In 2017, Dr Noel McGinn, esteemed CELL Advisory Board member and Professor Emeritus of the Harvard University Graduate School of Education and Fellow Emeritus of the Harvard Institute for International Development, co-authored the book, with Ernesto Schiefelbein, Learning to Educate: Proposals for the Reconstruction of Education in Developing Countries. The book was published by the International Bureau of Education (IBE) at UNESCO.
Highlights
Learning to Educate:
- Compares a variety of teaching methods for their fit with basic principles of learning, and for their implications for the recruitment, training, and allocation of teachers.
- Proposes basic objectives for a school system, links these with the early and current histories of schooling, and reviews major theories on how school systems contribute to the transformation of society.
- Reviews major theories on how the organization and financing of schools and education systems affect their efficiency and effectiveness.
- Analyzes the processes by which different groups in society attempt to change school systems to better serve their interests.
- Puts forward four major strategies to initiate a radical improvement of school systems.
Full Abstract
Learning to Educate: Proposals for the Reconstruction of Education in Developing Countries is a practical and strategic guide for education leaders and others who want to do more to improve the quality of curriculum, learning, teaching, and assessment. The book is also a philosophical guide that articulates and affirms the fundamental values and purposes of education in a rapidly changing world. It confronts us with the opportunity and the necessity to unravel bedrock assumptions and stimulate further discussion about the nature of teaching and learning. What does it take to change mindsets? And how do we bring about “reconstruction” without losing our groundings and bearings? The authors, Ernesto Schiefelbein and Noel McGinn, use the full weight of their extensive knowledge in education research, teaching, policy, and action, to argue that, in order to reconstruct quality education, we must begin by improving its foundation. The result is a seasoned and superbly articulated examination of the principles and practices of teaching and learning, which focuses on the crucial need of all children to learn how to learn. Innovative, cultured, and consistently captivating, this book is bold and, in the field of comparative and international education, unprecedented.
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