Tedtalks

This clip is 20 minutes long, but it really is 20 minutes well spent. Anyone wanting to be a teacher should take inspiration from this thought provoking talk.

Being introduced to Ted talks for the first time proved a little embarrassing . Again my ignorance of technology galloped along until I realised Tedtalks was a website and not a member of the class.

https://www.ted.com/about/our-organization. 
https://www.ted.com/talks/ken_robinson_how_to_escape_education_s_death_valley. 

I decided to explore the ted talks website to see what all the chat was about, WOW what inspirational people. I decided to share Sir Ken Robinson talk on how to escape educations death valley. Along with his humour , he also strikes an alarming fact on college 'drop out' rates, a staggering 80% of american students.

Exploring the reasons, he soon identified it was because education was led by the culture of conformity, command and control and not student led. American students did not engage with education.
He recognised students are different, at different levels. Some prospered in the arts, others the sciences, yet did not have opportunities due to restricted curriculum.

He asked are kids being labelled as ADHD because education does not understand them? With all these ideas he researched other countries education systems, particularly their 'drop out rates'. Surprisingly, Finland has a  0% 'drop out'. Spurred on and armed with collated information an initiative evolved:
                                               ' No child left behind'

His future vision is somewhat basic yet so effective. Education needs to be devolved back to the school and teachers as ' they know best'. Present education policy is based on mechanistic conceptions, but true education is a human system not a mechanical one.

Investing in good teachers, broader curriculum choice, resources, students and support will see the future generation grow and prosper.
As my dear mum would say "feed a passion and it will grow'

The talk was inspirational as it brings back the basics of education and the skills of teachers as education is an individual experience and not uniformity.