Structured lessons vital, says Abbot

 Structured lessons and disciplined classrooms with a strong emphasis on 'learning the basics' are vital to the success of the education systems worldwide, according to former Australian prime minister, Tony Abbott.
Speaking at the Knowledge Summit in Dubai, Abbott - who served as Australia's prime minister between 2013 and 2015 and currently still serves as a member of parliament - was reflecting on his own experiences visiting schools in far-flung, often impoverished aboriginal communities in Australia.
"These days, Australians honour our aboriginal people, but despite spending literally billions of dollars every year to help, they have much lower levels of education and much higher levels of unemployment," he said. "It was in every sense one of the most instructive times of my life. Even in one of the most free, fair and prosperous countries on earth, a very large percentage of our first people are living a third world existence."
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When he first visited schools in aboriginal communities around 2007, he said, many of the schools were performing as much as 50 per cent below the national average because classrooms lacked structure and children were expected to learn independently while "being inspired, rather than directed, by the teacher."
Schools only began to improve, he noted, when "direct instruction" was introduced.
"It involves very structured, very disciplined lessons, where the teacher knows in advance what's to be learned in that class and is constantly going back to the students, revising," he said. "It works because the students soon recognise they are making progress."
"It's the best way for struggling students and struggling schools to improve," he added.
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Abbott noted that such methods can be easily replicated in the Middle East, where the education of millions of students - many of whom are now refugees - has been disrupted by prolonged periods of civil strife and conflict.
"It's said the definition of madness is doing the same thing and expected a different result," he said. "To improve, we have to change. The smartest change is stopping what's been proven to fail."
While praising the UAE for its efforts to encourage reading, Abbott warned against relying on what he called "gimmicks".
"What you don't want is gimmicks. The important thing is that at every level we are making the kind of changes necessary to give our youngsters the best possible start in life."
"Do what works," he added. "What the educational establishment in Australia is belatedly re-discovering is that rote learning and very disciplined classrooms are essential to succeed."
bernd@khaleejtimes.com

• UAE

Bernd Debusmann Jr.

bernd@khaleejtimes.com