthatcouldbeappliedtosupportthem.Inparticular,theyneedstaffwithalong-termcommitmenttotheirschools,goodrelationswithcommunities,andtheabilitytoengagewithparentsandtoinfluencestudents’at-titudestowardstheireducation.Educationsystems
needtofindawaytosupporttheteachersinsuchschools—toreducehighattritionandpromoteef-fectiveness.Insuchschools,teacherandstudentself-efficacyarecloselyintertwined.
TheSummitwasfacilitatedbyAnthonyMackay,CEOoftheCentreforStrategicEducationinAustralia.ForeachoftheSummit’smaintopics,rep-
resentativesfromselectededucationsystemsledoffbydescribingtheirownexperiencesandchallengesinpromotingbothexcellenceandequity.Thiswasfollowedbyageneraldiscussionamongthecountrydelegations.Internationalexpertsalsoprovidedperiodiccommentaryfromresearchonkeypoints(seelistofparticipants).
TheSummitalsoinclud-edsmallermeetingsofministersandteachers’unionleadersand,attheendoftheSummit,coun-tryteamsofgovernmentofficialsandteachers’unionleaderssharedthefollowupactionstheyin-tendtotakeoverthenextyear,beforereconveningatthefifthInternationalSummitontheTeachingProfession,whichwillbeheldinAlberta,Canada.
“�Excellence�and�equity�are�not�incompatible�policy�goals”
EQUITY
According to OECD, equity in education can be seen through two dimensions:
fairness and inclusion. Equity as fairness implies that personal or socio-
economic circumstances, such as gender, ethnic origin, or family background,
are not obstacles to success in education. Equity as inclusion means ensuring
that all students reach at least a basic minimum level of skills. Equitable
education systems are fair and inclusive, and support their students in
reaching their learning potential without either formally or informally erecting
barriers or lowering expectations.
6
ThefirstthreeSummits(seeBox)notonlyencouragedseriousinternationalconversationandsharingofbestpractices,buthavealsohelpedtostimulateaction.Infact,sincetheSummitsbegan,many
countrieshavebeenworkingondifferentmeasurestoenhancetheirteachingprofessions.Thefocivarybetweencountries,dependingontheirlocalcontext,butincludeestablishingprofessionalstandardsforteaching,improvinginitialteachereducation,promotingthefurtherprofessionaldevelopmentofteachersandschoolleaders,developingcareerladderstooffernewrolesforteachers,andestablishingprofessionallearningcommunitieswithinandacrossschools.Asthe2014Summitbegan,anumberofcountriesreportedontheirprogress:
Canada:EducationistheresponsibilityofprovincesinCanada.Anumberofprovinceshavetakenactiontoimprovethequalityofteaching.Forexample,Ontariohasincreasedin-servicetrainingforteachersinmathtoupgradethemathskillsofteacherswhodidnotmajorinmath.PrinceEdwardIslandhasincreasedthenumberofprofessionaldevelopmentdaysaspartofanoverallefforttoincreasestudentachievement.
Estonia:Afterbroadconsultation,Estoniahasadoptedanewsetofteacherprofessionalstandardsthatareintendedtopromotelifelonglearning.Cross-subjectcooperativenetworksledbyteachershavebeenestablishedandaplanhasbeendeveloped,tobeimplementedfrom2015,toexpandin-servicetrainingforteachersandschoolleaders,basedonneedsandwithattentiontoevaluationofimpact.
Germany:Germanyisfocusedonraisingthequalityofteachertrainingandin-serviceeducation,especiallyindealingwithheterogeneity,interculturalskills,andlearningstrategiesforunderachievers.TheLänder(Germanstates)havealsodevelopedasystemofschoolqualityevaluation.
Japan:Followinglastyear’sSummitonteacherevaluation,Japaneseboardsofeducationaremovingforwardintheirdevelopmentofteacherappraisalstorecog-nizeteachers’strengthsandprovideprofessionaldevelopmentforareasthatneedimprovement.Theyarealsoseekingtolightenteachers’workloadtoallowtimeforprofessionaldevelopmentthroughincreaseduseofcommunityvolunteers.
RESULTS OF PREVIOUS SUMMITS
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HIGH QUALITY TEACHING FOR ALL: THE 2014 INTERNATIONAL SUMMIT ON THE TEACHING PROFESSION
Netherlands:DrawingontheAmsterdamSummit,theNetherlandshascreatedaTeachersProgram2013-2020.Developedinconsultationwitheducators,itlaysoutanumberofinitiatives,includingstrengtheningtheprofessionalbody,expandingcoachingfornewteachers,creatingalliancesbetweenfifty-eightteachertraininginstitutionsandschools,anddevelopingapeerevaluationsystem.
New Zealand:Afterthe2012Summit,NewZealandcreatedacross-sectorforumonraisingachievement,modelledontheSummit,whichbroughttogetherrepresentativesofeverysectortocollaborateinprovidingadvicetotheMinistryonhowtoensurethateveryyoungpersonleavesschoolwiththeknowledgeandskillstosuc-ceed.EducationalexcellenceawardsandcommunitycelebrationshavealsoshowcasedNewZealand’seducationalstrengths.
Poland:In2007,Polandbeganamajornationalreformprogramthatmodernizedthecurriculumandexaminationstandardsandcreatedanewapproachtoinspectionthroughthedevelopmentofbettereval-uationdata.Now,Polandisenhancingprofessionallearningnetworksamongteachersandschoolleaderstosharebestpracticesinmeetingthesenewgoals.
Singapore:Singaporeiscontinuingtorevampitsteachereducationinlinewithtwenty-first-century
skillsandisstrengtheningitsongoingprofessionaldevelopmentforteachersthroughtheAcademyofSingaporeTeachers.
Sweden:Sincethe2012Summit,Swedenhasbeenfocusedoneffortstoattractmorestrongstudentsintotheteachingprofessionandtointroducecareerstepstokeeptalentedteachersintheprofession.
United States:Toensurethatstudentsarecareerandcollegeready,mostUSstateshaveestablishedhigher,internationallybenchmarked,academicstandardsforallstudents.In2013and2014,thean-nualconveningofteachers’unionsandlocalstateandfederalleadersfocusedonhowgovernmentandteachers’organizationscouldcollaborativelysupportteachersandschoolleadersinimplementingthesestandards.Thepresidentalsocalledforexpandedfundingforpreschooleducation,andatleastfifteenstatesincreasedfundingforearlylearningin2013.
How did the International Summits on the Teaching
Profession come about and what have been their
results?
Research has repeatedly shown that teachers are
the single biggest in-school influence on student
achievement, so the quality of teachers is therefore
critical to the quality of education systems. But
there is wide variation in the quality and status of
the teaching profession around the world: High-
performing countries have a plentiful supply of
high-quality teachers, but many countries struggle
to compete with other sectors for teaching
and leadership talent And all countries face the
RESULTS OF PREVIOUS SUMMITS
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EXCELLENCE, EQUITY, AND INCLUSIVENESS
challenge of radically improving their education
systems to prepare students for the rapidly
changing global, knowledge-based economy.
As the United States attempted to address these
issues, Secretary of Education Arne Duncan and
the leaders of the two U.S. teachers’ unions agreed
that it would be useful to learn from the experiences
of other countries, especially those that were
high-performers on international assessments
of student progress. So, at the invitation of the
United States and drawn together by a common
belief in the centrality of the teaching profession
and the importance of learning from the world’s
best practice, ministers of education and leaders
of teachers’ unions from sixteen countries came
to the first International Summit on the Teaching
Profession in New York City in March 2011.
2011: Improving Teacher Quality around the World
The Summit represented many firsts. It was the
first ever international summit on the teaching
profession and it was the first to bring ministers of
education and teachers’ union leaders together at
the same table. It took place against a background
of harsh criticism of teachers, low morale in the
profession, and conflict between governments and
teachers’ unions in many countries. The Summit’s
goals were to identify the world’s best practices in
building a high-quality profession and to initiate an
ongoing dialogue about improving the status and
quality of the profession.
The 2011 Summit was convened by the U.S.
Department of Education, the OECD, and Education
International, with partnership in the United States
from the National Education Association, the
American Federation of Teachers, the Council of
Chief State School Officers, Asia Society, and the
New York public television station, WNET.
The discussions echoed the importance of taking
a comprehensive career approach to the teaching
profession. High-performing systems build their
human resource systems by putting the energy up
front in attracting, training, and supporting good
teachers, rather than on the back end of reducing
attrition and firing weak teachers. They actively
recruit into the profession students who are
academically strong, but also deeply committed
to children. They train them well and provide
ongoing professional development and career
opportunities.
In most countries, significant steps need to
be taken to substantially raise the quality and
rigor of teacher preparation programs to ensure
consistently great teachers across the system and to
give teachers the skills and knowledge that enable
them to feel prepared for the greater challenges of
education today. This should include redesigning
programs with clear standards for what graduates
should know and be able to do in each subject;
accountability on the part of teacher preparation
programs for ensuring that teachers have these
competencies; more emphasis right from the start
on guided practice in classroom settings; greater
capacity by teachers to use inquiry and problem-
solving methods and to incorporate information
and communication technology; greater facility
by teachers in using student assessment and data
to guide instruction; experiences that promote
understanding of local and global diversity; and
research and diagnostic skills to solve classroom
problems based on evidence.
Since even the best pre-service education cannot
possibly prepare teachers for all of the challenges
and changes they will meet in these rapidly
changing times, teachers also need effective
forms of professional development. Meaningful
mentoring for every new teacher, under supervision
of a master teacher, is particularly important in
helping them to become effective practitioners
and to reduce the wasteful high attrition rates
among new teachers. To retain experienced
talented teachers in schools, it will also be
important to create career paths from novice
to master teacher with consistent professional
development, appraisal, and feedback, as well
as increasing responsibility for the instructional
quality of the school.
The hopeful message from the first Summit was
that significant change is possible. Contrary to what
is often assumed, a high-quality attractive teaching
force is not due simply to a traditional cultural
respect for teachers; it is a result of deliberate
policy choices that are carefully implemented
over time. Cultural context matters, but there are
many commonalities among high-performing
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HIGH QUALITY TEACHING FOR ALL: THE 2014 INTERNATIONAL SUMMIT ON THE TEACHING PROFESSION
countries. Success requires collaboration among all
the institutions involved—governments, teachers’
unions, schools, and universities.
2012: Teaching and Leadership for the Twenty-
First Century
The 2012 Summit, which was also held in New York
City, turned to the issues of the skills and knowledge
students will need in a world that is changing at
seemingly breakneck speed. There was a palpable
sense of urgency among the delegates that the
aims and processes of education in the twenty-first
century need to be fundamentally different than
those in the twentieth. No longer are providing
basic literacy skills for the majority of students and
higher order skills for a few adequate goals. Instead,
schooling needs to develop a broader range of skills
and dispositions for every student, including critical
thinking, problem-solving, creativity, communication
and collaboration, motivation, learning how to
learn, and cross-cultural and global awareness. To
meet these new challenges will require significant
strengthening of the teaching profession—in
recruitment, preparation, and ongoing support.
A major shift appears to be taking place in education,
from a twentieth-century knowledge transmission
model to one organized around twenty-first-
century skills and learning environments. There was
a broad consensus across all of the participating
countries that this is the right direction, albeit with
significant caveats about not trivializing subject
matter knowledge or basic skills. Education
systems, however, have a long way to go in
understanding how to develop these new skills on
a wide scale, how to ensure that teachers have the
capacity to teach them, and how to create twenty-
first-century learning environments. There are
profound implications for teacher education and
professional development. Moreover, there is a
fundamental mismatch between these new, more
complex goals of schooling and how they are
currently measured in large-scale assessments.
The gap between the rhetoric of twenty-first-
century skills and the current reality is very large.
The Summit participants concluded, in particular,
that significant steps will be needed to close the
gap between what we measure and what we
value, or we risk driving education systems in the
wrong direction.
To meet these more complex goals for education
in the twenty-first century, countries are devolving
more authority to the school level. This devolution
makes very apparent the difference between
effective and ineffective leaders. A consistent
thread throughout the 2012 Summit discussions
was that high-performing systems rely on
effective leadership at the school level. They are
implementing new standards and policies to ensure
professionalized recruitment, systematic and high-
quality training experiences, and ongoing support
and appraisal of principals. In these systems, school
leaders do not focus on “bells, buildings, and buses,”
rather they focus on what matters most: supporting
the development of effective teaching, setting
school goals, measuring performance, strategically
allocating resources for teaching and learning, and
partnering with community institutions to support
the development of the whole child.
Since a single person cannot carry out all of the
leadership functions of a school, distributed or
collaborative teacher leadership models are also
necessary. They can serve both to strengthen
leadership and to create career paths for talented
teachers. There is considerable innovation around
the world in creating new standards for principals
and new models of leadership development, but
there has been relatively little research so far on
their effectiveness.
2013: Teacher Quality
The third Summit, held in Amsterdam in 2013
was hosted by Dutch Minister of Education, Jet
Bussemaker, with organizing partners OECD, EI,
the two Dutch teachers unions, AOb and CNV-O,
and the Education Cooperative. The focus was the
often controversial issue of teacher evaluation.
Why evaluate teachers? Education systems around
the world are setting ambitious goals for both
high performance and high equity. This will require
high-quality teaching for each and every student.
OECD surveys have shown that the vast majority of
teachers (83 percent) welcome informed feedback
on their teaching as a way for them to improve
their teaching and felt that the feedback they had
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EXCELLENCE, EQUITY, AND INCLUSIVENESS
received had been fair. In the countries surveyed,
however, more than one in five teachers report
never receiving any feedback from their principal
or a senior teacher; others report that there is no
recognition for superior performance; and in some
places, 95 percent of teachers receive satisfactory
ratings even where student achievement is weak.
Teacher evaluation or appraisal systems are seen
as potentially powerful engines for improving
teaching and offering new roles for outstanding
teachers. At the same time, the scale of public
investment in education and the urgent need for
improved student outcomes has led to increased
demands for accountability. Propelled by the
twin imperatives of improving teaching and
strengthening accountability, teacher appraisal
systems are the subject of increasing attention
around the world.
Despite the often contentious nature of discussions
of teacher evaluation, there are, in fact, broad
areas of agreement between governments and
teachers’ organizations. Most countries do have
teacher standards that define teaching quality.
They also have appraisal systems, although
these vary enormously in design: ranging from
informal conversations between principals and
teachers in Finland, to peer review systems as
in the Netherlands, to highly developed annual
performance management systems like in
Singapore. The definition of the role of the teacher,
the education governance structure of the country,
the existence or absence of career ladders, and the
styles of evaluation in other careers in the country
all influence the design of teacher appraisal systems
in different contexts. There is no single universal
approach, but there was general agreement that to
be meaningful, appraisals have to be in the context
of professional development, since research shows
that feedback on its own, without opportunities
for coaching and practice of new skills, does not
reliably lead to improvement. Teacher appraisal
systems also need to use multiple sources and
measures of feedback (many countries include
parent and student surveys, as well as classroom
observations; self, peer, and principal assessment;
and student test scores) to truly do justice to the
complexity of the teacher’s role, and they have to
be designed in partnership with members of the
teaching profession.
There are also areas of emphatic disagreement,
including the weight given to student test scores
or value-added measures in teacher appraisals
and the relationship of performance to rewards,
especially bonuses or merit pay (as opposed to
salary differentials that go with different career
roles). It is also difficult to balance the goals of
improvement and accountability. Poorly designed
or top-down appraisal systems can unintentionally
create a climate of fear and resistance among
teachers that inhibits creativity.
Teacher appraisal systems also require significant
attention to implementation. It is critical that
there is good training for the appraisers, whether
principals, senior teachers, or external evaluators,
so that the appraisals are clearly expert and
credible. Doing serious appraisal requires time, as
does the follow up professional development. How
the assessment of individual teachers relates to
the evaluation of schools and of broader education
policies also needs careful thought, since the
conditions for effective teaching may vary a lot
from school to school. This is still work in progress,
but the 2013 Summit had serious, honest, and
sometimes difficult conversations as leaders of
governments and teachers’ organizations explored
ways to move forward.
11
Inthedevelopedworld,skillstransformanddriveeconomies.Jobsthatrequirehigherlevelsofeducationandskillsareincreasing,whilelower-skilljobsaredeclining.Peoplewhoaresuccessfulineducationhavehigher
wages,betterhealthoutcomes,andparticipatemoreactivelyascitizens,whilethosewhoemergefromtheeducationsystemwithoutsignificantskillssufferlowerwages,higherunemployment,worsehealth,andaremorelikelytoneedassistancefromtaxpayers.Asaresultofthesetrends,thereisgrowingincomeinequalityinmanyOECDcountries.Thereareclearcoststosocietiesinnotaddressingtheproblemoflowskills,andclearbenefitstosocietiesinachievingmoreequitableoutcomesineducation.
Excellenceandequityhaveoftenbeenregardedasmutuallyexclusivegoals,butthePISA2012assessmentofmathematicsshowedthatAustralia,Canada,Estonia,Finland,HongKong,Japan,Korea,Liechtenstein,theNetherlands,andMacaocombinehigheducationalperformancewithequityineducationopportunities.OthercountriesincludingMexico,Poland,Turkey,andGermanyhavebothimprovedperformanceandincreasedtheirlevelsofequitysincethePISAassessmentsof2003.Thegapinperformancebetweenimmigrantandnon-immigrantstudentshasalsoshrunkslightly,evenwhiletheproportionofimmigrantsinOECDcountrieshasgrown.Infact,therehavebeentremendousgainsforequityinmanypartsoftheworldoverthepasttwentyyears.Studentsfromlow-incomebackgroundsarenowtakinghardercoursesinsecondaryschoolandgoingontohighereducationinnumbersthatwouldhavebeenunthinkabletwentyyearsago.However,thegapbetweentheadvantagedanddisadvantagedremainslarge.
Educationcanbeagreatequalizer;theoneforcethatcanconsistentlyovercomedifferencesinbackground.Butthisonlyholdstruewhenstudentshaveaccesstogreatteachers.Onereasonforthelargegapbetweenadvantagedandless-advan-tagedstudentsisthatdisadvantagedstudentsfrequentlydonothaveaccesstoexcellentteaching.Theproblemofattractingteachersintodisadvantagedschoolsiswidespreadaroundtheworld.Keepingteachersisequallydifficult.
EstoniaandScotland(representingtheUnitedKingdom)ledoffthispartofthediscussion.
ATTRACTING HIGH-QUALITY TEACHERS AND LEADERS TO SCHOOLS OF GREATEST NEED
12
EXCELLENCE, EQUITY, AND INCLUSIVENESS
ESTONIA
TheMinisterofEducationfromEstoniareflectedonthechangingsituationofeducationworldwideascontextforthegoalsofachievingexcellenceandequityandenhancingtheteachingprofession.Hereflectedthatifthereisbroadpublictrustintheabil-ityofacountry’seducationsystemtoperform,thenitcanmeettheever-changingneedsofsociety.Ifthereisnotthatpublictrust,thatisamajorbarriertomov-ingforward.
Asheseesit,therearefourmajorpressuresoneduca-tionsystemsaroundtheglobe.First,expectationsforeducationsystemsareconstantlygrowing,butresourcesarenot.Veryfewcountriesarelikelytogobeyondexpendituresof5-7percentofGDPforeduca-tion,soeducationsystemshavetofacetherealityofneedingtodomorewithless.Second,thesocialandeconomicenvironmentischangingmuchfasterthantheclassicaleducationsystemcanadapt,whichiscausingseveretensions.Hearguedthatweneedtoshiftfromaconceptionofeducationasprimarilyforthetransmissionofknowledgetoonethatembracestheskillsneededtoapplysuchknowledge,aswellastheneedforlifelonglearning,aperspectivethatisnotyetgenerallyaccepted.Third,theinformationsocietyfundamentallychangesthetypesofskillsthatareneeded;educationmustthereforechangetomeetthesenewdemands.Finally,informationtechnologyalsoprovidesnewplatformsforeducation.Artificialintelligence,forexample,iscreatinginteractive
learningenvironmentsthatarebeginningtocompetewithtraditionalclassrooms.
Howshouldnationaleducationsystemsberedesignedtomeetthegoalsofexcellenceandequityinvastlychangedworld?First,thegreatestresourcesinschoolsarethestu-dents,whomeducatorshaveformorethantenthousandhoursduringthecourseofcompulsoryeducation.Teachersreportthatstudentstodayarequitedifferentfrompre-viousgenerationsandPISAdatashowthatinmanycountries,studentsarenothappyorengagedinschool.TheMinisterarguedthatschoolsneedtoberedesignedaroundtheaspirationsandcuriosityofstudents.
Thesecondkeyresourceisteachersandschoolleaders,whomakelearninghappen.Justastherelationshipbetweenteachersandstudentsischanging,sodoestherela-tionshipbetweengovernmentsandschools
needtochange.Theoverregulatedandbureaucraticmodelofeducationsystems,whichdevelopedduringthetwentiethcentury,needstobeupended.Schoolsneedtobecomemoreautonomous,self-directingentities.TheMinisterofEducationfromEstoniabe-lieves,althoughheadmittedthatsomemaythinkthistooradical,thatschoolsandtheteachingprofessionaretooclosedandthatschoolsneedtobemoreopentoreallife,realproblems,andpeoplewhomaynotbeteachersfortheirwholecareer.
Third,preschooleducationisbecomingevermoreimportant.Thesocio-economicbackgroundofchil-drenisembeddedintheirpreschoolyears.Countriesthathavebroaderpreschoolservicesshowhigherstudentachievementoninternationalcomparativeassessmentsandthismaybeahighvalue-for-dollarinvestment.
SCOTLAND, UNITED KINGDOM
ThereisnosingleeducationpolicyintheUnitedKingdom.ScottisheducationisentirelydistinctfromeducationinotherpartsoftheUnitedKingdom.ResponsibilityforeducationwasexplicitlyreservedtoScotlandintheActofUnionof1707.Infact,Scotlandhasthelongesthistoryofcompulsoryedu-cationintheworld,datingbacktotheEducationActof1696thatestablishedScottishschools.Thesystemisbasedonlocalcontrol:therearethirtytwolocal
“�In�Scotland,�by�age�five,�there�are�already�major�gaps�between�the�most�and�least�advantaged�groups�in�problem-solving�(six�to�thirteen�months)�and�expressive�vocabulary�(eleven�to�eighteen�months).�Investing�in�high-quality�early�childhood�education�is�essential�to�address�inequity�early.”
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HIGH QUALITY TEACHING FOR ALL: THE 2014 INTERNATIONAL SUMMIT ON THE TEACHING PROFESSION
authoritiesresponsibleforeducationinScotlandand90percentofstudentsattendlocalcomprehensiveschools.Thesystemisstronglyrootedintheprin-ciplesofdemocraticaccountability,thebeliefthatinvestingineducationisasocietalgoodnotjustanindividualone,andisbasedonthepremiseofabilitytolearn,notabilitytopay.Thereisastrongpoliticalconsensusabouttheimportanceofeducationtothecommongood,sothereislittlechangeindirectionifthepoliticalpartiesinpowerchange.Andtheteach-ers’unionisdeeplyinvolvedinpolicydevelopmentandimplementation.Thatdoesnotmeantherearenotdisagreementsbutthepartnershipisbasedonaclearsharedvisionandthesystematicdevelopmentofconsensus.
