Category Archives: 1.1 Social Justice

Unimaginable Imagination

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Imagine an unimaginable imagination. One that no teacher, educator, facilitator, parent, caregiver or learner sets expectations for, standardises for, or… imagines.

Sarah Maxine Green, an American educational philosopher, author, social activist and teacher, stated,

“We want our classrooms to be just and caring, full of various conceptions of the good. We want them to be articulate, with the dialogue involving as many persons as possible, opening up to one another and to the world. We also want our students to be concerned for one another as we learn to be concerned for them. We want them to achieve friendships among one another as they move to a heightened sense of craft and wide-awakeness and a renewed consciousness of worth and possibility.”

Following an input in Education Studies: Historical and Comparative Perspectives on Education module, I thought about this quote from Greene and I reflected on what it means to be in a classroom. What is our purpose of schooling? What is the need to teach such human traits as to be caring, respectful and open-minded? I argue that it is to broaden the mind of our learners. To allow them to visualise, to imagine their potential and teach them the skills they need to turn that imagination into a reality. Schooling is to support and encourage our learners in becoming well-rounded individuals.
I analysed this quote from Maxine Green and recorded a few key points I interpreted from it:

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Click on the picture for better quality.

Many of the traits Maxine Green talks about in the above statement, I interpret to making a number of links to the Curriculum for Excellence (2009), and in particular, the four capacities: successful learners, confident individuals, responsible citizens and effective contributors.

This just highlights to me that even though Maxine Green does not base her work in Scotland, around our Scottish Curriculum, based on our learners, our expectations and our way of working in schools, the idea and the imagination and thoughts are still on the same wavelength. We want our learners to achieve potential, bring their own views and to have the confidence to express them. Most importantly, for our learners to have an awareness and an imagination for what is possible.

In response to Greene’s statement, she is talking about creating an ethos and an influential environment in classrooms and amongst children as learners and individuals – one that demonstrates respect, appreciates friendships and understands voices and opinions. I strongly agree with what Greene pushes for by saying this, as she shows understanding of the profound importance of capturing the essence of the holistic child. 

References 

Greene, M. (2000). Releasing the Imagination. Essays on Education, The Arts and Social Change. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass. Page 155.

Scottish Government (no date) Education Scotland: The purpose of the curriculum: The four capacities. Available at:
http://www.educationscotland.gov.uk/learningandteaching/thecurriculum/whatiscurriculumforexcellence/thepurposeofthecurriculum/. Last Accessed: Nov 17 2015.

‘The Secret Life of 4 Year Olds’

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slo4yo

I recently watched ‘The Secret Life of 4 Year Olds‘ broadcast by Channel 4 on Tuesday 3rd November (Watch here – http://www.channel4.com/programmes/the-secret-life-of-4-5-and-6-year-olds). As the episode progressed, I found myself realising I have definitely been underestimating children as young as four years old. The hour-long duration of the programme was enough to capture the essence of the life of a four-year-old and the day-to-day thoughts, activities and behaviour of the children – not to mention, the emotional roller-coaster they endure because their ‘best friend took their toy or decided to play with someone else.
Oh, to be four. 

A number of key points initiated…

  • Children, at 4, 5 and 6, are at a partial age;
  • Futures are formed from this young age;
  • These ages are a crucial stage for a child’s development – what they learn now is the ‘blueprint’ for adult life;
  • Moral argument can quickly become coercion;
  • Supportive friendships have the ability to rapidly change;
  • A history of friendships create expectations of behaviour;
  • Ambitions from the four-year-old children in the episode include, ‘save the planet’, doctor and hairdresser – at the same time, and ‘jelly maker’.

Dr. Sam Wass, Educational Psychologist – MRC Cambridge quotes,

“To establish and maintain relationships, one of the key tools that children need is language. And at four, the average girl tends to be five months ahead of the average boy, in terms of their language skills. This can put some boys at a disadvantage in their social interactions.”
On reflection, what is meant by ‘average’? Every individual child is different and unique in the way they learn. Therefore, arguably, we cannot generalise, label or categorise children’s abilities, to give us a specific indication of ability.

“They’re beginning to learn to regulate their emotions, to interact with each other and to understand that other people have feelings, too. These are lessons that will inform a lot of their future interactions.”
On reflection, children respond in a variety of ways in different situations and therefore express a range of emotions. For example, experiencing a tragic incident, being vulnerable to an unsafe environment, bullying, winning or losing, achievements and many more. I believe it is not possible to teach a child these emotions because to do that would mean telling  or showing a child which emotion ‘matches’, if you like, with which situation. Emotions are a natural human trait – they are intrinsic but often influenced by extrinsic factors. Therefore, we can only teach children how to cope with and respond to their emotions, by being a supportive role and most importantly, by understanding. This is a learning process which children are still going through at a young age.

He continues,
“You give a child a new abstract concept to play with such as the concept of a friendship, and the natural instinct of a child is to want to prod and explore what that idea means. They tug it around a bit, see if they can break it and by doing this, they learn more about what the concept of friendship means.”

