EDD 5213 Education Policy and Practice in HK

EDD 5213 Education Policy and Practice in HK Topic 7 What’s Wrong with HKSAR Education Reform?

Critical Discourse Analysis of Education Reform for Lifelong Learning in HKSAR n The discourse economy HKSAR education reform for Lifelong Learning n n n Different policy discourses occupy different position in the economy of discourse Critical discourse analysis reveal which group of policy statements has assumed dominant and totality position in the economy of discourse and which group has been marginalized to position of silence In short it reveals “the historical specificity of what is said and what remains unsaid. ” (Ball, 1990, p. 3)

Critical Discourse Analysis of Education Reform for Lifelong Learning in HKSAR n What has been said? n n The totality of policy objective of Lifelong Learning for Instrumental Economicism The totality of policy measures of Quasi-Market mechanism

Critical Discourse Analysis of Education Reform for Lifelong Learning in HKSAR n What has not been said? n n The silence in the policy objectives of Lifelong Learning for social inclusion The silence in the policy measures of n n n Substantive equality of educational opportunity Building collective intelligence capacity Building relation of trust and social inclusion The silence on the policy objective of Lifelong Learning for political empowerment The silence in the policy measures of n n n Democratic learning for citizenship Building capacity for co-operative action of citizens Building capacity for citizen action and agency

Critical Discourse Analysis of the Quality-Education Reform in HKSAR n The totality of the techno-scientific conception of quality in education n Quality in education outcome: Acquisition of n n Skills and competences, which can be standardized, quantified, calculable, predictable and controllable Skills and competences, which are employable, marketable and convertible in money terms Skills and competences, which are governable Quality in learning and teaching processes n n n Students are materials, which can be value-added Teachers are workers, who can be benchmarked Teaching and learning are processes, which can be audited in “time-motion” terms

Critical Discourse Analysis of the Quality-Education Reform in HKSAR n The totality of the techno-scientific conception of quality in education n Quality in school organizations n n School organizations are structures, which can be standardized and benchmarked School organizations are processes, which can be audited with standardized indicators School organizations are cultures, which can be measures with school ethos checklists Assumption of prefect causality in education enterprises in techno-scientific conception of quality in education

Critical Discourse Analysis of the Quality-Education Reform in HKSAR n The silence in the empathetic-practical conception of quality in education n Quality in education outcome: Attainment of n n Practical efficacy in interaction with fellow beings Empathetic understanding in social interactions Social identification and integration in particular human communities Quality in learning and teaching processes n n n Teachers as professionals working in communal bonds of intellectuality, practicality and trust Teachers and students are in professional-client relationships, which are bonded by empathetic understanding and trust Teaching and learning are practical interactions of uncertainty, which can not be lock-stepped into calculable and controllable processes

Critical Discourse Analysis of the Quality-Education Reform in HKSAR n The silence in the empathetic-practical conception of quality in education n Quality in school organizations n n n Schools as communities of empathetic understanding and caring between the elderly and offspring Schools as professional communities of intellectuality, practicality and trust Assumption of education as an uncertain practice of Reflective Practitioners (Schon, 1983)

Critical Discourse Analysis of the Quality-Education Reform in HKSAR n The silence in the emancipatory conception of quality in education n Quality in education outcome: Capacities to n n To excel beyond the current state of being To speculate To better the status quo Quality in learning and teaching processes n n n Teachers are transformative intellectuals working for the betterment of the status quo and the coming generation Students are potentials to be excel Teaching and learning are experimental, surprising and risktaking processes of liberating speculative spirits

Critical Discourse Analysis of the Quality-Education Reform in HKSAR n The silence in the emancipatory conception of quality in education n Quality in school organizations n n n Schools as liberating communities of human potentials Schools as communities of praxis Assumption of education as risk-taking praxis of speculative or even revolutionary spirits

Critical Discourse Analysis of the Quality-Education Reform in HKSAR n The Consequences of Monolithic Version of Quality in Education n Constitution of “One-dimensional Man” (Marcuse, 1964) Constitution of one-dimensional School Value-added, low-trust and no-surprise schools Constitution of one-dimensional society

Richard Elmore’s Criticism on the Performance-Based Accountability n n Distinction of education reform from inside out and outside in Reform from outside in n Surveillance-evaluationism: Reform by measuring students achievements Discipline-managerialism: Reform by disciplining schools Parentocacy-consumerism: Reform by exit and choice

Richard Elmore’s Criticism on the Performance-Based Accountability n Reform from inside out n n Distinction among standards set by policy, professional performance of schools and achievements of students The idea of reciprocity of accountability n n Expectation of enhancement of performance from the authority of the accountability system Responsibility of the authority to provide the service-delivering agent and personnel the additional capacity necessary to meet the increasing expectation

Richard Elmore’s Criticism on the Performance-Based Accountability n Reform from inside out n Two key constituents of reform from the inside out n The instructional core n n The knowledge and skill of the teacher in relation to the content The knowledge and skill of teacher in relation to the student’s mastery of the content The knowledge and skill of the student in relation to the content and student’s knowledge of the teacher’s expectations around the content The way in which the content is refracted through the understanding of the teacher and student

Richard Elmore’s conception of Instructional Core Knowledge of the expectation of Teacher Knowledge & Skill Student Knowledge & Skill Mastery Content The refracted content

Richard Elmore’s Criticism on the Performance-Based Accountability n Reform from inside out n Two key constituents of reform from the inside out n The capacity for the organization of the instruction core Intellectual, cultural, financial and other material resources necessary for carrying out the instructional core provided by different parties concerned n n n Governmental authorities making and implementing the New Accountability policy School administration Teachers Students The community at large

EDD 5213 Education Policy and Practice in HK The End of My Lectures and The Beginning of Your Policy Practices