While working on the co-design process in the Estonian local network of the SEAS project, the Energy Discovery Centre (EDC) team also reflected on what education can and cannot achieve. Let us explain further.
The aim of the co-design process was to develop a curriculum for a out-of-class science club for 12–14-year-olds with a focus on sustainability issues around us. The network comprised of different stakeholders from the education system and beyond. A parent involved in the network voiced an opinion that got us thinking about notions beyond the scope of the project: “how do I sell this [participating in the science club] to a 7th-grader?”
Though a very natural question on the one hand – students were free in choosing to participate – on the other, the notion of having “to sell” education to anyone felt strange to the educators. Lets put aside the simple explanation that people within the field of education have a different “language” or way to talk about education. From the parents’ perspective, is the question of what the education provider (school) has to offer to their children more important than what the parents themselves could offer to the education provider (school)? Does it represent a mentality that education is something that only happens in a school for the children via a service provided for the parents, thus relieveing parents from (almost) all responsibility for it? It might, though life rarely is black and white.
There’s no doubt that expectations for schools to perform well are high. In the spring of 2021, Indrek Lillemägi, a school principal in Estonia, gave a public speech (1) about the phenomenon that he named the never easing feeling of guilt in education. In the Estonian public discourse there has long been a strong belief in education. “In the center of our educational crisis lies the belief that there is no other solution to most complex problems than education,” Lillemägi said. “A while ago I collected headlines from the media, in which an expectation was set for the school or education system. The school has to solve the problem of entrepreneurship or integration, obesity, mental health or addiction; to teach personal finance and looking others in the eye, eating with a fork and knife, washing one’s hands, computer programming; to raise one’s self esteem; to grow the love for readging and the fellow man; and of course to teach everything traditionally academic. My absolute favourite title was - “The problems of the Estonian metal industry start from primary school”.”
We at EDC laughed out loud when hearing this. We’ve read those titles. We were concerned as well, because we’d felt those extremely high expectations, even though, as a non-formal education partner, we only support, not indeed carry all the load.
50% of all starting teachers in Estonia leave school after three or four years, Lillemägi pointed out. The conflict between the expecations and the ability to meet them is, as it stands, unresolvable. Lillemägi went on to ask all parents to reflect on their role in teaching all those things to their offspring as well, and invited them to participate in their school communities. Without them, he explained, the expectations would never be met by teachers alone.
This is the essence of open schooling, is it not? Cooperation between all relevant stakeholders to give children a chance to learn the skills necessary for the 21st century world. Not a relationship between client and service provider. These discussions are relevant even in countries that boast about their high PISA results.
Reference
Lillemägi, I. (2021). Näidake meile, 20. sajandi pässidele, et saab teisiti. https://www.err.ee/1608229566/indrek-lillemagi-naidake-meile-20-sajandi-passidele-et-saab-teisiti
