One of the wonderful things about this pandemic is that it shows us what is possible. In response to climate change, they said it was impossible to ground planes - and yet, here it is, done. Sure, we're inconvenienced, but it's possible. We have problem solved many things, particularly businesses - it's either go bust or adapt. I do hope for a new world emerging from this - there's no real need to revert back to the way things were in all aspects of our lives.
As an educator, my first concern was for the kids. I'm not going to write about those who have suffered - that's a topic for another day. What I want to focus on is how things might change for the better. I've taken this year off because teaching had worn away at my edges, and I needed the space to breath. Ironic, given it's a year of reduced and limited 'space', with lockdowns and border controls! It's odd, because I know I am missing out on a lot of professional development especially in the realms of technology, and I feel I'll have to be fully briefed next January when I return.
My teacher friends tell me positives - they've got to know the kids really well, being zoomed into their bedrooms, sitting rooms and kitchens. Many have loved having the extra time with their families, for the first time really getting to know their parents because they've not been at work all the time with the stresses that brings. Primary school teachers tell me their attention span is worse than usual, necessitating lots of micro lessons and afternoon play versus harder academic subjects. Most say the students have enjoyed being back at school, primarily for their social groups but also because of the routine school brings. Whilst your experience at school may have sucked, many actually enjoy it. Secondary schools are also worried about their results, missing out on direct teaching that might help improvement their grades. In Messenger, I've been in touch with a few former students who say they really enjoyed online learning - it cut out the noise of the classroom, and the drama of some social groups they'd rather not be part of.
Schooling isn't a one size fits all approach. Some kids loved this lockdown for home schooling, some hated it. Some are more self directed, others aren't. This is just part of what being a good teacher is - being able to differentiate, and pitch a class to various learning needs. It's bloody hard work, and if you think you're doing a good job, some parent will come along and tell you otherwise, or a kid will complain when you put a foot wrong according to their criteria. People seem to forget that you're the one that's been trained in education.
And it doesn't matter what you believe as an educator - you're bound by state and national laws.
I have a huge problem with how students are assessed, but I'm teaching them to do well according to a score. In Australia, it's called ATAR - your ATAR score determines what university or course you'll get into upon leaving. Want to do medicine? You better make sure your ATAR is 99 (in most cases). Even when my son Jarrah went through school (he did an International Bacchaelaureate, a demanding two year course) I was worried all he was focussing on was his grade. Five years later, he would give the same advice to his younger cousin - study hard to keep your options open. The international students I teach are hell bent on good grades because it's so competitive in China. An education in the West gives them that edge - and they've got pressure from home to go into careers of their parents choosing.
Yet this wasn't my pathway - having a tough time in Year 12, my marks dropped drastically (I simply didn't care anymore about school, and didn't put in half the effort I could have, skipping school alot, though I did okay considering) and I went in and did my Arts degree as a mature age student in my early 20's, taking 6 years to complete a 3 year degree (I travelled, and had a kid) before doing a one year Dip Ed and becoming a teacher. I recognise the world has changed since then, but the 'world has changed' argument also works on the flip too - should we still be educating kids in the same way we have for 150 years? That's ludicrous. If the world's changed so much, why is the focus still marks and grades and exams? Why are we fitting kids into the same holes, pushing them into particular slots? I felt so much pressure to get a career and perform it almost paralysed me - and it paralysed Jarrah too, even though it wasn't me doing it, it was the school system.
As he said, no one gave him any choice but science or politics - he was good at History, Literature, Maths - no one encouraged him to follow his passion (apart from his mother, but who listens to mothers at that age?) - and of course, the schools like to hold ATAR badges up high, to say 'look at us, study here, we're the best educator'. If you tell kids there are options, are they going to listen to you telling you to pull a high study score for English? Why write essays if you can follow your dream of being a diesel mechanic?
