happening at different levels. What would be the characteristics of the other two components, health and creativity?
The perfect school for me is not one that selects the best kids by giving them a bunch of tests at the entrance, but a school that will tell them: “Okay, come in.” And then they will build a certain learning path.
Here, again, variability is the only option. For example, in the Health block, different types of sports are needed, so that children can take two or three lessons of each type during the first trimester, getting to know all the options available. For example, yoga, soccer, gymnastics and acrobatics for both boys and girls. Later on, the children would also divide into subgroups, depending on who wants to do what. In other words, there is variability: try different things, choose something to your liking. Children should be able to ask themselves a question: "What do I want?” Of course, at this stage parents and tutors should help if the child cannot make the choice, or does not want to.
The own resources management block is a kind of story in the form of workshops, internships. A mix of humanities: ethics, practical psychology, mindfulness. In order to be effective, we need to understand our psycho-emotional sphere, to manage it.
Parents come in and say: "How do I tell a child to take it easy?" A few meditation practices for children have long been described and practiced in some Western schools.
Then there is also the topic of creativity. Here I would also give them the opportunity to try different things, then choose what they want to do, what workshop and what project they want to work on.
Anna, why do you think there are no models coming to us from abroad, other than the International Baccalaureate?
It’s all coming, it has just started to appear. But it all boils down to the lack of sufficient sites to implement this. And there probably aren’t any managers who are good at it. We think of it this way: we are going to just find some good experienced teachers, «headhunt» them from public or private schools, borrow a stronger curriculum, and everything will be cool. But any good teachers can only exist along the lines of a concept that has been developing here for some time. For example, there is a concept of developmental learning, which appeared in the Soviet Union in the 1960s. It is now experiencing its second birth.
It seems to me that every parent wants something more, but in fact everyone only cares about passing the USE. The child has to enter a University (especially a boy).
When I talk to school principals, they all say that teachers who know how to deliver this curriculum are nowhere to be found. It turns out that it all comes down to the fact that you can create a school, design an interesting space, but who will come to teach there?
As regards the concept of developmental learning, how do you rate it now, in light of what is happening?
I find it interesting. It must also be developed, reworked. There are many complaints about it. There it all rests on the fact that the concept of developmental learning can only be implemented well by someone who understands what developmental learning actually is. That is, it is not just a technique that you can simply give and a person will start teaching. It turns out that people are few and far between. Because, first of all, initially it was to be subject education, actually, what I was talking about, different teachers for the Russian language and math, each working with their own stream. Where do we get them from?
We have almost no separate philologists and separate mathematicians. It all comes down to the lack of people.
It is clear that if there is no supply, there is no demand, but does it work the other way around? If such a school were is to be opened, based on the Finnish model, for example, how popular will it be if it is implemented in Russia the way it is in Finland?
If it is implemented competently, then it all comes down to price. Most of my clients, perhaps I do not have such a representative sample, but in general people say the cost of education they find comfortable is up to 100,000 rubles. 100,000 is some kind of watershed. This is now, given the current exchange rate. Once upon a time, two or three years ago, people were saying: "50 at best.”
To what extent are parents ready to understand that the Unified State Exam is not the only benchmark for the quality of a child's education at school?
A very small group. This is what needs to be investigated. It seems to me that everyone wants something more, but in fact everyone only cares about passing the USE. The child has to enter a University (especially a boy).
What do parents of preschoolers say most often, what is their request?
More often than not, they say: "We want to make sure that the child’s motivation to study is not destroyed." Or even better: they want the child to be motivated to study, to be eager, ready and excited to learn new things and develop. But at the same time, he or she needs to be able to enter a good, solid school. It is also about the USE, so the child does not lose his or her academic skills. I keep explaining and telling them: "You see, getting into a good school in the form that exists in our reality is just a sports competition. That is why you have to prepare for it." Everything here is like sports competitions. The child may not have outstanding cognitive abilities, and it is hard for parents to accept that. Perhaps the child simply does not need to go to such a school, instead he or she would learn happily at the right level.
We recently spoke with a mother who returned from Ireland, she wanted to find a primary school here for her children, grades 1–2. She said: "Look, when we came to Ireland, we were told to just go to school. They just sign you up and you start going there. It is okay, they will learn the language, they will study." This is it. And the kids are somehow studying. She said: "Here we came to a school with an English focus, an old private school, and they told us: your Russian is not very good, you should work with tutors at home for now, improve your language skills, then come to us in three months for testing." The point here is that our school believes it does not exist for the person, but the person exists for the school. So as soon as a child has some peculiarities, the school gets nervous.
So we can say that the School of the Future is an inclusive school?
In principle, yes, an inclusive school. If the school has its own resource department – that would be great. The resource department is a staff of neuropsychologists and speech therapists. For example, a child with ASD comes to school, he or she can study individually. They make up a schedule for him/her, for example, his/her first two lessons are individual. Then he/she joins the class for more lessons. That is, the resource department is just a kind of team of specialists, several rooms in a separate block where children can work individually or in a mini group of two or three people.
The point here is that our school believes it does not exist for the person, but the person exists for the school. So as soon as a child has some peculiarities, the school gets nervous.
Comparing different educational models, what criteria can you use to judge them? The content of education, that is, the blocks from which it is built. Knowledge, abilities, skills, subject content. Probably a description of the staff, that is, who works at the school, how they get there. What kind of corporate culture it has? Democratic, or authoritarian? Are the communication styles between students and teachers more of a coaching position or a talking head? The coaching position, of course, is preferable here, when all the teachers somehow still support the children, motivate them.
Probably styles of interaction with parents, feedback, communication. There are schools where none of this is practiced at all.
The grading system – what kind of grading is there? Variability is also one of the aspects.
