Why do schools exist? What exactly are we trying to achieve? Renowned educationalists Sir Tim Brighouse and Professor Mick Waters call for a national conversation about the purpose of schooling and offer their list of 12 core reasons we do what we do...

 

An Education Commission established last summer by The Times will shortly produce an interim report. Its remit is to look at making the education system in the UK, especially schools, colleges and universities, more fit for purpose.

Either in this report or in its final deliberations a key ingredient should be to demand a nationally agreed set of aims and purposes for schooling. Amazingly there are none at present, at least for England: Scotland, as in so many matters educational, is ahead of us.

It does seem odd that, with all the centralisation which successive secretaries of state have engaged in – acquiring more than 2,000 powers from a starting point of just three after the Second World War – none has thought it worthwhile to have a debate about what exactly, or even roughly, we are trying to do through our schools.

True, we have occasional reference to justify the introduction of a new policy or to meet an urgent issue: our economic prosperity, children’s welfare, social cohesion, for example.

And Michael Gove put about a few vague words to support his curriculum: “The national curriculum provides pupils with an introduction to the essential knowledge they need to be educated citizens. It introduces pupils to the best that has been thought and said and helps engender an appreciation of human creativity and achievement.”

There is of course nothing wrong with what he wrote. But is that all? Can aims and purposes really be reduced to 40 words? Are we interested in our pupils acquiring certain skills? Do we want them to value different forms of democracy – particularly our own and how it has and is evolving?

Do schools have a role in promoting children’s understanding of, and adherence to, certain values and, if so, are they a bit more than the cobbled-together and arguably rather questionable set of British Values which Ofsted under government advice checked out in their inspections a few years back but which were ignored in other parts of the UK?

 

About Our Schools: Also from Mick Waters & Tim Brighouse in this series:

 

The purpose of schooling

We have written a book – About our Schools: Improving on previous best (2022) – looking at the many areas where the schooling system in England fails to deliver what our children need for their and our future spiritual, physical, mental and economic health and wellbeing.

Among many things which puzzled us was this lack of a clear definition of the purposes of schooling. This matters, for without clear purposes how can you have a balanced assessment system, either for schools or pupils?

Indeed, that is why our exam and inspection arrangements are so flawed that they are designed to leave a trail of failure in their wake.

We think building consensus on a set of agreed purposes for schooling is long overdue and vital to the many changes we think necessary for a successful future. We set out what we think as follows…

 

We want our children to understand through their schooling that:

  1. It will be their duty as adults to guard and participate in a representative democracy that values national and local government. To that end, schools will progressively involve students in many aspects of school life and the community in which the school and the families are located.
  2. Their religious faith and beliefs will be respected, and they will be encouraged through their schooling to respect all faiths and the humanist position.
  3. The many differently rewarded jobs and careers, which are vital to the wellbeing and practical operation of our society and others elsewhere in the world, are open to them. These include producing our food, construction and manufacturing, providing energy, medicine and care, logistics, information and entertainment, defending us, making and upholding our laws, cleaning up our mess and doing the tasks that only few can face, caring for our world and working to support less fortunate people and causes, offering solace and helping others to learn, perhaps in classrooms, libraries, galleries or museums. This kaleidoscope of employed and self-employed opportunities, available in the private, public and voluntary sectors, is ever-changing and expanding under the influence of accelerating political, economic, social and technological developments.
  4. These careers require differing talents, and schooling experiences will be based on valuing them as individuals and equipping them with the values, attitudes, knowledge and skills to make a successful and rewarding contribution to society as adults, in and out of work.
  5. They will be encouraged and expected to think for themselves and act for others through their life at school and in the community. They will be aware of how decisions are reached and how actions can work to solve or create problems. In doing so, they will explore and understand the range of obligations, contributions, rights and choices open to them in our own and other societies.
  6. They will be offered a range of learning opportunities that will reap more benefit if they commit to learning and seek further learning experiences in other positive contexts.
  7. They will encounter through their schooling experiences expert help in acquiring a foundation of skills and knowledge which will allow them to survive and flourish in our own or other societies.
  8. They will be thirsty to learn about the way civilisation has sought to solve its problems and made incredible discoveries and achievements, while also, at times, making mistakes.
  9. They will have the ability to navigate media, including social media, and become critical and discerning users of developments in this field.
  10. They will be equipped to make good arguments for a just cause by understanding the views of others and thereby influencing their social and political environment.
  11. They will understand and appreciate that our world is comprised of people from different cultures, races and orientations and be aware of the ways that power can be exercised with care or can be abused, and that people can be respected and valued or exploited and persecuted. Their actions in the present and the future will reflect an understanding of our civilisation’s past accomplishments as well as acknowledging that some of those achievements have come at the cost of prejudiced and flawed thinking.
  12. They will recognise their responsibility to protect the planet and contribute by living sustainably with the aim of preserving biodiversity and limiting global warming.

 

A new age of schooling?

We think the time has come to start a new age in English schooling – one of hope, ambition and collaborative partnerships among schools and their stakeholders.

Once we have agreed a set of purposes, all sorts of improvements are possible and in our next two articles (to be published next week and the week after) we will set out what some of these should be.

  • A former headteacher, Professor Mick Waters has worked in teacher education and at policy levels in both local and national government. He was director of curriculum at the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority from 2005 to 2009. Sir Tim Brighouse was twice a chief education officer – once in Oxfordshire and once in Birmingham – and led the London Challenge.

 

Further information & resources

 

Brighouse & Waters: About Our Schools: Improving on previous best, Crown House Publishing, January 2022 (available now): www.crownhouse.co.uk/about-our-schools