Download John Hattie’s new study The Politics of Distraction – It’s free!

john-hattie-study-visible-learning-the-politics-of-distraction-pearson-2015John Hattie’s new study is called What Doesn’t Work in Education: The Politics of Distraction. You can download, read and share the book for free (PDF)! It is part of Open Ideas at Pearson and licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0.

Spot the difference! Is it between or within schools?

John Hattie is an advocate of data-informed (rather than data-based only) decision-making in the education sector. According to Hattie policy makers, school leaders and educators should recognise within-schools differences as the fundamental problem in education and focus their efforts in this area. “Given that the variance in student achievement between schools is small relative to variance within schools, it is folly to believe that a solution lies in different forms of schools,” John Hattie writes in his new report. He says it is “ironic” that governments try to tackle “failing schools” by creating new forms of schools such as charter schools, for-profit schools, lighthouse schools, free schools, academies, public-private schools – “anything other than a public school.”

Hattie’s 5 Distractions in the school system

For his new study – which is more like a policy paper – Hattie has put together a list of five popular education reform approaches that he calls distractions from the real problem. His argument is that an overemphasis on one or all of them creates a distraction from other, more critical, more effective ways to improve education. They might work, but the impact is only mediocre and the costs are high. As in his previous studies (Visible Learning and Visible Learning for teachers) he repeats the point that hardly anything we do in schools harms students. But unless an intervention has an effect size of 0.4 or greater it would be unwise to base decision-making on it (0.4 is the average effect size of more than 140.000 effects Hattie has studied). Here is a list of the world’s “top five” distractions in education:

  • Distraction 1: Appease to parents – “If only there were more choice of schools and smaller class sizes”
  • Distraction 2: Fix the infrastructure – “If only we had more effective curricula, more rigorous standards, more tests and more alternative-shaped buildings”
  • Distraction 3:  Fix the student – “If only we had better, well-prepared students”
  • Distraction 4: Fix the schools – “If only schools had more money and autonomy, they would be better schools”
  • Distraction 5: Fix the teachers – “If only teachers had better initial training, were paid for performance and adopted new technology”

Videos and a study about What works best

In a second paper John Hattie makes the case for the politics of collaborative expertise, or, put simply, what works best in education. Make sure to watch these short videos where John Hattie talks about his new study, distractions and solutions for a better education.

Why are we distracted?

The solution is ‘collaborative action’

One year of progress for one year’s input

Sources:

Further reading:

Posted in Books, Books in English, Videos, Visible Learning
2 comments on “Download John Hattie’s new study The Politics of Distraction – It’s free!
  1. Vishnu Kant says:

    This is a very important, and perhaps most critical, document in giving a direction to all change-leaders which directions not to take.
    thank you so much.
    May God bless you to continue to create path-breaking perspectives.
    Vishnu

  2. CEK Bird says:

    You do a grave disservice to the children that Prof Hattie advocates for when you misquote him. Some editor has chosen to use the title “One year of progress for one year’s input”, but Prof Hattie is not talking about ‘progress’, he talks about growth. Two distinctively different concepts with differing connotations. The former more closely associated with achieving test scores. Shame on Pearson, this ought to be remedied to quote him more accurately.

10 other websites write about for "Download John Hattie’s new study The Politics of Distraction – It’s free!"
  1. […] The Politics of Distraction by John Hattie. A free pdf that all teachers need to download and read right now. Educational reform is ever present and yet the areas that would benefit the most from reform are ignored for areas that are more likely to win votes. He even has some answers about what to do about it. […]

  2. […] silly thing which has failed everywhere else, and I want to know why.” In a new paper, “What Doesn’t Work In Education: The Politics Of Distraction,” published by Pearson Education, Hattie takes on some of the most popular approaches to […]

  3. […] You can download John Hattie's new study "What Doesn't Work in Education: The Politics of Distraction". It's free and licensed under the Creative Commons.  […]

  4. […] other silly thing which has failed everywhere else, and I want to know why.” In a new paper, “What Doesn’t Work In Education: The Politics Of Distraction,” published by Pearson Education, Hattie takes on some of the most popular approaches to […]

  5. […] Australia and heads the Science of Learning Centre, which works with over 7,000 schools worldwide. In a recent paper,  “The Politics of Distraction”, which was highlighted on NPR, Dr. Hattie reviewed […]

  6. […] In the world of Education, Professor John Hattie talks of the ‘Politics of Distraction’ – the things that, while they have little or no positive influence on the success of outcomes for out students, soak up our time, effort and resources. (“politics of Distraction”) […]

  7. […] June 2015 Hattie published two significant papers, The Politics of Collaborative Expertise and The Politics of Distraction. The former is the source of advice for answering the question above and, as such, is deserving of […]

  8. […] Système et inégalités scolaires. Engagement citoyen et Education Populaire. Innovations pédagogiques. Veille et presse (milieu éducatif) Feedly. Read more, know more. Download John Hattie's new study "The Politics of Distraction". […]

  9. […] Hattie calls much of the debates around how to improve education, schools and student achievement as the “politics of distraction” in this radio interview you can hear more about his views : http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b04dmxwl or download the Politics of distraction here: http://visible-learning.org/2015/06/download-john-hattie-politics-distraction/ […]

  10. […] locura creer que una solución reside en diferentes formas de escuelas», escribe John Hattie en su nuevo informe. Dice que es «irónico» que los gobiernos traten de abordar las «escuelas que fracasan» creando […]

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About Visible Learning
Visible Learning means an enhanced role for teachers as they become evaluators of their own teaching. Visible Teaching and Learning occurs when teachers see learning through the eyes of students and help them become their own teachers.
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Visible Learning plus is a professional development programme for teachers. It provides an in-depth review and change model for schools based on John Hattie's research. With a seminar and support series the Visible Learning plus team helps schools to find out about the impact they are having on student achievement. www.visiblelearningplus.com