Education: it’s all about the teachers
Tuesday, September 23rd, 2008Could Teachable’s resources could replace teachers entirely one day? That’s what I’ve been asked over the last few months, and I can see where they’re coming from. We do have lots of excellent resources for pupils to work through in their own time, and some with very self-contained information (see Balancing Forces or How Fast is Tennis for examples). Where is the need for a teacher?
Well, I believe that the teacher’s role even more important in modern classrooms. No quality resource is able to engage, stimulate and correct in the same way with an incompetent teacher as with an excellent teacher. It is the person at the front of the classroom that inspires children to learn, and makes sure that everyone gets something out of the class.
Today, two reports were published which show what an increasing focus in the UK on testing, rather than teaching techniques, is doing to classroom standards. Professor Peter Tymms, in his report on Perspectives on Education: Primary Science points out that
‘Despite the pass rates, research suggests few students acquire a proper understanding of the science curriculum.
The purpose of science in primary schools should be to foster a sense of curiosity and positive attitudes in the young child. We suspect that the current national approach to science in primary schools is not impacting on children’s scientific thought and curiosity.’
In science especially, but in other subjects as well, teaching the concepts is more important that listing the facts for rote learning. It is the creative and patient teacher who communicates these concepts, not the textbook or video.
On a lighter note, I also read a good tongue-in-cheek comment on a Guardian article about a school employing sixth-formers to help out in classrooms. This is what you get if you take penny-pinching ad absudium:
‘Notes towards modest proposals for reducing the tedious burden of education, education, education upon the public purse.
Teachers: horribly expensive (you have to pay a fortune for staff when they have all those damn qualifications), politically difficult, and rather bolshy. OK so they are fully qualified but do we really need qualified people? Look at those reality programmes on TV. Surely anyone can do anything if you give them a go? Maybe this whole qualification thing is just a stitch-up? Do we really need intelligent, qualified people in the loop? Can there really be any better qualification for anything than the university of life?
Classroom assistants: Much, much cheaper. Happy to be there, happy to help. Lovely people. Not always the brightest stars in the universe and can be a bit dubious on issues such as politics, religion and race, but jolly amenable.
Sixth Formers: Always short of a few quid, so even cheaper and no worries about accidentally employing sex offenders as they’ll be too young to have done anything to get them on the register yet. Dirt cheap.
Caretakers: Always on hand and happy not to be clearing up after the little horrors. Always best to double check their CV by phone though in case the local rozzers’ BBC Micro crashed on the out-of-county perv checks.
Parents: Always complaining about what gets taught and how, so why not get your revenge and have them teach. An hour trying to keep control is usually enough for them: after giving untold sermons on what teachers should be doing, they flee back home complaining about behaviour standards. I agree. I blame the parents.
Still, if we could implement ‘distributed teaching’, send the parents a few FAQs and leave them to it. The wealthy ones can employ tutors if they want. The rest will have to make-do with Wikipedia, Freeview and the net. Given that they copy most of their homework from online sources already, it shouldn’t make much difference. Much cheaper though. Massively reduced education costs. Think of the value of the land for resale. The kids with drive can hit the net and learn for themselves and the rest can be cheap cannon fodder for the job market.’
I hope you all feel confident now that teachers will still be in-demand as far as we can see.
Last week was the annual British Association Festival of Science in Liverpool. Among the cutting-edge science on display there were some great ideas to inspire your science lessons. Here is a quick round-up: