This question was tweeted out from the recent Australian Council for Educational Leaders Conference in Brisbane and sums up one of the key questions being asked not only Down Under, but around the globe. It is one of the bigger questions that must be to asked before we try and answer others around merit pay, large-scale testing (NAPLAN), national curriculum, and school rankings.
"We debate endlessly, and often furiously, the How and the What—language arts versus science; physical education compared to music; extra study time or recess; play or instruction; seat time against project-based learning; standardized testing in competition with portfolios; scripted curriculum or differentiated instruction; common core or site-level control, and so forth, and so forth.But all these debates, arguments, and shoutfests are meaningless—or, at best, dysfunctional—unless we first determine Why we have education. From this Why,