ABSTRACT
The ways of seeing and the willingness to accept complexity very much impact on the values and what people can tolerate in terms of uncertainty in education. To provide an education that can achieve the goal, they need a different system: one based on humanity, compassion and wisdom, and tolerant of uncertainty and complexity. Andreas Schleicher, speaking about English mathematics education, said that the curriculum is a mile wide and an inch deep – that in the haste to cover as many facts as possible, and show scant regard for deep conceptual understanding. Yet people see a view promoted from some sections of the education system – and certainly from government – that knowledge is all, that getting children through exams is the end point. Teachers who subscribe to this enticingly simple, linear view tend to dismiss wider concerns about rising numbers of exclusions, or incidences of mental health problems.
