THE BIG THINK
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Below are some typical questions about The Big Think programmes and answers that we hope you find helpful but do get in touch with us (contact@the-big-think.org) if you have other questions or require further information – we are here to help you.
What is The Big Think?
What is a value?
What is ‘Values Literacy’ and why is it relevant?
Why is Values Education important?
What is a Values Dialogue?
What is Silent Sitting?
How do values improve wellbeing?
How do positive values help children with their choices?
How does The Big 5 enhance Personal, Social, Health and Economic (PSHE) education?
How does The Big 5 enhance Spiritual, Moral, Social and Cultural (SMSC) development?
What impacts does The Big Think have on school life, children and parents?
Does The Big Think help with the key areas of Ofsted assessments?
Does it matter what kind of browser I use for lesson plan access?
What is The Big Think?
The Big Think is a suite of experiential learning, whole-school, whole-child Personal, Social and Emotional Development (PSED) and Wellbeing programmes for ages 3 to 11.
The BIG 3 + ME (TB3+ME) empowers children aged 3 to 5 with Self-regulation, Self-awareness and Relationship-building skills that are fundamental for effective learning.
The Big 5 (TB5) for Infants (aged 5 to 7) and Juniors (aged 7 to 11) adds two more groups of key life skills: Responsible Decision-making and Social Awareness.
The learning units incrementally nurture age-appropriate social, emotional, moral and spiritual growth – elements found to be present where intellectual advancement and academic achievement are being maximised.
This suite of programmes addresses the rising numbers of young citizens with mental health issues, as well as the increasing levels of childhood anxiety and unhappiness.
The BIG 3 + ME programme lays a bedrock of human skills from the age of 3. Participants’ learning journeys begin with articulating emotions, building trust with adults and peers, choosing when to share, being brave when trying something new, caring about themselves and each other, finding their voices and knowing when they need to ask for help or share a thought.
The BIG 5 is applicable to the primary phase. It provides opportunities and tasks that nurture vital ‘soft skills’, constantly expanding individuals’ perspectives and experiences so they can thrive in our challenging and ever-changing world and are well prepared for the next phase of their schooling.
TB3+ME provides 24 fully-resourced lesson packs grouped under three core human values: Peace, with ‘doing’ activities; Truth, with ‘being’ tasks; and Love, with ‘caring’ practices.
TB5 comprises 120 values-themed school assembly and lesson kits (60 for ages 5 to 7 and 60 for ages 7 to 11) grouped under the five core human values of Peace, Truth, Love, Responsibility and Community. They progressively foster children’s character strengths so that they can better manage all aspects of their day-to-day lives and shape their futures.
This suite of programmes gives teachers a structured, systematic yet flexible approach to providing a coherent, holistic education so that that from a young age, children are developing their thinking capacity and through experiential learning, mastering social and emotional competencies that enable them to flourish and succeed, whatever their innate abilities and starting points in life.
What is a value?
A value is something that we ‘value’ and consider important to our lives, whether as individuals or collectively. Values are motivators, driving forces, what we are passionate about - factors underpinning our actions, responses and successes.
Values are deeply held principles and beliefs that help us establish standards and guide our thinking, choices and behaviour. Our values are central to who we are - and those we most cherish need to be present in our lives for us to feel happy and fulfilled.
Our chosen values determine our priorities and attitudes. They give us insights, helping us better understand ourselves and others, establish and maintain meaningful relationships, participate purposefully in our communities and society, and care for the environment.
Based around five universal values of Peace, Truth, Love, Responsibility and Community, The Big Think programmes use an integrated system of connected values so that in safe, supportive settings children can explore their own thoughts and feelings, and ultimately find their own voice.
Values are not simply caught; we are constantly imbibing them from our daily experiences of life and particularly from the influences of our family members, schools, friends, communities, media and society. However, when values are explicitly taught and therefore children are consciously choosing ones that enhance their day-to-day activities, they feel stronger, happier and better able to manage their emotions and the challenges of life.
In safe, supportive school environments and using real-life stories, discussion, debate, shared experiences and self-reflection, over time TB5 empowers primary school children with positive, life-enriching values, improved oracy and a vocabulary that promotes good communication.
What is ‘Values Literacy’ and why is it relevant?
Values Literacy can be considered as understanding a wide spectrum of values and being able to choose and apply appropriate values within different contexts in real-life situations.
