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“Our current school system was not designed for students to thrive” 1 For example our traditional school systems derive many of their structures from the factory model of the industrial age. Assembly line metaphors pervade the school and curriculum (bells divide the day into blocks of time, where the next piece of instruction is delivered, often in a totally unrelated topic.)2 In an era where we know more about brain function and learning, we need to ask if this educational style is still appropriate. The anecdote about a doctor from 1880 being unable to recognise a modern hospital, but a teacher instantly reognising a school, illustrates the difficulty education can have finding an expression suited to the modern age. We also need to consider the changing requirements of the workplace in an era where information skills and creativity are at a premium; and employers are increasingly looking for “softer” attitudinal attributes of creative problem solving, presentation and communications skills, leadership ability (see the Mayer competencies 3,4 ). Literacy and numeracy are certainly high on the list, but the traditional models –where students passively learnt acres of proscribed material in preparation for life in an industrial society, are not necessarily tuned to today's society. Michael Fullan gets it in a nutshell when he states the challenge to "raise the bar and close the gap for all with respect to literacy and numeracy, emotional intelligence, thinking and problem solving, teamwork and collaboration." 5 The original purpose of universal education was not simply a deep and excellent education for all; it also had a function to filter off those who could proceed to the next stage. Originally this meant those who could move on to secondary school, or as the compulsory years extended to 15, to the final years of schooling, or university.
So deep learning for all was not really in the original goals or “DNA” of this model. Various observers have pointed to the social function of schooling in this era; schooling helped assign one to their place in life; students filtered off at earliest stages could find their place as useful citizens of society, while those who progressed to later stages, particularly from private schools, were prepared for professional roles. Even within the relatively egalitarian culture of Australia , this “hidden curriculum” has been influential. Teachers might not have subscribed to this view; and might have actively worked against it by investing in all young people, and celebrating other pathways as "success", but the structure of the system and curriculum has not always assisted them. The creativity of teachers and students has often transcended the conditions of schooling, but the challenge is structure schooling along more productive lines. There is an historical inertia in how schooling is framed which is increasingly needs to be reexamined. Two succint statements from people who have thought this through:
1. Group 8 Education (www.gr8education.com.au) 2. Dr Rod Riegle, Professor of Education at Illinois State University
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