SUSTAINABILITY IN EDUCATION

After listening to Sir Ken Robinson's article on (do schools kill creativity) i was really reassured that what we are doing with the Automech guy's is spot on.

In earlier blogs i had written about how our high schools are not for everybody and that even after ten years of schooling some of these guy's are disillusioned with education .
Learning about various subjects and then condemning some of the other subjects to just an introduction , is that really the right way?

It was good to see the government do a u turn on the Technology classes, this could have really killed some of the children's creative thinking had it proceeded,as you know not everybody wants to become an Accountant or Bank Manager.

I will now talk about the Automech guys and how they respond to Project based learning, as i have written earlier sitting them in a classroom for hours does not work (it didn't work at school why would it work now?).These guys love moving why they learn (they were fidgety and disruptive at school) and spent many a time removed from lessons because of this.
We firstly say that this is not school, treat this like a work place where you are responsible for your actions.This at first is challenging as they are still in school mode but if you make it gradual then they respond.

Don't put your hand up if you need to go to the toilet.
If you need to smoke at break you can but off  the campus.
Wear safety gear when in workshops.
Respect!!!!!!
Give them subjects that they are actually interested in.

These are some of the examples we come across early on and it does not take long for a more adult learning environment to take place.We encourage participation,talking,challenging others as this was always shut down at school. 



A great example of teachers not listening to the students from the 1970's Pink Floyd  album The
Wall.

If you look at the guy's as a whole they like to experiment , that is why we do the weld test on the cube, we work with ferrous and non ferrous metals, we let them work on different makes,models of cars ,this always creates discussion which is always positive.
Another practise we encourage is health and safety for themselves and their colleagues, if you sat them in a classroom and talked about this it would fail so we encourage them to observe their work place and identify the hazards , we get some good and often funny feedback relating to this as well as the understanding, we also give them examples of what we have come across in industry.

 

Do you like the welding helmet this clown is using.This is a real life example where the guys see what others have done before them and what the consequences were, this they relate to far better than textbook after textbook

 

 THIS IS HOW WE EXPECT THE GUYS TO LOOK WHEN WELDING. 



If we still look at sustainability then we can see that the guys relate more to this course than school so it obviously works better for them.
This course is also sustainable because it gives the students a pathway, the first year this was run four students came back and enrolled in the full Automotive programme.
The second year more students enrolled in different pathways, 3 in Auto, 4in engineering,1 in carpentry, 2 in foundation studies, what this course does is reengage them where they had become disengaged and creates an interest plus pathway where they would have otherwise not bothered.
We have found that bringing real life examples of learning and experiences can also position them better than being at school which did not.

We can of course always change the programme to cater for new techniques and technology so it will never stand still, it will keep on moving just like our students.

Cheers,