Can young people with challenging behavior contribute positively to social change?

This regularly results in these students falling out of focus, coasting, and sometimes being excluded.  48 000 pupils in Britain are now educated outside of mainstream education. 35 pupils a day are being excluded.  

Many of these students end up in Pupil Referral Units (PRUs) that were originally designed to be temporary places for students.  Pupils here often receive inferior education, with fewer qualified, permanent and specialist teachers, fewer resources and equipment. These students are more likely to end up in prison, crime, involved in substance abuse, than their mainstream counterparts,  and are unlikely to achieve the college requirements of 5 A*-C GCSEs (now Grade 5 +).

How I plan to solve it:

Create an alternative education organisation/school for excluded 11-16yr olds.  The focus is firstly on making pupils feel safe, included and happy at school. 

This is achieved through :

• A combination of individual support from specialists such as counsellors and therapists.
• Pupil instigated decision making on the school environment, learning and running of the school.
• Integration of learning outside of the classroom (in nature, in workplaces, within the community, further afield…)

Students will be challenged to identify and action improvements to their education, own school community and society at large.

Why me:

I have taught for 17 yrs and have experienced first hand how limited mainstream education can be in supporting students who have difficulties accessing learning. 

My approach to learning is to create safety, equality, inclusion and happiness in the learning environment as a basis from which to learn.  I have been able to experiment with this approach in small ways and have witnessed the benefits it can have on a student’s learning.  I could only take this so far whilst still fulfilling my other necessary duties as a mainstream teacher.

I now want to build a school that has this approach as its foundation.

Next steps:

– Attend a course on Holacracy to learn about self-managed organisational structures and investigate how this would work in an education setting, with the pupils.

– A research trip to Finland to investigate their education system and which parts may be useful to emulate in my Future School.

– A research trip around the UK to investigate best practice.

-Investigate how to run and fund pilot projects.

What I need at this stage:

– Funding to carry out the above research.

– Contacts with schools and educators in Finland.

Get Involved:

If you have anything to add or would like to get involved at this stage please contact me.

​References:

– Thirty-five children a day are being permanently excluded – Pete Henshaw, Sec Ed  Oct 2017

https://www.sec-ed.co.uk/news/thirty-five-children-a-day-are-being-permanently-excluded/

– Defying Disaffection: How schools are winning the hearts and minds of reluctant students -Reva Klein, Trentham Books Ltd, June 2000

Engage with challenging behaviour in your school and support staff effectively;

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