I was watching this TED talk today in which Ken Robinson talks about the characteristics of successful education systems. He mentions three main things that are needed:
1. An understanding that education needs to be made up of individualised teaching and learning experiences, since all children are different
2. An investment in the best people as teachers and in their support and professional development
3. Authority for making educational decisions is devolved to the school level
Sir Robinson puts a lot of stress on the human aspect of education and rejects the idea that schools are an industrial machine for transferring knowledge. Instead, children’s curiosity needs to be nurtured. Teaching is an inherently creative job.
Leadership in education, therefore, at regional and school levels, needs to be focused on creating a climate of possibility.
In my current role (coordinator of IB DP maths), this means that I need to foster teachers’ creativity (and my own). As part of the maths leadership team I can encourage us all to teach more inquiry-based lessons, which is one of our goals this year. As I try new ideas myself I can share my experiences. And I have lots to learn from what the others around me are doing.