Public education in Quebec has recently come under fresh
attack by the Government, in the current instance for imposing significant tax increases on
citizens in response to reductions in government funding. As frequently is the case the criticism is leveled at school boards
and their elected commissioners. Demands are being made not merely for school
boards to roll back or otherwise palliate the impact of tax increases already
budgeted, but for solutions to be found within a matter of days. Those demands reflect a profound lack
of understanding on the part of the government of public education in general
and of the functioning of school boards. School commissioners are being asked to
cut administrative expenses, as if administration contributes nothing to the
value or quality of education. That is far from the case. The demand is that
budgets be compressed without reducing services to students as if school boards
spend money on anything that does not serve students. No solution to this
dilemma will be easy and decidedly no short-term solution exists.
Public commentary, whether by government, the media or irate
taxpayers and parents ignores much of what is happening in education. Public
schools grapple with constantly increasing demands for better performance,
coupled with large new mandates that are often either unfunded or inadequately
funded. One of the most school
property, but also virtually on social media anytime and anywhere. It is merely
the latest of unrealistic burdens imposed on an already overburdened system.
Schools must not only teach, but socialize, discipline and inspire students.
Incredibly education has risen to the challenge and is succeeding beyond
realistic expectation.
Media joyously report our
misdeeds and shortcomings while governments complain that we consume too large
a share of public expenditures. Media occasionally mention that education is
important for future prosperity and trot out clichés like the mantra ‘education
is the surest path out of poverty’. Then they proceed to treat education costs
as expenses rather than investments in the future. They seldom mention that the
Canadian and Quebec education systems rank among the best in the world, well
ahead of the customary comparisons with United States, Britain, France and
other leading developed countries. For consumers of much media reporting it
seems that public education is hopelessly ineffective and inadequate. In fact
our education system is being revolutionized thanks to the tireless dedication
of teachers, professionals and administrators who implement change and the work
of elected commissioners who challenge tradition and ensure that higher
expectations are met.
The revolution now underway in education is so profound that
lifelong educators struggle to understand it. Even more so, reporters and
commentators in the media have difficulty grasping the direction, the depth and
purpose of many changes they observe and the many more that occur unnoticed.
Ultimately, politicians and government, preoccupied as they are with so many
complex issues, can hardly be faulted for superficial assessments and
simplistic approaches to meeting society’s educational needs. The ultimate
question is seldom asked. It should be, “what kind of education system to you
want?”
The purpose of education is seldom if ever clearly stated.
That may be due to the different points of view. Parents want their children to
be equipped for a successful life, but success is defined differently by most.
Taxpayers want students prepared to become productive citizens, contributing to
general prosperity and ensuring resources will be available to support retirees
in comfort. Employers in both public and private spheres want employees fully
equipped with the knowledge, skills and work ethic to perform the available
jobs and ready to be retrained as required to keep pace with developing
technology. Colleges and universities often seem to want students with study
skills and aptitudes for esoteric thought, philosophical reflection and
detached observation of humankind. Governments wish for successive generations
of citizens who place the collective benefit, whether of concern for the
environmental, preservation of heritage or participation in democratic
processes ahead of individual and personal interests. What kind of education
system to they want?
Society is changing at a pace
never before seen. The explosion of knowledge, its ubiquitous availability, and
the rapid appearance of whole new industries has made career planning extremely
challenging. Not long ago, steel workers in Hamilton and auto assemblers in
Oshawa and Mirabel were among the best paid most securely employed and
pensioned workers in Canada. Now those plants are closed or sadly reduced, with
tens of thousands of people required to find new jobs and work outside their
fields. It isn’t only the rust belt industries that suffer traumatic changes.
Ask former employees of once high-flying Nortel, Canada’s tech darling, or in
the news currently, the 5,000 workers at Blackberry (Research in Motion) facing
layoffs whether the crisis is due to old-style industries. Change is the new
normal and education needs to change with it. Once again education is not given
credit for what it is accomplishing.
Education is in the midst of a three-phase revolution that
responds to external changes and tries to satisfy many of the evolving demands
placed upon it. This revolution is apparent mainly to those inside the field.
It began with the first availability of affordable personal computers in the
1990s and really got underway at the beginning of this century, after most
current students were born. It has caused great stress and angst among
educators with heated debates continuing to this day over which if any of the
changes is appropriate or desirable. Progress is uneven but here is a general
outline of what is happening in education.
The first phase of the revolution is changing the emphasis
on student learning. Most of today’s parents were educated focusing on
lower-level intellectual tasks (factual recall, regurgitation). That satisfied
the needs of society at the time and we still hear appeals for a return to rote
learning and the three Rs. Modern
society requires students more often engaging in tasks of greater cognitive
complexity such as creativity, critical thinking, problem solving,
collaboration and effective communication. Practices and habits die hard, and
often teachers and parents resist the change because it feels so unfamiliar and
seems so far outside their comfort zone. However education continues to evolve
in this direction because the world of work and play in the future requires
higher order thinking skills for success.
The second element of the revolution in education is
changing classrooms from analog to digital so that they more closely resemble
the world outside school. We inherited classrooms largely based on
pens/pencils, paper, notebooks, ring binders and printed textbooks. Starting
fifteen or twenty years ago we introduced digital tools in a naïve way simply placing
computers in classrooms and hoping they would inspire change. When that didn’t
produce results we became more realistic and began retraining teachers, along
with giving students their own computers and open connectivity. Our goal is to
change classrooms into local and global learning spaces that are deeply and
richly technology infused. It involves teachers and other educators to
completely transform what and how they teach.
The third phase of the revolution is the most challenging
because it is so alien to traditional thinking. We are changing learning from
teacher-directed to student-directed. Educators are often reluctant to give up
control of classrooms and offer students more input. However the trend is
toward learning environments that enable greater student ownership and control
of what, how, when, where, who with and why they learn. Many professional
educators don’t yet fully comprehend anytime anywhere learning or the
implications of constant connectivity, ubiquitous information access or peer
assessment. It requires student support and understanding to smooth the path in
a way that does not threaten the authority or contribution of teachers.
With so much profound change underway, and so little
understanding in the public sphere it is not surprising that unwarranted
criticisms are plentiful. There are no easy solutions and no instantaneous
ones. We are dealing with the welfare of our future generations, and we need to
act both only responsibly and inventively. We are also responsible for the livelihoods
of the thousands of committed educators who have security of employment,
collectively negotiated rights and a key role in student development to fill.
Everyone wants the best possible outcomes even when they can’t always agree on
what those outcomes should be. However creating and maintaining a
high-performing education system while respecting limits on resources goes far
beyond simple budget manipulations. It takes time and innovation to restructure
an entire system. It takes thinking about how to accomplish goals in ways that
are not only different from the past, but far more efficient. We have to give
up tradition and some degree of comfort to venture into the scary future. That
revolution is underway but like anything worthwhile it takes time to achieve.
Aborting it by applying short-term thinking to generational issues can only end
badly.
