Learning to Learn for Life 3 : Research and Practical Examples for Secondary Schools [1 ed.] 9781855396548, 9780826435934

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Learning to Learn for Life 3 Rebecca Goodbourn Tricia Hartley Steve Higgins Kate Wall

research and practical examples for secondary schools CAMPAIGN FOR LEARNING

Continuum International Publishing Group The Tower Building 80 Maiden Lane 11 York Road Suite 704 London, SE1 7NX New York, NY 10038 www.continuumbooks.com © Campaign for Learning 2009 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any information storage or retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from the publishers. The Campaign for Learning have asserted their right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988, to be identified as Author of this work. British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. 9780826435934 (paperback) Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Goodbourn, Rebecca. Learning to learn for life 3 : research and practical examples for secondary schools / Rebecca Goodbourne...[et al.]. p. cm. “Campaign for Learning.” Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN: 978-0-8264-3593-4 (pbk. : alk. paper) 1. Study skills–Study and teaching (Secondary) I. Campaign for Learning. II. Title. LB1628.5.G66 2010 372.13028'1–dc22 2009015837

Typeset by Newgen Imaging Systems Pvt Ltd, Chennai, India Printed and bound in Great Britain by MPG Books Group

Contents Contributing authors

iv

Acknowledgements

v

Foreword Jim Knight MP, Minister of State for Schools and 14–19 Learners

vii

Introduction

1

Section One Learning to learn for life

3

Section Two The national learning to learn action research project

13

Section Three Practical experience of learning to learn – case studies from secondary schools

29

Section Four Developing learning to learn in your school

81

Section Five Useful resources

87

Appendix 1 Appendix 2 Appendix 3 Appendix 4 Appendix 5 Appendix 6

93 94 101 102 104 106

Index

109

Contributing authors:

John Welham, Camborne Community Science College, Cornwall John Rutter, Ellesmere Port Specialist School of Performing Arts, Cheshire Caroline Wood, Fallibroome High School, Cheshire Mandi Horwood, Erica Morgan and Rita Martin, The Roseland Community College, a Specialist Music College with English, Cornwall

iv

Learning to learn for life 3 – research and practical examples for secondary schools

Acknowledgements

This book would not have been written without the help and support of many people and organisations, most importantly the schools taking part in Phase 3 of our Learning to Learn Action Research Project and their teachers and pupils whose hard work and dedication is the foundation of the book. From Cheshire z

Brereton Church of England Primary School

z

Ellesmere Port Specialist School of Performing Arts

z

Fallibroome High School

z

Henbury High School

z

High Street Primary School

z

Holmes Chapel Primary School

z

John Street Primary School

z

Leaf Lane Infant and Nursery School

z

Over Hall Community School

z

St Saviours Catholic Infant School

z

Tytherington High School

z

Wolverham Primary School

z

Woodford Lodge High School

From Cornwall z

Alverton Primary School

z

Brannel Secondary School

z

Camborne Science & Community College

z

Kehelland Village School

z

Lanner Primary School

z

Marlborough Primary School

z

Mounts Bay Secondary School

z

Pennoweth Primary School

z

Pool School and Community College

z

The Roseland Community College

z

St Meriadoc Infants and Nursery School

z

Treloweth Primary School

From the London Borough of Enfield z

Aylward Secondary School

z

Brettenham Primary School

z

Fleecefield Primary School

z

Hazelbury Infants School

z

Hazelbury Junior School

Learning to learn for life 3 – research and practical examples for secondary schools

v

z

Oakthorpe Primary School

z

Raynham Primary School

z

Wilbury Primary School

We would also like to thank the Project Advisory Board, our research partners, the Universities of Newcastle, Durham and the Institute of Education, and our sponsors, the Department for Children, School and Families and Select Education. Any accidental errors or omissions are the responsibility of the Campaign for Learning.

vi

Learning to learn for life 3 – research and practical examples for secondary schools

Foreword

I am delighted to have been asked by the Campaign for Learning to provide the foreword to this, the third book in its Learning to Learn for Life series. Enabling teachers and schools to have opportunities to research their own practice – and to involve pupils as part of those processes – is tremendously important. It is partly in response to the work of the Campaign for Learning and other organisations, that my Department is increasingly building action research into its own policy development, from the very earliest stages. The Extra Mile Project, for example, has been using the action research model to identify and develop best practise in the crucial work of raising the attainment and aspirations of pupils from disadvantaged communities. Already trialled in 23 secondary schools, we are expanding the research project from September of this year to take in a further 60 secondary schools and 40 primary schools. We are also funding the National Teacher Research Panel – a group of practising teachers and heads – to raise the profile nationally of practitioners’ engagement in and with research. Another feature of Learning to Learn, which I fully endorse, is the value it places on collaboration between schools and universities. These sorts of relationships can have enormous benefits on both sides, and for the education system as a whole, and I am keen to see them encouraged and developed. My Department’s own Children’s Plan encourages secondary schools and universities to develop partnerships to raise aspirations and increase participation. Higher Education institutions are working in partnership with schools through successful programmes such as Aimhigher and the Student Associate Scheme, and throughout the Gender Agenda year, which comes to an end in July, researchers and schools have worked closely together on a whole series of action research projects and in regular seminars on the issue of gender and attainment. I am equally keen that young people themselves should have a say in the decisions that affect them at school – especially in relation to their teaching and learning. This level of involvement and control helps them take ownership of their own education, encourages them to feel valued and can significantly improve their outcomes. I would like to congratulate the Campaign for Learning on the role it continues to play in ensuring that pupil voice is heard, both in the Learning to Learn Schools and in its wider campaign.

Jim Knight MP Minister of State for Schools and 14–19 Learners

Learning to learn for life 3 – research and practical examples for secondary schools

vii

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Introduction

This is the third book in the Campaign for Learning’s Learning to Learn for Life series which aims to report on research, practical examples and ideas for everyone interested in developing better schools and supporting young people to become confident, competent lifelong learners. The first book in the series focused on the Foundation Stage and Key Stage 1 and the second on Key Stage 2. This book focuses on secondary schools. The Campaign for Learning believes that the voice of the teacher must be heard loud and clear in any discussion about improvements in education. Teachers and support staff in schools, together with pupils themselves, are the people who are best placed to tell us what works and what does not. For this reason, the Campaign’s national Learning to Learn in Schools Action Research Project is led by the teachers involved, who have selected and developed their own interventions in their schools, in many cases with the active involvement and support of their pupils. We are very grateful to the teachers who have contributed their experience to this book. Section One outlines what Learning to Learn is. Section Two outlines what the national Learning to Learn in Schools Action Research Project is trying to achieve and its results so far. Section Three focuses on case studies and activities, which can be adapted for your school. Section Four aims to help you move Learning to Learn forward in your school. Section Five provides a list of helpful resources.

