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Schools 'need a moral purpose beyond exam results'

SCHOOLS are failing to set out a coherent moral purpose for their pupils beyond the achievement of good grades, academics from Edge Hill University claim.  Professor Tim Cain, Helena Knapton, Jill McKenzie and Dr Damien Shortt, speaking at a British Education Research Association conference, said that education institutions should be setting goals for the type of people they want their pupils to become. Virtues such as curiosity, critical thinking and respect for evidence should be the overall objectives, with good academic results then seen as consequences of these aims, rather than the defining mission. Instead, schools are presenting other possible outcomes of a good education as important only in so far as they help pupils do well in exams. This may leave them open to movements which seek to offer an alternative, more explicitly moral, vision, such as the alleged attempted:- 'Trojan Horse' takeover of schools in Birmingham, it is claimed. The argument is set out in a paper drawing on evidence from statements on secondary school websites which set out the justifications the schools use in seeking to convince pupils to behave well in class.

The academics analysed the behaviour policies of a representative sample of 36 English secondary schools. They found that 34 of these provided statements as to why pupils should behave well in class. Of these, all 34 offered the reason that pupils needed to behave in order to support their own, or fellow pupils', "learning and academic achievement."

The researchers found that:- "A causal link between behaviour and learning was explicitly made in most of the schools' behaviour management policies; indeed some of the policies were explicitly labelled 'behaviour for learning policies', and 1 school entitled its entire behaviour policy the 'Ready for Learning Policy'."

The research team acknowledge that the concept that pupils needed to behave well in order to do well in their studies sounds persuasive. But it has flaws, they argue. These include that a drive for good behaviour among pupils may emphasise qualities such as compliance and a willingness to follow orders, when in reality the best learning draws on other characteristics, such as being curious and questioning.  Others include the fact that not all pupils who behave well will, in reality, go on to achieve well; and that a behaviour policy founded on the argument that good behaviour supports achievement in exams will fail to offer a reason as to why young people should continue to behave well as adults.  This means, say the researchers, that:- "the majority of [school] behaviour management policies are unlikely to succeed in their stated aims". Instead, they argue that schools should have as their overall goals the development of 'virtues' associated with mastering particular subjects: coherence of thought, respect for evidence and an "attitude of principled critique" of arguments. These would both be transferrable between subjects and useful in later life. Good academic results would be achieved as a side effect of these aims, rather than being the schools' overall objective.

The team concluded:- "From our analysis of schools' behaviour management policies, it appears as though schools consistently miss the opportunity to 1st establish a coherent and convincing narrative from which they can determine the required virtues. Such a narrative would, in our view, stand a much better chance of success because it will establish exam grades as almost as a side effect by those who have been properly inducted into the role of the school pupil. What, in many ways, provided the opportunity for a hostile ideological takeover of schools was the absence of a coherent moral narrative that articulated the school's position and goals. If it is our desire, as a society, to establish a form of secular education that is not divorced from all moral statements through its conscious and political disassociation from all flavours of religion, then an excellent place to start would be with the virtues of inquiry" as described above, argues the paper presented to BERA.

Why be good? Axiological foundations for behaviour management policies in 36 secondary schools in England was presented to BERA by Professor Tim Cain, Helena Knapton, Jill McKenzie and Dr Damien Shortt, all of Edge Hill University, in September 2015.

Charity Bowls Match at Crosby Pub

FOLLOWING on from the success in 2014, the 2nd Annual Nags Head versus Sefton and Thornton Bowls Club bowls match was held, on Saturday, 19 September 2015, with 2 local charities benefitting from funds that were raised.  The match took place at the Hungry Horse pub on Green Lane, with staff members taking on their more skilled regulars. Last year the members of the bowls club were kind enough to use their weaker hands but there was no levelling of the playing field this time around as they showed the pub team exactly how it is done and were convincing winners. As well as the bowls match, a raffle was held and nearly £500 was raised in total, which will be split evenly between the Sefton Women's and Children's Aid and Riding for the Disabled. Dave Ogley, manager of the Nags Head, said:- "Everyone had a lot of fun playing in the bowls match and it was great that we were able to raise money for 2 great charities. You would have thought that playing last year would have helped make us slightly better players but apparently not, we were still rubbish! However, we put up a decent enough fight and the players from the bowls club knew that we would be the ones serving them after the match so they did not rub it in!"