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Op Ed Opinion:Thai education Opinion:World Education

Questions, questions, questions……

By Greg Cairnduff M Ed BA Dip ED MACE, Deputy Managing Director.

This web site was established to assist Thai teachers in various aspects of teaching and learning, with heart of our mission being the desire to contribute  to the growth of student centred practices in Thai schools. We make no attempt to blame shame or make excuses for the way most Thai teachers work in their schools.

Thai teachers need not think that the improvement focus is on them alone. There is a vast quantity of meta data providing a body of evidence on the importance of the teacher as the key factor in both whole school and individual student performance in achieving high educational outcomes.

I want to let Thai teachers know that in other countries, my own country, Australia, being one, there is strong debate in educational, political and community circles about the performance of schools and education systems being judged against such testing regimes such as the OECD’s PISA and other tests. Many respected educational researchers and commentators see such judgements as being too simplistic, frequently, international league tables of educational performance fail to see what is wrong in the so called “high performing” countries and what is going well in those countries that struggle to get on the table [1]. The article in the Brisbane Times [footnoted here] by Professor Peter Welsh from Sydney University is well worth reading. Professor Welsh warns against placing too much importance on the international league tables.

I want to emphasise to Thai teachers who read our web site they are not alone in their struggle to do better. There are thousands of dedicated teachers around the world trying to improve the way they teach and in so doing, improve the educational outcomes of their students.

In my own professional journey in education, I have been strongly influenced by the work of the great US educator, Theodore Sizer, particularly his book, Horace’s Compromise[2]. First published in 1984, this best-selling educational classic is Sizer’s call to arms for school reform. While much has changed for the better in the classroom, much remains the same, rushed classes, mindless tests, overworked teachers are still prevalent. Sizer’s insistence that we do more than just compromise for our children’s educational futures resonates with reformers just as strongly today as it did two decades ago.  That is how I feel anyway.

For those who do not know, the Horace in the title of the book is a veteran high school teacher [of English] in his mid 50’s. People ask him whether or not he is thinking of retirement – golf, travel, hobbies etc.  But the impressive reply Horace gives to the enquirers is: “I cannot retire yet. I have to learn to be a better teacher” What an inspirational response! That is what teaching and learning improvement is all about – always trying to do better.

One of my favourite Paul Simon songs, Kodachrome, [1974] [3] has the following opening lyrics: “When I think back on all the crap I learned in high school, it’s a wonder
I can think at all”
  Startling ? Simon was quite right, considering the teaching and curriculum of the 60s, 70s and 80s.

But I wonder if Paul Simon had been in high school in 2012, would he have had the “inspiration” to write the same or similar lyrics? I hope the answer would be no, but maybe some students of these times would say “yes” and that poses a problem for education in the 21st century.

I suspect that in Paul Simon’s education there may not have been time for the students to be encouraged to be curious. The set curriculum was the driver of teachers’ work.

A recent book by Paul Tough, How Children Succeed [4], examines child development and the growing body of knowledge which provides new ways and strategies for parents and teachers to develop the potential of those they teach. Tough says of this developing knowledge, “What matters most in a child’s development ……. is not how much information we can stuff into her brain in the first few years.  What matters, instead, is whether we are able to help her develop a very different set of qualities, a list that includes persistence, curiosity, conscientiousness, grit, and self confidence.” His is refreshing new way to look at educational development and strongly supports a move away from and emphasis on testing of knowledge to the development of character in the students. In the list of the non cognitive skills mentioned above, it is the inclusion of the development of curiosity that is truly relevant to our main article for this month which is on questioning.

Isn’t it great when students ask questions? Just the other day a small boy said to me – “Mr Greg where does rain come from?” another said to me “Do you know why balsa wood is so light?”  To have students asking such questions can fill a teacher’s heart with joy. Children are naturally curious and curiosity engages learning.

The simple question, “why is it so?” became the powerful stock phrase of the  American physicist, Professor Julius Sumner Miller who in his own science based TV series, aroused deep curiosity in a generation of people in Australia, USA and Canada,. In Australia his long running TV show “Why is it so?”   was broadcast weekly from 1963 to 1986. Not many popular TV programs enjoy such a long run.

This month’s three part article by Melvin Freestone on the use of questions and questioning provides teachers with an approach far different from the pedagogy which “inspired” the opening lines of Kodachrome.

Melvin has deep expertise in education and wide experience as a teacher, school principal, consultant and author in education. Melvin has worked in Australia, India, Nepal and Thailand on curriculum design aimed at moving teachers to using strategies which focus on teaching for understanding. Melvin’s article will help teachers in using, and teaching students to use different questioning techniques.

 Readers will find Melvin’s article strongly relevant to the student centred classroom.


[2] Sizer, Theodore R, Horace’s Compromise, Houghton Mifflin, New York, 1984

[4] Tough, M, How Children Succeed, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, New York, 2012

 

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