IB: The Benefit of Serving Two Masters

"Not everything that counts can be counted and not everything that can be counted counts." William Bruce Cameron

The Benefit of Serving Two Masters

Within many nations, there appears to be growing uncertainty about what education should mean, each one looking over their shoulder at other neighbours, wondering how they can improve their system and gain better and better results.  A country’s place in the Pisa standings appears to be quickly becoming the holy grail for politicians looking to further their own, and their parties cause. Is Norway any different?

In 2013, in response to the release of the Pisa results, Norwegian education minister Torbjørn Røe Isaksen said: "The new PISA survey shows that we have a science problem in Norway. It worries me greatly. The results are simply not good enough."  The article published in the online newspaper The Local also stated: "‘It surprises me that the results are so bad,’ said Norwegian Prime Minister Erna Solberg, before heaping the blame on the previous Labour-led government.” 1

Alongside the Pisa tests, Norwegian children must also contend with National Tests.  The tests, which in their current form were introduced in 2007, are to be used to inform education policy and allocate resources. However,  it is widely accepted that the greater the value placed on these tests by politicians, the media, and parents, the greater likelihood there will be of a narrowing of the curriculum.  

“Curriculum narrowing, however, reduces many students’ chances of being thought talented in school and results in a restriction in the creative and enjoyable activities engaged in by teachers and students. The tests commonly used with narrower curricula also appear to restrict thinking skills. In addition, responses to high stakes environments can easily retard the development of achievement in later grades as a function of the restrictions on learning in earlier grades.” 2

The narrowing of the curriculum is not just about prioritising those subjects that are tested over those that are not, it also often entails ignoring  the holistic development of children.  Of course, most education systems worldwide advocate a holistic approach to education.  However,  if discrete disciplines such as English, Maths, Science or Norwegian are placed at the centre of an educational framework then this sends a clear message to schools about what is important, especially when such high priority is placed on tests by the media and politicians.  Unfortunately, I have witnessed first-hand how such a system of education leads to many teachers to de-prioritise, or even ignore many other essential purposes of education.  With such testing taking centre stage, it is important to have a model of education that at its core advocates achieving academic excellence by educating our children.  This is much more than just teaching subject knowledge, or worse still, teaching to the test.

In contrast, the International Baccalaureate framework places (at all levels: PYP, MYP & DP) the child at the centre of its educational philosophy in the form of The 10 Learner Profile attributes: Balanced, Caring, Communicator, Knowledgeable, Inquirer, Open-minded, Principled, Reflective, Risk-taker, Thinker.

The learner profile (and its positioning at the centre of the IB framework),  means that this approach to education is a must as opposed to a should or a could.  Its position keeps our focus on attempting to develop children into successful human beings, rather than children who are successful at tests, or knowledgeable in subject content.  Consider the following extract:

Dear Teacher, I am a survivor of a concentration camp. My eyes saw what no person should witness: Gas chambers built by learned engineers. Children poisoned by educated Physicians. Infants killed by trained nurses. Women and babies shot by high school and college graduates, so I am suspicious of education. My request is: Help your children to become human.  Your efforts must never produce learned monsters, skilled psychopaths, educated Eichmanns. Reading, writing and arithmetic are only important if only they serve to make our children more humane. (Ginot 1973, p24) 3

As such, the learner profile assembly (every Friday) is fast becoming my favourite school time of the week. It is a lovely reminder about the purpose of education.

1. http://www.thelocal.no/20131203/norway-falls-further-behind-in-maths-and-science

2. Cambridge Journal of Education, Volume 41, issue 3, 2011

3. Ginott, H. G. (1972). Teacher and Child. New York: Macmillan