VIEWS & OPINION


Gambling in schools: what are the odds? Comment by MARK BENTLEY, Online Safety and Safeguarding Manager, London Grid for Learning


Have you heard of loot boxes or skins trading? If not, and you are thinking an article about gambling among schoolchildren is not for you – gaming, sure, but not gambling – then you might want to think again and read on. When we are keeping children safe in


schools, issues which affect adults are generally recognised to also affect young people. It is widely accepted that sexual exploitation or abuse, alcohol or drugs need addressing by schools because they affect young people, whether directly or indirectly via family members. Gambling, by contrast, is often left out of prevention campaigns and PSHE planning, seen as an adults-only problem. Yet the Gambling Commission’s 2017


annual report found that 12% of 11-16-year olds had spent their own money on gambling in the past week (compared to 16% who had used alcohol, 5% cigarettes and 3% illegal drugs). Whilst the tell-tale signs of drug or alcohol


use can alert schools to a problem, especially directly after their consumption, online gambling can take place on a phone in seconds, under a desk at school or under the covers at night. That has been the case for several years now, and gambling is only


becoming easier and more prevalent. This makes the opportunities to recognise a problem and offer support with addiction difficult, but all the more important. This is why Demos, Gamble Aware and the


PSHE Association have worked together to conduct research on preventing gambling harm for young people. Their work has led to an academic report and new PSHE resources for schools published last week. The resources have been piloted and proven


in terms of increasing awareness and are well worth a look; they focus on critical thinking, managing risk and developing resilience as well as looking out for your friends and knowing where to go for support. Have a look and see how you might


incorporate these into your curriculum. They are for Secondaries, but as ever, are worth a look if you are in a Primary to see what might be of use. The Demos research findings too have all manner of interesting findings, such as the fact that children’s exposure to gambling adverts has tripled between 2005 and 2012. But what about those loot boxes and skins?


Children and young people are at the forefront of experimental gambling, often in a twilight zone where users don’t understand they are


gambling and unscrupulous providers sometimes want to keep it that way. And if you don’t know you are gambling, how can prevention messages reach you? You can read an overview of skins and skin


betting from ParentZone, but in a nutshell this involves the purchase or winning of new items, outfits or weapons in a game, which can be traded or wagered on the outcome of another game, leading to large wins…or heavy losses. Loot boxes are reminiscent of game shows


of yore, where the games master asks contestants to trade their winnings for the contents of a mystery box, which could hold the keys to a house, a car, or nothing. Today, these now appear as paid add-ons in games that young people play. So whilst it wouldn’t be a good idea to


introduce the term loot box to your class or ask if pupils have ever traded skins, you may want to keep an eye and ear out when you talk to them about the games being played online.


uhttps://parentzone.org.uk/article/what- skin-gambling


uhttp://www.gamblingcommission. gov.uk/news-action-and-statistics/news/ 2017/loot-boxes-within-video-games.aspx


The transformative power of story in


higher education Comment by AMY WAREING, Lecturer of Radiography at the School of Health Sciences, Robert Gordon University


Storytelling for learning really works and this applies at every level. It’s more than simple narrative. It can be described as an embodied practice


- giving tangible or visible form to an idea, quality, or feeling. As human beings, when we interact with one another we often engage with and make use of stories. We might want to bring a set of instructions to life or communicate depth of context about a particular phenomenon or experience. In such cases, story is a helpful tool because it provides a model through which others can relate to the information we are sharing. As an experienced clinician taking my first tentative steps into the world of


academia, I quickly found myself using stories to support learning in the university classroom. The stories were both real - from personal clinical experiences – and


fictitious, relatable analogies. Anecdotally, it was clear from the outset that these were the experiences that the students really enjoyed. As it turned out I wasn’t alone, some of my other colleagues appeared to be doing the same. These were the first motivations for my PhD studies. There was surprisingly


little research on the actual practice or ‘doing’ of storytelling in health sciences – how, when, where and what. I wasn’t even particularly sure if how I was telling stories was ‘right’ or the best way to support my students’ learning. I set out on a journey to find out more about storytelling for teaching.


Could a ‘how to’ guide be created for educators who wanted to use and improve their storytelling skills in classes? Can you learn to embody story? Can it transform learning? Over the last four years I have researched the literature and practices of


April 2018


allied health science academics, students, learning and support staff. As it turns out, the findings suggest that there are observable components to storytelling which can be learnt and developed. Interestingly, while it has long been a key feature of school teaching,


storytelling may be more powerful in the adult classroom than previously considered. Stories can be a catalyst for transformative thinking amongst students facilitating powerful changes in identity. This contrasts with the traditional more transmissive and transactional methods of teaching and learning. There were several examples where educators used experiential stories to


create a disruptive contrast to teaching sessions - challenging students to question their own, each other’s and indeed the educators’ values or belief sets. These findings come at a valuable time for us at RGU, having recently been


awarded a Gold rating in the Teaching Excellence Framework, which recognises and rewards high quality teaching. There is real energy and drive across the university for more meaningful ways to engage students with academic content for high value, real world application. This desire is clearly shared elsewhere and my initial work was well-received


at last year’s Higher Education Academy Meeting in Manchester, where many academics and teachers discussed their own experiences with me. I am looking forward to carrying on my research into this and other transformative practices which can have an outstanding effect on the teaching and learning processes for educators and learners worldwide.


www.education-today.co.uk 23


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