exploring the issues and complexities of establishing a cultural identity within a rural

school context

A Sense of Self:

Branwen Beattie

May 15th 2009

A Sense of Self: Aims and OutcomesThis session aims to encourage a debate about the dilemmas faced by student teachers and NQTs when teaching PSHE and citizenship, including issues of cultural identity, morals and values.It will investigate the possible role that we as teacher educators may have in addressing this, if we are to prepare trainees to teach in wide ranging contexts.

ContentsPart 1 – The Wider Context• UN: The Rights of the Child• UK: The National Curriculum, Ofsted

and ECM

Part 2 – Local Rural Realities and implications for ITT

• Case Study: talking to teachers• Rose, Macdonald and the future

The Wider Context

Convention on the Rights of the Child (1990)

Article 30 (Children of minorities/indigenous groups): Minority or indigenous children have the right to learn about and practice their own culture, language and religion. The right to practice one’s own culture, language and religion applies to everyone; the Convention here highlights this right in instances where the practices are not shared by the majority of people in the country.

Article 31 (Leisure, play and culture): Children have the right to relax and play, and to join in a wide range of cultural, artistic and other recreational activities.

Article 42 (Knowledge of rights): Governments should make the Convention known to adults and children. Adults should help children learn about their rights, too.

“The right to practice one’s own culture, language and religion

applies to everyone” (OHCHR, 1990)

Education for citizenship and the teaching of democracy in schools

Final report of the Advisory Group on Citizenship 22 September 1998

The Crick Report:

commissioned in order to report on and make recommendations regarding the teaching of citizenship in schools in response to the government’s White Paper Excellence in Schools

Defining Citizenship

“2.10 So what do we mean by ‘effective education for citizenship’? We mean three things, related to each other, mutually dependent on each other, but each needing a somewhat different place and treatment in the curriculum: social and moral responsibility, community involvement and political literacy.”

The Crick Report, 1998

The National Curriculum - Values and

purposes underpinning the school curriculum (QCA, 1999)

• Education influences and reflects the values of society, and the kind of society we want to be. It is important, therefore, to recognise a broad set of common values and purposes that underpin the school curriculum and the work of schools. …

• Foremost is a belief in education, at home and at school, as a route to the spiritual, moral, social, cultural, physical and mental development, and thus the wellbeing, of the individual. … Education should reflect the enduring values that contribute to these ends. These include valuing ourselves, our families and other relationships, the wider groups to which we belong, the diversity in our society and the environment in which we live…

The National Curriculum - Aims for the school curriculum

(QCA, 1999)

• Aim 2: The school curriculum should aim to promote pupils' spiritual, moral, social and cultural development and prepare all pupils for the opportunities, responsibilities and experiences of life

Towards consensus? Citizenship in secondary schools

(Ofsted, 2006)

Key findings• In schools that have taken citizenship seriously it now

has a significant place in the curriculum as well as the broader life of the school.

• There is good support available for citizenship and improved opportunities for training, and there is now much good practice that can be shared.

• The post-16 citizenship programme has been successful in showing what can be done in schools, colleges, youth centres and work-based training and these examples now need to be shared more widely.

• The intentions for citizenship education remain contested and are sometimes misunderstood; however, the period of implementation has established important principles and fostered good practice which can inform future curricular revision.• Aspects of the knowledge and understanding are

treated lightly or not at all in some schools; the three strands of the subject and their inter-relationship and some aspects of the programme of study have often been misunderstood.• In many schools there is insufficient reference to local, national and international questions of the day and how politicians deal with them.

Overall, expectations of achievement in citizenship are not yet commensurate with

other subjects and progression is often erratic.

Ofsted, 2006

Every Child Matters

Local Rural Realities

Case Study: Talking to Teachers

• School context – a 9-12 middle school with a small town mono-cultural catchment. General socio-economic situation is high employment, low aspiration.

