Junior Cycle Reform, Here We Come!

Following a lengthy period of consultation with teachers, students, parents and anyone who wished to have a say, the NCCA has put forward a new Framework for Junior Cycle. This has been approved by the Minister for Education, Ruairi Quinn, and is due to be implemented from 2014, meaning that children now in 5th class in primary school will be the last to go through the Junior Certificate as we know it now.

This new model has drawn mixed responses. Given that it incorporates many of the elements which our support group wished for in the Junior Cycle Portfolio which we submitted to the NCCA, we cannot be anything but pleased!

The new framework will, in my opinion,  allow schools and teachers to really get stuck in and do something innovative. No longer will the Junior Certificate be all about rote learning and regurgitation in which success depends on learning how to play the game and know how to score points on the test rather than display knowledge and understanding of a subject. Now, there will be the potential for students to explore areas which interest them to a level which matches their ability. It should be all about learning to learn and being excited by the process, rather than turned off by the whole idea. However, the success of the new model will be very much dependent on the attitude and skill of individual schools and teachers. Schools with enthusiastic innovative leadership and passionate teachers will take it and make it their own. I  imagine that teaching in such an environment will be far more enjoyable too and there are teachers who are already champing at the bit to get going. Success will depend on the ability of each school and teacher to engage students and create an environment in which they want to participate. Enthusiasm is infectious.

There are, admittedly, many challenges ahead. A high level of innovation will be required when it comes to subject choices and time-tabling. If some students are preparing for the end-of-junior-cycle exam in a subject, will all others taking that subject take the same classes with them? Will this stunt creativity in that class? Much will depend on the type of assessment/examination at the end. Let’s hope it doesn’t perpetuate teaching-to-the-test. Cross-curricular modules or classes would be very worthwhile, but how can these be facilitated while also preparing students for the Junior Certificate exams in discrete subjects and at different levels? The ASTI has raised concerns about teachers assessing their own students' work. That will require integrity and professionalism on the part of teachers and trust on the part of parents, but it has been achieved in other countries, so there must be a way.

While it is important that we strive to ensure that as many as possible reach certain minimum standards, recognition for talent in other areas is to be welcomed. There are many valuable life-lessons to be learned from participation in areas beyond the scope of the current education system, such as the arts, technology and sport. No fifteen year old should be made to feel a failure simply because they score poorly in an academic setting. I suppose the question we must ask ourselves, is “what is the goal of second level education?” Personally, I believe that it should be to produce young adults who are equipped to go out into the world and to participate in society as fully, positively and productively as possible, given their own unique skill-set. 

One element about which I have some reservations in the standardised testing proposed for the end of second year. There is value to this insofar as it allows schools to ensure that all students reach a certain minimum standard. However, there is the risk that, once this standard has been reached, the box is considered ticked and all is well. For students of exceptional ability, all is not well at all. What is not often appreciated is that these students  may be able to perform at a level several years above their grade level. Standardised testing allows no room for their ability or progress to be monitored. With a ceiling in place, how do we know they aren’t, in fact, disimproving over time relative to their own ability?

Then there are those exceptionally able students who, for whatever reason, just don’t do well in standardised tests. Some look at multiple-choice questions and, because of their ability to think deeply and around corners, may see several possible correct answers and not know which box to tick. Some may have a learning disability which brings their score down. As long as it falls within acceptable limits, they tick the box and their ability and disability, having masked each other, both go unnoticed.

Having said that, I believe that with a combination of the new Junior Cycle Framework and some basic instruction on the characteristics and needs of gifted students during pre-service teacher training, then such children could be far more easily identified than at present. Indeed, the new model, implemented well, is just the sort of environment in which these children could be allowed to stretch their wings and learn how to use their ability with pride. It’s just a shame that none of these changes will come in time for my own children to benefit.

"Can creativity be taught?" asks #gtchat

Somewhere between the glorious moment a baby first plunges her hands into her dinner bowl and redecorates her surroundings and the somewhat flexible dawning of adult maturity, most of us lose the joy of unselfconscious creativity. Lose is probably too strong a term, perhaps misplace would be more accurate. We laugh at the “boldness” of our toddlers when they squeeze all the toothpaste out of the tube all over the bathroom floor. We share the fun of making mud pies, finger-painting and creating horns and beards with bath-bubbles. Then, as the years pass, they slowly get less “messy”, slowly start to use things for their proper purpose, slowly learn to colour within the lines. So, this week’s #gtchat topic “Can creativity be taught? How to inspire flow/growth” could well be renamed “Can creativity be relearned? How to re-discover our creative flow”

We all know people we consider creatively gifted; writers, artists, designers, musicians or architects, and we often compare ourselves unfavourably with them. We can’t all be like Louis Le Broquy or Imelda May or Seamus Heaney, who each have a creative talent which sets them far apart from the rest of us. But perhaps we could become more connected with our own creativity. If a task requires creativity,  perhaps we can learn how we tapped into our creative flow and shake off the conventions we have learned from infancy. Orna Ross has an interesting piece on her website about creative intelligence and how we might learn to re-ignite the spark.

