The ERIKA Project to explore Ukrainian scholars’ digital mastery

The ERIKA Project to explore Ukrainian scholars’ digital mastery

In the ever-evolving landscape of academia, the intersection of the digital realm with traditional research methodologies underscores the pressing need for scholars to embrace evolving competencies. This blog post navigates the digital horizon, emphasizing the imperative integration of open science principles, data literacy, and research competencies for researchers to thrive in the dynamic academic ecosystem. Focusing on the insights gleaned from the 2022-2023Enhancing Empirical Academic Research in Ukraine (ERIKA) project, this exploration sheds light on a critical digital skills gap among Ukrainian academics.

The need for digital competency among researchers

As society transitions into an era where data shapes an intangible reality, the transformative role of science and innovation becomes evident (Lagoudakis et al., 2022; Tavares et al., 2022). Acknowledging that the very entities driving digital transformations must undergo significant changes (Ayris et al., 2018; European Commission, 2020a, 2020b), the expert community underscores the core competencies of a modern “Digital Scholar,” including Open Science practices, adherence to FAIR principles, and proficiency in data management (Van Petegem et al., 2021; Weller, 2018).

International studies further reveal a global lack of digital competencies among researchers, emphasizing the need for enhanced professional training programs and continuous education to meet the demands of the digital age (Cabero-Almenara et al., 2021; Dias-Trindade & Albuquerque, 2022; EU DGRI, 2017, 2020; Suyo-Vega et al., 2022; EU DGRI & EOSC EB, 2021).

Regrettably, the situation in Ukraine mirrors this global trend. Compared to many other countries, comprehensive studies assessing the digital competencies of researchers in Ukraine are notably limited (Hladchenko et al., 2018; Hladchenko, 2022). The absence of such research poses a significant challenge, as it inhibits our ability to identify specific areas of weakness and design targeted interventions to uplift the digital skills of Ukrainian academics.

The ERIKA project

The ERIKA project, conducted in 2023, provides a noteworthy snapshot of the digital competencies among Ukrainian scholars. This initiative, supported by the Ukrainian Educational Research Association and the European Educational Research Association, aimed to enhance empirical academic research capabilities in Ukraine.

The ERIKA project engaged over 50 participants from 13 Ukrainian regions, representing 29 higher education institutions. The participants, ranging from senior lecturers to professors, covered diverse disciplines and career levels, providing a comprehensive view of the academic landscape.

 The training sessions, held in March and October 2023, facilitated in-depth discussions and insights into the digital competencies of Ukrainian academics. The multifaceted and nuanced responses of participants shed light on the challenges and opportunities within the country’s academic community.

The competency gap revealed by the ERIKA survey

It was found that 80% of surveyed respondents demonstrated only superficial awareness of open science principles. A further 40% needed to be made aware of the FAIR guidelines, underlining the urgent need for initiatives that promote open science literacy.

In a world dominated by vast datasets and interconnected information, only 19% of Ukrainian academics exhibited proficiency in working with common data file formats like CSV and JSON. The need for more understanding regarding metadata, reported by 71% of respondents, raises concerns about the effectiveness of data-sharing practices.

A significant gap exists in the awareness of available national open data resources, hindering the potential for impactful research studies that utilise real-world data. This knowledge gap is detrimental to the nation’s academic community, limiting their ability to engage in cutting-edge research.

The survey uncovered deficiencies in basic research skills, such as crafting focused search queries, applying Boolean operators, and locating relevant datasets. These fundamental skills are the building blocks of impactful, evidence-based research.

While most respondents demonstrated awareness of the risks associated with predatory publishing, only 15% could independently assign Digital Object Identifiers (DOIs) to enhance the discoverability of their research outputs. This finding is concerning, especially considering the increasing requirement for DOIs in academic publishing after 2022 (due to National regulations).

The survey revealed a need for more utilisation of reference management tools, with 63% of respondents admitting to never using platforms like Zotero, Mendeley, and EndNote. Additionally, 71% had minimal legal and ethical understanding regarding use of personal data in research studies.

 Encouragingly, despite these challenges, nearly half of the surveyed researchers who had yet to gain prior grant application experience expressed eagerness to build expertise in this area. This enthusiasm bodes well for the future, as acquiring grant-writing skills opens avenues for accessing national and international funding opportunities.

The development of a training program on data skills for academics

The ERIKA project highlights the pressing need for tailored programs to build digital competencies among Ukrainian academics. Bridging the identified gaps in open science, data handling, and research fundamentals is crucial to unlocking the nation’s scientific potential and integrating it into the global and European research ecosystem. In this context, the importance and urgency of creating well-designed professional training programs at educational institutions is evident, and a more centralized approach under the Ministry of Education and Science Leadership could be the best choice.

The “ERIKA” case is a successful example of a professional training program. The final assessment results demonstrated that the topics proposed in the “ERIKA” course (Koblianska & Kostetska, 2023), their content, and the training organization help address the outlined problems and improve researchers’ competencies.

 The project entails developing and teaching an integrated educational course with two modules:

1) “Data Collection for Academic Research” (3 ECTS)

2) “Academic Research in EU Countries: Institutional, Organizational and Motivational Dimensions” (3 ECTS)

The first module covers open science principles and its role in modern research; data collection, analysis, and management in academic research, including legal and ethical components; skills for finding scientific information and formulating search queries; and practical data work aspects.

The second module examines organizing academic research in EU countries, particularly the scientific personnel training system, graduate and doctoral program structures, establishing academic communication, publishing research results, review procedures, and motivational factors affecting researcher productivity. The “ERIKA” experience could be scalable.

Conclusion

As we navigate the increasingly digital and data-intensive academic world, sustained monitoring and responsive training programs are pivotal for ensuring researchers’ success in Ukraine. The collaboration between the Ukrainian Educational Research Association and the European Educational Research Association exemplifies the importance of such initiatives in enhancing research capabilities and quality. By addressing the digital skills gap, Ukraine can position itself as a formidable force in the global academic arena, contributing substantively to advancing knowledge and innovation. Bridging the digital divide is not just a necessity; it is a pathway to unlocking the full potential of Ukrainian scholarship on the world stage.

The post image was generated via Dream Studio AI

Key Messages

  • Digital Competency Urgency. In the evolving landscape of academia, there is a pressing need for scholars to embrace evolving digital competencies, emphasizing the integral role of skills like open science principles and data literacy.
  • Global Digital Competency Trends. International studies reveal a pervasive lack of digital competencies among researchers globally, sparking discussions on the necessity of enhanced professional training programs and continuous education.
  • Ukraine’s Digital Skills Gap. We shed light on the concerning trend in Ukraine, mirroring the global situation, where comprehensive studies assessing the digital competencies of researchers are notably limited, posing a significant challenge.
  • ERIKA Project Results. The ERIKA project in 2023 provides a snapshot of digital competencies among Ukrainian scholars, engaging participants from diverse disciplines and career levels, offering insights into challenges and opportunities within the academic community.
  • Survey Insights and Concerns. Surprising survey findings indicate gaps in open science principles awareness, proficiency in working with data file formats, and deficiencies in basic research skills, emphasizing the need for tailored programs.
  • Call to Action. The need for tailored programs to bridge identified gaps in open science, data handling, and research fundamentals, is urgent, positioning Ukraine as a formidable force in the global academic arena.
Dr Inna Koblianska

Dr Inna Koblianska

Associate Professor of the Department of Economics, Entrepreneurship, and Business Administration of Sumy State University

Dr Koblianska is an Associate Professor of the Department of Economics, Entrepreneurship, and Business Administration of Sumy State University. Her scientific interests include sustainable development, regional development, spatial economy, and logistics management. She is the laureate of the award of the President of Ukraine for young scientists (2019).

She is ERIKA Project Executor, responsible for the development and teaching of the Data Collection for Academic Research module.

Internship: Sustainable Farming Assessment (2017, Bern University of Applied Sciences); School of Agricultural Economics (IAMO, Halle (Saale), 2019); Educational training session on data collection (Statistics Germany and University of Applied Sciences Weinstein-Triesdorf, 2019); DAAD projects (University of Applied Sciences Weienstefan-Triesdorf, 2018-2022); Applied econometric analysis using R (German-Ukrainian Agricultural Policy Dialogue and IAMO, 2021).

