Ulearn2020 - Keynote #4 - Professor Peter O'Connor - achievement doesn't matter

Professor Peter O’Connor is the final keynote for the Ulearn 2020 conference. He speaks on "Achievement doesn’t matter – education is to preserve democracy and build communities"

Began with a demonstration of how creativity may be expressed. Proposed that the present creativity   stifles and kills creativity. Cited Sir Ken Robinsons call for a shift in education to nurture creativity but not one single educational system has adopted his call. Also called for a re-definition of success. Success is not how much you take but how much you give – as derived from his story about his dad, who died early, but gave much. Success people find ways to share what they have gained.

The true criteria of success - how we do as a nation, and as a planet. It is not passing exams but of education as a national treasure (as per John Dewey). Democracy is under threat with the resurgence of neo-nationalistic politics drawing people. Dewey believed democracy was “made by our hands” and the importance of the arts in ‘training the imagination”. There is a need to imagine the future, before we can move towards it.

Richness is not material, but richness in appreciating and participating in music, poetry, dance – something his father helped nurture and support. The neo-liberal directive to prepare learners for the future is fraught when education should be about imagining the future.

Shared story of his mentor, Dorothy Hignetts? She did not ask if children were taught drama in NZ schools but whether children understood what mattered to them and that they mattered to others. It is not that they matter because they achieved but that they mattered for who they are.

Used an example with his work with Selina Tusitala Marsh onher book ‘mophead’. How the book was used to assist students to learn about concepts of culture through dramatizing the book. The students extended their learning to encompass their understandings of racism and how the activity had helped them unpack their biases.

If we are to reimagine schooling and education, it is important to return to the core purposes. The Arts are important as it nurtures the imagination. Loosing the Arts through the curriculum is a great tragedy. The real danger is the lost of ways to nurture the imagination.

All four keynotes have revolved around the themes of change and how this can be enacted. The call is to use the current circumstances as a catalyst to change the ways education /school is structured and organised, including the need to become more equitable, look after the learners (and teachers) and to redefine ‘success’.

Ulearn2020 - Keynote #3 - Distinguished Professor Pedro Noguera on - equity, empowerment and deeper learning.

 

This morning , the third keynote from Distinguished Professor Pedro Nogeura on equity, empowerment and deeper learning.

Proposed for education to leverage off the pandemic, as an opportunity to change. The pandemic is a form of ‘disturbance’ and we should use this, as a way to relook at what schooling is about and create an educational system for the future.

Questioned the current system – does it meet the needs of the children currently? Which children are not served and have unmet academic and social needs? Do these children belong at your schools? What barriers might be getting in the way of change?

How can our school, education and child-development systems, more individually responsive to the needs of our students? Why not construct a system that meets children where they are and gives them what they need inside and outside of school, to enable their success?

Rationalised the need to change. Schools NEED to change as they are a product of history and reflect the inequalities present in society. There are deep disparities in achievement based on socio-economic status and race. Challenged the audience to find out how deeply engaged children are at their school? How are children of colour treated?

To create the schools we need, we need to shift the paradigms. Not only changes in systems but a shift in beliefs about what is possible and needed. From measuring and sorting to developing talent. From pressure and competition to encouraging collaboration. From assessment OF to FOR learning. Content teaching to cultivation of the love of learning. Parents from consumers to stakeholders.

To pursue excellence through equity, need to understand, child development, neuroscience and context. Holistic approach to provide differentiated education. Understand the plasiticity inherent in the brain, encouraging learning when learners are engaged.

Explained the concept of the effect of race on the achievement gap as not useful. This encourages racialisation, reinforcing stereotypes and preventing the development of effective solutions.

To advance equity, educators need to find the balance between technical and adaptive work. Technical work focuses on managing operations and systems, ensuring procedures are working and employees and students comply with policy. Adaptive work indicates a focus on the dynamic and complex nature of work, work that is guided by a long-term vision and an awareness that ongoing work  required to achieve goals in a constantly changing environment.

Unfortunately, technical and logistical changes dominate the conversations, for example about how to keep schools open through the pandemic.

In the current pandemic context, key adaptive questions include how to better support student mental health? How can gaps in learning, unmotivated students, frightened adults? Are teachers prepared to address the heightened awareness about racial prejudice? How will the sense of community be build? How do we better support students as they learn from home?

Five essentials ingredients for school improvement include coherent instructional guidance system; ongoing professional development for teachers; strong parent-community-school ties; a student centred learning environment; and shared leadership to drive change (Bryke et al., 2010).

Provided guidelines to help make schools ‘race neutral’ as aligned to the above five essentials.

Encouraged the need to reflection on what occurred across pandemic on ‘school opening’. Evaluate and build school community first before moving forward.

Shared the visual definitions of equality, equity and how they are perceived. Eliminating barriers is a key. Barriers include complacency, racial bias, teaching and learning as disconnected, punitive mindset, unequal access to external support and ignoring the need to compensate for the effects of inequality outside of school.

Need to shift, post pandemic, to better ways of support all learners. 

