I love this James. Like you say, simplifying can be so helpful as long as you know that’s what you’re doing. As a forest schooler, I’m very familiar with this sort of holistic breakdown. I’d love to see spiritual in there though, bc for us, it dovetails with relational; relationship with self, with others (human and more than human), being mindful, being connected. Without that, it’s also so difficult to learn, I think. Has to stop somewhere, I totally get it, but I always measure those 6.
Thanks for this Roxanne. I agree re: spiritual - it definitely makes sense in the context of forest schooling - connecting to nature etc. I think there's also a strong case for a modal / ethical wedge. We've not included these in the model for now because we're working in secondary schools in the 14-16 space specifically around learner effectiveness. We're starting where we are, rather than where we'd like to be. But there is definitely a case for thinking about this as more than just being about learner effectiveness - it's really about how too be a healthy. well-balanced human being. I'm aware there are similar things for adults that are more expansive, e.g. the MindValley Lifebook thing. But this is not set in stone and we encourage people to adapt it and make it their own!
Its an interesting framework and its strange to think but it might actually be controversial!
A lot of the discourse I see online (I know, I shouldn't go there) actually tells kids there is no excuses for the physical, emotional, behavioural and relational elements and they need to suck it up, sit up straight and learn, no excuses.
Now these places tend to get great results, so there may be some pushback to your model.
Anyway, they are easy to trigger, so you can have some free publicity for your book if you want!
Thanks for this Xanadan. I agree it is potentially controversial, because it implicitly involves moving your focus away from the cognitive domain, which is where so many people see themselves - and schools - as being rooted....
As a parent I think it’s a really useful model and could be good to share on a parent’s night. My kids are 11 and 12 and it’s been really interesting to observe them developing their learning and skills recently with far more independence of their teachers and ourselves (my daughter is memorising a Burns poem by choice without any help from home and my son has taught himself all kinds of Rubik’s Cubes and Geopolitics with a bit of help from YouTube). I think your model would help me to spot areas that they might be missing out on and where to help with others. As a secondary subject teacher, much of this is beyond my remit but it would be a great area to focus on in PSHE and then reinforce certain points in normal lessons. Have you thought of acronyms or images that might make things easier to remember? I’m wary of more acronyms in education, but when I’ve taught Rhetoric in English lessons I like the Heart/Head/Cred model or the Head/Heart/Hand model that I think David Goodheart uses.
Thanks for this David. It's great to hear your kids are fostering an independent learning spirit. You must be doing something right! I agree its harder to make this happen in subject learning, although some areas are easier to address than others. I think it's more a tutor time / PSHE / health & wellbeing thing. But it needs to be done well.
I'll have a think abut acronyms etc. The model doesn't lend itself to an acronym at the moment - PEBRCN! And like you I tend to be wary of acronyms in education. Often they're kinda clumsy and I'm not sure they make things that much more memorable. But I'll have a think... And if inspiration strikes, give me a shout!
Thanks for this. You raise a really important question - whose responsibility is this broader 'personal development' agenda? No doubt some people would say this is overreach and that "it's down to the parents". I can understand this view, but to my mind it's just washing your hands of the issue in an unhelpful way. I kind of think it's everyone's responsibility. Schools can do some of this stuff, so can parents, but ultimately I think it's best - as far as possible - for the young person to be 'at the helm', taking responsibility for as much of this stuff as possible. I think the key is to keep it in the frame - with all CYP regularly revisiting each 'wedge' of the wheel, reflecting on where they are, where they want to be and how they might get from A to B.
I'm going to cover some of this in my next post. I'll be interested to hear your thoughts on that one!
I love this James. Like you say, simplifying can be so helpful as long as you know that’s what you’re doing. As a forest schooler, I’m very familiar with this sort of holistic breakdown. I’d love to see spiritual in there though, bc for us, it dovetails with relational; relationship with self, with others (human and more than human), being mindful, being connected. Without that, it’s also so difficult to learn, I think. Has to stop somewhere, I totally get it, but I always measure those 6.
Thanks for this Roxanne. I agree re: spiritual - it definitely makes sense in the context of forest schooling - connecting to nature etc. I think there's also a strong case for a modal / ethical wedge. We've not included these in the model for now because we're working in secondary schools in the 14-16 space specifically around learner effectiveness. We're starting where we are, rather than where we'd like to be. But there is definitely a case for thinking about this as more than just being about learner effectiveness - it's really about how too be a healthy. well-balanced human being. I'm aware there are similar things for adults that are more expansive, e.g. the MindValley Lifebook thing. But this is not set in stone and we encourage people to adapt it and make it their own!
Its an interesting framework and its strange to think but it might actually be controversial!
A lot of the discourse I see online (I know, I shouldn't go there) actually tells kids there is no excuses for the physical, emotional, behavioural and relational elements and they need to suck it up, sit up straight and learn, no excuses.
Now these places tend to get great results, so there may be some pushback to your model.
Anyway, they are easy to trigger, so you can have some free publicity for your book if you want!
Thanks for this Xanadan. I agree it is potentially controversial, because it implicitly involves moving your focus away from the cognitive domain, which is where so many people see themselves - and schools - as being rooted....
As a parent I think it’s a really useful model and could be good to share on a parent’s night. My kids are 11 and 12 and it’s been really interesting to observe them developing their learning and skills recently with far more independence of their teachers and ourselves (my daughter is memorising a Burns poem by choice without any help from home and my son has taught himself all kinds of Rubik’s Cubes and Geopolitics with a bit of help from YouTube). I think your model would help me to spot areas that they might be missing out on and where to help with others. As a secondary subject teacher, much of this is beyond my remit but it would be a great area to focus on in PSHE and then reinforce certain points in normal lessons. Have you thought of acronyms or images that might make things easier to remember? I’m wary of more acronyms in education, but when I’ve taught Rhetoric in English lessons I like the Heart/Head/Cred model or the Head/Heart/Hand model that I think David Goodheart uses.
Thanks for this David. It's great to hear your kids are fostering an independent learning spirit. You must be doing something right! I agree its harder to make this happen in subject learning, although some areas are easier to address than others. I think it's more a tutor time / PSHE / health & wellbeing thing. But it needs to be done well.
I'll have a think abut acronyms etc. The model doesn't lend itself to an acronym at the moment - PEBRCN! And like you I tend to be wary of acronyms in education. Often they're kinda clumsy and I'm not sure they make things that much more memorable. But I'll have a think... And if inspiration strikes, give me a shout!
Thanks for this. You raise a really important question - whose responsibility is this broader 'personal development' agenda? No doubt some people would say this is overreach and that "it's down to the parents". I can understand this view, but to my mind it's just washing your hands of the issue in an unhelpful way. I kind of think it's everyone's responsibility. Schools can do some of this stuff, so can parents, but ultimately I think it's best - as far as possible - for the young person to be 'at the helm', taking responsibility for as much of this stuff as possible. I think the key is to keep it in the frame - with all CYP regularly revisiting each 'wedge' of the wheel, reflecting on where they are, where they want to be and how they might get from A to B.
I'm going to cover some of this in my next post. I'll be interested to hear your thoughts on that one!