Alan Thompson - Thoughts on Education

As much as we like to think of education as a forward-looking embrace of the future, much of our educational practice (even in the best resourced, most progressive schools) would be easily recognised by a teacher or pupil from a hundred years ago. We're more conservative than we think we are, and, in fact, so are our pupils.    The introduction of technology into schools has been a real exception to this pattern of behaviour, and schools have, since the development of the internet and the commodification of hardware in the 1980's, been in a constant state of adoption and exploration of various technologies and models of implementation. From the early days of laptops to iPads and other technologies, it has been a given that these devices are 'revolutionising' education, and the ubiquity of devices is of educational benefit.   But something else has been in constant change since the 1980s. While measures of living standards have gone up in this time, measures of the wellb...

There are times as we are attempting to motivate our students that we over-emphasize the instrumental value of education. "Be good at school" we say, "and you will get a good job". By "good job" we imply the trappings of a "good life" - house, car, and happy family, and such like. There are many flawed assumptions in all of that, but most importantly, the "capitalist dream" model that we use (explicitly or implicitly) relegates much more important educational outcomes - emotional intelligence, gratitude, self-control, creativity, flow, and decision making (among a host of other key, life-determining elements) -  to a lesser position in the thinking hierarchy.   Good manners are regarded as quaint, kindness as soft, and selflessness is kept a record of to tick the 'service' box on a CV.    There is something much deeper in each of these things that goes way beyond social constructs.    Good manners are carefully constructed socia...

There is a common misconception that parenting a teenager is a wholly negative experience. To be sure, it is complicated - the journey from childhood dependance to young adult independence is by no means easy. Throw in hormone and relational ups and downs, and one certainly has a heady brew to deal with. 'Entering the tunnel' is one description of this journey, 'they will come out eventually' it goes on.    And don't we 'normal' parents secretly envy those parents whose teenage children are (over) dedicated to their studies and thriving in 'success'. We use them as a benchmark to calibrate our own perceived 'failures'!   To consider such a beautiful journey - that from childhood to maturity (which, as I will discuss later, is different to 'mere' adulthood) - as a 'going away', or 'entering a tunnel' robs us as parents of one of our most significant parenting acts. For in a young child our key role is one of nurturing g...