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All the pieces of the puzzle are available, we just need to fit them together

Over the last few posts I have been focusing on consciousness development.  The reason for this is that it is simply not (yet) on anyone’s radar yet is a key element in human development that has been masked by the stability of our schooling systems post-WW2.

It seems to me that changes in curriculum and pedagogy have been pushed as far as they can and to go further the structural and behavioural issues that are behind consciousness development need to be seriously considered.

In short, children can develop their consciousness faster than our systems were designed to support and our society now needs them to develop to levels of consciousness beyond what was envisaged when our current systems came into prominence seventy years ago.

I believe that all the elements for a thoroughgoing re-think of education are now available and two of these:

• the structures and behaviours that support consciousness development, and

• the behaviours that support autonomy and self-motivation, rather than controlled motivation (reward and punishment)

are glaringly absent in public discussion yet are crucial for the healthy development of both children and adults.

Henri Matisse - View of Collioure -1905

I know that it is hard to re-imagine something that we were so intimately engaged in through our most formative years, yet all the elements are on the table.

The puzzle pieces are there, we just need to fit them together to make the full picture, a vision of education for the twenty-first century.  Once the picture – the vision – is in place then we can plan the steps, in a coherent way, that are necessary to gradually move us there.

How can we stimulate the public debates and discussions necessary to do this?

I am offering a one-day workshop on 10th March - The Foundations of Collective Teacher Efficacy - based on my latest book Red Brain Blue Brain.  Registration is now open.  This is suitable for teaching staff at any level from the newly graduated to those in senior positions and is a good way for a school to get a taste of what is possible.    For more information and to register go here.

John Corrigan is an expert in helping individuals to bring their whole of mind to their daily life and increase their effectiveness and the effectiveness of those around them. This expertise scales from the individual to the team to the organisation. At the core of this work is the practice of encounter.  Earlier blogs can be found here.

• To purchase a copy of Red Brain Blue Brain or Student Feedback go here