From time to time in educational articles and at the head of online stories about our profession, pictures of children immersed in learning illustrate the text.

These pictures are great pictures , often showing children in their formative years hard at work, learning heaps and enjoying learning.
These are pictures that resonate with the memories of my years in education. They reflect the essence of what education should be about.

“Schools are for children”, as stated by Dr James Eedle to Northern Territory Principals in 1979. How often it seems, that becomes a forgotten precept in this modern educational age.

These days it seems, children as people take a back seat to testing, assessment, data collection and system accountability. Children inform the data and the data justifies systems.

Point is, in taking from children and young people, are we giving back to them in terms of a holistic education that foundationally fits them in going forward into life’s world.