Debate about the curriculum: Nick Gibb v Andreas Schleicher

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Debbie_Hepplewhite
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Debate about the curriculum: Nick Gibb v Andreas Schleicher

Post by Debbie_Hepplewhite »

Do find the time to watch this very interesting, passionate debate about the role of 'facts' in the curriculum and the concern expressed by some by the direction of travel internationally away from the importance of a broad knowledge-base:

https://livestream.com/VarkeyFoundation ... /152049226
The debate at the Dubai Global Education and Skills Forum was on the topic:
 
This House Believes that 21st Century Learners Need Their Heads Filled with Pure Facts
 
The debate was chaired by Mr Nick Ferrari, Broadcaster and Journalist, Global Radio, and the speakers for and against the motion were:

For the motion: 
Mr Nick Gibb, Minister of State for School Standards, Department for Education (England)
Ms Daisy Christodoulou, Head of Assessment, Ark Schools (England)

And against the motion:
Mr Andreas Schleicher, Director for the Directorate of Education and Skills, OECD
Mr Gabriel Sanchez Zinny, Executive Director, Instituto Nacional de Educación Tecnológica Argentina
 
The topic was summarised as follows:

With endless amounts of information available at the touch of a button or click of a cursor, too many of today’s students are operating with what E.D. Hirsch calls a knowledge deficit. Addressing this deficit requires a renewed focus on a very simple strategy: teach facts to build upon facts. As students expand their base of knowledge, they are better prepared to move onto more challenging concepts and subject matter. By outlining the precise content mastery that each student should learn in all subjects – from mathematics to language arts – education systems create the infrastructure that enables each young person to develop both a breadth and depth of knowledge. Join us in the Debate Chamber as the House argues that facts are the building blocks upon which critical thinking and personal development skills are established and the mastery of facts will ensure students are prepared to thrive in the 21st Century.
 
A vote for and against the motion was taken both before the debate and after the debate.
 
The results of the vote are very interesting.
 
Before the Debate the vote was as follows:
In favour:                     20%
Against:                       67%
Undecided:                  13:%
 
After the Debate the vote was as follows:
In favour:                     48%
Against:                       42%
Undecided:                  10%
 
Quite a big shift in opinion following the excellent arguments in favour of the motion put by Nick Gibb and Daisy Christodoulou.
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Debbie_Hepplewhite
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Re: Debate about the curriculum: Nick Gibb v Andreas Schleicher

Post by Debbie_Hepplewhite »

Thanks to Kerry Hempenstall for flagging up Nick Gibb's speech at the Education World Forum that took place in London from 22-25 January 2017, and at which Nick Gibb clearly outlined his direction of travel!

http://dera.ioe.ac.uk/28473/1/Nick%20Gi ... GOV.UK.pdf
Nick Gibb: the evidence in favour of teacher-led instruction

The Schools Minister talks to the Education World Forum about teacher-led education.

t is a pleasure to follow the speech of my friend and fellow E. D. Hirsch enthusiast, His Excellency Dr Jareonsettasin.

The theme of this session contains 2 statements and 1 question. Firstly, that international rankings are useful for policy makers. Second, that today’s students will be rewarded not for what they know, but what they do with what they know. And third, how can evidence or should evidence be turned into policy, action and change?

I shall begin by focusing on the second of these. And then what that means for the answer to the third - in particular for approaches to teaching. In the 12 years since I became a Shadow Minister for Education, I have never met anyone who advocates teaching children knowledge with the explicit intent that it not be used or applied. The absurdity of this thought highlights that the oft-heard statement we are discussing today is effectively a tautology. It is plain to anyone who considers the matter: one must possess knowledge in order to use and apply it. As E. D. Hirsch has said, knowledge builds on knowledge.
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Debbie_Hepplewhite
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Re: Debate about the curriculum: Nick Gibb v Andreas Schleicher

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https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/ ... ter-equity
Nick Gibb: empowering teachers to deliver greater equity

From:
Department for Education and The Rt Hon Nick Gibb MP

Part of: School and college qualifications and curriculum

First published:3 April 2017

Delivered on:30 March 2017

The School Standards Minister opens the International Summit on the Teaching Profession.

It is an honour to open the International Summit on the Teaching Profession. This conference provides an excellent opportunity for politicians, unions and teacher representatives from the nations of the UK and countries from around the world to discuss how we can further improve education.

Empowering teachers to provide a great education for their pupils is at the heart of what I do as School Standards Minister. Increasingly, we know what can be done to improve educational outcomes for all pupils. Improving outcomes is not simple, but the principle underlying important reforms is: knowledge is power.

Knowledge of evidence about effective teaching practice; knowledge of cognitive science research into memory; and a knowledge-rich curriculum that empowers all teachers to deliver improved educational outcomes for all pupils.

Increasingly, education research is exposing outdated theories that still abound in many circles. In their 2013 paper Urban legends in education, Kirschner and Van Merriënboer expose 3 prevalent education myths linked to the fallacy that pupils should direct their education and not teachers.
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Debbie_Hepplewhite
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Re: Debate about the curriculum: Nick Gibb v Andreas Schleicher

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Mention of Nick Gibb in the Irish Times - a piece by William Reville:

http://www.irishtimes.com/news/science/ ... -1.2115219
The reason why modern teaching methods don’t work

Whole-class teaching, in which childern learn to use their long-term memory, has been abandoned for a more personalised, naturalistic approach, and it’s been a disaster
The scientific reviews I have read (such as Paul Kirschner and others in Educational Psychologist, 2006) claim that the new methods are far less effective at imparting knowledge to students than whole-class teaching methods. Nevertheless, academic educationalists have successfully resisted any reintroduction of whole-class teaching methods. However, the climate is changing. Following the teachers’ visit to China, Britain’s minister for education Nick Gibbs told the Mail on Sunday: “I would like to see schools adopt whole-class teaching methods, particularly in maths and science.”
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Re: Debate about the curriculum: Nick Gibb v Andreas Schleicher

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Nick Gibb continues to promote the need for teachers and teaching to be evidence-informed in his speech at Buckingham University:

https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/ ... profession
Nick Gibb: the importance of an evidence-informed profession

17 Feb 2017

School Standards Minister Nick Gibb addresses Buckingham University PGCE students.

It is a pleasure to be at Buckingham University again, an institution with established values, an emphasis on traditional methods and a determination to influence other institutions.

It is important that the country’s most prestigious academic intuitions are engaged in advancing our understanding of education and ensuring the next generation of teachers are endowed with high levels of subject knowledge and evidence of best teaching practice.

I recently spoke at the Education World Forum in London, which is a gathering of education ministers from around the world. I spoke about the importance of evidence in education and how experts needed to embrace that evidence rather than the comfort of prevailing orthodoxies. Just as with decisions made by teachers in their classrooms, advice given by education experts should be evidence-informed.
Do read the whole piece which includes links to further information.
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