Opening up thinking about education today for tomorrow - Imagining possibilities and solutions

Thursday, January 07, 2010

ICSEI: Day 2 - some thoughts

A very stimulating and provocative day!

Some of the key themes emerging included:
  • the development of school cultures focused on learning at all levels of the school.
  • the importance of trust and building relationships.
  • the significance of practitioner inquiry, and creating cultures of inquiry. The place of appreciative inquiry and the need to develop skills to do so.
  • the role of networks in building innovation and professional learning.
More later ...

Wednesday, January 06, 2010

ICSEI Day 1

Day 1: Some random thoughts (sent from my iPod touch).

Usual suspects:
  • raising standards
  • improving teacher quality
  • assessment and accountability
  • principal leadership.

Emerging suspects:
  • early years and pre-schooling
  • establishing curriculum standards for early years and pre-schooling
  • distributed leadership.

Of interest:
  • Do we measure school effectiveness based on school effectiveness of previous years, rather than for contemporary learning?
  • Are we working towards sustainability of obsolete models of schooling?
  • Are policy makers adequately trained to do their work?
  • Is the Fourth Way more about the need to think and act both globally and locally in improving schools?

Monday, January 04, 2010

Empowering Schools for Learning: From Improvement Policy to Effective Practice.

The 23rd International Congress of School Effectiveness and Improvement takes place in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (5th January - 8th January). The theme for the congress is Empowering Schools for Learning: From Improvement Policy to Effective Practice. I particularly like this cross-cultural aspect of this conference.


I have chosen to attend the following sessions throughout the conference:
  • Signposts: Research points to how Victorian Government schools have improved student performance (Elizabeth Hartnell-Young, Dahle Suggett)
  • Transformation through innovation and networks: Structural change for school improvement in the most challenging settings: Rhetoric or reality? (Daniel Muijs, Mel Ainscow, Christopher Chapman)
  • The role of the "knowledgeable other" in improving student achievement, school climate and teacher efficacy: Case studies from a Canadian and Swiss perdspective and experience (Lyn Sharratt, Giorgio Ostinelli, Angela Cattaneo)
  • Networking schools for learning - going deeper (Louise Stoll, Lorna Earl, Steven Katz, Judy Halbert, Linda Kaser, Helen Timperley, et. al)
  • Data-based decision making around the world: Challenges and opportunities (Stuart McNaughton, Lorna Earl, Steven Katz, et.al)
  • Innovating leadership development for system transformation (Tony McKay, Valerie Hannon, David Jackson)
  • Leadership development that makes a difference: The research and the experience (Tony McKay, Graham Marshall, Barbara Waterston)
I will post a summary of the conference upon my return.

Related Posts with Thumbnails