For our children, the journey back is shorter, if educators and parents let them travel it. Teachers have a large part to play here. One of my sons, at age 8, wanted to enter a drawing he had done in school for an art competition. It was a pencil drawing of a bare tree in a winter landscape. His teacher told him that it wasn’t dark enough and he was to outline the branches of the tree in darker pencil lines. He did as he was told. He subsequently refused to enter the picture as he didn’t like it anymore. It wasn’t that he thought the picture would have definitely not won a prize after he had been made to alter it, but it was no longer “his” creation. To this day he feels regret that he was unable to express this to his teacher. Too many times art in my children's schools has consisted of every child being handed the same materials where each one has to put them together in the same way. What is that teaching our children about creativity? What happens to the gifted creative child if they are not allowed to express themselves with the depth they experience?

Even within the academic sphere we do not encourage creative spirit, answers are formulaic and prescribed across the curriculum. We rarely study any subject matter which has open-ended answers or which sparks debate...there is no room for opinion or divergent thought on our exam papers. Teachers are under pressure to cover long curricula and, even if they wanted to, would be hard pressed to find the time to go outside exam requirements. It is no surprise that by the time our children, particularly our gifted children, leave school their natural creative spark has been dampened.

Now, as the emphasis of education in the 21st Century changes, governments, educators and stakeholders are looking for ways to re-introduce the critical and creative thinking which will be indispensable for the young people of tomorrow. Programmes such as Future Problem Solving, which we have started (see here) in Ireland, address the crucial skills needed by this generation; research methods, critical thinking, creative problem-solving, innovation, planning and community action. It allows students to develop their own unique way to approach problems using first creativity and imagination, then logic and application. We really need to explore as many ways as we can of giving this skill back to our young people, and we need to do so with a sense of urgency.

Creative Flow and Gifted Children

“Flow is the state in which people are so involved in an activity that nothing else seems to matter; the experience itself is so enjoyable that people will do it even at great cost, for the sheer sake of doing it.” 

When the concept of creativity comes up for discussion, it is never long before Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi's theory of flow comes up. A Hungarian-American psychologist, he has devoted his career to the study of human happiness. He has shown that, regardless of culture or station in life, there is one thing which makes us all happy; being in a state of flow. So, what does this mean? It means experiencing some or all of the following:

1. Being completely involved in what we are doing…focused, concentrated.

2. A sense of ecstasy, meaning the feeling of being outside everyday reality. 

3. Great inner clarity…knowing what needs to be done and how well we are doing it. 

4. Knowing that the activity is do-able…that our skills are adequate to the task. 

5. A sense of serenity…no worries about oneself and a feeling of going beyond the boundaries of
     the ego, of being a part of something larger. 

6. Timelessness…thoroughly focused on the present, hours seem to pass by in minutes. 

7. Intrinsic motivation…whatever produces flow becomes its own reward.

In a state of flow, one becomes so intensely focused on the task in hand that one ceases to be aware of anything else, even hunger, tiredness or the passage of time. Csikszentmihalyi says that it is the "spontaneous, effortless experience you achieve when you have a close match between a high level of challenge and the skills you need to meet that challenge. The experience is almost addictive and very rewarding."

The centre point of this graph, where the sectors meet, represents average challenge and average skill level. In order for flow to occur, the level of both skill and challenge must be beyond average and the challenge must be at or slightly above the skill level. If the challenge is too little, we feel bored or apathetic. If the challenge is too great, we feel worried or anxious. For a given challenge, the state between anxiety and flow is arousal. From here, to tip into a state of flow, we need to slightly increase our skill level. It is here that most learning occurs. As our skill increases, we also need to gradually increase the challenge accordingly. The further from the centre in each sector, the more intense the experience of that state.

Interestingly, he points out that small children, as they learn to walk and talk etc, spend large amounts of time in a state of flow. They choose their tasks and challenges to suit. As they get older and begin school, the choice of both task and level of challenge is removed and the less time they get to spend in flow.

The level of challenge in a mainstream classroom is set for the average student. In that setting, it may be difficult for a gifted or exceptionally able child to find a challenge to match his/her skill level so that they reach the state of arousal where learning occurs, never mind a state of flow. Without the inherent reward and motivation which that brings, the risk is that they become bored, apathetic underachievers. In their study Talented Teenagers: The Roots of Success and Failure, Csikszentmihalyi and colleagues reached the conclusion that experiencing "flow was the strongest predictor of subjective engagement and how far the student progressed in the school's curriculum."

“the best moments usually occur when a person’s body or mind is stretched to its limits in a voluntary effort to accomplish something difficult and worthwhile. Optimal experience is, therefore, something which we make happen”

We can all get into “the zone” at some level, but to go deep and experience a high level of flow during which we are truly creative in the sense that we produce something new and special, our skill level must be very high. Regardless of any innate potential ability which we may have, research has shown that it is only after about 10,000 hours of dedicated practice that we develop mastery of a skill. This means about 10 years of hard work!

It is my belief that gifted children are born with innate high ability. There is no doubt that these children learn faster and differently than other children. However, in order to keep alive that spark and love of learning, they need challenges appropriate to their exceptional ability. In order to unlock and develop their potential, they need to be given the opportunity to experience flow. Then, just the same as anyone else, they must work and practice to hone their skill. I believe that we can all be creative, but only a few have the potential to be truly exceptional. 

In this video, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi discusses Creativity, Fulfillment and Flow:

Further reading: 

Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi: http://www.amazon.com/Flow-Psychology-Experience-Mihaly-Csikszentmihalyi/dp/0060920432

Do Students Care About Learning? A Conversation with Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi: http://www.learnersedgeinc.com/file/988-1.pdf

Examination of Csikszentmihalyi's Theory of Flow and its Implications in Education: http://www.teachingexpertise.com/articles/mihaly-csikszentmihalyis-theory-of-flow-1674