Opinion

5 lessons learnt to navigate future of education – Nina Adlan Disney

Students may boast string of As, but lack problem-solving, collaboration skills

Updated 2 years ago · Published on 29 Aug 2021 12:00PM

5 lessons learnt to navigate future of education – Nina Adlan Disney
When all schools are student-centred and engaging with independent learners, we will be in a much better place to deal with unforeseen crises. – The Vibes file pic, August 29, 2021

“THERE is a tide in the affairs of men, which taken at the flood, leads on to fortune.
Omitted, all the voyage of their life is bound in shallows and in miseries.
On such a full sea are we now afloat.
And we must take the current when it serves, or lose our ventures.” – Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar

Malaysia and our education system are at an inflection point. In a previous article, we looked at how the private sector is contributing to the Malaysia Education Blueprint through the Trust Schools Programme (TSP). In this follow-up, we examine five key lessons learnt, to help us navigate moving forward.

1) Students and system

Students must be our starting point. However, as central as students are, if they are your only focal point, there will be no long-term improvement to the system as a whole. For sure, an extra English tuition programme might improve exam scores, but will it help students achieve 21st-century outcomes like critical thinking?

Employers are all too familiar with applicants holding a string of As, but lacking the skills, or perhaps, the confidence, to problem-solve, evaluate and collaborate in teams. We can then introduce programmes to specifically address these soft skills, but it will be a never-ending and vicious cycle.

The truth is, all these features should be part of our education culture and embedded in how we deliver our curriculum. We have to move beyond piecemeal initiatives. In fact, it can be argued that we have too many overlapping and confusing initiatives.

Too many English, science, technology, engineering, mathematics, or digital programmes have come and gone. The problem is, there is no robust impact measurement, and nobody is making strategic choices on which initiatives to prioritise.

Most critically, nobody is looking at the reasons why some initiatives work better than others. It’s like a gardener who keeps ripping out plants that don’t flourish and planting new ones, without checking the soil conditions. Be it at the federal, state, district or school level, our system is the soil that enables sustainable change to take root. 

2) Culture and cash

So, what are the systemic challenges? Lack of resources? World Bank statistics show Malaysia’s total government expenditure on education as a percentage of gross domestic product (4.2%) is on a par with most upper-middle- and even some high-income nations.

Education already gets the largest allocation of our budget (RM50.4 billion in 2021), with an estimated 80% of that spent on emoluments. This gives us an indication of where our focus must lie – teachers.

While having more cash is always useful, we need to focus on optimising what is already there. It is not easy to rally the machinery of a monolithic ministry with 400,000 people, but successes in 94 trust schools, and our work in state and district transformation projects offer useful insights.

Cultural transformation takes patience, tenacity and time, leveraging “change agents” already within the system. There are many brilliant teachers and officers who are not always given the support to grow. It goes without saying that the gardener must have a growth mindset.

If there are thriving patches in the garden, surely you should share best practices and techniques, rather than be wary or resentful because the gardener is an “outsider”. Or heaven forbid, trample on the flowers because an “outsider” has the temerity to encroach onto your garden.

3) Capacity and calibre

Once you establish trust, it is then time to identify gaps and support capacity-building. Here, we must set aside ego and be open to learning from others. While most teachers are familiar with basic pedagogy principles, such as differentiation or assessment for learning, there is often a need to demonstrate how this can be applied effectively in a classroom context. School leaders need to become leaders of learning, model best practices, and lead by example.

In trust schools, middle leaders and the senior leadership team (SLT) do regular “learning walks” to fully engage with what is happening in the school. Formal learning observations also take place, not to “find fault”, but in a “safe space” to support teacher development.

SLT also receives upskilling in areas such as financial management to ensure operational efficiency. When these competencies and practices are entrenched in the school culture, we see schools becoming more resilient in adapting to change. So, amid the pandemic, learning walks and lesson observations can still continue, albeit tweaked to meet the needs of learning online, offline, or offsite.

4) Autonomy and authenticity

Improved capacity should lead to autonomy. Trust schools control their own budgets because they are supported to be fully accountable. Our current system is far too centralised, and schools are not empowered to make decisions.

There is a reluctance to take ownership for fear of consequences, and the hierarchical deference to dictates and directives. The default position is always to stick with the status quo, which leads to a “tick box” mentality and the consequent lack of authenticity in reporting.

5) Data and development

This brings us to data. We need more rigorous evidence-based approaches in our planning and policymaking. Instead of blanket interventions, let’s be guided by baseline data to really understand the take-off value of each and every school.

We need agility within our system to respond to different needs. For instance, with the pandemic, some schools might have to accelerate literacy and numeracy, while others focus on students and teachers’ socio-emotional needs. 

We are all stakeholders in education. The private sector cannot sit back and claim it is the “ministry’s job” to provide them with a talent pool. We owe it to our children to create a better future for all.

LeapEd is just one of the many entities, like Teach for Malaysia or the Financial Industry Collective Outreach, trying to work with the ministry to make a difference.

In an ideal world, after 10 years of implementing TSP, our 10,000 schools will undergo this cultural transformation. And when all schools are student-centred and engaging with independent learners, we will be in a much better place to deal with unforeseen crises.

Students will drive their own learning, be it digital or remote, and school leaders and teachers will be equipped to deal with volatility and uncertainty.

We are not yet quite there. But, transformation is about the journey, not the destination. So, let’s take the current while it serves and keep sailing forth, with our North Star guiding the way. – The Vibes, August 29, 2021

Nina Adlan Disney is executive director of LeapEd Services, an award-winning social enterprise involved in the design and implementation of education transformation programmes. For more information, visit www.leapedservices.com

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