top of page
IMG_1467.HEIC.heic 3.png

Alexander Technique

The Alexander Technique and The Ready List

 

The Ready List (TRL) is based on the principles of the Alexander Technique. It is a very simple way to transform ourselves by learning:

 

  • How to be present

  • How to focus

  • How to be peaceful in our bodies and minds

  • How to find good posture

  • How to balance movement and stillness

  • How to find time, space, and ease

 

TRL in Education helps children to learn more happily and effectively. It helps teachers to be calm and centred in the classroom and beyond. This helps to reduce, manage, and even eliminate stressful situations.
 

TRL is taught by verbal instruction and by gentle indications from the hands of an Alexander teacher. Touch of the pupil by the teacher is the clearest way to convey the principles of the work and is essential to the teaching. Alexander teachers are trained to use their hands in a thoughtful and safe way and are regulated by a professional body and a clear code of conduct.

​

TRL in Primary Education has been developed over many years of work with children and classroom teachers and is exemplified by the unique system used at Educare Small School. It is effective because it is completely in accord with how we should naturally function in daily life and with how we learn.

​

Read more about The Ready List >

Watch our video: Alexander Technique at Educare >

The Ready List - Skills for Life

​

Educare is a truly pioneering school.

​

We have taken the principles of the Alexander Technique and simplified and adapted them for children. This is what we now call The Ready List (TRL).

​

Although many other schools have Alexander work available for individual pupils, at Educare the work is seamlessly integrated into the school day and used by all pupils and teachers.

 

Since the school opened in February 1997, we have been committed to delivering a child-centred approach that specifically understands the following:

  • How a child's loss of natural poise and the consequent formation of non-beneficial habits, impacts on their health, general wellbeing, and their ability to reach their full potential in all areas.

  • The need for, and importance of, movement during the school day.

  • Furniture design and the effect it can have on the above.

  • The relationship between the ability to learn, well-being, and feeling safe.

  • The prioritisation of mental health over learning out-comes – which, in fact, results in more favourable learning outcomes.

  • How to seamlessly integrate very simple practices into the school day, that work towards addressing all these issues.

​

Read more about The Ready List in primary education >

What We Do Differently

  • TRL is used throughout all activities. This helps everyone to perform any task with the natural poise that young children still inhabit. Our aim is to teach them that they have the choice to find that state if they wish before it is lost and difficult to re-learn. We endeavour to create the environmental conditions at Educare (use of ergonomic furniture and chair-free areas for example) that do not actively work against these objectives. Many of the children feedback to us that TRL helps them to manage their emotions and to find a calm place when they are upset in some way.

​

  • TRL and other, complementary movements, are focused on at specific times e.g.: at the end of playtimes before lining up. This turns the energy of playtime into a more focused energy.

​

  • Stopping  at the door before returning to the classroom. A teacher stops each child before they enter the school from outside, or at the classroom door and reminds them to be soft and tall. This briefly brings the child’s focus onto themselves and onto how they are feeling. This has the effect of calming and focusing the children before they enter the classroom. It helps towards a more peaceful atmosphere in the school and means that the children are ready to resume their school-work as soon as they enter the classroom spaces.

​

  • Movement Circle -Every morning begins with movements that help the children become calm, centred, and ready for the school day - a sort of active morning assembly. Movement Circle has been in place since day-one at Educare, but the session continually evolves as we discover new, useful movements and activities. Try Movement Circle >

​

  • Lazy Labyrinths - This activity integrates TRL into practising skills for writing, focusing and learning. This is an activity that has been developed at Educare using existing elements taught in the Educational Kinesiology system, plus new ideas developed by Sue Merry.

​

  • Quiet Time - A daily session of constructive rest and relaxation. We use TRL and calming body positions to give everyone an opportunity to be peacefully in their own space for a short time each day. When an Alexander Teacher is present this is also an opportunity for children to experience how to give and receive benevolent touch. Watch our video >

bottom of page