She is the author of numerous scientific works.

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7844-9786 https://econ.biem.sumdu.edu.ua/en/inna-koblianska

Dr Iryna Kostetska

Dr Iryna Kostetska

Senior Lecturer, Department of Economic Theory, Management and Marketing, National University of Ostroh Academy

Dr Kostetska is a Senior Lecturer at the Department of Economic Theory, Management and Marketing, National University of Ostroh Academy. Her scientific interests include business planning in agricultural enterprises and strategic planning of the development of rural areas.

She is ERIKA’s project manager, responsible for the development and teaching of the educational module Academic research in EU: institutional, organizational and motivational dimensions.

Internship under the programs of the French Agricultural Institute (SevrEurope de Bressuire, l’IREO de Bressuire, France 2009, 2010), the Polish-American Freedom Foundation (Lane Kirkland Program, Poland 2018-2019), the Polish UNESCO Committee (Poland 2019), the Visegrad Foundation (2021-2022). She worked on economic and regional development projects with the support of USAID, the British Council in Ukraine, and the Czech Republic.

She is the author of numerous scientific works.

https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5340-0145

Other blog posts on similar topics:

References and Further Reading

Ayris, P., Lopez de San Roman, A., Maes, K., & Labastida, I. (2018). Open Science and its role in universities: A roadmap for cultural change. LERU. https://www.leru.org/publications/open-science-and-its-role-in-universities-a-roadmap-for-cultural-change (access date: 10.09.2023)

Cabero-Almenara, J., Guillén-Gámez, F. D., Ruiz-Palmero, J., & Palacios-Rodríguez, A. (2021). Digital competence of higher education professor according to DigCompEdu. Statistical research methods with ANOVA between fields of knowledge in different age ranges. Education and Information Technologies, 26(4), 4691–4708. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10639-021-10476-5

Dias-Trindade, S., & Albuquerque, C. (2022). University Teachers’ Digital Competence: A Case Study from Portugal. Social Sciences, 11(10), 481. https://doi.org/10.3390/socsci11100481

EU DGRI & EOSC EB. (2021). Digital skills for FAIR and Open Science: Report from the EOSC Executive Board Skills and Training Working Group. European Commission. Directorate General for Research and Innovation. EOSC Executive Board. Publications Office. https://data.europa.eu/doi/10.2777/59065

EU DGRI. (2020). Country sheets analysis: Report from the EOSC Executive Board Working Group (WG) Landscape. Directorate-General for Research and Innovation (European Commission). Publications Office of the European Union. https://data.europa.eu/doi/10.2777/568900

EU DGRI. (2017). Providing researchers with the skills and competencies they need to practise Open Science.European Commission. Directorate General for Research and Innovation. Publications Office. https://data.europa.eu/doi/10.2777/121253

European Comission. (2020a). Digital Education Action Plan (2021-2027). European Education Area. https://education.ec.europa.eu/node/1518 (access date: 10.09.2023)

European Comission. (2020b). Research and innovation strategy 2020-2024. https://research-and-innovation.ec.europa.eu/strategy/strategy-2020-2024_en (access date: 10.09.2023)

Hladchenko, M. (2022). Implications of Publication Requirements for the Research Output of Ukrainian Academics in Scopus in 1999–2019. Journal of Data and Information Science, 7(3), 71–93. https://doi.org/10.2478/jdis-2022-0016

Hladchenko, M., Dobbins, M., &Jungblut, J. (2018). Exploring Change and Stability in Ukrainian Higher Education and Research: A Historical Analysis Through Multiple Critical Junctures. Higher Education Policy, 33. https://doi.org/10.1057/s41307-018-0105-9

Lagoudakis, M. G., Gkizeli, M., Fotiou, A., Fragkedaki, D., &Kollnig, S. (2022). Teaching and Research in the Digital World. BHM Berg- Und HüttenmännischeMonatshefte, 167(10), 489–494. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00501-022-01283-7

Koblianska I., Kostetska I. (2023). Enhancing Empirical Academic Research in Ukraine: training materials. Zenodo. 124 p. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.7817137

Suyo-Vega, J. A., Meneses-La-Riva, M. E., Fernández-Bedoya, V. H., Ocupa-Cabrera, H. G., Alvarado-Suyo, S. A., da Costa Polonia, A., Miotto, A. I., & Gago-Chávez, J. de J. S. (2022). University teachers’ self-perception of digital research competencies. A qualitative study conducted in Peru. Frontiers in Education, 7. https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/feduc.2022.1004967 (access date: 10.09.2023)

Tavares, M. C., Azevedo, G., & Marques, R. P. (2022). The Challenges and Opportunities of Era 5.0 for a More Humanistic and Sustainable Society—A Literature Review. Societies, 12(6), Article 6. https://doi.org/10.3390/soc12060149

Van Petegem, W., Bosman, J., De Klerk, M., & Strydom, S. (2021). Evolving as a Digital Scholar: Teaching and Researching in a Digital World. Leuven University Press. https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctv20zbkk0

Weller, M. (2018). The Digital Scholar Revisited: The Digital Scholar: Philosopher’s Lab, 1(2), 52–71. https://doi.org/10.5840/dspl20181218

The importance of diversity training for educators in predominately white places

The importance of diversity training for educators in predominately white places

The state of future education as a discipline will be possibly influenced by the importance it places on a conceptual, curricular, and pedagogical need to shift the emphasis toward transformative classrooms working for positive change through cultural diversity (Banks, 2020). Awareness of issues around race equality, inclusive growth, and community cohesion has heightened following George Floyd’s killing in the USA in 2020, and the Black Lives Matter Movement. This increasing awareness is particularly pertinent in Britain in areas of historically low ethnic diversity which have lately experienced a rise in ethnic minority populations, and where inclusive growth is a challenge.

The Research

My research explores the understanding and experiences of multiculturalism of students, parents and educators in four mainstream primary schools situated in the predominantly White South-West England. I adopted a qualitative case study methodology framed by a sociocultural theoretical framework (Vygotsky, 1978). Data were collected through semi-structured interviews with adult participants, observation of students’ classroom activities, and documentary analysis of classroom and corridor displays.

The interviews had questions around books and topics reflecting multiculturalism. In the height of COVID-19, the classroom and corridor displays were photographed to see whether the school ethos and atmosphere reflect multiculturalism.

Background – Diversity, Curriculum and Education Inspectorate

Although 33.5% of the school population includes ethnically diverse children, out of 6478 children’s books published in Britain in 2019, 10.5% featured characters belonging to Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic communities; of these, only 5% had a main character who belonged to the communities mentioned (Wood, 2019). The education inspectorate, Office for Standards in Education, Children’s Services and Skills or in short, Ofsted (2019:11,12) is vocal about ensuring “inclusive education and training to all”, and extending the Curriculum beyond the academic and technical domains for students’ broader development, and creation of understanding, and appreciation of cultural diversity. However, race equality and community cohesion, which could help in the students’ broader development, do not constitute Ofsted’s school inspection criteria (Rhamie, 2014).  

Findings

My research findings suggest participants’ eagerness for more ethnically diverse content incorporated in teaching and learning. However, schools are considerably dependent on, and somewhat confined by, the knowledge-focused Primary National Curriculum in England for which efforts towards a multicultural reflection are less noticeable. The absence of culturally diverse content in the school Curriculum highlighted by the 1985 Swann Report and the 2007 Ajegbo Report makes England’s primary National Curriculum look like a “Brexit policy three decades before Brexit”  (Moncrieffe et al., 2020:20). The situation emphasizes the need to start afresh. The starting point may be to get thinking and acting while doing Curriculum making (Priestley et al., 2021). This is because Curriculum thinking  is at the heart of education practice today (Poutney and Yang, 2021).

Implications – Curriculum thinking and teacher training

The educators as Curriculum framers play a significant part in Curriculum thinking and delivery where the task design is crucial, and where the educators can place equal importance on the interwoven elements of “how”, “what” and “why” the task is taught (Moncrieffe et al., 2020:16-17). The educators need to build confidence in encouraging difficult conversations around racism, fear, indifference, and ignorance breaking the stereotypical barriers. This would help equip the students with the necessary creative skills so that they learn, grow and foster as responsible citizens in this changing complex world (Deng, 2022) with an apt cognition of a multicultural Britain. But how can they train students without the required training in the specific area?

