As rich in humanity as in knowledge – NAPE 070
Following the success of our conference on 6th March 2021 – Towards a Balanced and Broadly Based Curriculum – Dr. Tony Eaude has a follow up conversation with presenter Clare Whyles (Deputy Head) and Tina Farr (Headteacher) of St Ebb’s C of E (Aided) Primary School.
St Ebb’s have been on a journey which has seen their curriculum transformed. We get to hear the ideas, aims, successes and struggles involved in doing this which we hope can provide insight, inspiration and understanding of what is possible.
You can listen to Dr. Tony Eaude’s Schiller Lecture and the follow up Q&A on episodes 65 & 66 of the nape podcast: https://nape.org.uk/nape-podcast
To keep up to date with all of our events and get a FREE e-copy of our professional journal Primary First please visit: https://nape.org.uk/journal
Rethinking the Curriculum with Jonathan Lear – NAPE 069
Described as having a breathtaking understanding of how to engage even the hardest to reach of children, Jonathan has established a reputation for delivering inspiring and creative inset both in the U.K. and internationally.
He has worked for many years on the kind of compelling and inspirational teaching strategies that lead to incredible outcomes and is still in the thick of it as the deputy head at a large inner city primary school in Sheffield. Jonathan has also shared his passion for learning through his role as an Advanced Skills Teacher, Lead Teacher for Sheffield Local Authority, and associate of Ian Gilbert’s Independent Thinking company.
Jonathan is passionate about working with schools to create learning opportunities that are designed not just to impart knowledge, but also to engage, inspire, and most importantly, make children think.
http://guerrillaeducation.co.uk/
https://www.independentthinking.co.uk/
The National Association for Primary Education speaks for young children and all who live and work with them. Get a FREE e-copy of their professional journal at nape.org.uk/journal
International Montessori Institute Scholarships – NAPE 068
Leonor Stjepic, is an award-winning social enterprise entrepreneur, whose career has spanned both the private and NGO sectors. She is Chief Executive of the Montessori Group as well as Chair of the Board of Directors of Montessori Centre International.
James Archer is the Centre Director of the International Montessori Institute. Prior to this he was the Course Director of the BA Primary Education Accelerated (2 Year) degree. He has worked on and written various validations of innovative programmes in the Carnegie School of Education.
The International Montessori Institute, a centre within the Carnegie School of Education at Leeds Beckett University (LBU), has launched a scholarship programme to support the next generation of Montessori educators. The Institute was established in August 2020 and will provide the UK’s first dedicated undergraduate and postgraduate courses in Montessori education.
Funded by the Montessori Group, the first scholarships of £2,000 each will be awarded to 25 students who are studying on the BA (Hons) Primary Education Accelerated Degree (Montessori) in the 2021/22 academic year. The relationship between the Carnegie School of Education and the Montessori Group means that further scholarships will be awarded in the future years of the partnership.
This scholarship will be first awarded in the next academic year, with applicants to LBU able to apply for the scholarship as part of their application to the university.
Website
https://www.leedsbeckett.ac.uk/research/the-international-montessori-institute/
Social Media Information
Leonor Stjepic
Twitter: @LeonorStjepic
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/leonorstjepic/
James Archer
Twitter: @mrjamesarcher
International Montessori Institute
Twitter: @Montessori_LBU
The Montessori Group
Twitter: @MontessoriUk
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/montessori-uk/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/montessoriUK
Instagram: @MontessoriUk
To get your FREE e-copy of the professional journal Primary First please visit https://nape.org.uk/journal
Independent Thinking with Ian Gilbert – NAPE 067
Mark Taylor chats to NAPE patron Ian Gilbert.
Since founding Independent Thinking in 1994, Ian has built a global reputation as an educational thinker, innovator, entrepreneur, speaker and award-winning editor and writer. He was listed by the IB magazine as one of their top 15 ‘educational visionaries’.
Never happier than when he is making children’s brains hurt, he has a unique first-hand perspective on the world of education having lived and worked in schools and universities in the UK, the Middle East, South America and Asia.
He is now sharing his time between Rotterdam, where his wife is an international school principal, and their home in the middle of nowhere deep in West Wales.
He wasn’t always interested in exotic foreign travel and meeting interesting people from different countries, as he started off his educational career teaching French in Northampton. He didn’t really want to be a French teacher and, while you would think not wanting to teach French to people who didn’t want to learn it might be a match made in heaven, it was only ever really a stepping stone. His main ambition was to work with young people in the areas that most fascinated him then and in which he has become such an important figure today – thinking, learning, motivation, creativity and helping all members of the school community be the best they can be.
Through his many books including the ever-popular Thunks collection, his ongoing classroom work with children and young people, his keynotes and workshops at conferences around the world and his continuous work with teachers and leaders in schools, Ian has shown a whole generation of educators that there is always another way.
Following a chance meeting in the staff room, Ian was encouraged to set up Independent Thinking in 1994 and, since then, has built up a unique educational organisation that acts as a platform for some of the UK’s leading innovative educators and school leaders as well as serving as a ‘lighthouse’ for so many practitioners who might otherwise fall prey to the idea that silence is respect, obedience is behaviour, grades measure education and teaching and learning are the same thing.
Website
Social Media Information
@ITLWorldwide on Twitter
independentthinkingworldwide on Instagram
The National Association for Primary Education speaks for young children and all who live and work with them. Get a FREE e-copy of their professional journal at nape.org.uk/journal
A balanced and broadly based curriculum Q&A with Dr.Tony Eaude – NAPE 066
Towards a balanced and broadly-based curriculum was the theme of the National Association for Primary Education conference in March 2021. The keynote lecture was given by Dr. Tony Eaude.
This is a follow up Q&A taken from a subsequent Facebook live event.
Tony suggested four main arguments for a balanced and broadly-based primary curriculum:
- that the law states that schools must offer this (as it does) and that Ofsted expect this (at least from 7 years old);
- one based on how children create coherent, robust and flexible identities, enhancing their well-being and founded on a sense of agency;
- one based on a conception of democratic citizenship in which children are increasingly enabled to deal with complex ideas right from the start; and
- a social justice one that such a curriculum will open up opportunities from which many children, especially those from disadvantaged backgrounds, will otherwise be excluded.
Questions & comments from our delegates
Retired Headteacher
- Dr Eaude’s argument for a balanced and broadly based curriculum is compelling. Moving forwards, is it possible for schools to work with the current National Curriculum Framework to achieve this?
- Do Academies, rather than Local Authority schools, have the most potential and freedom to develop such curriculum experiences?
- Where (in England) is curriculum innovation to be found at present?
- What is the National Association of Primary Education’s role in this argument?
As a student in my final year of an undergraduate course, I am currently working on an assignment about my own educational philosophy which very much aligns with Dr. Eaude’s Schiller speech. Embarking into my NQT year in September I know the best way to change this is starting in my own classroom. However big questions arise with that:
- What can I do beyond that? If there is not enough support or like-minded colleagues,
- How can I reach out to ensure this way of teaching the curriculum is opened up on to all the children in the community?
- Where can I find more support?
For more information about Dr. Tony Eaude please visit his website https://edperspectives.org.uk/
More information about NAPE is available at https://nape.org.uk/
To find out more about Christian Schiller HMI please click on the link below
https://nape.org.uk/publications
The Schiller Book, published by NAPE, ‘In His Own Words’, can be purchased for only £5.