Contemporary and Critical Issues in Education - Essay Example

Contemporary and Critical Issues in Education Table of Contents Patch Leadership for Learning 3 Patch 2 6 A Dialogue about the Benefits and Disadvantages for Single-Sex Schools 6 A Letter to a Class of Children (Male and /or Female) in a School Located in a Country Other Than the UK, of which you have some Knowledge 8 The Reflective Commentary 11 References 14 Patch 1: Leadership for Learning One of the main challenges faced by the current educational system is to build an existing strength in order to create an excellent educational experience along with the successful outcomes for learners of all ages. With this concern, leadership is required throughout the modern education system. It is worth mentioning that leadership for learning is considered as a process through which educational system can initiate changes in its cultural environment in order to increase the learning ability perceived by the learners. Leadership for learning is conducted with an aim to offer a wide range of opportunities to the learners which in turn assists them in order to gain highly beneficial experiences. In addition, leadership for learning enhances the career opportunities as well as develop confidence amid the learners’ by enhancing their talents and abilities (Education Scotland, 2007). Leadership for learning is provided with the assistance of staffs possessing variety of skills and core competencies. For instance, it can be conducted with the help of pre-school staffs in order to establish interests for learning amid the children connecting them with imaginative and purposeful play in their learning process. Similarly, it can be executed with the guidance of teachers who build the confidence of learners in order to attain the skills to become leaders in their personal learning process. Through the approach of leadership for learning, college and community staffs can provide assistance to the young and/or middle-aged people who wish to return back in the learning process. In the similar context, care and education staffs can provide secure services in terms of residential schools in order to meet the social, behavioural and learning needs of dependent pupils in the community (Education Scotland, 2007). Leadership for leaning provides the path to the learners in order to take control over their learning process. With the virtues of leadership, the staffs and learners transfer their thoughts about learning as well as their individual roles in learning amid their peers and other community members. Additionally, learners are supported by their respective staffs or educators in order to become a leader of their personal learning process. This in turn shall provide the opportunity to learners to take the responsibilities for their progress and growth in the future career (Education Scotland, 2007). Education system consists with a highly skilled workforce that is engaged with the delivery of knowledge and skills as well as tends to support the infrastructure of the education industry. The key focus of the educators is to signify the efficient ways in order to deliver maximum impact over the learners. It includes efficient teaching, caring, nurturing as well as supporting the young people in order to make them responsible in relation to their learning abilities (Glichman, 2002). Furthermore, the leadership for learning approach focuses on the “deprivatisation” practice in the learning process. Therefore, it shows that teachers are the main source for effective execution of learning procedures which can be measured with reference to their experiences, knowledge, skills and behavioural attributes among others. Thus, it becomes quite apparent that with an aim to provide an effective leadership for learning in educational system, a teacher and/or staff should comprise with effective motivation and stimulation strategies (Macbeath, 2002). In the similar context, at the time of leadership of learning a teacher has to maintain a balance of transition between his/her role in terms of mentorship and in terms of a coach as these two aspects are considered to be the most important elements of leadership for learning (Dorval & et. al., 2001). Patch 2 A Dialogue about the Benefits and Disadvantages for Single-Sex Schools With due consideration to the present day context, it has often been considered by the experts in the education sector that co-educational schooling is more beneficial in terms of boys rather than girls. An additional perception in support of single-sex schooling for girls entails that most of the parents presume that boys can distract their daughter(s) from concentrating on their studies in the co-educational schools. As a result, they prefer to send their daughters in a single-sex school where they are believed to be able to concentrate on their studies more effectively than the girls studying in co-educational schools (Smith, 1998). To a certain extent students also prefer attending a single-sex school as they believe that it is easier to focus on the study when they are not distracted by the members of the opposite sex (University Language Services, 2012). On the contrary, single-sex school can also create difficulties for the students in terms of their flexibility to adjust with their surroundings as every level of education does not exist with single-sex education concept. Furthermore, the drawbacks of single-sex school are often regarded as the lack of socializing abilities in their existing environment. In the modern era, it has emerged as an obvious fact that women and men are likely to interact in their workplaces as well as in the professional and every other social gatherings. Therefore, co-educational schools can provide the environment in which gender differences can be taught to the students in order to prepare them for the real life scenario in an advanced manner (Gant, 2001). As stated by