Communication is central to the realisation of the following principles that are set out in Excellence and Enjoyment: Principles of good teaching and learning (Primary National Strategy 2003):
- Ensure that every child succeeds – inclusion, high expectations.
- Build on what learners already know – structure, pace.
- Make learning vivid and real – enquiry, creativity, e-learning, group problem-solving.
- Make learning enjoyable – teaching and learning styles.
- Enrich the learning experience – cross-curricular.
- Promote assessment for learning – children as partners in learning.
How are these principles lived out in your school for children with SLD/PMLD/CLDD?
Gardner's theory of multiple intelligences (1983) promoted equal regard for different
kinds of intelligence: logical/mathematical; linguistic; musical; visual; kinaesthetic;
interpersonal; intrapersonal; and naturalistic. It led to a redressing of the curriculum
balance and revaluing of children, demonstrating their aptitudes and intelligence
other than through the traditional focus on mathematics and literacy.
For children with SLD /PMLD/CLDD, this means recognising the potential for them to express
themselves other than in written and verbal form. The challenge for practitioners
is enabling them to engage and progress in gaining control over these processes.
Bruner (1986) challenged Piaget’s primacy of scientific thinking and distinguished between:
- Paradigmatic thought – logical, analytical
- Narrative thought – intuitive, creative
Implications:
- A well-rounded individual needs to develop both kinds of thinking.
- Education should value both kinds of activity.
To what extent does your school promote a balance of both kinds of activity? How do you know?
1960s: Wave 1 1967 Plowden Report
- This valued discovery learning and learning through play.
1990s: Wave 2 1999 NACCCE Report
- Interest grew during the 1990s in the wider concept of intelligence.
- The importance of self-fulfilment was stressed in psychology.
- 'Creative thinking' was instated as a key skill in the revised National Curriculum.
Watch this Open University broadcast ‘Windows on the Mind’. It offers
a comparison of use of representations and symbols in young children’s drawings
from two different cultures – 3-4 year olds in Scotland, and Aboriginal children
who interestingly are also exposed to aspects of western culture as well as their
own indigenous traditions
Franz Mönks' original model of giftedness can be given an inclusive spin appropriate for pupils of all abilities (Mönks, 1997). According to this model, children will only realise their potential if they are motivated and engaged with the content of the activity, and if they feel empowered to make choices within an activity.
Melanie Peter has harnessed and reworked Mönks' model to identify the conditions likely to promote meaningful learning. Her original model placed play and drama at the heart of the learning process (Sherratt & Peter, 2002).
Review the teaching contexts of your school and consider how they impact on meaningful learning opportunities.
Consider some of the reports and resources referred to earlier. Synthesise their
overall principles and evaluate your class or school against these principles.
Bruner, J. S. (1966) Toward a Theory of Instruction, Cambridge, Mass.:
Belkapp Press.
Craft, A (2001) 'Little c Creativity', in Craft, A, Jeffrey, B and Leibling, M
(eds) Creativity in Education. London: Continuum.
Duffy, B (1998) Supporting Creativity and Imagination in the Early Years. Buckingham:
Open University Press.
Lucas, B (2001) 'Creative Teaching, Teaching Creativity and
Creative Learning', in Craft, A, Jeffrey, B and Leibling, M (eds)
Creativity in Education. London: Continuum.
Mönks, F J (1992) cited in Eyre, D (1997) Able Children in
Ordinary Schools. London: David Fulton.