FOREVER LEARNING: THE ACHIEVEMENT OF EDUCATION

We human beings have been learning for a long time – ever since we became a separate species and, if we are not going to be too precise about our evolution, well before that. We learned to make tools from flint, construct shelters and light fires, and much later we learned how to grow crops, keep livestock and communicate in a recognisable form of spoken language…

In the Middle Ages and the Tudor era younger children were taught to read at the petty school and older pupils continued to endure a solid diet of Latin at the grammar school… 

Where has our past experience and the ferment of ideas brought us? In 2012 what is the scope and purpose of education? We can deal with the scope instantly – it is massive. Formal, institutionalised education is an enormous feature of our lives… 

But education has done more than prepare people for employment, or give them essential life-skills, or provide them with the means to social advancement or open up avenues to personal fulfilment. It has helped to shape values and character… 

And most heartwarmingly of all have been the huge advances in educational provisionfor groups of people with disabilities or special learning needs. In mainstreamschooling, or in separate establishments, they are now given high quality,appropriate education and cared for sensitively by skilled and dedicated staff... 

Scroll down for the whole essay or click on essay above.

FINAL REPORT

The next edition of School Report , Number 120, willbe the final issue. It’s been hugely stimulating and enjoyable organising my thoughts about education over the past few years  but I do regard it as a bit of self-indulgence and ego massage. The World Wide Web is with us, though, so why not use it to contribute something to all the chatter and discourse that surrounds the way society functions. 

I’m planning to continue writing articles and essays on education but on other subjects as well – little matters like equality, democracy and the economy as well as history, botany and the countryside. 

I also have a couple more books underway. One on the Mendip Hills in Somerset and one that pulls together some of the ideas about education I’ve had whilst compiling this journal. The tiitle of it is right below. 

If you are interested in reading any of the previous editions of School Report click on Archives and you will find them there – I’ll try and get Nos 1 – 25 up in due course.

FOREVER LEARNING: ACHIEVEMENT AND AMBITION IN EDUCATION 

This is the title of a short book I’m writing to bring together some of the ideas I’ve written about in School Report. The essay in this edition has a similar theme but I’m hopeful it will be expanded upon to produce a stimulating read. 

Extracts from the draft in progress will be put up on my Quercus Publications website.

PLOWDEN’S PROGRESS 

A book that is highly relevant to the ongoing discussion about the future direction of primary education. What was the Plowden Report about? How successful were the methods of the Plowden era and should we return to them? Agree or disagree with its conclusions Plowden’s Progress offers an authentic perspective on primary schools before the national curriculum. 

For more infomation visit: http://www.quercuspublications.co.uk/education.html

POEMS FOR CHILDREN 

If you like poems for children please take a look at my books of old and new favourites. The poems will appeal to all age groups and are ideal for reading at home or in school. They include enduring classics such as “The Owl and the Pussy-cat” and “Puppy and I” as well as modern gems by Michael Rosen, June Crebbin and Allan Ahlberg. 

'...delightful anthologies. I'm sure children will find each anthology a treasure trove, containing as they do, so many memorable poems on a wide variety of themes.'

June Crebbin, poet

http://www.quercuspublications.co.uk/poetry_books.html

BRENT KNOLL: A NOTABLE HILL IN SOMERSET

Anyone interested in learning about the mysterious hill that rises from the levels next to the M5 just past the Mendips can look on my website for information about the book I've written.

'Congratulations to all concerned with the production of this meticulously researched and beautifully presented book about Brent Knoll. There can be very few locations in the country fortunate enough to have such a comprehensive and readable account of their history and habitat as that which Brent Knoll now possesses.'

http://www.brentknoll.info/

RIOTERS: THE REAL DEPRIVATION

But to say that the riots were caused by poverty is an insult to all those parents on low incomes whose children are well-behaved and well-disciplined ... They were rioting because the values that should have been instilled into them were absent. This is what they were deprived of. This was the most telling factor in their social disadvantage ... 

Click on Archives above to read the full headline in Edition 118.

FOREVER LEARNING: THE ACHIEVEMENT OF EDUCATION 

We human beings have been learning for a long time – ever since we became a separate species and, if we are not going to be too precise about our evolution, well before that. We learned to make tools from flint, construct shelters and light fires, and much later we learned how to grow crops, keep livestock and communicate in a recognisable form of spoken language. These skills and many others were acquired partly through imitation and partly through being taught, and they were handed down from generation to generation. For most of human history this learning took place in the home, at work or in the wider community. 

