Online Toolkit, Updates Galore!
April 7, 2026
| Hello Everybody! It has been a busy time at EfS and all good things happening! I shall give you a run down of some of the things that have been happening and please do scroll to the end, as I have a big announcement of something I have been working very hard on and would appreciate your help in spreading the word at some point. There are other things I have done which are impactful that I have not included in this one for length, but will include them in another one at the end of April. I recently met the incredible Ian Gilbert who founded Independent Thinking and he has been very supportive of my work, including accepting a chapter from me for a new book about belonging. Most excitedly, he has decided to put it as the first chapter! In short, I claim you cannot have belonging as a living value in your school if you have exclusion. They are polar opposites and undermine the kind of belonging you need for children and adults to feel safe at school. I also challenge the argument that a state of exception for belonging can exist to protect other children in the class, highlighting research that shows this lowers attainment for them and how that can happen as a result of disciplinarian measures in their environment. I also wrote a blog for him on questions to ask before excluding and he included a quote from me on his newsletter, where I respond to a blog he wrote on reward systems in schools, something I am totally opposed to. Check it out below and let me know your thoughts!    I have also been working with the charity Nip in the Bud again, who make resources for parents and teachers. This included a podcast that you can check out here and there is also a blog they added here Alis was a fantastic host and I really valued that we go to explore internalised racism and how parents might consider this in raising children of colour. I shall include a section of the transcript here for interest: So, you know, when I was young, a couple of things happened where, you know, I’ve spoken about the stuff that was happening at home and in my community. And I mean, I really, really, really wanted to be as white as I could be. And I, you know, chipped about with an England shirt and a Burberry hat and, you know, and all the rest of it. And I wanted to be, and I really had racism against Asian people. That’s the truth. And I’m open and honest about that. When I was a kid, there was, but I’m talking like it was actually a disgust that I had, which tells you.These aversions in mental health, these aversions are often shadows and so on. And that was definitely a shadow for me. But what was really going on was I really didn’t like myself. So we talk about mental health and self-esteem. I hated myself. Is it any surprise when, you know, my mum said she didn’t hug me till I was 14. She had postpartum depression. Completely understandable, completely normal thing. If anyone had a reason to feel like that, it was my mum because of how she was treated by my dad and her family.But that was my background and everyone else was averse to me. People in my community were saying, know, I said, and I was darker when I was young as well. And I felt like my skin was dirty. I felt my skin in every place I went into. You when I walked into a room or when I went to do things, my stepdad was a gamekeeper. And like, you know, he’d take me to these things where like the farmers are all there. I mean, you couldn’t get more English and Tui. And I knew I stood out. I knew I stood out. I knew that people could see that about me. It’s like having a big spot on your face and you know everyone’s looking at it but they’re not talking about it and that was my experience and what that meant was is the self-loathing later on in life that I had for myself that internalized racism manifested in lots of different ways which didn’t serve me in relationships I didn’t believe I was lovable I didn’t believe that I could have long-term relationships andThis is important because what happens in our childhood and what happens at school, which is where we spend a lot of our childhood, affects us later on in life as adults. And often we don’t trace it back unless we’re privileged enough to do therapies. Do we look at that kind of regression? But everything that happens now is shaping young people. And I would be particularly alive to that. I mean, I’m going to have a daughter. She might be mixed race. She might, I don’t know. I mean, my wife’s white, but.If I want to be very sure early on that that’s something that she has pride in and that she knows is safe and is beautiful and is fine and that other people being racist is a reflection of them and where they are and nothing to do with you. I think I went to Pakistan this year. Sorry, last year in the early part of last year was a big part of me kind of integrating my identity and I loved it. I was weeping when I had to leave. I didn’t want to leave. It was a beautiful experience for me, but I was never taken there had any connection with that community I think it’s really important that they have connection with their culture to kind of ground them because where I was I was in a wilderness and everyone around me was was white and although they were being hostile to me I just wanted to be accepted