Lander’s research (2014) showed that trainee educators in predominantly White areas often run the risk of sharing confined perspectives while educating children. I agree with Lander that no matter the geographical location, school educators can be equipped with the necessary culturally responsive initial training, and continuous professional development, with a focus on race-centric and multiculturally responsive education (ibid).   This may aid in the reduction of employees’ unconscious bias for which the CRE (2021)  recommended training and routine skills assistance. This becomes distinctly pertinent to avoid horrific cases of racism in the future like the one in Hackney, London where a Black teenager referred to as Child Q was wrongly suspected of cannabis possession, and strip-searched during her period, risking deep serious consequences for the child (FordRojas, 2022 ).

Having competent culturally responsive educators in 21st century classrooms may have important positive effects like boosted self-esteem, improved academic achievement, and greater engagement and well-being of students from ethnically diverse communities, which, in turn, have implications for fostering nurturing inclusive classrooms and school environments.

Key Messages

  • There is often a misconception that only schools with high ethnic minority populations or those situated in multicultural places need multicultural awareness.
  • Race equality and cultural awareness are essential topics amidst racist incidents in multicultural schools at the heart of London
  • These topics are equally important in predominantly White places in Britain, especially in the aftermath of George Floyd’s murder, the BLM movement, and post-Brexit rises in racist and xenophobic attacks.
  • School curriculum and atmosphere need to offer race sensitive multicultural reflection in these places.
  • Practitioners need training and preparedness to equip them with relevant knowledge, skills, and confidence.
Suparna Bagchi

Suparna Bagchi

Final year doctoral student in Plymouth Institute of Education, University of Plymouth, UK

Suparna Bagchi is a final-year doctoral student at the Plymouth Institute of Education, University of Plymouth. She worked there as a Doctoral Teaching Assistant from 2019 to 2022. Suparna’s doctoral research explores perceptions of multiculturalism in mainstream primary schools in South West England. With a research interest in race, equity and social justice, Suparna is a member of various race equality associations both inside and outside the University.

Suparna is a dignity and respect ambassador and student representative of Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) at Plymouth University. In 2022, Suparna received EDI Award from Plymouth University coming among the top three students. Suparna is a trained Compassionate Community Ambassador, mentor of the UNO-recognised Virtues Project, a certified Community Champion and trained Hinduism Faith Speaker. Suparna appears regularly on BBC Radio Devon as a guest speaker. Suparna has made academic presentations nationally and internationally.

Twitter handle: https://twitter.com/suparnabagchi2?lang=en-GB

Orcid: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2498-2892

ResearchGate: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Suparna-Bagchi

Other blog posts on similar topics:

References and Further Reading

Banks, J. A. (2020). Diversity, transformative knowledge, and civic education: Selected essays. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003018360

Deng, Z. (2022). Powerful knowledge, educational potential and knowledge-rich curriculum: pushing the boundaries. Journal of Curriculum Studies54(5), 599-617. https://doi.org/10.1080/00220272.2022.2089538

FordRojas, J.P. (2022). Child Q report: Met Police culture ‘under scrutiny again’ after case of schoolgirl strip-searched by officers, says policing minister. Sky News. 13 April. https://news.sky.com/story/child-q-report-met-police-culture-under-scrutiny-again-after-case-of-schoolgirl-strip-searched-by-officers-says-policing-minister-12572253

Lander, V. (2014). Initial teacher education: The practice of whiteness. In R. Race. and V. Lander (Eds.), Advancing race and ethnicity in education, (pp. 93-110). Palgrave Macmillan.http://www.palgrave.com/us/book/9781137274755

Moncrieffe, M., Race, R., Harris, R., Chetty, D., Riaz, N., Ayling, P., Arphattananon, T., Nasilbullov, K., Kopylova, N. and Steinburg, S. (2020). Decolonising the curriculum. Research Intelligence142, 9-27. British Educational Research Association. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/340870420_Decolonising_the_Curriculum_-_Transnational_Perspectives_Research_Intelligence_Issue_142Spring_2020

Ofsted. (2019). The education inspection framework. Draft for Consultation–January 2019.

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/education-inspection-framework-draft-for-consultation

Plymouth Report. (2019). Plymouth: Plymouth City Council.https://www.plymouth.gov.uk/publichealth/factsandfiguresjointstrategicneedsassessment/plymouthreport

Pountney, R. and Yang, W. (2021). International perspectives on the curriculum Implications for teachers & schools. BERA Research Intelligence, 148, pp. 15 https://www.bera.ac.uk/publication/autumn-2021

Priestley, M., Alvunger, D., Philippou, S., and Soini, T. (2021). Curriculum making across European nations. BERA Research Intelligence,148, 16-17. http://hdl.handle.net/1893/33293

Rhamie, J. (2014). Resilience, the black child and the Coalition Government. In .R Race, and V. Lander (Eds.), Advancing Race and Ethnicity in Education (pp. 230-249. Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/1057/9781137274762_15

Sewell, T., Aderin-Pocock, M., Chughtai, A., Fraser, K., Khalid, N., Moyo, D., … and  Shah, S. (2021). Commission on race and ethnic disparities: The report. Commission on Race, Ethnic Disparities. https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/974507/20210331_-_CRED_Report_-_FINAL_-_Web_Accessible.pdf

Vygotsky, L. S., and Cole, M. (1978). Mind in society: Development of higher psychological processes. Harvard university press.https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctvjf9vz4

Wood, H. (2019). New CLPE report into kids books warns over simplified depictions of BAME characters. The Bookseller. https://www.thebookseller.com/news/clpe-reveals-increase-bame-representation-urges-against-jasmine-default-1085896

The Swedish school system – Its problems and possible solutions

The Swedish school system – Its problems and possible solutions

Gunnar Iselau is the former Director of Education for the Swedish National Agency of Education. In this position, he has gained a meta-perspective of the Swedish school organisation and its problems. Colleagues in other countries often ask ‘How is it that Sweden’s school system, which has previously been a model for the rest of the world, has now become so problematic?’ 

In this video, Gunnar addresses this question and offers solutions to the 10 problems he identifies. He hopes that this will help educators and educational researchers around the world better understand the Swedish system, and compare it to their country’s educational system.

A transcript of his presentation can be found below the video. 

Video Transcript 

Hello. I’m Gunnar Iselau and I get a lot of questions from my international colleagues. Everyone starts in the same way. How is it that Sweden, which has had such a well-functioning school system, now has such a polarized and international questioned system? And that Sweden, which was at the top in terms of knowledge, now has fallen so low. And that’s Sweden which was the world’s best at helping those students in need, is now letting these students sink.

The summary of the questions is how it is that Sweden, which is so rich and has all the possibilities, has created a polarizing school system that threatens the entire base for its democracy?

The Swedish education system does not work as intended based on school laws and regulations for the school. Instead, every level of responsibility in practice interprets in their own way. Instead of enforcing the common rules, the result is a lottery both regarding equivalence and learning.

Which possibilities a student gets depends on the municipality, school, and teacher. What could it be due to? In various international contexts, I’ve presented the basic reasons that can explain why nothing happens despite a lot of efforts being made.

Colleagues from different countries who have heard me have now requested these reasons, so I will present the top 10 obstacles in about 20 minutes including possible solutions.

See this as a starting point for your reflections on the school situation in your own country to discover and avoid, and if necessary, improve.

And what do I base my experience on? I have served at the National Agency for Education’s evaluation department for a long time. There I have participated in and been responsible for evaluations, had dialogues with the Ministry of Education, within universities research, and recently been hired as an expert by authorities and municipalities. In this way, I’ve gained a meta-perspective on the situation for the Swedish education organization.

Everything I know we describe should be perceived as positive even if it’s negative. And to make it clear some descriptions are in black and white. To make a point what I am describing is the usual situation although there are of course exceptions, but they are just exceptions.

