Educating Ruby Read online

  Praise for Educating Ruby

  It was a teacher that changed my life; not because he taught me my times tables but because he helped me rebuild my confidence through my parents’ divorce. I am Ruby, you are Ruby, we are all Ruby. Thank you Guy Claxton and Bill Lucas for breaking us out of the battery farm.

  Richard Gerver, author of Creating Tomorrow’s Schools Today

  Good schools have always focused on ‘results plus’, helping children achieve their potential in examinations and at the same time developing confident and creative individuals who are keen to do their very best. Guy Claxton and Bill Lucas are absolutely right to remind us of the need for more expansive approaches. Educating Ruby is a timely reminder of how increasingly important it is not to focus on just part of what matters at school.

  Brian Lightman, General Secretary, ASCL

  It is essential that schools educate the whole child. I strongly support the line of argument made by Bill Lucas and Guy Claxton that schools are about so much more than examination results. Educating Ruby is essential reading for everyone who cares about the future of education in our country.

  Tony Little, Head Master, Eton College

  The UK school system is in urgent need of reform. Educating Ruby teems with practical, evidence-based, inspiring ideas for teaching and learning, that will brighten the lives of over-tested students, stressed-out teachers and concerned parents. And when politicians are finally ready to be pointed in the right direction, it’s just the book for them too.

  Sue Palmer, literacy specialist and author of Toxic Childhood

  A powerful, heartfelt and expert analysis of what’s going wrong in the education of our children and how to put it right.

  Sir Ken Robinson

  Examination grades are important, but they are only half the story of education. Parents send their children to schools like my own because they know we build the kinds of character and roundedness that this book puts its finger on. It’s what all schools everywhere should be doing. Guy Claxton and Bill Lucas speak for schoolchildren and their parents everywhere.

  Sir Anthony Seldon, Master, Wellington College

  The need for a knowledge-rich curriculum is beyond dispute but this provocative book should make all teachers and school leaders think deeply about what is taught and how. A broad range of ideas encompassing deep scholarship, character building and creativity are set out with passion and clarity including practical suggestions for schools and parents. It’s going to wind some people up – but that’s a good thing.

  Tom Sherrington, Head Teacher, Highbury Grove School

  The schools of tomorrow are here today – but are too few and far between. We won’t get the speed and scale of change without real political will which is currently lacking. Educating Ruby is a brave attempt to mobilise parent power to get that change to happen. I really hope it succeeds!

  Matthew Taylor, Chief Executive, RSA

  Most people believe schools should do their bit to help children become ‘rounded individuals’ as well as developing their intellectual strength. The obsession with measuring our schools through testing their pupils means that too many children are on a relentless treadmill which is self-defeating. Ruby and her friends need an education with all its richness, with teachers who bring learning alive and supported by parents who play their full part. It is not too complicated and Educating Ruby explains why the system needs to change and what everyone can do about it.

  Mick Waters, Professor of Education, Wolverhampton University

  What would schools look like if they taught children what they really need to know? Could we ever have schools like that? Educating Ruby is thoughtful, provocative and optimistic. As ever, Guy Claxton and Bill Lucas are wise and experienced voices on the cutting edge of education. All teachers and parents should read this book – they’d learn lots, and enjoy it!

  Hilary Wilce, author of Backbone: How to Build the Character Your Child Needs to Succeed

  Educating Ruby is a must read book for all stakeholders in education. Guy Claxton and Bill Lucas show how we can have happy, positive young people with skills, attitudes and ‘habits of mind’; who are knowledgeable and capable of passing examinations.

  Sue Williamson, Chief Executive, SSAT

  Whether you agree or disagree with Educating Ruby, you’ll certainly be engaged, stimulated and challenged.

  Robert Wilne, founding Head Master, London Academy of Excellence

  Acknowledgements

  Thanks to:

  Kayla Cohen, Bryan Harrison, Tom Middlehurst and Hilary Mackay Martin.

  All those who spoke to us so openly about their own or their child’s experiences of school.

  The many head teachers and teachers with whom we are lucky to work, who are already putting these kinds of ideas into practice.

  Our gurus: Professors Art Costa, David Perkins, Howard Gardner, Tanya Byron and Carol Dweck.

  And our families: Henrietta, Jude, Tom, Bryony and Peter.

  Contents

  Title Page

  Acknowledgements

  Foreword by Professor Tanya Byron

  Foreword by Octavius Black

  1. Causes for concern

  2. Why old school won’t work

  3. Competence and character

  4. What’s worth learning these days?

  5. Reasons to be cheerful

  6. What parents can do at home

  7. A call to action

  Thirty ways you could help a local school

  A selection of thought-provoking books

  About the Authors

  Copyright

  Foreword by Professor Tanya Byron

  I struggled at school. It was a highly academic girls’ school, and its hot-house atmosphere didn’t suit me. At one teachers’ meeting, my parents and I were told, “Tanya will never be a high-flyer.”

