Sustainable Education
Sunday, January 13th, 2008For the last few years my attempts to teach using humanistic principles has led me to develop a methodology for teaching using the systemic theory in education. Using the systems theory has led me to develop a holistic way of teaching and of managing schools which is powerful without being authoritarian, and which will be increasingly helpful in education for sustainable communities. Indeed, many successful projects, such as the Makiguchi in Action project, instinctively use the systemic method.Systems Theory itself began with bio-chemistry, and the finding that, on a cellular level, everything interacts. Considered the grandfather of systems theory, Gregory Bateson had inherited a knowledge of biochemistry from his father William Bateson, who discovered the genome. Gregory Bateson worked in the fields of mental health, doing pioneering work on the treatment of schizophrenia based on systems theory, and later developing ways to communicate in the foundling science of cybernetics, which is making robots. Bateson covered a wide field in his research, systemics, he found, could be applied over a wide range of sciences. In fact this universality is bound to systems theory, as the theory itself says as its first premise that everything in the universe is interconnected. The ideas of systems theory have been useful in connection with environmental projects inspired by the Earth Charter, and a growing body of academics and activists are finding connections between their areas of expertise and others, as Bateson himself found.
Bateson, it seems to me, had an instinctive understanding of the phenomenon of the interconnectedness of all things, a principle of Buddhism which he may have picked up in Hawaii where he worked. The principle of interconnectedness seemed obvious and self-evident, and solved the long-standing philosophical problems in the west of Cartesian dualism, which was impeding further expansion in our understanding of the world. Systemic theory has subsequently been used extensively in family therapy, in the treatment of mental illness, in cybernetics, in ecology and in management. It is quite new in education, and has been mainly used for behaviour management in classrooms, which is how I discovered it on a behaviour management course. I believe systems theory should be developed as the basis for school management, for developing communities, in teacher training and for national education programmes.
The use of systems theory in education is often referred to as sustainable education. Each action you take in sustainable education leads to a further positive outcome. Because it takes into consideration the whole environment, negative consequences are ideally avoided. In behaviour management, if we use authoritative ways to punish a naughty child, the child’s behaviour may subside or change, but we create an underlying resentment and attitudes, for example the feeling that society is against him or her. This leads on to a potentially unsatisfying school life for the child, and may impact on his or her life. Educators want their students to acquire the skills and outlook they need to have a happy and successful life, so they need to make causes which will enable this to happen. In the systemic method, authority is not necessarily used. The whole environment or situation the child is in will be taken into account. Where the teacher has gaps in their knowledge of the child’s circumstances, which is inevitable, they are nevertheless assumed to be there in the child’s life. For example, we may not know what the child’s home life or social life is like, but we can factor in the idea that these parts of his or her environment will be affecting his or her behaviour now. Buddhists will recognise the ideas of cause and effect here: although this is not currently stated overtly in systems theory, it is clearly present. In the classroom, the teacher will deal with poor behaviour in a holistic and non-authoritative way (most of the time!)
Systemic theory says that everything is interconnected. This means that when a child misbehaves, the entire environment he or she finds himself in is the cause of this misbehaviour. Further, we can’t really define it as misbehaviour, but as simply a manifested behaviour, as systemic thought does not judge ‘from the outside’. To alter the behaviour the teacher finds inappropriate, the teacher has to change something. It may be something directly to do with the child, such as moving him or her, giving additional support, changing the activity and so on. Sometimes the teacher can change something seemingly unconnected.
I once had a seriously misbehaving boy who seemed completely directionless and was a nuisance to the others in class, but everything I could think of had failed to improve things. I had another think, what systems theory calls analysis, and realised that I had noticed that this boy stood around in the playground alone all through break and lunch. I took him to the Lego club activity one lunchtime and asked him to see if he liked it. He made a couple of friends at Lego club, one of whom asked him to come to football practise, and within a couple of weeks this child was integrated in a friendship group and started to participate more confidently in class. There will have been many causes for his isolation, but I didn’t need to know them in detail to change something. In systemic education, you change something, and it doesn’t matter all that much what. Because everything is interconnected, every action you take will alter every other aspect of the environment. If the subsequent change isn’t helpful, you simply change something else until you perceive what is really the problem, and can make more adept changes.
Sometimes, a teacher can choose to use authority in the traditional fashion, but knowing that this will make a systemic change. I have had situations where I have slammed into a child or a class and given them some vile punishment such as detentions or loss of privileges. In most schools, the system is such that the children have to behave in a certain way, to do certain courses and pass exams. That being the case, the reminder that in this world people do have authority over you is not a bad thing. Systemic education is not particularly liberal, it doesn’t mean there is no discipline or that the child is accorded with adult status. It is, however, positive and pragmatic. It allows control on the part of every student and every teacher. Because each person is capable of changing the entire situation, they feel empowered, and this in turn reassures nervous children and children who fear failure, as well as making the classroom a safe place for children whose personalities are not respected in their family situations.
