On 19 July 2024 Anthony Seldon published an article in UK titled, “The case for a revolution in education”.
Seldon’s main points aside, he asked an interesting question that few of us, including teachers, have ever really stopped to consider, “what is education?”
The article says,
Few people know what the word “education” means. It doesn’t mean learning how to sit exams. I have never met an education secretary – and I’ve asked all the recent incumbents – who knows what the word means. Perhaps they really do think the word means exams but are too embarrassed to admit it.
How many educators have genuinely paused to reflect on the true meaning of education? While most enter the profession driven by a desire to make a difference, many quickly find themselves entrenched in the institutional agenda of schooling. This agenda often conditions once aspiring teachers to align their understanding of education with prevailing political views, particularly the notion that the primary purpose of education is for economic progress: equipping individuals with the skills and knowledge necessary for employment and economic productivity.
Education has become politicised in recent decades, mainly because governments see the primary purpose of education of its citizens as being a key driver of economic growth: If we can ensure that more of our citizens are highly educated, they will earn more money, lifting the quality of living and bringing prosperity to our nation. When the economic outlook is threatened governments identify missing skill sets and create policy to rectify the problems with their schools. The focus on STEM skills is the most recent example of this. Schools and teachers then respond accordingly, implementing policy in the belief that our government knows best. As a result, STEM programs have popped up in schools across the country.
Additionally, societal problems are often addressed by imposing new responsibilities on schools. For instance, issues like sexual consent are tackled by introducing new sex education programs. Politicians frequently view education as the panacea for various societal challenges. While this approach might seem logical, it has unintended consequences. The accidental consequence of being the solution to the country’s economic prosperity and social cohesion is an overloaded curriculum which leads to superficial learning and teacher burnout.
If we simply view education through the lens of economics and social cohesion we narrow the purpose of education, losing the richness and colour it should bring to people’s lives. Education should be far more than what governments lead us to believe.
So, what is education?
Seldon suggests that education “means drawing or leading out what lies within”. He says, “If schools, colleges and universities do not identify and lead out the talents that lie within all young people, then those talents will remain dormant for life. Schools today are better at finding out what young people cannot do than what they can.”
For Seldon, education should be about a young person discovering what their passion is, what they are good at, and celebrating that rather than measuring them against a fixed parameter designed to filter who can do what course at what university and who can’t. Seldon’s comments make me think about people I know for whom school failed them. One such person I know regularly received comments from his teachers that he wasn’t focused during class. He ended up scoring an ATAR of 65. He left school with the perception that he wasn’t intelligent. Fortunately, he had the resilience to overcome that perception and has gone on to do remarkable things. His ATAR score was not a reflection of his ability, nor his gifts.
A close colleague of mine, Nigel Grant, an extremely experienced educator and man I would classify as wise, published an article recently on LinkedIn titled, “On wisdom and worldviews.” He suggests, “young people will be best served by a school environment which enables them to develop the prerequisite (or co-requisite) knowledge, thinking skills, experiences, values and virtues necessary to acquire wisdom.”
What is wisdom? Grant draws his definition from the book of James, “Who is wise and understanding among you? Let them show it by their good life, by deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom.” This definition suggests that education is not the sole domain of schools but is a life-long pursuit with schools being a part of that journey.
Grant suggests that education should prepare students for life, with its overarching goal being what he describes as biblical wisdom (i.e. shown by a person’s deeds done in humility). This type of wisdom may begin to be acquired by students at schools that approach holistic education from a Christian worldview, and by taking deliberate measures to promote flourishing, which will include finding purpose and meaning and by developing character and virtues. This type of wisdom is developed though experience and reflection. Like Aristotelian phronesis, biblical wisdom enables discerning, deliberative action, especially in situations where virtues collide.
Both Seldon and Grant offer definitions of education that I find far more appealing than the definition promulgated by the government, definitions that I aspired to as a fresh-eyed graduate primary teacher who entered the classroom in 1990 with the hope that I would make a difference to young people’s lives, and not just their schooling. I would suggest that education is a combination of both Seldon and Grant’s views. Education should draw out of a young person their given talents that then can be used wisely, in humility for the benefit of the common good; that is, all aspects of what makes for a rich and harmonious society, not just its economic prosperity.
We all want to leave this place better than what we found it. That is what education should be: empowering and equipping the next generation to make our world a better place. I refuse to lose sight of that aspirational dream as an educator and so I am determined to help our nation reframe the definition of education.
