Issues to Consider in Systemic Reform in Education

8/6/2019 Issues to Consider in Systemic Reform in Education

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Nathan Hutchings 2011

Issues to consider in systemic reform in education

A critique



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Before designing or implementing any changes to educational systems reformers need to study the

history of educational reform. Vast amounts of time, human effort and money have been

continually thrown at trying to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of schools with little lasting

effect. Despite reformers past efforts Cuban (1988) asserts that the fundamental structure of the

classroom has changed very little in the last hundred years. Elmore (1996) also argues that despite

large scale education reform efforts success has been limited and efforts to extend these limited

successes to a larger scale have been unsuccessful.

The history of educational reform is well documented and school effectiveness research is widely

available however education reformers have not learnt from the mistakes of the past for example the

failure of the Schools of the Future reforms by the Victorian State Liberal Government during the

nineteen nineties (Bishop & Mulford, 1999; McBeath & Mortimore, 2001). Bishop and Mulford

(1999) found that the Schools of the Future reform resulted in the undermining of trust between

teachers and principals and increased teacher alienation and disempowerment. Research by Bascia

and Hargreaves (2000) in Britain also reported that despite the efforts of educational reformers

teachers, find themselves more restricted, more regulated and less supported to do their work (p.

21). These educational reform failures are not surprising given the warnings by Fullan (1993) who

during the early nineteen nineties criticised the seemingly incongruous approaches of top down

regulation and school-based management, approaches characteristic of the reforms criticised by

Bishop and Mulford (1999) and Bascia and Hargreaves (2000). Reformers responsible for the

implementation of the Victorian Schools of the Future education reform did little to change what

Fullan (1993) describes as the state of mind of educators in the early nineteen nineties, confused

and fighting an ultimately fruitless uphill battle. (p. 3).

In spite of the poor history of educational reform there have been some fundamental changes suchas banning corporal punishment, larger schools and differentiated curriculum. However these

changes have been largely structural and have left the core of educational practice unchanged, the

core being how teachers and students come to understand the process of knowledge acquisition and

how the learning environment is structured to maximise student learning (Elmore, 1996). According

to Elmore (1996) teaching and learning still remains at its core largely a process of regurgitation of

discrete facts; teaching is mainly didactic and student learning is measured by worksheets and the

testing of recall of transmitted factual information. Elmore (1996) believes the reason for the failure

of many education reforms is change impacts and modifies the structures which encapsulate and

surround core educational practice. Changes occur to the length of class periods and curriculum


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content, rather than pedagogy. Effective educational reform requires a fundamental change in the

relationship between teachers, knowledge and students, the locus of educational reform needs to be

within the classroom and centred around pedagogy.

Despite limited reform success schools are constantly changing but according to Cuban (1988)

many policy makers are highly critical of prior educational change and, schools, they argue, have

changed for the worse.(p.71). To understand why schools are still fundamentally the same and why

prior educational reforms often fail to live up to expectations change needs to be disassociated from

progress. Cuban (1988) breaks change into two types, first order and second order change. First

order change changes existing structures to improve the efficiency of educational delivery for

example hiring new teachers, professional development, changing timetabling or updating and

changing course content, however first order change does not change the fundamental hierarchicalpower relationships that exist in schools. Second order change seeks to change fundamental

structures and roles within schools for example, team teaching, open classrooms and student centred

learning. Cuban (1988) explains the lack of progress of educational reform is the result of

successful first order changes which reinforce existing structures within schools and create

resistance against second order changes. An example of first order change creating resistance

against second order change is the often tried but limited success with integrating information

technology into other learning areas within a secondary school setting.

As an Information Technology teacher I have observed limited integration of information

technology into classrooms despite policy makers and researchers broad agreement that information

technology should be and can be integrated into the learning practice of students (Godfrey, 2005;

Thrupp, 2005; McDougal, 2005; McNeil-Roy, 2006; Ministerial Council on Education,

Employment and training, 2005; Russell & Bradley, 1997; Webb, 2005) However, information

technology education is still being taught in essentially the same way as it has been since it emerged

as a subject within the school curriculum, a stand alone subject. The current lack of up take in

information technology integration in classrooms can be explained by the success of first order

changes during the establishment of information technology education in schools. The

characteristics of these first order changes are the setting up of computer labs and the appearance of

networked computers in most if not all school libraries. These changes also include the hiring of

teachers who specialise in Information Technology education and making space in school time

tables to teach information technology related subjects.


