NN39, October 2007
Best Practice in Education and Training: Hype or Hope?
Universalism Versus Localism: Where Does ?Best Practice? Belong?
By Lyabwene Mtahabwa, Faculty of Education, the University of Hong Kong
Keywords?Best practice? concept, Universalism, Localism
Summary
This short article believes that while tracing the where and how of the ?best practice? concept could be enlightening, it could not be necessarily liberating. Conversely, trying to understand what it means and how it is used in education circles could be liberating. The former issues, it argues, are secondary while the latter are primary.
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?Best practice? whether it originates in common sense, logical armchair thinking or systematic empirical inquiry and evidenced by ?best results? and whether such epistemologies were carried out on earth, from outer space or an imaginary world appears to correspond more with localism and less with universalism. This short article believes that while tracing the where and how of the ?best practice? concept could be enlightening, it could not be necessarily liberating. Conversely, trying to understand what it means and how it is used in education circles could be liberating. The former issues, in my opinion, are secondary while the latter are primary. In this article the primary issues are discussed. The literature considered most critical in addressing issues related to ?best practice? is used to interrogate the utility of the concept in early childhood education and care.
?Best practice? as used in education is simply what is considered the most successful model of doing things. It is born when the application of a specific model hinged on a particular philosophical and theoretical stance has provided ?best results?. One of the most important things in trying to understand this concept is to realise that there are many ?best practices?, not just one. The reason for this is that every society constantly struggles to educate its young ones using different approaches suited to specific socio-cultural contexts. In the process, some of these approaches prove ?best? at least in the eyes of the beholder to become other ?best practices?. They could be documented or not documented. They could have come from common sense, logical armchair thinking or systematic empirical investigations. Hence, whoever tries to trace the origin of the ?best practice? concept should be prepared to provide an account of other ?best practices? that exist in the world or admit that there could be other ?best practices?. For this reason, I decided to concentrate on the meaning and utility of this concept only.
There is no single ?best practice? that could be claimed to be sensitive to all socio-cultural differences in the world. Whether carried out on earth, from the outer space or imaginary world it cannot escape from that reality. So, what is the utility value of this concept? What best corresponds to it: universalism or localism? Could it be both?
The most critical attack against localism comes from Craig (2007). Craig (2007, p. 131-136) argues for standardised knowledge, skills and technology on the premise that ?learning is ubiquitous unless blocked?, ?biology (brains and bodies) directs the course of learning? [and that] ?context exploits and/or limits our plasticity?. Arguing along this line, Craig (2007) goes on to say that every human being is predisposed to learn through engagement in unfamiliar cognitive tasks even in unfamiliar cultural contexts. While appreciating the role of culture for individual differences in intelligence, interests and personality, Craig (2007, p. 127) views cultural relativism as restricting change and compares it to the ?apartheid? policy in South Africa that stressed ?separate development for different people? [emphasis in original]. Surprised by the way so many people orchestrate cultural relativism, Craig (2007, p. 126) argues,
It is therefore strange that so much ink (and blood) is spilled on trying to prevent change. More particularly, demands for relevance in education (i.e. to bring familiar tasks to the classroom), relativism about knowledge (i.e. to underline the strong relationship between context and belief), and fears about domination of one set of beliefs over another in a market place of skills exchange, seem to go against our natural abilities to change. They also seem to me to be attempts to lock people into their cultural posts.
Ryan and Grieshaber (2005) use the postmodern views of knowledge, power and subjectivity to interrogate the utility of ?best practice?. They advocate localism in early childhood education. In a sub-section entitled situating knowledge, they strongly argue that knowledge is never ahistorical and value-free. They encourage student teachers to be critical about the contexts in which ?best practice? is located:
Through engagement with the differing contexts that have both shaped or are shaping the current knowledge base, students begin to get a sense that prescribed practices and theories are only partial stories or interpretations of phenomena. Although these ideas may have empirical warrant, they are nonetheless not neutral or objective (p.37) [emphasis added].
The cultural relativism for fear about one set of belief dominating over others and the prescribed practices presented above need a discussion. In my opinion, cultural relativism promotes creativity while universalism advocated by Craig (2007) could be the antithesis of it. Once, a particular approach is labeled as ?best practice? and orchestrated for wide dissemination it tends to slow local efforts to do the same thing but in different ways. Although one could argue that ?best practice? is not ?prescribed practice? because it could be adapted to suit local conditions, it still diverts the goal of looking for local other ways of doing things and canonising them so as to ultimately become one of the ?best practices?. Otherwise, the Reggio Emilia approach which is so unique to Italy and currently drawing the world?s attention would have not emerged.
?Best practice? is essential because it provides us with the other way of doing things after we have modified them. It is more local than universal. However, the primary goal in education should be to encourage the emergence of other ?best practices?.
References
Craig, A. P. (2007) How Cultural Differences Shape the Perception of Knowledge: A Psychology of Learning and Teaching for Democratic Societies. Lewiston: The Edwin Mellen Press.
Ryan, S. & Grieshaber, S. (2005) Shifting from Developmental to Postmodern Practices in Early Childhood Teacher Education, Journal of Teacher Education, 56(1), 34-45.
Further reading
Göncü, A. (Ed.) (1999) Children?s Engagement in the World: Sociocultural Perspectives. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Nsamenang, A. B. (1992) Human Development in Cultural Context: A Third World Perspective. California: Sage Publications.
Rogoff, B. (2003) The Cultural Nature of Human Development. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
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