Frank Furedi

A five-point programme for policy on education: how do policymakers, parents and teachers fit in?
At the British Library on 16 February, Professor Frank Furedi, author of Wasted: Why Education Isn't Educating, set out five key ideas for rescuing education in the twenty-first century.

Education is seen as one of the key issues in the current pre-election debate. Parents, teachers and members of the public are deeply concerned with the many problems afflicting our schools. Lack of clarity about standards, problems of classroom discipline, continuous changes to the curriculum and system of examination are just some of the issues that are raised continually in public debates. Unfortunately, some of the really big questions facing schools are seldom considered. We discuss only rarely issues such as the role of adult authority (i.e. that of parents and teachers), of policymakers, and what education should mean. If schools are to prosper, we need to alter the relationship between policymaking and education, teacher and parent, and adults and children.

So, what needs to be done?

1. Take the politics out of education

Policymakers should stop fiddling with the curriculum if they want to improve schooling. Rather, it is necessary to insulate schools from the influence of policymakers. Ceaseless policymaking and interference in the curriculum has encouraged an atmosphere of instability in the classroom. Education needs more stability and classrooms must be freed from bureaucratic micro-management. Education should be ‘de-politicised’, with teachers freed from government initiatives to focus on ‘educating’.

2. Rework the relationship between parents and teachers

At present, the line between home and school and parent and teacher is drawn poorly. Parents are expected to behave as amateur tutors and to involve themselves in the classroom. In turn, teachers spend far too much time acting as social workers or psychologists, and dealing with issues that are best confronted in the home. This is not simply a waste of time; it encourages tension and conflict between parents and teachers. There is a difference between raising children and educating children. This has become blurred and must be re-established to allow a more clear and constructive relationship between parents and teachers.

3. Policies should establish and reflect clear relationships between the generations where adults are ‘in charge’

Adult authority, in and out of the classroom, must be affirmed to provide a sturdy foundation for education. At present, the authority of parents and teachers over children receives little cultural affirmation. Yet, to teach effectively in schools, teachers must exercise authority in a manner that is unambiguous and clearly understood by their pupils. Parents need to understand this, and support it.

4. Education must be independent and diverse

Although schools are part of a community, they must be left to teach what must be taught, without the distractions of outside pressures. We need a tolerant and open-minded ethos towards education, and not a prescriptive approach towards schooling that restrains teachers’ initiative and ambition. Within a national curriculum, schools can flourish if their teachers and heads have sufficient independence to exercise professional judgment and to work out strategies appropriate to their circumstances. It is legitimate for Central Government to outline a basic common curriculum through which children gain access to their rightful intellectual inheritance. But how this curriculum is taught is best decided by local schools and communities.

5. Society must value education for what it is

Sadly, today, education tends to be seen as ‘a means to an end’, an instrument for the realisation of an objective that is external to itself. Yet, education cannot flourish if it is not valued for its own sake. A principal characteristic of education is its lack of interest in an ulterior purpose. For example, abstract philosophical thought, literary comprehension and an understanding of numerical principles are part of our human legacy and not just skills to help us function in the working world. Teachers who understand and embrace this are more likely to inspire their pupils and address their individual specific educational needs.

Education works when we see it as important in its own right and when children are taught to value learning for its own sake.

This five-point programme will be launched at a seminar on Changing Parenting Culture at the British Library on 16 February 2010. This will include a discussion between Professor Furedi (University of Kent), children’s author Anthony Horowitz and journalist Jenni Russell on a new agenda for parents and schools.

The Changing Parenting Culture series is organised by the University of Kent and funded by the Economic and Social Research Council. Full details about the seminar can be found here.