Observing Children in the Primary Classroom (RLE Edu O)

All In A Day

Richard Mills

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2012
• ISBN:
  9781136452772
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Education General

In a sequence of observations of six children aged 5-11 in six different state schools this book offers a slice of classroom life, a microcosm of the educational scene. Since the book was first written there have been many changes in the curriculum, structure, governance and funding of British primary schools, as well as in the language used to describe these changes. But Observing Children in the Primary Classroom remains as valid now as earlier, as a lively and entertaining indicator of children's daily school experience. We see the reception class of an infants' school through the eyes of Mike, a lively five-year-old traveller boy. Six-year-old Rashda, a girl of Asian heritage, grapples with English as a Second Language at her multi-ethnic city school. Slow-learner David finds school life rather overpowering, despite receiving expert extra help. Lucy, eight, is a star in everything she does at her Roman Catholic school, while Lorraine, one year older, is cheerful but utterly bewildered. Finally, Peter, organises his work in an open-plan setting and makes some surprising choices.

Sequel 1 Religious Education

The Education Act 1944

RELIGIOUS EDUCATION IN COUNTY AND VOLUNTARY SCHOOLS

25(2) Subject to the provisions of this section, religious instruction shall be given in every county school and in every voluntary school.

Education Reform Bill

PRINCIPAL PROVISIONS

6(1) In relation to any maintained school and any school year, it shall be the duty of the local education authority and the governing body to exercise their functions with a view to securing, and the duty of the headteacher to secure:

(1)  that the National Curriculum as subsisting at the beginning of that year is implemented;

(2)  that section 5 of this Act is not contravened; and

(3)  that section 25(2) of the 1944 Act (compulsory religious instruction) is complied with.

Many of the formal and informal exchanges between members of Mrs Hilton’s class reflect both the legal requirements and educational judgements currently operative in England about the necessity and validity of religious education in schools.

Clearly, as this is an account of one December day in the life of a reception class in a Church of England primary school, the explicitly religious stories, songs and other activities focus on the Christian celebration of Christmas. However, apart from the particularities of the teacher’s treatment of this festival on this occasion, the situation as described highlights many of the larger questions and issues surrounding the purposes, aims and methods of teaching R.E. in schools.

These questions and issues become highly significant when it is realized that British schools are set in a society which is recognizably and unashamedly, pluralist. The principle of ‘freedom of worship’, and thus freedom not to worship, has been firmly established as an inviolable feature of the British democratic way of life for a very long time. It certainly predates the more obvious multicultural and multiracial situations which characterize the life of many major cities in late twentieth-century England. In such a society all religious claims and practices are controversial in nature and, therefore, are freely discussed and debated.

What, then, is the purpose of R.E. in the schools of such a society and what principles are there to guide teachers in their delivery of it in schools?

The following two extracts are from one book on the subject (Read, et al., 1986). They are offered here as stimuli for reflection and discussion.

The Aim and General Principles of Religious Education

The principal aim of Religious Education is to help children mature in relation to their own patterns of belief and behaviour through exploring religious beliefs and practices and related human experiences.

The Seven Principles of RE.
First Principle:	Children need to develop their own beliefs and values and a consistent pattern of behaviour.
Second Principle:	R.E. has a particularly important contribution to make to the personal and social development of children.
Third Principle:	In R.E. the role of the teacher is that of educator.
Fourth Principle:	As in all other subject areas, the teaching of R.E. must be related to the ages and abilities of the children being taught.
Fifth Principle:	R.E. will help children to explore a range of religious beliefs and practices and related human experiences.
Sixth Principle:	R.E. makes a major contribution to multicultural education.
Seventh Principle:	R.E. docs not make assumptions about, or pre-conditions for, the personal commitments of teachers or children.

Presenting Religions Matters in the Classroom

The concern here is not about the nature and function of so-called ‘religious language’. It is to do with ways of talking about and presenting religious matters in an open educational context.

Most experienced teachers are well aware of the need to use words that are meaningful to pupils. For example it is not helpful to use technical religious terms unless their meaning is explained, or to use terms which are beyond the present experience or comprehension level of the pupils. Similarly, difficulties in communication arise when terms which have multiple meanings or have a range of associations are used without detailed explanation. Words like ‘meek’ and ‘father’, important within the Christian tradition, may be understood in very different ways depending on their accepted usage among people with whom pupils live and perhaps on the experiences that pupils have had. Terms which produce positive feelings in some people may have negative meanings for others.

However, there are a few other language styles and conventions which are required of teachers when they are presenting religious matters within the context of R.E. A failure to adopt and maintain these conventions often results in both a breakdown in communication and in increasing resentment on the part of many pupils.

While these conventions are essential to the purposes of R.E., they are not unique to it. They are in fact used by most adults when they engage in conversation with others about controversial issues. These are accepted protocols and manners which are used to avoid any appearance of pushing one’s own ideas and beliefs ‘down someone else’s throat’. Adults exercising these protocols endeavour to show respect for each other’s views while, at the same time, taking the opportunity to voice, strongly if need be, personally held convictions.

In order to make clear the nature of these conventions and to stress their importance for R.E., we introduce the notion of ‘owning and grounding’.

OWNING AND GROUNDING

Central to this need to own or ground belief statements is the distinction between ‘fact’ and ‘belief types of statement. Among other things, such statements are those about which differences of outlook are found within the community. Particularly in R.E., they include statements about God, claims about religious leaders or interpretations of sacred books. For example, in speaking about Jesus, a distinction may be made between saying that he was crucified at a particular time or place and saying that he was the Christ who died for the sins of the whole world in accordance with God’s plan. The first statement could be the factual reporting of any observer and is potentially open to historical research. The latter statement presumes a belief about who Jesus was and thus is of a different kind.

It is possible, indeed it is essential to the purposes of R.E., that both kinds of statements be used in the classroom and that pupils become aware of the distinction between them and skilled in using them appropriately.

Sometimes teachers and pupils may own a particular belief as theirs, by the use of such terms as ‘I believe…,’ ‘It seems to me that…,’ ‘I feel…,’ ‘I think…,’ or ‘In my experience….’

Alternatively they may ground the belief by attaching it to some groups of people who hold it, or to some source from which it comes, for example, ‘Muslims believe’, or ‘It says in the Qur’an’, or ‘Some/many people do not believe’.

Owning or grounding a belief does not prove or assume that it is true or authoritative for others. However, because it does not presume upon their agreement the pupils are more likely to be able to hear and to discuss what is being presented and may not feel that particular beliefs or values are being forced on them.

When beliefs are owned or grounded they sound less dogmatic, and some may fear they will sound less authoritative. However, when the source of their authority, whether in personal experience or in a tradition, is made clear, this provides important data for those who are being asked to consider where they stand in relation to those beliefs. A quick way to check the authority or source of a belief statement is to ask ‘Who says it?’ or ‘Who believes it?’ This assists teachers and/or pupils either to own the statement or to ground it by indicating who believes it to be true.

References

Grimmitt, M. (1978), What Can I Do In RE? (Southend-on-Sea: McCrimmon).

Grimmitt, M. (1987), Religious Education and Human Development (Southend-on-Sea: McCrimmon).

Holm, J. (1975), Teaching Religion in School (London: OUP).

Hull, J. (Ed.) (l982), New Directions in Religious Education (Basingstoke: Falmer Press).

Hull, J. (1984), Studies in Religion and Education (Basingstoke: Falmer Press).

Read, G. et al. (1986), How Do I Teach RE? (London: Mary Glasgow Publications).

Watson, B. (1987), Education and Belief (Oxford: Basil Blackwell).

Sequel 2 Good Talk

Within the descriptions in this book of each school day, there are many instances in which talk occurs – between teacher and class, teacher and individual or small group, or boys and girls. Talk is the key classroom means by which personal relationships are begun and developed; information is transmitted; investigation is sustained; control is exercised. What, then, is good talk and how may it be identified?

(1) It is concerned with the ability to communicate well in a variety of situations, formal and informal, personal and public.

(2) It means being able to express well the thoughts in the mind. This improves with practice and leads to better crystallization of those thoughts and a more secure grasp on ideas. Thus, articulating thoughts helps to preserve them. As the Russian poet Osip Mandelstam says: ‘I have forgotten the words I intended to say, and my thoughts, unembodied, return to the realm of shadows.’

(3) It is functional in expressing emotions, feelings, opinions, ideally, in an honest and unpretentious manner. The language used and the language user are inseparable. Language is, then, not only an indicator of personality; it can also be a medium for therapy.

(4) It also has the ability to perform other language functions, such as: problem solving; linking cause and effect; substantiating opinions with reasons; observing accurately; predicting consequences; speculating and hypothesizing.

(5) Good talk is worth listening to. It involves good listening and being aware of the listener’s needs. The good speaker empathizes with the listener. For this reason it will involve appropriate switching between registers, dialects – even languages themselves, as well as choice and variation of diction, pace, volume and intonation.

(6) In addition to such paralinguistic features, good talk will also involve appropriate physical movements (kinesics) and speaker positions (proxemics).

(7) It involves omission of clichés since these are a substitute for thought. Impoverishment of language correlates with impoverishment of thought. Hence its crucial role in education.

(8) It involves omission of jargon except where such jargon is part of the restricted code of the language community (as here!).

(9) Good talk often necessitates hesitation and use of constructions such as ‘et’ (and even ‘you know’, on occasions) in order to allow for verbal planning. It is not the monologue of the museum guide who ploughs on in a vacuum, oblivious to all around.

How do the teachers, wh...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Halftitle
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• Acknowledgements
• Setting the Scene
• Mike, Aged 5: Me dad likes pheasants the best
• Sequel 1 Religious Education
• Sequel 2 Good Talk
• Sequel 3 Teacher Training Tasks
• Rashda, Aged 6: I saw the Indian no [sic] television
• Sequel 1 Teaching English to Bilingual Children
• Sequel 2 Real Reading
• Sequel 3 Teacher Training Tasks
• David, aged 7: When there’s a fire they ring the bell, like a bell when you go into school
• Sequel 1 Theories of Learning
• Sequel 2 Special Educational Needs
• Sequel 3 Teacher Training Tasks
• Lucy, Aged 8: We always look at the ‘Radio Times’ before we go to my nanny’s, because she’s got a television
• Sequel 1 Suggested Fiction
• Sequel 2 Ten Strategies for Story
• Sequel 3 Teacher Training Tasks
• Lorraine, Aged 9: We had a bird, but it died on Friday
• Sequel 1 School Assemblies
• Sequel 2 Maths Teaching
• Sequel 3 Teacher Training Tasks
• Peter, Aged 10: I do some more Reading Lab if I get the chance
• Sequel 1 Primary Science
• Sequel 2 Classroom Organization and Teaching Observation
• Sequel 3 Teacher Training Tasks
• Bibliography and Further Reading
• Name Index
• Index