Whose school is it anyway?
Holidays have hit and there has been some time to switch off and receive the school holiday flu that I am sure most teachers get at the beginning of each holiday. Taking time out by the beach and at the local Starbucks has been a great way to reflect on another busy school term.
I have been following Al Upton’s dramas over at his blog with the closure of what was a great example of a teacher using technology to engage his learners. To read comments from his students once they were told of the closure was heartbreaking. Al has been amazing; the way in which he has accepted the decision of his superiors while still fighting for what he knows is great education. I have also spent time watching more and more colleagues receive shut down notices of some of the work they have been doing. We all experience obstacles to creating what we honestly feel are effective learning environments for our students. So as I stop and rest this term break, I have been looking for the energy to keep going. Why am I feeling so exhausted when what I see is not really exciting evidence of education making a difference?
School’s are too quickly becoming a business that operates to provide a service. They dictate a method of learning to students and in doing so seem to be destroying the very skills research is telling us are being craved in the digital age. Students are forced to conform to a system of standarised testing so that us teachers and administrators can declare that we have done our job. But whose school is it? Is the institution that we call school the business of administrators and teachers, or is it a community that truly values the needs for all involved?
Today my students all receive their progress reports. We have passed judgment on them and given them and their parents an idea of where they are at in each of their subjects. I have passed judgment and in a few weeks I will have to justify those judgments to the number of parents that will want to come and talk to me at interview night. I have no problem doing this, but I wonder what would happen if the tables were turned. Students write the progress report. In fact what would happen if we gave them the same restrictive criteria that we use on them? How would they go at justifying their judgments of school?
School should be about the students. We prepare and guide them, but we also need to seriously consider if we are truly creating an environment that is speaking into their potential. It amazes me that we continue to destroy the self-esteem of young people with learning strategies such as ability streaming and standardised testing. The most alarming trend I have noticed in recent times is the way in which schools have allowed government systems to dictate to them an education system that encourages schools to focus on exam results instead of true learning. Students have become numbers in a system that is only worried about state benchmarks and standards. Read a student blog, watch a student produced podcast and watch the progression of learning that happens in activities like this and you will begin to see what school may look like if we respected what students valued and are crying out for.
When we value students for who they are and take the pressure off them with grading systems in subjects that are boring and not engaging, we will begin to develop in them a love for learning. It is vital that they understand the value of learning early on and experience achievement much more often than they experience failure. While I believe there are many lessons to learn from failure, too many of these lessons are experienced at school and in the classroom. If we continue to expose students to failure during early school we will begin to sow thoughts of doubt and disappointment. This is not an “anti exams” sentiment, in fact I wrote about a recent article that looked at some amazing results from schools in Scandanavia. These students were toping the globe in science and maths and much of the credit was given to the way in which these schools valued students from the beginning of their schooling. If you haven’t read it, you can view it and my comments here.
School’s should belong to the students. Professional educators are there to guide but also to listen and spend the time to really begin to understand the student’s world. We have attempted to over simplify the education process and in doing so have created a system that is burning out teachers and destroying the hopes and dreams of students. Anything great requires risk…. When will a school leader be willing to take the risk and see what his/her students want out of school?
Just some holiday thoughts…. Am I taking it too far? I am happy to be corrected - or should I say enter into constructive conversation. 
