Education is too important to leave to schools

For a long time there was still significant recognition of the role that parents played in their children’s education. For example, in Victoria The Education Act 1872 made education compulsory but contained a non-attendance clause “if a child is under regular and efficient instruction in some other manner”.

The hours and times of school were also set to allow children to assist with harvesting or other work as they had always done. In this way children still spent a lot of time with their parents and other adults in apprentice-style learning situations.

The scope, hours and responsibilities of schools have been increasing ever since and parental involvement in children’s education has now almost exclusively been handed over to schools. Today schooling takes up a huge percentage of children’s lives both in time actually spent within school-grounds and time spent on homework.

There is still some recognition of the importance of parental involvement, but we tend to hear about it now from the negative angle, when teachers lament that they are unable to correct neglect by irresponsible parents in the preschool years.

Today it seems that many people have forgotten that children can and do learn much outside school - from their parents and communities. They also teach themselves a great deal by following their own interests. (Remember poring over your favourite magazines and books as a child? Think about how much you taught yourself rather than learnt in school.)

Maybe children even learn most of what they need to know in spite of schools rather than because of them. Maybe if children spent more time at home they would have more time for reading and researching and they would learn more still.

OK, most people aren’t going to pull their kids out of school and take on educating them at home, although, in the digital age, home education is a more viable option than ever - a fact I can personally attest to. However, no parent can solely rely on school to do the job of educating their children for them. Learning takes place throughout life - quite literally from the cradle to the grave.

Education does need to be compulsory and we do need schools to provide an education to those who aren’t going to get one anywhere else, but education does not exclusively mean schooling and it never has.

In my Education Revolution there would be far greater recognition of the parental role. There would be recognition of the important learning experiences gained by spending time with parents and other trusted adults - whether reading, playing board games, traveling or out in the community with their parents acting as mentor-guides. This would give children more time in informal learning situations on a one-on-one basis with people who are familiar with their interests and enthusiastically involved in their education.

Even more radically, I would give children far greater control over their own education. They would be afforded trust and respect in their own pursuit of knowledge, given time to follow up their interests and encouraged to educate themselves.

The average teenager is already more at home with new technologies than adults and, if given the time and freedom to pursue their own interests, will educate themselves by reading and researching in the appropriate direction for them - just as adults do.

Attending school would be just one option in the process of getting an education - attendance would not be compulsory and schools would have to lift their game in order to attract students. Libraries, neighbourhood centres, clubs and community groups would receive more funding and increase their scope in terms of providing learning opportunities targeting both kids and adults. Families would receive educational vouchers that they could choose to “spend” on schooling or other options.