Relational EducationCommentaries

Patrice Brodeur

Posted by GHFPon October 16, 2020November 16, 2020in Commentaries

This book is a most timely solution to a long standing debate about the role of testing in education, especially as the COVID-19 pandemic and the Black Lives Matter movement have highlighted beyond any doubt the unequal and unsustainable nature of most public and private educational structures worldwide. In Beyond the Tyranny of Testing, distinguished scholar Kenneth J. Gergen joins forces with younger theoretician Scherto R. Gill to show an exemplary interdisciplinary collaboration that provides a creative way out of this age-old debate, which affects the vast majority of primary and secondary schools worldwide: they boldly suggest a new third way beyond, on the one hand, the authoritarian tyranny of testing and, on the other hand, the laissez-faire approach of libertarian education theories that eliminate testing all together.

Cogently arguing for a vision of education as relational process, they deduce that evaluation is, in fact, central to the learning process but only when it is conducted in a relation-centred manner. Through this new perspective, based on solid empirical evidence, emerges the foundational part that relational evaluation carries in bringing into the collaboration amongst the learners, teachers, parents, school administrators, and school evaluators, as well as education policy makers at different levels of political governance.

Fully inclusive and equitable learning communities can flourish only when attention and care is given to nurture the relational process at the heart of education in general, and especially in its evaluation dimensions. With this new focus in mind and at heart, Gergen and Gill convincingly envision the deeper and more sustainable long-term systemic educational transformation urgently needed today to humanise all those involved in learning communities worldwide. Their book brilliantly provides an innovative theoretical foundation essential for building more inclusive and equitable societies glocally.

— Patrice Brodeur (PhD), Associate Professor, Institute of Religious Studies, University of Montreal; Senior Adviser, International Dialogue Centre, Vienna, Austria, and co-author of Religion as a Conversation Starter (Bloomsbury, 2009)

James Mannion

Posted by GHFPon October 15, 2020November 16, 2020in Commentaries

The widespread practice of high-stakes testing, compulsory for all, demands that around one-third will fail on the basis that this somehow makes the passes of others more meaningful. On this specious reasoning, every year, many thousands of young people are branded failures in the most formative years of their life, with often devastating consequences. This deeply unethical practice should be stopped in its tracks. Clearly, however, education requires that we evaluate learning – and so we need practical, workable, scalable alternatives. In Beyond the Tyranny of Testing, Gergen and Gill take us beyond the stale, technical arguments about norm-referenced vs criterion-referenced assessment, by reconceptualising education as relational, rather than individualistic, pursuit. If we accept that education should be more explicitly relational, collaborative and inclusive – and really, who could argue against this? – we find ourselves embracing more dialogic, collaborative approaches to teaching and learning that lead us to very different kinds of assessment practices – relational evaluation. This book pulls together a wealth of tried-and-tested alternatives to high-stakes testing that chart a clear course towards a fairer, more life-affirming education system that enables young people to locate themselves in a story of interbeing, rather than one of separation. I cannot recommend it highly enough!

— Dr James Mannion, Director, Rethinking Education; Bespoke Programmes Leader, UCL Institute of Education; co-author of Fear is the Mind Killer: Why Learning to Learn deserves lesson time – and how to make it work for your pupils

Loek Schoenmakers

Posted by GHFPon October 15, 2020November 16, 2020in Commentaries

This book is of great importance to education, as it makes a fundamental contribution to the dialogue on the role of evaluation in education. Calling into question the nature of testing, it offers an alternative orientation to the role of evaluation within educational processes. The challenge that Gergen & Gill confront with this invaluable publication is to re-enter into the dialogue about going beyond testing with possible alternatives. Students’ learning is paramount, and evaluation ought to be in its service. Isn’t this what education is about? The idea of evaluation in favour of learning – changes educational practices dramatically. From a relational standpoint it invites new possibilities, including transforming students and teachers into learning partners. A must read for both educators and educational leaders!

— Loek Schoenmakers (PhD), Educational Specialist, Teacher Trainer, School Advisor, and CEO of Appreciative Change Works, The Netherlands.

Thalia Dragonas

Posted by GHFPon October 10, 2020November 16, 2020in Commentaries

When it comes to testing, we worldwide know that the “emperor has no clothes on”. It is Gergen and Gill who impersonate the child that has the courage to blurt out and express the widespread discontent with the measurement-based assessment tradition. They by no means claim that we have to dispense with educational evaluation. What they assert is replacing the outdated ‘factory’ view of ‘product’ assessment that reduces students to scores and grades, with a relational orientation that allows the curiosity, creativity and critical thinking of both students and teachers to bloom. In their fascinating book, Gergen and Gill share their relational vision of education and they provide a range of innovative relational practices of educational evaluation in primary and secondary classrooms, as part of teachers professional development, and of the entire school, unveiling the potential for the transformation of the learning process.

— Thalia Dragonas, Emerita professor, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens