World's Top Education Academic Heads to Dubai

The Times Education Supplement (TES) once called Dr Hattie, “possibly the world’s most influential education academic,” thanks to his analysis of student data to reveal the factors affecting learning.

His books, ‘Visible Learning’ and ‘Visible Learning for Teachers,’ sampled 80 million students globally and took 15 years to complete. Both books remain influential, and a benchmark for many educationalists the world over.

WhichSchoolAdvisor.com was lucky enough to catch-up with Dr Hattie and discover his views on Dubai's education landscape, technology and what teachers can do to enhance their delivery prior to his visit to the UAE.

You say many of the elements that top-end Dubai schools regard highly, such as: tech in the classroom, grand facilities, small class size, finances and more are not actually significant factors in a child's learning, however, the expertise of the teachers and how they collaborate is. Can you outline what you mean by 'collaboration?'
Often the greatest source of variance among educators is related to their conceptions of growth: What does it mean to have at least a year’s growth for a year’s input.  If some teachers have low expectations, they are very likely to deliver low growth; and similarly, for high expectation teachers delivering high growth. 

Why should it be that each time a student meets a new teacher they learn and grow relative to that teacher’s conception of progress.

Hence, the important of the FOCUS of collaboration – all in the school have appropriately high levels of efficacy that they can enhance student learning, all in the school working together to understand appropriate high levels of what it means to gain a year’s growth, and all in the school sharing dependable evidence of student growth. 

This requires excellent leaders to create the trust for this to happen, to create the narrative that it is about our skills to enhance learning, and to build a coalition of success in the school.

Your study has shown (incredibly) that feedback has more influence on student learning than a student's prior cognitive ability (IQ). Can you explain this a little more please?
Feedback is powerful, but it is also among the more variable notions - there is both good and ineffective feedback. 

Feedback is the answer to Where am I going? How am I going? and Where to next? 

Teachers typically privilege the first two questions but most students do not consider they have received feedback or certainly not considered the feedback worthwhile unless it also relates to Where to next? 

So, ensure that the feedback is related to the learning intention, and provides information that will help the students move to the success criteria.

In the WhichSchoolAdvisor.com 2016 teacher survey teachers placed professional development above money in their priorities.... given the privatised nature of the UAE's education sector, we know that professional development varies wildly from school to school, how would you implement the teaching of 'expertise' in the UAE? 
Professional development has an average (.41) effect size and it too is noted for the variability of its effect. 

The most effective relates to professional learning communities led by a person(s) who first builds trust, who then focuses on the impact of the teachers on the student, who sees assessment as feedback to teachers, who focuses on developing tasks that have the appropriate balance of surface to deep learning (note, it is the proportion not one or the other), who develops excellent diagnoses of the issues to be addressed in PLCs based on evidence of impact, who involve outside expert(s) to ensure defensible moderation of the “at least years growth for a year’s input’ and who (critically) evaluate the impact on the PD on the learning lives of students. 

You said, "technology is the revolution which has been coming for 30 years, but it’s not here yet". Do you think it ever will arrive? What are your thoughts on the seeming- 'scramble' to add ever more technology to so many of Dubai's classrooms?
It has not had a major effect despite the claims of faster, easier, more more and more over the past 50 years. 

This is primarily because we have not introduced the technology for knowledge production but simply replaced tools (Google instead of Encyclopaedias; video instead of paper-mache, etc.). When it is introduced for knowledge production the effects are greater. 

We should use technology to allow computers to identify and guide us to best next best steps. Computers would let us know what actions will lead to deeper understanding, and at the same time reduce workload.

We are not there yet. Computers at the moment at best efficiency tools (itself a good start).  

We have more UK schools in Dubai, than any other curriculum, and many schools are beginning to feel the effects of the UK teacher shortage. How detrimental would you say the potential 'scramble' to recruit 'any' teacher- could be in our classrooms?

England gave the resources to schools for teacher education it is no surprise to most of us that this would lead to shortages in recruiting from the country. 

But why look only to England – there are stunning teachers in many parts of the world – provided you define “stunning” in terms of their impact, not how they teach, who they are, or where they come from. 

Indeed, my experience in UAE has shown me many stunning local teachers – surely that is among our major role – to grow teachers who have maximum impact on the learning lives of their students within the country and thus increase the chances of also developing local cultural values.

From what you have seen/read so far, can you give us your thoughts on the Dubai education sector?
Wow, you have come a long way over the past 15 years.  But Dubai must decide whether it wants to evaluate its schools compared to world standards (which means raising the challenges, curricula, and assessments) or use local benchmarks. 

It is a tension as against international benchmarks many schools would not be seen to be working well. Many parents might well ask why they have paid so much to see such little gain.

A move to world standards needs an investment in teachers; clearer success criteria about what at least a year’s growth means (indeed you need to make 2-3 years growth within one year’s input to catch up. It can be done and is being down in our Visible Learning jurisdictions.

Can we expect to see more of you in the UAE over the next few years, via any new projects?
I have full time positions so my time is stretched. I work very closely with Cognition in NZ and their partners throughout the world to deliver the Visible Learning message.

They are doing a stunning job in 23 countries and the evidence of not only increasing learning greater than a year’s growth for a year’s input, but create excitement among teachers about their own impact, hence a wonderful virtuous cycle. 

To your point, they decide which countries I go to, mainly depending on the local investment into developing Visual Learning schools.

Dr Hattie will be guest speaker at the Cognition Education- Visible Learning (plus) Symposium, together with Dr Janet Clinton, Helen Blanchard, Mary Sinclair, Dr Raymond and Julie Smith, Jayne-Ann young and Jenny Dittmer.

The event will be held on 23rd February at Hartland International School for those wishing to attend the event please contact: JYoung@cognitioneducation.com