Snow and virtual reality in Derbyshire

Dronfield in Derbyshire, like much of the UK, has experienced some pretty severe weather over the last week or so. Getting into the office this morning was interesting, to say the least, with most roads still reduced to single tracks and many cars parked in places that would suggest that the owners did not really want to keep them!

Unlike many face to face schools in the area, last week it was business as usual for us at NorthStarUK. One of the joys of online learning is that, whether one is a tutor or a student, we can all work wherever we are even without an internet connection (at least for a while) whatever the weather. The Head of our local secondary school said that while school was closed last week, students could access lesson material on the school’s recently developed Moodle server, since teachers would be uploading lessons during the week. As school was closed, she declared, they would be running as a ‘virtual school’ where students could work as normal.

I must confess to having a pet hate for the term ‘virtual’ when used to describe any online activities – whether it is schooling or ‘reality’. The term suggests that the activity is somehow ‘not real’. It is most popularly used to describe immersive activities like games or scenarios where ‘virtual reality’ is used to differentiate it from ‘real’ reality. The danger is, of course, that one somehow thinks that what one does in ‘virtual reality’ has no consequences in the real world – one can play violent games or engage in questionable behaviour in ‘virtual reality’ and because it is not ‘real’ it does not have moral consequences. As a Christian however, I would suggest that all behaviour is ‘real’ whatever the context and all behaviour has moral consequences.

My objection to the term ‘virtual school’ boils down to my dislike of modern schooling as a ‘construct’ and also the notion that what the Head was suggesting last week was somehow ‘unreal’. In one sense at least, what she was suggesting was ‘unreal’. Having spoken to a small number of students at the school over the weekend it seems that none of them did any work last week – online or otherwise – the worse snow for a generation in Dronfield led them to go out and play! Who says that children do not have an intrinsic understanding of what is important in life!

What schools can learn from John Holt

I am a great fan of the American educationalist John Holt. I am very aware that this does not necessarily endear me to some Christians who struggle with what they perceive to be his radical child-centred educational agenda. Whatever one might think of Holt’s philosophy of learning (and I feel that we have much to learn from it) his assessment of schooling is compelling. Holt argued in his seminal first book ‘How Children Fail’ that the academic failure of children was often not despite the best efforts of schools but actually because of them!  He maintained that structurally, schools are not good places for children to learn in. Writing in the 1960′s and early 1970s’s these were profoundly radical ideas, which in some respects led to the progressive movement in British primary schools during the mid to late 1970s.

Though progressive education with its open plan classrooms and mixed age classes is often ridiculed nowadays, at its best there was much that was wonderfully innovative and creative about it – I can still recall my first teaching practice in an open plan upper junior classroom in Cowbridge in Mid Glamorgan. These were pre-National Curriculum days and children had fun while teachers had freedom to create lessons that were stimulating and focus on the interests of children.

I do not wish to appear nostalgic and there were many failures and disasters in classrooms where teachers simply did not have the vitality, creativity or sheer teaching skills to work in this way with 30 or more children.

Nevertheless we as home educators can learn much from the progressive approach to education. The rigidity of modern western schooling, that has replaced it,  is most certainly not the model that we should aspire to mimic in our homes! And the fact that most of us are only working with two or three children actually means that we have the time to spend being innovative. The challenge for all of us is to be brave enough to be different. Maybe you can add one of John Holt’s books to your Christmas present list and allow Holt to stimulate your thinking!

Students as owners of their own learning

A few days ago I spent an hour chatting with a friend about her 17 year old son who is struggling with A levels. She wanted my advice, although if truth be told, I think she needed to tell her story to somebody much more than hear what I had to say. I have known her son for many years; he is a great lad with many gifts, notably as an artist. He scrambled through his GCSEs, with mostly middling sorts of grades. His mum wanted to speak with me because he struggled to organise his work and submit work to deadlines during his GCSE years; apparently the problem is persisting now that he is studying A levels. Except in art, where he works with enthusiasm, the young man either submits only scraps of paper as homework or does not submit any at all. How is it that a young man studying subjects that he has chosen to do can appear so disinterested and can so struggle with managing his academic affairs?

Whilst it is true that one cannot diagnose a general malaise on the basis of a single case, my years of teaching in face to face schools have convinced me  that there is one thing in particular that schools do very badly; they struggle to empower children to take ownership of their own learning. Fundamentally, school structures remove real power from children and young people to such an extent that large numbers of children come to see school learning as something that is done to them or for them but not necessarily (in an empowering sense) by them.  With this mindset, teachers are there – so the student thinks – to ensure that they get through exams, and work is submitted because the teacher wants it. Learning is not a process owned by the student ultimately leading to maturity and self-awareness.

Fundamental to the way that NorthStarUK works is a firm commitment to establish structures and patterns that provide children with opportunities to take ownership of their own learning – what subjects one studies, when in the week each lesson’s work is undertaken, even when to take holidays; these are all aspects of NSUK life that enable a student (with enormous support from parents) to learn skills that will enable them to move into further study with maturity and understanding.

