It's something that I strongly believe in and always bothers me that the education system doesn't share the same approach.
If we are truly to motivate people to want to learn, they must see that a perceived failure at the first step is not in fact a failure at all. We've all said it to our classes and even our own children.. "We learn from our mistakes", "Every failure is one step closer to the solution", you know the drill. Yet the education system and its qualifications doesn't reflect this at all. Is it any wonder our young people get mixed messages and their self-esteem is adversely affected?
Returning to my first point, I failed my first driving test so chose to retake at a different location. One that in fact I was less familiar with, the intention being I might be more inclined to make my own decision based on the road situation than doing what perhaps I'd seen others do at that familiar junction where it went wrong the first time. The result was favourable and who knows whether that was down to my decision or just more driving experience by the time the second test came around.
Regardless, 26 years later I regard myself as a competent driver. I even helped my father pass his ADI course when he retrained to become an instructor by developing with him a step by step approach to parallel parking that he could then pass on to his students. Dad was a very successful driving instructor for many years, specialising in teaching those with disabilities. He was never concerned with a first time test pass, he was always concerned with the final test pass. I know his students appreciated this.
So how is it that in our current education system, resits/retakes are frowned upon and in some cases, have been withdrawn? How is it healthy for our young people to be told "you've got one shot at this, don't waste it".
 |
| I'd replace second with another, but you get the sentiment |
Young people are on their own in that exam room. No-one to offer them reassurance, no-one to bounce ideas off of, no-one to share the burden of what might be a make or break 60 - 120 minutes that will shape their lives forever. Is it any wonder that they are feeling the strain?
In the real world, I suspect very few of us would turn up for a big presentation with the boss without having tweaked it multiple times and run it past others, colleagues, friends and family, for their input or feedback. Imagine if your entire teaching career was based on the outcomes of a 15 minute 'drop-in' to your lesson last thing on Friday in the height of summer when it's 28 degrees out, everyone is ratty and you can't open the windows. Imagine the pressure you'd feel (I know, many probably don't need to imagine as you've been there).
In this day and age of innovation, collaboration and 10X thinking, we must embrace failure as an important step to success. So what if you don't get immediate success.
What if we treated a student's learning journey like an application? (we keep telling the to apply their learning). What if students had Alpha and Beta opportunities to test their knowledge for flaws before a full release?
What if these Alpha and Betas actually held credit? Students would have nothing to lose and everything to gain and wouldn't this be a fairer reflection of the world they are heading in to?
I'm sure this would help students and us to better manage their mental health. Much like the new Ofsted EIF doesn't increase workload *coughs* , our current system of the first result counting for schools only serves to heap more pressure on students, directly or indirectly.
We have to ask ourselves what we want from our young people and what we want for their future. What will be important to and for them in their futures? (Not what was important to us)
I'm just rambling really, as a parent of a Year 11 I'm seeing a very different side now and it bothers me as you can tell.
We need to encourage innovation, encourage risk taking and encourage and celebrate the failures just as much as the successes as they are all part of the same journey.
