Young People Today - Education - LJN Blog Posts

So when does education start and finish?Often it was thought of as those years between starting reception at five and finishing when the young people leave school at 16, 18 or even possibly up to mid 20’s depending on what course they do at university.This is now changing with far more people accepting that learning is a life long process extending well beyond school. It can be formal through colleges, university or distance learning, specific as in NVQs and other structures which assess how and what level we work at and formally recognises this while developing better understanding and raising awareness. Or it can be informal through workshops, seminars or even gaining new skills or knowledge by doing something.There is even growing awareness that informally education begins much earlier than when children start nursery or playgroups. Most parents will recognise the need for their child to be toilet trained, able to mostly dress themselves, know their basic numbers, perhaps the alphabet, recognise their written name. And while there are many things that can be done to help give a child a head start many seem totally ignorant of these.From the day Stacey came home from hospital I read to her. In part it was for selfish reasons, family and friends soon learned that while I was reading to her to leave us alone. But it also helped me to overcome another issue. I knew that it was developmentally good to talk to babies but what on earth did you talk to them about? I have always hated baby talk and refused to do it. What I didn’t know was I was helping her to grow up loving to read or that she would grow up loving books. Or that it would help develop the special relationship and bond we share.I am often saddened when talking to parents who don’t read to their children and asked why say they don’t see the point as they cannot read and/or understand what is read. Even now Stacey remembers the hours we spent reading together with fondness. Mind you my wife also remembers how Stacey used to laugh or scream when I was supposed to be settling her down to sleep with a ‘quiet’ bed time story. I remember a three year old in the library sitting on a chair ‘reading’ a book while daddy sat quietly on the floor listening and answering questions. Along with some rather bemused looks from others.But I digress.Without doubt education has moved on a great deal since I was at school. There has been a lot of criticism not for the better. And while I might agree with this sentiment but not in the way many others criticise it for.The truth is not many young people would cope with school work from the 40s or 50s but then they don’t need to. We don’t need to depend upon log tables (younger readers will now be scratching their heads) or remember facts and dates, and we have moved from being an industrial based nation to one that is more dependant upon the service industries.We have always had a high level of illiteracy and poor numeracy skills. By changing emphasis from academic to work related courses we are helping to ensure young people are better equipped to enter the work force.Having worked in schools as a volunteer, parent governor and teaching assistant I know methods of teaching have moved on a great deal. I remember one math class I helped in the teacher would have a sum on the board and the answer. What I couldn’t tell you is was how the teacher was going to show children how to resolve the sum. Instead of depending on one method several were taught over the year and most students were able to get to grip with one or more methods.If anything my criticism is aimed mainly at SATS and the curriculum which attempts to micromanage and dictate the pace of education. Often forcing children to move onto the next subject before most have fully grasped it. I have listened to a ten year old read beautifully. But when I asked a couple of questions it quickly became obvious he had no comprehension of what he had read. This is one of my main concerns that often education that children receive lacks depth of knowledge and in some cases is superficial.And while parents worry about SATs especially at key stage 2 just prior to going to secondary schools most secondary schools take no notice in them, many preferring CATs.At another school there was concern about the level of spelling. The head teacher visited a much more successful school and her solution was to recommend parents buy a particular spelling book and encourage their children to learn at least 5 spellings a week, preferably 10. I was shocked to say the least. She had gone to a school in a much wealthier area, where many of the parents were professionals and actually appreciated the value of education. She took the smallest element of their success and honestly thought by transferring it to her school it would make a difference. An area with high deprivation and where English is the second language in the home of many students if spoken at all.Years later when Stacey started at secondary school I was not surprised to hear that 40% had a reading age below 6, the majority of which belonged to a single ethnic group and had been through the primary system at the above mentioned school.Even her current school, which became an academy this year, has fallen pretty much into the same trap. They have decided to emulate a system from America which has proven very successful and popular. Over all I think it is much better approach once the building is done and they can implement their plan. However again it lacks what I think is a crucial reason it is successful in America.They have contracts for pupils, parents and teachers. Breaching the contract is likely to result in the child being removed from the school or the teacher being sacked. Teachers give students a contact number for outside school hours so if students need help with their homework they can ring them at home and get help. Call me cynical but I don’t see many British teachers agreeing to this. I refused to sign the agreement because it allowed them to keep the child in school up to 6pm without informing the parent. The agreement was changed so that we would be told by the school if she was to be kept in beyond 30 minutes.As far as I know I was the only parent who objected and got this changed. Recently a teacher tried to do this so that they could get more lesson time, only to find the head of year in her class telling her that Stacey was going home as she had breached the contract we have with them.Moving on; a lot is made about student attitudes to teachers. In looking for something else I recently came across some research that explains this. Students from wealthier families are more likely to be involved in extracurricular activities outside of school. With this wider pool of peers and interaction with grown ups they learn to respect a persons authority