Global Education Reform Movement Research Articles

Understanding the Aims and Assumptions of the World Bank's Report on "Great Teachers" for Latin America and the Caribbean

We analyze elsewhere how teachers unions globally are responding to the Global Education Reform Movement or GERM. In this article we interrogate five key premises that drive policy recommendations in the 2014 World Bank report Great Teachers: How to Raise Student Learning in Latin America and the Caribbean and examine the evidence for its prescriptions. We find that Great Teachers report ignores earlier World Bank research on education in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC), fails to address contradictions in its own findings, and, as it has done previously, omits acknowledgment of educational research that challenges its analysis. We also scrutinize the World Bank’s research on LAC teacher quality and performance as reported in Great Teachers, identifying significant flaws in methodology that limit the credibility and usefulness of its findings and the recommendations based on its research.

The Global Education Reform Movement and Its Effect on the Local African American Community

ABSTRACTThis conceptual research paper explores educational reformation through the theoretical work of Appadurai (1996) and Castells (2000) in the flows and connectivity of global networks. It discusses the global, national, and local effects of the neoliberal ideological reformations in education and their effects on the African American student population from underserved communities, specifically drawing from the author’s experience as a high school teacher in Chicago Public Schools (CPS). Competition between nation-states and the creation of a so-called model minority have led to a rise in accountability measures in education, resulting in a high-stakes testing regime. The unintended negative consequences of these reformations belie the educational preparation for a student in the global sphere, leading to the further marginalization of African American students in underserved communities.

Validity theory: Reform policies, accountability testing, and consequences

Educational policies such as Race to the Top in the USA affirm a central role for testing systems in government-driven reform efforts. Such reform policies are often referred to as the global education reform movement (GERM). Changes observed with the GERM style of testing demand socially engaged validity theories that include consequential research. The article revisits the Standards and Kane’s interpretive argument (IA) and argues that the role envisioned for consequences remains impoverished. Guided by theory of action, the article presents a validity framework, which targets policy-driven assessments and incorporates a social role for consequences. The framework proposes a coherent system that makes explicit the interconnections among policy ambitions, testing functions, and the levels/sectors that are affected. The article calls for integrating consequences into technical quality documentation, demands a more realistic delineation of stakeholders and their roles, and compels engagement in policy research.

Assessing the field

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore the interface between high-stakes testing, disciplinary knowledge and teachers’ pedagogy in English. The most prevalent standardized assessment form in the current Australian context is the National Assessment Program for Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) undertaken each year by students in Years 3, 5, 7 and 9 in all Australian States and Territories. Understood in the context of the Global Educational Reform Movement (GERM) (Sahlberg, 2011, pp. 100-101) – the NAPLAN tests serve as a bi-partisan governmental response to a perceived need to improve the quality of teachers and schools in Australia. Design/methodology/approach – The authors draw on the key sociological constructs of Pierre Bourdieu (1995) to analyze the ways in which the writing component of the suite of NAPLAN tests serves to legitimize and idealize particular kinds of writing, writers and teachers of writing. Findings – The authors suggest that in the absence of current literacy policy and curriculum instability, this national test shapes the literacy field, influencing the direction of writing practices and pedagogy, and, therefore, subject English itself, in Australian classrooms. Originality/value – This assessment intervention is considered in the context of the history of writing, and addresses accordingly fundamental questions concerning the changing nature of the writing/writerly field, the impact of assessment on teachers’ conceptions of disciplinarity and pedagogical content knowledge and students’ experiences of writing and thinking in subject English.

Neoliberal education reform's mouthpiece: Analyzing Education Week's discourse on Teach for America

This article explores the relationship between neoliberalism, corporate education reform in the United States, and the news source Education Week . In order to understand the present context of the US school reform debate and the expansion of Teach for America (TFA), this first part of this paper begins with an analysis of the global education reform movement as part of neoliberalism, the globally dominant economic and political ideology since the 1980's. Within the context of neoliberalism, I focus on the impact of the report A Nation at Risk , the standards movement, and the founding of TFA. I then discuss the media's role in the corporate education reform context and in particular Education Week 's historical connection to the neoliberal education agenda in the US. In the second part of this article, I employ Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) to examine Education Week's coverage of TFA between 2009-2014, to illustrate how power, ideology, marginalization, and social domination are manifest and reinforced in the language and discursive strategies of the paper's columnists. By focusing on “teacher quality” and test score improvements based on problematic studies, Education Week uncritically proclaims the success of TFA teachers and marginalizes the voices of veteran teachers and teachers’ unions, ultimately serving as a mouthpiece for corporate education reform in the US.