Related publications z

Learning to learn: setting an agenda for schools in the 21st century (Bill Lucas and Toby Greany; Campaign for Learning. Network Educational Press, 2000) sets out the original thinking behind the project.

z

Teaching pupils how to learn: research, practice and INSET resources (Bill Lucas, Toby Greany, Jill Rodd and Ray Wicks; Campaign for Learning, Network Educational Press, 2002) sets out findings from Phase One of the research. It is aimed at a general teaching audience.

z

Creating a learning to learn school: research and practice for raising standards, motivation and morale (Toby Greany and Jill Rodd; Campaign for Learning, Network Educational Press, 2003) sets out the findings from Phase Two of the research. It is aimed at a general teaching audience.

z

Learning to learn for life: research and practical examples for the Foundation Stage and Key Stage 1 (Rebecca Goodbourn, Steve Higgins, Susie Parsons, Kate Wall and Julia Wright; Campaign for Learning, Network Educational Press, 2005) sets out the findings from Year One of Phase Three of the project, with a Foundation Stage and Key Stage 1 focus.

Learning to learn for life 3 – research and practical examples for secondary schools

1

Introduction

2

z

Learning to learn for life: research and practical examples for Key Stage 2 (Rebecca Goodbourn, Steve Higgins, Linda Siegle, Kate Wall and Julia Wright; Campaign for Learning, Network Continuum Press, 2006) sets out the findings from Year Two of Phase Three of the project, with a Key Stage 2 focus.

z

The research reports for Phase One and Two by Jill Rodd and Phase Three by Steve Higgins, Kate Wall et al. are available from the Campaign’s website at www.campaignforlearning.org.uk.

z

The project case studies from the schools are available from the Campaign’s website at www. campaignforlearning.org.uk

z

Talking about Learning: Using templates to find out pupils’ views (Wall, K., Higgins, S. and Packard, E., Southgate Publishers, 2007) sets out the thinking behind 30 templates which can be used to stimulate discussions about learning that were developed through the Learning to Learn project.

Learning to learn for life 3 – research and practical examples for secondary schools

Section One Learning to learn for life

‘’ ‘’

[Through Learning to Learn] teachers, pupils and parents have all become aware of how, by working together, we can improve the children’s independence and help them to become successful learners. Project teacher

The Learning to Learn Project for me as a class teacher has given me “permission” to teach important lifelong learning skills to my class and has given me even more tools to carry with me as my career progresses. Project teacher

Much has been written on the need to prepare our young people for the future – a future that we cannot predict. We do not know now what skills they will need to gain employment as little as ten years from now. Lord Leitch, in his review of skills, (http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/leitch_review_index.htm), outlined the importance of equipping our young people with the attitudes, attributes and skills they will need to have to contribute to society and the economy in the twenty-first century. We believe that through Learning to Learn we can prepare learners to do just that. If we prepare young people to manage and adapt, to understand how they learn and how to do it better, we believe they will be able to handle any challenge that develops. At the Campaign for Learning, we believe Learning to Learn is central to social inclusion. But what do we mean by Learning to Learn?

What is Learning to Learn? At the start of the national Learning to Learn Project, its Advisory Board defined Learning to Learn as: ‘a process of discovery about learning. It involves a set of principles and skills which, if understood and used, help learners learn more effectively and so become learners for life. At its heart is the belief that learning is learnable.’ Here, Learning to Learn is essentially about the process of learning. It includes helping pupils become aware of how they prefer to learn and their learning strengths; how they can motivate themselves and have the selfconfidence to succeed; things they should consider such as the importance of hydration, nutrition, sleep and a positive environment for learning; some of the specific strategies they can use, such as improving their memory or making sense of complex information; and some of the habits they should develop, such as reflecting on their learning so as to improve next time.

Learning to learn for life 3 – research and practical examples for secondary schools

3

Section One

However, within the project the definition has remained relatively fluid and flexible over the years, since the teachers themselves have created new understandings of what ‘Learning to Learn’ is in practice through their process of research and enquiry. To investigate project teachers’ conceptions of Learning to Learn, a series of interviews has been conducted in each year of the project. After three years the teachers were concerned to stress that Learning to Learn is not simply a set of activities or techniques which can be implemented easily by a teacher or school. A range of methods and approaches can be successful in supporting the development of effective learning habits and dispositions. An approach based on collaborative professional enquiry into Learning to Learn through the use of practical classroom strategies has been adopted through the latter stages of the project, and is clearly supportive of such development. Such an enquiry into Learning to Learn is likely to include the following: z

A shift in responsibility for learning away from the individual teacher towards the learners, and from the individual learner towards more interdependent learning roles where individuals take responsibility, seek help, support others, make mistakes, reflect and revise their plans.

z

An exploration of a range of ways to achieve understanding for different learners, where different approaches to learning and teaching are developed, and which emphasize the acquisition of a broad repertoire of skills, learning approaches and active knowledge.

z

An explicit discussion of learning and how this happens, where the strategies and motivations which underpin learning become part of everyone’s overt understanding, and part of each learner’s tools and techniques.

z

An approach which accepts the benefits of change and acknowledges that the process should be challenging, but which provides support for both pupils and teachers.

The wider context To form a clearer picture of the background our Learning to Learn Project is operating in, the Campaign for Learning has undertaken several large-scale national surveys with Ipsos MORI over the period of the project, looking at the attitudes to learning of learners aged 11–16 across England and Wales. Interestingly the first survey was undertaken in 1998 and the last in 2008, so we have also been able to track young people’s attitudes through the life of the Labour Government to date. By using schools not involved in the Learning to Learn Project the studies have provided national baseline information on learners’ attitudes to learning. The extracts from the 2008 Ipsos MORI survey report that follows are reproduced with permission. Technical Information can be found in Appendix 1. Surveys have investigated the following areas: Do students enjoy learning at school? Where does the responsibility for development and learning lie? How do students prefer to learn? How do students actually learn? What do students enjoy about learning? Where do students learn about new things? Who helps students to learn? What makes it difficult for students to learn? What changes would students like to see at their school?

4

Learning to learn for life 3 – research and practical examples for secondary schools

Learning to learn for life

Do students enjoy learning at school? As in 1998, half the students say that learning at school is enjoyable. Perhaps, not surprisingly, older students are less likely to find school enjoyable, while girls are consistently more positive than boys.

