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The 2008 Linking Minds scholars with pupils of Manor Field School, Hampshire. The scholars in the back row (l-r) Steven Mouldey, Hayley Ryan, Joanna McKay, Tina-Maree Hooper |
England has a reputation for being a nation where good manners are as iconic as Coronation Street so it was appropriate for 2008's Linking Minds' recipients to find the world's leading schools' values programme in Hampshire County where they took up their international scholarship last September.
Jo McKay, Hayley Ryan, Steven Mouldey and Tina-Maree Hooper were so impressed with the positive impact the human rights based education programme Rights, Respect, and Responsibility (RRR) was having on students' learning and wellbeing and teachers' morale, each has begun to implement it into their own schools to strong effect.
Features of RRR include the development of rights based class and school charters with student input, greater autonomy to student councils, more involvement of students in school and community liaisons and modifications of teacher behaviour to ensure the rights of the child are respected.
The Hampshire schools have built on a programme of children's rights education in Cape Breton, Canada, and Hampshire County is now considered an international leader in its promotion and support of schools that provide education consistent with the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.
The UK ratified the Convention in 1991, obligating authorities to ensure their laws, policies, and practices are consistent with it. In 2004, the Hampshire Education Authority launched the RRR initiative country wide across the early childhood education, primary and secondary sectors. The aim was to incorporate students' rights education into the curriculum, school policy, school practices and the school culture.
The Linking Minds' scholars were inspired to see practical examples of teaching human rights and say in the schools where RRR had been fully implemented, it has become second nature for the staff and students to refer regularly to the charters and act within their boundaries.
Tina-Maree says RRR makes children aware of their behaviours, others' wellbeing, and gives them a global perspective because it links to UNICEF and international laws.
"You can teach children to be responsible and have good manners but a lot of our current values programmes do not explain why it is important. The [Hampshire schools'] students understand that they have a right to come to school and be safe but with that right comes responsibilities. RRR gives them the opportunity to think about how they can be responsible," she says.
The scholars credited RRR with students experiencing more supportive and cooperative relationships with their peers and teachers, raising students' levels of participation and attendance, and promoting fair and caring school environments.
They say principals reported they had quality data to track behavioural issues and over time could link RRR back to reducing behavioural problems and improving attendance and that some of the schools had turned themselves around with the help of the programme.
The Kiwis were particularly impressed with the power of the student voice and the strength of the student councils to work effectively on a range of activities. These included lobbying local councils to improve the wellbeing of the students' communities, and students providing feedback on staff performance and participating in the interview process to appoint new teachers.
Steven says there were well organised student councils in every school, not just at senior level but in the early years too.
"We saw a lot of active participation whereby the students were encouraged to be global citizens. For example, some wrote to CEOs of large companies to ask what they were doing about particular issues that were impacting on the students' environment."
He says RRR provides the opportunity for students to explore life beyond their own experience and the human rights' education promotes humanitarianism.
"An overgrown area of a playground in a council estate saw the students of one school lobbying their local council and working with them to clear the area and a pathway that had been preventing disabled children from accessing the playground."
Hayley says children, from Year 6 upwards, would interview prospective teachers, observe teachers and provide feedback. She says the teachers did not feel threatened because they had agreed to participate in this exercise and the students' summary, focusing on what aspects of the lesson motivated them, fed best teaching practice.
Tina-Maree, who is principal of Cambridge School, in the Waikato region, says she is using RRR to enhance the values programme already present in her small rural primary school.
She says she likes the fact RRR gets children thinking and believes that students take more ownership of their learning when they come up with the ideas.
"I have seen that using RRR is pushing the values programme one step forward and I will get more from the children if I involve them in rights and responsibility education and ask them ‘why is it important to be a good citizen?' It is important for them to know that there are things we are entitled to but we have a responsibility to be grateful for them and to show respect."
Just a month into introducing RRR, Tina-Maree has already seen improvement in her students' manners, and gives the example of all 27 of the students who use the parent run bus service thanking their driver, when this had not always been the case.
"I travelled on the school bus at the end of one day and not one child thanked the driver so I talked to them about their right to go on the bus and their responsibility to show gratitude and the drivers have since reported that every child thanks them."
Jo says her school, Saint Paul's School in Richmond, Nelson, is this year a pilot school for the RRR programme in New Zealand.
The deputy principal says she has implemented many of the ideas promoted by RRR to strengthen her school's established values based education programme.
"It is exciting to think about the opportunities that come with this programme. It is not just something more for our staff to have to think about and do but it operates like an umbrella that fits over everything we already do; strengthening values and morals, and it can be effectively integrated into social development, physical and religious education.
"We have talked about the rights of children, in accordance with the UNICEF Convention and are using ‘agreements', rather than ‘rules' for our behavioural management plan and are looking to make these into our curriculum next year.
Hayley, who teaches Year 5 at Dawson Primary School in Otara, says she has discussed RRR with her class and got them to pick one agreement that they felt was important to them. Collectively, these were made into a classroom charter, which was presented to the assembly.
She says the children talk about their responsibilities and have made them their personal goals for term one. "The students like the sense of responsibility and that the charter serves as a positive alternative to classroom rules, which have the potential to be negative."
Dawson Primary School is a Human Rights in Education (HRiE) school and Hayley says she is looking forward to seeing the positive effect RRR can have on students' behaviour and attendance.
"If the children are treating each other well, and with respect, they might be keener to come to school."
Steven, who is associate head of social sciences at Wellington High School, says he likes the fact that RRR allows students to feel they have a say in their education and he is keen to implement much of what he saw in practice. He is exploring ways to integrate RRR into the curriculum, and plans to introduce class charters, get students to participate in staff appointments and provide feedback on teachers' lessons, and he is working with the school's student board to rebuild student council.
Steven says all Year 9 students are benefiting from a new teaching system that has been enhanced by RRR. "One class is learning about a stream close to our school and some will be lobbying council to get more trees planted there."
The scholars say an additional benefit of their trip was that the contrast in English and New Zealand education systems made them aware of the great work Kiwi teachers do and appreciative of what New Zealand schools can offer.
They say New Zealand is ahead in its approach to classroom teaching, and that one of our strengths is having the flexibility to fit the curriculum around individual students' needs.
"The visit highlighted how well we do in New Zealand, particularly how creative and innovative our teachers are. In the UK there is a lot of teacher directed work on the walls, whereas in New Zealand it's more about having the kids' work up - the message being ‘kids live here!,' "says Tina-Maree.
