Teaching Expertise

Boosting your student’s reading life during social distancing

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Among the many benefits of reading, escape is a leading player. In many classrooms, students’ time with books is given the appropriate title, “DEAR” time: Drop Everything And Read. When we do this, we open a door to be transported into a new world, a new perspective, a new land. In times of trouble like we are in now, many people turn to entertainment to keep them sane. We escape into movies and television shows, games and electronics. But there is something especially magical and personal about reading.

Whether your child is bored or stressed, reading is a beautiful cure. While school instruction continues to be delivered via distance learning, students may get several opportunities to better shape their reading lives. Because they are home, teachers have a harder time gauging their actual reading and supporting their reading habits. That’s where you come in!

While at home, a student’s reading life can be fostered, and parents’, too! Consider opening up a new realm in your living room and diving into a new adventure. There are several ways to bring reading into your new quarantined reality, and though reading is often a solo act, there are many ways to make it a bonding opportunity!

 

Start by investigating your reading personalities!

Although we may read the same books, everyone reads a little differently. Reading preferences and habits differ from person to person. It can help scaffold a students’ reading habits by investigating what kind of reading personality they have. Try taking some short quizzes that provide some insight on this topic. This clever quiz can give students a description of what type of reader they may be. Have some fun navigating this infographic to put a name to your reading style (I’m a compulsive hoarder, myself). 

For older students, see how many “Great American Reads” you’ve both completed using this PBS quiz. For younger students, check out this list of 100 best children’s books to see what you’ve read and which you’d like to add to your reading bucket list! Which did you love? Hate? Misunderstand? Abandon? Reread? Share these opinions! It can be an incredible moment of bonding when parents and children share similar favorite titles, but it can be equally exciting when your opinions differ. This opens up the conversation to talk about your own reading styles and preferences! 

Once you’ve got a handle of your student’s reading style, start to put together a book wishlist. It can be challenging to stare at a list or shelf of books and come up with a title that is just right. Luckily, the internet has some awesome solutions! For younger readers (infants to tweens), try BookTrust’s Bookfinder! This tool selects recommendations based on age and preferred topics and genres.  GoodReads offers excellent recommendations based on books that were enjoyed in the past, favorite genres, and authors. Create a free account and try out GoodRead recommendations for all readers! For a quick search, try out “What Should I Read Next” to curate an extensive list of books based on your favorites!

Consider choosing a book you’d both enjoy and share the experience reading it together!

 

Next, explore your options for ebooks, audiobooks, and book delivery during social distancing!

Sadly, libraries have had to close their doors during this time. As much as we readers enjoy scanning the shelves and picking up books to preview, it is simply not a luxury we have during this pandemic. Fortunately, there are other options to acquire books safely. Your first stop can be your local library’s website to browse their digital collections. Many libraries offer online ebook and audiobook rentals free with a library card. Your child’s school library likely offers similar options.

If you are looking at an older book that may now be in the public domain (and is therefore typically free), check out this list of 25 sources for free public domain ebooks. If you are interested in audiobooks in the public domain, Librivox is an excellent option. 

For other ebooks outside of public domain, take a look at TCK Publishing’s list of the 10 best ebook apps. 

If you’d really like to get your hands on a physical book, ThriftBooks is one of many book vendors offering delivery during this time. Thriftbooks has a comforting message about the extra precautions being taken to ensure safe products and delivery available on their homepage.

 

Start reading together!

Perhaps Strickland Gillilan said it best in his poem “The Reading Mother” when he wrote “You may have tangible wealth untold; / Caskets of jewels and coffers of gold. / Richer than I you can never be — ; I had a Mother who read to me.” 

Reading aloud, parent and child, is an irreplaceable experience. It makes the book have that much more resonance and your common language that much greater. Understandably, we do not all have that time in our schedule. If this is the case, try setting aside just 20 minutes in the morning or at night to settle down and share a few pages. Otherwise, set up a reading partnership and allow yourselves to read the same book independently, conversing throughout the day.

Now is a great time to share your favorite novels with your children and to relive them yourself! If your child is currently reading a book for school, consider reading along with them so you can share a common experience. 

Having a hard time convincing your child to buy in? Try getting them interested by selecting a book that has been adapted into a movie or series! IMDB has curated a lengthy list of books with movie adaptations (movies included for children, teens, and adults). Set up a reading schedule and arrange a movie night to see how writers and directors interpreted the same story in unique ways! Or, grab a book whose movie adaptation you’ve already seen and do this in reverse.

 

You may also want to set your student up with a book club.

There are many opportunities to create your own book club whether it be within the family or with your child’s peers. Now is a great time to build a reading community in order to bolster those (safe) social connections we are lacking during social distancing. Brightly, a Penguin Random House company, has many resources on selecting and supporting a book club environment for your student. Scholastic also offers some tips and tricks on creating a family book club as well as additional resources to engage your child in book club activities. The School Library Journal just recently published a great read on running a virtual book club with your middle schoolers, but this can be adapted for many learning levels.

The goal is to establish a community of readers so that reading is not just a solo act. Talking about a book with others can help boost critical thinking skills, build empathy, and improve social skills. With a common topic, children and teens can engage in meaningful conversations and exciting debates while reinforcing the power of reading with each other!

 

Overall, aim to establish new or better reading habits.

