Sir Ken Robinson, so far off the mark Tom
Food for thought...
In 1963 Lady Bridget Plowden was given the task of preparing a report for the Secretary of State for Education and Science, with a lean towards 'considering primary education in all its aspects and the transition to secondary education.'
The team undertook their studies in areas where 'best practice was taking place'.
Key educational contexts of the time included:
- Selection for secondary education (the 'eleven-plus') was being abolished, freeing primary schools from the constraints imposed by the need to 'get good results'.
- Streaming (sorting children into classes on the basis of ability or overall intelligence) was being abandoned.
- Teacher-led curriculum innovation was being actively encouraged.
- Sybil Marshall was writing about the creativity of primary pupils in 'An Experiment in Education'
- Comprehensive schools and middle schools were being established
Findings
- On curriculum delivery:
The essence of the whole report was clear: 'At the heart of the educational process lies the child.' The report emphasises the need to see 'children as individuals'.
- On testing:
'Testing should not be treated as infallible predictors. Judgements which determine careers should be deferred as long as possible.'
- On teaching and curriculum:
'Applauded the curriculum freedom which teachers had had in increasing measure since the ending of the payment by results system in 1898 and the Elementary Code in 1926.'
- On success for children:
'One of the main educational tasks of the primary school is to build on and strengthen children's intrinsic interest in learning and lead them to learn for themselves rather than from fear of disapproval or desire for praise.'
Conclusion of findings:
The report's recurring themes are individual learning, flexibility in the curriculum, the centrality of play in children's learning, the use of the environment, learning by discovery and the importance of the evaluation of children's progress - teachers should 'not assume that only what is measurable is valuable.' (familiar)
Hurray for Lady Plowden.
However the cornered dark forces and the nay sayers reared up...
'Notions of core, common and national curriculum all seemed to have at their root the idea that children were to be fitted for the service of the state or at least to fill their allotted roles in society. '
Very ashamedly for all to with education, Plowden's view that 'At the heart of the educational process lies the child' was abandoned in favour of 'The school curriculum is at the heart of education' (DES 1981)
'The school curriculum must allow for differences ... it must contribute to children's present well-being whatever the age and stage of growth and development they have reached ... The development and use of local opportunities, the special skills of teachers and the enthusiasm of children should be used to enhance the quality of work beyond what might come from a simple uniformity of practice. (DES 1980b)
'Plowden is a voice from the past but one which urgently needs hearing again today. When politicians realise that what is measurable is not all that is valuable, when teachers begin to notice that children learn nothing by being tested, when parents are sick of their young children suffering from exam-induced stress, when the public begins to realise that the results of national tests can always be manipulated to achieve politicians' targets, and when decent people decide to stand up against the name-and-shame culture of failure, then someone, somewhere, is going to remember that 'at the heart of the educational process lies the child.'
In my humble opinion, Sir Ken Robinson simply echoes or resonates that which lies at the heart of The Plowden Report. Had the Plowden Report been fully embraced and implicated we could have prevented education from becoming little more than a political football match. Our children deserve better.
No comments:
Post a Comment