Cranial Compost

Its true. There is something wrong with our education system.

But if course, anyone who has gone through that system recently knows this. Those who went through it longer ago may have just hazy memories of how something wasn’t quite right.

There are two types of student; those who get school and those who don’t. Both types recognise that school is not for everyone, that there are people being left behind and treated badly. Its really not fun when those people are you.

If you say ’school’ to most adults, it conjures up a negative image: the institution, the boredom. Positives too, if you probe: friends, inspiring teachers. Maybe even the odd person who found their passion at school.

Clearly this has to change. There are too many opportunities missed here, too many talents going undiscovered, un-nurtured. To many it seems that the resources for this are all there – the websites, the programmes, the courses, all in place. Yet not too many people, students and teachers, seem to be taking advantage of them. Why?

There is a malaise int he school system. Beaten too hard, pushed too far, are most teachers, students and parents (call them stakeholders, why not) just a bit strung out, not knowing what they should be doing?

Here is a list of ‘initiatives’ or programmes in education in the UK today. See if you can work out what they mean, and which are more important than the others.

• 14-19 Specialised Diplomas
• 14-19 Collaborative provision
• Academies
• Accreditation & Assessment
• Adult & Community Learning
• Apprenticeships
• Behaviour Management
• Budget Management
• Building Schools for the Future (BSF)
• Information, Advice & Guidance
• Collaborative Learning
• Community Leadership
• Continuing Professional Development
• Creativity across the curriculum
• Developing school community programmes
• Education/Business Links
• e-Learning
• Effective Use of Time & Resources
• English as an Additional Language
• Enhanced Learning
• Enhanced Teaching
• Every Child Matters (ECM)
• Examination Skills
• Extended Schools
• Further Education Links
• Future Schools
• Gender Equality
• Headteacher mentoring & coaching
• Higher Education Links
• ICT across the curriculum
• Improving Attendance
• Inclusion
• Independent Learning
• Initial Teacher Training
• Innovation
• International Dimension
• Key Stage 1/Primary
• Key Stage 2/Primary
• Key Stage 3 Strategy
• Kolb’s theory of effective knowledge transfer
• Leadership Strategy
• Lesson Planning
• Lifelong Learning
• Managing Change
• Middle Manager training
• Parents/Family Learning
• Pastoral Care
• Personalising Learning
• Post-16 Education/Participation
• Primary/Secondary Transition
• Pupil Mobility
• Pupil Tracking/Assessment
• Recruitment
• Residential Trips
• Rural Dimension
• School Design
• Self-evaluation and school performance data analysis
• Self-Review and Quality Assurance
• Special Schools
• Special Educational Needs
• Student Voice/Leadership
• Training & working with Adults other than Teachers (AOTTs)
• Vocational Education
• Interactive Whiteboards
• Wireless Networks
• Work-based training & vocational providers
• Working with Advanced Skills Teachers (ASTs)
• Workforce Remodelling
• Work-related learning

Please bear in mind that this is not a complete list of things going on, yet teachers are expected to have at least nodding acquaintance with all of these terms. Why?

What is the difference, for instance, between work-based training and wok-related learning? Significant, for those involved in these two distinct areas, no doubt.

But can you see where this is going? Where is the bullet point that says have fun, enjoy your life, explore your potential – live the dream! Well, its there. Its in the Every Child Matters agenda. Fantastic. Now we have a bullet point to remind us to make sure kids have good lives.

What kind of crazy system do you need to be running when you need a bullet point to remind you to encourage children to live their lives?

Of course, you might argue that this is the whole point of education – that it is implicit. Very well, I counter, but how can you be sure that this is not getting lost in the mire of initiatives that bombard the practitioner? How can you know wether the teacher is more interested in their pupil tracking, than in preparing them for an unknown future? Which one will come up in their next performance review?

Education is stuck in a malaise. Maybe not all of it, and certainly not everyone in it, but its there. Things need to change.