About Us
Our Background
Based within the University of Brighton the Working With Others Research and Education Unit has emerged out of the 4-year SPRinG Project (Social Pedagogic Research into Groupwork) which ran from 2000-2004. (see Spring Project)
Funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) Teaching and Learning Programme, the original research project was a joint venture between the University of Cambridge, Institute of Education, London and the Education Research Centre at University of Brighton.
Led by Professor Peter Kutnick, the Brighton team focused on the Key Stage 1 primary school phase (aged 5-7), investigating the potential of effective groupwork in today’s UK classrooms. Collaboration with over 40 practitioners from East Sussex, West Sussex and Brighton & Hove led to the development of a unique training approach and the impetus to establish the WWO Unit.
As the SPRinG project drew to a close a number of schools were keen to build on the positive impact they were observing in their pupils, both in terms of learning in the classroom and for peer relationships and behaviour in the playground. They were keen to implement the groupwork programme across their whole school communities; extending beyond individual class teachers to whole staff teams including teachers, teaching assistants and midday meal supervisors.
In 2004 Dr Lucia Berdondini and Dr Cathy Ota established the Working With Others Unit and worked with an initial group of 6 schools. By the end of 2007 Working With Others was working with over 100 schools across the south and employing a team of trainers with first hand practical experience of implementing the approach with pupils at early years, primary and secondary level.
Rather than one-off training sessions WWO offers schools membership for a year. This includes both in and out of school training and ongoing support that seeks to provide sustained help in embedding and ensuring long term impact across the whole school. Many schools continue their membership beyond their first year and a number of WWO schools have renewed their membership for 3 years.
Our Approach
It is usually assumed that people, no matter what their age, know what skills they need in order to work with others. However in reality it is very difficult for children to know how to work together if they have not been made aware of these skills or had the opportunity to explore, practise, develop strategies or reflect on them.
In the original University of Brighton research, where the Working With Others approach was used with pupils, teachers noted improved prosocial skills and behaviour, higher self-esteem and communication skills. Data collected also demonstrated a significant impact on attainment, thinking skills and time spent on task and supporting peers in learning.
Our research and training therefore focuses on exploring and developing practical strategies to enhance group processes through self-awareness, social communication, peer support, problem solving and conflict resolution.
A Genuine Collaboration with Schools and Practitioners
Working With Others focuses on the teacher and their relationship with their class and offers games and practical reflective strategies through which trust, communication and problem solving skills can be taught and enhanced among pupils.
We support practitioners in exploring how and why they use different groups in their class and how groups can be more effective for pupil learning. Working with Others builds positive relationships in the classroom so that pupils are able to actively engage, take responsibility for their own learning and be more aware of how they can support each other.
Our work with staff teams is very practical and practitioner-focused. Support and supervision starts with the practitioner, how they feel and the challenges they identify for themselves. In exploring this together we help them to reflect and find realistic ways forward.
Further Research
With funding from the Esme Fairbairn Foundation UK and the EU Socrates Programme the research team at the University of Brighton extended their initial research in 2004 to look at groupwork in the Early Years and Foundation Stage. This collaborative project was conducted with research teams in Finland, Greece, Italy, Spain and Sweden.
Current Developmental Work
Further developmental work in the UK is currently focused on supporting creativity and the creative curriculum and providing support and training for school leadership teams. (see Deep Learning Project page)
From March 2007 Working With Others has been collaborating with Pumpkin Patch Daycare Centre, Ontario, Canada to implement the Working With Others programme. Collaboration with the staff team in Pumpkin Patch has enabled WWO to extend their programme to supporting these skills with children as young as 8 months. Further approaches and expressions of interest are also being made from education centres and teacher training providers in Australia, New Zealand and USA (see International Work).
Over 100 children from the 10 schools in the Burgess Hill Locality Network gathered on Wednesday...
12 month implementation of the Working with Others approach at Pumpkin Patch Daycare Centre,...