Professor Paul Howard-Jones, Educational Neuroscientist – University of Bristol quotes,

“Competition is motivating, it’s exciting, but it’s also great learning experience.”
On reflection, competition is an issue that is widely debated: is competition a good thing? My viewpoint is that is can introduce diversity, which may be viewed as a positive. However, I think competition is an important thing to teach our children to deal with, by teaching coping strategies.

“Children at this age self-segregate on the basis of gender.”
On reflection, I remember at primary school having to choose partners, groups or team leaders and the majority of the time, boys would choose boys and girls would choose girls. It was rare that opposite genders would be paired together. What does this say about our society? If anything, what does it tell us about our teaching strategies? As teachers and educators, the fundamental basis of our teaching and learning is around equality of opportunity and inclusion. We teach children the morality that everyone is the same, despite gender, race or religion. So, why do children self-segregate on the basis of gender? I would be interested to see any comments on this post regarding this issue.

And one final thought I will leave with you – extracted from The Secret Life of 4 Year Olds:

“It’s really striking how much children have to achieve at four years old. It may look like play, but actually they’re working really, really hard and they’re having to learn an awful lot. The way that they’re communicating with each other, the way that they’re experimenting and finding things out is really, really important for them.”

– Professor Paul Howard-Jones, Educational Nueroscientist (2015)

Watch ‘The Secret Life of 4 Year Olds’ – http://www.channel4.com/programmes/the-secret-life-of-4-5-and-6-year-olds

Let me speak!

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Yesterday, in my place of work, I found myself astonished by the sight and sound of a mother silencing her child.

Allow me to contextualise the situation for you. I work in a restaurant located in our City Centre. It is always busy with guests coming in for the first time, the second time, or coming in for their weekly order. So yesterday, work was extremely busy and therefore the noise levels were expectedly high. However, I could not ignore what I heard one woman say.

I allowed my eyes to glance across tables and they stopped on one table in particular. At this table sat eight guests who had come in together and going by first judgement, they were a family – made up of what I can only presume was two brothers, around three and five years old, along with their parents, grandmother and perhaps other relatives or failing that, family friends.

Now, in my place of work is one huge stone oven which does not ignore the flames that provide it with a warm glow and extreme heat. The boy, of about five years of age, sat at the table and was staring at this oven in absolute amazement. Of course he would be – it’s an enormous oven and most definitely is not your standard oven in your kitchen at home. He was amazed. It was something new to him. Something wonderful and exciting.

He turned to his mother with absolute excitement lighting up his face, wide-eyed and open-mouthed and said,
“Look! Mum, look at that!!! Our pizza is in that oven, look!”.
At that moment lay an opportunity for the mother to endlessly discuss the most exciting thing this boy had discovered – the oven!

Instead, she turned to him, ignoring the subject that provided him with such amazement, and silenced him with,
“Sssh, be quiet.”

I was in shock. You may be wondering why I was left feeling shocked and quite simply empathetic towards this boy. You see, this child should be immersed in language. Engaged with language. Not silenced when something is open for discussing, explaining and being interested in. His mother could quite easily have turned to her son and described the oven, asked him questions about it, used language to indicate a sharing of excitement and amazement about what her son had sighted.

I am fully aware the oven is not the most exciting thing for an adult to lay eyes on. However, as teachers, parents, educators or caregivers, it is crucial that we recognise children’s learning is embedded from a young age, they are learning all the time; and that is what we need to get right – we need to identify the gaps for learning and fill those gaps with knowledge, vocabulary, insights and perspectives. With language, there are a mass amount of opportunities to do this.

It is moments like this when children are surprised, amazed and intrigued about something at which it is necessary to capture this interest and go with it. Silencing a child when they show interest in something can only teach them not to display signs of true hysteria.

Celebrate this, engage this, and most importantly ask questions. Be involved by talking, discussing and conversing using your language skills and understanding, in order to facilitate the child’s learning and awareness of language. Show emotions with language and use words the child will question the meaning of; use terminology to challenge the child appropriately and broaden the vocabulary of the child.

As cited in The Really Useful Literacy Book (3rd edn.), it is suggested that children learn by understanding and remembering, which is essentially achieved effectively by ensuring application and regular revision (Martin, T., Lovat, C., Purnell, G., 2012). I agree with this and I suggest that in order for children to learn, understand, remember and progress language skills, it is profound that they are immersed in a language-rich environment,

 

 

 The focus of this reflection is not about the oven. It is about spoken language.

 

Is teaching a profession? Are teachers professionals?

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Professionalism in the teaching discipline is diversely considered. Many people have the viewpoint that professionals are of high status in society, an example being lawyers. We must acknowledge the responsibility teachers hold in the profession and identify their roles as professionals, deservingly.

