Attending the Skolemesse (Schools Exhibition) in Aarhus last Thursday I was struck by the explosion of books in the exhibition hall. Danish teachers have had their preparation time reduced in the most recent education reform. Yes! Danish school teachers are used to having designated preparation time. What seems to have happened is that there has been a shift from DIY solutions with each teacher producing their own materials to a more prescriptive but ready prepared slew of materials. As one salesman put it ‘It doesn’t make sense for everyone to keep re-inventing the wheel.’ I can agree with that up to a certain point and that point is that the time saved can then be used for individualised and topical diversions ie authentic learning.
Blended learning as a time-saver
This vision of pre-prepared materials was presented as a version of blended learning by one publisher. But if we include the requirement for student voice and choice, then there was still a great deal of work for the teacher in using these materials in such a way as to ensure that. Materials are only one of the ingredients of blended learning.
Working in teams
Another strategy to make teaching more effective, and required by the legislation, was to work in teams. Unfortunately it seems that schools are not so sure what these teams are supposed to do and how to organise them most efficiently. The speaker on this topic had done some research on how the teams were operating in various schools and concluded that teams needed leadership training to get the best out of their time. Practice varied enormously from teams meeting once a quarter to teams meeting once a week. And the point was made that there needs to be feedback to, from and between teams and management.
Using taxonomies
The case was made for using taxonomies to make learning progress visible, divided into small steps that show where the learner is, what they should do next and where they are headed. The speaker presented both Blooms and SOLO taxonomies. The speaker told us about how learners in New Zealand write their own learning plans and share them with each other while in Norway, learners now grade their own work and have to justify the grade to avoid under or over-confidence.
Using taxonomies means that each learner is on a different step in each subject, so there are no bottom of the class students since everyone makes progress in at least one subject and students on higher steps are expected to be able to explain to students on the lower steps how they got there. ie help them. The slideshow below explains much more about using the SOLO approach as a way of making learning visible.
Entrepreneurship
The most inspiring talk was that on entrepreneurship which was about cooperative learning, authentic learning, self-directed learning and above all engagement. This session was the polar opposite of the blended learning session. The first important point was that entrepreneurship did not have to lead to a business. It was more about making a plan and carrying it out by securing the necessary resources ie a wider remit than starting a business.
A teacher from Egebakke School described how she made a Friday afternoon optional subject into an inspiring and authentic learning experience for her students. Two of those students were there to support her and describe how they organised an end of school festival from scratch, doing everything from booking the bands to organising the security and clear-up afterwards and obtaining the necessary permissions from the police and fire departments. There was no way to box this up, although the next pair of speakers did present us with a template website to guide teachers in helping their students put on a similar event.
EU on the timetable
At the stands I had already checked out the various geo-caching apps such as Mapop and Edu-caching and also made a beeline for the European Union stall since learning the basics about the EU is included in the Danish curriculum. It occurred to me that some of the materials might help those trying to make up their minds how to vote in the UK referendum except that by definition, those tending towards Leave would view the EU materials as horrendously biased.