Trinity Papers No. 22 - 'Aligning the objectives and functions of education ...'

Trinity College THE UNIVERSITY OF MELBOURNE

Aligning the objectives and functions of education to meet the new realities of the 21st century Alan A Patterson

Trinity Papers Number 22 – January 2003 www.trinity.unimelb.edu.au

Aligning the objectives and functions of education

December 2002

Prefatory Note and Abstract This paper is the text of an address that the former Director of Trinity College Foundation Studies, the late Mr Alan A Patterson, was due to deliver at a major international conference on educational reform, in Oman, Jordan, in December 2002, before his untimely death in early November.

It has been revised by Dr Tamar Lewit, Lecturer in Charge, History of Ideas, Trinity College Foundation Studies, The University of Melbourne, according to the author’s notes.

Mr Patterson’s theme in the paper is a redefinition of education for the 21st century, in line with the changing realities of the new millennium. Demographic changes brought about by migration, educational opportunity brought about by increasing use of international education and the need for generalised global strategic approaches brought about by multinational business and multinational trade demands, all speak of the need for an education which provides global opportunity.

With this in mind, multilingualism, the capacity to think both inside and outside cultural borders, overt strengths in critical analysis, highly developed presentation skills and a clear facility in the use of e-everything describes the student who will succeed on the international stages of the 21st century.

A decade of specialising in the preparation of international students for entry into a worldclass university allows Trinity College Foundation Studies to add substantially to the agenda of redefining education for a better future.

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Aligning the objectives and functions of education to meet the new realities of the 21st century Alan A Patterson ‘Potential can be a difficult word, it suggests a bucket full of talent with neither the maturity nor the application to direct it.’1 To direct talent to meet the new realities of the 21st century in meaningful and productive ways, we must focus in the classroom on: • • • • • •

attainment of computer literacy and clear facility in the use of e-everything attainment of the intellectual skills of critical analysis and problem solving a balance between the needs of the curriculum on the one hand and the needs of global educational opportunity on the other multi-lingualism and inter-cultural communication skills a balance between the needs of the individual and changing national objectives holism—the development of academic strength alongside emotional, physical, moral, spiritual, social strengths inside a personal sense of well-being

Computing is often cited as an essential in a modern curriculum. But some students take to computing tasks and become e-literate much faster than others. Perhaps it might be useful to find out why this is so. It is clear that some students, given the same learning opportunity as all others, quickly outstrip their classmates in understanding. They begin to use the software in creative ways. The difference between the two groups is about breaking away from the rules. Those with no understanding, who tentatively follow the course recipe, will quickly plateau. But those who play with their software, those who break away, those who are challenged by the mistakes they make instead of being defeated by them, are the ones who surge ahead.

The starting point for education in the 21st century should be to teach things which will lead to computer literacy later on, rather than to be convinced that computer literacy starts with a fully equipped computer classroom. The presentation of a rote-learning based curriculum attended by rigid examination is likely to force out curiosity and invention. Teachers need to develop lessons in which curiosity and invention are born.

Perhaps the greatest criticism of our educational provision has been its specialisation.

Perhaps at the primary level we have been too focussed on reading, writing and math to the exclusion of equal time in socialising skills, performing and in non-performing arts.

Perhaps in secondary schools we have been too focussed on a narrow bank of academic subject disciplines to the exclusion of a broad base of technical and manual skills as well as citizenship, community welfare, cultural understanding and tolerance.

1

M. Wass, Alone By Myself, Penguin, 2002.

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We are speaking, here, of a curriculum for the 21st century which is broader in its approach— that is, more ‘liberal’. All creative teachers know that academic intelligence is only one of the intellectual domains. There are other important intellectual skills such as critical analysis, problem solving and team strategies. Intellectual growth should be balanced.

Whilst many of the finest universities would insist that their best teaching is related to the fact that their cohort of researchers are at the leading edge of their fields and that their best learners gain a healthy respect for a deeply academic approach, those same universities realise that, in a broader sense, liberal education has its place.

In defining ‘liberal education’1, Professor Donald Markwell, Warden of Trinity College, University of Melbourne, refers to • • • •

an emphasis on intellectual and personal breadth, including learning through wide reading and debate about a diverse range of human experience and the clash of great ideas, the encouragement, through such learning, of key intellectual skills such as a capacity to think for oneself, to express oneself clearly, and to interpret the nuances of words and other things in their context, encouragement to be an active citizen in society, who has thought carefully about her or his values and beliefs, and who has wide and humane international and inter-cultural awareness and understanding, and a belief that such education should come before, or at very least accompany, purely vocational (career-specific) education.

Thus, rather than focusing on curriculum design and delivery, he emphasises generic intellectual skills as the foundation of good education.

