LEARNING TO LEARN
Interaction Institute for Social Change | Artist : Angus Maguire .
School Culture
To achieve an overarching school culture which is positive , kind , inclusive , purposeful and supportive , reasonable adjustments may be needed for certain individuals or groups of students . Traditionally , teachers have taken a top-down approach to these adjustments , and they have then been delivered through policies and rules and communicated through assemblies , PSHE , tutor time and other such methods . However , for this to work it relies on teachers having a thorough understanding of issues which are faced by their pupils , not only within their own interactions ( i . e ., teachers with their students ) but also in interactions between pupils themselves . A surer way to understand school relationships and culture is to include students in the decision-making process . This has a twofold benefit ; it reveals nuances of school life which teachers can miss , whilst appealing to adolescents ’ desire to have agency in their own education . Most schools have already challenged the traditional power dynamic between teachers and pupils ; one which modelled teachers as the source of knowledge and students as recipients of that knowledge . More modern pedagogical methods allow for greater debate and discussion and for expertise to come from students as well as teachers . It makes perfect sense , therefore , to extend this approach into decisions taken about the wider school community , with students participating in groups which help inform the policy and direction of the school . Harnessing our students ’ experiences allows for a far more comprehensive evaluation of their learning experience , whether in the formal curriculum and co-curriculum , or indeed in the hidden curriculum or what Jackson ( 1992 ) terms “ untaught lessons ”. Peer relationships are a potent element of the hidden curriculum and need to be understood far better if school procedures are to be successful . As Cohen and Roper suggest , for example , “ Implementing group work without making provision for dealing with the status differences among students based on race , gender , and social class may result in marginalizing low-status-group students rather than providing opportunities for them to learn from their peers ( Cohen , 1994 ). Thus , modern pedagogical methods can still fail if there is no insight into the culture in the classroom and beyond . Understanding power dynamics within school , however , and treating “ groups differently in order to create equal-status situations for marginalised students ” can help address this issue ( Banks and Banks , 1995 ).
Interventions in school – sanctions and rewards :
Equity is also a concept which can drive interventions between staff and students in school . There is of course precedent for this in the legal system itself . Aristotle , for example , believed that as all law is universal it is
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