Island Pacific School Head Ted Spear will be at Leftbank this week to deliver his annual "Ed Talk" for the general public. This year, he'll be joined by the Assistant Head of IPS to add concrete examples of the philosophical ideas presented. Spear says the talk will focus on the changing educational landscape in a changing world, and should be of interest to anyone who will have to help their kid make big decisions about post-secondary education and launching into a career path.
"In conversations about education, people tend to talk a lot about how things are being taught, and what needs to be taught," says Spear. " But we really need to ask why schools exist in the first place, and what we want to get out of them. We need, in other words, to ask why before how."
Spear says one of his fears about education today is that it trains kids to be consumers, instead of training them to navigate through a complex and demanding world with a sense of agency. To create this kind of educational environment schools have to take on the task of building knowledge and skills, but also help kids develop the confidence, strength and perseverance to discover their passions and then pursue them.Spear and Henrichson's talk will be followed by wine and conversation.
