Why borrowing from the ‘best’ school systems sounds good — but isn’t
For years now policymakers have looked at school systems in countries where students excel on international standardized tests, and have attempted to “borrow” what they believe are the practices that result in test-score success. Borrowing best practices seems like a no-brainer, but, in this post, the authors argue that in education, it isn’t always a good idea. This was written by Alma Harris, Yong Zhao and Michelle Jones.
Alma Harris is professor of educational leadership at the Institute of Educational Leadership, University of Malaya, and the Institute of Education, University College London. Yong Zhao is the presidential chair and director of the Institute for Global and Online Education in the College of Education, University of Oregon, where he is also a professor in the Department of Educational Measurement, Policy, and Leadership. Michelle Jones is deputy director at the Institute of Educational Leadership, University of Malaya.
By Alma Harris, Yong Zhao and Michelle Jones
Education policymakers around the globe remain preoccupied with the top-performing systems as the touchstone of their thinking and action, and the appetite for following the “best” education systems shows little signs of waning. Multi-national companies have categorized and summarized the strategies of the most “successful” education systems, and promoted them as a pathway to improvement for less successful systems. To be sure, the process seems logical; if you want to be a better performer, why not borrow or copy the approaches of those who do so much better? The approach is neat, convincing — and potentially misleading.
Let’s imagine that you are a runner and you want to be as good as Hussein Bolt. Would copying his training schedule, his diet and his racing diary really make you an outstanding sprinter? The answer is unequivocally no. The reason for this lies in the complex amalgam of innate ability, physiology, physique, background and personal motivation. In other words, the things that cannot be copied are the things that often matter most.
In education, too, the impact of policy borrowing is far less immediate or Why borrowing from the ‘best’ school systems sounds good — but isn’t - The Washington Post:
