Chris Chivers (Thinks)

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I don't remember learning

28/2/2015

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I’m trying to remember learning before school,

but I do remember sitting with my mum and listening to stories, sitting in our caravan and trying to copy letters. I don’t remember learning to speak, to feel, to explore things, learning what flowers smelt like, but I must have done, because no-one worried for me about things I couldn’t seem to do. I must have learned the names of things and to be able to talk about them.

I don’t remember learning at school, from 5-8,

but I do remember taking part in the Christmas productions, dressed up once for Aladdin, another as a bumble bee. I remember paintings on the wall, of a colourful shiny fish that I’d caught and wanted to paint. Making junk models of boats for a display and designing and making a net for a house for the pet mice. Sitting in the sunshine and reading is my memory of reading and writing can be summed up in a personal piece of writing which was published in the school magazine.

At home, lots of time was spent outside, with friends, exploring the local area, playing games and fishing. Home meant Look and Learn, a magazine to explore and read, occasional Biggles books, a Wonder World of Nature encyclopaedia one Christmas.

Holidays chez grandparents in Wales entailed the train journey from Exeter St David’s, via Bristol Temple Meads, then into the valleys, where time was our own and exploration the experience. It was a case of wondering, seeing, feeling, smelling, and asking questions. It was experiencing the unusual; seeing turkeys and chickens killed and plucked ready for the main meal, seeing uncles arrive home in the morning from the pit, covered in coal dust, the tin bath being prepared and the endless need for cups of tea to slake the raging thirst. The uncle who took us for walks and showed us things; things to capture imaginations and get us looking more.


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I don’t remember learning 8-11, in Australia.

But I do remember endless sunshine, days spent outdoors, finding unusual creatures, including snakes; fishing, Tom Sawyer style on the creek for a never ending supply of very large and very strong catfish. Moving schools was a regular feature, so the detail of learning is sparse, but I can remember the nib pens, messy ink pots and copperplate handwriting practice. On Shorncliffe pier, I did encounter the wide variety of sea creatures that it is possible to bring out of the sea and I suppose I did learn the names of more things, but seeing a Manta ray rising out of the sea and effectively “flying”, was an incredible experience.

Sport was a major feature and by moving schools, I was able to experience rugby, union and league, as well as Aussie Rules and cricket, on a concrete strip. All sport was played bare-foot, so you had to be nimble. Was I a good copyist, able to reproduce what I had seen?

I’m still a bit hazy about what I learned at Grammar School 12-16.

There was a lot of sport and my Australian experiences enabled me to participate and be a team player, but also to have a go at new sports; at 12, I broke the school shot putt record by 4 metres, just by turning up and throwing. I must have been quite good at English, as I got a dictionary prize and the year end. I remember slippering, for having chewed nails and not having clothes labelled, but I don’t remember the learning.

New school at 12, nicer people, no slippering. Again lots of sport, and I did discover a passion for working with wood. One thing I learned was how to make a good dovetail, through endless repetition, plus a growing care and attention to the detail. Me, the set square, ruler and the saw. The same skills as developing as a future County schoolboy cricketer; watch, repeat, and rehearse (mentally and physically).

I wonder if I don’t remember because I always have been naturally inquisitive and wondering, my curiosity enabled through school and life experiences, with a natural propensity to seek to make sense of what I am experiencing. Perhaps I have always found learning easy, so have not had to spend time analysing any reason why I can’t so something. I wonder if that is the same for many people who became teachers.

I know that I like to explore solutions to things that might be problems and that my natural approach could be described as an analytical, lateral thinker, which has occasionally been a strength in the teacher role, with individual children and with institutional needs.

Perhaps I have learned without a real focus on learning?

Perhaps, as David Didau has argued, you can’t see actual learning in a lesson.

But each lesson can be set up so that the conditions for learning exist and, to me that can be simplified as: -

Something to think about, something to talk about then possibly to write about, or, take it in, chew it around a bit and then let it come out again in your own form.
Learning is about minds, focussed on an activity, making sense in the light of what is already embedded, re-evaluating and refining.


In other words, growing up, where some will need more understanding than others. Good teachers learn to walk beside, as well as ahead of, their learners and remember that learning is not just about school.

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Readability

23/2/2015

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Readability (12 point)

Readability (16 point)


Readability (18 point)


You only have to type the word readability into a search and you are confronted with a broad range of reading options. The essence of a range of studies is that the size of a font and the spacing between will make a difference to the ease with which different readers will be able to access the information within a piece of text. This can seem self-evident, but it is an easily overlooked aspect of creating worksheets for different groups of learners.

Browsing online reports of studies into readability and font sizes, and there are many examples, the common thread seems to suggest that the larger fonts increase the fluency and speed of reading, so improving the comprehension of the reader. This aspect was fascinating, as the central tenet of reading currently seems to have a major focus on decoding.

Beyond decoding, there is the need to make sense of what is being read and the speed, fluency and accuracy, if influenced by the font size, must be a consideration when presenting texts to learners, especially if the language is content-heavy. This could be especially important in second language speakers, as well as native speakers with poor reading.

Some of the studies suggest that minor variations in eye movement can have a link with dyslexic functioning, so that adaptations through font choice can support some improvements.

"Many dyslexics have problems with 'crowding', where they're distracted by the words surrounding the word they're trying to read," says John Stein, Professor of Neuroscience at Oxford University and chair of the Dyslexia Research Trust. "When reading text on a small phone, you're reducing the crowding effect" (Hill, 2010).

Given the larger impact on the reading for students with certain disabilities, increasing text size should be a prime consideration for educators of these students. The O'Brien study concludes:

The finding that dyslexic readers require larger print size to attain their maximum reading speed has implications for the type of print that educators select for these children (O'Brien, Mansfiled, and Legge, 2005).

There are a number of studies into the use of ereaders, where participants report improvements in reading and enjoyment through the ability to alter the font size for themselves, which could be a very positive argument for the use of ereaders for children seeking to improve their reading enjoyment through increased fluency, speed and accuracy.  

Given the easy availability of technology that enables rapid adaptation of teaching and learning material for children, there are few excuses for poorly presented text material.  

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Cloze procedure

23/2/2015

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Cloze Procedure is an exercise, test, or assessment consisting of a portion of text with certain words removed (cloze text), where the learner is asked to find appropriate words that will match the missing words. Cloze tests require the ability to understand context and vocabulary in order to identify the correct words or type of words that belong in the deleted passages of a text.

Cloze can be useful as an assessment tool of the breadth and depth of understanding of both native and second language learners. It is also relatively easy to set up and to personalize for individuals at their own reading level, in that it embeds aspects on comprehension, but also enables the teacher to explore specific aspects of grammar understanding.

Cloze procedures are often set up by deleting every seventh word in a text, then asking the reader to supply linguistically plausible alternatives. It is not a requirement that the child should provide the exact word, although I have encountered teachers whose aspiration was exactly that. By doing that, the “test” becomes more limited. Having the child provide a number of plausible answers gives a greater insight.

The simplest way to set up a cloze text is to take the selected text and to delete, for example, the adjectives, especially if that has been a focus for the class, so that it also provides feedback on the child’s understanding of the teaching. As long as the alternative words will fit in the space and the child has a reason why it could do so, they get credit. The use and application of a range of reading skills is the aim. Spelling approaches can also be checked.

From Take Back the skies, by Lucy Saxton

Rain fell lazily from ………. clouds as Catherine Hunter sprinted through ……. streets, her ……. hair tied in a ……… braid and tucked beneath a …… cap. Her ……… coat and ………. trousers disguised her gender quite nicely. She was practically unrecognisable; only the people who knew her well would have been able to tell who she was. A ………….. smile tugged at her lips as she reached the …………. tree beside the ………… wall that surrounded the area in which she lived. It took barely any effort to swing herself up into its branches, the knots worn into footholds by …………. use. With ……………. ease, she scrambled up as high as she could manage, edging on to an …………… branch that just brushed the wall’s peak. From there it was a short jump over the wall, her thud upon landing muffled by the grass. Taking no longer than a second to regain her balance, she resumed running, diving into a gap at the base of a bush. The ……… panel behind it was open, as she’d left it, and she crawled through without a care for the mud on her clothes. Her father would never see them.

(It took only a few minutes to create a cloze text from a passage; perhaps quicker than a usual worksheet)

Children can benefit from a cloze procedure approach, as it embeds meaning making from the text and enables discussion of a range of approaches to reading. It embeds a level of comprehension and challenge, so requires some stickability. It might identify children whose reading approach is single word, so needing to develop a greater overview of the textual meaning. Discussion of word choice allows consideration of the breadth of personal vocabulary.

The cloze passage can also lead to an extended piece of writing, by simply asking, “What happens next?”
It can be used to determine subject specific knowledge, by leaving out the key words in the passage. Cloze procedure can provide an alternative form of testing, within a reading challenge.



 

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When is SEND?

20/2/2015

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I am sure that readers of my blog will wonder why I am asking such a question, but, after the recent SEND teachmeet in Oxford, I have been left wondering where we are heading in defining children as having Special Educational Needs.

There was quite a strong SEND school group represented, and who spoke during the meeting and I do follow a range of strong SEND advocates through Twitter.

It is clear, especially from Twitter exchanges, that the recent changes to SEND documentation was causing concern among the group, as reassessment of children with pre-existing statements was not always leading to expected outcomes.

Since the Warnock report in 1978 about the status of special educational needs and her definition that, during their educational lifetime, around 20% of children might exhibit some area of personal additional need, schools have had a duty to describe and cater for the needs of a group seen as potentially vulnerable if nothing was done to support them. Systems were set up around this group, by Local Authorities, to quality assure the systems of referral and decisions.

My concern is those children who are in mainstream schools who might yet not have any specific diagnosis of need, but whose needs are regularly evident to classteachers.

While locality could be a cause of issues, subject to available staffing, essentially a child described as having Special Needs in Cornwall, and with a Statement of Educational Needs applied, would be equivalent to a similar child in Newcastle. The constant across the authorities would have been the case studies developed by the school, in association with the available external experts, using the available tools to describe the child’s lack of progress against the National Curriculum Level Descriptors which were common across all schools, even if some difference might be evident in interpretation. A case study portfolio of evidence of description of the learning and other behaviours, together with interrogation of outcomes and successive decisions and adaptations/fine tunings to evident need, would show how the child was performing compared to peers.

Where Levels and associated descriptors have been removed from September 2014, I am left wondering how schools are now seeking to describe their concerning or evident children with educational needs beyond their peers. If they are being tracked against the new National Curriculum, as there are only end of Key Stage descriptors, it will inevitably just be the programmes of study for the year group that will be available, with attendant descriptors of can or can’t do…

Do teachers know what they are looking for? Here’s a crib sheet.

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Do we wait until year end to describe a child as below their peers, suggesting a developing need, or perhaps after two years that they are well below their peers and might be on track to be “below National standard”? Will teachers undertake diagnostic assessments on children to explore their range of needs? Will they ensure that records cover the whole span of time and describe classroom adaptations used and support given to need? Will, over time, a Gap Analysis of needs emerge, that can describe the case to external experts, such as Ed Psych or Speech and Language Therapy or OT? Will the school be able to describe exactly where the child is in comparison with peers?  

Are there systems within the school where expertise is regularly shared between colleagues that ensures that the vulnerable learners receive appropriate support and challenge, and not just through the class Teaching Assistants?

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We still have P levels, which, in some discussions, seem to be the only currency available to describe SEND children. So a child who might formerly have been described as a level 1c,b,a, but be in year 4 or 5 and, as such, significantly behind peers, alerting the school to a need for a request for Statutory Assessment, may now have a weakened case, if the school system is not sufficiently robust. Panels judging the merits of a case may well be looking even more closely at the quality of the school evidence. So a child could get turned down through poor school records or judgements.

It can read as if there are potentially insecure systems in place within which insecure and vulnerable learners could be and may well be failed. The lack of National models has enabled localities to develop systems that appear to be causing concern at best.

Sadly it is the potentially vulnerable who may suffer, but it is a case of “Watch this space”.

It could be a case of the law of unintended consequences at play.

 

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Growing up

19/2/2015

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It’s funny how a simple phrase or word can whirl around your mind for a while. The term growing up was used by @nancygedge at the Oxford SEND Teachmeet on the Wednesday of February half term, 2015. She used it in connection with her son Sam, who has Downs Syndrome, reflecting on the inevitable, that he will grow up and will want the same things out of life as his peers and that that should be his right.

There is an inevitability in growing older. Each new day ensures that. There is, however, a side to growing up that can be significant variables such as personal maturity, independence and opportunity. The first can be an accident of birth, defined by a genetic inheritance, that somehow ensures that growing and developing are ahead of peers. Independence and maturity can both be a by-product of opportunity, where experiences develop insights and articulacy ahead of years, enabling self-esteem to grow, so that there are fewer barriers to accessing the world and the available broader experiences.

Why? By John Kitching

Why are the leaves always green, Dad? Why are there thorns on a rose?

Why do you want my hair clean, Dad? Why do hairs grow from your nose?

Why can dogs hear what we can’t, Dad? Why has the engine just stalled?

Why are you rude about aunt, Dad, Why are you going all bald?

Why is Mum taller than you, Dad? Why can’t the dog stand the cat?

Why’s grandma got a moustache, Dad? Why are you growing more fat?

Why don’t you answer my questions? You used to; you don’t anymore.

Why? Tell me why. Tell me why, Dad. Do you think I am being a bore?

Children need to keep asking questions.

The controllable variable of opportunity is the one that I’d look to focus upon. It strikes me that the opportunity offered by a broad, balanced, relevant and engaging curriculum is the best that any school can do for a child. What each child get from this will vary, but the lack of the experience in the first place could be a barrier to progress for many, especially if home experiences are more limited.

Within the context of the experiences being offered, I’d want to explore the quality of challenge available to the children. It is possible to devise experiences within which there are few, if any challenges, so that the children do not make progress, either in maturity or in knowledge, unless the child’s personal curiosity is sufficiently enhanced, through other experiences, so that they have the personal capacity to question and reframe the experience into their prior experience.

No-one can see the world through the eyes of another. The only means by which a teacher is able to gain an insight into a child’s thinking is through their ability to communicate. Personal articulacy is a variable. Without the words, the child oral insights will be necessarily limited, so communication might have to be through means more suited to the child’s needs.

The adult role within the developing experience inevitably becomes more nuanced. While there may be a need to impart relevant and timely information, to pre-planned need, there is also the need to explore background and developing understanding, so that situational teaching can occur. It can be a case of spotting and dealing with issues (misconceptions) as they arise.

The setting of challenge can also be part of the nuanced experience, in that the teacher may well be looking to see if the child(ren) have understood certain aspects of the experience. Phrases such as “Can you explain/tell me…” “How do you think…” “How do we know…” might all be useful. “What key information must we take back to the classroom/take forward into our next activity?” It is essential that children see learning as a continuous, self-development narrative.

Children measure themselves, against their own performance and against others, the latter, in the best practice, enabling them to perceive their next learning steps from evidence of the outcomes of others, rather than a deficit model, which can sometimes be an overt aspect of school life. Who’s top and who’s bottom of the class?

They want to know just how grown up they are and, by extension, how grown up others see them to be.

Order of the Day by John Cunliffe

Get up! Get washed, eat your breakfast.

That’s my mum, going on and on and on….

Sit down! Shut up, get on with your work!

That’s my teacher, going on and on and on….

Come here! Give me that! Go away!

That’s my big sister, going on and on and on….

Get off! Stop it! Carry me!

That’s my little sister, going on and on and on….

Boss, boss, boss. They do it all day.

Sometimes I think I’ll run away, but I don’t know where to go.

The only one who doesn’t do it, is my old gran.

She says, “Would you like to get washed?” or,

“Would you like to sit on this chair?”

And she listens to what I say.

People say she spoils me, and that she’s old fashioned.

I think it’s the others that spoil; spoil every day.

And I wish more people were old fashioned, like my gran.

 

Sometimes, it’s just the way they are spoken to...

 

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Instant assessment

10/2/2015

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A parent approaches you in the playground and asks after their child.

Do you:-

  • Say that you’ll talk to them after you’ve run a series of tests?

  • Give them an overview of their child’s current approach to school and some insights into their strengths and areas for improvement?

The chances are that the second is the norm, even if it is delayed until after school, by invitation; pop in after school and we can have a chat.

The conversation between parent and teacher will be informed by the teacher judgement, summing up the child’s efforts over the recent past. Both these conversations and the writing of reports, whether short and succinct or slightly longer, are examples of summative assessments. They are a point in time, a sort of child MOT, only good on the day, as the next day, hopefully continued progress will have moved the child on.

Security in knowing the child, in a rounded form and in relation to others, is key to all sound judgements. Knowing what is good, or good enough and how it could be even better provides the basis for decisions. Learning is a journey and a process, capable of being tweaked and altered to cater for need.

So why are we seemingly so afraid of assessment? Shouldn’t it be the hallmark of good teaching that the teacher knows the children sufficiently well to be able to sum them up in an instant? Just knowing the child enables in-lesson decisions from the teacher, even on the level of “they’ve got/not got it”, with instant next steps decisions made.

Life is full of snap decisions; teaching is no different.

Everything is based on assessment, in reality. It’s your scale of reference that make the difference.

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Growing up is becoming so very hard to do

7/2/2015

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Who’d be a child today?

There is a great deal of interest in tracking the development of the growing (learning) child, to such an extent where that interest might, in itself become a barrier to their development. It is fast becoming the apocryphal weighing of the pig issue.

A child is born, in exactly the same way as they have been for millennia, unless there is surgical intervention before, during, at the point of birth and afterwards. Children are born with their genetic makeup determined by the parental genes, unless they have had the need of some kind of supportive intervention. Some children, as a result of maternal health or some other difficulty, be born with congenital health issues.

Children are not born equal.

Further inequality can be embedded in the home circumstances; income, housing, parental education, available time, interests and again parental health. It can be affected by the availability of, and relationships within, extended families.

Children’s early experiences can be significantly different, to such a degree that a more able child in a poor household will be overtaken in educational terms by a less able child from a well-off background. The availability of and exposure to wider world experience, quality play and activities, holidays, interaction with literature and culture, pays off in vocabulary and concept building, which in turn supports self-confidence and the ability to interact with the world at a higher level.

Childhood is not the same for every child.

The children at the school where I am a Governor in one of the poorer parts of my home area, are, as a group, behind the children who arrived at my school as a HT in developmental terms, on average, by at least a year. There is an imperative to ensure that this position is addressed, so that they are enabled to enter KS1 at least at a reasonable start point that assures continuity of progress. The staff have to add significant value to all experiences and be exceptionally aware of individual needs.

Children start school in unequal places.

At some point in the near future, all children will be subject to a formal Baseline Assessment. There has been, in Hampshire, for many years, a baseline assessment, from which progress to the end of KS1 was measured. There are a number of available, prescribed tests available. The choice will be nuanced. Where the baseline tests have been in place to date, these have been exploratory, seeking to identify the individual strengths and areas that might be of concern, through very detailed observations within activities. It is not yet clear whether this practice will continue, or if there will be an individualised 15 minute “test” of specific skills.

Children have different abilities; some are more “learning-ready” than others.

The outcome of the baseline assessment will demonstrate that there is a range of abilities within the group of children; some will be significantly better than others. Some, because they are almost a year younger than their peers, may perform less well. That is no surprise. Talking with a child, watching a child manipulate a pencil, joining a group of children playing or exploring and listening to the ensuing talk would provide the same evidence. My hope is that schools will use the outcomes as a diagnosis of need and put in place appropriate activities that encourage those in need to make the best of the available experiences.

Children are then measured at 7 and 11 and probably at all points in between. Assessment is king.

I regularly visit schools. It is not a rare occurrence that the school is undergoing an “assessment week”, especially if it is a borderline school which might oscillate between Good and RI, depending on cohorts, or some other reason. They are trying to ensure that they “have the data”, in order to demonstrate that they are on the case and that they know where their children are. I worry that for some children, five or six weeks of every year are spent being assessed. Every piece of work, when marked, has been assessed in some form. Does it really add significantly to that sum of accumulated formative assessment, to have a week of tests?

All we are doing is embedding the early inequality, by seemingly measuring it.

I can see, in the developing climate, children having end of year tests, every year, to see if they are “on track to be at, or better than, national standard”. Some will be deemed to be not quite there and some will definitely not be there. Then what? More pressure on learners who find learning difficult. More homework, extra school removal from all subjects bar Maths and English, as they are the ones to be assessed?

If the analysis is correct that richer, low ability children outperform poorer, higher ability children, it suggests to me that they are growing up in an information, culture and language rich environment, where dialogue is likely to be of a high quality and embeds challenge, encouragement and discussion of outcomes, coaching areas where misconception and error have been seen.

This then suggests to me that, rather than a focus on constant measurement, there is a need to ensure that school provides, for every child, an information, culture and language rich environment, where dialogue is likely to be of a high quality and embeds challenge, encouragement and discussion of outcomes, coaching areas where misconception and error have been seen.

This to me, is equality of opportunity.  

Assessment has become exceptionally high profile over the relatively recent past, as technology and the potential profit from assessment tools pushes ever harder. It is just possible that even the most sophisticated testing regime that could be imagined might not be able to fully describe a child’s abilities and talents. If the measurement suggests that the child falls below a certain level of their peers, the resulting loss of confidence could affect a child for much of their lives. Many 11 plus failures tell of the loss of face and their own attitude to learning.

If, at the age of 4, 5,6,7 etc, a parent is told that their child is not up with their peers, there is no guarantee that this will be sensitively handled in the home. Such an assessment and reporting might make a vulnerable child even more so.

As it is already self-evident to many commentators, that children currently described as having special educational needs will fall into the potential categories of “not at national standard”, or “not yet at national standard”, especially with an 85% expectation of achievement. The 15% who might not achieve are likely to be those in the special needs category, for some reason. Aspiration, exhortation and measurement will not necessarily guarantee their success.

Ever more sophisticated assessment does not ensure sophisticated outcomes.

The simple answer, to me is, and always has been, get to know the children, well. Give them educational experiences of great worth, challenge, think, talk, explore and just maybe you’ll find the key to unlocking that spark that might make a difference.

Children should not inhabit pre-determined, or even assessment described boxes.

As an aside. If the process of change is not to be seen in its fruition until around 2022, if it doesn’t work, can we have our money and our children’s lives back please?

Further reading.

The impact of austerity on schools and children’s education and well-being. http://infed.org/mobi/the-impact-of-austerity-on-schools-and-childrens-education-and-well-being/

Lupton, R. et. al. (2015a). The Coalition’s Social Policy Record: Policy, Spending and Outcomes 2010-2015. Social Policy in a Cold Climate Report 4. Manchester: University of Manchester, London School of Economics and the University of York. [http://sticerd.lse.ac.uk/dps/case/spcc/rr04.pdf. Retrieved January 27, 2015].

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When is a teacher?

6/2/2015

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or the case for Teaching Assistant standards?

I remember, some years ago, a conversation with a teacher about a vulnerable group of children in the class whose progress was limited. The answer was that the TA was responsible for that group, a case of inappropriate buck-passing.

The teaching standards were changed for September 2012 and offer a chance to explore the dynamics of teaching and learning, as well as to provide a benchmark against which to judge teacher performance. In a week in which the need for Qualified Teacher Status has been effectively removed, and where, in Parliament, comments were made, by Andrew Percey about poorly qualified Teaching Assistants (TAs) taking classes for extended periods, my musings  returned to the notion of TA standards.

There are many excellent TAs around the country, some extremely well qualified, at degree level, often in specialisms which complement the skills of the teaching staff. These specialists are often to be seen working 1:1 with a learner with specific special needs. They are a necessary feature of the learner’s life if they are to access information and create their own learning. They impact greatly on that child’s life.

