Academic Journal
Anatomy of an Educational Change: The Safe Learning Model, Sierra Leone
| Title: | Anatomy of an Educational Change: The Safe Learning Model, Sierra Leone |
|---|---|
| Authors: | Sugrue, Ciaran (ORCID |
| Source: | Journal of Educational Change. Sep 2023 24(3):631-657. |
| Abstract: | This paper undertakes a critical analysis of a planned change, the Safe Learning Model (SLM), devised over time by Concern Worldwide, and implemented in 100 primary or elementary schools in a rural district of Sierra Leone. We situate the documentation pertaining to the SLM (micro) within its wider national (meso) and international (macro) context of influential policy texts. We undertake a mixed methods analysis of these macro, meso and micro documents, interrogated through the prism of various change paradigms (scientific management, progressivism, critical theory, teacher professionalism and social movement) and in doing establish where these various document clusters, their explicit and implicit influences, may be located along the arc of change paradigms, thus surfacing their ideological assumptions, intent and influences. The paper concludes that in seeking to improve the quality of teaching, learning, and living in this instance, scientific management casts long shadows. The power, perspectives and financial influence of international agencies dominate change discourses whereby 'learning crises' require urgent responses in the form of testing and measuring that prevail over more expansive pedagogical capacity building. Consequently, perpetuating a 'weighing the pig' mindset downplays or ignores the ecology of teaching and learning, particularly the centrality of teachers, as professionals and role models, more likely to be compliant than transformative. |
| Language: | English |
| Availability: | Springer. Available from: Springer Nature. One New York Plaza, Suite 4600, New York, NY 10004. Tel: 800-777-4643; Tel: 212-460-1500; Fax: 212-460-1700; e-mail: customerservice@springernature.com; Web site: https://link.springer.com/ |
| Peer Reviewed: | Y |
| Page Count: | 27 |
| Publication Date: | 2023 |
| Document Type: | Journal Articles Reports - Evaluative |
| Education Level: | Elementary Education |
| Descriptors: | Educational Change, Elementary Schools, Rural Schools, Foreign Countries, Program Implementation, School Safety, Educational Policy, Policy Analysis, Critical Theory, Professionalism, Social Change |
| Geographic Terms: | Sierra Leone |
| DOI: | 10.1007/s10833-022-09461-7 |
| ISSN: | 1389-2843 1573-1812 |
| Abstractor: | As Provided |
| Entry Date: | 2023 |
| Accession Number: | EJ1387013 |
| ISSN: | 1389-28431573-1812 |
| DOI: | 10.1007/s10833-022-09461-7 |
| Database: | ERIC |