It’s about system, not structure

“When the country is in chaos everyone has a plan to fix it – but it takes a leader of real understanding to straighten things out.”

Proverbs 28:2 (Living Bible)

It seems that for as long as I can remember, successive governments have offered ‘silver bullet’ solutions as a quick-fix to what is an incredibly, complex ecosystem of issues and concerns in our education system, requiring an equally sophisticated set of solutions focusing on ‘whole of system’ change, not just a single issue. It’s not surprising, as they come into power for just a three year term and so feel compelled to produce results within that timeframe as their chances of re-election often depend on that,

Think back to the really big change in 1989 with Tomorrow’s Schools which completely transformed the way our schools operate, making each one a self-managing, autonomous business entity. Since then that we’ve seen other significant changes in curriculum and assessment, the introduction of communities of learning and kahui ako, and then the education conversations, the Curriculum Refresh and review of achievement standards, and the widely consulted review of Tomorrow’s Schools under the previous government – to mention just a few.

There’s an old adage – “don’t fix it if it’s not broken,” and I’ve often been challenged about why we feel the need to create all of this change, why can’t we simply stick with what has been working in the past? It’s clear to me, however, that our education system is ‘broken’ and no longer ‘fit for purpose’ in preparing young people for their future lives, both personally and as citizens participating in a thriving society. The changes listed above are clearly responses to the perception that there are problems, and a ‘fix’ is required. But what are the solutions being proposed – and will they actually address the problem (and its root causes)?

The evidence that our education system is in trouble is undeniable – not just in NZ, but globally. A RNZ piece this week reported that alarm over falling student achievement has prompted calls for a radical overhaul of the school system. Meanwhile in Australia, the ABC highlighted a study from the Grattan Institute revealing that that one-third of Australian children can’t read properly as teaching methods being used have caused a ‘preventable tragedy’.

Over the years we’ve embraced a range of different pedagogical approaches to address these concerns, some associated with specific areas of learning, most of which will make claim to have been informed by our understanding of the science of learning which has become more popular under the current government. But now some of those things are being challenged by claims from the same body of knowledge about the science of learning, leading to increased confusion and resistance in many quarters.

The bottom line is that we have a system designed for a previous era, where conformity, compliance and the ‘sorting’ of young people for the workplace were fundamental design principles of the system. Many of the ‘fixes’ we have seen are really only designed to improve what is happening in this outdated model, and so the design principles of the system remain unchallenged.

Bali Haque, a friend and colleague of mine, wrote a very provocative thought piece recently , drawing attention to this very issue. In it he says:

The reality is that we have a system-wide problem not amenable to silver bullets. Unless we address this problem, our education decline will continue unabated and silver bullets will continue to fly.

Bali Haque in The Post, Saturday 24 February, 2024

Bali understands, perhaps better than most, the complexity we’re facing. As chairperson of the review of Tomorrow’s Schools he listened to hundreds of submissions and worked with an expert group to develop a synthesis of views about what needs to change. He has a really well developed understanding of our need to achieve system change, and not simply address issues in a ‘piecemeal’ way. Much of Bali’s article addresses how this ‘piecemeal’ approach leads to change being focused on what he calls the ‘silver bullets’ instead of taking a more considered, system-wide approach.

This is highlighted in the forward written by Andy Hargreaves for a book titled The Power of the Whole: What Is Lost by Focusing on Individual Things by Sean Slade (head of BTS-Spark in North America):

We often seek to transform education by looking intently at it internally – its subjects, content and its standards. We rarely look at the bigger picture or the external world outside of education. Yet there is a lot to learn from our broader world – its connections and interconnections – to see what we can learn from it about our education systems.

Andy Hargreaves

As Harvgreaves points out, we have to be looking beyond the school gate if we’re to address the substantial concerns we face in education. For many educators and school leaders, this can appear to be a daunting task. It’s one thing to look at an issue like truancy, for example, and try to solve it through a ‘silver bullet’ approach that goes something like “the kids aren’t coming to school, so we’ll employ someone whose job it is to get them there.” But while this might be effective for some in the short term, it ignores the questions around why they aren’t attending in the first place. At a school or classroom level this may be addressed by making what happens inside the classroom more relevant and engaging to the individual, but it also requires a deeper exploration of the socio-cultural conditions that may be at play, involving the interplay of multiple social agencies, community organisations, parents and whānau etc. to address the systemic and often inter-generational factors that give rise to this in the first place.

Which brings me back to Bali’s article. In it he is reported to have said…

The problem is a structural one, and the core of it is the way we run our schools. Aotearoa/New Zealand has one of the most devolved education systems in the world. In fact, a good case can be made that we don’t have a system at all – just a whole lot of schools. (emphasis mine)

Bali Haque in The Post, Saturday 24 February, 2024

I was a bit surprised to see it reported that THE PROBLEM is a structural one. That’s what the architects of Tomorrow’s Schools thought when they changed from central structures to local, autonomous ones as the basis of our schooling system. I have no doubt that the structure of our schooling system is a major impediment to much of of the transformation effort we’re currently experiencing – and in that I totally agree with Bali. However, addressing it as THE PROBLEM risks de-escalating the many other issues and concerns that are highlighted in the current educational discourse.

