Trivium 21c

With teachers and politicians entrenched on either side of the traditional / progressive divide, The Trivium offers a way to bridge the gap, says Tim Taylor...

When thinking about the purpose of education it is easy to see how the wider aspirations of the state can clash with the more human concerns of students and their families. While government ministers focus on ‘measurable’ outcomes, league tables, and their latest position in the OECD rankings, parents and teachers are more focused on how well children are doing at school: socially, academically, and emotionally.

These concerns are ones shared by Martin Robinson, who, in his wonderful book, Trivium 21c, recounts a personal journey to find a good education for his young daughter. And how, while researching the history of education, he discovered an ancient model of teaching and learning that could be used today as a way of mending a long-held rift between traditionalists and progressives.

Robinson believes it is not enough that his daughter leaves school cleverer than when she went in. He wants her to develop a love of learning, to have opinions of her own, to stand up for those things that matter to her, to be considerate and caring, to be wise and discerning, to appreciate beauty, and to be a responsible and active citizen. He describes these qualities as the qualities of a ‘philosopher kid’ – a kid who can think for his or herself, ask questions, and has a sense of civic responsibility.

What holds schools back from developing these qualities is an almost unbridgeable divide between those who advocate tradition and continuity, and those that promote discourse and critique. Both sides, Robinson argues, “wish to treat schooling as a simple ideological battle.” They are entrenched, convinced they have the better argument and are “unwilling to embrace the complexity” that would emerge if they were brought together.

The Trivium, he suggests, might be the answer. An ancient idea that embraces both curriculum and pedagogy, it is “three ways of doing things” - grammar, dialectic and rhetoric. Grammar is about the way things were or are and passing on knowledge from one generation to the next; Dialectic is about questioning and giving birth to new ideas; Rhetoric is about communicating and a process of reflection, evaluation, and communication.

Robinson argues each of these three elements are essential to a liberal education, but are rarely brought together because of an inherent contradiction between grammar and dialectic. Grammar, in the sense of a body of knowledge and agreed systems, places most value on certainty and expertise. While Dialectics, which is about inquiry and critical debate, puts the emphasis on questioning and open-mindedness. One values heritage and continuity, the other drives for constant change and review. This causes tension and complexity, making it hard to develop a coherent system.

For those that sit on one side of the ideological division there is no compulsion to embrace the views of those that sit on the other. Ideologues (on both sides) are keen to call the divide a dichotomy, they tell us we have to take sides, and they use words such as battle and struggle, calling each other rude names, like denialists and dinosaurs. They tell us our choices are stark: either we use their strategies and teach in their way or we are wrong and our methods defective. This dire situation is hardly helped when politicians join the debate bringing with them their own language of abuse, such as ‘enemies of promise’ and ‘the blob’.

I’m particularly cautious of any kind of certainty in pedagogy, reserving most suspicion for those that would tell me how I must teach. The dichotomy between traditionalists and progressives is a rhetorical divide, not a hard fact about the world. The Trivium offers a way for those who teach to bridge the gap and take what is useful and effective from both sides. In the real world we do not have to choose between either grammar or dialectics, we can use strategies we find useful from both. This is what a good education system should be about.

Robinson argues the Trivium is not an approach that says children have to wait until they are ready; it is an approach that must be used at every stage of education. It is not about what is best for the economy or how we can best drive up standards, it is about reaching up and developing values and dispositions that transcend simple schooling. Trivium 21c is an important book, full of ideas, both ancient and modern, I recommend it to anyone involved in education: teachers, school-leaders, parents, inspectors, politicians and (most of all) secretaries of state.

//About the author//
Tim Taylor is a teacher, freelance consultant, and associate lecturer. He blogs at imaginative-inquiry.co.uk