THE TEACHER & SOCIETY

'ERT's 3rd Conference for Teachers, London, 30 November 2006'

What is the essence of being a good teacher? Why is it so hard to do today? How does society help or hinder teachers?

Most of the 75 people who attended our conference this time were heads and teachers from state primary schools in the London area – plus some from secondary and independent schools, and from further afield, trainee teachers, governors and others with personal or professional involvement in education.

Our theme was ‘The Teacher & Society’ –
What do teachers give? What are the social realities that make teaching more difficult? Are pupils less attentive? Or parents less supportive? Does society help or hinder teachers? How have teachers been respected in the past? And how do they contribute in developing countries?

So many questions – and not all to be answered conclusively in one day!

MORNING SESSION SUMMARY
‘ Does society hinder teachers? What can be done about it?’

After a warm welcome to all from David Boddy, a founding trustee of ERT and head of St James Independent School for Senior Boys, we heard from our 3 morning speakers.

Libby Purves, well-known journalist, author and broadcaster on education, had to pull out of being our opening speaker, due to the sad death of her son – which she has written about in The Times.

Robin Woodhead, who took over the first slot, was chosen as a first-rate speaker and experienced head of the widely-praised Worksop Priory Church of England Primary School in Nottinghamshire. He is a cousin of the former chief inspector of schools, Chris Woodhead, but tells us that he and his cousin disagree on a number of things!

WHY IS GOOD TEACHING SO HARD TO DO TODAY?

Some major reasons and ways to address them:

· Children are bombarded with sensory stimuli from all quarters. As a result they require significant stimulation to engage them with their learning.
A good teacher needs to be dynamic, an Oscar-nominated performer.

· At home children are increasingly adept at talking above the sound of CDs, Game Boys, TV and PCs, often several at once.
As a result:
a) children ignore a lot of sounds around them including people talking to them.
b) they are poor at listening, at being quiet and at taking a quiet time to think.
c) they compete openly for being heard in the classroom.
Consequently the teacher has to apply a far more stringent code of conduct than previously needed in order to maintain appropriate behaviour for learning.

· Children’s home lives are more disrupted. A greater incidence of separation and divorce means an increasing number of children affected by disintegrating family units. There is a clear correlation with performance in school during the initial period of upset.

· Parenting is poorer. Higher levels of teenage pregnancy. Often young parents are totally unprepared to take up the significant responsibility of rearing children. Too often they lose control of their children and expect the school to manage the resulting behavioural problems.
Run parenting groups.

· Respect for authority from parents has declined. Often the parents will blame the school for behavioural problems that in fact have begun at home.
Heads must support and protect their staff to ensure they do not suffer harassment or abuse. Once the school’s stance is understood, incidents will diminish.
Parents want their children to stay at a good school and will therefore back off.

· Children are less respectful.
They mirror unacceptable traits witnessed at home and in the community.
What works at Priory school is a zero-tolerance policy for any form of antisocial or disrespectful behaviour.
The School Council presents a charter to pupils each term to reinforce expectations.
RW tells children ‘when you are talking to any member of staff you are talking to me’.

· Over-prescription by the state. Schools suffer from initiative overload which puts severe pressure on management. This cascades down onto teachers and then children.
Create ‘Not to do’ lists rather than ‘To do’ lists.
Allow more talking and thinking time which will have a positive effect on learning.
Jim Knight, the Minister for Schools, said in May 06 that schools should have a period of stability, ‘We can do more by doing something less’.

· There has been too great an emphasis on SATs, exams, data and results. Profiles are more preoccupied with data than children. Creative subjects have become marginalised – the very subjects that spark enthusiasm, creativity and enjoyment.
Robin thinks that teachers in our schools are beginning to regain lost ground. With the full support of Heads, they should be encouraged to ‘take those risks’ again that make education the spontaneous and exciting learning experience it always was and should be for our children. If it goes wrong, no matter: learn from it.

Good teaching requires energy, drive, vision, knowledge, courage, dedication and the ability to hold the attention and imagination of children. And at the same time, move them on to the next level of their understanding.

Teaching is one of the most challenging but rewarding professions.
It continues to be an exciting profession and those who feel the call should not be afraid of putting the ‘good’ back into teaching.

Teachers should stop worrying and do the job they were born to. That is, to excite children about their learning and make it a meaningful and enjoyable experience.

‘Teachers who love teaching, teach children to love learning.’

Our second speaker was Kim Nataraja, of the World Community for Christian Meditation.

THE PROBLEM OF ATTENTION IN EDUCATION AND WAYS TO ADDRESS IT

Kim’s presentation drew on her experience both as the International School Co-ordinator for the World Community for Christian Meditation, and her 34 years work training teachers in colleges of education. She began by emphasising how the lack of attention is one of the major constant factors of the world we live in, characterised by a technological bombardment that creates a fragmented, superficial arena where people are easily bored and need constant change and variety of stimuli. She spoke of how the idea of doing several things at once is admired, in contrast to sustaining a deep, concentrated attention on whatever work is in hand. It is this latter point, the power of attention, that is in fact the key to success. ‘You never forget the people who give you undivided attention. It’s a gift, a beautiful gift in a somewhat mad world’, she emphasised. The need for teachers is to become a still point of focus and attention for the children.

