How do we implicate children in their own learning?

This week I have been reading a variety of views about a learning and teaching strategy called mantle of the expert, an approach first proposed by Dorothy Heathcote in the 1960s. My first introduction was a series of blogs by Debra Kidd (links below), which caught my attention as they talked about engaging a group of 21 Century pupils in a learning experience through imagination and taking responsibility for solving a learning problem. The basis was I suppose somewhere between drama and role play, but with a real thinking experience.

These attractive articles started me thinking about what learning experiences we offer in the classroom each day, and also how much time teachers have to be reflective about the way they choose to teach for creativity, independence and enthusiasm. These characteristics are all too easily overlooked as the curriculum is so stuffed with facts, skills and knowledge that appear to need drilling, learning by rote and inculcating that the delivery of knowledge though old fashioned leaning and practising might seem to be the only time efficient and effective approach.

It would be so easy to forget that the pure content of the curriculum can mean very little in educational terms if it fails to challenge the child in a way that develops cognition, wisdom or intelligence. Without the engagement of thinking processes, adequate challenge, high expectations, fascination, time to problem solve, encouragement to think independently and to evaluate with real honesty and resilience, learning will be very limited. Learning, certainly for primary and younger secondary aged pupils, really means developing thinking skills, extending and enhancing vocabulary, improving thinking speed, working on listening skills, and building on the ability to concentrate in a variety of situations. Children that learn to love the world of books and imagination do better in public examinations. Pupils that ultimately need to retain facts and manipulate these to answer questions for GCSE and A Level perform far better if they have mastered that knowledge through teaching that demands something of them rather than hands something to them. 

Last week a visitor to Notre Dame School spoke to us in broken English, and rather quaintly, referred to our teachers being "implicated" in the education of the children. However, he was utterly right and I believe this to be a brilliant description: we are all implicated in the process of educating a child - but that must, if it to be of any long term use, mainly implicate the child as master of their own learning.

So I urge you read the blogs mentioned at the top of this piece,

debrakidd.wordpress.com/2013/09/30/bottoms-on-fire  and debrakidd.wordpress.com/2013/11/17/bottoms-up  as they remind us how important it is to create educational experiences that allow the child to take part in the learning experience and to learn by inspiration and instinct, creative imagining and having fun. I’m not sure if I wear the mantle of the expert, but I do know that good teaching must make use of every strategy it can to fully involve the children, and that will undoubtedly create experts of the future.

Why is it important to be cool?

This week it was my great pleasure to take Senior Girls’ assembly, from Year 7 – sixth form. Usually more used to speaking to children aged three to eleven, I decided the best way forward was a thought for the day, and here it is:

Before I give you my thought for the day, I’m going to start with some thoughts about what is cool. You might look at me and wonder what I know about being cool, but I do know quite a bit, mostly because I asked a lot of Year 9s to share their ideas with me.

Things were different in my youth. When I was at school ballroom dancing was the least cool thing ever.

Shirts with ruffles were sought after in the shops.

Short skirts were considered unfashionable. I remember hooking an elastic band around the button on my uniform skirt so that it could be worn as low slung as possible over my hips to make it fall well below the knee. The nuns in my school were literally chasing us about saying: “Roll that skirt over at the top it is too long!”

I was lamentably uncool in those days because I couldn't hang on to what was fashionable. By the time I had persuaded my mum to buy me the yellow cotton jacket that I had been going on about for months, it was considered last season, and I looked ridiculous again.

If there is one hard and fast rule about fashion it is that parents just don’t get it.

When I was at school various subjects were cool at different times. I’m not at all clear looking back what that was based upon, but I chose to do art because it was cool, even though I was not terribly good at it. I chose it because the cool girls did it. I didn’t choose music, which given how much time I now spend composing and performing might have been a bit short sighted, but nobody I knew was doing music so it wasn’t cool.

And that in a nutshell is the problem with cool. It is all based around what someone else thinks.

The Year 9 girls I spoke to (thank you - I will stick by the promise of anonymity -  I know it is not cool to have spoken to the Head of the Prep School) gave me some insight.

So these girls told me that cool is about someone really popular choosing something and everyone else following. Only you must not follow too obviously because that is not cool. Followers are not cool, so keeping up has to be done subtly.

I’m told that being cool is often about gossiping or rejecting other people, if they don’t do things that are cool. You can’t be cool if you are not on Facebook or if you dislike X Factor, or if even by mistake you somehow express an interest in the wrong thing.

You cannot be cool in the wrong clothes, even if you can’t afford what is cool or fashionable and it isn’t your fault. The worst thing about cool is that it changes all the time and it is difficult to keep up if you accidentally look away for a minute. I’m told this has impact on what clubs and activities are chosen, on which friends it is possible to have. It makes decisions difficult because you have to carefully check-up whether or not it will affect your cool rating.

Being cool can therefore be expensive, cruel and stressful as well as a source of pleasure. It can take away from friendship, because if you say too much, or you are enthusiastic about the wrong thing, or you make the ‘wrong’ choice over something unfashionable, you can find yourself cast away from the group and you will risk not belonging. Some people, with the wrong accessories or hair-cuts might just never have a chance to be cool at school.

I’m told that some people want to stick out from everyone else by being different. Different is cool as long as it sticks to certain rules. To be cool it has to have a particular style of its own, and never just be a little bit out of step.

I have been told that to appear to be clever is not particularly cool. And to be seen to enjoy school things is not cool unless it is drama or pop music - and fashion is important. It is apparently cool to be good at certain things if you are in a team for something or an award winner, but just to be good at something, or to enjoy it, just because you do, is somehow not supposed to be enough. Everyone I spoke to said they wished that this was not the case, because they all had ambitions and they wanted to do well in class, but didn’t always feel strong enough to stand up for themselves. Many had interests they couldn’t follow or express because it wouldn’t be seen as cool. One girl said that the worst thing she could think of was to be a “stick out”. When I got to this point in my discussions I began to feel really quite sad. I felt sad for people struggling to be cool, as if being cool really mattered.

