The Lean Education Manifesto

The global expansion of education is one of the greatest successes of the modern era. More children have access to schooling and leave with higher levels of learning than at any time in history. However, 250 million+ children in developing countries are still not in school, and 600 million+ attend but get little out of it – a situation further exacerbated by the dislocations from COVID-19. In a context where education funding is stagnating and even declining, Arran Hamilton and John Hattie suggest that we need to start thinking Lean and explicitly look for ways of unlocking more from less. Drawing on data from 900+ systematic reviews of 53,000+ research studies – from the perspective of efficiency of impact – they controversially suggest that for low- and middle-income countries: Maybe pre-service initial teacher training programs could be significantly shortened and perhaps even stopped Maybe teachers need not have degree-level qualifications in the subjects they teach, and they might not really need degrees at all! Maybe the hours per week and years of schooling that each child receives could be significantly reduced, or at least not increased Maybe learners can be taught more effectively and less resource intensively in mixed-age classrooms, with peers tutoring one another Maybe different approaches to curriculum, instruction, and the length of the school day might be more cost-effective ways of driving up student achievement than hiring extra teachers, reducing class sizes, or building more classrooms Maybe school-based management, public–private partnerships, and performance-related pay are blind and expensive alleys that have limited influence or impact on what teachers actually do in classrooms. This groundbreaking and thought-provoking work also identifies a range of initiatives that are worth starting. It introduces the Leaning to G.O.L.D. methodology to support school and system leaders in selecting, implementing, and scaling those high-probability initiatives; and to rigorously de-implement those to be stopped. It is essential reading for anyone with an interest in education.

Dial back and make room for impact With teacher and leader workloads and burnout at an all-time high, it’s time for de-implementation: de-prioritizing and deleting the less effective, higher-cost initiatives we implement in schools. De-implementation allows us to focus on practices that have more supporting evidence and a higher probability of positive impact on students, and at the same time gain much-needed work-life balance. In Making Room for Impact, the internationally respected education experts and authors provide a clear four-stage process for winnowing down teaching and learning to high-effect practices. Informed by the latest research in learning, education, healthcare, and psychology, each step and tool is designed to move educators through the hard parts of letting go. Inside, you’ll find: Research that tells us the process of schooling is often over-engineered and that gives us permission to dial back, carefully A step-by-step process for deciding which initiatives are most effective—and how to let go of the ones that are not Useful tools, templates, and charts that educators can immediately use in their de-implementation work—at school, in teaching teams, or at the system level It’s time to get our lives back—without harming student learning. If we can collectively learn to let go and understand how to identify which initiatives are worthwhile, we’ll have more time for what truly matters.

Turn ideas into goals—and goals into impact The road to school improvement and student achievement is paved with good intentions—so why does the destination seem so far away? If you’re like most educators, the answer is a pothole known as the implementation gap. This book provides a road map to bypassing that gap in your school or district, offering a carefully researched, field-tested methodology that takes leadership teams, professional learning communities, and educators all the way from good ideas to systematic impact. Following the five Ds, you’ll: Discover goals worth pursuing and problems worth addressing Design instruments and actions that generate deep impact Deliver interventions and collect data Double-back to monitor your progress and evaluate the impact Double-up to enhance, sustain, and scale your success You became an educator to make a difference in students’ lives. With this playbook, you’ll transform research and ideas into achievable actions—and make maximum impact.

The idea that gender equality in education has been achieved is now a staple of public debate. As a result, educational policies and practices often do not deal explicitly with gender issues, such as sexual abuse, harassment or violence. Exaggeration of neoliberalism’s successes in creating individual opportunity in education conceals ongoing problems and ignores the continuing need for a fair and equal education for all, regardless of gender or sexuality. In this manifesto for education, Miriam David rejects the notion that gender equality has been achieved in our age of neoliberalism. She puts the focus back onto issues such as changing patterns of women’s and girls’ participation in education across the globe, feminist strategies for policy and legal interventions around human rights, and violence against women and children. She discusses waves of feminism linked to school-teaching and pedagogies in higher education as well as an illuminating case study of an international educational programme to challenge gender-related violence. Revealing neoliberal education to be ‘misogyny masquerading as metrics’, Miriam David argues for changes in the patriarchal rules of the game, including questioning ‘gender norms’ and stereotypical binaries, and for making personal, social, health and sexuality education mainstream.

When it comes to school initiatives, more isn’t always better. Today’s educators are buried under old practices, new ideas, and recommended initiatives. Before you’re tempted to add just one more idea to the pile, take a step back—and an objective look—so that you and your teachers can decide which practices to keep, which to modify, and which to eliminate altogether. This guide provides: A research- and evidence-based framework for determining efficacy Practical steps for removing, reducing, or replacing ineffective practices Action steps, examples, and tips for beginning the work Templates for charting your school’s individual path to de-implementation

When the original Visible Learning® was published in 2008, it instantly became a publishing sensation. Interest in the book was unparalleled; it sold out in days and was described by the TES as revealing "teaching’s Holy Grail". Now John Hattie returns to this ground-breaking work. The research underlying this book is now informed by more than 2,100 meta-analyses (more than double that of the original), drawn from more than 130,000 studies, and has involved more than 400 million students from all around the world. But this is more than just a new edition. This book is a sequel that highlights the major story, taking in the big picture to reflect on the implementation in schools of Visible Learning, how it has been understood – and at times misunderstood – and what future directions research should take. Visible Learning: The Sequel reiterates the author’s desire to move beyond claiming what works to what works best by asking crucial questions such as: Why is the current grammar of schooling so embedded in so many classrooms, and can we improve it? Why is the learning curve for teachers after the first few years so flat? How can we develop teacher mind-frames to focus more on learning and listening? How can we incorporate research evidence as part of the discussions within schools? Areas covered include: The evidence base and reactions to Visible Learning The Visible Learning model The intentional alignment of learning and teaching strategies The influence of home, students, teachers, classrooms, schools, learning, and curriculum on achievement The impact of technology Building upon the success of the original, this highly anticipated sequel expands Hattie’s model of teaching and learning based on evidence of impact and is essential reading for anyone involved in the field of education either as a researcher, teacher, student, school leader, teacher trainer, or policy maker.

This edited volume presents a structured approach to a new lean education curriculum, implemented for the education of engineers, managers, administrators as well as human resources developers. The authorship comprises professors and lecturers, trainers and practitioners who educate future professionals in Lean Thinking principles and tools. This edited book provides a platform for authors to share their efforts in building a Body of Knowledge (BoK) for Lean Education. The topical spectrum is state-of-the-art in this field, but the book also includes a glimpse into future developments. This is a highly informative and carefully presented book, providing valuable insight for scholars with an interest in Lean Education.

Turn ideas into goals—and goals into impact The road to school improvement and student achievement is paved with good intentions—so why does the destination seem so far away? If you’re like most educators, the answer is a pothole known as the implementation gap. This book provides a road map to bypassing that gap in your school or district, offering a carefully researched, field-tested methodology that takes leadership teams, professional learning communities, and educators all the way from good ideas to systematic impact. Following the five Ds, you’ll: Discover goals worth pursuing and problems worth addressing Design instruments and actions that generate deep impact Deliver interventions and collect data Double-back to monitor your progress and evaluate the impact Double-up to enhance, sustain, and scale your success You became an educator to make a difference in students’ lives. With this playbook, you’ll transform research and ideas into achievable actions—and make maximum impact.