Education for All
Evidence from the past,
principles for the future
www.tlrp.org
Richard Pring, Department of Education,
University of Oxford
Andrew Pollard, Institute of Education,
University of London
© Richard Pring and Andrew Pollard, February 2011
This document may be reproduced with acknowledgement of the original source. Together with a summarising TLRP Research Briefing, it is available under a Creative Commons licence at www.tlrp.org/educationforall.
Preface and Acknowledgements
5
Twelve Challenges and Principles
6
Introduction – Reviews of Education: Genesis and Significance
8
Part I: What is education for?
Section 1
A Bit of History
12
Section 2
Educational Aims and Values
15
Section 3
Social and Economic Context
18
Section 4
Developmental Processes
21
Challenges and Principles
24
Part II: What are the consequences of educational aims
for learning and teaching?
Section 5
A Wider Vision of Learning
26
Section 6
Learning and Curriculum
32
Section 7
Learning and Pedagogy
36
Section 8
Learning and Assessment
39
Challenges and Principles
41
Part III: What sort of system would achieve educational aims?
Section 9
Provision of Education and Training
44
Section 10 Funding and Resources
47
Section 11 Qualifications and Progression
49
Section 12 The role of Government
52
Challenges and Principles
55
Conclusion
57
Notes and References
58
Preface and Acknowledgements
This publication has its own history.
The idea for a ‘review of reviews’ – an attempt to summarise and distil the policy implications of available sectoral reviews – was formed early in TLRP’s development. The concept was inspired by the National Commission on Education
which, under the leadership of Sir Claus Moser and funding from the Paul Hamlyn Foundation, had consulted widely, gathered evidence and produced a report: Learning to Succeed (1993). As an unusually large, medium-term investment in educational research, TLRP was able to contemplate emulating this precedent – though ultimately the Programme’s funding model could not stretch to a project on that scale. What we have here then, is a more pragmatic harvesting of available sectoral reviews which, together, provide evidence on most major sectors of education in England.
The work is one product from a TLRP
Programme Fellowship, held by Andrew Pollard during 2009/10, and we are grateful to ESRC for funding his contribution. This was supplemented by an award from the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation to the Institute of Education, University of London, which enabled Richard Pring to work on the project. Richard has led in the drafting of this text and much of his voice and experience comes through.
We are grateful to colleagues who led the sectoral reviews and initiatives on which we have drawn. In particular, we acknowledge the advice provided by Robin Alexander (Director, Cambridge Primary Review), Alan Brown, Miriam David and Mary James (Directors’ Team, TLRP), Tom Schuller (Director, Inquiry into the Future of Lifelong Learning) and John Vorhaus (Director, Center for the Wider Benefits of Learning). Their achievements are considerable and their publications speak for
themselves. Hilary Hodgson of the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation has also been a particular source of support and James O’Toole of TLRP has provided administration at several key points with his admirable efficiency and goodwill.
However, the present report is our responsibility and is not that of the authors of the Review documents on which we have drawn or of colleagues who have provided support. Others should not be held responsible for any errors of interpretation which we may have made, or arguments which we have developed. Based on evidence from selected sources, our goal has been to highlight enduring issues and challenges which face policy-makers in
contemplating education in England and to suggest principles which might inform future decision-making. We have had in mind the reality of rapidly changing Ministerial responsibilities, with a typical term of office since 1945 being well under two years. How then, can an incoming Minister ‘get up to speed’ on the issues which he or she will face? Additionally, how can an incoming Minister ensure that the decisions he or she takes will enable authentic and constructive development of educational provision, with an appropriate balance of continuity and change?
The initiative reported here was thus intended to be supportive of policy-makers by distilling a selection of available evidence and re-presenting it in a form which could helpfully inform future decision-making. A summary research briefing has also been produced and these texts are available on the TLRP website at www.tlrp.org/educationforall.
Andrew Pollard and Richard Pring, February 2011
Twelve Challenges and Principles
Arising from the evidence of the Reviews are twelve challenges to those
who are responsible for policy and who thereby shape practice. To meet
those challenges, we suggest, section by section, the following principles
for consideration in future policy-formulation.
Part I: What is education for?
1 Challenge:Lessons from history are important. Very often, ‘we have been here before’.
Principle: Ministers, political advisers, civil servants and educational professionals should acquaint themselves with recent history of education in order to build cumulatively on worthwhile successes and to avoid repeating mistakes.
2 Challenge:Aims of education are often spelt out solely in terms of economic utility and relevance.
Principle:Policy and frameworks of entitlement should reflect the broad aims of educating persons, such as:
• understanding of the physical, social and economic worlds,
• practical capabilities,
• economic utility,
• moral seriousness,
• sense of community, collaboration and justice,
• sense of fulfilment
• motivation to continue learning even to ‘the fourth age’.
3 Challenge: In responding to national priorities and in promoting ‘education for all’,
policy must also reflect the diversity of social and economic conditions which affect learning.
Principle:In pursuing educational aims, the system of education should recognise the significance of particular economic, social and personal circumstances, and thus enable flexible adaptation of curriculum, pedagogy and assessment to meet specific needs.
4 Challenge: Too easily the capacities of people to learn are seen, from early years to old age, to be strictly limited by nature.
Principle: ‘Biology is not destiny’. Still more and better investment in the early years is crucial, but the brain remains adaptable from experiences and learning opportunities throughout life.
Part II: What are the consequences of educational aims for learning and teaching?
5 Challenge:Formal education is dominated by narrowly conceived forms of academic learning, thus undermining other capabilities of importance to our society, economy and citizens.
Principle: A wider vision of education should respect and reward the practical as well as the academic, informal and experiential as well as formal learning, and should draw upon the wide range of expertise within the community.
TWELVE CHALLENGES AND PRINCIPLES
6 Challenge: The school curriculum has become overloaded and dysfunctional, and fails to meet the needs of many young people.
Principle: A curriculum entitlement framework should be designed to introduce young people to subjects and the broad domains of knowledge, to practical capabilities and skills, to a sense of achievement, to the ‘big issues’ which confront society and to the knowledge and dispositions for active citizenship, yet be flexible enough for teachers to adapt appropriately.
7 Challenge:Teachers’ pedagogical expertise and professionalism are essential to educational quality from early years to adult learning, but this is not consistently understood or provided for in our culture, policy and provision.
Principle:Teachers’ expertise in the enhancement of learning should be supported
and challenged by provision for continuing professional development in all phases of education and by a single system of qualified teacher status.
8 Challenge:The ‘high stakes’ testing regime serves incompatible purposes and narrows what is to be learnt.
Principle:The different purposes of assessment (i.e. supporting different kinds of learning, holding the system accountable and certifying achievements) require different and appropriate modes of assessment, and maintenance of appropriate balance between them.
Part III: What sort of system would achieve educational aims?
9 Challenge:Learner circumstances are diverse and wide-ranging, so that no one school or college has the resources or expertise to meet the needs and aspirations of all young people within it.
Principle:Local collaborative and democratic learning partnerships (embracing schools, further education colleges, universities, employers, independent training providers, and voluntary bodies) should be established to promote continuity in provision for lifelong learning.
10 Challenge: There are too many different funding streams, often for the same work, creating unfair and often inefficient distribution of resources.
Principle: Funding should be directed to locally developed partnerships, with regional oversight by local authorities which will be in a position to understand the educational and training needs of the different phases and communities.
11 Challenge:The present system of qualifications is highly complex in terms of progression routes, levels and equivalences, and little understood by employers, young people themselves hand higher education.
Principle: Qualifications should reflect the aims of learning, including the practical, informal and experiential, and should provide a framework which is enabling, clear and stable.
12 Challenge:There has emerged a highly centralised and detrimental control over education and training.
Principle:The Government should ensure necessary resources, teacher supply, legal frameworks, curricular entitlement and overall accountability, but place responsibility for detailed provision with institutions, partnerships and authorities in particular localities.
So much that is desirable in society depends on the quality of education and training which are provided by schools, colleges, higher education, adult education, employers, independent training providers and ‘third sector’ (voluntary bodies). For instance, economic success, in a highly competitive world, depends on a skilled, literate and numerate workforce. Furthermore, quality of life depends on the realisation of the wider human capacities to think, to reason, to appreciate and to create – the end-product, one hopes, of a well rounded education. Further still, human well-being depends on a healthy democratic society in which all feel able to participate and to which all are enabled to contribute; citizenship requires the enhancement of social attitudes, dispositions and skills.
Such broad aims of education (economic
relevance, human well-being and the enrichment of society) should permeate policy and practice at every level.
In the last two years several major reports provided comprehensive and independent Reviews of many aspects of education and training in England and Wales ‘from cradle to grave’. If policy and practice are to be based on evidence, which Ministers often affirm, these Reviews are essential reference points. They review a wide range of research relevant to policy and practice. But each Review recognises that such evidence has to be understood in the light of broader and often controversial questions about educational aims – reaching a balance between economic, personal and social well-being. That is where each Review starts.
This Report pulls together these Reviews, pointing, first, to the broad agreement on educational aims, and, second, to the consequences of that agreement for teaching, learning and the provision of education and training. Though arising from Reviews within England and Wales, the principles have resonance across the UK.
Introduction – Reviews of Education:
Genesis and Significance
Circumstances and context change; it is impossible to recommend in detail what incoming Ministers should do. But emerging from these Reviews are
principles, founded on evidence. We believe these, have enduring value and are offered as a guide to both policy and practice through the inevitable coming and going of Ministers.
The Reviews drawn upon are:
Cambridge Primary Review: 2010,
edited by Alexander, R. Children, their World, their Education, London: Routledge
(referred to in the text as CPR)
Since the 1970s, primary schools have been the focus of criticism, whether justified or not, for ‘poor standards and suspect ideology’. Hence, as the CPR points out (p.1), there has been a ‘programme of unprecedented investment and direct government intervention yielding £2 billion initiatives in literacy and numeracy, and much more besides’. The CPR was funded in 2006 by Esmée Fairbairn Foundation to evaluate the current state of primary education by combining ‘retrospective evidence with prospective vision’. The final report, based on extensive research, drew together over 30 interim reports. Its website is can be found at: www.primaryreview.org.uk
Nuffield Review: 2009, Pring, R., Hayward, G., Hodgson, A., Johnson, J., Keep, E., Oancea, A., Rees, G., Spours, K., Wilde, S., Education for All: the Future of Education and Training for 14-19 Year Olds in England and Wales, London: Routledge (referred to as NR).
Much happens at the age of 14 in our schools: choices are made about pathways to be followed; the run-up to GCSE begins; guidance for future careers kicks in; possibilities of college based education are opened up. More radical choices are necessary at 16. In 2003, the Nuffield Foundation funded a major Review of every aspect of 14-19 provision to be led by Richard Pring. The final Report was supported by a wide range of research papers, and these remain available on its website (www.nuffieldfoundation.org/ nuffield-review-14-19-education-and-training-0)
INTRODUCTION – REVIEWS OF EDUCATION: GENESIS AND SIGNIFICANCE
1 James, M. and Pollard, A. (2006) Improving Teaching and Learning in Schools.
2 Howard-Jones, P., 2006, Neuroscience and Education: Issues and Opportunities
3 Hofkins, D., 2007, Principles into Practice: A Teacher’s Guide to Research Evidence on Teaching and Learning
4 David, M. et al., 2008, Widening Participation in Higher Education
5 Fuller, A. and Unwin, L., 2008, Towards Expansive Apprenticeships
6 Nash, I., Jones, S., Ecclestone, K., Brown, A., 2008, Challenge and Change in Further Education
7 Selwyn, N., 2008, Education 2.0? Designing the Web for Teaching and Learning
8 Brown, A., 2008, Higher Skills Development at Work
9 David, M., 2008, Effective Learning and Teaching in UK Higher Education
10 Brown, P., Lauder, H., Ashton, D., 2008,
Education, Globalisation and the Knowledge Economy
11 Mansell, W. and James, M., 2009, Assessment in Schools: Fit for Purpose?
12 Pollard, A., 2010, Professionalism and Pedagogy: a Contemporary Opportunity
As will be apparent from the list above, comprehensive, public reviews of early years, of higher education and of workplace learning were not available – and other gaps may also be identified. We have not attempted to fully address provision in sectors lacking a contemporary, integrated review, though we do make some reference to them when appropriate. We believe that many of the challenges and principles which we have identified are likely to recur. When such work has been done, we hope that it may be possible to develop the analysis further.