based on their knowledge and expertise, not their position. With poorer families and deprived areas this element of learning social structure is missing, and there for a persons authority is seen as being bestowed upon them because of their position. This may seem like a subtle difference but does impact on how respect is shown. Sadly this can be seen in many parents as well.It has certainly changed the way I have viewed some teachers. In one incident when Stacey was 6 I went to pick her up after school to be met by her teacher and head teacher demanding she apologise to the teacher or be expelled. I asked Stacey what happened. She explained the teacher was telling them everything they ate turned to blood. Knowing this was wrong she tried to tell the teacher and was told to shut up, and Stacey said she was stupid. The teacher then tried to say she was talking about animals. Stacey asked if this was true, and I asked her what she thought. Her argument was that we are mammals, with the same functions (her description was more colourful) as animals and so it was not true.I did promise to talk to her about the way she spoke to an adult, but would back her decision whether or not to apologise. Walking away I told Stacey she was not to call adults stupid, no matter how stupid they were. Perhaps a little too loudly. The point of the story is at that point the teacher had lost my respect in her, though as an adult I continued to respect her position. The two are very different.I love talking to teenagers about respect, especially in regards to teachers. ‘If they showed us respect we would show it to them’. It is an amazingly easy argument to get past. I ask them if they line up quietly to get into class, turning of their mobiles, go quietly into class, sit down, get their books ready and then look to the front and wait to be taught? The usual answer is along the lines of ‘hell no’. So I explain that the teacher has prepared an hour long lesson, comes in and you are all talking, slow to get prepared and wasting the teachers time. The teacher is then expected spend time marking their work after wards, often at home. How have they shown any respect to the teacher? I always find it amusing that they understand respect is a two way thing, but they expect it on their terms.There is another huge difference in today’s education that is unique in our history. In recent years there has been a big issue on inclusion. In part the problem is it has become political dogma, with many special need schools being closed down as children are forced into mainstream schooling. While I have found in general primary schools and further education institutes have tended to adapt well to this challenge the same cannot be said of secondary schools.So when people say that you never saw this type of behaviour in their day to some extent they are right. This is because many of the really disruptive students would have been taken out of mainstream and put into special schools, and in effect hidden from society. While I am in favour of inclusion, and believe that many students who were taught in special schools could be taught in mainstream, I do believe that expectations, of parents in particular, have been set too high to what can be delivered.Exclusions and expulsions are proportionately much higher for those with special needs than for other students. Especially in secondary schools. They are often targeted by bullies, and struggle to cope. The flip side is I have seen schools trying to accommodate students with complex needs and it does effect the dynamics of classroom and children in them. Inclusion was never meant to include all students, and it is only the dogmatic approach of the Labour party to force through inclusion that has caused some of the more serious problems.There has also always been a certain amount of stigma about attending special need schools and a misunderstanding to their real value. For instance I am the product of special need education in the late 60’s to the late 70’s. On leaving school my education level was equivalent to those doing foundation level in GCSEs today – below C pass. While I hate self diagnosis after researching Aspergers I recognised it in myself far more as a child and adult than I did my daughter. Unlike Stacey I was prone to very violent outbursts and would never have coped in a mainstream school. Yet today I would be expected to.Special need schools often recognise that generally students will struggle with academic studies, they do not ignore this aspect, but more emphasis is given to prepare students for adult life and where possible maintaining a job. This means far more emphasis on the practical side of day to day living and small qualities like self responsibility. The other thing I noticed from my own education, that I often see lacking today, is an acceptance that learning is a life time thing. Those of my peers who made it to adulthood went on to have careers in politics, banking and a wide range of careers. One friend who suffered multiple seizures in school was able to hold down a full time job as a road sweeper. When I caught up with him years later he was a supervisor.We did not lack direction, we did not see ourselves limited by a poor education level, and probably just as important we did not leave school hating it and never wanting to step into a classroom again. But because we have shut down so many of these schools we have lost the expertise. They are expensive to maintain and run but students were not given up on, and many have gone onto living productive lives. One of my biggest fears for education is that before schools learn to cope with a wide range of needs there will be a backlash against inclusion.Nor can young people win. So fixated are we that young people are so unruly and schools cannot cope or teach that each year we feel the need to belittle those who get good results, especially in state schools. Often ignoring a simple truth, education has moved on and is not so fixated on academic success, but in producing young people who can enter the work force. Those entering A levels are those most likely to succeed academically with those less able being channelled into other types of education more work based.Secondary education is a time of transitions, higher independence from the family, more complex and fluid social circles, puberty, self realisation, and from childhood towards adulthood. Add in hormones, relationships, uncertainty and a whole host of other issues it is hardly surprising that this is one of the more turbulent times in a persons life and one where they really come to the front of attention to the general public. Using public transport when adults are trying to get to work, and young people are trying to get to school it is often easy to get a misguided idea about them.

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