Before beginning, I should openly confess that I am writing this from a very biased perspective. I am not pro lining up. Never have been and I can't really see myself changing that perspective any time soon. I just don't get it.
Now, I know that in life, there are times we use lining up as a tool for organisation. We line up at the supermarket, we line up waiting for the toilet, we line up to buy a movie ticket - these practices are embedded into society and have a function - it's so we know who is waiting next. but children won't fail at these societal expectations if we don't insist they walk in a line to their next class. Children will naturally encounter these constructs as they live their lives. What I struggle to comprehend is the heavy dependency on using the act of 'lining up' as a way of controlling a group in educational contexts, to move around as a group and to wait to enter spaces.
As a teacher, I am well versed in the art of moving large groups of children from one space to another. And sure, I get that it can be difficult at times. Some children resist the urge to bang on every window they pass, a little more easily than others. Some simply can't stop themselves from viewing a long corridor as an invitation to run freely, but I still don't understand why this unwritten law of moving about in a line is persisting.
Early in my career, I worked in Primary school settings and I'd often see other classes pass by our classroom in two straight rows, militantly walking in silence on their way to P.E. or music or whatever other classes that teacher could get their hands on in order to score some non-contact time. It was clearly an unwritten rule of the school, that when moving in large groups, children were expected to move through the school in this manner. Despite this, I just couldn't bring myself to force my class to do it.
When I am feeling conflicted about an idea or a practice, I often try and imagine how it would seem if these same rules were applied to adults, in an attempt to measure how ludicrous some of our expectations of children are. Imagine having to wait to enter your staff meeting at the end of the day by lining up outside - the principal not daring to let you in until you had shown them that you could form a perfectly still and quiet line. Or attending a conference, and as you break out into smaller sessions, being expected to move in human lines to your next session. It seems absurd and I'm sure we'd all simply buck the system if it were implemented in contexts such as these. The practice is not replicated anywhere else except in the military. So why is it such an accepted practice in schools?
I was recently reminded of the practice when I took my Kindergarten class to visit the school next door. We reached the door of the classroom and the teacher insisted that the children line up before they would be allowed into the classroom. My class were perplexed, as this is not a practice we implement in my classroom, and after five minutes of explicit help & finally diffusing the 'game of thrones' type of approach that was taken to deciding who was the 'leader', we had finally formed a line. Feeling triumphant that we had unlocked the code to access the next level of going inside the room, we waited. Only to be met with the teacher standing in the most sought after position, as the 'leader', to explain to us what we were going to be doing once we entered the room.
As I watched this unfold, I realised that lining up is also a completely flawed design for delivering messages to whole groups. I watched the first four pairs in the line, paying close attention, then the middle of the pack, seemed more interested in staring at the hair of the person in front, as that's all they could really see, and then at the very back, they were having a nice little game of seeing just how close they could get to each other before someone crushed a rib. If you're speaking to a group in a line, a good seventy percent can't really see or hear you too well, because you're so far away up the front, being the 'leader'. I couldn't help but think that if this message had been delivered when we first arrived, as the children eagerly gathered around her, waiting with baited breath, how much higher the interest level might be and how much time we would have saved. What was the purpose of forming a line in order to deliver a message?
While I don't mind a little bit of chaos, I am not suggesting that we just send children off to their next class and hope for the best. I am simply saying, surely we can trust children to move calmly as a group, to and from spaces without the need for lines. In fact, I know we can, if we believe they are capable of doing so. I mentioned earlier that in my early days of teaching, I simply couldn't bring myself to insist on my class lining up, but I knew we needed a 'strategy', for lack of a better word, to get about the place as a group. I decided to ask my class what we needed to consider when moving around the school or waiting to enter into a classroom. Independent of my help, they were well aware that they needed to move through the school calmly, that they weren't to disrupt other classes and that we needed to stay together as a group.
We collaboratively discussed it, created guidelines and implemented it. We got to our other classes as a group. There were no fights over who was the leader. There was no bickering over who got to be paired with who, because they could walk with all of their friends. If we came across another class in the corridor, we would all move to one side to let them pass. And finally, once we had arrived, we waited calmly as a group, outside the room. They moved responsibly and according to the guidelines that they had constructed. Sure, there were a few that needed a little extra support and because I wasn't policing who was and wasn't walking in a line, I was available to give a simple reminder, or gently take their hand and ask them to tell me a story as we walked to the next class. Sometimes I'd set challenges for them, such as; pretending we were spies that had to get to the music room, without anyone else hearing or seeing us. These little moments that are routine parts of our day, became special moments to connect and have conversations with children. They became times that were joyful and playful.
We often subscribe to a particular way of doing things, just because that's how they've always been done. But throwing out the grand old question 'why?' is so important, in ensuring we are adopting practices that value, trust and support the children in our care. If our classroom cultures are underpinned with respectful relationships, which encourage children to be aware of those around them, to understand their role in being part of a group and to feel like a valued member of a group, then it is easy to trust that they could move from A to B in a respectful and responsible way. We already challenge the art of placing desks in a row, so why are we not questioning the art of placing children in a row? So, go on, be a teacher rebel. Boycott the line. I dare you!
Credit: All images are sourced from Pexels. Pexels are licensed under the Creative Commons Zero (CCO) license.
