We’ve included below a segment from BBC One's The One Show on Mon 10th Feb which looked at behaviour strategies in our schools, particulalry the use of isolation
It featured a number of teachers, school leaders, parents and footage from the recent Lose the Booths conference in Leeds.
WHY ON EARTH?
Why are STEAM Co. interested in and sharing this we hear you say?
Well as parents teachers and other creative carers we're concerned about the well being of children and young people, as most people are.
That they get the best, most enjoyable and inspiring time at school.
We're concerned that the narrowing of the curriculum, teaching to the test and the absence of art and creativity in schools can lead to behaviour issues that shouldn't be punished by isolation, certainly not for prolonged periods of time.
Ironically brutal behaviour management techniques can lead to bitterness and worse behaviour.
A downward spiral can ensue, resulting in little or no education for that young person and a life in the criminal justice system where in some cases over 50% of inmates are illiterate.
And to think their only crime may have been to have been born to the wrong family, or placed in the wrong school.
WE HAVEN’T HAD ENOUGH OF EXPERTS
We aren't behaviour experts but know and work with, listen to and take guidance from many people who are.
We have experienced difficult, frustrating and sad moments in our sessions, particularly in Secondary KS3 with young people sadly being removed from our workshops, having disrupted them for others.
Equally we have had the chance to work on our #RocketKid sessions with young people whose default behaviour was to disrupt but have managed to engage them.
We then had the most fantastic feedback from their teachers regarding what this represented to that learner, especially given their background.
This particular blog talks about our experience at a school in Liverpool with a very troubled young man whose teacher told us had engaged in his learning for the first time when making a rocket with us. Priceless.
In one school primary school, a male teacher we were about to work with had to rush out with another to apprehend a Year 6 lad who had 'escaped again' and was running across the playing fields to climb over the fence.
We've seen isolation booths and suites and a padded cell in a primary school but respect the teachers and leaders we work with to trust their judgement - to be fair and human.
We consider them experts, the people we should all be listening to and when it comes to the well being, education and futures of our young people we can’t hear enough from experts.
AN EXPERT VOICE. STUDENT VOICE
One of the most compelling talks at the Lose the Booths conference came from a person who had experienced isolation and who recounted the impact on her life, in the context of her life.
I first worked with Jaz Ampaw Farr over 25 years ago. When we connected 5 years ago she said I’d actually given her one of her first jobs and how since then she’d been on the Apprentice and fired on the first episode, how she’d learned from that rejection.
After she spoke at the first STEAM Co. regional launch event in Liverpool five years ago alongside Sir Ken Robinson and Prof Guy Claxton, I was delighted to propose her to speak at Ross McGill’s TM London event at nearby Quintin Kynaston but expected her to talk about her phonics work.
Instead at the last minute, she told about her background, how she’d had several brothers and sisters, all with different dads, how she had been serially abused and how a handful of teachers had literally saved her life.
By saying they cared. And acting on it..
On the back of that talk (which I filmed and edited overnight here) she retold the story in her seminal TEDx talk and is now a global speaker on leadership, motivation and empathy.
Her filmed talk at Lose The Booths above told what isolation at school meant to her.
NO #BINARYEDTHINKING
We don't do #Binary Education Thinking either and were against the previous title of this campaign 'Ban the Booths' which felt binary, potentially divisive and disrespectful for the existing practice of many school leaders.
#Lose The Booths represents a vision for all to embrace with mutual respect.
The film above includes two school leaders one who does and another who doesn't use booths.
The latter is Chris Dyson, Head Teacher at Parklands Primary on the socially challenged Seacroft Estate in Leeds. Chris has been a good friend of STEAM Co. and we have run many sessions with him over the years in his school.
BELIEVE IN THE PEOPLE
Chris gave a keynote speech at our #ARTCONNECTS conference in King's Cross Just the week of the #LoseTheBooths Conference he arranged for us to run a week of our #ARTofCODE Sessions in local schools including his own, where we made the film below showing how he collaborates with organisations like STEAM Co. to Inspire and Not Isolate the young people in his care.
READ ON
If you are an educator, policy maker or a concerned parent and are interested in the respectful, restorative and creative approach that Chris and many colleagues like him use to maintain calm, inspiring and effective learning environments in their schools, we would recommend the book that Chris cites as his inspiration:
'When the Adults Change Everything Changes'
By Behaviour Guru Paul Dix
Like all good behaviour gurus, in the BBC Breakfast News clip below Paul Dix asks one simple question when any one challenges his views on behaviour strategies that don’t require isolation booths: “Show me the evidence”. Go on…
“Show me the evidence, I’ve met young people who have been in isolation for 36 days straight.
In every case special needs are a factor”
Paul Dix
Support the campaign
To find out more about the Lose The Booths campaign and support thsi critical work, go to their website here.
Our young people need #CarersLikeYou