Module 2: Exploring social development

Section 1: Exploring social networks

1. Exploring family networks with large classes

We all have very different family networks but there are often many common elements and structures that we can compare.

When discussing family networks, some children in your class are likely to come from very different family set-ups from the others. You will need special skills to help and support these children cope with their differences and ensure that the other class members also respond positively to these differences.

Large classes present particular problems for teachers – especially if they are multigrade classes. Case Study 1 and Activity 1 make some suggestions for exploring family networks with different-sized classes and pupils in different grades.

The strategies used here are presentation, small group discussion and giving feedback.

Key Resource: Working with multigrade classes  gives further ideas.

2. Using role plays and problem-solving

People, especially children, usually feel happy and secure when they are part of a group. This is particularly true outside the family. In school, for example, friendship groups are very important to children. Friendship groups are often a positive experience, but sometimes they can have a negative impact on individual children who are left out or picked on by others. In this part, you are going to use role play and problem solving to help your pupils explore their friendship groups and the influence these have on their daily lives.

You will need to spend some time preparing appropriate role plays for the age of the children in your class. Some suggestions are made for you in Resource 3: Role plays for exploring school networks. This will help you start, but you can probably think of other relevant and real situations that you can use. Think carefully about the individuals in your class, consider any problems that have arisen and be careful how you set up the role plays.

With younger pupils, it is important to help them build up good relationships and friendships so that they find coming to school a positive experience. Using stories about different situations that might arise is one way to stimulate ideas about to how to help each other.

Case Study 2 shows what happened when Miss Adaji used role play and problem solving in her class.

3. Working with the community

Inviting people from the community into school can help keep pupils motivated to learn and make their lessons more exciting. Handled well, such activities can help you make life skills lessons very relevant for your pupils. This is a good way to introduce your pupils to some of the different networks in their community.

However, inviting experts into the classroom may take some time to arrange – you have to identify appropriate people, make arrangements with them and make sure they understand what you want them to do. You also have to prepare resources for your pupils so that real learning takes place.

Remember to assess what the pupils have learned after the event. Not only about the topic of the visitor, but also what they have learned about organising such an event. You can do this in different ways – there are some ideas in the Key Activity. See Key Resource: Using the local community/environment as a resource to help you plan the visit.

Resource 1: Reasons for living in families – Miss Ndonga’s class list

 Background information / subject knowledge for teacher

• To protect children.
• To provide food and shelter for children.
• To teach children how to live.
• To teach children the things they need to know, such as honesty and respect for others.
• Because children cannot support themselves.
• For adults to have companionship.
• Because people are social beings and cannot live alone.
• To provide a role model for children.
• To share friendship and love.
• To share tasks.

Resource 2: Family network

 Teacher resource for planning or adapting to use with pupils

Copy this tree onto the chalkboard or a poster. The children could copy it into their notebooks, or onto newsprint if you want to display their work.

Each child should first make a list of the people in their family that they want to include in their tree and draw the correct number of boxes. This could involve more or fewer boxes than are shown here.

Resource 3: Role plays for exploring school networks

 Teacher resource for planning or adapting to use with pupils

Here are some ideas to get you started when thinking about role plays. With a little thought, you will be able to build on these ideas and think of role plays suitable for your pupils. Remember to think of questions for the class, after the children have performed the role play. You will need to make sure they understand what they have to do and say. Also, make sure that everyone gets a chance at performing. You could also ask the pupils if they think the teacher should get involved in any of these problems.

Younger children

1. Fatima and Rose have been friends since Primary 1. They are now in Primary 3. A new girl, called Jumoke, joins the class. Fatima decides she will not be friends with Rose any more as she likes going to Jumoke’s house to play with her dog. Rose is very unhappy because Fatima is unkind to her. She spends most break times crying.

   • What could Rose do to solve her problem?

   • What should Fatima do if she really cares about Rose?

   • What could Jumoke do to help the situation?

2. Ahmed is a very shy boy. He wears heavy spectacles because he does not see very well. He does not like sports and is not very good at them. None of the boys in his class will be friends with him because he will not play football. He is often alone and hates school because he does not have a friend.

   • What advice can you give Ahmed?

Older pupils

1. Isaac wants to hang around with a group of boys who call themselves ‘The A Team’. They seem to have a lot of fun and always have girls hanging around them. Some of them smoke cigarettes and drink alcohol. They steal money from their parents to buy these things. If they can’t get money they steal from the old Abbas Buba’s shop. They say that if Isaac wants to join them, then he must bring cigarettes and money.

