The late post…

Posted on | October 18, 2006 | 7 Comments

My duties as a ‘thought leader’ meant that I wasn’t able to blog live today from the Global Summit. I’ll be heading off in an hour or so for a cruise (with dinner) on Sydney Harbour. The sun is out, it’s hot (apparently – I haven’t been outside today yet) and it’s windy, so here’s hoping my sea-legs hold up.

Today has been a day of contrasts. Interesting contrast, first of all, between the urbane, low-key Robert Cailliau and George Siemens. I got more out of Cailliau on this occasion but Siemens brings experience and deep thinking with him. Cailliau gave us messages we know and understand, but messages that we are finding it hard to admit to ourselves, about the absolute requirement to save our own planet, and the implications that must have for learning now and into the future.

And immense contrast between the ministry-man, Doug Brown, and the ’school is dead’ anarchist, Leigh Blackall. Doug, though, as anyone who knows anything about him realises, is no ordinary man-from-the-ministry – he is very much his own man, but, as with so many of us, knows he has to operate within the realpolitik of the moment in history that we now find ourselves in. Doug’s basic message was credible and persuasive: that the current reality of the centralised or nationally-managed system/curriculum has to be mediated by a shift towards genuinely personalised learning. In this area, England is probably ahead of the game, and it’s an area that we in Scotland could learn from.

Blackall, on the other hand, offered a message that I have much philosophical and emotional sympathy with, but offered in a context that is ultimately either delusional or dishonest (depending on just how deeply he has really thought it through). His stated loathing of the ‘grizzled bureaucrats’ (Andrew Cappie-Wood’s self description) was highly entertaining and largely justified, but loathing is not in itself enough to make a difference to the inertia that resides in the structures and processes that make up most state education systems around the world. He is right, absolutely, that Illich’s notion of the Learning Web was created more than a generation before the maturation of the technology that now makes his vision achievable, but he shares Illich’s inability, ultimately, to engage with the real political and institutional issues that would make a difference.

Rather than Illich (or, at least, in addition to Illich), I would suggest that Paulo Freire has more to offer. Freire shared the same fire in the belly that burns within the like of Illich – but Freire was also politically astute and attempted to understand the dynamics of the society (societies) in which we live so that real change could be brought about. There’s a comfort, and maybe a pleasure, in being the ‘enfant terrible’ – and there’s an entertainment value for those who get to listen to him – but I just wonder how much he can achieve, and how his achievements on a national or international scale at the end of the day will match up to those of the ministry-man, Doug Brown.

On the other hand, maybe he doesn’t give a s**t…..

Technorati Tags: globalsummit06, robert cailliau, george siemens, doug brown, leighblackall, illich, freire

Category: Web 2.0, education, politics, praxis, society, technology

Comments

7 Responses to “The late post…”

The rhetoric of change « heyjude
October 18th, 2006 @ 2:21 pm

[...] I have been reading the posts by John Connell and am heartened by two things – namely the indepth reflection of the sessions and succinct summary that John is able to provide so quickly and in such a timely fashion as he goes about his business. On the other hand, I am aware that many of our ‘thought leaders’ and other leaders in education are attending, but focussing on ‘networking’ [playing politics?] without sharing any public reflection of what is happening or what they are thinking as a result of the sessions. [...]
Leigh Blackall
October 19th, 2006 @ 2:15 am

Hi John, thanks for the feedback. My comment here.
John Connell: the blog » Blog Archive » Realpolitik
October 19th, 2006 @ 2:09 pm

[...] 10/18/2006: The late post… [...]
Laurie O'Donnell
October 19th, 2006 @ 8:33 pm

You will need to convince me that England is ahead of Scotland in terms of personalised learning. A couple of concrete examples would be really useful.
Teaching Generation Z » Is Idealism Dead?
October 21st, 2006 @ 1:41 pm

[...] So, maybe teaching is dead. In that case, even Leigh would have to agree that due to the slow pace of change in any school, there will be quite a few teaching zombies still going through their traditional motions for quite some time to come. What puzzles my mind is how Leigh’s idea, could or will filter down to the secondary and primary schools of Australia. He made reference to Greg Whitby from NSW Catholic Education and the new school that is being developed in Sydney which attempts to redefine the secondary school experience. Things do have to change – of that there is no doubt in my mind – but from Leigh’s vision, how a new form of teaching can emerge post-secondary is a lot clearer because it means dealing with adults who are freer to make their own learning choices. How we deal with relevant learning for adolescents still moulding their own self identity and purpose in the world and the children of the primary sector who are focussed on acquiring the literacy and numeracy skills that will lead to skilled and informed choices is another question. Here in South Australia, we have a broadly worded Birth-12 curriculum designed to be evolutionary and keep pace. But I fear the exponential speed of information change and access is already rendering so much of those outcomes obsolete. Maybe it will take a wave of home schooling or the opening of access to distance learning materials (via places like the Open Access College here in Adelaide) for more students than just those who qualify presently due to isolation, medical circumstance or exclusion from the mainstream. I’m not sure – like all good presenters, Leigh poses as many questions as he proposes answers. I can see Leigh as an educational version of Douglas Rushkoff especially in his use of historical metaphors throughout his presentation. Interestingly, although Leigh has been variously described as vehement and as anarchic, I tend to think of him as more of an idealist. He still manages to keep the passion burning fiercely looking to push the boundaries of conventional thinking. I remember my tertiary education days when I grabbled with issues of social justice and I thought I could make the world a better place by training to be a teacher. Then the action and ethics that go with that idealism gradually leaked away and the passion got put on the backburner. In Leigh, I hear someone who has managed to keep the fires of his chosen idealism stoked and burning. I am constantly amazed at the ideas and new directions he gives freely through his various online avenues. [...]
Mark Landy
October 26th, 2006 @ 2:30 am

Graham
I too was at the Global Summit and I have been sifting my thoughts this week about what I saw and heard.I think the points you make about how we think through Leigh’s points and how they might apply in a schools setting very pertinent.
I must admit to some frustration with Leigh’s presentation. Like you, I too have a great deal of sympathy for his position, but I also want to see and hear more than a litany of whats wrong.

At some point, and pretty soon, we have to grapple with the practical implications of all this, with a view to giving teachers etc, schemas, models, whatever to show how change can be effectively implemented.

The flip side is that many teachers are just getting on and doing it-but the system-wide challenge is the big one-and looking for ways for a department to support innovation of this kind is not easy.
Is teaching dead? Teachers might well say that reports of our death have been exaggerated-to me its more about a realingment and redefintion of the relationship between teacher and learner.
Finally, I thought that age old question of what do we need to ‘know’ in this turbo-charged economy/society a compelling one-and its a matter Im still mulling over.
Good to chat.
John Connell
October 26th, 2006 @ 9:14 am

Mark – your point about realignment of the relationship between teacher and learner is, for me, spot on! It’s too easy to come up with apocalyptic assertions such as ‘teaching is dead’ (to be fair to Leigh, the speakers at the Global Summit were called ‘provocateurs’ and were asked to be provocative!) but it’s much less simple to manage the process of change itself (to the extent that it can be managed at all).
John