Helping young people locate themselves

The other day I had the chance to tag along with what might have looked like just a bunch of loosely-supervised youngsters wandering about in the countryside. It happened to be one of the most impressive social inclusion projects I've ever seen.

On this particular day they were geocaching near the River Yare and finding out how the woodlands are managed, how the river is used, how lanes have changed over centuries, and so on.

There were half a dozen young people in care, aged between about 13 and 19 - at least one of them in a residential home, the others having varied histories with foster carers. Through the youth council and the museums service they were involved in a week-long programme of events exploring how the Norfolk countryside has changed as a consequence or cause of social change.

The project began last Monday with the participants viewing a series of dioramas at Norwich Museum, which represent recognisable Norfolk scenes. None of the dioramas features any human beings. One of them shows the wildlife on the marshland around the coast at Blakeney, a village which has grown around a number of cottages built from the local flint.

Visiting Blakeney themselves, the young people spent time reflecting on the kinds of people who would have lived there in the past, their livelihoods based on fishing; and on the kinds of people who live there now (the house prices are an indicator of the now-classic scenario in which less-affluent local people who have looked after their local environment for centuries are abruptly priced out of their area). I understand that there is little or no fishing based in Blakeney now, but there is a tourist industry based on seal-watching from nearby Blakeney Point. There are insights here about human involvement in the changing environment, which were readily absorbed and discussed by the young participants through the week.

Another of the dioramas features a 'loke', which is a regional term for a country lane enclosed on both sides by vegetation. Lokes would have been used heavily over the centuries, often marking parish boundaries, and might well have sunk gradually below the level of adjacent fields.

While I was there on Thursday, two or three geocaches were traced in lokes, and I was struck by the young people's appetite for knowledge about wildlife and landscape even while a series of treasure-hunting games was being played. When I was their age, me and my mates would have been relentless in our determination to disrupt the entire process, and I for one would have learned nothing.

All the same, I found the ease with which they mastered global positioning technology too much of a contrast with the difficulties these young people have faced and will continue to face in locating themselves. Unlike their settled peers, they are ceaselessly navigating through many uncertainties.

The subtle excellence of this project is worth dwelling on, at the start of national adoption week. They're still too rare, but you can find initiatives like this in the public sector - it might be through sports and leisure, museums, libraries, youth services or wherever - often with little recognition and against excessive management constraints. It takes exceptional people working in partnership with other committed individuals, all well beyond the call of duty, to bend those constraints and pull off this kind of programme. The benefits to the young people are almost tangible, but try telling that to the politicians and accountants.

As in previous work where I've been talking to young people looked after, I was struck by their easy readiness to talk among themselves (even though in most cases they had not met before) about the experience of being looked after. Much of the time they feel so different to other kids and cannot share that experience, so these occasions are particularly valuable, liked cached treasure.

It was enchanting to listen in on a conversation about globalisation and capitalism as we took our lunch on benches in a church porch (in modest reference to the protest outside St Paul's). And it's striking how sensitive they are to how others might be feeling. Mainly towards the other youngsters around them, but also to the adults. As soon as I joined them in the minibus I was offered sweets and as we wandered round I was twice asked by one lad I'd barely met 'You alright Kevin?' Yes, I most definitely was. I don't earn much doing what I do, but I have some extraordinary privileges.

Comments

[Sean Brady]

Kevin,

In the 1990's while working in Teacher Education, I went on a number visits to Denmark, Finland and Sweden. I was always impressed by the Danish Kindergartens in the Forest. A group of my early years students couldn't believe how child centred and flexible the system appeared I would recommend a quick review of the work of:

N.F.S. Grundtvig (1783-1872)

His philosophical approach to education was based on his faith in the innate abilities of all people, and his belief that education should be available to everyone. Instead of following a rigid curriculum, the goal should be to inspire students through confidence and “empowerment.” These “schools for life,” as he called them, would not mold the masses into predefined shapes, but challenge and assist people “to grasp their own identity and look after their own affairs and interests.” Grundtvig stressed adamantly that the folk school should not include vocational and professional training. He also believed that students should board at the school, like members of a family, and attached great importance to the interactions and discussions among teachers and students. Source: http://www.scandinavianseminar.org/?id=101

For me it was an irony that just as the UK adopted a highly prescriptive National Curriculum the Finns were abandoning theirs to 'model their approach on an English 'Plowden based primary school approach'. Needless to point out that the Finns are top of the OECD list in Education!

In the mid 70's the UK HMI were investigating the future needs of schools and in common with many they found problems. The annual conference for this group was held at Liverpool Hope, where I worked. They experimented with European colleagues in Teacher Education and 5 LEAs including Wigan and Hampshire. I was in local politics at the time and they were absolutely horrified at the thought that the Politicians would get their hands on some of the ideas and exploit them inappropriately. Which of course they did! In 1988 the Secretary of State had 250+ powers of direction, now Michael Gove has over 2000. One of the poignant features for me was the fate of a European Council survey of young peoples views on what they needed - utterly ignored!

In the UK we seem to have lost an ability to access the 'tacit' knowledge that should be there in our systems. The politicians only seem to follow the latest 'brainwave' from frequently very temporary advisors, when a bit of calm reflection and research into past and present practice would help.

There is too much 'BULLOCK' spells 'WHITEWASH' (Daily Mail 1975 headline!) in the fevered rabid media that passes for proper debate. Sorry about the rant. Like you too, I always felt lucky to work with bright, enthusiastic children from a very wide range of backgrounds.

[Kevin Harris]

Thank you Sean - don't apologise - that's really interesting. You touch on the power-politics of education as well as the degree to which it is (or isn't) oriented towards self-fulfilment. I think we design - and have come to expect - educational processes that screen out tacit knowledge because notions of managed, controlled progress cannot accommodate it. If people simply cannot be trained to stop themselves from being creative and imaginative, it's best to fence off what they do and call it 'art' or 'special projects', which can be safely applauded without risk to power structures. (Cynical? Moi?)