The Defence

“What school doesn’t teach you” — The case for schools

I recently came across an Instagram post that complained about “what school doesn’t teach you”. Whilst I can accept that not everybody gets what they need out of school, I felt compelled to dispel these myths and defend the system because whilst it’s not (and never will be) perfect, teachers and schools often do more than “civilians” think.

This blog will challenge those ideas, based on my experience as a secondary school teacher and interactions with other teachers — some valid and some lesser so, and rating how schools are generally doing at dispelling these myths; rating them from 1–5 based on how well I think they’re doing (1 — Rubbish & 5 — Excellent but not perfect).

1) Schools don’t teach how to learn from failures — (Rating: 5)

I can’t remember the last time I spoke with another (secondary) teacher, and they couldn’t tell you that green pens are used for students to improve their work. Being a teacher is like being a person of faith, one critical fundamental underlines your role. For people of faith, it is the admittance that you are not perfect — otherwise, you wouldn’t need God; for teachers, it is that your students are going to fail — your job is to help them recover, improve from their setbacks and make progress. Whether verbal feedback, mini-plenaries throughout the lesson or the 1-hour feedback lessons which we use to go through assessments and improve skills, confront misconceptions and gaps in knowledge, teachers are consistently training — not simply teaching — students how to learn from their failures.

Academically, it’s easier to determine how students are taught how to learn from failures; behaviour is slightly more complex. Still, there is plenty of good work to ensure that teachers help students learn from their mistakes that aren’t on paper. Everything from disruptive behaviour to bullying, schools I’ve worked in generally have a restorative process to ensure that conversations improve or restore relationships well before the ideas of exclusion begin. They usually require some degree of forgiveness, reflection, or strategy to help equip students rather than penalise them-only to commit the same transgression.

Fundamentally, students fail often. Every teacher knows this, which is why we are trained to support them. Student apathy exists, and most schools do their best to ensure conversations exploring growth and fixed mindsets. Still, schools teach students how to recover from failures because that’s literally what students are doing to make progress.

2) Schools don’t teach don’t teach about Personal finance (Rating: 4)

I went to school in the early 2000s and agree that schools — back then — didn’t do enough to teach students about money, especially in the comprehensive/state schools with the students who needed it the most.

As a citizenship teacher, I can tell you that schools now have to teach about money as part of the National Curriculum. I have taught it ever since I was in training and I know that other schools teach it during days where the whole school is off timetable.

No, it’s not exactly a short course in trading and business as many say they would like, but students do look at budgets, investing, spending, savings, different types of cards and different types of interest to help them with their personal finances now and later on in life.

3) Schools don’t teach how to take care of your Mental health (Rating: 3)

This one is a more recent development, and whilst it’s not in the same place as failures or finance, schools are doing more because they know more needs to be done. Whether it’s having lessons about the psychological impacts of social media, mindfulness sessions, mind-mapping safe ways to escape the pressures and responsibilities of school, i.e. gaming, meeting up with friends, cooking, sports etc.

Schools also have counsellors and even mobile platforms for students to contact if they’re struggling with their mental health. Granted, access to counsellors is often an issue due to demand and funding, but schools do have policies and systems to support students with their mental health; proactively and reactively. More could still be done, especially when it comes to diagnosing specific issues and helping parents and students manage them at home and in school.

4) Schools don’t teach you to develop people skills (Rating: 4)

The SMSC development (Spiritual — Moral — Social — Cultural) of students is assessed by OFSTED and was introduced in 1988. SMSC development lays the groundwork for the “soft skills” / “people skills”, and most schools now have systems to either track or compliment students when they develop or exhibit these social skills, usually in line with the school’s values.

As a Citizenship and Religious Studies teacher, I have to teach my students how to engage in discussion, often controversial topics, make their points, understand one another, and understand the difference between understanding, liking, and agreeing with someone’s views. Debating/public speaking, empathy, self-reflection, communication, teamwork, active listening and comprehension are just some of the “people skills” that are consistently developed in my classroom, and I can accept that my subject is set up to develop those more easily than many others.

Culturally, schools generally aren’t fans of mobile phones due to a combination of the interactions that happen on them and the social skills it blocks if they’re allowed in the playground, and pastoral leaders and tutors are experts in conflict management.

This is another generalisation myth, at least for modern educators.

5) Schools don’t teach Self-Awareness (Rating: 3)

The blog I read, which inspired me to write this post, speaks about a list of things, especially about “learning styles”. Learning styles have been disproved due to their limiting nature — “I only learn visually”. So already, the argument is lost as most teachers will tell you that they are less about “how students learn” and more about “how teachers should teach” (insert video here).

It also refers to students who “learn differently” being penalised by the system. Whilst I can’t disagree with this, I think it says more about the examination system than it does teachers in general. For those who are neuro-diverse, schools have files on them that explain to teachers different strategies and techniques to engage those students in learning so that they do no become apathetic with learning. These files are compiled by specialists who spend lots of time diagnosing them and supporting them.

Schools could be doing more to help students think about and reflect on who they are and who they want to become as a person (aside from their careers). My subjects tend to explore different opinions, beliefs and perceptions that allow students to reflect on themselves and understand others.

The only consideration here is that if students tell themselves they have particular traits, especially negative ones, these ideas may become fixed. Not allowing for the fact that they may have to develop and manage these traits in positive ways, or even change as some of these traits are based on their environment at home and don’t serve them either at school or beyond school; may not benefit students as well as it may seem.

Conclusion (Overall systemic rating: 3.32 out 5)

I’ll be the first to admit, schools aren’t perfect, let alone the people that staff them. Yet, schools and, by extension, teachers; are always considered the panacea to all societies’ problems. However, those who say “schools never did X”, “aren’t doing Y”, and “never will do Z”; are simply wrong. There’s still plenty to do, there always is, and good schools and great teachers are always trying to accommodate and adapt as quickly as possible to the changing demands of society, as we try to prepare our students for the future.

All we ask is that you allow us, and the system, the grace to at least question what we’re doing to support students and the opportunity to answer or prove that we are, rather than assuming that because it didn’t happen for you, it isn’t or doesn’t happen anywhere else.

The blog that inspired the IG post and this defence: 5 Things that School doesn’t Teach you! — Akhilesh Vardhman (wordpress.com)