10 minute read
A class act
Meaningful, not just measurable learning
Ruth Wills (pictured) is an early childhood lecturer at Liverpool Hope University, and a part-time music subject lead at a primary school in Lancashire.
She has recently published a new book, Learning Beyond the Objective in Primary Education. Emily Jenkins finds out what makes her a class act.
“MORE than anything I feel passionate about pedagogy: how we teach and how we can get the best out of our children – not just academically but getting them to a place where they can develop and flourish as human beings,” says Ruth.
As a primary teacher and early years lecturer, Ruth constantly reflects on her practice and feeds back to her university students: “Whether I’ve had a good or bad day, I come home and think: what can I use from this experience to help my students be critically reflective when they go into the workplace?”
She says she is continually wrestling with her own pedagogical position and often finds herself frustrated by “a constant internal battle” between making sure she meets set learning objectives, and allowing space for, as she describes it, “the spiritual and existential” sides of learning and child development.
‘Our capacity to connect’
She explains: “For me it’s about identity and who we are at a deeper level. It’s about our capacity to connect with ourselves, with others, with the world around us, and with things that are beyond ourselves – whether, for the individual, that’s some higher power or simply a feeling of interconnectedness.”
She uses one of her own recent lessons as an example. While she was working with year 6 students on singing songs from the civil rights movement, one of the students started to cry, and another boy stood up and said: “I know why she’s crying, she’s sad because people were treated badly. But it’s no different from today.”
This opened up a long and meaningful conversation between her students. The boy ended the lesson by declaring that he would go home that night “and tell people to stop being racist”. For Ruth, this was a “transformational and emotional moment” for her students, which transcended the learning objective for that day – to sing a song in two parts.
Do you know a class act?
Scrutiny and measurable learning
It is these moments that drive Ruth’s passion for education. But, over her 20 years of teaching, she feels there has been a shift in teacher training, from a previous focus on pedagogy to an emphasis on delivering the national curriculum and meeting objectives. She speculates that this is the result of more intense scrutiny on educators to meet set targets, and a determination by policy makers to make all student learning measurable.
“So many of the important things children learn – such as teamwork, negotiation, communication, empathy and creativity – are immeasurable,” says Ruth.
Focusing on the existential elements of teaching and learning is something she has explored in her book, which seeks to encourage policy makers and educational practitioners to consider the impact of education on children, over and above the meeting of set targets and objectives.
She is keen to acknowledge that most are already struggling under intense workload pressures and accountability measures; meaning time to reflect on pedagogical practices can feel like a luxury.
Meaningful learning at the heart of it
Ultimately, like most educators, encouraging meaningful learning in her students is at the heart of everything Ruth does and is the reason she has worked in education for so long.
“That feeling I get when I hear the children in the playground either talking about the class or singing a song we’ve worked on – I love that. Because it means what we’ve done has been meaningful to them.”
Learning Beyond the Objective in Primary Education: Philosophical Perspectives from Theory and Practice by Ruth Wills. Routledge. £16.99.
n See Educate,
March/April, page 41
Mental health worries
I WAS diagnosed with anxiety and depression a year ago and have just started a new job. Should I disclose this?
Having open conversations about one’s mental health can be a positive thing if the environment is supportive. However, there is no legal requirement to disclose your diagnosis to your employer. You are in the best position to judge whether your employer would respond supportively or not.
If your condition is classed as a disability – in other words if it has a substantial and long-term adverse effect on your ability to carry out normal activities – at some point you may wish to seek reasonable adjustments to the way you work. In those circumstances you would need to disclose your condition and how it affects you in order to access support. n Visit neu.org.uk/advice/making-work-fit n Visit neu.org.uk/advice/neu-mentalhealth-charter
Changing nappies: severe impact on teaching time
THREE children in my year 1 class have continence issues. I am expected to change nappies along with my teaching assistants – about a dozen a day between us. We have no personal protective equipment (PPE) and the time it takes up is severely impacting teaching and learning.
It is not part of a teacher’s professional duties to clean up children. Quite apart from the fact that such a task is not making effective use of a teacher’s skills and time, there are practical issues too. Teachers cannot simply abandon their class to attend to a child who needs this kind of assistance.
Although most teachers would assist in an emergency, as no child should be left in wet or soiled clothing, it is important there is no expectation that routine and predictable incidents are dealt with by teachers.
Some support staff members may have the duty of helping children with personal care written into their contract. However, if this is not the case it should not be assumed that they will undertake these duties. A generalised clause, requiring a support staff employee to carry out “any other reasonable request” by management, does not give
Staff safety of utmost importance
A PLANNED tube strike coincides with our parents’ evening. While fully in support of the strike, myself and other women are concerned about getting home safely. The event will end late and will mean walking home alone in the dark. Our head is reluctant to change the date or make it online.
