Speechless: Understanding Education

successfully.

PREFACE

Professor Barnaby Lenon

In recent years teachers have become reluctant to use the phrase ‘educational failure’ for fear that it will discourage children. Long gone are the days when end-of-term reports castigated mainly boys for being ‘dim’, for slovenly work and appalling manners. Think of Winston Churchill at Harrow, whose exasperated housemaster wrote to his parents about him being ‘so regular in his irregularity that I really don’t know what to do’. The emphasis now is on praise and encouragement.

Part of me thinks that this is fair enough. Those ancient reports were too often only written for the entertainment of other teachers and were often cynical in tone (‘the improvement in Fabian’s handwriting has revealed his inability to spell’ or ‘for this pupil, all ages are dark’). They rarely considered their impact on the children and often they were plain wrong, like Albert Einstein’s teacher (‘He will never amount to anything’) or that of Gary Lineker (‘He must devote less of his time to sport if he wants to be a success. You can’t make a living out of football’)!

The notion of failure has been happily leavened by the concept of progress. If you start at a low base but make good progress over time – that is success, even if your mark in the final exam is low. Now most school reports have a progress and attainment grade. That is sensible.

The trouble with the modern, kindly approach is that it can obscure real educational weaknesses (let us not call them failures). In England, in 2019, 35% of pupils taking English and maths GCSEs (for many the most important school exam they will ever take, the culmination of 11 years of study) failed to get a bare pass (grade 4). The OECD PISA tests place England lower in the international rankings than we would wish, and Wales and Scotland are worse. The 2015 PISA tests had the UK 13th out of 72 countries in science, 17th in reading and 26th in maths. British 15-year-olds’ maths abilities are more than two academic years behind 15-year-olds in Singapore and China. The OECD equate 30 PISA test points to a year of additional schooling; so if we take PISA 2015 maths for example, England scored 493, Singapore 564 – 2.4 years’ difference.

In maths, our lowest-achieving pupils are much worse than the lowest-achieving pupils in many other countries. In PISA 2015, 22% of UK pupils did not reach level 2 in maths, which means that they ‘cannot solve problems routinely faced by adults in their daily lives’. Although the best pupils do well, our tail of low-achievers is longer than in other countries. The priority is therefore to improve the basic standard of schooling for less motivated or less able students.

In fact, 18–24-year-olds in England have weaker literacy and numeracy than 55–65-year-olds – almost the only country in the world where this is true. The 50 per cent of the population who do not go to university find themselves in a system of vocational education which is notoriously weak by the standards of most other European countries.

The concepts of success and failure are made more complicated by the fact that no one can be completely confident about the aims of education. In the past few years, the Minister for Schools in England has vigorously promoted mathematics and levels of ‘factual’ knowledge. I do not disagree with him, but those who are keener than him on arts, creative subjects and 20th-century competencies will take a very different view of success and failure. One thinks of the CBI’s regular condemnation of school-leavers who, notwithstanding their grades, cannot speak well or operate successfully in teams. One feels challenged when reading the chapter in this book about the strengths of schools in Cuba, one of the poorest countries in the western world.

Notwithstanding the endless rhetoric in the UK about social mobility, half the population will always have below-average cognitive ability and school exam results. But if we are to overcome the divisions in society revealed by recent political events, all need to feel valued. That is why we must get back to a more balanced appreciation of those who perform essential jobs, albeit jobs of the hand or heart rather than intellect. We should stop talking about social mobility as simply a way of ‘rescuing’ people from working-class backgrounds and place more emphasis on valuing the full range of worthwhile occupations.

Arguments about social mobility are normally based on exam results or incomes, not the value to society of different occupations. School accountability measures give little weight to skills other than exam performance. As this book suggests, we need to find a place where those of below-average cognitive ability can nevertheless earn a good living and feel satisfied with their lives. Only then can we build a more productive, happier and less divided society.

