Connected Writing Post on Provision of Resources by Policymakers
What struck me when I read Stephen Raudenbush's article* was what he wrote about how policymakers try to "influence teaching and learning indirectly by providing resources, increasing accountability, and transforming school governance" (p. 26).
Case in point: a large chunk of the report on the work done by the committee formed for Raising the Quality of Primary Education was devoted to "More resources for primary schools". This is not unique to just our local context; the same holds true elsewhere too. The US Department of Education website lists links to grants and educational resources at the top of its quick-links.
I suppose that policymakers provide resources as this is one lever they can and know how to operate - levers believed to have a large turning effect for national concerns such as education.
Perhaps it is because I'm studying teacher knowledge so sentences that contain the word "knowledge" in it cause me to pause and read it a little closer. Well, Raudenbush wrote that "resources, by themselves, do not improve teaching and learning...knowledge about how to use resources in instruction is key, yet woefully lacking" (p. 26).
My first reading of Radenbush had me questioning what "What are the policymakers doing about it? Resources aren't enough!" and then later on I realised "Oh, wait a minute, the ball is now in the educators' court... what are WE doing with all those resources? and why is our knowledge being described as woefully lacking?"
Somebody once remarked that if I want to do a PhD study, I need to break new ground. I can't say I can do that; I'm still feeling my way around. But I do hope that my studying teacher knowledge will help someone someday.
*Raudenbush, S. W. (2005). Learning from attempts to improve schooling: The contribution of methodological diversity. Educational Researcher, 34(5), 25-31.
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...well there must have been a lot of courses that guide teachers how to use technology, resources, etc. Wonder why such learning does not bring about behaviour change? Perhaps there are more to this scheme of things that need resurfacing....
ReplyDeletejust a thought :-)
Thanks for the comment, Shaleh! I noticed you used "resurfacing" instead of "surfacing". Teaching and learning are such complex and unpredictable endeavours. Which is why I agree with Putnam and Borko (1999) who said* "the quest for knowledge about education and learning leaves scholars "feeling as though they are perpetually struggling to move ahead but getting nowhere"."
ReplyDelete*in their paper "What do new views of knowledge and thinking have to say about research on teaching learning"