When we understand our own values, other people’s values, the values influencing society and the values affecting our environment, in all kinds of different situations, we are better able to choose and skilfully and consistently apply suitable values so as to create positive impacts.
Values-literate children are more self-aware and learn to develop agency to perform well at school and better navigate the ever-changing world around them.
Why is Values Education important?
In our increasingly complex and fast-paced world, there is a growing sense that schools have been focusing too much on knowledge and not enough on equipping young citizens with essential life skills that enable them to develop positive character traits, including the confidence to progressively take more responsibility for determining their own lives.
When Values Education is an integral part of a school curriculum, children are given the space and time to learn to use well-considered values to think, make choices and behave in ways that help them to live authentically and so enrich their own lives and contribute to the happiness and wellbeing of all living things and the long-term health and beauty of our planet.
Authoritative, global research shows that high quality, explicit, systematic Values Education:
is essential to effective schooling
positively impacts all the important educational measures
is a worldwide, contemporary phenomenon
fits well with updated brain and pedagogical research, and
is a means to holistic student and teacher wellbeing.
What is a Values Dialogue?
A Values Dialogue is an opportunity to have an open, inclusive discussion about and explore the concept of values so as to allow fresh thinking and creative ideas to emerge and be acted upon. For many this is a new experience and so for the dialogue to be most effective, it’s good to start with talking about how to create a safe, respectful environment that enables all the participants to join in, trust each other, listen carefully, speak openly and respect all the opinions expressed.
In this safe space, everyone tries to suspend their judgement and understand how their past thinking and experiences are informing their current judgement of themselves and others. For children, this means trying to be curious, open and aware of their own inside or internal voices.
A Values Dialogue is a stimulating and bonding practice. In TB5 we use this technique to promote learning, growth, understanding and change. The process is particularly helpful for those unfamiliar with or new to considering values, including teachers, children, non-teaching staff in schools and nurseries, along with children’s parents and carers.
TB5 is structured in such a way that over time the children explore and try out a wide range of values relating to the five core values of Peace, Truth, Love, Responsibility and Community, and consider how they might be applied in all the different aspects of their lives - in school, at home and in wider contexts. By sharing their experiences, thoughts, feelings and ideas during a values dialogue, new, exciting thinking emerges that can then be followed through so that all the participants feel they can make progress and raise achievement levels.
What is Silent Sitting?
Silent Sitting is a calming, relaxation technique that is the first component in each of The BIG 3 + ME and TB5 sessions because it promotes concentration and enhances the ability to learn. For a few minutes children sit or even lie down in a comfortable position and listen to soft music while a soothing scene is described.
This short period of time allows children to clear their minds and so create a space for new thoughts.
It can also be introduced as a daily activity, perhaps after break or lunchtime to refocus children towards their learning.
How do values improve wellbeing?
Broadly, wellbeing is about how well we are. It is about the quality of our lives and how well we feel considering our physical and mental health, our day-to-day emotional experiences and our relationships, what we do, the environment in which we live and the natural environment, and factors such as our personal finances, education and skillset, along with the economy and governance.
Values can improve wellbeing because of how we can consciously use them to raise the quality of all the dimensions of our lives, particularly through our attitudes and our desire to develop our skills and knowledge. A compelling body of academic research shows that affirming their values decreases students’ stress levels, and the strong relationship between putting values into action and individual wellbeing.
TB5 provides a systematic means of considering many of the attributes that affect our wellbeing, talking about them and taking action so that the children can thrive, flourish, manage their emotions, feel happy and achieve.
How do positive values help children with their choices?
Our values influence our thinking, decision-making and actions and there are consequences for all our choices. Our values underpin everything we do and are played out in how we behave. For example, if we consider love to be important, we are likely to reflect that in our thinking, choices and the ways we look after ourselves, interact with and treat one another and all living things, and how we care for objects and the environment.
It is imperative that children understand that some values can have negative influences, such as intimidation. This might be played out by bullying or other forms of promoting fear, including various acts of violence.
Positive values tend to promote good behaviour because of the feel-good factors they generate.
In both The BIG 3 + ME and TB5, the stories form very instructive windows through which children are able to observe the possible outcomes from chosen values and develop character strengths. They gradually see more clearly, the effects of values in action, and the ensuing classroom discussions allow them to further consider and explore what they might do in similar or other real-life contexts and what it might feel like to behave in certain consciously and deliberately chosen ways.
How does The Big 5 enhance Personal, Social, Health and Economic (PSHE) education?