INTRODUCTION

Riccarda Matteucci

In the world of education, teachers, trainers, administrators, policy officials and well-meaning adults often gather together with an intention to implement and improve student performance. They discuss instructional techniques based on research studies, first-hand experience and any other data gathered. Best practices are evaluated for the greatest impact that innovatory methods have on students to enhance performances. Sometimes traditional activities are dusted off and named differently to create novelty and expectation. However, what is important to understand is that education goals will change in line with world developments. A traditional focus on giving students knowledge and skills to become compliant employees does not fit a situation where routine jobs are rapidly disappearing due to intelligent machines, so requiring more creative human competencies for higher-level work. We might ask:

‘How can we reach all students? How can we prepare them for the 21st-century workplace? How can we support them to be lifelong learners? How can we win over systematic discrimination in plural societies?’

All answers can be reduced to one word: Communication.

Professor Rosemary Sage has indicated in her research over many years that time can be wasted seeking the latest teaching gimmick when the priority is to communicate and connect with students as the key to effective learning (Sage, 2000–2020). Communication means all aspects involved in transmitting a message, which are not only verbal, but also non-verbal, such as tone of voice, manner and gestures, as well as connotation (feelings/ideas suggested by words rather than the meaning), along with the context in which the event occurs. For example, the word ‘discipline’ (self-control) has the unhappy connotation of punishment and repression.

Neuroscientists have clarified the role of collaboration in communication, with research showing that when we connect with other ideas there are multiple benefits for our brain and life progress. When people collaborate, the medial orbitofrontal cortex and the frontoparietal network are activated to support executive functions. These areas are known as the ‘social brain’. When we work together our brains are charged with the complex task of making sense of each other’s thinking, and so learning to interact is crucial. Social cognition is an important area of current neuroscientific investigation.

Educators need to convince students that school and later college success requires working with their peers to create a community based on shared intellectual interests and common aims. We need to impart to students how they can achieve working together and, in some cases, teach teachers what and how to do it. Teachers are not taught about learning through the process of communication, with narrative language essential for developing higher thinking, creativity and problem-solving.

TALK AND SHARE

Educators know in theory the importance of sharing ideas, but many still see no role for collaborative learning in schools, where the focus is on individual success in standard national tests. Students give up learning when they find it difficult and think they are alone in their struggle. A change takes place when, working together, they discover that everybody finds some or all of work a major challenge. If there is no real communication between people in an educational setting, how can we encourage the teaching-learning process? Transmitting knowledge through cooperative collaboration is the key to development. Rosemary Sage specifies that appreciating this represents a critical moment in student awareness. Learners then know what is involved in developing knowledge, skills and attitudes, and that obstacles in their acquisition are commonplace and can be negotiated. Her view is that attitudes change when students have the chance to connect ideas. Linking with another’s thoughts develops a higher level of understanding. Whatever the subject matter, when students cooperate they integrate their knowledge and experience as the basis of creative thinking.

Interesting findings come from results of a large-scale testing programme, such as the Programme for International Student Assessments (PISA, 2016). There are many possible social and emotional reasons for this. While PISA reveals large gender differences in reading, in favour of 15-year-old girls, the gap is narrower when digital reading skills are tested. Indeed, the Survey of Adult Skills suggests that there are no significant gender differences in digital literacy proficiency among 16-to-29-year-olds. Boys are more likely to underachieve when they attend schools with a large proportion of socio-economically disadvantaged students. Girls, even high-achieving ones, tend to underachieve compared to boys when they are required to think like scientists. This is when they are asked to formulate situations mathematically or interpret phenomena scientifically. Parents are more likely to expect their sons, rather than daughters, to work in a science, technology, engineering or mathematics field – even when their 15-year-old boys and girls perform at the same mathematics level. These international tests, carried out worldwide, show that boys achieve better than girls in mathematics in 38 countries out of 57 in the PISA scheme.

Our obsession with testing and comparing students, schools and nations is leading to anxiety. Rosemary Sage points out the importance of expressing our feelings through talk in order to balance our thinking, opinions and views. Our favoured way of communicating is via electronic devices, but it is face-to-face exchanges that bond people together and provide the support they need when times are difficult and they lose confidence. The PISA team (2012, 2016) presented results in mathematics, with the gap in achievement between sexes initially explained by the lower confidence of girls due to the ‘gender’ factor. In reality the difference in the lower performance of girls was due to ‘confidence’. Girls became more anxious when they took the individual mathematics test. This phenomenon is now well established and recognised. It should make educators reflect before basing decisions on test performance, as Rosemary Sage has been underlining for a long time.

