Tag Archives: Philosophy

Oh to be a Pilgrim

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The RME elective is definitely been interesting, and I can already say that I’ve learned a lot! As a TDT task, we were set to visit a ‘special’ place, and as a group, we decided to investigate a pilgrimage. We found one which was first ‘done’ by the Picts, who were alive around 1500 years ago. While we do not know any details of this journey, not even its purpose. The route was long and involved many stops:

  1. Dundee
  2. Coupar Angus
  3. Meigle
  4. Alyth
  5. Glamis
  6. Kirriemuir
  7. Glenprosen
  8. Kirriemuir (again)
  9. Forfar
  10. Brechin
  11. Edzell
  12. Fettercairn
  13. Glensaugh
  14. Auchenblae
  15. Stonehaven
  16. Letham
  17. Arbroath
  18. Carnoustie
  19. Dundee

We decided to go out and try it for ourselves. We changed our minds pretty quickly. It turns out that walking to all 19 of these places would be quite hard going, so we changed the plans a little and decided to try the route in the car.

The Route

The Route

Arriving at the car, all I could really think about was the fact that I had called shotgun on the front seat and that I wanted to keep it; that and the fact that we had to get snacks for the journey. Not the most profound of thoughts, but nonetheless, all that was really in my mind. The trip took us just over 6 hours in total. It consisted of driving from location to location and singing along to the playlist along the way.

Before we started...

Before we started…

By the end we were all tired, hungry and uncomfortable. I began to think about what the journey was like for the original Pictish pilgrims. I did a little research and discovered that the journey would have taken us 55 hours to walk! This wasn’t the end of it,we should remember that that’s without a rest! Also, we have roads and paths etc. which would now make the walk a lot easier, my estimation is that the journey would have taken us 4 or 5 days back when the pilgrims made the original journey.

I wondered if perhaps we missed the point from the beginning? I thought that we hadn’t really considered the point of a pilgrimage. I sat in the car with the others, and been to Stonehaven before; and we did not really talk about the journey very much while we were on it. I have done a little research on what exactly a pilgrimage is, and The Scots Magazine says:

“It’s been described as a journey or search for moral or spiritual significance, in many cases a journey to a location of some importance to the person making the pilgrimage.”

This made a lot of sense to me, as it explains that a pilgrimage is more than a journey, its about some kind of spiritual, or enlightening moment. Now our journey was only to simulate a special journey, and we were unlikely to have any kind of epiphany, but I did wonder if we should have taken it a little more seriously. Our main mistake was not researching the pilgrimage enough before we started. I think that we could have stopped throughout and thought about what the original pilgrims were thinking and feeling throughout their journey.

Having said this, I think that perhaps I did learn something important. While writing this post, I have started to think, and I have realised that  by the end of the day we all felt tired, hungry and uncomfortable; just like I thought the Picts probably did. Also, as a group we set aside the whole day to do this task, which was a significant time out of our reading week. We all felt a sense of accomplishment for lasting the whole time. I wonder at this point, was it really so different from the Picts? Naturally we had not spent the whole week doing this journey, but the feeling that we had upon completion felt very similar. I also think that I learned from some our mistakes, specifically that pilgrimages are not meant to be easy or taken on lightly, and that they have to be significant to be considered a meaningful experience.

From a teaching perspective, I think that I learned that when teaching about pilgrimages. I think that I would not take a class outside without fully learning about it beforehand. I would want to teach them about pilgrimages in general and then take them out to mimic one and consider their feelings. I would take them out on a walking mini pilgrimage and have them consider how it would make them feel to be walking like that for several days, how hard it would be and the physical and mental strength it would require to complete. I would then like to work with the pupils to discuss these feelings and think about what a pilgrimage would mean to them, and consider what their personal journey would be.

I think that I have learned to appreciate the concept of a pilgrimage a little more. I even began to consider what a pilgrimage would mean to me. I feel that a non-theist, a pilgrimage would be difficult for me, because it is hard to determine what would be a significant personal experience.  I think that for me it’s about going somewhere I have always wanted to go, and will have to work hard to get there. In recent years I have thought about New Zealand a lot. I would love to go there one day, and perhaps move there to work. I know that I’ll have to work really hard to get there, as it’ll require a lot of saving up, but also a lot of work to get my degree to be allowed to go over and work there. I believe that, should it happen, this will be my pilgrimage. Now that I understand what it means to me, I believe that I am in a better position to teach the concept to the children that I will work with.

