‘I Consider Implications for Future Practice’: How can I Continue to Influence my Own Learning, the Learning of Others, and the Schools and Learning Communities of Which I am Part?

Abstract

I remember a particular time when my philosophy, methodology and practice were unified: Molly was an elective mute. When she came to the school she had not been speaking for several months. She engaged in all the activities, except speaking of course. I felt sorry for her. She seemed a sad little soul to me. Some teachers suggested we should force her to speak. That rather reminded me of first - world war soldiers who were muted by their traumatic experiences in the trenches, and subsequently, in order to make them fit for service again, were given electric shock treatment and other savageries to force them to speak. This little girl seemed to me to have been engaged in her own kind of trench warfare. Anyway, I was always gentle and kind to her. She occasionally smiled at me but not a word she spoke. I put her in situations, which showed I “ colluded ” with her choice not to speak, telling her she wasn’t allowed to speak in this role and so on.