When the possibilities of the written word were fully explored a whole new world of learning opened up. Information and knowledge about anything and everything could be recorded for others to see but it could only be understood if people could decipher what different symbols meant. To dot his it became necessary to learn what the symbols stood for and how they were put together and it was this that prompted the first schools to come into existence. They were the places where children could be taught to read and write by someone who had mastered these skills and who had the task of passing them on to others. In ancient civilisations like Mesopotamia, Egypt and Greece childrenl earned the basic skills of reading and writing in school. 

In this country the first schools would have been seen during the Roman occupation where the pupils were the sons of Roman citizens o rhigh-ranking native Britons. From Anglo-Saxon times schools appeared which gradually evolved into the institutions with which we are familiar today. They werea ttached to cathedrals or churches and since their purpose was to train priests the most important subject on the curriculum was Latin – the language of theChurch. 

In the Middle Ages and the Tudor era younger children were taught to read at the petty school and older pupils continued to endure a solid diet of Latin at the grammar school. Two well-known public schools were founded in the late Medieval period, Winchester in 1382 and Eton in 1440. The eighteenth century saw a rapid growth in the number of charity schools offering basic literacy to the children of the poor and this wasf ollowed by the Sunday School movement which aimed to give children religious instruction and to teach them to read. 

It was towards the end of Queen Victoria’s reign that elementary education for all children finally became a reality and the many sturdy Victorian buildings that are still in use as primary schools are testimony to the progress that was made in this period. There was less momentum for secondary schooling but growing pressure for a proper secondary system finally resulted in the post-war grammar schools and secondary moderns, and the comprehensives that eventually replaced them. Adding to the onward march of primary and secondary provision has been the huge expansion in further and higher education both of which have benefited millions of people in countless different ways. 

The way children, young people and adults have been educated since the dawn of humankind is an absorbing story, full of drama, colour and interest. There is nothing dull about it. It is the story ofs omething we have all experienced and because of this we are curious about it. 

We can read about the teaching methods of the past: the harsh discipline where the birch and cane were ever-present, the learning by rote in the days of payment by results, or the progressive primary schools oft he Plowden era when children were encouraged to discover information for themselves. We can bring to mind the variety of educational equipment that has been used: the parchment, the quill pens, nib pens, hornbooks¹, slates, text books, computers and interactive whiteboards. And anyone who has used them will never forget the miraculous combination of a small, white stick of chalk and a large expanse of blackboard. 

We can imagine the daily life of schools in the past. Thee nduring routines: endlessly memorising Latin words and phrases, meticulously copying lines of handwriting into copy books, doing long division sums in pounds, shillings and pence or carrying out experiments in the chemistry lab. As well as classroom routines there have been school routines: morning registration, assemblies, nativity plays, concerts, sports days, examinations and detentions. And, of course, there has always been the social dimension: interactions on the playground, in the corridor, by the bicycle shed and on the school bus – these are the places where down the years friendships and romances have been forged. 

For the recent history of education we have personal memories to draw upon to remind us of what classrooms used to look like, what subjects were taught and what methods were used. But many people, and not just teachers, will also recall what was happening beyond their immediate experience. They will remember the debates and discussions about the great issues of the day: debates about the eleven plus and the merits of grammar schools and comprehensives, debates about the unfairness of public schools and debates about teaching methods, especially child-centred learning at the primary stage. 

Where has our past experience and the ferment of ideas brought us? In 2012 what is the scope and purpose of education? We can dealwith the scope instantly – it is massive. Formal, institutionalised education is an enormous feature of our lives. It is a major preoccupation for children and young people: from the very young who attend pre-school establishments to older students studying at college or university. Equally it is a major preoccupation for adults: adults who are parents of school-aged children, adults who ares tudying and adults who are involved with schools and colleges as teachers, non-teaching staff or governors. 

What we do at school, college and university not only takes up a great deal of our time when we attend for lessons and instruction its pills over – in varying degrees one has to say – into assignments that are done at home. It also regularly occupies our thoughts: immediate thoughts about handing in work on time and more strategic thoughts about future courses or future careers. 

