Style: March 06, 2020

STYLE | report 21
Dr Herbert Thomas
TRADITIONAL VERSUS CONTEMPORARY
The blackboard is just a dusty memory for Rosie. She
now teaches by “co-construction of digital learning material
in the classroom to enable personalisation of student
learning”.
Students are tested to find out their strengths and
weaknesses. From there, students choose what they want to
learn about, then build a website to share the information
in an interactive way. The resource is then available for the
whole class to learn from. Makes copying sums out of a
textbook look a tad dull.
The Mind Lab Master of Contemporary Education
postgraduate director Dr Herbert Thomas says the education
system is rapidly developing from the “one-size-fits-all” model.
But schools are at different places on the education spectrum.
Traditional education, says Herbert, puts children in age
“batches” and teaching from the point of view of the mythical
“average student”, relying on the assumption they have the
same levels of knowledge and skills.
“In a way, because it has been described as Fordist ... it is
almost design based, to some extent, on the production line.
But we know from experience that is not how it works.
“Students come into an educational experience with varying
levels of knowledge, skills – and so you can’t produce a onesize-fits-all
educational experience because you will lose half
of your students, if not more.”
It is an experience, says Think Beyond’s leader, futurist Dr
Cheryl Doig, which can do “real damage” to students and
their families.
“I hear and see young people who are doing well in
the current system; there are others who are doing well
despite the current system, and there are others that are not
served by the current system. And they and their families
can get quite disheartened at the pace of change and the
responsiveness of our schools to make change,” she says.
In a “contemporary” school system model, says Herbert,
learning is more flexible and personalised to individual
students.
“We are suggesting there shouldn’t be just one curriculum
catering to the imaginary ‘average student’. There needs to be
a number of curriculums that cater to the diverse needs of a
whole range of different students in front of you,” he says.
In this model, education is not tied to any particular
institution, such as a school, he says.
“We would argue education shouldn’t be bound to a
particular space anyway. Because we can, and in some cases
more effectively, teach and learn in other spaces: outdoors, at
home, at businesses.”
St Andrew’s College rector Christine Leighton doesn’t
think the system has been a one-size-fits-all in her 40 years
in the profession. Students have been able to pick subjects
that interest them, and “differentiated” learning caters to the
individual learning needs of students, she says.
“Most of us are still doing that in a pretty traditional
environment. We would be the same as most schools in New
Zealand, that when you come into a secondary school your
teachers are specialists in particular areas because that is what
excites kids – when you have a person with a passion in a
particular area.”
TODAY’S CLASSROOM
It is a bit of a mixed bag in terms of where schools currently
sit, says Herbert. At one end of the spectrum, there’s
traditional education in traditional spaces; in the middle,
traditional education in a modern-learning environment; and
at the far end, personalised learning, created in collaboration
with the student and the community.
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