It is important to lead by example. Asking children to read before bed is one thing, but sitting down and reading a book at the same time, whether out loud or independently, can speak volumes for your learner. Maybe setting aside a time to turn off devices and read in a common space works for your schedules now, when it may not have before. Maybe reading more habitually is something you can foster in your child now by checking in on their reading or sharing a common reading experience.

Think about setting reading goals with your child. This can be done in many ways. One way is to figure out their reading pace. Have your child read for 10 minutes, then record the number of pages they read. Convert this number into a 30 minute reading pace by multiplying by three, or an hour reading pace by multiplying by 60. Having an idea of how many pages, on average, can be read in those time spans allows students to set reasonable goals for page numbers. They can then decide on a date to finish their book in order to keep up with others reading it. 

You may also consider creating a “reading nook” in your house. It does not need to be elaborate by any means. Simply set aside a corner or a chair where your child feels comfortable and not distracted. This can be a nice repreive from the areas where they complete their schoolwork or use their devices.

 

Finally, celebrate reading accomplishments!

Even if it is one small step – choosing a book that is interesting, reading for 20 minutes straight, finishing a book for the first time in a while – be sure to celebrate these accomplishments. In the end, we want to raise readers in order to expose children to different perspectives, lives, and situations. We want to support thinkers and problem-solvers and set them up for a successful future. 

Reading can open so many doors, and we now have the time to help our learners prop them open!

Read on!

 

A Day in the Life of a Distance Learning Teacher

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There is no denying that teaching has been a major topic of discussion ever since schools have closed their doors at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic. Teachers have been called to adapt their pedagogy and curriculum in as few as a couple days in order to design a program fit for distance learning. Teaching distance learning – or “quaranteaching,” if you will – has had mixed reactions from staff, students, and families. Parents and guardians are now tasked with overseeing their child’s schoolwork on top of holding down their own jobs and duties as parents. Teachers are constantly creatively problem solving, trying to make this new reality as user friendly as possible, while maintaining a relationship with their students. Students must acclimate to new technology, new expectations, and new forms of academic communication. We have all been thrust into a limbo-like world where we must adjust to a new way of teaching, learning, and living. 

There are the moments when families feel frustrated with the at-home schooling situation and wonder – sometimes to themselves, sometimes on social media – what is it that teachers are doing if parents and guardians are the ones keeping their children on a school schedule? Believe me, we wish we could explain, but we’re a little busy over here.

What follows is one perspective on a distance learning teacher’s typical day in their home office. This by no means accounts for the extra obligations many teachers face who are taking care of their own children, taking their own online classes for higher degrees or certifications, or caring for family who may be sick or elderly. This is one glimpse, one window into a day of a “quaranteacher” delivering lessons digitally. 

Morning Kickoff

So, this commute isn’t all that bad. A typical stop on the way to work includes one at the coffee maker, maybe taking an extra minute or so to appreciate the still-hot coffee, one at the dresser to change into your day-time pajamas, and one in the bathroom to freshen up and see if your face is video-conference-ready. 

Before students are likely to be up and working, we teachers prepare our material, writing, rewriting, and rereading directions a half dozen times to ensure that instructions are clear. Assignments are described and posted on the preferred school platform, due dates are assigned, material is uploaded, point values are checked and double checked, a daily announcement is crafted and sent out to students, and a friendly meme is posted for good measure. 

After the knuckles are cracked, we open our inbox and sift through the dozen or so emails that seemed to have all flooded in overnight. Google Classroom updates are checked, concerned parents and students are responded to, daily and weekly meetings are RSVP’d, and bosses receive our replies. 

We stare at our momentarily empty email, relishing that one, pure moment of being caught up.

Then the first email comes in.

Mid-Morning Rush

“What is this essay about again?” 

“Where is this assignment posted?” 

“I didn’t read directions; is that score permanent?” 

“My computer crashed.” 

“What are we supposed to be doing?” 

“I just don’t get it.”

We breathe. We smile. We remind ourselves that this is an adjustment for all. We respond with carefully placed smiley faces, a line to check in on their well-being, an encouragement, an answer. 

In the case of mass confusion, we quickly put together a screencast lesson, pointing out exactly what students should be doing today. If we’re lucky and can find a quiet space in the house, (and if our district allows), we send out a link to students who are struggling and meet with them virtually to ease their stress and anxiety. We clean the lenses of our blue light glasses and smile when a familiar face pops up on the screen. Our students show up on the other side of the digital world and talk us through their confusion. We share our screens and guide them through some difficult concepts. Many times, we also get introduced to their furry friends and our own hairy coworkers make a quick cameo if they are snoozing nearby. 

These are the moments that make us smile. These are the things that we miss. For a moment, things may even seem normal; then our student signs off.

Afternoon Marathon

Confession: I giggled the other day when I received an email advising we make sure we’re taking our “proper lunch and prep periods.” I giggled as I ate my hundredth peanut butter pretzel, dipped in Nutella, dipped in anxiety. Then I moved on.

Afternoons are often blocked off for meetings and grading. For some reason, I find I am grading more than ever before. A recent strategy I’ve employed for myself is grading five assignments, then taking a moment to breathe or watch a short video or, let’s be honest, pour another cup of coffee. Repeat.

Grading comes with a new wave of emails to be responded to and followed up on.

