(Global20) Education for All - Schools are done with traditional education

**New scheme must motivate students**


Schools are done with traditional education

By Arianne Mantel


's-HERTOGENBOSCH, Thursday.
Within six years High schools will give up classily lessons. Lessons will be split up and melted into learning fields. No more gratings or classes.

School leaders (deans, headmasters and teachers) want the current school system on the shovel because it no longer satisfies. The sticking points is that education, such as unmotivated students and a high level of dropouts are problems that are, according to the headmasters, unsolvable within the traditional system. For this reason they want in the short term, before 2010, to introduce far reaching renewal of education itself. There is willingness to give up the 150 years old traditional school system. “Almost none of the directors are still proponent of the current traditional system”, tells Luppo Huizenga of the KPC-group [2], which does research in learning processes. As from 2005 schools will be able to implement radically education renewal and most High Schools will do that.

The fixed year classes, grinded in gratings and teacher such as the supplier of knowledge (one way flow of information; from teacher to student), forms a demotivating learning environment. Only two per cent of the almost 500 questioned headmasters and location directors from lower secondary professional education, Higher General Secondary Education and VWO (higher science education) finds that the current class system in education motivates students. Seventy per cent of the teachers are prepared to cooperate in a serious change, because only six per cent find class system enthusing. However, 44 per cent of the directors thinks children learn much in the current system.

Scenario’s

The school leaders could choose from four scenarios. The first one was to hold the existing system with fixed yearly classes and gratings. The second; a more flexible system where teachers spend time to its own profession work and another part to interdisciplinary projects (educational fields which overlap each other). The third; to add parts of professions to large disciplines (for example people & nature) and the last scenario is a system without fixed grating and professions, where students themselves compose an arrangement.

Most of the directors think that students will benefit the most when professions are being added to large learning fields. More than 90 per cent thinks that students will become more motivated because of this. One out of six school leaders thinks it is better when the student himself stipulates which disciplines he wants to follows and on which manner.

(De Telegraaf 18-november-2004)