4 things teachers can learn from the BBC’s Dynasties

The David Attenborough-narrated nature series reminds teacher Grainne Hallahan of some important lessons for teaching
9th December 2018, 8:03pm

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4 things teachers can learn from the BBC’s Dynasties

https://www.tes.com/magazine/archive/4-things-teachers-can-learn-bbcs-dynasties
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Since Sir David Attenborough returned to our living rooms with Dynasties, I’ve spent my Sundays getting something in my eye and feeling a bit choked up, as I watch some heartstring-pulling, exquisitely shot scene unfold against a beautiful classical score.

I have also had a repeating sense of déjà vu watching these families of animals in their struggles for survival. 

Scenes in the school dining hall often resemble feeding time at the waterhole; the sounds emanating from the top deck of the school bus are reminiscent of the monkey house at the zoo; the smell from the changing room has often been compared to a farmyard. 

So is there anything for teachers to learn from this most excellent of BBC documentaries? 

I think so. Here are four things teachers can take away from Dynasties:

1. When to back off and when to intervene

“Film crews have to capture events as they unfold, whatever their feelings,” warns Attenborough. 

But the crew has other ideas.

“I know it’s natural, but it’s bloody hard to watch.” 

The film crew look down at the penguins and their chicks trapped in a ravine, flapping impossibly in the face of steep slopes of ice, and decide that they can’t leave things as they are. The crew don’t carry the birds out, but instead dig out a few steps in the gully, and the penguins scramble to safety.

Many heads of year groups would have watched those little penguins sliding about precariously, danger imminent, and thought about their own students sliding about precariously, danger imminent. 

Often students, like those penguins, get themselves into situations entirely by accident - wandering unwittingly into a perilous situation and without the tools to dig their own way out. 

There is a lot to be said for letting them figure things out for themselves: developing resilience, instilling a sense of self-sufficiency. When you jump in every time there is a bust-up over Snapchat or a showdown over which groups are standing by which staircase, you can sometimes cause more problems in the long run. 

But sometimes, when they’ve got themselves in too deep and we can see them perishing before us…well, we just have to grab those shovels and dig our penguins out.

2. How to survive a takeover

“Blacktip’s pack have spent a great deal of time scent marking, establishing their new territorial boundaries,” Attenborough informs us, as black snaking lines crisscross over the map.

The landscape is changing.

Blacktip, the leader of a pack of Painted Wolves, has launched a takeover, pushing her mother’s rival pack out of their territory. Blood is shed. Battles are fought. Cute puppies are born.

Thousands of miles away in a recently converted academy, similar struggles are occurring. The pack leader has been turfed out of their office, loyalties of the remaining senior leadership team are being tested, and there is scent-marking aplenty going on over in the teaching and learning meetings.

But if we can all just take a leaf out of Tate’s pack’s book, we can learn something from these wolves. You’ve got to wait it out. 

By the end of the episode, the old pack have regrouped and are stronger than ever. The original pack reclaim their territory by recruiting reinforcements and becoming stronger.

In turbulent times of change at the top, the best thing you can do is hunker down and wait it out. The lone-wolf image is a myth. Surround yourself with a good team and wait to see how it all turns out.

3. When the time is right, just step down, David

David versus Luthor and Jumkin: it was never going to end well. Seven months after filming finished, David, the alpha chimp, was found dead.

The chimp’s position leading the group was under threat from younger rivals. He lost allies. He wasn’t able to compete. He was attacked, but he re-established himself…only to lose out again.

Sometimes we just need to take the hint and step down. Power for the sake of power won’t bring satisfaction. 

What makes us cling on to power? Vanity? Stubbornness? A sense of entitlement?

If you feel the power you have is slipping, and if the battle leaves you missing fingers and earlobes, then you’re probably better off letting the others have a crack at the top. You’ll be better off finding some new chimps to play with.

4. You need back-up

“He is outnumbered by 20 of them. The pack tries to wear him down. This number of hyenas could kill him. It’s impossible to fight them all at once…his ally, Tatu, has heard the commotion. Now the odds have changed.”

The hyenas’ distinctive laughter makes any teacher wince. A pack of hyenas, Year 9 on a Friday afternoon…pretty interchangeable.

Red, the lion, should be untouchable; he is a lion, and a lion is the king of the jungle, after all. But even kings have something to worry about when they’re outnumbered by a hungry gang of bloodthirsty carnivores. 

Red’s saviour is the same as most other teachers: the call for back-up. Knowing when you need another adult in the room isn’t a weakness, it isn’t an overreaction, it’s just good support. 

And not just in the classroom. In the corridor, my old department had an unofficial policy that if one member of staff had stopped a kid to tell them off, if you were passing, then you would pause to check that everything was in hand. 

Knowing that you had back-up meant even newer teachers wouldn’t hesitate to challenge corridor or playground misbehaviour - and the corridors were calmer as a result.

Grainne Hallahan is a secondary school teacher in Essex

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