When boxing meets education: teaching experiences in alternative provision

Tom Ogg

spent three years teaching at the London Boxing Academy Community Project. Remember the ups and downs and argues that the public is not the Holy Grail of education

I spent three years teaching at the London Boxing Academy Community Project (LBACP) in Tottenham, north London, where riots began in summer 2011. The objective was to use LBACP traditionally strong relations that boxing coaches with youth lost in an educational environment.

Students

were mostly young black men, all of whom had been excluded or at risk of exclusion. I was hired to teach in the LBACP by the study center Civitas Westminster, who believes that appropriate methods, anyone can get a decent education.

The project was created by the London Boxing Academy, and later incarnation of the project entitled The Boxing Academy (which I was not involved) was one of the charities Selected Guardian's Christmas appeal.

In education, there was always a boxer and a boxing coach in the room, which served as a teaching assistant, coaching and support (sometimes). They called on the leaders of the pods, and provided positive male role models for students. Students are taught a program to reduce core subjects (GCSE level), and were thus able to spend up to half their time in the sport. They loved sports, so different from when they were in the mainstream, they wanted to come to school, and this has made it extremely easy to provide education.

My book on the project and work with the inspiring director Chris Hall, a boxing trainer of 30 years standing, is called boxing clever. The book is based on the log that I had during my time teaching.

one of the events I have recorded in the newspapers focused on a young girl named Laura in the book. Students LBACP had a knack for getting at the truth in the most cutting abruptly, but Laura was exceptional. This lesson, Laura was a tantrum because he did not work in an office (he was sitting on a chair in a corner of the room). I insisted that I was sitting at a desk. It was when I was organizing a trip to Oxford University, where he studied as a high degree, students found fascinating. In fact, Laura, after jumping and breaking my plastic bucket into a thousand pieces, and said she was "not a fucking dog", and informed me rightly - as it has been guided by the head pod door - it was "not in the shit now Oxford."

• Laura
• One thing I wanted was in his diatribe that there is a knowledge gap between the supply and the traditional solution. Regular teachers rarely have much experience in providing alternative, and vice versa, which is much to the detriment of both. So what are the lessons for regular teachers that I did?

first, that boxing can be a solution for children in difficulty. Boxing teaches respect and self-control in extreme situations (eg, being beaten in the nose). It is an outlet for aggression. And, as I said, boxing coaches have a record of even the hardest of criminals. This is partly because boxing coaches are interested in something that children are good, while most people should focus on the things that are wrong. But it is mainly because boxing coaches give time one-on-one quality, often for nothing, when most people are too busy. That is why Laura Shepherd pod support its leader out of the gate - she trusted him. Although our students involved in the sport - the school was literally in a boxing gym - it is perfectly possible to use boxing in mainstream schools. For example, I know that Harris Academy Merton (which has replaced the high school academy, I attended the South London) runs a mentoring program with a local boxing gym. You may also.

Second, the public is not the Holy Grail. Many people ask me, "How many students returned to the general public?" But this does not make sense. For students, the general public was not the best place for them. They could not cope and soon deteriorate if returned. consider so why everyone crowded into the mainstream, as if the provision of education, it is like making a widget? The 40% or less, which are below baseline levels GCSE considered to have failed - why not try something different with more of them than we do now consider, in your school, their students would be happier and more successful in another proposed arrangement based around sport, or caring for animals, or a trade. then do something and avoid future risks of exclusion. Who is your Laura

The third lesson is that the kindness and care can fill any gaps. Race, class and culture are not relevant to show their humanity. Teachers know that, obviously - but I say that it works even with difficult cases that are on the road to foreclosure. Our director, Chris Hall has been able to maintain positive relationships with students even more difficult, because I really liked the students, and they knew it. Chris mantra was that "rules without relationship is not worthy of sweets." For Chris, that meant having access to the decision rule, so that students can get their complaints to your chest. It also meant that Chris relationship with the students was used to make students want to obey the rules because she wanted to please Chris. Chris and I have built these relationships, families visiting students at home, going to court for support when they were charged with criminal offenses, and travel arrangements that led to his family surrounding (eg Oxford and ballet).

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