Fighting to keep the love of learning alive
By Will Goldsmith, Head of Bedales School
Whatever you might think of the current government, it was positive to be welcomed by the current chair of the All-party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on education who was, until the end of July last year, a teacher in a secondary school in Wales. Another member of the committee was in the same position, although at primary level. The joy of having educators operating as legislators is that they bring a pragmatism that is fostered at the coalface of public service, rather than in parliamentary corridors, think tanks or polling organisations. Without exception, I have found that political divides between the state and independent sectors soon melt away when you put teachers from all types of school in the same space. This pragmatic collegiality is something that is missing from other contexts, whether that be in the press, on social media or the House of Commons. Perhaps it is something that is fostered by the fact that no child ever chooses into which family they are born.
My invitation to represent Bedales School at a roundtable evidence gathering meeting at Portcullis House in Westminster was following on from a submission we made in April to an inquiry by the APPG “into the loss of the love of learning” by so many young people in England. While Bedales is by no means a perfect school (where is?!), there are things that we do which we know generate an intrinsic love of learning, creativity and critical thinking that lives with our students for life. In a recent survey of students in the Senior School, more than 90% stated that they enjoyed being at school all or most of the time. When it came to their learning specifically, 80% reported enjoying it all or most of the time. In a new study published by ImpactEd, looking at state school student satisfaction, the statistics for Bedales compare very favourably with the average rate of satisfaction for their peers in maintained schools:
The interesting thing to note about this graph is that overall satisfaction rates in the state sector remain high right up until the end of primary school. While there are always multiple factors influencing this kind of statistic, secondary school starts for children aged 11 in most schools in England now (unlike Bedales where it starts at 13). It is also interesting that the diet of GCSEs for 14 (or increasingly 13) year olds is something which is increasingly attributed to lowering engagement and even attendance. While mid-adolescence is never an easy time, there are certainly things we can do differently to make it less painful. Certainly, recent statistics show teenagers in the UK as having the second lowest levels of life satisfaction of any advanced or developing economy.
During the discussions, led by MP Steve Witherden, the down to earth former Head of Drama, the assembled headteachers, principals, union leaders and the Head of Research for the Chartered College of Teaching didn’t have enough time to cover what needed to be said about the current state of education in this country. Aside from universal agreement of the negative impact of austerity on education and associated public services, the most interesting points raised were about the narrowness of the curriculum and the lack of agency, both for students and their teachers. As the sole representative of the independent sector invited, I was a little hesitant at first to explain how Bedales is able to exercise its independence as it felt churlish when compared with the challenges faced by state sector colleagues. However, the other attendees’ warmth and openness soon saw me sharing how we formulate a curriculum and assessment model across the Whole School to suit our students. The only real time we make significant compromises is at Sixth Form where we fully accept the need for high-stakes external assessments in the form of A Levels (both as an appropriate challenge for our oldest students and as a rigorous ‘exit ticket’), particularly as we move slowly and carefully towards the 2 GCSE model for our 14-16 year olds. All of this was warmly received. In the current political climate in the UK towards the independent sector, one strong case for our existence is our ability to forge ahead with much-needed reforms in a way that could be of use to students and school leaders in the underfunded state sector. While there are some other independent schools that also exercise their independence in this manner, there are many who sometimes seem as stuck in their ways as the state sector but without the excuse of stifling governmental control. There may be good reasons for this but there must surely be more that we can do than simply complain about the imposition of VAT, wrong though it is.
The meeting ran significantly over our allocated time and many of us carried on passionate and constructive conversations outside on the street, surrounded by selfie-taking tourists and urban joggers. The following morning, I received a message from a lead policy specialist at one of the national education unions wanting to talk more about how the state sector could learn from the independent sector, in particular how creativity is still a core part of the offer that state schools are not able to provide. I am also hoping to work with the Chartered College of Teaching on critical dialogues around the current educational paradigms.
As such, it was a really worthwhile trip to London and it demonstrates the continued relevance of the Bedales approach to the wider education debate in this country and beyond.