Vivian Bartlett, Nurturing a Healthy Spirit in the Young

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I was very pleased to be invited to write a foreword to Vivian Bartlett’s book. I was then the Director of the Research Centre for Motivating Learning at the University of Worcester. Though not a Baha'i , I have been a friend of Baha'is for many years and keen reader of Baha'i  writings. One of my keen interests was to find positive ways for teachers and other adults to interact with pupils in ways which encouraged motivation rather than compliance with behavioral diktats. Motivated teachers and motivated pupils tend to go together, but authoritarian teachers are more likely to produce either timid or rebellious charges. The objective of schooling has been long discussed, and when I was beginning teaching in the 1970s, it was described as “autonomy”, that is pupils making up their own minds about things. We encouraged open minds and discussion. It may be true that the loudest voices were from closed minds, but we teachers were skilled at helping even these to be thoughtful. Autonomy (following rules you think out for yourself) contrasts with heteronomy, obeying rules given by others. Our education system follows the latter, with schooling informing and filling up empty vessels.

For two years we worked closely with disturbed and disengaged young people on ‘Tranquility Zone’ and ‘Discovery Zone’ activities. The first group of 11-13 year olds was chosen by secondary schools as needing particular support. I interviewed several after the project as part of my work as project evaluator. At that point the young men and women were of an age to go to College and University. They described their early lack of aspirations and expectations, which starkly contrasted with what they had managed to achieve. As one young woman said, ‘If I hadn’t come across the Tranquility Zone, I would have committed suicide long ago. I would not be here now’. She progressed to College, another to university where he did very well.
It is important to say that this work was an act of service of the Baha'i Community seeking to be of help to troubled and vulnerable youngsters. Readers with little knowledge of Baha'is are invited to find out more through books like The Baha'i Faith: A Beginner's Guide by Moojan Momen. The teachers and other champions in school who enthusiastically facilitated the Programme were not Baha'is, but professionals in tune with the (Baha'i inspired) approach to the spiritual empowerment of young people, and concerned about the well-being, potential and future aspirations of their students, especially those who for various personal and family reasons were most needy. As evaluator, I also am not a Baha'i, though fully sympathetic to its history and social values. The Project did not promote the Baha'i Faith focused on classroom pedagogy.

The project has simplified over the years and two key themes have stood the test of time – that the individual is full of potential, a ‘mine rich in gems of inestimable value’; and that the best way these gems (inner positive qualities and capacities) can be developed is in service to others.  These are two sides of the same coin: we need to recognize that we have something to offer, and then understand that we can make a huge difference to the community. We might express this as being contributors rather than consumers.

The journey towards this is however not simple. The young people enter the process with various life experiences, including in some cases dysfunctional and destructive relationships which can damage self esteem and cause emotional pain. Such personal burdens can be left behind once they are recognized and dealt with, and you will see in this book how The Discovery Zone (a period of activities and discussion) begins this process of personal reflection.  We may be drawn to bad habits and negative behaviour, experiencing their pull which needs to be resisted. Other activities  identify and celebrate the gems and positive attributes we see in each other,  increasing self worth and developing positive and empowering relationships.

The Tranquility Zone is however something else. An ambient space is created with drapes, candles, soft furnishings, flowers and gentle music. Participants sit on cushions and enter into a contemplative state. The voice of the facilitator takes the group on an imaginary journey to an island where each are met by a personal guide, a wise-person constructed from their own imagination.  A number of storylines speak of the mine of gems, fruit on a tree and similar metaphors of fruitful lives.      Outsiders would see the group in a very relaxed state, to be discussed later.  Troubled youth seemed to benefit most and the general feedback was positive.   

Going alongside these activities were a group of people, in the project and in schools, who cared and made it clear to these youngsters that they are valued and valuable; that friendship among the team of people survives the project as lives changed direction and new aspirations became possible. Vivian’s book charts the programme over the years and explains its spiritual basis, demonstrating that lives ‘lit up’ have a chance to overcome obstacles. This is not an easy time for children and young people to grow up, maybe with little hope of a career and the too tempting availability of drink and drugs leading too often to criminality. Schools would rather have winners than losers, so a too sizable proportion of school students are left to founder.

 I once worked with city comprehensive schools in Birmingham to raise the achievement of all pupils – a project called Birmingham Compact. Its results over the whole cohort were dramatic, raising achievement levels from 30% to 70%.  But the arrival of school league tables, and Ofsted, meant that it was more profitable to coach a small group of borderline pupils to obtain a grade C rather than a D. The league tables were the tail that wagged the dog. The work with all pupils was degraded  to service the league tables. What happens to the lowest achieving 20% of a school is a matter of huge concern. Instead of writing them off, or even expelling them so they don’t spoil a school’s league table returns, these troubled lives can be turned around. Of course we might add, should be turned around.

I am reminded of some comments by my great mentor in education, John Dewey. Writing long ago, he set out his ‘Pedagogic Creed’ (1897, in McDermott, 1981: 442-454). In it, pupils participate in the social consciousness of the human race, so learning has to be embedded in society and promote the welfare of the group. The individual is a social being with responsibilities. An effective school will encapsulate positive social relationships and the well-being of the group. Far from education being a preparation for future life, it has to be relevant to the present lives of the pupils, addressing their issues and experiences, confident young people will adapt to whatever the future throws at them. The curriculum needs to focus on social activities, to build a foundation for the ethical study of school subjects. “Examinations are of use only so far as they test the child’s fitness for social life and reveal the place in which he can be of the most service and where he can receive the most help” (p.447).

Dewey’s educational philosophy dominated school thinking in the 1970s and 1980s, but has been supplemented by a subject-based national curriculum which teaches content and builds no ethical foundations. Nor does much school study encourage pupils to reflect upon life. Dewey ends: “the teacher is engaged, not simply in the training of individuals, but in the formation of the proper social life... every teacher should realise the dignity of his calling; that he is a social servant set apart ...for securing the right social growth ... in this way the teacher always is the prophet of the true God and the usherer in of the true kingdom of God.  (p.454).

In other words, using the language of his time, teaching is a spiritual calling, the prime purpose of which is to promote personal well-being and intellectual curiosity about life itself.

There are many more recent books on well-being, emotional intelligence, happiness, spirituality, resilience and similar themes to do with the education of the whole child. Society today has many problems and pressures which impact on young people. Knowing old-fashioned knowledge will not help them to become effective members of their social group. When faced with the question, what do we want our education system to do for our children, having good qualifications is not at the top of my list. Rather it is to encourage young people to be well-rounded, personally confident, helpful and responsible members of the group, unprejudiced, intellectually curious, critical of authoritarianism, and champions of the less fortunate. 

Such young people are likely also to achieve well in reasonably constructed qualifications.  This needs to apply to the whole school population in the spirit of ‘no youngster left behind’ – with no pupil being written off as being beyond teaching and learning. This is still a challenging agenda; and unfortunately it is the opposite of the aspirations of successive governments, resulting inan increase in punishment systems and exclusions.  Vivian’s book offers a straightforward way of bringing more light into the lives of not only challenged and challenging pupils, but all pupils. Every young person needs help and support as they build up resilience in the face of the many burdens with which modern life encumbers them.