Education, standardised testing, tradition are hot topics at the moment.  Teaching and learning are in the spotlight.  Former Teacher Gabbie Stroud has contributed to bringing the education system into the headlines.

Knowing firsthand the pressure teachers are under, and the students for that matter, to jump through administration and educational hoops, continues to concern me.  My concern is the trajectory that that stress levels and mental health, of our staff and students, are taking – sky high and rock bottom, respectively.  I am not just talking about teachers I am talking about students and the stakeholders within schools.

Just today, I heard one student say to another, “I stuffed up my calculations on my maths assignment! now all my answers are wrong.  I don’t think I have time to fix it, I’m going to fail!’  While making a mistake, or failing , is something we can learn from, this was not the context of this comment.  The students concern was about grades, and the perception the teacher and their peers would have of them.

Sir Ken Robinson (The RSA, 2010 October 14) elaborated on the chaotic nature of the education system have become.   While Margret Rasfeld and Jamila Tressel (Tedx Talks, 2017 August 1), refer to the current education climate as setting students up to pit themselves of against each other.  All lamenting, along with Gabbie Stroud, that standardised testing is the killer of all that is good in education.  My student today is an example of what they are all trying to convey of the current education climate.

Rasfeld (2017), realised that young children are innate innovators.  Robinson (2010) highlights that kindergarten children are divergent thinkers.  Both identified that children are innovative collaborators, problem solvers and not afraid to fail.  Rasfeld, Robinson and Stroud are calling for change to the education paradigm, change the mindset of society and reinvigorate the love of learning in our students.

In both videos I have included in this reflection talk about the education is a victim of pumping out results “for society”.  The current education system puts “ego before community” (Rasfeld, 2017 August 1) and that kills creative, innovative and divergent thinking.

Both Robinson and Rasfeld speak to the value and one of the 17 Global Goals, which is No One is Left Behind.  Rasfeld and RObinson both use this phrase, referring to inclusiveness and catering the individual needs.

My main reflection of Robinson’s video, and further with Rasfeld, is How do I think schools fit in this  description?   No one left behind is not a new concept to me, I have heard it many times in staff meetings, in readings and the like.  From my experience, I believe Australian schools are doing the best to not leave anyone behind in the education system.  Some schools have increased the inclusive education/learning support initiatives, embedding inquiry process into their teaching and learning and so on. However, I think the Australian education system is fighting with itself.  They want to keep the standardised testing while providing creative , collaborative and innovative learning environments with Inquiry/Student based Learning.  All of this at the cost of quality teaching and learning and teachers, which Gabbie Stroud has attested to in her book, Teacher (Stroud, 2018).

Rasfeld and Robinson are correct in their observations that we are in the middle of an educational crisis and the mindset of teaching and learning needs to change. Rasfeld’s school in Berlin is one to cure this epidemic.  The Australian Education System is possibly heading in the right direction, but at what pace?  Watch her Tedx Talk as a great further development of Robinson’s (The RSA 2010) original evaluation.

References:

Rasfeld, Margret & Tressel, Jamila. [Tedx Talks]. 2017, August 1. Changing the Education System [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uoGFaJXhnqE

Robinson, Sir Ken. [The RSA]. (2010, October 14). Changing Education Paradigms [Video File]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDZFcDGpL4U

Stroud, Gabbie. (2018). Teacher: One woman’s struggle to keep the heart in teaching. Australia. Allen & Unwin.