We made it to the end!

We made it to the end!

On the Pilgrims’ Trail

It’s All Relative

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Having just had a lecture about families, I feel that at this point it would be worthwhile reflecting upon my own family experiences, and considering what that means to my teaching career.

To look at my immediate family, it is a clear example of a nuclear family. My parents were married 2 years before I was born and my sister three years later; I have all four grandparents around, all of whom were heavily involved in my life throughout my childhood… the list goes on.

My family seems very ‘normal’, and in the most practical sense it is. However growing up, other people often said that my family was different to theirs. My friends would come around and speak to my parents, seeming to like them more than they liked me! For a long time, I didn’t understand why people seemed to like being around my family so much, but now that I look at it from a more detached perspective, I do. My house was a happy house growing up, we laughed a lot and we were, and still are very close. My house was fun and relaxed and my friends felt comfortable being there and interactions with my family were always similarly lighthearted, and this was not always the feeling I had when visiting the homes of some of my friends.

Unusually, I also grew up for most of my childhood without a television. It seems like a much bigger deal than it really was, people – often adult friends of my parents – would visit and look around for one, ask us questions about how we ‘survived’ without one. People still ask me that now when it come up that I grew up without one, and it’s a tricky question to answer – we spoke to each other and enjoyed time together, such as meal times, perhaps slightly more often than other families seemed to do.

At 20 years old most of my friends seem to keep most things to themselves, but I am still very close to my family and tell them almost everything. It took me a long time to realise that this was unusual, and I was surprised to see how many others rely on friends before family for support. To me, the most important function of a family is to provide support to one and other, especially in times of difficulty. My family has proven on numerous occasions that they will do this, dropping everything to come to each others’ aid. I feel 100% secure in the knowledge that I could phone up any member of my family, including my grandparents with a problem, and they would solve it for me. It is a great feeling to have.

I think that there are two major points I would like to consider. Even now, despite my experiences with many different children, I struggle to understand households and backgrounds different to my own. I cannot get my head around parents who do things differently to the way that mine do or did. I understand that this is definitely a weakness for me, as it means that my thinking can often be very one-dimensional. Another point I noticed was the reactions of other people during discussions on the topic of family during the lecture. I noticed that not everyone was as open to discussing their families or backgrounds as I was, and this made me realise again, that not everybody has the same kind of family experiences that I have. In conclusion, I believe that I need to read a little on this topic, as I feel I have some knowledge gaps. I think that doing this will help me to gain a new level of empathy when discussing families and similar topics with people in the future, as I will have a better understanding of where other people are coming from in their beliefs, values and thought processes.

While looking up some ideas on this topic, I discovered an online quiz which made me further consider my own standpoint. The quiz was on the CBBC website and was entitled “Is my family normal?” it asked fairly simple questions about family, such as “How do you settle an argument?” and “What winds you up the most about your family?” and it came back as 6/6 normal. I re-took the quiz, putting in different answers, and got the same result – 6/6 normal. To me, this quiz was very significant, as it reminded that that any family is normal, even if it is completely different from my own. I think that this is a key point for me to remember, and always consider during any interaction with families throughout my career.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/cbbc/quizzes/normal-family-quiz

http://www.quibblo.com/quiz/2GuchYm/Is-Your-Family-Normal

My Family

My Family

Interagency Working, This is Just the Beginning…

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Picture 14

Since today was our third day back after the Christmas holidays, I thought it could do with a post about the beginning of the new module. The module is about Interagency or Multiagency working. This, as you can imagine, is highly important for teachers. In the most basic terms, it means professionals in the lives of the children: teachers, police, social work, healthcare workers, community learning officers… The list goes on but those are some of the main ones.

 

We have been split into groups of 7 or 8. We are to do group activities and go on community visits together. Having met and discussed this with the rest of my group, I am feeling really confident in our ability to work collaboratively with this group. This is a massive benefit, as we have been told that this is not always the case. Clearly, as professionals, we have to simply work with the other professionals in the childrens’ lives – obviously, we cannot allow children to be put in danger just because we do not particularly like their social worker. I believe that the same logic applies here, as we cannot just decide not to work with each other because we do not like each other. I think that it is essential to remember this throughout the module with the group and to reflect on any issues arising.

