Reading: the key to education

Education is the key to a good society. Educators have a great responsibility to preserve and develop our shared cultural inheritance. This inheritance is more than simply an accumulation of  'knowledge' but includes this 'knowledge' in the wider context of what it is to be a good human person.

In this light, this blog has striven to promote the virtue of reading as a sine qua non of the professional teacher. Recent posts have identified a range of texts which will assist educators in their crucial cultural mission: The Lost Tools of Learning (May 14); Understanding Teaching and Learning - Classic Texts on Education by Augustine, Aquinas, Newman and Mill (October 9); Communicating Faith (November 6). All of the above have a major contribution to make to understanding the complex yet rich field of education.

A new text for those interested in Catholic Education is now available: A Companion to Catholic Education (Gracewing) offers a series of essays on key themes arising in Catholic Religious Education. While this volume does not claim to be a complete textbook or manual of instruction on the Catholic faith, it serves as a gateway to the further study of theology - the discipline once known as the 'queen of the sciences'. More broadly, this volume is  another reminder that all education and schooling is rooted in the study of a cultural inheritance  - in this case religious - which demands a considered response.

I wish all the readers of this blog a happy Christmas and a fruitful 2012.

Exams and Results

Recent stories in England over the conduct of certain exam boards should not come as a surprise. The results-driven agenda of modern education is the real story here. While a 'good education' aims to develop people of faith, culture, wisdom and discernment, it sits alongside and within a broader attainment culture which seems to idolise exam results.  Understandably, parents and schools often pull out all the stops in this drive for results: parents, because they wish their children to get the grades which lead to a good university degree and the prospects of well-paid employment; schools, because it suggests that they are doing their job well and avoids awkward questions from prospective parents and government inspection regimes.

It would be unwise to call for the end of exams. What is needed is a broader educational reform which allows those with genuine academic ability to shine. Rigorous exams will always be part of this system. What needs examining, however, is not the candidate's 'recall of facts' but the ability to move beyond the narrow confines of learning outcomes (intended or otherwise) and pre-determined success criteria in order to discuss and explore ideas from an informed position.

It will be interesting to see how the English exam system moves on from here.