Education: A Human Right

I begin this posting with a quote that I used this summer for my thesis:

"Hope dims for universal education by 2015 … The total number of children out of school is … 69 million in 2008. Almost half of these children (31 million) are in sub-Saharan Africa, and more than a quarter (18 million) are in Southern Asia." (see The Millennium Development Goals Report, United Nations, 2010).

In their 2010 analysis, The Global Campaign For Education reported that if “current trends continue, the slowdown in progress in enrolments will mean that in 2015 there will be more children out of school than there are today. In addition, too often the quality of education on offer is very poor, leading to early drop-out and illiteracy”.

As we lead up to International Literacy Day, UNESCO report that in 2008, 796 million adults (15 years and older) could not read or write. The Right to Education Project state what many of us have come to expect from education, but one that we don't always see in real numbers.

"As well as being a right in itself, the right to education is also an enabling right. Education ‘creates the “voice” through which rights can be claimed and protected’, and without education people lack the capacity to ‘achieve valuable functioning as part of the living’. If people have access to education they can develop the skills, capacity and confidence to secure other rights. Education gives people the ability to access information detailing the range of rights that they hold, and government’s obligations. It supports people to develop the communication skills to demand these rights, the confidence to speak in a variety of forums, and the ability to negotiate with a wide range of government officials and power holders."

Morpheus Speaks

MORPHEUS Have you ever had a dream, Neo, that you were so sure was real? What if you were unable to wake from that dream, Neo? How would you know the difference between the dream world and the real world?

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MORPHEUS The Matrix is everywhere, it's all around us, here even in this room. You can see it out your window, or on your television. You feel it when you go to work, or go to church or pay your taxes. It is the world that has been pulled over your eyes to blind you from the truth.

NEO What truth?

MORPHEUS That you are a slave, Neo. That you, like everyone else, was born into bondage ... kept inside a prison that you cannot smell, taste, or touch. A prison for your mind.

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MORPHEUS The Matrix is a system Neo. That system is our enemy. But when you're inside, you look around, what do you see? Businessmen, teachers, lawyers, carpenters. The very minds of the people we are trying to save ... You have to understand, most of these people are not ready to be unplugged. And many of them are so inured, so hopelessly dependent on the system, that they will fight to protect it. 

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An Inspector Calls

Education is About Reaching People

I'm an educationalist. Currently, I'm an Education Advisor; previously I served in the classroom, at the chalkface as a teacher; primary, secondary, adult education - I've worked in many differing schools and situations. I still teach when needed though most of my current work is in teacher development. Jokingly, my family and friends say, "a teacher for teachers" - I sometimes use this idea to explain my work.

I do not claim, however, that I am the best teacher and nor are my methods the exclusive way to do the job. I follow some of the tried and tested theory, tied in with my own beliefs about what is right and wrong within a classroom setting and reject a whole load of the temporary fads that are prevalent with a certain brand of education theorists/management-types in education. Mostly, I am led by the heart and the mind, and whilst I judge critically, openly and (hopefully) honestly, I believe in keeping people intact. In education, as in politics or in life in general, it is my belief that it is better to keep people on your side.

There's a moral purpose with regards to the role of education and my personal motto has always been that "Education is About Reaching People".

There's no copyright on that idea - I don't claim to be the only one who feels that way. Education for me is not about test scores, 'ideal' three-part lessons, having the right coloured felt tips in your pencil case or what the inspector thinks following a snapshot of what goes on. Education does not fit into neat patterns and that's precisely why I think that education is about reaching people. For some a quality educational exercise is about teaching women in African villages about basic child nutrition - for others it is about engaging students in a shared/independent learning process.

An Inspector Calls ...

Today the school had a mini internal inspection organised by our education service provider and the ICT department and teacher for whom I am responsible for was considered "good". I should be pleased, and in truth, I am. However, I retain a measured scepticism - one good lesson does not make one a good teacher as a bad lesson does not make a bad teacher.

Remembering this, is key. And this is my advice to school inspectors, whom, as I have written about before, I have some reasons to be cautious of. Ultimately, too many people in "educational" ivory towers lose sight of the facts on the ground. Theory is all well and good, but reality is a different story altogether. For me, once again, if a teacher reaches people, a one-off lesson, whether technically speaking "good" or otherwise, is, in the big picture of eduction, neither here, nor there.