Do young people enjoy learning in school? Q How enjoyable or unenjoyable is learning at school? Very enjoyable

Fairly enjoyable

Neither/ nor

Fairly unenjoyable

2008

Don’t know

1998*

1% 8% 10%

Very unenjoyable

2%

7%

6% 6% 10% 40%

44%

30%

29%

Base: 2,387 School children aged 11-16 in England and Wales. Fieldwork dates: 11th January –28th March 2008 *Technical details of the 1998 survey can be found in the appendices.

Where does the responsibility for development and learning lie? The perception of students in 2008 is that schools are democratic and fair. There is also an encouraging level of empowerment and ‘ownership’ of education by the students, with 65 per cent agreeing that learning is their responsibility, and not their school’s. As before, however, attitudes of students become more negative the older they get. This is the first time this question has been asked and was a result of a change to the framework of the Learning to Learn Project – see page 27.

Participation and empowerment Q Please tick how much you agree or disagree with each of the statements below. % Strongly agree

% Tend to agree

% Neither/ nor

My school tries to help all students to develop, not just the cleverest I see learning as my responsibility, not my school’s Students in our school have opportunities to feedback to teachers on how they could improve learning Students in our school have opportunities to have a say in how the school is run Teachers in our school respond to students’ views

% Tend to disagree

% Strongly disagree

10 5 32

33

46 29

37

20

27

42

14

37

26 16

38

% Don’t know

16 22

53 5 63 8 8 6 7 11 7 5

Base: 2,387 school children aged 11–16 in England and Wales. Fieldwork dates: 11th January – 28th March 2008

Learning to learn for life 3 – research and practical examples for secondary schools

5

Section One

How do students prefer to learn? In which three of the following ways do you prefer to learn? Year:

2008

2007

2004

1998

By doing practical things

56

39

39

35

With friends

53

35

42

28

In groups

49

55

55

52

By using computers

37

31

32

29

By seeing things done

18

14

15

14

From teachers

17

19

20

29

By practising

14

9

14

18

Alone

12

21

20

21

With parents

10

12

13

20

From friends

8

16

15

14

By reading books

7

8

7

14

By thinking for yourself

7

6

9

12

In silence

5

9

9

11

From others

3

3

2

3

(All figures are percentages) Source : Ipsos MORI

The most popular way to learn is through doing practical things, something that has increased in popularity over the years from 35 per cent in 1998 to 56 per cent in 2008. Learning with friends is also a popular choice (53 per cent) and has again been mentioned more frequently than it was the previous year (35 per cent) and in 1998 (28 per cent). This is a positive finding from a Learning to Learn standpoint, as learner interaction, collaboration and the development of interdependent classroom roles are key features of Learning to Learn approaches. Over a third of respondents in 2008 said they prefer to learn using computers (37 per cent), but fewer than one in five said they prefer to learn by seeing things done or from a teacher (18 per cent and 17 per cent respectively). The proportion preferring to learn from a teacher has declined steadily since 1998, when 29 per cent chose this as a preferred option for learning. However, it should be remembered that there are now

6

Learning to learn for life 3 – research and practical examples for secondary schools

Learning to learn for life

far more options available with regard to learning with computers and other teaching and learning methods than there were in 1998. There has also been a decrease over the last decade in the proportion of students saying they like to learn from their parents (10 per cent in 2008 compared with 20 per cent in 1998), to learn alone (12 per cent in 2008 as compared to 21 per cent in 1998) and to learn by reading books (7 per cent in 2008 as compared to 14 per cent in 1998). Learning preferences vary greatly within the sample, however: Age: Younger pupils are more likely than older students to prefer learning by using computers. Older pupils take a more independent approach to learning, preferring to learn alone, by practising, by thinking for themselves and learning in silence. Gender: Girls are more likely than boys to prefer learning with friends and from seeing things done, while boys are more likely than girls to prefer learning by using computers. These learning preferences are of particular interest considering that girls are also more likely to say they enjoy learning at school.

How do students actually learn? We next compared how the pupils say they would prefer to learn with what they say they actually do in class. The most frequently given answer in response to questions about how pupils actually learned in class was copy from the board or from a book (65 per cent), followed by listen to a teacher talking for a long time (63 per cent). This would suggest that even though pupils say they prefer to learn by non-traditional teaching methods, much of the teaching they experience is very traditional. Care clearly needs to be exercised in the interpretation of these findings – ‘for a long time’ is subjective, for example, and the actual amount of time a teacher talks for may vary widely, but the important feature of these responses is that in pupils’ perceptions they were required to listen ‘for a long time’. Similarly, no distinction was made between different types of ‘copying from the board’ – for example, the boards in question might have been interactive whiteboards linked with computers, involving a much broader range of activities for the learners. Once again, however, the focus is on students’ perceptions – and they see themselves as spending a lot of time simply copying. In contrast, there has been a decrease since 2007 in the proportion of students who feel they get a chance to talk about their work to a teacher and to work on a computer. There has been a decrease since 2000 in the proportion saying that they work in small groups to solve a problem, which is concerning in a Learning to Learn context.

Which three of the following do you do most often in class? Only the most commonly mentioned are given below (all figures are percentages) Year:

2008

2007

2004

2002

2000

Copy from the board or a book

65

52

61

63

56

Listen to a teacher talking for a long time

63

33

39

37

37

Have a class discussion

33

29

32

31

37

Learning to learn for life 3 – research and practical examples for secondary schools

7

Section One

Year:

2008

2007

2004

2002

2000

Work in small groups to solve a problem

20

22

23

22

25

Spend time thinking quietly on my own

14

22

24

24

22

Talk about my work with a teacher

12

16

18

16

22

Work on a computer

11

16

20

10

12

6

10

14

12

11

Learn things that relate to the real world Source : Ipsos MORI

What do students enjoy about learning? When asked what they like about learning new things, pupils in 2008 were most likely to mention that learning will help their future education and career opportunities. The things that students say they like most

What do young people like about learning new things? Q Thinking about learning in general, that is at school and things you do outside school, which three things listed below do you like most about learning new things? Change since 1998* ±%

55%

Will help me get a job Will help me get qualifications

45%

Will help me go to college/ university Gaining new skills

42% 29%

Increasing my knowledge

27%

Achieving my goals/ambitions

21%

+8 +3 0 0

19%

–16

Finding out new things

19%

–2

It is fun/enjoyable

12%

+2

Finding out about real life

11%

–3

9%

–4

Other

1%

–1

Nothing

*%

–1

Don’t know Not stated

2% *%

N/A –1

2,387 school children aged 11–16 in England and Wales. Fieldwork dates: 11th January – 28th March 2008. *Technical details of the 1998 survey can be found in the appendices.

