Sir, - Joe O'Toole (The Irish Times, December 15th) argues very strongly for the introduction into schools of a system of benchmarking similar to that found in business. He says we should "deconstruct the job of teaching into its various aspects" and then put a value on these. For example: "How many judgments does this teacher make every day? How many strategies are implemented every day?"
Mr O'Toole must know from his own experience that teaching is much more than the sum of its parts. Besides, the apprehension that many teachers have about benchmarking is that it will be heavily weighted towards a quantifiable, data-ridden assessment of education. They are afraid it will largely ignore the human, affective side of a child's development, which is at the very heart of true education.
How can one measure the recognition, understanding, psychological support, encouragement, affirmation and sense of belonging that a teacher gives to his or her pupils? How does one measure confidence-building, the instilling of a love of learning, the appreciation of the arts, the nurturing of respect for others, the fostering of wholesome values and the imbuing of a sense of responsibility and self-discipline? Teachers are involved in these "unmeasurable" activities every day in our schools and without this climate, true learning and growth in maturity will not take place.
It is significant that in the course of a lengthy article Joe O'Toole does not once mention the need for pupils to be educated in a caring environment. Yet the need for such a caring, secure and stable environment in our schools is more important than ever when many families are under pressure and find it hard to cope with the demands of modern living. The effects of this on young people are evident every day in our schools and are to be seen also in society at large.
This child-centred approach is very different from a business approach, which is profit-driven, target-driven and where there are winners and losers. While teachers and schools should do all they can to prepare students for the world of work, nevertheless their primary responsibility is to assist parents in fostering the overall personal development and well-being of the individual child.
The work of teachers and schools should be modelled on and very closely linked with the work of parents in the home. Parents are the primary educators of their children and teachers have the privilege of collaborating with them in this most precious work. I am amazed that the leader of the primary teachers in this country should be advocating the introduction of business assessment practices in primary schools when children are so young and the objectives of school and home should be at their closest. Perhaps the practices of businesses, political parties, government departments, etc., need to be benchmarked against family and school life in order to gauge how successful they are at fostering genuine family values and promoting a good quality of life in our society. - Yours, etc., Kevin Lewis,
ASTI member, Marley Rise, Dublin 16.