The school term is about to start. Families are organising uniforms, books and school bags and buying the almost mandatory new pair of school shoes. Often the practical aspects of the New Year dominate our thoughts. It has been occurring to me that starting school, particularly for the first time, but in any year level, is an opportunity to reflect upon what we want most for our children. Often we say, “I want them to be successful”. Unfortunately, success is increasingly being equated to benchmark and numerical scores. As most adults would already recognise, success in life is not actually about money, stardom or numerical scores. More importantly, it is about happiness, a strong sense of identity and pride in oneself. Being able to form meaningful relationships, a sense of belonging and contribution. A sense within oneself that you can dream, hope and aspire.
As the new school term starts, I am committed to reminding all members of the community, parents, teachers, government and policy makers, that a child’s worth and successful education is not simply about reading levels or a benchmark.
I am about to upload my first editorial for 2009 which discusses in more detail the dangers of equating an holistic education to simply schooling and the worrying trend at all levels of government that constantly moves in the direction of measuring, comparing and ranking rather than viewing each child as an individual.