The World Community for Christian Meditation has developed a scheme for teaching both children and their teachers techniques of meditation, and Kim has recently headed up a new project based in Townsville, Australia, where nine schools are introducing their children to meditation practice. It is already highly successful. This is a simple technique based on a silent repetition of a word or phrase - a holy word or a phrase from scripture. Their premise is that NOT paying attention is learned behaviour, so it can be unlearned.

The work they are doing is supported by scientific evidence from research carried out on young children that reveals that during the years between 2-5, a child operates almost entirely from the ‘right’ brain where the alpha and theta brain waves are dominant, and which is considered an area of ‘higher, or unity consciousness’. As the ego naturally develops, and the child learns to become more independent, beta waves, the ‘thinking’ waves, become more pronounced. This is the development of the logical, rational thinking of the left brain. It is this that is emphasised at the primary level in the work of the National Curriculum, and through this side of the brain competitiveness, aggression and assertiveness is developed. The right brain activity – emotion, feeling, creativity and intuition – tends to be down-played and is not always valued, Kim suggested. She spoke of encouraging a kind of playful attention, an intelligent attention that seeks to find the joy in things, and quoted Simone Weil’s statement, ‘Joy in learning is as indispensable as breathing in running’. It is this kind of attention that is the spiritual aspect of the human. Furthermore, through practising this single pointed attention, a child or person can come to experience compassion, a connectedness of love. Kim finished her talk by reminding us that anything that increases experience of love and compassion has to be of value in today’s world.

The final morning speaker, Dr Anthony Naylor, is Principal of St Mary’s University College, Twickenham, where a third of the students are trainee teachers. He also sits on the General Teaching Council for England. He told us that, if anything, the degree of commitment among new teachers has improved in recent times.

WHO IS COMING INTO THE TEACHING PROFESSION?

St Mary’s was established in 1850 to provide education for poor children of Catholic faith, most of whom were second generation immigrants.

Working ahead of its time, (Westminster Cathedral was not to be built for another 44 years), it sought to provide service to the community and saw teaching as a divine calling.

Dr Naylor told us that the context of the initial training has changed with different routes into the profession now available.

There are now greater incentives to become a teacher and more competitive entry which has resulted in higher quality training with positive promotion of teaching as a career. To use Arthur’s words, there are plenty of ‘Golden Hello’s’ available.

The Post Graduate Certificate of Education (PGCE) courses at St Mary’s have waiting lists and have been the recipient of Ofsted inspections every year for ten years. As a result, the College receives good promotional status with the Training Development Agency.

Interestingly, the National Foundation for Education Research states as its motivational criteria for teachers that they will want to:

- Work with children,
- Expect intellectual stimulus,
- Make a positive contribution to society.

A survey undertaken by the students however, showed they were, perhaps, more interested in the salary, promotion possibilities, and holidays, although working with children did get a mention!

All in all this was deemed not to have changed much over the years.

Of more concern, is the fact that despite recruitment being strong, the sciences, (particularly physics and chemistry) and maths, remain unpopular subjects.

Also, as the table below shows, the recruitment of males in 2006, especially at primary level, is severely unbalanced in relation to females.

The average age for a PGCE course is now 28 with several students having done something else first, often in business or law.

* * * *

Following questions and discussion with the speakers, we then all moved to the refectory in the basement of the building, to sit down and eat an excellent cooked lunch – provided by Art of Hospitality, and free of charge to participants, like the conference itself.

AFTERNOON SESSION SUMMARY
What do good teachers contribute to society?

Valery Rees, scholar and broadcaster, was our opening speaker in the afternoon. She has just completed her PhD thesis on Marsilio Ficino, the great spiritual teacher and neo-Platonist of the Italian Renaissance, and she is a leading member of the Renaissance Department of the School of Economic Science. She’s also a regular panellist on ‘In Our Time’, Melvyn Bragg’s BBC Radio 4 discussion programme.

What follows is our summary of the first part of Valery’s very full and extensive talk.
To read the full text, click here. We recommend it for a very illuminating and inspiring read.

THE STATUS OF TEACHERS FROM PLATO TO THE PRESENT

In an ideal world, pupils are eager to learn. Teachers are keen to teach, and to share learning with their pupils. Society honours the teacher’s work, and new pupils flock to him or her.

Is this your daily experience? Have you had a taste of this, at least?
Why is it so rare? Is it a dream? Or is it the natural state of affairs?
How was it in the past?
Can we regain today some of that honour and enthusiasm?

In Ancient Egypt, family members or neighbours were the informal teachers of practical skills. But formal education was reserved to the priests – literature and clerical skills, science, astronomy, medicine and accountancy flourished. The Pharaoh was the highest priest, and all priests had high status. Similarly in early Chaldean society, in the Middle East, the Magi – for instance, the Three Kings of Christmas – had charge of knowledge of nature, philosophy, and priestly functions. So teachers had status, but only for being priests. They might have been good teachers, or they might have been bad.