I've had chats with people who work at universities who lament schools and universities aren't talking enough. Universities are beginning to value a whole heap of interpersonal skills that indicate you might do well at further education, many of them beginning to see that an ATAR ain't worth diddly if you don't have resilience, perseverance, passion and enthusiasm, and above all curiousity and a love of learning. That's an incredibly rare trait - I see it in about 1 in 500 kids I teach. Seriously. We've forgotten to teach kids to be instrinsically motivated - to care about learning for learnings sake. That's teachable, believe it or not. The joy of learning trumps everything - if you teach your kid to enjoy the struggle of learning, then you've done well. It doesn't even matter if they fail. Really. But that's the subject of another post - this one's getting a little long.
I get so angry about people who set the education system we have. Many have not been in the classroom in years. There's other ways we can do things. A few years ago we visited the Green School in Bali and I felt so enthused about how they approached education. Once they figured out the child's passion, the child would set the curriculum. Say you loved dolphins. All your subjects could revolve around that topic one year - you'd write about them (English/Journalism/Creative Writing/Argumenative Writing), find out about habitat and physiology (Science, Biology etc), create (media) - many 'core' subjects can revolve off a subject kids are passionate about. The following year, they could choose a different topic. Dolphin kids might totally change their minds and choose trains - or they might still focus on the marine. By leaving year, they know what they want to do, and are appropriately 'schooled' to achieve that goal. Our question, of course, was about university. The Green School's answer was that many universities were really open to accepting students who were suitably schooled with the skills to approach learning, rather than the content itself, and that they'd set them up on programs such as volunteering that would give them the 'credits' to enter university degrees later on.
I recognise that some of us might be able to study well at an Open University. Some universities offer degrees in all kinds of things, just without the certificate. If you're self motivated, you can easily complete one of those degrees - and that's pretty telling about another flaw in the system. We place far too much value on the certificate, rather than proven skills. If I was an employer, I'd have a whole other set of criteria to assess a potential employeee. What, you completed an Open University degree in Astrophysics? Talk to me about what you know, and I'll trial you for six months!
I don't think we're doing well by our kids. I think they're experiencing a time of unknowns - they don't even know that if they spend thousands on a job they'll have enough to pay for the degree or even if they'll get a job out of it. I don't think that works anymore. It's said that they'll change careers more than once in their lifetime, meaning their original degree will become redundant anyway. What we really should be teaching them, when all's said and done, is curiousity, the joy of learning, adaptibility, flexibility and resilience.
All the rest is just fluff.
This is in response to the HomeEdders question this week about Education, specifically whether a degree is relevant. You can read about it here. I've ranted a bit, and have probably gone off topic, but I promised I'd write and here it is, dear @minismallholding. Kudos to all the home educators doing brilliant jobs with their kids - as a teacher myself, and having raised a child, I appreciate what you do. There's many things about the school system I think are fantastic, and I do think it's changing - if you were a child of the 90's or earlier you can bet it's changed since then, so don't be too hard on teachers - but I think 2020 is a perfect time to re-write the whole textbook, so to speak. It's time.
With Love,
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Some things you've stated strike a chord with me, and I like a good rant now and then.
I was just a manual laborer in the USA, struggling just to stay alive, save up for a one month trip every 5 years, no savings and no insurance, and no hope of affording a university education or having a chance at land/home ownership.
It was my fleeing the west for Cambodia that actually gave my abilities and desire the chance to be the most dominant thing in my potential employment. I make fake degrees in case I would've needed them, but I was never asked to produce them in Cambodia.
My desire to improve as a teacher because of being grateful for such an instant quality of life improvement ultimately made me awesome at my job in Cambodia. In fact, after a year, I as the director of an international school in Cambodia, managing teachers who had taught professionally in the USA an Australia for sometimes 20 years or more.
My foreign co-workers knew I didn't have a degree and the paper qualifications like they did, and they mostly despised me for that. However, my relationship with the Cambodian parents, the students and Cambodian co-workers, as well as my ever-improving teaching skills, caused me to be promoted rapidly.
While qualified western teachers were used to being given curriculum, lesson plans, timelines and materials, I didn't have these expectations, and therefore didn't obsessively complain to the director every day about how Cambodia should do things like the USA or Australia.
I think at the end of the day skills are most important. I can't guarantee the @KidSisters a university education because we don't have that money and it seems nothing short of impossible under the current new world. However, we teach them every street skill and hustle we can, so that they will know tons of ways to survive should they not be granted a university education and a chance at life with cars and air-conditioning.
