On PSHE and the Department for ‘Entanglement’
The latest wheeze from Nicky Morgan’s Department for Entanglement – it is ever thus known down our way – is to refuse to give PSHE statutory status.
An odd decision, one might muse, at a time when every teacher in the land must be drilled on “British Values”, spotting a terrorist and guarding against radicalisation while youngsters, we are told, are growing up more quickly and more exposed to the sort of things online and in our developing social norms that many of us would rather just not think about.
Yet, Ms Morgan is far from daft. She has acknowledged that PSHE is a “crucial part” of preparing children for life. Apparently on safe cross-party ground, last year Caroline Lucas of the Green Party tabled a bill to make the lessons compulsory, saying: “As well as being an essential part of safeguarding our children, PSHE has huge potential in relation to employability and academic attainment. PSHE teaches young people the skills they need to make good choices and to think things through.”
Perhaps, then, what is most shocking about the DfE’s relegation of PSHE to the post-lunch Friday afternoon snooze slot, if it is to feature at all in many schools, is its reasoning. Despite Nicky Morgan’s apparent recognition of its value, she wrote to Neil Carmichael, Chair of the Commons Education Select Committee, stating that she was concerned about the quality of PSHE teaching. She claimed that Ofsted had identified that 40% of PSHE teaching was “less than good.”
The logical person might assume that meant that PSHE teaching was bad. However, I wonder if Ms Morgan has ever visited or even taught a PSHE class. To describe PSHE as “teaching” in itself shows a fundamental misunderstanding of the nature of the matter. It is not like French or Maths or Chemistry. The relationship between the teacher and his or her pupils in PSHE, to be truly effective, is altogether more like Mentor and Telemachus than Gradgrind and Sissie Jupe, which suggestion should have Sir Michael shredding his lesson observation forms in fury.
Of far greater concern, however, is the suggestion that our government will sideline things that, although important, we are just not very good at. Thank goodness for Mo Farrah, without whom all of our athletic hopes would be pinned on sports that involve sitting down, at which we as a nation excel – horses, bikes, boats – and presumably we should just abandon the rest. Similarly, all heavy industry, public speaking, local government, handling arachnids and at some point the rule of law will also be banished as things at which we fail.
Such unconscionable gibberish aside, last week my Head of PSHE and her team of teachers extended Cyber-Safety Day to a week-long high-profile campaign in assemblies, lessons and on displays throughout the School to raise awareness of this key issue and to promote, not just caution, but the very many positive, educational and liberating uses of modern technology.
Of course, for those of us not entirely familiar with computers, we can follow the government’s lead and just switch off. However, those who believe that PSHE has a genuinely important role to play in giving children pause for thought and in making them more aware, informed and altruistic beings are in good company. More than 100 organisations from Mumsnet and the Girlguides to the Association of Police and Crime Commissioners have joined a PSHE Association campaign to make the subject compulsory.
In the words of one of my own pupils, “It makes you think.” There is no greater reason to carry on.
Alan Stevens, Headmaster at Barnard Castle School