Decline and Fall of Education, or the loss of another UK establishment.
Can you remember the UK Shipyards closing down one after another in the 60's? The Owners had no reason to change their ways as they had salted away huge profits. The Union Barons had no reason to change, as they had created an expensive and totally rigid workforce and were making a fortune for themselves.
The Owners and the Unions had created an unproductive workforce using skills and technology dating back hundreds of years. The only change in the ship building process was the use of steel plates instead of wood. The hull was still being built from the keel upwards, launched and then fitted out with the interior fittings. These ships were very expensive but the UK Shipyards had little competition as most other yards had been destroyed in the Second World War.
Suddenly things happened more or less at the same time.
(i) Welding technology became sufficiently advanced to enable large steel hulls to be welded together in one piece.
(ii) Out of necessity, The Scandinavians developed the method of building ships inside warm sheds. When the bow was completed, it was pushed out of the shed and this carried on until the stern was completed. All the internal fittings were carried out at the same time in the warm.
(iii) New management techniques were developed to maximise the efficiency of the workforce and materials.
(iv) New types of ships were in demand such as Roll On Roll Off ferries which the UK shipbuilder had no capability or will to design or build.
(v) The Navy, a traditional source of business, needed fewer ships requiring new technologies that were outside the capabilities of the established workforce.
(vi) Ship owners did not need the UK shipyards, as they could easily buy cheaper and better ships from outside the UK.
What relevance is this to Education?
The Technology National Curriculum is being changed for the third time. This shows that the ruling establishment still can't get it right.
The Literacy and Numeracy Hours are having to be introduced as children are leaving school illiterate. The exam syllabuses are continually being changed. The use of the percentage of "5 A to C" passes as an indicator of a school's performance is not only statistically unsound, it is positively damaging education. We all know that the C & D groups are targeted well before the exams at the expense of the 'Gifted' or the 'Mad/Bad'. Schools are driven by ratings and National Curriculum Levels. (Which have just been changed again).
If the 'Academic Elite' make the necessary changes to allow teachers to educate and for children to learn, they would have to admit that everything that has been done over the last 10 -20 years has been a waste of time.
While all this has been going on, what have the Unions done? Nothing, as far as I can see. The state of the work place is crumbling with dilapidated buildings and out of date equipment. The status of the workforce is non-existent. Discipline in schools is out of control. The decline in size of the workforce is spiraling out of control as they vote with their feet, not the ballot paper. Changes to the job specification are being imposed continually.
The Unions are a product of the same system. They to, have an interest in keeping the status quo. The more changes are made, the more irrelevant they become.
Teachers impart a body of knowledge to a pupil. The pupil has, up to now, only been able to gain this knowledge from a teacher. The purpose of the introduction of the National Curriculum was to standardise the body of knowledge a pupil should learn at a given time. GNVQ's went further by detailing what areas had to be learnt and how the pupils were to provide evidence of their learning.
The process is elitist as it is restricted to a few and undemocratic as only a few control what is to be learnt. It is "Academic", therefore good.
Technology is already changing the whole concept of Education. The body of knowledge a teacher knows can be stored on one CD which costs only 50 pence to make. Why should different technology teachers hold different types of knowledge? There must be a standard body of knowledge that must be accessible to all.
Today's pupils gain information differently to the past generations. They are subjected to continual moving images and sounds in a way that is contrary to their experiences at school that are mainly through the printed word.
Some schools use special studios with individual tapes and videos to teach foreign languages at the pupil's own pace. Most schools do it by a book. Why is English not taught aurally and visually using similar language laboratories?
One problem that always occurs is that of a pupil being absent for a lesson. How does that pupil catch up? If you tell them to copy the notes from someone else, then the whole class could be given the same notes with a considerable saving in time. But hang on, I teach the same topic 10 times in the year, that's 50 times in the life of a pupil at a school. Some pupils can grasp the topic with no help and some cannot understand the words. Do I have one version for each? Interactive CD's could solve all these problems by allowing teachers the time to individually tutor pupils.
Reply from H.B
A major factor in the decline of the UK shipbuilding was the competitiveness of foreign shipyards and the UK shipping owners had to buy cheaper ship to stay in business.
UK Education is not in competition with anybody else and does not have to follow how other countries work.
Comments from the Editor.
The very wealthy send their children anywhere in the world to get a better education. Some schools are using foreign syllabuses as they of a higher standard to that found in the UK. Scotland does not use the same National Curriculum as England and Wales.
Parents are already removing their children from school and educating them at home. Ethnic minorities are starting up their own schools, as they are unhappy with the state education. It will only take somebody with a lot of money (Bill Gates) to set up a school on the Internet, to see droves of parents withdrawing their children from the state schools and setting up local groups. Life is a circle. We are back to the village school with all its benefits.
UK State Education is already in competition with outside sources and can sink in just the same way as the Shipbuilding industry.