Four Questions …on What Education Could Be

 

The purpose of this blog, therefore, is to ask questions—four, in fact—about the “educative project” as it might be carried out within the contemporary world. While I will, to be sure, offer up positions and propositions of my own, my hope is that these will act as a catalyst for thoughtful response and therefore a deeper, richer understanding of the problem.  The four questions that I think need most asking are as follows:

 

How do we connect, or better realign, the work we do in schools with a philosophical core that expresses the full scope and potential of the educative project? 

This question arises from a suspicion that in educational circles—perhaps in many circles—we focus on the “what” and “how” of the undertaking, but we do not spend near enough time asking “why?”.  There is, in other words, a disconnect between what might be thought of as the essential purpose of the undertaking and the way that purpose has come to be played out in practice. What can emerge, as a result, is a kind of cheap facsimile—a strange distortion—of the original project. This question requires that we identify “the educative project” in a way that is compelling and forceful and then demonstrate how a robust educational philosophy can permeate and define the culture and action of a school.

 

How, practically speaking, do we “invite teachers to become educators” in the sense of supporting and inspiring them to thoughtfully pursue the educative project with their students?

This is really a question of educational leadership in the context of a modern school, and it emerges as a result of some of my own experiences as a middle school principal. While there are always site-specific reasons for difficulties encountered in any particular school, I am more interested in the general principles or strategies—if these exist—that might be employed to create the kind of staff culture in which teachers are inspired and energized to contribute to the fulfillment of a powerful educational ideal. This questions requires, among other things, that we explore and better understand the precise contribution of staff collaboration within the context of a mission-driven school.

 

How do we structure schools—i.e. in terms of class size, timetables, teacher loads, curriculum delivery, assessment practices, etc.—in a way that will support, rather than detract from, the educative project?

The proposition here is that there are whole host of structural considerations that need to be closely re-examined if we are serious about educating students in any non-trivial sense. Some of these structural considerations include, school size, class size (and class distribution formats), class length, timetable configurations, curriculum delivery, assessment and reporting schedules, teacher loads, planning time. While none of these elements can, in themselves, create a powerful educational environment—only teachers can do that—most of them, if poorly configured, can significantly detract from our educational purposes. 

 

How do we incorporate the potential of Schools 2.0 in a way that will realize and expand—rather than trivialize and degrade—the educative project?

Many commentators seem to take either a derogatory or a celebratory view of the next generation’s use of new and ever-emerging digital technologies, particularly in the context of education. On one hand these technologies are thought to ensure that our youth will become “the stupidest generation of all time”, while on the other they are seen as the key that will unlock the door to greater wisdom. The future is upon us, however, whether we want it or not. The challenge embedded within this question is to determine how best to develop and deploy these emerging technologies in the service of a robust and powerful picture of education.  

 

In my next blog, entitled “Why Before How”, I will try to make a case for the importance of asking core philosophy questions before addressing issues of implementation. In the meantime, I’d be pleased to learn how others understand and approach some of the questions I have rasied. 

 

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