EDUCATION FOR THE GOOD SOCIETY - Support

2 Adrian Elliott, State SchoolsSince the 1950s: The Good News,Trentham Books, 2007, p.50.• lifelong learning – learning throughout thelife course• fairness and equality for all• a broad, liberal curriculum and qualificationsystem that promotes self-discovery and thepublic good and that values equally vocationaland academic, formal and informal learning.A school system capable of supporting suchchange will require both reform of the formaleducation system and a greater capacity for theself-organisation of education by the community,civil society organisations and individuals. Thismeans going beyond the forms of state educationthat we have experienced to date. Education fortransformation cannot be rooted solely withinthe state as it is currently constructed. Providingthey reflect the vision set out above and promotethe public good rather than education as acommodity, schools might take a diversity offorms including, for example, the schools oracademies sponsored by the RSA, Edge, theCo-op and Nottingham University.2 Challenge received wisdomsTo help pave the way for viewing the world ina different way, through new spectacles, it isnot sufficient to offer a coherent and inspiringvision. In addition, we have to challenge thetruths that people take for granted. We have tolift the curtain on anomalies and misconceptions.The theatrical analogy is very deliberate becauseit is often best drawn through telling stories andhumour, backed up by research evidence andfacts.Here are two examples of received wisdoms,which can be challenged.Increasingly, the debate about schoolinghas been reduced to a polarised dispute aboutstandards and behaviour, with the main politicalparties presenting themselves as the championsof unremitting classroom learning. Yet someof the most successful exemplars of learningare those private schools that pride themselveson educating the whole person, with a broadcurriculum that stresses excellence in art, sport,extra-curricular clubs and external visits. Thatmore holistic and enlightened vision is surelyevery young person’s entitlement, rather thanthe narrow diet of book learning on offer inmany schools. Ironically, it is this more progressivecurriculum that is more likely to be theeducational experience of Conservative cabinetministers rather than the narrow version of theBaccalaureate they now want to impose on stateschools.Although only a tiny minority can talk fromfirst-hand experience about grammar schools,they have achieved an epic status that is totallyat odds with the reality. Above all, there is totalignorance of their failure to help any but a tinyminority of mainly well off kids. Only 20 percent of children went to grammar schools inthe 1950s and 1960s, few of these were workingclass and 40 per cent of unskilled working classpupils left without a single O-level in 1954. Outof 9000 children whose progress was tracked forthe Crowther Report, only 23 from unskilledbackgrounds ended up with two A-levels. 2 Thenostalgia for the grammar school is imperviousto evidence such as this. Much better to demonstratethe way the system actually operates incounties as such as Buckinghamshire and Kentat the expense of the vast majority of children instate schools. What would you prefer for yourchild: to have failed the 11 plus in a grammarschool county or to attend a successful comprehensiveor academy?3 Build faithAnd this leads us to the importance of buildingfaith that a new way is possible. Often it is notthe logic or reasoning or lack of evidence thatprevents people changing their viewpoint, it is thefear of the unknown and the uncertainty of howsomething new will affect them. On the whole,the middle classes in our society fare pretty wellin educational terms, whatever their individualviews or philosophy might be. Yet they need to bereassured that change is in their interests. Here,personal accounts may carry more weight thanabstract arguments, showing why the universityroute does not suit all young people, demonstratingthat practical, hands-on learning canoften lead to more satisfying career options.Working class parents, even if they often haveless to lose, similarly need to be convinced thata step away from the familiar will benefit theirchildren. Building faith is all about the continualrelaying of stories of how things can be donedifferently and great success achieved. There54 | www.compassonline.org.uk