The standard of education in Australian schools continues to improve and we have some wonderful teachers, who are committed to their craft. At the same time, the whole business of education is undergoing a momentous transformation, largely driven by technological innovation, which is pervading our entire society. Teaching kids cannot remain in the era of Tom Brown’s School Days, as the world has moved on from the values espoused in the 19C. We need fresh incursive concepts for our kid’s education. School has been a large child care facility for much of its existence. Children are more attuned to the socialising influence of attending school than they are to the subjects taught on the curriculum.
Education Evolution in Australia
Large classrooms are not the ideal framework in which to teach knowledge and technical skills. Teachers are endlessly pitted against the noisy disruptions of too many pupils with too short spans of attention. Economic considerations have defined things like classroom sizes and numbers of teachers per volume of students in this country. Teachers have been rather poorly paid in comparison to other professions and any vocations involved in things like selling or managing money. All the recent complaints about Australia’s declining performance in educational testing standards globally, conveniently, ignore this changing face of education.
Incursions Stimulate Imaginations & Aspirations
Incursions are outsourced educational providers coming to schools, rather than students going on excursions to facilities outside of the school. Theatre groups and the like have been coming to schools for decades, often, with shows that have an educational message or theme. The high-tech incursions of the 21C, bring the technology behind digital productions in the media to primary and high schools around the nation. Click here to see an online example of a Sydney based incursive company. Children are able to access the production tools for movie making and enjoy the experience of creating their own movie.
Technology Has the Potential to Transform Education
Technology has the ability to transform the educational landscape in this country. Teaching kids how to access information and how to learn from the available data is, now, at our fingertips. Empowering young people to take responsibility for their education and training, removes the whole discipline imperative. If you treat kids as bunches of shuffling animals in halls and classrooms, they will behave like that. Education must become more one to one and less social, if it is to become more effective.