   • What should Isaac do?

2. Asabe has met a boy who is much older than her. She is 13 and he is 16 years old. She likes him very much and thinks about marrying him. He wants to have sex with her, but she is not sure. She wants to keep him as her boyfriend but she is worried about AIDS or getting pregnant. She wants to go to university.

   • What should Asabe do?

Section 2: Investigating our place in the community

1. Exploring the local community

Discussing and writing stories helps pupils to say what they think about different situations. Stories can be very helpful when you want pupils to think about difficult subjects. But it does take time to prepare them well; you need to think about the communities your pupils are part of and prepare your story carefully.

In Case Study 1, we learn about Mrs Otto who teaches Primary 6 in a large primary school in Kampala. She wanted her pupils to think about community relationships in their own town situation and then find out more about a rural community. If you work in a rural setting, you may want your pupils to explore an urban or town situation.

Activity 1 uses discovery learning to help your pupils ‘discover’ more about their own communities.

2. Using role play to explore community relationships

Respecting others and behaving in appropriate ways between different generations is important in holding communities together. In your classroom, how your pupils speak and interact with each other can affect their interest in school and learning. Role play can be used to explore how to behave in different situations. See Key Resource: Using role play/dialogue/drama in the classroom for guidance.

You will need to spend some time preparing appropriate role plays. Remember, the purpose is to help your pupils explore their own beliefs, knowledge and attitudes, and role play is a non-threatening way to do this.

Case Study 2 shows how one teacher used role play with younger pupils to explore the rules of behaviour in their families. Activity 2 uses role play to investigate community relationships.

3. Learning to respect differences

It is very important that as your pupils grow up, you help them learn to respect people’s different opinions and beliefs. Stories are a good way of introducing ideas about cultural interactions and good and bad behaviour. Stories can help pupils understand the principles behind different kinds of behaviour.

To use stories well, you should include characters who behave in different ways. A lot of discussion can come from a well-chosen story, but you also need to think about questions you can ask.

The same is also true of role plays. By inventing characters and acting as them, pupils can explore the kinds of cultural conflicts that might occur in real life, but without suffering any of the consequences. Stories and role plays can help your pupils develop their understanding of difference in a non-threatening way. Resource 5: Intercultural communities will help you develop these ideas with your pupils.

Resource 1: What is a community?

 Background information / subject knowledge for teacher

A community is a group of people who interact and share certain things in common. Members of the community may live in the same area and may have common values and beliefs. They could share some common possessions.

If you are trying to explain the idea of community to your pupils, you might start by using examples they are familiar with. A good starting point is to ask them to describe their families, including the wider family of aunts, uncles and cousins. Help them to realise that their homes and families consist of individuals, a collection of people, living in a particular place – a small community.

Building on this, you can ask them to add in other groups that they interact with and who form part of the wider community:

• their neighbours, who live in the same street;
• their friends, who they see every day;
• their parents’ friends, who visit them.

It is this collection of different groups of people that makes up a community, and it is how pupils interact with these groups that contribute towards who they are and how they see themselves within the community. Identifying the different things that help define a community will help them understand the part they play in different groups. You might ask them to describe:

• the location – where people live;
• the language – how people speak;
• the culture – what clothes people wear, the food they eat, their religion;
• the history – important events that have happened to a group of people.

Resource 2: Sample questions pupils might ask to find out more about local community groups

 Teacher resource for planning or adapting to use with pupils

• What is the name of your group?
• What is the purpose of your organisation?
• Which members of the community do you help?
• How do you provide that help?
• Who are the members of the organisation?
• Who can be a member of your group?
• How do you become a member of the group?
• Do you meet regularly? If so, when and where?

Resource 3: One family’s rules

 Teacher resource for planning or adapting to use with pupils

Resource 4: Role play on community relationships

 Teacher resource for planning or adapting to use with pupils

Here are some ideas for role plays you can do with your pupils. They are just ideas to get you started. Can you think of more relevant situations for your own community and pupils? If so, write your own role plays or adapt the ones below.

You can stop each story where we have left it and ask the pupils to make up their own endings. This way, the pupils can work in groups and come up with different solutions to the problems. Or you can write your own ending to the story to make any points you wish.

Gana meets the chief

Gana had a problem with his neighbour who kept letting his goats into Gana’s garden where they would eat all his vegetables. It had happened many times. Gana tried to talk to his neighbour but he would not listen. His neighbour used to be very friendly, but lately he was often in the beer parlour and did not care much about his house or his friends.

