Sometimes, I get frustrated by the way schools run. I get annoyed when I hear about teachers who have to spend three afternoons out of five in meetings, or how they have to fill in myriad bits of paperwork to get access to resources, or how the school can’t offer courses because theycan’t employ enough qualified teachers. Too often, the reason for these decisions is simply because this is what the school district has always done.
But that doesn’t have to be the case. I think a solution to these problems might be teachers doing less. Imagine what teachers could accomplish if they could get rid of some of the time-wasters in their days and weeks. In the spirit of experimentation and encouraging discussion, here are five things that I would get rid of in schools:
- Meetings
I bet this is one that all teachers can get on board with. I’m not talking about the collaborative planning meetings between teaching staff or the meetings with parents about a child. I mean those dreary, life-sapping staff meetings that seem to last for hours. Why should we get rid of them? Ultimately, they’re a waste of everyone’s time – the material being communicated can be shared in so many more efficient ways that allow people to access it when they can or need to – rather than making everybody have to sit through a meeting. How many times have you had a meeting that could have been replaced by an email? Or a meeting about an email that was sent earlier in the day?
2. Sporting carnivals and events
This might be a little bit controversial, but I think that it’s time for the annual athletics carnival and sporting carnival to go. I know some people will claim that it builds school spirit and encourages teamwork, and I guess, for some students, it does, but for so many students these days are either mind-numbingly dull because they have no interest in participating, or actually miserable because they are forced to participate in something in which they have no ability. I’m all for celebrating achievement of students in diverse fields, but why not leave that outside the boundaries of the school? And what about the teachers that have to organise the day, record the results, time the races. Seriously, aren’t there better ways of doing this?
3. Subjects
Subjects are arbitrary divisions that are there to make learning simpler to organise. I think they actually work against learning by creating dividing lines that aren’t there in real life. I remember learning about vectors in three different subjects in high school. I know that many children are taught how to draw graphs in different subjects. Why? Instead, lets explore learning grouped around topics, or themes, or locations – something that better reflects the multifaceted nature of knowledge.
4. Standardised tests
Again, I’m not expecting much of an argument form teachers on this one. Standardised tests limit students’ learning by defining what is and is not important to learn. We narrow the focus of education when I think the purpose of schooling should be to expand students’ minds and get them to consider what is possible and what they might be capable of doing, now and in the future. Instead, we now focus on filling in the correct bubble. I’m not arguing against assessment – but it has to be assessment focused on improving student performance. And the best way to do that is to have highly skilled teachers working with students in small groups.
5. Reports and Parent Teacher Nights
I detest reports. The only thing I detest more is parent teacher nights. By the time you write a report, it’s already out of date, and parent teacher nights are just awkward conversation that usually leave the student out. There are so many better ways of providing feedback on student performance. We can use technology to provide up to date, regular (weekly? even daily?) updates on student progress – which make the twice yearly report a relic of a bygone age.
And a bonus one: School buildings.
This might seem crazy, but why do we need school buildings? Why not have multi-purpose learning centres instead? That way, schools can use them during the day, and in the evening, other organisations can use them for training and professional development. Or with the move to online learning, do we need learning spaces at all? Perhaps the living room will be the new classroom?