Education, Heartbeat of a Nation - Policy Network

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Meanwhile, the demands of youngpeople are changing. A recent survey inmy country noted that 70 per cent ofyoung people at secondary level saidthey were bored. We need to addressthe mismatch between what turns onyoung people and how we teach.The key to success in modernising ourpublic services is to think about thefuture of the service from the point ofview of the consumer.First, what does the consumer need?Schooling in the 21st century has threegreat purposes: the transmission ofknowledge to young people, thebroadening of their horizons, and thedevelopment of their competence tolearn more in the future, in preparationfor a life of change. Education must bedesigned clearly for these purposes.Second, what are theirresponsibilities? Consumers ofeducation, young people, are notmerely shoppers in a great educationalmarketplace. They are also coproducers.It is true across publicservice: we are citizens withresponsibilities as well as consumerswith rights. We therefore face a dualresponsibility: not merely to designschooling around the interests of thelearner, but actively to engage thelearner in the process of learning.Third, what are the implications for thenature of service delivery of the focuson the learner? In education I thinkmost people would be surprised thatdespite the enormous advances ineducation and in technology over thelast 50 years the structure of schoolinghas hardly changed: large institutions,classes of 20-30 led by a singleteacher, lessons of 45 minutes or so.Yet this is the case, with remarkablylittle deviation around our country orbetween countries.Focus on LearningWhat we teach, how we teach and thesort of institutions in which childrenlearn are the keys to success.In the UK what we teach is set down inour National Curriculum. With twoexceptions, our curriculum is prettystable. In the future, we needsignificant upgrading of the vocationalquality of our 14-19 curriculum. Andthis year Citizenship became a newTo realise the visionof more personalisedteaching andlearning we mustembrace the chanceto do thingsdifferently. This is nota threat toprofessionalism but anew support for it.part of the national curriculum,ensuring entitlement for all 11 to 16year olds in England. According to thisblueprint there are three closely linkedelements of Citizenship: social andmoral responsibility, political literacy,community involvement. Each is acrucial building block in equippingyoung people to play their full part insociety today and to face the futurewith confidence. The flexibleprogramme of study sets out whatpupils will learn. For instance they willlearn about: legal and human rights;the electoral system and theimportance of voting; the role ofvoluntary organisations in theeconomy and the significance of themedia in society – to mention a few.vol 2.1 progressive politics 21
21st Century Public Services – David MilibandSchools have the freedom to decidethe best way to deliver this on theground.Our focus in raising standards istherefore on how we teach –supporting the teaching and learningexperience itself, and above allensuring that how we teach is basedon what we know about how childrenand young people learn.We know from experience andresearch what makes for successfulteaching and learning. Pace,excitement, variety, engagement –even fun – are the watchwords of thesuccessful lesson.From the teacher this demandsinteraction with students throughoutthe lesson. It requires a variety ofteaching approaches, with tasksclearly structured, questions askedand debated, and a constant focus onmeeting curriculum goals andenhancing the learning skills of thestudents.For the student it means a demandingcombination of rememberinginformation, understanding andinventing concepts, buildinghypotheses and testing them. It meansextracting information and ideas fromlectures and presentations. It meansbeing ready to take initiative inplanning personal study, and workingwith others in co-operative tasks.Teaching in the 21stCenturySince the foundation of teaching, thebalance between prescription andautonomy, and collaboration andindividualism, has been contested.Today there is demand for synthesis:personal responsibility for goodpractice allied to collaboration withother teachers and other staff todeliver results.In teaching it is isolation that for toolong has been the enemy ofimprovement. We must ensure thatteachers work together, work withother adults, and work with newtechnology, to crack problems inteaching practice: how to motivateboys, how to challenge lowexpectations, how to achieve gooddiscipline. No teacher should ever feelon their own when it comes to lessonTeaching todaymeans palm-tops,the Internet anddazzling digitalmedia.planning, dealing with unruly pupils,organising the class to ensure there isindividual attention. But this requires astep-change in at least six areas ofprofessional practice.First, teaching needs to make best useof all available technology. 100 yearsago this meant a desk and achalkboard. Today it means palm-tops,the Internet and the dazzlingpossibilities of digital media.In the UK our first challenges were tocut the price of connections, spreadhardware, train teachers and developsoftware. There has been significantprogress in all four areas. But muchmore is possible so ICT is not just abolt-on to the learning experience.In the decade ahead, we need to usethe scope of ICT to personalise thecurriculum, to help support pupils’progress and to encourage problemsolvingactivities individually and in22 progressive politics vol 2.1
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