“THE BIG THINK” – GOING BEYOND ACADEMIC LEARNING

Here at the Human Values Foundation (HVF) we have started a community blog series. We are asking Members and Friends of the HVF to share a story about one of their experiences related to the HVF and how it demonstrates the life-enriching potential of living our values.

Sixth in our series is a piece that highlights how vital it is that the emerging generation is equipped from early in their school careers with knowledge, skills and the ability to use values so that they can flourish, maximise their potential and contribute fully to society. This story is from the Human Values Foundation CEO, Rosemary Dewan. For Rosemary this story captures the values of Responsibility and Happiness.

Throughout the world, the emotional strains that have arisen from the Covid-19 crisis have highlighted the burning need for traditional academic development to be complemented with nurturing essential social and emotional life skills.

As stated in a report from the OECD in September 2021, “Beyond Academic Learning”, social and emotional skills are now considered a crucial dimension of a person’s abilities, attributes and characteristics and important for individual performance and social functioning.

However, we know that managing this aspect of children’s development is proving an enormous challenge for many teachers.

THE BIG THINK is a comprehensive, values-themed Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) and Wellbeing programme from the Human Values Foundation. Designed by teachers for teachers, it enables primary schools to confidently plan, facilitate and fulfil the new statutory Relationships, Sex and Health Education (RSHE) requirements and develop forward-looking, engaging Personal, Social, Health and Economic (PSHE) Education schemes of work.

There are 60 fully-resourced Assembly and Lesson kits for ages 5 to 7 and a further 60 for ages 7 to 11 that inspire and progressively empower children with key life competencies.

The Big Think helps to equip children with life-enriching social and emotional skills from the outset of their formal schooling. It promotes a whole-school, whole-child approach, establishing conditions and practices that build teachers’ confidence in this vital aspect of 21st-century education.

Uniquely, the carefully structured, practical kits reinforce and extend schools’ values and constantly create purposeful opportunities for children to explore, try out and master skills that are conducive to success at school, at home and as active citizens, fully participating in society.

The benefits of systematically developing social and emotional proficiency, alongside learning how to choose and use positive values that help to form and maintain high personal, moral and ethical standards, go beyond enhancing cognitive development and academic outcomes. The mindsets and qualities gained are significant drivers of good mental health and enable young citizens to shape their lives as they would wish during their school careers and beyond.

The Big Think cultivates children’s ability to adapt, think outside the box, be creative, caring, resourceful and resilient while respecting and working effectively with others and taking personal and collective responsibility for their choices and actions. Teachers, children and parents alike delight in how it advances and enriches teaching and learning and helps achieve an enjoyable, balanced, well-rounded, relevant education for life.