Breaking news! The following new laws are going to be introduced in the coming year: all citizens must eat an equal amount of sadza and rice, five times a week; every house (whether it is in the high or low-density suburbs or kumusha) must have a garage (even if the owner does not own a car); every car must be parked in the garage when not in use (even if the owner wishes to park it outside in the driveway); no-one may eat at a foreign restaurant — Chinese, Thai, French, Portuguese, whatever; all citizens must wear medium-sized clothes; all citizens must only go on holiday in Zimbabwe (not even Singapore, Dubai or Equatorial Guinea); all doctors will prescribe only one medicine (no matter the illness); no-one may drive a four-by-four car in a town or city.
by Tim Middleton
Does this puzzle you? Does this worry you? Does this amuse you? Does this horrify you? While you reflect on that, consider the picture that is quite common in schools where you see one child wearing a blazer that is far too big for her (“but she can grow into it”) and another child that is wearing a blazer that is far too small for him (“he can manage another year in it”). The problem is that a blazer that is far too big is cumbersome and baggy, interfering with the child’s movements and getting in the way, while the blazer that is too small restricts the child’s movements and exposes him unnecessarily. Both scenarios prevent the progress of the individual. The blazer is the same size but for one child it is too big and for another it is too small. Unfortunately, all too often we have a “one-size-fits-all” mentality, even in education; when it comes to curriculum, we go for a one-size-fits-all curriculum, which sadly, is cumbersome for some and restrictive for others.
The new “laws” mentioned in the first paragraph are not likely to be introduced, it is understood, but in the new curriculum there are parallels to the “laws” mentioned above. Every child must learn agriculture, yet the vast majority of the population lives in urban areas. Every child must learn indigenous languages to the same extent as other languages even though many people will be working in the “global village” while many children struggle with languages (not least dyslexics); every child must learn indigenous languages even though many parents do not want their child to spend time at school doing that when they can do that at home.
The educational world is eventually waking up to the reality that it is crucial to employ different styles of teaching for different situations, contexts, subjects, levels and children — instead of the standard “chalk and talk”, there is also group work, role play, research and much more. At the same time, the educational world is also waking up to the reality that children have different styles of learning — some learn better orally, others visually, others practically and in other ways. It follows, therefore, that we need to wake up to the crucial reality that we need to provide a different curriculum for different children. The goal remains the same but the curriculum, the journey, may be different. Some will follow the academic, others the vocational, others still the commercial — no-one does all three but everyone can have the opportunity to do whichever of the three.
Do we prohibit people from having 4×4 cars, because (a) they are foreign, (b) they are expensive or (c) they are not needed in the city? Some people will find them helpful, even necessary, for their work; others may enjoy the opportunities they give them. Will we prohibit some pupils therefore from advancing when they have the opportunity to do so? Will we prevent fast pupils from going ahead in order to wait for weak ones to reach their level or will we allow fast pupils to fly and help the weak pupils to move at their pace and ability? We would not want either fast ones or slow ones to suffer but rather, allow them all to do what they can with what they have.
The word “curriculum” comes from a Latin root word meaning “to run” (it referred to “the course of a chariot race”). We do well to remember therefore that people run in different styles, at different paces, in different races — some are sprinters and others are long-distance runners.
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They need different training programmes to suit their talents. So with any educational curriculum we need to provide the best training programmes for each individual child, not adopt a one-size-fits-all approach. Let us give our child the right size blazer and the right size curriculum.
Tim Middleton is the executive director of the Association of Trust Schools and author of the book on “failure” called Failing to Win.
email: [email protected]
website: www.atschisz.co.zw
