If you think education is expensive ... try ignorance

One picture is worth ten thousand words ...

and given Nick Clegg (and the Liberal Democrats) pledged before the election not to raise tuition fees, but on entering power is overseeing the process of tripling them ... it is no surprise he regrets such actions, but which ones ... pledging not to raise them ... or for tripling them ...?

This one decision, by yet another rich millionaire (made from banking/property just like David Cameron), could result in the demise of the Liberal Democrats, and casts further doubt that anyone in the corridors of Power really has the future of this country, and hard-working people's best interests, at heart ... 

Students wanted to protest outside Liberal Democrat headquarters today but were stopped from doing so ... and why was this ... what has happened to free speech?

Ignoromics (Type 1 is Ignorance, Type 2 is Apathy) is what allows Poweromics to flourish ... and denies a better future for everyone ... which IMHO makes the placard held by the student above so poignant ... 

to be continued ...

Scrap the targets ... says Exams Chief

Following on from demands to scrap SATS tests (e.g. by the 'Cambridge Primary Review') ... and the need to remove the target driven culture ... more leaders appear to be speaking out ...

For example the head of England's exams watchdog OfQual, Isabel Nisbet, has said that Official targets on the number of good GCSEs teenagers should be scrapped, and that the current league tables are too "simplistic".

Schools are currently measured on the proportion of pupils who achieve five GCSEs at grade C or higher, including maths and English. The new government has said it wants to overhaul the league tables and Education Secretary Michael Gove thinks parents should be given more information.

Asked what she would do if she were education secretary for a day, Ms Nisbet said: "I would get rid of the targets related to the number of passes at grade C at GCSE."

At the Cambridge Assessment conference last week she also questioned the format of league tables: "The question is, is it simplistic to measure a very small number of indicators, sometimes drawing false conclusions? I think the answer is it probably is."

Ms Nisbet, who is leaving Ofqual next year, said parents should be given more information about schools, and that most people understood there were different schools serving different communities (nb one could hypothesize why such comments have not been forthcoming sooner).

Mr Gove has said he would like to see an "English Baccalaureate" - where pupils would study five GCSEs including English, maths, a science, a language and a humanity such as geography, history, art or music.

Let's see whether a little common sense (and 21st century management practice) will prevail, with the target systems being scrapped and league tables being replaced ... and let's see whether measurement systems are instead used to support front line staff more ... to help them identify and continuously improve our children's education ... by systematically removing the 'real' barriers to learning and student development.


The dismantling of the fundamentally flawed and outdated (19th century) practices, put in place by the last Government (nb mainly Gordon Brown - hence the picture), will take a little time and the UK is suffering badly as a result of such mistakes (e.g. the cost of failure in terms of wasted investment, opportunity and  talent) ... and will the current Government turn things around or make things worse ... well we're about to find out ...!

Education - flawed 'policies' failing our nation

The authors of an influential review (the 'Cambridge Primary Review') have today called for SATS tests to be abandoned ... saying their high-stakes nature, linked to league tables, encourages a too-narrow focus on literacy and numeracy.

Professor Robin Alexander said 'We don't think Sats are fit for purpose' ... instead, children should be assessed on a broad range of subjects throughout primary school and at its end, but these assessments should be used to monitor children's progress rather than hold teachers accountable.

This fundamentally challenges Government policy over the last 10 years, and follows on from a damning statement yesterday from Sir Terry Leahy, chief executive of Tesco (at the Institute of Grocery Distribution's annual conference). Tesco has grown from humble beginnings into a global success, by focusing on what customers want and providing them value & choice ... it also just happens to be the largest private employer in the UK.

Sir Terry Leahy said 'we depend on high standards in our schools ... but sadly, despite all the money that has been spent, standards are still woefully low in too many schools'. He went on to say ... 'from my perspective there are too many agencies and bodies, often issuing reams of instructions to teachers, who then get distracted from the task at hand: teaching children'.

Sir Terry Leahy knows all about providing value and 21st century management practice (see P180-188 of my book for instance), and the UK needs to take note of his observations. Sir Terry knows only too well that to succeed in the modern world 21st century leaders and managers need to understand and get close to the work ... focusing on helping & supporting front line line staff to continuously improve the service provided (and to find innovate new ways of providing new services/better outcomes too). They do not sit in plush offices, remote from the real work, issuing an ever increasing number of dsyfunctional policies/instructions and dreaming up additional performance targets for front line staff to meet, or creating more new initiatives in response to latest news headlines (or to create news)!

