SEEING WITH THE HEART: THE LINK

BETWEEN EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE

AND CULTURE

PROFESSOR DR ANNE BAMFORD

2013

• The child is a possessor of culture, imagination and language, the

creator of worlds, a co-researcher, and a critical reflector. The

child is not just as an adjunct to the adult project of educating but

is a member of a viable and different group known as children

that must be understood and honoured if education is going to

have success.

SUCCESSES IN LIFE AND SUCCESSES IN

EXAMINATIONS DO NOT SHOW A HIGH LEVEL OF

CORRELATION.

In a results orientated society it is by no means strange that the reputations of politicians,

parents, and teachers are usually based on short-term measurable outcomes.

FACTORS INFLUENCING SUCCESS:

• That no results of test are published in the press

• That in no application or testimonial related to a teaching post shall there be reference to such results

• That personal interview is the best practice for determining suitable transfers

• That it be understood that there is as much , if not more virtue in educating the child who never passes an exam as there is in teaching a clever child.

• “It is a changed outlook that will be the greatest value in putting the whole question of examinations in its proper place.”

ASHRIDGE STUDY

1. Doing is more important than knowing

2. A need for immediacy

3. Trial and error approach to problem solving

4. Low boredom threshold

5. Multitasking and parallel processing

6. Visual, nonlinear and virtual learning

7. Collaborative learning

8. Constructivist approach

… AND SKILLS THEY LACK

• Budgeting and finance

• Self-awareness

• Self criticism

• Risk assessment

• Taking criticism

• Written English

• Deeper level thinking

• Self-management

• Loyalty

Children I want a school where there is:

• A feeling of well-being, including fun

and happiness

• A connection between the teachers

and the pupils

• Meaning making – a chance for me to

make sense of what I learn and to ask

questions

• Communication – people talk with me

not always at me

• Enlivened perception and alertness – I

am not bored and tired all day

• Sensations – significant experiences

that I remember and want to talk about

“ABOVE ALL, IT HAS TO BE REMEMBERED THAT

THE CHILD IS STILL A CHILD”

• Some method is needed in order to determine the type of education to which the child is

most fitted to proceed

• At present, much avoidable suffering and unhappiness is caused by the haphazard

manner by which the selection of individuals is made.

• The aim of the school should be to give a more abundant life,

not to covert the child into a stuffed machine that lets out the

appropriate package when the coin is inserted. Formal

instruction there must be. The child must learn to read, write

and carryout mathematical processes. But education is wider

than this. Free physical activities, the rudiments of the arts, the

child’s use of the power of dramatization, a fostering of curiosity

through the study of nature, open air education… all these have

a part to play. (1933)

The needs of the hour are:

• Independent thought

• A school that encourages the child

to be full of interest and full of zest

CHILDHOOD IS EVOLVING FASTER THAN EVER

BEFORE • The significant decrease in strength scores since 1990

indicate that over the last 20 years children have become

less emotionally expressive, less energetic, less talkative

and verbally expressive, less humorous, less imaginative,

less unconventional, less lively and passionate, less

perceptive, less apt to connect seemingly irrelevant things,

less synthesising and less likely to see things for a

different angle. (Meta-analysis of test scores for over

300,000 American children and adults (Kyung Hee Kim,

2011)

• In a study where children were fitted with accelerometers

for a school day, it was found that children aged 7-8 spent

a higher proportion of their time in moderate levels of

physical activity in play sessions (61% ) than in PE (38%),

school break (4%), or lunch (36%)

A PEDAGOGUE IS A LOVER OF GROWTH

• Dialogical learning model (Ruf and winter, 2008)… classroom

instruction is a dynamic system of offer and taking up the offer. It is

effective if it succeeds in getting all persons involved and encourages

them to actively apply resources and competencies.

• Lived experiences are to the mind and soul what breath is to the body.

So-called ecstatic moments when a pupil is deeply moved by some

act of the teaching are life enhancing incidents. Dr David Brierley

• A total autotelic experience (auto=self, telos=goal) in a school life

often makes work meaningful which enables the worker to generate

new ideas, turning away from the mundane. Work becomes more than

a job… it becomes a vocation because it is personalized- it is

meaningful.

EMOTIONAL FACTORS INFLUENCING SUCCESS:

• The strength of the passions – the total amount of energy

available

• The amount of energy graded or under control

• The strength of control

We must relate to each other whenever possible, equally we need

to help students proceed from recognition to admiration and from

admiration to the enduring desire to pursue truth, beauty and

goodness. - Howard Gardner

Everyone has the right freely

to participate in the cultural

life of the community, to

enjoy the arts

United Nations, Universal Declaration of Human Rights,

10 December 1948. United Nations, International

Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights,

adopted by General Assembly resolution 2200A (XXI) of

16 December 1966 and entry into force 3 January 1976.

UNESCO, Universal Declaration on Cultural Diversity,

adopted on 20 November 2001. See www.unesco.org,

legal instruments. UNESCO, Convention on the

Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural

Expressions, adopted on 20 October 2005. UNESCO,

Convention on the Protection of the World Cultural and

Natural Heritage, adopted on 16 November 1972.

UNESCO, Convention for the Safeguarding of the

Intangible Cultural Heritage, adopted on 27 October

2003.Council of Europe treaty series, no. 199,

Framework Convention on the Value of Cultural Heritage

for Society, Faro, 27 October 2005. United Nations,

Declaration on the Rights of Persons Belonging to

National or Ethnic, Religious and Linguistic Minorities,

92nd plenary meeting, 18 December 1992

TEN ASPECTS OF QUALITY:

• Levels of risk taking

• Partnerships

• Flexibility of organisational structures

• Permeable personal and organisational boundaries

• Shared and collaborative planning

• Detailed reflection and evaluation practices

• Accessibility

• Utilization of local contexts

• Opportunities for presentation/publication

• Professional development

IMPACT TRACKING FRAMEWORK

PERSONAL

CURIOSITY • Observing a task

• Investigating

• Asking questions

• Seeking related materials

• Demonstrating levels of interest

• Extending the nature of his/her involvement with people/activities/the provision

• Initiating involvement and interaction

• Extending the length of time he/she remains interested in an activity

• Interacting and communicating

CONFIDENCE • Level of talking during activities

• When they approach and ask questions

• Initiation of talk with different people

• Trying new things – “having a go”

• Showing another how to do something

• Willingness to interact

• If they asked for materials to make/do something

• The ease with which relationships are formed and who they are formed with

• The extent to which they use the provision independently

INDEPENDENCE • Carry on doing things by themselves

• Select activities by themselves

• Patterns of play and interaction

• Links made between activities and how these are discussed

• Initiated planning

• Self direction and independent repetition

• Cooperative learning and helping one another

• Physical bearing and presence

• Taking risks

• Initiating new ideas

• Imaginative use of resources and space

CONCENTRATION

• Length of time taken at any one activity

• Body language in group activities

• The degree of interest in an activity

• Ability to question or add to discussions

• Involvement

• Nature of activities undertaken and any changes

SOCIAL

Dance is the art form that communicates

through the body. Roland Barthes, “My body is

a thought”

AN INCREASING ‘SENSE

OF COMMUNITY’ • Work and play cooperatively

• Get involved in group activities

• Make connections between events in their lives and at home and

at the cultural space

• Make connections between what has happened and what is going

to happen

CHANGES IN

LANGUAGES • Observations including the types of languages (verbal, non-

verbal, dramatic, visual, musical etc) interacted with and their behaviour within it

• Portfolios (samples of creative expressions)

• Photographs

• Involvement

• Confidence in their work and play

• Willingness to discuss what they are doing and to share it

CULTURAL

SENSE OF IDENTITY

AND CULTURE • Observations of what they wear and the roles they play

• Discussion e.g. How they talk about their home/lives and the connections they make between their lives and experiences

• The connections that they make between their own beliefs and culture and those of others

• Listening e.g. How they speak with each other / staff regarding what they do

INNOVATION

PILLARS OF INNOVATION

THE EUROPEAN INNOVATION SCOREBOARD (EIS) BASED ON 29 INDICATORS OF INNOVATION

• Human capital

• Openness and diversity

• Cultural environment

• Technology

• Institutional and regulatory environment

• Creative outputs

HUMAN CAPITAL

• Hours on arts and cultural education in schools

• Number of arts schools per million people

• Tertiary students studying in the field of culture

• Cultural employment as a % of overall employment

ECONOMIC

C I F L G Z

EMPLOYABILITY

Surveys show that soft skills such as adaptability were more valuable to employers than education or qualifications

NESTA have received evidence that suggests the soft skills employers are looking for are (in order of stated importance):

• Communication skills

• Team working skills

• Confidence

EDUCATIONAL

PORTRAIT OF AN ARTS-RICH 20 YEAR

OLD CATTERALL 2009 USA

• More likely to enrol in college/higher education (> 17.6%)

• More likely to volunteer (15.4%)

• More likely to have strong friendships (8.6%)

• More likely to vote (20%)

• 10% less likely to not be in either employment or education at aged 20.