N/A signifies that the option was not provided in 2008.

8

0

The sense of achievement

Helps me to cope better with life

Base:

+8

Learning to learn for life 3 – research and practical examples for secondary schools

Learning to learn for life

about learning new things are that they can help to get a job (55 per cent), helps to gain qualifications (45 per cent) and facilitates access to university or college (42 per cent). Motivations appear to have shifted to some extent since 1998, as is shown in the chart earlier. Students are now more focused on their future careers, and more likely to feel that access to work or college/university is a benefit of learning. A sense of achievement, by contrast, is now considerably less likely to be mentioned by students as something they like most about learning new things. In general, girls appear to be more ambitious in the long term and more positive in describing their motivations for learning new things. They are more likely than boys to feel learning new things will help them go to university or college and allow them to achieve their goals and ambitions. Boys are more likely to say that learning new things will help them get a job and gain new skills. This has interesting implications for the way gender, achievement and aspirations are linked, which is outside the scope of this book but warrant further investigation.

Where do students learn about new things? Although students prefer to learn by doing practical things, learn with friends and also in groups, most of this learning still occurs in the classroom: four in five say they most learn about new things in class at school.

Where do students learn about new things? Q

In which three of the following places do you most learn about new things?

Top 12 responses

Change since 1998* ±%

In class at school

80% +2

On the internet

45%

From the TV

39%

On a computer

15%

From newspapers

12%

At museums On holiday/abroad

On gaming consoles

Base:

+7 –1

29%

At libraries

In school grounds

–11

34%

At home

On social networking websites

+33

–17 –12

10%

–2

9%

+1

6%

N/A

5%

–4

5%

N/A

Don’t know

*%

0

Not stated

*%

0

2,387 school children aged 11-16 in England and Wales. Fieldwork dates: 11th January – 28th March 2008. *Technical details of the 1998 survey can be found in the appendices.

N/A signifies that the option was not provided in 2008.

Learning to learn for life 3 – research and practical examples for secondary schools

9

Section One

Computers and the internet are also important sources of learning new things – far more so, unsurprisingly, than ten years ago. Forty-five percent of respondents say they learn about new things from the internet compared with 12 per cent in 1998, while around a third (34 per cent) learn new things on the computer compared with 27 per cent in 1998. In contrast, two in five students now say they learn new things from the television, whereas in 1998 half said this was the case. Fewer students now say they learn new things at libraries or from newspapers. Is this the impact of the technological changes alone, or are other factors involved here? Again, it is interesting to speculate but this is outside the scope of this book.

Who helps students to learn? When asked which three people helped them to learn the most, pupils in 2008 were most likely to mention their mother, with nearly three-quarters choosing this response. Three in five said their teacher was one of the people who helped them learn the most, more than the proportion who nominated their father (55 per cent). One-third said their friends helped them to learn. This picture is broadly similar to previous years, although teachers are now once again more highly valued by pupils after an unusually low proportion selected them in 2007 (44 per cent chose teachers in 2007 compared with 61 per cent in 2008). Grandparents may also be taking on a more important role in learning, as they are

Who helps students to learn? Q

Thinking about learning in general, that is at school and things you do outside school, which three of the following people help you learn the most? Change since 2007*

Top 12 responses

±%

Your mother

72% +10

Your teachers

61%

Your father

55%

Your friends

32%

A grandmother/grandfather

+4 +4

11%

–4

Your brother(s)

10%

–4

A family friend/neighbour A step-parent A famous footballer Another relative

10

+5

Your sister(s)

An aunt/uncle

Base:

14%

+17

5%

0

4%

–1

4%

0

3%

–1

3%

–3

Don’t know

2%

–4

Not stated

1%

–2

2,387 school children aged 11–16 in England and Wales. Fieldwork dates: 11th January – 28th March 2008. *Technical details of the 2007 survey can be found in the appendices.

Learning to learn for life 3 – research and practical examples for secondary schools

Learning to learn for life

now more likely than sisters or brothers to be mentioned as one of the three people who help students learn the most. This may reflect the increasing involvement of grandparents in childcare as more parents work in paid external employment.

What changes would students like to see in their school? In line with the preference expressed for learning by doing practical things, the change that most students in 2008 would like to see in their school is being able to go on more visits to places of interest (65 per cent). Over a third said they would like to be able to concentrate on the things they are good at, while a similar proportion would like to be helped to plan their own futures. Just under three in ten would like to use more new technologies, while around a quarter wanted their school to concentrate on getting everyone to pass their exams. Overall, the picture of preferred changes is similar to that in 1998, with the most popular options ranked in much the same order. More visits to places of interest remains the most popular choice in 1998, but ten years on

What changes would young people like to see in their school? Q

What changes would you like to see in your school? Change since 1998* ±% 65% +8

Arrange more visits to places of interest Allow students to concentrate on the things they are good at Help students plan their own futures Use more new technologies

35% 32% 28%

+1 0 N/A

Concentrate on getting everyone to pass exams

24%

–2

Provide weekend or holiday activities Have more work experience placements Help students to discover things for themselves Encourage students to get involved in more out-of-school activities

23%

–5

22%

–10

Provide after-school clubs Teach students how to organise their time better Teach students the broadest possible range of subjects Encourage students to learn things together with their parents and families Give students more homework Other

13% 11%

–4 –7

8%

–7

8%

–7

7%

–5

6%

–6

3% 6%

–1 –4

None

1%

N/A

Don’t know

1%

N/A

Not stated

1%

0

Base: 2,387 school children aged 11–16 in England and Wales. Fieldwork dates: 11th January – 28th March 2008. *Technical details of the 1998 survey can be found in the appendices. N/A signifies that the option was not provided in 2008.

Learning to learn for life 3 – research and practical examples for secondary schools

11

Section One

it emerges as even more of a priority. Opinion has shifted somewhat, however, when it comes to activities outside school, with fewer students now wanting more work-experience-placements and fewer wanting their school to get students involved in more out-of-school activities. The reason for these changes is unclear. Before moving on to the rest of the book, think about your own school environment. How would you and colleagues answer these questions? More importantly, how would your students answer them? Would you expect differences between students of different ages, genders or between different ability groups? Do you think Government policy changes have affected these results? Do you think they are a fair reflection of the current picture?

