Quality education

The essential or distinguishing attributes displayed by schools offering a quality education are not always easily discerned.

Prospective parents of any particular school will no doubt be immediately impressed by modern educational and sporting facilities in a well maintained garden-like environment.

They may even be more impressed after reading a glossy prospectus extolling the academic record of the school, the qualifications and experience of teaching staff and the challenging yet stimulating curriculum on offer. Yet can we say with any certainty that here is a school offering quality education?

While any number of factors might be taken into account, and any number of criteria used to build a checklist of quality education indicators, one of the very real defining characteristics is often overlooked. Although difficult to accurately gauge in a brief visit, the prevailing “culture” of the school provides important clues to the quality of education being offered. By culture I mean the prevailing approach to the way individuals are treated and respected, the guiding philosophy that informs decision-making and the quality of human interaction between all members of the school’s community.

While working as a consultant at Kings College, Guildford in the United Kingdom several years ago I was able to visit a number of schools boasting the kind of superior physical and educational resources previously described but seemed to lack either that spark of excitement about learning or any sense of community spirit.

There was no feeling of interconnection.

Even more depressing was the perpetuation of the Industrial Age model of schooling based on information acquisition. These schools remained focused on content driven methods of instruction in preparation for examinations of acquired knowledge.

These schools remained in denial of the new challenges posed by the modern Information Age. Knowledge acquisition should now be supplemented (not replaced) by a range of skills that enable today’s learners to engage with the variety of information technologies used to access and manipulate data.

Problem solving, critical thinking and creative skills are in greater demand than ever before. Progressively more employers are seeking a flexible and responsive rather than a pre-trained workforce. Collaborative and interpersonal skills are becoming increasingly indispensable in a world where the sheer volume and diversity knowledge can seldom reside with one individual.

Surely a quality education these days is one that prepares young people to be successful in the world as they will find it rather than the way it used to be? Beyond touring the flashy facilities, absorbing the prospectus spin and enduring the seductive chatter of admissions staff there is a very real need to build an understanding of the school’s culture.

Prospective parents should be prepared to ask some probing questions about the school’s commitment to developing the skills and capacities that will be required in tomorrow’s world within an inclusive and caring environment today.


The writer is principal of AIS-Indonesia.