Gana decided to go to the chief to ask for some advice. …

Mr Ekene the storekeeper

Mr Ekene has a small store that sells food and household items. His store is a great help to the women in the village as it saves them walking so far to the next town. Mr Ekene is the proud owner of a refrigerator and a generator. Now he can also sell cold things, like cool drinks and milk – even meat. The young people like to come to his shop to buy cola. One day, Mr Ekene found that while he had been busy serving one boy with some sweets, two other boys opened his fridge and stole two bottles of cola. He was very upset and he decided to ….

Nwafor and his grandfather

Nwafor’s grandfather is very old – he is 92! He lives with Nwafor and his three sisters and his mother and his aunt and her baby. Most of the time grandfather stays in his room or on his special chair outside the front door under the shade of the mango tree. He is often grumpy and complains about the noise the children make. Nwafor’s mother tells him they must look after grandfather as he is the head of their household. He has his old age pension from the government, which helps to buy their food. Nwafor is quite scared of him and prefers to let his sisters look after grandfather.

One day, his sisters are all out fetching water and mother tells Nwafor he must take grandfather his evening meal. Nwafor is very worried. He takes the food and then ….

Resource 5: Intercultural communities

 Background information / subject knowledge for teacher

As you help your pupils define their communities, be it their family, village or school, it is very important that they also learn to respect people’s different opinions and beliefs.

Remind pupils that they are all individuals from different homes and families. For example, they might not all speak the same home language or mother tongue. Their parents may have different occupations: some may be labourers; others farmers; a few may be traders, nurses etc.

But also highlight the fact that they are all members of the same community, with a common interest. Because of this, they should respect the views of other people in that community.

The first stage of respecting other people is to listen to their views and recognise their value. When pupils learn about different people’s backgrounds and beliefs, they will be able to respect each other more. They will not be fearful of cultural differences. They will also have a greater understanding of who they are.

Cultural differences can sometimes be a cause for conflict within a community. It is important for pupils to understand the reasons for conflict, such as arguments over property and land, behaviour, money and relationships. An important part of life skills education is finding ways to try and avoid conflict at school and in the community.

Resource 6: Conflict in the community

 Teacher resource for planning or adapting to use with pupils

Once there was a big fight that took place among the three cultural groups in Ariya, a village community by the main road. It led to the killing of members of different cultural groups and this affected the community very badly.

The three groups were the Bororojie, who were cattle rearers, the Esusu, who were traders, and the Yariba, who drove the taxis and transport. The fight started between the traders and the taxi and transport drivers, and spread from there.

The traders said that the Yariba were charging them too much money for transporting goods, and the taxi and transport drivers said that the Esusu were charging them too much for fuel to run their vehicles.

First, there was a strike by the taxi and transport drivers and then the traders stopped selling them fuel and goods. One day, there was a fight between a taxi driver and a trader in the market. Then all the taxi drivers went to the market to break the stalls, and a big fight started.

After this, the taxi and transport drivers and the traders started attacking each other’s compounds. They were badly hit. People were killed and property was lost. The families of both groups ran to their homelands for safety.

At first, the Bororoje cattle rearers were not as badly affected because they were in their homeland and they were in the majority. But the fight continued for another day, and they got involved.

The sad news soon reached the home areas of the taxi and transport drivers and the traders about the troubles in the Bororojie areas. The home people descended on the Bororoje in their own communities, killing their cattle. In some places, the cattle rearers were killed too.

For days, there was no peace. Meat was not available in the home areas of the taxi and transport drivers and the traders because the Bororoje had left. At Ariya, no taxicabs were on the streets. The market was empty because stalls were destroyed and no other foodstuff and meat could be brought in.

The leaders of the different communities in Ariya called for meetings and addressed all the cultural groups. They showed the people how they all needed one another for the community to operate well. They explained how they should learn to listen to the views of one another, and be tolerant of one another, because there is a lot to gain from one another.

Then they sat with the representatives of the different communities and discovered the root cause of all this trouble. They discussed the problems associated with the conflict, found a solution and made peace between the people.

Section 3: Ways of taking responsibility

1. Working in groups

Every community has different beliefs and values, guided by the customs of the local society. These beliefs and values help to determine what behaviours are acceptable in that community.

Pupils will first learn these standards at home, and this can be useful to you. You can draw on their families’ expectations to help identify the ways pupils and staff are expected to behave at school:

• in the classroom;
• in the playground;
• towards the teacher;
• towards each other.

Developing the principles of good behaviour with your pupils will assist their concentration during class. They are more likely to listen to what is being said and treat each other respectfully.