12

Learning to learn for life 3 – research and practical examples for secondary schools

Section Two The national learning to learn action research project

Project history Phase 1

2000–2001

Action Research in 24 schools across England and Wales

Report published 2002 Teaching pupils how to learn, 2002

Phase 2

2001–2002

Action Research in 16 schools across England and Wales

Report published 2003 Creating a learning to learn school, 2003

Phase 3

2003–2007

Action Research in 32 schools in Cheshire Cornwall Enfield

Year One report 2005 Learning to learn for life, the Foundation Stage and Key Stage 1, 2005 Year Two report 2006 Learning to learn for life, Key Stage 2, 2006 Year Three report 2007 Learning to learn for life, secondary, 2009

The Campaign for Learning is an independent charity that promotes learning from cradle to grave as a means to achieving social inclusion. We focus our work in three main areas: learning for and in work, family and community learning and learning in school. Much of our activity in workplaces and in family and community learning is directed towards helping people who are disengaged from learning to switch back on. Our work in schools, however, aims to help teachers make sure that they and their pupils stay switched on – building on the enthusiasm for learning which everyone is born with and which is evident to anyone watching a small child exploring the world. The national Learning to Learn Action Research Project was originally conceived by the Campaign for Learning in 2000, against a background of substantial changes in education, alongside advances in the understanding of

Learning to learn for life 3 – research and practical examples for secondary schools

13

Section Two

the process of learning and how this can be influenced. Along with a growing number of teachers, educational organisations and respected international thinkers, the Campaign for Learning felt confident that a better understanding of learning how we learn by teachers and pupils could be the catalyst for further improvements in schools. The rationale for the Learning to Learn in Schools Project was therefore to understand how we can help pupils learn more effectively and so give each one the best chance to achieve his or her full potential. In practice, this has entailed investigation of a range of interventions aimed at recognising and supporting pupils’ learning preferences, and at making the process more explicit, so as to develop independent learning skills and boost motivation. The project also investigates the impact of learning how to learn on pupil attainment, the effect of working in this way on teachers’ morale and motivation, and the wider effects on pupils’ behaviour and the social, emotional and affective aspects of learning which underpin the development of employability skills.

Phases One and Two (2000–2002) In September 2000 the Campaign for Learning launched a two-year action research project involving 25 schools with pupils and students aged 3 to 16. The schools included nine primary schools, four of which focused on nursery and reception pupils. The schools adopted a variety of approaches for implementing Learning to Learn, from stand-alone courses to school-wide strategies to improve teaching methods and the learning environment. An independent researcher, Dr Jill Rodd, oversaw the research. Phases One and Two of the Learning to Learn project were extremely successful in providing initial research evidence for the impact of a number of Learning to Learn approaches already widely in use in schools and in systematizing what is known, developing a common language, and exploring and publicizing approaches which teachers had found to work well. For the teachers involved, the project also provided an opportunity for professional development, with many gaining promotion, becoming Advanced Skills Teachers, taking further qualifications or publishing material on Learning to Learn. The research in Phases One and Two of the project suggested that Learning to Learn can help: z

raise standards of achievement and attainment

z

boost pupil motivation and confidence in learning, and

z

enhance teacher motivation and morale.

A full account of Phases One and Two and their findings are presented in the research reports available from the Campaign for Learning website at www.campaignforlearning.org.uk

Phase Three (2003–2007) Phase Three of the project built on work from Phases One and Two and involved 32 schools from three Local Authorities: Cheshire, Cornwall and Enfield. These authorities were chosen from a larger number that applied to join the project as representing different regions, covering both urban and rural areas, including a wide demographic range and encompassing multilingual as well as monolingual communities. Within the three Local Authorities were represented a variety of primary and secondary schools from different geographical and socioeconomic catchment areas. A research team based in the Research Centre for Learning and Teaching at Newcastle University evaluated Phase Three. The team acted as facilitators and supporters of the action research work in the schools involved and undertook evaluation to identify the impact of Learning to Learn approaches in the schools.

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PUPILS

TEACHERS

SCHOOL

LEA CLUSTER

L2L PROJECT

WIDER WORLD

Action Research Project

UNIVERSITY PROJECT MANAGER

CAMPAIGN FOR LEARNING PROJECT MANAGER

Diagram of the project network supporting the teachers (Higgins et al. 2005)

Each geographical cluster was supported by a co-ordinator, locally identified by the Local Authority or Education Action Zone in which the regional project was based, who organized additional local meetings and networking between schools (a diagram constructed by the teachers of this network can be seen as above). The question underpinning the research was: How we can help pupils to learn most effectively and so give each one the best chance to achieve his or her potential and become a confident, successful lifelong learner? Specifically the research in Phase Three aimed to understand: z

the relative importance of different Learning to Learn approaches in raising standards;

z

how the adoption of Learning to Learn approaches impacts on teacher motivation and capacity to manage change; and

z

whether, and if so how, Learning to Learn approaches support the development of confident and capable lifelong learners.

More generally the project aimed to explore the impact of Learning to Learn approaches adopted in Phases One and Two of the project with a larger number of representative schools and assess how Learning to Learn can be integrated most effectively into schools more widely. This included a number of issues such as: z

how best to link Learning to Learn in school with out-of-school hours learning and family and community learning;

z

how to assess Learning to Learn;

z

how to achieve transfer of Learning to Learn approaches into other curriculum areas; and

z

the potential for and impact of online Learning to Learn and the way it fits in with other online learning.

In order to achieve this it was necessary to deepen our understanding of Learning to Learn and its application among different groups for different purposes in schools including: z

the interplay between positive learning environments and effective Learning to Learn teaching;

z

the impact of Learning to Learn approaches in overcoming challenging behaviour;

z

the role of Learning to Learn in helping pupils manage school transition and transfer;

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z

the potential for Learning to Learn approaches in overcoming underachievement among boys and specific ethnic minority groups; and

z

the impact of Learning to Learn over time on pupil attitudes, achievement and lifelong learning dispositions and practices.

Research framework The research framework for the third phase of the project was provided by the model of the ‘5Rs of Lifelong Learning’. These are the Campaign’s answer to the question ‘What makes a good learner?’ or ‘What knowledge, skills, attitudes and attributes should a Learning to Learn approach develop?’ While taking full responsibility for this model, the Campaign acknowledges with gratitude the work of Guy Claxton and Alistair Smith on which our original L2L work was based, and the contribution to its development of those involved in the project. The cartoons below offer a visual description of the 5Rs while the table outlines the knowledge, skills and attributes of an effective learner for each ‘R’. Throughout the project the 5Rs model was evaluated in the light of teachers’ experience of using it. It was decided at the end of the Phase Three to change the 5Rs by replacing Remembering with Responsibility. More on the new Rs can be found later in this chapter.