There are generalist TAs whose role is to support a class, under the supervision of a class teacher. I would expect a generalist TA to be qualified to GCSE C standard in maths and English, or equivalent. That was always stated in any job specification.

Where they are given oversight of a group of learners for a period of time, they are effectively acting as a teacher, so I’d argue that they should be operating at the level of a basically competent (low good) teacher in a number of the standards, the lighter coloured boxes on the image. Some of the wording in the boxes below has been changed to account for different responsibilities.

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Like a class teacher, they should have professional status with the learners, know the children well and have skills to ensure that behaviour is appropriate and allows learning. They should know what they are talking about and have an overview of how this piece of learning fits within an overall plan.

The subtlety of teaching and learning occurs within standards 6 and 5, thinking on your feet and adapting to the developing needs of learners. Some TAs, as a result of lengthy careers in the role may have developed an innate ability to do fine tweaks in a lesson, while others might simply ensure that the activity is finished, rather than concentrating on the embedded learning. It is this area where a teacher needs to keep a close eye on the needs of all learners, including any being supervised by the TA; to engage in any necessary teaching or tweaking to need, creating appropriate expectations and seeking enhanced outcomes. The teacher should be able to create, rapidly, an alternative to the main lesson if necessary to accommodate the identified needs of an individual or the group.

If there are groups in a class supervised, or taught, on a very regular basis by a TA, this expectation grows stronger. This group is often the “special needs” group. The class teacher is responsible for the progress of every child in the class, so should not devolve that responsibility to a TA.

In an era where non-qualified teachers might make a greater appearance in schools, could a scenario be envisaged where an unqualified teacher and an unqualified TA could be responsible for the learning of a class? I would expect both participants in this situation to be qualified to at least the same level and hopefully, in the case of the teacher to a (much) higher level. The teacher is paid for significantly greater responsibility.

As a comparison, I include descriptors of a higher all-round expectation of a teacher.

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Where TAs can really excel 
Notes from an earlier assessment visit.
It is always a joy to work alongside committed professionals, prepared to be open and honest with a stranger, whose role is to make a judgement on the school.Three key members of the support staff stood out as exceptional practitioners, largely because of the specialist roles that they played in the life of the school and in the lives of vulnerable children. The ELSA (Emotional Literacy Support Assistant), Nurture group lead and the HLTA (Higher Level Teaching Assistant) articulated how they created opportunities for children to have quality time where they could reflect on issues in their lives which might be having an impact on their schoolwork. These times covered before school and playtimes/lunchtimes. As they reflected on their roles, it became very clear that what they were describing was an internal TAC (Team Around the Child). They demonstrated that they were proactive in ensuring that the highest quality communication between adults was key to their success, bringing in other adults as needed.

All three described what can only be described as substantial goodwill, a care for all the children in the school and a very highly developed collegiate staff who valued the roles that they each played. They provided an ever present additional set of eyes and ears, spotting problems before they took hold to a point where remediation would be needed.

Parents had earlier praised their work and commitment as part of the school team.

They were very much valued. Without them, the school and specific children would be poorer and the teaching staff would have a significant increase in day to day issues to distract them from the learning needs of their classes.

Good TAs are like gold dust.


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#edn1000years gallery1

6/2/2015

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Five senses starter

4/2/2015

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Start with an image or an artefact appropriate to the lesson tasks/purpose.

Discuss the five senses and reflect on their potential to add to the sensation of an image; what would you see, hear, smell, feel and taste?

The children have to find one word, one phrase or create one sentence to link with each of the five sense to create a word-scape, poem or short narrative.

By careful editing, the children can re-craft their first efforts and come up with five lines that can be worked into a poetry form.
With practice the initial steps can be the first five minutes of a lesson; perhaps a settling down activity.

Reflect on Imagination

The word image is embedded in imagination. Does that give a clue to the idea that learners need to work from clear pictures in their head, especially if they are to speculate?

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Diagnostic assessment in year 4?

3/2/2015

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A great deal has always ridden on the outcome of year 6 SATs, to the point where there are some schools which grind out the last two years of Primary school undertaking endless English and Maths lessons, with accompanying tests. The rest of the curriculum can be put to one side, sacrificed on the altar of SATs. The new National Curriculum has looked, from its inception, to be embedding the same expectations. I rue the day the Government took science out of the SATs; at least the subject had status beforehand.

However, this is not a rant against testing, but a plea to consider alternative opportunities.

I have listened in a number of fora, to Secondary teachers and SLT telling an audience that they will certainly be continuing to test children on entry into year 7, as the complexity of multiple assessment systems will be next to impossible to interpret accurately.

Now, it seems to me that the year 6 test, by default, also becomes superfluous, within that regime, so that it could be argue that a better use of the available funding would be to undertake diagnostic, summative testing on children in year 4 instead, with the outcomes informing the final two years of Primary education.

The evidence, presented to parents at that point, would be far stronger in persuading some that extra support was needed, as their child would leave at the end of year 6, better prepared for Secondary education.

