This blog is hosted by the team working on the Education for All Global Monitoring Report, an independent report published by UNESCO that tracks the world’s progress towards the six education goals to which over 160 countries committed themselves in 2000.
We aim to raise fundamental questions about Education for All – especially on the theme of the 2011 report, education and conflict – and we hope this blog will become a discussion forum for everyone interested in promoting the right to quality learning. We welcome comments on blog posts. (We do, however, retain the right to remove any comment we judge to be objectionable.)
Let’s Get Our Priorities Straight
It strikes me that you are addressing some very deserving and gritty issues, however these are complex social-political matters some of which are part of the larger sweep of history and the continuing evolution of social structures. Therefore, without stepping away from these let us first get our priorities straight. I implore you to join together in a fraternity that will help us to get a very basic Professional Education issue resolved; namely, the identification of the BEST core principles and practices of Professional Teaching, without this step, we simply do not qualify as a Profession. This, of course, will not immediately solve the other sociological matters, but it will further insure that students will more consistently be exposed to the Best Instructional Practices. That done, we will have a less costly, better educated electorate and our profession would be able to better hear fresh ideas through the static of unsupported and sometimes flat out reckless, almost mindless “Educational Reform Movements,” the World Wide Web now is filled with millions of pages of unsupported practices, and critical questions not raised. We cannot minimize the practical difficulty in actually doing the right thing at the right time however it is evident that every certified teacher should have been educated and trained in the best scrutinized, and most results-based practices. This need not, and should not cancel out ongoing experimentation and even the ever present need for some creative improvisation any more than it has in medicine or any other profession.
Please join the dialogue.
The idea of “best practice” is interpreted differently by different people – sometimes what is “best” is interpreted through a white, western, middle-class lens. Look at the New Zealand ECD curriculum, an excellent model. They talk about “effective practice” i.e. what works in their socio-cultural context to meet the best interests of their children. All parents want what is best for their children, but their idea of what is “best” may not be informed by knowledge – theory in relation to practice – and “what works” in their socio-cultural context.