Within a family setting, these radical approaches to learning can relatively easily be assimilated. The challenge for those of us working within a school context is to find ways to increasingly empower students so that they too, acquire these skills.

Faith Schools’ Fillip?

The following, written by Ross Evans NorthStarUK’s Senior Tutor, originally appeared Evangelical Times. It is a powerful reminder of the opportunities that currently exist within the UK:

Following the General Election, Michael Gove, the coalition Education Secretary quickly set out his priorities for schools.
He confirmed plans for “free” schools and more academies. “I believe, nothing is more important to the fairness of our society and the future prosperity of our country than getting education right.” The coalition government shares an ongoing concern with the previous government that too many children leave primary school every year without meeting basic standards in English or maths and too few 16 year olds get five decent GCSEs.  “So improving literacy, raising pupil’s attainment, extending parental choice, freeing teachers from bureaucracy, improving discipline and closing the widening gap between the richest and the poorest should be our shared goal” These are all reasonable aspirations although begging the question as to the values underpinning the aspirations.
Media attention was overwhelmingly directed towards the ‘ free’ schools and soon there was much debate, discussion and print. Assuming that enough of these schools will take off, how significant will they be in the bigger picture – only time will answer that question. In the meantime, what are these ‘free’ schools?
It is envisaged that these schools will be set up by a wide range of proposers, including charities, universities, businesses, educational groups, teachers and groups of parents. The claim is that in response to parental demand, they will improve choice, and drive up standards for all young people, regardless of background. Free Schools will provide an inclusive education to young people of all abilities, from all backgrounds, and will be clearly accountable for the outcomes they deliver.
What does this mean for Christian groups, existing Christian schools, parents, churches or other groups, who may be interested in this new opportunity?
Is this the opportunity that we have thought about and prayed for many times, that the principle of justice would allow Christian schools to be funded on equal terms with state schools. That at last, Christian parents who would like their children educated out of a Christian perspective would get the opportunity without having to pay twice – through the tax system and through fees. But will they want to? What are the possible advantages and disadvantages?
In the UK, with our roots deep in state schooling, the notion of Free schools, (the terminology itself is not helpful) is a problem. Maybe these new types of schools will in time, open up discussion of the more significant issue behind the notion of choice – to whom do our children belong?  The debate at this early stage has been heated, but after all the argument about buying privilege and whether it will or won’t improve standards, and the likely implications for the LEA management of education, I have heard absolutely nothing on this important question.
The biblical perspective is one of children as a gift to parents who are responsible for the nurture of their children. At some stage before they are five more and more parents voluntarily hand their children over to carers and then from five years of age to teachers. We entrust our children to these adults for many hours a week. How many of us know what values are being shared, or being modelled by the carers and teachers. In most cases in secular Britain, the values being shared are far from Christian. Let’s be clear, education is not neutral. All decisions, important or seemingly unimportant are arrived at out of the values of the Government, an Exam Board, or individual teachers. This is why the debate is so heated about Free schools. Do you believe that the State will run education best, or do you believe that parents should have much more of a say? But why do you believe what you do?
So an opportunity now exists for groups of Christian parents, or for Christian organisations to consider setting up a school. As for the opportunity for existing Christian schools to ‘opt in’ the situation is less clear and needs to be resolved. If managing bodies of existing Christian schools decide to go down this route and new Christian bodies take the opportunity, we need to be aware that the opportunity only exists as a result of a change of government and of ideology. It could be reversed in the future. What would that mean for Christian schooling? We can’t answer that question now. We can only say that at this time the opportunity is there.

“a better all round learning experience … attending school”

Over the weekend I was chatting with a teacher friend of mine about a 15 year old student that he has in his class who has severe learning difficulties, dyslexia and he has spent the whole of his secondary career learning to speak English as an additional language.  When asked questions in class he usually smiles and answers with just one or two words almost entirely unrelated to the correct answer; in exams his answers often consist of little more than words extracted from the question he is trying to answer. This young man is ‘statemented’, which means that his local authority has acknowledged that he has learning difficulties that are beyond the resources of his school to meet. Despite this, according to my friend, he has no additional resources allocated to him  – no teaching assistant sitting with him helping him understand what the teacher is saying or differentiating his work and for four years he has made little or no progress.

You may wonder why I have mentioned this young man in my home page news. Well, over the weekend I also read about the case of Elysha Robertson, a  seven year old in Rotherham who suffers from a disease related to motor neurone disease but so rare that doctors don’t even have a name for it. Elysha’s intellectual ability is unimpaired but the disease has robbed her of all movement from the waist up. She now communicates using her toes and is fed via a tube into her stomach.

Elysha’s mum withdrew her from a local special school because she felt that the school was not doing a good enough job of educating her daughter. Mrs Robertson has said “I want to teach my child at home because I believe she has made better progress than she did at Newman School where she was taught before.”

