"Educators Often Pass on Accountability to Pupils"
Placing Blame or Encouraging Growth? The Ongoing Debate Over Performance Evaluation in Schools
A recently unearthed performance evaluation from 1989 sheds light on a pervasive issue in modern education: the tendency to attribute traits, behaviors, and achievements to the child rather than the learning environment, teaching methods, or specific circumstances.
Hendrik Lasch, Saxony's DGB spokesperson, condemned the evaluation's tone as harmful and counterproductive, stating, "Appreciative, acknowledging feedback would not be formulated like this. It aims at situations, at processes, not at the person as a personality."
Meanwhile, protests by teachers in Saxony continue, with resistance not only against cuts in education but also democratic projects. As grumblings against the state government's austerity measures escalate, alliances previously thought unlikely have been forged against the government's fiscal policies.
In response to the ongoing teacher protests, the GEW state vice president asserted, "The package will miss its target," highlighting the ongoing unrest in Saxony's educational community.
Elsewhere, the implementation of a comprehensive school concept in Dresden is gaining traction. This new approach aims to foster inclusive learning environments where new forms of teaching and learning are researched and developed.
According to Anke Langner, professor of educational science at the Technical University of Dresden, "The traditional view in many schools is the strongly deficit-oriented one, where the student has to adapt. It's not about understanding why certain things don't make sense for them to do."
In contrast, Langner's vision for schools emphasizes collaboration, dialogue, and understanding the individual student's struggles and successes. Feedback, in this context, is viewed as a tool for helping students identify areas for improvement and setting achievable goals, with the focus on growth rather than automatic praise or criticism.
Langner's approach involves regular goal-setting and review meetings, starting from the fourth grade, in which students and teachers assess the student's progress, discuss challenges, and determine next steps. This process is supplemented by a daily logbook, where goals are set and reviewed at the end of each day.
However, critics argue that this level of documentation could be impractical, questioning whether such a comprehensive system can be implemented in under-resourced schools or without specialized equipment. Langner acknowledges that the current implementation still has room for improvement but emphasizes that it is possible to adapt and refine the model over time.
The debate between accountability pressure and the importance of a supportive, growth-oriented learning environment is not unique to schools in Dresden. Educators and researchers have long argued for alternative assessment methods that prioritize students' learning process, understanding, and self-efficacy.
Despite widespread discussion in educational science about alternative concepts and approaches, these methods often struggle to gain traction in practice. Langner attributes this to political decisions about education policy, which rarely involve input from educational researchers.
The University School in Dresden, which consistently ranks highly in Pisa studies, serves as a beacon for progressive educational reform. However, some argue that the school's strong selection process and lack of representation of students with special needs skew the data in its favor. Detractors also question whether the school's abolition of grades and emphasis on individual progress can alleviate performance pressure or lead to deeper, more meaningful learning experiences for all students.
Regardless of the implementation details, the ongoing discussions about performance evaluation, feedback, and education policy highlight the need for a more holistic, student-centered approach to education, focusing on supporting students, fostering curiosity, and nurturing the development of essential skills and qualities.
In contrast to the traditional, deficit-oriented education approach, Anke Langner, a professor of educational science at the Technical University of Dresden, advocates for a shift towards education and self-development that encourages personal growth and learning.
Langner's vision for schools emphasizes a focus on collaboration, dialogue, and understanding the individual student's struggles and successes, viewing feedback as a tool for personal growth rather than automatic praise or criticism.
