Enabling Environments: Community - What is school for?

What is school for?' That is the question with which we kicked off our exploration into creating the best possible curriculum for our children and for our community, here in Padstow, Cornwall.

The widely-held assumption is that the purpose of education is to provide individuals with the means to personal 'success'. But what if a school's purpose involved nurturing its own community for a sustainable future?

We asked pupils, staff and community members three questions:

1. What is school for (and what would you like to learn about)?

It is quite surprising just how young children are when they first start to repeat received ideas about schoolwork being important simply because 'exam success' leads to 'getting-a-good-job'! But a little further discussion reveals that children and adults do believe that education is crucial in developing the whole person, the valued member of the community. Our challenge: how can a primary school best help young people develop the attitudes that will lead them to contribute fully to their community?

2. What is it like to live here (and how would you like to make it better)?

Padstow, like most Cornish communities, has seen huge changes in the last few decades. Given the all-pervasive nature of the internet and television in the lives of young people, it is perhaps not surprising just how little they know about the place in which they are growing up. Rather than just assuming that 'success' inevitably means leaving the town, how might our primary school best equip our young people with the knowledge, skills and attitudes that would allow them to live, work and contribute here, should they choose to do so?

3. What things do we need for a good life (and where would you like us to get them from)?

Although they may appear swept along by the consumer culture of today's media and advertising, most young people do have a strong social conscience. Issues such as climate chaos, resource shortages and population displacement will probably have a very real impact on their lives and they do care (and worry) about them. How might the school empower young people to create their preferred future?

What have we been up to?

Teachers and pupils at Padstow School have been planning together and delivering learning experiences growing from these issues (even if the link is not always obvious!). Many of the activities have involved getting out of the classroom, some have required the help of community members, but they have all involved great experiences, great learning and great fun.

The class of four and five-year-olds were enchanted by the Myth of the Mermaid of Padstow, told by a local storyteller. They storyboarded and retold the tale themselves, visiting the locations involved and building the characters from sand and found materials on the beach.

"She's beautiful but scary, like the sea'

(Emily, aged five)

The six-year-olds researched the many shipwrecks that have occurred on the perilous Doom Bar just beyond the harbour. We re-enacted the grim events of one particular stormy night just beyond living memory.

'I didn't even know my great-granddad was on that lifeboat!' (Reuben, aged six)

The eight-year-olds have been discovering where most of their food comes from, growing their own food and finding out how the shops in Padstow have changed in living memory. Pupils were amazed to discover, through surveys and visits, how much food was produced locally in the past and just how far most of our food travels today.

'Our beans were better than the supermarket's!' (Adam, aged eight)

Countering the widespread attitude that their hometown is 'boring', older pupils worked on a children's guide - a DVD/film entitled 'What To Do in Padstow', featuring wildlife, water-sports, local history and hobbies.

'We found so many things to do, we couldn't fit them all in!' (Lizzie, aged ten)

What's next?

This was just the beginning of Padstow's 'place-based learning' project and we intend to keep developing the work across the curriculum over the next three years.

We have three watchwords as we move our planning forwards:

'Intergenerational' - meaning that we want older people to take part, sharing life experiences and wisdom with younger people.

'Empowerment' - meaning that we want young people to feel a lasting sense of achievement and pride in what they have created.

'Global dimension' - meaning that we want to understand how the choices we make here in our special patch of Cornwall can have effects all around the world.

So, what do you think school is for?

Will Coleman is Ambassador for Place-Based Learning at Carnegie UK Trust and director, Caliban (Cornwall) Community Interest Company

www.placebasedlearning.co.uk

- For further details contact Phil Banks, headteacher, Padstow School, at head@padstow.cornwall.sch.uk

TOWN AND COUNTRY

Pauline Ansel-Henry describes how and why pre-school services in Danish cities and towns have developed access to the countryside

The snow falls heavily and the 22 children from three to five years in age can't wait to get out of the bus and into the snow. So when their teachers (in Denmark these are pedagogues) announce that they have to walk the rest of the way to the pre-school's countryside department, the children are excited. A distance of 2km is quite a walk when the snow reaches your knees, and takes quite a while. Children and teachers make angels, hands and bottom marks in the snow.

There are lots of cold fingers, toes and noses when they arrive. After changing into dry clothes, they take their places by the fire. They talk about why the snow becomes water when you hold it in your hands, and how this is one of the reasons why it is important that your boots are tightened and your zipper zipped.

They discuss the rules for snowball fights: what happens if you hit someone on the head with a snowball, and how you can see if someone doesn't like it. The children take turns telling each other about their previous experiences with snowballs, skiing and ice-skating. Some of the children are also curious to know if the bus will come to get them later or if they have to sleep over. This provides an opportunity to talk about people who live in the countryside today and how it must have been in the old days, when you did not have heating and so on.

Most topics that day focus on snow. I use it to illustrate a central point in Danish pre-school tradition. We like to 'seize the moment' and the opportunities that a snowy day offers for children, and nature offers many such moments and experiences. The challenge is to also make the connection with the curriculum.

Nature has always been important for Danish pre-school services, reflecting its importance in our culture. But over the past decade, Swedish research has shown that children who play outside are more curious and creative and physically healthier.

The first Danish pre-school services which involved taking children from the city to the countryside were established in the 1970s for children from disadvantaged families(1). They were driven to the countryside so they could play in the wood and grow their own vegetables. Some countryside pre-schools had animals. As more and more Danish pre-school children went to services it became popular among all families to look for services based in the country. For parents, seeing their child being able to run around and get muddy was a sign that they had had a really good day.

In the late 1990s, when the pressure for services increased, the local authorities established a variety of models. At some the children stayed out all through the year, only making use of a shelter or shed when the weather was particularly bad. In some the bus served as a pre-school service, keeping some of its seats but with toilets and somewhere to eat and dry clothes in bad weather. The buses would drive to different places. In some cases it would be the same group; in others, children would take turns.

Today this way of running pre-schools is a part of the Danish system for all children, whether they live in the city or the country, and some schools are beginning to use nature as a classroom one or two days a week, not only for teaching biology but also maths and English. Reseach is showing that outdoor classrooms of this kind are yielding good results.

It may be that in ten years time, nature will be part of the lives of all Danish schoolchildren.(2)

- Pauline Ansel-Henry is political advisor at the Danish National Federation of Early Childhood Teachers and Youth Educators. E-mail: pah@bupl.dk

1. Grahn, Martensson, Lindblad (1997) Borns udeleg - betingelse og betydning. Paedagogisk Bogklub.

2. Grahn (1991) Rapport fra forsknings - og udviklingsseminar og ude skole i Danmark (Bentsen og Enemaerke 2009)

INFORMATION

These articles appeared in issue 18 of Children in Europe - A Sense of Place: environments, community and services for young children, published by Children in Scotland. See www.childreninscotland.org.uk

Children in Europe hosts an international conference, 'Sense of Place', focusing on the influence of place and community in children's lives, on Tuesday 8 June. Visit www.childreninscotland.org.uk/place