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Pages | Jenny Mosley Consultancies

A Personal Note From Jenny

I started my career in 1972 as a teacher in a secondary modern boy's school and became very interested in how the creative arts could help children express their conflicts and develop self-esteem. I then worked in Inner London in an EBD school for young people of all ages. Again, through working with some great teachers, I became even more interested in weaving listening and drama activities into the circle. Much later in my career, having developed a particular Circle Time approach, Wiltshire LEA asked me to pilot my model in 30 different schools. From this early work in the mid-eighties, I then worked on an ecosystemic approach to raising self-esteem and promoting positive relationships which has now been developed into the Whole School Quality Circle Time model.

For 15 years I combined my work as an MEd lecturer at Bristol University, a visiting lecturer at London University with running my own consultancy company. Now I, and my team of highly experienced teachers and consultants, concentrate on providing national and international in-service training for all teachers, support staff, parents, children and their partnership agencies. ‘Turn Your School Round’, ‘Quality Circle Time in the Primary School’ and ‘Quality Circle Time in the Secondary School’ are amongst the many books and resources I have written to support the model.

People often ask where I get my energy from… I think energy comes from making sure that there is some balance in your personal and professional life, making sure there is fun and investing some time on yourself! People often feel guilty about focusing on themselves…. But you can't keep on "giving out" if you are not "putting back in." A small tongue in cheek scenario that I mention is that when I am working with a very difficult child or colleague I just think quietly to myself "for your sake I am going to book myself a massage"…it somehow makes some of our harder work less difficult as there are some days when we shouldn't attempt too much other than to try and get through the day with treats and dignity!

Releasing Excellence Through Building Self-Esteem

How can schools transform themselves to unlock the potential of every student and teacher? How can the government's drive to raise attainment be combined with its commitment to putting citizenship on the curriculum, promoting the healthy schools initiative and keeping behaviour high on the agenda?

I believe that many primary schools across the country are beginning to show how to do this through a whole school approach that I have been seeking to popularize, called "Whole School Quality Circle Time Model." This involves helping the school community to set up a series of circle meetings for all the children and adults, through which they resolve their organizational and interpersonal issues. Secondary schools, however, have yet to take on this model fully to help them with their particular challenges.

Constant change, inspection and target-setting have taken their toll on the psyche of the nation's teachers. Yet, research proves that teachers with sound self-esteem and a strong sense of self-respect foster high self-esteem pupils who, in turn, can fulfill their true academic and social potential.

Teachers with low self-esteem, coupled with physical exhaustion, can sink into worrying patterns of nagging, negativity, erratic responses and low expectations. All adults in the school need to feel valued, respected and listened to. Find ways of meeting the needs of adults and you can then release the energy necessary for them to meet the needs of pupils. Until all adults feel emotionally safe and supported within schools excellence cannot be released.

In the Whole School Quality Circle Time Model, the first focus is on enhancing the emotional health of the adults.

On our training programmes we invite in the whole school community and we teach a range of collective and self-care strategies. We encourage team-building and corporate policies to help staff look after each other and themselves. We try to point out that until the adults start to "model" happiness, pleasure and respect, we shall have a generation of children not wanting to grow up!

As it is, at present we have one in five children suffering from mental health problems (The Big Picture, Mental Health Foundation, February (1999). They need to be surrounded by energetic, yet calm role models.

In order that the whole community can speak and listen to each other, we involve the schools in a commitment to setting up an ongoing, time tabled process of circle meetings. Through these forums, which are governed by strict ground rules, all individuals tackle the key interpersonal issues affecting their school development. The circle meetings incorporate a range of strategies to ensure not only that everyone feels supported, but also that their relationship skills are continuously being enhanced.

Through the forum of Quality Circle Time, children learn the "lived-in" reality of what it means to be a citizen. They learn to be part of a class community for whom they have responsibility. They participate in a democratic decision-making process and they learn to represent and respectfully lobby for their needs and views in other meetings.

In the initial stages of this process, the circle meetings act as the framework through which the school establishes a firm, circular sequence or recommendations for the creation of an effective school

We implement a visible moral values system, with attendant practical imperatives (safety routines); the establishment of a highly motivational system of sanctions and incentives that is democratically shared by all adults and children; the promotion of strategies to create calmer, more productive lunchtimes; the implementation of "daily success programmes" and therapeutic intervention to help children who are "beyond" the usual motivational strategies; and the shared back-up system of support of teachers themselves under unacceptable levels of stress. Once all these structures are in place, the circle meetings, timetabled for all adults and children, continue to act as a review body.

Once a circle of people have learnt to listen and respect each other, research shows that pupils feel "safe" enough to become creatively adventurous there is no fear of a backlash if they make a mistake, as there is now a culture of support and celebration.

It needs courage to be part of a growing, transforming culture, and courage is fuelled by the quality of relationships.