Magazine - ESHA

In a world where complexity increasingly touches every aspect
of our daily lives, education will be more than ever a lever to
innovate our society. We have to move forward! The challenge for
education to think about new concepts is more urgent than ever!
Education is challenged to improve student results; as schools
should master to succeed a better perspective for their own
social economic possibilities. All with the focus on a greater purpose:
to improve society by improving the educational system!
We should invest more in education and we can perform better
especially in and trough education. But how can we learn from
national and international “Good Practice”? How can we optimize
the potential and involvement of leaders, teachers and students?
In this article Prof John West-Burnham and Marlou van Beek will
describe how international knowledge and experience can be used
to improve education performance and prepare students for the
demands of their future society. This will need more than a focus
on fi gures on fl ow or fi nal examination results to prepare students
as future citizens. They must become 21st century learners who
are educated for global access to the labor market; equipped with
knowledge to increase, apply and multiply future orientated life
skills. Is there a sense of urgency to really improve performance
or is this a utopian aspiration? How are better results and High
Performance defi ned and which aspects are the most important
ones? How can this new future be realized?
Urgency and Chances
Excellent education defi ned as urgent social
requirement/ethical duty
HIGH PERFORMANCE SCHOOLS
As Fullan and van Beek 1 described in Leading in a culture of change;
“public health and wellness of all citizens are signifi cantly improved
in countries that have been able to reduce the difference between
ESHA MAGAZINE SEPTEMBER 2011 39