A manifesto of sorts: Creative involvement in local schools

I'm currently standing in a ballot at my daughter's school for the role of parent governer on the governing council. It's a serious position, one that I have applied for only after careful thought, and something I am sure would involve important work. All parents of children at the school are currently considering their vote and I thought it appropriate to outline both some specific reasons why I think I could make a positive contribution, and to provide some thoughts about parental involvement in schools more generally. This is a manifesto of sorts.

Firstly, I don't think there is 'a' right way to educate children, but I do believe there is a right way to educate every child. Children are different. Wildly different. They have different interests, aptitudes, capabilities, and preferred ways of exploring the world. Any parent with more than one child already know this because each is undoubtedly profoundly different at least in some key respects. This is seen as a major challenge for standardised education systems but I see this diversity as an opportunity. Of course there are challenges for teachers in meeting such a broad range of needs (against the odds of manic educational reform and debatable policy changes), but enrichment and even efficiency is possible. After all, if you can identify the most effective way of engaging learning, surely this could eventually become the most time efficient too? Couldn't we move closer to the 'best' way of doing this in better ways? One size never fits all, and often fits nobody.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/smemon/

Perhaps the biggest challenge for me in education is that of engagement and personalisation of learning. I've always resisted the notion that some aspects of educational experience are 'dull but necessary', the proverbial 'slog with payoff later'. However, far from advocating an 'effortless' or easy learning experience, I rather think that effort and hard work can be rewards in and of themselves, and the best way to foster such effort is both to personalise and make inevitable the processes involved. Finally, learning achievements need to be celebrated fully. Milestones and attainment needs to be acknowledged in order that horizons can be opened up and next steps identified.

Yes that's me. We wondered what 'digital graffiti would be like, up close...

I believe very much in immersive learning, the value of participation, and that ideas become capabilities when put into practice. Teaching and researching as I do in higher education, I have particular interests in learning and teaching and know from experience that ideas put into practice, challenged, and supported with interesting opportunities, are ones that seed personal growth and development most effectively. I believe ideas should be made real, exercised in physical ways, and moved from thinking to doing to knowing. 

I also feel very strongly about the co-creation of knowledge and the value of team-based activities in education. Alongside core knowledge and understanding, the social development of children in education is fostered by collaboration and enriched by diversity. Related to these factors I also have strong interest in emerging research about the 'gamification' of learning in education. It has often fascinated me that children can revel in competition and repeated 'failure' when playing board games or computer games, yet associate 'failure' with negative emotional experiences or set-backs in learning. Many educationalists are now discovering that education can be made more 'game like' and more 'team based' to positive overall effect. Learning anything can be fun, failure can make you stronger, and incremental success can be a triumph.

I work in education and the thing that lights me up, keeps me going, pushes me forward, is seeing the development of others. I appreciate that the most significant factor determining the quality of learning is the quality of teaching and the support for the learner. In education then the objective should be to improve teaching, focus on learners as individuals, and do everything possible to improve the quality of learning between learning activities. The quality of learning experience between classes and days at school is as important as the time in the classroom.

Something I saw in Oklahoma, US, a few years ago.... 

If I could change anything through my involvement as a school governer? Well, I would hope to support the development of playful cultures or learning and, most importantly, develop more active focus on creative teaching and creative learning. As my principle research expertise, creativity is an attribute that all learners and teachers can develop and something that can positively influence ethos and culture in educational environments.

I would also hope to do everything I could to increase the recognition of the teachers and teaching assistants given the central role they play in determining the quality of learning that takes place. It is the most important job in the world. Teachers are the most important people in the world. I would also like to consider though that parents and family members, whenever they support learning at home (homework or simple exploration of the world through play and discovery), are themselves teachers. The responsibility for our children's learning is fundamentally a shared responsibility. We are all teachers, and the support, encouragement and value associated with education require the management of a wider culture that extends far outside the school gates. Our children only have one opportunity to realise their potential and I hope it is the ambition of everyone that they exceed our own. Let's help our children transform, broaden their horizons and extend their ambitions of themselves and others.

Most importantly though, above anything else, I would want to draw more fully from the most underutilised source of expertise, energy and experience in school - the parents and families of the children. I feel slightly guilty for how much more I could have contributed to my daughter's school but I have put my name forward for election to the governing council as a first step. It's not just that I think I could help my own children, I think I could perhaps help others too. If someone in every child's family could do the same for the school, can you imagine what might be possible? Can you imagine how many professions, life stories, experiences, technical skills, and ideas that could be shared throughout the school community? A little, from many, becomes much.

Of course I fully intend to get more involved in the school whatever the result of the parental vote. I will simply try to get involved in other ways. But I will try. I will try.