Jón Torfi Jónasson School of Education University of Iceland jtj@hi.is www3.hi.is/~jtj/

1. Storyline in Iceland 2012The 5th INTERNATIONAL STORYLINE CONFERENCE – STORYLINE a KEY to EFFECTIVE LEARNING and TEACHINGReykjavík9th-11th August 2012 Stories about education How we tie together the past, the present and the future Jón Torfi Jónasson School of Education University of Iceland jtj@hi.is http://www3.hi.is/~jtj/ Jón Torfi Jónasson Storyline August 2012 Reykjavík

2. Storyline, an inspiration Jón Torfi Jónasson Storyline August 2012 Reykjavík

3. Two perspectives ― two stories The story about the current implementation of education; how we respect the past, understand the present and prepare for the future. The story about the development of education; how we learn from the past, attend to the present and envisage the future methods and tasks of education. Educational history Our past Our present Education now The future and education Our future Jón Torfi Jónasson Storyline August 2012 Reykjavík

4. A preamble ― a personal interest I I am concerned about the future and education from two perspectives • How we deal with the future in our current education? • What will the future of our education be like? Combined in one overriding concern: How is the future a part of our educational thinking. Thus two stories merge partly into one, even though I am principally only telling one of them here. JónTorfiJónasson Storyline August 2012 Reykjavík

5. A preamble ― a personal interest II • Reflection on • The past • The present • The future We should consider • How new educational ideas are born and develop • How we conduct our current education and decide on its ingredients • How we gauge the future and act on our observations Jón Torfi Jónasson Storyline August 2012 Reykjavík

6. The past Jón Torfi Jónasson Storyline August 2012 Reykjavík

7. Learning from the past • We can and we should learn from the history of education • Reform of educational practice, in Western educational thought • The history of education tells us about a great number of new educational ideas and attempted reforms, perhaps most notably in the 19th and 20th centuries. JónTorfiJónasson Storyline August 2012 Reykjavík

8. Learning from the past • A hypothesis or a suggestion That most of these ideas are characterised by essentially one basic idea, i.e. that of transferring the performance or the work during the learning process from the teacher to the learner, most often emphasising the interaction between the two. • This is exemplified by the criticism of the Sophists (as told by Plato), and the emphasis on the dialogue between the pupil and the teacher as explained in the Meno. JónTorfiJónasson Storyline August 2012 Reykjavík

9. Learning from the past • Educational ideas, examples • Socrates, St Augustine, Montaigne, Rousseau, Key, Montessori, Decroly, Dewey, Steiner, Freinet, Freire, … • The Catechism, used by many Christian denominations • Project learning, learning by discovery, constructivist approaches, activity theories, … • Storyline See Unesco, 50 educational thinkers, http://www.ibe.unesco.org/en/services/online-materials/publications/thinkers-on-education.html Jón Torfi Jónasson Storyline August 2012 Reykjavík

10. Learning from the past • Some lessons • Activity by the learner, interaction, engagement, construction - but it is not clear what kind of action or engagement is critical • The “Rousseau dilemma” – the role of the teacher Young teacher, I am setting before you a difficult task, the artof controlling without precepts, and doing everything without doinganything at all.  Book II. http://www.online-literature.com/rousseau/emile/ • Dewey´s discontent, Experience and education ... progressive schools ... must be directed by ideas which, ... form a philosophy of education (p. 29). Here again, the problem for the progressive educator is more difficult than for the teacher in the traditional school (p. 76). • The story of educational reform • e.g. by Tyack and Cuban (1995). Tinkering toward Utopia. A Century of Public School Reform • The survival of the “traditional method” Jón Torfi Jónasson Storyline August 2012 Reykjavík

11. The present Jón Torfi Jónasson Storyline August 2012 Reykjavík

12. Education at the beginning of the 21st century • Education at the present; we should observe • there is a lot of it! graph Jón Torfi Jónasson Storyline August 2012 Reykjavík

13. The system(s) of education – where is the focus of the discourse?Is it possibly completely outdated; a 1950s discourse? Jón Torfi Jónasson Storyline August 2012 Reykjavík

14. Education at the beginning of the 21st century • Education at the present; we should observe • there is a lot of it! graph • if we are attending to the present? Jón Torfi Jónasson Storyline August 2012 Reykjavík

15. Where are we now? On balance? How is the school system addressing the past, the present and the future? Jón Torfi Jónasson Storyline August 2012 Reykjavík

16. Education at the beginning of the 21st century • Education at the present; we should observe • there is a lot of it! graph • if we are attending to the present? • the drivers of education and where education is going both in terms of method and content • money (or rather lack of it), steadily faster changes in the environment at all levels, • thus we have trends like those exhibited in GERM Jón Torfi Jónasson Storyline August 2012 Reykjavík