So I want to share just a tiny secret with you all.

I am in fact, secretly, the coolest person I know. I love choral music, especially sacred music, and I sing at every chance I get, including in my church choir, which is not the best choir I have ever sung with, although the people are genuinely nice and incredibly welcoming. I don't do pop music. I like the kind of folk music that people have to wear woolly jumpers to sing, and with instruments that nobody has been making for the last two hundred years. And I've probably never heard of half the things you like. I am studying my third degree at university just for fun. I never wear make-up. I look this good naturally.

I like polishing shoes and gathering free firewood from the common, and I’m not bothered if you think that makes me weird.

I like loud shirts and patterned socks and pretty much anything that is purple. My idea of a really good time is a 4 hour Sunday lunch at my own table with old friends, most of whom are actually old, or spending a day reading about other people’s assorted views on education or life, or just walking on the common near my home in any weather just soaking up the great outdoors.

These are not the things that make me cool.

What makes me cool to most of the adults I know is that I am genuinely happy, and I have learnt that following my own paths, doing what I think is right and good, is something that fills me with joy and delight. I’m not talking about being selfish, or deliberately being different: I don't have much interest in making a fashion statement. I'm talking about accepting my place in the world, seeing my talents for what they are and being kind and compassionate and helpful to other people. I may be rather old fashioned, but it suits me. I thank God every day for the good things I have, and for being able to be myself. I like to think I have found places where I belong, such as this school. It is actually comforting not to be the centre of the universe.

What makes me cool in my own eyes is that I work hard at my job, which I love, and that I can honestly not care or even think about what makes me ‘on trend’. So I can spend proper time thinking about what I can do that helps other people, or makes me a better person. I have many wonderful valued and trusted close friends. I look after 300 small children every day and they trust me. I have many friends in and out of school, and they know they can rely on me, especially to make them laugh, or to look after them in a crisis. I have things I am good at and that I’m able to spend time enjoying, such as cooking and gardening, singing, running the staff prayer group, and I am realistic about them. That still doesn’t stop me enjoying a few things I am not good at, such as crosswords, painting and cricket. I also know which things are best left to other people.

I learnt a new word this weekend. And this word is cool:

 'Firgun' is a Hebrew word, meaning taking pleasure in someone else's success or good fortune. It is almost the opposite of what we have come to understand as cool, but I hope it will mean something to you.

My thought for today is that I think that the world would be a far better place if we all operated on Firgun rather than cool.

Do I need to get a home tutor?

One of the most frequent questions asked at parents' evenings these days is should I get her a tutor? 

Although I believe that suitably qualified tutors can be helpful for children with specific learning differences and difficulties, usually within the school or guided by the class teacher rather than externally, I have become concerned about the prevalence of engaging ‘academic’ tutors as a matter of course. I have known some teachers who I'm sure would be wonderful tutors, but others who have not been high achieving or successful in the classroom and would not be offering your child excellence or giving you value for money. 

One to one tuition at home, according to recent reports in the media, is as common as attending school. There are now more people offering private tuition than there are teachers in schools. None of these need to be qualified or to conform to reasonable standards. Having a Mrs Doubtfire demeanour, or a track record as a tutor for many years is not necessarily good enough. Companies exist to offer tuition at particular stages in the school career, to assist with 11+ entry, to prepare for public examinations, or just to top up what is being done at school. Many of these cannot guarantee results and an analysis of their success rates, for example in grammar school entry, correlate to the child's natural ability and the amount of rigorous rehearsal (which they can do with you or by themselves using resources bought from WHSmiths) rather than something magical these tutors have added in the many hours of paid extra. I have been frustrated by parents wondering why their children are making poor progress towards independent learning, when most of their child’s ‘individual’ learning is coached by someone sitting beside them. Whilst tuition can work for some, it is certainly not a panacea for academic improvement. 

It is worth remembering that tuition may actually be counterproductive: 

• Children who regularly work alongside a tutor soon learn that there is no expectation that they can, or should, manage independently. 
• Children used to tuition have a fear of getting things wrong and become reliant on instant praise, feedback, correction and support – failing to develop the resilience that is essential for effective learning. 
• Children who have intensive coaching for examinations often feel de-skilled and deeply demoralised if the tuition has simply raised them to an academic environment, set or school where they cannot really manage by themselves. 
• Tutors have no regulation: they may be wonderful, but there is no control over what they teach, how current their knowledge might be, or how effectively they work with children. 
• Ex-teachers may not be up to date with ever changing methods and syllabuses and can confuse their tutees, or give them conflicting methods or information to worry about. 
• Tutors are unlikely to have the same view of progression and continuity that the class or subject teachers have, because at school the teaching team will be working together to create something coherent in terms of learning strategies, linked knowledge and experience across the curriculum. 
• Home tutors will not be working from the plans for the year at school, and may worry you or your child about gaps and aspects of the syllabus that have simply not been covered yet for very sound reasons. 
• Tutors offering individual lessons often overstate or at least overestimate the ability of your child, who may cope extremely well in one to one sessions, but not necessarily in a classroom, or when later expected to work independently or under exam conditions. The confidence that a child shows the tutor due to close questioning, lots of praise, strong educational scaffolding and a coaching relationship is very different from the expectations of the school or during assessment. 
• Most worryingly, there are no safeguarding guarantees about an unregulated and unchecked person in your home. 

My advice as a Head Teacher is to use tuition only when advised to by the school: for supporting strategies for learning, for managing learning difficulties or in the short term for keeping the brain awake over long holidays. Make sure you have up to date references for anyone you invite into your home, and check on the qualifications and experience of the tutor. Grand results regarding other children are not helpful – that child may have a completely different set of abilities, skills and needs from your own. Tell the school if you have engaged a tutor, the most fruitful experiences will be those that mirror and complement the school curriculum. Visit the session each time to see what is happening, and if your child is overwhelmed, confused, tired or becoming reliant on too much ‘tuition’, support, praise or encouragement, then stop the lessons, they are simply not helping. 

Children who are doing perfectly well at school do not need to be discouraged by having extra work in their free time, nor another adult questioning their ability, impeding their ability to develop independent strategies and pressuring them over their results. 

A parent I have known for many years spoke to me last week about her reason for stopping tuition after eighteen months with a very nice tutor. She said that she popped in on a session to discover, not for the first time, that the tutor was simply helping with the homework the class teacher had set and already prepared, no more, and no less - for £45. She said she felt pressured into organising tuition because all her friends had a tutor for their children. I asked if she had booked the lessons so that her child could have different work, more help or just more practice, but she said she had left it all in the hands of the tutor who was well qualified and came highly recommended. She said had not informed the school because she didn’t want us to think her daughter was getting help. She said that she had just come to the realisation that her child was actually doing fine, and that she was no longer going to worry about the extra mark or two the tutor could wring from the piece of work. I applaud, and I hope that the saved money is used for a really enjoyable family activity. 

Education is a holistic thing. Would your child benefit from a tutor? Probably not as much as she would benefit from you reading to her each evening if she is young, or taking her on a weekly trip to the library, or for older pupils taking the time to discuss coursework, promoting rational argument at the dinner table and engendering an interest in current affairs. 

What did she get in the test?

In our lives today we are all subject to review and audit. It has become so much part of our culture that what we used to think of as our daily work has become something under endless scrutiny, and rather than allowing for inspiration, creativity, rehearsal, formation thinking, practising and self-improvement, we seem to be obsessed with attainment test results, and have forgotten that learning is a process and not simply a one off packaged ‘result’.

So, unfortunately, much of we do becomes an instant measure of our self-worth. My own mother, undertaking a Diploma in Botanical Art for the Royal Society, in her mid-seventies, was very upset when her 8.4 grade average dropped to 7.9 due to a ‘badly’ coloured leaf. “The tutor liked the leaf shape,” she told me, “But the depth of colour was not right in the leaf veins”. When I pointed out that 7.9 was 79% and probably an A grade she was surprised. Nonetheless she was ready to go on to do battle with herself in the next assignment, despite not having practised or had a chance to get the leaf right – because she thought she had to go on to the next thing, and try to get that right in one bash too.

For me, education should not be like this, I believe it is a long and thoughtful process. Yes, educationalists have talked for a long time about building blocks that found and build learning, but that must not be understood as each piece of knowledge being a brick in a wall in its own right. Most of knowledge, skill and discerned understanding comes in a web or network of interconnected ideas. It takes time to season. Given that education in school takes place over at least thirteen years, there is some time for a well educated child to benefit from a gradual unfolding of the world of knowledge. It is well proven that early or rapid success is not the best precursor to lifelong achievement: look at Einstein, Mo Farrah or Churchill!

At my primary aged school, we have embarked on a holistic programme of giving the girls an opportunity each week to work independently at a task, under the sort of conditions she would face in a test, but with the work that she is doing in class. We believe this has a number of purposes. The first is Formative, where we can see what the child can do unaided, where she needs support or scaffolding, where she can think for herself, where she can practise the little aspects of setting out she has been shown such as where to put titles and date if not instructed. The second is Ipsitive where the child sees how she has done over time, and is able to make a pattern of her progress, comparing not just results, but also how she copes with the experience. The teacher can create a pattern to see what is developing and what needs help. This is not a comparison with others, but a proper examination of the development of the child over time, by concentrating on her progress in relation to her ability and her journey. The third is Meta-cognitive where a child comes to understand for herself how she learns best, what helps her when she is learning and what she needs to remember. It is the often unnoticed part of the process, where children become aware of their own ability, their own strengths and the things they can do for and by themselves that make things go right when they do them, and wrong when they don’t. Each child soon gets the hang of how this feels, and is encouraged to look through the work to see what she could have done, herself, to do better this time, or for next time.

This activity is not designed to be Summative however. It is not a close of play event such as GCSE or A level, it is not used in the way an entrance test or formal exam might be. It is not used as a measure of success, although success is valued, alongside good progress. It is not a test to check up what was learnt before moving on.

My belief is that excellent teaching and learning must include this space for children to rehearse, to come to an understanding about their work, to begin and then to become skilled at managing on their own. If these opportunities are not presented young, and repeated regularly then real learning, real depth of knowledge, effective skills, creativity, self-esteem, confidence, resilience and inspiration will not develop. Tests certainly have their place, at end of term or year, between phases and as rites of passage. They are a useful measure for the outside world or for parents of what has been achieved in a reasonable space of time. But in between times I believe children should be allowed to learn from having a go, free from the fear of their own results.

What are the rights of your child?

Childhood might be a time when children have an inalienable right to have fun, to be carefree, to be supported regardless of what they do or say, to get away now and again with avoiding doing what they are told, to be allowed the freedom to develop independence, to have you fight their battles for them, to have showered upon them the things that you may not have had in your childhood. 

I am a great believer in the universal rights of the child, and of a proper happy childhood, but here is my bill of additional rights that I believe educators and parents should also bear in mind:

·        The right to a good night’s sleep – so yes, make them go to bed at whatever time this needs to be to stop yawning and confusion.

·        The right to be prepared for the next day at school – so help them sort their things out before bed and go through with them what might be happening and what they might need to have packed.

·        The right to understand that their actions have consequences, not next time, but this time – and a discussion to help them understand what to do next time, and not just a punishment that creates resentment.

·        The right to learn to work hard, in order to achieve what they are capable of, but without the handicap of excuses that hinder their progress rather than help.

·        The right to be rewarded for the good things they do and say, but not too generously - some of these things they should be doing anyway. Helping at home and displaying good manners shouldn't require payment!

