PROMOTING EQUALITIES AND COMMUNITY COHESION THROUGH SCHOOL LINKING

1. PROMOTING EQUALITIES AND COMMUNITY COHESION THROUGH SCHOOL LINKING Friday 8 July 2011 Angie Kotler CEO, SLN

2. SLN: A BIT OF BACKGROUND • Established in 2007 by DCSF and supported by Pears Foundation • To support individual schools and local authorities to respond to duty to contribute to community cohesion • SLN grew out of established and effective local school linking work in Bradford and Tower Hamlets between 2001 and 2007 • Working with 40+ LAs and over 1000 more individual schools across England – to date over 2500 schools and thousands of children and young people.

3. COMMUNITY COHESION • What does it mean to you? • What does it mean in your district? • What does it mean to your schools? • An ongoing priority or a passing political fad? • How does it fit with Equalities?

4. INSPECTING COMMUNITY COHESION • Deep understanding of your school and community • Plan and act according to this understanding • Evaluate impact

5. THE NEW OFSTED FRAMEWORK • Effective leaders know their school well • Accuracy of self-evaluation and use made of its findings • Raised expectation in terms of promoting equality and good relations • Working in partnership to improve further

6. EVALUATE GROUPS Levels of voluntary participation in a family learning project by pupils who are more able in some way. Figure 7: More Able Pupil Participation Graph

7. EVALUATE Levels of voluntary participation in a family learning project by pupils who are vulnerable in some way. Figure 4: Vulnerable Pupil Participation Graph

8. THE NEW OFSTED FRAMEWORK Shift of focus to include not only academic attainment but also spiritual, moral, social and cultural development as part of judgement on overall effectiveness. Equality of opportunity for all pupils is key in this.

9. THE EQUALITY ACT The Equality Act and Public duty requires schools to eradicate discrimination, advance equality and foster good relations. Content must be decided according to the needs of each school.

10. NATIONAL CURRICULUM • Freedom, fairness and responsibility....... • Cultural heritage – whose? How do we create the ‘right’ balance in terms of equality? How do we ensure all pupils are seen and heard?

11. OTHER DRIVERS OR FRAMES OF REFERENCE The Cambridge Primary Review – a community curriculum: • Wellbeing • Local, national, global citizenship • Enacting dialogue • Engagement • Exciting imagination • Promoting understanding of interdependence and sustainability

12. IDENTITY MATTERS Can we be proud of who we are and still respect and relate well to others who we perceive as other? • What are multiple identities? • What about multiculturalism? • Do we have a vocabulary to discuss these issues? • Do we understand how the curriculum can help?

13. ALL SCHOOLS AND COMMUNITIES ARE DIFFERENT Each school needs to develop the appropriate approach depending on and reflecting their community/ies. Each school needs to consider the different layers and kinds of community they serve. Start small and work outwards! Who am I…? Who are we....?.

14. SO HOW CAN SLN HELP? The Schools Linking Network takes as its starting point: • the need for us all to develop the skills of meaningful dialogue • to be able to communicate across real or perceived boundaries • to develop a vocabulary of shared humanity. WITHIN SCHOOLS AND BETWEEN SCHOOLS, WITHIN COMMUNITIES AND BETWEEN COMMUNITIES We sometimes have to peel back layers of received wisdom to rediscover our innate curiosity- it’s natural to want to ask questions about difference! We also need to understand that while our need to classify and create order in our world is also natural – we all want to belong – we also need to understand when being part of ‘us’ may lead to negative thinking about ‘them’………. SO………….

15. 4 SIMPLE QUESTIONS Who am I? Who are we? Where do we live? How do we all live together?

16. MAKING POWERFUL CONNECTIONS Who am I? Developing the skills and confidence to talk about myself with others, my home, my family, my community, what I like, what I don’t like, how I see the world, what matters to me. Speaking and Listening, PSHE: developing deeper understanding of what it means to be me......

17. MAKING POWERFUL CONNECTIONS Who are we? Developing awareness of others and of self in relation to others; about empathy, listening, respect, critical thinking, emotional maturity....who are WE, in our class, our street, our village, our region, our country, our world, what connects us and makes us feel good? What separates us and makes us feel afraid? What does history teach us and how can we make sure we learn from it?

18. MAKING POWERFUL CONNECTIONS Where do we live? Making geography meaningful and exciting! How does where we live shape our lives and our understanding of the world? How is this the same and different for other communities? How are these places connected by trade, relationships, other things?

19. MAKING POWERFUL CONNECTIONS How do we all live together? If we have prepared the ground well using the previous three questions, this one - the most important - will arise naturally. The ultimate aim of all our work is to provide opportunities and understanding for young people to feel curious, connected, engaged, motivated to contribute, able to find out and question and excited about the road ahead.

20. THINKING OF LINKING?AIMS OF SLN • To develop and deepen children and young people’s knowledge and understanding of identity/ies, diversity, equality and community • To develop skills of enquiry, critical thinking, reflection and communication • To develop trust, empathy, awareness and respect • To provide opportunities for children and young people to meet, build new relationships, work together and contribute to the wider community • To provide opportunities for adults, who work with children and young people, to share good practice, increase understanding of the issues of identity and community and to broaden perspectives

21. PRINCIPLES OF EFFECTIVE LINKING • Equitable benefits for all partners • Safe but challenging processes • Meaningful encounters including enjoyment and thought-provoking work • Creative approaches including drama, music • Time and processes for reflection between encounters • Recognition and respect for diversity - explicit and implicit • Continuing Professional Development for staff • Institutional support and Sustainable programmes with planned outcomes beyond the pupils who have direct linking experience

22. RICH EXPERIENCE PLUS REFLECTIVE PRACTICE = DEEP LEARNING

23. “I had stage fright but I know that if I believe in myself I can do it.” Year 5 pupil “I learnt that you can trust other people not only the people you know.” Year 5 pupil

24. PRIMARY IDENTITY WORK Who am I? 6 lesson plans I am poems Mindmaps about me Where do we live? Dream City Voices in the park Mapping where we live Postcards Who are we? Identity cards conversations We are Britain Invisible & Visible Voices in the park How do we live together? We are all born free Rights for every child People equal Starfish Something Else

25. VOICES IN THE PARK Using a book to take the conversations deeper. Voices in the Park helps explore hope and hopelessness, prejudice and openness and the powerful effects we all have on the world around us.

26. SECONDARY SCHOOLS Humanities and cross curricular projects – History, Geography, Citizenship, RE, Creative Arts and Languages..... City Parks – local issues and student voice Model United Nations – research, presentation, communication, confidence, critical literacy Links between mainstream and special schools and transition links – empathy, awareness, active citizenship Linked work experience scheme – raising aspiration and confidence

27. EVALUATION Shows us that where these principles are applied consistently , the experience of linking can be life-changing and pupils: • Become more open to mixing • Have increased confidence to explore their own identity • Have increased awareness of broader community • Have increased curiosity about and respect for others and for different cultures and ways of life • Have increased self-efficacy and self-belief

28. EVALUATION Shows us that where these principles are NOT applied carefully, consistently or in a sustained way, pupils may be: • Disappointed due to unrealistic expectations • Suspicious of linking partners • Resentful of being made to participate when uncomfortable • Feeling threatened, scared or anxious by unfamiliarity or actual hostility • Afraid to voice concerns because they don’t want to disappoint teachers

29. EVALUATION What about teachers? SLN’s programme has significant impact on teachers and advisers. The programme then works well where teachers: • are able to give adequate time and thought to planning and communicating with pupils and others involved • are well supported by whole school ethos • are able to maximise opportunities for exciting experiential learning..... • and to bring this back into reflective practice in the classroom and connect to learning across the curriculum

30. CONTROVERSIAL ISSUES Encouraging an ethos where pupils can speak openly about their thoughts and feelings, even when these may seem controversial, e.g. A child says they don’t like another child or that someone has told them that certain people are bad etc. This needs very careful and confident facilitation and we pay considerable attention to this in our CPD to support teachers to hone their understanding of their own attitudes and beliefs and we provide practical tools to use in the classroom.

31. AIMS OF SLN – GOING FORWARD • Every school has an ethos which equips young people to understand the world they are growing up in • Every teacher equipped to facilitate learning where young people grapple with authentic issues • Every pupil understands him/herself in relation to time, place and others.

32. SCHOOLS LINKING NETWORK • SLN provides CPD, resources, guidance and ongoing project support • Our CPD provides structures and guidance based on tried and tested successful projects all over the country. • Links can be set up with schools in your area or further afield. • Links can address all difference aspects of diversity including socioeconomic factors, special needs and gender as well as ethnicity, faith and culture. • Links can have a subject focus, a theme or relate to issues across the curriculum. • CPD can also be provided for whole staff training in identity and diversity, equality and community – transformational education.

33. CONTACT US www.schoolslinkingnetwork.org.uk T: 01274 385470 F: 01274 390058