Redesigning Student Learning in Secondary School: Enhancing the Teacher and Student Experience

by John Dewar Wilson

Overview

Redesigning Student Learning in Secondary Schools offers an accessible account of developments in secondary schooling in western countries over the past 150 years, questioning why so little has changed and introducing examples of, and proposals for, significant shifts from traditional practices.

Structured in three parts, Part 1 traces the evolution of mass secondary schooling systems and how their process shaped the student and teacher experience. Part 2 describes how system restructuring accommodated the whole student population, with some managers investing more heavily in market principles than others who placed greater trust in teachers to deliver high quality standards in basic skills. In Part 3, the author introduces various examples of how system and school redesign is, and has been attempted in recent years, arguing for, and explaining, a ‘service' model of schooling, adoption of technology to transform the teaching-learning process, empowering students to have more input into their own topic choice, through closer collaboration with teachers to identify and achieve learning goals. Proposals for how to undertake redesign are also discussed.

This book will be of interest to secondary school educators, school leaders and managers.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781000541816
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	07/01/2026
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	208

About the Author

John Dewar Wilson began his career as a teacher of English in a secondary school in Scotland in the 1960s, He has held: positions as lecturer in education at University of Aberdeen1964-69, Principal lecturer in Education at Moray House College of Education 1970 to 1990. And was Foundation Professor of Education at Victoria University, Melbourne 1992-2000. Today John works as an international consultant.

Table of Contents

1 Introduction. Part 1: Traditional systems 2. Defining secondary schooling: The ‘industrial’ system of schooling. 3. The teacher experience of traditional schooling. 4. The student experience of traditional schooling. Part 2: Contemporary secondary schooling systems: Restructure and redesign 5. Secondary schooling expanded and restructured: Lower secondary. 6. Secondary schooling restructured: Upper secondary. 7. Schooling redesigned on a ‘market’ model: Australia, UK and USA. 8.Schooling redesigned on a humanist model: Finland Part 3: Redesigning secondary schooling. Introduction. 9. Teaching as a personalized service. 10. Students as school citizens. 11.Transformative learning. 12.Design-based research and subject learning. 13.Collaborative teaching and learning. 14.System and school redesign: some examples. 15. A strategy for institutional redesign. 16. Endnote

Editorial Reviews

"This book is indispensable when the role of schooling and education needs to be made more relevant. It is excellent support for the call to reimagine schooling and education and redesign the learning and teaching process. The experiences of developed countries like Australia, the UK, the USA, and Finland in achieving significant gains in schooling and education provide lessons for other countries that aspire to make a difference in their educational systems. It is an excellent read with brilliant insights."

Richard DLC Gonzales, Ph.D. Chief Executive Advisor, Inno-change International Consultants, Inc.

The book ‘Redesigning Student Learning in Secondary Schools: Enhancing the student and teacher experience’ by Professor Dr. John Dewar Wilson is an outstanding effort in which he reviews a range of proposals in order to personalize secondary schooling in the western countries such as USA, UK, and Australia. He suggests redesigning schooling system where students and teachers would work collaboratively to achieve the learning outcomes through the exploitation of ICT. As the traditional schooling system runs mechanically where students’ individual differences are not very often taken care of and students are considered as inanimate objects to be processed in schools, the school leavers are not efficient enough to act in the society humanely. Redesigning secondary schooling system as suggested by Professor Dr. John Dewar Wilson demands attention of the world'so that they can redesign secondary education in order to tighten the relationship between schools and communities. The current world needs an education system which fosters learners’ creativity, individuality, and engagement. This book of John Wilson, I firmly believe as an experienced teacher educator, would provoke thoughts of those who are engaged in secondary education as teachers, education planners, and education managers all over the world including Bangladesh."

Dr. Ranjit Podder, Associate Professor, Govt. Teachers’ Training College, Dhaka, Bangladesh

From the Publisher