Learning {Re}Imagined

Posted on April 23, 2015 by David Hopkins

One book I’ve added to my wish-list bookshelf, but not had the funds to get yet, is Learning {Re}Imagined from Graham Brown-Martin.

Both professionally and personally the future of education interests me: my work at Warwick and my two primary school-aged boys. I know from my experiences in both these areas that schooling and teaching does not work, certainly not for everyone. So, what are we to do?

Do we, as Graham did, encourage children to drop out and explore other avenues? Whilst it worked for him, and other successful people like Sir Richard Branson, it could quite easily have gone the other way. It’s not enough to add more technology on to old teaching methods … as Graham says, “since when did teaching become a delivery system? … but to engage in all aspects of education from the support staff and students are given, resources availability and appropriateness, to the spaces we have to work in and with.

Far too many questions, far too few answers. But, so long as we’re asking the questions, we’ve raised awareness and, hopefully, we can begin to bridge the gap between what we want (or need) and what we have. Yes?

For the moment I’ll have to settle for Graham’s tweets and engaging with him on Twitter, and now this TEDx Talk:

Learning (Re)Imagined | Graham
Brown-Martin | TEDxAmsterdamED

3 thoughts on “Learning {Re}Imagined”

Hi David, I too enjoyed Graham’s Ted talk, he makes a number of valid points and he has clearly engaged with the thinking of important educators such as Sir Ken Robinson. Unfortunately politicians have too much control over educational change (or lack of it) too little account is taken of the experience of practitioners and the grass roots, teaching has gradually become de-professionalised. I would love to see the re-emergence of a confident, research informed teaching community who listen to and are able to respond to the needs of their students.

David Hopkins says:

April 23, 2015 at 2:40 pm

Hi Teresa. I guess those of us who are active online and collaborating across Institutions for our own personal gain are at the fore of your ‘confident, research informed teaching community’ … informal though it is at the moment. As with everything we’re doing and starting, how it will look once the bean-counters and politicians get hold of it is another matter.

Speak soon.