After a quiz to spark our interest, Pasi gave us some background on the crisis management mode that seems to have been driving educational reform worldwide for the past 40 years. There always seems to be a ‘crisis’ that requires radical action to ‘solve’ the issue.
On the contrary, Pasi made the point that crisis management doesn’t address the root causes of education issues. He backed up his point with a multitude of data graphs to demonstrate the point, such as horizontal NAPLAN growth, reminding us that NAPLAN was once such a crisis management solution.
How can we change the narrative?
Pasi encouraged us to lead the change; making changes in our own schools to make a difference. He encouraged us to focus on building the relationships that matter, such as working with parents as partners and allowing students to develop stronger relationships with teachers by implementing teacher looping. Another suggestion was to strengthen the whole child by increasing student competency in health and wellbeing and considering free school lunches. Rescheduling the school day to meet the needs of the whole child is likely to build engagement, especially when independent activity is part of the school day. Lastly, he suggested using the power of music (and the arts) to increase academic achievement and wellbeing.