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Charles Drury
One of the most prohibitive experiences
educationally for a child is feeling that
their teacher knows it all. A pupil should
have confidence in his/her tutor, but also
develop confidence in themselves - the line
between authority and collaboration is a
fine one for a tutor to tread, and one which
teachers in a classroom rarely have the
opportunity to investigate.
When I am asked by institutional teachers
what experience of the classroom and what
qualifications I have to authorize the
shaping of young minds, I answer: I have
been in education all my life. It is the one
field in which some university graduates can
claim to be truly professional. For me
education is life. In my past, the two can
be considered synonymous, inseparable; and I
am confident that they will continue to be
in the future, because we learn every moment
of every day. It is my belief that if the
tuition of school curricula becomes a
similar learning experience to those we
don’t notice so much, like the delay on a
local set of traffic lights, or the weight
on a new door hinge, or the lyrics of a new
pop song, then ‘homework’ and school
altogether becomes an easier pill to
swallow. I endeavour to take the labour out
of learning, by removing artificiality, by
restoring the connectivity of schoolwork to
the life of the student. Fractions, football
and dance routines will never be the same,
but the learning methods needn’t be so far
removed.
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