Despitethisfirmbasisofcommonvaluesandpart-nershipinScottisheducation,thereisasignificantachievementgapinScotland,whichisrelatedtopovertyandtoruralversusurbanresidence.Scotlandistakingtwomainapproachestothis:earlyinterven-tionandinvestinginthequalityoftheeducationworkforce.ThedataonyoungchildreninScotlandarestark:Bytheageoffive,therearealreadymajorgapsbetweenthemostandleastadvantagedgroupsinproblem-solving(sixtothirteenmonths)andexpressivevocabulary(eleventoeighteenmonths).Earlychildhoodeducationhasbeenexpandedandsomeprogresshasbeenmadeinclosingthesegaps,butmuchmoreneedstobedone.
Withrespecttotheeducationworkforce,inScotlandtheproblemisnotinattractinghigh-qualityteach-ersintopoorschools,becauseScotlandhashighstandardsforentryintoteachingthroughitslong-establishedGeneralTeachingCouncil,butratherhow
tosupportteachersinpoorschoolstobeeffectivethroughprofessionallearningandotherresources.Overcomingtheeffectsofpovertyisasharedagendabetweentheministerandtheleadersoftheteachers’unions,whojointlypresentedtheScottishcase.
DISCUSSION
Countriesareinverydifferentplaceswithrespecttogettinghigh-qualityteachersinfrontoftheneedieststudents.Andtherearedifferenttypesofhigh-needstudents.Forexample,isolatedruralorindigenousstudentsmayneedadifferentapproachthanthosestudentswhoareconcentratedinhigh-povertyurbanschools,orfromthosestudentswhoareinschoolsthatcontainamixtureofadvantagedanddisadvan-tagedchildren.
Insomecountries,teachingissimplynotanattrac-tiveprofession,sopoliciesneedtogettotherootoftheproblem—thequalityofavailableteachers.InSweden,forexample,whichscoresbelowaverageoninternationalassessmentsofreading,math,andscience,teachingisnotanattractiveprofessionandthereareshortages,especiallyinmathandscience.Swedenisexperimentingwithaspecialbonusof€5,000toattractmathandscienceteachers.Ithasalsointroducedateacherregistrationsystemtoensurethequalityandsubjectmattercompetenceofteachers.Still,overallsalariesaretoolowtoat-tractpeopleintotheprofessionandtherearetoofewdifferentialsbetweenteachers.BelievingthatifSwedenistoimproveitsresults,itmuststartwiththeteachersthegovernmentawardedteachersthe
bestcollectivebargainingagreementintheSwedishlabormarketin2012.Swedenisnowalsointro-ducingaformofcareerladdersforteachers:Oneoutofsixteacherswillbeenabledtobecomea“first”teacher,withasubstantialsalarybumpof15-20percent.Schoolsindisadvantagedareaswillbeenabledtohaveanevenhigherproportionoffirstteachers.Thesereformswillbepaidforbyboththenationalandlocalgovernments.
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EXCELLENCE, EQUITY, AND INCLUSIVENESS
Inothercountries,structuralproblemsgetinthewayofequitabledistributionofhigh-qualityteachers.InGermany,forexample,youngteacherswanttoteachintheGymnasiumlevelofsecondaryschools,wherethepayisbetter,theyhavetoteachfewerlessons,andtherearebettercareerprospects.Butarelativelysmallproportionofpoororimmigrantstudentsat-tendtheGymnasium,soitisdifficulttogetthebestteacherstoteachhigh-needstudentsatthesecondarylevel.TheGermanteachers’unionfavorsthedevel-opmentofcomprehensivesecondaryschools,buttheidealacksbroadenoughpoliticalsupport.
InAlberta,Canada,theschoolswiththegreatestneedsaretheruralandremoteschools,manyofwhichserveindigenouscommunities.Theyareprovidedwithequalorgreaterresourcesthanotherschools,butthatisnotenough;tinyandremoteschoolscannotachievetheeconomiesofscaleandcannotaccesstheotherresourcesthatmoreurbanizedschoolscan.Alberta’sapproachistoopenupthesystemtofindotherresourceswithinthecommunity.Forexample,Albertaisblurringthelinesbetweensystems,allowingstudentstogetacademiccreditfromworkexperienceorfrompost-secondaryinstitutions,notjustfromschools.Itisalsorecruitingteachersfromthecommunityinfieldswheretherearesubjectmattershortages,usingfasttrackprogramstogetthesenon-traditionalteachersthepedagogicaltrainingtheyneed.
Aroundtheworld,educationsystemsusearangeofstrategies,oftenincombination,torespondtodisad-vantagedstudents:
Forexample,inadditiontoallthepoliciesSingaporehasinplacetodevelopatopnotchteachingprofes-sion,Singaporealsoassignsteacherstoschoolsandmayrotateteachersperiodicallytoensureanequalmixofexperiencedandless-experiencedteachersinneighborhoodschools.InJapan,teachersareassignedtoschoolsbytheprovincialormunicipalauthorities,althoughassignmenttoruralschoolsisoftenunpopularwithteachers.
Othersystemsdonotassignteachers,butusesalaryincentivestoattractteacherstothemostchallengingschools.“Growyourown”scholarshipsthatfocusontrainingteachersfromlow-incomeorethnicminoritycommunitiescanalsowork.Andforschoolsiniso-latedruralareas,technologycanbeausefuladjunct:Anexperiencedteacherinanotherjurisdictioncandeliverhigh-qualityinstructionelectronicallyinsubjectswherelocalteachersmaynotbeproficient.
Careerincentivescanbepowerfulwaysofattract-ingteacherstoworkinneedierschools.Shanghai,China,reportedinapreviousSummitthatteachersareexpectedtoworkinneedierschoolsortobepartofaprojecttoassistneedierschoolsaspartoftheirprogressionuptheteachercareerladder.
Forteacherstoremainandbeeffectiveinchallengingsituations,theyhavetohavebeenequippedwiththeskillsthatareneededtoidentifystrugglinglearners,understandculturaldifferences,diagnosestudentproblems,anddifferentiateinstructionbasedonstudents’needs.Manycountriesarenowworkingto
ensurethattheirteacherprofessionalstandardsandteacherpreparationprogramsprepareprospectiveteachersmoredeeplywiththeseskills.
IntheNetherlands,forexample,therearespecialprogramsatuniversitiesofappliedsciencesforthosewhoaregoingtoteachindisadvantagedareasorinvocationaleducation.Thegovernmenthasalsosetasidefundstowhichteacherscanapplyforfurthereducation.Oneofthemostpopularusesofthesefundsisforamaster’sdegreeinspecialeducationneeds.Sothefundingstreamisagovernmentpolicyinstrument,buttheneedisrecognizedbyteach-ersthemselves.Germanyisputtingnewemphasisinitsteachereducationprogramsontrainingfordifferentiatedinstructionandinterculturalcom-munication.InSingapore,thereisstrongemphasisininitialteachertrainingonpreparingteacherswiththevaluesandexpectationsthatallchildrencanlearn.AllSingaporeteachersspendtimedoingcommunityserviceaspartoftheirtrainingtoensurethattheyunderstandculturesdifferentfromtheirown.AndintheUnitedStates,urbanteacherresidencyprogramsrecruittalentedcollegegraduates,whoarepaidtoworkforayearinaninnercityschoolunderthetutelageofasuccessfulteacher,whiletakingpaired
“�The�development�of�collaborative�cultures�among�teachers�and�school�leaders�is�one�of�the�most�powerful�ways�to�improve�the�quality�of�teaching.”
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HIGH QUALITY TEACHING FOR ALL: THE 2014 INTERNATIONAL SUMMIT ON THE TEACHING PROFESSION
coursesatalocaluniversity.Theseteachers,whohavehaddeepexposuretoteachingdisadvantagedstudents,thencommittoteachinginthatcityforatleastfouryears.
Mosthigh-performingsystemsensurethatthere-sourcesavailabletodisadvantagedschoolsareequaltoorgreaterthantheresourcesprovidedtootherschools.Butresourcesalonearenotenough;theyneedtobeusedwell.
Schoolsinchallengingenvironmentsareoftenfragileinstitutions.Theytendtohavehighattritionratesamongteachers—insomeplacesupto50percentinthefirstfiveyears—andteachersintheseschoolsalsoneedongoingsupporttoincreasetheirsenseofefficacy.Suchsupportmaybemoreimportanttoteachersthansalaryincentives.Researchhasshownthatmentoringprogramsfornewteachers,inwhichanexperiencedandsuccessfulteachermentorsanewcolleagueforoneortwoyears,canbehighlyeffectiveinreducingattritionandpromotingteachers’senseofself-efficacy.Suchprogramsareuniversalinhigh-performingsystems,butspottyinothers.
Thedevelopmentofcollaborativeculturesamongteachersandleadersinschoolsisoneofthemostpowerfulwaystoimprovethequalityofteachingandthecommitmentofteacherstotheirschools.Thesynergiesthatcomefromteachersandschoollead-ersworkingtogetherinacultureofinquirytocreatemorecompellingenvironmentsforstudentsareimportantinattractingandkeepingteachersinthetoughestschools.ThroughouttheSummit,numerousexampleswerecited.TwoadjacentschoolsinapoorareaofBrooklyn,NewYork,werecontrasted.Onewasmuchmoreeffectivethantheotherbecauseithaddevelopedapowerfulcultureofcollaborationamongtheteachers.AnotherexamplecitedwasinCalifornia,wherealltheteachersinapoorschoolworkedtogethertopreparethemselvesfortheNationalBoardforProfessionalTeachingStandards(aformofadvancedcertification),aprocessthatraisedachievementintheschoolanddecreasedturnover.Someparticipantsarguedthatthefocusofpolicydiscussionsshouldbelessaboutattractingteacherstopoorschoolsandmoreaboutdevelopingteachersinpoorschools.
Participantsalsodiscussedtheroleanddesignofaccountabilitysystemsinproducingequity.Insomesystems,itisonlyteacherswhoareheldaccountable.Accountabilitysystemsthathavesevereconsequenc-esforteachersinpoorschoolscouldinadvertently
reducethelikelihoodofgoodteachersbeingwillingtoteachinsuchschools.Accountabilitysystemsinchallengingschoolsneedtobemoreformativeandlesspunitive,moreencouragingandlessdiscourag-ing.Theideashouldbetobuildacultureofprogress,usingassessmentandfeedbacktohelpeveryone,includingparentsandstudents,understandtheprogressbeingmadeandtocontinuallydriveupthequalityofteachingandlearning.
Alsointermsofsystemdesign,ratherthantalkaboutaccountabilitysystems,doweneedtotalkaboutac-countabilityforthesystem?Forexample,whodoweholdaccountableforgettinggreatteachersintotheclassroom?Whoisaccountableforhavingchildrencometoschoolreadytolearn?Whoisresponsibleforresourcesandsocialsupportstomakethesystemwork?Whoisresponsibleforformativeassess-ments?Whoisresponsibleforthequalityoftheworkenvironmentthatisconducivetolearning?Thecom-ponentsofthesystemneedtobewellarticulatedtosupportstudents,withclarityastowhoisresponsibleforeachelement.Otherwise,youcantakeatalentedteacherandputtheminadysfunctionalsystemandthesystemwinseverytime.
Participantsagreedthatimportantasitis,focusingonteacherqualityalonewillnotproduceequityined-ucationaloutcomes.Summitparticipantsdiscussedeffectivewaystoengagelow-incomeparentsintheirchildren’seducationaljourneysandtheuseofschoolsashubsofsocialandeducationalservices.Therewasalsoastrongconsensus,takenupagainlaterintheSummit,aboutthecriticalneedtoexpandandraisethequalityofearlylearningopportunitiestoaddressthedevelopmentalgapsidentifiedbyScotlandandcreateamorelevelplayingfieldatschoolentry.
