For his new study, John Hattie has put together a list of five popular education reform approaches that he calls distractions from the real problem. His argument is that an overemphasis on one or all of them creates a distraction from other, more critical, more effective ways to improve education. They might work, but the impact is only mediocre and the costs are high.
Here is his policy paper a list of the world’s “top five” distractions in education:
- Distraction 1: Appease to parents – “If only there were more choice of schools and smaller class sizes”
https://youtu.be/021nSIhhrj8
- Distraction 2: Fix the infrastructure – “If only we had more effective curricula, more rigorous standards, more tests and more alternative-shaped buildings”
- Distraction 3: Fix the student – “If only we had better, well-prepared students”
- Distraction 4: Fix the schools – “If only schools had more money and autonomy, they would be better schools”
https://youtu.be/iNPnq0YYj4Y
- Distraction 5: Fix the teachers – “If only teachers had better initial training, were paid for performance and adopted new technology”