Much love @riverflows xoxoxoxo
It's rather refreshing to know that there are still places where your abilities and actions are judged for what they are, rather than being judged on whether you have a piece of paper which says you could afford to attend an educational institute to prove you have the ability to be taught. It's a shame your foreign co-workers choose to despise you rather than accept they were somewhere else where things were done differently and maybe they needed a different approach.
I didn't realise you had such a role. Proof that a degree is NOT the only thing that maketh the worker. I wish I'd been TAUGHT more hustle. Those girls are going to be amazing. Thanks for sharing this greatly informative view on the value of degrees..
!ENGAGE 20
ENGAGEtokens.A good friend of mine didn't have a degree 20 years ago over here and I let him copy mine... I don't care. Now he's the director of the school's English department haha. Its always been our little secret.
I think you picked a good year for a year off! From what I've heard trying to teach online has been a nightmare for teachers, and I just know some of my friends are going to be in dread mode about going back already.
Interesting point about it being different for primary and secondary - I imagine quite a few of the later are glad for that lack of noise.
I think whatever pathway students choose to later learning, they need some kind of portfolio of work to show what they can do - to show what skill's they've got! I think even with a decent degree, without some kind of proven track record you're practically unemployable in many fields.
Especially when at least 50% of decent jobs are stitched up by upper middle class networks, probably a lot more than 50%, you've got to really stand out to get a decent job. I lucked out with one for 20 years, but even that ended up turning more than a bit shit.
Given the odds I honestly believe any young person needs to look at alternatives - homesteading, DIY skills, frugality, career should be second.
I'm so glad you said it was a good year to take off. Partly it seems a waste of time, and it would have been better to work, but then I slap myself and get on with actual life.
Funny, Jarrah ended up following his passion and did sound engineering, though he had a near 100 percent study score. It's probably worth nada now the entertainment industry has ground to halt. He had to move to his girlfriends Mum's house near here in countryside (she lives elsewhere with new hubs) and he was originally miffed by that. Now he is seeing advantages and even getting into the idea of vegie gardening. I did tell him.. lol (I told you so, son).
I love the portfolio idea. Whenever I talk to seniors about it they agree. It's be hard to set up initially of course, but at least they would choose what THEY wanted to study.. keep them interested maybe. Saying that, as a teacher you know it's not always easy.. depends on demographic too and a whole heap of other factors.
!ENGAGE 50
ENGAGEtokens.Or hedge your bets and attempt both. If only we could see the future and know exactly what to prepare for.
Well prepping for a career on a homestead wouldn't be so bad I guess!
As long as you don't have to leave said homestead to work, the working world is just weird!
That's the thing, though. Most people also need to be employed to be able to cover the costs of a homestead, at least until it's paid off. Then you need to have some form of income coming from it in order to pay those yearly taxes, so it's not just a case of supporting yourself with it.
Exactly!!!!
If it's any consolation I thoroughly enjoyed the rant XP
Thanks lovely and thanks for stopping by!!!!
The educational institution is not necessary, but certainly a teacher is! I am a faithful believer that we need good teachers to acquire knowledge with more ease, a teacher can often be the key to simplifying years of reading.
What I do agree with is that today we need to reform that situation, to teach institutions from a more practical vision.
Include basic everyday subjects of the home, economy, agriculture and some other things that will gradually come with the fall of the system!
Yes, I absolutely could write another post JUST about the skills that SHOULD be taught at school!!!!
Teachers often get a bad reputation here. A little unfairly!!! But they are important too. A good teacher can make a huge difference, and a bad one can tear your world apart!
Yes you could do it! Im totally agree with you, a good teacher can be the diferent.
Well, I did end up commenting in here just to tell you the story of a friend's daughter who studied a year in a Montessori school and had to move a year later and the other school (a normal one) wouldn't take that year in count because "Montessori is not education" so she had to do it all over again.
...shit that happens.
No way!!! That's so unfair and ignorant too.