In addition, by finding out ideas from your pupils, they will feel that they have agreed to any expectations of behaviour. They are more likely to respect these expectations than if you had just told them they must behave in a certain way.

Doing this successfully involves some careful planning and can take some time to develop. At each step, you should listen carefully to your pupils’ ideas.

2. Sharing responsibility for the classroom

It is important for your pupils to understand that, like their teacher, they have responsibilities within the classroom.

• Firstly, you must be a good role model. Show respect for your duties: be punctual; plan and attend lessons; mark homework etc. If you do not fulfil your responsibilities, you cannot expect the pupils to do so.
• Secondly, involve them in maintaining standards in the classroom. This includes them:
  • cleaning the chalkboard;
  • keeping the classroom clean and tidy;
  • looking after books and furniture, and so on.
  • If they look after the classroom themselves, they will start to take pride in it.
• Thirdly, involve them in organising their own learning through the activities that you give them. This includes them:
  • demonstrating the difference between work time and play time;
  • organising group work and study sessions;
  • checking each other’s work, and so on.

The usual way to start doing this is by appointing pupils as monitors and group leaders, responsible for looking after different tasks. But they also need to understand what is needed for each task.

For more information see Resource 2: Using monitors.

3. Working in groups to agree classroom rules

In this section, you will use pupils’ ideas about good principles of behaviour to help them develop their own classroom rules.

Helping pupils make a set of rules for the classroom is one way to strengthen participation and responsibility, especially if they write the rules themselves. Establishing their own rules will help them understand what is expected.

There are two sets of rules to think about. The first are social rules. These cover the ways people interact with each other and behave towards each other.

The second are study rules. These cover how pupils behave during lesson time and what they can do to help everyone study and learn. By organising pupils to work in groups, you will allow them to share ideas and gain respect for each other more.

It is important that the rules apply to the teacher as well as the pupils. You need to be a good example for your pupils. If you respect them in the classroom, they will learn to respect you. One teacher describes her experiences in Resource 3: Asking children to agree rules.

Resource 1: The benefits of classroom principles

 Background information / subject knowledge for teacher

There are many benefits to having well-established principles in your classroom.

A clear set of guidelines about what is good and unacceptable behaviour in the classroom helps you manage the class better. By capturing these as rules, you are able to refer to them if it’s needed. However, for rules to be effective in a positive way, the pupils also need to understand why a particular rule exists.

These guidelines help the pupils understand what is expected of them. They know what is appropriate behaviour during lessons and during break time. They also have some idea of how to interact with each other and why.

A set of rules for behaviour makes it easier for you to organise the pupils when doing activities in the classroom. They will know when to listen, when to talk, how to respond to questions, and so on.

Having guidelines on behaviour means that the pupils will get into the habit of treating each other well. This makes for a peaceful and cooperative classroom. By allowing the pupils to write their own rules and take responsibility for classroom activities, you will be encouraging them to take pride in their schooling. They are also more likely to follow those rules they have written themselves.

The above will all contribute towards a positive learning environment in your classroom. You will be able to spend more time on teaching and less time on controlling and organising the class. The pupils will listen better in class and concentrate on their activities. They will also learn to help each other and support themselves in their studies, which should result in higher achievement. They will feel better about themselves as people as they make progress in their learning and you will enjoy teaching them more.

Resource 2: Using monitors

 Background information / subject knowledge for teacher

As a teacher, you can use pupils to help you with the day-to-day management of your classroom. There are numerous simple tasks that you can ask them to perform on your behalf, and this serves two benefits.

It allows you to spend more time preparing and delivering good teaching, rather than managing and tidying up the classroom;

• It gives the pupils small areas of responsibility, which encourages them to take pride in their schooling.
• There are a few issues you need to think about when selecting monitors. You want pupils who will do their tasks well, and who will be willing to help you and others.

You also want pupils who are responsible and interact well with others. Sometimes, pupils might see being a monitor as a position of power over others, and they might misuse it. It is important to help them understand that they have to carry out the role responsibly, and you will be a role model in this. All pupils should be given a chance to take on such roles. If you only choose the same pupils each time, others will feel less valued. You will need to provide guidance and support to the monitors. Some will need more support than others in the early stages.

You will need to think clearly about each of the jobs before you give them out. If there is not a regular daily task to do, the pupils will get bored and neglect it. There needs to be a clear purpose for the task as well, rather than something to fill time. Finally, you will also need to provide clear instructions.

