Using the human givens in education

There are an increasing variety of people who are recognising the practical value and potential of incorporating human givens-based ideas and practice within their work in education; these include not only head teachers, teachers and teaching assistants and lecturers involved directly in education within schools and colleges, but other professionals such as educational psychologists, education welfare officers, counsellors and therapists and care staff working in residential and secure educational settings, as well as those involved in school governance and education development at a strategic level within local authorities.

The aim of the Human Givens Institute Education Section is to bring this diverse group of people together so that:

• they can support each other and advise on particular situations and ways in which to maximise the benefit of the human givens approach within educational settings in the broadest sense
• they can be a body to act as a 'focal point' of approach for those interested in (but less familiar with) the human givens approach as applied to education
• they can more easily locate peers who are using the human givens approach in their particular speciality/role and make it easier, where appropriate, to form supervision groups around their particular specialty/role
• those wishing to do so can find a mentor familiar with human givens-based ideas
• create a group voice so that the human givens approach can influence education policy and development.

Present aims and goals:

1) to continue to develop an active directory of members, listing names, job descriptions and e-mail addresses, and to provide the means for contact and discussion within this group;

2) to identify and enable a panel of speakers willing to promote the practice-based value of including human givens-based principles within educational practice.

Terms of Reference :

Terms of reference for the group are as follows:

• The principal aim of the HGI Education Section will be to develop, extend and promote human givens-based practice within Education; the term 'Education' will be recognised in the broadest sense, encompassing mainstream, 'special', residential and further education;
• The remit and membership of the HGI Education Section aims to be inclusive; it extends to (and includes) all those with a bona fide 'professional' interest in the Terms of Reference described;
• The HGI Education Section aims to meet on at least three times a year at locations that best facilitate and promote the active participation of its membership;
• The value of the HGI Education Section as a networking facility will be formally recognised as an important part of its role, offering an informal forum for the collation, debate and exchange of information for human givens-based practitioners involved in Education. Individual members may use the forum as a mechanism for partnership consultation, with individual members reserving the right to participate in any consultation proposed;
• The HGI Education Section will focus on what it is able to achieve — concerns and recommendations for strategic change beyond the executive remit of the HGI Education Section may be discussed and debated, with recommendations formally recorded through minutes and forwarded to any other relevant meetings or forums for information and action as appropriate;
• The HGI Education Section will undertake to produce and develop pragmatic and tangible proposals for developing the role of human givens-based practice within Education;
• The HGI Education Section seeks to collectively enhance and develop the authority of its membership in relation to the provision and development of human givens-based practice within Education.

Next Meeting

If you would like to attend, please contact Kevin McDonagh by e-mail via: Kevin.McDonagh@Milton-keynes.gov.uk as soon as possible as this will assist with catering arrangements (and likewise, please forward your apologies for non-attendance as soon as possible). If you would like to forward any items you may have for the agenda, which will be circulated on the day, please also email these to Kevin. 

Future meetings will be held as follows:

Regional meetings will be developed in the South West and in the Milton Keynes areas of the country - as suggested by the collated responses to a questionnaire sent round to members by Kevin (you can download these here). Anyone wishing to develop regional groups/meetings elsewhere in the country is very welcome to contact Kevin McDonagh for advice and/or to discuss this further.

Previous Meetings

Friday 10th June 2011 at The Gateway Centre, Twickenham Academy, Twickenham. Read the minutes. Click here to download a copy of Gary and Di Lobbett's PowerPoint presentation.

Friday 12th November 2010 at Ellen Wilkinson Building, University of Manchester. Read the minutes.  Click here to download a copy of Hugh MacNab's PowerPoint presentation.

Monday 30th April 2010 at Queensway Centre, Milton Keynes. Read the minutes. (Click here to download a copy of the 'Smiling Inside' PowerPoint presentation).

Monday 18th May 2009, Family & Education Support Team, Milton Keynes. Read the minutes.

Friday 16th January 2009 at Florence-Brown School, Bristol. Read the minutes.

Thursday 11th September 2008 at at the Wiltshire Human Givens Centre. Read the minutes.

Monday 19th May 2008 at Westhaven Special School, Weston-super-Mare. Read the minutes.

Friday 18th January 2008 at Worle School, Weston-super-Mare. Read the minutes.

Thursday 13th September 2007 at Pinhoe Primary School, Exeter. Read the minutes.

Friday 18th May 2007 at Worle School in Weston-super-Mare. Read the minutes.

The inaugural meeting was held on Thursday 18 January 2007 at Worle School in Weston-super-Mare. Read the minutes.

Contact us

For further details about the HGI Education Section please contact: Kevin McDonagh at: Queensway Centre, Queensway, Bletchley, Milton Keynes, MK2 2H13. 
Email:  Kevin.McDonagh@Milton-keynes.gov.uk
Tel: 01908 254396
Mob: 07985 564801

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> Contact us

> Next meeting

> Minutes of previous
   meetings

> Aims & goals

Articles of interest:

> How to educate

> Evidence of learning:
   a unique facility for
   youngsters facing
   highly complex
   and challenging
   experiences in life

> Teaching that works:
   using the human
   givens approach in
   the classroom

> Good choices: autism
   and the human givens
   approach

> PDF of School Travel
   Initiatives document
   featuring the human
   givens approach

> "It's what's right with
   you that fixes what's
   wrong"

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