Views & Opinion Bringing the past to life
to illustrate the future Comment by FELICIA JACKSON, Chair of the Learn2Think Foundation
As Churchill paraphrased in 1948, those who fail to learn from history are condemned to repeat it. In a world facing challenges that demand collective action we must find ways to combat this failure. Human behaviour changes but not human nature. Isn’t history then arguably the most reliable path to understanding the present and anticipating the problems of the future? History is a unique and powerful tool to help
set current challenges in context and at a time when international political collaboration is under attack, its teaching and exploration couldn’t be more important. As Adrian Wooldridge points out in the Economist’s Bagehot column, members of the European community seem determined to repeat the mistakes of the thirties and forties. The UK demands its ‘sovereignty’ as a means of quitting the EU, whatever that means in a globalised economy. President Trump demonises minorities and seems determined to isolate the US with his ‘America First’ policies. Recently he has reverted to the old anti-Semitic trope of accusing US Jews who didn’t support him of having dual loyalties This political and national divisiveness is growing even as it grows more
apparent that the challenges we face demand global collective action, from the loss of Artic ice, fires in the Amazon, plastics pollution and the
impacts of climate change. Nowhere can we learn better lessons about the consequences of our actions than our history. Today the 1648 Treaty of Westphalia that ended Europe's Thirty Years' War is being hailed as a model that might address the religious, cultural and economic debacle stifling development in the Middle East. What history shows us in most detail are the dangers of intolerance.
“Otherisation”, the demonization of one group as ‘other’ as a means of ‘protecting’ a broader social and institutional context lies at the heart of intolerance and autocracy. Otherisation demands a failure in understanding and the inability to communicate with others or have empathy for their position. This year at the Learn2Think Foundation we’re focusing on history as
the central theme of Tolerance Day, where we mark the UN’s International Day for Tolerance with a range of free lesson plans, games, assemblies and workshops which focus on teaching that builds understanding, empathy, creative and critical thinking. This year we are using lessons from the past to learn more about each other and build bridges between different cultures and generations. We explore Amy Bueller’s 1943 book, Darkness over Germany. It
provides a fascinating insight into Nazi leaders and the radicalisation of young Germans in the late 1930s, which has significant resonance in current times. She believed that the best way to discuss difficult issues was for people to live and work together, to build relationships and better understand each other. The book covers her experiences in Germany encourages us to think critically about the threat and appeal of Nazism to young people. Most importantly, it highlights the need to maintain dialogue in times of change and discord, and provides a timely reminder of how a message of hate once fueled a nation to unite. Join us this year in building that dialogue in how we bring the teaching
of tolerance into our schools from the earliest age, using the curriculum to explore the lessons that we need to learn
http://www.toleranceday.org/
From Uttoxeter to Ullswater: A journey of personal
discovery and growth Comment by KATHY FRIEND, Denstone College Preparatory School, Uttoxeter
Character Building is at the heart of education at our school and our aim is to help develop every child as a rounded individual. We put the whole child at the heart of everything we do, which means we focus on their identity and personal development. Enshrined in our aims is the idea that every child enjoys coming to school and that they grow into capable, confident, independent learners. We educate to high academic standards but believe that this must go hand in hand
with childrens’ overall spiritual, cultural and physical maturity. About three years ago, the whole school community agreed on 20
words which form the core values for living and learning in our school. Each month two words are taken as the core values and every class has those values on display. We have a whole school assembly each time the words change, to think about what the values mean and how we can demonstrate them. Outdoor learning is highly valued at our school and outdoor lessons
happen at least once a week. We are currently refurbishing our wildlife garden. Year 6 pupils are working on pollinators via the citizen science scheme Polli:Nation, a largely child-led initiative, with recommendations
20
www.education-today.co.uk
for planting and an information-sharing day to come. Older children can complete a John Muir Award, which champions environmental stewardship. In addition, the pollinator project feeds into the award, along with The Outward Bound Trust course. The aims of the residential are to increase group empathy,
collaboration and co-operation. In addition the course is designed to increase resilience and
determination, increase awareness of their own skills and abilities and, importantly, to improve everyone’s ability to listen and communicate. We aim to enhance every child’s confidence and self-belief too and the residential involved a high degree of mindfulness of and concern for the natural environment. June 2019 saw 28 pupils and 4 teachers, divided into groups, do some
very challenging activities, such as gorge walking and jumping into cold water. The Outward Bound instructors got participants to think hard before, during and after the activity. They explicitly taught why pupils were doing something and what benefits it can have for character development. We focused on the difference between ‘survive’ and ‘thrive’ where surviving is a baseline but thriving is more efficient and effective. Our aims were always for the latter. Every child came away having had a very valuable learning experience
as well as lots of fresh air and fun. Sometimes reward is only achieved after a challenging experience. They knew they were being challenged to achieve something they didn’t believe they could do. They all went beyond their own expectations. It was so positive. Even camping overnight in torrential rain and trekking with heavy backpacks provided a real sense of doing something together and collaborating to make it a great experience for all. At the start, many children thought ‘I can’t do that’ but we talked a lot
about the growth mindset and positive thinking. By the end of the week, they were more likely to say ‘I can’ or ‘I can’t do that yet’.
September 2019
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