·        The right to hear "yes", when their requests are reasonable and the right to hear "no" when they are not, to help them to make sense of their place in the world.

·        The right to become increasingly responsible for the things in their lives; with your support and with appropriate age related scaffolding.

·        The right to have another go, have a fresh start and to be given the benefit of the doubt. Going over old negative ground can set up a pattern of undesireable behavour rather than changing them.

·        The right to be listened to 'with a pinch of salt', to help children to understand that their versions of the truth may not be the most accurate perspective on an event.

These rights may seem counterintuitive in some ways they don’t represent the easiest course of action in a busy day, and they will need to be part of a consistent approach. But they will help each child to realise that she is one among many, that she has amazing potential, but that her gifts and talents will be wasted if she is not able to use them well and wisely.

The school and the home, together, should enable each child to learn to hold her own, to have friends, to be happy, to start to take responsibility for her own independent self and for her work.

The great news is that the educational process is not a quick fix, and therefore there are many years to work towards the perfect adult we would like each child to be. It is like making sourdough bread, or fine wine, it takes time, it takes expertise and it takes effort on the part of us all, including your children.

To hear more about this, within the context of my own school please click on the video link below to hear me speaking to parents at a welcome evening.

http://www.notredame.co.uk/content/videos 

Moving On

This week I made an address at the Ceremony of Achievement that marks the last days of our Year 6 girls as they leave for their Senior Schools. Several people asked me if I could put it here on my blog site to be re-read:

“I am sure many of you have read Harry Potter, or seen the films and remember the mirror of Erised. This mirror doesn’t show what is standing in front of it, nor does it show in some magic way what the future will hold, or who is the fairest of them all, this mirror just shows what is desired most by the person looking in.

Professor Dumbledore warns Harry, that lives are wasted by staring into a future that is based on desire for what that person just wants. These are wise words, not because we shouldn’t desire good things, or want to offer the best of ourselves in life, but because we would be fools to think that life will open its doors and happiness and riches to us just because we want it to.

All of you in our leaving class have many God given talents and gifts. We have celebrated some of these this morning, but many of you can only glimpse at what you might achieve in later life, what might become ‘your thing’, or what you may come to love. Some of you, with your limited experience of life will not have any idea of what wonders are to come, or what you could achieve. I spend much of my free time singing with choirs or composing music, but had no idea I could sing until I was 29 years old!

I know that most of you will have watched those Saturday night programmes where people with not much talent beg to be allowed one more chance to become famous … because they really REALLY want it, or because it was a dying grandmother’s greatest wish. If you model your life on something that does not take account of what you can do, backed up by hard work, by finding your way, and by gently and happily allowing life to unfold around you each day, with all of the joys and terrors that can bring, then you may never find yourself or the happiness you deserve. You may find yourself staring into that mirror of desire and wondering what happened.

So here is my parting advice to you as Head Teacher:

·         Make a friend by being a friend.

·         Remember what it might be like to be someone else’s shoes and don’t lose sight of the fact that they are a person with feelings just like you

·         Do what you say you will do – be honest, have integrity.

·         Don’t give up too easily – success is rarely instant.

·         Don’t wait for opportunities to be created for you – make them yourself. (I am friends with a world class organist who was turned down lessons with one of the best teachers. So he turned pages for the organist in the local church and built his great success by helping someone else, in the right place at the right time.)

·         Follow your plans and your talents not just your dreams. Be realistic, hardworking and smart, and never think that life comes to you while you sleep.

·         Lastly, always in the tradition of St Jeanne remember to stretch out a hand to others, as it is in giving to others that we ourselves are made whole and wonderful people

Girls, I do hope you have been happy in your earliest years at Notre Dame School. You have each of you been a credit to us and to your families. I pray that this continues wherever you go, near or far and that you always remember the friends, teachers, Sisters and community that brought you to this place, ready to jump off  into the world of the big school.

Parents, Godparents and friends, I thank you for all you do for these lucky girls, and trust that with your support and guidance they will find that some of their dreams are able to be realised not just through good fortune and chance but through their own efforts and determination to build on the firm foundations they have developed here at Notre Dame School and in your homes. I know you want the best for these children and that you want them to be the best they can be – let them guide you too and allow them to become the person God intended, to become who they truly are.”

Why is learning a musical instrument good for the brain?

Today’s blog was written as a report for me by Julie Shaw, Head of Music in the Prep section at Notre Dame School, and it is so good I thought I would share it with you all.

At this time of the year at Notre Dame School a wonderful little crop of afternoon Soirees and Lunchtime concerts is harvested from amongst the instrumentalists and singers in the Prep School who have been working hard all year with their individual teachers and at home practising to develop their musical skills.  It is wonderful to see these pupils flourishing and gaining confidence as they perform solos to their parents and peers – children as young as Year 1 right up to Year 6 standing up in public and really showing what they are made of.  As they take their bow at the end of their piece, flushed and proud to receive their applause, all those hard hours and minutes of practising seem worthwhile.

Much has been made in the press of the so-called ‘Mozart Effect’ – the effect on intelligence and on core subject skills such as literacy and numeracy of children learning an instrument or playing in an ensemble.  Some claims are high flown and geared towards parting caring parents with their cash – there are for example CD players on the market fitted with special speakers to play Mozart to the unborn child in the womb.  Amidst all the other activities available to enhance your child’s progress, this is another one fighting for your money and your child’s time.  So what research is there to support these claims? 

Many studies have reported positive associations between music education and increased abilities in non-musical (e.g. linguistic, mathematical, and spatial) domains in children and here we have only room for a few examples.  Studies have been carried out in Canada, where - in one case - researchers found musically trained children (aged four to six) performed better in memory tests than those who had no instrument lessons over the course of the year-long programme. In America a study of 237 second grade children used piano keyboard training and newly designed math software to demonstrate improvement in math skills. The piano group scored 27% higher on proportional math and fractions tests than children that used only the math software.  Data from the National Education Longitudinal Study of 1988 showed that music participants received more academic honors and awards than non-music students, and that the percentage of music participants receiving As and Bs was higher than the percentage of non- participants receiving those grades.  Students who participated in arts programs in selected elementary and middle schools in New York City showed significant increases in self-esteem and thinking skills.

