Becoming adult!

It is no longer just about subjects, now we need adult development

There is a saying that “primary teachers teach children, but secondary teachers teach subjects”.  In the light of the thread I have been following in the last three posts (here, here and here) I think we might want to modify this to “primary teachers teach children, and secondary teachers teach children how to become adults”.

Just as when a baby enters the world, they need to be cradled by caring parents so that they feel safe to start their life journey, young people stepping into a new world where the content of thought is now abstract, need also to be cradled by caring adults.  They also need to feel safe so that they can begin to move away from conforming to the group and begin to find their own unique identity.

It goes without saying, doing this means treating every student as a person, a subjective being with a rich inner life.

Vtg-O-Tupton, Bronzed Figurine - Hand cradling baby

Focus on a subject and its curriculum can lead to treating students as problems to be solved or tasks to be completed, as treating them as objects.  This is the opposite of what they need to feel safe and held, and able to step beyond their current identity.

Of course, in a system in which holding young people at the same stage of development throughout secondary school was built-in, then providing the safety and the space for development to take place was, obviously, discouraged.

Yet, twenty-first century skills can only be properly developed by young people making this shift.  If we want these skills, and it seems we do, then teaching the subject is the work that takes place, but the real value comes in the relationship of trust and love that young people need at this stage in their lives which adults can provide.

And, it is not just the young people who will benefit.

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.

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