One creates value, prosperity and growth ... the other generates waste, frustration and failure ... 'waste of time jobs' systematically generating 'poorer outcomes' and 'excessive amounts of waste, inefficiency and frustration everywhere else' ... and when it comes to education, there is arguably few things more important to the long term well-being of our community and the overall success of our nation ... hence the importance of the statements made above, as well as those within my own blog too (e.g. 1,2,3) ... and if you want to understand the challenges ahead and to see how far off current education policies are in preparing children for the future take a look at this too.

Referred to on Mark Easton's blog (post 43).

"Big questions" ... too hot to handle ?

The Renegade Economist posted an excellent blog (submitted by Sir John Whitmore) entitled the 'big questions are too hot to handle" ... this article chimed very well with many of my recent posts ... such as "Does Size Matter" (or more specifically "Does the size of the .... matter"!), "traditional economics is dead", "traditional education is failing", "BBC - journalism is failing" etc ... and it points to two questions / issues that have not been addressed ...

"In all the newspaper articles, in all the radio programmes and TV shows now exposing our MP’s expenses, and previously, our failed bankers’ bonuses, two core issues have been strikingly missed. One is to question the suitability of the type of people currently in both those roles to be there at all. The other is to question the wisdom of desperately propping up a failing, obsolete and unsustainable world economic system..."

The article then discusses them both in detail, and I would recommend reading the whole (as it's not long and it's very good) ... and here are a few of the main points below ... first of all question 1:

Let us start with the first issue. Individuals, tribes, cultures, nations and humanity all mature or evolve psychologically, psychosocially and psychospiritually over time in a broadly similar predictable sequence ... One of these models, a four stage one devised by Kohlberg and Gilligan, labels Egocentric as the lowest level, followed by Ethnocentric, then Worldcentric and finally Kosmocentric ... This model can be described as showing the size of the person’s consciousness or what the person includes in his or her field of care. A recent study suggested that some 77% of the world population is currently Ethnocentric or below.

This Ethnocentric stage is characterised by tribal orientation, nationalism, rivalries, adolescent behaviours, and the like. Let us consider now the responses made by the bankers and the politicians to media and public criticism. They were very similar.

* The claim that “Everything I did was within the rules.

* An inability to recognise that what they did was ethically or morally wrong.

* The excuse that “I made a mistake”, but the mistakes were all to their own benefit.

* An almost pathological inability to take responsibility, and to say “I am sorry”.

Anyone who has a teenage son will recognize these adolescent traits; however, when one is under 25 such behaviour is to be expected as an acceptable phase in growing up. Above 30 or so, and especially if one is a banker or a politician with power over many, such behaviours are not only unattractive, unacceptable, and inexcusable, they are positively dangerous. Why have the media not picked this up and pointed it out?..."

and went on to say ...

"... Introducing tighter regulations for bankers or politicians does not raise their level of maturity, morality or their ethics, it just limits what they can get away with. No, it is the type of people, the Ethnocentrics themselves, that have to go. Worldcentric people by definition and by their nature would not have abused the old regulations, let alone need new ones. Anyone below Worldcentric on the “chart” should not be selected or elected into positions of leadership in politics or big corporations, not just banks ..."

and progressing to the second point Sir John Whitmore went on to say ...

"... The second of the two issues was the failure of commentators to seriously question the capitalist economic system that has proved to be so fragile and unjust. It has brought wealth to half the world while the rest starve; it thrives on excess consumption and the inevitable emissions, and it seriously retards the evolutionary development of individuals and cultures. Bankers and politicians alike strive to prop up the old failing system which they abused, because they know no better.

It did not occur to them that this was a golden opportunity to start to create a viable, sustainable economic system in line with the requirements of emerging Worldcentric human consciousness stage. Putting off the inevitable only makes the next economic crisis bigger and sooner. Worldcentric observers are amazed, distraught by the primitive ethnocentric thinking of our politicians and bankers, but they are up against the power that they still exercise....

So why have these two core issues been bypassed? Because few can contemplate the demise of capitalism and so they retreat into a state of denial, and few so called leaders can face the fact that despite their profile and in some cases their cleverness, their behaviour is adolescent. They have no knowledge of the evolutionary imperative that determines our future and ultimately our survival, let alone any understanding of it, or are guided by it. Why not? Because our schooling has tragically failed many generations now by ducking evolution, in simple terms, it omits the development of emotional intelligence followed by wisdom ..."

This article provides more great insight (and there are other articles / blogs / interviews there too - hence I've added a link to the Renegade economist web site), as well as adding my comments to the article itself below:

"... This is a great article and for me it re-enforces the 'battle of the future', a 'battle that transcends nations' ... and a 'battle of values' ... I describe this battle as

Leanomics vs Poweromics & Ignoromics

Where

* Leanomics = People taking responsibility for adding value and continuously improving the situation for others (e.g. customers, communities, overall environment), based upon fundamental values such as trust, honor, responsibility and respect.