The first step is always to realize how it is in order to change – as in the emperor’s new clothes, if you read this story. All my points are in line with both Swedish laws and regulations, school research and evaluations of the Swedish school system. Some of my reports on this are available in English. Some are also for use by the OECD.

The basic question is why the Swedish schools’ equivalence and quality have declined despite all attempts to make them better. The efforts made over the past 25 years can be summed up by the fact that never have so many made so many efforts in Swedish schools at such an enormous cost, with so little efficiency. So, what is the problem with the Swedish school organization and how can it get better?

Here is a description in 10 points in about 20 minutes.

Number one. Levels of responsibility in the school system.

It’s a horizontal spinning system. The Swedish governance of the school is divided into different levels of responsibility. The National Ministry of Education has given the municipal assemblies the responsibility to organize their schools so that each principal can lead the school. So that each student achieves the national goals. So, it is three main levels. The national government, the municipal assemblies, and the school unit level.

The problem is that these levels are like different worlds. Each level works in its own way, according to its own perceptions of what to do. Not after the national mission. In an effort to improve, each different level does more of the same thing, which makes it worse. We can call this “horizontal spinning”. It is common for each level to shift its responsibility to the level below.

Finally, the responsibility for students’ learning has dropped to the student themselves. And when the student is in trouble, especially if he or she hasn’t parents who can help. No school organization wants to prevent students from learning.

Sweden does not want that either but still, it is what is happening. And how to fix this?

The first thing is to make sure that each level of responsibility does not decide for itself what to do or follow the municipal routine which often focuses on secondary tasks. Instead, the action of the levels must be based on the assignments in the national government documents. That is what the Swedish taxpayers pay for, and the students have the right to, and what the democratic society needs. Therefore, ensure that the upper level in the school organization acts so that the next level can fulfill – and really fulfills – its national mission. Otherwise, it will be as it is.

Number two. Knowledge goals.

They are lowered to suit a worse result. Only 80% of students reach the national goals each year. A situation that has been going on for several decades and which has been implicitly approved by the National Ministry of Education, and their supervisory authorities. This means that 20% of Swedish students have not been given the conditions they are entitled to. 20 000 students per year during each year.

The responsibility lies with the National Ministry of Education which has not clarified the municipal assembly’s responsibility to give each student equal opportunities to achieve the national goals.

The National Ministry of Education has, through its failure to enforce the Education Act in practice, accepted the municipal assembly’s own interpretations of the Education Act. Which is startling but has become normal. The rankings published by various interest organizations for teachers and employers have contributed to the maintaining of low goal fulfillment. The municipalities that are above the average in the measurements do nothing more. And those that are below do not consider themselves able to do anything. The years go by, and nothing happens.

How to fix this? According to the curriculum, the teaching is based on the students’ experiences and thinking. Not, as often can be, based on the teacher’s own experiences and thinking. What to do is simple and obvious. Just as national laws in Sweden ensure that everyone in traffic drives on the right side, so the National Ministry of Education must ensure that everyone complies with the Education Act.

This means that the curriculum’s goals and guidelines must guide the teaching.

Not the teachers’ different opinions on what to do. This will increase the conditions for the students learning.

Number three. Nationally governing.

It’s more to be governed, than governing. Instead of governing, the National Ministry of Education afterwards tries to support – with extra resources and targeted efforts – when the municipalities and schools prove not to work. The municipal assemblies and their economists are grateful when they do not have to take their given responsibility. These rescue efforts have been done for the past 20 years and did not even work from the beginning. But it has become an alibi for both the municipal assemblies and the national Ministry of Education that something is being done. And gives a deadline that is further ahead to wait and see. But it does not get better. And then try again in the same way with the same result. And it does not get any better.

That the Swedish schools inspectorate criticize the officials in the municipalities when something is wrong but spares the politically responsible. Then it’s difficult to get a change. The root cause is that the municipalities organization is Teflon coated. All attempts by the National Ministry of Education to do something that changed the municipalities routines slip away and disappear.

And how to fix this? The operation is simple. The National Ministry of Education requires the municipal assembly to comply with the Education Act. And in that way, make sure that every student gets the conditions to feel safe and learn. In addition, the national government should once again earmark the economic contributions for schools, and repay what the national government saved in the 1990s when they left it to the municipalities to take responsibility. In this way, both the municipal and the national bodies benefits as the need for money for plasters  – that is to say emergency measures – decreases.

Number four. The municipal assemblies’ governors.

“What? We?” Because the Swedish municipal assemblies have not seen or accepted their responsibility for each student, they have used money that could have created equivalence and quality in the school for other things. Then, it costs them many times as much to try to repair the damage that has occurred, to patch up the failed teaching.

Students who do not receive the opportunity cost a lot in extra support measures, as well as later in social expenses, labour market measures, and some unfortunately in prison care costs. It can be said that the sails that would be used to move the school ship forward must instead be used to seal the holes in the leaking school ship.

What will be the effect of the Swedish municipalities keeping a low teacher wage level for almost 30 years? Well, they have lost talented teachers who earn more in other professions. Instead, they often have teachers who could not be anything else. In addition, many of the teachers do not even have a teacher’s degree. And the question is – what does a teacher’s substandard teaching costs the students who do not get the opportunity to learn that they are entitled to? And what does it cost society?

When the municipality reduced teachers’ salaries and fewer people wanted to become teachers, the Swedish national ministry of education tried to help by lowering the admission requirements for teacher education. Double error. Poor competence of the teachers hardly benefits the students’ learning.

And how to fix this? The question is what is the best effect for the money invested in the school? Swedish and international reports are clear. The best financial outcome is to secure and, if necessary, increase the teachers’ competence to teach. Because Sweden has not invested in it so far, this is the biggest potential success factor in Swedish schools. A necessary premise is that the focus in the system must change. From focusing on the final result to ensuring the quality of the ongoing process – that is the teaching – which is what affects the result.

Number five. The Head of Education in the municipality.

They released the steering wheel. The responsible local politicians have officials who will organize the assignment, based on the resources provided. Responsible is the Head of the Education department in the municipal. That is the case in theory but not in practice. It is common for the Head of Education department in the municipal not to ensure that the principal performs – and can perform – his or her duties. The alibi is often that the principal says to the head of the administration, “I have a government assignment, so I take care of it myself”, and both execs then can do what they think is more important or easier. It becomes a win-win situation for them, but a losing situation for the students, who remain in their difficulties.

How to fix this? Yes, you will probably see the necessary action directly. It is that the municipal assembly places as the first requirement on its Head of Education to ensure that each principal can carry out – and carries out – his or her assignment. And it is to make sure that the teaching works for each teacher. Then the Head of Education has fulfilled their task. Perhaps the most important contribution as it also becomes a model for the principal’s approach to their teachers. 

Number six. Principals.

They hand over their pedagogical leadership to each teacher. In Sweden, there is often a division of property between the principal and the teachers. We teachers take care of the quality of teaching so you as a principal can take care of the rest. This makes life easier for the principal and for the teachers but not for the students. Because Swedish teachers are alone. No one follows how their teaching is conducted. Students in difficulty remain in difficulty. It should be noted that the principal in fact also commits misconduct. For the principles task in the curriculum is precisely to be a pedagogical leader. As this, the principal is responsible for following up on the teaching and evaluating school results in relation to the national goals and the knowledge requirements. The principal is also responsible for the results of the school. In Swedish schools, principals often do – or must do – other tasks than being pedagogical leaders. As a result, the situation is as it is. The same year to year.

And how to fix it? This is most important. It should not be a lottery what chance a student gets depending on the teacher’s skills. Therefore, the principal must ensure that each teacher has – or develops – three basic competencies according to school research. Relationship competencies, leadership competencies, and didactic competencies.

The view of a good teacher must be defined. It is not the one who gives high marks or leans his teaching toward a textbook. Nor it is to be able to motivate the already motivated students. What is the criterion for a good teacher? Well, it is to be able to motivate the unmotivated student. The day when this criteria becomes crucial in wage setting, then something happens in the Swedish schools.

Number seven. Quality assurance.

It’s fruit without seeds.

