search of educational excellence in the asia pacific region

8/13/2019 Search of Educational Excellence in the Asia Pacific Region

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The search of educational excellencein the Asia-Pacific region

Nancy Law


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How do we define educational excellence?

Examination performance?

Life skills?

Competence in workplace settings?

Problem solving ability? Creativity?

Concern for others and for theenvironment?


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Why are you interested in educational

excellence?

Are you -

A student?

A parent?

A school teacher? A school principal?

An employer? The minister of education?

The minister of finance and economics?


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Asian answer? European answer?

What constitutes educationalexcellence?

How should we measure educational

excellence?

What counts as good indicators for

educational excellence?


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Some common assumptions in

curriculum policy in many countries Knowledge economy is one where the motor of

economic development is that of knowledge

creation

Quality of educational outcomes is more

important to national well-being than ever before New capabilities are required of citizens in the

21st century

21st century skills: self-directed learning, problemsolving, collaboration, communication, information

literacy

Integration of CT use in curriculum crucial tosu ort 21st centur skills


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Concern of large US corporates:

21st century skills

Founding Organizations:

AOL Time Warner FoundationApple Computer, Inc.Cable in the Classroom

Cisco Systems, Inc.Dell Computer Corporation

Microsoft CorporationNational EducationAssociation

SAP


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OECD: School of the Future, Innovative Learning Environment

UNESCO: knowledge economy & teacher competence


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System wide curriculum reform

& ICT masterplans


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Defining information literacy standards for

students & teachers


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Within this global trend in policy,

observed policy effects are very different


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0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40

Percentage

Hong Kong SAR

Lithuania

Israel

Italy

Japan

Thailand

Singapore

Chinese Taipei

South Africa

Russian Federation

Finland

France

DenmarkSlovenia

Norway

EducationS

ystem

2006 1998

Presence of LLL practices in school as reported by principals

Changed Priorities for Lifelong LearningChanged Priorities for Lifelong Learning

19981998 -- 2006 Pendulum Swing2006 Pendulum Swing


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Pendulum shift in principals vision:

Importance of lifelong learning practices

Response categories

for principals vision

for lifelong learning:

1 = Strongly disagree;

2 = Disagree;

3 = Agree;

4 = Strongly agree

= 1998 data;

= 2006 data

Europeancountries

Asian

countries


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Difference

inpresenceo

fLLL:fr98to06

Principals LLL vision in 1998

Principals vision in 1998 correlates

with perceived LLL practices in schools


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Why are there such differences?

Let us examine someinternational comparative student

achievement data and see if wecan find some answers.


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IEA studies since the 1990s

How did East Asian students perform in the

following IEA studies? 1995 TIMSS

1999 TIMSS-R

1999 TIMSS Video Study

2001 PIRLS

2003 TIMSS 2006 PIRLS


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TIMSS 1995


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TIMSS 1999


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TIMSS 1995


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TIMSS 1995


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PIRLS 2001


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PIRLS 2001

PIRLS 2006


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PIRLS 2006

S f f f E


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Summary of performance of East

Asian students in IEA studies

Mathematics

1995/1999/2003 All consistently high

Science

1995/1999 High except for Hong Kong 2003 All high

Reading

2001 Moderate

2006 High except for Chinese Taipei

Findings reported by


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The Significance of IEAThe Significance of IEA

Studies for Education inStudies for Education inEast Asia and BeyondEast Asia and Beyond

Findings reported by

Frederick K.S. Leung, The University of Hong Kong

The 3

rd

IEA International Research ConferenceTaipei, 18 September 2008

S E A i d


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Summary: East Asian students

attitudes towards studyTIMSS 2003

Valuing of Mathematics: low

Enjoyment of Mathematics: low

Self-Confidence in Learning Mathematics:low

PIRLS 2006

Attitudes towards Reading: medium

Reading Self-Concept: low

Leung,2008


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Mathematics teaching in

East Asian classrooms How do we explain the achievement and attitudes

of East Asian students?

TIMSS and PIRLS have system, school, teacher

and student questionnaires which explore relationbetween various factors and student achievements

and attitudes.

Since students learn most of their academicknowledge in the classroom, classroom teaching is

one of the most important factors.

A more thorough study of this factor is the TIMSS

Video Study

Leung,2008


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TIMSS 1999 Video Study (Math)Goal:

Describe and compare eighth-grademathematics teaching across seven countries

(Australia, Czech Republic, Hong Kong SAR,

Japan*, Netherlands, Switzerland, UnitedStates)

* The 1995 Japanese data were re-analyzedusing the 1999 methodology in some of theanalysis

Leung,2008


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Sampling and data collection

National probability sample of 8th-grade

math lessons: a Video Survey One lesson per teacher

Sampled across the school year

Standardized camera procedures

638 lessons, from 50 (Japan) 140

(Switzerland)

Leung,2008


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Data coding and analysis

An international team developed codes toapply to the video data.

