Rumination 3# - The lost goal of education?
Professor Stephen Dobson
Dean of the Faculty of Education
Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand
Since arrival in the Faculty of Education at Victoria University in mid-2018 I have had many remarkable experiences. Not all however are the source of a strong catharsis, an ‘a ha’ experience as was the following: I was lucky enough to attend the 50th anniversary of the cohort of pre-service teachers who attended Wellington Teacher`s College in 1968. In the course of the pleasurable evening a common experience remembered was staff philosophy at the College, “that they should try to develop the person and then the teacher would emerge from that.”[1] In cultural activities, such as art, reading, music, talking, dialogue and so on during their training. Sam Hunt the poet and New Zealand treasure was a student to whom they made constant and well-deserved reference. Sam never graduated – apparently the Dean told him to concentrate on his poetry skills.
We have come a long way from such a perspective, or so we are apt to think – our teachers are arguably more professional, the national curriculum is detailed and teachers meet clearly defined standards on graduation. Yet, when I talk with my Islamic educational colleagues I learn that the point of education in their culture for over a millennium has been to develop the character of the child. We must remember one of the oldest universities[2] in the world is Islamic; it is over 1200 years old and found in Tunisia [3] (Ez-Zitouna University جامعة الزيتونة); not in Europe in the Middle Ages as we commonly think. In Chinese inspired education a version of this is the importance of developing a good moral character, inspired by the views of Confucius and a deep respect for others. We find a strong other-directed morality rather than an ego-oriented morality in China. In Scandinavian educational culture this is called bildung or dannelse and means the formation of a shared centred-ness and a shared cultural identity. In my limited, but growing understanding of Māori and Pasifika culture I have noted many of these same points.
Current global speak around the world and in many Anglo-Saxon countries profess a different view on these matters, if we exclude for a moment the point on curriculum knowledge. It is the desire to grow students who are resilient and possess ample funds of ‘grit’ to master set-backs. They are cognitively knowledgeable of their own thought processes. All possess so-called 21st century skills of team work and sociability.
Sometimes, I wonder if the pendulum of education has swung too far and we have lost ourselves in the science of education and in particular that international pastime of measuring literacy and numeracy scores. We want to perform well and to manage ourselves; to be the cleverest in the local, national and international class. This is very much to the exclusion of the other side of the pendulum where character, morality, bildung and other-directedness rest. A phrase I often quote from the Swedish child activist in early 1900 rings in my ears, `the formation of one`s identity is based upon what remains after we have forgotten everything we have learnt` (my translation). As with life we need a pendulum that swings both ways – or do we?
[1] Georgia Morgan (2007). A Short History of the Victoria University College of Education Art Collection. Unpublished manuscript.
[2] Established in the year 859, the University of al-Qarawiyyin in Fez, Morocco, was the first degree-granting educational institute in the world (as recognised by UNESCO and Guinness World Records).
[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_Ez-Zitouna#History
Good morning
My goal is to teach. I tried to do it with quality and ethics. Also to teach in values and respect the curriculum of the University.
Ingrid
As I see it, the goal of education is to bring about students who come to be creators and innovators, not conformist people.
The goal of teacher education shoud aim at forming teachers who are more mentors and organizers of learning experiences and situations such that their students come to understand, reinvent, and reconstruct everything they learn than simple transmitters of ready made and established truths imposed on students from outside.
Best regards,
Orlando
To prepare students for the real world (e.g., achieving sustainability) in their specific interests as well as develop the whole person and not just intellect.Today's workplace and educational institutions are more diverse than in the past, so an emphasis on developing cultural competencies in both students and teachers is imperative. The attached sources shed more light on this latter issue that I hope would be helpful for you:
Presentation Diversity and International Education
Chapter Leveraging Environmental Education for Achieving Sustainability
Article Workforce Education and Development (WED): Graduate Students...
Conference Paper Culturally Responsive ICT Integration into Teaching and Learning
Article One Style Does Not Fit All: Facilitating Cultural Difference...
Best,
DFJ
When I watch teens walk into the building on their first day of college, I think about what I want them to be like when they walk out on their last day. I also think about what I want them to be like on the day I bump into them in the supermarket 10 or 20 years later. Over the course of 15 years watching teens walk into my college, I have decided that I want them to
be able to problem-solve and think critically
be able to look at things differently
be able to work independently and with others
be creative
persevere
have integrity and self-respect
have moral courage
be able to use the world around them well
speak well, write well, read well, and work well with numbers
truly enjoy their life and their work.
To me, these are the real goals of education.
I wholeheartedly agree on being culturally responsive as a key skill
All you guys who have responded so far ...have said it so well .....such that I can't even add anything but appreciate your excellent responses...