Each principal and each Swedish municipal assembly must, according to the Education Act, make an annual quality assurance to follow up and develop the education. But how is it in practice? It is not done – or it is made by each principal according to their own opinion, often focusing on what they have done but a little on what they have achieved. And no descriptions of problems or what to do about them. Or it is the management’s description, which often is overfilled with excel statistics that no one can interpret or interprets in different ways.

In summary, the Swedish quality work does not work. It has no core that builds the future and often no one but the author of the report cares. How do we know that Swedish quality assurance does not work? Well, then quality improvements would have made it better, right? But nothing has happened. The same situation year after year.

And how to fix this?

The starting point for evaluation should not be the staff’s image, but the students’ own descriptions of the situation. The current situation of their well-being and their learning. It is this image that governs their actions. So it is the student’s image that all improvement starts with, not the adults’ image of how they think the students feel.

Also, the focus must change from what has been achieved to what remains. Which should not be described as common as aggregated percentage. Instead, for each school, state the number of students who have not achieved the goals. This then becomes concrete both as a challenging starting point and to follow the effect of measures. It is the student’s image of their situation that constitutes the fruitful core. The one that is the common starting point at all levels of responsibility to coordinate and – if necessary – to improve.

Number eight. For-profit independent schools. A loss for all but one.

In Sweden, as the only country in the world, you can start a school that is paid for with tax money per pupil. And if there is money left over, take it out as a profit.

Will there be money left over? Certainly – if the owner reduces the cost through cheap premises, cheap staff, and selects students who are easy to teach, the owner gets a fat bank account somewhere. Results improve, the for-profit school’s students are given higher grades but have poorer knowledge than municipal ones when these are measured equally.

Freedom of choice is positive words but hides increased segregation by the fact that some schools attract certain students. The result, together with segregated residential areas, has been that Swedish schools have gone from mixed socio-economic school classes to schools being segregated depending on parents’ socio-economic status or religious affiliation. Add that to the National Agency for Education reports that the opportunity you as a student gets depends on peer influence. That is, how to succeed in achieving your goals depends on which schoolmates you have — this has dismantled the equation and well-being in the Swedish society. The misunderstanding of each other and thus the contradictions has increased – like the exclusions of students from school. For-profit independent schools and freedom of choice for some have thus eroded democracy in Swedish society.

And how to fix this? First, do not introduce profit in school activities. It’s not good for anyone except the owners’ bank accounts. If the municipal school does not work well, do not think that increased competition by giving profit to private school companies is the solution. Rather, improve the municipal school equally for all. Cheaper, and better. For if the National Ministry of Education and the municipality assemblies follow the guidelines set out in the national government documents and which I’ve tried to recall here, there is no reason to choose. Then all schools have the same quality. Then the students’ opportunities are not affected by where they live nor by the socio-economic or religious status of their parents.

Number nine. National tests. Something good that became bad.

In the 90s, national tests were introduced in Swedish schools. They were diagnostic. The teacher could compare the image of the student with the image from the national test and thereby get a second opinion for their assessment. According to the National Agency for Education, it should support the teacher to make assessments equally and fairly. Good, if it stopped at this. But the media and politicians began to take in results, rank schools, and see the tests as exams. Then things went crooked.

The results of the national tests were decisive for both the principal status and the teachers’ salary level. The national tests which could only measure paper pencil answers guided the teaching to a lower level. A situation that makes it easier for insecure teachers with a lower competence to be able to teach but disadvantages the students, especially those who have difficulty expressing themselves in text or have a bad day.

In addition, the teachers corrected the students’ answers themselves. Situations are described where the teacher regulates their salary and gives the school a higher ranking by correcting the students’ answers positively.

How to fix this.

Yes, diagnostic tests are good for the often lonely teachers’ assessment. It also concretizes the parts of the curriculum that are measured which is good. But avoid comparative rankings and these take over teachers grading responsibility, then everything fails. By returning to the function national tests should have – a second opinion for the teacher. The teacher’s professional status is increased. It also gives students a better chance of reaching all national goals, even those that cannot be measured with just paper and pencil.

Number 10. School research without practical effect.

Swedish school research is characterized by researchers making research to present their research reports to their research colleagues and thus make it clear. It’s often interesting reports, which then are read and discussed by their colleagues and superiors. But what about principals and teachers? Do they know? No. And if they come across them, do they feel that they can be used in their everyday school life? No.

So, even if Swedish school research highlights how the school should function, it has had no practical effect.

And what is needed to fix this? It’s just one thing. Introduce requirements for tested and repeated results by external parts -at the school level and teaching level – before a research report is approved. Then the results would have an effect in the Swedish schools.

This was 10 points that sum up Swedish school’s problems, but also shows how the problems can be solved, which is stated in the Education Act and in the curriculum, but are not followed so far.

So, really – it’s easy. Just to begin. The basic idea in these ten points is that if all levels of responsibility instead do as intended in the assignment, it’s more likely that the Swedish schools will reach what is intended – the same conditions for all students regardless of municipality, school, or teacher.

I hope these 10 points have stimulated you in your thinking, and how you experience your school organization.

 

Other blog posts on similar topics:

Gunnar Iselau

Gunnar Iselau

Former Director of Education, the Swedish National Agency for Education, now developer of municipal school systems.

Gunnar Iselau is a former Director of Education, the Swedish National Agency for Education, and is now a developer of municipal school systems.

International observer IEA.

Website: sysko.se

ECER 2021Geneva – Theme: Milestones and Challenges

ECER 2021Geneva – Theme: Milestones and Challenges

ECER 2021 Geneva will focus on ‘Education and Society: expectations, prescriptions, reconciliations’. How relevant is this theme today in this specific context? Why is the city of Geneva a fertile ground in the field of education and of the development of the individual for hosting debates on reconciling societal expectations (sometimes disparate, diffracted or even contradictory) with the realities on the ground, and the needs of those involved in education, teaching and training?

This contribution from Dr Stefan Bodea aims to provide some socio-historical and cultural milestones which should support decanting the essence of the Geneva call for contributions covering this theme: an ‘urgent’ call, of fairly obvious topicality, stemming above all from the need to understand the tensions, resistances, pressures and cleavages with which the educator/teacher/trainer is confronted on a daily basis.

 

Education for All and its endeavours

Thanks to the decree of the Reformation, the birth of the Republic of Geneva (21 May 1536) coincided with the creation of the first compulsory and free public school in the world. Elementary education in Calvin’s City thus became accessible to and free of charge for all, regardless of the pupils’ status, and “the invalid, the orphan, the widow, the old man, and any need for assistance is taken into consideration in the same spirit”[1].

In the collective memory, this historical vocation of the Geneva educational institution even outweighs its other assets, such as the international reputation of its teachers[2]. Indeed, as Joy Kündig notes, “the most important aspect of Calvin’s Academy is not the great names of its teachers or students, but the fact that it really contributed to the democratisation of studies […] In Geneva, education was really for everyone” (Kündig, J., op.cit., p. 59).

However, although Geneva is generally considered to have successfully met this challenge, this success has always required, for the education actors engaged in this democratisation process, the handling of numerous tensions between expectations and feasibility, between injunctions and realities on the ground, between official prescriptions and the real needs of the students and educators. From this point of view, it can be argued that teachers should be considered as divided actors, ‘plural individuals’ as the sociologist Bernard Lahire would say; not insofar as self-unity would be an illusion, but because of the heterogeneity and the often-contradictory nature of the expectations that guide their social actions. Whether they are experienced as professional ‘sufferings’ or as structuring challenges of the educational praxis, these expectations seem to render more complex, or even make more difficult, the necessary construction of what Jacques Ardoino[3]calls the “authorisation capacity” as a process of “progressive and continuous creation of the self, both of social as of personal origin”, which is to be distinguished from “complacency in conformity, and therefore from the tendency to reproduce, characteristic of social practices which are artificial by dint of wishing to be only professional, strategic and technical”.

For the societal call for the creative accomplishment of educational action seems itself contradictory in that it is a matter of both “learning to enter the order of the law” and “developing the capacity for transgression”, which characterise the “impossible and yet necessary” professions[4].

