The school should eliminate homework and dedicate more time to those who are the furthest behind in class or who have more difficulties learning, and not to the best students, or at least that is what Francesco Tonucci, an Italian teacher and pedagogue , said in a recent conference he gave in Montevideo. A very controversial opinion for the traditional educational system that has gone viral this past year, and that we want to analyze in more depth in this article.
We have already read and analyzed this conference and subsequent interview conducted by Master Tonucci , and in it, without any doubt, some important teachings are collected that should not be overlooked. Do you want to know the ones we have selected?
Important teachings of the teacher Francesco Tonucci
- We must work so that the children return to the street
One of the main messages is that children should not be burdened with loads of homework to do at home, as this completely isolates them from friends, from being able to play and enjoy the streets and from life in general . The street is considered a danger today for children in many places, but the truth is that they need it to play freely, to socialize in a healthy way, to be able to laugh and waste time …, they need it to be able to live as what they are, children. States must understand this and provide safe public spaces for children, where they can develop without problems wherever they exist.
- Teaching is an issue that schools should no longer focus on
There are thousands of instruments outside of schools that teach children better than some teachers, according to Tonucci. The media, for example, are responsible for transmitting with audios and videos things that happen every day and can be (well selected) great key pieces to learn and also to teach.
Cinema films, for their part, have also become great teachers for children . For example, Wreck-It-All , a recent animated film for children, shows how the internet works, how a virus enters a system or what a pop-up is in advertising. All of these are topics of interest to children, especially considering that technology will dominate the future, and these films explain it better to a child than any school curriculum.
- Schools must help children discover their vocation
These important things, according to Tonnuci, refer to helping the child discover their vocation, develop their potentialities and be happy in what they decide to be . By this, Tonucci does not mean that children completely abandon other trades in which they are less interested, but rather that when a child shows strong singing skills, for example, he / she finds the necessary help to develop his / her ability without having to abandon others disciplines, such as art, mathematics or language. What Tonucci does ask in these cases is that it be recognized that the greatest ability will be singing, in this specific example, so that the child can continue to develop and become the best in that discipline that he likes so much.
- Schools should be a place to forge friendships
Probably the development of technologies, the abuse of homework by many schools, and / or the social routine of parents away from home during long hours, have contributed to making it increasingly difficult for children to make friends, something so important for a happy life. For this reason, teamwork and social relations are skills that must also be learned in schools , Tonucci reminds us.
- The school should focus on children with more social and learning difficulties
I find it interesting to highlight a phrase from Miliani quoted by the teacher Tonucci: “the school seems like a hospital for the healthy, which rejects the sick.” By this, the Italian teacher means that the children who need more attention in school are those who have more social problems , or more learning difficulties, or a significant absence of parents at home. Consequently, it is these children who need the most attention, and schools must focus on them until solutions are found.
These are the main lessons that we have gathered from the conference and from one of the subsequent interviews with Master Tonucci. Teachings that invite reflection and debate about what schools should be teaching and doing today.
What do you think about it?