Your head should assess the risks of working after hours and how it might impact staff, particulary women. Risks to safety are heightened when public transport is limited by transport workers’ strikes or extreme weather conditions, etc.
Contact your NEU branch/district health and safety officer and, as a group, ask your head to adjust arrangements to reduce the risk to you. This could involve moving the event online, rescheduling so that it doesn’t coincide with travel disruption, arranging approved private transport for staff who rely on public transport, or not requiring staff who don’t have a safe route home to attend after-hours events.
managers carte blanche to impose permanent additional changes such as administering personal care.
Please raise this issue with management, as additional support needs to be put in place. n Government guidance on managing nappies is available at bit.ly/3Iws5ZM n NEU guidance is available at neu.org.uk/ advice/continence-and-toilet-issues-schools
Please email your questions
to educate@neu.org.uk
Free CPD webinars for all NEU members
NEU members have exclusive access to CPD webinars, which are recorded and made available for seven days afterwards. Here are some of the courses coming up in May. Email cpd@neu.org.uk or visit neu.org.uk/national-cpd
How music education supports pupils’ health and wellbeing
Run in partnership with the Musicians’ Union (MU), this webinar will discuss the many benefits of music education. It will include ways for teachers to look after their own health, plus information on services provided through the MU.
17 May from 3.45-5pm
Mental health and primary to secondary transitions
This webinar, aimed at those working with years 6 and 7, will focus on mental health during the transition from primary to secondary and how to help children to prepare for, and cope with, change.
18 May from 11am-12.15pm
Introduction to Girls on Board
When friendships go wrong it can be a major source of stress and anxiety. Girls on Board empowers girls to manage the dynamics of the friendships for themselves, with support but without interference.
18 May from 3.45-5pm
Educators from the Sudanese Teachers’ Committee in Bahri, Greater Khartoum, Sudan, taking part in a march for dignity on 17 March
PHOTO courtesy of the Sudanese Teachers’ Committee
Sudan: ‘The country is in grave danger’
DEMONSTRATIONS are a near-daily experience in Sudan as civilians continue to protest against the military coup that began in October.
Attempts at democratic rule have been precariously balanced since the overthrow of the country’s long-term authoritarian President Omar al-Bashir in 2019.
Now, the dissolution of the transitional government has disrupted the roadmap to civilian rule. In January, Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok resigned amid mass protests against a deal he struck with the army, which staged the coup.
Lethal force against demonstrators
The current political crisis threatens to return Sudan to authoritarian leadership. Lethal force and violence are being regularly deployed to counter demonstrations, and peaceful protesters are being killed or injured on an almost daily basis.
“All indicators available to us at the UN and African Union (AU) show that the country is in grave danger,” said AU envoy Mohamed Lebatt at a joint news conference with UN special representative Volker Perthes.
As previously reported (see Educate, January/February 2022), Sudanese teachers have consistently participated in the protests, with hundreds being arrested and several injured. NEU joint general secretaries Mary Bousted and Kevin Courtney wrote to Sudan’s ambassador in the UK expressing their concern.
More recently, Gawain Little, chair of the union’s international committee, and NEU national officer Louise Regan met virtually with the Sudanese Teachers’ Committee in a session hosted by the MENA Solidarity Network. The meeting heard reports of violence, killings and repression being meted out against teachers and other civilians.
In March, Sudanese teachers launched further overwhelming strike action – demanding a pay rise and protesting their experience at the hands of the military regime.
Reacting to the coup, Gawain said: “We must unequivocally condemn the military coup in Sudan and call for its immediate cessation. We must call upon UK politicians to add their voices to this condemnation, as well as to support the upholding of Sudan’s democratic transition. The human rights of teachers – as with all citizens in Sudan – must be fully observed.”
The coup has arrived on top of a deep economic crisis, with widespread shortages of food, fuel and medicine.
n Visit menasolidaritynetwork.com
“PLEASE don’t give up” campaigning for human rights was the resounding instruction of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet, speaking at the NEU’s 2021 virtual International Solidarity Conference.
Now, the NEU is gearing toward this year’s in-person event on Saturday 2 July where international solidarity officers (ISOs) will come together to share progress, learn and renew their commitment to global solidarity.
Ahead of the conference, Gawain Little, chair of the international committee, said: “With war, conflict, climate change and poverty dominating the headlines, many NEU members have been asking: ‘what can I do to help?’
“ISO conference is an opportunity to discover more about issues facing educators and children globally, learn from the exemplary efforts of NEU members and our sister unions, and build international solidarity at the local level.”
Education unions have long held a key role in putting human rights on the agenda and holding governments to account. Teachers’ voices must be meaningfully heard by decision makers. This year’s conference will welcome inspiring international speakers and offer workshops hosted by experienced global justice campaigners and key NEU partner organisations.
n Register for ISO conference 2022 at
neu.org.uk/learning-and-events
n To get involved in the NEU’s international work or find out more about the conference, email
