Voice For The Children In The Back Row

When a serious educator decides to deliberately improve his/her praxis, professional development may take many forms. Workshops, textbooks, residencies and internships all lend support and a well-defined, formal perspective on the nuance of a classroom. One seemingly seldom prescription or improvement is travel. Cultural immersion expands the mind like nothing else. It offers different and fresh perspectives as well as confirmation of the similarities between people regardless of location, socio-economic status, or ethnic affinity. The stories outlined in 'Children in the Back Row' highlight the universal challenges that teachers encounter around the world. It makes a plain and effective case for empathy, an essential element to classroom instruction, besides data analysis, pacing charts and strict pedagogy.Sean Lloyd, MPANew Jersey,USASchool Founder & AdministratorIn an examination-oriented, mass education system, where one size seldom fits all, the ubiquitous drive - obsession almost - to 'complete the syllabus' conspires to ensure that some passengers are ultimately left sitting disconsolately in the back row. To get their destination they must, invariably, either take another taxi or walk. Kathleen Robinson's 'A Voice for the Child in the Back Row' mirrors, in many ways, my own experience in the classroom for more than three decades, virtually on his own, to fulfill mainstream societal expectations. In 'A Voice for the Child in the Back Row' I find solace in the fact that this issue has been so well articulated and documented but more importantly, I feel renewed sense of hope that, with this latest strident presentation, some appropriately qualified social architect or engines will finally assume the mantle to oversee meaningful, coherent and sustainable change at the systematic level.J. Baisden, EducatorJanuary 2012