Ulearn 2020 - keynote #2 - Dr. Lucy Hone - what do we need to learn for lifelong success?

 

Dr. Lucy Hone  on 'What do we need to learn for lifelong success? Lessons from life science and living'.

Began with an overview and rationale for how she has become enmeshed into exploring the question ‘what does it mean to live a flourishing life?’. Resilience became a focus when she moved from the UK to the US of A  where the studies on resilience first began. Today’s presentation is on strategies usable in the classroom to help build resilience with students. Her PhD based on research undertaken after the Christchurch earthquakes to help schools, teachers and students cope with the stresses of natural disaster. Her personal story also included her daughter’s death in a car accident. She drew on her training on resilience so see a way through. Resilience can be learnt and is important to ‘flourishing life’ and coping with tough times.

Shared youth mental health report (2019) which has been done in 2001, 2007, 2012. Maori and Pacifica have higher incidences of mental unwellness and attempted suicide – 30% plus when compared to others at just over 20%. Perhaps due to the ‘mollycoddying’ of children, who have not had to deal with challenges – the ‘fragile thoroughbred’. NZ tertiary students’ survey review over 50% of students have anxiety about their studies, worry about getting a job, have financial stress and feel sad.

Covered ‘how can teachers help students learn to be – to succeed in ways that matter to them?’. We are not doing a good job on drawing out what actually matters to our young people. Shared recent research – Kia re Rangatira - ‘to stand like the chief I was born to be’: Living succeeding and thriving in education (Webber, 2018-2022). It’s a teacher’s role to recognise the mana students bring with them. Recommended drawing on Gardner’s multipleintelligences and to use appreciative inquiry (Cooperrider) to bring ‘well-being’ into school practices and strategies. Appreciative inquiry provides a pathway forward, building upon strengths, imagine what could be, and take small steps towards the goal. Detailed the processes of appreciative inquiry – appreciate, inquire, and act (Klein, 2005).

Five principles underpinning principles of appreciative inquiry – constructionist, simultaneity, poetic, anticipatory and positive were explained. Used the ‘how can we have mana increasing discussions with our students’ as the context to example each of the principles. These generally encourage valuing of strengths and the positives. Accentuating these help provide optimistic direction and help young people nurture positive emotions. Summarised the principles as – words make words, questions create change, focus on strengths, foster hope and value positive emotions. Challenged the audience to begin the journey with addressing one item at their school and with their students.

Ulearn 2020 - Keynote #1 -Janelle Riki-Waaka on redefining success for all learners

 Ulearn, the elearning conference for the schools sector in NZ, is now an online conference for this year. Since there have been a paucity of relevant conferences due to the pandemic, many of our team are attending this conference this year. Due to other work commitments, I will be viewing keynotes (2 today and 2 tomorrow) over the next few days and then thrawl through the other presentations at a later date for relevant presentations.

Janelle Riki-Waaka

Offered the opportunity to re-imagine learning and also the associated outcome of success. Encouraged teachers to hope on the ‘waka’ which aligned with their objectives. Everyone in the waka needs to paddle in the same direction and therefore aspirations of all in the waka needs to be the same.

How do we define success? Not one definition of success works for all learners so it is important to work out what success means. Queried whose voice is missing from the conversation? Need to ensure we have all, who are impacted on, to provide their perspectives. Will learning has designed contribute to learners’ aspirations. How can we discover the unknown potential in our learners? Education is to help learners find out about what they are good at, their passion and attributes. Need to remove the F word (failure) – as failure is not just something borne by the learner. Important to not only teach the engaged but also re-engage those who are unsure about their educational purpose. Shared her experiences at school and compared to those of her son twenty plus years later. Onus still put on learners to be responsible for their learning but not all have the social capital or support to ‘succeed’. Important to look at the overall system and to gauge the ways individual learners and their supporters view success. The current emphasis on ‘school-based’ definitions of success needs to be re-negotiated. Some of the traits of independent thinking and assertiveness, are not necessarily supported at school. Instead, the predominant cultural viewpoint is sustained, leading to dis-engagement but those whose ideals do not match. Challenged teachers to reimagine success in a uniquely Aotearoa way. Quoted Ta Aparina Ngata’s call to not look to the past but to innovate into the future. Assimilation into the dominant culture, as the current school objective has not worked. Surveyed Maori and non-Maori adults as to what they considered was important at school. All value reading the most and Maori’s valued digital literacies above others. With skills, communications was highest. Problem solving, critical thinking, creativity also slightly higher valued by Maori. Attributes had kindness and respect being high valued. History and cultural awareness /heritage, valued higher by non-Maori. Overall, attributes were most valued followed by skills, than cultural awareness and then literacies.

Proposed the use of personalised criteria to measure success – based on attributes, skills, cultural values ad literacies. Grades may not always be appropriate. How do we grade an attribute – since it shifts with context, development and motivation. How do we grade being brave, able, bold?  A scaled approach to  show progress more informative and formative. Success needs to be defined by learners, not the system. Failure replaced by potential and passion!