ASM PLUS Education Articles
“We don’t need no education”
I have recently been thinking about education and what this means. Part of the reason for this, I suppose, is that I have recently finished my latest qualification, a masters degree in something called ‘work-based learning’. I suspect that there will be at least some...
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Educational Conflict Resolution Services and Mediation from ASM Plus – threats to the UK education system and why external conflict resolution services can make a meaningful, cost-effective difference.
If ever the British public were in doubt about the challenges currently facing the UK education sector, any such notion should have been dispelled by the recent spate of objective but nonetheless rather pessimistic newspaper headlines and articles. These articles have...
Educational Mediation from ASM Plus- the Need for Life Skills and Vision That Mediation can give to Education
In an article published in Linked-In Pulse at the end of 2015 entitled "What Education We Need in 2016" the academic emphasis typically seen in a school curriculum was heavily criticised. Broadly speaking the writer of this article, Eric Sim, roundly criticised US...
Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) services for schools from ASM Plus – a few pre-2019 reflections for teachers and school governors
The Christmas season is over. The Christmas production was successful, your school closed in a spirit of end of year optimism and the Chair of Governors said one or two nice things. You still have a few precious days of holiday time to enjoy and a short academic...
Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) services from ASM Plus – a few thoughts for 2019
Every year, around about 29th December people begin to realise that the Christmas shutdown will soon be over and they start thinking about the New Year. Some will go to the sales, plan a holiday or resolve to join a gym but this is also a time both for reflection and...
Education Mediation and Facilitated Meetings from ASM Plus – some further thoughts on exclusions
Of late, the issue of school exclusions (1) has been very much in the news. My recent article (2) on this subject looked at the exclusion process in the context of one individual case but there are some wider ramifications. The purpose of this article is to...
Anger, a modern taboo or an important means of self-expression? How can Mediation and other forms of ADR help and can it be a form of “anger management”?
In modern Western society at least, words such as “anger” or “angry” conjure up negative visions of loss of self-control, threats of violence or possibly a term such as “anger management”. In the public sphere or the workplace, the notion of “letting off steam” may be...
Educational Dispute Resolution from ASM Plus – How can Early Dispute Avoidance (EDA) help with the exclusion process?
The Oxford English Dictionary tells us that the word exclusion dates from Late Middle English: from Latin exclusio(n-), from excludere ‘shut out’. Shut out. That is what happens when a pupil is excluded; they are shut out of the school. This may be for a set time,...
Educational Mediation from ASM Plus. Jane and Emily, A Case of “If Only” or “Should Have Gone to…” – An address to Head Teachers and School Governors Everywhere.
Recent press reports suggest that the number of school exclusions has hit an all-time high. For example, a front-page article dated 1st September 2018 in The Guardian stated: “Revealed: dozens of schools excluding one in five pupils". In the light of this consider...
Education Mediation, Workplace Mediation and ADR Services from ASM Plus – Early Conflict Resolution in Education; Saving Money, Time and Stress.
Part 2: The Well-Being Case: In part 1 of the blog on Early Conflict Resolution in Education, the business case was made for dealing with conflict early and effectively. It is difficult to separate the financial and well-being cases completely, so there will be a...
Early Conflict Resolution in Education – Saving Money, Time and Stress.
By Nicole Godetz, Mediator, Trainer, Educational Specialist and a member of the ASM Plus Education, Family and Small Claims Teams. This is Nicole’s inaugural blog. Part 2 follows in a few days Part 1 The Business Case Recruiting and retaining good teachers and...
Educational mediation and ADR Services from ASM Plus – A case of school bullying where mediation helped facilitate an informal resolution.
Marek and his mother Emelia who are of Eastern European origin have recently been allocated permanent residential accommodation in the London Borough of Ham-upon-Thames in a district with a demographic that does not include many people from ethnic minority...
Parenting Classes – consider mediation which is in a class of its own
About 12 years ago the government decided that all young people should learn about citizenship. It wasn't optional, schools couldn't avoid it, every 13 year old child had to study what it means to be a citizen of this country. Of course, unless you actually give...
Educational Mediation – Jane and Emily, A Case of “If Only” or “Should Have Gone to…” -An address to head teachers and school governors everywhere
Consider the following scenario which was recounted to me and in which for obvious reasons, names and identities have been changed. Just before the long summer break, the head teacher of the Anytown Comprehensive School contacts his Chair of Governors and asks him to...