I am sometimes approached by parents who are worried that taking their child out of English or Maths every few weeks on a carousel for their instrumental lesson will have a detrimental effect on their progress.  I am able to reassure them that there is a balancing effect of learning an instrument which is to support these core skills and improve them.  Not only this, but learning an instrument also improves all sorts of other skills and abilities.  Children learning an instrument practice courage, resilience and patience, they learn delayed gratification and the value of daily study in small amounts, their brains become involved in pattern making and matching, they develop abstract language skills in learning to read music notation, and they practice fine and gross motor skills with their bodies.  Most importantly of all, they learn to listen, and not just to hear and process but to finely discern and tune in to fine-grained detail.  Delightfully, many of them develop a joyful and beneficial relationship with their individual teacher which can last a lifetime.

How can you decide on an instrument for your child?  The piano is often a first instrument of choice for many parents, and is a brilliant instrument for children to learn as it helps to get to grips with music theory, but although it seems obvious it is not always the best one to start with.  Some children struggle with reading two lines of music at once.  Children with learning difficulties who may benefit considerably from this different form of learning often find two line or two handed instruments difficult and would benefit from perhaps a brass instrument or at least one with a solo written line rather than chords. Many young children cannot sit still for the required length of time and need an instrument that allows physical movement such as the violin.  Temperament can also play a part – a quiet child may prefer the flute to the saxophone, and a child with a lot of energy may do better with the drums than with the recorder.  Development is important, for instance (with wind instruments) when children may not have all their front teeth or when they may not be big enough to get their arms around a double bass.  There are books available which will help you, for example ‘The Right Instrument for Your Child’ by Arah Ben-Tovim and Douglas Boyd which is available from Amazon and on Kindle. 

Most important of all is your child’s preference.  If they hate the sound of the saxophone they will not commit to learning it.  If they really want to learn the trumpet they may not take kindly to the piano, and “learn the instrument I want you to play and when you pass grade 1 you can do the one you have chosen,” will likely put them off both! Take your children to concerts and have them listen to a range of music styles including classical music on the radio and see what excites them.  Allow them to try out instruments in music shops or get them a trial lesson on an instrument they have been interested in.  The great Hungarian musician Zoltan Kodaly said that ‘Children learn best that which they already know’.  If they have been nagging you for two years to learn the harp take a deep breath and hire one for a month.  If you can’t pull them away from it, get saving.  You may have a harpist in the making.

There are other reasons for children to learn orchestral, jazz or rock instruments other than the piano, and that is the benefit of being able to play them in an ensemble, an activity which is only really available to advanced pianists.  Ensemble playing is a highly social and sociable activity which gets children working together collaboratively rather than competitively and can be begun from the very first term that the child begins the instrument.  One person in an ensemble is only a tiny part of a whole picture which only the whole ensemble can produce.  Concentration, listening skills, forbearance with other children working at more or less advanced levels, timing, co-operation and an understanding of gradual progression are all benefits of involvement in an orchestra, choir or band.  Musically it benefits the child in every possible way, giving them a strong sense of pulse, pitch, dynamics, structure, articulation, tempo, musical style and performance convention and it also makes sense of their instrument in context.  Lastly the buzz of performing in concert with many other musicians is something that can only really be understood once tried – a memorable, exhilarating and uplifting experience.

Why is education for girls important?

One of the aims of global education is to improve the lives of all who are touched by greater and wider learning. For many this brings the chance of more fulfilled lives and can open opportunity for greater prosperity. In the view of the UN this means improving access to education, world over, for women and girls. This has been the aim of the foundation of the Company of Mary Our Lady for over 400 years, ever since their foundress in Bordeaux in the late sixteenth century realised that to educate society meant educating mothers, sisters and aunts, as that would have the biggest influence over the development of families, and create an educated culture for children to grow into. Opportunities for work come from academic and vocational studies. Appreciation and understanding of others comes from engagement with literature and written materials that extend far beyond personal experience. Moral education is enhanced by understanding the rights of all to take an equal place in society, including women.

The aim of this week’s blog isn’t to repeat a whole set of points regarding single sex education (see my blog from Thursday 17 January 2013) but in considering the rights of women to be educated I thought it worth sharing a further thought from some literature I came across this week: Jacqueline Granleese writes about girls educated in both single sex and co-educational schools in Northern Ireland. She discovered through her research that girls’ attainment and achievement is strongly affected by their self-image. She discovered that within single-sex settings girls’ view of their own abilities and success are influenced by how they behave and attain more than how they look or perceive that they are being viewed, by others, whereas girls in co-ed settings are more likely to base their sense of self on how they look and how their appearance may be judged. Although this seems a small difference, the impact on attainment and studies can be quiet dramatic. Students’ view of themselves quickly extends to their expectations and to their own engagement with the environment in which they are taught. It seems fatuous to think pretty girls, or at least those who seem attractive to certain boys, do better, but that in essence is what girls can quickly come to believe and it deeply affects their own self-esteem and therefore their progress, regardless of their abilities (we are talking about teenagers here…).

Professor Chris Holligan points out that this has a knock on effect to the perception that certain subjects in a co-ed school take on the subconscious subtext that they are for boys (physics and mathematics) or for girls (languages and creative subjects) and become quickly stigmatised. Girls in these settings become wary that they will appear more masculine by choosing technical or science subjects. Dr Leonard Sax also flags up the point that for many adolescents the presence in the classrooms of the opposite sex causes a distraction that makes full attention difficult, especially in view of the idea that a sense of self-worth can be related to physical appearance rather than to academic success.