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Because teachers have been hired, computers have been purchased, labs built and time has been

made available within the school day, principals and policy makers may form the view that

technology education has been successfully bought to the school campus. However information

technology integration requires second order changes, changes in how teachers and students express

their understanding of acquired knowledge (Thomas, 2005). The second order changes required to

integrate information technology into current teaching practice requires team based teaching and

team planning especially for those teachers who are fearful of technology (McNeil-Roy, 2006;

Russell & Bradley, 1997). But dictating to teachers about how they should teach is ineffective

therefore information technology integration reforms should be focused on providing directly

applicable teachable experiences. But providing applicable teachable experiences will not transform

every teachers pedagogy perhaps the integration of technology into every teachers classroom

requires as Cuban (1988) suggests, basic social and political changes outside of school. (p. 76).

For fundamental and lasting secondary order changes to occur Cuban (1988) posits that pressure for

change needs to occur outside of schools. Almost ten years latter Elmore (1996) asserts that lasting

change can only come from changing teachers core practice which requires redefining the

relationship between teachers, knowledge and students. Both Cuban (1988) and Elmore (1996)

agree that for any educational reform to have a long lasting effect reforms need to change

pedagogy; the findings ofThe Queensland School Reform Longitudinal Study (2001) also support

the idea that changes in pedagogy are at the core of successful sustainable long term educational

reform. Fullan (2000) also recognises the importance of changing pedagogy however his three

stories approach to educational reform simultaneously discusses bottom up school based, teacher

created and top down views of educational change.

Fullan (2000) believes the best way to guide and understand education reform is by looking at

reform from three different points of view or three stories, the inside story, the inside out story and

the outside in story. The power of Fullan's (2000) approach is it gives reformers a view of reforms

from many angles. Rather than a dichotomous bottom up top down view/critique Fullan's (2000)

three stories approach allows a multi dimensional view of reform. The inside story pertains to

teachers and administrators within schools striving to improve and gain greater understanding of

their instructional practice. The impetus for this striving to improve is from within the school itself

where teachers want to change and improve, teachers strive to, become assessment literate in order

to be successful (Fullan, 2000, p. 582). The dynamism of the inside story comes from teachers

creating a learning organisation within their school. Learning organisations are created when

teachers are given the opportunity to come together to work on solutions to problems and are given


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the time, training and trust to seek solutions. For Fullan (2000) the key to the inside story is re-

culturing not restructuring.

For Fullan (2000) the inside out story of educational reform occurs when schools engage with the

outside forces of parents, the community, technology, corporate connections, government policy

and the wider teaching profession. These outside forces are often met with caution and sometimes

distrust especially corporate connections who are often accused of being self serving and a

destructive influence in schools (Giroux, 2000; Kenway & Bullen, 2001). However parents and the

community can become powerful allies if their services are harnessed to support learning and the

school community rather than being viewed as interfering and overly critical. Unfortunately the

inside out story about technology for many teachers is met with in trepidation and fear (Russell &

Bradley, 1997). But because technology has become an integral part of childrens lives teacherswho avoid it are at risk of alienating themselves from their students therefore it is critical that the

learning community within the school supports teachers in dealing with new technology by

providing immediately applicable professional development (McNeil-Roy, 2006). In addition to the

pressures from parents, technology and corporate connections governments are also demanding

higher standards.

Government demands on schools can be onerous but successful schools according to Fullan (2000)

focus their energies on a limited set of responses rather than trying to meet all the demands of

government all the time. The key to the inside out story where government demands are concerned

is for schools and teachers to understand how schools are being measured. Once teachers

understand how they and their school is being measured they can, take advantage of external

standards to help inform what they are doing (Fullan, 2000, p. 582).

The third and final story according to Fullan's (2000) analysis is the outside story which is the

greater supportive frame work in which a school operates. For almost all schools the supportive

frame work takes the form of a state department of education which controls and receives

performance data from schools and controls state funding of schools. The outside story should

support decentralisation while simultaneously providing rigorous but transparent accountability

metrics. Supportive frame works should also provide incentives for schools to be innovative and

provide training and assistance for schools to become effective learning organisations.

The outside, inside out and outside in stories all need to work in concert to create the milieu in

which educational reform can take place. Overall the focus has to be on changing ways of teaching


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so as to improve student outcomes. As teachers strive to change their teaching they need to be

supported by forces from the outside, the dynamism of the inside story needs to be supported by

educational structures and policies external to the school. As the inside story progresses the

participants need also to seek support from those involved in the inside out story, parents, the

community, technology, corporate connections, government policy and the wider teaching

profession. In order for educational reform to be successful there must be, strong connections

across the three stories (Fullan, 2000, p. 584). In addition to strong connections there also needs to

be a strong belief that reforms are necessary, belief that needs to be backed by political will and the

system that is to be reformed needs to have the capacity for change. If the connections across the

stories are not made reforms will stall and by the time they trickle down to the classroom they

become a pale imitation.

In order for educational reform to occur it has to gain the support of teachers but as McLaughlin

(1987) reports, it is incredibly hard to make something happen, most especially across layers of

government and institutions (p. 172). Fullan (2000) posits that when the three stories work in

concert they generate gravity for change, change that is supported by increased capacity and

accountability however according to McLaughlin (1987) external policy pressure has limited

influence on reform outcomes because the success of policy outcomes is reliant upon the

will/motivation of the implementer. If teachers are not motivated to change no matter how high the

external pressure to change, opportunities for cooptation, symbolic response, or non-compliance

are multiple in the loosely structured world of schools (McLaughlin, 1987, p. 173). Therefore the

success of educational reforms rests with teachers whose beliefs about the efficacy of a reform are

critical for its success. So one of the primary goals for reformers is to provide incentives to

convince teachers to believe that reforms are necessary and these reforms will change their teaching

for the better. In addition to incentives reformers need convince teachers that they will be

adequately supported if they believe in and implement a reform agenda.

In summary, Elmore (1996) and Cuban (1988) see educational reform as ineffective because they

do not place enough emphasis on the micro elements of educational change pedagogy- which is

the critical interface between student and teacher. For Cuban (1988) second order changes do not

have a chance to have a long term effect because first order changes ossify opportunities for second

order changes. Fullan (2000) believes that educational reform can only occur if all three stories are

aligned, this alignment will then create enough energy to support the implementation of reforms.

Finally McLaughlin (1987) discusses the possibility that no matter how good or well intentioned

reformers are it is critical that they gain the support of teachers.


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Making changes to educational systems either at a national, state, regional or school by school basis

has a dramatic effect upon the lives of students, teachers and society as a whole. The quality and

type of education a child receives can either enhance or hinder the possibility of a positive future

(Gale & Densmore, 2000). The impact of changes made to educational systems today reverberates

into the future as the students of today become the adults and teachers of tomorrow. However

educational reformers have not learnt or heeded the lessons of the past. Despite all the scientific and

technological advances made last century at the beginning of the twenty first century we are, still

without knowledge of how to educate all our children we are still searching for an environment

which children can learn with enjoyment and effect. (Mc Beath & Mortimoore, 2001, p. 1). The

history of failed educational reforms maybe a cause for pessimism but despite the failures of the

past the key to educational reform will always remain teachers. Unless reformers really listen to

what teachers need to improve the educational outcomes for their students the history of educationalreform will continue to be bleak.

References

Bascia, N., & Hargreaves, A. (2000). Teaching and leading on the sharp edge of educational

change. in N. Bascia & A. Hargreaves (Eds), The Sharp Edge of Educational Change. (pp. 1-26).

London: Routledge.

Bishop, P., & Mulford, B. (1999). When will they ever learn?: Another failure of centrally-imposedchange. School Leadership & Management, 19(2), 179-187.

Cuban, L. (1988). A fundamental Puzzle of School reform. In A.Lieberman (Ed.) Schools as

Collaborative Cultures: Creating the Future Now. (pp. 71-77). New York: The Falmer Press.

Elmore, R. (1996). Getting to Scale with Good Educational Practice.Harvard Educational Review,

Spring, 66(1), 1-26.

Fullan, M. (1993). Change forces probing the depths of educational reform. New York: The Falmer

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Fullan, M. (2000). The three stories of educational reform. Phi Delta Kappan, 81(8), April, 581-

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Giroux, H. (2000). Stealing innocence corporate cultures war on children. New York: Palgrave.

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Kenway, j., & Bullen, E. (2001). Consuming children education entertainment advertising.

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Issues to Consider in Systemic Reform in Education

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