From the chapter ‘Education‘
Tim Baker, Primary school headteacher
Children need to be nurtured, valued and given the confidence to believe that they can achieve the things that school offers in their education. Schools can be strewn with posters saying, ‘You can achieve anything’ or ‘Believe it and you can do it’, and another may say ‘The only mistake is not learning from it’. These are wonderful ideals, but what do they mean to a child? Are they there to motivate the child or just look good for parents, local authority and Ofsted inspectors? How much attention are these given in the class, in learning and in the behaviour of the children? In other words, how much does this really permeate the school’s ethos? It is of even more importance now, as we have found that coming out of the COVID-19 pandemic the mental health of so many children has been largely affected by it.
As a headteacher for almost 20 years, I believe there is substantial benefit in young primary school children being taught through seeing and understanding the connection between what they ‘have to’ learn and the real world around them. When done properly, they will quickly understand the context and relevance of the subject matter by linking it to the world and society in which they live and know. They also get to experience how they are supported by those around them. With my school staff, we often talk about our children working together and being a team, about cooperation and the need for learning to be fun and attainable for all and, most importantly, relevant to their lives.
Yet too often lessons in early primary school are based around academic activities separated from the practical application that some children cannot understand. There is an overarching mandate to teach maths and English to a good level at as young an age as possible. Consequently, undue pressure of targets based mainly on literacy and numeracy skills are heaped on the youngest children’s shoulders. Because of this we find that class teachers, senior management and school leaders measure children by narrow metrics, rather than recognising individual talents and progress in wider skills or teamwork and collective development. I’m not suggesting that English and maths are not important – quite clearly they are – but they have become the overwhelming measure of a child’s success, and for some children, they know it is a measure on which they have already fallen short.
None of us want children to feel the burden of failure at school – many of us can remember and hold on to these feelings for our whole life. Early experiences of success in school are important if we want all children to feel included in a community and to have positive attitudes towards learning. However, classrooms of today are still echoing classrooms of the long past. A screen may have replaced the chalk board, but still children sit listening to the teacher at the front, ‘working’ in books or using worksheets to figure out principles and problems far removed from their application. This approach, unfortunately, leads to frustration for some children, while for others, a sense of failure. This might lead them to misbehave and disrupt the class in the hope of being sent out from the classroom to avoid humiliation in front of their peers when they struggle with their learning.
As adults we would expect to engage with many of the skills we learn practically. We don’t learn to drive, use a new software program or swim by sitting in a class – we do it through experiential learning. While clearly some learning that children engage in is suited to the traditional chalk-and-talk teaching, there is a strong case for schools to provide opportunities to learn in a more practical way.
Educational benefits of a well-being approach
At the school where I am headteacher we tried a different approach, believing children engage better when activities have a relevance that they recognise.
Let’s look at one example. Two of the most effective ways we have delivered the maths and English curricula has been through gardening and cooking. Both activities have a relevance for children and, in my experience, all find them engaging. We think this way of teaching is so effective, that in recent years we have directed some of our discretionary budget into covering the costs of a cook and a gardener to support our teachers’ lessons.
How does this work? Well, let’s take cooking. When we cook, counting, weighing and measuring are a fundamental part of the activity. The weights are clear, and when the children carry the ingredients from the scales, they get a hands-on experience of the weight and therefore a better understanding of how much things weigh.
Without practical experience, most children will come across measures as something written or drawn, a 2D image on their desk, in a textbook or on a worksheet. The images used may not be drawn to scale, which can cause confusion. I remember observing a child with special educational needs (SEN) working in a mixed ability group for maths. The teaching assistant (TA) filled a jug with water to the 250ml line and asked the children how much water was in the jug. This child, usually shy and not wanting to answer questions, was surprisingly the first to answer. The TA was not only pleasantly surprised that he was able to answer so quickly, beating those regarded as ‘brighter’, but also recognised how much it did for his confidence. By making the problem real, this child was able to access understanding he may not have been able to have had it been a written or drawn problem in a book.
We have also found that by using cooking and gardening as vehicles to underpin learning, each child recognises that teamwork produces results. I see this whenever a group of children bring me something they have cooked. They say, ‘Look at what we’ve done’ and then identify each child’s contribution and therefore their value. In turn this increases their self-esteem as it is recognised and praised by their peers. I recall two boys who had been in trouble at lunchtime after almost coming to blows over a goal in a game of football. When I went to check up on them in the afternoon, in the teaching kitchen, they were working alongside each other, both cutting vegetables for a lesson, talking together and planning their meal, their argument forgotten.
Not only do we get the benefits of pupils working together but also of being outside when they are gardening – something we all know from COVID-19 lockdowns is so important for our well-being. Children, particularly those whose only experience is their neighbourhood, have a great need for open spaces. As our garden evolves throughout the year it inspires great writing: leaves ‘as green as emeralds’ in Spring become ‘like gold dripping from the branches’ in Autumn.
Learning that ‘real-life’ situational learning need not just be confined to gardening and cooking, children demonstrate very early on their interest in society and community, giving thought to what they wish to be. We often witness this through role-play where pupils dress up and act out being doctors, nurses, mechanics, police officers, shopkeepers, vets or fire officers. The list is only limited by what we provide them with experience. We see through this a clear desire to rehearse what they see or know about in the community.
A call for learning studios for primary school children
I have found that allowing children to ‘do’ subjects, either by role-play, or practical and fun application, is not only a much better preparation for maths, English and other subjects than traditional teaching methods, but it also improves their confidence in society, community and for their ultimate future working life. They not only learn to cooperate but also to recognise the value of others.
As I have found that more children learn better in fun and communal settings, with real-life, hands-on and practical exercises, I’ve become an advocate of the power of the lesson setting as well as the style of hands-on learning. I’m delighted our school has pioneered the concept with our gardener, cook, school garden and teaching kitchen, as our teachers, parents and, of course, most importantly, year after year, our children demonstrate.
I therefore advocate to the government that it is crucial that children in primary school have access to a ‘learning studio’. One that contains a teaching kitchen, a garden and an area that gives space for children to reflect, talk or spend time expressing their feelings, and staffed accordingly.
These ‘studios’ can be located in the school or in the community, shared by a number of schools including secondary schools, as this would also aid with transition for primary school leavers. I also believe that these studios could provide a safe space for elderly or isolated people, with safeguarding measures in place, who could then work with the children supporting their activities as well as the children providing company as well as food, in a true community initiative. It’s time for the government to learn that teaching lessons through real life works, and to mandate learning studios in primary schools.