Summer 2016
WHAT QUALITIES MATTER?
Well
When students graduate from high school, what does “competent” look like? In their new book, Teaching and Learning for the Twenty-First Century, published in May by Harvard Education Press, Professor FERNANDO REIMERS, ED.M.’84, ED.D.’88, and CONNIE CHUNG, ED.M.’99, ED.M.’07, ED.D.’13, explore how priorities — including those coming from parents — often influence what nations emphasize in their teaching. The book, Reimers says, is a product of the Harvard Global Education Innovation Initiative, which includes research collaborations with colleagues in six countries, listed in the chart below. His hope is that the book will not only help readers figure out what the most important competencies are for students in the 21st century, “but it will also help us understand what kind of policy and programmatic initiatives can help teachers lead an education which is relevant to the most pressing needs of our times.” This table of percentages based on data from the 2015 World Values Study, shows how the six countries vary in terms of what adults think are important qualities to cultivate in children.
IMPORTANT CHILD QUALITIES
Qualities
© CARLOS CAZALIS/CORBIS
Secondary school students from a Makoko fishing village in Lagos, Nigeria, cram together while their English teacher looks on.
school in Nigeria, but then realized she would have more of an impact focusing on the education system as a whole, beginning with new teachers training under and learning from more experienced teachers — a model that was successful at the public school where she was working in Boston. Enechi says, “Teacher training is critical in Nigeria because education reform only hap-
pens when teachers are change agents leading the change movement in their classrooms.” Although there are the usual challenges for any new startup, particularly around funding, Enechi says she isn’t fazed, thanks in part to her time at the Ed School. “I learned how to have the confidence,” she says, “to take on challenges that lead to impactful change.” lh
Chile China India
Mex. Sing.
U.S.
Independence
49
70
63
39
72
54
Hard work
31
75
63
38
61
66
Feeling of Responsibilty
77
66
66
75
70
65
Imagination
22
17
51
24
19
31
Respect for others
82
52
62
78
54
72
Perseverence
54
26
65
27
44
36
Obedience
46
8
57
55
38
28
WISE WORDS
“It could have been me sitting for decades inside of prison, rather than walking away from one.” PH.D. STUDENT CLINT SMITH IN A PIECE HE WROTE ABOUT TEACHING AT A PRISON AND LIFE WITHOUT PAROLE. (THE NEW YORKER)
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