The TB5 programme is designed to enable children to gradually gain attributes, master life skills and acquire the knowledge needed to keep themselves healthy and safe and prepare them well for life and work in our dynamic, evolving and increasingly complex world.
Many of TB5’s assemblies and lesson kits provide time-saving content for PSHE programmes of study objectives, from Health and Wellbeing, Relationships, Living in the Wider World to Internet Safety and Harms and the 9 protected characteristics. TB5 provides a practical means of bringing much of the PSHE curriculum to life, with the added bonus that good, systematic values education is shown to positively impact both academic and non-academic outcomes for participants.
How does The Big 5 enhance Spiritual, Moral, Social and Cultural (SMSC) development?
There is an expectation that SMSC is embedded in all aspects of school life so that young people feel well prepared for the real world as educated citizens.
The TB5 programme helps to achieve this by promoting curiosity, imagination and creativity through its graduated assembly and lesson kits: 60 for ages 5 to 11 and a further 60 for ages 7 to 11. The whole-school, whole-child approach to teaching, learning and personal development and wellbeing establishes a cohesive, supportive culture and provides a comprehensive, integrated means of exploring people’s beliefs and values, individuals’ own and others’ experiences and feelings and in so doing, the children enjoy progressively learning more about themselves, others and the surrounding world.
The course provides plenty of opportunities for reflection and collaborative investigation into moral and ethical issues, with the children gaining the skills and confidence to offer reasoned views as they consider what is right and wrong. They also learn about the importance of respecting authority and the law, and better understand that there are consequences for choices.
Over time the children will develop a range of social and emotional life skills that allow them to embrace diverse viewpoints, collaboratively find solutions and resolve conflicts, and give them the confidence to participate fully in their schools, at home, in their local communities and beyond.
Through storytelling and a structured approach to thinking for themselves, the children explore and gain a greater appreciation of cultural influences and deepen their understanding of one another and humanity, all the while accepting, respecting and celebrating diversity.
What impacts do The Big Think programmes have on school life, children and parents?
Teachers and nursery practitioners who have been using The Big Think programmes are delighted with their transformative effects on the leadership and values-led management in their settings. They enjoy the deeper quality of their curriculum and education system. The positive behaviour and attitudes engendered improve both teaching and learning. Above all, there is a buzz with all the engaging, stimulating work that enhances personal development and improves life chances, particularly for participants growing up in socio-economically deprived communities.
Children enjoy the programmes and find the sessions, assemblies and lessons exciting. They derive great pleasure as they recognise how the experiential learning and the skills they are gaining can be applied and so improve and enrich many aspects of their day-to-day lives.
Parents and carers have valued the cohesive and inclusive nature of the programmes and how they too feel that they can discuss the topics covered with their children, thereby reinforcing what is being learnt at school.
Do The Big Think programmes help with the key areas of Ofsted assessments?
The programmes positively contribute to all four categories of inspection:
the quality of education
behaviour and attitudes
personal development
leadership and management.
The Big 5 is designed to make systemic differences in schools, helping them bring about improvements in all these key areas.
In respect of the quality of education, central to The Big 5 curriculum is the nurturing of thinking capacities and activities that help deliver ‘cultural capital’ (defined for Ofsted as ‘the essential knowledge that pupils need to be educated citizens, introducing them to the best that has been thought and said and helping to engender an appreciation of human creativity and achievement’). The programme also fosters a love of learning and progressively teaches skills that will prove helpful when the children reach the stage of making career choices and taking up employment.
In terms of what inspectors will be looking for under the behaviour and attitudes category, the whole ethos of The Big 5 is about behaving well and developing an inclusive, considerate attitude.
The Big 5 is a carefully structured personal development and wellbeing programme designed to systematically build character and provide plenty of opportunities to assist in becoming resilient, confident and independent global citizens. The discussions and activities open up pathways for children to learn about themselves, follow their interests, apply their talents and broaden their perspectives so they are well prepared for the rich tapestry of experiences they may encounter as the future unfolds.
Recognising that few teachers have opportunities during their initial teacher training and as part of their continuing professional development to learn about how to embed values education throughout their schools, we offer bespoke training that enhances school leadership and management. The informative, practical sessions promote a supportive, visionary culture with a focus on everyone’s wellbeing and deepening the awareness of the empowering effects of values on the lives and competencies of school leaders, governors, teaching and non-teaching staff, parents, carers and children.
Does it matter what kind of browser I use for lesson plan access?
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