Global Trends For The Reform Of Schools - Case Study Example

Global Trends For The Reform Of Schools 1. Introduction During the previous century, the development of science and technology around the world has been radical; social and cultural values and ethics had to be transformed in order to meet the needs of societies. However, the above development had not the same extension in all countries within the international community; in fact, there are countries that have kept their social and cultural principles without being influenced by the progress of technology and science – sectors that have been quite developed in these countries but do not particularly affect the local ethics culture. Britain is among the most powerful countries – if taking into account the development of its economy. Technology and commerce have supported the retention of the country among the leading powers worldwide – a position already held since the period of the colonization. Current paper focuses on a specific aspect of Britain’s social life: education. The historical development of the country’s educational systems is examined – starting from 1800s onwards – at the level that this development can explain the current educational practices in educational sites across Britain. It is proved that a strong relationship exists between the history of the country’s education and current educational policies – and reforms; the changes in the country’s political systems have also affected the development of British education. The governance of the country by the labour party has led to significant reforms in the country’s educational policies – compared to the management of British education during the governance of the conservative party; however, additional measures would be required in order for the country’s education to be effectively supported taking into consideration the challenges in the national and the international market. Current paper focused on the examination of the importance of the history of British education for the policies applied currently on the particular sector; emphasis is given on the impact of governmental decisions on the specific sector – reference is made to the political events of 1960s and 1970s – change from labour government to a conservative government. 2. British education – historical overview, 1800s onwards In Britain, education has a crucial role being regarded as the basis for the future development of the country’s social, political and financial life. In a relevant study it is revealed that ‘the government is one of the highest spenders in the world on pre-school education, whereas in most western countries parents have to pay around 20% of the costs of sending their children to nursery, in the UK, 95% of the costs are meet through the public purse’ (Bawden, 2006, 1). Changes in British educational policies have been unavoidable from 1800s onwards – a fact that can be explained using different justifications. Wagner (2001) noted that the changes in educational policies in last century are related with a series of changes in the following sectors: ‘a) the nature of work, b) the expectations for citizenship and c) the understanding of what must be taught and how and d) the students’ motivation’ (Wagner, 2001, 384). In 1800s the access to the British education was a privilege of a few – oppositions were developed against the potential access of the poor in British schools (Williams, 1965, Hansard, House of Commons, Vol 9, 13 July 1807, quoted in Chitty 2004). The introduction of the Factory Act of 1833 cannot be considered as a tool that would help towards the improvement of the educational chances of poor children in Britain. The exclusion of poor from education is also clear in the Taunton Report – 1868 – where limits were set regarding the access to the education for the families that belong to the middle class. Education in British has been influenced by many different factors; social and cultural values have been traditionally the basis for British educational policies; however, through the years, science, technology and market competition increased their influence on British education. The effects of these factors on British education can be identified on the following part of British educational system: a) the curriculum, b) the theoretical views that have been developed through the decades for the evaluation of British educational plans, c) the skills of teachers and d) the training methods available to teachers. In any case, education in Britain has been strongly affected by the changes in the country’s social and political structure. The most important changes in British education – in terms of its historical development – are related with the winning of the elections of 1965 by the labour party. Among the above priorities has been the availability of educational services to all the country’s children. In the past – before 1965 – the education in Britain was ‘a privilege of the few’ (Chitty and Dunford, 1999). In accordance with a paper released in 1965 ‘the elimination of separatism in education’ was among the priorities of the Labour Government; however, the plans of Labours that emphasized on the accessibility of education were not fully applied – the labour party lost the elections by the Conservatives in 1970 – the Newsome report that included the rule for incorporation of private schools – including the grammar schools – into the state schools was never applied – in fact, the status of the 179 grammar schools that existed then in Britain was changed – those schools became private schools – rather than state schools as the Newsome report stated. However, changes like the introduction of the comprehensive secondary schools – schools where the primaries would not have to take the 11+ exam, were implemented – under the pressure of the changes in British social and cultural ethics and the transformation of the British society to a more permissive one (Derek