PORTRAIT OF AN ARTS-RICH 26 YEAR

OLD

CATTERALL 2009 USA,

• Continue to do better than people who attended non-arts-rich schools.

• Found better jobs

(Arts poor students were 5 times as likely to report dependence on public assistance at age 26.)

IN MALTA

• The National Curriculum Conference (2000) identified a series of

national and international measures which had negatively impacted

upon creativity

• E.g. a rigid timetable, formal class-management protocol, syllabus

overload, discouragement of students from taking ownership of

learning, emphasis on competition and external rewards and

teachers' own limitations in the creative sector

• In 2002, the Education Division introduced the post of "creativity

teachers" with the aim of accelerating artistic development in schools.

There are currently around 150 ‘creativity teachers’ in schools in

Malta.

ETHICAL

Figure 3.8.4.1 Non-Norwegian-speaking background in the culture schools

CATALYTIC

BRAIN ACTIVATION

• Highly creative individuals had significantly

higher activation in both the left and right

cerebral hemispheres, specifically in the

areas associated with fluency, originality

and flexibility

• Higher activation in these areas could be

related to the vivid experience of insight,

emotions and perceptions present in

highly creative individuals.

• These combined with higher symbolic

abilities possessed mainly in the activated

frontal lobes might enable highly creative

individual to translate their experiences into

creative works.

Rosa Aurora Chavez-Eakle 2009

When I make art I feel alive. It is SO good. It

is good to show what you can do. I feel like I

have a lot to give. I can sing. It is vital to me.

I really wish I could give you the words for

your report about just how important the arts

are to me, but it is not just about the

English. I have the same problem in

Norwegian. I really can't say what it means.

The arts are beyond words. When I am on

stage it comes out through my singing and

through my dancing. Then you can see what

I mean, but I really want you to capture that

thing you can't describe in your report. Pupil comment made during the study, January 2011

NEGATIVE LOSS

There seemed to be between 17-28% (averaged at

around 22%) negative impacts of poor quality

programmes. Put crudely, this meant that in a global sense about ¼ of all the

arts and cultural education a child receives is likely to have a negative

impact

• Can we afford NOT to plan for children's

culture in the school system?

EDUCATION REQUIRES A GREAT DEAL OF

PATIENCE. HUMANISATION TAKES TIME.

THE RESULT OF CREATING FAST SCHOOLS IS

INSTITUTIONAL INDIGESTION, AND SIGNS OF

DISCOMFORT ARE NOW APPEARING.

SLOWLY DOES IT….

It is helpful to identify some aspects of the slow food movement:

• life is about more than rushed meals

• it draws upon tradition and character -- eating well means respecting culinary knowledge and recognizing that eating is a social activity that brings its own benefits. A respect for tradition also honours complexity -- most sauces have familiar ingredients, but how they are combined and cooked vitally influences the result.

• Slow food is about moral choices -- it is better to have laws that allow rare varieties of cheese to be produced, it is better to take time to judge, to digest, and to reflect upon the nature of "quiet material pleasure" and how everyone can pursue it.

IN JAPAN… Schools will pursue a radically different curriculum that offers students much more free time --

a deliberate departure from the extreme formality and relentless drilling so admired a decade

ago as the paradigmatic example of what schools should be like to regain the lead in the

global economy. A senior official of the Japanese Ministry of Education, Ken Terawaki, has a

convincing explanation:

"Our current system, just telling kids to study, study, study, has been a failure. Endless study

worked in the past, when . . . Japan was rebuilding. . . . But that is no longer the case . . .

telling them to study more will no longer work. . . . We want to give them some time to think."

THE CLOTHS OF HEAVEN Had I the heaven's embroidered cloths,

Enwrought with golden and silver light,

The blue and the dim and the dark cloths

Of night and light and the half-light;

I would spread the cloths under your feet:

But I, being poor, have only my dreams;

I have spread my dreams under your feet;

Tread softly because you tread on my dreams.

W. B. Yeats