I have a cold today. I feel rough in the way that colds can make you feel, and I feel slightly pathetic about feeling so rubbish given that it is ‘only’ a cold. But the main thing I am feeling, though, is devoid of inspiration. Yet, I am guided to write. So, here goes.
I had something lined up to write. A line to this paragraph that I thought might spark the creative juices. But I feel very tired and so as soon as the idea popped into my head, it popped out again. It’s so frustrating. I feel melancholic in a way. Nostalgic almost for my ‘old’ life – yet when I was on LinkedIn earlier and saw a post by an ex-colleague detailing their week I felt a very strong aversion to ever working in that sphere again. Of doing endless amounts of ‘interventions’ as the public sector likes to call them that are at best tiny little successes in the greater scheme of things, at worst a total waste of time and just make people feel worthy about doing something. I couldn’t honestly think of anything worse than going back to that.
Going back to the 9-5 grind, getting up every morning and going into the office to do the bidding of someone else whether that be a direct boss or a Board of Directors. All of whom have their own career issues to deal with as well. Constantly fighting over scraps of money which is never really enough to be the difference that will make the difference. Writing endless funding bids in the hope that one will stick, contorting your project to meet the funders’ requirements but not the end user’s requirements fully. Repeating the same statistics over and again hoping that someone of influence wouldn’t climb into the pity party and actually do something about it.
This is the reality of public sector working. The endless grind of really trying to do your best but the system just beating you down at every level. The constant silo working and mentality across the piece when what someone, somewhere really needs to say is ‘we’re actually all pulling in the same direction, aren’t we?’. But that’s what happens when you’re fed increasingly diminishing budgets. People scramble to hold onto theirs tightly and not pay for something that will give someone else a saving that you know you’re going to need come the next budgeting round. How can anyone really make an impact when at least 50% of their mind is on that reality?
When often white, middle-class, university educated people walk into working-class environments that are seeing poverty because, mostly, the system has let them down by providing them with the charity to just about keep their heads above water if they’re lucky, but equally failing to help them climb out of the pit by providing dreadful education and a complete lack of opportunities. And by not challenging the norms of that society which is that the state can pay and all responsibility can be abrogated to the state. So, you have a group of people with no comprehension of the community’s lives entering a community that has little or no respect for them because they’ve seen it all before. Countless times. And still no one asks them what would work for them, they’re just told what they’re going to get. It’s not a wonder they smile cynically and just take it. No one is offering anything else, and they get by in whatever way they can. As long as boxes are ticked, by and large the system looks the other way. Places it all in the ‘too difficult’ pile and kicks it further down the road. For the cycle just to repeat again.
I would always say when I was working in and amongst all of this, don’t bring me endless problems. Don’t complain about everything and then look to me. Bring me solutions too so we can focus our energy on those rather than the problems endlessly. So, I am going to posit some solutions that many will find utterly unpalatable. But I’m not in that sphere anymore so I can say what I think.
The education system is utterly broken. It is destroying the mental health of children, parents and teachers. Why? Because it is not designed for the children of today, it is designed for the children of Victorian times. Evolution is an organic thing, it doesn’t happen overnight. But between now and then, we have evolved enough to not be able to be taught in the same way as we once were. Rote learning does not suit many, targets and outputs that have no bearing on the outcomes are just to suit the navel gazers, the bean counters. It does nothing for the the children and does not help them when the system spits them out. The gulf between what employers want now and what the schools produce was big two decades ago, and it’s just gotten wider. The education system the way it is structured does nothing to improve aspiration, it does nothing to prepare students for the world, and it does nothing to equip them with the skills they truly need. For example, there is a drive to teach them just to code which will solve the skills issue for digital employment – no, it won’t. Coding is the easy part. Where are our creative thinkers? Our innovators? Our entrepreneurial thinkers? Our commercial thinkers? Where in the curriculum are those skills brought out? I can show you where they are suppressed – rote learning, speaking at children for hours on end, and crushing any form of creative thinking. But those are the skills digital employers are screaming out for.
That is the first thing I would change. I would have a two-pronged education system. One for those who are best equipped to follow rote learning and listen to instructions, and one for whom that is not appropriate. An education system that watches children when they are really young to work out the best way to educate the child. A system that doesn’t say to a 7 year old – you have the ability of a 12 year old in analytics, but your rote learning skills are that of a 6 year old so you are failing. A system that celebrates diverse thinking and enables it where it is shining through. Would that be a homogenised system? No. Are we a homogenised community in terms of our learning ability? Again, no. So, why do we teach as though we are?
I would also encourage aspiration. I would not want the teachers to crawl into the pit of despair with the students. Instead, I would want to see them inspiring their students to strive for something more. I know that where this happens, the aspiration can be crushed at home. So, I would seek ways to inspire the parents. If it takes a carrot and stick approach around benefits, then so be it. But if a two-pronged education system is also used for adult education, we might start to see different results. Results where people believe in their own abilities because they are being taught in a way that is meaningful for them and not being classed as ‘stupid’ because they can’t repeat information parrot fashion when required to for assessments. And teaching things that match their abilities and interests.
Will this cost more? Yes, in the upfront costs of course it will. But let’s have a long-term view. An educated population is a healthier population, reducing the healthcare budget. An educated population is less likely to smoke, drink and consume Class A drugs with all the attendant problems they bring, reducing the policing budget. An educated population is more likely to have employment, be entrepreneurial and be economically active, reducing the state welfare budget yet increasing tax take. An educated population is more productive, helping to increase profitability and tax take from businesses. This would mean that our infrastructure would be invested in. That there would be more money for the healthcare of the sick. That there would be better policing for the crimes that would still continue. That the money for education would be there. That the money to support innovation and businesses would be there to provide the public sector support to the private sector in providing the opportunities for the employees and for the entrepreneurs. Which would drive up tax take to the Treasury. Which would all mean that we could better look after the most vulnerable in our society.
Sometimes when you’re trying to effect fundamental change, you have to bite the bullet. Take the unpopular decisions, swallow the upfront additional costs and ride the wave to the ultimate success. It will take longer than an electoral cycle (5 years in the UK), maybe even longer than two. But the green shoots of success would start to be seen in the first 5 years. To be implemented, however, it would require vision. It would require strategy. It would require strength and steadfastness. It would require actually wanting to bring in wholesale change and make the difficult decisions that requires.
None of which our current crop of politicians seem to possess, unfortunately. But I think the clock is ticking on where we are politically, that the wholesale change we need is on the cusp of being realised. I hope so, because we can’t continue in this way.
I was devoid of inspiration when I started. I wasn’t sure which way this blog post was going to go. But I hope it has made someone think. And that, one day soon, it helps a little to make someone begin to act.
Louisa Simpson 