Historic Reports of Research and experience of Alexander Technique in Schools.
Bringing The Alexander Technique to Children In State Schools By Sue Thame - an account of a project that ran from 1979 to 1982.
This was published in Direction Magazine a while ago, but it's fascinating what is described.
It would be great to know what happened after that programme finished in 1982.
Jenny Fox Eades, an Alexander Technique teacher has set up a whole programme to support children's strengths, it's called Strengths Gym
I wonder if anyone know Jenny and has any experience of the programme she's developed??
Get `em young and they're upright for life - Francesa Wolf
11th November 1994
Bad posture which often starts in childhood upsets the delicate balance of head, neck and torso, say teachers of the Alexander technique. Francesa Wolf reports on lessons in schools which are helping children avoid long-term problems. Last year 17-year-old Suzie, a talented violinist, won a scholarship to the Royal Academy of Music. But she developed such crippling pains in her wrist that she could no longer play the instrument and would, it seemed, have to forfeit her place.
Her parents sought help from various specialists, with little success. But after working for some time with an Alexander technique teacher, the pain lessened and she could again play and perform in public.
"The pain was linked to nerves, physical stress and tension," says Trish Hemingway, her teacher. ... https://www.tes.com/news/tes-archive/tes-publication/get-em-young-and-theyre-upright-life
If someone has a subscription to TES it would enable us to view this.
Here are a couple of articles that describe a research project by Wendy Nuttall at Leeds Metropolitan University, published by
European Early Childhood Education Research Journal
The 3 departments below are at Durham University. Education Endowment Foundation (EEF) is an independent grant-making charity dedicated to breaking the link between family income and educational achievement, ensuring that children from all backgrounds can fulfil their potential and make the most of their talents.
They have a very interesting table of the effects of a wide variety of interventions, they call it The Toolkit.
Wolfson Research Institute for Health and Wellbeing
The Wolfson Research Institute for Health and Wellbeing exists to foster and disseminate the wide range of research undertaken at Durham University to improve human health and well-being. This is a truly multidisciplinary enterprise, spanning research across anthropology, biological and biomedical sciences, business, classics, education, engineering, geography, medicine and medical humanities, pharmacy, philosophy, psychology, social and community work, sociology, sport and theology. The Institute's research includes well-established strengths in research on primary care, public health, child development, cognitive neuroscience, medical anthropology, health geography, social work and medical humanities as well as exciting new developments in medical imaging, cardiology, health in the Global South, and mental health.
They offer seed funding for initiatives: https://www.dur.ac.uk/wolfson.institute/funding/
For research for effects on Acedemic Attainment, CEM is a good place to visit: Centre for Evaluation and Monitoring at University of Durham is the largest educational research centre in a UK university. (well according to them, who am I to disagree!)
I, Jeremy, spoke with an administrator called Helen Crammar at CEM, sending her the proposal Esther and I put to the Walthamstow school. Helen spoke with a researcher and they advised they would only take on a research project that involved a minimum of 10 schools.
She recommended us to use the The DIY Evaluation Guidewhich is a PDF of a guide produced by CEM for teachers and schools to carry out their own evaluations of interventions. It is very well presented and thought through.
It seems that interventions really need a quantifiable outcome to be measured, and that is what is used to draw wider conclusions. It does have space for qualitative measurements to be made, but they seem to be secondary.
These are my observations from a quick read through, it would be great if more people could read it and offer their thoughts and opinions.
From the document here is an overview of an evaluation process:
Historic Reports of Research and experience of Alexander Technique in Schools.
Bringing The Alexander Technique to Children In State Schools By Sue Thame - an account of a project that ran from 1979 to 1982.
This was published in Direction Magazine a while ago, but it's fascinating what is described.
It would be great to know what happened after that programme finished in 1982.
Jenny Fox Eades, an Alexander Technique teacher has set up a whole programme to support children's strengths, it's called Strengths Gym
I wonder if anyone know Jenny and has any experience of the programme she's developed??
Get `em young and they're upright for life - Francesa Wolf
11th November 1994
Bad posture which often starts in childhood upsets the delicate balance of head, neck and torso, say teachers of the Alexander technique. Francesa Wolf reports on lessons in schools which are helping children avoid long-term problems. Last year 17-year-old Suzie, a talented violinist, won a scholarship to the Royal Academy of Music. But she developed such crippling pains in her wrist that she could no longer play the instrument and would, it seemed, have to forfeit her place.
Her parents sought help from various specialists, with little success. But after working for some time with an Alexander technique teacher, the pain lessened and she could again play and perform in public.
"The pain was linked to nerves, physical stress and tension," says Trish Hemingway, her teacher. ...
https://www.tes.com/news/tes-archive/tes-publication/get-em-young-and-theyre-upright-life
If someone has a subscription to TES it would enable us to view this.
Here are a couple of articles that describe a research project by Wendy Nuttall at Leeds Metropolitan University, published by
European Early Childhood Education Research Journal
Some very interesting work there too!
The 3 departments below are at Durham University.
Education Endowment Foundation (EEF) is an independent grant-making charity dedicated to breaking the link between family income and educational achievement, ensuring that children from all backgrounds can fulfil their potential and make the most of their talents.
They have a very interesting table of the effects of a wide variety of interventions, they call it The Toolkit.
Wolfson Research Institute for Health and Wellbeing
The Wolfson Research Institute for Health and Wellbeing exists to foster and disseminate the wide range of research undertaken at Durham University to improve human health and well-being. This is a truly multidisciplinary enterprise, spanning research across anthropology, biological and biomedical sciences, business, classics, education, engineering, geography, medicine and medical humanities, pharmacy, philosophy, psychology, social and community work, sociology, sport and theology. The Institute's research includes well-established strengths in research on primary care, public health, child development, cognitive neuroscience, medical anthropology, health geography, social work and medical humanities as well as exciting new developments in medical imaging, cardiology, health in the Global South, and mental health.
They offer seed funding for initiatives: https://www.dur.ac.uk/wolfson.institute/funding/
For research for effects on Acedemic Attainment, CEM is a good place to visit:
Centre for Evaluation and Monitoring at University of Durham is the largest educational research centre in a UK university. (well according to them, who am I to disagree!)
I, Jeremy, spoke with an administrator called Helen Crammar at CEM, sending her the proposal Esther and I put to the Walthamstow school. Helen spoke with a researcher and they advised they would only take on a research project that involved a minimum of 10 schools.
She recommended us to use the The DIY Evaluation Guidewhich is a PDF of a guide produced by CEM for teachers and schools to carry out their own evaluations of interventions. It is very well presented and thought through.
It seems that interventions really need a quantifiable outcome to be measured, and that is what is used to draw wider conclusions. It does have space for qualitative measurements to be made, but they seem to be secondary.
These are my observations from a quick read through, it would be great if more people could read it and offer their thoughts and opinions.
From the document here is an overview of an evaluation process: