Gonski push for creative thinking puts basics at risk, says principal

A leading school principal has questioned a push for schools to teach critical and creative-thinking skills.

Year 11 students Roisin Bryce-Stark, Leah Flanagan and Karen Su with principal Paul Burgis at Presbyterian Ladies’ College in Sydney yesterday. Picture: John Feder

A leading Sydney school principal has questioned a movement ­towards inquiry-based learning and the push for schools to teach critical and creative-thinking skills following the latest Gonski report, describing it as a “hidden danger” for education.

Presbyterian Ladies’ College principal Paul Burgis said he was concerned the drive to ensure young people left school with so-called 21st-century skills came at the expense of traditional knowledge-centred learning.

Dr Burgis said he welcomed the report but was concerned by some of the assumptions about how young people learn and what motivates learning.

“The Gonski report seems to assume that if we have inquiry-style learning, if we make sure they have these basic skills, then their education scores will ­improve,” he said.

“It’s possible to have an inquiry framework ... but to have not considered the content — such as a rich and engaging piece of literature, for example — that will challenge the way they think about the world. Content still matters.”

Dr Burgis, who has led the high-performing independent school for the past eight years, is the latest to question the focus on skills development following the review.

Chaired by businessmen David Gonski, the review recommended the elevation of the general capabilities component of the national curriculum.

General capabilities include critical and creative thinking and social skills, and are thought to be fostered by the adoption of an inquiry approach to learning in the classroom — also known as project learning or ­design thinking — in which students are encouraged to guide their own learning through hands-on experiences, research, group collaboration and projects.

Proponents of the theory say the approach can be applied across all learning areas of the curriculum, including maths and science. Critics maintain the bulk of subjects are best taught via explicit ­instruction.

The Gonski report, released on Monday, recommended a more structured approach to teaching and measuring the general capabilities.

It has also advised a review of Years 11 and 12 curriculum to ensure students are equipped with 21st-century skills on graduation.

Centre for Independent Studies senior research fellow Jennifer Buckingham has also questioned the push, arguing that, despite the hype, there is little evidence pointing to the best way to teach critical thinking.

“No one would argue that they don’t want kids to be creative or critical thinkers, but it’s not as ­simple as saying, ‘let’s prioritise it and measure it and it will happen’,” she said.

Dr Burgis agreed critical thinking skills were important. “But to push critical thinking without first having a deep knowledge of the subject area, we start to share our ignorance rather than our understanding,” he said. “These sorts of skills take years to master.”

In his submission to the Gonski review, Dr Burgis warned that education was at risk of ­“interest groups” that “specify the type of analysis that should be valued, the type of evaluation that is acceptable”.

He pointed to the HSC ­English curriculum, where until recently a post-­structural approach was favoured, which encouraged students to deconstruct power structures such as the patriarchy, rather than approach a text for “literature ­appreciation or truth-finding or language analysis”.

Dr Burgis said such an ­approach might appeal to students interested in becoming ­activists, but it risked demotivating others.

The same applied to any model based on the idea that education was primarily about securing the nation’s future prosperity and personal financial security, he said.

“The large bulk of young people are just trying to make sense of their lives — they’re not going to grow up to be activists or bankers,” he said. “We have got to be careful we’re not overselling what we are doing in schools.

“We’re trying to help young people develop a really good understanding and joy for learning … so that they can make sense of their world.”