Teachers, don't be afraid - Learn From the Learners

Berlin, Germany. The place where I have been living and teaching for more than a decade now. Technology plays a big role in German industry. Remember Audi? 'Vorsprung durch Technik' Even when you don't speak German, you will surely understand the gist. Alas, it doesn't seem to extend to technology in education. When it comes to classrooms, technology is supposed to take a hike. If I may generalise a bit; I'd say Germans are careful, they think before they do, they stick to rules and regulations. Not a bad thing, but it may get in the way of innovation - especially in education. For years I have been trying to get media skills (or Digital Skills) integrated in our international state school's curriculum. Training teachers, offering workshops, rasing funds through the parent association in order to set up PC labs, classroom PCs, WiFi and soon - hopefully - our first tablet class. Last night we had a parent evening. Parents were asking why on earth the students were allowed to bring mobile phones to school... Nobody seemed to think this was an odd question. many teachers take pride in banning mobile phones from their classrooms. Research? "They should use the (one) classroom PC..." Whereas we all see how our kids use cyberspace or however you want to call the digital world - it is an integrated part of their lives. Facebook is used to share homework assignments, to collaborate - yet parents only seem to see the informal chats, not the learning aspects. But just look at the research possibilities, the tinkering, coding, creation... how can that not be a part of a mature, contemporary curriculum? We have started offering workshops on gaming, minecraft, coding etc. by students. Teachers enjoy it - they are asking whether the students can come in and teach them how to blog, how to set up their phones and so forth. They are losing the fear to learn from the fastest learners - their students. As head of IT at our school, I received a student request last week by two girls who are using the 'wifi for students' issue as their most important school speaker election campaign topic. Their poster is pretty cool - using the 'Back to the Future' film poster design. I feel something is finally happening - the kids are speaking out (using digital technology to make a point :-) and hopefully closing the digital divide. Lesson here? Let's learn from the kids - they were born with technology and can really show us the way. At the same time they have the right to learn from our experiences. We know how vulnerable our privacy has become - it is an important lesson to share- yet not one that should keep progress away. 

Berlin is hip, the school system is not

According to tourists and newly arrived expats, Berlin is hip. As soon as those same expats send their children to a Berlin school, the word 'hip' is quickly replaced by antiquated, backwards and bureaucratic - depending on personal experiences. Berlin schools are run by the Senat. The Senat employs two kinds of teachers; civil servants and employees. And then there is a third category; the international teachers; fully qualified in their own countries, with skills needed for their jobs in one of the European or International schools of Berlin, but merely paid between 50 and 80% of what their German counterparts make. Why? Because they haven't done their training in Berlin. 
Don't even try to make sense of it.

This is decided by the Berlin Senat, the same one that abandoned pre-school at a time when all other sane countries decided to lower the age for school-goers to 4. The Senat got rid of preschool, and started to send children to school when they were five years old. Do the Kindergartens prepare their pupils for this early 'Einschulung'? No, as Kindergarten educators are not trained to do so. They do have a lot more paperwork to fill out, having to keep a record of the toddlers' language acquisition progress. Is there remedial support in case the child doesn't speak proper German after 5 years? No, but at least it is registered. Are then at least teachers trained to deal with younger children who often still pee in their pants and can't tie their own shoe laces? No, but the Senat thought it would be a good idea to introduce FLEX, a flexible school entry phase, where grades 1 and 2learn together - that way the little ones can learn from the older children - neatly solving the problem of the teacher who has no idea how to deal with those younger kids.

Five years after the introduction of this system, the Senat decided that schools are allowed themselves to decide whether they want Flex or not. More than half of the schools immediately stopped this experiment, some saying they had never really put it in place anyway. Yes, something like this is possible in Berlin, as the school inspection only visits schools once every 6 years or so. It is also quite well known in advance when they visit, so there is plenty of time to polish the hallways, replace ancient art projects and to dust off the interactive whiteboards.

Interactive Whiteboards - progress after all? Well, after being confronted with another round of terrible PISA results, the Berlin Senat had another wonderful idea and decided to make 'Berlin Kreidefrei'. No more chalk in Berlin classrooms - as chalk is obviously really old-fashioned. Deals with Smart and Promethean were struck and the schools were filled with whiteboard after whiteboard.

This is what a lot of teachers thought when those whiteboards were introduced: why should you use an interactive whiteboard if the blackboard works perfectly well? What is wrong with a piece of chalk and a talking head in front of the classroom? Frontal teaching is what we teachers have been doing for centuries, and it seems to have worked. Politicians, bankers, and not in the least WE, have all been educated without technology - and see how far it got us.

For German-speakers I'd like to share a typical text from a site called Teacher News, in which one of the editors is fulminating against the use of interactive whiteboards:

"Aber sehen wir es einmal „ressourcenorientiert“: Wenn wir statt „Tafel“ künftig „Blackboard“ sagen würden, vielleicht ließe sich der unaufhaltsame Siegeszug der Smart- und Whiteboards wenigstens verlangsamen. Ist denn noch niemandem aufgefallen, dass ein Smartboard den Lernprozessbegleiter schnell zum antiquierten Frontalunterricht zurückführt, statt die Kompetenzen der noch nicht so starken Schülerinnen und Schüler im Gruppenpuzzle auszubilden? Wenn das Geld für die teure Wartung der teuren Smartboards demnächst fehlt, dann schlägt vielleicht wieder die Stunde der guten alten Tafel – Verzeihung, des „Blackboards“. "

True, for teacher training and technical support was no money, so the whiteboards were mostly used as chalk-free blackboards. 'Kreidefrei' - the name alone implies a frontal tool, something to write on in front of the classroom. As long as German publishers are keeping their interactive resources to a minimum, Berlin teachers choose paper books over interactive learning environments.

I can't wait for the next move of the Senat - it can only get better.