Title: A1258690216MvzCu
1Nigel Asbridge Chaplain Missioner
The Childrens Society
learning
2In the UK, 98 of 12 year-olds want to do well
at school
3And yet, 62 of 12 year-olds dont like
going to school
4According to adults, what is a good childhood?
- Love
- A moral framework / guidelines for behaviour
- Stability and safety
- Time together as a family
- Poverty
- Family breakdown
- The influence of TV and new technologies
5According to children, what is a good childhood?
- Friends
- Relationships in general
- Love and support
- Having fun and enjoying life
6According to children, what is a good childhood?
7According to adults, what is a good experience of
learning?
- Play and exposure to risk
- Education of the whole child
- Parental involvement
- Tensions between being and becoming
- Pressure on children to achieve
- School choice and admissions policies
- Disparities in learning experiences of different
children
8According to adults, what is a good experience of
learning?
- Being with friends
- A good education in a general sense
- Teachers that are supportive, interactive fun
- Directing their own learning
- Pressure of expectations, schoolwork and exams
- Disruptive behaviour
- Unfair or unreasonable rules
9What do we know from research about friendship?
10What do we know from research about friendship?
- Friends are important to children from a very
early age, and are linked to their social and
emotional development (Dunn, 2004) - Friends are a protective factor e.g. when
children start school and if they are being
bullied (Ladd, 1990 Hodges Perry, 1999) - More teenagers in 2006 (18) do not have a best
friend that they can really trust than in 1986
(13) (Collishaw et al, in press) - UK fared badly in UNICEF analysis of
child-wellbeing and for children finding their
peers kind and helpful (UNICEF, 2007)
11What do we know from research about bullying?
- UK came 16th out of 21 countries for 11, 13 and
15 year olds reporting being bullied in previous
2 months (UNICEF, 2007) - Bullying is widely experienced 5-10
persistently bullied (Sharp et al, 2002). But
evidence of a slight decline recently (Smith,
2007) - Different types of bullying e.g. relational and
cyberbullying latter may be on the increase
(Noret and Rivers, 2006) - Some children especially vulnerable e.g.
children with a disability or SEN are 2 to 3
times more likely to be bullied (Smith, 2007) - Children are more likely to tell a friend than a
teacher or parent but some tell nobody (Smith,
2007). Friends are an important protective factor
(Hodges et al, 1999 Schwartz et al, 2000)
12What do we know from research about disparities
in learning?
Educational well-being
With children, for children, with you
13What do we know from research about disparities
in learning?
Progress in educational outcomes for very young
children, by socio- economic status at birth
Source Feinstein reproduced in The Equalities
Review (2007)
14What do we know from research about disparities
in learning?
Educational well-being
of children achieving target in English
Rank of schools by FSM
Achievement in primary schools by children in
the school receiving free school meals (2006)
With children, for children, with you
15What do we know from research about disparities
in learning?
Educational well-being
of children achieving 5 GCSE A-C
Rank of schools by FSM
Achievement in secondary schools by children
in the school receiving free school meals (2006)
With children, for children, with you
16What do we know from research about disparities
in learning?
At the school level
- A level of choice is exercised gt50 of
secondary pupils do not go to their closest
school (Burgess et al, 2004) - But poorer children less likely to have a good
school amongst nearest three 44 of FSM v 61 of
non-FSM (Burgess et al, 2006) - Childrens Society poll 51 of adults would be
prepared to move house, and 14 to give false
information to get their child into a good state
school - What is a good school? One in which students
progress further than might be expected from
their intake (Sammons, 2007)
17What do we know from research about different
aspects in learning?
- Different aspects of learning
- A rounded picture of a good school would assess
attitudes, attendance, behaviour and self-esteem,
as well as academic attainment (Sammons, 2007)
- Social, emotional and academic competence
complement each other - Learning to manage the emotions can assist
learning (Greenhalgh, 1994) - Programmes that teach social and emotional
competences (mainly in the US) linked to wide
range of educational gains e.g. improved school
attendance, higher motivation, and higher morale - (Durlak, 1995 Durlak and Wells, 1997 US
Governments General Accounting Office, 1995
Catalano et al, 2002).
18Whats it all about?
- What is the purpose of education?
- Given the importance of friends to children,
what can we do inside and outside schools to
better support childrens friendships? - What should the respective roles of schools and
parents be in childrens learning, and how might
we better support the relationship between them? - How can we improve the learning experience of
those that are not doing well in the current
system e.g. children with low attainment, that
regularly truant or have been excluded?
19- www.mylife4schools.org.uk
- Tailored to meet targets on
- Citizenship and PSHE
- Every Child Matters agenda
- Social and Emotional Aspects of Learning
20- www.mylife4schools.org.uk
- Six units mirrored on the six themes of The Good
Childhood Inquiry Friends, Family, Learning,
Lifestyle, Health and Values - Each unit offers animated stories, interactive
activities, downloadable activity sheets and
detailed teachers notes
21- www.mylife4schools.org.uk
- Free resource for teachers of children aged 7-11
launched February 2008 - Developed by The Childrens Society in line with
The Good Childhood Inquiry - Aim to help give children the skills they need
to have a healthy, happy childhood
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