I think we’re standing with our toes poking over the edge of an educational cliff … and it’s probably time that we leapt, with big faith, forward.
I think schools have spent the last couple of decades tolerating, enduring and exacerbating an individually obsessed model.
It’s been a relentless shifting of the needle toward individual plans, individual needs, individual gripes, individual preferences and individual focus.
It’s resulted in exhausted school staff who are constantly attempting the impossible and collapsing in an exhausted heap of constantly feeling like they’re failures. They’re not failures. None of them.
I think a school is a collective noun, not an individual’s vending machine of service. I think parents should feel privileged to send their child to your school – a special place designed for that child to grow as a learner and a citizen if they make an effort.
I think we need parents’ support and the insistence that they drop their transactional approach to schooling. School does not revolve around YOUR kid. Modern, professional schools are designed, built and operated for OUR kids.
I also think we’re very close to a point where one more individualistic intervention, imperative or compliance might topple us collectively off the cliff anyway.
So, why don’t we just jump together of our own accord? Let’s leap into the abyss of collectivism, progress, imperfection and authentic job satisfaction.
The great part is that a collective approach to schools isn’t new or brave. It’s roughly how we built schools before we turned them into individual need meeting factories.
Keep fighting that good fight,
P.S. My 2025 national workshop tour has begun! If you’re ready to transform student engagement and school culture, check out the dates and join us.
For Teachers and Education Practitioners:
Restorative Teaching: The Next Frontier of Student Engagement Workshop
For Principals and Aspiring School Leaders:
Leading Whole School Behaviour Improvement Workshop
Register for your nearest workshop here.
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