Inquiry into the Future of Lifelong
Learning: 2009, Schuller, T. and Watson, D.,
Learning Through Life, London: NIACE (referred to in the text as IFLL)
This Inquiry was set up in 2007 by the National Institute of Adult Continuing Education, and informed by over 250 evidence submissions. The Report is ‘nested’ in 30 supplementary papers published on www.lifelonglearninginquiry.org.uk. Although the primary focus is on adult learning, it emphasises crucial continuity with early childhood and schooling.
Mental Capital and Well Being Report, 2008, Feinstein, L., Vorhaus, J., Sabates, R., Learning through Life: Future Challenges: London: Govt. Office for Science (referred to as MCWB)
The Office for Science’s Foresight Programme advises the Government on how to achieve the best possible mental development for everyone. This Report considered factors which could affect ‘learning through life’ over the next 20 years. The report is on www.foresight.gov.uk
National Child Development Study, 2008,
Now We are 50: Key findings from the NCDS 2008, Elliott, J. and Vaitilingam, R. (eds) (referred to as NCDS).
This summarises key findings from the longitudinal study of 17,000 people who have been closely tracked since their birth in 1958. The report provides unique insights into the consequences of education in relation to other experiences through life. (See publications section of www.ncds.info.)
Teaching and Learning Research Programme, Commentaries: 2006-10
(referred to as TLRP with a number related to a specific report, e.g. TLRP5).
TLRP has been the UK’s largest recent investment in educational research. Directed by Andrew Pollard, it studied issues which would enable improvements in learning within all educational sectors. Such a programme, therefore, overlaps with the different phases of the above reports and fills gaps which division into phases inevitably creates. For the purpose of this review, TLRP’s Commentary output has been drawn on to represent key messages from the overall research programme. TLRP’s documents can be downloaded from www.tlrp.org/pub/
commentaries. The TLRP Commentaries directly referred to in this report to are:
Part I:
Section 1 A Bit of History
The three main themes of the
Reviews (the aims of education,
their realisation in teaching and
learning, and the institutional provision
for teaching and learning) have
a history. Some knowledge of that
history is essential for understanding
the present and shaping the future.
Key points
• ‘We’ve been here before’: future policy should learn from the past.
• That ‘past’, following the 1944 Butler Act, saw the value of educational partnerships.
• Subsequent policy changes followed in the light of independent reports of evidence.
The most important ‘bit of history’ which makes this Review of Reviews necessary is the constant change, especially in England, of ministerial responsibility for education and training. Since 1975 there have been 16 Secretaries of State, the longest term being that of Keith Joseph (5 years), the shortest that of Estelle Morris (1 year). Under these Secretaries of State there have been over 50 Ministerial appointments with various responsibilities.
One thing is certain, therefore, about the governance of education at the highest level, namely, that no one is around for very long. It must be difficult for new ministers to get a clear grasp of their respective briefs, before they move to their next ministerial responsibility in another government department. Hence, this reminder of ’where we have come from’. The 1944 Education Act shaped a national system of education for England and Wales. Although national, it was to be maintained by democratically elected local education authorities. The Act ensured public support, through central grant and local taxation, for community schools as well as voluntary aided and controlled schools, whose trustees were usually the Churches. The division between primary and secondary (normally at the age of 11) created for the first time secondary education for all, eventually
to be extended to the age of 16. The Act legislated for provision of nursery schools and classes, special education, and ‘county colleges’ where young people from 15 to 18 could attend part-time. It is important to note amongst other things:
• the absence of central government control over curriculum content and pedagogy;
• responsibility of local education authorities (LEAs) for the shape of local provision;
• lack of a national system of examinations (left to awarding bodies in universities);
• the assumption of professional teacher responsibility for the curriculum.
A tripartite system was implicit in the emphasis on provision according to ‘age, ability and aptitude’, and emerged in most LEAs – selection to grammar schools at 11 for roughly 15%, a few going to technical schools and the majority to secondary modern schools. Comprehensive schools did not emerge until the 1970s.
Every so often, problems arose. Therefore, independent reports thought deeply about educational aims and sought research evidence regarding expansion of 15-18 (Crowther Report, 1959); lack of examinations and qualifications for the majority (Beloe Report, 1960); expansion of higher education (Robbins Report, 1963); meeting the needs of ‘half our future’ (Newsom Report, 1963); reform of primary education (Plowden Report, 1967); reform of primary education in Wales (Gittins Report, 1968); Language for Life (Bullock Report, 1975). These reports were taken seriously by Ministers, civil servants and the teaching profession as they developed and implemented policy. Presupposed was the improvement of education through partnership between teachers (with professional expertise), local authorities (with knowledge of local needs and provision), and central government (with legal responsibility to ensure a national framework and adequate resources). That partnership is illustrated in
However, in education, simple answers are rare. The issues which arise invariably pose dilemmas, and decisions taken in one circumstance may need to be reviewed in another. The wise policy maker and practitioner ‘dig down’ to the underlying issues and seek to understand them. Only in this way, can sound judgements be made. For example, there is clearly a need for appropriate frameworks to organise national education provision. From our recent history, we know that too little structuring brings problems of quality and entitlement – but we also know that too much central control also compromises improvement and innovation. The pendulum may only stop swinging when a principled balance of responsibilities is established and sustained. These questions have become more acute with the determination of the Government in England to create more Academies and Free Schools on the Swedish model, thereby affecting the collaboration between providers which had been an important part of previous policy. It was thought, therefore, that further independent scrutiny of the system is needed – in the spirit of the philosopher,
Karl Popper:
The piecemeal engineer knows, like Socrates, how little he knows. He knows that we can learn only from our mistakes. Accordingly, he will make his way, step by step, carefully comparing the results expected with the results achieved, and always on the lookout for the unavoidable unwanted consequences of any reform; and he will always avoid undertaking reforms of a complexity and scope which make it impossible to disentangle causes and effects, and to know what he is really doing.3
It is in the light of such a perceived need that the several independent reviews, outlined in the Introduction, were commissioned. These cover the life-span ‘from cradle to grave’ (the phrase used by the IFLL to depict ‘life-long learning’). Despite the independence of these different reviews, there is much overlap especially in the aims and values inherent in their respective visions of education. Together they provide a coherent vision of ‘the medium and long-term future facing our children and this country’.