 

I think that the main goal for the module is to keep up with the lectures and tutor directed tasks. Of course it is always good to keep up with these things, but for this module there are 6 other people who will be relying on my to do my share of the work in order to be able to do do their own or to learn their own materials. I also would like to set the goal of building a relationship with the remainder if the group, as I have identified the need to be able to speak to each other openly and honestly, especially if any problems arise between us. Towards the end of the module, I will update this post to see if I have managed this.

http://amberleyeducationcumbria.co.uk/onewebmedia/Picture%2014.jpg

UKIP Education Policies

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Before I start, I would like to make a few points. First, I am not attempting to write a scathing report on the UK Independence Party, nor am I even planning to demonstrate my opinion on any matter than education. Also, this is not an attempt to convince anyone to vote in a certain way, simply, it is my own reflections on the policies of the party, both positive and negative, and anyone is completely welcome to disagree with anything I say! I know that education is devolved to Scotland, so is unlikely to affect my education or my future career, but I do believe that my reflections are worth making.

I have copied some of the main points from UKIP’s manifesto from their website:

  1. Ease teachers’ workloads by cutting down on assessments, data collection and appraisals
  2. Scrap teachers’ performance-related pay
  3. End sex education for primary school children
  4. Bring back grammar schools and support a range of secondary schools including vocational, technical and specialist schools
  5. Waive tuition fees for science, technology, engineering, mathematics and medicine (STEMM) subjects at university
  6. Make First Aid training part of the national curriculum

“Ease teachers’ workloads by cutting down on assessments, data collection and appraisals”

I can see the point that they are trying to make, which is to reduce the bureaucracy and allow teachers to spend their time planning and teaching. However, I believe that assessments, data collection and appraisals can all be of value. For teachers, these things can be used to set targets and improve practice. I think that they key is in how individual schools and individual teachers use these things so that they are not aimless uses of time, but rather it is extremely meaningful. Assessments are not the be all and end all within education, but I can see that they can be beneficial if used correctly, so they should not be cut down. Ultimately, I can understand what this policy was attempting to do, but I cannot agree with it.

“Scrap teachers’ performance-related pay”

I am aware that we do not have performnce-related pay, but I think this point is worth consideration. Basically, it is saying teachers should not be paid based on their performance as teachers. A survey on the opinions of teachers in Wales about performance-related pay, it was found that “it would be problematic to isolate the performance of individual teachers and deleterious to collegiality and teamwork in schools” I agree with these points, I wonder how teacher would be assessed. Would it be based on attainment within their class? The problem with this is that children develop at different rates,  so children who take longer to develop would bring a class average down. This could potentially result in a teachers trying to avoid having certain children in their class. I also wonder if teachers who are low on the pay scale would perhaps give up, and not put in as much effort. Of course, the counter-argument is that performance-related pay could be highly motivating to some teachers who would strive to be the best, but that begs the question: would they simply do it for the increased money, or would they do it because they loved it and they enhanced pay be a bonus? While I can understand this argument, I do not agree. I can see that performance-related pay could become a negative tool and therefore this policy is a sensible one.

“End sex education for primary school children”

This one speaks for itself, it means that many children will reach 12 years old with no understanding of sex education. I believe that it is essential that children know about sex and relationships, but also about their bodies. For me, the aim of sex education is to promote healthy habits in the future, not teaching children to do things that they are too young for.

“Bring back grammar schools and support a range of secondary schools including vocational, technical and specialist schools”

This is an interesting concept to consider. They are advocating the use of grammar schools, which are “the only state schools… that are allowed by law to select all their pupils on the grounds of high academic ability”. This means that children can be put on a completely different track based on whether they do well in the admissions test. To me, this is wrong as it limits the opportunities offered to children, and I think it could be detrimental to their confidence if they fail to gain entry. “The specialist schools programme is a UK government initiative that encourages secondary schools in England to specialise in certain areas of the curriculum in order to boost achievement.” I also have a problem with this, it is all very well to join a specialist school but I do not feel that it gives children enough opportunity to change their minds. They may want to be a dancer or performer when they are aged 11 or 12, and then decided they want something entirely different from their lives by the time they’re 16 By then it would be too late to change their minds.

