What's Worth Fighting for in Education?

Hargreaves, A. & Fullan, M. (1998). What's worth fighting for in education? Buckingham: Open University Press.

Hargreaves and Fullan (1998) argue that powerful and successful teaching and learning can be achieved through building communication and understanding with parents, communities, companies and other stakeholders. Hargreaves and Fullan state that by moving one step at a time, each teacher can change public perceptions so that the community 'engages with and supports the challenging work of teachers today' (p. x). In turn, teachers will 'discover more resources and better ways to meet the needs of today's pupils in our highly complex world' (p. x). They make two key arguments.

Until society realises that the quality and morale of teachers is absolutely central to the wellbeing of pupils and their learning, all serious reform efforts are bound to fail.
Teachers cannot wait for society to get it - the teachers must take action.

Teachers must gain control over the larger environment for the following reasons.

Schools cannot shut their gates and leave the outside world on the doorstep.
More diversity demands greater flexibility.
The technology juggernaut is breaking down the walls of schooling.
Schools are one of our last hopes for rescuing and reinventing community.
Teachers can do with more help, and so can parents and communities.
Education is essential for democracy.
Market competition, parental choice and individual self-management are redefining how schools relate to their wider environments.
Schools can no longer be indifferent to what kinds of living and working await their pupils when they become adults.
The pressures of today's complex environments are relentless and contradictory.
Our existing structures are exhausted.

(Hargreaves & Fullan, 1998, p. 7)

The authors stress the need for teachers to 'go deeper' with hard thinking and soul searching about the fundamental purpose of teaching, and to 'go wider' by making complex and long-lasting connections with the wider community. Guidelines for action are provided, including:

capturing the public imagination
focusing on relationships
being resolute and flexible while building relationships outside the school - 'beating the path of change as you walk it' (p. 98)
making students your prime partners
responding to parents' desires and needs as if they were your own
becoming more assessment literate
refusing to mind your own business
developing and use your emotional intelligence
helping to recreate your profession.

Extra guidelines are presented for head teachers.

Steer clear of false certainty.
Base risk on security.
Respect those you want to silence.
Manage emotionally as well as rationally.
Fight for lost causes.

And guidelines for governments.

Invest in the long term.
Go beyond left and right.
Use data for improvement, not embarrassment.
Put capacity building before compliance.
Deal with demographics.

And for parents.

Press governments to create the kinds of teachers you want.
Leave nostalgia behind you.
Ask what you can do for your school, as well as what your school can do for you.
Put praise before blame.