• Focus group – nine teachers, ranging in roles, experience and entry routes to teaching

• Group interview run as staff discussion

So what are the implications for teachers?

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs

TDA, 2008

We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to

Make November the Official White History Month. MAKE NOVEMBER THE OFFICIAL WHITE HISTORY MONTHWe call for White History Month every November in response to calls from the British

public following yet another officially-endorsed Black History Month in October.The campaign is a response to the annual Black History Month held every October.

Black History Month is endorsed by the government, politicians, the BBC and other state institutions. There are exhibitions, websites, events and initiatives in schools, universities, colleges, town halls and city centres in Britain and all over the world.

We have no problem with anybody wishing to celebrate Black History Month, which allows Black people to celebrate their identity, explore their heritage and show pride in their achievements.

This is why we urge you to sign this petition giving full support to official White History Month. During this month all White people around the world – and in Britain -- will celebrate will their history and heritage with pride.

We hope that White History Month will attract the same level of funding, public recognition and support from politicians and celebrities which Black History Month has drawn.

Rose, Macdonald and the future

Are there implications for teacher educators?

The Macdonald Review of PSHE

“The PSHE Association welcomes Sir Alasdair Macdonald’s report on his independent review of the proposal to make PSHE education statutory. In particular it is delighted to see that his number one recommendation is that PSHE Education should become part of the statutory National Curriculum, in both primary and secondary schools.”

• “All existing guidance related to PSHE should be reviewed and brought together in an overarching document

• DCSF should commission further research on models of delivery for PSHE education and their effectiveness

• Initial teacher training and continuing professional development should support PSHE education, and CPD should also be available for other school staff and the wider children's workforce

• PSHE should be excluded from the requirement to have statutory levels of attainment

• No additional monitoring or evaluation of PSHE education should be introduced”

www.pshe-association.org.uk

Rose’s Recommendations“The review recommends therefore that the primary curriculum is organised into the following six areas of learning:

• Understanding English, communication and languages

• Mathematical understanding• Scientific and technological understanding• Historical, geographical and social understanding• Understanding physical development, health and

wellbeing• Understanding the arts.”

“High-quality teaching in the primary years, as elsewhere, is crucial to children’s success. McKinsey and Company in its 2007 report How the world’s best-performing school systems come out on top said that ‘The quality of an education system cannot exceed the quality of its teachers’.

This is echoed by the Cambridge Primary Review, which states that ‘A curriculum is only as good as those who teach it’. Pedagogy intersects with curriculum content to such an extent that the review, at times, has to consider both.”

Rose, J. (2009)

“It didn’t feature in my PGCE… I felt

very poorly equipped”

Comment made by Chris Rigby during ESCalate training on reflection, 16th January 2009

“To quote from a speech by the Lord Chancellor earlier this year (on which we end this report): ‘We should not, must not, dare not, be complacent about the health and future of British democracy. Unless we become a nation of engaged citizens, our democracy is not secure.’”

The Crick Report, 1998

References• Crick, B. (1998) Education for citizenship and the teaching of

democracy in schools: Final Report of the Advisory Group on Citizenship. London: QCA.

• http://curriculum.qca.org.uk/ [Accessed 25th March 2009]• http://publications.everychildmatters.gov.uk/eOrderingDownload/DCSF-

00331-2008.pdf [Accessed 29th March 2009]• Ofsted (2006) Towards Consensus? Citizenship in secondary schools.

London: Ofsted. • http://www.ofsted.gov.uk [Accessed 25th March 2009]• http://www.ohchr.org [Accessed 25th March 2009]• http://www.pshe-association.org.uk/news_and_events/sir_alasdair_

macdonald.aspx [Accessed 12th May 2009]• Rose, J. (2009) Independent Review of the Primary Curriculum: Final

Report. Nottingham: DCSF• TDA (2008) Special Educational Needs and/or Disabilities: A Training

Resource for Initial Teacher Training Providers, Primary Undergraduate Courses. London: TDA