Transforming Education - final thoughts from The Element

In this final posting on our blog journey through The Element, Sir Ken Robinson shares his thoughts on transforming education, a philosophy that shapes our upcoming conference Emergent Learning: Turning Tides in 21st Century Education.  Please join us - and Sir Ken! - in Halifax this April 23-24.

Rhonda & the Bridgeway team

There are inspiring models of education everywhere.  Sir Ken shares his own wife Terry's experience as a drama teacher in one of the poorest areas of Liverpool, England.  The head of her school recognized that teachers should be allowed to play to their strengths and teaching should be child-centred.  Each teacher was eventually allowed to the basics each morning (reading, writing, math), but spend the afternoons teaching their true passion.  Terry taught drama and incorporated the subjects that were being taught in other classes - Roman history for example.  Other teachers taught art, geography or whatever their subject of choice was.  After some time, the standard of every student improved, and kids who never excelled at anything had the opportunity to shine.

Another revolutionary system started in the Italian town of Reggio Emilia in the 1960's.  The curriculum is child-directed, and the rooms are full of dramatic play areas, work tables and different areas where kids can interact, problem solve and learn to communicate.  The school year is built around weeklong and yearlong projects.  Students learn to hypothesize and collaborate, with the help of teachers who play the role of researchers, helping kids explore their interests.

So let's tie it all together.  The theme of the book is really about using our own natural resources - passions and talents - to the fullest.  It's essential to our well being and that of our communities.  As Sir Ken believes, "education is supposed to be the process that develops all resources."  Unfortunately, it's not.  Instead, the probem is the nature of our education systems, and the, "real challenges for education will only be met by empowering passionate and creative teachers and by firing up the imaginations and motivations of students."

If you'll remember way back near the beginning, Sir Ken described intelligence as being diverse, dynamic and distinct.  Here's what he believes it means for education:

• Elminate the existing hierarchy of subjects.  Too many students go through their education without having their natural talents recognized.  Arts, sciences, humanities, physEd, languages, math, drama, etc. all have an equal contribution to make to a student's education.
• Question the idea of subjects - Subjects like arts and science have much in common.  There can be dynamic relationships and overlap between subjects, so we shouldn't treat them as separate and distinct.
• Curriculum should be personalized.  (It has to be, if we're moving to our Element.)  It happens in the mind and souls of individuals, not in cookie-cutters.

With respect to teaching, Sir Ken believes that schools need to invest in teachers - they should be mentors and coaches with a shared goal of teaching students, not subjects.   

"The future of education is not in standardizing but in customizing; not in promoting groupthink and 'deindividualization' but in cultivating the real dept and dynamism of human abilities of every sort.  For the future, education must be Elemental."