http://www.youtube.com/dreamschool
http://www.channel4.com/programmes/jamies-dream-school
Final comments on Channel 4’s / Jamie Oliver’s Dream School.
Well, dream school has certainly been a roller coaster, it’s had it’s good points and it’s bad points, but overall it has reflected the real challenges of young people who struggle with education. Something I’ve done almost every week for the last 18 years.
I covered the first five episodes in depth ( see http://leejackson.org/blog ) but after being away in Japan for two weeks I’ve had to play catch up a bit as channel 4 isn’t on Japanese TV or an Airbus A380! So I thought I would wrap it up by leaving you with some of the final thoughts shared at the end of the series…
“…My guess for what its worth…Teachers could do with less rules and regulations and more freedom to try what works for their classes” – I totally agree Jamie we need to really let teachers teach (and not just say it as a sound bite).
“I can’t say the kids weren’t hard to reach but a few things worked – practical teaching styles, a wide ranch of subjects, but most importantly finding individual passions and unlocking their creativity – nice one Jamie! I always start my motivational schools talks talking about passion, once they find their passion it spills out onto the other lessons too.
“They’ve all got lots to offer but they’ve been let down by an education system – there has to be a something wrong with an education system that lets 300,000 young people leave every year with nothing to show for it. This series was a plea on their behalf, they can be inspired by education and that is not a dream – the education system isn’t perfect, that’s for sure Jamie. That’s why we need creative head teachers not afraid to push staff to break the mould, but with league tables always present – will that be possible?
The student Jenny said these amazing, tear filled words “I went through school and everyone said that ‘i couldn’t’, and now everyone here is saying that ‘i can’ – I’ve been given the chance of my life and i never thought that would happen to me” – we must NEVER say to a young person ‘you can’t make it’, yet it seems that in the education system there are still people who do. There’s no room in education for a cynic. Seriously there isn’t, I mentioned this in a teacher training session a few weeks ago and everyone agreed, except of course the cynics! But the headteacher’s face was beaming when I said it!
“In dream school I was surprised at how brilliant they could be, but I was also surprised, at times, at how unteachable they could be too!” – that’s the fun of teaching young people – never a dull moment, but some brilliants moments too!
Well done Jamie and Channel 4, a great series with, I hope, lasting impact on those young people’s lives through the scholarships and mentoring.
Now you should have a short break and do it all again, now that’s real education 🙂
Let’s do another series with real teachers, speakers and mentors, now that would be fun.
“Lee Jackson is schools speaker with 20 years experience and the author of the book “”How To Be Sick At School” which help teens succeed in school – www.howtobesickatschool.com”