We don’t need official statistics to tell us that for society at large the whole business of formal education is a colossal enterprise, a grand nationwide undertaking most of which is organised by the state. We know the scale of the enterprise both from our own experience and from the simple fact that every day we see children and young people of all ages making their way to various places of learning. The nation’s education system involves billions of pounds of expenditure², millions of pupils and students, thousands of schools, hundreds of courses and a bewildering assortment of qualifications. 

What is the purpose of this vast and complex collective endeavour? What is it intended to achieve? Lots of different things is the answer but here we will concentrate on the most fundamental purposes and achievements, both past and present. We will look at the achievements of schools, colleges and universities for individuals, for society as a whole and for groups within society.  

Undoubtedly their most successful achievement, stretching back to the petty schools of the Middle Ages, has been to equip individuals with the basic skills of literacy. Not everyone went to school in the past and it wasn’t necessary to be literate in order to labour on the land or work in a factory at the height of the industrial revolution. But for those who did learn to read and write there was no shortage of employment and for the past century these skills have been a virtual necessity for almost every occupation. 

Since it has normally been a requirement to have a paid job in order to look after oneself and one’s family it follows that for many centuries what schools have done to help people obtain work has been of great benefit to countless providers and those who depended on them. There has been nothing more important than being able to provide food, clothing and a home for one’s family and those who are dismissive of the idea that schools should prepare young people for the workplace should think again – as I have done myself in recent years.   

Nowadays numeracy and IT can be added to the basi cskills needed for the workplace and it is therefore the purpose of schools to ensure that all pupils reach a high standard in these subjects. Proficiency in literacy,numeracy and IT becomes even more of a priority when it is remembered they are also essential skills that are required for everyday life – you need, fore xample, to be able to read your gas bill and have an idea how it is calculated. Teaching other essential life skills is equally very much a part of the purpose of schools and included amongst these should be how to keep healthy, personal finance and problem-solving. 

For many people education has been the route not just to any job but to a top job. In the Middle Ages it would have been essential to include a knowledge of Latin on a CV if young men were seeking high status administrative positions.  A good education was a means of social advancement even in those days and I’m sure plenty of parents were aware of this. They have certainly been well aware of it since the nineteenth century when educational qualifications, be they vocational or academic, have been used more and more to channel young people into jobs and careers that command high salaries. High salaries mean bigger houses, better cars, new kitchens and more holidays, all of which have become the legitimate aspirations many people have for themselves and their families. 

We all know, however, that formal education gives us more as individuals than the skills or qualifications necessary for employment. It has probably always been understood that it opens up the human spirit and brings personal fulfilment to our lives. This fulfilment takes many forms. It can simply be the fulfilment that comes with acquiring knowledge to satisfy our natural curiosity about ourselves and the world in which we live: knowledge about any subject – dinosaurs, the Romans, aeroplanes, flowers, the human body, the cosmos or anything. We can be certain that in the colossal and ever-expanding store of knowledge that is available to us there will be something to interest everyone and for many that interest may have begun at school. 

And there are other forms of personal fulfilment that will also have begun at school. Many children will have learned to sing or play a musical instrument whilst at primary or secondary school and for some this will have been a source of fulfilment throughout their lives. There will be many children, too, who developed their talents in other directions such as in drama, art or sport and who continued their interest into adult life. Some of them will no doubt recall a particular teacher who encouraged them to make the most of their abilities.   

But education has done more than prepare people for employment, or give them essential life-skills, or provide them with the means to social advancement or open up avenues to personal fulfilment. It has helped to shape values and character. In Ancient Sparta the purpose of education was to produce fearless, disciplined and resolute fighting men. In Victorian times one of the purposes of a public school education was to teach qualities of leadership and one of the puposes of an elementary education was to teach obedience. 

Most people acknowledge that schools play an important part in shaping the values, attitudes and character of their pupils. Personally I regard this as their highest purpose. Not that schools should usurp the role of parents in shaping character but that they should reinforce and extend what parents do, especially when parents fall short in their obligations. I would like to see schools do much more in this area and help their pupils develop values that will enable them to become adults who, amongst other things, are responsible, hard-working and determined and who care for other people as much as they care for themselves. 

If pupils acquire these sort of values they will be well on their way to learning about one of the more elusive aspects of the human condition: the one that we now commonly refer to as well-being. In recent years the well-being and happiness agenda seems to have found a  place among the aims of education and I have no objection to that. We are all engaged in the search for happiness and contentment and if schools can help in the search then so much the better. 

