A few months ago I declared that I don't have a plan - exactly how to improve education for all of us. Mass education is an unsolved problem, and a plan isn't going to pop up as soon as anyone decides to look at the problem. By now, I am starting to have a perception of what a new education system might look like. But there is still the small issue of how to get from here to there. No plan yet.
How are we going to get good teachers to come into the system and stay there? We know the quality of the teachers is very significant for the individual student's results.
How are we going to encourage charismatic leaders, and other potential contributors to be involved in education, even part time?
How are we going to maintain a centrally funded system, that doesn't use its financial power to try and determine the curriculum? Giving power to people or organizations, tends to tempt them to use the power to further their opinions.
How are we going to set up a regulatory body that is able to determine that every school and classroom behaves according to the defined rules? Even if the rules are quite basic, the task of checking their implementation is huge. This question is not specific for a new type of education system - it's very relevant to the existing education systems as well. Though, if a new education system allows a large degree of freedom, there are many types of schools, and regulation becomes even more difficult. In Denmark, this is solved by keeping regulation at - or below - minimum.
How do we convince the existing education establishment to change? Actually, that's an easy one to answer - We can't convince it to change. We are talking about moving from an existing education establishments, modeled in the early 19th century, to a new education establishment, suitable for the late 21st century. The changes are too dramatic to be done incrementally. Maybe the way to do it is to keep the current establishment, and start a new one in parallel. If we do a good job, the new establishment will - in a generation or two - replace the old one.
How do we enable teachers to make a major transition? Probably the answer is similar to that about the establishment: We don't. When we create a parallel establishment, we recruit new teachers with new training and new attitudes, which are more suitable for the new establishment. Some teachers from the existing establishment may want to make the shift to the new one. That would be great. Many experienced teachers will prefer to stay within the existing establishment - that's fine, too: They will be needed there.
How do we get the parents to agree to experimental research? The arguments for such research are considerable, but the natural emotional response of parents is very negative. Consider for example the possibility of video-recording the activity in a classroom. It has great benefits for research and consequently for improving the teaching methods, but many parents would cringe at the thought.
How do we get the public to believe a major positive change is possible at all? Most people don't expect much from their governments.
How to evaluate the results of schools, when their attitude, curriculum, emphases etc. are non-standard? The reason to evaluate is to give the public a service - providing information and basic analysis, so parents can make their decision regarding which school to send their kids.
How to facilitate movement of students between very different schools? When the schools are standard, moving from one school to another is not very difficult - 5th grade is 5th grade. But with schools that may teach different materials, with very different emphases, it may be tricky. For example, moving at 5th grade from an art school to a technologically-oriented school or the other way around, the moving students may find themselves in need of picking up 3-6 years of material and practice. Without easy movement, the freedom of choice becomes a binding decision very early (probably too early) in the life of the child.
How do we raise the public's expectation from the education system? And
how do we do it while at the same time giving the public a better appreciation of the magnitude and complexity of the task? No answer yet, but this question may lead to an answer to many of the other questions above: Once people expect more, and appreciate the difficulty, it may create a positive push towards improvement. And when there is a push, humanity tends to find the way.
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