Education recovery following the Covid-19 crisis
The Human Values Foundation believes in the power of education that enables individuals to fulfil their potential and benefit society. In our responsive, solutions-focused work and as we strive to advance the quality and effectiveness of teaching and learning, we have been offering an ever richer portfolio of small packs that draw on elements in our main programme for the rounded development of children aged 5 to 11 called THE BIG THINK. These mini programmes develop teaching professionals’ pedagogy for real-world learning and have direct and sustainable impacts on both facilitators and learners. Our latest such project is THE BIG FIVE.
As we began to emerge from the Covid-19 crisis this year into a fundamentally changed operating context, we considered the best of what we had learnt while adjusting to the conditions caused by school closures, the need for adaptive working and closer collaboration with all stakeholders making up school communities and the move in the education sector, which had started before the pandemic, to focus more on wellbeing.
We were conscious that many teachers were finding the dearth of training opportunities since early 2020 and the paucity of new guidance in classroom management meant they felt unprepared to deal with the heightened social and emotional needs of their pupils.
In readiness for the Autumn term, we therefore created a resource to help school leaders promote a mentally healthy school climate in which everyone could thrive. The practical, carefully structured modules build teachers’ confidence in their own social and emotional competencies as they implement them. They then feel better equipped to ensure a supportive atmosphere in their classrooms and can more confidently facilitate sessions to strengthen their pupils’ wellbeing. The pack is designed to introduce children to ways of coping with their feelings, enrich classroom interactions and encourage kind and helpful behaviour so everyone can flourish and learn.
THE BIG FIVE project
People are thinking differently about the purpose of education and some fundamental changes that are needed, sooner rather than later. We are very encouraged by the new level of thinking, the more enabling angles being considered – and the growing appreciation of the systemic improvements that arise when high quality values education is embedded across the curriculum.
THE BIG FIVE resource is a taster for THE BIG THINK. It comprises a series of five challenging and potentially life-changing sessions for both children and educators. We launched it with an introductory workshop on 20 November 2022 – World Values Day.
Values promote consistency. The 10 learning modules making up THE BIG FIVE – five for children aged 5 to 7 and five for ages 7 to 11 – are based on the five human values that are at the heart of THE BIG THINK programme: TRUTH, PEACE, LOVE, RESPONSIBILITY and COMMUNITY.
This values-themed pack provides a route map that helps to bring about a sustainable, emotionally healthy school climate that is conducive to all stakeholders – children, teachers, other members of staff, parents and carers – being able to maximise their talents, achieve, collaborate and lead fulfilling lives.
The toolkit reflects what Dr Haim Ginott, a schoolteacher, child psychologist, psychotherapist and parent educator had to say about the significance of teachers as role models:
“I’ve come to a frightening conclusion that I am the decisive element in the classroom. It’s my personal approach that creates the climate. It’s my daily mood that makes the weather.”
We all know our ‘inside weather’ is very changeable and impacts those around us. As teachers run THE BIG FIVE modules, they become more aware of what they are transmitting – the atmosphere they create – and the importance of the wider climate, the environment that determines how safe and supported the children feel and the characteristics needed to foster healthy development.
For the children, the sequence of five sessions creates an expansive, cumulative learning journey. It starts with better understanding themselves, their ‘inside weather patterns’ and how to manage their fluctuating emotions. They explore techniques for interacting well with others and so build rewarding relationships inside their classrooms as well as more widely. They learn about being accountable for their choices and actions with the help of values and lastly about the rich mix of humanity and how they can play their part in society.
Social and Emotional Learning (SEL)
A strong feature of THE BIG THINK, and therefore also THE BIG FIVE, is purposeful Social and Emotional Learning (SEL). The process progressively enables participants to acquire and apply knowledge, skills and attitudes necessary to understand and manage emotions, set and achieve personal and collective goals, feel and show empathy for others, establish and maintain positive relationships, and make responsible decisions. Research shows that effective SEL can positively impact pupil behaviour, mental health and wellbeing, as well as academic attainment.
