First impressions are always important. Particularly in education. That explains why we all were so anxious during the first lesson of this module, because we had no previous ideas of what was it about. However, deep inside us we all had a strong feeling that it was somehow related to our maturing as teachers.
Then came in the new teacher, Maria, with a bag full of energy and refreshing proposals. At first we were shocked by her methodological strategies. She wanted us to take an active role in the course which is what we are supposed to do, though, but sadly enough, throughout our academic life, we have been offered this opportunity in very few occasions. As always, the vast majority of us were afraid of speaking in front of the class. But from the very beginning, she stated clear that what she expected for us was hearing our voices, our real opinions, not how excellent (or not) our level of English was. Thus, step by step, we started to understand her personal vision of education, as well as what was the real meaning of this module based on collaborative tasks.
We all know that our educational system is not perfect. We have experienced first-hand its failures and shortages. But now we have a real chance to improve it. To begin with, we need to understand that education shouldn't be a fossilized institution -as it has become in the last decades. Just the contrary, it is a field in constant change. As so, we as educators should become a sort of chameleons, individuals able to completely adapt ourselves to any unexpected situations. I don't mean just adapting our teaching to the needs of individual students, but being able to adapt the contents and the materials to the changes of the real world. In our globalized society, technological advances, multiculturalism and international conflicts are going to affect (or disturb) somehow the atmosphere of our classroom, and we need to be ready to cope with that. As teachers, we shouldn't shut the real world out of the classroom, but on the contrary, we need to learn to make the most of the information and the resources available for us. My point here is that if we want to create a significant connection with our students (who are technological-natives), we need to teach them how their reality is directly connected to the content they are studying at school. In a way, we need to make the world and the class itself comprehensible to their young minds. By doing so, we will help them mature both as learners and as individuals.
On the other hand, we consider that education as a whole shouldn't be taught only at schools. It is a social issue, and as so, we all -teachers, parents, friends, family- have a certain amount of responsibility on it. Education goes beyond books and the basic principles of a successful classroom atmosphere -staying silent when a peer is talking, showing respect to the opinion of others, even if they differ from our own- as long as these principles are also valid for social interactions in the real world. Besides the academic content of each subject, education also means being a good citizen, in the sense of giving your sit up to old people on the bus, saying hello when we cross someone on the street or just respecting the order of a queue and avoid cheating. Small gestures like those make the life of all of us much easier. We all know so, but however, not all of us have been really taught into those principles. Our view is that if we really want to change education, we shouldn't focus only on the structure of the educative system, but also on the structure of society itself.
After all, education is at the basis of a healthy society. Consequently, if we really want to improve it, we should ask ourselves two sorts of questions: ones directly related to the structure and contents of the educational paradigm nowadays (Which schools are successful and why? What do our students really learn? Is there a coherent succession between the different educative levels?) and others directed to our personal vision as individuals of the role of education in our daily lives (How much do I value education and the role of teachers as instructors? Is there anything I can do to improve it? What sort of changes should I expect from our political leaders?). Only by asking the right questions in both dimensions we will find the solutions to our current problems.
All in all, there are no magic solutions. The answer to our damaged system doesn't consist on importing a successful educational system from a different country (as many people try to do with the Finnish model). Neither we, as future teachers, have all the answers yet.
But we have the good will and the energy to work hard and to find them!
P.S, If you want to know more about this issue, here are some useful links:
How to change education. Ken Robinson
Do schools kill creativity? Ken Robinson
On Education and Good Teachers. Bill Gates
Education and Creativity. Noam Chomsky.
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