* Ignoromics = People are either effectively ignorant of the situation (e.g. the overall environment) or not prepared to take responsibility to make sure it changes for the better.

* Poweromics = People using position and power for their own personal gain, based on poor moral values, self interest and greed.

Traditional 'economics' is too narrow in scope, out-of-date and effectively dead (nb Dr. W. Edwards Deming, a 'creative outsider' highlighted this over 20 years ago) ... and following up on his work, and the above definitions ... what prevails today is a lethal combination of Poweromics & Ignoromics (nb 'partners in crime'), which the growing groundswell of 'Worldcentric'/'Kosmocentric' people are starting to challenge - take a look at the following about the 'battle of values' too for instance ... and the wider blog for more examples of the application of Poweromics around us (including the failure of traditional establishments such as mainstream education and the media also referred to here).

A link there also points to this blog too, pointing to the great work being done here (and by others) - so keep up the good work ... as there's a long way to go in this crisis before we see any significant change ... e.g. in the 'behaviours' from those 'leaders' in 'power' (... because most of the 'current leaders' are unlikely to 'grow up' and/or will fight hard to avoid losing their 'positions of power' ...)

However, the internet will change everything eventually, including power, politics and economics ...!

David Clift, Future 500 Leader, UK ..."

History tells a story ... and it will continue to do so too!

Stephanie Flander's blog "Is economics a busted flush" turned out to be a great blog with lots of great comments & insight. It raised many issues (and many responses) see my two earlier posts "traditional economics is dead" and "traditional education is failing" ... but it has also much to say about 'creative outsiders', history, and the 'future history' too ... for instance take a look at a few of my comments (and others people's comments) below:

... 'Creative outsiders' (such as Dr. W. Edwards Deming) create breakthroughs because they are not constrained by existing frameworks and accepted norms (e.g. steered by mainstream education/practice). They are also naturally curious, ask lots of basic questions, and are often able to see things in a very different light. Traditional establishments/enterprises are well known for becoming almost 'blind' to new concepts/ideas ... they regularly reject (and sometimes fear) them too (for as long as they can at least) ... because they often undermine much of what they had previously come to understand (e.g. see Einstein, Galileo, Newton, Wegener ...) and it may not fit their frame of reference too (e.g. created by traditional mainstream education). This is why businesses regularly get overtaken by more innovative ones ... and it is 'why nations will fail' if they 'fail to be curious' too ... and it turns out there is a subtle cultural element to this too [Q: and do you think this favours countries like the UK/US?] ... This is turning into a very interesting/insightful discussion/blog ... well done for starting it off Stephanie .... (Post 88, leanomist)

... and the response to the question ... "Well yes, it favours the UK but it does not,,,now.,.favour the US. The problem with the US is that on the whole it is too conservative. It favoured Europe because there were a lot of independent thinkers (aka. rich, spoiled brats) who got into science. Those thinkers ran off to the US, but since WW2 they have been heading back to Europe and India, and with their departures the USA share of global GDP has been dropping. This is the kind of demographic megatrend that really shapes the national economy, and it transcends national policies. I think that we might see changes now - as Western enclaves like Shanghai in China become more attractive as places to REMAIN, as opposed to platforms to move on to MIT or UCLA, then the number of patents per locale per year (interesting metric) might shift in favour of China" .... (Post 98, FrankSz)

... and my response ... "The shift in knowledge creation from West to East is an interesting one, and this video is probably worth a look if you haven't seen it before (it also eludes to more fundamental failures in education too - which this blog has also been discussing). People from the far east also turn out to be more questioning and curious on average too. The east is also starting to train lots more scientists themselves as well, and some research establishments in the UK are already moving their work over there instead of doing it in the UK. A mega-trend indeed (with both short term and long term implications), and one that links well with the point I tried to make earlier - i.e. 'why nations will fail' if they 'fail to be curious' (nb and/or 'fail to understand, or act on, what they find!'). As we say, interesting times ahead - and another good point which shows yet more weakness in traditional economics, as well as some of the fundamental weaknesses in our economy (... you may also be interested in this blog too) ..." (Post 109, leanomist)

... and moving on to consider a little history (and the 'future of history') ...

