If ever there were two contrasting incidents that reaffirmed in my mind why our BHAG (Big Hairy Audacious Goal) is so….big and hairy….then I got an insight last week.

My wife, a trained teacher but out of the system for the last 15 years, is now gently putting her foot back in the water, and attended a course run by the local education authority on early years literacy skills. Basically, a course designed to equip teachers and teaching assistants with strategies aimed at improving the skills of 7 year olds who are finding the art of reading difficult to grasp.

She was one of over 50 people who sat glued to their chairs for 6 hours, listening to the ‘trainer’ (I use that word loosely) read out loud, extracts from a 2 inch thick ring binder that was sat open at the desks of each of the 50+ attendee’s desks. A mind-numbing experience if ever there was one.

When she got home, and eager to show an interest in her day I asked what the course was like. “Boring” she said. A response which had me believing that she’d morphed into one of my children!

When she explained more, I was amazed on a number of counts. Firstly, how much material must exist if such a mountain of stuff can be developed covering such a tiny fraction of a child’s total learning? Remember, this ‘ring binder’ with accompanying instruction manuals and DVD, was only designed for a small proportion of 7 year olds who have been categorised as ’slightly below average’! This is material not for all 7 year olds but maybe only for say, 5 children in a class of 30?

Secondly, and more fundamentally, how do we ever hope that our children will be inspired by their teachers if those teachers have to endure courses that closely resemble the monotony of spending a day listening to the ’speaking clock’!

So then there was incident number 2. My 9 year old came home and told us that he had to go to school the next day dressed as a ’secret agent’! Sure enough, the letter, rescued from the depths of his school bag, confirmed this. The next day he came home with a black attaché case complete with thermometer, swabs and a range of other implements. He proceeded to sweep our house like he was in an episode of Silent Witness; he ’swabbed’ the coffee table, checked the temperature of the top shelf of the fridge…and then the bottom shelf. He then meticulously recorded his findings in the accompanying learning journal, reported his mother to the Environmental Health Officer (actually that’s a lie!) and interviewed me about how many bones I’d broken. After recounting my list of self-inflicted sporting injuries we discussed how bones mended themselves.

This was science for 9 year olds and boy, how the whole class were enthused by it! It actually didn’t stop there, when his school trousers went in the wash we found scraps of paper with hand-written lists naming his fellow secret agents together with plans A to D as to how they were going to thwart their enemies at playtime! So not only did this little discovery of science capture their imagination, it led to a little adventure into planning, teamwork and strategic options!

I guess there’s not much more to tell but I think my son’s learning experience was an exploration that inspired and challenged him…..and my wife’s…..wasn’t!