Letters: As schools reopen, we need more discussion about the factors affecting children’s behaviour and learning, writes Dr Heather Geddes, while Laurie Rosenberg says the rigid constraints of current exam systems have stifled pupils’ creativity
The closing of schools during the pandemic has highlighted their significance in children’s lives. For deprived and underachieving children in particular, school is their gateway to engagement and participation in society and in the community. For many children, it is their first experience of feeling safe, noticed and respected. Teachers who understand the factors affecting children’s engagement can make an enormous difference to their capacity to engage in the task, tolerate “not knowing” and accept support. The behaviour of these children is often a communication about their frustration and sense of inadequacy. Now is a time when teachers need enhanced awareness of these issues to enable them to respond to the learning needs of the child. We need more open discussion about the factors affecting children’s behaviour and learning.
Dr Heather Geddes
Education psychotherapist, Teddington, London
• Dr Cary Bazalgette’s letter (26 February) referenced CSE Mode 3 examinations. These school-based qualifications, externally moderated, took students beyond the arcane, annual lottery and memory-based exam game, to a far more thoughtful and relevant assessment of students’ familiarity with an area of study. Above all, it enabled teachers to create exciting areas of study, unconfined by traditional subject labels.
