Michael Carslaw on

Wed, Nov 22nd 2023 at 12:40 pm - 2:00 pm

Lessons learnt from a career in education

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The speaker was Rotarian Michael Carslaw on the topic "Hold to Guide". Michael is the recently-retired Head of St Leonard's School. He started by showing a cartoon, and spoke about how pupils are given 13 years of schooling, and then he asked the question of how do we learn? …...We keep learning after school. When comparing school activities, less than three-quarters of the school time is spent outdoors compared to that of prisoners. Michael talked about the International Baccalaureate which is not just for academic students but gives opportunities for creativity and non-academic subjects which suits many pupils. He described how many students choose to study the wrong subjects because they have to decide what subjects to study at 15 years of age. One third of students do not achieve one third of standard passes; many make the wrong decisions and spend time in jobs gained for the wrong reasons. He concluded by giving a list of what he considered to be some of the most important educational considerations for pupils -creativity, individual thinking, critical complex problem-solving, curiosity, resourcefulness, collaboration and teamwork. Michael asked for any comments about the cartoon and there were many amusing responses from his audience. Reverend Ian Hamilton, who grew up in the same Scottish city as Michael, gave a warm vote of thanks.