This philosophy of liberal education for the 21st century is implemented in the Trinity College Foundation Studies curriculum, which is designed specifically to prepare international students for successful entry into the University of Melbourne. The curriculum has two parts. One part relates to particular academic disciplines such as Mathematics, Chemistry, Accounting, Psychology, and Economics. The other part is a wholly liberal approach to education, in which students study English Literature, Drama and History of Ideas. Through this ‘Core Curriculum’, all students in Trinity College Foundation Studies develop crucial intellectual, social, performance and cultural skills.2 While the concepts of intellectual breadth, independence of thought, and humane goals have been recognised by educators and educational institutions as the heart of good education for thousands of years, these educational goals have become even more vital in the 21st century.

The contemporary context of rapid and constant change means that specific knowledge and vocational skills quickly become outdated. Rather than a reservoir of old knowledge, the educated person now requires the skills to acquire and master new knowledge.3

1

D. Markwell, Undergraduate education for the 21st century: Australia at the crossroads, Trinity Papers No. 20, Trinity College, University of Melbourne, 2002, p 8.

2 T. Lewit, N. Hoadley, G. Jennings, S. Faubel & and D. Shapter-Lau, Trinity College Foundation Studies Core Curriculum Mission Statement, Trinity College, University of Melbourne, 2002.

3 Markwell, p 6.

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The context of increasing globalisation in education, work and leisure creates an even more urgent need for a ‘liberal’ education. As societies and as individuals we encounter not one set of ideas, but many. The intellectual characteristics which are nurtured by a liberal education—‘creativity, lateral thinking, flexibility, international awareness, and openness to new ideas and knowledge’1—as well as the humane skills of self-knowledge and tolerance are thus more vital than ever before.

Recently, Abdurrahman Wahid of Indonesia wrote of the dilemmas facing Muslim students in international education, and argued that a liberal education is essential to a positive integration between faith and internationalism. He said that Tens of thousands of Muslim students, mostly from impoverished developing nations…are sent abroad to study in technologically more advanced societies…[and] come of age while studying as strangers in foreign lands. Their education provides for them an understanding of modern technology and science but it is, of course, left to them to reconcile this newly gained knowledge with the faith that, as foreign students in the West, they increasingly come to feel to be at the core of their identity.

Students studying liberal arts are rather better served when it comes to reflect on the place of Islam in the modern world. But precious few young Muslims from developing nations have the privilege of undertaking liberal arts courses in Western universities…

Until we begin to value a broad education for our young and face up to the nature of the intellectual challenges that face them, we are unwittingly condemning ourselves to forever struggle with the very forces of violent radicalism that we regard as being anathema to our faith.2 While teachers have long been aware of the position of their students in a community sense, and in a national sense, we are now involved in a global sense as well. We need to understand that some of our students will study and work on a global stage and so we need to establish an education which prepares them for that global experience. Teachers in schools need to have and to convey to students an understanding of international cultures, and preferably to have had some experience themselves of study or work abroad.

Some key areas of learning which might prepare students in the Middle East for global life in the 21st Century have been suggested by Dr Tamar Lewit, Lecturer in History of Ideas at Trinity College: • • •

1 2

familiarity with the history of cultural interactions, such as the adoption and further development of Greek philosophy (including medicine, astronomy and mathematics)

by Arab thinkers in the Middle Ages and the flowing back of their ideas to Europe an understanding of the history of world religions and their interconnections, such as Buddhism and Hinduism; Christianity, Islam and Judaism. an awareness of major world philosophical and scientific traditions: Greek philosophy and the Scientific Revolution, great Arab philosophers, Confucianism and Taoism, Relativity and Quantum Physics.

Lewit et al, p 1.

A. Wahid, ‘How to counter Islamic extremism’, 10 April 2002, The Age, p 15.

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•

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a study of hominid evolution and prehistory, to provide a sense of the common humanity and origins of all peoples and the human species’ place in nature and history.1

The learning process needs to involve a willingness to change a whole range of personal perspectives. The goal is not about increasing intellectual homogeneity but rather about increasing intellectual flexibility and heterogeneity.

These are the educational goals governing the University of Melbourne’s approach to internationalisation, expressed in its declared principles that: • • • • •

the curriculum is international and incorporates intercultural perspectives as appropriate; students are exposed to the widest possible range of perspectives; staff emphasise and model the need for open-mindedness while fostering the development of critical analysis… staff respect and value the diverse backgrounds and perspectives of students and insist that respect of this kind governs students’ interactions with each other; learning resources incorporate the experiences of a wide range of cultures and the assumptions of the dominant culture are the subject of scrutiny.2

21st century globalisation also demands multi-lingualism and inter-cultural communication skills.

Perhaps language teaching should begin much earlier, when little children have a huge facility for language learning. The most important parts of the curriculum might be taught in the second language.

