What is risk? The possibility of losing? The possibility
of failing? A situation where the outcome is uncertain?
Contemplating any of these seemingly negative outcomes
could put a person off taking action if success is
not a given.
However learning to cope with and manage risk is
imperative for anyone who wants to progress in life.
Managing risk is the process of identifying different
threats and possibilities involved in a project or
event, and seeing how they can be mitigated, controlled
or simply accepted.
Life is full of uncertainty and failure, and an
inability to cope with these risks can lead to fear
and inaction. But learning to manage risk develops
the confidence to take informed decisions which can
turn risks into opportunities.
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The school’s Enterprise Co-ordinator, Tina
Otter, has been key in driving this agenda forward,
and used her ‘buggy project’ to provide
plenty of risk taking opportunities for her Year
Two class. Children were set the challenge of designing,
costing, making and finally racing a wooden buggy.
She had done the project before, but this time added
several elements to provide more opportunities to
stretch the children. This time she put them in charge
of choosing the materials. They talked about designs
and materials - what might work and what might not
- but ultimately the children chose what to put on
a ‘wish list.’ This included new tools,
so they had to write to the Head Teacher to ask for
a ‘budget’ for the project, justifying
their requests by saying the tools would be there
for other pupils to use after their project was over.
Tina ordered the components the children had requested,
and the children agreed between themselves to try
out different designs to see which one worked best.
Tina said: “They were definitely taking risks
with the designs, like having larger wheels on the
back axel. They knew there was a possibility they
might not work so well, but they still wanted to
try it. They had to look at the possible consequences
of their actions and weigh up what they wanted to
do, and then take the decision – and the risk
- by themselves.”
The prospect of the final ‘buggy race’ in
the school hall added yet another element of risk
taking to the whole project. Tina said: “There
was a lot of excitement about the race, this was
the arena where everything they had worked for would
either stand or fall. Even at this stage there was
a lot of risk being calculated. The children quickly
worked out that how hard they pushed the buggy was
an important success factor, but push too hard and
the wheels might come off! Some of the lads were
quite disappointed with their buggy’s performance,
but afterwards when we reflected they were glad they
had taken risks with the design and in the race – they
had learned from them.”
The project was such a success that it was used
as the case study to secure the Warwick Award for
the school. And when the representative from Warwick
University visited to see their evidence it was children
from Tina’s class who gave him the grand tour – without
a teacher! Tina said: “When he spoke to the
children he saw how much they had got out of it – he
didn’t get word in edgeways.