Then, the meetings. After shushing the spouse or roommate or child, we find a corner that seems somewhat decent to be filmed and log onto our meeting with our colleagues. Here are more faces that make us smile in our day! We joke about what we would have been doing in our school buildings, how long it has been since we put on real pants, and what totally irrational worries we’ve had while working with minimal social interaction. Then, we get to work. We share our concerns over students who have been outwardly or quietly struggling and work together to come up with new plans to help. We brainstorm ideas on how to build community and make our students feel cared for and important. When we sign off, we give wistful waves and try and find a way to say “see you soon” and mean it.

Mid-Afternoon Panic

Things start to settle in: that meeting earlier this week that relayed a change in the state’s teacher expectations hangs over you like a storm cloud. That one student who hasn’t turned in work all quarter is tattooed on your brain. That email that you wrote and rewrote and revised over and over again before finally sending echoes in the recesses of your head. Was it misread? Misinterpreted? Was I too assertive? Your day-to-day unit plan starts to fall to pieces as you see those gaps in understanding and wish to scrap the rest of the unit and start over. 

In some sort of strange, possibly telepathic, possibly spiritual connection with the internet, all of your windows are malfunctioning: Google Classroom is on the fritz, BrainPop has gone off the grid, your school platform has slowed to a crawl, and your email will not reload. 

Your screen manifests the frenetic state of your brain and mirrors it back to you.

So you take a moment to reset. Refill that coffee. Walk outside for a moment of rejuvenating fresh air. Count the few cars that pass by, and don’t allow yourself to return to your work until you have counted 15. 

12…13…14……..15.

Then, back on the horse.

The Afternoon Wrap Up

With emails sent, grades submitted, feedback delivered, and meetings adjourned, the afternoon demands a reflection. What went well? What didn’t? What plans need to be changed based on how students are performing? Where do instructions need to be more explicit, and what can be done to differentiate across the cyber-sphere? 

We revise plans and check in on our kiddos. We hope that what we have done today was worthwhile. We imagine what might have been in other circumstances, and try not to list the objectives that are simply not feasible at this time. Our posts are prepped, our gradebooks updated, and our reminders are scheduled to send out in the morning. 

At last, we close our laptops, determined to try and turn our teacher brains off for the night.

Then an email notification lights up our phones: “Can you please help me?” 

And we open our laptops again.

Our daily teaching practices have changed. We are now faced with the more tedious of duties – grading, emailing, record-keeping, digitalizing material – with a significant lack of face time with our students. The conversations and sparks that took place in our classrooms, the very ones that made us fall in love with this crazy profession, have been muted, and we bemoan this loss as we get out of bed each morning and close our computers each night. 

No, we are not caring any less for our students than we did before we were tossed into this unthinkable situation. In fact, they’re always on our minds. There is a palpable void in our lives without our learners. Teaching is, at its core, a synergetic act; we give what we can to our students, but they, in return, give us more than they realize. They give us energy – and exhaustion – and purpose. We miss them. We love our pajamas, but we’d much rather shimmy into our work pants and see our students than miss them the way we do now. 

Rest assured, we are working hard to make this manageable. We are working hard as we bide our time until we can return to our classroom and high five our students in the hallways. We are here, and we are forging on.

The opportunities in teaching abroad

Teaching abroad is no longer seen as a sideways move that could harm career progression. Steve Caulfield of the Alice Smith School, Kuala Lumpar, describes some of the opportunities

An increasingly diverse choice of where to work is now a real option for professional, career-minded teachers.

Long gone are the days when a move to teaching overseas was seen as a ‘sideways move’ that could jeopardise your career path or progression upon your subsequent return to the UK. Forward thinking employers in the UK no longer see teaching overseas as ‘time-out’ or some sort of sabbatical. Indeed, quite the opposite; many value the international, multi-cultural experience(s) you will acquire, look favourably on the personal spirit, energy and commitment your initial application and move will have demanded and, not least, give credit to the adjustment(s), cultural sensitivity and flexibility you must demonstrate to make your time teaching and living abroad a success.

The last 10 years have seen a significant increase in the number of reputable British curriculum schools overseas. We have witnessed rapid expansion in the number of British curriculum schools in the Middle East (Dubai especially), North America (Chicago, New York, Houston and Washington), the Far East (Shanghai and Beijing) and Eastern Europe (the Czech  Republic, Slovakia  and Russia).

A number of well established and highly regarded public schools in the UK have branched out overseas such that there is now a Harrow School in Bangkok, a Dulwich in Shanghai and a Repton School soon to open in Dubai. Whether you are primary or secondary trained, there now exists a real opportunity for you to work overseas in British curriculum schools of the highest standard.

You have a global career that offers a global choice. The trick is, of course, all about making the right choice. In the box below you will see just some of the questions you may want to consider to help you make the right choice and get the right school.

British schools overseas

Apart from those catering for the children of British forces and EU personnel, British schools overseas are privately run. The Council of British International Schools (COBISEC) website describes the situation thus:

‘There is a wide variety of British private schools worldwide, large and small, some primary, some secondary and others all age schools. Some have been founded by companies, others by individuals, while others are owned by parents or by teachers. It should be borne in mind that the British government plays no part whatsoever in authorising or monitoring these schools, and while many may be excellent educational institutions, this may not always be the case.’

The website also points out that the name ‘British school’ does not necessarily imply that a school follows the British curriculum, but that some schools describing themselves as ‘international schools’ may nonetheless do so.

Overseas recruitment

Gabbitas Education Consultants say that most good schools are seeking qualified teachers with at least three years’ experience and that primary generalists and secondary teachers of  maths, science and English are the most sought after.

