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.’ (ExMacedonia 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
POSITIVE
positive attitudes - like interest and
curiosity - produce more accurate
subsequent knowledge than do
initially negative attitudes (2005)
Barbara Fredrickson
EXPERIENTIAL
…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
PERSONALISED
Individual differences
between children are
large in the primary
years – any class of
children must be treated
as individuals
Usha Goswami,
2009
We each inhabit a
unique
environment
Steven Pinker, 2002
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)
FLEXIBLE
Individual brains,
like individual
bodies are different
from each other,
but there is almost
nothing that you
cannot improve or
change. (2005, p.10)
Sarah Jayne Blakemore
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
patience
Values
beauty
equality
that
Authentic communication
Collaborative communities
courage
kindness
Global Citizens
joy
Trust
Equality
diligence
affirm
Supportive relationships
wisdom
generosity
friendship
tenacity
selflessness
love
forgiveness
humanity
• 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-LORESfnl2.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/Socialdeterminants-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