The response of the local authority has been aggressive and intolerant.  The Council’s social services department supported by the school is arguing that Elysha could be suffering from isolation and missing the company of other children, and has opted to use legislation relating to child abuse and neglect to call a case conference and demand that the Robertson’s attend.

A spokeswoman for Rotherham Council has stated ” .. the authority would always recommend that children receive a better all round learning experience from attending school.”  I couldn’t help thinking of the young Asian boy taught by my friend when I read this!

Narcissistic children and self-esteem

There can be no doubt that self-esteem is an important part of people’s lives. It is also true that we all like to be encouraged and affirmed in what we do and who we are – it makes us feel good about ourselves.

Historically, British schools have been pretty poor at developing pupil’s self-esteem; in fact I would argue that they have often done serious damage to pupils in this regard. Some years ago I came across a youngman in his 20s who when he was 16 and about to go into his GCSE maths exam had been told by his maths teacher, that it would be a waste of his time and that of the exam marker if he actually bothered to sit the exam. Five or six years later when I met this young man he still regarded himself as ‘stupid’ – not merely in maths but generally. I was reminded of this young man, this week when I read of a paper presented at the Association of School and College Leaders conference in Birmingham by Dr Carol Craig suggesting that our schools are in danger of producing narcissistic children who are likely to develop an “all about me mentality”. The ‘praise culture’ was something that also arose in a conversation I had with a former colleague a few weeks ago. We had worked together for a number of years in special educational needs within a mainstream school. She told me of a new member of staff who was inclined, in her opinion, to praise children for ‘almost anything’ – if a child sat quietly for five minute, he was praised before the rest of the class; if he wrote two or three lines in English, he was similarly praised. In the opinion of my former colleague this devalued praise – the child was simply being praised for what he should have been doing in the first place!

Teachers are, however, in a very powerful position within their classrooms. Ultimately, it is teachers who decide what is truth and what is not,what is correct and what is wrong. I have often chided teaching friends of mine by saying that as teachers we are the only individuals who ask people questions to which we already know the answer! That position of power is so easily abused when a child is scorned or even mocked for not knowing the answer that the teacher is looking for. In my experience, far from creating a generation of narcissistic egoists, my feeling is that teachers do not give children sufficient real praise. Those of us who are home educating need to guard against the same failing – our children need to be encouraged not only when they do well, but also when they have tried their best – and as parents we are best placed totell the difference.

By the way, if you are interested in what happened to the young man with the appalling maths teacher, heeventually went to university and secured a very respectable 2:1degree, but only after good people convinced him that his schoolexperience was inaccurate and that he was actually quite able!

Why we offer IGCSE qualifications

Manchaster Grammar School, one of the most prestigious independent schools in the North West of England, announced last week that it was replacing all of its GCSE exams with IGCSEs. Although this might appear as a minor decision akin to a school changing its exam board in history or maths, the reality is that there is an increasingly political dimension to the quarrel that is taking place in England over supporters of GCSEs and IGCSEs. Government funded schools are forbidden from offering students IGCSEs because the Department for Children, Schools and Families does not accept that IGCSEs assess the National Curriculum, which is what must be taught in English and Welsh schools. Independent schools can offer IGCSEs, because they do not receive government money.

In recent years there has been a growing lobby that has argued that GCSEs have been dumbed down, made less of a challenge; this lobby further suggest that IGCSEs have maintained their intellectual rigour and are therefore more worthy exams for 16 year olds – a good grade at IGCSE says more about a particular student than does the same grade at GCSE, so the argument goes.

These arguments have not been helped by the high master of St Paul’s School in London who recently described GCSEs as “simply pap, … baby food, … examination rusks…” In response, those who support GCSEs have suggested that the shift to IGCSEs is being done for marketing reasons or for elitist feelings of superiority. IGCSEs give certain independent schools boasting rights over their state school cousins!

This whole discussion is especially topical, it seems to me, coming as it does a week after I announced to NorthStarUK would effectively be scrapping GCSEs in September. Why do we, in NorthStarUK, offer IGCSEs and not GCSEs? Well the simple answer, as I pointed out last week, is that GCSEs have been closed off to us by new government regulations. However, I would argue that IGCSEs are better qualifications than GCSEs, in any case! In my opinion, there are a number of reasons for this, none of which are to do with elitism or because of a supposed dumbing down in GCSEs -

• IGCSE specifications, more often than not, have a wider range of topics to study than GCSE. The National Curriculum has had a stifling effect on school curricula.
• IGCSEs have an international dimension to their courses that is normally absent in GCSEs. In my opinion, this is especially important for young people who are going to be adults over the next 50 years.
• IGCSEs are based around terminal exams, which is education speak for saying that students are assessed by one or more exams at the end of the course. The new GCSEs will be assessed by a series of modular tests where students will be permitted to forget the material after the module has ended.
• IGCSEs are not affected or shaped by politicians – our current national curriculum has seen more changes over the last ten years than I care to remember, and all have been affected as a result of political pressure.