Changes in K-12 Curricula
Impact of Community-pioneered Interventions to Improve Learning in Rural Primary Schools
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Dominic Bagenda, Malcolm H. Field, Wataru Okazaki
The World Bank believes 90% of children in sub-Saharan African schools are not learning (Hodal, 2018). Myriad reasons may account for this statistic; educational capacity development (CD) would be prominent. The Education for All Fast track Initiative (2008) refers to CD as “the ability of people, organisations and society to manage their affairs successfully.” Environments influence the behavior of institutions and individuals by defining the rules, the structures, the outputs, and the interactions between them. CD is the purview of local institutions, organizations, and individuals, “a process undertaken jointly…in collaborative partnerships (Vallejo and When, 2016).” By CD “individuals, organizations and societies obtain, strengthen and maintain the capabilities to set and achieve their own development objectives (UNDP, 2009).” In Uganda, enrollment for primary education is 94%; however, only 32% complete primary school (UWEZO, 2015). For many remote rural schools, learners rely on their communities rather than districts authorities or education service providers to improve learning environments. We evaluate the effects of education interventions pioneered by parents at a primary school in a hard-to-reach rural district in eastern Uganda between 2015 and 2018. Our emphasis focuses on how the community-pioneered interventions influenced enrollment, literacy and numeracy. Methodologies developed by UWEZO (2012) were used to evaluate literacy assessments. The results have facilitated confidence in the community and the district authorities to enable students take National Primary Leaving Examinations. The approaches, achievements and lessons described in this study may inform efforts of rural communities seeking to improve learning environments in primary schools.
Potential Implications of Predictive Analytics in K-12 Classrooms
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Janine Aldous Arantes
With recent advances in technology, apps and platforms that provide predictive analytics are being used in many Australian K-12 classrooms. Teachers are using free apps such language learning app Duolingo and social learning platform Edmodo, to garner insights on student learning and obtain student or teacher recommendations. Dependent on the algorithmic analysis of big data, the use of such apps also brings with it implications related to algorithmic bias and platform capitalism. Implications include the potential for discrimination, inequity and prejudice in the insights and reocmmendations. There is a notable inadequacy in the existing literature relating to such topics. This presentation aims to unpack the socio-technical assemblage formed between teachers and free commercial apps in relation to some of the implications that have been widely discussed in broader transdisciplinary literature. This exploration also utilises findings from a recent pilot study of teacher perceptions of apps and platforms in primary and secondary schools settings. The theory and evidence provided in this session is echoed by numerous calls for greater discussion and debate about algorithmic bias, including the Australian Human Rights Commission who as of July 2018 began a major project on the relationship between human rights and technology. Given the increasing studies linking ethics with predictive analytics, this presentation also aims to empower teachers to consider how they use free apps in the classroom. Therefore, teachers armed with knowledge and understanding of potential implications, can contribute to the greater debate surrounding the growing use of predictive analytics in Australian classrooms.
Teaching for Social Difference through Metacognition: Addressing Psycho-/socio-economic Discrepancies in the Classroom by Teaching for Metacognition
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Susan Rene Nightingale
The paper presents action research investigating the impact of explicitly teaching for metacognition in two schools and compares the transfer of skills in students from a low socio-economic environment to the transfer of skills in students from a socio-economically privileged environment. Participants in both schools were 14-17 years old, completing their (South African NSC) Grade 9-11 years. Students were schooled in the theory and application of nine different metacognitive strategies as their primary learning focus and curriculum-based skills and content learning was introduced to them afterwards or approached through the application of said taught strategies. Results suggest that students from lower socio-economic environments and schools benefit greatly from teaching for metacognition as their results shifted significantly over two years (27%), that students from privileged environments can also benefit from teaching for metacognition and improve academic results (5%), that teaching for metacognition helps redress the gaps in learning from formative years in the learning of students from lower socio-economic environments, that the most successful uptake in students of teaching such strategies requires teacher cooperation. Results are discussed in terms of implications for the curriculum design and pedagogical approach for teachers in schools serving socio-economically disadvantaged areas.
