Look ahead
No more jobs for life Marina Gardiner Legge believes it is vital that schools prepare students for the many unknowns they will face in their future working life.
With the economy changing, markets becoming more global, and increasing automation leading to huge changes in industry, how can schools help students to develop the crucial life skills that will equip them for multiple careers in an ever-changing workplace? I firmly believe that every educator knows that a full education is not just a question of grades on a page. Rather it is about inculcating curiosity and a critical sense in a young person, together with attributes known as ‘character’ skills, such as resilience, determination, courage, challenge, moral courage, compassion and empathy – to name just a few! Life Lessons1, a new report from the Sutton Trust in October 2017, highlights the recognition among teachers, employers and young people that these attitudes, skills and behaviours underpin success in school and work. In order for these values to flourish they must be embedded in all aspects of school life – assembly, chapel (if a part of the school), the staff room, parent interactions and all relationships built with stakeholders. Students can benefit from using a portfolio structure, such as we use at Heathfield, to gather evidence of having successfully employed these skills. If we are to educate our students to value and develop their imagination and creativity, to become more collaborative and to see innovation as a worthwhile goal, then we need to look beyond the traditional school curriculum. Extracurricular activities must offer value-added opportunities, giving the 1. h ttps://www.suttontrust.com/research-paper/life-lessons/ Research Author(s): Carl Cullinane, Rebecca Montacute
students the chance and the time to pursue their own interests, to be confident and motivated and to relish fresh challenges. Variety is key to creating rounded, kind and courageous young people. Debating is excellent for creating resilience and celebrating a quick and critical mind and a game of lacrosse on a wet cold muddy day for developing determination and stamina. Volunteering is valuable for helping to develop compassion and an understanding of modern British society. Choosing several activities should be compulsory, since young people can be naturally apprehensive of something they haven’t tried before and yet they will probably love it. I haven’t met anyone who has completed a Duke of Edinburgh’s Award who hasn’t been tremendously proud of what they’ve done. Students need to be encouraged to try everything and if they are lucky enough to have the opportunity, they need to get stuck in, and this will help them in the future too. Aside from extracurricular activities, there are simple but effective classroom strategies, open and accessible to every teacher, to help pupils develop non-academic skills: • Praise the effort rather than the end result which, although tricky with examinations, is a crucial element of positive education. Our pupils need celebration of their efforts, not just the final grade at the end. When parents and school focus on the amount of effort a child has put into a piece of work, it is really effective in building confidence. • Encourage children to take risks and then empower them to correct their work. This takes away the sense of being
Autumn 2018
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