– Can you see the bigger picture?
Supporting all children in the classroom

– Have you ever been frustrated by a friend, partner or work colleague, when the ideas they come up with, seem to be totally baffling and off the wall to you? Their plans appear outlandish and when challenged about how they propose to set about achieving the ideas, the usual reply is ‘I don’t know, but....’
Charlotte, a YR teacher, approached her HT with her idea for developing a small wooded area in the corner of the school field. Charlotte wanted to start running environmental sessions for children based on ‘Forest school’ principles.
‘Ok’, said the HT, ‘what do you need to start and how will you make this happen?’ Charlotte stood there with nothing to say – she had not thought through any details of her plan – all she had was a vision of how it could look, the benefits to the children and the wonderful teaching and learning that could take place if her idea was developed. Needless to say, Charlotte’s HT was frustrated by an apparent lack of commitment to these ideas. Charlotte was frustrated because she could not understand why her HT could not share her vision and see it as clearly as if she’d painted a picture.
Charlotte is a ‘global or big picture thinker’. Like 25% of the population, she has a personality type that is visionary, intuitive, original and speculative, to name but a few traits. These people think about the concept and only ask for the details as and when they need them. The other 75% of people fall into the ‘detailed thinker’ bracket – that is, they focus on detail, like to think of all possible contingencies and develop multiple plans to deal with them. Detailed thinkers want to know as much as possible about the subject at the beginning then need to attend to certain rules and make sure the correct information is at hand when needed. Then all of this information is put into an orderly framework.
Of course, neither personality type is better than the other and, in theory a symbiotic relationship between these two would serve to enhance the other. If Charlotte and her HT had recognised the strengths of each other’s personality types, then they could have found a positive way to work forward and achieve a good outcome for the children in their school.
Neither personality type is based on IQ or ability, but is rather a different type of psychological personality type that reaches goals in different ways.
Recognising these different personality types emerging during childhood, could provide huge benefits to children. Developing learning environments that are supportive to all children and help to realise their full potential, whether they be global or detailed thinkers, will serve our children best.