In Part 1 of the miniseries released today, Professor Masters and teacher Editor Joe Earp finds that five high-performing school systems in British Columbia, Estonia, Finland, Hong Kong, and South Korea are better preparing young people for the future and ensuring that all students learn. We will talk about how we are responding to two common challenges:
In the podcast, Professor Masters said that despite the excellent results of research such as the OECD International Student Assessment Program, these systems “are not fulfilling their role in providing young people with the best possible preparation for university.” I believe there isn't,” he said. future.
“They also know that many young people, even in these high-performing systems, are left behind in learning and fail to achieve the outcomes they need to function effectively in life after school. We also recognize that we have not.'
Professor Masters' latest book, Building a world-class learning system: Insights from some top-performing school systems, This is the result of a multi-year study commissioned by the National Center for Economics of Education. The study found that all five of these school systems have been on a trajectory of reform, in most cases for decades, and continue to do so today.
“They all recognize that if we are to transform teaching and learning in schools to meet the challenges we currently face, we need to transform the structures within which schools function. That's not necessarily recognized around the world,” Professor Masters said.
“Many countries are undertaking reforms, but these reforms are often just tweaks to the status quo, minor modifications to existing arrangements, and not fundamental reforms. , look to teachers to solve the problem and conclude that the problem must lie in the quality of the teachers, the type of teaching methods used.”
Professor Masters said: teacher These five systems are transforming the curriculum to better prioritize and integrate skills, abilities, and personal attributes with subject learning. We also focus on developing students' deeper understanding and the ability to transfer and apply that understanding to unseen situations.
“They are all looking at ways to reform their curriculum to a more holistic approach, one that focuses on the whole student rather than narrow memorization and reproduction. And in addition to that, making sure that all students We're also looking at ways to make the curriculum more flexible so that students can learn in different ways,” Professor Masters said.
“All of this impacts how learning itself is conceptualized, assessed and reported. So they're all focused on these big challenges.”
ACER has embarked on an ambitious journey to redefine learning and transform learning systems so that everyone can succeed. Evidence-based mapping of learning progress over time is helping transform curriculum, instruction, assessment, and teacher education.
We work with national and international partners, such as the Emirates Schools Establishment, to develop policies that transform learning systems so that all learners can progress and achieve high standards.
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Listen to the entire podcast or read the transcript. teacher magazine.