It’s the same the whole world over but we never seem to learn from it. I am not against a National Curriculum but the number of changes Tasmanian teachers have suffered in the last decade is an outrage.
The article below, taken from Professor Frank Furedi’s website makes interesting reading.
“Professor Frank Furedi, from the University of Kent and author of the book, Wasted: Why Education Isn’t Educating, spoke on February 16, at the British Library in London, setting out five key ideas for rescuing education in the 21st century.
Take the politics out of education
Policymakers should stop fiddling with the curriculum if they want to improve schooling. Rather, it is necessary to insulate schools from the influence of policymakers. Ceaseless policymaking and interference in the curriculum has encouraged an atmosphere of instability in the classroom. Education needs more stability and classrooms must be freed from bureaucratic micro-management. Education should be ‘de-politicised’, with teachers freed from government initiatives to focus on ‘educating’.
Rework the relationship between parents and teachers
At present, the line between home and school and parent and teacher is drawn poorly. Parents are expected to behave as amateur tutors and to involve themselves in the classroom. In turn, teachers spend far too much time acting as social workers or psychologists, and dealing with issues that are best confronted in the home. This is not simply a waste of time; it encourages tension and conflict between parents and teachers. There is a difference between raising children and educating children. This has become blurred and must be re-established to allow a more clear and constructive relationship between parents and teachers.
Policies should establish and reflect clear relationships between the generations where adults are ‘in charge’
Adult authority, in and out of the classroom, must be affirmed to provide a sturdy foundation for education. At present, the authority of parents and teachers over children receives little cultural affirmation. Yet, to teach effectively in schools, teachers must exercise authority in a manner that is unambiguous and clearly understood by their pupils. Parents need to understand this, and support it.
Education must be independent and diverse
Although schools are part of a community, they must be left to teach what must be taught, without the distractions of outside pressures. We need a tolerant and open-minded ethos towards education, and not a prescriptive approach towards schooling that restrains teachers’ initiative and ambition. Within a national curriculum, schools can flourish if their teachers and heads have sufficient independence to exercise professional judgment and to work out strategies appropriate to their circumstances. It is legitimate for Central Government to outline a basic common curriculum through which children gain access to their rightful intellectual inheritance. But how this curriculum is taught is best decided by local schools and communities.
5.Society must value education for what it is
Sadly, today, education tends to be seen as ‘a means to an end’, an instrument for the realisation of an objective that is external to itself. Yet, education cannot flourish if it is not valued for its own sake. A principal characteristic of education is its lack of interest in an ulterior purpose. For example, abstract philosophical thought, literary comprehension and an understanding of numerical principles are part of our human legacy and not just skills to help us function in the working world. Teachers who understand and embrace this are more likely to inspire their pupils and address their individual specific educational needs.”
Basic common sense. Who would argue with it except politicians? Yet we go on allowing our politicians to interfere in education. As Edmund Burke famously said: “All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.”
