Sign outside door reads
"Strictly Private. No admittance."
Hello, how did you get in? I was just about to turn off the lights, lock up for the night and go home. ......... Q?
Oh, he said to come over and ask a few questions did he? Probably thinks I've got more time answering than himself. ..... Q?
Yes there are just seven elements to his Re-Form model, but you've got to remember he spent twenty years in far north Queensland, a bit too close to the sun up there if you ask me. .....Q?
No I don't mean he's lost it, just that he seems to have a different perspective on how we should teach kids. .... Q?
Well he reckons they should have a big say in what they learn at school each day and in that way they'd stay interested in school, even love going to school again. .... Q?
Well a lot of kids and their teachers too have become fed up with so much testing and learning stuff that's of no use and no interest to them ...... Q?
Yes I know we have to know if they are learning enough but surely that's what teachers are taught to work out and fix up when necessary. ......Q?
Yes he's very critical of the current teacher eduction role of the universities and declares his Academies of Excellence for Teacher Education would be far better . Have you checked them out? ..... Q?
Mentors for all kids, from birth? No not another huge bureaucracy but just left in the hands of every school or school district to find the best model for its own particular clientele and then to find the best people for the job, maybe retirees, Children's Services people, retired teachers, plenty of options .......Q?
Well Multiage is by far the most efficient and effective method of grouping learners in school. It takes teaching to a new height when teachers can see the results of their hard work bloom and blossom over a three year span. It adds a dimension to human endeavour that a single grade classroom teacher can never experience. Also kids can learn as much from each other as from a teacher. When their relationship development is heavily nurtured, accountability for learning is on their own shoulders and bullying and the like diminished to zero "Learning to Learn" becomes a new paradigm ..... Q?
The "Set for Life" curriculum is a no brainer. Just imagine the power of learning across the three vital years of adolescence with the nineteen modules, stress free, adventure driven, in readiness for the final three to four years of heads down and tails up preparation for their adult life ahead, even the two Gap Years with the likelihood of a free University course an option ...... Q?
Look enough questions. I really have to lock up and get home. I'm sure if you were to take the time to go right through copycatchildren.org and then write out your most pressing questions he will find the time to meet and discuss them with you.
Lights out. I'm off and don't want to seem rude, but thanks indeed for calling in. Next time read the sign. I have a poem to finish, a deadline to meet. He drives a hard bargain.
See ya,
Barrington.
A - Teacher Training
The most important task of every society it that of the teacher. Choosing and then providing the very best training opportunities for such is the greatest challenge our nation currently faces. The forty eight institutions currently charged with that task have failed to provide that mighty task. Look to AETEs for success.
B- School based Mentors for all children.
Mentoring is a proven strategy, ensuring all children get the best start in life as possible and that their parents are given the total support and resources needed to raise healthy and happy children. School based Mentors should be a part of every child's life, from birth to Post School.
C - The early years of childhood
The first thousand days of every child's life sets the foundation for the life that follows. For all of the years before formal schooling commences every child's life must be carefully nurtured to ensure the following years will indeed bring happiness and success to every child, whether at school, or not.
D - Primary school years
The six years of primary schooling must ensure all children are adequately equipped to manage the world about them and to interact in a positive and purposeful way, learning how to best find their place in their society. "Learning to learn" must be its priority, which surely means learning to think, clearly and purposefully.
E - The "Set for Life Curriculum" for the Puberty years.
The greatest period of change and growth in every child's life, after the initial thousand days of early childhood, are the thousand days of their puberty development; their early adolescence, when Sex Drugs and Rock and Roll become a reality. This stage of development must not be left to the whims and greed of Social Media.
F - Senior secondary schooling for total success
The final three to four years of formal learning before embarking on life's career choices must be addressed with the full support and weight of society at large. During this phase of development there must be much greater choice available to explore and master with greater rewarding and life changing experiences, much more than a week at Schoolies!
G - Post school model, the Gap years.
On completion of twelve years of learning and preparation for life's opportunities and challenges young adults are now ready to follow the pathway they have chosen to pursue. The option of a university pathway with free tuition is offered to those who might choose to live a different life, experience a wide range of challenges during their two year "Gap Years", be certain of the possibilities of the pathway they have chosen.
Why should we look at a new model of education for Australian schools?
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The treadmill of schooling has changed little over the times since chronological age based grades began in 1848. One gets on it at about age five and gets off at about seventeen, twelve years relentless tread-milling, always forward, never stopping, never resting. Goals to reach, summits to conquer, that ATAR trophy to grasp and clutch, that "Schoolies week" to cherish forever. Having gone through a series of prescribed learning outcomes, some call syllabuses or subjects, and managing to attain a satisfactory score or grade at each predetermined level, one is fully prepared for the career or vocation or course of study that follows, allowing one to get off the treadmill and start to walk and run at one's own pace, hopefully without tripping over too often. And that's school, on a treadmill.
Of course many step off or fall off, or are even pushed off before it has travelled its predetermined number of steps, but we don't have time to ask "Why?" Maybe if we did we might. discover that the model we have is no longer doing its job as its creators had intended. They thought they might fix it in 1990 when they gave it the GERM makeover but it has continued to shudder and jerk, causing awful problems for everyone who might venture aboard.
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The full details of the model are in the seven pages of 'Our Vision'. Just seven steps to a model for the Info/Technological Revolution in which we all now live. We can no longer afford to educate for our future with a vision from the past. Schools must change the way they look to the future if we are to survive as a nation. They must decide what it is that AI can do, and do well, and also decide what it is that teachers can do, and do exceptionally well, so that AI is not a contender. Many subjects can be best taught by AI, but what children really need to know through developing relationships and character building can be best taught by teachers.
There's the difference.