SECTION 1: A BIT OF HISTORy
the creation, detailed in the Lockwood Report (1964), of the ‘Schools Council for the Curriculum and Examinations’ – an advisory body, which supported, on the basis of research, curriculum development and professional development of teachers, with a parallel Council in Wales.
This post-war partnership enabled some exemplary provision, but it also produced variability. In the 1970s, public criticism was articulated more strongly and HMI reports challenged the status quo. The Prime Minister, in his Ruskin Speech of 1976, initiated a national debate on educational provision. Increasingly, learner entitlements and national priorities were asserted, and new frameworks and standards were created to which teachers were expected to comply. With the increasing control over education and training by central government, reflected in the creation by the Education Reform Act of 1988 of a National Curriculum (similarly in Wales), came a decline in, though by no means end to, independent reports. Lord Dearing, for instance, provided three reports addressing perceived problems in the National Curriculum, in post-16 examinations and in higher education1. However, that broad picture,
as presented in earlier reports, came increasingly to depend on the initiative of independent foundations. Following Sir Claus Moser’s presidential address to the British Association in 1990, the Paul Hamlyn Foundation established its own National Commission to carry out an overall review of the education and training scene – in the words of Sir Claus Moser:
… a review which would be visionary about the medium and long-term future facing our children and this country; treating the system in all its inter-connected parts; and, last but not least, considering the changes in our working and labour market scenes.2
Much has been achieved since the National Commission. However, new problems have arisen. Certainly there have been ‘changes in our working and labour market scenes’ not anticipated in 1990. But questions are raised about: quality of learning; curriculum content; assessment, examinations and qualifications; professional responsibilities of teachers; provision and funding; transition from one phase to another; progression into employment, further training and higher education; and the roles of local and national government.
SECTION 1: A BIT OF HISTORy
It is the aim of this synopsis to bring these different reviews together, to reinforce their shared vision educational aims, and to highlight what that vision entails for policy and practice. We hope that incoming Ministers will appreciate the importance of ‘a bit of history’ and consider the challenges and principles highlighted. After all, the future is in their hands.
‘What is primary education for?’ (p.174-202), and answered with a list of aims which reflect values and should drive the curriculum. Those values arise from what it means to become ‘an educated person’, namely, developing the capacities in young children: to ‘make sense’ of their experiences and thereby to be empowered through knowledge; to have a sense of personal fulfilment; to be actively engaged in their learning; to have the moral qualities of respect and caring; to participate actively in the wider group in anticipation of becoming active citizens.
• the Nuffield Review (p.12) started with the question ‘What counts as an educated 19 year-old in this day and age?’, and similarly responded to this question by spelling out those qualities and capacities which are distinctive of being and growing as a person:
– the knowledge and understanding through which all young people attain a more intelligent grasp of the physical, social and economic worlds which they inhabit; – the practical capabilities through which
they are able, not just to think, but also to act, make and create intelligently; – the moral seriousness with which they
address and care about the ‘big questions’ which confront them and the wider society – e.g. those concerned with environment, racism, poverty;
– community relatedness – both a recognition of their intrinsic attachment to the wider community and a disposition to help shape it as citizens;
– a sense of personal fulfilment through the pursuit of worthwhile interests – the opposite of a state of boredom.
• the IFLL Report (p.8) starts with the assertion that learning throughout life, as a human right, should be broadly conceived – to develop the capacities to respond to changing employment patterns and economic needs, certainly, but, more than that, to continue (even into the ‘fourth age’) personal growth, emancipation through knowledge, a sense of solidarity with the community both locally and globally,
Section 2 Educational Aims and Values
Central to the Reviews were
deliberations about the values which
implicitly or explicitly direct educational
policy and practice. What is education
for? Only in the light of thoughtful
answers to that question can we think
about the quality of learning and the
institutional arrangements to promote
it. This section therefore permeates
all that follows.
Key points
• Aims of education are too often seen only in terms of economic and academic success.
• There is a need instead to consider the development of the ‘whole person’.
• Those aims frequently neglect lifelong learning.
• Those aims too often focus on individual achievement rather than on the public good.
The need for clear aims
It would seem self-evident that policy and practice should be shaped by clear aims and values. Even so, the Reviews noted how little attention is given to these, despite the unexamined values which often clearly underpin policy and practice. One danger, pointed out in the Reviews, of neglecting these essentially ethical questions is that education is principally seen in government documents as the promotion of the knowledge and skills deemed necessary for economic success. That of course is important. But, where such an aim comes to dominate educational discourse, reflected in the language of ‘targets’, ‘audits’ and ‘delivery’, then the intrinsic worth of educational activities tends to take second place. And those learners who cause the targets to be missed may be seen as educational failures.
What the Reviews say
For the reasons described above
– the option to drop the arts and humanities at the age of 14 (NR p.107) or their marginalisation (CCPR p.252); – assessment which neglects practical
competence and creativity (CCPR ch.17; NR p.80/2);
– lack of room for prior experience in the curriculum (NR p.82) and in HE (TLRP 4); – predominantly economic justifications for widening participation in higher education; – lack of broad educational opportunities for
adults and the ageing (IFLL ch.3);
– neglect of less measurable aims like personal and social well-being (MCWB, p.35).
The Reviews considered here provide a continuing reminder of the vision of society in which learning plays its full role in ‘personal growth and emancipation, prosperity, solidarity and global responsibility’ (IFLL p.8)
Inequality and discrimination
Also emphasised in the respective Reviews was the connection between educating and creating a fairer society (3, 5, 11; NR p.21/2; CCPR ch.12; MCWB ch.4) – what IFLL (p.xvii) refers to as ‘public value’, namely, its impact on the reduction of discrimination, crime, poverty and ill-health. This contrasts with the view of education as essentially a personal and ‘positional’ good.
That ‘public good’ embraces the creation of a society which eliminates prejudice and discrimination on the basis of gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation and social class. ‘Fairness’ and social solidarity is seen as a central educational value, more urgent today in the light of increased diversity and lower social mobility (see Section 3 below).