Teaching is a paid occupation, therefore I believe should be defined as a profession. Oxford English Dictionary (2012) supports this by stating that a profession is a paid occupation following extended training and formal qualifications. This definition serves the suggestion that teaching is in fact a profession, because to graduate with a teaching degree, you are required to be relevantly and formally qualified and to have completed the appropriate teacher training. Saying this, many teachers are being given jobs in schools in England without having achieved the formal qualifications. So, does this mean they are not part of this profession and subsequent to this, not professionals, because they do not have the formal qualifications? Profession is defined as having gone through appropriate training in the specified field of study, so if an individual has relevant work experience, should formal qualifications be a necessity? An article on The General Teaching Council for Wales brought to my attention the belief that teaching is not an isolated profession. Instead, it is much more: it is working with social workers, therapists, specialists and many more who bring support to teachers and children. This raises the question: are teachers professionals in more jobs and roles than teaching solely?

Oxford English Dictionary defines ‘professional’ as ‘relating to or belonging to a profession’. Although this definition is understood as meaning, for example, professionals in healthcare potentially belong to a Healthcare profession, there are many attributes of an individual which make them a professional. Being a professional means meeting standards and expectations of society, policy and those set yourself with consideration of ethics, values and beliefs. An important element of being a successful teacher is being a professional; the way you conduct yourself, behave and how your professional role is portrayed. To be a professional in teaching, it is important to ensure you are a good example for young children to follow. It is also important to consider the way you conduct yourself to your peers and to wider society, not just to your colleagues, because teachers being known as professionals can depend highly on the way they are viewed by society, which relies on the way the individual is portrayed to others.

I strongly think teachers’ roles being viewed as professionals is hugely dependent on the close community and wider society. The General Teaching Council for Scotland (GTCS) sets out a Code of Professionalism and Conduct (COPAC) in order to put in place key principles and standards expected of registered teachers, to ensure members of society have trust in teachers. The Code of Professionalism and Conduct is not only for registered teachers, but is also available to members of the public, therefore supporting the suggestion that teachers being viewed as professionals or unprofessionals is dependent on society. Saying this, it may also influence members of public to have a deep understanding of what is expected by teachers and therefore raise issues where teachers are identified as not meeting the standards. Therefore, this resulting in teachers not being appreciated as professionals. Although every teacher is different and will carry differing points of view on issues, varying values and personal beliefs, The General Teaching Council for Scotland strives to improve professional standards for teachers.

Yes, teachers should be identified as professionals, however it is dependent on how individual teachers conduct themselves, behave and portray their personality that defines whether they are being a professional.

professional

Let’s talk philosophy… MA1

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It is fundamental for any teacher to have their own philosophy of education, which is made up of their values and beliefs about learning, teaching and education, because this is an influential element of the learning, planning and reflecting process in the classroom, of which the teacher is responsible for.

Education is a never-ending, lifelong learning experience throughout which an individual to learn information, process knowledge and develop skills and abilities through experience and practice, which will develop the individual in becoming well-rounded. The value education holds is powerful and significant to many aspects of life including society, relationships and personal development; we develop by learning and being educated. Education and the value found in education is somewhat dependent around the individual’s learning experience.

To me, education is learning, knowledge, understanding, developing, experience and adaptation. I believe it is important for the teacher and the children to engage to their full capacity, always; be interested; and for the teacher to have and promote a ‘thirst for knowledge’. To experience valuable education, approaches and attitudes to acknowledge and portray are: mutual respect, equality, consideration, honesty, loyalty, integrity, justice, trust and fairness.

The teacher is the role model to the children he or she is responsible for; if the teacher portrays a thoughtful, considerate and interested attitude, the children will follow this. The responsibility the teacher holds for the learning and development of each child is highly important; the teacher must always ask, ‘what is the impact on learning?’, when he or she goes through the planning and assessing cycle. It is the teacher’s responsibility for the learning and education within the classroom – this is why it is of paramount importance the teacher has his or her own Philosophy of Education.

 

TEACH

“One child, one teacher, one book and one pen can change the world” – Malala Yousafzai

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I’d like you to think back to your first years of education, a time when you were facilitated with materials such as pencils, pens and books. Something to write on, something to write with and someone to teach you how to write. Was this your introduction to an education?

Malala Yousafzai, a teenage girl from Pakistan, was victimised by a Taliban terrorist attack  on 9th October 2012. Despite her horrific injuries, Malala’s response may seem strange, as she did not seek revenge for those who attacked her. Not only did the incident strengthen her courage and her fight for every child’s legal right to an education, Malala shed light upon one of the world’s most powerful weapons, education.

Malala addressed the United Nations, including more than 500 students in New York on 12th July 2013: “One child, one teacher, one book and one pen can change the world.” Malala allowed many others around the world to join her in her fight for the right of every child to receive an education and following her speech, many children around the world have the growing confidence to begin their journey in education.

If we lack the support from a teacher and the essential materials, our education would not be enabled. Around five million children around the world are out of education, but this can be changed. Every child has the right to provision. Every child should have an equality of opportunity to receive an education. And every child has the right to learn of current and past world affairs, just like Malala’s story. With knowledge, society can be changed. Therefore, one child, one teacher, one book and one pen can change the world.

If I wasn’t given these essential materials, I would not be the person I am today. I would not be here today. This is Malala’s inspirational vision. What’s yours?