downtown Boston
The visit to Boston and New York for senior staff of 4 UK schools was a privilege, thoroughly enjoyable and highly rewarding, thanks to all professionals involved. It’s a long way to go to see schools and many of the approaches seen may not translate directly into our schools. Context, culture and climate differ, educational structures are similar but not the same, politics and policies act in different ways. Yet what is abundantly clear is that a sharp focus on the person is making a real impact in the schools we saw. Being small helps that to happen, but size is not the simple pre-requisite of success. I think that our definition of ‘human scale education’ (or schooling) is yet to be penned in a succinct way, and the discussions that lead to it will develop all involved in the process. Human Scale Education offers great views – perhaps we can start with 5 simple bullet points of key features?
Cold going, jet lag gone, back to the real world – please add your comments by clicking on ‘no comments’ or ‘comments’ and writing in the boxes – yes, it’s as easy as that! I’m sure that you have incisive thoughts to share and corrections please.
A very thought provoking trip. I was amazed to see buildings, facilities and use of technology that we would consider unsuitable for modern day teaching. Each of the schools we visited had created a community where each student was known on an individual basis to a member of staff. I don’t just mean their name and a little about them but everything to do with their school and home life. The schools had created an environment that was free from government led systems on assessment, and they had created their own models on curriculum, assessment and pastoral support. The schools were an integral part of the students life and sometimes I felt they stepped over the boundary and were more social worker than teacher but is that the way forward? For every person within a school to have one “go to” person that has the time and skills to listen and support them throughout their time in school was a very strong bond and helped to get over the problem of the average student that in a large school gets lost somewhere between the gifted students, the special needs students and the behavioural problem students.
Thanks Jacqueline. Any thoughts from other participants or readers please?