In the light of the struggle to educate women worldwide, and in order to create more equable societies it seems incongruous that positive discrimination is what is needed here in the UK to enable women to have the equality they require in education settings. However for many, it does seem that positive single sex discrimination is the most effective way to educate young women for the future.  

What use is a forest school?

It was my privilege last week to spend some time outside with 3 and 4 year old pupils at Notre Dame Forest School. This initiative, guided by Forest School Leader Ms Stephens, and the rest of the Owls Team, allows our BlueBelles Nursery pupils to spend time in the environment learning not only new skills and concepts, but developing their relationship with the world. This chimed with my blog last week about the importance of using guided experiences to allow us to grow as whole people.

The little children I joined were happy, fully engaged, interested, inquisitive and bubbling with enthusiasm. They commandeered me to paint mud onto the trees with them and showed me the bugs they had swept up, gently into cups to examine. I was surprised at their sophistication, gathering tiny fragments from around them to make fairy houses, and their ability to explain what they were doing. I felt a pull from my own happy childhood, where I learned to be creative through a freedom to explore. These children are lucky indeed.

Most children spend a great deal of their educational lives indoors, only being allowed out to ‘play’. This is appropriate if we believe that learning can only take place under certain conditions, if we think that a teacher has to push knowledge into a child in a sterile environment. However, we now understand far more about the growth of children’s brains, and are beginning to understand that intelligence develops through activity, making connections, creative inspiration and rehearsal. Creativity is never nurtured best in confined conditions, and inspiration rarely strikes if prescribed outcomes are valued above great ideas. Connections certainly cannot be made for them, instead of by then, if they are to have real meaning, and it is only possible to rehearse what is already understood. That is not to say that class based learning is outdated, it still plays the major part, and much can be taught and learnt by conventional means, but there is more…..and practical activities such as camping, forest skills, Duke of Edinburgh awards and environmental studies can extend potential by "encouraging and inspiring individuals through positive outdoor experiences" as the Forest Schools do.

In the future school leaders will increasingly accept that creativity is vital to the formation of human beings and to the future of society, and that it is generated not by the training of fixed outcomes but by open ended experiences. None of us can be sure what the future will hold, nor what will happen to the shape of examinations in the next ten years, nor to the world of work or even to society in general, but those children who have developed resilience, interest, inspiration and independence, outside, in the beauty and complexity of creation, will have the advantage over the rest of us.

Now put down this computer and go outside for a walk.

Why are Feast Days important?

In common with many other faith schools, Notre Dame School has a feast day to celebrate its foundation, in this case on the 15 May, the anniversary of the sainthood of St Jeanne de Lestonnac who opened her first school in 1607. My own friends often talk about Feast Days or Founders Days from their own childhoods, and when I say I’ve had a great day at school they often laughingly ask: “Was it a Feast Day?”

However, in these busy times, when performance and attainment are uppermost in people’s minds and the fear of lesson time wasted or ill used for entertainment is a prevalent fear, I believe it is time for us to remind ourselves again about the importance of Feast Days.

For me, excellent education is a holistic affair. Children need to become rounded, moral, thinking, spiritual beings in order to be fulfilled in life and to contribute to society. These dispositions do not happen by accident, and although their own families are the first best educators, it is the experiences shared in common with their peers and their role models that really help them to develop. Experiences provided by the school shape and form an individual far more than the taught concepts. Living life and learning to manage it, with all the complexity of social interaction and the ability to understand what contributes to happiness and self-satisfaction, is far more likely to make a positive difference to success in life than an extra hour of maths and English.

So my school reorganises the day, to allow for most of the usual lessons to be fitted in, but making space for the whole school to come together for a service of celebration and thanksgiving and for shared lunch where all of the age-groups mix to make new friends and ‘big’ or ‘little sisters’. Aside from the social aspects, the bigger girls are role models for the younger. Their tenderness with the youngsters is touching to see, and a valuable part of life.

The Feast Day for me also focuses attention on a shared celebration that touches this whole community. Unlike any other event it does not reward the success of the few, it does not rely on competition, and it is not more applicable to some than others. A Feast Day simply offers itself as a shared celebration in common with whole community, much as a birthday or Christmas celebration might in the family home. School spirit, something that translates itself through life into family spirit, community spirit, or even a willing or tireless work ethic begins here, and cannot be created by lessons alone. Character is not the result of audited academic success. Being part of a community and being able to celebrate that 'belonging' is also an essential part of personal happiness.

On other days beyond the norm, for house competitions, rehearsals, concerts, assemblies, music ensembles, sports activities and the like, children are given opportunities to contribute to the community in a way that does not simply benefit them or lead to personal success. I firmly believe that understanding the contribution that one can make to the whole is an essential discipline. Work in the twenty first century is more than likely to involve collaboration, presentation, self-discipline, ability to listen (Apprentice candidates take note!), and discernment about one’s place in the group and judgement about who to imitate and follow. All of these are learned more effectively through activities and experiences beyond the classroom. For pupils that cannot be happily involved beyond the limelight, who are not trained to watch and join in on cue, who don’t know that there are strengths and rewards in being an anonymous part of a celebrating community, who do not turn up to events after hours if their parents are not going to be in the audience, who cannot feel motivated if there is no reward, life will be deeply frustrating, puzzling and hard grind.

So happy Feast Day to you all, whenever that day may be for you. 

What is the point of an all through school?

Notre Dame School Cobham, of which I have recently become the Prep Head, has embarked on a new era by becoming one school for pupils aged 2 to 18. We are now taking girls straight through one school from Nursery to University. Although there have been two schools on this site for over fifty years the schools have this year merged to make fuller use of resources, expertise and leadership in depth.

