“Although American teachers spend more working hours in classrooms than do instructors in some of the top-performing European and Asian countries,” says an Education Week story on a new professional development study, “U.S. students routinely post below-average scores on international exams.”
Why is this a “paradox” as EdWeek observes? If you spent more hours on the job than top-performing European and Asian workers, would you expect to be wealthier than they are? Time on task only makes a difference if you’re using it wisely. Doing more of what doesn’t work won’t change the outcome.
No paradox, indeed. The NSDC report EdWeek cites demonstrates that high-performing nations give teachers a great deal of time for common planning and professional learning. Teachers can work together to develop curriculum, evaluate student learning, observe classrooms, and generally build upon the most successful practices of their peers.
A presenter at the NSDC release yesterday observed that the United States employs a factory/productivity model of instruction. Teachers are “working” only when they’re in the classroom teaching. None of the other time for professional development or planning seems to have a place in the old productivity model.
You’re right–there’s nothing paradoxical about NSDC’s findings.
Comment by Claus — February 5, 2009 @ 11:39 am
My impression is that a lot of “accountability” pressures are only making this worse. Time only counts when someone measures and supervises it, so that however much educators know that planning and collaboration time works, it doesn’t happen because its harder to fit into accountability reports than instructional time or time in professional development seminars.
Comment by Rachel — February 5, 2009 @ 1:43 pm
It’s likely not a paradox because from what I know various European and Asian societies encourage learning outside the school. For example, several European governments spend substantial portions of their budget on the arts, and many Asian parents teach their children. In general, several of these societies look up to intellectuals and emphasize an intellectual culture. Not surprisingly, both are strongly influenced by Socrates and Confucius, both of whom believed in self-cultivation.
Comment by Ralfy — February 23, 2009 @ 4:26 pm