In these unique times, when we are considering the closure of schools for indefinite periods of time to limit the spread of Covid-19, attention is drawn to strategies that allow learning to continue without the physical geography of school. Suddenly, we are hearing a lot of commentary on social media feeds and in the press[…]
The replacement of SWGfL’s current Digital Literacy Curriculum resource with its comprehensive and innovative programme ProjectEVOLVE, due for release in mid-Autumn 2019. It’s complicated We find ourselves in a world where information drives society and for many media businesses, it’s a valuable commodity. In the centuries before us it was coal; iron; cotton; oil: now[…]
If you work in education, you may already be aware of the proposed changes to Ofsted inspection schedules that affect early years, maintained schools and academies, non-association independent schools and further education and skills. The draft inspection handbooks for those remits are published HERE. Ofsted is keen to seek your views on their proposals for[…]
Flipping the conversation with young people using SWGfL EVOLVE. It has been difficult to miss the current discussions around the apparent invasive nature of technology on our lives and general-well-being, culminating in the publication by the UK Chief Medical Officer of “Screen-based activities and children and young people’s mental health and psychosocial wellbeing: a systematic[…]
Turn to the topic of bullying, whether it’s a conference or a dinner party, and people’s perspectives vary widely; but mostly drawn from their own experiences. It’s a very personal thing to discuss. Many people can relate to times in their lives when they may have felt isolated; targeted; at the receiving end of something[…]
Fortnite, anybody? No…I thought not. Focusing on gaming experiences that present us with a theatre to approach some of the most complex aspects of how we shape our child’s social and emotional development is becoming increasingly more important. Opportunities that ride on the capacity that games have for engagement; interaction and immersion. Like any SEL[…]
“Reputation is in itself only a farthing-candle, of wavering and uncertain flame, and easily blown out, but it is the light by which the world looks for and finds merit.” Introduction So says James Russell Lowell in “Keats Literary Essays” during the mid-nineteenth century when one’s personal deeds, achievements, moral codes and standing was the measure of a[…]
Thousands of years of human social evolution have seen the human race evolve complex linguistic and physical systems to enable communication with each other: vocabulary; intonation; body language; facial expression; gestures; eye contact; skin flushing. And they differentiate across the planet according to culture, belief, experience and custom. These evolved, sometimes innate, finely tuned behaviours[…]
Self-Image and Identity Social media and online technology often capitalises on our fascination with ourselves. Whether it’s the ubiquitous selfie, what we’re eating, where we are, who we are with, what we are doing; there are a whole host of apps and services that allow us to present ourselves in our best light and share[…]
The old argument goes: “Technology changes so fast that we can’t keep pace with it enough to successfully influence children’s online behaviour. They know so much more about it than us and we have a lot to learn. “ Well whilst it’s true that technology rapidly shape shifts in front of our very eyes, human[…]