Ancient Greece had a more secular education, linked to the welfare of society as a whole, the ‘polis’. Some schools taught reading, writing, music or mathematics. Some taught skills of power-mongering and persuasion. Some teachers are reported as exemplary – such as Pythagoras, who was held in great reverence, and whose school for adults taught mathematics, reasoning, and moral values. He also gave much attention to geometry, philosophy, and restoring the soul through music.

Plato was a teacher of the young, using methods drawn from Socrates – of dialogue between teacher and pupil. Great respect for Socrates has lasted right through Christian Europe – respect for his integrity (teaching what he knew to be true), for his humility and generosity (seeking nothing for himself, and helping students to the limits of his ability), and for dedication and a sense of duty. He understood education as training pupils to use their minds, to understand, and to think for themselves.

(…………Valery went on to tell us of the different nuances to being a good teacher in the societies of the Indian and Judaic traditions, in the Dark Ages and the Renaissance, right through to England in the 19th century. Here are some of the inspiring quotations from the 20th century with which her talk ended, and her inspiring finish. Do go on to read her text in full, with all its wisdom.)

Mahatma Ghandi said :
‘ The way a society values its teachers reflects its fundamental assumption about itself.’

Abraham Joshua Hempel said :
‘ Everything depends on the person who stands in front of the classroom…. the teacher is the creator of the future of our people.’

Joseph Schwab said :
‘ The teacher wants his students to possess a knowledge or skill in the same way that he possesses it, as a part of his best-beloved self…… He wants to convey not merely what he knows, but how he knows it and how he values it’.

Valery said ‘I wish good fortune in this to each and every one of you.’

Dr Steve Commins was our last speaker. With wide experience advising on children in the international relations area, for aid and development charities, and for the World Bank, Steve is now an academic, with posts at the University of California and in Washington DC.

HOW EDUCATION TRANSFORMS SOCIETY IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES

Education is not an industrial assembly line. Education is about preparing for life not achieving a particular grade. All Steve’s experience as parent, as a teacher and working at the World Bank confirms this.

Western education systems have become dangerously obsessed with processing & packaging students to get through exams.

His experience across the world had taught him that education needs to concern itself with each of the following if it is to be of any use in developing complete human beings:-

1. each child is unique and each child’s path is different – education has to have a wide enough view to see this;

2. civilization – a good idea, as Gandhi remarked - but it depends on teaching the whole person;

3. moral responsibility – responsibility for the consequences of one’s actions - one of the most important things to teach today especially in the context of one country giving assistance to another. (E.g. do you feed the refugees who may have warlords amongst them or do you let them starve? There is no clear right or wrong answer.)

4. There will always be conflict – part of the human condition – the important thing to teach is peaceful and constructive ways to resolve conflict. This is a vital human skill.

5. The importance of critical thinking.

It has been orthodox belief since the Second World War that economic growth will sooner or later deliver a good society for all. This is no longer so strongly believed. Spending money does not always buy results. Education is not ‘value neutral’. High enrolment in schools is of little use if little learning is going on, if an irrelevant curriculum has been imposed from on high or if corruption means that only a small part of the school budget is actually spent on education.

Economic development alone is not enough. The core of all development is HUMAN development. Yes, economic development requires education, if it is to be sustained. Around the world, the chief aim has been to raise children out of poverty. But now we need to think about developing the young – so that they can truly develop their own societies in the future.

When societies are in crisis or an emergency, the first thing to do is to provide food, medical services, and shelter. But the very next priority is to set up schools, however informal. This gives the reassurance of normality to children, and to their families. Even teaching just simple life skills, with the teacher setting a good example of informed helping, it gives hope for future improvement.

We all know that, often, children know more than we do, and sometimes teach us much more than we teach them. Fostering tolerance, and respect for knowledge, promoting social cohesion and peace – these are good aims for education. Values are involved in all good education – not just educating as many as possible, but aiming for excellence of learning.

Dr Commins concluded with these lessons from a world wide view of education:-

1. The role of the teacher is vital – wherever there are good, well motivated, well supported teachers, schools flourish all over the world. For example, this is as true of Cambodia as of the USA.

2. The obsession with tests in the developed world is closing off areas of spiritual, emotional and physical development for children which education ignores at its peril

3. Education should also be about access and inclusion – if society is to learn how to look after the disabled properly, it needs to do so at schools.

* * * *

Again there was a question and discussion session for the speakers to respond to points from the audience. And following Steve Commins’ widening of our vision to the whole of humanity, we all had a cup of tea, and left for home with a spring in our steps.

If you would like to come to one of our conferences, please email admin@ert.org.uk. Both audiences and speakers often tell us that at the end of the day, instead of feeling tired, they feel more energetic and uplifted than when they came in! We look forward to meeting you.

With grateful thanks to rapporteurs Richard Barnes, Ann David, Debra Levy, Dorothy Venables and Laura Woodhead. And of course to the speakers and delegates.

Education Renaissance Trust, December 2006