Welcome to Week 2

Welcome to Week 2 of Supporting Successful Learning in Secondary School. In this part of the course you’ll be turning your attention to how pupils learn.

It’s very easy to judge people because we tend to see their world view through our own eyes. We can say things like:

• “I don’t know why they are making all this fuss?”
• “Why don’t they just get on with it?”
• “Its not that hard”
• “Why do they have to be so miserable?”
• “I don’t know what they’ve got to feel so happy about”
• “They don’t take life seriously enough”

However, none of us truly know what it’s like to be another person – with their genetic make-up, their thoughts, feelings and previous experiences. Even siblings can often view their upbringing differently; they’re different people and at a different point in that family’s life.

It’s incumbent on all of us to try and understand another person’s view, and it’s even more relevant if you’re working with pupils in school. Which is why at the end of Week 1, you were asked to imagine what it’d be like to view the world through a pupil’s eye, or to try and remember what it was like to be that age. What did you remember?

“…the most challenging part of the job was how unpredictable some of the children could be. Watching someone cry profusely without seeing a ‘visible’ reason as to why is so difficult. On the other hand, it was also difficult when students responded angrily when they didn’t understand something: being sworn at and hit at was equally as challenging, because we can never fully understand just how challenged they must feel on a daily basis, but we can see the effects of it.” – Ayeasha Cindy

In the next Step, you’ll hear from pupils, sharing their opinions of topics surrounding school.

Our course tip

Keep a notebook to hand, whether it’s pen and paper or one on your digital device. This will be particularly useful when you work through the practical tasks.