From this point of view, ECER 2021’s invitation to reflect on and work towards the reconciliation of ‘divided’ socio-political/socio-cultural/socio-economic demands implies, among other things, working on the concrete modalities that today allow for socially meaningful, legitimate and acceptable articulations and adjustments of the different positions, roles, attitudes, experiences, convictions, options… of the actors concerned.

But what are the forces likely to generate such adjustments? They will undoubtedly be listed, discussed in detail, questioned and dealt with within the 33 EERA networks. We will limit ourselves here to pointing out essentially two of them, which fall within the scope of two types of problems widely shared by the actors in the field of education.

– The first concerns the need to work towards inclusive education that is permeable to difference and diversity, while ensuring a balance for all, through shared values and practices. In concrete terms, this means, among other things, that the school system can no longer “presuppose of all the pupils it welcomes what only some of them have built up before and outside their school experience and not to build it up explicitly in those who do not have it”[5]. We are indeed dealing with the issue of the equitable educational provision and the construction of common bases and habitus, concerned with considering the differential particularities of educational support and, in general, the heterogeneity of the social, political and cultural environment.

– The second has to do with the relationship between the requirements formulated by educational policies and the real needs of learners/students, taking into account the expectations of civil society. This is seriously considered in Geneva, where teaching, from the outset, has been thought to be directly linked to practice. In this respect, we should not forget the importance given in Geneva to the empirical and experimental paradigms that developed in Europe at the end of the 19th century in educational sciences.

Nevertheless, it must be admitted that nowadays, in the field of teacher education, this articulation is the subject of numerous debates, particularly with regard to the relationship of trainees to the academicisation of training, following the importance given to research in recent times. Beyond the variations of the relationship between training and academic research (which can be broadly grouped into two categories: training by and respectively to or for research), this phenomenon seems to produce painful effects on the trainees’ side; when certain aspects of the theoretical content prove to be of little use in the exercise of their profession or do not immediately show the empirical interest of their exploitation. Consequently, looking into the empirical potential of the conceptual systems used in training, in line with the specificities and needs of the field, emerges as an important subject for further reflection and study.

While there are many demands on teachers and trainers, pupils/students are also affected, albeit at different levels. They have to deal with, among other things, the thickness of the different institutional expectations, which are sometimes not fully harmonised or are already divided at the inter-institutional level; the pressure of certificate-based assessment (the frequency of certificate-based assessment practices specific to certain teaching systems could even suggest that in the educational economy there is more assessment than teaching); the impact of the health crisis on the current situation of young people, which undermines the mission of social workers notably, etc., is the icing on the cake[6]

The Geneva student, like an athlete in competition, is above all a student who must accept a double contract: training and academic endurance. Seen from this angle, his or her work is unquestionably part of the Geneva history of academic requirements, which reminds us of a memorable reply addressed by Theodore de Bèze to the father of one of his boarders[7]: “I fear that nothing good will ever come of your son, for in spite of my prayers, he does not want to work more than fourteen hours a day” (p. 78).

 

Education Nouvelle and the interest of the main questions it raises

At the beginning of the twentieth century, Geneva advocated an educational renewal that placed at the centre of its investments the study of the child, the laws that ‘govern’ his or her development, his or her needs and potentialities… Despite the difficulties in reconciling its assumptions with those of education sciences, this trend, fuelled perhaps more by reformist hopes than scientific challenges, has generated and continues to generate numerous reflections on the centrality of the pupil, on his or her development but also on the pupil as an object of study. Some of these ideas might be more fruitful; others seem to be more risky.

This ‘Copernican revolution’, as Edouard Claparède described the Education Nouvelle programme, essentially oriented by experimental projects, has not only had moments of fervour; it has also been questioned, debated and even accused. No doubt because of the emphasis given to the talents, interests and psychological predispositions of the pupil.

Today, the promises, opportunities and interest of this international movement[8] are being studied, researched and assessed. The aim is to understand its actual and/or potential contributions to the development of educational sciences, teacher training and research, apart from the numerous school reforms to which this movement has given rise.

In 2018, the LIFE laboratory of the University of Geneva organised a study day[9] of immense scientific interest, which deserves particular attention for the quality of the issues and debates raised, beyond the polemics that they may cause. The main argument of this event, by virtue of the questions it raises, invites a careful analysis of the real and potential contributions of New Education to the evolution of ordinary teaching practices. As the text of the argument suggests, this analysis cannot avoid the [three] major criticisms made of it (the weakening of school authority, the concealment of knowledge and the naturalisation of pupils’ difficulties and inequalities):

 One hundred years later, what remains of this hope? Is it outdated, even old-fashioned? On the contrary, is it necessary, because it was never realised? Or neither, because practices never evolve as ideals would like, but never without reference to them either? / […] what assessment can be made of the promises kept or aborted? Slogans such as “the pupil at the centre”, “the tailor-made school” or “teaching is learned” have been (and still are) alternately accused of undermining the authority of the school and of teachers, of hiding knowledge or erudition under activities, of naturalising difficulties and inequalities. 

Education Nouvelle raises questions, doubts, debates and critical analysis concerning teaching practices. It, however, also allows for extremely useful reflections in terms of research and of the construction of training systems based on scientific and experimental contributions relating to the study of the pupil (more precisely, to the study of what Christian Orange calls the ‘intellectual activity of the pupil’[10]).

The flagship programme envisaged by Edouard Claparède in his landmark work ‘Child Psychology and Experimental Pedagogy’ (1905) is in many respects echoed in research focused on the analysis of the cognitive activity of the pupil and the organisation of his or her actions within the framework of the specific school tasks. In this context, probing the student’s interests in order to better respond to his or her needs, means above all converting these interests into levers for the diagnosis and treatment of learning/educational/developmental needs, as anchored in the formalised expectations of the educational system. This aspect is of great importance in the training of teachers, centred on the study of the pupil, insofar as it makes it possible to distinguish between needs belonging to the private/intimate sphere and objectively identifiable educational needs, in order to better articulate them, when their articulation is possible and, above all, necessary.

In this respect, the invitation of the ECER 2021 scientific committee to focus on the issue of the tensions between, on the one hand, “the stated aims of formal education” (insofar as they are the result of a “collective, mandated endeavour”) and, on the other hand, “the realities or social contexts within which the education process takes place”, seems to us to be of great interest and of great international relevance, as it can be witnessed by the reality in Geneva.

Indeed, educating, teaching, training, in a multicultural context such as that of the City of Calvin, are missions that are difficult to think about without a certain mastery of the social conditions that allow the construction of living together as the main entry point in the formation and development of the citizen, but also in the resolution of social problems.

In summary, this is what allows us to say that a theme such as that of ECER 2021 could not be better received than in Geneva, the home of reconciliation, probably “the most conducive to happiness”, to quote Jorge Luis Borges’ memorable phrase.

 

ECER 2021 - Online Conference

ECER 2021 (online) will take place over four and a half days, starting Monday morning 6th September and ending Friday 10 September at lunchtime. In addition to interactive paper sessions, research workshops, panel discussions, ignite talk sessions, poster sessions, and symposia, there will be a poster exhibition a publisher exhibition, both exhibitions offering opportunities to chat and/or get together for a one to one video meeting.

We plan to have the keynote videos available prior to ECER and the ECER week will culminate with the Keynote Panel on Friday. There will be plenty of opportunities to socialise and network throughout the conference and there will be special activities organised by networks as well as Geneva-themed events hosted by the local organising committee in Geneva.

ECER Programme

Find out about the ECER theme, the general timetable as well as keynote speakers, and other ECER events here.

Emerging Researchers' Conference

The Emerging Researchers' Conference (ERC) precedes ECER and is organised by EERA's Emerging Researchers' Group.

Keynote Speakers 

At ECER 2021 six keynotes will be held by: Jo-Anne Dillabough (University of Cambridge), Phillipp Gonon and Lorenzo Bonoli (University of Zurich and Swiss Federal Institute for Vocational Education and Training SFIVET), Kirsti Klette (University of Oslo), Laura Lundy (Queen’s University, Belfast), Anne Rohstock (University of Tübingen), Ninni Wahlström (Linnaeus University).

Registration and Fees 

Information on how to register, the fee structure, terms of registration etc. Registration deadline for presenters is 1 July 2020.

