Working Documents

1. Combating failure	2. Converting new knowledge into practice
3. Common factors in ability to change	4. Flexible approaches

Document 1: Combating failure

Statements:

Actual situation

• Numerous surveys show that education systems are simply not adapting quickly enough to this changing world.
• This can be seen particularly in high rates of disaffection from schooling and the large numbers of pupils who enter the world of work without adequate basic skills such as literacy.

In the future

• The relationships between stakeholders in education: teachers, pupils and parents can be re-defined to give greater autonomy to pupils, and to enable parents and teachers to communicate more effectively;
• Greater access to learning can be given to those who have formerly been excluded: for instance, sick children, those with special needs or those who have become disaffected;

Introduction

• A conspicuous feature of the European school today is that school careers end in a fiasco for a relatively large number of pupils. This phenomenon is a result of the fact that the development of society has meant rapid and significant changes in living patterns, including work and leisure. At the same time this development has brought with it an - as yet unfulfilled - need for reorganisation in the education system, so that the school can ensure that each individual pupil in their school career achieves the competence which matches their own needs and potentials, and the needs of society.

• A large part of the explanation for the problems documented here should be sought in the fact that the school has not been able to adapt itself to the new era with sufficient speed. This lethargy is to a large extent due to the fact that school and teaching in general constitute a fairly closed universe, that teachers have not introduced new "tools" to a satisfactory degree, that views on pupils and their academic development take their point of departure in a norm, and not in the pupil's own possibilities, and that traditional definitions of the concept of education are perpetuated.

• In order to prevent educational fiasco it is therefore necessary - as a first step - to tackle the issue of what it is we feel is "new" in our society, and subsequently look at ways in which the school ought to change in order to provide an answer to the educational needs which developments give rise to, in a manner which reflects the very latest knowledge about learning.

School and the information society

The educational system in a new ‘information’ era should give rise to a potential of individual and critical thinkers who are able to solve arising (new) problems. This is fundamentally the new challenge to the educational system. The problem to overcome is that the thinking of our educational systems is still anchored in an industrial era, that demands an education based on the needs of training people to have a specific well defined profile able to fit into already established persistent structures. Whilst the educational demands of an industrial era are more or less constant and predictable the information era is in need of people who are able to ‘create’ or ‘construct’ the contents and the structure of their own jobs e.g. are able to think independently and make decisions on the basis of analysing situations, monitoring information and working up information. All this will lead to quite another set of qualifications being sought after and it is important that the educational system will be able to face this challenge in terms of innovative answers to the demands.

Opening up of institutions and educational environments

There is an extensive need in the individual countries’ educational systems for opening up institutions towards the outside world. Educational systems have a tendency to become bogged down in traditions and maintain a closed existence, by which process they miss the chance of much inspiration from outside.

Also the individual institutions (for example the primary and lower secondary schools) have a tendency to build a wall around themselves and are a long way from having exhausted the possibilities for creating open learning/teaching environments, in the sense of

• school-home collaboration
• collaboration among teaching staff
• teacher co-operation generally
• shared assessment
• inter-collegial assessment
• assessment of pupils’ results and development

Quality in education

Today it is fair to claim that quality in education is principally measured according to how many pupils drop out, and how many of those who complete their education’s actually exploit their personal developmental potential to an optimum degree. A further perspective sees the measurement of the quality of education in the number of people who are able to find a position on the labour market and the number who are left behind in the social system.

Important means for raising the quality of education and the development of proficiency in the individual pupil, including the academic level, comprise for instance

• incorporating pupil and parents in goal definition and pupil assessment
• both formal and genuine co-operation between teachers with regard to classroom work and pedagogical development and renewal
• in-service training of teachers and inspiration across institutions and national borders

A good tool for ensuring the quality of the teaching, both in relation to the current climate and to expectations as to what will be regarded as necessary proficiencies in tomorrow's world, is internal evaluation of the school's curriculum. This kind of evaluation involves the primary stakeholders in school development: the individual teacher, the teacher team, the school administration, the pupils and the parents.

Many reports under the auspices of the OECD and the EU in fact show that good results are emerging from projects which work with some of these means.

