From the schools
On the Wall In which Alice meets an educational Guru, and learns about research and some surprising things about the nature of change. This article is the sixth of a series to be included as occasional contributions to International School magazine, created by Chris Binge in response to some of his experiences in international education. Intended to be provocative and amusing, they are also used to provoke discussion when he leads workshops.
A
RALPH STEADMAN
lice left the tea par ty with her gloom increased rather than reduced. So far, she has discovered that the school where she now works avoids responsibility, pursues mediocrity and celebrates conformity, that all planning has to be backwards, that all arguments are circular and that the only things that really matter are numbers. She felt the children must be completely bored by an Education where measuring how they reach a target defined for them is the only impor tant thing. As she wandered through the forest she heard, in the distance, a voice she recognised. It was sure to be another of her old friends, but who was it and what was he saying? It sounded like someone was declaring loudly to an audience but she just couldn’t quite make out the words.
She entered a clearing to see that it had been set as an auditorium with seats all facing a stage at the far end. There was the sound of applause as the teaching staff, led by the Red Queen, stood up and star ted to leave. There were a lot of people there that Alice recognised. Alongside the Queen were the rest of the Senior Leadership Team of the school, the Bishops, Knights and Rooks. In a curious conflation of what she remembered as two distinct experiences in her childhood, the rest of the staff were a pack of cards from a different adventure. They must be very proud of their dress code in this school, she thought, as they were all resplendent in their suits. There were the Spades, the Hear ts, the Diamonds and the Clubs. They were chattering excitedly as they left the open auditorium of the clearing. She couldn’t see through the crowd who had commanded the stage. ‘Wasn’t he fascinating?’ she heard from the Five of Diamonds. ‘So inspiring’ replied the Eight of Spades. There was a note of caution from some of the more senior, longstanding members of the pack. She caught something about ‘It’s very clever, but the parents have different expectations here’ from the Jack of Hear ts, which led a couple of the Tens near him to nod and mutter agreement. Alice ran up to the Six of Clubs as she was leaving. ‘What was that? What did I miss? Who was speaking?’ she gabbled. ‘Oh, he is just one of the most respected educational leaders there is. He has written so many wonderful books. I managed to get him to sign one for me’. She held up a shiny hardback copy of a book entitled
