Innovations in teacher-student relationships Sam Shields

Overview Recap and mini-task 7 lessons from schooling Critical pedagogy Freire Giroux Deschooling society Twenty-first century learning Summerhill – a case study of democratic schooling Seminar preparation

Recap and mini-task Discuss with the person next to you – what do you believe are the characteristics of innovative schools? Pick one idea to share with the whole group and nominate your spokesperson… Using this picture as a starting point - how would you describe the ‘typical’ relationship between a teacher and pupils in the classroom? Jot down your ideas on a post-it note…

7 lessons from schooling Using a smartphone/tablet read the article below: http://www.informationliberation.com/?id=11375 Summarise Gatto’s claim Your example Argument against Confusion Class position Indifference Emotional dependency Intellectual dependency Provisional self-esteem One cannot hide

Critical pedagogy ‘Fundamentally concerned with the centrality of politics and power in our understanding of how schools work’ (McLaren, 1994:67) ‘Critical pedagogy – and critical educational studies in general – broadly seek to expose how relations of power and inequality (social, cultural, economic), in their myriad forms, combinations, and complexities, are manifest and are challenged in the formal and informal education of children and adults’ (Apple et al., 2009: 3) Dialogue Equality and justice Democracy Respect and dignity Active involvement in issues

Freire Student-teacher and teacher-student ‘Banking education’ Liberatory or problem-posing Critical co-investigators Communication and dialogue ‘mutual humanisation’ Praxis Critical consciousness

Education either functions as an instrument which is used to facilitate integration of the younger generation into the logic of a present system or bring about conformity or it becomes the ‘practice of freedom’, the means by which men and women deal critically and creatively with reality and discover how to participate in the transformation of their world (Freire and Macedo, 2000:34).

Culture circles Own ways of speaking Shared understanding Future changes [Critical] pedagogy . . . signals how questions of audience, voice, power, and evaluation actively work to construct particular relations between teachers and students, institutions and society, and classrooms and communities. . . . Pedagogy in the critical sense illuminates the relationship among knowledge, authority, and power (Giroux, 1994: 30).

Giroux Curriculum as praxis Social transformation Relationship between theory and practice Direct relevance Critical consciousness Partial and overly critical?

Deschooling society Illich (1973) Informal, voluntary, widespread networks Reference Services to Educational Objects Skill exchanges Peer-matching Reference Services to Educators-at-Large

Twenty-first century learning Facer (2009) Formal educational settings Mobile, complex and fluid Hubs of learning Curriculum for networked learning Flexible relationships across diverse educational institutions Mentoring Intelligent information

Summerhill – the facts Summerhill https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OHxaTHzN2vM 1921 A.S. Neill Co-educational 5-16 Timetable `The function of the child is to live his own life – not the life that his anxious parents think he should live, nor a life according to the purpose of the educator who thinks he knows best.' (A.S. Neill)

Imagine a school… Where kids have freedom to be themselves; Where success is not defined by academic achievement but by the child’s own definition of success; Where the school deals democratically with issues, with each individual having an equal right to be heard; Where you can play all day if you want to; And there is time and space to sit and dream. (Summerhill, 2004)

Self-governing democratic community Attendance at lessons is not compulsory School Meeting http://www.summerhillschool.c o.uk/ What are the implications for teacher-student relationships?

Purpose of education? Much more than academic achievement What ‘kind’ of people its students become Character and qualities ‘Children will turn out to be good human beings if they are not crippled and thwarted in their natural development by interference’ (Darling, 1982: 68) Anti-intellectual Books – least important?

Survey of ex-Summerhill pupils Appreciated – more independent, better able to deal with authority and be tolerant Difficult stage in life Introverts versus extroverts Length of time stayed Down-playing of academic aspects of education Lack of inspiring teachers

Criticism and challenge Royal Courts of Justice – 2000 – legal challenge Settlement Lacks a systematic, considered philosophy of education Own experiences Unsupported assertions, exaggerations and generalizing from individual cases Freedom and licence

Points to reflect upon… Not the answer to all educational problems Would not benefit all types of children Radical alternative to conventional educational system What freedom really means in practice Genuine understanding of children Would you send a child to Summerhill? Would you want to replicate any of these models of teacher-student relationships in your school? Which ideas? Why? How would it work in practice?

Friday’s seminar preparation Read the paper on Student Voice by Michael Fielding (available on BB) and reflect upon: What is ‘student voice’ and why is it important? How does ‘student voice’ challenge ‘typical’ student-teacher relationships? What factors need to be considered to enable ‘student voice’ to be effective? What might a school which valued ‘student voice’ look like? Would you incorporate ‘student voice’ and critical pedagogy into your school design? Why? Why not? How?

References Apple, M., Au, W. & Gandin, L. (Eds) (2009) The Routledge International Handbook of Critical Education, Abingdon: Routledge Darling, J. (1982) Education as horticulture: some growth theorist and their critics, Journal of Philosophy of Education, 16 (2), pp. 173 – 185 Facer, K. (2009) Educational, Social and Technological Futures: a Report from Beyond Current Horizons Programme, Bristol: Future Lab Freire, P. & Macedo, D. (2000) Pedagogy of the Oppressed, London: Continuum International Giroux, H. & Aronowitz, S. (1994) Education Still Under Siege, Bergin and Garvey Illich, I. (1973) Deschooling Society, Harmondsworth, Penguin Books Neill, A.S. (1960) Summerhill, New York: Hart Summerhill (2016) http://www.summerhillschool.co.uk/ [Accessed 22.11.16]