Developing a Whole School Policy for the Spiritual, Moral, Social and Cultural Development of Pupils

Dr R Deakin Crick

A School Based Action Research Project at
St Mary Redcliffe and Temple School

Research Report 1997/8

CONTENTS

1. Introduction
1.1. The Background
1.2. The Research Team
1.3. The Aims of the Research
1.4. Ethics of the Research
1.5. Definition of Terms
1.6. Qualifications and Curriculum Authority Guidance

2. Research Design and Methodology
2.1. Step One
2.2. Identifying overall goals and investigating current practice
2.3. Consultation Phase
2.3.1. Pupils and Teachers
2.3.2. Governors
2.3.3. Parents

2.4. Investigating Current Practice
2.4.1. Samples of Population
2.4.2. Personal Construct Theory and Repertory Grid Technique
2.4.3. Repertory Grid - a Research Instrument
2.4.4. Elements
2.4.5. Constructs
2.4.6. Rating of Constructs
2.4.7. The Researcher/ Subject Relationship

3. Discussion of Findings: Consultation on Values
3.1 Identifying goals and investigating current practice
3.1.1. Values Consultation - Pupils and Teachers
3.1.2. Parents
3.1.3. Governors
3.1.4. Consensus Values or Values intrinsic to an external tradition?
3.1.5. Core Values Defined

4. Discussion of Findings: Investigating Current Practice
4.1. Personal Constructs Teachers and Pupils
4.2. Pupils
4.2.1. Valuing Relationships
4.2.2. Valuing the Self
4.2.3. Valuing Learning and Growth
4.2.4. Valuing the Christian Tradition
4.2.5. Moral Development
4.2.6. Valuing the Environment
4.2.7. Valuing the Curriculum

4.3. Teachers and Staff
4.3.1. Most Significant Values
4.3.2. Valuing Excellence
4.3.3. Valuing the Whole Child
4.3.4. Valuing Positive Interpersonal Relationships and Teamwork
4.3.5. Valuing Equality and the Environment
4.3.6. Valuing the Christian Foundation of the School
4.3.7. Valuing the Curriculum
4.3.8. Conclusions

5. Step Two: Key stage Objectives and Review of Current Practice
5.1. Introduction
5.2 The School’s Vision and Mission Statement
5.3 Developing Key Stage Objectives
5.4 From Values to Spiritual, Moral, Social and Cultural Development
5.5. Content and Method
5.6 Values and Narratives
5.7 Values as Organising Principles

6. Planning and Implementing Change
6.1 Summary of work to date
6.2. A Whole School Curriculum Model
6.3. Focus on the Formal Curriculum
6.4. Curriculum Mapping: Identifying Key Moments
6.5. Curriculum Mapping: Year Seven Schemes of Work
6.6 Findings
6.6.1 Key ideas for Spiritual, Moral, Social and Cultural Development Across the Curriculum
6.6.2 Key Ideas for Dissemination of Core Values to Teachers and Pupils
6.7. Next Steps
6.8. Teacher Training Agency Research Design

APPENDICES
Appendix A - Ethical Guidelines
Appendix B - Values Consultation
Appendix C - Personal Constructs Pupils and Teachers
Appendix D - Personal Constructs Teachers and Staff (not available in this document)
Appendix E - Personal Constructs Pupils (not available in this document)
Appendix F - Dominant Constructs Teachers and Staff
Appendix G - School Vision, Mission and Values Statements

1. Introduction

1.1. The Background

This school based action research project was initiated by the Foundation Governors of St Mary Redcliffe and Temple School, who identified a development area related to their particular brief to ensure that the school’s aims and purposes are shaped by and consistent with the principles and practice of the Church of England, and to monitor and evaluate those aims and purposes. The question that arose was how and in what ways is this school distinctive and how can that distinctiveness be monitored and evaluated? The school is in the process of reviewing its pastoral and faculty structure and the role of PSE within the curriculum. Personnel from this project overlap with the senior management team which is responsible for this review and it is anticipated that the two strands of development will be mutually informative.

In addition to this school based issue, the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (formerly the School Curriculum and Assessment Authority) have been undertaking a national consultation on values in education and the community. This work has resulted in the production of a statement of values, attitudes and behaviours which has the authority of national consensus, which provide a starting point for discussion for schools. In addition QCA have produced draft guidance for schools in developing whole school policies for the promotion of pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development. This guidance will be developed in a pilot phase beginning in January 1998. Two hundred schools will receive the guidance ‘cold’; fifty schools will receive the guidance with support from LEAs and the QCA. This project is an independent ‘in-depth’ case study which is working with close reference to the QCA guidance and which will contribute to the process both in terms of its findings and the eventual case study report. The QCA pilot phase is expected to last for two years and the outcomes of the pilot study will inform the final production of guidance for schools as part of the review of the National Curriculum.

1.2. The Research Team

The research team includes two governors, the headteacher, the deputy head, and three teacher researchers. In addition a group of year 12 ‘A’level sociology students are working on the project as part of the methodology component of their studies. They are in effect members of the research team. The team meets once a fortnight.

1.3. The Aims of the Research

1. To identify the values of stakeholders: parents, teachers and pupils and to produce a consensus set of values which are consistent with the school’s foundation.

   To explore the relationship between those values and the agreed values identified by the School Curriculum and Assessment Authority

2. To map a process by which the school’s espoused values can function as an educative tool and be incorporated into development planning with particular reference to the spiritual, moral and social development of pupils
3. To identify those factors which influence a school wide approach to the spiritual, moral and social development of pupils
4. To identify the ways in which teachers and pupils construe their worlds in terms of the school’s values
5. To explore the relationship between the values which are evident in the curriculum, organisation and cultural practice in secondary schools and the spiritual, moral, social and cultural development of pupils

1.4. Ethics of the Research

The team agreed a code of ethics to be observed throughout the research. At the core of this are the strict observation of confidentiality and use of pseudonyms, and also a commitment to focus on processes and issues rather than personalities. The guidelines agreed can be seen in Appendix One.

1.5. Definition of Terms

The research team defined the term ‘values’ as core guiding principles which are held by individuals within a community, and which represent a ‘good’ in themselves. They are located within an individual’s belief system and incorporate feeling, thinking and volitional (to do with the will) components. The extent to which individuals share belief systems determines the extent to which a community can be said to own shared values. The core values, which will be investigated in this project, can also be said to incorporate spiritual, moral, social and cultural components and thus form a potentially important part of a coherent approach to spiritual, moral, social and cultural development of pupils within a school community. In addition within this school community reference will be made to the core values which are inherent in the Christian tradition, as well as those values identified by QCA, which have the authority of consensus. For the purposes of this research the term ‘spiritual’ can be defined as ‘beyond the material’ and is considered to be a property of all human beings. Christian spirituality is a particular genre, which arises from the faith and belief system, or the world and life view of the Christian tradition.

1.6. Qualifications and Curriculum Authority Guidance

This project has been designed and conducted to parallel the guidance recommended by the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority which entails six steps to a whole school approach to the promotion of pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development. These steps are:

1. Agree - in consultation with the schools’ communities - the school’s overall goals.

   In the light of the overall goals decide on the schools objectives at each Key Stage.

2. Review current practice to:
   • identify where the goals are already being successfully achieved
   • decide whether, and if so what, changes to current practice are required
3. Plan and implement the required changes
4. Develop systems and processes by which success can be evaluated.
5. Recognise and celebrate the achievement of pupils and adults.

Chapter 2 - Research Design and Methodology

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