Views & Opinion
Collaboration with outside organisations could help children fall
back in love with reading Comment by DES HOWLETT, Education Manager at Sharks Community Trust
Without question, there’s so much to gain by working with schools on their literacy lessons to engage more young people in reading. External programmes, delivered alongside the curriculum, have the ability to enhance the incredible work being done by schools on a daily basis and can also help to deliver creative and exciting additions to a pupil’s learning journey. All students learn differently, so outside assets
can make a real difference, especially if they allow for new methods to be trialled. Additional
external support can also allow lessons to be delivered in a variety of innovative ways and in an entirely new place, creating a learning space that’s exciting and encourages pupils to engage. With this in mind, it’s always fantastic to see schools and education
professionals making positive, strategic partnerships within their local communities. This can help teachers to build on their current lesson plans, with access to brilliant outside resources that pupils can take full advantage of.
External organisations are in a great position to communicate the
importance of reading to young people through several different methods. For example, at Sharks Community Trust, we work with the National Literacy Trust on a ‘Rugby Reading Champions’ programme, which helps to engage young people in reading through the power of sport. During the programme, young people have the opportunity to take
part in practical rugby sessions, mock press conferences and Q&As sessions with authors. All of these activities have contributed to getting so many young people excited about books again and has convinced many to give reading another try. Boys from typically working-class backgrounds can struggle with
remaining engaged when reading books in a classroom environment, which could mean they risk falling behind the expected reading level for their age groups. However, we’ve witnessed first-hand through our work with the Literacy Trust that having positive role models who enjoy reading, such as sportspeople, can be an extremely powerful tool for inspiring young boys. Therefore, it’d be fantastic to see schools and outside organisations coming together to inspire more young people to read. It’s also important to consider how the way we read is massively
changing. In 2020, sitting down and reading fiction is not the only or even the most common way to read anymore. Instead, people are much more engaged with reading blogs, checking apps and scrolling through timelines – all of which are examples of engaged reading. By looking for new ways to collaborate with external partners, schools can look to share these changing reading habits with pupils in very practical ways, Encouraging young people to read little and often, in whichever form
they choose, is a great way to get them excited about reading again and outside organisations can really help schools to go above and beyond with this. And if this helps to improve overall literacy levels, it makes any strategic community partnerships all the more worthwhile.
What does the landmark ruling in January on ‘Ethical Veganism’ really mean for school food?
Comment by PHILIP MANSBRIDGE, Executive Director, ProVeg UK
It will have been hard not to notice the rise in the interest and adoption of vegan diets over the last few years in the UK and globally. As more and more people grow aware of the environmental impact of animal agriculture, health issues associated with eating meat and concerns over animal welfare, there’s a growing popularity in not only veganism, but also in being flexitarian – choosing to actively reduce meat
intake. Even the Golden Globes went vegan, with Joaquin Phoenix, amongst others, taking to the stage to a global audience of millions to call out the impact of animal agriculture on our planet. Closer to home was the employment tribunal of Jordi Casamitjana
which involved an initial ruling on the concept of ‘Ethical Veganism’*. In January a Judge ruled that ‘Ethical Veganism’ meets the criteria for a philosophical belief and should be legally protected, that it was more than just an opinion or lifestyle choice. But, what does this all mean – and how does it or could it affect food in schools, colleges and universities? It’s still not uncommon for schools and nurseries to not offer vegan
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meals, regardless of whether there are vegan children, with veganism classified as a lifestyle choice – thus determining that they have no legal obligation to provide these meals. But now, with this case law, if a parent, or student, were to make a
claim suggesting that they were discriminated against owing to their philosophical belief (as part of the Equality Act 2010), it seems a legal precedent has been set. Likewise, all children under the Milk Subsidy Scheme are entitled to
subsidised milk, milk products and yoghurt, and pre-school children under five years old and in day care are eligible for free milk under the Nursery Milk Scheme, but the Subsidy Scheme specifically states that this has to be milk from a cow, sheep or goat and the Nursery Scheme only allows for cow’s milk, meaning no free plant-based milk is available under either scheme. Going forward, it may be hard for a school, or indeed, the Government (as administrator of this scheme), to argue now that this isn’t actively discriminating against ethical vegan pupils by giving people with other philosophical beliefs free or heavily subsidised milk. It seems that this case could well be the start of many more, unless
schools make changes. A wealth of data exists to suggest that young people are increasingly moving to vegan or vegetarian diets and the landscape is changing. Rather than risk expensive civil court cases, or being tarnished as discriminatory, it seems so much better to come on board with the changes happening in our society and act proactively. This way, everyone wins – the schools, the students and the planet.
* An ‘Ethical Vegan’ is someone who opposes the use of animals by humans for any purpose, so it goes beyond just not wanting to eat fish, meat, dairy, eggs etc, but also extends to not wearing leather, wool, silk etc, and actively avoiding the use of animals for personal gain. This is different to someone who has ‘gone vegan’ for health reasons or as part of just dietary changes.
February 2020
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