It is important to share the jobs around and give each pupil a turn. If some pupils are not involved, they will stop taking an interest and may even start disrupting classes to get the attention that is going to the monitors.

If possible, let pupils choose the jobs they could do to help. You can also hold regular classroom meetings where pupils can suggest different tasks.

Finally, you will also need to monitor and support them. Give praise where you can and give guidance where it is necessary.

Resource 3: Asking children to agree rules

 Background information / subject knowledge for teacher

I would like to share some stories that happened in my classroom. In the first few days of school, one of our activities is to get together and talk about the classroom and playground rules. In the beginning, I told the children the rules and we talked about them. I wondered if they are too small (4–5 years old), to come up with the rules but last year I decided to let them generate the rules. To my surprise, it went OK, and my children were even stricter than me, and generated more rules. My class really enjoyed this activity and they follow the rules they have generated themselves voluntarily.

Using the children’s misbehaviour/mistakes to teach them how to behave well is a good theory. When a child misbehaves in our classroom or during outdoor activities I frequently try to make use of the opportunity to talk about it with the children during class meeting later that day. We talk about what happened and I ask the children to find a solution, not a punishment for the problem. It’s true that sometimes my children do suggest silly ideas, but gradually, more often than not, my kids find a good solution to the conflict.

As expected, it takes time and persistence from the teacher, especially with little ones, to show the way and make the kids understand that they have the power to decide how to solve conflict on their own peacefully, but it is extremely rewarding in the end.

Thank you,

Zsuzsanna, Nigeria

Adapted from http/posdis.org

Section 4: Investigating self-esteem

1. Using a story to discuss self-esteem

Self-esteem is a major key to success in life. If you feel good about who you are, you have more confidence to join in with others, to make new friends and face new situations.

As a teacher, you play a crucial role in developing pupils’ self-esteem through the way you interact with them. You need to be sensitive towards pupils’ feelings and emotions, and you need to be careful about what you say and how you speak to them.

It is important to be positive and encouraging, praising them for their hard work and achievements and using kind words wherever possible. Try to catch them being good, rather than looking out for bad behaviour. This does not mean that you do not have to discipline pupils, but how you do this is crucial if you wish to maintain a positive working relationship with them.

It is always useful to start off a new topic by finding out what your pupils already know. Ask them for ideas about self-esteem – you may be surprised at the variety of answers they come up with.

Case Study 1 and Activity 1 show how you can use a story in different ways to explore an idea such as self-esteem.

2. Using role play

Unfortunately, as some of your pupils grow up they may encounter an abusive relationship. This type of relationship can influence their social, emotional and physical development for the worse, and it takes more time and effort to help them overcome the damage done.

The concept of ‘abuse’ here should not be confused with offensive and insulting language. ‘Abuse’ in this sense occurs when individuals use other people in a wrong and improper way. Relationships of this kind leave a lasting psychological, emotional and physical impact on the abused person. There are several types of ‘abuse’, such as physical and mental abuse. There are examples of these in Resource 2: Types of abuse, which you should read.

As a teacher, your responsibility is to help your pupils learn. If they are not happy or are being abused, they will not learn. Your role is to protect your pupils and you may need to involve others who are more expert and can give counselling. Resource 3: The role of schoolteachers provides more detail on your role.

The best way you can help is to explore with your pupils what they understand about correct and incorrect behaviour in relationships. However, you must do this sensitively and carefully. Resource 4: Finding out what pupils already know about relationships shows how one teacher did this. You could use the same method with your own pupils.

3. A community project as a source of learning

It is important that pupils develop ways to reflect upon how different relationships work so that they can make friends and protect themselves from harm.

One way to do this is to help the pupils work with the community to address a particular issue. Activities like these bring pupils together with the community to find common solutions to a community problem. Pupils learn about relationships through working with others, by:

sharing information with local experts;

learning how groups work together;

learning how to accept and fulfil responsibilities;

learning how to treat each other properly;

bringing together different ideas to help solve a problem.

Planning and organising an activity where the pupils work with other people in the community can be difficult. You need to organise a task that the pupils can realistically contribute to and you need to choose people who are willing to work with children. You also need to plan with them how the interaction will work – it may need to take place over two or three weeks or longer. It is important that everybody involved – adults and children – knows what is expected of them.

Before starting this section, we suggest reading Key Resource: Using the local community/environment as a resource.

Resource 1: A story about self-esteem

 Teacher resource for planning or adapting to use with pupils

There were three children who lived in the same village – two boys and one girl. One day, they all started going to school. Because they were the same age, they all attended the same class, but they reacted in very different ways.

