Political Imperatives and Education

After reading the chapter on Political Imperatives, specifically the disaster that happened at Wakerton Ontario I was very intrigued by the information that Vicente presented by Jens Rasmussen. Rasmussen created a two part framework that aims to help explain both how accidents occur and how they can be prevented. (Vicente, 2004, p. 271). A couple of questions arise for me as I try and apply this to education. What would an accident in education look like and how can we use this framework to help prevent it?

To begin I thought that it would be interesting to apply his first figure, one which outlines the levels of a complex technological system involved in risk management to the political landscape of education here in Alberta.

Public Opinion-->	Minister of Education	<--Changing Political Climate and Public awareness
	Alberta Learning
	Local Board of Education	<--Changing Market conditions and financial pressures
	Principal and School leadership
	Teachers	<--Changing skills and levels of Education
	Students being taught	<--Fast pace of technological change

There are a number of interesting things that become apparent when applying his level framework to education. As a individual one of the lower rungs of this political ladder it is often very difficult to see where you fit. The first thing that appears to me is the top down nature of the political ladder of Alberta Education. The Minister of Education being influenced by the public applies policies to the ladder to help meet their expectations. There are financial pressures that the local boards feel as a result of the policies that the government chooses to apply to the public and this leads to either, an increase or decrease in funding for everything from dealing with failing or inadequate infrastructure to special programs to meet the needs of all learners. Finally it is becoming more apparent of the technological impact on the learning of students. This change is fast paced and is forcing unforeseen changes to the education system as a whole.

Although I have not included the arrows on the central column, we can talk about the information flow within this system. Student learning and their success is communicated up through this chain to the top. The information arrives on the desk of the Ministry of Education and decisions about the effectiveness can be made. The question arises as to the information that is arriving. Is it solely based on the standardized tests that are administered throughout the year? Is there any anecdotal evidence making it's way to the Minister? It appears to me that the financial pressures and the public opinion outweigh the feedback that is coming from within the system itself otherwise there is insufficient feedback that is making it's way. .

The question then arises as to what an accident might look like in education? There are the obvious accidents that may happen at a school setting that will capture headlines like Wakerton did. These would include, accidents leading to death on things such as field trips or intruders taking the lives of staff and students like in Taber, Alberta. Accident might be an understatement for these events and adjustments have been made in the form of increased paperwork for field trips, more formalized meetings to discuss possible accidents, and the implementation of lockdown procedures monitored/evaluated by local authorities.

But there hiding under the headlines is the greatest accident of education. One that will not capture the headlines like Wakerton or Taber. One where the mission of Alberta Education is not properly met; "Every student has access to educational opportunities needed to develop competencies required to contribute to an enriched society and a sustainable economy." (Alberta Education, 2010, p.1)


To this end how can we evaluate this short coming of education. "Access to opportunities" begin to become apparent when financial pressures mount and public policy dictates the ending of programs, programs designed to meet the needs of every learner. I think of individuals who are falling through the cracks of education, as teachers are overworked with increasingly larger class sizes. What is the boundary of economic failure, the boundary to unacceptable workload, the boundary of real safety for education? I would hasten to state that we are moving ever closer to these boundaries as education is placed under the press of economics and not being evaluated from a bottom up feedback approach. We must call on our politicians to reconsider their approach to modifying education using the litmus test of public opinion, as it is a fickle beast, one of which does not have the long term benefits of every learner in mind.

References

Alberta Education. (2010). Guide to Education. Retrieved from http://education.alberta.ca/media/832568/guidetoed.pdf

Vicente, Kim J. (2004). The Human Factor: Revolutionizing the Way We Live with Technology. Toronto: Vintage Canada