First Visit
Four schools mentioned that they had employed outside speakers to support the PSHE programme at certain times in the year. The use of outside speakers within school was a popular approach that took advantage of specialist experience and expertise. In four schools the decision about what should be included in the PSHE programme was decided in consultation with the head of department. In one school the deputy head took the responsibility for this, while in another the deputy head and the PSHE co-ordinator worked together on the provision. Another school worked with the head of department, heads of year and an assistant head to decide on the
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programme of study. In both Catholic and common schools there was a variety of provision.
Subject provision within PSHE during my first visit to schools seemed to be
determined by schools depending on their perceived needs and also by the expertise of outside speakers. The pedagogical approach adopted was also perceived as important. One respondent commented on the process of delivery:
It has an experiential input for young people that they would not get within their normal curriculum time…. The other way is through the medium in which it is taught. Through listening to, wherever possible, outside experts who can speak from their experience or from the heart, or who understand precisely what’s going on, so they are getting first-hand experience as often as not of what these issues are. Also, hopefully through the way it is taught, by the teaching methodology, the extensive use of group work and independent learning and in-depth discussion, and various other methodological
approaches which I hope make them more available for students to access.
(Teacher 1: Townhead Year 1) Another teacher explained:
I think it supports the Every Child Matters side of the school and the
requirements and that is making sure that they have a wide and general and appreciation of what is going on in the world outside, preparing for that and when they finish school so they’re not blinkered and I think it’s improving what it’s doing towards that at the moment.
(Teacher 2: Yester Year 1) One teacher identified, especially for the older students, that
Certain elements of the pastoral programme are very practical, you know teaching practical life skills, you know survival, living away from home, for example cooking. All sorts of things, drugs awareness, alcohol awareness, stuff like that.
(Teacher 1: St Christopher’s Year 1) These were all seen as vital skills that helped students cope with life. Another
teacher indicated:
For me PSHE is all about living with the subject more that you can live maths or science or geography or anything like that. It is personal, social, emotional,
economic skills, all these things we do to survive in the everyday world. (Teacher 1: St Angela’s Year 1)
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Good quality PSHE for me isn’t just about producing good citizens again it would be going back to producing good disciples, Christian values, being encouraging to the young people at every opportunity through that programme.
(Teacher 2: St Olaf’s Year 1) Views about what PSHE lessons should cover varied as can be seen from these quotes; however, there was a consensus shown about PSHE helping students to be more aware of the world in which they live and how to cope with life.
The lack of examinations in relation to PSHE was viewed as promoting its enjoyment. It’s a subject where there isn’t an exam at the end of it.
(Teacher 1: Heatherside Year 1) While different views were held about whether the subject should be examined, in Heatherside School it was evident that the view was that the subject would not benefit from being tested. The relationship students had with the teacher delivering the programme was perceived as an important element in the success of the programme, because as one teacher indicated:
I think perhaps the relationship part of that with tutors is the thing that works if
you have a good tutor generally that you will have a good delivery of PSHCE. (Teacher 1: St Mary’s Year 1)
There was also an issue about the quality of the relationship in some cases:
Relationships between staff and students is important and probably not good enough if you listen to the kids.
(Teacher 3: Yester Year 1) Listening to students and ensuring that their needs were addressed was used in some schools as a basis for developing the PSHE programme. Through PSHE students were helped to appreciate their own worth and this helped enhance their personal development. PSHE was conducive to this process, because as one teacher pointed out students were
All equal, they’re starting on an equal block as it were and they can all see that they can achieve.
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The equal status of students in PSHE and being encouraged to express their views, all of which had an equal value also supported personal development:
Learning about themselves… every child will have an experience of leading,
being considered good enough to lead and their opinion valued. (Teacher 1: St Angela’s Year 1)
Overall, in the first visit teachers recognised the need to ensure that in PSHE lessons students had the skills that would support them in real life situations. The particular challenges facing different communities meant that content was not always the same. The teaching methods adopted allowed students to be valued and treated equally, particularly where learning outcomes were not formally assessed.
Second Visit
The second visit confirmed the variety of provision for PSHE. The different
approaches to assessment emerged strongly in the second visit. In one school, not introducing examinations was seen as important:
It’s very important PSHE not to become an examined subject. I think there are far too many exams subjects already and if you make it into an examination subject, you lose its value of learning for the sake of learning and learning for the sake of learning doesn’t happen much now in modern day schools.
(Teacher 2: St Mary’s Year 2) However, another school visited used assessment as one of its main drive for the provision of PSHE, as well as:
The Children and Young People’s Plan. (Teacher 1: Beechwood Year 2)
Beechwood School merged Citizenship with PSHE and a senior teacher provided materials for teachers to help ensure a consistency of approach. This school took a different view regarding the examination of PSHE by giving students an examination at the end of the course, which they felt enhanced the seriousness with which students took the subject. Senior staff felt that tutors teaching PSHE expected to be given the materials and as a result did not prepare as thoroughly for PSHE as they
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would for other subjects. By making the programme an examination course they felt that teachers had to take more responsibility and that, the course would be better constructed and better managed. However, from the point of view of student learning I am not sure this is the best way to develop such the programme. At the same time, they wanted to ensure that they included in the programme what was relevant to student needs. Topics were delivered in Beechwood School in one period per fortnight. One teacher thought that this was inadequate.
