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teachers?
I propose that we should decouple the school curriculum from the national
examination content and allow teachers to educate the whole child during
school hours, with tuition providers teaching after school for exam
success. A voucher system or similar should be in place to help the needy
with the tuition costs.
Lowered status of teachers in Sri Lanka and the world
In Sri Lanka, teaching is seen as an easy place to park unemployed
graduates irrespective of their suitability for teaching children. Politicians
walk into school and threaten teachers. Education officials act like
zamindaris. Worst of all, teachers who produce a few winners at public
examinations are adulated while those who work to develop the whole child
as expected of an educationist are ignored. Worst, tuition masters who are
better at preparing students exam are revered above all.
In a 2015 report titled Rethinking education: towards a global common
good, UNESCO reports that the latest trends show a continued deprofessionalisation or a lack of recognition of teachers as professionals at all
levels. The agency recommends that we ensure that teachers and
educators are empowered, adequately recruited, well-trained,
professionally qualified, motivated and supported within well-resourced,
efficient and effectively governed systems.
One cannot argue with these recommendations, but, how do we get there is
the question. The report goes on to identify austerity measures and poor
accountability as the overarching reasons for low status of teachers, but,
ground reality suggest otherwise.
Prevalence of tuition is the elephant
in the room
Sadly, the analysis of UN in regard to the
low status of teachers is off the mark.
The aspirational definition of a school
according to the 1996 Delors Report of
UNESCO is a place where one learns to
know, to do, to be and to live together,
the four pillars of learning. Essentially the
school is supposed to be a place where
you develop the whole child, not just a
place to impart knowledge and skills.
However, as the 2015 UNESCO report
notes the four pillars of learning are
fundamentally under threat in the
context of current societal challenges,
and particularly the pillars of learning to be and to live together, which best
reflect the socialisation function of education.
The reasons are largely external, I believe, not financial or administrative,
as UNESCO suggests. Schools and teachers function in an extremely
competitive environment where every parent aspires for the best for their
children and the best is measured by success at examinations. Private
tuition providers are better at preparing children for exams. The UN or
policy makers at the national level view tuition as a mere nuisance, but, it is
a defining attribute of modern education.
Examinations-driven education is not going to go away any time soon. In
Finland and other European countries children may not be under pressure
to perform at examinations, but, the reasons are deeply embedded in the
socio-cultural values of those societies.
The USA is struggling to incorporate standardised test to into its highly
decentralised and unique form of education. Countries in Asia, in contrast,
have embraced and thrived on examination-based education systems.
In Sri Lanka, the Central School system of the fifties was able to give a
holistic education with exam success as one component. With increased
participation of the population in schooling, public examinations have
become more competitive and schools have slipped in their responsibility to
educate the whole child in face of pressures to teach for exams.
Teachers are not trained to teach for
exams. Examinations today require
intensive coaching to be provided by
specialists. Even in a well-funded
education system such as South Korea,
almost all students continue their studies
after school in tuition classes which are
famously known as Hagwons. That is the
reality.
Teaching for examination success
and teaching to develop the whole
child cannot co-exist
Tuition is viewed by parents as an evil
necessity and by policymakers as a social
ill to be eradicated. On the part of
policymakers it is a losing battle. IN
Korea, for example, education authorities
have resigned themselves to the
necessity of Hagwons and now focus on
limiting their operations 10 p.m.
However, there is still the wide-spread
hope that better funding, better training
etc. will make schools more competitive and parents will have no reason
send their children to a second private session which essentially cover the
same material in the school curriculum.
Policy makers are hoping against hope, I believe. It is time to accept the
reality that teaching for examination success and teaching to develop the
whole child are two different objectives that cannot co-exist.
whole child
Teachers are empowered when they provide a service that others without
their training could not. If the time at school is devoted to activity-based
learning which are aimed to give the students a range personal and citizen
competencies, it is an education which both families and society benefit in
the long run.
Performance measures will no longer be based on success of students at
public examinations. The responsibility of the teacher would be to ensure
that each and every child receives the basic knowledge, skills and attitudes
needed to function in society. There are already methods to assess and
reward teachers in that regard. More on that later.
Vouchers for needy families to cover tuition costs; overtime pay for
teachers
According to the Household Income and Expenditure survey, families
already pocket out a significant amount of money for tuition. If after school
tuition is recognised as being necessary for passing the national
examinations, schools can provide top up classes for students. The teachers
should be paid should be paid overtime for their services. Schools could
combine their efforts to pick the best teachers to give after school tuition.
If parents feel their children need to be more competitive they would be
free to send their children to private tuition classes with the Government
including a tuition subsidy for deserving parents. This way the whole
education process will not be corrupted by an examination system where
intense competition to get to the top has made intensive coaching an
imperative.
Posted by Thavam