... "Dr W. Edwards Deming was a US citizen who was mostly ignored in the US and went to Japan (who welcomed him with open arms) - and the US/UK had to quickly send a task force over there to try to understand what companies like Toyota were doing differently to General Motors - which turned out to be virtually everything - and was effectively the start of the 'lean movement' - and guess what most in the UK/US still don't 'get' this, or understand it - and guess what happened to GM? ... a $170bn bankcruptcy (the biggest in US history). History tells a story, and I'm afraid it will tell many more in the future too ... which is partly why I'm charting everything and highlighting some of risks that lie ahead" ... (Post 149, leanomist)

... and in response to the following question "Somewhere around 60,000 people in the UK now have an MBA. Has anyone ever looked at what impact this has had on the economy in the past 20 years or so?" ... this historical perspective was added too ...

... "I personally believe history will answer this by simply saying 'they were part of the team that got us where we are today' ... GM (and most other US/UK enterprises for that matter) have a lot of them, whilst companies like Toyota are well known for MBA's, but for their lack of them ... I think this, in a small way, partially supports this kind of assertion too ..." [NB this is referred to in my book too]. (Post 171, leanomist)

There are interesting times ahead, and as I mentioned above, this blog is helping to chart everything whilst highlighting some of the risks that lie ahead ... so we can hopefully avert some of them*, 'change the course of history' and avoid us 'becoming history' too ! ...

* as 'Those who don't know history are destined to repeat it' [Edmund Burke, 1729-1797]

Traditional education is failing ...

On Stephanie Flanders blog yesterday a great discussion began ... which headed in many different directions and resulted in lots of informed/insightful comments. I supported the view that traditional 'economics' is dead, and published this post to say so too ... and a number of people started to question to role of 'education' too - 'economic education' ... for instance take a look at the comment made in Post 52 (random_thought) below:

"... perhaps for 30 years now we have had an academic system that teaches students the knowledge that is required to make money out of the flaws in the economic system - not how to design a better economic system that doesn't have those flaws. How many students have studied economics in the hope of getting a well paid job in the City? And how many have been driven by the desire to fix the system and make the world a better place?..."

I thought this comment potentially offered some profound insight, and a great question too ... so I responded in the following way (Post 55) ...

"...Good points and well made ... The existing education system has arguably been re-enforcing levels of 'incompetence' / 'greed' for some time - and this is exactly the same in leadership / management ( and political science ? ) too ... the education system is also probably 20-30 years out of date now too ( I know for certain most MBA's are - as they are often referred to as 'Maybe Best Avoided' now, and I believe posts 13 and 51 probably give us an idea where we are with politics at the moment too ) ... I believe we are beginning to get to the 'roots' of the problem now - and starting to see just a few of the challenges ahead e.g. changing this, as well as evaluating / re-addressing our nations 'fundamental philosophies' and 'value systems' ...!"

Another commentator then asked ...

"... If you "know for certain" then you can supply the evidence for your claim. I'm sure that the staff and students of our Business Schools would be very interested to see it ..."

So I obliged, (see post 67 below), though there's obviously lots more evidence available too ...

"... Anyone who has bothered to study 'lean', 'lean management', 'lean management systems' (and Dr. W. Edwards Deming's work - nb quoted earlier) know that business schools are 1-2 generations out of date - in fact most people with an MBA have to unfortunately unlearn a lot of what they have learnt at a business school before they can start to learn what they really need to know (e.g. to scrap, rather than re-enforce, arbitrary targets, league tables, bonuses, management by numbers ...etc etc etc) ...

All you have to do is ask a few questions (e.g. what are the above?), look at current business school MBA syllabuses, and understand the differences between 21st century leadership / management and traditional leadership and management [e.g. take a quick look at table 2.39, P139, in the book below for instance] ... you'll find they are completely opposite, and you'll also find most business schools struggle to answer the basic questions above in any meaningful way (and find they are just as out of date as Wikipedia!).

I'm afraid 21st century leadership/management is mostly common sense, and very different to what we're accustomed to, and it's been mostly decoded now too (e.g. just take a look at "Lean World" ... it's available to read worldwide on Google Books*) ... all the Deans of Business Schools I've met and spoke to have read it and loved it, and the business students I lecture love it too ... it's a shame that business schools (all around the world) never properly researched it (or Deming's work for that matter - as they would have found they're inextricably linked) ... and/or never thought to tell students about it/write about it, as most people point out it's both profound ... and applies a lots of common sense ... which is arguably something we need a lot more of right now ...

... but the challenge today is not just one of education, but of politics and power (and the 'misuse' of 'power') too ... and that's yet another story again ... just take a look at http://poweromics.blogspot.com (and some of my posts here too e.g. P13 above) for instance ... but this will be eventually changing too, powered by the internet ..."

