Is Everybody Ready?

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Is Everybody Ready?

by Jim World

Despite the many indicators that Canada has a very successful public school system, there remains among many teachers a sense of frustration that the system has the potential to be so much more. Depending on whom you talk to, the means by which we coax out that potential varies.

Governments and their education ministries are more than a little fixated these days on the end of the learning process and its focus on test scores as the primary indicator of improvement. If test scores keep improving, the assumption is made that the system as a whole is improving as well. The concern that most educators have with this philosophy is that if it persists, we may well end up turning our public schools into little more than “weapons of mass instruction.”

Teachers do find some value in outcomes and results, but quite naturally when consideration is given to improving the system, their focus is on the middle part of the process—the pedagogy, and on the provision of resources to support that pedagogy. There is ample evidence to support the case that issues such as teacher presence, class size, class composition and a healthy learning environment have a profound effect on the outcomes of the learning process.

If we were able to somehow convince policy makers to shift their focus from end-of-process outcomes to appropriately supported middle-of-process teaching, we might be tempted to claim that the conditions had been created for the education system to maximize its potential. However, even if that shift from end to middle were to take place, there is still one part of the process that desperately needs some attention—the beginning. And so, as we start another school year, I believe there is some merit in revisiting the issue of readiness.

Even before the school day or the school year starts, each of the participants in the education process has a role to play and a contribution to make in creating and maintaining a state of readiness.

Those in a position of governance have a responsibility for readiness by providing a level of funding that demonstrates their belief in the value and importance of public education. The investment has to be made in securing the services of a professional workforce and in providing members of the workforce with the resources they need to carry out their mandate. It is very difficult for teachers to maximize the potential of the system when they are constantly working in a climate of “make do.” Those who govern also have to be ready to adopt a more inclusive model when it comes to developing educational policy. Students, parents, and in particular, school staffs, have a great deal to offer, and decision-makers would be wise to include them so that policies are based more on practicality than on ideology. The reality is that until the various levels of government fulfill their roles in being ready, others in the system are going to have a difficult time fulfilling theirs.

The primary role for parents is to ensure that their children are ready—ready each day, ready each week, ready each year to continue their educational journeys. During the pre-school years, parents can be of great assistance to their children by helping them develop the literacy, numeracy, and social skills that will be needed for that first day of school. Once their children are enrolled in the school system, parents have to be ready to maintain their involvement so that they can guide and support their children’s progress throughout the K-12 program.

The role that students play in readiness is dictated somewhat by their age and by the values and attitudes that exist in their families and communities. As young people move from a state of dependence to a state of independence, they need to be directed by the adults in their lives to accept more of the responsibility for making themselves ready. For adolescents, in particular, we have to make the boundaries and expectations clear so that they learn the behaviours that are consistent with readiness. By the time students are twelve or thirteen they should be in the possession of the basic skills of readiness (time management, self-discipline, work ethic, etc.) and we should expect them to be able to demonstrate that readiness through their behaviour.

Of all the participants in the education process, school staffs are generally the most ready—because we have to be. We ready ourselves with our training and our professional development. We ready ourselves with our daily preparation, and when called upon, we ready ourselves to defend the public school system. The difficulty for teachers is that we not only have to ready ourselves for the normal process of teaching, we also have to be ready to respond to situations that are created when others don’t fulfill their obligations for readiness.

By extension, teacher unions and associations have to demonstrate that they are not only ready to act politically in defense of public education (something that they generally do very well) but also to act professionally in their promotion of teachers and the public school system (if their television ads are any indication, Saskatchewan seems to do a particularly good job of this). There are too many people in this country who have no idea of how good our school system is and it is up to our professional organizations to take the lead role in rectifying that situation.

When it comes to teaching, learning and the transfer of knowledge, the public school system in Canada is doing a great job. We know that, and international student assessments confirm it. Through research, experience and hard work we have created a process that works. If we can now dedicate some of our resources to better preparing everyone to be ready to participate in that process, the results will be well worth the effort.