The reason I have chosen this story is because although it happened during the very young stages of my life (up to the age of 14) it has shaped the way I think and learn up until this day.
I have always found learning difficult. It wouldn’t matter which subject I was trying to learn, whether it was math, English, Science or even handwriting; I just couldn’t do it. However, at first I liked school, and tried hard but this started to change when we began being assessed for subjects, and I realised how low I would score in almost everything, even if I tried hard.
At this point I started to become demotivated. I would spend most of my lessons drawing or sometimes even sleeping, but definitely not listening. But, I was never disruptive to the class and therefore I was never really noticed – with a class of 35 children I guess this must have been quite easy for me to do. I fell behind very quickly, and by the age of 10 had completely lost motivation to go to school. My lack of motivation turned into hatred, and it got so bad that I remember one time I refused to go to school my mum took me in my pyjamas (this was for shock factor only, she took me home to change once I had been humiliated! Needless to say I never did it again.)
The turning point came when the class was split into sets based on test scores, and I was put into the bottom, which just so happened to be the same set as a girl that used to bully me. My mum was devastated and I moved school. On moving schools one school told me that I would have to move down a year, maybe even 2! I was quite tall for my age and I was determined that this would not happen. Another school took me on the basis that my performance would improve, and this is when I started to work. I massively pulled my socks up. I took extra classes after school opted for extra homework. In 3 years I managed to go from the bottom of the bottom set, to the top set. From being told that I would struggle to get though high school, I managed to get A’s in my GCSE and A-levels and then went on to do my degree and PhD. To this day it shocks my mums friends!
What could have been done differently?
It is very interesting to think about what could have been done differently. This was quite traumatic at the time, but I now realise it has shaped who I am. I have spoken about this with teachers and my family, and at then end of the day it was the shock factor of being moved down a year at school that made me change.
Having said this I would never want this to happen to any kids I know, and I actually know what to look for now. One thing I think would have made the most difference is edging on personalised learning. At school we were only taught one method of learning a specific item of the curriculum, for example one method of doing long division. There is of course more than one way of learning this. Alternative methods are now taught for most subjects, which I think is great.
Another aspect that could have been done differently include factors like should the teachers have noticed a struggling student, and then tried to help more.