Moreover, the National Child Development Study (NCDS, 30), drawing on its synoptic analysis of 50 year olds, endorsed the words of the Report
Born to Fail4, in saying:
Educational achievement seems to play a central role in later life outcomes. Much of the relationship between disadvantage, delinquency, lower earnings and unemployment is generated because of the lower educational attainment of disadvantaged young people.
SECTION 2: EDUCATIONAL AIMS AND VALUES
and control over one’s own life (e.g. in the spheres of health, finances, civic duties, employment and digital technology).
• TLRP (1, 3, 12), reflecting the values
underpinning other TLRP papers, emphasise these broader aims of education. These are intrinsic to the understanding of teachers as educators (no mere trainers) and to the value of ‘widening participation in higher education’ (TLRP 4) which lies in more than greater economic utility.
• the MCWB Report (see p.34-42) underlines this broad purpose of ‘learning through life’ and ‘the wider benefits of learning’ – namely, a concern for the ‘being’ of each person. Such well-being requires mental good health, dispositions to continue learning, knowledge and skills for an economically useful life, qualities for participating in the social life of family and wider community, and social cohesion. Mental good health is in part an educational matter, too often ignored in the provision of formal learning.
A moral dimension to education
These broad educational aims provide a moral dimension to education. They point to what it means to be an educated person and what it means for such a person to contribute to the ‘public good’. That is important for two related reasons.
• First, the moral dimension has tended to be neglected in many government documents in recent years. But values, even when unexamined, still shape in detail the structure and content of education and training ‘from cradle to grave’. Consequently, education is frequently seen as but a means to some further non-educational end – as reflected in the dominant reference to ‘skills’ for economic success in a competitive market and in the language of ‘effectiveness’ and of performance management in the achievement of that end (NR p.16; CCPR ch.12).
• The second, connected, reason why constant deliberation of such aims is important is that questionable but unexamined values get
embedded in the everyday practices which follow from an over-emphasis on performance alone – as for example, in:
– the narrow regime of SATs tests and consequent impoverishment of learning at the primary stage (see CCPR ch.16 and this document, section 8);
Therefore, everyone who is engaged in education and training needs to think carefully and often about the aims of education and about the values which education should foster in all young people – not just for the privileged or the academically able. Such essentially ethical deliberations affect all that follows – the vision of learning, the assessment of that learning, the opening up of opportunities through different progression routes and qualifications, and the provision and funding of formal education ‘from cradle to grave’.
SECTION 2: EDUCATIONAL AIMS AND VALUES
Hence, it is argued that a central role of education lies in addressing problems of a more culturally diverse and economically divided society and in contributing to greater social cohesion and equality. Thus, MCBC (p.17) points to the evidence for greater social cohesion, low prevalence of crime and high prevalence of pro-social behaviour, which can be nurtured through education: ‘education has a potential role to play in the prevention of most, if not all, of these features of personal and social dislocation’ (p.34).
However, as IFLL argues (thereby filling a gap in the normal narrative on education ‘from cradle to grave’), the ‘more just society’ includes not only the ‘socially disadvantaged’ but also the ‘adult disadvantaged’, namely
• adults over 25 no longer entitled to formal education and training but whose continuing further education and training are crucial for their and society’s economic well-being;
• those adults who are disabled and have special needs;
• those who are retired but whose lives would be more fulfilling if they too had educational opportunities.
Conclusion
Education aims to nurture the personal good of individuals and the public good of the society of which those individuals are part. That ‘good’ is to be spelt out in terms of the knowledge and understanding, the practical capabilities and skills, the moral seriousness and dispositions, the active participation in the wider community and the sense of achievement which are thought to be worthwhile. There will never be universal agreement on exactly what is worthwhile, but that is why educational policy and practice should constantly be subject to open
ethical deliberation.
Furthermore, in pursuing such broad educational aims and values for all young people, the Reviews warn against the narrowing of those aims to purely academic achievement or to what is easily measurable. Such narrowness guarantees ‘educational failure’ to many who have achieved much and who demonstrate the benefits of a wider vision of learning.
some years and excess in others. The 14-19 cohort declines about 10%, over the next 15 years, with likely competition between schools and colleges for the declining numbers and between providers and employers in the latter’s demand for skilled labour. At the same time, despite the fluctuating birth rate, there is a constant increase in those who live longer. 16% of the UK population is over 65; by 2020, 25 million will be over age 50.
Implications
• The learning needs of those in ‘the third age’ need to be addressed – and, indeed, of ‘the fourth age’, viz. the growing number over 75;
• 14-19 provision should be so organised that there is greater local and regional organisation of resources and collaboration between providers.
Multi-ethnic society (NR ch.3; MCWB p.8; CCPR p.113/5; IFLL p.70/1)
Given changing demography and global trends, the ethnic mix is changing. The number from minority groups in Britain is nearly 5 million, and growing. Moreover, they are often heavily concentrated in disadvantaged areas. Significant differences are noted between ethnic groups in participation and achievement. Reports have warned of an ethnically segregated Britain and a growing minority feeling isolated from mainstream society5.
Implications
• A special task of education is to address issues arising from ethnic diversity (e.g. racism or alienation) through the curriculum and through links with the respective communities.
Relative poverty (NCDS; NR p.30-32; CCPR p.58/9, 75/87, 110/15; IFLL p.35)
Increased economic prosperity is counterbalanced by increased poverty for many and growing segregation of the well-off from the disadvantaged. This further embeds inequality in society, reflected in the differences in attainment between children at an early age – differences which accumulate throughout formal education and affect individuals in later life6.
Section 3 Social and Economic Context
It is one thing to have a general idea
of the aims of education. It is quite
another to see how they translate
into practice in context which are
so diverse socially and economically.
Such diversity and its significance
were extensively described by
the Reviews.
Key points
• By 2050, 25 million UK citizens will be over age 50 – with implications for life long learning.
• People from ethnic minorities number 5 million – with implications for education.
• 25% of young people grow up in households with one parent; 16% in workless homes.
• The more disadvantaged a child, the lower the level of educational attainment.
• Percentage of 17 year olds in employment has reduced from 60% to 30% in 15 years.
• 10% of young people suffer from psychiatric disorders; 60,000 are in care, 40,000 are teenage mothers, and 3000 are in penal custody.