Of course, the diagnostic testing could be more targeted, with a focus on specific children (lower half of achievement?) or it could be random sampling, say of 1/3 of a cohort and subject to local moderation, to validate teacher assessment.

All of the above approaches would, to my mind, at least, provide substantive evidence for internal support and targets, would better inform teacher-parent discussions, and potentially provide better value for money, all of which strikes me as a good thing…

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Progress; what does it look like?

2/2/2015

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In attending the Optimus Education conference on assessment, I was able to listen to Colin Watson, who is Deputy Director, Assessment Policy and Development at the Standards and Testing Agency in the DfE. I’m almost tempted to suggest his importance is embedded in the number of capitals in his title.

It was an interesting talk, not least because this was someone working right at the heart of Government, so should be able to give such detailed information that everything in assessment would be absolutely clear. I was disappointed, therefore with both the general and specific aspects of his talk.

Take an early slide. The case for change. The removal of levels was articulated as “not consistent with the approaches to curriculum freedoms”. Now, forgive me, but the new NC does not appear to allow much in the way of “freedoms”, especially with the recent suggestions on test expectations.

The second reason was that “expectations are too low” as “fewer than half of those who reach current standard achieve 5 good GCSEs”. Again, forgive me, but is it only the fault of the Primary sector if, during the five years to GCSE that learners do not make the necessary progress to GCSE C+ grades from a level 4?

The third reason also baffled me. That the “current measure does not recognise performance before the end of KS1. As head of a Primary school, we did baseline assessments with our reception children. In the autumn, the County would distribute very thick booklets based on the school data, that showed progress from R to end of KS1 and then from KS1 to KS2. This document supported discussions with Attached Inspectors.  

It seemed to me that assessment, at least in the eyes of the DfE and despite acknowledging that “formative assessment is vital”, is simply testing, with a focus on Baseline, KS1 and KS2 in Primary. That’s what they will focus on.

Schools will have the “freedom” to develop (or purchase) an assessment system that suits their school that;

  • Aligns well with their curriculum.

  • Sets out what children are expected to know, understand and do, and when

  • Explains pupils’ progress and attainment to parents

  • Can be used to set aspirational targets and wherever possible supports pupils to reach the expected standards.

The first two points, to me simply state that you have to have a curriculum and an overview. The latter two are the more worrying, in that progress and attainment may not be the same and without great clarity, the only aspiration might be to achieve “at standard”, especially if not achieving 100% might result in headteacher sacking.

Where Colin Watson did, in my opinion, fall down, was an inability to describe progress, which is the backbone of all teaching and learning decisions, as understanding the principles of progression and child development supports decisions in planning, “delivery”, engagement, feedback and adaptation of lessons, reviews and subsequent decisions. Progress between the test points is in school hands.

There were a number of different structures on sale during the event, and a couple of providers gave talks. It has been clear to me, from the outset, that, while “levels” as numeric items would disappear from use, the notion of “levelness” could not, as the original level descriptors, in my eyes and in my practice, formed the basis for judgements about pupil outcomes. As an aside, I have yet to see a Secondary School arguing for not using GCSE criteria to support learners. The words matter. It is the description of what progression looks like that is important.

If I was still a headteacher, especially in writing and reading, what I’d want to do would be multi-layered.

See my blog on “One book for all writing in Primary”, as a central principle for improving writing quality.

  • First, in order to achieve the new “standards”, I’d be adjusting the end of Key Stage expectations, at least to 2b and 4b equivalence, then adjust the descriptor language to suit.

  • Create a development ladder of statements that take the children from the earliest stages through the significant development points. Personal target extracts, on flip-out sheets, would provide the short term goals to be used in conjunction with the writing book.

  • Every six weeks, a whole school writing project would result in whole school outcomes. Take to school hall and arrange from start points to the best available.

  • Discussions would take place between staff to moderate decisions, using the language of descriptors. The discussion between year 2 and 3 would be especially important, to ensure continuity. The moderation discussion would also be part of internal staff CPD.

  • The outcomes would be collated as an internal exemplar reference portfolio. Over time a range of moderated portfolios would develop. Essential for less experienced staff.

  • With colleague schools, or an external moderator, to develop moderation activities to validate internal judgements.

  • It is conceivable that current data tracking programs could be used to track progress as now, but with an adjusted expectation.

I’d also want a similar activity linked to reading. I have a personal preference for colour coded systems, which, if organised correctly, automatically link with reading ages, so if a child can read fluently, with expression and appropriate understanding, they are at least at that reading age. It is a relatively simple guide and can enable children to develop the reading habit and to find pleasure in doing so. Development statements can be on personal bookmarks, with guidance to listeners.

  • In this way, a clear narrative can be developed about expectation, aspiration and personal target setting. This narrative will be essential to share with external inspectors or similar.

  • The progress of individuals is the significant aspect in all this.

