Is school fit for purpose?
Introduction
I wrote the following blog back in May 2021, just as the UK - and much of the world - was emerging from a year of lockdowns and restrictions which led to unprecedented disruptions to education. What I hadn’t realised at the time of writing was that these disruptions were still far from over - and we continued to experience further restrictions for many more months.
Throughout that period, I was not alone in my grave concerns about the impact the government’s responses to the pandemic were having on our children’s mental and physical health. As I write this introduction, now three years later, I’m sad to say that I underestimated the extent of the damage those measures would have. We are currently in the midst of a serious mental health crisis - with more children suffering from anxiety and mental health issues than ever before - and our health services and schools at breaking point.
On the plus side, there continues to be a growing demand for a different approach to education - and I’m heartened to see ever-increasing numbers of parents and educators making choices that prioritise children’s wellbeing over grades and league tables. I’m hopeful that this is the start of a shift towards a new paradigm of a more connected, heart-led approach to educating our children.
Original blog post*:
The pandemic effect
The pandemic has been tough for children in so many ways. The disruption to their education has been one of the many challenges they’ve had to deal with and now they’re back in school, pressure is mounting to make up for ‘lost learning’ time. And with extra tuition, longer school days and shorter holidays on the cards it seems that catching up on lost learning is taking precedence over everything else that our children have missed out on over the past year.
It seems that not all parents agree with this approach, however. In fact, with lockdown learning shining a spotlight on school curriculum content like never before, many parents have been questioning the value in much of what their children are being taught. Some parents have even been asking if school is fit for purpose.
What is ‘fit for purpose’?
What does fit for purpose actually mean? Most people would tend to agree that the purpose of school is to prepare children for their adult life…but what sort of life is it preparing them for? And if we continue to prioritise expanding the brain over nurturing the rest of the being, what sort of childhood are we condemning them to?
Anxiety rates amongst children were already at an all-time high before the pandemic but they have now sky rocketed to terrifying levels. Thankfully, there are many wonderful wellbeing initiatives run by good hearted people who are doing their best to mop up the damage. However, this is a thumb-in-the-damn approach to dealing with the issues rather than a long-term solution. These issues will not be solved solely by addressing the symptoms because the issues are systemic: a direct result of the societal structures in which we live. Until we address the root cause of the problems, we will never have a truly healthy, happy population.
I believe (and I’m not alone in this) that we come into this world with all the wisdom and resources we need to unlock our own purpose and potential. Sadly, the systems in our modern society very quickly cause us to bury much of it. The consequences? We spend the earlier years of our lives forgetting what we already intuitively knew when we were born…and we spend much of the rest of our lives trying to remember it.
For many, school takes away our natural sense of curiosity, the ability to learn for the joy of learning; to find out things for ourselves. Instead, it teaches us to look to others for approval; to trust others to tell us what to do; what to learn; what’s right, what’s wrong; whether we are failures, successes; good or bad.
Don’t get me wrong: there are many amazing schools and many more wonderful teachers. (I know because I used to be one of them!) I fully believe that most teachers have the best intentions for their students. They work long hours and are committed to making school a positive experience. I certainly don’t doubt that teachers can and do make a powerful impact on so many children. BUT the system is fundamentally flawed….and most of them are unwittingly reinforcing it.
One of the key problems is that many people don’t understand what the true purpose of the school system is. They think it’s about preparing children for adulthood, helping them to become independent; to learn important things they need to know for life. They think if their child goes to school and gets a ‘good’ education they will have the ‘best’ chance at living a full and happy life. But what is a full and happy life?
Many people equate a full and happy life with money, a good job, a nice house, a position of power. The thing is that even those few children who do grow up to achieve this type of ‘success’ often turn into adults who are stressed-out, dissatisfied and disillusioned.
What is the real purpose of school?
