It’s in the Distance

Dont Waste Time Waiting for Something Special, every day we are alive is Something Special

— Sarah Gower

I am still trying to navigate this blog and only time will tell whether I can get to grips with it. and sometimes I simply feel tired and don’t write things up. But it occured to me, that I started writing on my way to Te Kura and presented some ideas and questions but never described my day or my impressions, I hope this will address some of my questions.

First of all I will reiterate what I have already said, I passionately believe in education, I feel that educating young people is the start of a fabulous journey that does not and should not finish with a GCSE or an A Level or a degree, also I am aware that for many young people the learning programme they follow is completely inappropriate to their needs and often completely ill suited to their learning styles. We have a system which shackles the learning journey to a model which is dictated by the demands for a quantifiable model which only satisfies the student who has accepted the system. But which overlooks the student for whom actually turning up to school in spite of domestic obstacles is in itself a major achievement. It does not recognise the unique characteristics of the disorganised but creative and curious child. Those students who have …lets say, ADHD for whom the classroom is a strait jacket, but who actually may excel in other “intelligences,” they may be amazingly funny and sharp witted and command the admiration of their peers, despite the inevitable conflict with a hard pressed teacher who needs to ensure the kid achieves his GCSE targets. Similarly there are individuals with a real thirst and I will reiterate that, they have a thirst and a hunger and a passion for topics not on the curriculum or not valued by the EBAC constraints. Speaking personally, I would have happily studied geography 7 days a week, regional, human, physical or whatever. I was always in awe of faraway places, how landscapes were formed excited me, I would pore over ordnance survey maps and my mind could turn these into accurate 3 dimensional images of what i saw. But for me “the broad balanced curriculum” and the narrow constraints within geography served to diminish my interest. But similarly, there are students who are uniquely talented with emotional intelligence, who can read moods like a picture book and have an ocean of compassion but every day at school serves as reinforcement of the mathematical shortcomings. Or for whom PE reminds them each day that they are the wrong body shape, dyspraxic or just not interested in kicking a ball, throwing a javelin or running a cross country mile.

So visiting Te kura I was truly excited to see a system which values all achievement and is open to awarding qualifications which reflect the student strengths. A system in which kids do not need to be in a classroom from 8:25 until 15:00, the online teaching means someone who is passionate about sport or geography or caring for the sick, can focus on these, they dont need to be in school, they can complete the theory, the NCEA level 1 (GCSE equivalent) at a time which suits them and then embark on developing their passions.

The teen mother can tailor her learning around her baby, free of stigma, free of the inevitable pain of separation and study child care. The School phobic, the pyscho socially disadvantaged, the bullied can learn at their pace. The distance learning teams can organise drop ins, tutorials in libraries, in community centres or in the sports club. It also means that the student who wants to be a plumber or a joiner can elect to study the Maths or the English relevant to his needs, no need to bother with the Stats or the Algebra, but they can actually focus on the elements which concur with their aims

Now this does not mean the system is perfect, even from a philosophical perspective, we change, we are facing goals we dont expect, I never would have thought English or essay writing was something I needed, but at some point it became relevant, and in that respect the distance learning model here is not something that is free until you are 18….it is free until you have completed your full NCEA (again GCSE to those in England). The system is not perfect, it relies on a positive contribution from students and more importantly it relies on the positive contribution from the named responsible person at home. So we all know a child raised in a dysfunctional environment suffers academically, but the responsible adult who oversees learning, could be the aunty, the rugby coach, the librarian.

The success is not measured in terms of exam results but in engagement. Now this system can’t work in the UK, it has flaws, it demands political will, it also means teachers need to move away from their traditions and sacred cows

I still don’t have answers, if anything, I have more questions now. Big Picture Education is the name of the game here and this is like PBL which I have watched fail in the uK, but why did it fail? I believed in PBL but maybe we treated it as another form of teaching, it remained confined to the classroom.

Anyway I am knackered at the moment, tomorrow I have a flight to Wellington to meet with Core Education, OPen Polytechnic and Core Education. More then