(Re)Building Education Systems for Holistic Student Development: A Comparative Analysis of Seven Global Initiatives

• In Event: Transforming Education Systems for Holistic Student Development: Learning From Case Studies Around the World

Abstract

Objective

This paper provides a cross-case analysis of seven global education systems engaged in rebuilding efforts to center holistic student development, addressing students’ growth in academic, socioemotional, and civic dimensions.

Perspective

Recent reports of education systems across the globe describe movement towards holistic student development, coupled with attention to how the interactions between different levels of the system and the coherence among them contribute to shaping students’ experiences (Kaffenberger et al., 2022; Masters, 2022; NCEE, 2021; Sengeh & Winthrop, 2022). To examine reform across the different systems and contexts, we use a framework that conceptualizes education system (re)building as a key instrument for large-scale educational improvement (Authors, 2019; Authors, 2019; 2022). Building on concepts of systems (re)building for holistic student development, we explore the approaches that seven systems undertook, examining the tensions and dilemmas of system (re)building efforts.

Methods

This paper relies on a cross-case analysis of seven systems, including: British Columbia, Chile, Ireland, and Singapore as conventional systems; International Baccalaureate as a networked system; and The Happiness Curriculum in India and Iowa BIG in the U.S. as ecosystems in which school systems collaborate with community organizations. The case studies rely on interviews with policy makers and practitioners, a review of documents, and existing research on these systems. The cross case analysis employed a mixture of inductive and deductive strategies, analyzing cases through an iterative process using emerging themes to develop preliminary cross case narratives (Miles, Huberman, & Saldaña, 2018). We applied the system (re)building framework to examine how the systems approach holistic student development.

Results

Education systems advancing equitable holistic student development engage familiar and new challenges within and across three domains of system building and rebuilding - managing environments, education infrastructure (re)building, and supporting educational infrastructure in use. These three domains of system building work are interrelated and overlapping, with developments in one domain shaping and being shaped by developments in the others. The work of different domains does not proceed in sequence. For example, while managing environments is important early in a reform journey to build support for holistic student development, it remains crucial later as well. Moreover, institutional environments are in constant flux, such that education systems have to constantly engage in building coherence over time.

Systems build support for holistic student development among diverse stakeholders and align institutional, cultural, and technical demands. They build and/or rebuild educational infrastructures to enable teaching that supports holistic student development, including redesigning the relationship between curriculum, instruction, and assessment. Systems integrate educational infrastructure with everyday practice in schools by balancing conventions with discretion in promoting reform, cultivating educator and student agency, supporting professional learning, and managing performance and accountability for continuous improvement. Systems also grapple with ongoing tensions, including contested perceptions about equity, academic rigor, and holistic student development.

Significance

Learning about system rebuilding approaches is instructive to policy makers, educators, and other stakeholders undertaking system transformation for holistic student development. The paper also theorizes and provides evidence on system transformation.

Authors

• Amanda L. Datnow, University of California - San Diego
  Presenting Author

• Vicki Park, San Diego State University
  Presenting Author

• Donald J. Peurach, University of Michigan
  Presenting Author

• James P. Spillane, Northwestern University
  Presenting Author