A Charter for Conductive Education? 10 human fundamentals of conductive pedagogy & "The Aylesbury Declaration"

In my previous post, I was wondering whether "The Social Pedagogy Charter" might provide a model for something similar for conductive education.

Later, that set me wondering if anything similar already existed. Digging around a bit in my files, two possibilities appeared.

The first is an article by Katalin Biró "Fundamentals of conductive upbringing" published in Recent Advances in Conductive Education, 5(1), pp.4-10 possibly in June 2006. The article Abstract is as follows "ABSTRACT. Over many years the author collaborated with Mária Hári, helped her express her ideas in writing and lectured to student-conductors on conductive upbringing. Derived from this experience and in remembrance of Mária Hári the present article offers ten principles underlying conductive upbringing and pedagogy: valuing life, respect for humanity; pedagogic optimism; pedagogic value; tolerance; activity-centredness; communal upbringing; teaching through conflict; integration; bipolarity; complexity."

The article title refers to "fundamentals" of conductive education; the Abstract refers to "principles" and in the second paragraph of the actual article to the "human fundamentals of conductive pedagogy" and to "pedagogic fundamentals".  Katalin Biró explains that these "principles of pedagogy can be addressed from two directions: deductively from the disciplines of philosophy, psychology, sociology, physiology, and anthropology; and inductively, from the practical viewpoint, from the skills gained through generalised experience." 

For a full account of each of the 10 pedagogic principles, you will need to source the original article but it's worth listing them separately from the Abstract:

• valuing life, respect for humanity
• pedagogic optimism
• pedagogic value
• tolerance
• activity-centredness
• communal upbringing
• teaching through conflict
• integration
• bipolarity
• complexity.

Katalin Biró writes that "every year I would summarise these fundamentals in my pedagogy module for my conductor-teacher students." 

How interesting it would be to learn how far such a list was agreed; or whether anything similar is shared with student conductors in 2016.

The 2nd document I have on file is in fact an early, annotated draft. I'd welcome a final version if anyone reading this should have one. This early draft is (or maybe is close to) a proposal which I believe was presented by Andrew Sutton to a group of UK conductive education centres at PACE in Aylesbury in or around 2002. My copy is rather grandly entitled "The Aylesbury Declaration". Here is the draft, just slightly tidied up:

WHEREAS

1. CE is major breakthrough … children and adults with motor disabilities and their families …with major implications for the future as yet unachieved (implications which none of us yet can conceive)
2. CE is a developing system finding new forms to fit new circumstances (eg children; funding arrangements; people; professionals; countries; client groups)
3. The potential of CE is presently limited by financial shortage and antipathetic official and professional agendas
4. The key to providing professional CE services is an appropriately trained and plentiful conductor or conductive profession.
5. There is considerable public, professional and political misunderstanding of CE – often combined with overt hostility.
6. Well-meaning but misguided short-cuts to the provision of CE are actively damaging to the CE movement.
7. The number of children and adults with motor disorders and their families who can benefit from CE far exceeds the capacity of the present conductive movement to provide for.
8. The conductive movement has depended upon a coalition of informed active service users and committed professionals. 
9. The State’s presently provided services for adults and children with ND and their families are qualitatively and quantitively unsatisfactory. 
10. CE now exists within an expectation of evidence-based practice and has to define and articulate its position accordingly.

IT IS THEREFORE AGREED/DETERMINED/PLEDGED

To work together to secure the proper place and future of CE

To which end we shall work to ensure that:

1. CE is a readily available option for children and adults with motor disorders and their families.
2. CE continues its development as a self-consciously innovative, dynamic and progressive practice seeking out new ways in which it might be of benefit.
3. CE will be appropriately funded and included in official and professional agendas.
4. There is a diversity and professional conductive training opportunities at appropriate levels to agreed standards.
5. CE is understood and accepted.
6. Will have informed access to establish appropriate Conductive Education.   Work with well-meaning and innovative people to establish appropriate Conductive Education practice.
7. CE movement will continue to expand its capacity to deliver to all who can benefit.
8. Self-renewing body of those people.
9. The State recognises that CE as an appropriate model for services for people with……
10. CE relevant evidence is the measure relevant to CE.

for which purpose the signatories to this declaration combine to form an interim body.

It would be easy, reading this draft document, to ask how far we have or have not come since 2002. To answer that is not my intention in re-publishing it. My intention is to wonder (a) whether a Charter for conductive education - perhaps just in the UK initially - would be useful and (b) whether either of the two documents above or the Social Pedagogy Charter provide useful models or content.

I'd be interested to hear of similar lists/models.

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Edited 27 Aug 2016 to include link to "Fundamentals of conductive upbringing", with thanks to Gill Maguire in her Comment below.

Footnote 27 Aug 2016: Andrew Sutton posts a further thought on this question on Conductive World  "Chartists - Jobs Vacant". This reminds me that Andrew recently posted on Conductive World "Six Principles. A. R. Luriya's Credo. To nail to the door" with the comment "Posted on Conductive World a year ago, and too precious not to be posted again".