For example, for many Māori learners and whānau who are experiencing exclusion or alienation within the current system THE PROBLEM they see is systemic racism; or for the learners denied an opportunity to study in areas that they want to THE PROBLEM is around equity of access; or yet others who find themselves unable to function well with literacy or numeracy THE PROBLEM is lack of timely intervention and provision of specialist support.

Without doubt, the structural reforms of 1989 which gave us a nation of independently functioning, self-managing schools is a key area of concern as we attempt to address the issues we face today – but to isolate the structure of our system as the problem is to offer another ‘silver bullet’ surely? Structure isn’t THE problem, it is one of many areas of concern (admittedly, perhaps, one of the most significant.) To address the issue of structure without planning to systematically address the range of other issues and concerns is unlikely to produce the results we’re seeking.

Don’t get me wrong – I would strongly advocate for a structural re-alignment that provides greater collective clarity, leadership and distribution of resources – not to mention policy and legislative frameworks. But the full benefit of that won’t be realised unless we’re addressing a range of other issues. Structure won’t for example, magically address our poor engagement statistics, declining NCEA results, teacher recruitment and retention issues, how we accommodate the cultural and language differences on our communities etc.

As I’ve mentioned in previous posts, we need to be more intentional in understanding the system of education, and how each of its parts are connected and interrelate. For too long we’ve addressed just parts of the system, very often assuming that all they need is a minor adjustment to improve how they perform, when what we really need is a complete overhaul. Dr Asmaa Al-Fadala said as much at the recent World Innovation Summit for Education:

Reform produces a better version of the current system, transformation produces a different system”

(Dr Asmaa Al-Fadala, Director of Research, World Innovation Summit for Education)

For me, if we were to identify something as THE problem it would be the issue of our Purpose – and the disparate philosophical positions that emerge when we begin to put forth solutions to these myriad of problems and concerns. I’d argue that we’ve lost sight of what the purpose of education is in most of the rhetoric we hear currently – at all levels, from the political realm down to classrooms and local communities. We continue on accepting that schools exist in the form they do without pausing to question even that part of the puzzle.

This is the paradigm shift that Yong Zhao speaks of…

This new paradigm of education requires a complete rethinking about every aspect of the entire education system, from the definition of quality to accountability measures, from curriculum to pedagogy, from learning settings to evaluation and assessment and from selection to credentialing.

Yong Zhao

Instead of a comprehensive re-think we settle for picking off the things that we can ‘fix fast’ (or at least think we can), applying whatever solution we become enamoured with as long as we can justify it from whatever pocket of educational research we happen to be reading (or conducted ourself). Even when we have embarked on such a process it all becomes ‘too hard’ and nothing emerges. A couple of things come to mind to illustrate – both of which I participated in over the past few years.

The first was the development of a future focused learning report by the 21st Century Learning Working group under the leadership of Nikki Kaye, which provided ten strategic priorities and recommendations for a future-focused, digitally-enabled education system in NZ. This was initiated as a cross-party piece of work, with buy-in from both sides of the political spectrum. Alas, when the government changed it seems all memory of this agreement was lost and even now the link to the document on the government website reveals a 404 error page.

The second was the extensive amount of consultation that went into the Education Conversation–Kōrero Mātauranga back in 2018. It seems that this one had just a little more success in providing some ‘sticky’ outcomes (available still online in the summary document) but for me, having participated in the process, there was so much rich discussion about possible education futures that simply wasn’t captured in these recommendations, despite the optimism of Philippe Coullomb, the master of ceremonies at each of the Summit events, who said:

The summits showed us that with the right leadership and the right collaborative design skills, we can bring the sector together and change the dialogue between all stakeholders. Additionally, the cross-sector approach is what allowed us to shift the posture of the Ministry from that of a central engine to an enabler of a broader social dynamic.

Philippe Coullomb

Oh that that were true?

So to all school leaders and educators, politicians and bureaucrats, parents and whānau I say, now is the time to rise above the allure of quick fixes and embrace the challenge of systemic transformation. We can learn from the lessons of our past endeavors—the reports drafted, the summits convened—reminders of both our capacity for collective action and our propensity for inertia. We must learn from both our successes and failures, channeling our energy towards sustained, collaborative efforts that transcend political cycles and bureaucratic inertia. Let us unite in our commitment to reimagine education as a force for equity, inclusivity, and empowerment. Together, let’s pave the way for a future where every learner thrives. Our collective action today will shape the landscape of education for generations to come.

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