by them but you never you know I never can be I never can be them so was trying to be something that I wasn’t.And that obviously I’m failing every day in that unconscious mind. And so, yeah, so there was a lot there for me around that. I didn’t want to have children. I didn’t want to get married. And a lot of that was, you know, because of the dislike I had for myself. And that definitely came from that abuse. So it is forward thinking. Obviously, there’s all that stuff about you speaking to the school and everything else. But it’s in the culture and there is social media and there is all this stuff now. And I think like a parent, I’d be very cautious about what they consume and like really they’ve got to own and love their identity. They have to own and love their identity because otherwise it will have a negative effect. And my mum, the only advice she ever gave me was if somebody calls you the P word hit them and I did. Now the truth is that kind of meant I wasn’t a victim there at that moment. I mean was, but then systemically they threw the book at me. But you know, I didn’t want to be called that. It actually really upset me. It made me think of my dad and it made me think of this thing about myself I really hate. So it wasn’t the advice I needed. It was that actually…Yeah, you’re Pakistani and it’s a beautiful country. There’s beautiful places in Pakistan. The food is wonderful. You know, the music is fantastic. You know, all this kind of stuff. Here’s some pictures of it you know, so what if they call you that? And I didn’t get that. was, it was someone who says that you will hit them, you know, because it’s an offence. That’s the, that’s the under, that’s the unconscious truth, isn’t it? If someone calls me that and I hit them back, I’m taking offence, which I’m not saying you don’t take offence at racist abuse, but for me, it was a bit deeper than that. And so it was like, you’re bursting the bubble. I want to believe I’m not that and you’re bursting my bubble. So I’m hitting you back.Yeah, and it’s not, I mean, I’m passionate about this. It’s not like we’re doing EDI here. I mean, modern Britain is built on the Windrush generation. Asians that came over, like my grandparents, they’re fundamentally part of the fabric. They fought for us in two world wars. They’re fundamentally part of what this country is. It’s not a nice to have. It’s an essential that they’re, that they’re included in what we teach and everything else. And they’re so often not. And, you know, sometimes when I go to speak to young people at assemblies, I often say, about people like Malcolm X and so on and often people have never heard of him. We’re looking at secondary children that are choosing their options for GCSE and you think this is not alright, there’s something wrong here. so that’s where the education system itself contributes to that problem of internalised racism and that you don’t see yourself in it and you don’t feel that you’re part of it, you feel like you’re intruding into it and that you don’t really belong as much as others do.  I had my most nervous wracking workshop to deliver back in February. I was tasked with training Prison Inspectors for HMPPS on neurodiversity and exclusion. I talked about the intersection between symptoms of ADHD and PTSD, Mistaken Goals of Behaviour, Counterculture and much more. I include some info below on a post I did about it on the day which includes some feedback: I ran a workshop for prison inspectors, a truly elite group of people who are highly qualified and educated. I was deeply impressed with their knowledge and humbled by their engagementWe spoke about the intersectional nature of how symptoms and behaviours associated with neurodiversity, can also be linked to trauma, a deep lack of belonging and efforts to heal from these through the passage of counterculture.We also talked about how we could communicate better with service users, to deepen our practice and better understand how to serve them and help them overcome some of the challenges in their lives and the mechanisms they have developed to cope with them.Education and Justice are linked.What we do in Education shapes young people to what they will become. Justice is often picking up the pieces of our bad practice.As I pointed out in a recent blog post, the prison inspectorate are rightly asking questions about the backgrounds of young people and the way they relate to them that schools are not asking.Risk factor screening of all pupils has been shown to be highly effective against truancy and exclusions, a structural risk factor for later imprisonment.In Education, we cry out for early intervention and sometimes forget, we can be just that, right now..It is reassuring to know that the people in youth justice and adult prisons are watched over by such committed and capable people.Thank you for having me HM Inspectorate of PrisonsBelow is a review from one such inspector left as a comment on my LinkedIn post: "Tier Blundell you inspired every single one of us in that room. Your presentation was raw, emotional and thought provoking with no evidence of your nerves in sight. We hung on to every single word you said and trust me, we are still reflecting on your inspirational delivery and honest journey you shared, even today. We all thought we knew about trauma, neurodiversity, impact - but we realise that that there is so much more to know. You helped us realise that. Thank you once again and I will certainly continue to follow your journey with great interest now that we are connected."  