In a speech marking the fiftieth anniversary of the 1944 the English Secretary of State for Education identified three key qualities which needed to be fostered in schools in order for pupils to get the best out of education. These qualities were:
Determination
Self-discipline
The competitive spirit
The aims of education are a key issue in schooling. However, after a review and a curricular reform, it was noticed that some teachers, especially those newly qualified teachers, were not quite aware of the national aims for education.
People’s ideas about the aims of education may partly be simple and in a complex society, there is room for many differences in views about educational aims. Individuals with different educational experiences, different religious groups, and cultural traditions might see schooling aims in a different way.
So, what should the aims of education be? Well, first of all, be aware of the variety of aims in education.
Some randomly aims could be: Enable kids to be
• successful learners who enjoy learning, make progress and achieve
• confident individuals who are able to live safe, healthy and fulfilling lives
• responsible citizens who make a positive contribution to society.
It is true that these aims might vary depending on the context in which you are working as a teacher. For example, one of the contexts which plays a fundamental role in the selection of the educational aims is The Social and the Political Context.
One difference between educational systems is that the aims which teachers are expected to pursue may be decided at different administrative levels. Most countries have today a National Educational System, at least partly state-funded and state-controlled. In some cases, as once in the Soviet Union, a clearly defined ideology set aims which the whole education systems was meant to promote. In America, on the other hand, much is left to local level, the systems it is more decentralised.
As a teacher, you are working in a context in which expectations about aims are already in place, at least at a general level. And even if you are able to pursue some idiosyncratic aims of your own, you will have to recognise that other teachers, your pupils, their parents and the wider society all have a legitimate interest in what you are doing.
Some approaches assume that education is aiming to develop personal qualities and capacities. But even if you are clear that education should be promoting certain qualities and capacities, there is the wider question: Why this should be done? Is it for the benefit of each individual or for the general good society?
Because we believe that teachers should be aware of the foundations on which national policy on the school curriculum is based, it is important to know and understand the aims of the curriculum that you are actually teaching. Without being idealistic, many aims cut across the individual/social division. Giving people skills which enable them to get productive jobs, in many cases benefits both the individuals concerned and to others within society.
Nevertheless, if someone aimed at inculcation in pupils particular religious or moral beliefs which they would adhere to without question, this should be rejected as an aim for education on the ground that inculcations unquestioned beliefs is simply not part of our concept of education. In fact, it is part of our concept of indoctrination, whereas the concept of education implies the promotion of rationality and critical thinking
Being clear about the subject aims in relation to broader aims for education, can make a difference to how you approach your teaching. In math and science, for instance, what is the balance between trying to give pupils certain technical skills which they can put to practical use, and trying to show them something of the sheer fascination which mathematics and science hold for some people quite apart from their application?
The aims of education are, in the end, about why we send our children to school. Although you have your own objectives as a teacher, they must be connected to the national ones but that will only happen if you know and understand them.