  • We have to be in a position to grow children, not just to see how they measure up.

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 teacher5aday end of month review

2/2/2015

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Last November, @MartynReah , at a local #TMConnect, a delightful evening held in the Jane Austen museum in Chawton, which included a guided tour led by the curator, Martyn and Tania Harding (@taniaf77) offered insights into teacher wellbeing which had been their focus for a talk at Teaching and Learning Takeover 2015 (#TLT15) at Southampton University in October. The outcome was a decision to seek to promote wellbeing among teachers by developing #teacher5aday, a simple project that had the remit to encourage colleagues to put into a busy day some kind of dedicated personal activity, even something as simple as a 20 minute walk.

People up and down the country have taken part with many different and intriguing insights into individual personalities. By following the #teacher5aday hashtag, it is possible to catch up on these.

Reflecting on my own month, it has been something of a revelation. As a freelancer, with a number of (zero hours) links, I can either be extremely busy or face a blank diary. I know, some would like the luxury! However, it became clear that it was often very difficult to find “me” time. As the past few years I’ve also been blogging, I had to admit, in the middle of the month, that this has now to be classed as “me” time, taking over from time that I may have previously used for painting, or taking photos that might develop into paintings.

I did, however, make time to get the paints out during the month and these are the subject of another post.

In addition, since November, I have been running a small project, inviting colleagues to reflect on their experience and to distil the wisdom as if talking to an earlier self. The 1000 years of experience has grown, now up to around 600 years, with some delightful insights. I’ve tried to put words with appropriate photos, and that has to count as another personal project, so the whole doubles as my significant achievement for #teacher5aday.

Most people who have taken part have promised to continue. It is essential for teachers to do things for themselves. I always remember the words of a science inspector early in my career, who said that children like to see their teacher walking interestedly at the beach, or doing other such activities, as it shows you are human.

Be well.   

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Little Lad

1/2/2015

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Dear Ms Morgan,

Let me tell you about one of the children in one of the schools for which you are responsible; I’ll call him Little Lad (LL), to save any blushes. He’s part of my extended family. He’s 7 and has been in his small village school, recently redesignated as an academy in September, since the EYFS.

Now, it has been quite clear that LL has been struggling at school, in a number of areas, academically and socially, but the school has been saying that he’s fine and has been doing ok. He gets to work, a great deal, with the class Teaching Assistant, despite there only being 11 children in his year group. This TA is known to rub out work that isn’t right, then essentially doing the work for LL, so that it appears as if he’s doing OK. There was very little SENCo oversight for the first two years as a result, so that, when the school Educational Psychologist eventually was asked to look at him, as a result of parent request, there was not an evidence trail to support an early diagnosis of need. This caused a further six months delay while evidence was collated and tests administered. Surprise. Something might be amiss, but needed some further specialist exploration. Further delay.  

When LL’s parents decided to have a private, expensive, Occupational Therapy consultation, a number of the very significant tests showed LL in the bottom percentile of achievement. These professional insights were immediately challenged by the school, not wanting to look negligent.

The school actions are, in my opinion, borderline unprofessional. Their poor record keeping has had an impact on any request for an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP).

I have a feeling of a somewhat broken system. Your predecessor chose to alter the curriculum, the organisation of SEND and to throw assessment back at schools, all at the same time, starting in September 2014. Today, I read that you are demanding 100% achievement in Primaries for specific areas of the curriculum, with the threat of Heads being sacked if not achieved.

You and your predecessor are overseeing the reorganisation of an education system within which children are being failed by the amount and speed of change, which has left individual children vulnerable. LL is at least two years behind his peers. In a system where an inability to achieve the 100% needed by the school will put additional pressure on the vulnerable child. I have to say that the system that you are creating is bordering on inhumane. The mantra seems to be “succeed or else”. Children with learning difficulties will be subject to undue pressure to succeed and are more than ever likely to be seen as failures; in fact, the proposal for the Progress Descriptors at the end of each Key Stage suggest that some children will be labelled as “not at national standard”; sub-standard. How can that even have been proposed? SEN children may now be described as “sub-standard”; a Government condoned label.

You don’t have to try to find the words of comfort for LL’s parents, who are seriously worried for their vulnerable child. You don’t have to read senior professional judgements that show specific learning difficulties, then to seek to interpret them to the parents, nor to seek to explain why an EHCP might have been turned down, especially as lack of school evidence was a key factor.

You just tell people to “do better”. I agree, in some ways.

Your system should be doing better, but it is a distracted system and some children, like LL, are suffering and will suffer more as it progresses. I’d rather your Government had developed a coherent system that benefitted all children, before you seek re-election. It's not joined up properly, to make a difference to individual life-chances. It's not inclusive in ethos. 

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    Chris Chivers

    Long career in education, classroom and leadership; always a learner.
    University tutor and education consultant; Teaching and Learning, Inclusion and parent partnership.
    Francophile, gardener, sometime bodhran player.

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