Episode 1: A Recovery Curriculum #1- Professor Barry Carpenter OBE CBE

Barry Carpenter, OBE, CBE (Professor of Mental Health in Education, Oxford Brookes University) and Matthew Carpenter (Principal at Baxter College, UK) have written a think piece that reflects concerns about the emotional well being of children post the Covid-19 pandemic, and considers what schools might do to aid recovery to a state of positive mental health.

They have been analysing the loss children have suffered during this time, and the potential anxiety and trauma it may be causing, with significant impact on their ability to learn effectively.

Together, they have developed the construct of a Recovery Curriculum, enabling schools to consider the processes they will need to put in place to successfully transition children back to school.

As the word 'construct' suggests, this is a process of building, of co-constructing, a curriculum that is responsive to the needs of children, that harvests their experience and makes sense of it emotionally as well as cognitively."

The Think Piece entitled "A Recovery Curriculum: Loss and Life for our children and schools post pandemic" is available for you to read, download and share at:

http://www.recoverycurriculum.org

In this (inaugural) episode of LearningShared, we're joined by Barry Carpenter. Barry provides an introductory lecture with slides that will delve deeper into some of the ideas, concepts and research behind the Recovery Curriculum Think Piece and begin to think about questions that leaders and practitioners can ask of each other as they prepare to lead the recovery.

In the subsequent episodes, we'll discuss and explore practical approaches with a number of school leaders, practitioners and researchers asking and diving into questions such as:

– How will you identify and understand your students' own sense and experience of loss? (Identifying loss)

– How will you adapt and develop your curriculum for recovery (Responding with recovery)

– What do you see as the key leadership values in leading recovery at your school? (Compassionate leadership)

A video version of this podcast containing the presentation slides is available at

http://www.recoverycurriculum.org