American Education System can Offer Lessons for Future Success says Dr. John Graystone

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International awareness is not something that permeates the reputation enjoyed by the British.

In general, perhaps from our tenure as an island people, we have been seen as stand ““ offish, removed, absorbed with ourselves and with little interest in others except in matters that directly affect us. Witness the “splendid isolation”, the century or so that Britain spent essentially playing one nation off against another in an effort to avoid becoming embroiled in a continental squabble past the point where anyone truly believed in the Metternichian system.

Changing Times

But this is not the Nineteenth Century anymore. The world is an increasingly small place, and as such it is far more likely that an action in one nation will directly affect people in another. The world of education is no different; in fact, as education is the tool for improving and advancing training and knowledge, surely it should be at the very vanguard of the drive for removing boundaries to the sharing or ideas, knowledge and experience?

At a conference in Denbighshire, North Wales, the Chief Executive of fforwm, the national organisation representing all 23 FE colleges and the two FE institutions in Wales, raised the issue of looking beyond national boundaries for solutions and progress by highlighting the American education system. He called for FE to pay more attention to a forgotten cog in the engine; the Governors.

Conference Talk

Dr. Graystone’s opinion was presented as a stark contrast between the system here and that of the United States. “We need to celebrate the contribution governors make. In the United States they are heralded and they are regarded as very important people,” he said at the conference held for members of Coleg Llysfasi’s governing body.

“However here,” he added, “we tend to hide our light under a bushel. But governors do play a vital role.” He continued, commenting on the potential for even more involvement in the future on the part of the Governors. He said: “There is so much which is happening. The decisions which you make will affect learning for many years to come. We need your help to provide an effective solution.”

Jethro Marsh

Read what the monkey says in From the FE Trenches!

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