The unpalatable truth is that school is essentially about control: keeping children occupied so parents can work and teaching students the skills and behaviours they need in order to grow up and become part of a compliant, diligent workforce. Those who criticise the system often say it’s based on an old, out-dated model that was set up to train the masses as workers for the few. If you research into the history of schooling you will see this is true…but I don’t believe that school has become outdated; rather that this model of education has been deliberately maintained because the purpose is still the same.
Schools, like other institutions in our society, are designed to train us to buy into the system in which we live; to keep us onside, in control and accepting our lot. The message that children start to hear and see, from the moment they are born, is that to succeed in life you have to work hard and obey the rules. Throughout school, we are taught that life is a competition, that there is only room for a few winners. The result? Many people grow up believing that success and joyful living is the privilege of the special few.
What’s more, we are programmed from the outset to judge and evaluate. In so doing, we compare ourselves to others...and we often conclude that we are not good enough/not worthy enough/not lucky enough to achieve an abundant life of our choice.
So, what ‘should’ the purpose of education be?
What, as parents, do we want for our children?
How do we want our children to spend their formative years?
How do we want them to grow up?
What sort of adults do we want them to be?
What opportunities do we want them to have?
I think most parents would agree they want their children to be healthy, happy and to live life to the full. What many are (blissfully?) unaware of is that, in the current school system, they are unlikely to achieve that.
A connected approach
I believe that what children (and adults) really need in order to thrive is connection: with self and with others. We connect with ourselves by nurturing our heart, body, mind and soul; by discovering what brings us joy and by following our passions. We connect with others by letting go of judgement and blame and seeing the compassionate beings that we all are at heart. From this place of connection, we can achieve balance, harmony and joy – within and without.
Rather than helping us to nurture these connections, the prevailing competitive model of education serves to divide us. I believe it’s time to make the (radical?!) leap into a connection-based model. In order to come even close to this, we need to fundamentally transform the education system: from a top-down, knowledge-in, right/wrong; pass/fail system to a child-led, heart-and-head-integrated, nurturing approach.
This will take a significant shift in awareness and practice – both amongst educators and parents. A shift from a scarcity to an abundance mindset; to the knowledge that we all have all the resources we need to live a fulfilled and happy life right inside us. And a shift away from the assumption that academic subjects such as maths and English have a higher status than other subjects such as music and sport. It will also take a move away from teaching content in order to pass exams to allowing children to learn for the joy of learning.
Lost learning?
If you’re reading this and asking yourself, ‘But how will children cope in the world if they miss out on all the learning that’s currently provided in schools?’ then consider this:
Most of what children are taught in schools is for the sole purpose of sitting an exam…the purpose of which is to demonstrate that children can pass an exam.
We spend years trying to cram irrelevant facts into the minds of our children. Facts they will mostly have forgotten a few days after they’ve been taught them; facts they can now find at the tap of a button in the moment when they actually need them…if they ever do. And yet so many skills that are vital for humans to thrive - indeed to survive, are not even on the school curriculum.
Children don’t need to be crammed full of facts. They don’t need to be told who to be or what to aim for. They need to be given the space, freedom and loving support to explore this for themselves. We need to trust children to get in touch with their own unique gifts, to connect with their inner compass, to do what truly lights them up. Instead of measuring them, comparing them to some arbitrary benchmark that dictates when a child should be able to do a random set of tasks, let them be free to choose.
Can we let go of the control? Would there be chaos? Perhaps, at first. But I believe things would settle down, balance out. That with the right support structures in place, in a space created on the foundations of freedom, equality, collaboration, compassion and trust then it would work. And children would flourish on a scale that they have never been able to flourish before.
This may all sound idealistic and unachievable but I believe it is possible. What’s more, there are pockets of free-thinking educators and parents around the globe who are already facilitating children’s learning in this way.
So, rather than catching up on ‘lost learning’, depriving children of more time away from friends, recreation and fun, let them be free to be kids. Let them play, dream, discover, connect and create.
Let’s tear up the National Curriculum and start again.
(*First posted on: Be more giraffe, 21/5/21: https://www.bemoregiraffe.com/blog/is-school-fit-for-purpose)