Gettinghigh-qualityteacherstothemostdisadvan-tagedstudentsiscriticaltoincreasingequitableout-comes,butitisalsoacomplexandmultidimensionalundertaking.ThefactthatithasbeendonerelativelysuccessfullybyanumberofcountriesattheSummitprovidesgroundsforoptimism.Replicatingthissuc-cessinothersystems,however,isthechallenge.
Solvingthisproblemwillrequireanationalcommit-mentandacoherentstrategy.Itcannotbesolvedatthelocallevel,wheretheeffectsofdevolutionandchoicecanleadtogreatersegregationofchildrenwiththehighestneeds,furthercompoundingtheproblem.ItwastothisdiscussionofthebalancebetweennationalpolicyandlocalautonomythattheSummitthenturned.
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Inmanycountries,especiallylargeronesliketheUnitedStates,Germany,Canada,andBrazil,theeducationsystemisnottheresponsibilityofthena-tionalgovernment,butofthestate,provinceorlocalgovernments.Making
nationalprogressonexcellenceandequitythereforerequirescollaborationacrossthesejurisdictions.Butascountries,largeandsmall,areestablishingmoreambitiousnationalgoalsforeducation,theyareincreasinglydevolvingmoreauthoritytoindividualschoolstodecidehowtomeetthesegoals.Thisoccursinavarietyofways.Sometimesauthorityisdelegatedforcurriculumandassessment;othertimesforresourcesandpersonnelaswell.Sometimestheraisond’etrefordecentralizationisoneofprovidinggreaterchoicetoparentsandincreasingin-novationandcompetitionamongschools.Greaterautonomyallowsschoolstheflexibilitytotailortheirprogramstobettermeettheneedsofstudents.Ithasledtoagreatervarietyoftypesofschoolstocatertotheinterestsofstudentsandhasallowedteacherstodevisepedagogyappropriatetotheirowncircumstances.Buttheresultsintermsofstudentachievementhavebeenmixed.Dependingonthedesign,schoolchoiceschemescanleadtoincreasedsocio-economicsegregation.Andincases,wherethecapacitiesoflocalschoolsorcommunitiestomanageschoolsthemselvesarequitevaried,itcanmaintaintheunderlyingsocialin-equality.
What,then,arethekeyleversforequityinhighlydecentralizededucationsystems?Twocountriesthatareworkinghardtotackleequityinthecontextofdecentralizedsystems—NewZealandandGermany—ledoffthisdiscussion.
NEW ZEALAND
NewZealandisasmallcountrywithapproximately762,000studentsinabout2500elementaryandsecondaryschools.About1,000oftheseschoolshavelessthan100students,sothereareahighproportionofsmallschools.Therearealsoabout250,000childreninsomeformofearlychildhoodprogram,eithercenter-orhome-based.
TheNewZealandeducationsystemhasbeenhighlydecentralizedfortwentyfiveyears,withnogovernmentallayerbetweentheMinistryofEducationandthe
ACHIEVING EQUITY IN INCREASINGLY DEVOLVED EDUCATION SYSTEMS
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HIGH QUALITY TEACHING FOR ALL: THE 2014 INTERNATIONAL SUMMIT ON THE TEACHING PROFESSION
schools.Choiceisanundergirdingprincipleofedu-cationinNewZealand.Schoolsareself-governingandaregovernedbyparentswhoareelectedtoschoolboardseverythreeyears.
Inthishighlydecentralizedsystem,theleversthatexisttoproducequalityare:
• A high-quality teaching and leadership profession that is trusted by the public
• A bilingual/bicultural national curriculum framework designed around learning areas and key competencies, within which individual schools choose their own program of instruction
• An accountability system including publi-cally available school charters, annual re-ports, and a government review of schools’ aspirations and achievements every three years
• An assessment system that relies on teacher judgment and includes teacher-moderated subject-area examinations
• A single national qualifications framework that unites secondary and post-secondary credentials and provides transparent standards
• A national evaluation process for teachers, including self-review and reporting to parents
• Use of a “best evi-dence” synthesis of national and inter-national research to inform practice
• Increasing use of data to inform teachers, parents, students, and the labor market
• Clear academic and vocational pathways with funding to support students’ choices
Beyondtheselevers,therearealsonationalpublicservicetargetsforwhichtheMinistryofEducationisresponsible.Theseare:
• In 2016, 98 percent of new entrants to school will have participated in early childhood education
• In 2017, 85 percent of seventeen-year-olds will have achieved level two (minimum education qualifications) on the National Certificate of Educational Achievement (NCEA)
• In 2017, 55 percent of seventeen-year-olds will have achieved level four or above on NCEA
Toreachthesegoals,targetsarebeingsetthroughtherestofthesystemtoachievea“joineduplearnerpathway”fromearlychildhoodthroughtertiaryeducation.
CurrentchallengesinNewZealandincludetheneedtostrengthenthegovernancecapacityofsomeschoolboards,theneedforbettercareerpathsforteachers,andtheneedformechanismstopromoteconsistentqualitywithinandacrossschools.
GERMANY
IntheFederalRepublicofGermany,responsibil-ityforeducationandculturalaffairslieswiththe
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EXCELLENCE, EQUITY, AND INCLUSIVENESS
Länder,whichworktogethernationallythroughtheStandingConferenceoftheMinistersofEducationandCulturalAffairs.In2000,theresultsofthePISAassessmentshowedthatGermanywasnotashighperforminginglobaltermsasitwished,andthatthedependenceofeducationalattainmentonsocialbackgroundwashigherinGermanythaninalmostanyotherOECDcountry.This“PISAshock”wasawake-upcallandledtoawidespreadnationaldebateandanumberofimportantpolicyinitiatives.
Recognizingthatsocialbackgroundplaysanimpor-tantroleinchildren’slevelofdevelopmentwhentheystartschoolandthattheschoolsystemcannotbeexpectedtoachievesocialjusticeonitsown,theStandingConferenceofMinistersneverthelesstriedtomakearealisticappraisalofthekeycontributionsoftheeducationsystemtoincreasingequity.Intheirview,thekeyeducationpolicylevertoimprovingexcellenceandreducingtheimpactofsocialback-groundoneducationalsuccessliesinconsistentlyimprovingthequalityofteachingoverthelongterm.Inparticular,acollectiveeffortisbeingmadeintheapproximately120universitiesthattrainteachersinGermanytoensurethatnewteachersarepreparedtodealeffectivelywithheterogeneousstudentbod-iesandhavethenecessaryskillstodiagnosestudentlearningneeds.
Sinceinternationalresearchhasalsoshowntheim-portanceofuniversalhighexpectationsforstudents,theLänderalsoworkedtogethertodevelopasetofnational,butnotfederal,educationalstandardsandanaccompanyingmonitoringandreportingsystem.
Attheschoollevel,externalevaluationthroughschoolinspectionandinternalevaluationcapacitieshavebeenstrengthenedtohelpteachersandprin-cipalsunderstandtheprogressofthepupilsintheircharge,aswellasthechallengesthattheirstudentsface.Full-dayschoolinghasbeenexpandedtomorethanhalftheschoolsinGermanytocompensateforlackofsupportopportunitiesathome,andworkisbeginningonpromotingsuccessfultransitionsfromeducationtovocationaltraining.
Asaresultofthesepolicymeasuresandintensiveeffortsbyteachersandschoolleaders,the2012PISAassessmentsprovidedtangibleevidenceofimprove-ment.Thereweresignificantincreasesinperfor-mancebypoorerperformingpupilsfromlessadvan-tagedsocialgroups,especiallyinreading,andthegapwithpeersfromhighersocialgroupshasbeensubstantiallyreduced.AttendanceattheGymnasium
(academic)typeofsecondaryschoolbypupilsfrompoorerbackgroundsalsoincreasedbetween2000and2012.Acritical,butlessvisible,underlyingcon-ditionforthesuccessofthesespecificpoliciesisthebroadsocialconsensusthathasbeendevelopedontheneedtoaddressexcellenceandequity.
TangibleprogresshasbeenmadeinGermany,butthereismuchmoretobedone.Inparticular,theteachers’unions,whilerecognizingtheposi-tivetrendsandthevalueofhigherstandardsandmonitoringsystems,believethatmoresupportshouldbeprovidedtoteachers,bothpre-serviceandin-service,togivethemtheskillstobeeffectivewithmorediversestudentbodies.Theteachers’unionsalsobelievethatkindergarteniscritical,especiallyforimmigrantchildren,andthatitneedstobecomeauniversallegalright.
DISCUSSION
Participantsdiscussedsomeoftheproblemsthataccompanydecentralizationofresponsibilitytoschools.InHungary,forexample,aftertheendoftheCommunistera,everythingineducationwasdecentralizedtotheschools;schoolsemployedteachers,developedthecurriculum,andmaintainedthebuildings.Thisdidnotworkverywellandthereisnowanefforttorebalancenationalandlocalresponsibilities.Insomesystems,unregulatedchoiceandcompetitionamongschoolshasledtounintendedethnicorsocio-economicsegregation,
whichaffectsthelearningenvironmentforstudents.Inothersettings,however,controlled-choicesystemdesignsmanagetocombinethegoalsofchoiceandequity.ArecurringproblembroughtupbySummitparticipantsisthatpoorparentsoftenlackinforma-tionorotherresourcestoaccessbetterschools,andthatmoreattentionneedstobepaidtothisinde-
“�You�cannot�overestimate�the�importance�of�quality�teachers�for�excellence�and�equity.”
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HIGH QUALITY TEACHING FOR ALL: THE 2014 INTERNATIONAL SUMMIT ON THE TEACHING PROFESSION
centralizationschemes.Competitionamongschoolscanalsocausegreattensionbetweenschoolsinlocalareas,asexists,forexample,inAustralia,betweensubsidizedprivateandautonomouspublicschools.
TheNetherlandsandCanadabothreflectedonthedifficultiesofgettingtherightbalancebetweengiv-ingfreedomtoschoolstoenablepersonalization,innovation,andtheexerciseofteachers’profes-sionaljudgment,andthegovernment’sneedforaccountabilityandquality-assurancemechanisms.Thisisabalancethatnocountryisyetsatisfiedwith.Teachers’perceptionsarethat,indecentralizedsystems,governments’needforaccountabilityoftenleadstoanoverloadofpaperwork,whichcreatesenormoustimeburdensforteachersandmaynotcontributetoeffectiveimprovement.Whataretherightaccountabilitymeasures?Hasanycountrygottenthisright?Itisalsocriticaltodeveloptrustbetweenthegovernmentandteachers;noaccount-abilitysystemwillworkwithoutthat.
Themoredevolveddecisionmakingisineducationsystems,thegreaterthecapacitythatisneededattheschoollevel.Researchinmanycountrieshasshownthatstrongschoolleadership,bothbyprincipalsandteacherleaders,isessentialtosuc-cess.Variationsincapacitybetweenschoolscansignificantlyexacerbateinequity.Alsosinceagreatdealofvariationinachievementiswithinschools,itisessentialthatschoolleadersandteacherlead-ershaveaclearvisionoftheeducationaloutcomestheyaretryingtoachieve,knowhowtousedatatoidentifystudentlearningdifficulties,andknowhowtosupportteachersinworkingintentionallyand
collectivelytoaddressproblemsandmeettheschool’slearninggoals.Leadershippreparationprogramscanbeanim-portantleverforequityiftheyhelpleaderslearnhowtoachievethis.
Thereisalsosignificantvariationincapacityandperformancebetweenschoolsand,inrecentyears,therehasbeenagrowthofattentiontonetworks,clusters,andpartnershipsofschools-intentional,well-specifiedwaysofschools
workingtogether.Forexample,inspiredbypreviousSummits,Denmarkhasdevelopednationalteamsofconsultantteachers,recruitedfromschoolsandkin-dergartens,tohelpspreadbestpracticesandtrytobuildnetworksbetweenschoolsandbetweenearlychildhoodprograms.Theefforthasbeenpilotedsuc-cessfullyandisnowgoingnational.
