The Precipice of Educational Transformation
A couple of years ago, I was given a Heston Blumenthal book for my birthday. Having finally gotten around to reading it, I was interested to note that the book was dedicated to Sir Ken Robinson - Sir Ken Robinson is a name known by so many of us in education, but it struck me about the impact of education and whether it really does what it is supposed to do.
With me writing this just before GCSE and A level results are released in 2024, we will no doubt experience the familiar, yet jaded, headlines about the education systems and the definitions of success we like to handcuff to examination results. We will see schools celebrating, shuffling the top performers in front of the camera for that school website marketing, and then we will see a resolve to further improve standards directed at those schools who haven`t performed well enough.? However, I am struggling at the moment.? What do examination results really tell us?? Can examinations really tell us anything about how much students have learned, how capable they are or do they more accurately reflect an unfair system that overly pressurizes young people to answer a series of you are only right if you get the same answer as mequestions under extreme time pressure?? Put the correct answer, you get a mark, think divergently and you don`t.? If you misunderstand a point, get nervous in the exam room, don`t have access to a tutor, see your parents divorce or experience one of a million other possible influencing factors, then your chances to do well diminish.
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Whilst writing this article I realise how utterly unoriginal my words are. These complaints have been made before and, my years as a teacher, have seen me revisit, rethink, and dwell on what it is we are trying to achieve in our classrooms.? The more I think about it, the more resolved I am that change must happen, that those invested in teaching need to come together to make this a better, fairer, more rewarding system. At a time where many colleagues are advocating for synergy with greater and greater levels of technology, I wonder what place does AI have in the classroom, I think about how iPads can shake up the educational paradigm?? But, really what I want to know is, what are we all actually trying to achieve?? What is the purpose of what we are trying to do, day in, day out??
The number of young people failingtheir GCSEs remains consistently high. The 5+ rate (a high C grade in old money, or a strong pass) was 54.4%. This is the measure for judging the success of schools in the UK and suggests that, by that measure, nearly 50% of young people are failing.? The highest figures in a decade, were seen for those who would need to retake either English Language or Maths[1] at GCSE. Over 1,103,495? young people under the age of 18 were in touch with secondary mental health, learning disabilities and autism services[2]. Furthermore, 1 in 6 children aged five to 16 were identified as having a probable mental health problem in July 2020[3].
This isn`t what I set out to do as a teacher, yet I worry that I am part of the problem.? Until, that is, that I felt the need to be standing on the precipice of change. I want education to become an empowering, enriching, engaging experience that inspires a genuine lifelong love affair with learning.? I want young people to be supported, to be celebrated, to be understood.? Or, in the words of someone who is so much more erudite than I:
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The fact is that given the challenges we face, education doesn't need to be reformed -- it needs to be transformed. The key to this transformation is not to standardize education, but to personalize it, to build achievement on discovering the individual talents of each child, to put students in an environment where they want to learn and where they can naturally discover their true passions.[4]
So, over the next few articles, I want to discuss ideas on how to be that transformation. I want to remind myself about the inspiration provided by Sir Ken Robinson, I want to do better as a teacher, as an educator and I want to be the change I want to see.? And, finally, to come back to Heston Blumenthal`s book, anything can make us think and that, I feel, is the best starting point in education, to encourage our colleagues and our students to really think about making important things better.
[4] Ken Robinson Ph.D., Lou Aronica (2009). “The Element: How Finding Your Passion Changes Everything”, p.154, Penguin
Trailblazing Human and Entity Identity & Learning Visionary - Created a new legal identity architecture for humans/ AI systems/bots and leveraged this to create a new learning architecture
3 个月Hi Tim, I REALLY liked these statements in your article: "This isn`t what I set out to do as a teacher, yet I worry that I am part of the problem.?Until, that is, that I felt the need to be standing on the precipice of change. I want education to become an empowering, enriching, engaging experience that inspires a genuine lifelong love affair with learning.?I want young people to be supported, to be celebrated, to be understood.?Or, in the words of someone who is so much more erudite than I: The fact is that given the challenges we face, education doesn't need to be reformed -- it needs to be transformed. The key to this transformation is not to standardize education, but to personalize it, to build achievement on discovering the individual talents of each child, to put students in an environment where they want to learn and where they can naturally discover their true passions." I'll continue in the next message...
Master's student in Education Policies for International development.
3 个月Beautifully said! My most memorable moments from school were never the grade letters I received on a piece of paper, but rather the irreplaceable and unforgettable experiences I made whilst discovering the joy of learning, both by myself and in the classroom together with my classmates, and this is where I think teachers can make a difference in people's lives just as it happened for myself! I think if we are to harness the potential of education, we need to focus on helping children understand themselves, who they are, what they are, and what they want to be and focus less on short term grade-based results, even if the latter may seem less daunting. It is also this very challenge that I seek to pursue in my future career, hoping to understand the links between education and individual development, and figuring out how education can help us to become the best version of ourselves! Thank you for sharing these amazing words.
Registered Health Coach, Integrated Healing Practitioner Applied Kinesiology - The Green Health Centre.
3 个月I couldn’t agree more with everything you have shared, we are human beings and as such we are individual. There’s too much pressure on young people today. I see the same issues in health care systems - a salutogenic or person centred approach is needed. Wishing you well in supporting the change needed.