Streitmatter (1999), boys are found to perform better in single-sex schools in comparison to the boys learning in the coeducational schools. However, in the case of girls, it was observed that those who are associated with coeducational schools intend to perform better than their peers including both males and females indicating their acceptance of higher level of competition. The author also recognised that these experiences and the benefits as well as disadvantages witnessed by the children associated with the single-sex schools in comparison to them who are taking their lessons from the coeducational schools, depend largely on the ethnic divergences as well. To be precise, the ethnic background of the students or children also encourages them to perform better whether be in the singe-sex school or in the coeducational school. It is in this context that the experiences gained by children associated with a single-sex school differs largely on the basis of their personal traits, competition or challenges as well as on the basis of the influence created by the ethnic background (Streitmatter, 1999). Furthermore, Streitmatter (1999) also stated that the benefits attained from single-sex schools in the primary education level such as cognitive skills, better understanding of the cultural prospects and higher level of concentration on the studies are more apparent in the higher education courses. Moral learning gained in the primary educational level often tends to shape the behaviour of the students in their higher education. However, one of the major disadvantages that can be witnessed in this regards is that the children studying in single-sex schools often have to face challenges in terms of developing a friendly and cooperative alliance with other genders when attending a coeducational school for their higher education (Streitmatter, 1999). A Letter to a Class of Children (Male and /or Female) in a School Located in a Country Other Than the UK, of which you have some Knowledge To, The Children Pembroke School Australia Subject: Provide advice regarding time table and control of activity. Dear Children, It is a well known fact that education is considered as an important medium which intends to enhance your future career growth prospects. Your school experiences regarding new lessons that you learn everyday can be of high advantage in your future career growth prospects. It can not only play a major role in shaping your behaviour and perceptive towards your future goal, but also intends to guide you in selecting a proper objective for your future. It will also make you realise what your interest areas are and motivate you to perform continuously better towards the achievement of the goal. It suggests the best way to attain career success by mapping out your strategies to attain the desired career goals. You should, in this regard, focus on various things that include hobbies, talents, and interests which in turn shall provide you the assistance to determine an achievable career goal. It is in this context that not only studies, but extra curriculum activities are also necessary for your overall development. Where on one hand, books and other theoretical academics can assist you in gaining better insight to the past as well as ongoing processes in the world along with the future expectations regarding multiple aspects of human civilisation; extra-curriculum activities, on the other hand shall reward you with better focus, competency as well as cognitive skills which you will require for your gradual development in the future. However, it is necessary to maintain a time table as well control activities in order to achieve the desired goal and career objectives. With this concern, your school experiences can greatly affect the quality of your day to day life. In the 19th century, the educational system followed the traditional method of timetable for schooling sessions which used to include specific timings for the monitor’s summons, entrance of the children and prayer, the settlement of children in their classes, writing session, dictation session and a second or repeat writing session among others. However, this in turn was observed to create difficulties for the children those are weaker in their educational career and need more attention as well as time to be a strong competitor restricting the flexibilities for the students to participate in variety of activities in their learning experiences. You must also understand that a proper balance should exist between your academic learning sessions and your extra-curriculum activities. Notably, children of your age have often been witnessed to be more inclined towards either of the two sessions, i.e. academics and extra-curriculum activities. Even though, the importance of both these educational sessions cannot be overpowered due your interests in either of these. Both the activities have crucial roles in enhancing your future career related prospects and therefore you should intend to maintain a proper balance in engaging yourself with academics as well as extra-curriculum activities. It is in this context that the educational system should be changed according to the need of the environment and requirement of the students in the modern era. Furthermore, you should be able to maintain your timetable according to the developed schooling schedule without rigid timetable as instructed by the school. It can be conducted by maintaining a proper balance between your leisure activities such as drawing, playing and watching TV among others. The Reflective Commentary Performing a reflective summary after participating in a learning process has been widely considered as advantageous to facilitate an in-depth and unambiguous understanding of the learning throughout the process. This in turn assists the learners to identify the requirement of future learning as well as gain efficiency in controlling and applying