The phrase ‘mixed marriage’ tends to have racial connotations. It makes me think of my uncle’s wedding to a Yorkshire lass in the 1970s, Sydney Poitier in Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner?, and not forgetting my own marriage to   Rob Keys . But my Sri Lankan Tamil parents (pictured above) also had a mixed marriage of sorts because Dad was Christian and Mum Hindu. Talking to Mum now, she recalls that some relatives on each side tried to break them up but both families came round i

A few times a year, I meet up with a group of old Withingtonian friends. When they stay with me in London, my husband braces himself for a whirlwind. “You’re peas in a pod” he once said to me, after I’d waved them off. He’d noticed we shared a level of confidence and a love of lively, robust conversation and he asked if this had been formed at school. Before he commented on this, I’d not really been aware of our shared values, but I realised he was right. Withington encourage

OK – so the start of this post is a bit gross, but there's a point, I promise! Years ago, when I was a young girl, my dad had a really bad injury. The wound was savage and deep and all I wanted was to have him returned to me, fixed, as good as new, my happy, unbroken dad. But when he came back home, if anything, the wound looked worse. I raged that the doctors were rubbish and careless, but he explained to me, they’d done a clever thing. They were going to let the wound heal

Recently, I’ve seen a lot of social media posts that follow a similar pattern. They declare that if you, dear reader, don’t agree with me about [insert topical issue here] you should ‘unfriend me now’. I never do of course. Popular topics for these posts range from Israel/Gaza, to the Equality Act judgment, to the success of Reform UK. When did we begin to expect our online friends, who are often our real life friends, to hold the same opinions as us? My social media circle i

What is it? The Oxford Learners Dictionary defines rapport as “a friendly relationship in which people understand each other very well”. Academic research on rapport in a classroom setting is a relatively recent enterprise, but there is a broad consensus that it encompasses positive relationships that: enable effective communication (1), create a sense of belonging and connectedness (2), and engender trust between educators and students (3). Why do it? Research from a range o

What is it? Group work is where students work together to share information, answer a question or solve a problem. Why do it? Group work aims to give students collaborative skills and can provide a less exposed space for them to share thoughts and ideas.  As well as supporting the building of rapport among students and between students and educators (1), group work can help to create a genuine, honest, learning community; encourage marginalised students to engage and contribu

What does this entail?   Educators learning more about their students in order to maximise rapport between them.   Why do it?   Research studies indicate that when educators get to know their students and discover what they have in common, this can improve a student’s sense of belonging, well-being and, ultimately, their attainment and that this is particularly significant for disadvantaged students (1). The educator participants in our Common Ground project reported that whe

What is it? Icebreakers and re-energisers are short activities designed to ‘break the ice’ between participants by building connections or breaking down barriers. Why do it? Research indicates that improving rapport between and among educators and students will have a positive impact on student engagement, success and well-being (1). Interventions that improve relationships between students and teachers have been shown to have the greatest impact on disadvantaged students (2)

What is it? The Common Ground research project was a small-scale qualitative study commissioned by King’s Academy and led by Vernee Samuel and Mira Vogel. We wanted to find out whether actively including rapport-building activities in taught sessions would prove valuable for educators and students. Why is it important? Previous studies from a range of fields including psychology, education, communication and management studies, suggested that good educator-student rapport cou