Edukashon

Perhaps a blog for the teachers among you, however others might find this interesting.

I would really like 24 hours in charge of Education in this country.
And I will be careful here, because I know that education has cultural constraints, and just because we do things a certain way in the West doesn't mean that it is appropriate elsewhere. However, the major daily newspapers and some university-trained people I have spoken to seem to concur with my suggestions.

Firstly, students in high school study 12 subjects. There is very little choice. A business graduate I spoke to said that high school was largely irrelevant to him. Business studies and mathematics were helpful but the other subjects (perhaps he was forgetting English) were not useful. He had to study three strands of Science but had no interest whatsoever in these subjects. My first edict in charge would be to decrease the number of subjects and provide more personal choice for each student.

Secondly, the education system is predominantly concerned with rote memorisation and regurgitation of fact. Students are not taught to think for themselves or problem solve. Answers are given higher marks if they are verbatim from the text book - putting ideas into your own words is frowned upon. Simply speaking, students are taught the "what" but not the "why". Bloom's taxonomy is basically ignored. Students can describe (a low order thinking skill) but they cannot explain, analyse, extrapolate or theorise.
This country needs independent thinkers to take the country forward, not just people who are good at remembering facts. In the twenty-first century all the facts you need are readily available using information technology.
My second pen stroke would be to reduce the amount of syllabus content to allow time for students to develop a deeper understanding of each topic. Along with this, examinations would change to assess higher-order thinking skills.

Thirdly, it seems as though the educational workforce is not valued enough. Teachers are paid low wages (yes, I know all teachers everywhere claim this) forcing them to generate other income streams. This produces a workforce that is semi-professional, not totally dedicated to their primary occupation. A biased statement perhaps, but there is no more important resource than a well-educated population, and it is the teaching profession that can facilitate this. Economic development is dependent upon the growth of secondary and tertiary sectors and these require a skilled workforce.
The next pronouncement would be to increase the wages of teachers, but at the same time insist on a professional approach to their work.

Number four; there's some good work by John Hattie, an educationalists, showing that the most important factor in improving results is the teacher in the classroom, delivering quality lessons. His thesis is that the most valuable educational resource for any child is a dedicated teacher.
Unfortunately, the teachers here see themselves more as overseers. They under-estimate their value as "explainers of knowledge".
When it comes time for revision many teachers leave their classes to study alone, sometimes providing worksheets. They should be there to help iron out any difficulties or misunderstandings.
Unfortunately teaching is not always the number one priority.
This is a cultural trait, and no doubt the teachers have experienced this when they were in school. However, during my day in charge, I would insist that all principals in-service their teachers about the three most important roles of a teacher:
1. Teach your class every lesson you are timetabled.
2. Teach your class every lesson you are timetabled.
3. See role number one.

Lastly, there is a belief in Kenya that the longer a student works throughout the day, the better they will perform in examinations. You might say that this is a reasonable assumption, and it is to a point. However, in Kenya this means many parents expecting their children to study to 10:30 or 11:00 pm each night, and then arise the next morning around 4:30 am to begin the process all over again. Some students arrive in their classroom before sun-up, by mid afternoon some are falling asleep on their desk. It is very difficult to convince locals that eight hours sleep for a teenager is an important necessity. As their study time increases, their marginal propensity to learn decreases, and they become stressed and tired. It's a case of "more is less''.
My last piece of legislation would be to give students some balance in their life and mandate sensible hours for study. I would insist that students have no more than 12 hours per day dedicated to school work.

So there you have it, my five strategies to drag local educational institutions into the twenty-first century. Will it happen? Yes. Will it happen soon? Probably not!