• Half the prison population do not have the skills required by 96% of jobs.
• Educational failure can often be related to home contexts and to the need for greater support for parents and the development of parenting skills. Education and training do not occur in a vacuum. They are influenced by social and economic contexts in which policies are developed. In this, all the Reviews agreed – an agreement not always shared by policy makers who often hold schools and colleges responsible for the effects of wider social problems. Particular references in the Reviews were made to the following features of the present context which affect educational success and failure.
Demographic changes (IFLL p.83-6; NR p.28/29)
Educational provision is bedevilled by changing demography. Birth rates vary historically and such fluctuations move slowly through the system, causing shortages of teachers and resources in
Economic needs (TLRP 5, 8 and 10, NR p.35/37, IFLL p.29; MCWB p.13)
Changes in the need for skills and high technical knowledge put pressure on the
education system to prepare a more highly skilled workforce, especially with regard to functional literacy and numeracy, but also including, ‘a national transformation of higher education in response to the growth of the global economy’ (TLRP 10). However, arguments for the ‘skills shortage’, stemming from the Leitch Review9,
have been questioned by the NR (ch.9).
Implications
• Apprenticeships need to be increased, but with greater emphasis on work based training, on employer support and on Level 3 attainment (see TLRP 5)
• The significant role of higher education in producing the high level technical knowledge and skills (TLRP 8) must be acknowledged10. Extended dependence of young people
(NR p.26/28; MCWB p.14)
The period of financial dependence has been extended. The number of 17 year olds in employment has reduced from 60% to less than 30% in 15 years, making often difficult demands on young people in their adjustment from childhood to adult status. They are bottom of the international league table of the wealthiest nations in terms of physical and social wellbeing – and drank more alcohol, took more drugs and had more under-age sex11. Teenage pregnancy
is a major issue.
Implications
• young people, in their interaction with teachers, trainers and others, need more opportunities to develop personal responsibility and independence, and a greater sense of relevance of their studies than often prevails.
Hard to Reach students (NR ch.3; CPR p.87, 119/21)
Many are unable to access mainstream education due to caring responsibilities, exclusion, medical problems, school phobia, etc. For example, 10% of young people suffer from psychological disorders, 60,000 are in care, 40,000 are teenage mothers, 3000 are in penal custody. They need to be reached
SECTION 3: SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC CONTExT
Implications
• Policies such as ‘Sure Start’ and those set out in Every Child Matters7, integrating education,
social and health services in a holistic approach to young people, are based on strong
underlying evidence.
Social mobility (IFLL p.38-42; NR 32/33; MCWB p.26; NCDS p.30.; TLRP 4)
The more disadvantaged a child’s background, the lower the level of educational attainment likely to be achieved and the less likelihood the take-up of available job opportunities. The historic data shows that those with O Levels, A Levels and degrees, have had average wage returns of 18%, 24% and 48% respectively compared with those without qualifications. Positive returns are noted with Level 4 craft based qualifications. Social and economic class still affect attainment despite the many educational reforms, though there is mobility where higher level qualifications obtain.
Implications
• Educational reform is a key to improving fairness and must go hand in hand with wider social programmes.
• Since economic contexts make upward social mobility impossible for everyone, such social mobility cannot be the major aim of ‘education for all’.
• Further education, widening participation in HE and adult education are crucial in compensating for earlier failure and creating new opportunities.
Family structure (NR 29/30; CCPR p.73/89; MCWB p.8; IFLL p.27; NCDS p.19)
Changing family patterns affect educational prospects. 25% grow up in households with one parent (there is a link between one parent families and poverty). Over 16% grow up in ‘workless families’. Achievement is heavily influenced by family background as measured by social and economic status. Parenting skills are a significant factor8.
Implications
• Central importance should be given to (i) creating close relations between schools and social services, (ii) support for parents and (iii) resources for schools serving areas of social and economic disadvantage, especially during the early years.
SECTION 3: SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC CONTExT
Implications
• Alternative educational provision is essential if these young people are to be reached – through home tutoring, communication technology (see pages 24 and 41) and liaison with social and health services.
Those in Custody
In a prison population of over 80,000, half do not have the skills required by 96% of jobs; 43% have a reading level at or below that expected of an 11 year old; 82% a writing level at or below that expected of an 11 year old; only 1/5 can complete a job application form. The social and economic costs of such educational failure are enormous.
Implications
• Effective learning opportunities, within prison and extending to cover the transition from prison, are an important route for integration (IFLL, p.37).
Evidence suggests that if commitment to fairness is pursued through sustained, practical policies, then some social disadvantages can be mitigated. In difficult financial circumstances, with education budgets adjusting to new norms, there are significant dangers of deepening inequalities.
Early Years
As may have been expected, the reports under review particularly stressed the significance of the early years for later educational outcomes, as reflected by research into physical, emotional and intellectual growth (CPR ch.7; NCDS p.22; WBL p.17, TLRP 2). Hard evidence is available. For example, the cohort data of NCDS shows categorically the progressive impact of childhood disadvantage and is one of the data-sets that informed Sure Start and other contemporary policies for early childhood provision in England. The significance of the quality of social interaction within home environments and pre-school settings, and thus on the efficacy of early years enrichment, is also well researched13.
Primary Education
In relation to primary education, CPR (ch.7) recalls the work of the Plowden Committee14 and
the developmental psychology which influenced it so much. Of particular contemporary consequence is the conceptualisation of the development of psychological schema to enable understanding. Analysis of such processes has a long history, with Frederick Bartlett and Jean Piaget leaving a lasting legacy for education and popular understanding of such matters. Bartlett15 viewed knowledge as
a network of mental structures representing an individual’s understanding of the world. Piaget16
proposed processes through which new experiences lead to the accommodation of pre-existing cognitive structures, whilst assimilation enables people to use such schema to make sense of new experiences. Through the interaction of accommodation and assimilation, new levels of understanding develop. However, CPR records (p.90) that the implication of fixed developmental stages with limited recognition of variability and social influence have caused this cognitive theory to be heavily qualified.
The Cambridge Primary Review cites a number of ‘post-Plowden insights’ (p.90/1). These include:
• Children are ‘able to think and learn in the same ways to adults, albeit in rudimentary forms’.
