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Teachers move to the next grade along with their students |
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Score
77%
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14 votes,
Feasibility
81%
Originality
69%
Humour
45% |
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The Problem:
Public education is failing because of the lack of long-term bonds and relationships between students and teachers.
The Social Invention:
This idea would work in any country, but, since I live in the US, I’ve used the current U.S. public education system as a frame of reference.
Currently, teachers teach the same grade each year to a new batch of students. Instead, each year, teachers should teach a new grade to the same students.
Description of the new system:
An individual school system would be either 2-tier (e.g. K-5, 6-12) or 3-tier (e.g. K-4, 5-8, 9-12). Teachers would cycle within a single tier. For example, in a 3-tier system, an elementary teacher would get a new “batch” of students in Kindergarten and stay with them until grade 5, then start the cycle again with new Kindergarteners. Special Education could go two ways: have teachers stay with the same students from K-12, or, Special Ed could mirror the tiered structure.
Problems with the current system:
Because there is a new batch of students each year, teachers spend several weeks just learning their new students’ names. Teachers don’t know the academic level of their new students beyond the students’ report cards. They don’t know who the trouble-makers are, or what techniques are effective in controlling them. They don’t know the students’ parents. The teacher spends an entire school year not only educating students, but bonding with them. At the end of each school year, the carefully crafted bond between teacher and student (also teacher and parent) is destroyed. While the teacher will (probably) not suffer any acute emotional damage, this is not so for many students, especially in elementary education. Teachers get bored teaching the same thing year after year. Students lose interest in school because of teacher boredom. Teachers rarely see any long-term accomplishments with their students.
Benefits of the new system:
The quality of a student’s education will greatly improve. A student can start learning new things immediately at the beginning of a new school year, since teachers know exactly what was taught the previous year. Year after year, the bond between student and teacher will grow. With that bond, students will be compelled to excel. With that bond, students will be less likely to misbehave. In addition to the bond between teacher and student, the bond between teacher and parent will grow, leading to increased parent involvement in schools.
Teacher job satisfaction will improve. Teachers will be able to see first hand the long-term progress of their students. Boredom will decrease, allowing for more enthusiasm on the part of teachers. The added enthusiasm of teachers will transfer to more enthusiasm for learning by students.
There would be no need to change existing University teaching degree programs, where teachers specialize in Primary, Secondary, or Special Education.
It wouldn’t cost school systems any more than the existing system.
Drawbacks of the new system:
The initial startup will probably cost additional money. Teachers may need additional training (or maybe just a refresher) for the next school year during their first cycle.
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