To find thre lost goal of education; to produce individuals that have ethical values of equality, justice, beneficence, and non maleficence for all living beings on planet earth, and these individuals will strive hard to implement these ethical values at individual, family, community, national and global level.
In order to create a successful teacher who is educated and knowledgeable about many things ...
The goal of education is to transfer science, develop skills and teach experiences, not education, which means indoctrination only without understanding and linking reality ...
To transfer science, but also to create innovative and critical competencies...
As i see it, the main goal of education is to prepare students who come to be interested in the pursuit of the true, the good and the beautiful such that they contribute to the construction of a better world.
As for teachers education, their education should be concerned with their expertise in their area of knowledge. A teacher that does not master what s/he teaches is no teacher at all. In addition to be knowledgeable in his/her area of expertise, a teacher should be well versed in the details of the individual's psychological development such that what s/he teaches is not above or below his/her students' cognitive abilities.
Best regards,
Orlando
I think that the role of primary and secondary standard school teachers is to transfer properly the knowledge and skills obtained by their society (and not to replace them with their own aspirations however noble they may be). By knowledge I mean the correct, scientifically accepted information and explanations about the world and about society around them, the socialising manners, traditions, norms, representations, plurality of religions and other convictions. The true, the beautiful and the good, even the just are already there in the existing curricula. The whole process should start with undiluted, sufficient acquisition of reading, writing, counting asking, speaking and other basics without which communication and critical thinking are compromised from the beginning for entire generations. Deficient teachers should not have access to education the future generations.
I know that such "passeist" words may irritate some impatient teachers eager to change society (which is not their paid task and they ate not preachers either) and also be contrary to some progressive theories I have met.
In simple experience, when in an advanced, rich nation I had to supervise the pre-graduate work of hundreds of future primary teachers, I observed with shock that their writing grammar vocabulary were substandard. To such a degree that - while participating to teach them the latest theories of educational fairness and progress - i put my own child in a catholic school where he learned at least some basics sufficient for a further curriculum.
Yes, primary teachers must do what they are paid to do: reproduce society as it is, they are not competent to change it.
Thank you all for this discussion. Happy new year!
I imagine that the question refers to formal education, which occurs within the school and that is regulated by educational and curricular projects that are planned, implemented and evaluated by the ministries of education of each country.
I think the goal of education has to be raised from at least two perspectives. The first, considering its essential purpose that is the formation of the human person, that is to say, to favor their learning related to knowledge, skills and the dyad conformed by values and attitudes. This is the deepest task of education.
The second approach, and linked to the social function described above, is to consider the role that education plays in the economic, social, cultural, etc., ie in which way education, of people specifically, contributes to the development of each country.
In a globalized world, interdependent, uncertain, of democracies that defend themselves from extreme positions, from the left and from the right, from increasing immigration flows, the two perspectives are necessary and complementary.
For me these two perspectives are essential and necessary to take into account and reflect on "the goal of education" and ask about the training that children and young people should receive.
Citizen education can be a way of integrating both perspectives, since it can impact both the training of people and the role they play in the improvement of our societies.
(I think the main goal of compulsory education is to educate a citizen (Joan Pagès ) and develop thinking (Martha Cecilia Gutiérrez Antoni Santisteban ). For these reason the persons have to achieve a more high levels of the knowledge, skills, attitudes an dispositions to learn and participate to build a society with social justice in local and global scales. The public moral frame is central. In these way, the citizen need to recognize the heritage, analyse the present and work to create a future. The other educational phases (professional, technological, etc.) train the future workers with more high skills. I wrote about these in y papers.
Teacher education is a time to provide a solid grounds to teach (disciplinary, sociological, pedagogical, physiological, etc. ) and reflect to teaching and learning process in different cultural contexts. In my perspective, the reflection is central in the innovation and transformation social an educational process Martha Cecilia Gutiérrez Joan Pagès Antoni Santisteban .
Dear Gustavo - I do agree that citizenship education and the responsibilities it gives is important and how this is related to increased levels of knowledge, skills and attitudes. what is the nature of this relationship to you?
Dear Stephen Dobson - In my point of view when we choose something for to teach and learning, we decide on specific fact or theme. In both case there are three essentials dimensions to consider, and his interactions: psychological, disciplinary and ideological. The psychological refer to cognitive development, phases or cognitive skills. Disciplinary is relate to core concepts to explain the theme or fact from science frame. Ideological refer to Ethical-political consequences on social life, is central (E Wayne Ross ). One example, for primary students the notion of the power or climatic change need a specific considerations, because They are in specific cognitive phase, so we need consider that. The disciplinary concept demand specific considerations link to physiological dimensions. And the Ethical-political dimension are relevant to promote take a position and participate in social change as teachers and, students. In conclusion, We could to educate a citizen, if as teachers -and teachers trainers- recognise the interactions of these dimensions.
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