When a pupil becomes segregated or leaves school When a pupil is unmotivated, cannot find any meaning in what is going on in school, or directly leaves school and the education system, this is normally interpreted as a negative sign – as the pupil's inability to encompass the existing norms – which can lead to the formation of other forms of schooling or several different, separate levels in which an attempt is made to place the pupil – often with a negative result for the pupil.

On the other hand this signal can be seen as a positive one; as the pupil's "assessment" of the school and curriculum and the pedagogical context surrounding the pupil. When interpreted in this way it is a cry for help from the pupil; one which challenges the mainstream curriculum to change itself so that he can realise his potentials, interests and needs.

From ‘pupils with special (educational) needs’ to ‘challenges and different educational needs’ in school

Over and above the general aims and objectives of ensuring for pupils’ greater benefits from teaching, there will always be particular challenges for the education system and its teachers due to factors relating to the school structure, societal conditions, traditions of teaching, contents of education, the distribution of pupils (cultural differences), pupils with particular, unique individual needs and handicap (for example hearing impairment, deafness, blindness) etc.

In this connection, perhaps the greatest challenge now and in the future is the development towards a multicultural society, reflected in a corresponding diversity in the pupil population which school has to provide a relevant and fruitful schooling for.

In addition there are a number of other perennial challenges which nonetheless constantly demand new didactic and organisational considerations in order to achieve the flexibility and quality in education which can ensure the optimal development of the individual pupil’s potential.

These challenges relate to, for example, teaching pupils at (very) small schools, pupils with physical and mental disabilities, teaching in temporary periods of sick or hospitalised children or children who for some other reason are absent from school and the normal teaching environment.

When tasks such as these are to be solved in a school with an inclusive profile, it is important to be aware of the fact that all children in school have different needs. For this reason overarching considerations for an inclusive school are also applicable in connection with these special challenges for the curriculum.

All children with a disability or particular difficulty have considerable developmental potential, and therefore it is important to look into and analyse the opportunities for personal, academic and social development in relation to the pupil's own starting point.

On the basis of this line of thought, the natural thing to do is to keep the pupil within a mainstream context and adapt the organisation and curriculum so that the opportunities for development possessed on the part of the pupil are utilised.

If the teachers focus on the disability or difficulty and turn the fact that the child is unable to perform certain functions into a barrier in relation to what is considered normal functionality, it will seem a natural and easy step to segregate the pupil from mainstream schooling.

It is all a question of professional attitudes, and in the future the important issue will be to influence professional attitudes and encourage them to predominate in the form of a teaching practise which refocuses attention on the possibilities of the pupils – this is what will characterise the inclusive school.

ICT will provide very important tools for pupils with special needs. Learning stations will be specially equipped for those with learning or physical disabilities. Pupils will be able to control the rate of speech delivery, enlarge information on a computer screen so they can read the results of a database search, use a voice synthesiser to have a printed page read to them, or take notes in class through an electronic storage device that will later print out the document.

Pupils and teachers – two distinct generations

Children starting in school today have grown up with the computer. For this reason they will find it natural that there are also computers in school. They are already familiar with many of the functions which computers are able to perform, but as they grow older they will need to become acquainted with an additional number of possibilities for learning through the use of the computer.

For this reason it is important that the teacher also has a working knowledge of computers and their possibilities, and that they are able to lead pupils on to a more extensive use of computers with a view to pupils learning independently.

Modern forms of pedagogy must also take into consideration the fact that it is often a necessity for pupils working on assignments to retrieve data from the Internet, process this and use it within the broad perspective required of a citizen of an open, internationalised community. One can see this as a process and a movement on from a learning situation in which the pupil together with the teacher develops appropriate strategies for posing questions and searching for information on the Internet, to an independent competence which the pupil continues to build upon.

To a large extent this process will consist of independent learning, with a goal agreed between the individual pupil, or groups of pupils, and the teacher. Seen in this light, the teacher will be participant in discussions with pupils about the process they are currently involved in, about their objectives and about selection and assessment of the data which comes into their possession.

Of course, teaching will still continue to encompass work with core subjects which enable pupils to utilise the potential of ICT – and here language and reading are absolutely first in line because the greater part of all communication in the community at large, at least for the time being, is language and text based.

