Reforming or Re-inventing Schools? Key Issues in School and System Reform

What has changed and what will change in the next decade? Reforming or Re-inventing Schools? revisits some of the key issues in school and system reform, with a reflectionon developmentsin the English education system and internationally. It offers an insightful review and critique of education principles and their relationship to school practice, exploring some of the myths as well as examining the potential value of comparative data. Drawing on new evidence and interviews with a group of policy makers and academics on the British and international stages, this book asks: What do parents, children and ‘society’ want from a system of education? What motivates teachers to join the profession and why do such large numbers leave so soon? What are the roots of misunderstanding and mismanagement in provision, support and accountability? How do teachers communicate, support and exchange ideas with each other? How do we measure positive change? Examining the roots and conditions for growth, and comparing and contrasting the situation in the United Kingdom with innovative development taking place elsewhere in the rest of the world, Reforming or Re-inventing Schools? is an essential read for anyone interested in school and country performance at a national and international level.

Introduction Chapter 1 Plus ça change John MacBeath Chapter 2 What makes a world class education system? John MacBeath Chapter 3 What does it mean to be a teacher? Maurice Galton Chapter 4 Assessment, exams and testing to destruction Maurice Galton Chapter 5 What’s so special about special needs? John MacBeath Chapter 6 Within and beyond the primary curriculum Maurice Galton Chapter 7 Who wins and who loses? John MacBeath Chapter 8 The organised voice of teachers John Bangs Chapter 9 Community schools and schooling communities? John MacBeath Chapter 10 The leadership myth: managing to succeed John MacBeath In conclusion Maurice Galton, John MacBeath and John Bangs Bibliography

John MacBeath is Professor Emeritus at the University of Cambridge, UK. Maurice Galton is a former Dean of Leicester University and Associate Director of Research in the Faculty of Education at the University of Cambridge, UK. John Bangs is Senior Consultant at Education International and Chair of the OECD Trade Union Advisory Committee’s Working Group on Education and Skills.