Year upon year, education undergoes transition and is consistently a field of heated debate. There are varying opinions and questions concerning how best to prepare children for the future, amongst which one of them, perhaps one of the first to answer, is 'what is the point of school?'
Many believe that the point of school is, above all, to prepare children for the future. That being said, no-one can be sure what the world will be like in 30 years, except for the fact that it will be different. Beyond certain skills such as the basic literacies of language, maths and digital technology, it is hard to say what skills or knowledge children are going to need.
Sometimes you don't know what you've got until it's gone. A teacher from St Swithun's School in Winchester recently carried out some 'what if' exercises with groups of Year 6 pupils, one of which was 'what if there were no school?'. The pupils were left to entertain this hypothetical scenario in their own minds and to come up with their own consequences. Towards the top of their list were 'we wouldn't have any friends' and 'we wouldn't know how to get on with other people', closely followed by 'we would be lonely'.
It is clear to see from this that children appreciate the importance of developing socially. The ability to collaborate is paramount for children to learn, and the interactive nature of school is something which gives children more confidence and the ability to adapt to situations with more ease.
Two further consequences from St Swithun's were 'we would get bored' and 'we wouldn't be able to be in plays or play sport'. School provides children with the opportunity to engage in new experiences and to build on their existing ones. These experiences help young people develop the capacities that they need to thrive individually, within family and friend contexts, as well as in their local and national communities.
Underpinning all of these points so far is the final consequence highlighted by the Year 6s: 'we wouldn't learn anything'. One cannot deny the fact that children come to school to learn. But do children really need a teacher when they've got Google? Isn't learning just about finding the right answer to a question? Not so.
Another point of school is that it is a dynamic, malleable organism ever-striving for the best in giving children opportunities to learn. Nowadays schools know that 'learning' is not just about memorising facts. Learning is an active process by which one acquires knowledge or skills through experience, practice, study or by being taught. The best teachers are those who also see themselves as learners, constantly appraising the effectiveness of their lessons and approaches to creating enriching, multisensory learning environments.
Some may question the point of schools as they can be seen to 'constrain' children to the classroom. When asked about their own experience of 'school', one of the first images that will come to an adult's mind is either who their teacher was or what their classroom looked like. If today's adult generation were to take a look around modern-day schools, they would see that the scope of learning expands beyond the classroom into the school grounds and beyond the school gates into the real world, embracing authentic learning challenges in different contexts. Children and teachers team up to explore different cultures, peoples and nations, to discover the wonders of the natural world, to investigate their own history and cultural heritage and much more. A Year 1 pupil, Alex, who was in my class at my first placement school, was a passionate yet shy artist. Gearing learning experiences to cater for his interests has started a process of him really coming out of his shell. Ultimately, the whole point of school is to be challenged; to test what you already know and to dare to dream and apply new knowledge and skills.
Finally, the 'point' of school is to give all children access to a high quality education. I have chosen to include a poem devoted to students with English as an Additional Language, an area about which I am very passionate, and something which I wouldn't have been able to do had I myself not gone to school:
People are born in lands near and far,
Some come by boat, some come by car,
They descend upon our island nation,
Seeking a high-quality education,
From Foundation Stage all the way to university,
Their arrival enriches our culture's diversity,
Just to give you an approximate guide,
We've 300 languages spread nationwide,
They come, of course, by their own volitions
From all sorts of backgrounds, with many traditions,
Some children are already right on the ball,
But others may not know our language at all,
As teachers, we need to ensure the support,
Is fitting for our polyglossic cohort,
For times when we don't know how to translate,
We may need to assign our EAL pupil a mate,
As befriending reduces cultural tension,
As well as ensuring fluid comprehension,
The best method for English is constant exposure,
The classroom the perfect linguistic enclosure,
It's useful to back up the vocab they learn
through picture books, think of the kudos you'll earn!
One key to success is differentiation,
A lack of which could risk causing frustration,
Don't just give them something to colour,
Oh my word, could you imagine anything duller?
If you keep it paced, fun and creative,
You'll find they soon start to sound like a native,
The best schools are those that regard the diverse,
As a blessing, and not a pedagogical curse,
Cos if you were abroad, in a different culture,
Would you want to be welcomed, or that they insult ya?
No, EAL pupils are not problematic,
Their learning, like a native's, is quite systematic,
There are tonnes of tips and tricks of the trade,
As you'll see from this interesting poem I've made,
So go on, go out and don't be scared,
To teach those who are slightly English impaired!
