I’ve been thinking about my kids and their return to school. Both of them have had quite different experiences of the last 7 weeks when it comes to school work and what might be called ‘engagement in learning’, and I think this is fairly typical of most households. It’s something that’s made me wonder about whether it might be useful to think about the difference between learning and education. Learning happens all the time, in any context. People go to school to ‘get’ an education.
The temptation, when so much time has been missed, is to see learning loss, and that triggers the urge to catch up with all it’s associated pressures and anxiety. By focusing on the deficit, it’s an approach that also says to kids there is little to no link between your life and school. We don’t have to think too hard about how the kids who didn’t really engage with education during lockdown will feel, no matter how much they’ve learned.
But what if you saw the lockdown as an opportunity to see the kids ‘in colour’? In this conception, the last 7 weeks have not been a time of lost learning, but instead a time of reduced focus on education.
The child of mine who paid scant regard to what was offered by the teacher has had a rich experience during lockdown, an experience full of art and dance, of play, of stories, of connecting with family, of baking, of being active, of being curious about the natural world, of helping out with jobs. A lot has been learned. To bring the focus back to education, would it not be valuable to hear that story and give the learning experience some names? If we do this we get: the arts, PE, literacy, science, maths, the key competencies.
What impact does giving the learning experience a name have? What opportunities does it open up?
I wish you all and your students the very best as the new education year begins.
In the ‘live chat’ on Wednesday evening, 7-8, we’ll explore what you’ve found over the last 3 days, and what opportunties that brings.