Every parent wants a quality school for their child; a
school offering high academic attainment, excellent pastoral care, outstanding facilities,
and opportunities for each child to stand out from the crowd. Searching for a
school therefore becomes a quest for the Holy Grail, where glossy prospectuses and
league tables become the artificial, and somewhat unreliable, lens through
which schools are examined. However, long experience as an educator has taught
me that unequivocal lifelong success is dependent upon good teaching, great
relationships between pupils and dedicated and capable teachers and an emphasis
by the whole school on creating learning experiences that challenge and shape
the pupils. These things matter far more than former pupils’ exam results or
the presence of a school golf course! What every parent is right to want is
success on real terms, and I have learnt that success for children comes from
the development of a number of personal qualities, which advance academic
skills, and allow for good judgement, creativity, compassion, problem solving
and determination, and result in a kind, self-motivated, reliable, wise adult.
Good schools understand this, and offer vibrant education in
depth, the quality of which is evident in the range of subjects and activities,
but comes into its own by developing the sort of excitement, abilities and
skills that enable children to succeed at anything and everything, or at least
to have a very good attempt in any sphere, with confidence, perseverance and enthusiasm.
Children who have benefited from the best education have a prime advantage in
life, as they succeed at the transformation from pupil to professional - not just
from child to examination candidate.
Schools are the stepping stone to a future in which learning will be ongoing;
one where knowledge, skills and creativity form the backbone of effective work,
but where rationality, creativity, imagination and confidence are already well
established. The work place of the future is by no means a predictable place,
and transferable, flexible skills and a firm underpinning in how to find the
necessary information will be far more use than rote learned or regurgitated
correct answers. In my own school, Notre Dame, I place a strong emphasis in the
primary phase on cross curricular teaching, which we call TASK, to strengthen
the connections between skills and knowledge that enable pupils to make
concrete sense of the world. Teaching in this ‘all girls’ setting also takes
account of the way the female brain works, and encourages an engagement with
risk and failure, both of which are a valuable part of any rich and effective
learning process.
If I were looking for a good school to undertake the vital
process of educating a child for the future I would look for the following two points as
priorities:
·
An
emphasis on learning rather than attaining: a joyful disregard for failure
is essential if children are to become independent and confident learners. Too many children are crippled by fear of
failure, especially girls, and they need the support to know that clever thinking,
wild ideas and imagination are as important as finding the right answer. In my
life as a Head Teacher I am often asked to be wise in a crisis – wisdom comes
from encountering failure, untangling complex issues and making judgements
through rational and moral critical thinking tempered by human warmth and
kindness. I want all of my children to
become wise.
·
A
commitment to collaboration: recognising ability and effort through
collaborative and team activity allows children to develop self-belief, to
recognise relative strengths and weaknesses, and to strive to offer the best of themselves. All too often parents tell me that
their children need more praise to improve their self-esteem before they can
succeed. This is a false premise: children need to know that they have a valuable
place in life and that their contribution and participation is valued. Self-esteem
grows when children recognise how their own individual effort contributes to
the success of the whole. Personal achievement follows easily when children feel that they
belong, that they have a share in working alongside others and that their
talents and gifts are recognised, useful and valued. Friendship and happiness
rely on collaboration. In the modern world collaborative working is considered
the norm, so all to the good if children have proper experience of it in their
learning.
