Teaching PSHE - Here are some tips

This lesson will save your life.  I know it's a bit of an exaggeration but when you look at the content of the subject there really are some life saving interventions.  I have been head of PSHE for 10 years, teaching countless children, in a very busy secondary school and I hope that at some point they would remember some of the key pointers from PSHE lessons.  If you have been asked to teach PSHE then you are in a very privileged club.   Don't listen to the traditionalist teachers who say it is 'only' PSHE, having not put their heart and soul into this subject, they just don't understand but the students will get it (well not all but we will deal with that).

So here are my top tips for teaching this life saving subject:

1) SET YOUR EXPECTATIONS: Give out an overview document with the subjects you will be studying this year, preparation is key for vulnerable students or those with special needs. Ask students to mark on where they may feel uncomfortable and why, it is also important to ask students to identify if they want to talk about the issue with their teacher.  For me this has brought out interesting outcomes including a student who felt uncomfortable when discussing LGBT issues because his parent's views were not very 'right on' and his classmates tended to turn on him.  I was able to speak to him on his own and give him respect for speaking out and a chat about forming his own opinions.

2) FORGE RELATIONSHIPS QUICKLY: The best way to do this is to finish off the sentence 'I would like my PSHE teacher to know'.  Tell students they can write anything they like and they will tell you about their favourite pet, hobbies and youtuber, moreover a child may disclose something deep and meaningful which may really help you understand their motivations.

3)  RULES/BOUNDARIES:  You could ask the students to work out the rules but it's time consuming and not necessary.  Make them simple and keep them visual every lesson, perhaps set up an template slide like this for every lesson.

4) WHAT WOULD HAPPEN IF WE DIDN'T TEACH PSHE?  Some of your more academic students may reject PSHE, they have worked out there's no GCSE in it and so have a bit of a 'what's the point?' attitude.  This needs to be nipped in the bud early so a useful exercise is to take your overview document and start with an extended question 'What would happen if we didn't teach PSHE'.  You can model an answer and really stretch the more able and gifted with some really creative outcomes.  Those students who are rather opinionated can be encouraged to empathise by the phrase 'What would someone say who disagreed with you?'

5)  SAFE/UNCERTAIN QUADRANT: I completed this exercise on a training course with Stonewall - if you haven't checked out their resources they are excellent.  You put up the quadrant and ask the students where they want to be.  They then nearly always say 'safe and certain' but actually this is not where we want students (or indeed teachers) to be, we want them to be uncertain so that they are comfortable with asking questions.  Your classroom should be a place where they can feel comfortable asking questions and being safe and uncertain is something that you can constantly refer to and praise students for.

6) INCREASE YOUR SUBJECT KNOWLEDGE: There are countless charities out there to help improve your knowledge of PSHE, moreover a good eye on the news to related topics can bring literacy into the classroom.

So that's my top tips for starting to teach PSE, I have added a list of lesson ideas that you can use throughout the year, I hope that they are helpful.

Overview Document

Lesson Plan Template

Safe/Uncertain Quadrant

PSE teaching