Fluently bilingual coders in the internationalvideo coding team applied 45 codes in sevencoding passes to each of the videotaped

lessons. Three marks (i.e., the in-point, out-point, and

category) were evaluated and included in the

measures of reliability. If, after numerous attempts, reliability measures

fell below the minimum acceptable standard,

the code was dropped from the study.

Leung,2008


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The Maths Quality Analysis Group

Specialist group of mathematicians andmathematics educators

Reviewed randomly selected subset of 120lessons (20 lessons from each country exceptJapan)

International coding team created expandedlesson tables including details about classroominteraction, nature of mathematics problems

worked on, mathematical generalizations etc. Descriptions country-blind, with all indicators

that might reveal the country removed

Leung,2008

Instructional practices in East Asia as


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Instructional practices in East Asia as

portrayed by the analysis of the codes

1. Dominance of teacher talk

In all countries in the study, the teachers dida lot of talking, and considerably more thantheir students

Hong Kong and Japan differ considerably inthe amount of teacher talk

Leung,2008

A erage N mber of Teacher and


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Average Number of Teacher and

Student Words Per Lesson

5536 5452 5798

5148 5360

5902

810 824 640 766 1016 1018

0

1000

2000

3000

4000

5000

6000

7000

AU CZ HK JP NL US

Average number of teacher words Average number of student words

Leung,2008


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Ratio of teacher and student talk

Hong Kong and Japanese teachers spokemuch more relative to their students

Hong Kong SAR eighth-grade mathematicsteachers spoke significantly more wordsrelative to their students (16:1) than did

teachers in Australia (9:1), the Czech Republic(9:1), and the United States (8:1). (p. 109,Chapter 5)

When we factor in the relatively large classsize (about 40), the reticence of East Asianstudents is striking

Leung,2008

Instructional practices as portrayed


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Instructional practices as portrayed

by the analysis of the codes Dominance of teacher talk

Students have more opportunities to learn newcontent

Students solve problems that are more complex

and are unrelated to real-life More proof

Leung,2008


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1. Relatively advanced content

the ratings for countries with the most advanced

(5) to the most elementary (1) content in the

sub-sample of lessons, were the

Czech Republic and Hong Kong SAR (3.7),

Switzerland (3.0),the Netherlands (2.9),

the United States (2.7), and

Australia (2.5)(p. 191, Appendix D)

Leung,2008

Percentage of Lessons in


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Percentage of Lessons in

Sub-sample at each Content Level

10 15 15

45

15

20 15

25

30

20 40

30

4045

35

3035

20

100 05

40

1520 20

50 0 0

0

20

40

60

80

100

AU CZ HK NL SW US

P

ercentofSub

-sampledLes

sons

Advanced

Moderate/Advanced

Moderate

Elementary/Moderate

Elementary

Leung,2008

L


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2. More deductive reasoning

Deduction reasoning = deriving conclusions

from stated assumptions using a logical chainof inferences.

The reasoning did not need to include a formal

proof, only a logical chain of inferences with

some explanation.

Leung,2008

Percentage of Lessons in Sub sample L


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Percentage of Lessons in Sub-sample

that Contained Deductive Reasoning

0

5

1510 10

5

0

20

40

60

80

100

AU CZ HK NL SW US

P

ercentofSub

-sampledLessons

Leung,2008

Le ng


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3. More coherent

Coherence was defined by the group as

the (implicit and explicit) interrelation of all

mathematical components of the lesson.

Leung,2008

Percentage of Lessons in Sub-sample Leung


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Percentage of Lessons in Sub sample

Rated at Each Level of Coherence

1515 10

10

3510

30

20

15

20

10

10

5

20

000 05 500

20

15

30

5560 65

90

30

0

20

40

60

80

100

AU CZ HK NL SW US

PercentofS

ub-sampledL

essons

Thematic

Moderately thematic

Mixed

Moderately fragmented

Fragmented

Leung,2008


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Percentage of Lessons in Sub-sample Leung


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Rated at Each Level of Presentation

20

20

35

5

2030

40

20

10

30

55

20

45

25

40

1510 00 1010

15

30

40

55015

2010

0

20

40

60

80

100

AU CZ HK NL SW US

PercentofSu

b-sampledLe

ssons

Fully developed

Substantially developed

Moderately developed

Partially developed

Undeveloped

Leung,2008

5 Students more likely to be engaged Leung


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5. Students more likely to be engaged

Student engagement = the likelihood thatstudents would be actively engaged in

meaningful mathematics during the lesson. A rating of very unlikely (1) indicated a lesson in

which students were asked to work on few of theproblems and those problems did not appear tostimulate reflection on math concepts orprocedures.

A rating of very likely (5) indicated a lesson in

which students were expected to work activelyon, and make progress solving, problems thatappeared to raise interesting mathematicalquestions for them and then to discuss their

solutions with the class.

