Sssh…it’s the ‘s’ word

What did you say? Your subject is English? Tsk, tsk. Don’t you know we not allowed to say ‘subject’ now? How very siloed and partisan of you. ‘Subject’ is now a forbidden word, something only to be whispered when no-one can hear you. For now we live in the days of cross-curricular, integrated learning in which the Key Competencies are king, and studying your favourite ‘subject’ has been relegated to the dusty halls of the past. Three raps on the knuckles….

Clearly, I’m being facetious, but it’s an interesting idea to toy with. A recent talk from the MoE reps involved in Schools Plus looked at the way schools, among a plethora of ‘solutions’, could timetable more creatively, and break down the barriers created by ‘subject areas’. One speaker actually chastised himself, mid-flow, for using the dreaded ‘s’ word.

I found this intriguing. It’s as if, just by saying (or not saying) something, just by giving a concept voice, it will happen, emerge blinking into the light, fully formed and breathing. The implication is that, if we talk about our ‘subjects’ as secondary level, we will automatically be shutting ourselves off from a more integrated world, in which pedagogy and shared learning are crucial.

I don’t disagree with the concept of integrated learning - in fact, I’m often actively pushing for it in conversations with schools. What puzzles me, however, is when people make comments like, “We shouldn’t use the word ‘subject’ anymore,” as though that will somehow offer a verbal band-aid to the issues of dis-engaged students and NZ’s ‘long tail’.

It is exactly this idea – that somehow, knowledge has been sidelined in the favour of process (this resonates with Mary Chamberlain’s unfortunately-misinterpreted comment made last year about students as ‘little knowledge banks’) – that will ensure that it is the teachers, not the students, who will dis-engage from the MoE’s, very important, messages.

So let that be a (integrated) lesson to you…

Teaching: it’s more than just a job

It’s……? Finish the sentence and win the prize of satisfaction …

The slogan is actually from the Time Education Supplement, the main educational publication for the thousands of teachers working in the UK.

I remember reading it as a new teacher, and it became a bit of a weekly highlight (which, I think, says much more about me than it). As a rule, it contained (as still does) articles on current educational events across all sectors, commentary and editorials on the same, useful resources, relevant ads and vacancies (especially around April-May – the main recruitment period in the year – when the thing would be encouragingly weighty, groaning with opportunity and representing some small, now-existent forest hacked down to show just how much teachers were on the move..). Best of all, would be the late Professor Wragg’s opinion piece – dry, humorous, pertinent, human (pretty impressive for an academic…!)

By contrast, here in New Zealand, we have the Ed Gazette. Features? Tick. Vacancies? Tick. Adverts and notices? Tick again. What we don’t have – and won’t find it in this publication – are opinion pieces, satire or otherwise, that offer an alternative view on current education policy and directives. This is not to say that the Ed Gazette is failing in anyway, but that it simply does what it says on the tin. It is published for the Ministry of Education and accordingly it’s purpose is to give voice to that institution. And so it does.

Now, it is not necessarily for me to criticise the MoE – but surely someone should, if only to keep them honest? Whether there is potential in this country, with its relatively small population of teachers, for a second publication to stay afloat is an issue. But I have noticed that there are a few members of this esteemed profession with a sense of humour and healthy viewpoint on current educational affairs who, I suspect, might appreciate something more than official notices and features on current school strategies.

I couldn’t find a slogan for the Ed Gazette so feel free to make up your own.