Going back to PISA test studies, the team conducted another assessment to reduce inequalities, adding to the usual individual mathematics test a collaborative problem-solving one. The students did not collaborate with each other but with a computer agent. They had to take on the agent’s ideas, connect with these and build on them to collaboratively solve complex problems. Instead of producing individual results, students were required to produce combined responses. In the test of collaborative problem-solving, administered in 51 countries, girls outperformed boys in every one. Two more noticeable results occurred. There were no significant differences in outcomes between advantaged students and in some countries diversity boosted performance. The team also found that in some countries indigenous students reached higher levels when in schools with large numbers of ‘immigrants’. This result suggests that diverse learner communities help students become better collaborators. PISA tests reveal the potential of collaboration not only for girls or students from different countries but for all thinkers and learners. When we connect with someone else’s ideas, understanding and perspective are enhanced.

Collaboration is vital for learning, for college success, brain development and creating equitable outcomes. Beyond this, it is beneficial to establish an interpersonal verbal connection, especially in times of conflict and need. Rosemary Sage’s ideas on education show her genuine enthusiasm for all to succeed. What does it take to make education prosper? Schools are constantly trying new things to improve student outcomes that sometimes work but too often fail. Educators have been testing and refining what it takes to achieve sustainable change and transform schools, in recent years, as world competition in everything becomes fierce. For innovation to blossom five conditions are needed: conviction, clarity, capacity, coalition, and culture (the Hechinger Report, Butrymowicz & Kolodner, 2019). These are referred to as a holistic approach, and lay the groundwork for successful school transformation (Sage 2017).

Conviction is the need to change with a specific transformation plan to achieve it;

Clarity is keeping in mind the goals of the change and strategies to achieve them;

Capacity refers to finances, staff expertise and time to dedicate to the initiative;

Coalition is support by leaders, educators, families and community members;

Culture is learner-centred: collaboration and risk-taking for continuous improvement.

The mission is to support communities to build and spread equitable learning environments. For personalised, competency-based education, Rosemary Sage identifies three essential elements for successful new schools:

Strong vision from input of school leaders, teachers, students, parents and community;

Collaborative culture that empowers individuals and encourages risk-taking;

Transparency about what is expected from students in the ‘voice’ needed to convey hopes and requirements for learning. Also, what roles should adults play in this vision?

The core idea in Speechless is that schools relying on educators to do all the teaching is not viable any more. Far-reaching school changes happen when the wider community is involved, with most learners motivated by the relationships within this. Rather than top-down mandates, widespread support for initiatives depends on backing up an innovative culture through collaborative action. The normal ups and downs of life must not discourage educators to discontinue innovation. They need to establish the right foundation from the start, which depends on the communication, collaboration and cooperation of all stakeholders.

Schools also need to incorporate health and well-being activities into daily routines. Peter Gray, Psychology Professor at Boston College, says that the 1950s were the high point in the United States, and I would add in other countries, too, such as England and Italy. Family members could keep an eye on their children playing outside, in the courtyard or street, by watching through a window. Children played safely and happily with friends, learning how to navigate the world by interacting with one another.

TALK WITH PASSION

The activities of 1950s children were unstructured and unsupervised by adults – the latter were only concerned that no one was hurt. The youngsters generated their activities and rules of conduct. If someone broke these, the children themselves determined the consequences. Through such experiences they developed resilience, self-determination and problem-solving. Research showed that the competencies needed for these activities were gained by being unsupervised, developing positive mental health, social and emotional skills, intrinsic motivation and creativity (Gray, 2017). This could be considered a relic of the past. Modern factors, such as fractured family dynamics, economic and academic anxiety, fear of strangers and vehicular traffic, have all put unsupervised ‘play’ at risk. If we compare the exposure of daily risks of social media, would you consider youngsters are safer today?

The periods that children spend freely have reduced enormously. Gray states that ‘childhood is turned from a time of freedom to a time of résumé-building’ (2017, p. 9). He connects a decline of free play to the rise in mental-health issues. Paediatricians advocate protection of a child’s unstructured time because of its numerous benefits, including the development of speaking and motor abilities, which may have lifelong aids for learning and the prevention of obesity, hypertension and type 2 diabetes. They see an out-of-balance lifestyle for today’s youngsters, and Gray supports this by emphasising the learning value of unstructured play. We must convince children to abandon the mobile phone in favour of free time with their friends. It does not matter if they end up with some bruises. They can relate and explain how these happened to their carers, giving opportunity to practise narrative thinking and language structure.

We have developed a technology-dominated world, which has encouraged child surveillance by home-cams, GPS trackers and web-watchers at home and, increasingly, in schools across the world. Although, used wisely, surveillance technology can be a blessing, too often the easy power and convenience it brings spark worry over petty matters. Even worse, it pushes people away, by allowing us to covertly circumvent the basic elements of a healthy relationship. As Rosemary Sage says: ‘conversation, discussion and trying to understand different people’s viewpoints is the progressive and more successful way of doing things’. Emotionally connecting and communicating with children is more effective than coercion and control. Those who monitor others usually insist they want safety and peace of mind, but this controlling action is damaging relationships. Gaining respect and trust is harder work than relying on technology, but when mutual it increases the chance of cooperation. One must have conversation and negotiation in any relationships that matter. Communicating effectively teaches and trains students to self-regulate and take control and initiative over all their activities.

TALK, COMMUNICATE, RELATE AND RESOLVE MUST BE THE MANTRA OF TODAY

The Global School Play Day started in 2015. It enabled an entire day to be devoted to play, as teachers recognised the importance for children to communicate and connect with one another in creative activities. It should be adopted worldwide. Very wisely, Rosemary Sage suggests that there is no change without communication and collaboration. Therefore, the five Cs have been joined by two more. The soil is fertile to nurture whatever initiative is planned to make a noticeable change and ensure that it is sustained and maintained. Let us start at once and enjoy the challenge!

REFERENCES

Butrymowicz, S. & Kolodner, M. (2019) The Hechinger Report on Innovation and Inequality. hechingerreport.org/special-reports/higher-education/ The Hechinger Report explores the innovations at the core of today’s cutting-edge schools.

Gray, P. (2017) Free to Learn. New York: Basic Books PISA (Programme for International Student Assessment) www.oecd.org/pisa/pisa-2015-results-in-focus.pdf

Sage, R. (2000) Class Talk Stafford: Network Educational Press.

(2000) The Communication Opportunity Group Scheme. Leicester: University of Leicester

(2003) Lend us Your Ears: Understanding in the Classroom. Stafford: Network Educational Press

(2003) Support for Learning. Exeter: Learning Matters

(2004) A World of Difference: Developing School Inclusion. Stafford: Network Educational Press

(2004) Silent Children: Approaches to Selective Mutism. Leicester: University of Leicester (French & Japanese)

(2004) Support for Learning, 2nd Edition. Exeter: Learning Matters

(2004)Tackling Inclusion in Schools. Victoria, Australia: Hawker Brownlow Education

(2006) Communication, Emotion and Learning: Handbook for SEBD. London: Continuum Press. Editor

(2006) Communication and Learning. London: Sage

(2006) Assessment and Teaching the Communication Opportunity Group Scheme. Leicester: University of Leicester

(2007) Inclusion in Schools: Making a Difference. Stafford: Network Educational Press

(2007) COGS in the Classroom. Leicester: University of Leicester

(2010) Meeting the Needs of Students with Diverse Backgrounds. London: Network/Continuum

(2011) Key Competencies in the Context of Contemporary European Education (Editor). EU: Commenius

(2012) Issues regarding Adult Literacy and Employment (Editor) EU: Commenius

(2014) Policy for Educators’ E-portfolios to Improve Professionalism (Editor) EU: Commenius

(2017) Paradoxes in Education (Editor & contributor). Rotterdam: SENSE

(2019) The Robots Are Here: Learning to Live with Them. (Editor & contributor). London: University of Buckingham Press

PROLOGUE: A NEW CONVERSATION ABOUT EDUCATION

INTRODUCTION

Children find face-to-face conversation ‘too much effort’, preferring to