ABSTRACT
This book essentially rests on two premises: the fi rst is that the traditionally conceived foundations of education, the 3Rs ( R eading, w R iting and a R ithmatic), are not the foundations at all. In fact they can only be built on an even more fundamental set of 3Rs: relationships ( Relationship from the student’s perspective, Relationship from the teacher’s perspective, and the priority given to Relationship formation and maintenance from school leadership). For a school to function effectively and for students to learn effectively both sets of 3Rs must be in place. The second premise that underlies this book is that too little attention has been paid to the fundamental 3Rs by educators. The aim of this book is therefore to address this by applying what we have learned about how relationships are formed and maintained to the very specifi c context of the classroom. So, to begin at the beginning …
A baby learns to speak (the foundations of reading and writing) to communicate with people; to maintain important relationships and to begin to form new ones. As the child grows, reading and writing facilitate and enhance communication with others . They are a means to an end, not an end in themselves. Without someone to speak to, an infant’s speech is delayed. Similarly, it will be argued that without a sound working relationship between teachers and students, very little effective learning will take place.