Prospects of school choice

Educational reforms around the world are increasingly converging, and this is reflected in the concept of a global educational reform movement. Although several recent studies have looked at the conditions under which nation states borrow from global educational models, the political mechanisms underlying these processes are not well understood. On the basis of a case study from Switzerland, which has a system of direct democracy which appears to be particularly suitable for an analysis of political transfer processes, this article reconstructs the debate around a series of popular initiatives addressing school choice. The results of the study show that a neo-institutional approach can be useful for understanding the implementation of global educational models in a national context if it is supplemented by a theoretical analysis of the participant and takes the specific features of the local political system into account. Methodologically, the analysis of global harmonisation processes in education should consider four reference points, namely the state, the market, the general public and scientific research.

A rising tide meets a perfect storm: new accountabilities in teaching and teacher education in Ireland

This paper examines the emergence of new accountabilities in teaching and teacher education in Ireland in the 15 years period 1997–2012. Framing accountability in terms of the three main approaches to it globally in education systems, that is, compliance with regulations, adherence to professional norms and attainment of results/outcomes, we identify significant changes, particularly, in compliance- and results-driven accountability. A ‘rising tide’ of accountability, due to the interrelated influences of the European higher education space, education legislation and professional self-regulation policies (i.e. Teaching Council), is evident since the late 1990s. This was punctuated by a ‘perfect storm’ in 2010 comprising ‘bad news’ from PISA 2009, the economic bailout and strategic leadership at a system level. The cumulative impact of the ‘rising tide’ and ‘perfect storm’ is evident in how they reframed both ‘to whom’ and ‘for what’ accountability in teacher education relates. Significantly, the new accountabilities in teaching and teacher education reflect a move towards the dominant global education reform movement (Sahlberg 2007) with its emphasis on standardisation, narrow focus on literacy and numeracy and higher stakes accountability.

Cultural Flashpoint: The Politics of Teacher Education Reform in Ireland

The publication of the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) 2009 (Cosgrove et al., 2010; Perkins et al., 2010) reading literacy results heralded a crisis of confidence in educational standards in Ireland. This article examines the national and international context of teacher education reform and the politics of the policy response to the perceived crisis. In essence, this response represents a system shift toward the global education reform movement (GERM) characterized by standardisation, narrowed curriculum focus, and stricter accountability.

Принципи освітньої політики Фінляндії щодо забезпечення якості загальної середньої освіти

Статтю присвячено розгляду принципів (узгодженості, справедливості, тривалості, гнучкої стандартизації, комплементарності) освітньої політики Фінляндії, які визначають розвиток системи забезпечення якості загальної середньої освіти цієї країни. Автор аналізує принципи освітньої політики Фінляндії у зіставленні з принципами глобального руху реформування освіти, який домінував у освітній політиці більшості країн світу останні два десятиліття. Статья посвящена рассмотрению принципов (согласованности, справедливости, продолжительности, гибкой стандартизации, комплементарности и т.п.) образовательной деятельности Финляндии, которые определяют развитие системы обеспечения качества общего среднего образования в этой стране. Автор анализирует принципы образовательной политики Финляндии в сравнении с принципами глобального движения реформирования образования, котор ое доминировал о в образовательной политике большинства стран мира в последние два десятилетия. The article is dedicated to the principles of Finnish educational policy (consistency , fairness , duration, flexib i l ity standardization, complementarity, etc .) , which determine the development of the system ensuring the quality of secondary education in this country. The author analyzes the principles of Finnish educational policy, while comparing them to the principles of the Global Educational Reform Movement dominating in educational policies of the most countries during the last two decades.

The Fourth Way of Finland

Globalization has increased mobility of people, resources, and ideas. It is also affecting how governments think about education and what schools teach to their students. Attributes related to education for a knowledge society, sustainable development, or 21st century skills are parts of current national educational policies and reforms. A powerful pretext for global educational reform thinking is current international student assessments. As a consequence, particular educational reform orthodoxy has emerged that relies on a set of basic assumptions in order to improve the quality of education and fix other educational deficiencies. This article describes the beginning of the present global educational reform movement discussing some of its key characteristics and implications in practice. Although overlooked by many policy analysts, Finland represents a striking and highly successful alternative to this global educational reform movement. The scholarly work of Andy Hargreaves is seen as essential in understanding the requirements and resources that are needed in securing good public education for all in the future.