Well now I have your attention..of course every child matters, but more and more I am beginning to believe that not every school can cater for every child! I applaud the many schools who have provided for children with special needs whether that be learning, disability or behaviour related. I applaud the schools who achieve against the odds of poverty, crack head parents, disillusioned teachers and other things which get in the way of allowing students to being the best they can be. But the truth (for me at least) is that some young people are just not meant for school.
I have been involved in youth development for the last twenty one years. This has been through various forms of speaking, coaching and mentoring young people, working with schools, parents and students alike to support, encourage, discipline and provide boundaries for their present and their future. Whilst in the main I engage many students through my speeches, workshops and one to one interactions there are some who just hate school and have no desire to be there at all. The reasons for this are legion but rather than papering over the cracks on this or just dumping “unmanageable” students into pupil referral units or at worst just excluding them more emphasis should be placed on why we are loosing these children and what we can and should do about it. How can you really be full on in ensuring every child matters if some of those children are not really supposed to be there?
One of the post popular videos at the TED Conferences has been Sir Ken Robinson’s, I like him. Not only is he is funny but he raises some great questions about innovation and creativity and how, in school, we often stamp the creativity out of students. Sir Ken highlights the current focus in schools at the moment with its heavy emphasis on the logical subjects (maths, science and english?) means that some students will just not tune in. Another great communicator is Dan Roam of Digital Roam. Whilst watching a video of his a few weeks back he made a salient point that many students enter school able to draw but are then taught to write. They end up leaving school varying writing abilities however, their previously, adequate drawing abilities will have diminished rather than improved. Dan’s company taps into getting, mainly, businesses to start thinking about using drawing for problem solving and processes, enabling them to rediscover the passion they had as students when they doodled on/in their books in class.
I mention these two examples because in many schools with so much emphasis on league tables and threats of closure for those who can’t achieve a certain social grade, it might be time to revisit how we educate our students and be prepared to admit that we can’t handle some, or at least provide a way of being able to embrace the most challenging students.
In addition to my own programmes I have had the pleasure of working with a number of other agencies who are also passionate about change in education. Ironically many of the coaches, facilitators and trainers I work with were tough cookies in school. Some left early, some were excluded, some were hell on earth and even I was “unofficially” suspended from school. In that sense we understand why many of the more challenging students are the way they are. That is why when we are responsible for their learning we allow them to be leaders, give them responsibility, create a platform for change, and challenge them head on. The thing is we are usually only around for a few hours or at most a day and because of the nature of our businesses we cannot sustain nurturing those rough diamonds as much as we would like to. However, the glimmer of hope we see in the eyes of young people who have been told they have no hope is what drives us on to continue working with schools to ensure that change for these young people is effected.
History is peppered with many drop outs from school some are tragic whilst others are successful. As always the underlying issue is a matter of adequate resources to maintain and support those who learn differently or come from very different backgrounds. For some people whether it is a matter of policy, family pride or whatever public school, as it stands, is not for every child. Some are better home schooled and still others do need to pursue just vocational or creative courses.
Every child Matters. 100% agree, but not every school is equipped to ensure that this is so.
Filed under: Youth , Dan Roam, Every Child Matters, school, Sir Ken Robinson, Students, TED Talks
This is a really poigant article, indeed, does every child matter in schools. I think changes in education has stretched teacher beyond what they first imagined teaching was about and the ECM agenda has hit school and colleges hard!. They have had to look at their delviery and how it meets these outcome. I recently attend a PSHE conference and whilst networking with other teachers, I was suprised to find that alongside their subject specialism, they also have the added responsibility to coordinate and often teacher PSHE. I whole heartedly agree with the ECM agenda and a framework for improving outcomes for children and young people but effective delivery and understand of its implication in the individual child is of greater importance.
Having experience both aspect of the education system, students aren’t actively nutured to be creative and when a child ‘ steps outside of the box’ a the label is stamped on them!. I think parents are also become disillusioned about education and it’s ability to meet their child’s individual need. More and more parent are opting for a Home Education Program where mainstream schooling fails to meet their needs. I can certainly testify for the benefit of this option having witnessed a major shift in the aptitude and academic ability of my niece and nephews.
In sum, Every Child Matters is great in principle, it needs to be implemented effectively to meet the needs of EVERY child.What’s also good to see that educationalist have consider and are adapting these outcomes to meet the needs of disabled child under Every Disabled Child Matters ( EDCM). Undoubtedly this will continue to be tall order for some scchools.
I was one of those kids who academically struggled and at the time hated the whole school experience. Some kids are not suited to school, you’re right, the question is one of identification and then pathways: how would these young people be ‘vetted’ and what other options would be made available to them?
You’ve already highlighted a couple of specific people trying to tackle the issue and I would also like to add in the work of Stephen Heppell – who is also challenging the current system and offering ideas of his own about timetabling, breaking down class and age silos plus the topic hierarchy.
Maybe the challenge for you is to get together with the guys referenced and propose a longer pilot model of some sort which could be replicated?