Kevin's speech on the Social and Educational Aspects of Learning (SEAL) at the Excel Centre, Docklands
LAUNCH OF SEAL FOR SECONDARY SCHOOLSWEDNESDAY 10TH OCTOBER I’m delighted to have the opportunity to address you today in my new role as Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Children, Young People and Families. I know that today’s audience contains a large number of head teachers, I have a confession to make: I am the proud possessor of a now rather dog-eared certificate which confirms that I have an MSc in education management, which I dug out the other day just in case the rumoured snap election were to go disastrously wrong and I had to return to my previous career option. But as a former teacher and a department head, I know how incredibly hard education professionals work, not just for pupils, but for all children, young people, and their families, and I am delighted to be working with you and to be addressing you this morning. The new Department that I represent was formed with that broader objective in mind. The new name – the Department for Children, Schools and Families – is a reminder that we – government and all our professional partners – are concerned with the broader welfare of our youngsters, not just their academic attainment. That is why we have developed the Social and Emotional Aspects of Learning programme, or SEAL. Other speakers will talk to you during the course of the day in more detail about the programme and how it works. I would like to begin the day by outlining two of its primary objectives, and to talk a bit about your role as leaders and pioneers for the SEAL programme. Its primary objective is to help unlock the full potential of our pupils. It will achieve that in two ways: Firstly, it will boost pupils’ potential to learn. And secondly, it will complement their learning by helping to develop pupils as individuals. It is an approach that goes deeper than a simple focus on exam results but is an approach which indirectly can lead to better exam results. We all know that academic learning alone is not going to produce healthy, happy, well-rounded individuals, or be enough in later life when young people want to start a career. Employers are looking for bright, able individuals, who are passionate about what they do. Who, as well as having a good understanding of the job, can work in a team, find creative solutions to problems, and treat others with respect. Good teachers always try to instil those skills and values in their pupils. But the SEAL programme will give you the structure and tools you need to promote them in a more coherent way, right across the school community. In English for instance, SEAL encourages young people to explore the experiences of characters who have overcome difficulties; in Citizenship, to look at conflict and peacekeeping strategies; and in PE, to learn how to work well as a team, and to win and lose gracefully. SEAL is not just a syllabus, teaching ‘happiness’ for two hours a week, as some cynics have tried to portray it. It contributes to the whole ethos of the school. It extends beyond the timetable to the corridors, the playground, and conversations between students and teachers. And it teaches hard-edged skills, like recovering from disappointments and setbacks, managing anger and frustration, and standing up for your rights and those of others. There’s nothing soft about that. These are skills that will stand pupils in good stead not just for getting a good job, but throughout life, as responsible citizens, and in their personal relationships with others too. Your role in this is vital. As the first Heads to implement SEAL in secondary schools, we want you to set the example for the rest. These 300 schools will be beacons of good practice, showing others how the programme can work, sharing the knowledge and experience of things you know work, encouraging and supporting other secondary schools to come on board, when they make the decision to do so. We’re grateful for the leadership you will give in showing other schools how it can be done, sharing some of your successes, and your experiences in overcoming the challenges. That is where your guidance and expertise will come in – as the pioneers of the programme. Not only can you share best practice amongst schools running SEAL, but others will look to you to help them prepare. They will be able to learn from your experience, in order to develop their own approach to SEAL. And all those lessons learned will help others follow suit, and make this programme a real success. We’re not just leaving teachers to get on with this on their own. That’s why we’ve got people in the local authority – the local authority SEAL leads – to help you. They will be coordinating at local level, providing expertise, guidance and advice, and working with you to solve problems and find out what works best for your particular school. Of course there are challenges ahead. No change of practice comes without hurdles to jump, but we want to help you to overcome them. We are providing £10million a year from 2007-2011 – to give all primary and secondary schools the opportunity to be supported to implement SEAL. We have produced comprehensive guidance, with information, advice, and important questions to ask yourselves in preparing an approach that will benefit your staff and your pupils. One that is tailored to their specific needs. That plays to their strengths, and addresses any weaknesses. And we can learn from the success of those secondary schools that have tested the SEAL programme, and 60% of primary schools who have already introduced it in their schools. Those schools have reported real improvements as a result of SEAL – from better behaviour in the classroom to children being able to deal with disputes amongst themselves, freeing up time for teachers to do what they do best – namely to teach. Heads and teachers involved in the primary pilot told us that they saw more consideration from their pupils, better communication, and a real appetite for learning that has impacted positively on results in the classroom. But the most ringing endorsement has come from children themselves, who have said things like ‘in SEAL we learn to forgive when things go wrong’; ‘there is no fear of failure’; and it helps us to keep our friends – literacy and maths are important, but friendships last forever’. Those are the voices of confident, happy children. But I realise that the very nature of dealing with more pupils, who are older, learning in a more socially complex environment, means secondary schools pose a greater challenge perhaps than primary schools do. The guidance will help you deal with those challenges specific to secondary schools. We will be supporting you, but we will also be looking at your successes to help us improve things for the future. The National Strategies will be learning from you. We will be learning from you. And you will be learning from each other. But I want to stress that we do not expect everything to happen overnight. This is not a quick fix. Sometimes, there is a need for rapid change in education, and sometimes there is a very real need for change to be gradual. In introducing SEAL across the country, the national change should be gradual. Schools should not undertake the programme until they are ready for it – until school leaders are genuinely committed and the school has the management capacity to take it on. It is also important to remember for your own schools that this is something that will take time to embed fully. It is complex – gradually drawing in school staff, parents, carers, and children’s services, as well as pupils themselves. But that complexity is also its strength. The more the impact of SEAL extends into the school and its community, the more far-reaching, and profound are the benefits to individual pupils. I’m very grateful for all the hard work that heads, teachers, and pupils have done to make SEAL a success so far, and for helping to develop the programme that you are about to embark on. It has always been clear to me that excellent leadership and strong commitment from staff makes the best schools, and the most rewarding educational experience for pupils. I hope that you feel similarly rewarded as you see your pupils grow in confidence, ability, and fulfilment. Strong instructional leadership is a feature of all good schools – because healthy school communities are based around more than just academic success. They are based on a system of values.
SEAL can help to strengthen the value systems of schools by reinforcing that universal ethos of respect, trust, and cherishing the individual – values on which all good schools are based. SEAL can help to nurture the emotional intelligence of our young people, and in doing so, increase their capacity for learning and strengthen their academic intelligence too. I hope you have a very productive day, and wish you all the best for the future. Thank you. |