It is therefore of the utmost importance to strengthen the proficiency of pupils in reading and written expression and it is important for teachers to increase their knowledge in the field of literacy and oral skills required for the pupil so she can take part in flexible and dynamic learning which can help her to connect her need and interest for learning to the need of the society and culture.

The medium under discussion, which requires a strong proficiency in reading and writing in order to be utilised to the full, is at the same time a catalyst in improving these very proficiencies. The more confidant one’s proficiency in reading and writing, the greater the benefit one will gain.

On the other hand ICT does also provide the possibility of communicating and reading messages in sound and pictorial form.

Subject and cross-disciplinary subject

There will still for a period be actual subjects on the school timetable, but one has to imagine that in the near future the subjects will not appear as separate subjects for the pupils.

There will still be academic areas which are worked on in school, but the curriculum will to an increasing degree be built up of topics and projects which to a large extent will be formulated by the pupils together with the teachers as tutors, where the academic areas are integrated with each other. This will also necessitate a close teamwork between the teachers.

Important skills or "tools" for working with these kinds of cross-disciplinary topics or projects – where it will often be necessary to read texts, find information on the Internet, select information, process this and present the results to others – will involve a practical understanding of ICT and proficiency at reading/writing.

This can also be understood as a skill (for example proficiency in ICT or reading) providing access to many different kinds of content and "bringing knowledge to life". In the future, requirements to pupils will entail a cross-disciplinary competence and to a lesser extent competence in the individual subjects.

Indicators of the open, innovative and inclusive school

How are teachers and schools to adapt to the information age? How can they develop a new ‘mindset’ which seeks to overcome failure and exclusion? How can they raise the curriculum to a better standard?

A better standard here means a teaching and learning environment which enables all pupils to develop their competence in relation to their personal potentials, needs and interests, or alternatively expressed: that the curriculum is so flexible that the pupils are not segregated, nor do they drop out. Working on the further development of the collaborative and educational possibilities and the pedagogical tools outlined in these documents will enable one to achieve an enhanced quality in the curriculum of European schools.

To summarise, a listing is made of a number of visible indicators of schools/curricula with innovative and inclusive attitudes and strategies.

• The teacher's personality and professional attitudes are the key factor for creating an innovative and inclusive school. These are the basic indicators of whether teachers will be able to implement the necessary changes in the curriculum.

• The professional attitudes of the head teacher are at least as decisive as those of the teachers, as it will be infinitely easier for teachers to renew their teaching if they receive the backing of the school administration.

• The teachers' teamwork helps to create a professional life, to get ideas to blossom and yield the energy needed to tackle tasks, as the benefits of a good teamwork will be greater than merely the sum of the individual team members' competence.

• Development of reading competence is of central importance on entering the arena of information and communication. The teachers must gain an understanding of how ICT challenges the reader and subsequently adapt reading instruction accordingly. For the pupils, it is more important than ever to acquire good working methods and reading skills, including reading strategies which can be utilised when working with ICT.

• ICT competence is an important tool in creating flexibility in the curriculum (adapting the curriculum to the individual pupil and promoting collaboration between pupils). The teachers need this competence in order to glean professional inspiration and in order to advise pupils. The pupils need it in their individual, academic and social development.

• Competence in a foreign language is a necessary requirement for gaining the full benefit of internationalisation and applies equally to teachers and pupils.

• The production of a development plan, in which the development of school is described, partly as a pedagogical vision and partly as a practise which reflects developments in the community and the necessary correlative changes in the curriculum. A description of this kind will promote awareness regarding pedagogical action and opening up of the institution towards the surrounding world.

• Self-evaluation of one's own teaching and internal evaluation of the school development can ensure a continuous dialogue between the teachers with regard to aims and objectives and results, and involve the administration as well as the pupils and parents. This will promote an innovation and opening of the learning environment.

• In-service training of the school's teachers is an indicator which will lend support to the other indicators. Through in-service training it is possible to show the way ahead, provide food for thought, create a forum for the exchange of experiences and debate (national and international with the aid of ICT), mediate academic content, pedagogical strategies etc.