The first boy was clever, and started to do very well at school. He could answer many questions and always got good marks. But because of this, he started to think a lot of himself. He didn’t want to listen to other people’s views. He became arrogant, and thought he knew everything. He was rude to others, and so he started to lose friends.

The second boy found school difficult, and didn’t understand some things. But he was afraid to ask the teacher in case he was punished. He fell further and further behind in his studies. Because of this, he thought poorly of himself. He thought his classmates were making fun of him. He felt unwanted and thought he was looked down upon by the teacher, and so never talked in class.

The girl enjoyed going to school from the beginning. She liked making friends, and realised she could learn a lot from them. She had good learning abilities but liked sharing ideas with others. She was good at listening to others. She had a good sense of humour, but learned not to make too much noise. She could ask questions when it was needed, but knew not to demand attention from everyone.

Resource 2: Types of abuse

 Background information / subject knowledge for teacher

There are many different forms of abuse – physical, sexual, emotional and psychological. They can take place between adults, between children, or between adults and children.

It is important that your pupils have some awareness of these forms of abuse, because while they are children they are very vulnerable. They trust adults, and usually do what they say, but they need to know that not everything an adult may do is correct.

Physical abuse involves the beating or hitting of someone. It does not have to be hard or violent, but if physical abuse is regular and frequent it can have a bad effect on a relationship.

Sexual abuse is the improper use of another person for sexual purposes, generally without consent or under physical or psychological pressure. This happens between adults and adults, adults and children, and also between children entering into adulthood. The trauma and psychological damage can be very severe and pupils may become very aggressive or withdrawn, nervous around adults or engage in inappropriate behaviour with their fellow pupils.

Emotional and psychological abuse involves treating someone cruelly over a long period, so that it makes them unhappy and depressed. It can involve calling them names or being rude, or just undermining their confidence and belittling their achievements.

There are other examples as well, such as parental abuse. This could take the form of a father luring his son into smoking by fixing a cigarette in his mouth and lighting it up for him. Parental abuse could also be in the form of beating a child regularly and violently so as to inflict wounds on them and suppress and control them beyond reason.

There can be domestic abuse – poor treatment of wives or housekeepers, no matter how hard they work.

Such abuse causes physical and emotional pain, and can lead to depression and low self-confidence.

Resource 3: The role of schoolteachers

 Background information / subject knowledge for teacher

Schoolteachers are in a position to identify when children are being abused. They have opportunities to get to know individual children well, and thus to notice changes in a child’s behaviour or performance, which could be linked to abuse. Children may also disclose their circumstances as part of life skills lessons or other parts of the curriculum.

If a teacher suspects abuse, a useful process to follow is:

• Start gathering information as soon as you suspect child abuse.
• Continue to do so consistently, and document all information gathered.
• Treat all this information as confidential.
• Discuss your suspicions and the information that you have gathered with the head teacher (unless she or he is possibly implicated).
• Ensure confidentiality by opening a separate file for the particular pupil. This file must be kept in the strong room or safe.
• The head teacher and the teacher must consult the list of criteria for the identification of different types of abuse to verify the information before making any allegations of child abuse. Include in this process professionals who have experience.
• Remain objective at all times and do not allow personal matters, feelings or preconceptions to cloud your judgement.
• Any information to do with child abuse is confidential and must be handled with great discretion.
• The reporting and investigation of child abuse must be done in such a way that the safety of the pupil is ensured.
• Justice must not be jeopardised, but at the same time the support needed by the pupil and their family must not be neglected.

Other important things to remember when talking to pupils are:

• Do not tell a child who discloses abuse that you do not believe them.
• Affirm the child’s bravery in making the disclosure.
• Tell the child what you are going to do about what you have been told, and why.
• If possible, tell the child what will happen next.
• Refer the child for counselling if necessary.
• Be prepared to give evidence in court if there is a trial.

There are many organisations across Africa dedicated to the prevention of child abuse, for example the African Network for the Prevention and Protection against Child Abuse and Neglect (ANPPCAN). See http://www.anppcan.org/ for more information.

Since 1997, the Nigerian Child Welfare Fund has undertaken a number of activities for the protection of children in Nigeria. You can find out about their work at http://nigerianchildwelfarefund.virtualactivism.net/ if you can access the internet.

Please note: The World Day for Child Abuse is 19 November every year.

