We often hear that it’s important to consider learner voice in education but we rarely hear from learners themselves in the media.
Futurelab asks two 17 year-olds from the Edge Learner Forum, Samia Meah and Huda Al Bander, to give their view of what education should be like. Here’s what they have to say…
The Edge Learner Forum (www.edge.co.uk) is a group of young people working to change the face of UK education. Our main aim is to help structure education so it caters for all ways of learning, whether that involves practical or academic paths.
If the UK’s goals for 2020 are to be achieved, there is a lot to be done. We have to modernise educational choices and allow young people to learn in ways that suit them. We have to inspire young people to follow their own dreams. And, more than anything, society should see young people as a part of the answer rather than the problem.
Why we learn – motivation and inspiration
Young people like us sometimes lose our dreams because we are sometimes saddled with low expectations. Let us dream, inspire us to aim high, and encourage us to do what we really want to do. How you put this message across is really important. Don’t just rely on teachers and career advisers. Bring in people who can share their current life experience to project a vision in our minds.
One slogan we believe within the Learner Forum is: “It’s not how intelligent you are, but HOW you are intelligent.” We all need to know we have intelligence and are experts in our own life experiences so we can truly believe in our dreams.
Time to update what we learn
It’s the 21st century, so why are we still using ancient ways of learning when the world has advanced so much? We have to bring vocational and academic learning together to make a real difference. We have to bring education up to date and fill the gap between the two routes. We don’t mean scrapping the academic route altogether; we mean bring them both together to form one integrated, educational route.
In every part of the country there should be a wide range of learning options available. Vocational opportunities should be available in every school, not just a few, and a variety of subjects should be available instead of the typical choices. To make the vocational route successful it has to provide a wide range of opportunities which open doors to a life just as exceptional as that offered by academic courses.
In the future, adaptability will be vital. Constant change means that people don’t stay in one job for life any more. ‘Learning how to learn’ should be taken as seriously as any other skill. Just training people for skills to use in the short term or for a particular job limits their ability to be flexible and adapt to new professions – not to mention its effect beyond the workplace.
Different ways to learn, but relationships are always at their heart
Each student has a different way of learning and developing skills, but these days schools often don’t provide a diverse enough curriculum for everyone. We feel that the National Curriculum limits the methods that teachers use to teach; therefore students’ expectations are often not met. Inside the school system it feels like there is only one way of learning, and for learners (who come in all shapes and sizes) this seems inappropriate.
As technology develops it is vital that education does too. The way teachers educate students should be integrated with new technology. As technology advances, we realise that the role of the teacher will change - to create an enjoyable environment and motivating atmosphere for learning rather than to impart knowledge. But we think new gadgets and software shouldn’t be relied upon to teach the students, just used as good resources and teaching aids.
Stop judging us and let us be judges too
Examinations today are just a task to memorise information. But learners won’t remember it beyond the exams, so what is the point? To prove you have a good recollection of the past? More practical assessments of students should be carried out to provide a true indication of students’ skills. Especially within vocational subjects, where there should be practical evaluations and not just theory.
The OFSTED inspection also lacks reality because teachers and students know of the visit beforehand. We believe that the answer to this problem is to develop a ‘student OFSTED’, where young people would be embedded in the inspection team alongside the existing inspectors. It would involve a group of young people accompanying OFSTED inspectors when they visit a school. These ‘youth inspectors’ could interview randomly selected students to get opinions. The logic is simple: Young people can see what is really going on at inspection time because they have been inside schools undergoing inspection. They can therefore help the inspectors to arrive at a more accurate review of the school.
We are the solution not the problem
To make the national vision for 2020 a success, one thing is certain: we have to work together. All our work within the Edge Learner Forum proves that young people can help to transform education for the better if we are given the chance.
So don’t just tell young people what you think is right. Give us a way to get stuck into the real debates about improving the system, the things we learn and the ways in which we learn them. Education is our problem as a society and we, the learners, can help you find the answers today. Our generation holds the key to the future – if nothing is done it will be us who experience the failure.
This is the second in a series of three articles by education innovation charity Futurelab (www.futurelab.org.uk) looking at how and why education needs to change. In the next article, to be published on 16th March, we will hear about how computer games might have an impact on education.
