A culturally sensitive approach to pedagogy Tristian Stobie
A culturally sensitive approach to pedagogy Tristian Stobie Alliance for International Education Amsterdam. October 2017
Argument • Attention needs to be given to the importance of local culture in understanding the most appropriate approaches to teaching and learning. It cannot be assumed that works well in one context will transfer to another. • Western progressive pedagogies are increasingly being promoted as the best approach to teaching and learning everywhere based on assertions [or implicit assumptions] that only they can prepare students for the modern global world. • What best practice in terms of pedagogy represents is frequently poorly understood and confused by language not being used clearly or consistently. We need to understand what best practice actually is and support culturally sensitive approaches to pedagogy that evolve over time respecting local practicalities and realities.
Key Questions • Is there such a thing as an ‘international’ approach to pedagogy that is culturally sensitive? • If so, what is it? What are the universals all teachers and school systems should recognize? • What are the confusions that need to be clarified and the myths that need to be dispelled?
Is one approach to teaching and learning suitable for all? Education is not like Engineering “The search for best practice is built on an optimistic faith that a school is a school. It assumes that a practice that works in in say Finland will work as well in the United States or Germany. It assumes Education is like Engineering. ” Source: [Kamens. D. [2013] Pisa Power and Policy. The emergence of global educational governance Heinz-Dieter Meyer and Aaron Benavot [Eds] Symposium Books UK International now represent a very broad spectrum of schools and school cultures The term international school no longer means a school for expatriates it also includes local private and state schools who prefer the international brand. • In 1989 at least 80% of international school students were expatriate, today 80% are locals Source: International Schools Consultancy [2017]
Confucian vs Western Approaches to Pedagogy A very simplistic summary of two very different cultures Confucian Western Thoughtful acquisition Inquiry Listen and learn first, then question/discuss Learn by asking/discussing/exploring Emphasis on EFFORT -perseverance, not giving up “By not giving up, you can change an iron bar into a needle” (Han dynasty, 206220 AD) Emphasis on ability and differentiation Teacher as (sapiential) authority Teacher as facilitator of self-generated knowledge Country, then community, then family, then group, then individual Focus on the individual Teacher cannot be assessor, conflict of interest School based assessment with teacher as assessor
Examples of false or simplistic statements about effective pedagogical practice • “Constructivism is an approach to teaching based on student led inquiry with the teacher as facilitator. ” • “We need to focus on 21 st century skills not knowledge. ” • “Computers can provide information and do skills tasks. Children do not need to remember information or facts any more. ” • “Children should be taught differently depending on the preferred learning style and multiple intelligence profile. ” • “Assessment should always be as authentic as possible. ” • “The curriculum should be designed around ‘phenomenon based learning’ as this better reflects the world we live in………Interdisciplinary understanding is more important than disciplinary understanding. ”
Understand that Constructivism is a theory that explains how learning happens – while it has implications for teaching, it is not an approach to teaching based on child centred inquiry. Learning involves a process of making meaning which is: • incorporated into prior knowledge • “… a significant change in capability or understanding” • Deeper forms of learning modify previous understanding • transfer to new situations Adapted from the introduction to Testing Times: the uses and abuses of assessment. Gordon Stobart. Abingdon. Routledge. 2008 Constructivism is concerned with how student understanding is engaged, not how classrooms are organised.
Implications of constructivism for teaching Active Learning applied in a culturally sensitive way Effect Sizes for teacher as activator and teacher as facilitator John Hattie Visible learning [2009] Teacher as Activator d Teacher as Facilitator d Reciprocal teaching . 74 Simulations and gaming . 32 Feedback . 72 Inquiry based teaching . 31 Teaching students selfverbalization . 67 Smaller class sizes . 21 Metacognition strategies . 67 Individual instruction . 20 Direct instruction . 59 Problem based learning . 15 Mastery learning . 57 Different teaching for boys and girls . 12 Challenging goals . 56 Web based learning . 09 Frequent / effects of testing . 46 Whole language reading . 06 Behavioural organizers . 41 Inductive teaching . 06 Average activator . 60 Average facilitator 0. 17
Caution Note. Most research into effective pedagogical practice has been conducted in Europe, North America and Australasia. John Hattie comments “ We should not generalize the findings of these meta-analyses to non-English speaking or non-highly developed countries. ” Visible learning [2009] p 13.
“We need to focus on 21 st century skills not knowledge” Critical thinking is discipline specific not generic and cannot be taught in isolation of knowledge. The importance of powerful knowledge • Young believes that one significant reason why there is what he describes as a ‘crisis in curriculum theory’ is an increasing acceptance of the idea that knowledge itself is not intrinsically significant. • Based on this view the question that teachers are faced with becomes ‘Is this curriculum meaningful to my students? ’ rather than ‘What are the meanings this curriculum gives my students access to? ’ • Knowledge is increasingly seen as something intimidating or irrelevant while skills are emphasised. Source: Young, M. (2013) Overcoming the Crisis in Curriculum Theory: a knowledge-based approach, Journal of Curriculum Studies, 45(2), 101 -118. http: //dx. doi. org/10. 1080/00220272. 2013. 764505
Interdisciplinary learning “Interdisciplinarity is excellent if it is firmly rooted in disciplinarity. Each subject is not an end in itself but it must be an efficient tool. We must keep its identity and especially its own methodology. Only on that basis will we be able to construct progressively a serious interdisciplinarity otherwise we will lead or student’s to mental confusion and superficial surveys. ” Source: G. Renaud [1989] Paper presented to the International Schools association, Geneva.