Leung,2008


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6 Overall quality Leung,


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6. Overall quality

Overall quality judgment:

the opportunities that the lesson provided forstudents to construct important mathematical

understandings (p. 199, Appendix D)

the relative standing of Hong Kong SAR was

consistently high . (p. 200, Appendix D)

Leung,2008

Percentage of Lessons in Sub-sample Leung,


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Rated at Each Level of Overall Quality

20

20

15

15

1530

20 25

2040

45

20

35

25

40

1015

05

25

10

15

35

30

05515

30

15

0

20

40

60

80

100

AU CZ HK NL SW US

P

ercentofSub-sampledLe

ssons

High

Moderately high

Moderate

Moderately low

Low

g,2008

General Ratings for Each Dimension Leung,


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g

of Content Quality of Lessons

AUAUAU

AU

CZ CZCZCZ

HKHKHK

HK

NLNLNL

NL

SWSW

SW

SW

USUSUS

US

0.0

1.0

2.0

3.0

4.0

5.0

Coherence Presentation Student

engagement

Overall quality

AU

CZ

HK

NLSW

US

g,2008

Summary of findings from Leung,


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y g

Math Quality Analysis GroupMath lessons in Hong Kong

Relatively advanced content More deductive reasoning

More coherent

More fully developed presentation

Students are more engaged, and

Overall quality is high

g2008

Summary: Mathematics teaching Leung,


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y g

in East Asian classrooms Traditional, teacher dominated

classroom More abstract and advanced

mathematics content

More coherent and fully developedpresentation

Quality of lesson (as judged by experts)is high

2008

Which is theWhich is the correctcorrect picture?picture?

Complexities in interpreting such


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survey findings socio-cultural Teacher & parent expectations

Confucian Heritage Culture Traditional importance of examinations

(China invented the first civil service

examination)

Family background e.g. immigrants

Excelling in public examinations is the passport


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to a lifetime of honor, wealth & fortuneChina is the first country in the world where a nationalexamination system was introduced - as early as the Sui

Dynasty (A.D. 587), a national examination wasinstituted in the imperial court to select scholars to highoffices in the government. From then on, theexaminations at different dynasties were invariably themeans to select appointees to the officialdom. ... The

examination was later developed into a stratified systemwhere scholars competed in local examinations andbecame qualified for higher level examinations ... Localsuccessful candidates were awarded lifelong titles of

scholarswho became local intellectuals with respectablesocial status. The champions in the examination held atthe central imperial court were granted high positions inthe government (as high as the prime minister) and oftengranted marriage to the royal family. (Cheng, 1994)

Some cognitive research:


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Memorization rote learning John Biggs & David Watkins studied how

Asian students learn & conclude thatunderstanding develops graduallythrough memorization

Confucian Heritage Culture

Family background e g immigrants


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Family background e.g. immigrants

Students achievement is very much

influenced by the socio-economicbackground of their family (HK has alarge population of children moving from

Mainland for family reunion, lowering themean educational level of population

e.g. Finnish colleagues attribute their highliteracy level to the high literacy rate ofwomen and the literacy practices at home

Good student achievement results our students are good in solving


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our students are good in solving

real life problems mathematically!Good results may not mean:

That what we are doing in the classroomis the best

That we should not learn from other

countries

That we should not have curriculum

reforms

Hong Kongs improvements in science &reading literacy achievement has benefitted


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reading literacy achievement has benefitted

from education reform Since the late 1990s, science curriculum

focus on scientific literacy for everydaywell-being, for civic participation, etc. inaddition to preparation for further

academic studies in science Curriculum reform from 2000: lifelong

learning & lifewide learning

Strong emphasis on helping parents todevelop literacy practices at home

Pendulum shift in principals vision:


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Importance of lifelong learning practices

Response categories

for principals vision

for lifelong learning:

1 = Strongly disagree;2 = Disagree;

3 = Agree;

4 = Strongly agree

= 1998 data;

= 2006 data

European

countriesAsian

countries

Principals vision in 1998 correlateswith perceived LLL practices in schools


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Differenceinpresence

ofLLL:fr98

to06

Principals LLL vision in 1998

with perceived LLL practices in schools

What can evaluation contribute to


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educational change? The contribution can be negative,

depending on the nature of evaluationtasks & the frequency.

In Hong Kong, curriculum reform is

accompanied by changes in assessmentand examination practices (wash backeffect)

How can evaluation contribute to


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educational change? Need to go hand-in-hand with research on

pedagogy & cognition

Need to have a longer term perspective

change is complex (Peter Senge: The Fifth

Discipline)

Be prepared to take risk evaluation resultscan put great pressure on policy-makers,

principals & teachers in the process of change

Change and innovation need SPACE! How canevaluation create a SPACE FOR CHANGESPACE FOR CHANGE?

Change is difficult even with evaluation!


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g

For example:

Lisbon strategy -

Five Education Benchmarksfor Europe - Trends 2000-

2006/07


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Perhaps East Asian systems like

Hong Kong & Singapore hasbenefitted from the high positions in

comparative student achievementdata that we can have the space forchange but who knows?


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THANK YOU!THANK YOU!

Nancy Law

search of educational excellence in the asia pacific region

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