Measuring, monitoring, and managing for productive learning? Australian insights into the enumeration of education

Abstract

This article reveals how ongoing teacher learning in schools is heavily influenced by the increased measurement of student learning outcomes. It draws upon a broad range of literature on the practice of education, measuring learning, and its effects on ongoing teachers' learning at the school site. The paper analyses the meeting transcripts of an ongoing, long-term teacher learning initiative in a school in northern Queensland, Australia, and indicates how processes of measurement influenced such learning. Teachers' learning is revealed as heavily influenced by processes of «measuring [student] learning», the subsequent «monitoring» of student learning through students' data profiles, and 'managing' the learning of lower performing students. The article cautions that while these resultant teacher learning practices may be beneficial for students' learning, this is a contested point, and requiring much more careful analysis of the effects of the measurement of education on such practices. KeywordsQuantification of learning; testing, standardized testing, standardized learning, teacher learning, teacher professional development. ResumenEste artículo muestra cómo la formación continua de los maestros en las escuelas está muy influida por el incremento de la medición de los resultados del aprendizaje de los estudiantes. Se basa en un amplio repertorio de literatura sobre la práctica educativa, la medición del aprendizaje y sus efectos sobre la formación continua de los docentes en la escuela. El texto analiza las transcripciones de una serie de reuniones en el marco de una iniciativa de formación continua a largo plazo de docentes en una escuela en el norte de Queensland, Australia, e indica cómo los procesos de medición influyeron en esa formación. Se constata que la formación de los maestros está muy influida por los procesos de «medición del aprendizaje de los estudiantes», el seguimiento posterior del aprendizaje estudiantil través de sus perfiles de datos y la «gestión» del aprendizaje de los estudiantes de bajo rendimiento. El artículo advierte que, aunque estas prácticas resultantes de la formación del profesorado pueden ser beneficiosas para el aprendizaje del estudiantado, esta es una cuestión a debate, y requiere un análisis mucho más cuidadoso de los efectos que la medición de la educación ejerce sobre tales prácticas. Palabras claveCuantificación del aprendizaje; pruebas; pruebas estandarizadas; aprendizaje estandarizado; formación del maestro; desarrollo profesional docente.

Data for learning? Confirming and contesting performative practices of data governance

“…The focus of teachers, coaches and school administrators within the school on specific goals and students reflects how broader processes of measuring, managing and monitoring schooling practices can arise as a result of more performative policy conditions, and influence all aspects of schooling, including teachers' learning (Hardy, 2017). Such practices transpired in the context of a sense of urgency about students' academic results, on both standardized tests, and in relation to students' classwork more broadly.…”

“…Interestingly, however, and reflecting a more inclusive conception of education for all students, teachers adopted a broader approach to the Inquiry Cycle days, reflecting efforts to collaboratively develop better understanding and knowledge about specific aspects of the curriculum they were teaching for all students, thereby potentially transforming their own learning practices (Author et al, 2017). As a result of engaging with one another (horizontal expertise), and learning individually from the coaches and facilitator of the Inquiry Spirals (vertical expertise (Marsh et al, 2015)), teachers were able to elaborate in considerable detail about how they had been able to narrow down their focus of attention to more specific aspects of the curriculum/teaching practice to enhance students’ learning.…”