Transforming Schools An Entire System At A Time

˙ PREAL Blog

This post is also available in: Spanish

International education experts are paying more attention to “whole-system” education reforms in order to improve learning.

In a recent short article (PDF), (based on his 2011 book), Michael Fullan, professor emeritus for Studies in Education of the University of Toronto and current special advisor to the premier and minister of education in Ontario, gives advice based on experience in various countries on how to improve systems in reasonably short periods of time (six to ten years).

Fullan draws conclusions about successful “whole-system” education reform in his article titled “Transforming Schools An Entire System At A Time”. He finds that success for education reform usually requires four components: developing internal, rather than external, accountability; focusing on only a few core educational-improvement goals; building capacity, especially collective capacity, to achieve the desired results; and developing widespread leadership that endures over time. However, Fullan is cautious and mentions that “[t]here is no single model for addressing whole-system reform” and that “[p]articular models will vary according to the starting point and context.” As an example, he mentions the key factors used in Ontario that in eight years led to dramatic education improvements in the system.

Click here for Fullan’s 2011 book, “Change Leader: Learning To Do What Matters Most


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