Published by Education Matters Magazine, 30 March 2018
Australia’s education policy makers need a new model of system leadership. To create a more adaptive education system, we must at a minimum bring three pieces together: an explicit focus on inputs (what is done), an equal focus on outcomes (what is measured), and a systematic learning process to decide what to do differently next time. In other words: Act, Evaluate and Adapt. Too many previous reform efforts have prioritised only one step of this feedback loop, not all three, and fallen short. As Grattan Institute’s School Education Program Director Peter Goss writes, Australia won’t achieve excellence in school education unless policy makers give practical support to teachers to help them rigorously adapt and improve their practices. It would be worth it: an adaptive education system would build professional responsibility, and ultimately transform all our schools.