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