What do we need to do to build cultural capacity for innovation in your context? A personal perspective of school education in Scotland Niall MacKinnon, Head teacher, Plockton Primary School, Highland, Scotland, UK Knowledge Building Summer Institute, Université Laval, Ville de Québec, Canada, August 2014
Scotland overall: a whirlwind of change – different conceptual currents causing functional tension Note: the four nations of the United Kingdom are fully devolved for school education and have varying and increasingly divergent school systems. Cultural capacity for innovation in Scotland currently promoted by: • A new curriculum from 2004 centred around four capacities of children's potential – confidence, responsibility, contribution and learning. • Increased focus on personal development – three of the four capacities • Proclaimed culture of increased professionalism and enhanced local autonomy • Emphasis on 'Assessment for Learning' interpreted as formative assessment • Intention of rounded outcomes and meaningful experiences • Goal of collaborative learning • A widely professed desire for innovation • Pressure of change from the 'real world' our schools serve • Increased international connections Cultural capacity for innovation in Scotland currently hindered by: • Hierarchical governance through command and control • Strong audit culture based on universalistic idealisations • 'Product model' of curriculum has transferred over to new curriculum • Features of the Global Educational Reform Movement • Mandated list of central outcomes and experiences of new curriculum – formulaic & cluttered • Jargon hindering thinking • Test based accountability and international benchmarks • Transmission model of teacher role and function still dominant • Notion of service provision rather than schools as community • ‘Assessment for Learning’ interpreted as hyper-planning and fragmented 3-part lessons • Low conceptual development • Bureaucratic assessment procedures Cultural capacity for innovation could be promoted by: • Appreciation of divergent contexts and institutional forms • Lessening enforced initiatives • Promoting conceptual shifts (without overly-imposed operational determinants) • Greater shift to the practitioner perspective in mediating change • Ending fixed mandated graded practice idealisations • Greater emphasis on concepts and their divergent situational application • Awareness and application of Knowledge Building and Systems Thinking • Policy based on knowledge (empirical understanding) not opinion (arbitrary imposition) • Shift of personnel between sectoral roles • Teachers as agents of research – generating empirical knowledge
DAY 3: Thursday, August 14, 2014 Time
Description
8:00 – 8:45
Breakfast Workshop #5: “Big Data” Framework Workshop #6: Professional Paper Presentation Session #5: Knowledge Building as Curriculum Knowledge building analytics: Where Development Chair: Richard Messina we were, where we are, and where Apprendre une langue seconde #5027 -‐ Going deep into the curriculum: A case study of the online we are headed. Bodong Chen, Chris en réseau: Renforcement de and offline discourse of Grade 2 knowledge building class. Monica Teplovs, Jianwei Zhang, Yoshiaki capacité. Christine Hamel Resendes, Derya Kici Matsuzawa, Huang-‐Yao Hong, Location: DES 0134 #5023 -‐ Innovative Practice in Modern Languages –a flavour of Christian Perreault, Don Philip, knowledge building. Niall Lachlann MacKinnon Marlene Scardamalia, Carl Bereiter Cette activité dure tout l'avant-‐midi Location: DES 1245 Location: LAU 1334
8:45 – 9:30
9:30 – 10:15 10:15 – 10:30 10:30 – 12:00 12:00 – 13:30
13:30 – 15:00
15:00 – 17:00
19:00 – 23:00
Coffee Break Knowledge Building International – Members’ Meeting Chair: Thérèse Laferrière Location: LAU 1334 Lunch on your own Think Tank Session #2: Collaborative Design of Next-‐Generation Knowledge Building/Knowledge Creation Think Tank 1: Professional development and knowledge mobilization Think Tank 2: Knowledge Building hubs of innovation Think Tank 3: Open source software and assessment Think Tank 4: Teachers’ inventions, students’ discoveries, and “big data” repositories Break-‐out sessions followed by summaries and discussion of next steps Location: LAU 1334 Building Cultural Capacity for Innovation International Panel Chair: Susana La Rosa 3-‐minute quick sketches to be compiled into summary report. What do we need to build cultural capacity for innovation in your context? • Brazil: Gisela Wajskop, Instituto Superior de Educação de Sao Paulo • Canada-‐Quebec: Josée Beaudoin, CEFRIO; Lise Gagnon, Direction des ressources didactiques, MELS; • Canada-‐Ontario: Bruce Shaw, Ontario Ministry of Education; Linda Massey/Mary Cordeiro/Ginette Huard-‐Watt, Ontario Principals' Council; • Canada-‐PEI: Sandy McAuley, University of Prince Edward Island • China: Nancy Law, University of Hong Kong • Colombia: Fernando Díaz del Castillo, Gimnasio La Montaña • Italy: Stefano Cacciamani, Università della Valle d’Aosta • Japan: Hajime Shirouzu, National Institute for Educational Policy Research; Mexico: Oscar Hernández, IKIT Mexico • Netherlands: Frank de Jong, Stoas Wageningen | Vilentum Applied University • New Zealand: Kwok-‐Wing Lai, University of Otago • Singapore: Chew Lee Teo, Ministry of Education; Seng-‐Chee Tan, National Institute of Education • Spain: Mireia Montané, Collegi de Licenciats de Catalunya; Mercè Bernaus, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona • Taiwan: Huang-‐yao Hong, National Chengchi University • United Kingdom: Niall MacKinnon, Plockton Primary School, Scotland • USA: Al Rudnitsky, Smith College; Jianwei Zhang, University at Albany, SUNY; Kate Bielaczyc, Clark University Location: LAU 1334 Dinner Party (Morrin Centre, Old Quebec)