To make school better

Surrounded by our best pupils, not necessarily the brightest, but the most loyal, the most interested in making something of themselves, the most driven, I ask them what they think is the number one thing that would make them happier at school. There are about 15 of them, all between 12 and 14 years-old, boys and girls, some black, some white, Indian, Chinese: a real motley crew.

Would you learn more if you had ‘better’ teachers? I ask. Or what if you had bigger classrooms? Better textbooks? Better food at lunchtime? What about smaller classes, would that help? Perhaps learning would improve if we used computers more? What if we played more games in lessons? Perhaps if we set you more homework?

One of the smaller boys leans forward. ‘No Miss, none of that stuff is important. Well, I mean, it’s important, but we’d learn so much more if everyone in the class just listened to the teacher.’

I nod. ‘Ah, so the behaviour of other pupils in your lessons is the thing that stops you the most from learning?’

All of the children around me nod vigorously. They say nothing at all.

I grin. ‘That’s interesting. I’m guessing that you find that pretty irritating, do you? I mean, you must get very annoyed that there are these other pupils who are preventing the teacher from teaching and you from learning, right?’

Again, they nod in unison as if I had pushed an electronic button that makes their heads suddenly bop up and down.

‘So what could we do to make school better for you?’

A black boy with a bit of a stammer pulls his chair up. ‘Make them stop talking Miss, stop them interrupting, make them listen to the teacher.’

I look around at these keen, eager-to-learn children, who are staring at me, their eyes wide-open, wanting me to fix it for them, wanting so badly to simply go to school and learn, and a feeling of depression sweeps over me. All these poor kids want to do is to go to school and learn without disruption.

But in 21st century inner-city London schools, that notion is simply absurd. Go to school and learn? Pah! What nonsense. What are these children thinking? That’s so 19th century. Ed Balls would never have it. Children to take responsibility for themselves? Children having to meet certain standards or face consequences? Of course not. That would mean creating the kind of environment that my 15 pupils want: where schools would be places of learning instead of chaos.

And we don’t want that, do we? I wonder why…?