Section 4 Developmental Processes
Nature or nurture? An old debate,
but one which cannot be ignored
in exploring the limits and possibilities
of what can be learnt.
Key points
• The environment of home and family in the early years and development of key skills such as language and sociability are crucial to subsequent development.
• Knowledge and understanding accumulate over time through the interaction of development and experience.
• Expert teachers work with, and extend, the developmental capabilities of learners.
• Neurological development continues through life, and capacities are not biologically fixed.
• Development and learning, particularly in supportive contexts, extends to the fourth age.
The Importance of Development
and Learning
Having reviewed evidence on the way social and economic contexts affect achievement, we now turn to what the reviews have to say about the influence of learning and development. The 2008 Foresight Report on Learning Through Life
(MCWP)12 asserts its significance:
Learning through life has a critical role in unlocking a wide range of benefits, both for the individual and for society. Such benefits are diverse in nature, and can provide substantial and lasting outcomes. Examples include its potential to play an important role in engendering wellbeing and good mental health in the individual, and in promoting social cohesion within society... Older people in particular often require reskilling and professional development, along with non-work-related learning opportunities that might help delay the onset of neurodegeneration. Children and adults with special educational needs also benefit from appropriate educational provision... (MCWP, p.8)
development of language, and its continued development through social interaction, is a crucial foundation for educational success. As the CPR puts it: ‘language development, along with perceptual and spatial development, underpins children’s progress in reading and numeracy’ (p.97).
Physical Development
Physical development and health is considered in both the CPR and IFLL. Topics considered include child obesity, nutrition and infectious diseases. Whilst levels of infection, such as measles, have fallen in recent decades, the quality of nutrition is variable and overall levels of obesity have grown. Overall, CPR records significant concerns with children’s health.
Neurological development
The Reviews also begin to document
neurological and biological conditions throughout the life-course. IFLL (p.89) highlights: ‘mounting evidence to show that young people continue to mature for longer than was originally thought, physiologically and otherwise’. Indeed, it is reported that: ‘neuroscience does not reveal a magical age at which the brain becomes adult – the brain develops well into the 20s’. And further IFLL asserts that: ‘neuroscientific research confirms the plasticity of the brain ... the capacity to continue to change across the life course’ (p.32). There is thus potential for continuing learning into the ‘Fourth Age’ of 75 and beyond.
The interest in neuroscience was taken up by TLRP 2 and in CPR (p.96, 106). However, as the former reminds us, these are early days to draw conclusions for teaching strategies – even though ‘90% of teachers thought that knowledge of the brain was important in the design of educational programmes’ (TLRP 2). More understanding of how the brain functions, and of the practical implications of this, is needed.
Conclusion
Conclusions can be drawn from the evidence provided to TLRP 2, the Cambridge Primary Review and the National Child Development Study to the effect that:
SECTION 4: DEVELOPMENTAL PROCESSES
• The strong influence of heredity on intelligence ‘is now accepted’ but the emphasis in research is on the ‘key role of environment for
explaining variability’.
• ‘Social interaction plays a vital role in children’s development and learning’.
• The ‘social environment in which children grow up can explain variation in their achievement in areas such as literacy and numeracy’.
• Schools often ‘neglect the considerable funds of knowledge that children themselves bring to school’.
Teaching, and Learning
Such awareness of the social influences on learning particularly reflects the influence of Vygotsky17 and of socio-cultural psychology. This
is also manifested in a renewed emphasis on the role of teachers, or more knowledgeable others, in supporting or extending understanding. The crucial role of teaching is thus directly asserted. The most successful teachers are thus seen to combine awareness of learner development with strong subject knowledge. In parallel, learning is seen as a social process through which meaning and depth of understanding are derived. These aspects are combined in dialogic teaching, group-work and innovative approaches to interaction and learner engagement (TLRP 2, CPR ch.15). More broadly, as CPR argued (ch.13, ch.14), the bodies of knowledge which learners experience reflect the history, culture and priorities of their society. They are learned though both formal education and informal experiences. TLRP also reflected this perspective in citing the principle that effective teaching and learning ‘engages with valued forms of knowledge – with the big ideas, facts, processes, language and narratives of subjects’ (TLRP 1, 3).
Language
The significance of language in learning and development, particularly of young children, can hardly be exaggerated. Indeed, some have argued that language determines thought and that linguistic categories frame and limit cognitive categories – the Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis18, but this is now seen
as being too deterministic in its extreme form. There is no doubt however that the early
SECTION 4: DEVELOPMENTAL PROCESSES
• children, young people, adults and the elderly have particular developmental needs;
• the early years are crucial. Support for parents in conditions of disadvantage is likely to be highly cost effective over the long term.
• it is not helpful to view children’s thinking as being limited by stages, for they can learn in as many different ways as adults;
• meaningful social interaction and the influence of teachers and peers make crucial contributions to cognitive development and to school learning;
• ‘biology is not destiny’ – for the capacities of the brain can be developed and remain adaptable from experiences throughout life.
An appreciation of human development is essential when considering teaching and learning. It thus has implications for the policy frameworks which create the opportunities or constraints though which potential is explored.
1 Challenge:Lessons from history are important. Very often, ‘we have been here before’.
Principle: Ministers, political advisers, civil servants and educational professionals should acquaint themselves with recent history of education in order to build cumulatively on worthwhile successes and to avoid repeating mistakes.
2 Challenge:Aims of education are often spelt out solely in terms of economic utility and relevance.
Principle:Policy and frameworks of entitlement should reflect the broad aims of educating persons, such as:
• understanding of the physical, social and economic worlds,
• practical capabilities,
• economic utility,
• moral seriousness,
• sense of community, collaboration and justice,
• sense of fulfilment
• motivation to continue learning even to ‘the fourth age’.
3 Challenge: In responding to national priorities and in promoting ‘education for all’,
policy must also reflect the diversity of social and economic conditions which affect learning.
Principle:In pursuing educational aims, the system of education should recognise the significance of particular economic, social and personal circumstances, and thus enable flexible adaptation of curriculum, pedagogy and assessment to meet specific needs.
4 Challenge: Too easily the capacities of people to learn are seen, from early years to old age, to be strictly limited by nature.