Teachers commented on the impact of changes in national education policy:
The most significant change was the fact that we just don’t hear any mention of Every Child Matters anymore, that’s completely gone.
(Teacher 1: St Olaf’s Year 2) This was echoed by a teacher who said:
Every Child Matters and all that kind of stuff is what we, now Every Child Matters doesn’t matter.
(Teacher 2: St Christopher’s Year 2) This member of staff argued that it was important for lessons to be age appropriate as adolescence is a period of rapid change and also that issues should be covered in depth as they were not covered elsewhere in the curriculum. In order to ensure students derived the most from PSHE teachers needed to engage them by inspiring them through topics that captured their interest. Schools appeared to be very much left to their own devices when looking at the PSHE programme. Teachers felt they had to make their own choices and decisions about what to include without national guidance, although programmes of study were published and the National
Curriculum talks about a ‘broad and balanced curriculum’ in which young people are ‘prepared for adult life’ (DfE, 2014). Overall, there seemed to be little consistency in the provision of the PSHE programme. One teacher said:
Heads of year really predominantly organise their own thing. (Teacher 1: St Christopher’s Year 2)
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In one school it was recognised that an important aspect of the provision entailed ensuring that there was a common voice in terms of delivery by staff and that they felt supported in terms of resources. This enabled them to feel as confident as they could in all areas of the delivery and that lessons were of a high quality. The sharing of good practice was one way that this was facilitated. The provision in this school had remained unchanged since the first visit.
We still have our ‘Learning for Life’ which is our tutor time. We still have our PSHE discrete lessons.
(Teacher 1: Heatherside Year 2) Learning for life, an element of the PSHE programme, took place three times a week for thirty minutes a time, run by tutors and discrete PSHE was an hour a fortnight. This enabled the school to look at issues in PSHE including
A whole lot of focus on the whole child and the well-being of the child and you know beyond the classroom and you know helping them to become in healthy in that way as well.
(Teacher 4: Yester Year 2) Two teachers commented that it was important that schools could have the
opportunity to decide what topics were appropriate for their students; in one school gang culture, for example, was having an impact on students, whereas this might not be a relevant topic for other schools to cover
I don’t think there’s enough, the message, maybe there isn’t a message, it’s very difficult with PSHE to pass on to the students this is very important, or this is life skills that you’ll need.
(Teacher 4: Townhead Year 2) Only one school had increased the specialist staff that they employed to work in PSHE. This meant that the head of department had:
A second in department. So, I think the capacity to teach has developed and also it means that there are less teachers who are not specialists in that area…. it’s an important aspect of the children’s well-being, isn’t it? And what we are saying here is we value it. (Teacher 1: Yester Year 2)
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This was an unusual step for a school to take in the current educational climate, but showed the school’s commitment to PSHE. With a new member of staff, the teaching was able to be more interactive. Previously staffing had been a concern as PSHE was taught by staff who were available but may not have felt competent or
enthusiastic. The appointment of a new full-time teacher in the department had eased the situation considerably. There were now better quality lessons and more consistency within the delivery. The experienced teacher in the school expressed a view that PSHE had been put on the back-burner by the government. He included topics in the programme that he felt in consultation with other staff were relevant to the students by researching students’ overall needs.
One school was interested in the extent to which students valued PSHE and employed a Kirkland Rowell survey to evaluate their stakeholder’s views as part of their self-evaluation process. These surveys have been used in a large number of schools worldwide for a number of years.
The latest Kirkland Rowell survey suggests that they enjoy PSHE and my experience is that they do enjoy, these are things that they very much want to discuss, that they are very interested in that are far more central to their lives than many of the academic issues.
(Teacher 1: Townhead Year 2) Getting the balance between a fixed curriculum and being able to respond to
students’ needs was perceived as important as articulated by one experienced teacher:
I always believe in being fairly flexible with whatever structure is because of current interests or needs… link in really with life… It’s a fixed period, every other Monday. There’s a set scheme of work with a different focus each week
with worksheets to do, class discussion and sometimes I get kids to present. (Teacher 3: St Christopher’s Year 2)
Ensuring students got involved in PSHE helped students to access the subject positively. This was recognised by one respondent, who said:
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The great thing about it as a subject is there is a level playing field which there isn’t necessarily in other subjects apart from when they’re streamed of course but you know all students I think are capable vocally at least of you know talking about and understanding or having an awareness or something. So I think opening the floor, allowing active conversation and debate is probably the best way to hook them and very often approaching, particularly
the topics what are quite controversial, quite emotive. (Teacher 3: St Olaf’s Year 2)
Getting students involved in contributing to the topics helped them to understand the implications of what they were learning. The topics teachers delivered in PSHE could be of a sensitive nature and teachers needed to have built up a rapport with their class if the subject was to have an impact. The relationships between student and teacher, viewed as so important in the first visit were viewed as improving in one school, contributing to successful outcomes:
I think in many ways I think relationships within schools between staff and students I think are far more positive than maybe they used to be which I suppose is evidence in itself that it’s working.
(Teacher 1: Heatherside, Year 2) In the main, schools allowed heads of year some autonomy in deciding what was to be included in the programme of study for PSHE. There was little difference between the way Catholic and common schools decided on the programme. One common school developed their programme by introducing it as an examination subject, while on Catholic school commented on the importance of ensuring the subject was not examined. All schools struggled with ensuring they had appropriate and qualified teachers for the subject.