�ݺ�ߣ

Editor's Notes

• #3: So according to the ancient greekHeracleitus everything is flowing, ‘pantarhei’ he said and thus everything is constantly evolving, but a river is not always flow at the same speed and reading the articles we received, but especially attentding the brainstorm on 2030 I couldn’t but notice it seems we’re all in the middle of a huge evolutionary rapid.
• #4: And all the time I kept thinking: “holy cow, our whole educational system is hopelessly out of date, it can’t keep up”. A lot of insights from different academic backgrounds seem to be overlooked. But more importantly, we seem to be missing huge opportunities in tacklingproblems society is dealing with today.
• #5: Allright, so in the static, labor oriented society of the past a hierarchic, top down structure was working great. It reflected societies solid class-system where the government, companies, hospitals and families were all run top-down through a discipline-oriented strategy being mainly enforced through punishment.
• #6: And to me it seems in the dynamic world of today with all certainties fading away there seems to be a growing need for control. We try to maintain this top-down philosophy to keep some order and desperately try to monitor it all. However, this top-down strategy is becoming infeasible and there are some dangerous consequences to it.
• #7: It expresses a lack of trust and even fear from those on top. These lethal properties to successful education are being passed on top-down… with a lot of stress it flows from the government, to headmasters, to teachers, to students. All the while everybody involved is being paralyzed by bureaucracy and administration.
• #8: At the moment it seems more and more people are realizing that the compulsory, oppressive, disconnected, test-driven schools that exist today are not the best option. So, is it time for a bottom-up strategy, where we can put trust in the individual with all its potential and hidden talents?
• #9: I think it is, improvement in quality can be achieved through appreciating talent and avoiding experiences of failure and frustrations. Instead of putting an emphasis on numeracy and literacy through a top-down approach we should reinforce the faith in one’s own abilities and talents.
• #10: Advocating this bottom-up approach, promoting autonomy for both teacher and learner is no plea for anarchy, qnd this is important. According to some children’s psychiatrists children are lacking structure nowadays. Therefore it’s important they experience a structured learning environment providing certainty, security and freedom to develop their abilities to the fullest.
• #11: In this model the teacher stimulates emancipationand helps learners to make a meaningful contribution to society. I agree we have to be at their backs during this process, constantly stimulating and gently confronting them, keeping them awake and sharp and address their feelings of response-ability.
• #12: We tend to think learning through punishment seems to belong to the past, but I would argue against it. Nowadays learners are rewarded if they show great talent in the cognitive and intellectual skills. The others, the majority, are consistently being punished by the way society approaches and judges them.
• #13: We have to grow past this, urgently. We have to stop punishing those with lesser cognitive skills and move to an authentic reward learning system. From a very young age we should treat all talents as equal and stop ruining peoples self-esteem, creativity and personal development through focusing one-sidedly on numeracy and literacy.
• #14: Artists, craftsmen, health care, electricians, constructors, gardeners, sanitary people… we need all of them. Society is already reflecting this. A high degree does not lead linea recta to a high income anymore. As a matter of fact a lot of these professions can make more money than the average employee working in administration using his intellectual skills.
• #15: If we want to give all our youngsters equal possibilities to discover and develop their different talents and go this process of individuation and self-realization we have to provide them with the proper tools. There is an enormous amount of knowledge on psychology today and teachers could be trained to provide our youngsters with a map and a compass to walk this path.
• #16: In psychiatry we witness an enormous increase in adjustment disorders. With religion disappearing and certainties vanishing people run into problems and don’t know how to cope with them anymore. This translates into seeking refugee in alcohol, drugs and eating disorders.
• #17: Going through rough times, pondering uncertainty and struggling with existential questions is part of every individuation process, it is part of life. But teachers could provide the next generation with tools on how to deal with these dark and stressful times so they learn to accept and can give a meaning to their own life.
• #18: The US no child left behind program is a good example of starting of with good intentions but failing through a top-down implementation of the ideas arising from these intentions. The Finnish model on the other hand was inspirational. We have to move towards a culture where education receives the attention and appreciation it deserves.
• #19: I strongly believe every nation has such a culture, a certain kind of personality, a general athmosphere. And in Flanders we tend to be rather humble, cautious and quiet. In our general attitude we have to be careful students get the proper space to be proud of themselves, dare to ask questions and come forward without fear of social judgment.
• #20: And I couldn’t help it but felt I had to mention I feel like the 2 hours of sport we get week are hopelessly out of date. In the past children got a lot of exercice. They were either helping out in the field or playing on the streets but in a modern learning environment we should offer plenty of time, space, opportunities and support to physical exercise in one way or another.
• #21: I really liked the word learning environments instead of schools. I believe they could be miniature societies where different cultures, backgrounds, languages, customs and views can come together and xenophobia turns into xenogamy… where fear for the unknown turns into a fertile marriage between two elements alien to each other.
• #22: Then these learning environments could be places where mutual respect grows and where the DNA from one point of view is mixed with another, and different individuals inspire each other. Society is providing 25 000 thousand hours for this process to take place, we cannot miss this opportunity. My partner told me after this presentation. Isn’t all of this very obvious, shouldn’t you get more practical? I guess she’s right but I suppose that’s why we’re all here 