Transforming Education - we can do better

Our education system was designed for a different time. A time when school was about teaching kids to become compliant factory workers or clerks. To memorise information and regurgitate it in tests so we can grade them according to how much they remember.

In an age when all the world’s knowledge is available to anyone with a smart phone, that is no longer appropriate.

The school leaver today is ill-equipped for the job market of the 21st century, when more and more jobs are being lost to automation and AI. The jobs of tomorrow will require people who can learn anything that interests them, to communicate well, collaborate easily and think critically. But that’s not always what our young people are learning.

How many of our kids describe school as “boring”? How many are bullied? How many are fish being taught to climb trees, while their passions lie undiscovered?

We can do better. We must do better. And we can! There is a better way.

Many great teachers around the world are telling us how we can do better. And because of them, I have a vision.

I value:

Diversity over Conformity

Creativity over Compliance

Collaboration over Competition

Critical Thinking over Beliefs

Choice over Curriculum

Caring over Discipline

For the sake of the next generation and the future of our country, I believe we can help students:

• be more open-minded, more keen to seek other opinions, to hold more than one view at a time and evaluate them rationally

• be more considerate of others, more empathetic, more kind and respectful to others

• be taught to learn - from teachers, from each other and from other sources - rather than to wait to be taught.

• be drawn to growth, self-improvement and to excellence rather than mediocrity and collaboration over competition with others.

• be more confident in any setting, able to write and speak clearly and well to any audience.

• be more responsible on social media, more able to form and maintain social relationships in real life.

To achieve this ambitious goal requires a fundamental shift - less teaching, more coaching students to learn for themselves. To free them from the shackles of their age, boring lessons and standardised tests. To unleash their curiosity, to inspire, to build their resilience, and allow them to progress at their own pace.

If asked, most of us have a story about someone who inspired us, that one great teacher who really made a difference in our lives.

I am on a mission - a mission to unleash the passion, creativity, and inspiration in every teacher, so that graduates will one day say “they were all great”.

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If you are a teacher already on this journey, or want to join us, please get in touch.

If you are a parent interested to learn more and support this initiative, please get in touch by commenting on this post, or email me at chris at chrisdavies dot coach.