Reading Gert Biesta’s The Beautiful Risk of Education really made me reflect on the purpose of schools.
His clear distinction of learning, education and schools gave me a structure through which to think about what we are doing with the students when they are in the school building – and question the effectiveness of our work.
Schools are unique institutions through which almost every citizen in the country will pass through at one of the most formative stages in their lives. We should make sure we use this time and opportunity well.
The lockdown, which effectively removed ‘schools’ from the equation for the vast majority of us, has put into sharp focus the difference between education, learning and schools – we are still providing an education for the students, we hope that they are learning, but we do not have the school. It has also given us time and space to reflect on what it is we value about schools.
Like most things in life, we often only miss something when it is gone, so here are a few things which I want to take advantage of when we all return to the school building full time.
Over the last few years there seems to have been a move toward schools becoming places of silence, individual mastery work and novices learning from an expert teacher.
Of course, calm environments for productive work and teacher expertise are important elements of schools. However, one thing I have missed even more since lockdown are the conversations. The conversations in the corridors, social areas and lunch queues. The class discussions which go on longer than I planned because the students are so engaged and are using their oracy skills to push each other and deepen their understanding of concepts. The chat with the student who wants to talk about a particular aspect of history they are interested in or to ask a question about something they heard on the news.
The buzz and the atmosphere of schools are one of the main reasons I became a teacher and I am very much looking forward to experiencing it again.
Another thing I have missed since we have not been in school is the opportunities students have to learn from each other. I have tried to make my teaching include elements of collaboration using JamBoard and GoogleDocs, but it is difficult to do well online and there is less spontaneity – the quiet questions in the back of the room as one student asks ‘what did he say?’ or ‘what does that mean?’ and peers help out.
I am now reflecting that I often missed the opportunity to include elements of ‘near-peer’ learning in my classroom and will make more of a conscious effort to include this, when appropriate in the student learning journey, when we return.
I have realised how important it is to have those ‘relationship building’ conversations with students and colleagues. On the Big Leadership Adventure, we learnt how important it is to build relationships and trust if you want to develop a high-functioning team. Lots of GoogleHangouts have (literally) given me an insight into my student and colleagues’ homelives. I know I will be a much more empathetic leader when I return and I will be more deliberate in building my knowledge of those I work with in order to support them more effectively.
Two things I always believed, but will do even more:
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