Dr Stefan Bodea

Dr Stefan Bodea

Lecturer in art didactics at the University of Geneva

Stefan Ioan Bodea is a lecturer in art didactics at the University of Geneva. In April 2015, he defended a thesis in educational sciences on the didactic dimension of the teaching action in the discipline of plastic and visual arts (“Teaching praxeologies and professional postures in the teaching of plastic and visual arts. A didactic analysis of experienced and novice practices in Geneva secondary schools”). His research focuses on: the didactisation of works and cultural practices of reference in artistic education; the intelligibility of the joint teacher-student action, as well as the specificity of their semiotic organisation; the didactic approach to the learning-creativity relationship in the context of artistic education; the professional training of teachers of artistic disciplines.

https://www.unige.ch/fapse/dam/equipe/

https://www.unige.ch/fapse/dam/?cID=151

References and Further Reading

[1] ‘Geneva 1536. Independence and Reformation’ [Genève 1536. L’indépendance et la Réforme]. Brochure published in 1986 by the Department of Public Education of Geneva, for students in lower secondary school (p. 79).

[2] At the end of the 16th Century, “the best teachers in the world were in Geneva” (Kündig, J. (2009). Ils ont découvert Genève. Éditions du Tricorne, p. 54).

[3] Ardoino, J. (1994). Praxeology and poietics. In Recherche scientifique et praxéologie dans le champ des pratiques éducatives. Actes du congrès de l’AFIRSE : Aix en Provence, Tome 2, 1994, p. 107- 117.
https://afirse-international.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Praxeologie-et-poetique.pdf (p. 8).

[4] Idem, p. 2.

[5] Rochex, J.-Y. (2003). Some reflections on the relationship between school and cultural institutions. In Alberton, S. (coord.) (2003). Ecole et culture. Proceedings of the symposium initiated by the Cellule pédagogique, Département de l’Instruction Publique, Bâtiment d’art contemporain. Geneva, 26 and 27 February 2002, pp. 19-26 (p. 20), with reference to Bourdieu P. & Passeron J.-C. (1964). Les Héritiers. Les étudiants et la culture. Paris: Minuit.

[6] A Geneva administrative councillor recently said: « We are only interested in the health aspect, but the social impact of what we are doing to young people is immeasurable ».

[7] Reply quoted by Gabriel Mutzenberg, in his contribution (cf. chapter “Calvin”, p. 78) to the collective work « Genève 1536. L’indépendance et la Réforme », mentioned above.

[8] The International League for New Education brings together, thanks to its emblematic figures, Swiss, Italian, Belgian, French, English-American and Japanese specialists, among others.

[9]  « The New Education: trapdoor or course for better teaching? A pedagogical utopia put to the test of ordinary work » [L’Éducation nouvelle : trappe ou cap pour mieux enseigner ? Une utopie pédagogique à l’épreuve du travail ordinaire]. LIFE Interviews © AIJJR. University of Geneva, 1 November 2018. https://www.unige.ch/fapse/life/files/6115/3891/8134/entrevue-life-l-education-nouvelle.pdf

[10] cf. Orange, C. (2006). Analyse de pratiques et formation des enseignants. In Recherche et formation [en ligne], 51 | 2006. http://journals.openedition.org/rechercheformation/506.

Caring for Those who Teach Online – Reflections from a Virtual Staffroom

Caring for Those who Teach Online – Reflections from a Virtual Staffroom

When schools and higher education institutions closed their doors in March 2020, some of the implicit and informal supports for teacher educators disappeared. As teacher educators migrated to new modes of teaching and learning, institutional supports such as IT upskilling, educational technologies, professional development, and assistance from HR were provided. However, many staff commented that the burden of the expectations placed on them often exceeded what they felt capable of responding to in a personal capacity. With this as the backdrop, I want to reflect on how staff in one institution developed more informal ways of supporting each other and building community in a time of isolation and fragmentation.

The imperative to create what Noddings calls ‘a climate in which caring relations can flourish’, and through which a sense of belonging can be maintained, led to us setting up a virtual staff room. The staff room doors opened for a coffee break from 11.00 to 12.00 every morning. To date, this has happened on over 120 occasions with more than 90 colleagues engaging in the staff room at different times. This casual drop-in space was hosted on Zoom with a reminder sent to all staff ten minutes before the room was opened. The live interaction was supported by emails, phone calls, and some shared photography and cooking projects.

As with any staff room, the tone was set by the people in the room at any given time.  Ultimately what emerged was a supportive conversational space which broke down barriers as people swapped the small details and intimacies of everyday living and allowed colleagues glimpses into one another’s lives. This online space was characterised by a framework of CARE: a space for free-flowing conversation on a range of topics from the sublime to the ridiculous, attention to each other, deepening relationships with colleagues, and an increasing empathy as we observed something of each other’s homes and family lives. What we learned from the virtual staff room is that each element of this framework of CARE has to be supported by a number of integrated principles for practice: presence, production, performance, persona, personal, pastoral, and peer-to-peer. 

Presence: Developing and maintaining a supportive space for conversation demands the fully engaged presence of the host in the virtual space. The host cannot dominate the conversation but will have to facilitate it. The continuity of having the same host, meeting at the same time, and sending a regular reminder, offered people a sense of assurance that some things stayed the same. As one colleague noted: ‘Just knowing that there are opportunities like this to connect goes a long way to help you feel more connected right away’.

Production: We learned that there should be no agenda or expectation of having to engage in quizzes or activities so that participants have the chance to ‘switch-off’ from having to do something. Participants wanted to ‘be’ with each other rather than to ‘do’.

Performance: Some personality types were comfortable adopting a virtual persona and spoke comfortably to the camera in the early stages of the virtual staff room, whereas it took others time to be comfortable in the space. Trying to ensure that all participants can be seen on one screen is vital for bringing quieter participants into the chat.

Persona: During the early weeks of meeting each other, there was a sense that participants were conscious of performing for the camera and projecting a positive persona. This mitigated against revealing what was really happening for them. Empathic conversations ensued when someone risked saying that things were not going so well for them.

Personal: The host has to ensure that people are introduced to each other as many colleagues may not have met in real-life. Deepening relationships in a CARE framework means that the virtual staffroom welcomed children, partners, and pets and provided glimpses of each other’s homes and gardens as part of caring for each other. In the words of one participant: ‘I like meeting people’s children and pets and seeing their homes and gardens – makes me feel more connected.’

Pastoral: Taking a CARE approach to hosting the virtual staff room will occasionally draw the host into providing pastoral support for some participants. CARE will sometimes call for actions that we might not have anticipated.

Peer-to-peer: CARE is ultimately a peer-to-peer activity based on the realisation, again in the words of a participant, ‘that we are in this together, I look forward to seeing the familiar faces.’ The virtual staff room extended people’s social network by creating new links and new modes of engagement between colleagues.

 

What began as an informal approach to caring for staff and keeping us connected with each other, the virtual staff room has become an example of how taking a CARE approach to an online space can provide a positive space for conversation, characterised by empathic attention to each other in our evolving relationships.

The door remains open, and the kettle is on.

Dr Sandra Cullen

Dr Sandra Cullen

Assistant Professor of Religious Education, Dublin City University

Dr. Sandra Cullen is Assistant Professor of Religious Education at Dublin City University where she specialises in second-level religious education. As Director of the ICRE (Irish Centre for Religious Education) she supports research and teaching in religious education in a variety of contexts. She is the APF (Area of Professional Focus) leader for Religious Education on the Doctor of Education Programme at DCU, and serves on the Executive of EFTRE (the European Forum for Teachers of Religious Education) and on the International Advisory Board of the Journal of Religious Education.

Multi-dimensional professional learning: a leadership perspective

Multi-dimensional professional learning: a leadership perspective

Life and learning rarely go forward in straight lines. The most stimulating and creative experiences often arise from unexpected and unintended interactions. It’s the same with professional learning. We need to master new knowledge and skills, but education is more than knowing and doing. That way lies repetition, comfort learning and stagnation as the future overtakes us. As professionals, we need to question our own contexts; explore and investigate outside our normal routines; look for opportunities to observe and experience different cultures of learning; then re-assess our own practice with fresh eyes.

