– Pedro Daniel Oliveira
Fr Alejandro Garcia is about to step down as Principal of Saint Paul School. Speaking to O CLARIM, he shares his experience in an institution that has been adopting new methods of teaching. Reducing frequency of homework and the number of exams are two successful measures that promote self-discovery and self-learning in the so-called flipped classroom model.
You have been the principal of Saint Paul School for 21 years. You’re going to step down from your post in September. How do you assess your work over these two decades?
Yes, you are right. I am going to step down. Or if you want to say in another way, just transfer the responsibility to somebody else. I think that part of being a good manager, or part of good management policies is to know when to step down. And I think for me that time has come, and let somebody else leading the school. I have been in the school for 21 years. I don’t regret a single second of my life here. I have to say that I have been working with a wonderful team of people, who from the very beginning trusted me, believed in me and walked with me all the way long. We have been through so many challenges, and I have to say that I haven’t received complaints from the teachers. Of course, there were some worries and some concerns….
Would you mind to tell us a bit more?
For instance, when we started with the ESOS program, which means Empowering Students for an Open School. I mean, teachers were concerned about it, about giving power to the students, to opening the doors to their parents.
What’s the outcome?
You can see there are other schools doing the same thing we are doing. I think we were the first school to open the doors to their parents coming to the school, sitting in the classroom and spending the day with the child in the classroom without needing to inform the school management or the teachers. The assessment tells us this program is a great success, which always amazed us.
The school’s method is way too different from the conservative one…
It is different from the conservative way of viewing the school, where the power is all on the managers of the school. Parents have nothing to say, nor have the right to come to the school, just to pick the kids and drop them before class. Everyday we have around 20 parents coming to the school and sitting in the classroom just to see what the kids are doing, how the teachers are teaching. And we have parents who come here as teachers…
How can that happen?
For instance, if one of the teachers is going to talk about the heart and one of the parents is a cardiologist then he or she can come and give one or two lectures about the heart. Beginning of the school year we’re giving them the full curriculum, so parents know…
What’s the feedback from Macau Government regarding this method?
There has been no problem from the Education department [Education and Youth Affairs Bureau.] We haven’t received anything against it. On the contrary, every time they have the chance they praise our opening the school to the parents and let them getting involved in the education of the kids. We have to remember, we are here to help the parents to educate the kids. We are not the main educators. The main educators are the parents. And we are helping them. So, the parents have the right to know what kind of [school] education kids are receiving.
But generally speaking not only kids spend so many hours at school, as they are also overloaded with homework…
When we deal with people, with culture, tradition and different points of views it is easy to change them. It is true that kids spend most of their time in school. But I don’t think that is a problem. The problem is how they spend their time in school. If they like coming to school I think there is no problem. But if they see the school as a prison, and they don’t like to come, that will be a torture, and that will be hell for them. Now, the other part if after school they have to go to tutorial classes, do homework, then they have to learn piano, or dancing, or violin. You have to add more three or four hours…
What about in Saint Paul School?
We are trying to minimize the homework, giving less and less homework. I have to say, we have been praised by some parents. And we have been criticized by some parents. So, it’s very difficult to balance. I do believe, when the kids finish lessons at school, the school day finishes. It doesn’t mean they finish learning. The kids have to continue learning, but in a different way. And that is the reason why we are trying to change into the flipped classroom. What you did in the school before, you do it at home now. And what you did at home before, you do it in the school now. So, it will be more interesting for the kids.
Can you give us an example?
For example, tomorrow we are going to talk about the Ruins of Saint Paul… At home students prepare their lesson, their PowerPoint, their material. They make their investigation and come to school, and tell us what they have discovered. So, we try to make the kids responsible for their learning, it’s not the teachers. I do really believe from the bottom of my heart, I don’t think the kids don’t like to learn. It is us who don’t know how to teach. Kids have a hungry mind and intelligence which needs to be filled up with knowledge.
What needs to change then?
I think education needs a big change, starting from kindergarten. You cannot teach the way we are teaching now. There has to be more self-discovery, more self-learning. We are also trying to eliminate the exams in the school. We have started this policy about three or four years ago. And we are now 40% with exams and 60% with daily assessment of the students from the teachers. I do believe it is really unfair to assess a student just for a piece of paper. Just imagine one is working really hard the whole semester. He is wise, and has a lot of knowledge, but the day before the exam he had problems at home, or it was too noisy at home, or he wasn’t feeling well. And then he only had 42 marks on the exam. And there is another one who has a good memory, he is very good at memorizing. He is not doing anything [the whole semester], and comes to the exam, and had 100 marks. I think this is not fair.
Will your successor going to keep this new model?
The new Principal Fr Athanasius Chan will probably continue, because he agreed with this new project. He has been in the school for many years and he knows the school quite well. I am sure he will bring the school to new heights.
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