school management
The same thing is occurring in the UK and the US . There is a significant decline in standards . We can ’ t deny that , but something bigger is actually going on . Perhaps our Western society is in decline .
The other thing that I take offence at is the statement : “ Why can ’ t we be more like Singapore ? The kids there are 12 months , two years ahead of ours in mathematics . If they can do it , we can do it .” I take offence because we are not Singapore . I ’ ve been to schools in Singapore . I ’ ve been to schools and spoken to kids in China and in Japan . And I don ’ t want my kids raised like that .
I spoke to a year six child when I was in Singapore . They get up early in the morning , they go to school , they come home . Then they go to tutoring and do their homework . And they finish tutoring at about 11 o ’ clock at night and they get up and do the same thing again the next day . The same sort of thing happens in China . And they know by year six , if their academic standard isn ’ t good enough , they ’ re going to be weeded out of the mainstream academic pathway into a vocational pathway .
So their great results are because of compliance , rote learning and fear . And we ’ re starting to see signs of the rise of mental health issues in Asian countries now . They ’ re starting to realise that this is not how we should treat people .
We ’ ve got to be Australia . We ’ ve got to be proud of who we are . And we ’ ve got to be focused on the kids in front of us in our classroom .
Tell us about the academic paper you cite in your LinkedIn article by the Learning Policy Institute . What does it argue are the hallmarks of a holistic education ? People would be quite familiar with Linda Hammond and her work , and she ’ s produced this really great paper , Putting the Science of Learning and Development into Action . It essentially says that a highly effective school is focused around five elements : positive development relationships ; environments filled with safety and belonging , where people feel connected to the community ; rich learning experiences and knowledge development ; development of skills , habits and mindsets ; and integrated support systems .
You can almost hear this sort of wraparound approach of highly effective schools : “ A great school is a school that ’ s focused on the holistic development of a young person .” They ’ re not just interested in the academic achievement , but they ’ re interested in the whole person . And the way to help a person achieve academically is to ensure that they have positive relationships with the teachers , that they feel safe in the environment and they love coming to school . There ’ s the support structures wrapped around them for that additional support they might need . And then there ’ s some really great learning experiences .
There ’ s a lot of debate at the moment around falling standards and then best practice , or how we should be teaching , and direct learning or direct teaching versus inquiry-based learning . A lot of the media is against inquiry-based learning . Hammond and others say inquiry is a really powerful way of engaging kids because that ’ s when they actually get to apply their learning and see it in a real-life context .
It really upsets me when ministers and people in the media start saying , “ We ’ ve got to get rid of inquiry-based learning . It ’ s been shown that it ’ s not working .” You don ’ t throw the baby out with the bath water . It ’ s not one or the other .
Certainly there is a place for direct teaching , but there ’ s also a place for inquiry and a good teacher will know the kids in front of them and employ the right pedagogy to ensure they ’ re engaged in effective learning . It comes back to the kids in front of you . What ’ s going to really engage them and help them achieve their goals ?
What concerns do you have in terms of teacher retention and satisfaction , and most importantly , student achievement and satisfaction , if this standardised approach to teaching and testing continues ? I think we are getting to a crisis point . And again , if we look at the UK and see what ’ s happening there , we ’ d need to understand that it ’ s been exacerbated by the COVID situation . If you look at some of the tweets , just the stress that some of these teachers are actually feeling – they ’ re dealing with significant mental health issues , they ’ re dealing with the pressure from authorities , the expectations from the community , the naming and shaming of schools when they don ’ t do well , in a sense the reflection on them that they haven ’ t actually performed well as a teacher . We ’ re really not helping teachers turn up to work each day and enjoy what they actually do .
We ’ re really not helping teachers turn up to work each day and enjoy what they do .
We also need to understand that over the last 20 years teaching has changed . With all of this additional standardisation , assessment and accountability , there ’ s also the change in the legal construct . The administration and burden on young teachers and teachers in general has increased significantly as well . A lot of teachers are feeling pulled out of the classroom , away from what they love doing because they ’ re so busy doing things that are really not assisting the learning in the classroom .
I worry that good people are going to leave the profession and new teachers aren ’ t going to come on board . So that ’ s a real shame . We probably really need to rethink how we educate young people , and redesign our schools to meet the needs of today ’ s kids .
For example , at St . Paul ’ s we ’ ve rethought how we teach because we ’ ve seen through research that when kids leave school , the jobs that will be around will be the ones that can ’ t be performed by artificial intelligence and robotics . Those jobs will need high levels of creativity , and yet we actually condition creativity out of kids . We ’ re too busy having to perform in these tests to think about what really matters .
We ’ ve redesigned the way we teach , so we can teach for creativity and equip young people with the skills and dispositions they need to thrive in tomorrow ’ s economy . I think schools across Australia need to start thinking about this .
Is the industrial model of education actually going to prepare kids for the world of tomorrow ? I think the vision of Australia is quite short-sighted . We need a long view . What we should have is a vision to be the world leaders in innovation . The most patents come out of this country . We have people who are solving complex problems , solving the issue of climate change , and all because they ’ ve been taught in our schools to actually tackle these issues , and given the skills and dispositions to actually do it . Time for change , I ’ d say . ■
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