The Government is about to begin a national conversation on the future of education. Education offers our greatest hope for responding meaningfully to the great issues of our time. It is vital we have a rich and diverse conversation that gives citizens the space to reflect and talk openly about what education is for and our aspirations for its future.
Some years ago, I was invited to a conference, A More Creative Education System, at the Burren College of Art. Typically I find conferences to be exhausting affairs, with marathon sessions in windowless basements, everyone on their phones, and tea from urns that taste of stale coffee.
But a trip to Ballyvaughan offered something different: a creative process involving people from all corners of the Irish education system (teachers, students, parents, academics, the Department of Education, principals, unions, and policy leaders) mixed with artists, musicians and (crucially) excellent catering.
Inspired by the break from PowerPoint, I felt like we were making progress. Thorny perennials, such as CAO points and school patronage, were aired with a variety of perspectives.
RM Block
The College of Art built in breaks for walks in the Burren. It was on such a walk that a young woman from a nearby school asked us, “whose idea was going to win”?
Her honest, if perhaps devastating, question suggested the adults in the room were more keen to defend positions than listen to others’ perspectives and find ways forward together. Thanks to her, and other voices that are often on the margins when we talk about education, the focus shifted.
With our guards down and our hearts open, it didn’t take long for us to think about the deeper purposes and system of education in Ireland. Softened by music from Martin Hayes, the works of Heaney and John O’Donoghue, our conversations moved from outlining familiar (maybe tired) positions to more honest, authentic exchanges. People listened deeply and were open to changing their minds. It was intoxicating.
Talking about education can be complex: we all have a lot to say. Most of us, having gone to school, have first-hand experience and firm views on how they should operate. And rightly so. Education has long been Ireland’s route from poverty to possibility. Free secondary education and access to higher learning transformed our society, though the system has also excluded and scarred many.
At the Burren, we found new ways to talk about education in Ireland. We realised we were a microcosm of “the system”. The intractable now seemed possible. Toward the end of our time together, while ideas were floating about on where this work might go next, a recently retired teacher and trade unionist suggested we replicate the conversation we’d had at a national level.
As I listened to her, I thought of the wisdom that would come from a national conversation involving those teachers who transformed my life – people like my music teacher who encouraged expression; my PhD supervisor who modelled a career in science and research; my grandmother who taught me to cook and that there was a place for everyone in the world.
I thought too of the perspectives of those for whom education has not been transformative. I wondered what my colleagues in the university would say about the purposes of education and how these views aligned with the perspective of our students. I imagined how powerful a lever education would become if we were all to think deeply about its purpose and find common cause.
The long-awaited national conversation will finally take place this academic year, informing the agenda of an independent convention of stakeholders. Before recently moving from the education brief, Minister for Education Helen McEntee called this a “once-in-a-generation opportunity for children, young people, parents, educators and wider society to help shape Ireland’s education system for decades to come”.
As someone who believes that education is the greatest investment we can make in our collective lives, I can’t wait for it to get going. But I am concerned that a great deal of work is required to create the conditions for people to have meaningful conversations. It must be more than a national consultation if it is to truly be alive with possibility. Consultation asks for opinions – often surfacing rehearsed narratives. Conversation is different: people listen to each other, spark new insights, generates trust and begin to see patterns that were previously hidden.
From hosting education conversations at the Burren and elsewhere, we have learned a great deal on what makes the difference.
There must be a clear purpose to the conversation and excellent facilitation such that those taking part feel they can express what education has been like for them and the factors they believe will be important for education in the future.
A truly national conversation must be inclusive. That means making space for voices that are too often left out – those at the margins whose perspectives can help us see what others miss. Children and young people must be at its heart. Their involvement cannot be symbolic. It must be central, meaningful and accessible. They bring honesty, creativity and an instinct for fairness.
We will need storytellers and meaning makers so that connections between perspectives can be seen and patterns recognised. The media and arts community will be critical.
Great care will be required to connect the ideas and testimonies surfaced by citizens with the convention on education. The interplay between those leading the convention and the ongoing national conversation is vital to the convention’s agenda and also to the public support for its work and the recommendations it will have.
With the convention about to begin, the conversation among citizens must be given the priority it deserves. Leadership is needed to invite creative and inclusive enterprise to get the nation talking.
If run with the intention of some of the magic I experienced on those wonderful days in the Burren – perhaps we’ll catch our hearts off-guard and blow them open.
- Shane Bergin is a physicist and Associate Professor in Science Education at University College Dublin
