A growing number of schools are seeing the benefits of adopting ‘values-based’ learning in a fightback against the contemporary competitive culture in educationThe pupils file in quietly class by class, the college hall lit from the front with five candles on a table. Soft music plays in the background and images of the pupils taken at various times of the year appear as a slideshow. It is the at the end assembly of the academic year at Tower Hill primary in Witney, Oxfordshire, and an opportunity for staff and children to reflect on the at the end 12 months.Brandon comes forward and tells the college how he learned to curb his rage. He immediately counts to 10 if someone has made him cross. Annie says pupils tend not to tell lies any more or try to “get outside of” something they have done incorrect. Alana says she is proud of the moment she persevered with a dense task in class when it might have been simpler just to give up.This college is located in the heart of David Cameron’s Witney constituency in west Oxfordshire, however its philosophy is some path removed from the culture of alter and competition brought to the system by Cameron’s administration via its education secretary. “Michael Gove would consider our approach far also ephemeral and touchy-feely,” says Tracey Smith, the headteacher. “However we would like him to visit us, and will be extending an invitation, so he can see what we’re achieving here in a stable, pleased environment. It might do his public image a abundance of excellent if he did not appear so rigid in his thinking.”Tower Hill is one of a growing number of schools in the UK that have adopted values-based education, a quick-growing movement locate up by a former Oxfordshire headteacher, Neil Hawkes. The ethos embraces qualities such as respect, courage, honesty, compassion and integrity among the college community, underpinned by high expectations. Its proponents believe that this ethical vocabulary, which is used and understood much by the youngest children, makes the ideal environment for learning by promoting a peaceful and cool atmosphere.Hawkes, whose movement has grown to comprehend more than 2,000 schools throughout the UK, 49 of which have received its “quality mark”, says values-based education is spreading largely by term of mouth as schools recognise its effectiveness. “It empowers them to produce excellent results since it builds character. When children employ the vocabulary of ethics they gain confidence and self-respect, and respect for others. Maths and physics have a vocabulary and so should ethics. These are innate qualities we have as human beings, which demand to be developed like all skills do.” Some areas of the nation have large clusters of schools using this thought, he says, including south Wales, Herefordshire and Bedfordshire.Just one year after arriving at Tower Hill, Smith is achieving remarkable results. Overall, 85% of the latest cohort of year 6s has achieved the benchmark level 4 score in national curriculum tests in English and mathematics, a rise from 65% at the end year. Nobody would describe Witney as a disadvantaged area however this college does not mainly serve the affluent “Chipping Norton locate” or their like. In this college more than 30% of children are entitled to autonomous of charge college meals, against a national average of 19.3% in primary schools and an Oxfordshire average of 9.8%. A third of pupils here have special needs.However for Smith primary education is not about passing tests, though student progress is tracked regularly. “We don’t teach to the tests since we don’t demand to – the majority of our pupils will pass them anyway since they learn what they demand to know through our creative approach,” she says.Her application for the headship dropped on the mat at Tower Hill at a age when the college was improving after a dense hardly any years of mediocre results and falling rolls. At her previous college, a Church of England primary, Smith had introduced values-based learning since she felt uncomfortable preaching about ethics in a religious context. “Values are not exclusive to Christianity however something everyone should aspire to,” she says.Liam Walsh, the chair of governors, says: “We had a strong field of candidates, however Tracey’s application and interview stood outside. We had not explicitly been looking for a values-based approach, however implicitly it appears that this was what was needed. The simplicity of the thought really struck a chord.”The college’s motto, Be the Best You Can, applies not only to the employment done in the classroom, however also in staff and pupils’ behaviour and their relationships with each other. The sentiment behind it was noted by the prime minister himself when he visited the college at the end of term. “I have seen a very confident headteacher and a very confident team doing fantastic things in this college to raise its profile and results and to constitute certain pupils are getting the education they deserve,” he said.Yet this college faces uncertain times. The day before term finished, Oxfordshire county council sent outside a letter to all primary heads saying it would aid any schools choosing to convert to an academy and that it supported the administration’s programme. The thought does not sit comfortably with Smith, however she knows that Tower Hill will have to consider it, should other schools commence to go down that route.In a college that promotes stability and cool it is a potential upheaval and worry that Smith feels it can do without. “We seek to constitute an environment where children feel pleased, secure and can thrive since this is the very foundation of excellent learning, so this is an unwelcome distraction,” she says.Although the wellbeing of pupils is no longer inspected as part of the Ofsted action, inspectors are expected to capture account of children’s spiritual, moral, social and cultural development. “The first ‘value’ we introduced was respect, which was the theme for most of the first term,” recalls Louise Conroy, the teacher who, with the head, has led the implementation of values-based learning. She recalls a football match when Tower Hill players approached the other team at the end of the game with outstretched hands, which their opponents refused to shake since of a disputed goal. “We saw then that our pupils had understood the concept of respect very quickly.”At lunchtimes a family scenario is made in the dining hall with pupils and teachers sitting in groups and serving each other. No one eats before everyone has their aliment. “It teaches them manners and makes an environment that some may not get at house,” Smith says.It has become accepted practice in the classroom for pupils to comment openly on each other’s employment, through a system of peer assessment, and for teachers to constitute suggestions for improvement. Previously many children would have felt threatened or criticised by such an approach, however an atmosphere of openness immediately pervades.Trust and self-esteem have grown as children reflect on their learning as well as their own behaviour and that of others, and every day is seen as an opportunity to commence again and to get fair things that had previously gone incorrect.”We hope that if nothing else these methods will enhance their lifetime chances,” Smith adds. “If they go into a university or job interview and exhibit excellent manners then that will aid them. We desire these children to have the same opportunities as everyone else.”A minor has to be pleased to come to college and learn effectively, and we spent a abundance of age talking to children about what they desire to learn. This is something that Michael Gove seems to find dense to know. It is as though he is trying to recreate grammar schools, much at primary level, however that is not the path to instil a like of learning in young children or to aid them succeed.”SchoolsTeachingEthicsDorothy Lepkowskaguardian.co.uk © 2012 Twitter News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Employ of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds
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