Education: not enough mistakes to learn from

How does learning happen? From Math, to leadership, we know that learners need to move beyond simply being told how something works and must practically try their hand at it in order to build neural connections that last, and to more generally speaking, achieve mastery at what they are doing. While we do live in a scholastic culture that admits the importance of practical application, implementation of hands-on opportunities is lacking in our average classroom. This is only one gap of very many, and a root cause behind much of this is a behavioral one — learned and institutionalised through draconian policies that further aggravate the very learning crises they seek to solve: an unwillingness to allow people to make mistakes, and learn from them.

If you attempt to do something different in the average government school classroom — say modify a textbook at teacher’s discretion, spend time doing unusual activities such as playing a game through which students learn to divide, or allocate time differently to allow students to really master a skill rather than simply regurgitate a few lines — you are likely to be met with panic and staunch opposition from school administration and staff. While most Pakistanis are biased towards blaming teachers for failing to ‘instill creativity’ or encourage ‘practical application’ of concepts, the truth is that the institutional environment that the average government school teacher operates in is actually responsible for disincentivising any and all experimentation with learning.

Teachers at government schools risk far too much to try anything different in the classroom. In my experience, this anxiety extends to newcomers within the system that veterans are apprehensive of, and why should they not be? Daily wagers seeking to gain a permanent position are afraid of not being brought into the fold of ‘government job security’ if something goes wrong with their end-ofyear results, others are worried about the backlash they may face if an inquiry is called to question their performance.

Of course, the intention behind the policies that have our teachers scared today was to create a sense of accountability for a system that lacked it for a long time. In a country where ghost schools have been an everyday story, and some teachers instead of doing their jobs at school were found pursuing alternative career paths in the outside world, there was a need to create structures that ensured those tasked with teaching our children had to answer to someone. However, the very performance metrics upon which schools are currently judged do more harm than good; teachers are afraid to deviate from old-school practices that get kids through to the next grade (teaching to the test, reliance on rote-memorisation etc) and in fact resort to practices that are downright unconstitutional in far too many cases. From convincing students’ parents that they cannot give a board exam (that they cannot even try) while registered under the school’s name, to pre-emptively failing students who risk board exam failure, a lot of teachers in the government school system strategise ways to ensure 100 per cent pass rates — and often succeed — thus showing perfect results that are otherwise impossible to achieve in an educational system that is broken for more than one reason.

The demonising attitude and repercussions with which many government school teachers are now treated often translate to their treatment of students too. Instead of creating classrooms that allow for mistakes and subsequent growth, we find adults telling primary school children outright that they are nalaiq (stupid, incompetent), that they are going to fail anyway. This is an oppressive system that leaves no room for learning from error; where from top to bottom, past to future, we see policymakers demonising school staff and teachers, and the latter demonising students that step out of line. How will we create a better world where learners can flourish and be creative when we can’t even create that sort of environment for the adults that teach them?

A lot needs fixing in our education system, and world. We don’t stand a chance if we don’t give ourselves, and those around us, the leeway to learn from our mistakes, and rebuild from where we are most broken. For policymakers and teachers alike, we need to create more room for error — and hence, learning — in the environments we are tasked with managing.