An Injustice That Is Never Resolved
Most of us make a complaint when we don’t receive good service or there is negligent behaviour on the part of a professional delivering a service to us or our family. Organisations tend to respond by looking at their processes and the training of staff to encourage a...
Educational Mediation from ASM Plus- It’s Not On The Whiteboard – What Has To Be Taught First
Ten years ago, as a counsellor in a local comprehensive school, I worked with a teenage girl who was on her way out. Out of school for disruption, out of health because of her mistreatment of her own body, out of money because her family had little to begin with, and...
Educational Mediation and EDA (Early Dispute Avoidance) from ASM Plus – What can you do when your child is in trouble at school and his teachers say he could have ADHD?
Your young son Jason has been placed on internal suspension at school. His teacher says that he has trouble concentrating on his schoolwork and does not listen when she gives instructions to the class. She complains that he continually interrupts the class. Worse than...
Educational Mediation and Medical Mediation from ASM Plus -Special Education and the overlapping medical needs in mediation
Mediations involving young people with special education needs can be complex especially where there is a comorbidity with another health related condition. Do mediators need to have an awareness of health related issues in Special Education disputes? Absolutely, as...
Educational Mediation from ASM Plus – The successful resolution of a potential formal complaint arising out of a university staff recruitment exercise
Dr Vadja is the head of the Social Sciences Department at the Anyshire Technical College. Although it is "only" a technical college, Anyshire has a very good academic reputation and is shortly to be given full university status. Dr Vadja is an internationally regarded...
Educational Mediation From ASM Plus – It’s Good to talk: Tackling the Elephant in the Room.
This is published with the very kind permission of our guest blogger, Esther Efemini. The UK teaching crisis has deepened with nearly 50,000 teachers leaving the teaching profession last year; the highest number since records began. A rethink to address this...
EDR (Early Dispute Resolution) – The Case of Lara
Lara is twelve years old and seeking enrolment into her local secondary school. She has had a significant history of school refusal and has not attended her primary school for the last six months. Before this period her pattern of attendance had been spasmodic. Lara...
Education Mediation from ASM Plus – Talking with teachers about your child’s Special Education needs
Disagreements can occur at any time between teachers and parents. In Special Education disagreements are heightened because the levels and types of support offered or not offered by the school are often questioned by parents. Conflict between parents and schools is...
Educational mediation from ASM Plus – in the UK some big educational changes are on the way. What are the implications?
It is 25 years since a relatively small group of schools declared their independence from local education authorities and became grant maintained. At that time those at the heart of the Grant Maintained movement were hoping for a speedy demise of local authorities and...
Civil Mediation from ASM Plus – Why Does “Sorry” Seem to Be the Hardest Word?
You would think it was easy to say sorry. It is a short, two syllables word and from a very early age it's one that children are taught to say when they do something wrong. The one word that will help put things right. Back in the 70s there was a sitcom on television...
Educational Mediation from ASM Plus – the Need for Life Skills and Vision That Mediation can give to Education
In an article published in Linked-In Pulse at the end of 2015 entitled "What Education We Need in 2016" the academic emphasis typically seen in a school curriculum was heavily criticised. Broadly speaking the writer of this article, Eric Sim, roundly criticised US...
Educational Mediation and Dispute Resolution from ASM Plus – this is how I get results
Dispute resolution is a powerful process in resolving conflicts within Special Education. The best time to use this process is early in a dispute. It is my view that most teachers, heads of schools and the local authority want the best outcomes for every young person...
Mediation, Small Claims Resolution and Insurance Services from ASM Plus -“Small Is Beautiful” – Mediation Is Not Just for “Big” £££££ Cases
It may be that you are involved in one of the following - a bitterly fought child contact dispute; a high-value, complex personal injury claim; an unfair dismissal case involving a high-profile football manager; a complex trade dispute that requires specialist...
Education mediation – the importance of teaching mediation in schools
Some years ago now the government launched an initiative in schools called Every Child Matters. Since no-one ever seems to close an initiative it is presumably still in force and the ideas within it, have hopefully been incorporated into everyday school life. ECM, as...