Round Square alumni learning with Baan Huay Sapad School in Chiang Mai

I do not believe in subject teachers, somebody that teaches Math or Geography, I believe that teachers teach people not content and have a passion and love for learning and sharing their knowledge and ideas with young people and helping them to become the best they can be for a life of learning and success beyond school and tertiary education.  Although formal assessment and examinations are important indicators and benchmarks I believe that the real indicators of a successful and dynamic education is the feedback a school collects from their alumni and what they are doing now (in other words measuring the distance their educational impact has travelled).  A school’s alumni are the people that have been equipped with the education that a school is ultimately delivering and are the best case studies or the legacy of the impact that a learning programme has had or is having on society – because surely education must be for the better good and not solely about predetermined outcomes and league tables.

I love this letter (link below) that has become a social media sensation, written to the students and parents of a Year 6 cohort in a primary school in the UK to accompany their end of year summative assessment results.  To me it sums up everything education should be about and how a school and its community should approach learning.  I would love to send my three children to this school knowing the commitment that they have to holistic learning and the amount of care given to nurturing confident young people to discover everything about themselves and the world around them – hats off to them!

http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-lancashire-28319907