Thoughts On Educating Yorkshire: Episode 1

I really enjoyed watching the first episode of Educating Yorkshire. It reminded me strongly of my schooldays. Ryan reminded me strongly of myself when I first started secondary school, although I had that personality for different reasons- because I thought that if I didn’t do my work and wasn’t polite to the teachers, they would remove me from mainstream education. Also, detention would have meant missing physio, and physio was very important- so I avoided detention at any cost.

I have a few more general disability-related thoughts to share on the programme because of Bailey, the girl with a facial disfigurement.

Firstly, she was portrayed as a girl who wears a lot of makeup. After her facial disfigurement was revealed, I was very pleased to see that Mr Mitchell and the other teachers were so understanding about her makeup. It’s a classic example of that old saying- the teacher knows things about all students that all students don’t know about each other. So if the teacher is nicer to a student than you expect there is a reason why.

However, on the show’s website, Bailey is described as ‘a leading light of the cool crowd.’ The thought of a child who looks ‘different’ being considered ‘cool’ in a mainstream school makes me very happy. I was a child who was ‘different’ and there were very few children in my year less cool than me. So I am glad to see Bailey has popularity, and is recognised for more than her different appearance.

Bailey said that she has to wear foundation. However, she didn’t reveal whether the foundation she wears is the special medical sort used by people with birthmarks and similar facial disfigurements. Maybe it is that sort- I would like to see that revealed though. It is available, and I hope she has heard of it.

I would like to see them showing the stories of some other students with physical disabilities or learning difficulties. I will continue to watch the programme with interest, but a part of me- the campaigner for inclusion where possible- will be disappointed if there are no other disabled students shown as lead stories in the series.

On another note- is that isolation system a Yorkshire thing or have people heard of it in other parts of the UK? Cause I haven’t heard of it before- not that I’m complaining!