Circle Time - Evaluation and Assessment Opportunities

Evaluation and Assessment Opportunities

As a well established model used in many Primary schools throughout the UK much evaluation has taken place on the effects of the model in schools. In addition to positive assessment by OFSTED, various studies have evaluated the impacts of the model, e.g. A report on the use of Circle Time in Wiltshire Primary Schools and A report on the use of Jenny Mosley's Whole School Quality Circle Time Model in Primary Schools in the UK (1999) commissioned by All Round Success Charity

Headteachers have expressed concerns about lack of resources and training. They also emphasise the importance of the adult who conducts Circle Time. Without adequate training, the process can become diluted and ineffectual. In untrained or inexperienced hands, Circle Time can be disappointing or even destructive. At its worst, it can be misused by teachers to try and shame children publicly and coerce them into 'behaving'. Or, it can be simply mediocre, where it can become boring and repetitive.

Furthermore, there is the danger of an appreciable gulf between the values demonstrated in Circle Time and the reality witnessed around the school in terms of teachers' attitudes towards each other or towards children. If this is so obviously apparent children can become demoralised and lose faith in the moral values. In many cases the school fails to act on the listening, i.e. they fail to incorporate many of the management issues raised by children into their subsequent action plans. Children can then become cynical and apathetic towards the process, detecting a divide between values and action and may come to see it as little more than another control mechanism.

Much emphasis is placed on the mental health of adult teams in the school and on training. It is impossible to expect adults to respond positively, warmly and calmly if they themselves are emotionally and physically exhausted and /or lacking in team support.

Effective training is seen as vital to the success of Circle Time. Measures include:

• The introduction of the model at teacher training level
• Local Authorities (formerly LEA (Local Education Authorities)) personnel and link advisors/inspectors attending an accredited Jenny Mosley Training course
• Local Authorities programmes involving a number of schools and/or whole school INSET (in-service education and training program) led by accredited Jenny Mosley Trainers. Demonstration Circle Time sessions involving a specialist and a group of children is often included as part of the INSET
• Research suggests that headteachers consider on-going training an essential pre-requisite for the success of Circle Time and it is strongly advised that schools undergo a process of training from accredited trainers.