The law of requisite variety states that
Although derived from cybernetics the underlying principle can be useful in considering a wide range of situations, including the schools:The larger the variety of actions available to a system, the larger the variety of perturbations (input variations) it is able to compensate ( more )
The challenge
Schools as 'systems' must be able to compensate for perturbations in terms of the actions and responses of students, staff, families, the community, the school system and society.
There are two ways to increase the effectiveness of a school:
- A school may increase the range of its possible responses that enable it to deal with the range of actual inputs from those involved, especially the student. Example: it may extend the curriculum and/or extra curricula activities and/or customise provision and support for individual students (BigPicture...)
- A school may reduce the range of inputs. Examples; it may be selective, exclude some students and/or it may address common issues in order to prevent their recurrence (SWPBS, Broken Windows...)
These initiatives are not linear since the inputs from those involved are partly in response to the experiences, prompts and options provided by the school.
Perhaps this explains why training is generally so much more straight forward than education. Training usually involves
- a specific context (to which the training applies) leading to
- well defined learning tasks (often related to specific competencies)
- anticipated starting points (people seeking training are likely to have certain characteristics as a result of being ready for this particular training – readiness being more or less established in the entry process
- anticipated previous experience (on which to draw)
All of this contributes to reducing variation in user inputs, that is, fewer perturbations to which the school must be able to respond.
In contrast, education is much more problematic in terms of the inputs arising from the learner’s context, needs and goals and the learning tasks that are likely to meet those needs and goals
From the perspective of the school perturbations reflect the mismatch between
In contrast, education is much more problematic in terms of the inputs arising from the learner’s context, needs and goals and the learning tasks that are likely to meet those needs and goals
From the perspective of the school perturbations reflect the mismatch between
- the assumptions that underpin the design and functionality of the school and
- the user’s needs and/or the user’s attempts to meet those needs through engaging in the school
An ideal school would be able to
- gauge the students needs, interests, hopes…
- identify suitable tasks in order to address these matters
- gauge the student’s zone of proximal development in relation to each task
- place the next steps within the zone
- mediate the student’s learning, that is, engage with the student in a way that helps them to
- reflect on how they responded to the inputs received,
- reflect on what thinking they used to develop a response to the input
- prepare a response appropriate to the input received and the situation into which the response is to be made
- reflect on how they presented their response to the inputs received
- monitor the effectiveness of all these steps and draw conclusions for future use
- respond to the student’s progress in relation to all of the above
Teachers with the requisite variety
Great teachers appear to take a sociological perspective with respect to learning, rather than seeing learning as an almost clinical or linear process. These teachers achieve the requisite variety by placing the learning within the life of the student, they are flexible and dynamic in making responses around purposes, meaning, provision of support, actual tasks, working arrangements, access to facilities and resources. And they need to be supported by a school system that adopts a similar perspective.
Great teachers appear to take a sociological perspective with respect to learning, rather than seeing learning as an almost clinical or linear process. These teachers achieve the requisite variety by placing the learning within the life of the student, they are flexible and dynamic in making responses around purposes, meaning, provision of support, actual tasks, working arrangements, access to facilities and resources. And they need to be supported by a school system that adopts a similar perspective.
Conclusion
The Law of Requisite Variety prompts us to take a total system view and to understand the way in which control within a system moves from element to element on a moment by moment basis. The implications are that, while simple models can be useful for the purposes of design, the underlying assumptions should not be so simplistic that the practices and arrangements developed on the basis the simple models fail when placed in real situations. They must have the requisite variety in their range of responses to deal with the 'perturbations' encountered when situated in the lived experience and everyday activity of those for whom the arrangements and devices are developed.
The Law of Requisite Variety prompts us to take a total system view and to understand the way in which control within a system moves from element to element on a moment by moment basis. The implications are that, while simple models can be useful for the purposes of design, the underlying assumptions should not be so simplistic that the practices and arrangements developed on the basis the simple models fail when placed in real situations. They must have the requisite variety in their range of responses to deal with the 'perturbations' encountered when situated in the lived experience and everyday activity of those for whom the arrangements and devices are developed.
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