We’ve moved on a long way since the realisation that formal ‘training’ is only a small part of the professional learning process. We now understand the implications of working and learning in complex environments and appreciate that learning is active, not passive. We can’t develop professionals, but as leaders and colleagues, we can support their development. So, the first dimension of professional learning we need to appreciate is the centrality of the individual professional.


Dimension 1: Centrality of the Individual Professional

As a leader, I need to understand that while I have my priorities, and we as collaborative professionals need to work together to achieve them, it is each of you, my colleagues, who will bring the motivation, the experience, the questions, the ideas and the critical challenge to achieve what we want for ourselves and for our students. I need to understand how, as a classroom teacher or teacher leader, you have identified your own priorities.

 

I need to be aware of how your priorities are shaped by your own career path and whether there are barriers to your professional learning that I can help to remove.

 

There are five key elements to this first dimension:

  • Re-positioning: are you ready for a new challenge such as teaching a different part of the curriculum or age range? Or even experiencing teaching in a different school or with aspiring professionals in Initial Teacher Education? Can I open doors for you to do this?
  • Re-visioning: This involves looking more deeply at things you may be taking for granted. It involves asking critical, challenging questions and seeing day-to-day processes with new eyes. In some cases, professional learning should be ‘edgy’ – challenging our existing values and ways of working. It may involve small-scale research, and it may require you to ask me to justify my own values and actions, so I must not be defensive when responding to your questions.
  • Extending: in the same way that we support the development of a young person’s knowledge and understanding as they move through school, so we need to encourage stimulation through deep professional learning. Intellectual challenge is important (and a requirement for some professions). How best can I encourage colleagues to engage in further study, wider reading and critical questioning?
  • Co-creating: active learning is best undertaken when one or more co-learners can ask constructively-critical questions to move thinking and acting forward. This requires trust and an element of professional security so that confidence is not undermined. As a leader with an overview of the professional environment within my organisation and, through networks, beyond it, I can suggest who might form suitable co-learners for my colleagues.
  • Consolidating: It’s a mistake to think that professional learning must be continuous. That means unbroken. It must, however, be continuing so that we revisit our learning and, at times, cruise a little to enjoy what we do well. Constantly questioning and looking critically at our work may prove psychologically challenging. As a leader, I need to be aware of this in myself and others and be careful not to apply pressure to change when well-being is at risk.



Dimension 2: Engagement

The second dimension of professional learning is engagement. This is the ‘doing’ part. Thankfully, we now understand that attending a professional development event does not necessarily enhance learning in planned and determined ways. The recent pandemic has made us realise that formal teaching has to be supplemented with other approaches to learning. The term ‘blended learning’ is often used to describe a mixture of online learning and face-to-face teaching, but this suggests a two-part approach when our engagement with learning is multi-faceted.

The term ‘professional learning blend’ has been used in Wales (Jones et al., 2019) to indicate that professional learning engagement takes many forms throughout a person’s career. It may involve:

  • mentoring (as a mentor or mentee)
  • presenting ideas and experiences to colleagues in one’s institution or at a conference (virtual or in-person)
  • being part of a professional learning network
  • studying for a Master’s or Doctoral award
  • attending a training event
  • observing others, being observed or simply talking about professional experiences with different colleagues.

Or all of these at different points in a person’s career path.

These different experiences will not be treated as separate events; they will merge in many ways to develop more rounded, informed and aware professionals. As a leader, I should not attempt to create a learning blend for others. The blending will be done by the individual professionals themselves. My role will be to help create the space and opportunity for colleagues to engage in these different professional learning experiences and, where appropriate, to prompt individuals to blend the learning into coherent ways of working. 



Dimension 3: Application

The third dimension is Application, sometimes called ‘impact’, or effectiveness, or follow-up (or follow-through). It is the understanding that although the professional learning process should be satisfying, much like reading a good book or being in enjoyable company, our purpose as education professionals is to support the learning of others and we must keep these others in mind when we engage in our own professional learning.

As a leader, this is something I need to be most aware of. I am accountable for the quality of teaching and learning in my institution (staff and students), and more than one type of indicator will be used to judge this. So, I need to ensure that the application of professional learning processes is maximised. At times, this means reverting to a performative approach with defined outcome criteria. Often, it is allowing the creative professional to emerge and giving space for the creation of new approaches inside and outside the formal learning environment.

We seem to know what works best in professional learning. Or do we? Stepping back and looking at well-researched and established models of professional learning (see, for example, Boylan (2018), and Kennedy (2014)) allows us to revisit our professional learning programmes as providers and as participants. Beware of claims that “this course will transform your teaching”. Don’t generalise from the findings of evaluations of funded professional learning programmes which show, usually immediately after the event, that participants were highly motivated to change their practice.

Learn from, but don’t emulate, others. Sherlock Holmes, in a rare mentoring moment, said to Dr Watson: “You know my methods: apply them”. But Watson could no more emulate the deductive brilliance of his companion any more than the fictional Holmes could have related the stories as well as their author. So, it’s a little more complex than copying what works in one instance and transferring it into your own context.



Dimension 4: Space

The final two dimensions are space and time. Leaders with responsibility for equitable resource allocation will be familiar with the challenges these bring. Space relates to where the learning takes place. Opportunities to learn outside one’s classroom, beyond the school and even in different countries and cultures are invaluable. Leaders must think laterally to enable learning mobility (ensuring that students aren’t disadvantaged by substitutions in teaching by enabling continuity of learning) and we must protect the ability to experience locational flexibility so that we do not become prisoners of school-based learning.


Dimension 5: Time

The final dimension is time. We could see this in terms of ‘learning hours’ (a dubious criterion to determine the quality of education provision) but it’s more fundamental: it’s about what we are learning and the ways we learn and whether they are set in the past, present or future. The rapid growth in online learning during the COVID-19 pandemic exposed the out-of-date approaches we previously used to structure our education. To what extent do we equip our students for the future and are we ahead of them in our own learning? And are we clear about the ethical issues that this will inevitably involve? Harari (p463) refers to this as the Human Enhancement question: “what do we want to become?”


It would be easier if we could simply manage staff development to ensure that all our teachers perform effectively. At least now we have acknowledged that it’s much more complex than this. We are responsible for leading rather than managing, and we engage in professional learning rather than staff development.   Leaders should embrace and celebrate this complexity.




The views expressed in this blog post are from Professor Jones and not necessarily representative of Network 1.

 

Professor Ken Joes

Professor Ken Joes

Chair of the Editorial Board, Professional Development in Education

Ken taught in London before returning to Wales to work as Head of the School of Education and Dean of the Faculty of Humanities in Swansea Metropolitan University. He was Senior Consultant for Professional Learning and Development at UWTSD and is now Professor Emeritus.

His international work has included leading symposia on Professional Learning and Leadership in many European countries, in the USA and in India. He is co-convenor of Network 1 (Professional Learning and Development) of the European Education Research Association.

He has been Managing Editor of the journal Professional Development in Education and is now Chair of the Editorial Board. He was one of the founding members of the International Professional Development Association (IPDA) and of IPDA Cymru.

He now works as an independent education consultant.

References

Boylan, M., Coldwell, M., Maxwell, B. and Jordan, J. (2018) Rethinking models of professional learning as tools: a conceptual analysis to inform research and practice Professional Development in Education 44.1 120-139 https://www.researchgate.net/publication/317126034_Rethinking_models_of_professional_learning_as_tools_a_conceptual_analysis_to_inform_research_and_practice 

Harari, Y.V. (2015) Sapiens. A brief history of humankind. London: Vintage https://www.ynharari.com/book/sapiens-2/ 

Jones, K., Humphreys, R., Lester, B. and Stacey, B. (2019) National Approach to Professional Learning: Research Report The Professional Learning Blend 2.0 Cardiff: Education Workforce Council https://www.ewc.wales/site/index.php/en/?option=com_fileman&view=file&routed=1&name=Professional%20Learning%20Blend%202.0.pdf&folder=&container=fileman-files

Kennedy, A. (2014) Understanding continuing professional development: the need for theory to impact on policy and practice Professional Development in Education 40.5 688-697 https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/19415257.2014.955122