The 5Rs Attitudes/Attributes

Skills Demonstrates ability to:

Knowledge Knows how:

Readiness

Motivation Curiosity Self-belief/esteem Self-efficacy (optimism re the learning outcome, confidence and willingness to take risks)

Assess and manage own motivation towards a task Set specific goals which connect to particular learning Achieve a positive learning state Manage own learning process Talk about Learning to Learn in relation to a new task

To assess own motivation To set goals and connect to the learning To use a Learning to Learn language To assess own preferred learning environment

Resourcefulness

Learning from and with others Learning creatively in different ways Flexibility

Make most of preferred learning style and environment Develop and expand learning repertoire and to harness creativity Find and use information Communicate effectively in different ways

The mind works and how humans learn To assess own preferred learning style and environment To use different approaches to learning To seek out and use information, including through ICT To communicate effectively in different ways

Resilience

Keeping going Learning under stress Managing feelings about learning and teachers, peers and resources

Persist and apply learned optimism and self-belief/ self-efficacy approaches empathize and use Emotional Intelligence Use different approaches when stuck

To use learned optimism and self-efficacy approaches To empathize and use EQ approaches To proceed when stuck

(Continued )

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1. Readiness: learners know how to assess their own motivation, to set goals, to achieve a positive learning state, including their preferred learning environment, and to talk about learning.

2. Resourcefulness: learners know how the mind works and humans learn, to assess their own preferred learning style, to seek out and use information, including through ICT, to communicate effectively in different ways and to use various approaches to learning.

3. Resilience: learners know how to apply learned optimism, to empathize and use emotional intelligence, to proceed when stuck and to ask critical questions.

4. Remembering: learners know how to use various memory techniques, to make connections and to apply learning in different contexts.

5. Reflectiveness: learners know how to ask questions, observe, see patterns, experiment and evaluate learning.

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Attitudes/Attributes

Skills Demonstrates ability to:

Knowledge Knows how:

Remembering

Maximizing own memory Applying learning Practising

Use different memory approaches Make connections Apply learning/use what has been learned, including in different contexts.

To use different memory approaches To make connections To apply learning, including in different contexts.

Reflectiveness

Looking back Improving learning and performance

Stop and reflect (e.g. ask questions, observe, see patterns) Experiment with learning Evaluate learning

To stop and reflect (e.g. ask questions, observe, see patterns) To experiment with learning To use different ways to evaluate learning

Methodology The methodology for the national Learning to Learn in Schools Project was action research or teacher-led enquiry, where teachers identify their own research focus as well as their own intervention methods. The use of an action research methodology reflects the belief, which influences the project, that teachers’ learning and development is central to educational change. Each year of the project the schools undertook a school-based individual project which they then wrote up as a case study to contribute to the overall project report. Over the three years of the project the University team drew together the research themes and findings to provide an analysis which seeks to answer the overall research questions. The school case studies are the main output of the project and it is with these in mind that the overall research findings should be read. Over the three years of the project a total of 85 case study reports were completed. The University team have written further about the methodology for the project in ‘Action Research in the Classroom’ (Baumfield, V., Hall, E. and Wall, K. 2008).

Collecting evidence In collecting evidence, the schools were encouraged to use three data collection tools and to include both quantitative and qualitative methods, taking into consideration both classroom processes and outcomes, as well as the different perspectives within the context of the study; such as pupils, teachers and parents. In practice most schools used more than three methods

Data collection tools included:

18

Questionnaires

Finding out about pupil’s attitudes and what they find helpful/interesting

Observation

Keeping a record (notes/video/audio) of what happens

Peer observation

A colleague observes and keeps the record for future discussion

Video

Good for later analysis of pupil and teacher behaviours and good record

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Teacher/Pupil logs and diaries

On-going and regular notes help track the progress of a change and its impact

Interviews

By the teacher or a colleague. Helps explore how pupils/parents/teachers feel about the change.

Assessment tasks

Tasks designed to assess specific skills, knowledge and understanding. Can be used before, during and after the change for comparison.

Pupil views

Recording the impact and changes pupils have detected on their learning since the introduction of Learning to Learn approaches.

Pupil work

Evaluating the end product of a lesson/unit of work to assess the impact of the change.

School interventions So what did the schools actually do? They were all asked to identify which of the 5Rs their school needed to develop and then to decide on the Learning to Learn approach or strategy they would apply. Over the course of the project a number of common themes appeared. As Phase Three progressed there was a move away from the explicit teaching of Learning to Learn as discrete skills or through separate Learning to Learn courses or lessons. At the beginning of the project some schools explicitly put aside a day a term to teach and focus on Learning to Learn. However, as the project developed the popularity of this approach declined. This suggests that the approaches investigated as part of Learning to Learn have become more embedded in the curriculum and practices of the schools involved, and that the schools have found this approach to be more productive. The following is a breakdown of the themes with a focus on what the schools did in each area.

Exploration of assessment Throughout the project, schools have explored different kinds of assessment, particularly aspects of formative assessment and assessment for learning. For example, Fallibroome High School in Cheshire investigated how assessment for learning could be implemented across a year group and also the impact in two subject areas: Geography, and Design and Technology. Schools have also adapted formative assessment principles to fit in with other Learning to Learn approaches such as Circle Time and Cooperative Learning. Assessment has also been a basis for research in a number of schools, which have explored how children can take increased responsibility for their learning, supporting them in target setting and planning for the learning. Peer assessment has been explored, in particular in how it can support children in developing language and skills for talking about their learning, their achievements in learning and therefore their assessment of each other’s achievement as a result of their enquiries.

Exploration of talk for learning (learning through interaction) Findings from earlier research in the project indicated that success with peer assessment was dependent on the teacher and the pupils having a shared vocabulary to talk about learning. Woodford Lodge High School,

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Cheshire, followed this line of thought, focusing on how pupils’ questioning could support children in their use of assessment strategies. One of the case studies, from Camborne Science & Community College, Cornwall, also focused on learning as interaction, but based on a specific type of relationship: academic coaching/ mentoring. This type of relationship is based on one-to-one interaction between teachers and pupils, and was explored in relation to GCSE attainment.