Teaching in a British curriculum school overseas: questions to ask

  • Is the school accreditated with any professional body? Several reputable organisations now ‘badge’ many of the leading British curriculum schools overseas:
    • BISW – British International Schools Worldwide
    • ECIS – European Council of International Schools
    • CIS – Council of International Schools
    • BSME – British Schools of the Middle East
    • COBISEC – Council of British Independent Schools in European Contries
    • FOBISSEA – Federation of British International Schools in South and East Asia.
  • Read up on your possible host country. Are you comfortable with the cultural, religious and political environment?
  • Ask where staff move on to when they leave. Do they secure employment in good, reputable schools?
  • Is there a comprehensive induction programme whereby new staff are helped to find accommodation, etc. Or are you generally left to sort things out for yourself?
  • Is there a clear and transparent salary scale?
  • Is the salary appropriate to the cost of living in the host country?
  • Are there any references available from ex-staff or opportunities for you to contact existing staff?
  • Check other contractual details such as accommodation details and allowances, medical insurance, education for accompanying children, availability of compassionate leave for family emergencies back in your home country and frequency of paid flights home.
  • Does the school have a development plan outlining its future vision and direction?
  • Ask how long overseas appointed staff normally stay? Do most leave after one contract?
  • Are there good opportunities for professional development and regular in-service training? How does the school keep up-to-date with educational initiatives and trends?
  • Ask to see the school’s examination results: NCTs, GCSE and A-levels.
  • Ask to see any recent Ofsted reports or independent reviews.
  • Are there any currency restrictions in sending money out of your host country?

Making personalised learning a reality

The Personalisation by Pieces (PbyP) system, a personalised learning scheme to give learners control over their own progression, is being used by forty schools around the UK. Its designer, former deputy head Dan Buckley, shares some of its achievements

For the past 18 years, I have been attempting to find ways of allowing learners to gain more control over their own progression. In 1993, as head of a science and technology faculty in an average-sized secondary school, I worked out ways to share assessment criteria with students and their parents. This had a dramatic impact on the departmental results, raising them from 35% A*-C up to 67% A*-C.
As a deputy head in 2000, I extended this model to a framework that supported children across all subjects; and finally, in 2004, the model helped children in my school to achieve among the highest value-added scores nationally. This earned me an audience with David Miliband to look at how a similar system could be rolled out more widely.

Miliband suggested that to replicate nationally the results I had achieved in my own school would require a system that could be adopted gradually, regardless of the starting point of the school. Over the past three years I have been breaking the process itself into ‘pieces’, so that a school can take on as much as they are able and then grow the project piece by piece at a pace that is appropriate for them.

I released the system for sale in April last year and since then it has been described as an ‘outstanding feature’ in two Ofsted reports, as ‘better than Bebo’ by the children, and ‘the future of skills assessment’ by teachers. It has also been included in exemplar practice by BECTA, QCA, Microsoft, Futurelab and even the national BETT awards.

What is the PbyP learning cycle?

There is a lot of discussion about lifelong learning, but what actually are the aspects of learning that help us to continually improve throughout our lives? And what kind of experiences should we be giving children to improve their chances of being lifelong learners? I identified a learning cycle that describes learning from pre-school to adult, and have described it as follows:

  • Setting yourself challenges: personal goals and targets are often inspired by other people because they are easier if you know what success will look like. This could be learning to walk, through to your professional development targets.
  • Enlisting the help of others: mentors of all kinds can encourage you to go for it or support you when you have taken on too much. They can also help you when you need someone to push you and give you some motivation.
  • Making use of opportunities: whatever target you have set yourself, you need to have the opportunities available so you can practise and succeed.
  • Collecting evidence: people instinctively make sure someone takes a photo when they do a bungee jump – it isn’t just for the benefit of exam boards that we like to store evidence of our achievements. But we object if the evidence-gathering becomes more important or time-consuming than the achievement.
  • Assessment: this ranges from telling someone about it and getting a ‘well done’, right up to a formal qualification. It involves others in your learning, to confirm, praise and balance your achievements
  • Starting the cycle again: having achieved or not achieved your targets, you can decide to try again or try something different.

School should provide learners of all ages with opportunities and structures that help to strengthen this learning muscle. PbyP takes each stage of the cycle and builds up tools around it to help the child be successful.

The cycle, part 1: Setting targets

PbyP takes competencies that are traditionally quite hard to measure and breaks them up into nine target statements. For example, the skill of ‘presenting to an audience’ could have a level 1 statement such as ‘Stand up and do a show-and-tell to the people in your class’. A level 9 statement might be ‘present to 1,000 of your peers and be evaluated as excellent by more than 50% of them’.

Both these statements and the seven between them are designed to be understood by the target audience. For this reason they are not – nor could ever be – a full description of all the skills involved in ‘presenting to an audience’. However, they do allow the learner to engage with the first step in a ‘skills ladder’ that will take them all the way up to level 9 if they wish and are able. We have broken up the new Personal Learning and Thinking Skills from the QCA into 24 ladders, so at any time there are 24 targets for children to choose from, each representing their own personal next steps.

These skills ladders could be printed out and posted on the walls, printed into children’s planners or part of a paper-based portfolio, and this is indeed how a few of the 40 PbyP schools have adopted the first ‘piece’. But the process becomes much more powerful when ICT is used. Using the web-based version of PbyP, a child can not only access all the targets from any location and any device, they can also be inspired by the achievements of others. This is because behind every target is an ever-increasing collection of work from other learners on the system, who have successfully met this target.

