by Catherine Delahunty
Last Friday I attended the first day of the Alternative Education conference in Mangere. It was a little disconcerting to be asked to “come over here and get laid” on arrival, but what they meant was “put on this bright green lei and join in the cultural celebration,” which I was more than happy to do.
Alternative education people are irreverent and passionate because they work with young people who demand more from education than many schools can offer them. The first presenter at the conference, Lloyd Martin, laid out an excellent framework for working with rangatahi by challenging us adults to think about how we approach young people:
If they give up on school are they criminals and deviants?
Are they clients and funding opportunities to whom we can provide services to?
Or are they citizens?
If we see all young people as citizens we can start to develop positive relationships with them. Lloyd challenged us to check out the conversations we participate in and the questions that we ask around education. Instead of asking why some young people aren’t succeeding at academic achievement we could ask “What can we do to create an educational environment that helps all young people learn what they really need to learn?”
He didn’t prescribe answers but he encouraged us to remember the people from our childhoods who (apart from our parents) who first gave us encouragement and the belief that we were really good at doing something!
Lloyd also talked about the indigenous educational model developed by the Lakota people in the United States, which emphasises that all young people need to develop generosity, independence, belonging and mastery in a field.
It was so refreshing to hear a veteran youth educator talk about the conversations we need to have without romanticising the issues or difficulties. The Minister of Education was coming to speak the following day and people were hoping to hear the results of the Review of Alternative Education. They were hoping their contribution would be resourced and recognised alongside the rest of the school system.
I had to leave but I left inspired. What a pity Anne Tolley didn’t hear Lloyd Martin speak. Maybe then we could change the conversation with Government into something more profound than the potential for privatisation and the need to standardise learning.
Published in Environment & Resource Management by Catherine Delahunty on Thu, October 1st, 2009
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on the trolls and those who are unable to keep on topic
The more I think about it the more I’m convinced about reducing the voting age and including the young in the political process. How different would the Government’s attitude to education be if citizens could vote once they reach the third form? (Whatever “Year” that is in today’s language). It would certainly change the conversation.
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