As I develop a class in sustainable educative methods, sometimes openly describing what I am doing, the children progress in a quite extraordinary way. A group of children in my class said to me: ‘You’re the only teacher who respects us and who likes us’. When I pointed out that this wasn’t true, all the teachers in that small school were really compassionate and knew the children well as individuals, they acknowledged this and replied, ‘Well somehow the way you do things seems different.’ I believe what they had realised is that the foundation of my class is respect for each individual in a Buddhistic way: each person is valued for what they are, and not depending on what they achieve or how they perform. The children became able to develop study skills on a par with much older students, and become very self-confident. They enjoyed lessons because they felt they had some influence over how they were learning. They became able to express their feelings in non-aggressive ways, because they were taken into account. The results in assessments and exams were substantially higher than other control group classes, and classes which were not using systemic ideas. They were aware that something different was being done, and that it involved empowerment and respect. Most importantly, they were happier, and absenteeism almost disappeared.
Sustainable education works best when it is instigated as a whole school programme, since if just one teacher is applying it the results impact on the rest of the school anyway, (the whole environment is affected remember!). Students may start acting in a more confident and independent way generally and other teachers may not find this easy to deal with. Expressing their opinions can be interpreted as cheek, and drive a wedge between the child’s appreciation of the two teachers. Improved performance may not be noticed or acknowledged, and children can become frustrated. It is noticeable however that where a child suddenly stops misbehaving and becomes happier and more sociable, like my Lego club boy, the other teachers are appreciative! As a way of training staff quickly, of forming whole school policy, integrated curricular, improved assessment results, behaviour management, community education and parental co-operation, systemics is ideal. I am currently developing a methodology which will apply sustainable education principles in small community schools in developing nations, where education projects may be just beginning or be in the process of upgrading, especially as regards the training of teachers. Because the basic principle of systemic is that everything is interconnected, the families, economic situation, traditions and living situations of the community are directly influencing the educational provision in a community. My method takes the existing community traditions and beliefs as its base, and enables the free development of facilities and resources, grouping of classes, involvement of parents and the local community and so on. For example, where children are needed at home to communicate on behalf of the mother, as happens in purdah, female literacy classes can bring the community back together, enable the mother to become involved in the community once more, and facilitate the daughter’s education where she would not previously have been allowed to go to school.
In communities where education is well established and universally provided, problems such as student aggression, lack of motivation, absenteeism, bullying, stress and depression among students and teachers, inappropriate skills learning according to employers, teacher dropout rates and so on, may be regarded as a similar case in many ways to communities where provision is sparse. These schools and national systems for education need revising. The trick is to devise a large scale programme for change without disrupting schools or destroying what is already working well. The systemic method is perfect for this type of endemic change. I am developing a programme for teacher training in schools in developed countries which will make the kind of changes I have been looking at and which will begin the process of systemic management, allowing the practitioners themselves to voice the experiences and ideas they are having and begin to introduce whole-school changes as they see fit. Sustainable education, like all sustainable projects, begins on a small holistic scale. That which works well can be expanded, that which doesn’t work will not be on a scale which is destructive and costly.
Like Buddhism, sustainable education is not prescriptive, and cannot be so, since it must be applied receptively to the environment in which it finds itself. When we are introducing systems theory to schools and to teachers, therefore, we need to explain the ideas behind the methods. Where this has been omitted because of lack of time for training, lack of continuity in the training, or lack of entusiam on the part of school leaders, the systemic method has been quietly dropped. An element of faith is required when one thing after another that the teacher tries seems to fail. The faith comes in the understanding that every action you take is changing something, and that if you continue, the casue of the problem will become clear at some point. Meanwhile, just the fact that you are interacting with the problem child is vastly improving his or her ability to interact with society. In the normal authoritative order of things, problems are not always solved, but damage can be done to the child (and the teacher!). Using sustainable methods, the child will not be harmed, because he or she is being taken into account, and the teacher will feel more comfortable with what he or she is doing. Teachers who start using systemic methodology report the immediate effect that they begin to enjoy teaching again, have better rapports with the students, and feel less stress. Sustainable education, like sustainable environmental projects, improves your well-being and health.
Sustainable education is one aspect of an increasingly established methodology based on systems theory. Although quite well known in psychology and management, education is still very much in the pioneering stage. Understanding systems theory and its application in education can help us to form our individual powerful techniques in the classroom or in school and project management. Below is a bibliography for anyone interested as a way of introduction to systems thought. Our input as educators in terms of respecting the individual, understanding the ideas of interconnectedness and cause and effect, will enable sustainable education to help children, teachers, parents and communities everywhere to find education for sustainable communities in the 21st century.
© Jill Rees
13 January 2008
Suggested reading
Gregory Bateson Steps to an Ecology of mind University of Chicago Press 1972
Molnar and Lindquist Changing Problem Behaviour In Schools Jossey Bass1989
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Education_for_Sustainable_Development
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