The cycle, part 2: Assessing evidence

Children currently in PbyP are submitting an average of three pieces of evidence a week towards their targets, even during the holidays, so where is it all going? The philosophy behind PbyP is around empowering learners to be in control of learning, so the logical place to send the work is to other learners in PbyP who have already achieved this particular target.

Eighty per cent of the work currently submitted by primary-age children is assessed in this way, as is 65% of the work of secondary-age students. The accuracy of such peer assessment has astounded everyone, as has the speed with which children respond and the considered responses they give.

Those not assessed by other children (mostly because there are no children who have yet achieved the higher levels to enable them to assess in this way) have been caught by our rather oversensitive internal security systems and are awaiting verification from their teacher that they have done nothing wrong. Remarkably, we have had only five cases of children actually doing anything wrong, including copying, since we started. The expectation was that this figure would be much higher – which probably shows that the OECD research revealing that UK teachers had the lowest level of trust in their pupils in the 21 countries investigated is sadly truer than we appreciated when designing the system.

How does this improve learning?

Once learning is unleashed it is difficult to predict the ways in which children take it. In the Marches Secondary School they have used PbyP as a homework replacement, so that KS4 children can self-direct their learning but teachers can check that they are making progress. In Pearl Hyde Community Primary School, children have used it to gain accreditation for independently managing the school pond.

In reality, each of the 40 schools has approached using PbyP in different ways and each is demonstrating progression. The use has varied from groups as small as five students working with a teacher, through to whole-school implementations. It has resulted in increased work rates, and even holiday working from groups that are low-achieving and poorly motivated, as well as some outstanding co-development with students that are gifted and talented.

Conclusive evidence has yet to become available because the system is too young; but in 39 of the 40 schools, use, accuracy and quality of work has improved since implementation and continues to do so.

Anecdotal evidence from schools is that parental involvement in learning is increasing, and the proportion of evidence sourced by children from clubs and events outside school is growing. All of this points to greater engagement and involvement in learning, which I have every confidence will show up in increased examination performance. Schools that are examination-driven will be hard to convince of the benefits of 21st-century learning skills, and in such schools it is true that PbyP submission and peer assessment tend to happen much more in the time after and before school rather than in school hours. However, as James Blomfield, ICT coordinator at Capel-le-Ferne Primary School in Folkestone, Kent, commented: ‘I’ve never seen them ask for extra homework before.’

The role of teachers in PbyP

A profession that cuts its links with research is bound to start developing practice that actually runs counter to what it is trying to achieve. The research evidence confirms my belief that teachers must be role models for genuine learning. Children need to see teachers reflecting on their practice, setting themselves targets, getting feedback and improving. If, as in Finland, teachers were required to engage with small-scale action research each year, this would serve to model these behaviours and would provide easier connection between students and teachers when having learning conversations.

It is unfortunate that one of the by-products of a highly structured National Curriculum is the decrease in innovation by teachers, which in turn makes the slightly more chaotic requirements of personalised learning harder for schools to implement. Therefore, one of the key requirements of personalisation is to provide greater structure for teachers through frameworks that provide them with clear scope for personal innovation, simultaneously providing clear monitoring methods both for them to reflect on their own successes and for senior managers to check that individuals are making progress. Teachers using PbyP have already begun to report increased excitement and personal innovation.

Getting a school started with PbyP

Most schools have at least one teacher who both feels passionately about providing children with lifelong competencies and has a desire to personally innovate and reflect on their own practice. Give PbyP to such teachers – and anything from five children to work with – and watch the development piece by piece.

We have seen the same patterns of adoption occurring in every phase of education, with all abilities and all age ranges, in every institution that  has started using PbyP. With the launch of the competency-based new secondary curriculum, the introduction of diplomas and the review of the primary curriculum, we should see the importance of competencies tracking grow nationally. It will be fascinating to watch the impact in PbyP as competencies begin to take on their rightful status as the core purpose of lifelong education.

Case Study: The Five Islands School, Isles of Scilly

The Five Islands School is a voluntarily-controlled CofE all-age school that is spread across five separate buildings on four islands. Headteacher Andrew Penman wanted to provide an afternoon each week that could be used to deliver skills-based learning. Rather than do this through a taught course such as ‘thinking skills’ or the RSA ‘Opening Minds’, he wanted to offer a wide range of opportunities that would make the most of the fact that the school has children from pre-school to age 16. He decided to use PbyP as the framework around which to build all these activities.

Initially, he surveyed staff and students to see what kind of activities people would be able to offer. This uncovered a whole range of hidden talents and interests in the staff, as well as bringing in suggestions for using local expertise from the community.

Liz Turner, a teacher at the school, then covered the logistics such as how many children each activity would accommodate, rooms needed, etc; and, most importantly, what skills the activity could potentially deliver. Teachers were given printed versions of the skills ladders and asked to indicate which specific targets they felt their activity would meet.

Liz gave every teacher a PowerPoint that had a structure on it but did not restrict their ideas. The basic structure was:

  • Week 1 – share the ladder statement(s) that you are hoping to deliver with the children.
  • Week 3 – review progress against the statements, using an example of evidence collected by one of the children
  • Week 6 – final reflection on whether or not the activity really did allow children to evidence these statements.

Activities that could not be linked to a ladder statement were not pursued.

