“The drive to learn is as strong as the sexual drive. It begins earlier and lasts longer.”
- Edward T. Hall, anthropologist (Senge, 4)
While this is a fun quote to start with and include in our next parent newsletter, the aspect of Senge’s work that struck me this time is the broad, communal vision it takes. While I agree with the theory in a general “it takes a village” sort of way, I wonder if the vision is “student centered?” It seems to be “community centered,” where the students are only one group of learners. I wonder what impact it has to think of our schools in this manner.
I was also struck by the discussion about “seeing” other people, students, colleagues, parents. A former colleague of mine spoke of a “ministry of presence.” Essentially, he affirmed the importance of being present to the students and to others. In this sense, he illustrated the essential relational nature of our work. “If you want to improve a school system, before you change the rules, look first to the ways people think and interact together.” (Senge, 19) Inviting ongoing conversation and communal engagement on our future together, which reminds me of the ideal for the accreditation process, are the essential means of being learning organizations that grow, improve, and serve the students. The idea and complexity of systems thinking can be daunting to me. The centrality of relationships, however, helps ground me and return me to a very Catholic worldview of the purpose of education.
In reading Ozar’s chapter, I kept thinking of the task she describes as creating a sort of local, home-made “teacher’s textbook edition” for each of our classes and educational program. I think some people would worry that this sort of locally developed curriculum wouldn’t be as strong as that created by “professionals,” namely those who developed the textbooks. I think the real challenge in getting a written curriculum, however, is the historically individualistic culture of teaching. Getting a group to agree on the significant outcomes, assessments and strategies of a course worries those who feel that such exercises would constrain them, impinging on their freedom to take a course wherever they wanted and/or where the students energy goes. I also think this taps into the “night before” preparation that can mark the practice of some of our colleagues, including those who procrastinate and those who are most creative.
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Gary, I'll take your word that the opening quote is accurate!
ReplyDeleteI couldn't agree more (not a trait I usually display) about the relational nature of education. A couple of years ago I was in Papua New Guinea for a couple of weeks, and a nearby school was having all sorts of serious problems. One of the Brothers who was familiar with the school put their problems down to the fact that the teachers there saw their job only as teaching a subject and did not enter into any sort of relationship with the students. Therefore they did not know what was going on, and problems consequently happened.
I think the community perspective is vital to Catholic education, perhaps more than any other form of school education. Senge's diagram was not very helpful, except to show the complexity of the school-community relationship. Despite some of our misgivings about the institutional church, we have to remember that as teachers we are its agents, and thus have a role to students and parents as being more than teachers.
Thanks for your thoughts.
I’ve found interesting your thoughts concerning the shift from “student-centered” to “community-centered” vision of school in the introduction of Senge. It helps me to clarify for my self the model suggested by the author.
ReplyDeleteI’ve been struck by the idea of changing our schools into learning organization. This seems to be logic, because school, after all, should be a space for learning.
However, I think the idea of transforming schools in organizations interacting in a larger community makes me to think that this process may change the individual role of players in a school. Concomitantly, it may also change the way that other people and organizations, like parents, educational authorities, local services and businesses, and even politicians contribute to it.
While I was reading the introduction, I was thinking that teachers, for instance, would have to consider how could they integrate what they learn from the interaction with people who would have more explicit influence in a local school. Actually, it seems that with the idea of learning organization, Senge focuses on learning as a more complex process that should contribute to enhance classroom learning. Essentially, his graph puts classroom with students rather at the center of learning process. Therefore the extension to the larger community or system should rather result in relevant learning in classroom. If I see correct this point, a school, as learning organization, should primarily care for students, and essentially for their learning. In this context the concept of learning should include also all the way of being in a school.
Furthermore, the model of learning organization as proposed by Senge may demand from teachers to be more efficient communicators with the environment of a school. This may require more space for interaction in that system, therefore “ministry of presence” not only in her or his school, but also in the larger community. In addition, they may need to communicate more clearly their vision and also represent their professional stance. Due to external and internal conditions, in my experience, they have a hard time to communicate with the “outsiders” to the classroom..
In Hungary, for instance, teachers are still working in isolation, although they may participate in peer organizations, and regular professional trainings. In addition, besides parent conferences, they are little supported to interact with the larger community. Frankly, working 25 hour a week in classroom and really caring for students, as the large majority of my colleagues do, it may exhaust even the fittest teacher. This situation might change a bit in a school as learning organization, if the issues faced by teachers will gain more understanding among the “outsiders”. Meanwhile, it might be more evident for them that the way teachers are treated in the society may negatively impact the future of their children. In fact, the low social esteem of teachers perpetuates itself through generations coming out of schools. Despite of all this, in the model of learning organization I see an opportunity to better the sad situation of teachers as well.
Thank you for helping me to think about these issues.