INFRASTRUCTURE:THE CONDITION of many primary and second-level schools in Ireland should be a cause for national shame, the film maker Lord Puttnam told the ASTI conference.
Lord Puttnam, whose film credits include Chariots of Fireand The Mission, said the IT infrastructure in schools was also seriously deficient in connectivity,hardware and software.
He said choices were made to spend billions on buildings in the private and public sector that now lie either empty, underused, or simply not needed.
“I cannot be the only person who believes that had some fraction of this sum been committed to refurbishing the quality of the schools and classrooms in this country, the nation would be far better placed to dig itself out of the hole that all that accumulated debt and waste has helped create.”
Lord Puttnam, who now lives outside Baltimore in west Cork, retired from the cinema 14 years ago to engage fulltime in public policy. He has been a long-time activist in the education sphere, arguing for much greater public investment in Britain and elsewhere.
He said “the primary challenge for the world of education, is to move from an essentially top-down, ‘chalk-and-talk’ model to one that reflects both the changing needs of society, and the changing expectations of a generation of young people who expect, as a matter of course, to participate in making and shaping that society; and not to simply be passive recipients of whatever is handed down . . . I don’t think I’m being unfair in saying that there has been something of an ‘institutionalised’ reluctance, or is it resistance, among politicians, as well as teachers and educationalists, to fully embrace innovation . . .We have barely begun to scratch the surface of ways in which the very best technology, expertly used, could literally transform the whole learning experience, and with it, the life, the behaviour, and career prospects of literally thousands of young people studying at our schools.”
He told delegates : “It’s vital to remember that, no matter how gifted or charismatic you may be, you will never successfully influence or teach anyone who doesn’t believe you to be ‘authentic’ – authentic in the sense that you hold to and exemplify the values you teach – in that way, and only in that way can they possibly come to trust and respect you.”
He said teacher training in a digital age has to be viewed as an entirely non-negotiable and continuing process. The commitment of Ministers and head teachers to the best possible quality of teacher training, along with regular “time out” for professional development, must be absolute.