Setting it up

PbyP was launched with staff in a staff meeting. Liz and fellow-teacher Ben Probert signed their names as managers of the system, and all other staff were encouraged to put their email addresses into PbyP so they could be alerted if a child in their tutor group needed support.

The school brought me in so that, together with Liz and Ben, we were able to launch PbyP with all the children from age eight to 16 (the KS1 and pre-school versions of PbyP weren’t available at this stage). This involved finding times when children could have access to a computer, either as pairs or one each, giving them usernames and passwords, and asking them to download the step-by-step learner guide at www.pbyp.co.uk/PC_guides.html.

Year 5 to Year 11 students took around 15 minutes to familiarise themselves with the system, allowing tutor times to be used in some cases.

Liz produced a booklet for children giving information about each course, what age range and skill levels it was suitable for, what skill statements it hoped to meet and which teacher or pupils would be giving it. She then decided to ask Year 11 to be the first to choose their courses, followed by Year 10, and so on, explaining that this project would be running for many years and everyone would eventually get the benefit of the full choice the Year 11s had had this time.

Having signed up lists for each activity, these were typed up and circulated to the staff who would be doing the course, in time for the first activities to start the following September.

Rewarding results began to emerge immediately. Having signed students up in the summer term ready for the September start, we were surprised to find that considerable quantities of work were submitted in the summer holidays. The children were using home and leisure experiences to evidence progression in core competencies. By September, almost all the students had not only submitted work but also assessed the work of others – and most work had been done after school, between 5pm and 9pm.

Growing competencies

After six months, the use profile has begun to change in a number of key ways. Firstly, submission of work has increasingly moved into lesson times, indicating either that the status of competencies has moved to a position where it is encouraged in curriculum time, or that students have found more sophisticated ways of being subversive! Secondly, the types of files used have begun to move away from being merely documents, towards more use of multimedia to evidence work. Finally, the amount of work submitted each week has continued to grow, dispelling the ‘honeymoon period’ concerns that accompany any ICT-related project.

Using ICT to enhance learning and teaching for able pupils in mathematics

When technology first arrived in schools in the 1980s it started off in maths departments with spreadsheets and Logo. It was seen as a natural marriage. Later on, as there were more developments in ICT to support different areas of the curriculum, maths fell behind. For a long time it was word processing and multimedia which dominated the curriculum but with interactive whiteboards it has become easier to show examples and make maths dynamic.

Adrian Oldknow (emeritus professor at the University of Chichester) believes that technology lets learners approach mathematics in ways that are just not possible with the traditional tools of compasses, pens and paper. ‘Start with very basic activities. Do the same activities using technology and you very quickly appreciate that you get further into the mathematics and can unlock children’s inquisitiveness for maths in a way that you just can’t do with a traditional textbook approach. Teachers put in false ceilings, not deliberately, but because it is as far as teachers think learners can reach in mathematics. With technology, ceilings get blown away because children themselves start to ask the interesting questions and want to find out. In my view it really puts maths in the power of the learners, rather than it being the domain of the teachers.’

Graphic calculators

Jon Skinner is a great enthusiast of using technology in maths and recently introduced handheld graphic calculators as a teaching tool in his classroom. ‘The technology allowed the students to feel that they were working independently. More importantly, presenting data in different ways helps students to develop their relational understanding and enhances their overall understanding of mathematical concepts.’ Jon is one of a group of maths teachers who has been inspired by T3, an international organisation that offers free courses and materials. T3 events bring together teachers, trainers, researchers and curriculum developers to exchange ideas about use of ICT in the classroom.

Jon teaches at Hele’s School in Plymouth where a previously used class set of graphing calculators had got left in the cupboard, overtaken by other things going on at the time. ‘Then a physics teacher showed us the new TI-Nspire and I slowly started to use them for my own calculations. We borrowed a class set and used them for two terms. They have changed maths teaching. The pupils are not sitting down in the class while we say, “Let’s do this example, oh you’ve got the concept.’ They can actually experience mathematics. It’s more kinaesthetic, more tactile.’

Continuing professional development

Continuing Professional Development (CPD) is an essential part of developing the use of technology in schools. If we compare the private sector with education, we begin to see why technological developments are not always well embedded in schools and colleges. When a company adopts a new technology, they set aside almost as much money for the professional development of the employees as they spend on the product itself. Headteachers need to develop that mentality, and set aside money for ensuring their staff understand what is available and how to use it.

Andy Kemp, head of mathematics at Taunton School, agrees that CPD is a vital ingredient: ‘I handed out the graphing calculator to staff six months or so before introducing it to the students as I wanted to give them time to familiarise themselves with it: I felt this would remove the pressure to be instantly fluent. We were also given some training by the company who provided the resources. Some staff engaged really well. One example was a teacher in his 60s. Within just six months of using the technology he was a convert. This is a man who taught without technology for most of his career.’

Instant feedback

Conventional methods where the teacher takes books away to mark might mean a three-day gap before pupils find out if they were right. With technology, they can have instant feedback, so pupils recognise where they went wrong and why. Sometimes it gives them the chance to complete the task again so they can truly learn from their own mistakes. Some gifted pupils who are reluctant to put their hand up seem to do better with maths and be more productive when the answers are shared with a computer rather than their classmates.