I know there's some discussion now on whether ATARs should be scrapped to stop the focus on particular subjects and allow students to feel more able to choose areas they'd prefer to be studying. That would be a step in the right direction in one way, but it seems to be more a way to encourage even more students to go to university, who might previously have been put off by the ATAR constraints. Perhaps it's because they realise they'll be losing some of the foreign students.
I dont know if it's similar in Victoria, but in SA there's some real snobbery when it comes to employment. You're judged on what school you attended, which basically means they're looking at whether you come from money or not and not your level of education. I guess a degree will also indicate a certain amount of money, or at least a certain amount of debt.
Well given I work at a private school I am well versed in that area! Yes, there is quite a lot of judgement about the school you went to..sometimes it's just the name on your CV that opens doors. Judging on money alone is completely unfair.
@delilhavores look here!
What an interesting article. Thanks for sharing with us @riverflows :)
In Italy we are lucky because it is possible to access the university in a very free way, regardless of the path taken previously (as in my case, which I completely changed perspective in a few months!). I think that the degree is necessary for us to do certain jobs, such as in the medical and pharmacological field. But certainly this does not describe a person's skills and qualities :)
It's free??? Is that what you mean? It's so expensive here so it's not really fair for the less socially mobile either. So much I could talk about.. more than is possible to fit in one blog post!
No no, I'm sorry, I meant that in order to enter university it is not necessary to have preliminary skills on certain studies, nor to have obtained a certain score or credit. In Italy university taxes are paid on the basis of family income but I wouldn't say that they are very expensive. In any case, I know of some totally free universities in Europe, such as Sweden, where you don't pay taxes if you are a citizen of the European Union. I am sorry for the difficult situation, I think the problem of education should be tackled more seriously by our governments...
I think governments are interested in votes, and that education is definitely a political issue. No one is interested in innovation and shake ups and there are many in education happy to go along with status quo, unfortunately. I think that Italian universities not requiring a score or credit are on the right path - and paying on basis of family income is an amazing idea!!! I didn't know that. That would really break some cycles!
I agree with you. I hope that one day there will be better conditions and equal opportunities for everyone...
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There surely are many different forms of education. I do have a degree in Business Admin but after trying realized the office environment wasn't for me and ended up being a bicycle messenger in 4 different cities. And so very happy. Luckily I had help from my mother during school and I worked every holiday otherwise there was little other way to attend university in USA because of the price of education. That said I've met so many people full of knowledge that never attended university and those that did that seem so devoid of practical knowledge. I lived in Poland where the administrative assistants in corporations had their Masters and could speak at least 3 languages. University was free there. So degrees for me are basically pieces of paper that some employers require to get a certain job. Later in life I became a teacher and learned as I went. My conclusion is that if university is free and you can afford to attend then degrees are excellent. Surely they make your options greater. If you have to pay and end up massively in debt before even joining the work force, the choice isn't an easy one. This system creates a situation of workers having jobs they hate only to pay off the debt. The choice of a career isn't easy at the age of 18 or before... Education should be that. Educating the youth about everything. Not job training.
Yeah totally agree - it should be more than job training. It should also support us to find and fulfil our passions, too. I don't feel passionate about teaching anymore, and wish I'd been helped to find something that I was passionate about - writing, the environment, herbalism, naturopathy - and now I can't afford to study again, and self study won't lead me to cash flow.
A bicycle courier sounds dreamy right now, or a delivery driver. Sounds just much more simple than teaching!
Yes my feeling about a job has always been I would do it for free. Otherwise it's for the money which unless in desperate times I can't justify as a reason. I was a landscaper just after uni which I also enjoyed. I teach as well but stopped in schools because of the atmosphere of limiting a child's dream rather than supporting them to do whatever they want in life... I was a delivery driver in high school actually which also was fun. Sitting in one place all day is not fun for me at all. Teaching in schools ended up feeling like being in prison for me mentally and physically. Of course we are lucky enough to be able to stop and get out. If a child wants to study philosophy society should support it. Perhaps that's the issue today. All of the great minds end up on Wall Street scheming how to make more money or how to create a new drug for the pharmaceutical industry rather than following their dreams... The beauty of "manual" labor is that you save your mind for yourself :)