insideKENT Magazine Issue 48 - March 2016 | Page 120

EDUCATION

IN ASSOCIATION WITH

A modern education
by Mike Piercy, Headmaster

What would a Victorian teacher make of the twenty-first century classroom? No chalk;
the blackboard replaced by an interactive whiteboard. No corporal punishment and
children who have a voice, an opinion, which they are encouraged to express. Pupils
thinking and reasoning rather than slavish rote learning.
I visited a well-known independent senior
school less than fifteen years ago and
the curriculum leader felt it necessary
to tell me their focus was no longer
‘Classics’ with the sciences featuring
strongly in A Level selection. Much has
changed in a relatively short time.
Track an ‘average’ Year 8 at The New
Beacon. Morning registration, playing
pool, banter, laughter, checking the
work diary