Contextualized innovation This category focuses on innovations which were not based on a particular approach or technique, but have been adapted and developed specifically by the school, based on their own ideas and professional experience, as well as their knowledge of existing approaches. Ellesmere Port Specialist School of Performing Arts in Cheshire has extended work on learning mats which was started in St Saviours RC Infant School (Cheshire) in the first two years of the project. By using the learning mats in a secondary school, this case study took an approach developed in another school and adapted it for a new and very different context. Schools have also focused on the specific needs of a group of pupils and developed approaches which fit with the perceived needs of this group, either as a whole school approach or focused on group of individuals. Two of the projects focused on the use of ICT as a tool for developing Learning to Learn. The CPR Learning Space and Lanner Primary School, both in Cornwall, have explored how the use of PowerPoint displays, on plasma screens and for e-portfolios respectively, can support pupils in learning and reflecting on what they have achieved.

Whole school approaches Many schools have indicated that Learning to Learn was embedded in their School Improvement or Development Plan, but three explicitly looked at how a school policy or ethos based on Learning to Learn could

Ellesmere Port Specialist School of Performing Arts developed learning mats to support students learing in mathematics

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Action Research Project

have an impact on school outcomes. Camborne Science & Community College, Cornwall began by examining the impact of a Learning to Learn policy on the whole school. This was subsequently developed to see whether pupils from a primary school with an identifiable Learning to Learn ethos would transfer more easily to a secondary school with a similar ethos than their peers who came from schools without this approach. (This line of enquiry has been developed further since then through a parallel project in FE Colleges, which allows for assessment of the impact of Learning to Learn approaches in secondary schools on the subsequent FE experience of students.) One of the strands of enquiry at Fallibroome High School, Cheshire, was how a school could build the capacity for Learning to Learn across the whole school.

Parental involvement Camborne Science & Community College produced a case study focusing explicitly on parental involvement in schools. Parental involvement was often a link made by other schools in their research, although it was not identified as the key focus. This is an area of work of particular interest to the Campaign for Learning, which has championed parental involvement and family learning as a means of enhancing achievement, enjoyment and engagement with learning among pupils at the same time as engaging parents in extending their own learning. The Campaign runs the National Family Learning Festival, which engages thousands of families in learning in October each year, and leads with its partners NIACE and ContinYou on the National Family Learning Network, which currently has over 9000 members and a reach of 5 million families. For more information visit the Campaign’s website at www.campaignforlearning.org.uk. The table in Appendix 2 gives an overview of school case studies, the year group targeted and the methods used. If you would like to find out more about any of the project schools not featured in this publication, their case studies are available to download from the project website at www.campaignforlearning.org.uk.

Findings At the end of Phase Three the action research investigations by the schools involved showed overwhelmingly positive benefits for the pupils, teachers, schools and communities involved. Below is a summary of key findings from all of the Phase Three project schools, which cover both primary and secondary phases.

Impact on the learners Overall the benefits for the learners involved in the project have been overwhelmingly positive. These benefits can be broken down into three main areas of impact: learning, attainment and attitudes.

Impact on learning The involvement of pupils and the inclusion of their perspective has increased as the project has progressed. In every case study in the second and third years of the project, consultation with pupils about their learning was in some way explicitly included.

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Throughout the project the comments from pupils have been overwhelmingly positive. Their comments tended to be around attitudes to the different, specific Learning to Learn approaches, which were being adopted, and on the benefits they perceived for their own learning and achievement. The pupils were able to identify what constituted a positive outcome of learning and were able to articulate how this made them feel and why:

‘ ’ ‘ ’ ‘ ’

Asking questions helped me with further research – Asking one question led to me asking more detailed questions. (Woodford Lodge High School, Cheshire)

The pupils also continued to show a clear understanding of how they learned and were positive about this. For example,

When I was asked to improve my work at the start of the year I thought it was because it wasn’t very good. But now I know that we are asked to do it because it will help us get a better level or grade. So I don’t feel that my work is not good, but I know we are doing it to get a higher level. (Fallibroome High School, Cheshire)

Pupils appeared able to see beyond a particular teaching strategy and its related effects and apply the learning across the curriculum, as well as to their learning outside the confines of school. There was also evidence that pupils were able to see the impact that this approach had on the school’s ethos.

Everyone is given a chance

(Over Hall Primary School, Cheshire)

Pupil views templates have also been developed during the course of the project (Wall & Higgins 2006). This approach supports articulation about how pupils think they have learned (what went on inside their heads), as well as the strategies, which supported their learning and the contexts they found beneficial. The findings show that, Learning to Learn pupils of all ages are able to talk about their learning. The sophistication with which they are able to articulate this in relation to different aspects of thinking such as remembering, reasoning or reflecting increases with age, but even young children are able to discuss how they learn, which is contrary to previous thinking. Correspondingly, the frequency of attitudinal comments from students (what they like and dislike about their learning) decreases as they get older. Pupils’ ability to describe their knowledge about and skilfulness at learning is also clearly demonstrated in the project schools. Even pupils as young as four or five can express their understanding in this way.

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We conclude from our evidence that pupils generally may be thinking about their learning, but in a Learning to Learn classroom they are also positively encouraged by an explicit focus on talking about their learning, which then has an impact on their thinking and understanding of what they are doing.

Impact on attainment Over the three years all the project schools have identified improvements in attainment attributed either by the pupils or by the teachers to aspects of Learning to Learn. For example,

‘

GCSE results suggest that students involved in the intervention were more likely to complete their course work, and that the intervention helps the students to produce better quality course work in three of the four classes – markedly better on average than the national average for these exams. These results suggest that there is a correlation between residual scores, and that if a department does engage with the Learning to Learn agenda their results tend to be better.

’

(Camborne Science & Community College: first year case study, Cornwall)

Across the case studies as a whole, all (100 per cent) reported aspects of improvement in attainment, nearly four-fifths of them (78 per cent) reported some kind of measurable gain in attainment, and nearly two-thirds (65 per cent) report some quantifiable impact for their Learning to Learn pupils in terms of National Curriculum assessments (either teacher assessment or performance on national tests). However, the impact can not always be found at school level, although there are indications that a whole school approach was beneficial for secondary schools. This may be due to the fact that even after three years, Learning to Learn approaches may not have been adopted widely or consistently enough to have an impact on whole school results across all of the project schools. We showed these findings to the project teachers and their comments indicated that they valued the broader benefits of Learning to Learn in terms of pupils’ achievements and attitudes to learning as much, if not more than, any specific gains in attainment or test performance.

