Thoughts, comments, ideas and pause for thought from members of our school and extended community.
Following on from Matt Shroff’s recent article on what it's like being the Director of Wellbeing, our Deputy Head (Pastoral), Tom Rainer, was also asked the same question about his role as Head of Pastoral Care.
If we time travelled back ten years, you would find me a fairly typical teacher when it came to PSHEe (Personal, Social, Health and Economic education). Yes, it was useful stuff, but not always very interesting, a bit of a pain to teach at times, sometimes something to be dropped when things were busy.
Recently, I wrote about self-worth and its value in all our lives, especially in the young. This chimes well with the nationwide focus on Friday 19 November, on Children in Need.
So many ills of society, and thus the tribulation of individuals, seems to come from what we value. Not money, nor property or possessions; rather how we feel about ourselves. The child who bullies others, someone who falls in with gangs and drugs, the person who considers ending it all - it seems to me all these stem from a need to belong, to be given value, to be made to feel worthy.
Sometimes, when teaching children, it can be tempting to dumb things down or swerve difficult topics. However, this can be a disservice to them. As head of PSHEe, I believe it is important to empower pupils with knowledge before they actually need it - not too early, but just when they are ready.
Challenging boys on assumed attitudes
All of us need our frame of reference challenged. The attitudes and assumptions we take on because of our own experience AND what society tells us is the norm, form our frame of reference. For example, my assumption that Winchester is a friendly, welcoming place is based on my experience and what people say to me about it, however, I should not assume this is the same experience for others.
Tough world for boys?
It can be a tough world for boys to grow up in. There is a lot of conflicting messaging in the modern world. For example:
Know my name?
This week I have been trying to learn all the new boys' names. There are quite a few this year, and I never quite succeed inside the first seven days but I'm well along the way. I encourage the boys to do so too.
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Last week I talked about the benefits of optimistic bias. A lot of my words are based on the work of Tali Sharot, Professor of cognitive neuroscience in the department of Experimental Psychology at University College London. Her work has revealed these benefits, but also highlights problems.
Optimistic bias is when we think things will be better than they probably are. For example, when going to a job interview optimistic bias will lead us to believe we are 'likely' or have 'a good chance' of getting the job. In reality, it might be 20% or even 10% likely. But our bias encourages us to think we are certainly a good bet.