I have also been doing some work with Finham Park Multi Academy Trust and Dr Alex Blower with the Boys Impact Hub in Coventry and Warwickshire. An excellent initiative to raise attainment for young boys on free school meals. I talk openly about how I would have, in all honesty, lapped up the manosphere as a child if it was around when I was at school. Something we need to get ahead of and consider carefully as the landscape of misogyny only seems to be getting worse.  Spitting Image?Recently I spoke at Birmingham City Football Club for the Diocese of Birmingham Multi Academy Trust and an incredibly friendly chap by the name of Andy, illustrated my talk! You can see some sections of it below, though it was very long! I must admit, I felt quite emotional looking at it afterwards!      The thrust of my talk was addressing the Flourishing - Life in All Its Fullness document, a joint release from the Confederation of School Trusts, The National Society of Education (Church of England) and the Catholic Education Service, which is in my view, an excellent document and a worthy vision of getting young people and educators to flourish. My main aim and vision moving forward, is to convince schools to abandon behaviourism and take up an evidence based scientific approach to managing behaviour. An approach which in the context of this talk, I argue is also Gospel centred. I have been very fortunate to be platformed by the Diocese of Leicester, Derby, Leeds and now Birmingham and I feel strongly that our visions are aligned which is very encouraging.  That is Birmingham and Aston Villa I have now spoken at! I think West Brom is next?  There was a rumour of something called “school wars” emerging in my local county. it did not come to fruition thankfully, but I wrote some thoughts about it in the heat of the moment: Could it be that children are influenced by the modelling of adults online? Social media is full of division and open racism. When reported, you quickly get a notification saying, “we did not remove the post.” Then consider some of the highest grossing televised events that involve online streamers turning their hand to boxing, albeit badly (spoken as a former boxer myself).The list goes on. Here is some theory. The French thinker René Girard discussed the concept of mimetic desire. Most people assume we desire things because they are intrinsically valuable. Girard argued instead that we often desire things because someone else appears to desire them. He described desire as a triangle:Subject → Model → Object Example: Subject: a pupil Model: adult, influencer, or teacher Object: status, attention, belonging, popularity, approval The pupil does not simply want the object. They want it because the model appears to want or possess it. So desire is socially contagious. Adults in the community and online can become the model. Behaviour that carries status in adult culture can therefore become behaviour that young people imitate. Teachers are often outraged and want to clamp down. Consequences matter. But when discipline becomes a public contest of dominance, it can sometimes set up what Girard called mimetic rivalry. In those moments the original issue disappears and the interaction becomes about who wins. Consider that many of the adult models young people see online are arguing constantly and rarely ceding ground. Some also propagate conspiracy theories about institutions, from government to the BBC. When adults display deep distrust of institutions online, it should not surprise us if young people begin to question whether institutional authority is something to respect. If the adult world models contempt and conflict, those behaviours can become desirable. So consider this. Young people full of mimetic desire for characters online fighting, marching, and performing status through confrontation. Adults around them romanticising “us versus them” identity. Then an opportunity appears: a chance to fight alongside one’s peers. An ultimate act of belonging. A deep bonding experience in pursuit of a shared desire modelled elsewhere. What are we going to offer them instead? It would be easy simply to scapegoat and say it is one person’s fault. Girard warned about this as well. When communities experience tension, they often resolve it by converging on a single person to blame. This creates what he described as “unanimity minus one” - the group unites against the victim. It produces temporary peace because the community suddenly feels unified. But the underlying tensions remain. Girard argued that the story of the Crucifixion exposes this mechanism. In many ancient myths the victim is portrayed as guilty. In the Gospels, the story is told from the side of the victim, revealing how crowds can unite in accusation against someone who is innocent. Until societies recognise this pattern, Girard suggested we can become trapped in a cycle: Find a scapegoat → remove them → experience temporary peace → fail to address the underlying tensions → repeat. So if these so-called “school wars” do come to fruition, perhaps the challenge is not simply to punish harder. The deeper challenge may be to diffuse the rivalry safely and without humiliation, and then think seriously about what models of belonging we are offering young people. Every classroom has what might be called a mimetic field. It teaches pupils what behaviour carries status. If disruption and confrontation bring prestige, they spread. If respect, courage, and contribution bring prestige, those spread instead. So the real question may be this: What model are we offering young people to aim at together? A model that avoids violence .A model that creates belonging without enemies. A model that starts with all of us, adults included, being accountable for what we are modelling.  