John Hattie on “Why some education reforms won’t work !”

For his new study, John Hattie has put together a list of five popular education reform approaches that he calls distractions from the real problem. His argument is that an overemphasis on one or all of them creates a distraction from other, more critical, more effective ways to improve education. They might work, but the impact is only mediocre and the costs are high.

 Here is his policy paper  a list of the world’s “top five” distractions in education:

  • Distraction 1: Appease to parents – “If only there were more choice of schools and smaller class sizes”
  • Distraction 2: Fix the infrastructure – “If only we had more effective curricula, more rigorous standards, more tests and more alternative-shaped buildings”
  • Distraction 3:  Fix the student – “If only we had better, well-prepared students”
  • Distraction 4: Fix the schools – “If only schools had more money and autonomy, they would be better schools”
  • Distraction 5: Fix the teachers – “If only teachers had better initial training, were paid for performance and adopted new technology”

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