Do we know how to educate young people?

 Now I need to start by saying that I am not here criticising teachers or pedagogy in general. This post has come out of discussions I have had on social media which have helped me clarify my understanding.

It comes also from watching programmes like "Back in time..." and also "Educating...". Which are always really interesting insights into the past and the present.

So the challenge of "educating" young people is actually a relatively new one. You don't have to go back very far to the point where most young people did not get an education as such - they learned what they needed on the job, from family or artisans. It was only those with independent wealth who could take the time to travel and spend time discussing with others. Or reading books - a talent that was also an indication of privilege.

The early forms of education of young people tended to rely on "rote learning". In simple terms, a teacher put something on a blackboard, the students would copy it down and were expected to learn it. I say early - within my lifetime, the idea of learning bible verses by heart has been promoted as a way to educate young people. Rote learning has many problems, not least that it doesn't work.

My era of learning was very much more "hands on". Actually, it was an era of educational experimentation - schools where the pupils could do what they wanted were the vogue idea.

Today, there is a different idea too - engaging education, dealing with pupils much more as individuals. There is, in the sciences, a lack of the excitement and experimentation that I experienced, but there is a lot that is significantly better. Not least, the acceptance that different pupils will learn in different ways.

The problem still, in my view, is that we don't educate them. The focus is examinations, and - to a large extent - the teaching is to an examination. We train young people to pass exams, and in doing so, I think we fail to educate them.

The other thing that inspired this line of thought is the comments this week that "we need to get young people into school" otherwise they are not being educated. I strongly disagree with this, because most young people can - with some direction - get an education outside a school. Looking at and exploring nature can be educational. Discussion can be educational. TV can be educational. Listening to grandparents can be educational. Reading books - or even spending time on the internet - can be educational.

It may not help them pass exams. But then, I don't believe that passing exams should be the purpose of education. Education should seek to expand young peoples minds, provide them with tools they need to learn throughout their lives. Especially now, when the future might be very significantly different to the present, they need the skills to relearn, reskill, rethink. Not just pass exams.

I don't think we do know how to educate young people. It is not the fault of the teachers or the people who teach the teachers. It is the fault of the political direction. And in this, I think we are still failing our young people.