Our money is currently funding a totally outdated, factory-style
method of education. It's f***ed. Welcome to Neuroeducation,
where we're exploring the neuroscience of how to switch on the brain to
supercharge learning. I'll be sharing with you innovative teaching techniques,
effective parenting strategies, and educational advocacy. I'm
your host, Angie Dee. Together, let's revolutionize children's
learning. Hello
and welcome back to Neuroeducation with Angie Dee.
Today we're talking about politics and education and what you
can do. We have an education system
in Australia that is funded on the backs of
taxpayers. That's you, that's me, that's
your brother, your sister, all of the people you know. When
you look around they are the people that
are literally funding our education system.
Now we are funding this education
system. If we are the funders we should also have a
say and in this democratic nation that we live in
We have a democratic right to have a say how our
education plays out. What is
our money currently going towards? Sadly,
our money is currently funding a totally outdated
factory style method of education. And
excuse my French, it's fucked. Because children
are sitting there day after day bored as
batshit. I feel like what we
need is a total education revolution and you
and I can have a massive impact
on how that plays out. In so many other areas of
politics, people feel like they have a say. They want
to put their hands up and they want to have their two cents heard. in
voice to parliament, in renewable energy, in
all of these areas, people are talking about what
they want to see happen in our current
political climate. But when
it comes to education, I hear
crickets. but we have the power. It
is a totally democratic area where
we have the power to make positive change.
Now the most dramatic areas of positive change I
have seen in education has been on
the backs of parents. In
two incredible schools in
Brisbane, Australia, they are running a
Montessori program. That
means alongside the mainstream method of
education that's running in the traditional school, they
have started a Montessori method of education through
the schooling process, starting in prep and every year
gaining one grade more. Groverley
State School in Brisbane and also Capalaba
State School in Brisbane have been running these innovative
programs, bringing Montessori, an alternative method
of education that is highly, highly recommended
by neuroscientists worldwide, into our
public education system. This is one of the first times
we have had something that is usually private, incredibly
expensive, that is only available
for the, let's say, high echelon of society, of
people that can afford it, bringing it to the people. Now,
how did these two schools implement a
totally alternative method of education? A parent group
in Grovely who had their children going to a
Montessori community kindergarten wanted
a Montessori primary school option for
their children. There was nothing available to them in the area. So
they approached Groveley State School and as a
parent body, they advocated for their children and
they advocated for an alternative method of education. Lo
and behold, six months later, Groveley
started the first Montessori program. The
same thing happened at Kapalipa State School an
incredible woman, Rebecca Gruen, who
was running Montessori childcare centres, wanted a
Montessori option for children, for her own children, and
for children in that area of Brisbane. There
was nothing available, and after
trying also to start an independent school,
She decided with the parent group that was supporting her to
take it to the state school. She took it to Groverley
State School. Lo and behold, six months later,
Montessori had started. Now we know Montessori is
backed by neuroscience. It's backed by educational research
and it's backed by child psychology. What
we have now in two schools in Brisbane is
a innovative educational approach to
learning. and the two
parent groups that brought this education method
in brought it in by advocating on behalf of
their children. Now this is no different to
you or I where we can approach another
school For your children, you
can get together with a parent group. You can talk to people about
how we can create change in our school community. Obviously,
there are so many things you can do without even dramatically changing
it to the point of introducing an alternative method of education. There
are other things you can do. Participating in school
maximizes your child learning. As the old adage
and the quote goes, it takes a village to raise a child. And
the best classrooms that I have personally seen
across Queensland are classrooms and
schools that have had the maximum amount of community support.
That means there are grandparents that are coming in and
reading and helping with the classroom. There are parent
volunteers that are helping to run reading groups or math
groups to make the hands-on learning more available
to the children. And at these schools, the maximum amount
of input from parents and grandparents and
the community members is where I see learning
excelling the most. So it
comes down to our capacity as
parents to be able to
activate change. Teachers, God bless them,
are so overworked and have
so much demand put upon them
by the curriculum, by the state board, by
the national government, and every single other thing that they
have to tick off to be able to teach our
children. So yes, we can come in and we can advocate as
parents, to the PNC, the parent teacher
communities at the schools, and we can also do this for
the principals, and it can propose different options. But
the Montessori curriculum in Australia is
now approved as an independent curriculum, which
means state schools have the
capacity to be able to do what
Groveley State School did and what Kapalaba State School did.
They have the capacity to come in and to implement
an alternative method of education like Montessori, even
if it's co-aligned with the school. Montessori
being a very independent method
of learning where the children are slowly building their independence from
a very young age is really important that it is started
from the age of prep and that slowly builds in. Montessori
is not something that can be implemented school wide in one
shot, but it can be implemented step by step slowly
as one prep class moves into grade one and grade one
into grade two and so on. These
are things that we can advocate in our local community
and I hope I have inspired you to talk to your parents
and teachers and even your principal to make positive change in
your local community because if it's not you
then who? Thank you for listening. Please
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