When individual human beings are properly equipped with the right values they will know how to live with each other and society will function with a reasonable degree of harmony. The achievement of schools in helping to shape the values and attitudes of each individual pupil becomes, therefore,  an achievement for the whole of society. It is better for all of us as individuals if we are responsible honest and hard-working and it is better, quite obviously, for the community as a whole. 

Similarly when schools, along with colleges and universities, equip young people with the skills they require in the workplace this is not only achieving an invaluable outcome for each individual person it is achieving an invaluable outcome for everyone. In the past blacksmiths and wheelwrights who were taught their trades benefited from their training by setting themselves up in business but those who used their services were clearly also the beneficiaries. The same mutuality of interest applies in the labour market today, only more so, given that  the number of specialist services and products that people use has increased exponentially.  

Every time someone is trained in any one of hundreds of skills, that person reaps the benefits in terms of being able to obtain a good job and a steady income and the rest of us reap the benefits in terms of the products and services we are provided with. It is how society has always operated and education has always been at the heart of it. We can say with confidence  that this has been a monumental achievement. 

Education has given us the comfortable, civilised and humane society that we know today. It is education which has enabled people to come up with new ideas and put them into practice – ideas and inventions which have brought us incredible comfort and convenience in our homes, sophisticated communication systems, rapid methods of transport, access to unlimited entertainment on a screen and advances in medical knowledge which have improved the quality of life for each of us. Moreover, it is education which has enabled people to discover and generate an almost infinite supply of knowledge and ideas that is stored in books, manuals and computer files which we can all use for practical purposes or just to satsify our curiosity about the world in which we live. 

Individuals have benefited from what has been provided by our formal system of education and training, society has benefited and different groups within society have also benefited. Women form the largest of these groups. In the past century more and more women have been educated or trained to a higher standard and this has not only provided them with greater employment opportunities it has allowed them to share equally in the wider fulfilment that education brings. Another group that has benefited from education has been the large class of people on low incomes. Pupils from low income or disadvantaged families have been able to secure a higher standard of living for themselves by using the education system to obtain qualifications to secure well-paid jobs. And most heartwarmingly of all have been the huge advances in educational provision for groups of people with disabilities or special learning needs. In mainstream schooling, or in separate establishments, they are now given high quality, appropriate education and cared for sensitively by skilled and dedicated staff. This is an achievement to be truly proud of. 

We have looked at the scope and purpose of formal institutions of learning but that is only half the picture. The other half consists of the learning that people have acquired for themselves – informal education. During the Middle Ages manuscripts were a useful source of knowledge but when printed books became available from the fifteenth century onwards a much wider range of learning could be acquired by those who sought it. The Bible would certainly have been studied in detail by more people but many other areas of knowledge were made accessible too. In Elizabethan times, for example, the needs of sea captains were met by books on navigation, cartography, practical astronomy and geography. 

Fortunately we still have books, millions of them, from which we can learn about any subject for ourselves. Although libraries are under threat at the moment most of them are surviving and titles that are not on the shelves can easily be ordered. The arrival of the internet has not made books obsolete and nor is it likely to in the foreseeable future. What it has done, undeniably, is to give us a virtually unlimited capacity to explore, whenever we wish, every conceivable facet of knowledge that presently exists.

And let us not forget, that just as powerful as books and the internet, is that most enduring means of informal, self-education: learning from other people. In conversations, in activities relating to shared interests and at meetings of any number of different societies we learn from those who willingly share their knowledge and expertise. 

Self-education has been an impressive achievement for individuals and society in the past and it continues to flourish. To my mind iti s proof that human beings have an instinctive need to learn and an instinctive need to satisfy their curiosity. It is why so many people read books, watch television documentaries and go into Wikipedia and why, also, they join local history societies and wildlife organisations. 

They are doing what people have been doing throughout history – they are forever learning; whether formally or informally and whether for the purpose of learning a skill, for personal fulfilment or for acquiring a set of values. This has been the achievement of education. It has always had its shortcomings and we know that improvements can still be made but for the moment, just briefly, we can permit ourselves some self-congratulation for everything it has achieved for us. 

¹ A hornbook was a teaching aid consisting of a leaf of paper showing the alphabet,and often the ten digits and the Lord’s Prayer, mounted on a wooden tablet and protected by a thin plate of horn. Oxford Online Dictionary

²  The budget for education in the UK for 2012 is just over £93 billion.