Adapted from Resources Aimed at the Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect (RAPCAN)

Resource 4: Finding out what pupils already know about relationships

 Background information / subject knowledge for teacher

Amina is a hardworking teacher at a well-organised community school in a village in central Nigeria. In her characteristically thorough approach to teaching, she simplified some difficult words that her pupils are likely to come across in their study of ‘relationships’. This is to motivate them and help their understanding.

Amina asks her pupils to discuss in groups:

• who they associate with every day at home, and why;
• who they share ideas and experiences with at school, and for what reasons;
• if they interact with their teachers, and why.

After they have discussed these ideas in groups and as a class, she takes it further by asking her pupils what connects them to the provision seller outside their school gate. She asks them to think about which other people from the community they see regularly, and why.

They discuss these ideas in groups and then share them with the class. From this, Amina is able to help the pupils begin to identify the different kinds of relationships that they have with people, and the kinds of behaviour that are appropriate within each one.

She also used the following group activity to help her pupils explore ideas about relationships.

• Divide your class into manageable groups across genders, personality types and abilities, to work on the relationship questions below.
• Allow each group to choose a leader to organise the work, and a secretary to write down their ideas.
• Make it clear that the task is to last only 15 minutes and each group is to report for only five minutes.
• Move round the room to monitor each group’s progress and to ensure that individual members work actively together.
• After 15 minutes, invite the groups to report in turns, with the other groups taking notes.
• Together with the pupils, summarise the main points for everyone to note down. Draw their attention to the different types of relationships and why they exist.

Relationship questions

• What is your feeling towards the home/family into which you were born?
• What is your feeling towards your sister/brother at home in the family?
• What does your sister/brother do for you that makes her/him close to you?
• Who is your ‘best’ friend at school?
• What makes her/him your best friend?
• What connects you with your teacher?

Resource 5: Responses to the role play

 Background information / subject knowledge for teacher

Read through the story of the community’s response to the role play below, and think about what the main responses were. What are the alternative responses that might have taken place?

Imagine if this had been your community – what do you think would have been the likely responses? How would you handle any situation that arose?

How the community responded to the role play

After Sara’s class had done its role play to the community, there was a big response. The PTA decided to organise a debate on the issue, and invited the class to represent the views of the children.

The next week, Sara led her class to the school assembly hall, the place for the meeting of community leaders and representatives of professional groups from the area. The village chief was chairperson, the welfare officer was the secretary.

Each group presented its position on the problem of child abuse, one after the other.

The schoolchildren said they want child abuse outlawed because it disrupts children’s education and their contribution to the development of the nation.

The head teacher of the school said child abuse had brought a fall in enrolments and therefore his school was not able not play its role as the nursery for producing the future generation of leaders.

The police said that some of the young girls become prostitutes. The boys end up in all sorts of crimes, including pick-pocketing and robbery.

The health officer’s view was that most street workers, including children, do not eat well, and they tend towards drug abuse and glue sniffing, resulting in mental and physical breakdowns.

Parents and petty-traders argued that they use their children to source income for the family, and that without this, they would not survive.

The government’s representative and the community chief noted that the neighbouring village did not have a problem of the kind facing their own community. They wondered why this was so.

The schoolchildren proposed that government should give some financial aid to traders to set up their own stores at home, and to farmers to employ labourers.

The other representatives saw sense in the pupils’ suggestion, which they approved.

The schoolchildren went back to class to draw a picture of the community leaders’ meeting, bearing in mind the various groups represented. Pupils wrote down what they learned about how each group related to one another and how relationships might be developed further.

Resource 6: Guidelines for planning a community-based activity

 Background information / subject knowledge for teacher

• Identify a community issue that your pupils could address. It needs to be relevant to their learning and help the community.
• Identify who from the community they will work with. If possible, these partners will have some experience of working with schoolchildren. They need to be willing to contribute to this activity and to support the pupils with information and guidance.
• Plan how and when the community members will be involved, and with whom.
• Plan how you will organise the pupils to do these activities.
• Plan how you will explain the activities to your pupils.
• Decide how you will observe and guide your pupils during the different stages.

Now carry out the activity and then think about how successful it was. If you did this again, what would you change?

Section 5: Ways of managing conflict

1. Using pairs and groups to discuss conflict

It is possible that your pupils will come across conflict within their families. They may have had disagreements with their brothers or sisters, or arguments with their parents. They may have witnessed arguments between other members of their family, including between their mother and father, and these may also be more than just arguments and have a physical aspect to them.

They may not be involved directly, but if pupils encounter conflict within the home, it can affect their schooling in several ways. It can damage their confidence and self-esteem, stop them from concentrating on their work and make them unhappy and depressed.