  Jo Malone, the multi-millionaire businesswoman and fragrance queen, was told by a teacher that she was lazy (Jo is dyslexic) and “would never make anything of her life”. Albert Einstein, Thomas Edison and thousands of others were written off by their teachers – because their way of learning didn’t fit that of the school.

  As a clinical psychologist working in child and adolescent mental health, I often meet children and young people who are struggling at school to such a degree that it has severely compromised their mental health and daily functioning. There are thousands of children today who are showing increasing rates of depression and anxiety disorders, struggling to hold on to a positive sense of self-worth. Some literally give up. And their parents are at their wits’ end wondering what to do for the best.

  While the mental health of our young is a complex, multifaceted issue driven by biological, psychological and social factors, I believe that the current education system is out of date and out of step with the learning needs and habits of young people. Some 50% of all adult mental health problems start at the age of 14, a time of life when the prefrontal cortex undergoes huge changes in function, when risk-taking is a developmental imperative on the road to individuation, and when puberty adds sexual, social and identity challenges. Children who struggle are not lazy, stupid or babyish; they just don’t fit with this antiquated system.

  School should foster a love of learning and enquiry, a thirst to discover and uncover, a sense of fun and creativity, whether learning about the past or developing ideas for the future. Yet many academics, like myself, who work in the fields of child development, education and mental health are increasingly concerned. We are deeply worried that our young people are being force-fed, over-tested and misunderstood, and are suffering as a result. They are taught to pass exams but not necessarily taught to think in their own unique way and on their own terms.

  Our digitally li
terate and highly curious young people sit in classrooms where learning is delivered in ways that do not connect with the ways they think, learn and create. Furthermore, children from disadvantaged backgrounds, those with learning difficulties, or simply idiosyncratic learning styles, are never going to leave school feeling successful and empowered to carry on learning and thinking for themselves. This is not ‘trendy sentiment’, as some would have us believe, but a matter of hard fact. Those of us who have raised these concerns have been called ‘The Blob’ by policy-makers and politicians, and the hostility that exists between them and teachers is at an all-time high.

  Recent surveys by employers and higher education institutions in the UK have clearly shown that students are not well-prepared for the transition from secondary education to higher education and/or employment. Children and young people are being educated to become reliable employees, when what we need are creative thinkers and problem-solvers.

  The CBI’s First Steps report describes British schools as grim exam factories where “while average performance rises gently, too many are left behind”. It describes the education system as “too much of a conveyor belt – it moves children along at a certain pace, but does not deal well with individual needs … [This] means we fail to properly stretch the able, while results for young people from disadvantaged backgrounds are particularly troubling.” Their report says that there should be a major focus on cultivating the skills young people need in life.

  So what are these skills?

  Professors Guy Claxton and Bill Lucas are world-renowned academics who have dedicated their professional lives to answering this question. Their Building Learning Power programme is about helping young people to become more confident and sophisticated learners, both in school and out. Schools around the world – from Poland to Patagonia, from Manchester to Melbourne – are using these smart, practical ideas to give children the knowledge and the confidence they need to learn and thrive in the exciting and turbulent waters of the 21st century.

  Guy and Bill have shown that it is perfectly possible for schools to systematically cultivate the habits of mind that enable young people to face all kinds of difficulty and uncertainty calmly, confidently and creatively. Students who are more confident of their own learning ability learn faster and learn better. They also do better in their tests and external examinations, and they are easier and more satisfying to teach.

  It’s not either/or – either good grades or life skills. We have to go beyond the weary old Punch and Judy battle between ‘traditionalists’ and ‘progressives’. Children and young people who are helped to become more confident and powerful learners are happier, more adventurous and take greater pleasure in reading – and they do better on the tests.

  To thrive in the 21st century, it is not enough to leave school with a clutch of examination certificates. Students need to have learned how to be tenacious and resourceful, imaginative and logical, self-disciplined and self-aware, collaborative and inquisitive. Bill and Guy’s earlier book, Expansive Education: Teaching Learners for the Real World, gives dozens of examples of schools around the world that are already achieving this holy grail of education.

  We need a radical rethink of our school systems to help our children get ready for the challenges and opportunities they will face. Without this equipment, many will flounder and become unhappy. But we can’t wait for the politicians and policy-makers – they will always do too little, too late. Teachers and parents have to help each other to regenerate what goes on in schools via an alliance and a quiet revolution.

  This book provides a rallying call for that vital alliance, and a manifesto for the evolution that has to come. Please read it, join the alliance and give copies to your friends.