By happy coincidence in today’s Guardian there is an article about partnerships between primary and secondary schools http://www.guardian.co.uk/teacher-network/teacher-blog/2013/may/08/collaboration-primary-secondary-schools-working-together?CMP=twt_gu which underlines the benefits of primary and secondary practitioners working alongside each other for the good of pupils.

The first obvious benefit is the use of shared facilities, which for us has been possible for some time as we share one beautiful site, but now will be timetabled together by the Heads to allow for greater flexibility. Introduction of new subjects such as food technology for older juniors also becomes possible through shared staff, and can also offer an early start to senior school languages and other subjects where cross phase teaching becomes available.

One of the greatest benefits is the community of practice that can develop when teachers working with different age groups can come together to discuss issues and solutions to teaching conundrums – and also help to develop schemes of work and models of good learning for, and with, each other. Trust in a learning community always engenders better experiences for pupils, especially when the style and history of education, curricula and learning objectives are fully open and understood as the child passes into each new phase. Training for staff can be geared to the needs of subjects, departments or to the whole school as pupils are enabled to build upon their primary school foundations and to achieve greater success in their futures. Resources and buildings can be utilised to the maximum and older and younger pupils can benefit from learning alongside each other for particular projects, such as reading to a class or sharing a celebration.

In some environments primary teachers believe that senior teachers are only interested in examination success in their subjects and don’t have a holistic view of education. In some schools secondary teachers believe that primary teachers play all day and that education proper begins aged eleven. Not so in my own school where collaboration and shared understanding are beginning to lead to better planning across the whole school and to create dialogue between clever and reflective professionals. This will have a positive impact on achievement for all pupils, who can be known and valued as they grow and develop throughout their school careers. 

  

Of course this all takes time and energy; however a good school will easily understand that this shared endeavour, which in our case is underpinned by 400 years of good practice (as part of a worldwide foundation) and an educational project that is uncompromising in seeking the best for all of our pupils, is worthwhile. Joining two into one, like a thoughtful and loving marriage, or even a sword and ploughshare, certainly creates something for our pupils which is far greater than the sum of its parts.  

Why is it important to fail?

There are many things we do in life that make us feel rather overawed, or even afraid. Not because they are life changing or will make a real difference in the sum of human endeavour, but simply because we are afraid that we might not do as well as we hoped, or as well as someone else. This often means that we cannot really do our best, that we are made jittery with nerves or that we simply opt out.

Courage in what we do sounds perfectly reasonable. It is easy to think of being brave, taking a leap or running a risk, but the truth is we are often held back by the simple notion that we might fail. Children are no different. If they are under pressure always to succeed, and encouraged or helped to do so, then they learn that failure is a bad, sad or dangerous thing. In turn this makes each task laden with fear that things might not go according to plan. Pressure ironically causes this fear of failure to be reflected in underachieving. Most of the underachieving children I discuss with anxious parents are under fearful pressure, a pressure that creates failure through fear rather than drives achievement. Parental anxiety is the child’s best indicator that they are not succeeding sufficiently, so beware of the signals you give out. Sometimes, “Let’s not worry, is there something I can help you with for next time,” will help to break the panic and pressure cycle.

I was reminded of this when discussing an examination result this week with a parent of a bright and lively junior pupil. The child works hard, achieves very good class and homework results, but recently has not done so well in assessment tests. Her mum was terribly worried about this, and so was the child. I asked the mum what she thought would happen if the child really failed, (as I did not see this as a failure) and I had to hand out tissues. The child said she worried about failing because it meant she was letting her family down and she would fail her exams in the senior school and not get into university. This child is nine years old. I believe very firmly that this lovely girl is not really underachieving, nor failing, nor destined for disaster – unless her fear of failure is allowed to develop further. Wanting to do our best need not equate to being anxious about the opposite, especially if it is actually going to make things worse – our best should always be good enough.

So think very carefully about the messages you give to your children when they come home with a less than excellent result. Failing allows us to take stock, to see that the sky doesn’t fall in, that something needs changing. It can allow children who have relied on too much help to begin to take responsibility. Some children will never be good at certain things and that is OK. Failure is a life lesson. It is a useful reminder that we need to do our best, but with no fear. If failure is one of the possible outcomes we can look at squarely then the fear of failure doesn’t need to impede our efforts.

What Can Children Learn From Us?

This morning I attended a really interesting meeting about learning, with parents of some of the youngest pupils at Notre Dame Prep School. This lovely poem was read to us by Sally Palmer, Head of Pre-Prep. It may be familiar to you, as it was to me, but I was so pleased to hear it in the context of shared responsibility for the development of young pupils. It says so much that for once I am not going to add any further comment!

Children Learn What They Live
By Dorothy Law Nolte, Ph.D.

If children live with criticism, they learn to condemn.
If children live with hostility, they learn to fight.
If children live with fear, they learn to be apprehensive.
If children live with pity, they learn to feel sorry for themselves.
If children live with ridicule, they learn to feel shy.
If children live with jealousy, they learn to feel envy.
If children live with shame, they learn to feel guilty.
If children live with encouragement, they learn confidence.
If children live with tolerance, they learn patience.
If children live with praise, they learn appreciation.
If children live with acceptance, they learn to love.
If children live with approval, they learn to like themselves.
If children live with recognition, they learn it is good to have a goal.
If children live with sharing, they learn generosity.
If children live with honesty, they learn truthfulness.
If children live with fairness, they learn justice.
If children live with kindness and consideration, they learn respect.
If children live with security, they learn to have faith in themselves and in those about them.
If children live with friendliness, they learn the world is a nice place in which to live.

Copyright © 1972 by Dorothy Law Nolte

Reading For Pleasure?

Today is World Book Day, so schools up and down the country are putting on events focused on stories, characters, poetry, authors, illustrators and books. In my own school, Notre Dame Prep, there have been reading events between older and younger children, a whole assembly to share in ‘The Biggest Show on Earth’. However, these events, enjoyed though they were, paled into insignificance beside the small competition to seek out each teacher in the school in order to identify the book represented by the character on the badge she (or he) was wearing.