Principle:‘Biology is not destiny’. Still more and better investment in the early years is crucial, but the brain remains adaptable from experiences and learning opportunities throughout life.
Part I: What is Education for?
Part II:
What are the consequences
of educational aims for
Given the aims of education which
are embedded in the Reviews, and
given the complexity of the social and
personal circumstances from which
the learners come, the Reviews argue
for a wide vision of learning.
Key points
• Learning experiences, focused on targets, are too narrow and disengaging.
• The value of the FE Sector, educating and training 32% of 17 year olds, goes unrecognised.
• Informal, experiential and practical learning is too often neglected.
• Much more can be done to harness the power of new communications technology.
• Learning opportunity, general and vocational, for adults into the ‘fourth age’ need support.
• For too many, learning is restricted by poor health and social disadvantage.
• For many, the work-place is where the quality of learning is most significant.
The narrow vision of learning
The Reviews share a common concern for the quality of learning, which should reflect broad educational aims. However, ‘quality’ is too often associated with ‘hitting targets’, rather than with processes of learning or deeper understanding of key ideas or personal development. This concern was emphatically provided to the Nuffield Review by one sixth former:
Far too often in education the emphasis is on achieving targets and regurgitating what the exam board wants, as opposed to actually teaching children something. As a sixth form student myself, this frustrates me on a daily basis, especially in history, when we must learn to write to the specifications of the exam board, instead of actually learning about the past (NR p.67).
Nuffield Review provides evidence of widespread disillusion (in higher education, amongst employers,
with teachers and even from the Chief Inspector) with formal learning shaped by a system of assessment which is dominated by that which is easily measurable (p.66-67, 81).
The Primary Review (p.291) similarly brought evidence to show that teachers feel excessively constrained and controlled, having to conform to:
a state theory of learning … there is little doubt that the machinery of surveillance and accountability makes it difficult for schools to deviate from focusing on test performance (CPR p.291)
IFLL (p.49), in speaking of the need for nurturing an appetite to carry on learning, argued ‘too much schooling is focused on heaving students over hurdles and into the next phase of education’. The purpose of learning should not be ‘simply linked to qualifications’ (p.30).
The need for a wider vision of learning
Therefore, the Reports (NR ch.5; CPR ch.15; IFLL ch.1; TLRP 1, 3) emphasised the need for a wider vision of learning in three senses:
• the processes of learning are different depending on the kind of thing being learnt (e.g. theories on the one hand and practical skills on the other), on the learning strategies of the young person, on the level at which the learner is at, and on the specific context such as the transition from one job to another (see the story of Roger, p.28). One size does not fit all.
• the importance of informal learning needs to be recognised whether that be through play (CPR p.65-6), experiences of the ‘lived world’, social learning (NR p.70), or engagement in available cultural activities (IFLL p.54). But, as IFLL says, ‘the balance between allowing informal learning scope to develop and linking it with formal modes is hard to strike, and we have not found it yet’. One significant kind of informal learning, which impinges for good or ill on the formal, is that arising from the ‘new technology’ (see below).
SECTION 5: A WIDER VISION OF LEARNING
• 50% or thereabouts of post-16 full-time education takes place in these colleges,
although policies about post-16 education mainly have schools in mind and the colleges receive 10% less income for doing the equivalent work as that done in schools (NR p.172-7).
• Over 100,000 young people between the ages of 14 and 16 spend a substantial part of their formally organised learning in colleges of FE. The evaluation studies have shown how this has transformed the learning experience and motivation of many19.
• Colleges are often the destination of young people who are deemed to have failed in the school system. Many entering further education have suffered from the damaging effects of their learning experience. As TLRP 6 states
An emphasis on target setting and achievement, regulated through outcome- based assessment and qualification system, has led to an impoverished curriculum for the majority of school-leavers and adults entering higher education.
• Further education has to prepare many young learners for a range of occupational qualifications which require a different kind of learning. TLRP 6, aptly entitled Challenge and Change in FE,
speaks of the different ‘learning literacies’, viz. the kind of language required for success in particular learning pathways, whether this be entry to more academic studies or vice versa a shift from the academic to more vocational.
• Colleges are a vital condition for adult education whether general or vocationally related. IFLL refers to them as ‘the institutional backbone of local lifelong learning’.
New Technology and informal learning
The Reviews, especially TLRP 7, emphasise the value of new technologies for enhancing learning. Particularly in informal settings, new technologies transform the nature of learning for many, although, as we are reminded by IFLL (p.169-172), they present barriers to learning for those unable to access or master the tools. Where, in 2008, 93% of those with degrees had access to internet, only 56% of unqualified people had access – creating the ‘digital divide’ which conferred learning disadvantage.
• focus on the initial phase of education should not lead to a neglect of the subsequent ones, where those who have failed in the initial phase have a chance to succeed later and develop new skills in response to economic change (IFLL pp.8, 12)
Hence, the Reviews set out the different kinds of learning and the different ways in which people most effectively learn:
• learning facts and formulae – propositional knowledge, if you like;
• learning to understand – acquiring that deeper grasp of the key ideas and concepts;
• practical learning – knowing how to act intelligently and to address practical problems, which includes, but is not just a matter of, acquiring skills;
• experiential and informal learning – usually acquired outside the formal context but affecting the learning within that context and providing a base for
• social learning – the acquisition of social and communicative skills, usually through interaction with others in either formal or informal settings. Such a list does not do justice to the extensive analysis of ‘learning’ in the Reviews (e.g. NR ch.4). Rather is it indicative of the complexity of the
content of that which is learnt and of the processes
of learning. It is necessary to get away from any simplistic set of prescriptions. Also it draws attention to the importance of active and practical learning (not to be confused with ‘vocational learning’), which have been much neglected in schools because of the pressure of tests and the coverage of a prescribed curriculum (NR ch.4). Further, it indicates the need for a deeper grasp of ‘pedagogy’ (see TLRP 1, 3, 12 and Section 7 below).
Lessons from the Further Education
(FE) Colleges
The FE sector is frequently neglected in many policy decisions to widen learning opportunities. But colleges are very important in the understanding of the wider vision of learning.
• In 2006/7, 28% of 16-19 year olds were being taught in FE Colleges (full and part-time) – 35% if 6th Form Colleges are included – compared with 19% in maintained schools.
