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Wednesday 2 January 2002
You are in the company of Roger Warren Evans

Education Secretary Estelle Morris makes much of having been a working teacher for eighteen years. And there is no doubting her commitment to her brief, her commitment to the cause of improving “education”. Today, she hits the headlines for her plan to give teachers more lesson-planning time, within the school day. She is reported in the Guardian , to whom she recently gave a full interview . There is no doubting the seriousness of her intent, or the Government’s preoccupation with “raising standards” of formal education, in the traditional skills. Niggling doubts remain, however, about Government strategy. In a narrow academic sense, I do not fault it. In terms of improving the formal learning processes, the Government’s literacy and numeracy initiatives show every sign of having assisted the weakest pupils, enabling them to take full advantage of secondary education. Those improvements should be consolidated and maintained. And it is right that at secondary level, special talents should be cultivated in all schools, and resource provision made accordingly.   Yet is that enough? What if the real need is now to develop our schools, as institutions for the general maturation of the young? What if the narrow “teaching/learning” mode of education, inherited from the Victorians, is too narrow a model for contemporary society? Problems of school indiscipline seem to be increasing. Outside the school, teenage vandalism is an ugly phenomenon that must be addressed. Marital breakdown disrupts the education of many children. Child poverty remains a problem, as children struggle with inadequate home diets, and schools rely increasingly on parental donations. The superficial doctrine of “parental choice” continues to wreak havoc with our secondary school system, entrenching social divisions. We currently define “schools” in terms of teaching and learning. That is their core business . And the teaching profession has developed, historically, to service that model – that is their “trade”.   Back to today's Home Page

Yet in my view, “schools” are now called upon to play a much wider societal role, in helping our children to reach maturity, in all aspects of personal development, right up to the age of eighteen. Marital breakdown has weakened the family, as a support for maturing children. The extended family, with its legendary network of uncles and aunts, is now a rare phenomenon. Religious institutions no longer play a distinctive supportive role. This has created a real vacuum in our society. The institutional cupboard is bare. True, efforts are being made to develop compensatory systems. Fostering, adoption, and residential care are expanding, with varying degrees of success. The Courts are also important, sadly, in helping to identify and address teenage misconduct, with varying degrees of success. It is this context that “schools” are called upon to play a much bigger role. Indeed, they are the primary “public” societal institution available for this purpose. Within that broader role, teaching/learning would continue to be important, but not dominant. Indeed, future school “Heads” might be drawn from professions and backgrounds other than teaching. The “lesson curriculum” would be only a “Division”, within a secondary school. The “pastoral care” role (too often disparaged by the teaching profession) would come to the fore, supplemented by youth workers, psychologists, psychiatrists, and probation officers. Schools would routinely offer free breakfasts, and provide after-school facilities, both for study and other non-curricular activities (hobbies, games). The key function of careers advice, which was taken away from professional teachers in the 1980s because they never took it seriously, would be reintegrated into the life of the school. Sports, music and drama would figure much more prominently, as the academic curriculum component was reduced. Prowess at “lessons” would be kept in its proper, subordinate, place. All round maturity, the ability to survive in life, in terms of both confidence and basic skills, would constitute the principal criterion of educational success. Do you share that vision? The sense that the maturation of our young is too important to be left to teachers? If so, beware! Because ex-teacher Estelle Morris and the teaching professions will not like it. The professions have even opposed the Government’s modest proposals to introduce non-teacher “auxiliaries” into Britain’s classrooms. If the system were to be reformed in this direction, we would all have a fight on our hands. Drop me an E-line. Back to Diary Archive COPYRIGHT > The originating content of this website is my own work, and subject to my copyright. But on one condition only, I hereby given my consent to its unrestricted reproduction for any purpose: the condition is that its source is subject to proper acknowledgment, giving my name, my assertion of copyright, and the name of this website as it source, namely > www.warrenevans.net