We are all aware that pupils who learn a love of reading are likely to become best at it. Those of us who really enjoy being lost in a book have a great sense of the enjoyment at suspending the world for a few moments to engage in a fictional world. Some of us love non-fiction, and love the sense of learning. We all want our children to share those experiences. Michael Rosen talks a great deal about learning to love books, and a guide containing his ideas can be ordered for free at http://surveys.pearsonschoolsandfecolleges.co.uk/s/3zqSWDjiFkZ.Bu0

Top tips for engaging with the pleasure of a book always include making enough time to become immersed.  For children who find reading more difficult this can usefully be comics, picture books and children’s magazines rather than the off putting demand to sit and slog over something that is too hard and cannot be managed independently. I am not talking about reading to improve, or reading to impress, or reading to depress…I am talking about developing the notion that reading can be fun, that stories can have a life of their own, can amuse, entertain, educate, transform....

Children love to chat about the books they are reading, and I have been reminded so pleasingly of that by children recognising the picture of ‘Mog the Forgetful Cat’ on my lapel. At least twenty children told me, with high excitement that they know that cat and they love that book. Others asked me if the book was about a cat. No matter their age I told them to seek out the book and to enjoy it. I might spend much of my time reading dry academic or educational literature, but nothing pleases me more than a beautiful well-crafted picture book.

If we want children to read, to love stories, to understand the great richness of imagination that is stored up for us in print, then we need to remember that making it pleasurable is more important than hours of enforced practice. So let your children see you loving a book and being too busy doing so to stop and watch TV; groan when they pull you out of a book to do something else; read to your children as often as you can, even just read them snippets from any text you have read. Above all allow the time for books to unravel their pleasures for your children.

Happy reading!

Why do children need to work at home?

I am often asked about the purpose of homework at Prep level, and more specifically why it cannot just be completed at school?

These are very good questions. Family life is on the one hand so precious that it is a nuisance if it is marred by a daily battle over ‘school’ work, however, if children wait until their GCSE years to study beyond the classroom clearly there will be some fundamental issues with their ability to succeed.

A balance is needed, and this is what schools try to address, always understanding that some children will not have been able to manage the work for a variety of reasons or circumstances, that some will have had a great deal of help and support and that others will have simply got on and done it, sometimes well and sometimes perfunctorily. This means that teachers are setting work every day that has to be stimulating but well defined, challenging but independently manageable, meaningful practice without too many twists, not too dull or repetitive, allows for proper learning and retaining, not essential for the next lesson for those who will not be able to complete it, progressive for those who need stretching and extendable for those who have further interests and enthusiasm. On the other hand the homework diet cannot all be cakes and treats, sometimes it may seem very routine, too easy or too hard, over long or unpalatable, but that too is part of preparing for life.

Naturally this is a complex set of variables, and whereas some children thrive on exercises and assignments, others find their enthusiasm wanes when faced with work to complete on their own. Learning homework is often viewed as no homework and increasingly, as it is fitted around external clubs, lessons and events, reading is confined to the last few minutes before bed – never a very good time to do anything that requires thinking!

I am all too familiar with the headache of homework sessions. I remember my frazzled mother standing over the table where my siblings and I were pretending to work each evening, and I regularly supervise my niece and nephews in their efforts to wriggle away from the mountain of things they bring home. However, I also see how the routines help to create an atmosphere and a system that works for them, and how well the children can work when they are settled. Independence is very important, so training children to have those study skills and the resilience and perseverance needed to complete activities will pay dividends in the future. Learning homework may well need help, and I am a big fan of using non-fiction books to help with information gathering, and these can be read together if there is time, to help to broaden the subject at hand.

On some occasions every child will say they don’t know how to do the work in front of them, and sometimes this might even be genuine! My advice would be to put a note on the bottom to the teacher, saying just that, and stop. Confusion of methods and frustration at mum and dad turning into teachers is not conducive to happy family life, and the teachers are there to help. If your child is too overwrought or too tired to work well then you should stop. Put a note in the book and go and do something relaxing. If the purpose of homework is to develop good work habits then consider carefully what those might be (I suggest a few below), and if what is happening is not reinforcing those positive skills then there is little point continuing until you want to throw the whole lot into the bin too!

Looking at the work you can usually see that the purpose is one or more of the following:

1. To reinforce work that has been taught and needs practising in order to increase speed and accuracy or remember and retain the skills and knowledge – this work may not be very exciting!

2. To enhance knowledge and understanding by extending something taught, or providing resources for further or richer understanding – this may be quite open ended and time consuming.

3. To allow time to reflect on concepts or topics, or just to finish an extended piece of work – this may require proper consideration of presentation and a bit of thinking and reflection time.

4. To develop independent skills and good life long work habits which include perseverance, meta cognition (coming to a realisation which work styles work best for herself), self-motivation, time management, determination, pride in presentation and content, satisfaction with completion.

You can help by

·         Providing a regular place where work can be completed undisturbed, with good light, plenty of space and a reasonable time limit

·         Providing a routine time, probably after a light snack and a chance to move around after the rigours of a very busy school day

·         Helping to signal that homework is not a punishment and can be rewarded!

·         Offering advice, but not too much assistance

·         Helping to prioritise what needs to be done (I recommend doing the horrid bit first, taking a moment for praise and then moving on to complete the rest)

·         Trying to keep the evenings as uncluttered with extra events as possible. Limiting out of school clubs to weekends when possible.

·         Making sure siblings are not too distracting, and when your child has good habits, allowing her to work away from others or away from your direct supervision, so that she knows that you trust her developing work habits.

·         A quick check at the end that everything is done, sufficient high standards have been retained and that the bag is repacked with everything required for the next day

Of course all of this assumes that your child has organised her belongings and has all of the things she needs to just to get on – but that obviously is the subject of a whole blog!!

Happy homeworking!