his/her skills effectively towards attaining the determined goal. In this regards, a reflective summary of the learning attained through the studies in patch 1 and patch 2 has been presented. It is worth mentioning in this context that patch 1 was highly beneficial in attaining an unambiguous understanding of the required skills while attaining educational facilities. The study conducted in patch 1 indicated learning to be one of the most vital aspects of life, which is subjected to certain cognitive skills as perceived by the learners. With regards to the above patch work tests, in patch 1 it has been observed that a learner should acquire an effective learning experience in order to achieve a better career opportunity. With due consideration to this, an educational system should intend to develop a strong learning environment in order to provide the learner with an excellent educational experience. At this juncture, teachers and/or role models should provide their assistance to the learner in order to bring a change in their current educational background by maintaining a balanced transition between their role as a mentor and a coach as well. These two features are the most important parts of leadership for learning as it assists the learners as well as staffs to share their thoughts and experiences bringing about a change in the overall cultural and social environment. Hence, with reference to the learning reflection attained from patch 1, it can be affirmed that learners should identify their personal skills and thus intend to enhance their leadership while attaining the benefits of effective learning. In the similar context, patch 2 deals with the evaluation of single-sex schools in order to provide a better learning environment to the children that in turn can help them to achieve their career objectives and goals. Single-sex schools and coeducational schools are now-a-days a common phenomenon in the modern social structure worldwide. The study conducted in patch 2 (part a) concentrating on this particular aspect, revealed that parents and educators as well as experts often view the application of single-sex schools and coeducational schools in a varied way. To be precise, where a few of the people refer single-sex schools to be better than the coeducational schools, on the contrary, another populace disagree with this notion and tend to favour the application of coeducational schools over the traditional single-sex schools. Notably, it was learnt from the study in patch 2 (part a) that these benefits and varied perspectives strongly depend on gender as well as age and ethnic background of the learners. With this concern, it can be stated that single-sex schools have a few advantages as well as lacunas. However, it is better for the future of children to learn in co-educational schools as it can provide the environment in which gender differences can be taught as well as their competencies and cognitive abilities can be developed to survive in the real life scenario where men and women both are counterparts of each other. In order to attain the virtues of advanced learning process, the children should adopt a suitable timetable with proper management of their leisure activities that in turn shall guide them to effectively accept the changing environment. In the same way, it was observed from the learning in patch 2 (part b) that with regards to the better career opportunities and in order to gain excellent learning experiences, students prefer visiting developing countries including Europe. They presumed that it can increase their knowledge as the educational sector in these countries tend to implement different and more advanced teaching and learning methods in its educational system which is extensively aligned with the requirement of the changing environment. Moreover, the students who come from different countries, culture and/or ethnic group, share their values and beliefs with each other which in turn increases versatility and flexibility in order to cope up with the changing environment. Therefore, the education system is providing a path to the people in order to attain the determined career objectives and goals. References Dorval, K. B. & et. al., 2001. Leadership for Learning: Tips for Effective Mentoring and Coaching. Are Mentoring and Coaching the Same Thing. [Online] Available at: http://www.cpsb.com/resources/downloads/public/Mentoring_Coaching.pdf [Accessed March 22, 2012]. Education Scotland, 2007. Leadership for Learning: The Challenges of Leading in a Time of Change. Publication. [Online] Available at: http://www.hmie.gov.uk/documents/publication/lflcltc.pdf [Accessed March 22, 2012]. Gant, T. R., 2011. Whether Mandating Same-Sex Schools Will Help To Minimize The Achievement Gap For Disadvantaged And Minority Students. A Glance at the Advantages and Disadvantages of Same Sex Schools. Disadvantages of Single Sex Schools. [Online] Available at: http://www.luc.edu/law/academics/special/center/child/childed_forum/pdfs/2011_student_papers/rogers_gant_same_sex.pdf [Accessed March 22, 2012]. Glichman, C. D. 2002. Leadership for Learning: How to Help Teachers Succeed. ASCD. Macbeath, J., 2002. Leadership for Learning. Leadership for Learning: the Cambridge Network. [Online] Available at: http://leadershipforlearning.org.uk/hcdimages/docs/macbeath.pdf [Accessed March 22, 2012]. Smith, I., 1998. The Advantages and Disadvantages of Coeducational and Single-Sex Schooling. MIT and Hewlett – Packard. [Online] Available at: http://repository.nie.edu.sg/jspui/bitstream/10497/3792/1/REACT-1998-2-1.pdf [Accessed March 22, 2012]. Streitmatter, J., 1999. For Girls Only: Making a Case for Single-Sex Schooling. SUNY Press. University Language Services, 2012. Co-ed vs. Single Sex Schools. Pros and Cons of Single Sex Schools. [Online] Available at: http://www.universitylanguage.com/guides/co-ed-single-sex-schools/ [Accessed March 22, 2012]. Read More