In the senior secondary years, the global language of English should be taught through academic subjects such as Literature and History of Ideas. There is a need to challenge students both linguistically and academically and to provide topics for writing, reading and discussion in academic English. Students should work intensively in groups for several hours per day only in English.3 A subject which can further a student’s preparedness to make major advances in language learning is Drama. Jack Migdalek of Trinity College Foundation Studies writes that ‘[l]earning to use the spoken language of another culture requires learning embodied language practices as well as verbal ones’. Many students seem largely unaware of how their performances of English are tempered and regulated by physical traits of their first language.

Embodied language rehearsal and teacher intervention in the classroom can raise students’ consciousness of contradictions and contrasts between their usual modes of embodiment and those appropriate to English. Teaching and rehearsing in this context will lead to more culturally congruent performances of English. Differences in practices of eye contact and proximity are other elements of language performance that often need to be explained, and

1

T. Lewit, personal correspondence with the author, 19 September 2002.

R. James & G. Baldwin, Nine Principles Guiding Teaching and Learning in the University of Melbourne, Centre for the Study of Higher Education, University of Melbourne, May 2002. Available at http://www.cshe.unimelb.edu.au/pdfs/9principles.pdf.

3 Lewit, personal correspondence with the author, 19 September 2002.

2

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more importantly practised, in order to become comfortable and to be performed unselfconsciously.1 There is also another dimension to a liberal education beyond the generic skills which promote learning competencies. There is a need to develop the individual by establishing for each person a sense of self, a sense of place and a sense of direction and purpose. There is a need for the individual to frame the context of a life’s learning in humane terms.

Teachers are all too often consumed with developing academic strengths. What about the place of the other strengths? What about emotional strength, moral strength, social strength, spiritual strength and, in an increasingly obese world, physical strength? ‘True education aims to develop the whole person as an intellectual, moral and social being.’2 Professor Markwell writes of the need for education to encourage ‘lives of service to the community…of active citizenship, the need for education to encourage students to think about issues of values and ethics, of what is right and what is wrong for the individual and for society.’3 In Trinity College Foundation Studies, the liberal education designed to prepare students for international destinations is based on the premise that the ‘individual also needs the skills to be self-reflective and morally aware in order to relate well to others and contribute to society.’4 This need for active and ethically sophisticated educated citizens is more acute in the 21st century than ever before. The contemporary world requires not only service to society, but often the evolution or rebuilding of society on the basis of new technology and circumstances. Thus Professor Markwell discusses the need for a sophisticated and learned ‘capacity to deal with the ethical issues of the day’5 as one of the essentials of 21st century education.

Wahid also points to the need for a liberal education to equip students to contribute to national, as well as individual, objectives: ‘Analysing problems in a reductionistic fashion and rigorously applying simple formulas may be an appropriate approach to building a bridge, or even erecting a skyscraper, but it is grossly inappropriate and inadequate to the task of building modern Muslim society.’6 Thus an education which fulfils national objectives for the 21st century would also include in the curriculum subjects which involve students in contemporary international relations and ethical issues, such as: war, imperialism and refugees; scientific, technological and social change; the social and economic impact of globalisation; and environmental issues.7 The call of Abdurrahman Wahid rings in my ears. Surely we must educate our young to be effective, thoughtful and liberal thinkers for our country’s future. Our young should be steeped in our traditions but ever capable of interpreting them afresh in the light of new 1

J. Migdalek, ‘Performing English: the Classroom as Rehearsal Space’, in Prospect: An Australian Journal of TESOL, vol. 17, No. 2 (August 2002), p 53.

2 Lewit et al, p 1.

3 Markwell, p 6.

4 Lewit et al, p 1.

5 Markwell, p 7. Italics added.

6 Wahid, p 15.

7 Lewit, personal correspondence with the author, 19 September 2002.

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knowledge, and for all of our sakes to be possessed of informed, careful and deliberate decisions reflecting the deepest and purest longings of their culture.

Then we will be able to say that potential is not a difficult word. The bucketful of talent will be directed by appropriate maturity and application.

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Trinity Papers: This paper represents the twenty-second in a series published from time to time by Trinity College which focus upon broad issues facing the community in such areas as education, ethics, history, politics, and science.

It is the text of a speech that was due to be given by the late Mr Alan A Patterson at the International Conference on the Reform of Secondary Education, in Oman, Jordan, in December 2002. Mr Patterson died before being able to present the paper.

Further Copies: Copies of this and other Trinity Papers are available upon request from: Tutorial Office Trinity College Royal Parade Parkville VIC 3052 Australia Telephone: 03 9348 7100 Facsimile: 03 9348 7610 Email: enquiries@trinity.unimelb.edu.au Trinity Papers can also be found on the website at: www.trinity.unimelb.edu.au/publications/papers/ About the Author: Mr Alan Patterson was Foundation Principal of Mowbray College, and before that taught at schools throughout Victoria, India and the United Kingdom. At the start of 2002, he joined Trinity College, to take up the Directorship of Trinity College Foundation Studies. Alan Patterson died suddenly in November 2002.

Copyright © Mr Alan Patterson 2002

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