A New Plan for Schools

As children across the country return to school after almost a year of disrupted learning, much of the focus of headteachers will, rightly, be on helping students “catch-up”, particularly those facing the prospect of exams this year or next. It will be an anxious time for both teachers and students. But with the exam system in disarray and most of the country now having woken up to the fact that education is not just about teaching a narrow academic curriculum to our children, we now have a unique chance to rethink the purpose of education and to start reimagining what a school system for the future could look like. It could be one which deliberately starts to move away from a system which “teaches to the test” to one which attempts to unlock children’s wider potential, making them more resilient to future crises and preparing them for life, as well as for exams. So, what would we need to do to make this happen?

First, we need to face up to the fact that every child has different needs. This is even more apparent after the impact of the pandemic. Some have managed to keep up relatively well, replicating the structure of the school day with remote learning; many have not. There is a looming mental health crisis as well as an educational challenge. For younger children, the outcome may be apparent in poor speech and language development; for older children, many will be dealing with anxiety and depression, as well as lost learning. If we are to recognise these diverse needs, we need to stop treating everyone as if they are on a production line, beginning at the age of three or four and, instead, embrace individualised learning. 

At the heart of a new approach is a move away from an exam system which has an “all or nothing” feel to it, with high-stakes exams taken on set days at the end of the school career. This should mean that pupils take qualifications when they are ready, rather than when the Government would like them to be ready. There is no reason why a 16-year old returning to school could not be planning to sit a few exams this year and a few more next year rather than possibly face across-the-board disappointment. We could take this approach much further too, with the principle being that exams are taken at the best point for the student, rather than the system. Children who are weaker academically would take intermediate certificates in English and Maths, before aiming for GCSEs in these subjects at the end of their school careers; the academically gifted could be using sixth-form to take a university module alongside their A-levels — much easier now that technology is more widely available outside the classroom. 

More radically still, we could change the nature of exams altogether and focus on the qualities children will need to thrive both in later life and in the workplace. Already, many universities are moving away from written examinations, towards ones that recognise the importance of being able to communicate knowledge orally through presentations and problem-solve real-life questions. In schools, we should be recognising that, while all children need to master the basics of literacy and numeracy, we should also be looking for higher-level knowledge acquisition and application in key subject disciplines, through portfolios of work which would be able to illustrate cross-disciplinary thinking, oral skills and problem-solving.

Second, we need to recognise that learning takes many shapes and forms. Not all of it can be found in restricted knowledge-based teaching and much of it takes place outside the classroom. The word “educate” has its roots in Latin in the act of leading a person from a place, or “drawing out”. Education is not just utilitarian it its purpose, but has moral, spiritual and cultural dimensions — aspects that are relevant today more than ever, as we cope with a crisis of body, mind and spirit. Childhood obesity, mental health and social cohesion are, to use the language of the welfare reformer Sir William Beveridge, the giants we have to slay, if we are concerned with the welfare of today and tomorrow’s generations of young people. That is why we have an obligation to offer our young people a rich mix of sporting, cultural and volunteering opportunities, and not just small-group tuition and catch-up classes — important as they are. One option would be to give all families vouchers, which could be used to access activities — not necessarily delivered by teachers, but also by other groups in civil society — on the school site, on university campuses, in summer schools or elsewhere. Another option would be for each school to work with parents and pupils to develop a set of “entitlements” which they offer to children, setting out what each child should be able to expect: a trip to the theatre, a residential experience, the opportunity to learn a musical instrument etc.

Third, we need to recognise that some young people become almost entirely disengaged by the educational process, a fact that will no doubt have become much more pronounced over the past year.  No amount of catch-up or enrichment activities will suffice to bring them back. Now is the time to reconsider whether 14-year olds can work or volunteer for two or three days a week alongside their school work. What happened to the idea of “Young Apprentices” that was  introduced by Charles Clarke when he was Education Secretary twenty years ago? If they were needed then, they are needed more than ever now.

Fourth, we need to equip teachers to be resilient and capable of managing the demands of the future. While teacher recruitment may have experienced a sharp uptake as a result of the Covid-induced recession, we cannot expect that to continue once the economy improves. The real challenge will be to retain them and to nurture the creative, innovative professionalism that we need. A large part of what will be needed should come from peer support and feedback, but teachers will also need time away from the classroom for reflection, research and skill acquisition.  In the future, not only will they need to be able to identify gaps in students’ learning and tailor courses to meet their individual needs, but they will have to be able to use technology to best effect and to spot children with particular mental health needs so that they can be helped. That will require a “cradle to grave” approach to teacher formation, which starts with initial teacher training and ends only at retirement. 

All these changes would require a completely different approach to assessment and accountability. We could start by trusting schools and parents more, and as multi-academy trusts become the dominant model in our school system, move away from Ofsted assessments at a single school level towards assessments groups of schools and their leadership. One powerful advantage of multi-academy trusts is that it they are large enough to develop teachers in their discipline at every level across the family of schools; to ensure that children do not get taken off the school roll when they are excluded from the classroom, but are offered appropriate learning; and to put in place a rich variety of activities to meet the needs of our young people.

The school leaders of the future, however, will be enablers, rather than mandators of change. Michael Fullan, a Canadian writer on education, has in the past quoted Archimedes: “Give me a lever long enough and I will change the world.” Fullan argues that for educationalists that lever is leadership — a certain kind of leadership. Not heroic, let alone autocratic leadership, but enabling, empowering leadership: leaders who build trust amongst staff and between staff and pupils; who facilitate collaborative learning and encourage and develop leadership potential. They build professional relationships, capacity and expertise; they foster team effort and focus it on the big areas that need improvement; they take pride in and celebrate the achievements of others. It is this kind of courageous leadership we need today.

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