Flip the System | Read Write Collect

Replied to What do activism and power look like? (the édu flâneuse)

I have wondered before about activism and the forms it takes. Who can be an activist? Is it only those with secure, late-career jobs? Can the early career teacher or researcher really challenge the system in which they work when that can put them at risk of unemployment or further precarity and uncertainty? Does an activist have to look, act and speak a certain way? Can an activist use the apparatuses of power in order to undermine that power, or does she need different tools?

I feel that what is often missing in this discussion is not the point in the career, but the support around you? To stay the journey I feel that one needs authentic voices around them who help to maintain the vision of change in light of any pressure and pushback.

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Liked Flip the System Australia – Panel Presentation / Reflections of a Reluctant Writer by Jon Andrews (jonandrews.edublogs.org)

Suggesting that there is a clear scientific or evidence-based approach that can overcome Australia’s vast geographic separations, considerable inequality and conflicting system stances on the purpose of education, is troubling. That is not to say that evidence cannot tell us useful things. Creating a sense of how we can move to overcome these burdens, achieve purposeful outcomes for students and create the conditions to support effective teacher working, requires consensus. The book notes a desire for coalition and networked knowledge sharing to achieve these things, but also solidarity with solidity, a commitment to overcome political and ideological motivations that hinder progress. Clarity and coherence sit at the core of this. When we are divided on key matters, it can create opportunities for constructive debate, but debate must lead somewhere.

Replied to Flip the System Australia | It’s About Learning (learningshore.edublogs.org)

My chapter for Flip the System Oz was co-authored with Keren Caple from the Innovation Unit. In it we advocate generating networks of teachers across schools to learn from each other, placing trust in the grassroots, and creative reimagining. I used the term “Strategic Corporal”, which is the notion that leadership in complex, rapidly evolving environments devolves lower and lower down the chain of command to more effectively incorporate the latest on the ground data into decision-making. Too much education reform remains top-down, imposed on schools without drawing on or supporting the development of capacities within the system. We need to shift the narrative and reform from the bottom up.

I look forward to reading the book and your chapter Cameron. Having been a part of a collective investigating reporting, there is real power in working together. My only wondering is the role of the central, top-down system, which often ironically maybe supports and facilitates such initiatives.

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Liked Teacher voice to flip the education system: ACEL 2018 panel presentation (the édu flâneuse)

Our book is a microcosm of what we would like to see more of in education, although we regret not including student voice in the book. It is one drop-in-the-ocean attempt to amplify, elevate and value the voices of teachers and school leaders. We hope that in our Australian context it will lead to politicians and policymakers seeking out the views and expertise of those in schools. Flipping the system in this way is about building networks and flattening hierarchies so that we can all work together for the good of the students in our schools.