This blog by Andy Griffith was written on 2 June 2025
Social knowledge refers to learning about the way society is organised and in whose interests it operates. The development of students’ social knowledge inevitably involves raising students’ political awareness. Done well, young people will leave school with a greater understanding of why things are as they are. For example: Why do we have so many food banks? Why do refugees want to come to the UK? Why do some companies have more power than nations? Of course, the best questions will come from the students themselves, and by teaching them about society and the agents within it, they can play their own roles with more understanding.
Why should schools put more focus on social knowledge?
Schools are communities. At their best they are thriving communities where people coexist and learn despite their differences. All schools whether religious or secular emphasise the importance of community. The core messages that come through in assemblies in particular are that you are a part of something bigger than yourself. This message is vitally important in these times.
As Johan Hari’s writes in Lost Connections when people feel that they are socially disconnected or don’t belong to a ‘tribe’, they lose their motivation and become depressed. He writes: ‘What if depression is, in fact, a form of grief – for our own lives not being as they should? What if it is a form of grief for the connections we have lost, yet still need.’[1] Similarly, The Lonely Century by Noreena Hertz explores how our increasing dependence on technology, radical changes to the workplace and decades of policies that have placed self-interest above the collective good are damaging our communities and making us more isolated than ever before. Chapter 2 is entitled ‘Loneliness Kills’. Quoting scientific research she writes: ‘If you are lonely or socially isolated you are almost 30% more likely to die prematurely than if you are not.’ Owen Eastwood’s bookBelonging explains the Maori idea of Whakapapa which embodies our universal need to belong. Eastwood offers some ideas as to how organisations such as schools and colleges can embrace a culture of inclusion and see the mana, spirit and dignity of every person. If there’s a key message that these three books share it is that we must rail against dog-eat-dog culture. A message that we share inThe Working Classroom.
Helping students to become more prosocial and less individualistic is a challenge. Not only are young people are bombarded with advertising, and we live in a world where, depressingly, influencers such as the Kardashians can become billionaires, but many of us who work in education recognise that the current assessment system is not fit for purpose. So called soft skills such as empathy and teamwork are not assessed at all but are arguably much more linked to community cohesion and personal happiness than any academic subject.
What can we do as educators to counteract this? Schools can build social knowledge in innovative ways, through assemblies, drop down days and through subjects. Here’s a list of seven ideas (admittedly some of them have a greater emphasis on the importance of social class as this is often neglected in school curricula).
1. Promote prosocial behaviour
Monitor the internal awards and praise that is publicly given out by teachers and leaders. Ensure that there is high status within your organisation for students who help others, co-operate and sociable. Monitoring ensures that your school does not unconsciously send the message that individualism is more important than being part of a community.
2. Celebrate diversity but don’t forget class
Schools rightly recognise Remembrance Day, celebrate Black History Month and mark important events in the calendar such as International Women’s Day. It’s also important that students come to appreciate the skills and talents that have emerged from the working classes. One way of doing this is for your school to celebrate May Day, sometimes referred to as International Workers Day. Alternatively or additionally, sharing positive stories can counteract the many negative stories about the working class in the media.
3. Champion a new assessment system
Many of us have argued for a more balanced assessment system that ensures that a wider range of skills and knowledge is recognised. Make sure that your organisation finds time to not just master the current system but also affect it. This could involve some CPD where the ideas of organisations such as Rethinking Assessment are explored. Subsequently, some staff may want to get more involved in this movement.
4. Debates and Discussions
Debating helps students to develop social knowledge as they become clearer about social issues and how different people’s values contrast with their own. Teaching students how to debate, either through a debating club and/or within subjects, can get them accustomed to presenting their opinions and seeing the difference between weak and strong arguments. The Economist Educational Foundation has some good resources for running debates. Debating frames, like writing and oracy frames, can be used to help students form arguments and develop counterarguments.
5. Film analysis
Film education can be a wonderful way of building social knowledge, especially when the films are expertly studied and debriefed. Subjects like media studies are great for this, but if you don’t have media studies on the curriculum, there is still space to include some of these films, or at least sections of them, in subjects such as English, history, geography, business studies, PSHE and RE. Here are some suggestions of films that explore social inequality: An Inspector Calls (1954),The Admirable Crichton (1957), A Taste of Honey (1961), Kes (1969), Brassed Off(1996), Trainspotting (1996), Billy Elliot (2000), Pride (2014), I, Daniel Blake(2016), Sorry to Bother You (2018), Burning (2018), Parasite (2019), Us (2019), Life and Death in a Warehouse (2022).
6. Literature
It’s important that all students see themselves within the curriculum,. Ensure that the books that are studied in depth come from a diverse range of authors and tackle social issues. . A few examples; Robert Tressel – The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists (1914); George Orwell – Down and Out in Paris and London (1933), Alan Garner – Red Shift (1973); Sue Townsend – The Queen and I (1992); Barry Unsworth – Sacred Hunger (1992); James Kelman – How Late It Was, How Late(1994); Andrea Ashworth – Once in a House on Fire (1998); Zadie Smith – White Teeth (2000); Douglas Stuart – Shuggie Bain (2020).
7. Music
Music can be a terrific way of educating students about social history. Songs such as, ‘This Land is Your land’ by Woody Guthrie (1944), ‘Eton Rifles’ by The Jam (1979), ‘Ghost Town’ by The Specials (1981), ‘Shipbuilding’ by Robert Wyatt (1982), ‘The Complete Banker’ by the Divine Comedy (2010), ‘Blood on My Nikes’ by Loyle Carner (2022) and many more have been created by songwriters to bring awareness to social issues. Music can be a great source of stimulus for discussion and further research.
Reflective questions
How important is building a sense of community and belonging in your organisation? Where do you consciously and deliberately build community and belonging?
Where in the curriculum is social knowledge taught? What topics or approaches are having the biggest impact on learning? How do you know this?
Where are there missed opportunities to teach more social knowledge?
References
Johan Hari, Lost Connections: Why You’re Depressed and How to Find Hope (London: Bloomsbury Publishing, 2018)
Noreena Hertz, The Lonely Century: A Call to Reconnect (Sceptre, 2021)
Own Eastwood, Belonging: Unlock Your Potential with the Ancient Code of Togetherness(Quercus, 2022)
Matt Bromley and Andy Griffith, The Working Classroom: How to make school work for working class students (Crown House Publishing, 2023)
The Economist Educational Foundation https://economistfoundation.org/
Rethinking Assessment https://rethinkingassessment.com/
The Working Classroom 