How flexi-schooling supports diverse learning needs
Disengagement is a common problem. For Julia Black, introducing an element of flexibility into a learner’s weekly routine can make all the difference.
How it started
My daughter was just four years old, when she started school full-time. She was emotionally and socially very much still a three-year-old. Academically however, she was achieving beyond her years, so placed with the five-year-olds. Almost immediately her behaviour and mental wellbeing deteriorated. She became angry, tired, and struggled with the long days.
I phoned the Local Authority to arrange a part-time agreement involving an element of home-schooling, fully expecting them to say no. To my surprise, they said yes: ‘It’s called flexi-schooling. You just need permission from the head teacher.’
So, every Thursday, for several years in primary school, Esme stayed at home to learn with me and her younger brother. It transformed her experience of school.
Lights off
When a child becomes disengaged, they become what I call, Lights Off: and as they disconnect from learning, their mental health suffers. In some cases, thoughts cascade them into apathy and despondency. ‘Why bother? No-one cares anyway.’
Ollie
Ollie, age 13, was in this position and told me; ‘The person I want to be has never made it into school. How far have I got in eight years? At the end of every day, I go home with this negativity.’
Ollie was physically attending school but not mentally or emotionally present. As his mum, Sandra said; ‘Everyone focused on what was wrong with Ollie.’
Despite having SEND support throughout his school career he still felt a failure. I began working with Ollie through a flexi learning agreement with his school and the teachers began to see a difference in him almost immediately:
‘Ollie is so much more visible within the school and more engaged in lessons. He is now part of the class and has found a way to engage with school and be Ollie.’ His principal shared.
Ollie received his best school report ever that year. Why? The arrangement built in two hours a week learning through his strengths and passion-projects out of school. This enabled him to become fully present – mentally, emotionally, and physically through the week. His renewed self-belief translated directly back into the classroom as increased engagement and active participation. Everything changed for Ollie in how he was able to show up as a learner, without the teachers needing to change anything.
“The fastest way to supercharge your child’s potential is to engage them emotionally, mentally and physically in the learning process.”
What really makes the difference is when the parent and teacher are on the same page. This isn’t ‘time out’ from school. It is ‘time in’ for learning that lights them up. Using the concept to intentionally switch on your students’ lights so they can become what I call Lights On learners is what matters.
Who might benefit from flexi-schooling?
We all know that engaging young people can be difficult: turning the lights back on involves making time in the school week to discover and explore what really does light a student up. If we don’t, then getting them engaged is going to feel like really hard work, with a lot of heavy lifting often to no effect. It is easy to feel like you are letting your students down, or even failing, when you can’t engage them in a way your heart knows you can.
In my experience a good way forward is to encourage parents and teachers to ask these simple questions:
- Is your child/student happy and engaged when they are doing something they love? Yes or no?
- Are they sparkier on the weekends, during the holidays or in after-school clubs? Yes or no?
- Are they actively telling you they are bored, hate school, or find your lessons/home education dull (ouch!)? Yes or no?
If your answer is yes to all of these, you’re probably looking at a normal healthy reaction to being bored and disconnected from learning. No need to pathologise their behaviour. We can turn this around fast in relatively conventional ways. If the answers are no, and they are disengaged across the board, and you are very concerned about their mental health, you will want to investigate further.
An alternative way forward
One way forward at this point could be to consider flexi-schooling, which will give you time to explore with them that thing that lights them up. Because once you find that spark again, everything can change really fast. As it did for my daughter and with Ollie. Instead of a school lifetime of SEND support we’re talking less than 12 hours of Lights On Learning.
Trying to fix behaviour conventionally can be the equivalent to dimming their lights and leaving young people stumbling in the dark. Turning on the light makes all the difference. As one head teacher said to me ‘once you’ve seen it, you can’t unsee it.’ If, like me, you believe everyone has something they are naturally good at, then perhaps flexi schooling is the perfect strategy to ensure they become great at it over time, which, in my experience invariably has a great knock-on effect in other parts of their life. Because no child should leave their educational careers feeling a failure and having nothing to show for themselves. That is not an option that anyone wants.
Julia is a mother to two young adults and creator of Lights On, a global community for parents who want to bring the latest thinking from neuroscience, positive psychology and passion-led learning into their homes. She is a BAFTA and Grierson nominated documentary director, educationalist, Master Neurocoach and author of Lights On Learning.
To contact Julia: https://www.lightsonuniverse.com/contact-us
For more information:
http://parentingsciencegang.org.uk/web-chats/flexischoolingqna/
FEATURE IMAGE: GettyImages For Unsplash+
Support Image: Getty ImagesFor Unsplash+
Graphics: With kind permission from Julia