Earlyeducationisanotherimportantleverforeq-uityandexcellence.Manycountriesareincreasingtheirinvestmentsinthisarea,somesubstantiallyso,butdecentralizationinthissectorcausessignificantqualityproblems.Differenttypesofproviders,eachwithdifferentlyqualifiedoroftenunqualifiedstaffandoftenreportingtodifferentministries,aswellasalackofconnectionbetweenearlychildhoodpro-gramsandelementaryschools,reducesthebenefitsthatmightotherwiseflowfromthisinvestment.
Theseproblemscanbeaddressed.InJanuary2014theHongKonggovernmentannounceditsintentiontoprovidefifteenyearsoffreepubliceducation,startingatthreeyearsofage.Inanticipationofthisexpansion,itbeganapilotprogramsixyearsagotoincentivizetrainingofpreschoolproviders,work-ingwithfivelocaluniversities.Today,96percentofpreschoolteachersarequalified,with32percentholdingdegrees.
Therewasalsoasubstantialdiscussionofneededsupportforequityoutsideofschoolsandearlyeducationprograms.InBrazil,whichisrampingupitslargeeducationsystemtobetterserveitsfifteenmillionstudents,fundsareprovidedtoschoolstomobilizecommunityresourcestoextendthehours
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EXCELLENCE, EQUITY, AND INCLUSIVENESS
ofschoolinginhighpovertyareasandofferawiderrangeofafter-schoolactivities.Incometransfersarealsomadeavailabletofamiliestokeepchildreninschoolwhowouldotherwisegotowork.
Japan,whichhasalsograduallydecentralizeditseducationsystemovertheyearswithinaframe-workofnationaleducationstandards,hasrecentlytakenactiononchildpovertymorebroadly.A2011OECDreport,entitled“GrowingUnequal?IncomeDistributionandPovertyinOECDCountries”3shockedJapanbyrevealingthatithadthefourthhighestpovertyrateamongOECDmembernationsandthatincomedisparitieswerebecomingmore
entrenched.TheJapaneseMinistryofEducationconductedtheirownstudyin2013ontherelation-shipbetweenfamilysocio-economicstatusandscholasticperformance,inconjunctionwiththeNationalSurveyofScholasticAptitude.Thisstudyshowedabiggapinknowledgeandperformancebasedonsocio-economicstatus.Forexample,chil-drenfromthehighestendofthesocio-economicladderscored39percenthigherthanchildrenatthelowestendonmeasuresofjuniorhighschoolmathematics.
ThesereportsofgrowinginequalitiesinJapanledtotheenactmentofananti-childpovertylaw,whichtookeffectinJanuary2014.Thecentralaimofthelawistocreateanenvironmentinwhichchildrenfrompoorfamiliescanbegivenasound
andhealthfulupbringingandtoensureequalityofeducationalopportunity,sothatachild’sfutureisnotdeterminedbytheenvironmentinwhichheorsheisraised.Thelawoutlinesacomprehensivesetofmeasurestoprovidesupporttopoorfamiliesineducation,socialwelfare,employmentandfinancialassistance,andtomonitorchildpoverty.Withintheeducationsector,theMinistrystudyalsoexaminedschoolswherestudentssucceedacademicallydespitefamilypovertyandfoundthateffectiveeffortsincludedafter-schoolacademicsupport,smallgroupguidanceinclass,andworkingwithparentstoimprovestudyathome.Moreef-fortsalongtheselineswillthereforebeundertaken.
Participantsrecognizedthatequityis“alongjourney”andthatmanyalternativeapproachesarebeingtried.InNewZealand,amajorfocushasbeenontargetingsupporttoprioritygroupssuchasMāoriorPasifika,but,someparticipantsargued,therecanbeastigmaattachedtonaminggroupsandthereissometimesmorevariationwithingroupsthanbetweenthem.Ontario,Canada,tookadifferentapproach,focusingitsmajorreformeffortssince2004onmeasurestohelpallstudentsratherthantargetingspecific,high-needgroups.
Whereshouldthefocusofequityeffortsbe?Whataretherightandwrongdriversforreform?Participantsdebatedwhetherindividuallyfocusedstrategieswereantitheticaltocollectivelyfocusedones.Forexample,dosystemsofteacherevalua-tionandrewardsbasedonindividualperformanceunderminecollaborativeculture?Orcanhumancapitalandsocialcapitalapproachesbemarried?Dosomestrategieshavebiggerpayoffthanothers?
Therearenodefinitiveanswers,butsomekeylessonsemergedabouttheleversforequityinsystemsthataredevolvingauthoritytoschools.Marketmechanismsworkonthedemandsideandcandrivedownequity.Astrongsystemprovidesanappropriatebalancebetweenlocalresponsibilityandsystemoversight.Resourcesneedtobeequitablydistributedbetweenschools.Therealsoneedstobeaseriouscommitmenttodevelopingthecapabilityofteachersandschoolleaderstoidentifyandcollectivelyrespondtoproblemsinstudentlearning.Finally,certainkeylevers,suchashighacademicstandards,mechanismstoproduceahigh-qualityteachingandleadershipprofession,a
“Across�OECD,�a�more�socio-economically�advantaged�student�scores�39�percent�higher�on�junior�high�schools�mathematics�than�a�less�advantaged�student,�the�equivalent�of�nearly�one�year�of�schooling.”
3TheOECDreport,“GrowingUnequal?:IncomeDistributionandPovertyinOECDCountries,”canbefoundathttp://www.oecd.org/els/soc/41527936.pdf.
21
HIGH QUALITY TEACHING FOR ALL: THE 2014 INTERNATIONAL SUMMIT ON THE TEACHING PROFESSION
Te Marautanga o Aotearoa
“A country of open spaces and open minds”; this
is how New Zealand represented its aspirations for
education to delegates at the fourth International
Summit on the Teaching Profession. A small
country of 4.2 million people, New Zealand is also
very diverse, with 68 percent of the population
of European origin, 15 percent Maori, 10 percent
Asian, and 7 percent Pacific Islanders. It also has
considerable numbers of international students at
the tertiary level. New Zealand invests significantly
in education (7.3 percent of GDP) and is a high-
performing country in global terms, scoring
well above the OECD average on PISA. Its early
childhood and tertiary enrollments are also above
the OECD average. However, it has a long “tail” of
low achievement among some groups, which it is
now trying to address. New Zealand’s geography
means that many of its schools are small (under
one hundred students), and the defining feature of
its education system is that most of the authority is
devolved to the school level.
The fundamental structure of modern elementary
and secondary education in New Zealand was
established in 1989, through the set of reforms
known as Tomorrow’s Schools. These reforms
decentralized authority to the school level, defined
specific roles for the national government, and led
to a greater diversity of schools—public schools,
private schools, integrated (religion-based)
schools, Maori-medium, and partnerships (charter-
like) schools in low-achieving areas. Each school
is governed by a board of parents and other
community members. Schools hire their own staff
from qualified teachers and develop their own
budget and character.
There are only two levels in the elementary
and secondary education system, the Ministry
of Education and the schools. The roles of the
national government are to develop and support
a national curriculum framework, set system-wide
national education goals, manage quality-assurance
mechanisms, set teacher requirements and
salaries, supply schools with operational funding,
and administer the New Zealand Qualifications
Framework.
One problem with this marked decentralization
is the paucity of structures for collaboration
among schools. This is now being addressed
by the Investing in Education Success Initiative,
the most important new phase in New Zealand
education in the past twenty years, currently being
designed with input from the teachers’ unions and
representatives of other sectors. This initiative,
which is informed by New Zealand’s international
benchmarking research, will create pipeline
clusters of ten to twelve schools that incorporate
early childhood, primary, secondary, and tertiary
institutions. Clusters will be led by “executive”
principals—successful principals on leave from their
own school—with a focus on raising achievement
of the cluster. Along with the clusters, career
pathways are being developed that will allow new
roles for excellent teachers without them having to
leave teaching. “Lead” teachers will be enabled to
work with other teachers in their school to improve
performance while “expert” teachers will share
expertise across schools in the cluster.4
4Formoreinformation,seewww.minedu.govt.nz/.
publicaccountabilitysystem,andpoliciestopreventextremesocio-economicsegregationofschools,needtobeheldcentrally.
The Host Country: Education in New Zealand
22
Thefirstsessionofthe2014Summitdiscussedhowtogethigh-qualityteachersandleadersintoschoolswiththegreatestneed.Thesecondsessiondebatedsystemdesign:Inincreasinglydecentralized
educationsystems,whatuniversalmechanismsareneededinordertopreventdecentralizationfromexacerbatinginequality?Thethirdsessionturnedtothemoremicrolevel:Whatkindsoflearningenvironmentswithinschoolscanpromoteexcellenceandincreaseequityofoutcomes?
SingaporeandFinland,twooftheworld’shighestperformingsystems,ledoffthispartofthediscussion
SINGAPORE
Singapore’sapproachtocreatinglearningenvironmentsthataddresstheneedsofallyoungpeopleistostartwithacommonvisionofoutcomessothateveryonepullsinthesamedirection.TheSingaporeoutcomesare:
• To develop each child to his or her full potential
• To create young people of character who embody good citizenship
• To ensure strong fundamentals in literacy, math, and science
• To develop twenty-first-century competencies to prepare students for the world of tomorrow
• To prepare students for change—a future that is volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous (“VUCA”)
HowdoesSingaporedothis?Educationisanationalpriority:Educationspendingis3percentofGDPand20percentofgovernmentexpenditure.Singapore’ssystemdiffersfromsomeoftheothersystemsattheSummitbecauseitisanationalsys-tem,butorganizationallyittriestobalancecentralizationandschoolautonomy.TheSingaporeMinistryofEducationisresponsibleforcurriculum,assessment,
CREATING LEARNING ENVIRONMENTS THAT ADDRESS THE NEEDS OF ALL CHILDREN
23
EXCELLENCE, EQUITY, AND INCLUSIVENESS–HIGH QUALITY TEACHING FOR ALL: THE 2014 INTERNATIONAL SUMMIT ON THE TEACHING PROFESSION
policy,teachertraining,andprofessionaldevelop-ment,whileindividualschoolshaveconsiderableautonomyastohowtousetheirresourcesandhowteachersteach.
Collaborationacrosstheboardiscentral.Itisessen-tialtohaveallstakeholdersonboard—fromschoolstogovernmentministriestoparentstotheNationalInstituteofEducation,whichtrainsSingapore’steachers,andemployers.Thereisaconsultationpro-cessbetweenallofthesesectors.TeachersandschoolleadersarealsopostedtotheMinistryofEducationforperiodsoftimetoensurethatschools’perspec-tivesarebroughtintopolicymaking.
Philosophically,thegoalofeducationistobringoutthebestineverychild“ineverydomainoflearning,ineveryschool,ateverystageofthelearningjourney,whateverthestartingpoint.”Evenifachilddoesnotstartwellinlife,itdoesnotmeanheorshecannotendwell.
Singaporerecognizestheimportanceofstartingearlytohelpallchildrensucceed.Preschooleduca-tionisprovidedbytheMinistryofSocialandFamilyDevelopment,whichdealswithchildcareandearlychildhoodpolicy,buttheMinistryofEducationisresponsibleforthecurriculum.Tostrengthenearlychildhoodlearning,Singaporeisnowrestructuringthissectoraroundakindergartenframework,withthegoalofcreatingasmoothlearningpathfrompre-schooltoprimaryschool.TheMinistryofEducationisalsostartingitsownkindergartens.
Theschoolcurriculumisholistic.Singaporeisknownforitsrigorousacademicsubjects,butthecurriculumalsoincludesmusic,arts,physicaleducation,andawiderangeofco-curricularactivitiestocatertoindi-vidualstudentinterestsandhelptobuildcharacterandcitizenship.Schoolsareencouragedtohavedif-ferentstrengthsandthemes,whichprovidechoicesforparentsandstudents.Allschoolsreceiveequalresourcesintermsofbuildings,informationandcommunicationstechnology,andteachingresources.
