#isitgoodforkids

Getting it right from the start

As a program director, I recall talking to a team of trainers about what they found to be their biggest challenge when educating senior executives and managers. Their response was not too dissimilar from my own experiences, when the majority had difficulty in getting the delegates to change their old habits before introducing the new habits and best practices that would add value to their professional lives.

John would say “I have people on my course as a tick box exercise, they are completing bespoke training because their company needs the mindset of their employees to change… But half of my delegates have been doing it a particular way for years and are adamant they will go through the motions”

Sian would comment “The delegates like the idea of the training, but I feel that they will soon revert back to their old methods as it is just more comfortable for them.”

Tony’s comments would be more scathing. “They have been educated a certain way for 20-30 years. They were assessed and conditioned that it was the right way… Now you’re telling them that it was not the right way?”

I empathised with them having been a change management facilitator myself… But just because things were right then does not make them right now. The company KODAK was a classic example as it was one of the most successful camera companies in the world at one time. One of its engineers Steve Sasson first designed a digital camera in 1975 but the management refused to change with the times and would continue marching forward with the same business model, as they felt what they had done previously was a success, therefore their success would continue. As we know now the dramatic decline of Kodak as a company has been the subject of much academic research and topic for University students to study. I have read various case studies and a book by Vince Barraba who, as a former executive gives a wonderful insight as to how he believes this great company tumbled into bankruptcy. If we look at the major decision makers at the time they suddenly did not become stupid or de-educated…. Moreover, they just did not have the educational capacity for change and creative thinking.

Moving into education for children was a different challenge but I never forgot the powerful lesson that I learnt from the trainers that I was teaching at the time. ‘How can you help change people’s perceptions and ways of thinking regarding resolving problems? Then it dawned on me…. Why bother? I am educating a younger generation…. Why don’t I just make sure that we get it right in the first place.

 There was a research paper completed in the USA. In that paper a number of top executives, directors and CEOs from the top fortune 500 companies were interviewed and asked about what they felt were the most important competencies that they attributed to their success.

Divergent Thinking

Emotional Intelligence

Change Management

Acculturalisation

Balanced Life

Now we know what are the competencies needed to equip our children for the future, why are so many schools failing to properly prepare our children for life after schools. The reason is quite complicated and a separate series of books with extensive research would be required to do the topic justice. However, if we were to look within ourselves as parents and as a society we are craving recognition and we need to be judged which includes judging our parenting skills on our children’s ability to get ‘A’ grades. This in turn filters through to the politicians in the Public sector and we obviously have a direct impact as Private school customers.

As parents, teachers and educational leaders. We need to unite as one group and start inspiring change through education.

There are many experts out there who are making waves and explaining how education is wrong but I have not seen so much energy into offering solutions. This is a far greater challenge but not one that is beyond us, if we truly listen to those who have the most value… The teachers. In my experience as an educational leader I have developed a number of schools and as a consultant I am asked what makes a great school. Is it the building, the curriculum, the facilities and of course all of these are important? However, there is one stand-alone factor that I consider the most important, and that is the people. The people make the school. Look to the educational giant that is Khan Academy and research their humble beginnings. It was about that noble goal of giving education for free, that inspired and most probably drove the success of a wonderful company.

Empower and trust teachers

Currently the system is based on KPIs and deliverables that mean the teacher is almost shackled towards one way of teaching and we agree that this is not the best method. We cannot take out performance measures entirely but forward thinking companies have balanced scorecard performance measures, so why do we not do the same. I don’t mean a token measure of balanced by adding a measure of customer satisfaction but then attributing a miniscule weight to it either. We need to truly understand the value of preparing our children past education. We need to find ways to measure and assess divergent thinking, emotional intelligence, learning powers and best practices. The H2 Advisory program is the most comprehensive one that I have seen. It was created by a number of professionals in the education sector and truly supports teachers reach their potential. It takes the UK standards from the PGCE and then merges them with competencies with a rubric of four different levels. Steve Jobs said; ‘Be a yardstick of quality. Some people aren’t used to an environment where excellence is expected.’

The H2 Advisory has four different levels that the teacher can aspire to. The first level is making an impact on the student. The second level impacts the class, the third level inspires their colleagues on a whole school level and the final level is where the teacher transforms the school by making sure it happens with continuous development and support. The program takes the passion of teachers and teacher leaders and empowers them to grow on a daily basis. This has a massive impact on our children and the whole-school environment.

Curriculum – Fill in the gaps

I have delivered seminars and programs in different countries and the most common question I get is… “We can see the value of the emotional intelligence but what should we take out of the current curriculum?” The answer is absolutely nothing. I use a visual aid of large pebbles in a jar, roll calling the subject names as I place them in the jar… “English, Math, Science….” Once the jar is full, I ask a question. “After a 3-month period, has elapsed after an exam… How much of the knowledge have they retained? Research shows up to 60% has been lost.” That means that even with the 99% in an exam the student would go from a A-Star to a fail in that period. My next question is to pose the question to the audience, so what sustainable value does teaching to the test have for our children? It saddens me that in this modern world we are focusing on educational KPIs for our own benefit and not on the outcomes of our children. So, what can we do? Well we can look at the research at the beginning and start giving our children those tools. There is no reason why Stephen Covey’s ‘8 Habits of Successful People’ cannot be adapted for children or Debono’s 6 Hat thinking. There are some private institutes that are doing this but we need to make it common practice. We do not have to take anything away from the curriculum as these competencies can be placed strategically within the current curriculum to add value and strength to the education of our children. This is my cue to put back a large pebble and take a handful of smaller stones sprinkling them into the gaps.

An example is Addie the Alien - a short story for children. In one of the books, an IQ story there are 7 pages. In that short space of time, it meets a number of standards of the UK curriculum for English. It then adds value in a short space of time by encouraging a discussion about emotional intelligence, it covers all 6 learning powers and all of Covey’s habits. It goes one step further by showing a method of retaining knowledge that minimises the Ebbinghaus forgetting curve affect. There are other materials out there. We just need just need to embrace them, trust our teachers and start asking ourselves one question before making any major decision.