17. GERM “Global Educational Reform Movement,” Pasi Sahlberg in 2012 http://www.booz.com/media/uploads/BoozCo_Transformation-Leadership-in-Education.pdf • “GERM includes curriculum development, student assessment, teacher development, technology-assisted teaching and learning, and proficiency in basic competencies (i.e., reading, mathematical, and scientific literacy).” • Positive influences, but enhanced emphasis on competition, standardized testing and test-based accountability (in stead of collaboration, customized learning and trust based responsibility), are a cause for a serious concern. • In contrast with such standardized approaches, alternative education policies focus on fostering creativity and inventiveness among students. Unlike GERM they do not aim for a single line. Rather they include a multitude of approaches that can be applied based on local needs, priorities, and capabilities (p. 11). JónTorfiJónasson Storyline August 2012 Reykjavík

18. Education at the beginning of the 21st century • Education at the present; we should observe • there is a lot of it! graph • if we are attending to the present? • the drivers of education • where education is going, both in method and content • The net result of these observations is that there is now time to • rethink education, in particular • the aims of education Jón Torfi Jónasson Storyline August 2012 Reykjavík

19. Education, the present ingredients • Education • aims of education, the role of enlightenment – i.e. what should be taught? • The very first sentences in Plato´s Meno Meno. Can you tell me, Socrates, whether virtue is acquired by teaching or by practice; or if neither by teaching nor practice, then whether it comes to man by nature, or in what other way?  (prudence, justice, temperance, and fortitude) • Erasmus of Rotterdam, • suggested that teaching might be based on “kindness, praise, judicious recreation, play and games, teaching by stories, fables, jokes and graphic devices of all kinds.”  http://www.schillerinstitute.org/fid_91-96/952_erasmus.html • He also suggested that ‘A man is not born a man, but becomes one’, and thus distinguishes humankind from all other creatures, … education will achieve this on the condition that it is ‘liberal’, which means based on free will (which even children possess), and that the tutor has the wisdom and skill to use persuasion and gentleness, rather than brutally imposing precepts and dogmas. (http://www.ibe.unesco.org/fileadmin/user_upload/archive/publications/ThinkersPdf/erasmuse.PDF ) Jón Torfi Jónasson Storyline August 2012 Reykjavík

20. Education, the present ingredients • Education • aims of education, the role of enlightenment – i.e. changing ideas about what should be taught? • The contradictory influences of the enlightenment • Originally the emphasis was on reason, access to information and freedom of thought and communication ― on reading, writing, speaking ― in general the emphasis was on the enlightened mind and partly ― and only partly ― on the enlightened society. • But gradually the focus was narrowed, being confined to ensuring an informed, learned, disciplined population; we were encouraged to become the information society. Viz. e.g. the international tests. Jón Torfi Jónasson Storyline August 2012 Reykjavík

21. The future Jón Torfi Jónasson Storyline August 2012 Reykjavík

22. The future, four issues: first - how do we talk about the future? • How do we relate our speculation about the future and our ideas about education? • It is not clear at all. Jón Torfi Jónasson Storyline August 2012 Reykjavík

23. When we talk about the future, are we talking about 5-10 years or 20-30 years? And for whom? Jón Torfi Jónasson Storyline August 2012 Reykjavík

24. The future, four issues: second - can we predict or envisage the future? The simple answer is yes, in very important respects we can and we should be dramatically more preoccupied with it than we are now. We must rid ourselves of the laissez-fair myth that the future cannot be predicted and therefore we should not think very seriously about it; it is not only both silly and wrong, it is also harmful. But it has been very powerful. But of course the insistence that we can predict a lot, does not imply that we can predict most things, or even most important developments. Jón Torfi Jónasson Storyline August 2012 Reykjavík

25. Staðan tekin Jón Torfi Jónasson Storyline August 2012 Reykjavík

26. Staðan tekin Jón Torfi Jónasson Storyline August 2012 Reykjavík

27. The future, four issues: third - the qualitative areas we should think about? • Climate changes • Using of resources • Sustainability issues, various grand challenges • Changes in technology, e.g. the tools we will use during the next 10-30 years • Research advances in all fields • Changes in the world of work (both in type of work, and how often we change) • The forming of the global society • The demand for social responsibility and justice Also the changes in our values, in our self-images, in the ways we communicate, in the ways we create Jón Torfi Jónasson Storyline August 2012 Reykjavík

28. The future, four issues: fourth - how do we respond to these changes? How do we move from the present into the future? • by rethinking our education, the aims (merging both content and method), determine what is it for ― during the 21st century? But noting in the process • the inertia of the system in terms of content and methods • the changing context in terms of time given to education • the context in terms of culture • the context in term of local and global changes • by creating a new culture of learning and construction Jón Torfi Jónasson Storyline August 2012 Reykjavík

29. Variations on a storyline • How do we talk about education, • our systems, • our practices, • our aims? Jón Torfi Jónasson Storyline August 2012 Reykjavík

30. Two perspectives ― two stories The story about the current implementation of education; how we respect the past, understand the present and prepare for the future. The story about the development of education; how we learn from the past, attend to the present and envisage the future methods and tasks of education. Educational history Our past Our present Education now The future and education Our future Jón Torfi Jónasson Storyline August 2012 Reykjavík

31. Two perspectives ― two stories Storyline as a method combining the PPF Storyline as an idea Jón Torfi Jónasson Storyline August 2012 Reykjavík

32. I hope stories presented from each perspective will be both rich and inspiring Thank you very much Kærar þakkir Jón Torfi Jónasson Storyline August 2012 Reykjavík