nutcroft

On school improvement

Few would disagree that the educational system of the —so-called— Western world could be improved. Eight partially concrete concepts on a potential improvement follow.

  1. Less information. Slash the amount of information included in the courses. Aim to keep the essence, the fundamentals, the knowledge that a student is expected to either remember 10 years later or to have been influenced by it.

  2. More humanities and art. There are many forms of art, and even the simplest change of dedicating a couple of hours per week on those would be beneficial (yet admittedly crude).

  3. More bodily knowledge. The importance of physical activity both for physical health but also for psychological health cannot be overstated. More classes of exercising and sports is an easy first step.

  4. Teacher quality assessment by students. Students are the essence and purpose of the whole operation. How could we not deeply value their impressions?

  5. Teacher freedom. Teaching and learning are creative processes in their very core. If a teacher is micromanaged by laws on how to teach, then learning will probably not happen; only a knowledge auditory event will.

  6. De-professionalise teaching. Accomplished educationalists talk about this idea for quite some time. If only, it's worth a serious attempt.

  7. School as a more integrated part of society. Let's incorporate school as part of every society member's life. Non-parent professionals can teach. Others can learn. Is there an argument for not being inclusive?

  8. Student freedom and abolishment of mandated studying. Every time a student is graded with a failure mark in an exam it is proof that people cannot force people to learn. Let's entrust students with the responsibility to decide what to learn, when, where, and how.

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Also on this series: What’s wrong with school?