An article in last month’s mutineer, provoked much debate here at Mutineer H.Q. Below is a response to the article, agreed on by the team and written by an education worker member of the editorial collective:
IN MANY WAYS, the article ‘Another brick in the wall’ was dead right to lay into the state of the education system – especially Tory plans to drag us back to ‘all or nothing’ exams. Although coursework and vocation-based options will still exist, the Tories want to kick education back to the Victorian era – reflecting their own privileged, private school education – an approach that will benefit those who have spent their education being prepped for academic ‘excellence’, and disadvantage those who learn through doing, experiencing, questioning or prefer a more hands-on approach to learning. However, last month’s article goes on to suggest that the best way for pupils to fight back against this is to skive indefinitely and ‘teach themselves’. This conclusion draws an illogical solution from a decent analysis of the situation.
Encouraging pupils to truant school en masse will do nothing to reverse the education policies introduced by the Tories, and can in fact be dangerous to pupils and parents. For example, parents of persistent truants are routinely dragged to court and fined, putting the poorest families in society in even greater financial difficulties. While many teachers disagree with this approach, it is a reality that needs to be taken into consideration. Also, I work on a very tough estate with sky-high alcohol, drug, domestic violence and neglect problems. For many of my kids, school is far more than a series of lessons. It is a safe space where they can interact positively with peers and adults and learn a variety of important social, emotional and vocational skills from each other as well as teachers. Many kids, especially those from challenging backgrounds, find interacting with each other in a positive way difficult, given the lives they have come from, so expecting them to magically teach each other the skills they need to lead full and happy lives if they started skiving together is wrong. I’m currently dealing with a group of persistent non-attenders in my school who have used their time away from education to replicate the violent and abusive behaviours of their parents – leading to the hospitalization of other young people, and the re-entry of my pupils into a legal system which seems hellbent on punishment over engagement or compassion.
I feel the article makes valid points about the direction of the education system, which most teachers would fully agree with, but ignores the hard work that thousands of teachers do every day providing emotional and social, and well as vocational and academic support, to pupils who, in their homes, have only known neglect and violence. Advocating taking them away from school, without suggesting any serious alternative, will only ensure that these conditions are replicated in the next generation. There is a quote that I keep on the wall in my classroom – ‘Education is either a force for oppression or liberation’. Rather than turning our backs on education, let’s work together – teachers, pupils and the community – to build an education system that empowers, respects and answers the needs of our young people.