It is important for you to recognise this and offer support to your pupils. It might not always be appropriate for you to get involved in a family situation but, as their teacher, there are several things you can do to help the pupil cope in the classroom.

Firstly, you can make your classroom a conflict-free environment where pupils feel secure and confident. By establishing rules of behaviour to minimise conflict, pupils will feel happy and safe.

Secondly, you can provide emotional support to those pupils who come across conflict at home. This involves you being sensitive to their feelings and making sure they are surrounded by friends.

Thirdly, you can provide pupils with the skills to avoid conflict with each other, and to negotiate and stop conflicts between others. This can be a challenging task, but it is one that will help them in later life.

2. Resolving conflicts

When you have large groups of pupils together, you are going to have some conflicts between them occasionally. However, you can reduce the likelihood of conflict by working hard to provide a supportive environment for all pupils. If conflict does occur, it is best to tackle it as soon as possible. This is your responsibility as a teacher. Left unresolved, it can:

• cause a bad atmosphere;
• disrupt the studies of everybody in the room;
• make the classroom an unpleasant place to be.

Most of the time, any conflicts will be between your pupils, but you should also recognise that there may be a conflict between you and a pupil. Because of this, you need to make sure that the rules of good behaviour apply to you, too. How you discipline a pupil must be done with respect for the pupil as it is the behaviour that is not liked and not the individual pupil.

To reduce the likelihood of conflict, you must establish clear rules of behaviour in the classroom, covering social interaction as well as studying. If the pupils know to treat each other well, then they are less likely to fight.

You should also recognise the difference between pupils debating a point and actually quarrelling or fighting.

The easiest way to deal quickly with conflict is by separating those involved to different parts of the room. But you must also get to the bottom of any conflict. Ask the pupils to explain the reasons to you. Negotiate a solution between them.

3. Community conflicts

Developing an awareness of what can cause conflicts and how to avoid them is important for groups and individuals working together.

A school is a central part of any community, and the teachers and children will represent all parts of that community. As such, the school could play an important role in avoiding or negotiating a solution for wider community conflicts.

Schools can also help pupils become more aware of the causes and issues surrounding conflicts. Some of your pupils may go on to become important players in helping with community-based conflicts.

To help your pupils become confident citizens, you need to:

• make sure your classroom is a harmonious environment;
• help your pupils understand the benefits of this;
• provide them with the skills to resolve conflicts.

Key to this is helping them understand that it is behaviour that is not liked and not the person doing it.

Resource 1: A family conflict

 Teacher resource for planning or adapting to use with pupils

In the Maripe family, the husband provided money for the family’s needs each week. One day, Dad had to explain to Mum that he did not have enough money to meet Mum’s needs. She did not want to listen. She stormed out of the room and slammed the door behind her.

The next morning, the atmosphere at home was tense, as Mum would not listen to Dad’s explanations. Dad kept trying to explain to Mum why he did not have enough money, but she wouldn’t listen.

After some time, Dad urged the children to talk to their Mum. This they did, asking Mum to be patient. She listened to them and agreed.

Mum listened carefully and came to understand why this week Dad had not had enough money – he had needed to lend some to his brother to pay for his children’s school fees.

When she heard this, she understood the problem. But in return, she asked that the family’s food money be put to one side before anything be lent to others, and topped up a little to meet the rising cost of foodstuffs. Dad agreed.

The tense atmosphere at home became relaxed and everyone left home for the day’s activities feeling happy. Mum gave Dad a hug and kiss. Dad returned with a smile. Normal relations returned to the family.

Resource 2: ‘Discussions prevent community conflict’

 Background information / subject knowledge for teacher

On 27 September 2002, in Taraba State, a Fulani herdsman was herding his family cattle near Ibi town when a Tiv youth from Benue State attacked him with a machete and left him for dead. Fulani youth in the area started organising a revenge attack. Had the Fulani youth followed through with their revenge it could have reignited the cycle of violent conflict between the neighbouring Fulani and Tiv communities that has troubled the region in recent years.

However, Mr Ade Seyin, a Fuyani member of the Community Peace and Mediation Committee (CPMC), reported the incident to Mr Denise Tsav, a Tiv member of the CPMC. Mr Tsav immediately began investigating the crime, and having identified the guilty party, he handed him over to the police. Equally importantly, Mr Tsav convinced the Tiv community to pay the medical bills for the victim. Both actions stopped Fulani demands for revenge, averting a revenge attack that could have provoked further violence in the now peaceful community.

Adapted from: USAID, Website