Andy Kemp feels that interactive whiteboards have improved confidence. ‘As soon as their answers are on paper it is permanent, so they want to be sure the answer is absolutely correct, whereas whiteboards take away that permanency.’ Technology introduces the idea of a work in progress, something which can be edited. ‘Learning should be creative and, for that to happen, students need to feel comfortable in their environment, to explore their work and incorporate trial and error. Using a handheld graphing calculator, one of my Y8 mathematics students spotted a relationship in Pascal’s Triangle that I had never even noticed before. The device gave this student the confidence to explore the maths and consequently he made a discovery for himself.’

References and resources

Sal McKeown is an educational consultant and freelance writer

A Teaching Elixir or Best-Fit Pedagogy? Do Learning Styles Matter?

Dr Steve Rayner (School of Education, University of Birmingham) explores recent criticisms of the use of learning styles in education, arguing that they are, when used in well-considered ways, an essential feature of personalised learning.

The idea of a personal style in learning has clearly spread across the globe during the last decade to occupy a prominent place in professional discourse about learning and teaching (Rayner, 2001; Coffield, 2005). Do learning styles matter in supporting learning? Recent work by Cheminais (2002), Reid (2005) and Burnett (2005) identify learning style as an important idea for inclusive learning and teaching in the classroom. Indeed, Cheminais (2002) foregrounds the concept in an approach to school improvement and writes that effective and successful teachers will:

  • show respect for pupils’ individual learning styles and differences
  • be responsive to pupils’ different learning styles
  • use different levels of tasks and activities.

Should the SENCO want to know more about research and work in this area?

Critics of learning styles would say no. In a recent wave of publicity for their own research, some educationalists have set a particular tone and stance with cleverly delivered put-downs to rubbish work in the field. For example, learning styles has recently been called educational snake oil and a teaching elixir (Hargreaves, 2004) and in what might be tentatively described ‘a style of plain speaking’ adopted by Coffield (2005), clap-trap that should be binned. I would argue that all teachers should want to know more about this debate.

The LSDA Report

A major debate has been triggered in the field of learning styles in response to Coffield and his colleagues publishing two reports for the Learning and Skills Development Agency (Coffield et al, 2004a, 2004b). What this review, originally tasked to examine the relevance of learning styles in the English context of further education, provides is a useful description of a wide selection of learning style models. It is difficult, however, to read either report without being affected by its tone or the partisan perspectives of the review team. Notwithstanding a vehement criticism of style, their review identifies the following key points:

  • Consistent psychometric failings in models and measures developed in conjunction with theories of cognitive and learning style
  • No consensual theory and ‘incestuous research’ in what is perceived to be a self-containing loop of replication
  • Commercial conflicts of interest that result in affirmation rather than genuine confirmation of proof for empirical research and in some extreme cases reveal a messianic drive for field domination
  • No clearly established evidence of positive effects related to the application and practice of learning styles
  • Disregard of a so-called ‘gold standard statistic’ used in evidence-informed methodology (effect size)
  • Competing theories and explanations of the learning process in social psychology and sociology that are seen to offer a better prospect of return for resource investment in the educational setting.

There is no doubt that a psychometric tradition clearly dominates the research of cognitive and learning styles and in part reflects a concern for psychological assessment as a means to an end – that is, the generation of evidence or proof by use of a test that a theory is valid. A further consequence of this approach has been the development of work on reliability – that is, the generation of proof that an instrument is accurate and can be safely and repeatedly used to measure a construct in psychology.

Coffield and colleagues are correct to say too that the learning styles field has most certainly not identified nor produced definitive proof for any single measure. It is disingenuous, however, to criticise learning styles for failing to offer a single explanation for structuring or understanding learning. Learning in its various forms as applied to formal education is complex and wide-ranging. To claim learning styles assessment as a single approach for all learning teaching is neither intended nor claimed by researchers in the field.

Learning styles research is not unique in this respect. Consider work in the psychology of self-reference, which for most teachers will always reflect a vital set of constructs in teaching and learning (self-concept, self-esteem and self-efficacy). The field of self-reference has seen academics calling for greater coherence and a consensual theory to help make sense of a disparate theory (see Byrne, 1996). Most fields of specialist knowledge or theory reflect a similar story, often frustrating a practitioner or policy-maker seeking one-size quick-fix expert advice.

So, given the Coffield Report, do learning styles matter and should the SENCO be at all bothered? I would still suggest yes and that the relevance of this debate and future research into learning styles – which in my view is a continuing story of work in progress and as it currently exists a ‘science for best fit’ – should not only interest the SENCO but involve them in an applied development of learning styles and a differential pedagogy.

The way forward: SENCOs and learning styles

I am convinced that research in the field might benefit from a new emphasis upon an applied educational research utilizing practitioner enquiry and mixed research methodology. The DEMOS Working Group led by Hargreaves (DEMOS, 2005), in a useful response to the question of what constitutes learning and learning styles, advises us that ‘Many teachers are successfully using learning styles as a means of getting students to reflect deeply on their learning and thus develop their meta-cognitive capacities. If there were more substantial practice evidence and scientific evidence, the evidence base for learning styles would provide a guarantee of sound professional practice.’ (Demos, 2005)

This is exactly the kind of approach I argue when talking about learning styles and the need to consider developing a ‘best-fit pedagogy’ as part of the expansion of ‘personalized education’.

The extent to which an awareness of learning style or the self as a learner is currently considered and managed within the educational context raises key questions for the design of instruction and pedagogy, including a consideration of:

  • an assessment-based approach to learning and teaching
  • differentiation within the learning process of the curriculum
  • developing a theory of differential pedagogy
  • re-emphasizing learning how to learn – strategies and routines – in the curriculum
  • continuing professional development in the area of a differential pedagogy.