* http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=-8xAIgkewOUC&printsec=frontcover

Poweromics - failing our children ...

Education in the UK is failing our children, our children's children ... and our nation. Rather than equipping people for the future, the Government has, through the systematic introduction of 19th Century management practices (e.g. outdated strategies, league tables and targets), been driving education backwards ... 

From their ivory tower they have systematically used their position of 'power' to dictate strategy ('Every Child Matters'), introduce 'league tables' & 'targets', and 'drive in' numerous ill-conceived 'policies', 'initiatives' and 'tests' (e.g. inclusion, literacy hour, numeracy hour, SATS etc). At first glance some of these may have appeared sensible, but it doesn't take long to find fundamental flaws.  For instance here's just a few:

1. The strategy "Every Child Matters" is a statement, not a strategy.  It has also been implemented alongside an all-embracing inclusion policy, which makes it very difficult for teachers to ensure that all children are able to learn to the best of their ability. As a result many teachers are now having to spend most of their time/energy dealing with a minority of very disruptive children (who, due to inclusion, are less easy to exclude), rather than helping the majority of children to learn. This is a flawed ill-thought out 'strategy' which fails everyone, and shows little understanding of education, psychology and 21st century management practice. It also demonstrates a lack of consultation with (and trust in) those 'responsible for teaching our children' (nb. another attribute of those who like to apply Poweromics)!  

2. League tables have predictably pushed most schools to dumb down 'learning', particularly at GCSE level, in favor of making sure children understand/practice the 'process' of getting an answer to pass an exam (and 'collect a certificate'), to get their school 'performance' and 'league table' positions higher. But an education is not just about 'collecting certificates' - it's meant to prepare children for the future, and to help them to 'learn' to learn ... so they can develop understanding, apply knowledge and continue to learn in the future (e.g. by progressively developing their problem solving, creativity and communication skills). 

3. The Government introduced league tables in order to give parental choice, and to drive up standards, but in reality many parents have been disappointed and given little choice - since those parents who want their child to go to the school with the highest results find there is no way that school can take them all. All this has done is to push up house prices in those areas where results are highest (creating another post code lottery), whilst steering schools to spend more of their time/energy on helping children to 'collect certificates' at the expense of helping them to 'learn to learn' - i.e. pushing up results, but driving down the 'standard of education' ... which Universities are getting particularly concerned about now with A levels.

Dr W. Edwards Deming pointed over 20 years ago that most (e.g. between 80-90%) of the variation in the performance of an enterprise is a result of "the overall system", rather than the capabilities of the people involved (ie the children & teachers), and the introduction of league tables/targets into education (as well as the issues above) has made the "overall system" much worse.  Just as some Police forces are now starting to do (See "The Targets era is over" ...), such 19th century management practices (arguably better described as "shackles") need to be systematically removed and replaced by 21st century management practices ... ones which help front line staff (teachers, supported by head-teachers) to prepare children for the world of the future ... a world that'll be very different to that of today ...

We need to reduce the gulf appearing between what the system is currently doing and what children need to succeed in the future (e.g. take a look at this simple, but brief and brilliant, video called "Shift Happens" to see what I mean, and to see some of the challenges facing future generations). A better strategy is desperately needed (based on Leanomics*, instead of Poweromics!) which is much clearer, wide ranging and motivating in its goals (e.g. "Giving all our Children the best possible start in life") ... and one teachers can readily relate to and, given our support, aspire to bring about. Whilst this may seem a somewhat minor change, it would actually create a profound impact on education and beyond, as it would re-enforce the primary purpose of education and it would also fundamentally change the attitude/policies with respect to managing disruptive children (i.e. in fact it would radically change numerous educational policies, as well as re-enforce the relationships with many other government agencies too). 

The economy is already in crisis, and not addressing this now will only make things much worse in the future. Education is not a 'political football', it's a necessity and essential to the future of us all ... but will Government 'leaders' take note, take responsibility and trust those actually responsible for educating our children (i.e. the teachers) ... by supporting them in helping our children to 'learn' to learn, and to continuously improve the way education is provided (augmenting & supporting the roles & responsibilities of parents) ... in order to "give all our children the best possible start in life"?

The Government needs to apply 21st century management practices and invest in a framework that provides an effective 21st century education now ... and not just rely spin, head-lines or shiny looking buildings ! 

Emerging economies are rapidly doing this, and if we don't do so soon we will fall further behind and find it difficult to catch up ...

* Leanomics = People taking responsibility for adding value and continuously improving the situation for others (e.g. customers, communities, overall environment), based upon fundamental values such as trust, honor, responsibility and respect.