Greg’s Blog – principal (le?) learning

Modern schooling evolved as a way of ensuring the ‘factory fodder’ for the Industrial Revolution had a universal baseline set of skills and competencies.  Over time this evolved into ‘Standards’ exams that children had to pass in order to progress from one ’standard’ to the next.

The dominant views of education  during these times were of an empty vessel to be filled, a candle to be lit, a blank slate to be drawn upon.  The metaphors for schools were similar and all children were stuffed into the same box irrespective of their needs, interests or dispositions.  You either had it, or not.  You succeeded or failed.  Schools filtered out the chaff from higher learning and academic paths in universities.  By secondary schooling you were academic or vocational

Then the pendulum swung.  Children were creative wee angels.  We had to find their learning ’styles’ and alter classrooms and schools to meet them.  Paint the classroom pastel and play appropriate music.   Not having planned for all possible variants of ways children might need to learn was pedagogical heracy.  We had to test for needs and meet them for all children. The pressure was off, stress and challenge were not a good thing.  Stream of consciousness was king.  Children were creative sponges who would learn it all from a suitable environment and their peers alone.  The teacher would iminantly be replaced by technology.

Today the focus seems to be on:

*  Accountability and control. The assumption is that teachers are lazy (check out the holidays folks!) and need to be watched or they will sit and read the paper while our kids brains atrophy in the classroom.

* Testing will keep the whole shebang honest.  If it is not numerical it is not valid.  Checklists and hard data are the only ‘valid’ forms of assessment.

* Standards.  Because they are never as high as they were when we were at school.  Life is a competition and we have to be top dog.  It is all about winning.  Don’t even play the game if you can’t be the best.  Comparison with others – inside the classroom, between schools, between teachers, between countries – will make people accountable for their practice.  Fear is the most powerful motivator of all.

But hold on a minute.  What happens when you stop watching?  What happens when the leader changes?  What happens when the going is tough?

Aren’t these things the true test of our schools and education system?  For me the acid test is what happens when I am NOT watching, when I am NOT in the school.  When I am NOT in the staff meeting.  When the classroom door is closed and teachers are doing what Ruth Sutton (the English  educational consultant) describes as the second most private act adults engage in.

I think the only way you really influence stuff is changing what teachers and school leaders BELIEVE.  What will never be the same as a result of their ongoing learning.  What they will do differently from now on because of what has changed in their heads.

We recently had almost all of our teachers at ULearn.  It was fantastic.  The learning was huge.  The fun and laughter even greater.  After workshops we discussed, we argued, we challenged, we patted ourselves on the back and we gave thanks for how good we have it.  Things will never be the same.

This entry was posted on Sunday, October 11th, 2009 at 8:29 pm and is filed under Learning and Teaching, Pedagogy, conferences.You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.