Education in Crisis ?

Readers interested in the state of education in this country will have been concerned about an article which appeared in the "Sunday Times" just over a fortnight ago.   I intend to comment on that particular case - and others of which we have first hand experience - in my "Diary" in forthcoming weeks, but suffice to say at present that we at STEP AHEAD keep hearing of more and more situations which suggest that there is a crisis building within our education system.

Just today, I listened to the concerns of a pupil who, in 4th Year, has already had SEVEN different teachers for her Standard Grade English - six supply (none qualified as English specialists) and one permanent (but frequently absent) - and we are barely out of September !!

And, believe me, I hear of such similar - and worse - scenarios every single week throughout each academic year.

Whilst in America in the summer, I kept hearing about how their schools were getting worse. The feeling that I got there - and frequently get here - is that none of the traditional solutions bandied about holds the answer.  New fads, part-solutions, bickering amongst politicians and so called education experts are nothing new - but little happens.

There is a growing trend, perhaps emanating from the U.S., building in London, and starting to be seen up here, of parents home schooling their children.  STEP AHEAD has had more experience of this during the past year than the previous decade in total.

More drastic action, real innovative ideas, and a change in the actual process of schooling appears to be needed - and urgently.  But is there an innovator - a leader - out there who appreciates and accepts that there is a crisis ?   Or does apathy rule ? 

Even comments, responses, reactions - to the above - would at least show that someone cares !!!!    And that I am not alone on this planet !  

Comments

[joe stafura]

I agree completely with idea that there is a crisis in education, for some the crisis is decades old, for others the real problems are just emerging. NCLB may have problems, but it has exposed the range of educational quality across the country, there are children who have no chance of due to schools that are failing to teach them the skills that they need to get jobs now, and certainly not in the future.

When you measure the US on a Global scale, the results show that we are losing ground. There is a need for large scale changes in the way that students learn, progress is monitored and lower income students are served.

In my recent role as an advisor to a technology based learning system that lowers the cost of learning, while producing a greater rate of advancement, it is clear that the most needy are being sentenced to a life of low achievement for nothing more than being born in a school system that can't teach them.

There is no more important issue than improving the quality of the education we provide to our children, if for no other reasons than giving them the skills to pay back the debt we are leaving them.