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tomorrow's schools |
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find them in the examination results: overall top in a state well known
for educational innovations. But the real results you can see on the faces of the
students, teachers and parents - if you haven't already caught them in the words of the
principal.
6. Invest in your key resource: teachers
Here, too, the John Eliot experience is a model.
America, in particular, has probably the world's most thoroughly-researched educational
breakthroughs, including the teaching and learning methods covered in these pages. Yet
amazingly most of those methods are not being modeled at the university level - to train
the teachers of tomorrow - let alone being used throughout elementary and high schools.
One teacher-training college leading the way is
Cambridge College 9 in Massachusetts - in a program
pioneered by Dr. John Grassi and with Dr. Mahesh Sharma and co-author Vos as foundation
members - which now has 350 teachers going through each summer's course for a master's
degree. Charlotte La Hecka's work at the University of Houston also provides an excellent
model, and Jeannette Vos's International Academy for The Learning Revolution has now been
accredited by both Cambridge College and the University of California at San Diego's
Extension to offer credits in accelerated, integrative learning towards a masters degree.
7. Make everyone a teacher as well as a
student
Again, John Eliot is a model: every student, every
parent and every teacher is encouraged to become not only a learner but a teacher.
Many problems of staff "burnout" would be
solved by the simple step of involving parents, grandparents and the community in the
teaching process - and students too.
8. Plan a four-part curriculum
Computer-based programs, interactive video discs and personalized
telecommunications make it increasingly possible for everyone to plan one's own continuing
study program. And schools as community resource centers will provide a smorgasbord of
courses and resources for a wide range of age-groups, particularly as planning one's
continuing lifelong education becomes as normal and as easy as watching television.
Schools, however, will also be required to continue their present role
Contents Page Preface
Introduction
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