Gillard’s website). An ICM Poll was published in 1996; in this poll it was revealed that about 65% of the population support the scheme of comprehensive schools – however, the existence and operation of ‘specialist schools’ was strong supported by the state; in this context, the School Standards and Frameworks Act of 1998 was published aiming to support the necessity of these schools and further define their terms of operation. In according with an article published in Guardian in 24 March 1998 the operation of specialist school cannot be considered as fully justified – view of Professor Mortimore - London University’s Institute of Education; specialist schools were further supported by governmental decisions in 2002-2003 (The Observer, 23 June 2002). A next development in the country’s education system has been the introduction of Academies in 2002 – currently around 140 Academies exist across the country. The Labour Government published in 2005 the White Paper introducing significant changes in the existing education system: a general diploma was suggested – another proposal was to cut the volume of coursework for GCSEs; reactions followed the publication of White Paper (The Guardian, 25 October 2005); in fact, the above Paper introduced changes that were irrelevant to the political ideas of Labours: the promotion of private schools against the state schools was the main characteristic of the White Paper (The Guardian, 20 February 2006); currently the most important educational development in the British educational system can be summarized as follows: establishment of the General Teaching Council, increase of the leaving age to 17 and the abolishment of SATs at KS3; the introduction of ‘Personalisation’ as a basic educational concept – in the context of which pupils are given the freedom to choose on the material of their studies – is also part of the recent development in British education system. 2.1 School curriculum since 1800s The importance of the curriculum for the development of British education through the decades cannot be denied. Towards this direction it is noted that ‘how the curriculum is designed will make considerable difference in terms of the kinds and types of objectives to be emphasized, which learning opportunities to implement, as well as how pupils will be evaluated’ (Ediger, 1994, 636). It is for this reason that any potential change on the curriculum is decided taking into consideration a series of criteria: a) the social and cultural environment of the particular educational site, b) the expected reactions of learners, c) the potentials of learners to respond to the changes suggested and d) the resources available for the realization of the relevant projects. The structure and the content of curriculum in Britain is heavily depended on the state – the chances for the private sector to be involved in the development of the curriculum taught in educational sites across Britain is limited; the fact that the state is the main source of funding for British educational sites can be used to explain the strong dependency of curriculum on the state; in this context, it is assumed that the changes in the country’s government could affect the curriculum – a fact proved by the events of the period 1960s onwards – when the changes in the country’s political system – from labour to conservative and vice versa led to a series of measures of different characteristics and priorities in relation with the British education. The characteristics of curriculum in Britain have been changed through the years – following the country’s social and cultural changes. The role of curriculum it has been described in the Plowden Report (1967) as follows: the curriculum is the tool ‘to build on and to strengthen children’s intrinsic interest in learning’. The development of the curriculum in Britain has followed specific phases; at a first level, the primary curriculum was changed, then the secondary curriculum was alternated to match in the context of the primary curriculum. A series of new ideas and issues have been added in the curriculum during the 1960s and 1970s – indicative issues are the art, the music and language. At a next level, children are asked to increase their participation in the classroom and to become familiar with the team – working. However, the level of curriculum of that period has been considered to be low; the specific fact is emphasized in the speech of Callaghan in 1976 (at Ruskin College, Oxford). 2.2 Educational philosophers in Britain since 1800s The structure and the development of British education has been closely monitored by theorists through the decades; the response of theorists to the changes that took place on the specific sector have not been the same; for this reason, it is noted that ‘too many theorists may choose to ignore educational change or accommodate it, as part of their implicit educational duty requiring that help be given to educational institutions and their charges in their crucial need for curricular relevance’ (Alford et al., 1994, 369). The following philosophers have been proved to influence with their work the development of British education through the decades: a) John Lock – on his Social Contract theory many social and cultural ideas in Britain were based despite the fact that he lived earlier than 1800s, b) Bruner J.; two of his books had an important role in the development of education in Britain: The Process of Education - Toward a Theory of Instruction. In modern Britain, the framework of education has been influenced by the views of political analysts and the reports published by the governments – for example the report of Bridget Plowden (Labour party) in 1967, the report of Edward Heath (Conservatives) in 1970, the speech of Callaghan at Ruskin College Oxford in 1976 and the government report of 1977. After the 1979 elections and the winning of the Conservatives British education was transformed adopting practices and principles that characterize the commercial market – no space for philosophical views existed. 2.3 Social and cultural factors that have affected education provision in Britain Currently, the structure of the British society is strongly differentiated compared to the past; indeed, in the past the country’s population was homogenous in its high percentage – referring to the common origin and language of the country’s citizens. Today, Britain is a country where many different cultures are met; the number of immigrants has been significantly increased the last decades, a fact that further led to the increase of social and cultural differences among the country’s population. The co-existence of cultures is not necessarily a negative fact; if appropriate measures are taken it is possible that all these cultures are simultaneously developed and interact. Specifically with reference to the educational sector, the increase of immigrants in Britain led to the need for the implementation of social plans that could help to eliminate – as possible – the discrimination in various social activities; education is a sector that was affected by the relevant initiatives. The changes in British social and cultural values need to be considered as a result not only of the entrance of immigrants in the country; the development of science and technology would also be expected to influence the priorities of people in Britain – as in most countries worldwide; education would also be a sector that could be affected by these changes. Changes in the country’s governmental priorities – a result of the change of the country’s governance from labour to conservative and vice versa. As noted above, the winning of the elections of 1965 by the labour party set the beginning for changes in the country’s educational system; however, the winning of Conservatives in the elections of 1970 and the following oil crisis of 1971-1973 created delays to the introduction of radical changes in the British education system. The changes in the criteria set for the development of education policies during these two decades – 1960s and 1970s – were also affected by the Black Papers which supported the return of the traditional methods of teaching and the traditional school structure – aiming to achieve the elimination of comprehensive schools. 3. Skills and qualities of teachers - training In the past, the skills of teachers in relation with the needs of British education system have been characterized as rather poor – report of British government in 1977 ‘Education in Schools: a consultive document’. In fact teachers in Britain had to respond to the needs of different educational systems: before 1965 the traditional educational system was too strict, the curriculum was out of date and the technology available was limited – after 1965 the teachers had to respond to the changes attempted in the context of the proposals of the Labour Part – after 1979 and the winning of Conservatives teachers had to respond to the needs of an educational system that has been transformed in a market place. Today, the skills of teachers in Britain are checked by the state through the application of specific policies. Apart from the exams that teachers need to pass in order to prove their ability to work on the specific sector – i.e. exams related with the acquisition of professional licence – additional exams are often required in order for a teacher to enter a specific educational site (Garmon et al., 2003, 219). Through these exams the following skills of teachers are tested: a) ability to work effectively with people of a specific age – it may depends on the school which a teacher is interested to enter; b) ability to work under guidelines – this part of the exams shows the ability of teachers to follow the suggestions and the orders of the educational site’s supervisor; it can also show their ability to transfer the sense of responsibility to the learners; c) willingness to improve their skills – the improvement of teachers’ skills is usually taking place through appropriate training programs the effectiveness of which is not guaranteed – if teachers avoid to participate or their participation is not active then operational turbulences could be created within a particular educational site – referring to the orders of the site’s principal on the application of advanced educational methods and techniques and d) the ability of teachers to take initiatives; the relationship between the teacher and the learners cannot be standardized; it is usually formulated under the influence of the local cultural and social environment but also the personal and family life of both sides. 4. Conclusion The historical development of British education proves that there is a strong relationship between the educational policies introduced in the past – referring especially to the period of 1800s onwards – and current educational plans. However, there are certain issues that need to be highlighted: a) currently, the needs of population in terms of education are differentiated compared to the past – when education might be considered to be a privilege of a small part of the population while today education is a fundamental need for all country’s citizens – aiming to ensure their survival in the workplace where the increase of competition has been radical, b) in the past the resources available for the development of appropriate educational plans have been limited – referring especially to the individuals working in the specific sector, c) the skills of teachers today are extremely developed compared to the past when teachers did not access to the facilities available to these professionals today (Kezar, 2002, 96), d) the development of technology has offered the chance for the development of educational activities that would not be developed in the past. References Alford, A., Anyanechi, M., London, C., Parris, R. 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