“Hellomoto” – sorry what was that?

When one publishes ideas via this medium, there is always the chance (distinct) that what is written will attract debate, even at times views that are vehemently opposed. So be it! I welcome the feedback, so long as it is constructive and that in the process levels of awareness become a little more acute.

I know it seems a romantic concept to talk about my having just been in Hamburg. Truthfully, I was struck by the beauty of this city and its many catherals, museums and historical showpieces. In reality, however, it was not at all romantic – I was there alone, to meet potential representatives of the school, who in turn I hope, will send us students to study at Fahan. Being unable to share the experience of being in Hamburg with Kit certainly did the visit an injustice from that perspective. On the other hand, I was there to work and that was my focus…although I did run around the lake on Sunday, a significant distance for the old body – non stop! From a potential enrolment increasing perspective, I am very positive about our chances of success, whether these girls be long or short term visitors.

One other occurrence struck me while I was eating a meal in the hotel. I watched as a family, mum, dad and daughter arrived for a meal and sat down. Almost immediately the daughter took out her mobile phone. Mother left the table for a while to speak with someone else and during the ensuing 10 minutes, neither father nor daughter uttered a word to eachother – well, virtually. The daughter sat, apparently totally engrossed in what was coming to or from her phone. Father attempted to speak but was offered little more than a grunt or a nod in response from his offspring.

Isn’t this a sad situation? I think so. It is not, from my experience, one that occurs only in Germany. It occurs everywhere across the world and no less in our own back yard. So many of our young people have become slaves to this technology. Their mobile phones have become the centre of their social being – these young people have at times become socially bereft and frequently, plain rude when it comes to their engagement in conversation with others, without the distraction of a “beep” or trendy “tone” signalling an immediate interruption – because what it offers is seen more important.

Sad? You bet it is! Frustrating – yes that too. Then why, I ask myself do we allow our children to do it without accountability and bear in mind I have not been game enough to even start talking about the cost involved. It is not the financial cost, however, that concerns me (although it should concern someone) – its the social cost of allowing it to continue. Why is a 25c single word response to a message from a friend more important than talking with people? How did we ever manage to survive without this technology? More importantly, how will we survive with it, when it is used like this? It makes you appreciate some of the old values instilled into most of us, where we had to actually ask our parents if we could use the phone – it was not our right. At those times, the privilege was not granted in lieu of conversation!

I know there are positives to young people having a mobile phone. I understand they are a very real part of their culture for convenience, safety and social reasons. We all need to accept this but as with everything, common sense, good manners and a capacity to engage in conversation are values worth maintaining I think. I don’t believe this negates our adult responsibility in helping ensure a fair sense of responsibility is taken for and understood in owning and using a mobile phone.

What Makes A Good School?

I have to be honest and state that I do not believe there is anything such as a bad school. Certainly, there are schools that face a variety of different challenges and problems which may be quite unique in character and perhaps specific to particular characterictics of the community in which they operate, but schools, like children in my view, are all fundamentally good.

There is little doubt in my mind either, that what I am about to suggest here as elementary ingredients of a good school, is open to debate and probably criticism. So be it! At its core, a good school is one that prioritises the development of warm, caring and empathetic relationships within its community, ie. between students, students and staff and staff and parents. A school has to work hard at this. As one parent just recently and no doubt quite accurately suggested to me, that while we would all wish it were so, parents do not necessarily have as their greatest priority the school at which their child attends, or more accurately, its day-to-day operations. In particular this was in reference to ensuring that there is a regular and “received” level of communication.

But, it is the consistent and at times, persistent efforts at ensuring the messages are received that helps make a good school. It is through this that levels of consistency in expectations are developed and agreed. Schools are people places and as a result, demand attention to the establishment and maintenance of strong and supportive relationships in order that reasonable, realistic and importantly, achieveable goals for a child can be cooperatively pursued.

In my opinion, bricks and mortar do not make a good school. There is no doubt they enhance a school but in themselves, they do not make it good. There is no shadow of doubt in my mind that the cornerstone to a good school is very clearly determined by the quality of the staff who work there. The professionals who work with our young people and deliver the curriculum in an engaging and meaningful way are the key. It’s not just about the teaching though. It is about the hours of time these people spend, just being with the children (not just in classrooms), talking to them and listening to their issues, offering a few words of encouragement or advice here and there in an effort to provide support in times which can be very confusing. I have used the word children deliberately – because I think we can sometimes be at risk of forgetting the fact that our students are still children, albiet their experiences are significantly advanced of what ours may have been when we were of a similar age. In this sense, I believe our young people can often be quite a way ahead of themselves and herein often lies the basis for conflict, both at school and at home. This, to some degree is another issue, although schools that are good will always try to work with the parents in providing a consistent and supportive approach.

We should never be apologetic for espousing and demanding standards of acceptable behaviour and conduct in our schools. Hopefully these are consistent with those which are emphasised at home, although sometimes, too often unfortunately, they are not. A good school demands certain standards and these are reinforced throughout by all staff, from Kindergarten to Year 12, without favour and in the interests of developing well rounded, empathetic individuals who have a strong sense of what is right and appropriate. There is something good, as well, in the development of a strong sense of esprit de corps and affinity with a school community in which we all have a part to play and where no one person is more important than another within its fabric. Yes, there should be an acceptance that we may all have differing roles to play, but we are all as important as each other.