Exploiting learning styles as a teaching device and utilizing the theory means developing a broad-based approach to the idea of a process curriculum and the theory of differential psychology.

Building a best-fit pedagogy: assessment, learning and teaching

One of the most frequently asked questions is ‘What model of style should be adopted?’ The Coffield Report provides a useful summary of many models of learning style to be found on ‘the shelf’. What I refuse to supply is a simple recommendation that an existing off-the-peg style measure can be used in every context. It is worth remembering that assessment is a tool and not an end in itself. Style-led assessment is intended as a formative assessment in the context of school and instruction. Doing this can result is new forms of understanding about the nature and utility and use of assessment in the curriculum and pedagogy (see Black and Wiliam, 2003).

Notwithstanding the recent ‘academic conflict’ generated by one study, there are grounds for the research practitioner to move forward with the idea of learning style (Prashnig, 1998; Mortimore, 2003; Reid, 2005). Work related to such development includes a consideration of ideas associated with the learning how to learn field, curriculum process, differential pedagogy and meta-cognition. All these aspects of the learner and learning are part of a belief in the notion that moving toward a better-fit pedagogy can and should work.

Conclusion

The search for an assessment-led component in developing a pedagogy that will help practitioners better meet individual learning needs in the classroom is part of an approach that argues for building a process-centered curriculum. It should not, does not and cannot preclude other aspects of learning, teaching and the content of a curriculum. It must not be perceived as a substitute for knowledge or a way of reducing the learner to a label or category. To interpret or apply learning style in this way is a travesty.

In the field of learning styles, there is a need to further integrate the conceptual basis of diverse sets of theory in an applied context. Such a development is over-due. There is an already identified need for consensual theory (see Rayner, 1998, 2000; Armstrong and Rayner 2002; and Peterson, 2004), and the recent emergence of new literature looking at the research-informed applications of learning styles is welcome (see for example Reid, 2005). I hope the SENCO can lead in an approach involving practitioner enquiry contributing to this as work in progress, adding to an authentic personalizing of education.

Dr Steve Rayner lectures in special and inclusive education at the University of Birmingham.

References

Armstrong, S and Rayner, S (2002) ‘Inquiry and Style: Research Verities and the Development of a Consensual Theory?’ in Valk, M, Gombier, D, Armstrong, S et al (eds), Proceedings of the 7th Annual Conference of the European Learning Styles Information Network. Gent: University of Gent, 1-23.

Black, P and Wiliam, D (2001) Assessment and Classroom Learning. London: School of Education, King’s College London.

Burnett, N (2005) Leadership and SEN: Meeting the Challenge in Special and Mainstream Settings. London: David Fulton.

Byrne, BM (1996) Measuring Self-Concept Across the Life Span. Washington DC: American Psychological Association.

Cheminais, R (2002) Inclusion & School Improvement. London: David Fulton.

Coffield, FC (2005) ‘Kinaesthetic nonsense’, Times Educational Supplement, 14 January 2005, 17-18.

Coffield, FC, Moseley, DVM, Hall, E and Ecclestone, K (2004a) Learning Styles and Pedagogy in Post-16 Learning: Findings of a Systematic and Critical Review of Learning Styles Models. London: Learning and Skills Research Centre.

Coffield, FC, Moseley, DVM, Hall, E and Ecclestone, K (2004b) Should We Be Using Learning Styles? What Research Has to Say to Practice. London: Learning and Skills Research Centre.

Curry, L (1987) Integrating Concepts of Cognitive Learning Styles: A review with attention to psychometric standards. Ottawa: Canadian College of Health Services Executives.

Demos (2005) About Learning: The Report of the Working Group. London: Demos, www.demos.co.uk

Dunn, R and Griggs, S (2003) Synthesis of the Dunn and Dunn learning styles research: Who, what, when, where and so what? New York: St John’s University.

Hargreaves, D (2004) ‘Help Us Stop the Pedlars of Snake Oil’. Times Educational Supplement, 17 September 2004, 21-22.

Kolb, DA (1999) The Kolb Learning Style Inventory, Version 3 . Boston: Hay Group.

Mortimore, T (2003) Dyslexia & Learning Style. London: Whurr Publishers.

Peterson, E (2004) ‘Are we on a “quasi evangelical crusade to transform all levels of education?” Some thoughts on the Coffield et al Learning Style Report.’ The ELSIN Newsletter, Winter 2004, 4-5. www.elsinnet.org.uk

Prashnig, B (1998) The Power of Diversity: New Ways of Learning and Teaching. Auckland, NZ: David Bateman.

Rayner, SG (1998) ‘Educating Pupils with Emotional and Behavioural Difficulties: Pedagogy is the Key!’ Emotional and Behavioural Difficulties, 3, 2, 39-47.

Rayner, SG (2000) ‘Re-constructing style differences in thinking and learning: profiling learning performance’ in Riding, RJ and Rayner, SG (eds) (2000).

International Perspectives in Individual Differences: New Developments in Learning/Cognitive Style. Stamford, Connecticut: Ablex Press. (115-180).

Rayner, SG (2001) ‘Cognitive Styles and Learning Styles’ in Smelser, NJ and Baltes, PB (eds) International Encyclopaedia of the Social And Behavioural Sciences. Oxford: Elsevier Press. (2171-2175)

Reid, G (2005) Learning Styles and Inclusion. London: PCP.