Nessa Hubbard

@KentishTownCE @WorldBookDayUK @LDBSSchools @CamdenLearning That tiger gets about, met them at Kew Gardens last week!

"This is a very bad sign" Exclusive: The NHS Rainbow Badge scheme has secretly been shut down by the UK government, VICE News can reveal. Insiders say NHS England was pushed to stop funding the LGBTQ inclusion scheme, and staff don't know it's been cut. vice.com/en/article/ak3…

@kariebookish @Yeoldedogg That was going to be my response.

Make Better Choices (with @_MissingTheMark) It’s a common feature of the primary school classroom. The behaviour chart on the wall, with children’s names on pegs. Children are moved from the sun to the clouds, or from green to red if their behaviour isn’t what is required by their teacher. The language usually goes from celebratory ‘Star Student!’ to condemnatory ‘Poor Choices’ or ‘No Playtime’. It's in public. The whole class can see who is doing well and who is struggling. The internet is full of versions of these charts to buy, and the advertising copy is all perky positivity. ‘Keep Your Students on Track!’ or ‘Help Your Class Make Good Choices!’. They look so cheerful in their bright colours, so harmless. Who could object? And they work! Children want to stay on the green zone because it feels so bad when they are moved. Until you talk to the parent of a child who struggles. They’ll tell you about the way in which everyone in their class knows who is on the raincloud, and that no matter how hard their child tries, they just can’t keep still all day. They’ll tell you how their child is known as the ‘bad’ one, and the other children don’t want to play with them. They’ll tell you of developmentally inappropriate expectations, and of the way in which these charts put all the blame on the children. They’ll tell you of the way in which the chart takes no account of the way that their child is dealing with friendship difficulties and family illness, and instead frame their actions as a ‘poor choice’. The behaviour charts stop us asking whether perhaps the way in which we require children to sit and listen at school isn’t a natural way for young humans to learn. They stop us seeing their behaviour as communication or feedback. It’s reduced to something to control. These charts use public shaming to foster compliance. They use fear and anxiety – even the children who are always on the Sun lie awake at night, scared that one day they will fall from grace, and everyone will know. That’s how they work. Children ‘behave’ because they are scared of the consequences if they don’t. It’s Children’s Mental Health week. Perhaps as a psychologist you might expect me to be using it to call for better funding for CAMHS, for a counsellor in every school. Perhaps you think I might be calling for more therapists to be trained and more wellbeing hubs. Instead, I’m calling for a mass take down of behaviour charts. Psychologists will never have the same impact on mental health as changing the way we treat our children. We could have a psychologist on every street corner, but their job is to intervene when things have gone wrong. Far more efficient is to change the environment which is making children distressed. Think of it like lung cancer. We could have the best oncologists in the world, but all they can do is treat people who are already ill. To reduce levels of lung cancer, we needed a smoking ban. We’re using shame and anxiety to control children’s behaviour, thinly disguised in bright colours and ‘Ready to Learn!’. It should be no surprise that many of them are unhappy and anxious. In fact, perhaps we should be more surprised if they weren’t. It’s in the very air that they breathe and we, the adults, are putting it there. They’re breathing it in like smoke.

@RogersHistory All behaviour is a form of communication.

Time to post this again: Some ppl on this social network have absolutely no concept of what it’s like to be a teacher in a mainstream classroom of 30+ students where a significant proportion have no interest in behaving well.

@BronaghKnits Yes

Musing as to whether V&A membership could be regarded as a legitimate business expense for research purposes

@knitandstayhome @KathAndrews7 @fyberspates This, and if it came in a tin!

@KathAndrews7 @fyberspates Depends how strong the wool fumes 🐑 are in the building. If there is good ventilation to avoid a build up of the fumes, I might be able to resist.

Lots of folk were interested in Meg March shawl last week & asked if I sold kits for it. This got me thinking! The shawl uses 3 skeins of each colour. Using the original yarn (@fyberspates Vivacious 4ply), a kit would cost £114. Would you buy a kit like this at a yarn show?

Nicola Sturgeon called Boris Johnson a f*cking clown. Like if she's right. RT if he's far worse. #IStandWithNicolaSturgeon

@theatre_direct Backstairs Billy!

✨ STAGEY QUESTION ✨ We all need a laugh in January!

@carolvorders @DanNeidle Are you coming to LBC? I don’t listen to it a lot (only in the car), but I might listen a bit more if you are on.

Happy New Year Twitter It seems we'll begin 2024 as we did 2023 with a large slug of skulduggery, government dodging & some PPE sleuthing by the team. Lots to come today on Michelle Mone & husband Barrowman. @danneidle has a report out on how Barrowman made his money. It's not pretty. And I'm back on @lbc from 4-7pm ❤️ See you there for a chat and your opinions on our topics of the day.

@shitscaredmum My Mum, Helen. Aged 78 after a stroke. I’m missing her so much. She’d had an amazing life.

So many reviews of 2023 on TV & in papers with lists of famous people who died this year. If you lost someone, like us, you half expect to see them included - but they only count celebrities. So why don't we start a thread of those we loved & lost this year. #NewYearsGrieve 1/

@RevRichardColes Well thank you for explaining, I appreciate that.

@RevRichardColes Seriously, Google lens will tell you. Learn to do your own research.

Someone has put crocheted Christmas puddings on all 75 railing posts along St Helen’s Wharf… 2/2

Rishi Sunak told Beth Rigby "That's not what the Public wants." When asked about a General Election. Like if you want a General Election RT if you really want one. Liar Rishi Sunak has to go.

This is the problem. Apathy. It say like if you want to rejoin, at the point of me sharing it was at 11k, and share if you really do, which was at 4k. There’s fight left in us!

If James Cleverly needs to resign, Like. If he needs to be fired, RT. His appalling disregard for Date Rape, considering it to be joke. When it is a huge problem threatening women all over the UK is totally unacceptable.

When Junior Doctors are on £16 an hour and MP's are on £46 an hour. And raising the Junior Doctors pay by £4 an hour is unaffordable, even though they just raised MP's pay by £5 an hour. It's hard not to see the lie. RT if Junior Doctors NEED paying.

@RevRichardColes I really think you misunderstand how research works.

Delighted to share our Special Issue on Creativity. All the articles were previously published separately online - but now appear together. Print copy on its way! Thanks again to all who contributed - tandfonline.com/toc/rftx20/cur…