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| Professor David Hopkins photo credit: DEECD |
We are pleased to share with you the most recentedition of PREAL’s Policy Series No. 38, “Large-Scale School Improvement.Challenges for schools and education systems.”
This issue discusses the approach of David Hopkins,professor emeritus at the University of London’s Education Institute, tolarge-scale school improvement.
After reviewing successful reforms of individualschools over the past 25 years, Hopkins identifies 5 different phases that mostmature systems have gone through. Each phase builds on the previous one, andnone are mutually exclusive. The phases involve first understanding theorganizational culture of the school; then, developing action research andindividual initiatives (including teacher and school review); managing changeand emphasizing leadership; building capacity for learning at the local level;and finally, identifying the path towards systemic improvement.
Leer artículo completo …
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| Professor David Hopkins photo credit: DEECD |
We are pleased to share with you the most recentedition of PREAL’s Policy Series No. 38, “Large-Scale School Improvement.Challenges for schools and education systems.”
This issue discusses the approach of David Hopkins,professor emeritus at the University of London’s Education Institute, tolarge-scale school improvement.
After reviewing successful reforms of individualschools over the past 25 years, Hopkins identifies 5 different phases that mostmature systems have gone through. Each phase builds on the previous one, andnone are mutually exclusive. The phases involve first understanding theorganizational culture of the school; then, developing action research andindividual initiatives (including teacher and school review); managing changeand emphasizing leadership; building capacity for learning at the local level;and finally, identifying the path towards systemic improvement.
Hopkins argues that in the fifth phase, which iscurrently underway, successful school reforms must be applied on a large scaleto achieve systemic improvement. In the past, many systemic reforms effortshave failed because they have focused on the wrong variables–only on teachingand learning (rather than looking at the organizational conditions of aschool), or did not take a systemic approach to reform. A key concept ismaintaining a balance between the national agenda and school leaders. Theadaptive, systemic changes that turn a school into a great school are driven bytargeting personalized learning, professional teaching, developing networks andcollaboration, and intelligent accountability. These ingredients require the abilityto “segment” schools based on their developmental stage and a strong, systemicleader in order to maximize impact.
Hopkins argues that reforms should also anticipate asixth phase and consider the challenges that will arise in the future.
The full text of the document can be found online here.
