System Recall

This book argues that much of what passes as contemporary educational reform in education is faulty and damaging. It argues that it is time for a ‘system recall’ and a need to look at what matters most in the pursuit of educational goals.

The book focuses on what we know about contemporary educational improvement, transformation, and change. It will provide insights into what strategies work, long term, to build the capacity for principled change at the school and system level.

The book will consider what leaders can do to secure principled school and system improvement which fully embraces diversity, equity, and equality. It will also dispel some myths about reform at scale and challenge some prevailing ideas about educational change that, it will be posited, are not helping many young people to reach their potential.

The main argument of the book is that too many school and system improvement initiatives have not paid sufficient attention to equity issues in their pursuit of ever higher achievement and that the net effect of large-scale, international assessments have been to distract policy makers in ways that have not always benefitted young people.

The book will use system examples to underpin and exemplify six core ways of re-botting the system and generating progress for all, It will highlight the implications for school and system leaders.

Foreword by Yong Zhao

Chapters

1. System Failure

· Meltdown or Shutdown?

· Beyond a Big Numbers Game

· Over testing and under- educating

· All Change (Singapore, Hong Kong)

· Leading for Improvement

2. Leading for Equity and Excellence

· Progress for All?

· Understanding Inequity

· Poverty is more than just a headline

· Achieving Equity and Excellence (Finland and Netherlands)

· Leading for Equity and Excellence

3. Teachers Leading Educational Reform

· Policy Contradictions

· Professional Collaboration and Capacity

· Realising Teacher Collaboration at Scale (Canada, Scotland, USA)

· Professional Learning with Impact

· Leading Professional Collaboration

4. Principled not Compliant Leadership

· Reductionist Leadership

· Building Leadership Capability and Capacity (Australia, Canada)

· Leading by belief not mandate

· Challenging system-think

· Leading with principle and purpose

5. Leading Community: Culture Not Structure

· Beyond the School Gates

· Engaging Parents in Learning

· Leading Schools in Difficulty

· Developing community leaders

· Leading in context

6. Re-booting the System

· Politics aside

· Addressing the hard issues

· Revisiting small data

· Repositioning the profession

· Leading with principle

Afterword – Michael Fullan or Andy Hargreaves