“Computers can provide information and do skills tasks. Children do not need to remember information or facts any more” Ensuring that every child reaches a baseline level of proficiency in reading and mathematics will do more to create equal opportunities in a digital world than solely expanding or subsidising access to high-tech devices and services. Students who use computers moderately at school tend to have somewhat better learning outcomes than students who use computers rarely. But students who use computers very frequently at school do much worse, even after accounting for social background and student demographics. ” OECD (2015) Students, Computers and Learning: Making The Connection. Accessed 16 th September 2015. http: //www. oecd. org/education/new-approach-needed-to-deliver-on-technologys-potential-in-schools. htm
The critical importance of goal directed deliberate and diligent practice The importance of working memory as a bottleneck to processing power in learning and performance is well understood: • Critical thinking, creativity, communication and collaboration “depend on complex reasoning as well as multiple low-level skills that first must be automated. ” [Abadzi 2015, p 35]. • When learners practise a task like mental arithmetic, it becomes automatic and unconscious embedded in long term memory, freeing up space in the working memory for more complex calculations. • Longer and complex chains of skills can only be effectively developed after smaller chains have been formed through practice. Students have limited working memory and this can be overwhelmed by tasks that are too cognitively demanding. • Active, not passive • Expansive practice, not dull repetition • Purposeful: Focus on important areas for skill consolidation or conceptual development [see Abadzi, H. (2015). Training the 21 st century worker. Policy advice from the dark world of implicit memory. IBE Working papers on curriculum issues No 16. UNESCO International Bureau of education. Geneva, Switzerland]
“Children should be taught differently depending on the preferred learning style and multiple intelligence profile” “Students may have preferences about how to learn, but no evidence suggests that catering to those preferences will lead to better learning. A careful review of literature suggests that, while learning styles are prominent in education, there is nearly no supporting evidence of their existence, and that theory should not be used in education. ” Riener C. , Willingham D. (2010). The myth of learning styles. Change 42 32– 35. See also: • The Learning Styles Myth is Thriving in Higher Education [Newton in Frontiers in Psychology] https: //www. ncbi. nlm. nih. gov/pmc/articles/PMC 4678182/ • Learning styles concepts and evidence. Pasler et al in Aps journal available at: http: //www. montana. edu/facultyexcellence/documents/mar 7_Pashlerarticle. pdf
“Assessment should be as authentic as possible. ” ‘Reform is particularly needed in educational assessment…. Existing models of assessment typically fail to measure the skills, knowledge, attitudes and characteristics of self directed and collaborative learning that are increasingly important for our global economy and fast changing world. ’ Darling-Hammond L [2000]. Education Policy Analysis Archives. 8 [1]
Caution “Assessment should be as authentic as possible. ” Students can learn to be confidently incompetent The assumption is often that component skills are best developed through ‘authentic’ learning activities that are as much like the desired end product as possible. This may not actually be a good way to develop the component skills. [Christodoulou, 2017. Making Good Progress? The future of Assessment for Learning. OUP]. Assessment Practices that work in some contexts do not work in others: “the extent to which School Based Assessment can operate fruitfully in a Confucian heritage culture remains open to question. A number of societal barriers to its successful implementation arise: a preoccupation with reliability and fairness at the expense of validity; lack of understanding…. and a societal perception that teachers cannot be trusted to grade their own students fairly. ” From Testing to Productive Student Learning: Implementing Formative Assessment in Confucian – Heritage Settings David Carless, Routledge, 2011
Clarifying language: What do we mean by inquiry? Evidence based Open to misunderstanding Learning needs to be active and led by teachers. Student’s thinking is challenged in their ZPD. Success criteria transparent. Teacher as facilitator setting up the conditions for learning. Critical importance of powerful questions [syllabus, teacher and student led]. Student questions lead inquiry. Skills and content knowledge seen as inseparable. Generic skills emphasised. Component skills needed to progress to complex tasks emphasised as well as performance in complex tasks. Performance in complex tasks overemphasised. Instructional practices are broad and balanced Students mostly working in groups reflecting school culture. collaboratively on project based learning. Learning itself becomes an object of inquiry. Emphasis on making thinking visible.
Questions for Discussion • Is there such a thing as an ‘international’ approach to pedagogy that is culturally sensitive? • If so, what is it? What are the universals all teachers and school systems should recognize? • What are the confusions that need to be clarified and the myths that need to be dispelled?
My opinion There are pedagogical universals. A culturally sensitive approach to pedagogy recognizes certain facts [universals] about how humans learn that need to be applied in culturally sensitive ways: 1. Active learning, challenging students understanding [Vygotsky ZPD]. Will be done in different ways in different cultures. 2. Importance of Powerful knowledge [Michael Young]. Build interdisciplinary understanding on a disciplinary platform. Knowledge and skills emphasised. 3. Making learning an object of learning [Chris Watkins]. • The externalisation of thinking: Making thoughts an object of study for the pupil, revealing pupils’ thinking to teachers [John Hattie] • Goal directed diligent and deliberate practice • Emotional Thought as a platform for developing competencies [Helen Immordino-Yang]
Schools considering themselves as International also pay particular attention to: 4. Bi or multi-lingualism [Peter Mehisto] 5. Broader competencies determined by the schools mission [including global competence] Note: • Because curriculum is built on culture it is in reality a local construct. No two schools are the same. • School culture is not easily changed. It is important to understand respect what the culture is and work with it gradually evolving practice rather than try to enforce practices that are not fully understood or accepted.
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