“Waive tuition fees for science, technology, engineering, mathematics and medicine (STEMM) subjects at university”

This could seem like a positive move, but to me, I see strong bias in favour of people who are more academic who would be most likely to study a STEMM subject. This would mean any creative subject would require the payment of tuition fees, such as: Art, Music, English Literature or Performing Arts. These people on lower incomes may feel pushed to apply for STEMM subjects just because they would not have to pay for them and go on to struggle with the course content. This means that creative or arts subjects would only be accessible to those who could afford tuition fees, limiting the choices for those from lower income families

“Make First Aid training part of the national curriculum”

I do not see any problems with this policy. The number of people I know my own age who have no first aid skills is very high. St John’s Ambulance’s research says that two-thirds (59%) wouldn’t feel confident trying to save a life. This is a huge number of people with no skills in this area, and that does not account for the number of people with out-of-date skills. If every child had this as a mandatory part of their education it would allow them to build up a highly useful skill set which they will be able to use throughout their lives. Also, I believe that it may be something that children who struggle with academics may find they are good at and could be a means of building up confidence in some children. It goes without saying that any training would have to be age appropriate.

My final point comes as a result of a group activity. We had to get into groups and research a political party and I was in the UKIP group. Something that I became aware of was that some people did not even try to be impartial and talk about their party without also giving their opinion. While this was in a peer setting, as opposed to a teaching one, I have become aware that there will almost definitely come a point in our careers where we have to teach about the political parties. It will be essential at that time to be completely impartial. On 1PP1 last year, I taught a bit about politics around the time of the 2015 General Election. I had to be very careful, even not to agree with anything children said. This is something that I think will be very important to remember throughout our teaching careers.

http://www.ukip.org/ukip_manifesto_summary

http://www.tlrp.org/themes/seminar/gewirtz/papers/bibliography.pdf

http://www.ngsa.org.uk/faqs.php

http://www.serviceschools.co.uk/cms/specialist_schools_arts_drama_music_new/

http://www.sja.org.uk/sja/what-we-do/latest-news/news-archive/news-stories-from-2010/april/2-in-3-couldnt-save-a-life.aspx

My Educational Philosophy

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Children should know that their thoughts and feelings are valued by adults, and that they can think and speak for themselves without worrying about being wrong or of anyone making fun of them. Education should be for developing self confidence and self worth in order that children feel comfortable with themselves whilst in the school environment.

The aim of school should be to produce well rounded individuals who have a creative and critical way of thinking. I believe that high quality teaching is the most effective way to achieve this. From the 1PP1 placement, I found that as long as children are interested in the lesson, then they are learning, so we should all be making sure that what we teach is interesting to the children we work with.

Education should always be inclusive of all learners. If somebody is making an effort to turn up to school, then they deserve to be included fully in the education system. Saying this, if children are not, or do not want to make the effort to come to school, then we should look to the education system and see what may have disillusioned the learner and look to make changes as opposed to blaming the learner. I believe that school should promote a disciplined approach to education. I do not think it is a massively important point to make, of course teachers should be aware of behaviour management techniques, but they should not be a main focus.

Schooling should offer as many subjects and experiences as possible. The aim of education, in my opinion, is to produce well rounded individuals. I think that the best way to do this is to give them knowledge and experiences. They should study the basics in order to understand the more exciting specific subjects, ie. should be able to read so that they are not focusing on the reading but engage with what they are actually reading. In my opinion, the Curriculum for Excellence  does this really well, the idea of one topic spanning several curriculum areas is a really positive one. I think that all children can benefit from such a system.

Teachers were some of the best role models for me throughout school, I always admired them for the way they seemed to know everything. Despite this, I remember one occasion while I was in high school when somebody asked the biology teacher a question and he answered it, but the next lesson he told us that he had given us an incorrect answer and that he had asked another teacher and found out the correct answer. I remember this as, I can imagine, being a teacher it must be difficult to admit to not knowing an answer, and certainly to come back having made an effort to find out the correct answer was admirable to me. This particular teacher, to me, was an example of a teacher who is willing to go the extra mile and therefore was a role model to me.

School should offer the opportunity to achieve academically, but for me there should be more to it than just passing through a system and come out the other end with a certificate of exam results. Of course children should learn some academic skills, they should have developed language and mathematics skills, and plenty experience of RME, Social Subjects, Technologies, Expressive Arts, Health and Wellbeing and Science. They should be able to experience so much more from their time in school: experience success, critical thinking skills, creativity and social skills. They should be directed, but be given enough space to develop in their own way and at their own pace.