I all for a social media ban myself! Just to put that out there! Thank you to Jason Clark LCGI EngTech FCIPHE RP MIOD for inviting me to the Lord Lady Mayor's Annual Banquet at Mansion House with the The Worshipful Company of Plumbers. A truly momentous occasion that discussed the pressing need to provide future generations with the same opportunity as the past. Jason and EurIng Prof Dave Cooper MBE like me, left school with essentially nothing and all the barriers that come with a bad start in life and poor parenting. They were able through hard work and learning a trade to ascend to positions of senior leadership in their respective industries. In many ways, I too am on this journey. All of us trying to bring young people along with us in an increasingly challenging world with evermore barriers. It is my view that many industries need to look toward their long term interests through the enabling of young people. Removing red tape and investing in the next generation is crucial. Here's a thought: One such opportunity would be to see education collaborate with livery companies and professional bodies far more!  I recently came across the Alliance Against Seclusion & Restraint in America and the incredible Guy Stephens. His son was brutally restrained and locked in a room to be left on his own. His son has autism. He was a successful university professor but made a commitment to his son that he would do everything he could to ensure this did not happen again to him or other children. He founded AASR and has done some incredible work. I was shocked to see how far behaviourism and compliance is built into the American education system. He told me that in 17 states, corporal punishment is still legal. It is mind blowing. Check out his podcast on Spotify and other platforms for some very insightful discussions with global education experts. He has invited me to speak on it too next year - it is booked up a year in advance! - which will be an immense privilege. One thing that struck me was how we have different language for the same thing some times. Our work is closely aligned but I almost never use the word seclusion. Lots of great resources on his website for educators so please do check it out!  Enduring Inclusion an Online Training Toolkit. I am very excited to announce that I have been working on developing an online resource for schools to access that offers training and a regularly updated academic database on all the relevant and recent studies into inclusion. My aim is that as many schools as possible can access my training and the cutting edge research in inclusion and reducing exclusions. There will be over 10+ hours of regularly updated and added to training by myself and on top this, extensive interviews with leading global figures in the world of education and inclusion. I have been conducting these interviews throughout the last month and will be posting short clips on LinkedIn so be sure to follow me on there! If you run a school or work at a school that you think may benefit from this, please get in touch. It will be fully ready for May half-term. To be clear the cost of an annual licence is significantly less than I charge for a day’s work or a keynote speech and you will have access to me for support. For a small upgrade, I can also run a two hour twilight session to suit you online. My website is getting a much needed refresh and the toolkit will be accessible online through a special members area of the website. Meaning staff can access it anytime, anywhere, on their phone or computer. My next newsletter will include a preview of the toolkit!  I am also undertaking a professional course in Trauma Informed Practice with Trauma Informed Schools UK. It is an amazing course and more to follow about that in due course, but just to say, it is worth checking out and I look forward to adding some of what I have learnt to my training packages when I complete it and become qualified in June. A massive thank you to Christine Davies at TISUK for supporting me with a place on this incredible course, it has already begun to change my life and to understand my story with a new lens. They do fantastic training packages for all sorts of settings including foster carers. Check out one such flyer below and if you would like to be put in touch with them, just let me know! I will dedicate a newsletter to trauma informed practice, what I learnt on the course and what it brought up for me personally when it has finished, stay tuned or attuned as we are taught! |
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