What’s the point of school? (*according to 600 kids)
In 2022, we interviewed over 600 learners from schools around Scotland. We asked them what they thought the point of school was, and where they got the most out of the experience of school.
We also asked 80 educators to anticipate their answers. These educators came from across the education sector: from early years, primary and secondary schools, Additional Support Need specialists, and managers from Local Authorities.
The results were almost identical.
The top three responses for both educators and learners were:
— to get a job;
— for the enjoyment of learning, and getting a ‘good education’; and
—to develop friendships.
So many schools go on about the quality of their examination results. In international schools it’s often one of their website headlines.
So it’s interesting that, when you ask young people and their teachers, the importance of qualifications comes much further down the pecking order.
And no educators anticipated that the learners would highlight the pressure from their parents to go to school (and do well).
The importance of friendship and socialisation came up to, in fact, beyond getting a ‘good education’ to get a future job.
Exploring beyond traditional ideas of ‘success’
We were still interested, though, in what bits of their learning young people thought were most important. So we asked them what their own ‘superpowers’ were as a jargon-free way of understanding the skills they were picking up in school.
We wanted to reflect that opportunity, and avoid any potential for narrowing the discussion to fixed ideas of ‘competence’ or what it means to be a ‘successful learner’.
‘Superpowers’ are those unique and essential skills and personal attributes you recognise in yourself. And as young people talk about their superpowers, they also tend to reveal their own definition of the purpose of going to school and why it matters:
School matters because it allows us to gain social skills and make friends.
A school is a safe place for many people.
School matters to me because it is setting you up for life.
I go to school to be active and have a better understanding of things.
School matters to people around the world so they can learn, achieve their dream, work hard for the job they want, and get the stuff they need.
So I can live a good life.
If everybody gets a good education, they can do great things and change the world.
I think school matters to my parents because they want me to try my hardest to achieve my future dreams and be happy. (Still that thing about pleasing your parents…!)
Learners identified a potentially infinite range of superpowers they enjoyed learning and applying to their lives.
And here’s the interesting thing: most of them are developed outside school, in the exciting cracks between formal and informal education.
Young people could say that it was important to learn skills in school: critical thinking, communication skills, curiosity, creativity and teamwork. Leadership featured highly across all age groups.
But when pushed to identify the activities where those skills were best developed, few pointed to school subjects or classes. Instead there was a long list of activities and expeditions that happened beyond the classroom: highland dancing, mountain biking, practical electronics, hill walking and juggling are a small sample of the richness and diversity of their superpowers:
These are the same areas that, in recent years, have seen a curricular squeeze when practitioners have felt the weight of accountability.
We can recognise achievement in far more sophisticated ways than exams
When we then asked the learners, ‘In what ways does your school recognise, develop and celebrate your superpowers?’ none suggested exams or formal qualifications.
Therefore, if we are serious about measuring what we value in our experience of school, we need to be bold and cast the net of opportunity and resources far and wide.
You can read our report in full, or download a copy: https://notosh.com/insights/curriculum-purpose-scotland