Schoolsalsoprovideextensiveacademicandsocialsupportforstudentswhoarepoororwhohavelearn-ingdifficulties.Learningsupportprograms,inwhichteachersworkregularlywithsmallgroupsofstudentssothattheydonotfallbehindinliteracyandnumera-cy,areprovidedfromthefirstyearsofprimaryschooluptosecondaryschool.Therearealsostudentcarecentersatschoolsintheafter-schoolhoursforstu-dentswithfamilyproblems.Schoolsworkwithself-
helpvoluntaryorganizations,manyfromdifferentethnicgroups,andwithotherministriestointegratesocialservices.Andschoolshavefull-timecounselorsandspecialservicesinschoolstoassistchildrenwithsocialandemotionalneeds.Financialassistanceisavailabletopoorerfamilies,sothatincomeisnotabarriertostudentswhowishtoparticipateinanyoftheschoolorafter-schoolactivities.
Noneofthesesystemelementswillworkwithouthigh-qualityteachers.Singaporehascreatedacom-prehensiveandcoherentteacher-developmentsys-tembyrecruitingstudentsfromthetop30percentoftheiracademiccohort;benchmarkingentrysalariestomarketconditionsforcollegegraduates;providingastrongteachertrainingprogramthroughaclosecollaborationbetweentheMinistryandtheNationalInstituteofEducation;providingonehundredhoursofprofessionaldevelopmentperyeartoeveryteach-er;andprovidingawell-developedsetofcareerpaths(masterteacher,curriculumspecialist,andprincipal).Allbeginningteachersreceivesystematicmentor-ingfromanexperiencedteacherandteacher-ledprofessionalnetworksinandacrossschoolsprovidemechanismsforcontinuousimprovement.
InSingapore’sview,agoodlearningenvironmentisacomprehensiveecosystem,inwhich:
• Every school is a good school
• Every teacher is a caring educator
• Every parent is a supportive partner, and
• Ultimately, every student is an engaged learner
FINLAND
Finland’sgoalistoprovideaninclusivelearningenvironmentforallchildren,onethatencouragesallstudents,regardlessoftheirbackgroundorlearningstyle,toachievetheirfullpotential.InFinland,thedesignofphysicalspaceisconsideredanimportantelementofthelearningenvironmentthatcanaffectstudents’self-esteemandparticipation.Butlearningenvironmentsarenolongerdefinedjustasschools;modernlearningenvironmentscanbephysical,so-cial,ordigital,andareincreasinglyhybrid.
Researchinthelearningscienceshasdemonstrated
24
EXCELLENCE, EQUITY, AND INCLUSIVENESS
thatlearningisahighlysocialactivity.Finnishschoolsputstudentsatthecenterasactivemem-bersofthecommunity.Everychildbuildstheirownlearningladderandgoodteacherssupportthem.
AcentralobjectiveofFinnisheducationisequalopportunity.EverystudentinFinlandhasac-cesstoahighlyqualifiedteacher,irrespectiveoftheirsocialbackground.TheteachingprofessioninFinlandishighlyselec-tive,teacherpreparationisrigorous,andteachershaveconsiderableautonomytodeterminewhatandhowtheyteach.Thesystemisbasedontrustofteachers.Finland’shighperfor-manceoninternationalcomparisonssincetheyear2000hasshownthatinvestinginqualitypaysoff.
Still,thesystemisnotperformingaswellasitcould.Pastsuccesscanbedangerous.Peopleexpectcontinuingresultswithoutinvestment.Fundingforprimaryschools,forexample,hasbeencut.
TherecentdeclineinFinland’sinternationalstandinghasledthegovernmenttostartanopenconversationwithFinnishcitizensabouteducationinthefuture.Thisdiscussion,entitled“TheFutureSchoolofFinland:ANewBeginning,”waslaunched
inFebruary2014andwillengageteachersandthepublicinabroad-rangingdiscussionofnewwaystostrengthenqualityandequity.Forexample,interna-tionalcomparisonsshowthatFinnishstudentshaverelativelyhighperformance,butdonotenjoyeduca-tion,especiallytheboys.Schoolsareexperimentingwithinnovativetoolstomakelearningfunandmo-
tivating,suchasgame-basedlearning.TheFinnishgovernmentisbuildinganewcloud-basedservicetomakelearningresourcesaccessibletoalllearners—toputsoftpressureonschoolstousemoretechnologyandequipstudentswithtwenty-first-centuryskillsandcompetencies.Schoolsneedtobepartoftoday’sdigitalworldandbenefitfullyfromitspotential.Thiswillbeachallengeforteachereducation,butultimately,technologyisjustatool;thekeywillbepedagogyandteachers.
Insummary,Finlandhasastrongeducationtradi-tion,high-qualityteachers,andaconsensusacrosspoliticalpartiesabouttheimportanceofeducation.Butitbecametoosatisfiedwiththestatusquoandnowneedstolooktothefuture.
DISCUSSION
Growingresearchineducationandinthelearningsciencesisshowingwhichpracticesinschoolsandclassroomsaredetrimentaltoexcellenceandequityandwhichprinciplesandpracticesenhancethem.Bothgraderepetitionandearlytrackinghavebeenshowntohavenegativeeffectsondisadvantagedstudents,andschoolsthatusethemshowagreaterimpactofsocio-economicstatusonschoolper-formance.Itisclearfromresearchinthelearningsciences,thatenvironmentsthataremorestudent-andlearner-centered,andpersonalizedtotakeindividualdifferencesandinterestsintoaccount,aremoreeffective.Learningisalsoaninherentlysocial
“�A�good�learning�environment�is�a�comprehensive�ecosystem.”
25
HIGH QUALITY TEACHING FOR ALL: THE 2014 INTERNATIONAL SUMMIT ON THE TEACHING PROFESSION
activityandiseffectivewhenlearnerscollaborateasanexplicitpartofthelearningenvironment.
Informationandcommunicationtechnology(ICT)canbeagreatenablerofnewlearningenvironments,wherestudentlearningisdifferentiatedandcol-laborationencouraged.Forexample,intheflippedclassroommodel,studentsreadandworkontheirownathomeandthenparticipateingroupprojectsanddiscussionintheclassroom.ICTcanalsosup-portteachersindisadvantagedschools,especiallythosethataregeographicallyremote.AnumberofsystemsincludingSingapore,Scotland,NewZealand,Australia,andEstoniahavecreatedvirtualplatforms,opentoallteachers,wherebestpracticesandtechnologytoolsarehosted.
AmajorfocusofthispartoftheSummitdiscussionwastheneedforbetterprofessionallearningandsupportopportunitiesforcurrentteachers—tohelpthemmeetthechallengesofincreasinglyhetero-geneousclassroomsandtokeepupwiththerapidchangesinsociety.Theseactivitiesgobydifferentnames—professionaldevelopment,professionallearningcommunities,andcollaborativeschoolcultures—buttheyarerecognizedbyteachersandshownbyresearchtobepowerfulmeansofimprov-ingteachereffectiveness,aswellasstudentandschoolachievement,ifproperlydesigned.Notpro-vidingenoughprofessionallearningopportunitiescandoomawell-meaningpolicytofailure,asHongKongadmittedwithrespecttoitseffortstoincludestudentswithspecialneedsinHongKongclass-rooms.Manysystemsmakelargeinvestmentsin
professionaldevelopment.YettheOECDTeachingandLearningInternationalSurveys(TALIS),aswellassmallerscalestudies,showthatteachersreportoverwhelminglythatcurrentformsofprofessionaldevelopment,primarilyshort-termworkshops,arenotuseful.
Whatkindsofprofessionallearninghelpsteachersdevelopandhasanimpactonstudentachievement?Moreeffectiveformsofprofessionallearningstartfromaclearidentificationofthelearningneedsofstudentsintheparticularschool,asderivedfromdataandassessments:theyallowteacherssufficienttimeandopportunitytointeractwithothereduca-tors;theyintegratetheoryandpracticeandencour-ageiterativeimprovement;andtheyaresponsoredbyaleaderwhosetsavisionoflearningoutcomesandmonitorswhethertheschoolismovingtowardthem.Changingpracticeishardandraisingteach-ers’expectationsofstrugglingstudentscannotbeimposed,butexpectationsdevelopasnewteachingapproachesaremasteredandstudentlearningim-
proves.AccordingtoNewZealand’s“bestevidencesynthesis”ofresearchinthisarea,thesekindsofprofessionallearningcommunitieshaveledtotwoyears’worthofgainsinliteracyandmathinoneyear.Goodlearningconditionsforstudentsandteachers,itseems,aredeeplyintertwined.
Thetraditionofteachingandresearchgroups,whichcollectivelypromotecontinuousimprovementofteach-ing,existinalloftheEastAsianculturesthatper-
“�Modern�learning�environments�can�be�physical,�social�or�digital�and�are�increasingly�hybrid.”
EXCELLENCE, EQUITY, AND INCLUSIVENESS
26
formwellonPISA.TheyhavebeentakentoahighartinShanghai,wheretheyhavebeenusedtopro-moteShanghai’sworld-beatingstandardsinmathandscienceandarenowbeingusedtomodernizepedagogyandpromotetwenty-first-centuryskills.Teacherssharetheworkoflessonpreparation;mentorandcoachyoungerteachers;collectivelyexaminestudentprogressanddiagnosestudentlearningneeds;provideregularstructuredfeedbackonclassroomteachingandlearning;andidentify,pilot,andevaluatenewapproachestoproblemsintheirschool.
Acriticalelementinmakingsuchcollaborativeculturesworkistime.AstudyofShanghaiteacherscomparedwithteachersinCalifornia,forexample,showedthatteachersinbothplacesspendaboutthesameamountoftimeonthejob,roughlyfortytwohoursperweek.ButCaliforniateachersspentmorethan70percentoftheirtimeteachingclasseswhereasteachersinShanghaispentcloserto40percentteaching,withtherestofthetimedevotedtolessonpreparation,meetingwithstudentsindividu-ally,gradinghomework,observingclasses,providingfeedbacktootherteachers,andparticipatingintheirteachingandresearchgroups.Bycontrast,arecentgovernmentsurveyofteacherworkloadinEnglandshowedthatprimaryteacherswork,onaverage,sixtyhoursperweek,secondaryteachersfiftyeighthours,andschoolleaderssixtythreehoursperweek.Muchofthistimeisspentonwhatteachersregardasbusywork.Insomeplaces,anotherbarriertothedevelopmentofsuchcollaborativeculturesisthatparentsobjecttostudentsbeingtaughtbysubstituteswhileteachersareinvolvedinprofes-sionallearning.Newdesignsfortheuseoftimeinschoolsneedtobedevelopedtoallowforeffectiveprofessionaldevelopmentwithoutlarge-scaleuseofsubstituteteachers.
NewZealand’snewreforms,announcedinearly2014,willcreatenewrolesandbettercareerpath-waysforteachersandenhancethequalityofteach-ingwithinandacrossschoolsthroughthecreationofcollaborativecultures.TheproposedchangesareinformedbyNewZealand’sinternationalbench-markingandthedesigniscurrentlyunderdiscus-sionwithNewZealand’steachers’unions.Clustersofschoolsarebeingestablishedwith“executiveprincipals”whowillfocusonraisingachievementinthecluster.“Lead”teacherswillworkwithotherteachersintheirschooltoimproveperformanceand“expert”teacherswillbeenabledtoworkacrosstheclusters.Ataskforceisalsoreviewingschoolreport-
ingrequirementstoreduceunnecessarypaperwork.
Learningenvironmentsextendbeyondschoolsandoutside-schoolsupportservicesforchildreninneedareasessentialascollaborativeenvironmentswithinschool.Theseservicescantakemanyforms.Schoolsneedtoenergeticallyreachouttofamilies,sinceengagingparentsencouragesamorepositiveattitudetowardsschoolandhasbeenshowntoreduceabsenteeismanddrop-outrates.Schoolsashubsforcommunityhealth,recreation,youth,po-lice,andotherservicescanhelptoreduceexternalbarrierstolearning.Coachingandmentoringtoraisestudents’confidenceandhopeforthefuturecanbecritical,whetherachildlivesinpovertyorhasbeenaffectedbyanaturaldisaster.Andcounselingatcriticaljuncturestohelpstudentsnavigatediffer-enteducationalpathwayshasbeenshowntoreduceschooldrop-outrates.
ThepresentationofSingapore’scomprehensiveap-proachtocreatingeffectivelearningenvironmentsforallchildrenpulledtogethermanyofthethreadsofthisdiscussionoflearningenvironments:highexpectations;high-qualityteachersforall;earlyintervention;acontinuumofsupportforstrugglingstudents;schoolculturesofcollaborativeandcon-tinuousimprovement;careerladdersandteacherleadershiproles;andeffectivelinksbetweenschools,parents,andcommunities.Allofthisisundergirdedbystrongvalues,trust,andcollaborationbetweengovernmentandteachers.
27
TThisSummit,likeitspredecessors,gatheredleadersfromaroundtheworldtotackleoneofthemostcriticalproblemsofourtime:howtoachievebothexcellenceandequityineducation.Therecanbenodoubt
abouttheseriousnessoftheissue.GrowingincomeinequalityandreducedsocialmobilityinmanyOECDcountriesthreatenthefabricofsocieties.Thekeydriversofthisgrowinginequalityarechangesinlabormarkets,thereducednumberofjobsforlow-skilledandpoorlyeducatedpeople,andthenumbersofsuchpeoplewhoareoutofwork.AcrossOECDcountries,almostoneinfivestudentsdoesnotreachthebasicminimumlevelofskillstofunctioninsociety.Theeffectsofpovertycanbemitigatedthroughsocialwelfaresystems,butineconomiesthatrelyonhighskills,theonlylong-termsolutionistoimprovetheeducationaloutcomesofdisadvantagedstudents.
Moderneconomiesalsorequirehighskillstopropeleconomicgrowthandinnovation.Nolongerareprovidingbasicliteracyskillsforthemajorityofstudentsandhigherorderskillsforafewadequategoals.Instead,schoolingneedstodevelopabroaderrangeofskillsanddispositionsforeverystudent,includingcriticalthinkingskills,problem-solving,creativity,collaboration,andlearninghowtolearn.Thechallengeofachievingexcellenceandequityisthereforeevengreater.
Excellenceandequityareoftenseenascompetingpolicypriorities.Inmanycoun-tries,thereisaverystrongrelationshipbetweenthesocio-economicbackgroundofthestudentandtheiracademicperformance.Inthesecountries,schools’policiesandpracticesdolittletomitigatetheeffectsofpoverty.Thereare,however,high-performingsystemsthatcombinehighlevelsofstudentachievementwithamoreequitabledistributionoflearningopportunities.ThiswasthehopefulnewsandthechallengetoSummitparticipants—educationsystemsneedtoraisethebarandnarrowthegapatthesametime.Itwasnotpossibletocovereveryaspectoftheproblemintwodays,andtherewereareasofconsiderabledisagreement,buttheSummitproducedanumberofbroadlysharedconclusions.
First:Itisimpossibletooverestimatetheimportanceofhigh-qualityteacherstoexcellenceandequity.PreviousSummitshadillustratedthatthehighestperform-ingsystemstakeacomprehensiveapproachtoattracting,training,andretainingtalentedpeopleintheprofession.AtthisSummit,therewasaparticularfocuson
CONCLUSIONS AND NEXT STEPS
28
EXCELLENCE, EQUITY, AND INCLUSIVENESS
theneedforteacherpreparationandprofessionaldevelopmentprogramstogiveteacherstheknowl-edgeandskillstobesuccessfulintoday’sincreasinglyheterogeneousclassrooms:theabilitytodiagnosestudentproblems,understandculturaldifferences,anddifferentiateinstructionbasedonstudentneeds.
Wheregoodteachingqualityisnotuniversal,themostvulnerablechildrenoftenhavetheleastexpe-riencedandleastexpertteachers;arecipeforpoor
results.Countriesneedtodeveloparangeofstrate-giestoattractandretainhigh-qualityteachersinthemostchallengingschools.Suchmeasureswillvarydependingonwhetherhigh-needstudentsareinre-moteruralareas,concentratedinhigh-povertyurbanschools,orareinschoolsthatcontainamixtureofadvantagedanddisadvantagedstudents.Hiringandallocationsystems,incentives,scholarshipstotrainteachersfromthelocalcommunity,andtechnologymayallhavearole.Whereschoolsareinareasofconcentratedpoverty,abroaderrangeofongoingsupportsforteachersandstudentswillbeneededtomaketheschoolsuccessfulandtohelptheschoolretainteachers.Otherwise,ifyouputahigh-qualityteacherrecruitintoanunchangedschoolenviron-ment,“thesystemwinseverytime.”
Second: Asmanyeducationsystemsmoveawayfromtop-downadministrativecontrolandtowardsgivingschoolsmoreautonomytoinnovateandmeettheneedsofstudents,therearecriticalelementsthatneedtobeinplaceinthedesignofthesystemforittopromoteequity.Forexample,resourcesneedtobedistributedequitablyamongschools,withadditionalresourcesforthoseschoolsthatservetheneediestchildren.Otherkeyleversthatneedtobeheldcen-trallyincludehighacademicstandards,mechanismstoproduceahigh-qualityteachingandleadershipprofession,someformofpublicaccountabilitysys-tem,andpoliciestopreventfurthersocio-economicsegregationbetweenschools.Aboveall,themoredecentralizedthesystem,thegreaterthecapabilitiesthatareneededattheschoollevel.Collaborativeschoolcultures,inwhichthereisaclearvisionofstudentlearningoutcomes,learningproblemsareidentifiedusingdata,andteachersandschoolleaders
worktogethertoiterativelyimprovepracticehavebeenshowntobeaneffectivewaytoincreasebothteacherandstudentlearninginschools.Anothertrendindecentralizedsystemsisthatnetworks,clusters,andpartnershipsofschoolsarealsoformingtoenablethesharingofbestpracticesandpromotemoreconsistentperformanceacrossschools,espe-ciallythosethatservetheneedieststudents.
Third:Thereisconsiderableresearchonwhatkindsoflearningenvironmentsinschoolsandclassroomscontributetoequity.Practicessuchasearlytrackingandgraderepetitiontendtoreduceequity,whileear-lyidentificationofstudentdifficultiesandprovisionofacademicandsocialsupportsthatkeepstudentsontrackincreaseequity.Researchinthelearningsciencessuggeststhatdesigninglearningenviron-mentsaroundthestudent—environmentsthatarepersonalizedtotakestudentinterestsandculturalcontextsintoaccountandthatbuildonthefactthatlearningisaninherentlysocialactivity—canpromotebothexcellenceandequity.Learningenvironmentsextendbeyondtheclassroomdoorandtheschoolday,soextendingtopoorstudentsthekindsofout-of-schoolsupportsandlearningopportunitiesthatmiddleclassstudentsreceivecancontributetostu-dentmotivationandsuccess.Learningenvironmentsarealsoincreasinglyhybrid,withtechnologyenablinggreatlyexpandedlearningtime,learningresources,andlearningstyles.Technologyhastransformedmanyindustries,buthasyettotransformeducation.Someparticipantsarguedthatmorefundamentaltechnologically-enabledtransformationoflearningenvironmentswillbeneededtoachievesocieties’ambitiousgoalsforeducation.
Fourth: Athemeacrossthewholeofthedelibera-tionswastheimportanceofearlychildhoodeduca-tionforequityandexcellence.Thedataonhowfarbehinddisadvantagedstudentsarewhentheyenterschoolisstark,andnumerousstudiesaroundtheworldhavedemonstratedthathigh-qualityearlychildhoodprogramsenhancestudents’overalldevelopmentandacademicachievement.Insomecountries,middleclassparentshaveaccesstoearlychildhoodprogramstoagreaterdegreethanpoorerparents,sotheydonotcontributesubstantiallytowardequity.Inaddition,earlychildhoodprogramsareoftenfragmentedamongdifferentproviders,havedifferentstandards,teachersofvaryingquality,andaredisconnectedfromprimaryschools.TheneedtoexpandaccesstoandstrengthenthequalityofthissectorwassuggestedasapossibletopicforafutureSummit.
“�We�need�to�raise�the�bar�and�narrow�the�gap.”
29
HIGH QUALITY TEACHING FOR ALL: THE 2014 INTERNATIONAL SUMMIT ON THE TEACHING PROFESSION
Fifth:Thechallengeofachievingexcellenceandequityonawidescalecannotbemetbyanyonepartyalone.Itisalong-termagenda,onethattranscendsgovernmentterms.Itwillbeessentialforgovern-mentsandtheeducationprofessionstoworktogeth-er.Equityneedstobetackledatmultiplelevels—fromsystemdesignandmanagement,tolocalschools,toindividualclassrooms.Environmentsthatproducehighlevelsoflearningarecomprehensiveecosystems,inwhichschoolsarecentralorganizersbutparents,acontinuumofsocialandemotionalsupportforstu-dents,andsometimeshealthandothercommunityservicesneedtobeinvolved.Tosolvetheproblemoflowperformancebylow-incomestudentswillrequirepartnerships—betweenteachers,betweenschools,andbetweenschoolsandthewidercommunity.
NEXT STEPS
Ascomplexasthechallengesare,ministersandteacherleaderstookawayimportantlessonsfortheirowncountries.Attheendofthe2014Summit,countrydelegationsidentifiedtheprioritiesthattheyintendtoworkonoverthenextyearandreportbackonatthe2015Summit.
Canada:Proposestostrengthenearlychildhooddevelopmentbyraisingthequalityofteachersintheearlyyears;promotecollaborativeculturesinschoolstostrengthenteachingandteachers;andmobilizewiderresourcestosupportlearnersandteachersbyintegratingsocialandhealthservices,exploringpart-nerships,andengagingfamiliesandcommunities.
China-Hong Kong:Proposestoprovidecompre-hensivesupportforethnicminoritystudentsineducation;tomodernizeteachingandlearningenvi-ronmentsthroughtheuseofinformationandcom-municationtechnology;andtopromotecareerandtechnicaleducationtoprovidediversityinstudents’careerdevelopment.
Denmark:Aimstore-establishdialogueandcooper-ationbetweenthegovernmentandteachers’unions.
Estonia:Proposestodevelopsystemsofprofessionaldevelopmentforteachers;createamechanismtoexchangeorrotateexperienced/excellentteacherstoensuremoreconsistencyofpracticebetweenschools;anddevelopteachers’competenciesinearlyidentificationofchildrenwithspecialneeds,includ-ingthegiftedandtalented.
Finland:PremisedonFinland’sstronginitialteachereducation,butrecognizingthatsocietyisconstantlychanging,Finlandproposestodevelopmodalitiestostrengthenteachers’lifelongdevelopmentofskillsandtoclarifywhattheschoolisresponsibleforandwhatotherinstitutionsinsocietyshouldtakerespon-sibilityfor.
Germany:Germany’sgoalistoprovideeverychildwiththenecessarysupporttoreachthehighestlevelofeducation.Inparticular,theyproposetoupgradescientifically-basedteachertrainingtogiveteacherstheknowledge,skills,andtimetoprovideindi-vidualsupporttoeverychild,andtoimproveschoolsthroughbettercollaborationbetweengovernmentandeducationunions.
Japan:Proposestomaintainthesystemthatenablestransferofteach-ersacrossprefecturestoequalizethedistributionofexperiencedteachers;tosupportboardsofeducationinimprovingquality;and,undertheChildAnti-PovertyLaw,toestablishbenchmarkstomeasurechilddevelop-ment,suchashighschoolenrollmentrates.
Netherlands:Proposestocreatealearningculturethroughform-
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EXCELLENCE, EQUITY, AND INCLUSIVENESS
ingprofessionallearningcommunitieswithinandamongschoolsandteachereducationprogramstolearnfrombestpracticesandcreatetheflexibilitytomeettheneedsofalltalents;tostimulateadaptiveeducationalpartnershipsthatwilltakeresponsibilityforlocalpupilswhoneedadditionalsupport;andtostimulatelifelonglearningopportunitiesandcareerincentivesforteachers.
New Zealand: Proposestointensifyitscommitmentto“systemshiftandlift”;toestablishasystemicapproachtoprofessionallearningcommunitiesinschools;andtomakevisiblethechild-centeredpath-wayforeachlearnerfromearlylearningtotertiaryeducation.
Poland:Proposestofocusondevelopingtheprofes-sionalcapacityofteachers;supporttheleadershiplevelofschools;andbetterincludethecommunityineducationalprocesses.
Singapore: Proposestomakechangesonmultiplelevels:Atthesystemslevel,Singaporeproposestoreviewtheteachersperformancemanagementsys-temtobemorealignedwiththeteachersprofessionaldevelopmentframework;attheteacherslevel,toenhancecapabilitybuildingthroughthedevelopmentofteacherleadermilestoneprogramsforsenior,lead,andmasterteachers;andatthestudentlevel,tocre-ateanonlinestudentlearningspacetosharebestles-sonsandmorepreciseanalysisofstudents’progresstofacilitateappropriateinterventions.
Sweden: Willcontinuetofocusonattractingandretaininghighlyqualifiedteachersandschoolleaders
byofferingincentivesandgoodworkingconditionsthatenableteacherstoconcentrateonteaching;improvetheallocationofresourcestoensurehigh-qualityteachersintheschoolswithgreatestneeds;andincreaseaccesstoteachersforchildrenwithspecialneeds.
United Kingdom (Scotland):TheScottishgovern-mentandteachers’unionswillcollaborativelydevel-optheconceptofanoutcomeagreementtodevelopameasurableprocesstoimprovetheattainmentofyoungpeopleandschools;willembedprofessionallearningflexiblyinthelivesofschools;andseektoincreasebroadergovernmentactionstosecureamorecohesivesociety.
United States of America:Willcontinuetoworktoexpandaccesstohigh-qualityearlylearningoppor-tunities;increaseconcreteopportunitiesforteacherleadershipby20percent;andsupportongoinglabor-managementcollaborationtoimplementhigheracademicstandards.
CLOSING
InherclosingremarksforEducationInternational,SusanHopgoodstressedtheneedforconcretemechanismsforcollaborationwithteachersateverylevel:atthepolicylevel,attheschoollevel,andinrelationtoexpandingearlychildhoodprogramsandcommunitynetworks.Shewelcomedthecontinuingdialogueonthefutureoftheteachingprofession.
BarbaraIschinger,DirectorforEducationandSkills,OECD,reiteratedthehighpremiummodernsocietiesputonskillsandtherapidlydeclininglifechancesofthosewhodon’tmakethegradeintheknowledge-basedeconomy.Unemploymentamongyoungpeoplehasreachedalarmingratesintoomanycountriesinthepastfewyears,hencetheurgencyofraisingboththequalityandequityofeducation.Educationneedstobe
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HIGH QUALITY TEACHING FOR ALL: THE 2014 INTERNATIONAL SUMMIT ON THE TEACHING PROFESSION
builtaroundtheneedsofthechildren,nottherulesofthesystem,andthereneedstobeabetterunderstandingandmethodologiesforteachingintoday’sdiverseclassrooms.
NewZealandMinisterofEducationandhostoftheSummit,HekiaParata,declaredthattheSummithadliveduptoitsimageasagatheringofaglobaleducationnetworktoex-plore,chart,andnavigatenewfrontiersinteachingandlearning.Participantswereunitedinacommonvisionofliftingupthemosttalentedaswellasthosewhogetleftbehind,andhaddebatedhowtoinvestwiselybasedondata.TheSummititselfhadbeenanexerciseincollaborationfromitsinception,andinhavingcountriescommittogoalsforthenexttwelvemonths,wasaspiringtobeaformofcollectiveaccountabilityaswell.
AttheendoftheSummit,JeffJohnson,ChairoftheCanadianCouncilofMinisters,offeredtohostthe2015SummitinBanff,Alberta.Hesaidthattheseinternationalsummitshavebecomeaninternationalreferencepointfordiscussionoftheteachingpro-fession.Participationextendsdomesticdialoguesabouttheteachingprofessionandpractice,enablingparticipantstolearnfrompromisingapproaches,considerthecuttingedgeofeducationalpolicy,andshareunresolvedchallenges.Canadahaswell-trainedteachersandisahigh-achievingcountryonPISA,butnomatterhowhighthestatureofteachers,nocountrycanaffordtobecomplacent.Albertahasestablishedataskforceonteachingexcellence,andteachingexcellenceisalsoatopissueforthethirteenCanadianprovincesthatmakeuptheCouncilofMinistersofEducation.Ascountriesrethinkwhatstudentsneedtoknowandbeabletodo,thisalsocompelsthemtorethinkwhatteachersneedtoknowandbeabletodo.Thetransformationofeducationforthetwenty-firstcenturyrequiresthetransforma-tionoftheteachingprofession.HelookedforwardtowelcomingministersandteacherleaderstoCanadanextyear.
Kia kaha tatou ki te whaia i te matauranga tiketike—let’sallpursuethebesteducationpossible.
This report was written by Vivien Stewart, Senior Advisor for Education at Asia Society and author of “A World-Class Education: Learning from International Models of Excellence and Innovation.”
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PARTICIPANTS
HOST COUNTRY
NEW ZEALAND
Hon Hekia ParataMinister of Education
Ms. Angela RobertsPresident, Post Primary Teachers Association
Mrs. Judith NowotarskiPresident, New Zealand Institute of Education
Mr. Tom ParsonsSecondary School Principals Association of New Zealand
OTHER HOST ORGANIZATIONS
ORGANISATION FOR ECONOMIC CO-OPERATION AND DEVELOPMENT (OECD)
Dr. Barbara IschingerDirector for Education and Skills
Mr. Andreas SchleicherDeputy Director for Education and Skills
EDUCATION INTERNATIONAL
Mr. Fred van LeeuwenGeneral Secretary
Ms. Susan HopgoodPresident
Mr. David EdwardsDeputy General Secretary
Mr. John BangsSenior Consultant
MODERATOR
Mr. Anthony MackayCEO, Centre for Strategic Education
CRITICAL FRIENDS
Prof Michael FullanUniversity of Toronto
Dr. Anthony JacksonVice President Education, Asia Society
Prof Sing Kong LeeDirector, National Institute of Education
Prof Viviane RobinsonUniversity of Auckland
Prof Linda SmithPro Vice Chancellor, Maori,University of Waikato
Ms. Vivien StewartSenior Advisor, Asia Society
Prof Tan Oon-SengDean, Teacher EducationNational Institute of Education
Prof Richard TeeseUniversity of Melbourne
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HIGH QUALITY TEACHING FOR ALL: THE 2014 INTERNATIONAL SUMMIT ON THE TEACHING PROFESSION
PARTICIPANTS
CANADA
Hon Jeff JohnsonChair, Council of Ministers
Hon Alan McIsaacMinister of Education and Child Development
Calvin FraserSecretary General, Canadian Teachers Federation
Mr. Mark RamsankarVice President, Canadian Teachers Federation
Mrs. Dianne WolschukPresident, Canadian Teachers Federation
CHINA, HONG KONG
Hon Eddie Ng Hak-kimSecretary for Education
Dr. Anne ChanPrincipal, Kwei Wah Shan College
Prof Stephen CheungPresident, Hong Kong Institute of Education
Mr. Eddie Shing Chung SheeVice President, Hong Kong Teachers Union
DENMARK
Hon Christine AntoriniMinister for Children and Education
Mr. Anders Bondo ChristensenPresident, Danish Union of Teachers
Ms. Pia Ewe JensenTeacher
Ms. Brigitte Birkvard PedersenDanish Union of Teachers
ESTONIA
Dr. Jaak AakvisooMinister for Education and Research
Ms. Kristi MikiverHead of Teacher Education
Ms. Margit TimakovPresident, Estonian Association of Teachers
Mr. Toomas KruusimagiPresident, Estonian Association of School Heads
FINLAND
Mr. Pasi PatokallioAmbassador of Finland
Mr. Olli LuukkainenPresident, OAJ
Mr. Anders RuskInternational Coordinator, OAJ
Mr. Esa SuominenSpecial Advisor to Minister
Mr. Jaako MeretniemiTeacher
GERMANY
Mr. Udo MichalikSecretary-General, Standing Conferenceof Ministers
Mr. Udo BeckmannPresident, Verband, Bildung and Erziehung
Mr. Jurgen FischerVerband Bildung and Erziehung
Mrs. Marlis TepePresident, Gewerkschaft Erziehung und Wissenschaft
JAPAN
Mr. Shinichi YamanakaDeputy Minister of Education, Sports, Science, Culture, and Technology (MEXT)
Mr. Yorihisa OhnedaSenior Specialist, MEXT
Mr. Masaki OkajimaDeputy General SecretaryJapan Teachers Union
NETHERLANDS
Dr. Jet BussemakerMinister of Education, Culture and Science
Mr. Joost Kentson President, Education Cooperative
Mrs. Helen Van Den BergChairman, Christian Teachers Union (CNV)
Mr. Walter Dresscher President, General Trade Union for Education( Aob)
INTERNATIONAL DELEGATIONS
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EXCELLENCE, EQUITY, AND INCLUSIVENESS
PARTICIPANTS
POLAND
Mrs. Ewa DudekUndersecretary of StatePolish Ministry of Education
Mr. Grzegorz MazurkiewiczJagiellonian University, Krakow
Mr. Slawomir BroniarzPresident, Polish Teachers Union(ZNP)
Ms. Dorota ObidniakInternational Coordinator ZNP
SINGAPORE
Ms. Indranee RajahSenior Minister of StateMinistry of Education (MOE)
Ms. Chua-Lim Yen ChingExecutive DirectorAcademy of Singapore Teachers
Mr. Yi Young LamDeputy Secretary MOE
Mr. Mike ThirumanPresident, Singapore Teachers Union
SWEDEN
Mr. Bertil OstbergState SecretaryMinistry of Education
Mr. Bo JanssonPresident, Swedish Teachers Union
Mrs. Sofi KlangSwedish Teachers Union
Mrs. Eva-lis SirenSwedish Teachers Union
UNITED KINGDOM (SCOTLAND)
Mr. Michael RussellSecretary for Education and Lifelong Learning
Mr. Larry FlanaganGeneral SecretaryEducational Institute of Scotland
Mr. Ian MitchellDeputy Director, Education Department
Mr. Kenneth MuirGeneral Teaching Council for Scotland
Mr. Darren NorthcoteNASUWT
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
Mr. Arne DuncanSecretary of Education
Ms. Randi WeingartenPresident, American Federation of Teachers
Mr. Dennis Van RoekelPresident, National Education Association
Mr. Chris MinnichExecutive Director, Council of Chief State School Officers
OBSERVER DELEGATIONS
Australia
Brazil
Malaysia
Mexico
Vietnam
PACIFIC ISLAND OBSERVER DELEGATIONS
Cook Islands
Niue
Samoa
Solomon Islands
Tokelau
Tonga
Vanuatu
INTERNATIONAL DELEGATIONS (Continued)
SUPPORT FOR THIS REPORT WAS PROVIDED BY
We thank MetLife Foundation for their support of the preparation and printing of this report. We would also like to thank all of the sponsors of the International Summit for their support.
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