Pedagogy for life:

IRRESISTIBLE LEARNING

Hywel Roberts
DENDRITE philosophy
TOLERATED UNCERTAINTY

ESSENTIAL NECESSARY REFLECTION

LEARNING: A DEFINITION
"For the free man there should be no element of
slavery in learning. Enforced exercise may
benefit the body but enforced learning will not
stay in the mind. Therefore avoid compulsion
and let your children’s lessons take the form of
play."
Plato – The Republic.
The Creative Age - Seltzer and Bentley :
Learners must draw on their entire spectrum of
learning experiences and apply what they have
learned in new and creative ways. A central challenge
for the education system is therefore to find ways of
embedding learning in a range of meaningful
contexts, where students can use their knowledge
and skills creatively to make an impact on the world
around them.
‘They picked a fight with a warlock.’

Charlie Sheen
In a school.....

What are your unique selling

points?
What would you like to teach?
How do the children see you?
How do you see them?
Moral Purpose

Why do I choose to work in

education?

What do I hold dear in my

work in a school?

What do I bring to my work in

a school?

What do I want my legacy to

be when I leave a school?

What can I do to keep to my

own values and beliefs about
art and education?
A Compassionate Curriculum: HAVE

Invigorated teaching can join up multiple

objectives:

Humanising: e.g ethical and moral

development; team work;
developing personal and social
responsibility

Academic: e.g. subject relevant concepts,

procedures and knowledge
Context
We needed to do something…

39% of children in Barnsley live in poverty

•

In the 90th percentile of local authority deprivation

•

4th highest area nationally reporting the number

•

claiming incapacity benefits

In the context of a nation where the figures are extraordinary

across a raft of indicators
 What do our children need to know?

 The self belief that they can effect

change
 The ability to recognise the need for
change
 A capacity to take risks
 A felt understanding of the human
condition – empathy
 An understanding of cause and
consequence
Why? For The Future

 The Future of employment

 The Future of the economy

 The Future of the planet

 TheFuture of our society and

culture.
And also.....

 To rehearse children for life

 To develop positive upward spirals

 Build aspirations around

WORTH

SPIRIT
RAPPORT – THE DANCE BEHIND
COMMUNICATION JULIE STARR

 Present in every conversation

at some level
 Sameness

 Natural…. Skilled

 Matching

 Intention

 Integrity, trust and openness

......with children and with adults

Intuition
 Wisdom in action

 Commit to increase your own knowledge within

your core practice and beyond

 The surgeon
What will you think next?
 “When dealing with people,
remember you are dealing with
creatures of emotion, not
creatures of logic.”
 ‘Education is not filling a bucket but
lighting a fire’
W. B. Yeats

hywel@createlearninspire.co.uk @hywel_roberts