Unreliable Studies and Reports on International Education.
There are contending views on the problem of whether or not we should learn from other countries' educational experiences.
For example, while Martin Carnoy discusses that the domestic educational comparison in the US is relevant rather than the international one, Marc Tucker and others argue that American schools could learn from other countries on teachers' professional development.
Learning from others is a good thing in general, but as far as education is concerned, it is NOT advisable to learn from other countries' experience because the studies and reports on international education are mostly misleading and unreliable. This time I would like to illustrate how we are misled.
Education is Usually in Conflict in Each Country
When we read a report on different country's education, we tend to assume that the education policy or teaching method in the report has been adopted unanimously and carried out in a unified voice in that country.
The truth is, however, that education is usually in conflict in each country. Thus there are objections or countermovements to the reported policies or methods.
For example, we can find the educational conflicts in the world as follows:
* The UK: Anti-grammar School Argument VS. Pro-grammar School Argument
* The US: Traditional Public Education VS. Charter Schools, TFA, The 74, etc.
* Finland: Public Education VS. Domestic Objections (and harsh reality)* Asia: Public Education VS. Shadow Education
Illustrating Deceptive Environment of the International Education Studies
However, the school educators' community is uninterested in this kind of reality. So are the global educators and reporters who are the main source of the studies and reports on international education.
In fact, the left sides of the above conflicts are frequently covered and highlighted, while the other sides are played down or ignored completely. This is how the most articles on international education have been one-sided and misleading.
This deceptive environment, which is the hotbed of unreliable studies and reports, can be illustrated as below (Blue-colored is the coverage of international education studies and reports):
As far as this environment continues, it is NOT advisable to learn from other countries' education.
Lamentable is that some international organizations such as the OECD, the World Economic Forum, etc. are functioning to promote this hotbed of misleading education reports.
I hope they will break away from this deceptive environment.
Further Readings:
The Finnish Embassy in Japan is Warning against the Fake News about Finnish Education
http://jukuyobiko.blogspot.jp/2016/12/the-finnish-embassy-in-japan-is.html
http://jukuyobiko.blogspot.jp/
My summary would be that education "research" is usually garbage. Although peer-reviewed, the reviewers are deeply invested in the myth of the moment, not objective assessment. One area where US education does need to emulate what other countries do is select for subject matter competence in the areas being certified. Ed classes are worthless but are required because of the belief that a good teacher can teach anything. I prefer the old bromide: You can't teach what you don't know.
ReplyDeleteYou can be a master in your subject matter and still do not know how to teach the subject. You cannot teach what you know, if you do not know how to teach. Subject mastery is important but is not primary over instructional methodologies, classroom management, and curriculum planning. Have you not sat in a class where the professor is a master in his or her field but cannot relay the information and concept in an comprehensible and manageable instruction and facilitation? Public educators can have various degrees and multiple publications on a given subject but still be incompetent in teaching that subject.
DeleteI firmly believe the only effective model for designing an education system is a workforce needs analysis and working backwards from there. And that should include a forward-thinking strategy for national labor that is reviewed every 10 years at least and adjusted.
DeleteAnd how does this help us in anyway? I'm not sure if I understand the point of the post. It's merely to say that we shouldn't learn from other countries? Opinion of who, based on what?
ReplyDeleteWhen you learn from other countries experiences, it doens't mean that you will copy, letter by letter, word by word what is being done, exactly because you are in a different country. The fact that you can learn from it, doesn't mean that you have to do exactly in the same way they are doing.
You can adapt their solutions to your country, your reality, your economy, your social status and so on and so on.
And how does this help us in anyway? I'm not sure if I understand the point of the post. It's merely to say that we shouldn't learn from other countries? Opinion of who, based on what?
When you learn from other countries experiences, it doens't mean that you will copy, letter by letter, word by word what is being done, exactly because you are in a different country. The fact that you can learn from it, doesn't mean that you have to do exactly in the same way they are doing.
You can adapt their solutions to your country, your reality, your economy, your social reality and so on and so on.
What you are trying to express is that the fact that education is very hard to be a theme where there is consensus, the experiences, policies, procedures, experiments and the lessons learned, cannot be transferred to another place (country) because in the original place where they were applied, they were contested and not supported. Couldn't disagree more.
Lúcia, perhaps, you should read the topics (for example,Shadow Education).
ReplyDelete