  Professor Tanya Byron, Consultant in Child and Adolescent Mental Health, Professor in the Public Understanding of Science

  Foreword by Octavius Black

  I have a 4-year-old daughter. She is the smartest, sweetest, most delightful girl in the world ever. Honestly, she really is. Her mother and I are in no doubt. However, as important as what we think of our daughter today is what we want for her in the future.

  In less than 20 years, the smartphone will have gone from being an exotic luxury to being the prized possession of 80% of the world’s population. It will transform whole industries, wealth distribution and ways of life. As I write, the livelihood of iconic London taxi drivers is being put in jeopardy by the Uber app, which may in turn be transformed in a few years by the widespread adoption of driverless cars.

  We hope that our daughter will live for another 90 years. Much of the knowledge she acquires at school is likely to be redundant by the time she starts her first job. Far more important to her working life will be the ability to read the runes and respond healthily to whatever challenges come her way. If she is curious, open minded and has grit she is far more likely to achieve the career objectives she sets herself than merely securing an A* in French. Education needs to instil a love of learning and the confidence to adapt and grow.

  But work is only one small part of what will determine the quality of her life. Will she form healthy, romantic relationships? Will she suffer from mood disorder (the most susceptible group of children are teenage girls in social groups one and two, which will include her)? How will she respond to rejection and exclusion when, inevitably, she experiences them?

  Our nation’s leaders are responsible for building a workforce with the skills to secure good jobs and maintain the prosperity of our nation. As a citizen, I expect nothing less. But, as a parent, what matters most to me is that my daughter feels good about who she is, come what may: that she is psychologically healthy and robust. The primary duty for this falls with us, her parents. The science shows emphatically that how we talk with, respond to, set boundaries for and play alongside our children has the greatest impact on their emotional and psychological well-being. This is a responsibility we can all embrace.

  But we also need to know that our schools are playing their part. That’s difficult. Heads may not see it as their responsibility to build character, and may not know how. Harried teachers are likely to focus on exam results and Ofsted inspections. To help my daughter develop the traits she will need, schools need ideas, support and a bit of pressure. If we want to give our daughters and sons the best chance in life we need to work with their schools’ governors, teachers and heads.

  Professors Claxton and Lucas have given us this invaluable guide as to how to help, based not just on what we should do but also brimming with practical tools, techniques and examples on how to do it. As a parent, I’m immensely grateful. Once you have read this book, I suspect you will be too.

  Octavius Black, Co-founder and CEO of the Mind Gym and Parent Gym

  Chapter 1

  Causes for concern

  I didn’t understand what school was for. A lot of the teachers thought I was thick. I remember the head teacher saying I’d never make anything of myself in front of the whole school. My ability to learn in school had been pretty much crushed out of me quite young. I still feel scared when I hear that word, ‘thick’.

  Jack Dee, comedian

  What we want for our children

  We talk to lots of people about schools – teachers, parents, children and many others – and we think we have a shrewd idea about what is on people’s minds. So here is what we are assuming about you, our readers. We know that you want the best for your children – your own and the ones you may teach. We think that means, roughly, that you want them to be happy, to lead lives that are rich and fulfilling, to grow up to be kind and loving partners and loyal friends, and to be free from poverty and fear. We assume this means having a job that is satisfying and makes a decent living. We guess you don’t want your children to be as rich as Croesus if that brings with it being miserable, greedy or anxious.

  We also suspect that you did not decide to have a child so that they could contribute to the economic prosperity of the country and become ‘produc
tive members of a world-class workforce’. We don’t imagine that you think about your son or daughter, or the children you teach, as if they were pawns in a national economic policy or in a sociological quest for equity or upward mobility. (We reckon that you know people, as we do, who have real doubts about the idea that the more you make and spend the happier you will be, and who may even have down-sized in order to live in a way that feels more worthwhile or morally satisfying. There are plenty of happy plumbers with good degrees these days.)

  And we assume that you would like your child’s school to support you in those general aims. The aims of school do have to be general because we just can’t know what kind of work and lifestyle will ‘deliver’ that quality of life for any individual. Children’s lives will take many twists and turns, as yours and ours have, and whether they turn out to be accountants in Auckland, teachers in Namibia or shepherdesses in Yorkshire, we will want them to have the same general qualities of cheerfulness, kindness, open-mindedness and fulfilment, won’t we? (Please insert your own favourite words to describe those deepest wishes for your children here.)

  We suspect that you might still be touched, as we are, by these words on children from Khalil Gibran’s book The Prophet (much quoted though they may be):

  Your children are not your children.

  They are the sons and daughters of Life’s longing for itself.

  They come through you but not from you,

  And though they are with you yet they belong not to you.

  You may give them your love but not your thoughts,

  For they have their own thoughts.

  You may house their bodies but not their souls,

  For their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow,

  Which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams.