NCTCA2018

Growing expectations for school leaders to gather more data (often digitally) on student achievement (and wellbeing) has resulted in increased pressures on schools. In many parts of the world this has led to increased standardization, datafication, narrowing curricula, depersonalizing student learning and ultimately undermining and deprofessionalizing teaching. A major challenge for school leaders is to navigate away from these growing pressures within hierarchical education systems in order to steer towards learning environments that are defined by greater attention on creativity, student voice, diversity and talent, free play and the development of social and emotional empathy within school communities. This session will share the latest research and global activity related to standardization, datafication and the ambiguous notion of personalization of learning, and engage participants in practical solutions to collectively respond to these pressures in Alberta and beyond.