Respect and Resilience - Community Cohesion
Steve Bowden
Professional Adviser to DfES
Presentation made to the WASACRE, 24 November 2011
Welsh GovernmentDepartment for Education and Skills
“Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world”
Nelson Mandela
Getting on TogetherThe Strategy focuses on policy and service areas that research has shown can have a significant impact on how well a community gets on together:
Housing
Learning
Communication skills
Equality and social inclusion
Preventing violent extremism
CONTEST - four work streams:
Pursue – to stop terrorist attacks
Prevent – to stop people from becoming terrorists or supporting violent extremism
Protect – to strengthen our protection against terrorist attack
Prepare – where an attack cannot be stopped, to mitigate its impact.
A revised and updated CONTEST strategy was published in June 2011
Exploring Predictors of Cohesion
Factors that potentially impact on cohesion
Local Cohesion
Individual level factors
School level factors
Local authority factors
Societal Cohesion
Community Cohesion and Integration
Which of these do you think are community cohesion issues?
Polish workers moving in to UK communitiesSomali refugees in Cardiff, Swansea or WrexhamYoungsters congregating on street cornersEx-offenders trying to re-settle in communitiesHomeless peopleCreating a community home for adults with learning difficultiesA group of Gypsies and Travellers moving on to local waste groundEnglish speaking families moving to homes in Welsh speaking communitiesPeople with mental health problems being integrated into communitiesOlder people with disabilities who are housebound
Examples of concerns that have arisen in schools in Wales between 2008 and 2011
Far-right anti-Semitic literature encouraging violence towards others A Year 11 student developed a website that promoted far right extremist groups
A learner attended school dressed as a ‘Jihadi’ on World Book Day
A learner talked about the ‘duty of all true Muslims to prepare for jihad war as we grow up’ and talked of the ‘7/7 martyrs’ with admiration.
A supply teacher left a book in the school library which has a lengthy passage about martyrdom including a phrase ‘this indicates that seeking to be killed and pursuing martyrdom are legitimate and praiseworthy acts’.
During a primary school circle time a number of learners said that they have been involved in physical attacks on children outside school ‘to make them go back to their own country’.
A Year 11 student made a series of comments about Remembrance Day, expounded anti-Semitic and homophobic views and was involved in racist attacks.
The extremes
Nicky Reilly
Andrew ‘Isa’ Ibrahim
Bilal Abdulla and Kafeel Ahmed
David Copeland
The background
What links these four Welsh towns?NewtownBlackwoodHirwaunCaernarfonCardiff
Learners comments
“Community cohesion is important because you need to know the people around you.”
“I like my school community because it’s like a jigsaw puzzle. Without one piece it’s never complete.”
“Community cohesion is the mixing of different cultures. It helps people connect and find their similarities rather than concentrate on minor and cosmetic differences.”
z
IMPROVED LEARNING
AND WELLBEING
CLASSROOM SCHOOLLOCAL
AUTRHORITY DECYPCLASSROOMSCHOOLLOCAL
AUTHORITYDECYP
Bili
ngua
l Equality
Culture
Supportive
WORKING WITH OTHERS
Citizen-centred
Community focused
Joined-up
Inclusive
LEADERSHIP
Visionary and strategic
Resource deployment
Collaboration
NETWORKS OF PROFESSIONAL
PRACTICE
Shared beliefs and understandings
Inquiry driven
Collective professionalismIMPROVEMENT
AND ACCOUNTABILITY
Evidence based
Ambitious targets
Transparent processes
INTERVENTION AND SUPPORT
Early and strategic
Differentiated
Accelerated development
CURRICULUM AND TEACHING
Outcomes focus
Engaging pedagogy
High expectations
Guidance for schools
Community Cohesion a whole school issue
For schools, community cohesion means being:
Part of promoting the ‘Rights to Action’ outcomes for all, especially equalities and community cohesion
Part of the ethos, pedagogy, organisation and partnership working of the school that creates a resilient and cohesive community
Inherent in the way the school is organised and managed as a partner in the community
Something that requires the schools to develop as well as teach
Something that needs to be reflected in the School Effectiveness Profile
Something that Estyn will inspect as part of the Common Inspection Framework; there are many references to community involvement
Community Cohesion a whole school issue
For teachers:
Contributing to a whole school approach to developing community cohesion
Preparing learners for living in a more diverse community
Developing learners’ global perspective
Exploring controversial issues with an appropriate level of knowledge and understanding in a balanced way
Building the skills that will prepare learners to think critically, laterally, link concepts and make informed decisions
Community Cohesion a whole school issue
For learners this means:
being encouraged to care for themselves, each other and other members of their wider community
respecting themselves, respecting others and celebrating diversity
appreciating their role in the school community, the local community and the global community
discovering that, whatever they are studying, there are connections with the “big picture” of the wider world
gaining skills and exploring issues in ways which will enable them to make up their own minds and decide how to act in terms of ensuring community cohesion
Developing good practice
Leadership
Working with others
Curriculum and teaching
Intervention and support
Managing risk and responding to events
Leadership
Developing community cohesion and preventing violent extremism in
schools
Promoting the core values of a democratic society and modelling the
process
Building staff understanding of their roles and confidence in their skills
Working with Others
Reviewing the vision of the school in terms of Community Focused
Schooling
Ensuring staff awareness of the community served by the school
Being an active partner in leading the community in terms of social
regeneration
Engaging with families and community groups
Evaluating the school’s effectiveness as a Community Focused School
Curriculum and TeachingLearning and teaching strategies
Education for Sustainable Development and Global Citizenship
(ESDGC)
Personal and Social Education (PSE)
Curriculum subject
Development of relevant skills
The RE-silience project
Website: www.re-silience.org.uk
Intervention and Support
Professional standards for teachers
Challenge and support
Intervention
Managing events in the local, national or international news
Managing Risks and Responding to Events
Managing risks
Harmful influences on learners
Accessing inappropriate content through the use of the internet
External groups using school premises or facilities
Responding to events
Events in the local, national or international news
Paulo Freire once said
“No one educates anyone else,
nor do we educate ourselves.
We educate one another in communion in the context of living in this world”
Respect and Resilience
• http://wales.gov.uk/topics/educationskills/publications/guidance/respectresilience/?skip=1&lang=eng
• http://wales.gov.uk/topics/educationskills/publications/guidance/respectresilience/?skip=1&lang=cy
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