Empathy Week

We're off to the UK Festival of Education at Wellington College - this time it's with the whole team (Katie Webb has even flown over from Madrid!) Please do shout if you;re going to be there and message me so can meet the team - hoping to see lots of familiar faces and meet new people too. Anton Zastavnyi Iain Henderson Jonathan Evelyn Forde MBE Jim Knight Let me know if you're going to be there - I'm also running a session tomorrow morning (results day!) at 9:30am on Empathy (of course). Hope to see some of you there! Sarah Giokabari Will Craven #EmpathyTeam #EMpathyWeek #EMpathyStudios #EmpathyGeneration #SEL #Emotionalintelligence #festivalofeducation2024 #festivalofeducation

The infamous "U Gang" - A large part of my WHY❓ Between 2014-2017 I was a science teacher in North London - I loved it. I also burnt the candle (mainly at one end) and it led me to take a step back for what I thought might be a year or two but ended up taking me in the direction of starting Empathy Week and now also Empathy Studios. In my third year of teaching I taught a group of young men - 24 of them. The idea from the senior leadership was to place boys that were disruptive and most of them on final warnings into one class. I loved the challenge. These boys were seen as unlikely to make it through with good grades and they knew it too. I never used the word empathy when teaching but reflecting back it's exactly the skill I utilised to try and help these boys. The "U-gang" got their self-titled name from chanting "U-gang... U-gang!" as they climbed the science staircase to my classroom after they all received 'U' grades in mocks. As humans we seek to fit in - even if it casts a label of failure over our heads - it's a teachers job to never let this last. They had a lot of anger within them, a chip on their shoulder and lacked motivation. Their thought processes revolved around a fear of failure, being judged and a lack of aspiration. In their own eyes, they were already destined to be a failure before they'd put pen to paper, they were quite simply - scared young men. None of the "U-gang" ended up with a U grade, even despite one of my students missing his Chemistry exam because he was in a police cell. They all passed. Not because I was the best science teacher but simply because I actively empathised with them. I deferred from the 'usual teaching' methods (I have to say without telling my headteacher at the time) - sometimes playing basketball outside for a whole lesson. It would spark their enthusiasm, allow me to ask science questions throughout yet also build trust and a relationship at the same time. I used perspective-taking to better my lesson plans not a text book - I applied empathy. You cannot teach anyone really well without a solid relationship. That relationship might not look rosy - in this case it might involve discipline still. It might be that they find you annoying. It might be that they swear and curse at you. But underneath it all, they know that you had a deep and profound care for them and their future - that is what makes the difference. It was me asking questions like "How's mum?" on entry to the classroom, "How's your football team doing?" or most likely - "Did you see the NBA highlights from last night?" (I coached many of them basketball too in school). Empathy is the most important human skill as it is the foundation of all other human skills. It is also the basis for targeted and personalised kindness. It is vital for any relationship and therefore responsible for wellbeing on a personal and school level. Get empathy right and you'll create the school culture you want to sustain. #empathy