Education in a Diverse UK Dr. Jonathan Barnes 25 th September 2015.

Education in a Diverse UK

Dr. Jonathan Barnes 25th September 2015

11 year olds in today’s UK

• 38%, English 11 year old boys (21% at 13) ‘like school a lot.’ (Ex-Macedonia 85%; Germany 50%; Wales 45%)

• 33%, (50%) ‘feel pressured by school’ work’ (Scotland 24%; Sweden, 9%; Netherlands, 10%)

• 68% (58%) find their classmates ‘kind and helpful” (Sweden 88%, Wales 75%) (WHO, 2012 ‘Health Behaviour in School-aged Children, Report from the 2010 survey’)

• 41% of children suffer poor levels of development – ‘we are doing very badly indeed.’ (Sir Michael Marmot, Fair Society Healthy Lives, 2012)

• 20% 11-13 yr old girls ‘in danger of mental health problems.’ (Jol. of Adolescent Health, 2015)

WHO recommendations for schools…….

• Develop ‘a caring atmosphere’ - VALUES• Give ‘positive feedback’ - POSITIVITY• Identify and promote pupils’ special interests and skills –

EXPERIENTIAL/ACTIVE • Value diversity and diverse approaches – PERSONALISED/

FLEXIBLE• Develop and maintain a democratic, participatory culture –

SOCIAL/EMOTIONAL/RELATIONAL• Implement a diversity of learning and teaching strategies -

VARIETY

VALUES

Every human life and death is of equal worth (Index for inclusion 2011)

Tony Booth

Barbara Fredrickson

positive attitudes - like interest and curiosity - produce more accurate subsequent knowledge than do initially negative attitudes (2005)

POSITIVE

…the brain learns best and retains most when the organism is actively involved in exploring physical sites and materials and asking questions to which it actually craves the answers. Merely passive experiences … have little lasting impact.’ (1999)

Howard Gardner

EXPERIENTIAL

Steven Pinker, 2002

We each inhabit a unique environment

Individual differences between children are large in the primary years – any class of

children must be treated as individuals

Usha Goswami, 2009

PERSONALISED

Flow... the state in which people are so involved

with an activity that nothing else seems to

matter; when... a person’s body or mind is stretched

to its limits in a voluntary effort to

accomplish something difficult or worthwhile

(2002)

Sarah Jayne Blakemore

Individual brains, like individual bodies are different from each other, but there is almost nothing that you cannot improve or change. (2005, p.10)

FLEXIBLE

Learning in young children is socially mediated... (2009)

SOCIAL/EMOTIONAL

Usha Goswami

When we fail to appreciate the importance of students’ emotions, we fail to appreciate a critical force in students’ learning. ..we fail to appreciate the very reason that students learn at all. (2007) Antonio Damasio

VARIETY/CREATIVITY

Stephen Hepple

A curriculum for social and personal well-being

1. Clarity about our own education values e.g.:• Belief in the unique nature of every child• Belief in the importance of personal agency• Belief in inclusion

2. Confidence about subject/discipline aims, skills and knowldege

3. Understanding of child physical, psychological, social, spiritual & moral development

UBUNTU

• All human beings are interconnected• Every action has implications for all those

around us• Personal identity is the result of the past and

present lives of others. • The nearest English word is ‘humanity’ when used to

capture the compassion and empathy that results from recognising we are all one despite having different identities

joy

beauty

friendship

wisdom

diligence

generosity

kindness

love

equality

courage

patience

Authentic communication

Supportive relationships

Collaborative comm

unitiesG

loba

l Citi

zens

compassion

AcceptanceRespect

for diversit

y

Equality

Trust

Hope/optimism

affirm humanity

Values that

selflessness

tenacity

forgiveness

• Barnes, J. (2015) Cross Curricular Learning 3-14 Londn: Sage• Damasio, A . (2003) Looking for Spinoza: Joy Sorrow and the feeling

brain, New York: • Damasio, A.. (2012) Self comes to mind, New York: Pantheon• Fredrickson, B. (2009) Positivity, New York: Harcourt• Knight, S. (2009) Forest Schools, London: Sage; • Goouch, K. (2010) Towards Excellence in Early Years Education:

Exploring Narratives of Experience, Lon:Routled• Csikszentmihalyi, M. (2002) Flow; the psychology of discovery and

invention, New York:• Layard, R. and Clark, D. (2014) Thrive, London : Penguin.• Dewey, J. (1933) How we think. New York: Heath and Co• Goleman, D. (2006) Social Intelligence, London: Bloomsbury• Booth, T. and Ainscow, M. (2011) The Index for Inclusion, Bristol: Centre for Inclusive Education• Cremin, T. and Arthur, J. (2015) Learning to Teach in the Primary

School, London: Routledge• Perkins, D. (2009) Making Learning Whole: How Seven Principles of

Teaching Can Transform Education. San Francisco: Jossey Bass

Some well-being references• http://www.unicef.org.uk/Images/Campaigns/FINAL_RC11-ENG-LORES-fnl

2.pdf (Innocenti report card 11, 2013)

• http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/dcp171766_304416.pdf (UK, ONS, 2012)• http://www.euro.who.int/__data/assets/pdf_file/0003/163857/Social-det

erminants-of-health-and-well-being-among-young-people.pdf (WHO, 2012)

• http://www.ucl.ac.uk/whitehallII/pdf/FairSocietyHealthyLives.pdf(Marmot Review, 2010) West Rise Junior school Eastbourne; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C8Y2TJDhUxM