Stop stating the obvious... Learning from History

I think back over past events all the time.  Sometimes it's a good thing.  Other times not so much.  A lot of laughter, a lot of tears and so many cringe worthy mistakes where I wish I did things differently.  But the older I get the more I value those memories.  Some memories of happy times spent with loved ones.  Others, mistakes badly made and lessons learned.  Even on a professional level the same is true.

("Thinking cap" by Identity Photogr@phy is marked with CC BY 2.0.)

But perhaps the most frustratingly human part of that process is realising those mistakes and, despite my best efforts, I end up repeating them anyway.  

I've been reading a lot from two books recently.  One is called Leaving College: Rethinking the Causes and Cures of Student Attrition by Vincent Tinto (1993).  The other is a book called Creating Trauma-Informed, Strengths-Based Classrooms: Teacher Strategies for Nurturing Students Healing, Growth and Learning by Jacolyn Norrish and Tom Brunzel (2021).  These two books are teaching me so much.  I'm also realising that I have so much to learn.  But this isn't something I've ever done before, reading two books in tandem.  Most of the time I read one book slowly and carefully but it's amazing how these two books written three decades apart share so many common themes.  (Thanks @BaliMaha for sharing).  

The first book was written and published well before covid-19 was even a thing.  The second was written and published in the middle of a global pandemic that changed the face of education.  Interestingly both books place huge emphasis on the importance of relationships, ties, connections... however you want to put it.

Reading through these books I found myself reflecting on how relationships can make or break a learning journey.  In doing so I reflected on my learning journey from being a student in the 1990s to where I am now.  I thought about the relationships I experienced in my personal life and my professional life that I came to value the most.  But now I can begin to understand why.

("Relationship and customer retention" by YDubel is marked with CC BY-SA 2.0.)

I've written in the past about my background and the circumstances my parents faced.  I'm not saying they were perfect parents.  They were human and, like the rest of us, they made mistakes.  But they always learned from their mistakes and encouraged me and my brother to, "turn right where [they] turned left".  In learning about the anthropological model of rites of passage (Van Gennep as cited by Tinto, 1993, p.90) I realised that our parents were creating a buffer zone or separation between us, their children, and the negative influence of those social forces that could have sent me and my brother down very different paths.  In their own way, and despite the challenges they were facing in their own lives, they helped change our social and educational trajectory.  In going to a local college and then studying with the Open University to complete my degree, I never really left home.  So any sense of physical separation never happened.  But there was a social and emotional separation that our parents kept firmly in place to ensure that those negative forces didn't hold too much influence over us.  

I've also written before about a number of very special people who, especially in recent years, gave me space to heal and grow far beyond the rules, rituals and expectations that had dictated my life.  Now, looking back, I can recognise the people who stuck up for me when I couldn't stand up for myself.  I can also see the people who helped me step back from the edge when my fight-flight-freeze responses kicked in (Brunzell and Norrish, 2021, p. 39).  For that reason alone I will always love them and I'm thankful every day for them being part of my life.  Even though life might take us in very different directions I always carry them in my heart.  They know who they are - my very own little support network! I hope you know that I love each and every one of you.   Team Mc² (great initials for a maths teacher don't you think).  

("Support Key" by Got Credit is marked with CC BY 2.0.)

But for the same reason I also found myself thinking about people for whom separation isn't possible or even desirable, those from communities where going to college or university is perhaps unaffordable or even socially deviant? Those potential students who do want to go to college can end up as a kind trophy in a social "tug of war" scenario where the strongest side often wins.  Moreover, if those same students are brave enough to break away from their past and embrace a new future, there then comes the question of whether they will persevere through a transition period to a "new normal" on the other side.  That's when the presence of a support network really matters.  

And then, let's not forget those students who, during the covid 19 pandemic, valued the separation of their personal and learning spaces. Yet, finding themselves in circumstances where that that level of separation was impossible, life became chaotic for many people.  Durkheim (1951, as cited by Tinto, 1993, p. 100) then points to the state of anomie, chaos resulting from normlessness, whereby actions previously considered deviant or stigmatic can, in some abnormal circumstances, become acceptable.  He cites as an example the great depression of the 1920s.  It worries me therefore, having lived through a pandemic whereby the very foundations of education were shaken, what actions might our learners take?  Are we seeing a rise in mental health problems?  Perhaps the stigma of being considered a drop-out doesn't have quite the same sting when faced with a cost of living crisis that forces you to choose between attending college, paying your bills, or feeding your kids?  What about students who don't have a support network?  How do we support learners, or our colleagues, when their fight-flight-freeze response kicks in?

("Newspapers yellow" by NS Newsflash is marked with CC BY 2.0.)

So I was quite frustrated this morning to read yet another article in the media stating the blatantly obvious, that "Scotlands college drop out rate rises during pandemic".  I'd be willing to bet it wasn't just Scotland's colleges effected in this way given that the very definition of a PAN-demic is a global event.  Moreover, since Tinto was writing in the 1990s, Van Gennep's work took place in the 1960s and Durkheim was writing in the 1950s, why is any aspect of what we're seeing now such a surprise? On top of that, we're all living through, "an overwhelming experience that undermines a person’s belief that the world is good and safe", (a definition of trauma shared by Berry Street Victoria, 2013 as cited by Brunzell and Norrish, 2021, p. 20).    There seems more than a soupcon of stating the obvious in the news article that I read which serves to do little more than whip teachers and educators, who have worked their butt's off trying their best in those same chaotic conditions that everyone else struggled with, in order to get them to work harder, run faster, do more!!  

("Racehorses in Training 2" by PapaPiper is marked with CC BY-ND 2.0.)

But it does make for an eye-catching and somewhat sensationalist headline.

Now it might appear to some here that I'm back pedalling on my previous rhetoric.  It's no secret that I am, and always will remain an advocate for technology enhanced learning.  I have already written at some length about how technology, online and distance learning has helped me and others like me (#OUFamily). But, rather than pour over a series of articles stating the blatantly obvious fact that students have opted for a flight response during times of chaotic change and stress, a logical survival response btw, perhaps a better application of quality journalism would be to ask the question, "how can we empower leaders to create inclusive, accessible and sustainable hybrid communities of learning?"

As we emerge from a period of normlessness, what does our new normal look like? This is a phrase that's been used over and over again by politicians and leaders over the past two years.  Its almost a cliché.  If we really want to capitalise on the opportunities hybrid learning can provide, then perhaps it's time to stop talking and start building lest we risk repeating the mistakes of our past.  

References

Tinto, V. (1993) Leaving College:  Rethinking the Causes and Cures of Student Attrition [ebook reader], London, University of Chicago Press. 

Brunzell, T. And Norrish, J. (2021) Creating Trauma-Informed, Strengths-Based Classrooms:  Teacher Strategies for Nurturing Students' Healing, Growth and Learning [ebook reader], London, Jessica Kingsley Publishers.