Are the acquisition of 21st century skills and the focus on accountability mutually exclusive?
Teacher training, the Melbourne Declaration, school plans, curricula and professional standards make clear that teachers are charged with educating students in 21st century skills, so that they can be effective and lifelong learners, creative workers and active and informed citizens. At the same time, there is a focus on measuring student achievement and school and teacher accountability (for that achievement) against outcomes, criteria and school goals through the ongoing measuring, gathering and review of student performance data and assessments such as NAPLAN, the Higher School Certificate (HSC) and participation in international examinations such as PISA.
While the acquisition of 21st century skills and the focus on accountability are not necessarily mutually exclusive, they can only effectively co-exist if accountability measures are properly designed and implemented, the appropriate support is provided to teachers at the system, school and faculty levels and if teachers are open to the challenges of constructivist learning. A number of barriers and challenges need to be overcome.
The types of competencies included in the umbrella term ‘21st century skills’ include problem-solving; critical and creative thinking; the abilities to formulate questions, to research, to learn and work collaboratively and independently, to self-assess and reflect; attention to process as well as product; and what John Seely Brown termed, ‘learning to be’ rather than ‘learning about’ (McWilliam, 2009, p.286). A number of these competencies are specified or implied in the Australian Curriculum. Constructivist pedagogies such as guided inquiry, inquiry based learning and project based learning , which privilege student engagement and choice, are most suited to developing 2Ist century skills and mindsets in students. Crucially, though, teachers (as a ‘meddler-in-middle) can combine, or supplement, these approaches with other more traditional pedagogies, in response to the needs of their students (McWilliam, 2009, p.287).
Accountability measures can support the obtaining of 21st century skills. NAPLAN and the collection of student data provide some information about student literacy and numeracy so that interventions can be made for individual students and to provide information to school authorities and governments for targeted financial and other assistance to schools where need is identified. Literacy and numeracy are base skills needed for higher order learning, such as the 21st century skills referred to above. Students struggle to participate in inquiry learning if their reading and comprehension levels are underdeveloped or significantly below their cohort. Accountability measures if they work to improve literacy and numeracy, underpin the obtaining of 21st century skills.
Outcomes are goals and a framework for teaching and learning, which teachers are obliged to incorporate in their program and lesson design. If sufficiently broad and flexible and aligned with 21st learning goals and skills, outcomes in curricula and syllabi, even when finally assessed in HSC examinations, can encompass and be achieved through modes of inquiry learning.
Yet as the qualifications in my argument indicate, accountability can conflict with teaching and learning for the acquisition of 21st century skills. Problems arise if NAPLAN results are delayed and fail to provide contemporaneous feedback, when the system or schools fail to act on the data, when NAPLAN results become an end in themselves and are used for ‘league tables’ and school selling points, when it leads to teaching to the test and diverting teaching attention away from other valuable modes of learning. In relation to outcomes, constructivist learning is hampered when a syllabus becomes too prescriptive and overloaded with content, and teacher discretion as to the best way to achieve outcomes is removed. An overloaded syllabus is a major barrier to the use of inquiry modes of learning in Year 12 in particular, given significant time pressure to get through the content examinable in in the HSC.
TIME is a major barrier. Effective constructivist learning takes a lot of planning and commitment. The recent Gallop inquiry for the NSW Teachers Federation (2021) found that the workload of New South Wales teachers was now ‘unsustainable’ and was detrimental to teachers’ core responsibilities of teaching and learning. ‘Accountability’ was a major cause of the increased workload, including ‘constant policy changes, new compliance measures, administration, data collection and reporting responsibilities’, along with , significant increases in student welfare needs, technological change, the expansion and regular reform of the curriculum and high community expectations on schools and teachers. Ways must be found to lessen the non-core teaching burden on teachers, and more planning time should be allocated.
Another barrier is student apathy and learned helplessness. This may arise where students have only been exposed to traditional pedagogies and passive learning and lack information literacy or research skills and confidence. It is important that the constructivist learning skills be implemented and taught and built upon at all stages, across different subjects, and throughout schools. Teachers need to be supported by professional development and be open to collaboration and taking risks with their students with inquiry learning (Buchanan et. al., 2016, 33).
So, the support of the system and the whole school is necessary for the co-existence and effectiveness of accountability and 21st century learning. Teacher-librarians can provide leadership and collaborative support to executives, teachers and students to help make this happen!
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Buchanan, S., Harlan, M., Bruce, C. & Edwards, S. (2016, July). Inquiry Based Learning Models, Information Literacy, and Student Engagement: A literature review. School Libraries Worldwide, 22 (2). 23-39. doi: 10.14265.22.2.03
McWilliam, E. (2009.) Teaching for creativity: from sage to guide to meddler. Asia Pacific Journal of Education, 29(3). 281-293, doi: 10.1080/02188790903092787
NSW Teachers’ Federation. (2021). Gallop report release highlights teaching crisis. https://news.nswtf.org.au/blog/news/2021/02/gallop-report-release-highlights-teaching-crisis