Best years of our lives?

They say that our school years are the best years of our lives. But for many children, that is untrue. About a year ago, I wrote a personal account of an incident during my primary schooling that shaped my young adulthood. In That'll teach him, I recounted an incident where I asked a question in class, and the teacher ridiculed me. It was a bad experience. Being laughed at by the whole class on the teacher's instigation was humiliating, embarrassing and also a very powerful negative influence on me. I learnt never to ask questions in school again. It took me a long time to shake off that stigma and be bold enough to ask questions again. And it was important for me, because we learn by asking questions. Teachers have such power and influence over their young charges, and many are largely unaware of it. It's true that doctors save lives, but teachers make lives. That post served to illustrate some of the bad practices some my teachers adopted, and said a lot more about that particular teacher than it did about me. From that bad experience, eventually, came some very positive outcomes. But what about my positive experiences in education? Well, there have also been some very inspirational teachers...

The teachers who have inspired me most are those who have been accessible not remote, personable instead of standoffish, and knowledgeable without being arrogant. One of my lecturers in my first year of my undergraduate degree (he is now a well respected colleague of mine in the Faculty of Education) inspired me to learn more and to push myself to my limits to become more knowledgeable in my subject area. He did this through the use of nothing more than a whiteboard and pen, and constant discussion and questioning. This kind of simple socratic discourse was deceptively powerful, and did wonders for both my self esteem and piqued my appetite for more knowledge. He didn't need to use any other visual aids or learning resources. He simply pointed us in the direction of useful reading, and strategically slipped the names of key theorists into his discussions with us. For me this was a skillful, but relaxed and unobtrusive kind of pedagogy, involving everyone in the room, debating, deliberating and generally exploring together the nuances and intricacies of our subject. There was no lecturing, and there were no absolutes. Just the inspiration of the discussion and the joy of knowing that you were going to leave the classroom with more questions than when you came in.

Who were your inspirational teachers?

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Best years of our lives? by Steve Wheeler is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.

Doing battle

I'm on a mission. Starting with my keynote speech on 2nd September at the Royal Geographical Society, I'm on my world tour to try to change people's minds about what education is really all about. OK, the 'world tour' bit is a joke, but I do have a number of impending speaking engagements around the world. I will be tackling issues surrounding current education, and will be talking about things like transformation of educational practice through the application of new technology, creativity, and personalisation of learning - which I think are three big guns that can be used in the battle against educational malaise. I will be the first to admit that I don't have all the answers, but I have some ideas about how we might possibly make some educational experiences better for the young people we teach.

For a start, we need to examine what 'education' actually means. Education comes from the Latin word educere which means to draw out from within, or to tap into someone's potential. It doesn't mean control. It means letting go. Socrates had the right idea, bless him. Instead of lecturing his students, he debated with them, never giving straight answers, always pushing, questioning. It's a long way from this to today's formal education, I contend. How can you draw out a student's creative potential or even discover what it is they do best, when you are intent on following a rigid curriculum with no time or space for play, experimentation or questioning? Don't get me wrong, I don't blame the teachers. I blame government departments who want to control, and the examination boards who test to find out how well teachers are doing and how much a student can remember during an examination, rather than finding out how students learn best. It's assessment of learning rather than assessment for learning. Many students don't stand much of a chance. If they learn anything (apart from synchronised behaviour and compliance with authority), it is achieved in spite of 'the school'. Isn't it ridiculous that the failing schools are the ones that have their finances reduced, just when they need it most? Education is not about punishment or reward. It's about creating environments in which students can best reach their full potential. Do schools do that? As Alvin Toffler said: "The system doesn't need reforming, it needs replacing".

Secondly, we need to know more about how technology can support formal learning in the same way as it supports informal learning. Yes, I know, the boundaries between the two are blurring considerably, but there is still a divide in the minds of students between what is informal and 'fun', and what is formal and 'expected' of them. I want to go to war on the idea that technology is there to constrain and contain learning, and instead argue that new and emerging technologies (many students have them in their pockets or handbags but aren't allowed to use them in formal settings) can liberate learners by extending, enriching and enhancing learning opportunities.

Thirdly, I want to challenge the idea that one size fits all. Curricula in schools are still largely based upon the old industrial models of delivery, and for the sake of economy rather than expediency, are based on linearity, and a 'just in case' approach. Let's learn all the topics, cram them in, and have a taste of each, just in case you need them later in life. We need to bypass this, supplant the 'just in time' model and go directly to the 'just for me' approach. We need to stop preparing children for yesterday and start preparing them for tomorrow. This will need a radical overhaul not only of funding in schools and colleges, but also a radical overhaul in the mindsets of all those who are involved in the business of education. To stop managing learning, and hand more of the control over to the learner, teachers roles will need to change. They will need to become facilitators, mentors, participators in the community of learning, rather than controllers, lecturers, or managers. It's happening, but too slowly to cope with the pace of change we see in society.

My itinerary is a punishing one, with something like 2 dozen invited presentations, workshops and conference papers from now until Christmas, in Australia, New Zealand, USA, Germany, Poland, Hungary, and of course the UK (where I will be speaking in London, Nottingham and Leeds), but I think it will be worth all the miles I will travel to engage with audiences about these important issues. After all, we are talking about the future of education - the future of our own children.

NB: The picture above is of a cannon outside the gates of Castillo San Gabriel, in Arrecife (Lanzarote). More of the same can be seen here.

Doing battle by Steve Wheeler is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.