Welsh Government
Department for Education and Skills
Respect and Resilience - Community Cohesion
Steve Bowden
Professional Adviser to DfES
Presentation made to the WASACRE, 24 November 2011
“Education is the most powerful weapon which you
can use to change the world”
Nelson Mandela
Getting on Together
The Strategy focuses on policy and service areas that research has shown
can have a significant impact on how well a community gets on together:
 Housing
 Learning
 Communication skills
 Equality and social inclusion
 Preventing violent extremism
CONTEST - four work streams:
 Pursue – to stop terrorist attacks
 Prevent – to stop people from becoming terrorists or supporting violent
extremism
 Protect – to strengthen our protection against terrorist attack
 Prepare – where an attack cannot be stopped, to mitigate its impact.
A revised and updated CONTEST strategy was published in June 2011
Exploring Predictors of Cohesion
Factors that potentially impact on cohesion
Local Cohesion
 Individual level factors
 School level factors
 Local authority factors
Societal Cohesion
Community Cohesion and Integration
Which of these do you think are community cohesion issues?
Polish workers moving in to UK communities
Somali refugees in Cardiff, Swansea or Wrexham
Youngsters congregating on street corners
Ex-offenders trying to re-settle in communities
Homeless people
Creating a community home for adults with learning difficulties
A group of Gypsies and Travellers moving on to local waste ground
English speaking families moving to homes in Welsh speaking communities
People with mental health problems being integrated into communities
Older people with disabilities who are housebound
Examples of concerns that have arisen in
schools in Wales between 2008 and 2011
 Far-right anti-Semitic literature encouraging violence towards others
 A Year 11 student developed a website that promoted far right extremist groups
 A learner attended school dressed as a ‘Jihadi’ on World Book Day
 A learner talked about the ‘duty of all true Muslims to prepare for jihad war
as we grow up’ and talked of the ‘7/7 martyrs’ with admiration.
 A supply teacher left a book in the school library which has a lengthy passage
about martyrdom including a phrase ‘this indicates that seeking to be killed and
pursuing martyrdom are legitimate and praiseworthy acts’.
 During a primary school circle time a number of learners said that they have been
involved in physical attacks on children outside school ‘to make them go back to
their own country’.
 A Year 11 student made a series of comments about Remembrance Day,
expounded anti-Semitic and homophobic views and was involved in racist
attacks.
The extremes
Nicky Reilly
Andrew ‘Isa’ Ibrahim
Bilal Abdulla and Kafeel Ahmed
David Copeland
The background
What links these four Welsh towns?
Newtown
Blackwood
Hirwaun
Caernarfon
Cardiff
Learners comments
“Community cohesion is the mixing of
different cultures. It helps people connect and
find their similarities rather than concentrate
on minor and cosmetic differences.”
“I like my school community because it’s like a
jigsaw puzzle. Without one piece it’s never
complete.”
“Community cohesion is important because
you need to know the people around you.”
LEADERSHIP
Visionary and strategic
Resource deployment
Collaboration
CURRICULUM
AND TEACHING
WORKING
WITH OTHERS
Outcomes focus
Citizen-centred
Engaging pedagogy
Community focused
High expectations
Joined-up
Inclusive
DECYP
LOCAL
AUTHORITY
SCHOOL
CLASSROOM
INTERVENTION AND
SUPPORT
IMPROVED
LEARNING
z
AND
WELLBEING
Early and strategic
CLASSROOM
SCHOOL
LOCAL
AUTRHORITY
NETWORKS OF
PROFESSIONAL
PRACTICE
Shared beliefs and
understandings
Differentiated
Accelerated development
IMPROVEMENT
AND
ACCOUNTABILITY
Evidence based
Ambitious targets
Transparent processes
Inquiry driven
Collective professionalism
DECYP
Guidance for schools
Community Cohesion a whole school issue
For schools, community cohesion means being:
Part of promoting the ‘Rights to Action’ outcomes for all, especially equalities
and community cohesion
Part of the ethos, pedagogy, organisation and partnership working of the school
that creates a resilient and cohesive community
Inherent in the way the school is organised and managed as a partner in the
community
Something that requires the schools to develop as well as teach
Something that needs to be reflected in the School Effectiveness Profile
Something that Estyn will inspect as part of the Common Inspection Framework;
there are many references to community involvement
Community Cohesion a whole school issue
For teachers:
Contributing to a whole school approach to developing community
cohesion
Preparing learners for living in a more diverse community
Developing learners’ global perspective
Exploring controversial issues with an appropriate level of knowledge
and understanding in a balanced way
Building the skills that will prepare learners to think critically, laterally,
link concepts and make informed decisions
Community Cohesion a whole school issue
For learners this means:
 being encouraged to care for themselves, each other and other
members of their wider community
 respecting themselves, respecting others and celebrating
diversity
 appreciating their role in the school community, the local
community and the global community
 discovering that, whatever they are studying, there are
connections with the “big picture” of the wider world
 gaining skills and exploring issues in ways which will enable
them to make up their own minds and decide how to act in
terms of ensuring community cohesion
Developing good practice
 Leadership
 Working with others
 Curriculum and teaching
 Intervention and support
 Managing risk and responding to events
Leadership
Developing community cohesion and preventing violent extremism in
schools
Promoting the core values of a democratic society and modelling the
process
Building staff understanding of their roles and confidence in their skills
Working with Others
Reviewing the vision of the school in terms of Community Focused
Schooling
Ensuring staff awareness of the community served by the school
Being an active partner in leading the community in terms of social
regeneration
Engaging with families and community groups
Evaluating the school’s effectiveness as a Community Focused School
Curriculum and Teaching
Learning and teaching strategies
Education for Sustainable Development and Global Citizenship
(ESDGC)
Personal and Social Education (PSE)
Curriculum subject
Development of relevant skills
The RE-silience project
Website: www.re-silience.org.uk
Intervention and Support
 Professional standards for teachers
 Challenge and support
 Intervention
 Managing events in the local, national or international news
Managing Risks and Responding to Events
 Managing risks
 Harmful influences on learners
 Accessing inappropriate content through the use of the internet
 External groups using school premises or facilities
 Responding to events
 Events in the local, national or international news
Paulo Freire once said
“No one educates anyone else,
nor do we educate ourselves.
We educate one another in communion
in the context of living in this world”
Respect and Resilience
• http://wales.gov.uk/topics/educationskills/publicatio
ns/guidance/respectresilience/?skip=1&lang=eng
• http://wales.gov.uk/topics/educationskills/publicatio
ns/guidance/respectresilience/?skip=1&lang=cy