Using teachers’ prior knowledge as the foundation for collaborative policy development: an Australian case study

Abstract

ABSTRACT Too often international policies, such as the OECD PISA Global Competence framework, are incorporated into domestic education policies without consultation with school leaders or classrooms teachers. This “top down” approach means the educators are often obliged to implement policies they may not fully understand or have the professional learning to implement successfully. This paper draws from research that explored an alternative approach where a group of Australian school leaders and classroom teachers were provided with the opportunity to collaboratively translate the PISA Framework into a state-based, whole-school approach. The paper reports particularly on the results of a survey, undertaken prior to the commencement of this collaboration, to identify the participants’ existing conceptualizations of global competence. The survey questions and data analysis framed by Keltchermans’ Personal Interpretive Framework explored how the participants’ conceptualizations were shaped by their personal beliefs and contexts. Data gathered showed alignment between the teachers’ conceptualizations, their known pedagogical frameworks, and the Australian Curriculum, particularly the general capabilities and the cross-curriculum priority of Sustainability. This acts as a reminder of the need to ensure that policy is reflective of its context and developed from the ground up, even if it is developed in response to international initiatives.