Academic achievement may well be the most important ingredient for some in gauging what is a good school. I do not wish to debate that, suffice to say that schools are more than just a TE score or a position on a media driven and promoted league table (quite mischieveously and irresponsibly in my opinion). Ultimately, a child’s capacity to make informed and realisable choices about his or her future pathway at the end of their schooling is determined by results. From my perspective, however, if the school has provided them with many of life’s tools in order to be able to do that, along with a personal sense of achievement, perhaps including an appropriate TE score from which to advance, then it will have gone some distance towards earning the tag of a good school. Along the way, hopefully, these same children will have learned to accept a high level of personal accountability, to the extent where they can acknowledge what they have achieved, along with the individuals who have also played a part throughout the journey. If they are honest, depending on their own levels of effort, I am confident they would recognise the staff with whom they have interacted as being major influences.

There is much to being a good school. Nothing along the way is necessarily easy, nor is it achieved without high levels of sustained effort and work. However, the knowledge that a school provides a secure, safe and supportive environment where each individual is valued as a special part in its tapestry and in so saying, has a dedicated and concerned staff to facilitate, develop and enact its ideals is one large step along the way to ensuring a school such as Fahan is a good one.

Real Benefits in School Continuity

There are real benefits in a student undertaking and completing an education at one school. In this sense, schools like Fahan, that offer an educational continuum over a student’s school life provide a significant advantage for children and I suspect, their parents.

Yet, every year there is a sense of restlessness among those in Year 10 (at most schools I suspect). Why? In large part it is caused by a lack of understanding or factual knowledge about what occurs in a school that offers an education continuum beyond Year 10. This includes ignorance of subject offering and diversity. There is also a lack of appreciation for the more collegial relationships that begin to develop with staff as student interest and thus willingness to seriously and more deeply explore the subjects they study, become considerably more developed than in their previous years. In part it is also due to what I would call “the green grass syndrome”. This is a curious view that develops in our young people that, everything will be better elsewhere – more freedom, maybe no uniform, apparently greater independence and so the excuses mount up. There are also other reasons offered, such as, “I have been here too long, I need a change.”

I think there remains a need for our young people to learn about the concept of going the distance, in the sense that it now becomes their turn to lead the school, to make a positive impact in a number of new areas, through their presence and contribution and to finish their schooling on a high note.

Despite the rumblings among certain sections of their peer group, thankfully, the vast majority of students (and their parents) sensibly recognize the real benefits of remaining where they are for the final, and arguably, most critical, couple of years that will complete their schooling.

An important reason to stay on is that the staff are generally well known to most students. Certainly in a smaller school such as Fahan, there is considerable familiarity with those teachers who teach Year 11 and 12 courses. Many of them have taught across Years 9 and 10 as well. The girls have established friendships, familiarity with routines and the school, an enviable record of students’ achieving the best of which they are capable. Along with these advantages there is the serious prospect of an enjoyable school life with added responsibility opportunities and some of the other “rights of passage” to which they can look forward.

It is also worth emphasising that the co-operating Schools’ relationship provides a signicant breadth of subject offering that is not often appreciated. Even students in the larger Colleges are not guaranteed being able to study all the subjects they want, yet in the vast majority of cases, Fahan students do.

Above all this is the fact that there is actually no need to change in the first place. Rarely have I heard a logical and substantial reason . All our students have to do is to work consistently and do their best and a successful outcome is a strong likelihood. Importantly, there is already a continuity in their learning – so why risk losing all the advantages on what I consider to be, very largely, a flawed logic?

It is appreciated when our parents are willing to work with the school in order to bring about the best outcomes. This is but another of the challenges with which children can present us. It is, then, especially worth holding fast to that which is good.

It’s Our Turn

I wonder how often we have taken the time to remember our school days? For some of us I am sure such musings will occur frequently, for others rarely. For those of us who do remember those years, there can be no doubt about the variety of feelings and emotions the exercise will bring forward. There will be the names of friends and peers, staff who made an impact upon us (for whatever reason), activities in which we participated, games we won or lost, maybe even the smells of boarding house food or those emanating from the canteen…..there will be lots of memories that come flooding back.

One thing is for sure – the facilities we enjoyed while we attended school were most probably, in large part the work of others who had gone before us. These parents, families, benefactors and supporters of our school made it what it was for us to enjoy. In the same way as a relay race unfolds, so does the life and history of a school – its just that now, its our turn to carry the baton.

What are we to do with this responsibility? I hope we are prepared to grab hold of it with determination, just as those who carried it before have done. Our significant priority has to be of the school as it currently stands – agreed. However, we also need to consider the bigger picture and at least pay some thought to the concept of handing our baton on to those who follow, having left the school a little better than when we were responsible for it.

It is a serious responsibility we carry. Imagine our disappointment if the baton we were to receive was dropped before we wrapped our fingers around it? Our chances of finishing the race well placed would be significantly dashed. We are fortunate at Fahan, because we have been handed a baton in good time and it has placed us well for our our leg. It’s now our chance to carry it proudly and edge to the lead in order to ensure we are as well placed as possible to hand it to our team mate who is waiting.

How can you do this? I encourage you to speak with Ric Fletcher, our Director of Development, who I know will outline a number of tactics for you – to make your part of this race a winning leg.

Time to end Division

All Tasmanian parents have a right to reasonable government support of their children’s education, regardless to which school they choose to send them.
I am pleased to see the Labor Party adopting a more positive, reasoned approach to education policy, committing to parental choice by maintaining funding support for all students in schools. Government education policy should be about supporting individual children as opposed to the schools they attend.

Why should parents, who are willing to dig deep into their pockets to fund the education of their children, not receive support from the government?

I think it’s time we stopped attempting to maintain what is fundamentally a beat up debate between those who make the choice to educate their children in state schools and families who make a choice to send their children to independent schools, often at a considerable financial sacrifice. Ultimately, the right to choose an education for one’s children should be reasonably supported by a fair level of financial assistance, per child, to achieve this.

Isn’t it time the propagators of unfairness in educational funding gave it a break and let each system get on with doing the best it can to ensure a solid educational foundation for all the students we have in our schools?