Robson House Deputy Director
March 16, 2024, 5:00
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Conversation – A Conversation with Dr. Jess Mahdavi-Gladwell
As our school community celebrates World Book Day and International Women's Day throughout the week, I have been thinking about the importance of the curriculum in developing understanding, values and shared knowledge. This week's blogosphere inspired me a lot.
For some children, attending school is a huge challenge. This blog, written by Jim Bowyer, CEO of Skylark Partnership, AP and SEND network, reflects updated legal guidance on the education of people who are unable to attend school for health reasons.
Bowyer pointed out that the new guidance does not remove schools' ability to remove children from their rolls if they are not well enough to attend, drawing on the experience of the late Sir Tim Brighouse, who had a negative experience at first. The secondary school he attended.
Bowyer's comments about stopping using the term 'school phobia' got me thinking about the power of words, both in the experiences of the young people we serve and in our own feelings about our service.
Lisa Cherry is known for her knowledge and communication about the impact of childhood trauma, especially to those experienced in therapy. Her work is therefore very relevant to many people who find school attendance difficult or impossible. In her latest newsletter, Cherry focuses on the power of her sense of belonging.
Many of the children we teach would benefit from a deeper understanding of the impact of their own life experiences and their need (and fear) of belonging. Belonging is something we often strive for in ourselves. Think about when we speak with pride about ‘our school’ and ‘our class’. This is also something we naturally seek to build for others, especially as we strive to meet the needs of all students.
Cherry's blog is a useful reminder that if we want to be inclusive, we must be mindful of the risk of 'retraumatization' in achieving that goal.
When thinking about how best to support the diverse strengths and needs of children in our classrooms, the value of ‘internal leadership’, described here by Viv Grant, can be seen as key. Grant defines the concept of ‘inner signals’ that guide personal and professional growth.
Although this blog is aimed at senior leaders, we are all leaders in our classrooms and I believe this is relevant to all of us. Facing uncomfortable truths is something that can benefit us all.
While more and more senior leaders in schools seem to value coaching as a way to support their career development, those of us who are classroom-based can also benefit from this kind of support. How can you make better use of your digital staffroom?
I was lucky enough to hear Lekha Sharma speak at an event hosted by The Step Up Network last February. In this article effect In the journal, she writes about the importance of integrating cultural and curriculum knowledge to continually improve the quality of education we provide.
Sharma makes a useful connection between clear values and effective curriculum. She also makes a compelling case for the importance of creating the right conditions for clarity in terms of curriculum structures and norms. Her emphasis on the positive impact this strategy has on employee wellbeing gave me a clear sense of why I should follow her on this journey and how to do it well.
Finally, this week we move from the ‘thousand mile journey’ to a more immediate problem we can all take to solve: the thousand mile stare.
In this article (and the interview on which it is based), Blake Harvard offers four explanations for the 'blank stare' that appears on learners' faces no matter how well-crafted curriculum and instruction are.
Thoughtful potential solutions and a focus on putting the needs of learners at the center of finding solutions speak to the values we share as a profession and give us hope that true inclusion is not as far away as it sometimes feels.