Hello readers! How are you? Hope you had a great vacation! But September has arrived and the classrooms are back. The past year was full of ups and downs. Many educational centers joined the transformation of the educational system. In this way, they were disconnected from the traditional education that we have had for so long.
Have you ever considered answering the question in the title? Namely, How would I like the education of our country to be? I do many, many times. And for that, I'm going to talk to you about my ideal education. Of the education that I would like to be transmitted in all educational institutions. Are we going for it? I hope you reflect with me!
Emotional education and knowledge always hand in hand
There are many people (including teachers and teachers) who think that schools are only to teach math and English. That emotions and values should be learned at home. It is clear that the first values and the first emotions are learned at home, but educational centers would also have to encourage and reinforce them later.
Learning math and English actively and practically is important. But it is also important that students know manage and express their own emotions and identify those of others. Educational centers must work hand in hand with families for the full development of children and students. And full development without adequate emotional education is not complete at all.
Tolerance and authentic inclusive education
I suppose most of you have read the news that a group of parents were happy to change their class to a child with Asperger's. Obviously, I advocate inclusive education in the classroom. But, How are they going to respect and support students if they receive such a lousy education from home? As much respect, empathy and tolerance as teachers want to foster, it would not be enough without the help of families.
Therefore, inclusive education and tolerance is a matter of everything not only of educators, teachers and professors. And by inclusive education I do not mean only to make the curricular adaptations that are needed in the centers but to worry about the emotions of students, how they feel and trying to create a welcoming, calm and open environment for everyone.
A different way of evaluating adapted to a current and active education
For more than thirty years, the same evaluation method has been used: exams, grades and the report card. Why? Why has no progress been made in this area? The truth is that I have no idea. What I am sure of is that students are more than numbers, tests and grades. I believe that true learning should not be based on passing exams. Not all students who earn A's learn what has been taught in class.
Do you know that you can give a fake learning? Fake learning It occurs when students "learn" a topic by heart with only one goal: to pass tests. Some of them can get excellent grades but if you start a conversation about what they have studied, you may find that they have not assimilated or understood it. What they have done has been memorize all point by point.
And I don't blame them (and neither do the teachers and professors). The educational system we have in Spain It is what it forces them to do. An educational system that rewards memorization and not critical thinking and practice. An educational model in which it is more important to pass all subjects than to learn in an authentic, active, collaborative and conscious way. There are already enough schools that have left behind the exams and the grades. Do you wonder about the results? Great.
Games should be more important in classrooms
Games shouldn't just be at home or in the park. There are a number of neuroeducational games that could be used in children's classrooms and primary. However, there are still quite a few teachers who are reluctant to gamify classes. The benefits of neuroeducational games are many. I would highlight the following: they encourage critical thinking, teamwork, and fun, active and authentic learning. In addition to all that, they favor the assimilation and understanding of knowledge.
And for you, how would you like education to be?
It is a good question that invites important reflection. I invite you to think about it thoroughly. What would you change? What things would you like your children to learn in the new school year that is starting? If you want to leave comments on the post and have a debate… great! So between all of us we will read the educational visions that we have. In the meantime… I hope you have a great start to the year!