Response to Gareth Malone's Extraordinary School for Boys - Bob Christer

Here is a comment I posted in response to Gareth Malone's Blog at:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/tv/2010/09/gareth-malones-extraordinary-s.shtml

I think this programme has long been called for, there are a great deal of fantastic Creative approaches to education happening up and down the country from Artists, Architects, Scientists... and of course Teachers and Teaching Assistants.

I work for Speakeasy Theatre Company, who have over the past fourteen years developed an excellent reputation for their work in schools, with one of our strongest areas being engagement in boys. I can see a great deal of similarity in Gareth's approaches, using characters and debate to engage boys in literacy, breaking up teaching with physical activity, praising the boys for their achievements. These are all skills and techniques that any good teacher can easily use, given time and permission of course... Over the past few years, particularly with our engagement in the Creative Partnerships programme, we have been able to work more closely with school staff, and have been able to observe the development of a group of young people, allowing us to be able to gather some tangible evidence of the impact on this kind of work. We have seen children exceeding SATs predictions, attendance figures increasing on the days in which we work in schools, an IAPPS co-ordinator stating that had he observed one of our sessions for OFSTED he would have graded it outstanding, but also more personalised developments in confidence, in particular a young boy with Autistic Spectrum Disorder and selective mutism developing the confidence to speak in front of his classmates, and to say hello when you walk past him in the corridor. Obviously we cannot attribute all of these benefits solely to our work, as without a supportive school environment, and teaching staff that are willing to take these techniques on board we would not be seeing such results.

This is where I hope this programme doesn't fall down, new things can be scary, and if something looks difficult to replicate, it will be difficult to embed in the education system. The techniques and approaches within Gareth's work so far, don't have to happen at the local common, they don't even have to happen outside (although I am not dismissing the benefits of working outside!) These techniques can easily be brought into the classroom; likewise debate does not have to have such a competitive drive. Maybe the edit of the programme is to blame, but those two young boys who seemed to have gained a great deal of encouragement and confidence in public speaking seemed crushed by the loss of the debating competition. By simply using that debating technique, one step removed, debating about a dilemma that affects others, playing devil’s advocate and trying to argue for both sides of the argument can be just as engaging. I agree that competition teaches important lessons about coping with success and failure, but I would personally tread very carefully when trying to boost confidence.

I can't wait to see how the programme develops. I think Gareth Malone has done an excellent job of putting a hidden topic into the spotlight, and wish him every success.



Speakeasy will be running a one day training course for Teachers and Creatives entitled "Interactive Workshops for Schools - The Speakeasy Method" on Friday 15th October 2010. to find out more, download an information pack here:
http://www.speakeasytheatre.co.uk/CPDSpeakeasyEmbrace.pdf