The challenge of the new
Ex America semper aliquid novi OR Houseman questions the effectiveness of new methods A colleague for many years has always had a severe problem with the start of term. He comes away from the training days and meetings with an air of despondency and approaches the new term with dread. An experienced teacher who has run a boarding house for many years, he has always commanded the utmost respect from his pupils, their parents and his colleagues. Those with less self-doubt cannot understand why one so competent should ever feel anything less than total confidence, indeed joy, at the start of a new school term. New headmasters, and he has seen several come and go, have on occasion seemed wary, presuming that a man of such experience and standing will inevitably present himself as an opponent to the new initiatives which they must inevitably introduce in order to show that a new regime has begun and that things are going to be different. Even they, however, soon recognise that his curmudgeonly demeanour is no more than superficial, and that far from a subversive opponent, they have, in fact, a loyal and highly effective member of staff. But the start of term sees him at his lowest. A few years ago he did respond quite positively to a visiting speaker. ‘I thoroughly enjoyed your presentation: it was the first talk of its kind which has not made me want to give up teaching’, he was heard to remark over lunch The visitor was not quite sure how to respond, but a few of us assured him he would rarely hear such praise. Just two years ago I thought my gloomy colleague had made some progress towards overcoming his start of term problem. After a very enthusiastic presentation from a new Head of Boarding, he had returned to his house in despair, only to emerge two days later an apparently changed man, celebrating the fact that the boys in his house were the same as ever, and proudly defying any attempts from new Heads of Boarding to make them anything else. As we walked away from the headmaster’s final address to the common room before the boys returned this year, however, he seemed more despondent than ever. I had seen this plenty of times before, and thought it deserved little attention. ‘After your comments last term, I am afraid I am not going to indulge this from you again. You know everything will be fine once the boys return. And you know exactly what you are doing, you have nothing to worry about. And there was really nothing to worry about in any of the presentations from management this term. No new appointments, so no new initiatives. Very straightforward.’ This had no effect, however. ‘You’ve forgotten someone’, my colleague replied. ‘I have a new Head of Department. That’s what is worrying me this time.’ This was true. There was a new Head of Mathematics, replacing a former incumbent who had held the post for
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twenty years and introduced no changes whatsoever during that period. But this was an internal appointment, and we had assumed things would continue pretty much as before. ‘Not true. He spent the whole of August in America, visiting schools. He thinks they do things completely differently, and says we should too. New theories. I simply cannot work like that. He told me I have to do things differently. If that is what I have to do I have no chance. In fact, I’m not even sure I want to try. Perhaps it’s not too late to look for a new career…’ ‘Did he talk to you personally, or the whole department?’ ‘He pretended to talk to us all, but I know he had me in mind with every word he said. Our methods until now have been restricting, even stifling the pupils’ energy and creativity, he said. This was undoubtedly the fault of the more experienced members of the department, who were too reliant on old methods, too didactic in their approach, and not willing to try new ideas. He wants us to give the pupils more space in which to explore and to take ownership of their own learning. We should not be afraid to allow them to learn from their mistakes.’ ‘Oh dear. He didn’t talk about the absurdity of using nineteenth century teaching methods to prepare them for the 21st century, did he?’ ‘Of course he did. I think he even talked about training them for careers which had not yet been invented, but by then I had allowed my concentration to wander, so could not be certain that he had.’ I tried to be positive, but for once his despondency appeared entirely justified. The new Head of Mathematics had been teaching with us for just a few years, but had clearly impressed the headmaster, who had always expressed his own enthusiasm for progressive American methods, and saw the new Head of Mathematics as somewhat of a protégé. As my colleague and I separated to return to our houses and anticipate the return of the boys that evening, neither of us felt particularly positive about the new academic year. The usual business of the start of term meant that I did not see my gloomy colleague again until the end of that first week when I joined him for lunch in the common room. He
