(An item from the ISHN Member information service) A new report from the 21st Century Learning Initiative summarizes the debates about the goals of schooling and proposes a transforrmative change. The Initiaitve has been active and widespread in many countries around the world. Advocates, practitioners, policy-makers and officials who support health and social development through schools based on the development of the whole child should take the time to review this paper. It begins with this overview:"Questions about school reform are being asked with increasing frequency in many countries, especially those seeking to adapt to rapidly changing social, economic and political turmoil. A range of indicators suggest, however, that after a couple of decades of intensive effort and vast expenditure of funds the results of several English-speaking countries remain problematic.3. Given what we now know from research into human learning, it would seem that what we need is not further school reform, but a radical transformation of the education system based on the complimentaryroles of home, community and school. To guide future policy we must recognise that the present structure of British, essentially English, education (a structure that has significantly shaped education in many English-speaking countries) is a result of numerous
decisions taken in times past by policymakers as they reacted to social and economic environments very different to those of today John Abbott, the leader of the 21st Century Learning Initiative, is the author of the paper and begins with this graphic metaphor:
"Lecturing widely around Britain, North America and Australia in the mid-1990s, I proposed a graphic metaphor: Do we want our children to grow up as battery hens or free-range chickens?" He then begins with the argument that "To develop a system that reduces the
individual’s adaptability so as to enhance a set of special skills – a battery hen-type schooling – requires a dangerous certainty about the future. If there is any doubt about the kind of world our children will inherit, then a free-range approach that encourages adaptability and creativity is not only desirable but essential." Abbot offers another metaphor. "Another way of challenging ourselves to think about what we are doing, is to ask whether we see children as pilgrims or customers. Pilgrim or customer? Creators of their own material and eternaldestiny, or consumers of a range of goods and services as defined by someone else? Thinkers able to take responsibility for their own actions, and willing to accept responsibility for working for the common good, or someone who, in their frustration that nothing so far pulled off the shelves of a supermarket quite suits their tastes, searches for yet another perfect brand? Quoting John Milton, Abbot and the Initiative call for a "A complete and generous education" Read more>>
decisions taken in times past by policymakers as they reacted to social and economic environments very different to those of today John Abbott, the leader of the 21st Century Learning Initiative, is the author of the paper and begins with this graphic metaphor:
"Lecturing widely around Britain, North America and Australia in the mid-1990s, I proposed a graphic metaphor: Do we want our children to grow up as battery hens or free-range chickens?" He then begins with the argument that "To develop a system that reduces the
individual’s adaptability so as to enhance a set of special skills – a battery hen-type schooling – requires a dangerous certainty about the future. If there is any doubt about the kind of world our children will inherit, then a free-range approach that encourages adaptability and creativity is not only desirable but essential." Abbot offers another metaphor. "Another way of challenging ourselves to think about what we are doing, is to ask whether we see children as pilgrims or customers. Pilgrim or customer? Creators of their own material and eternaldestiny, or consumers of a range of goods and services as defined by someone else? Thinkers able to take responsibility for their own actions, and willing to accept responsibility for working for the common good, or someone who, in their frustration that nothing so far pulled off the shelves of a supermarket quite suits their tastes, searches for yet another perfect brand? Quoting John Milton, Abbot and the Initiative call for a "A complete and generous education" Read more>>
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