SYNC OR SWIM Trello

One of the greatest lies we tell in education is that the school experience prepares students for the real world. It’s wilful ignorance coupled with an instinct for self-preservation that stops us from examining that too closely and unravelling our whole world. In fact, the only people for whom school is good preparation is people who go on to work in education. There is a life outside of bells, meetings and going to the toilet now when you don’t need to because you know that you won’t get a chance to for the next few hours because you have a double period and then yard duty and you know that Susan won’t show up to relieve you on time because she doesn’t leave the staffroom until her duty is due to start and she walks so slowly. But there is an aspect of work and life and education that school very perfectly prepares you for: the hell that is group work.

One of life’s unarguable truths is that group work is the worst, and will remain the worst forever. It’s not one of those things that gets better once you’re in your twenties or thirties, or with practice. And the proliferation of project-based learning is making it more widespread. It’s a bit like tequila; it’s not something you actively seek out, it’s just somehow foisted on you. You tell yourself it’s going to be different this time (and, on