Throughout the pandemic and the ensuing lockdowns, we’ve suggested a “return to normal” for education isn’t a viable option.
Prior to Covid, a great many of our schools were focused on attainment rather than enjoyment of learning. Many teachers were target-driven rather than concentrating on the universal educational needs of the child in front of them. Education policy has been imposed rather than led by the profession. Local variance in the national curriculum was limited.
The pandemic has only exacerbated deeply embedded flaws in the system, so the possibility of returning to the existing system seems wholly inappropriate.
In our posts during lockdown, we’ve raised concerns and made suggestions about:
- Home education and the opportunity to broaden the curriculum and create an equal balance within the offer to our children – https://3diassociates.wordpress.com/2020/03/23/home-educating-thought-for-the-day/
- How to reinvent education with a plea for reform before the end of lockdown – https://3diassociates.wordpress.com/2020/04/13/action-now-for-post-covid-education/
https://3diassociates.wordpress.com/2020/06/23/time-to-move-on
https://3diassociates.wordpress.com/2020/06/26/rethinking-education-yet-again/
- The clear evidence that exam pressure puts an unforgiving strain on all within the system – https://3diassociates.wordpress.com/2020/05/06/post-covid-19-a-new-education-paradigm/
- How to carefully manage a return to schools without penalising those who need to re-learn how to learn and interact, collaborate, socialise – https://3diassociates.wordpress.com/2020/06/11/catch-up-or-further-polarisation/
- The overdue need to reform the exam system – https://3diassociates.wordpress.com/2020/12/04/say-no-to-2021-exams-and-beyond/
- The failing education paradigm – https://3diassociates.wordpress.com/2020/12/20/education-stuck-in-a-failing-paradigm/
- The urgency to implement statutory PSHE immediately – https://3diassociates.wordpress.com/2021/01/05/pshe-is-compulsory/
- The serious mental health needs of our children and young people – https://3diassociates.wordpress.com/2021/02/04/child-mental-health-week-again/
Recently, Simon Jenkins wrote a superb article in the Guardian in line with all of our recent posts. One phrase resonates strongly – “English education is a citadel of blind reaction”.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/feb/19/covid-england-schools-reform-nhs-exams
He’s advocating,
- A radical overhaul of the education system
- An inquiry into the academic bias of the curriculum and prejudice against vocational learning
- A change to the dominance of exams, including the abolition of SATs, GCSE and A-levels
- A need for practical, creative and collaborative learning
- Academic research into progressive education policy
- School autonomy
These six points are something that we’ve long argued for, both in our professional careers and in our years of writing.
He concludes his article with this paragraph.
Unlike politics or economics, education policy does not do radical. But I like to think that many of the young people who will have spent two years out of school will look back with some pride on how they handled it. Freed from the tyranny of the exam, they will have spent more time with their parents, family and neighbours. They will have learned new personal, domestic and practical skills. With the easing of lockdown, they will hopefully have experienced more of life in the street or countryside, with a new sense of exploration and risk. Just perhaps they may turn out better adjusted to life as a result – even if no one is around to measure it.
Last month, Kevin Courtney, joint General Secretary of the National Education Union (NEU) tweeted about the purpose of education.
@cyclingkev: What do you think the purpose of education is?
He’d asked this question because according to Ofsted, “The aim of education is to deliver a high-quality curriculum so that pupils know more and remember more.”
Really?
Amongst the responses . . . . .
Each and every one of these responses provides a clearer understanding of the purpose of education than those policing education in this country.
Kevin Courtney was right to ask that question and the NEU is right to pursue and encourage an answer – from professionals who know that post-covid, the status quo is not viable.
For those who think that the NEU should be concentrating on teachers’ pay and conditions, the purpose of education is central to this. Without understanding the entire point of education, how can you possibly argue against the stresses, inequality and constraints of the existing paradigm? Challenging the reason for any action in school is integral to the role of the education unions and has all too frequently been forgotten in the past, as Simon Jenkins rightly points to when he says that education has become the “citadel of blind reaction”.
Covering our eyes, ears and mouths in compliant acceptance IS NOT AN OPTION.
We’ve even got a situation now where the large majority of parents and carers have a greater understanding of the complexities, the skills, the innovation, the pressure of teaching. They may not yet have found the joy of teaching but there’s an undeniable empathy towards the profession due to the fact that the untrained millions have had to adopt a teacher role during the pandemic. In their droves, they would be behind change.
There’s another issue. Due to the mental health of our children and young people constantly in the news in recent months, they’re aware of the detrimental impact of the pandemic. In sincere optimism, we hope this knowledge empowers children and young people to demand a return to schools that impact positively and respect their rights to learn how to manage their own wellbeing and mental health.
As we said at the beginning of this post, we don’t have the time to implement all the changes that we’d like to see prior to the return to schools but we can start with one simple plea – postpone all exams for the foreseeable future, suspend the National Curriculum and concentrate on learning that enables collaboration, focuses on wellbeing and engages children into the fundamental reason for education – to enjoy learning, and to learn how to learn.
3D Eye 