A Resilient Education System

• In Event: Deweyan Perspectives on Standardization, Accountability, and Assessment in Contemporary Education

Abstract

All ideas are best understood in the context of the prevailing historical, political, social and economic zeitgeist of the era in which they have been written, however it has also been said that while history doesn’t repeat itself, it often rhymes. There is a pronounced rhythm between the zeitgeist of the era from which Dewey’s ideas emerged and the current global political, social and economic context. We believe that Dewey’s theories on teaching and learning therefore have significant contemporary relevance for education in the twenty-first century. This relevance has been further accentuated by the global pandemic and the renewed importance of creating resilient education systems, resilient learners and resilient teachers.
Resilience can be described broadly as encompassing how prepared a system or an individual is to absorb threats and continue to be effective, while also acknowledging that the myriad of potential future threats can never be predicted. (Linkov & Trump, 2019; Hynes, Linkov & Trump 2020) According to the OECD, resilient systems are dynamic in providing for each student and have the capacity evolve in accordance with society’s evolving and future needs. (OECD, 2020) What is perceived as a resilient education system is dependent on what are defined as the purpose and aims of education, which have particular emphases at certain times. (Dewey, 1916) A tension continues to be clearly identifiable between the aim and purpose of education as being concerned with nurturing the uniqueness of each child and simultaneously measuring children’s outcomes with reference to pre-determined national standards. (Ring and O’Sullivan, 2018) In promoting the child’s individual development and growth as the starting point, the centre and the end, rejecting unrestrained individuality and recognising the responsibility of education systems to prepare children for a multi-faceted society, the authors suggest Deweyan perspectives on standardization, accountability and assessment offer the possibility of reconciling the tension created by this traditional dualism (Dewey, 1934a; 1934b). In reconciling this tension, a resilient education system is equated with demonstrating a commitment to enabling each child to reach his/her potential and education settings emerge as “institutions of creation, not just places of transmission” (Simpson, 2011, p. 188) where value is placed on the process as promoting growth and transformation for children and teachers.

Author

• Emer Ring, Mary Immaculate College