My breakthrough question:

How can I incorporate systemic practice into the national curriculum?

Caroline Dixon, teacher
Wiltshire, UK

Posted June 2008

What was your question all about?

When I went to my first ecl training, I felt that I really connected to the approach and came back to school incredibly enthusiastic about working in new ways with my class. The problem was that classroom time was already very full with all the other work we had to do to satisfy the National Curriculum. So I wanted to find ways in which I could bring all the wonderful things I'd learnt into the classroom by incorporating them into the day-to-day curriculum.

What things did you try?

Firstly, we started discussing in PSHE [Personal, Social & Health Education] about what it meant to have a healthy body and brain. Just as we exercise to keep our bodies healthy we also need to keep our brain healthy so that it is ready for learning. As we need to warm up our bodies before we do football, we need to warm up our brains for learning.

As a result, we do stilling and meditation exercises at the beginning of the day to prepare for our work. We also talk about the 'whole learning journey', about why we learn what we learn and the significance it has to us in our lives and in the world around us. In RE we were studying Islam and so we made Islamic prayer mats and used them for our stilling and meditation exercises. We sat on the mats, knowing that peace would only come if our minds were still and clear.

In Art we were studying colour, so we made butterflies out of tissue paper, exploring new colours we could make. We then used these butterflies on our class mobile which made it really beautiful. In DT [Design Technology] we made our feelings thermometers and our special people, making them strong so that they would last a long time.

The children also discussed their different ideas and beliefs, focusing on citizenship and their role models. The children were very mature, expressing their own thoughts and feelings without dismissing others. I am convinced this was supported by all the work we had done previously on feelings and support.

What did you learn and what insights did you get?

I learnt that actually it is really straightforward to incorporate systemic thinking into the National Curriculum. It can underpin almost everything that we do. When you think systemically, you acknowledge the importance of the whole and this makes it incredibly easy to work with. You can fit it into any way of thinking or doing because it is so universal - there are not ultimatums or requirements. It is what it is, and it either works or it doesn't, you just have to try things out. It is also a really good way to tap into children's creativity. I found consistently that the work we did with all the tools gave the children a freedom in their writing that they had not had before and a connection to what they were doing artistically that really encouraged them.

How does your insight affect what you're now doing and what difference is this making?

Now I am always looking for new ways in which to integrate this way of thinking into our everyday work. I find it not only supports the children, but also me. I strive to connect the children to the holistic significance of what they are doing and this seems to help. Otherwise lessons are merely subjects without any anchor in the real world.

As a class we are really together. We discuss what is best for us as a whole and understand the inter-relation of everything. These may seem like massive insights for small children, but they take them on board almost gratefully, it seems to make perfect sense to them. But it's never forced on them. It's just one way of working, and the way that works best for them.

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Further comments from ecl moderator Val Culff

The curriculum in most schools is already too crowded in many teachers' eyes. To find space for yet more is of real concern. By working to integrate systemic tools into current lessons Caroline confirms our belief that ecl can work alongside, underpin and enhance the curriculum, and have direct effects on children's academic achievement.

Caroline has surpassed most people who have engaged with ecl with the level of creativity she has brought into her classroom.

Words of Appreciation

I'd like to thank all the children in my class for working so openly and for being so creative in their ways of working.