Impact on attitudes to learning A survey of pupils’ attitudes to school was undertaken annually as part of the wider research. Overall analysis indicates that using Learning to Learn approaches had a positive impact on pupils’ attitudes to learning, especially where there was a whole school approach to such development, and that the adoption of such approaches can help to slow any expected decline in pupils’ attitudes to school. See the Campaign’s Ipsos MORI research results in Section 1 for further information on this.

Impact on teachers and teaching

‘

[Teachers] are also the lead learners. They can still see themselves as learners, but the Learning to Learn teacher is learning as they go on – they model that learning.

’

Project teacher

The project has had a positive impact on teachers’ motivation and their capacity to manage change. The development of Learning to Learn approaches in the schools through action research has been welcomed by the

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teachers involved and has been supportive of their professional development. They have valued the professional autonomy it has given them and the support for change, both in terms of developing teaching and learning through the exploration of Learning to Learn approaches and in terms of researching their own practice.

‘

Changing teachers’ classroom practice is notoriously difficult. We are consequently very encouraged to see the important improvements that our results suggest have been made over the last number of years. Yet this is not the most important benefit that has been derived from this project. The process of critical review and evaluation has allowed us to reflect upon our practice in a much more thorough, methodical and analytical manner than would typically be the case.

’

(Fallibroome High School, Cheshire)

Interviews with the project teachers in the last year of the research resulted in eight key themes: z

A professional culture of sharing where teachers are learning together and reflecting on their work with the development of a collegiate professional dialogue;

z

Closer, more responsive learning relationships with pupils because of better knowledge and awareness, focusing on the learning process in terms of the needs of the learner and awareness of the social and emotional aspects of learning;

z

Realization and exploration of instinctive thoughts about teaching and learning;

z

A gradual process of things falling into place, organic growth;

z

Gaining a bigger picture of teaching and learning;

z

Contextualizing or translating ideas and practices for their own work;

z

The challenge of keeping everyone up to date or working together across the school;

z

External input into teacher-learning through reading, access to speakers and other support offered through the project.

Two broader themes are, z

the development of a culture of sharing with teachers engaged in joint reflection.

‘’ ‘ ’

Importance of having a culture of teachers sharing things. Everyone is learning and that stays a priority.

z

(Alverton Primary, Cornwall)

closer, more responsive relationships with pupils in which the focus is on the processes of learning with a greater awareness of the social and emotional aspects of learning

Relationships with pupils become more apparent, more interaction with pupils and more insight, much more aware of what you’re teaching them. (Aylward High, Enfield)

These themes reflect the central aim of Learning to Learn of promoting a learning culture within and across schools, and demonstrate how the project has supported the development of teachers’ professional identity so that the elements are present.

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Across the project we can find encouraging signs of the growing professional confidence of the teachers who are able to deal with complexity in their classrooms through a closer engagement with the pupils and improved means of accessing and understanding their learning. They are able to manage the processes of change and make decisions regarding the structure and content of the curriculum. In many respects their aspirations for the pupils in their classrooms are matched by their testimony of the impact on themselves as learners in terms of greater awareness, self-esteem and confidence.

Impact on schools Schools are busy places. External demands, events and incidents pile in on each other, claiming all available time. Teachers, school managers and administrators rarely have the time to stand back and to reflect on what they are doing and whether indeed this fits with ambitions and aspirations that they may have. Teachers and senior leaders may have a limited capacity for dealing with proliferating demands. School leadership is a key factor in the impact Learning to Learn can have in a school. Where the leadership team have values that are aligned with Learning to Learn, some schools have made impressive changes, although the specific means have varied. Where leadership has good intentions that are disrupted for some reason, the situation is more complex. Much may depend on the agency of particular teachers or small groups, who strive to establish some priority and win resources for Learning to Learn activities. The Learning to Learn project is indebted therefore to the energy, motivation and action of particular individuals who have struggled against the tide in some schools. Schools also experience various constraints in their work. During Phase Three the evidence from teachers suggests that these have predominantly been related to the importance assigned to standards in National Tests and the associated accountability. Some head teachers felt bound to this agenda and have responded to it in an instrumental manner. Others have worked with it more creatively and see developing learner autonomy either as more important or as an alternative route to higher attainment over the longer term. In some schools we have seen the convergence of leadership values and action, with teacher agency in sympathy with the leadership values, and it is here that we have seen the strongest effects. In these schools, research culture and processes emerge as a significant factor. It appears to give schools greater confidence in terms of their ability to identify factors affecting attainment and motivation and potential levers for change, while making teachers more reflective and critical.

‘

On a personal level, it has sparked a renewed interest in teaching and learning and given me a greater knowledge and understanding of assessment for learning in particular. This, I feel, will enable me to teach more effectively, particularly at a time when we are expected to focus more on the needs of individual pupils, something which is more demanding when your subject has limited contact time each week with the pupils.

’

(Fallibroome High School, Cheshire)

These conditions required the agency of one or more members of staff to exploit the opportunity offered by leadership decisions. In some schools or for some teachers these conditions petered out as individual agency failed. However in some schools the conditions were capitalized upon and a learning space was created for the project group. Key conditions for this progression appear to be: z

dialogue;

z

peer support;

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Section Two

z

feedback from pupils;

z

project support (in the form of help from outsiders to support the processes of problematising issues, data collection and analysis, access to good ideas and tools); and

z

support from local networks.

However dialogue is a key element, as peer support, feedback from pupils, project support and support from and engagement with local networks are all potential sites for professional interaction. It is important that this dialogue goes beyond the exchange of ideas and becomes a critical examination of experience, issues and beliefs about education. In such a dialogue power relationships can fade into the background and personal relationships come to the fore. What does such a learning space look like? There is considerable diversity in terms of the impact of Learning to Learn on schools. It is evident that the structures and cultures of some schools have a better fit with such innovations as Learning to Learn. In some schools Learning to Learn has offered a set of practices which are consonant with the senior leaders’ values. Where there has been success it has been primarily because of the motivation of such leaders and the enthusiasm and commitment of key individuals in the school (not necessarily in leadership roles) and their willingness to experiment, share experiences across the school and trust one other.

Impact on parents and the wider community

‘

If you spoke to our colleagues five years ago about having parents in lessons – absolutely no way! Now it is just what we do, it happens every single week and everyone is used to it . . . every department has done it and we had departments clamouring to get involved because of the effect it has had. It is a huge [culture change] and little symptoms of it – we are going for “Dyslexia Friendly” status next year and on the working group we have parents that are going for representation. It is great, just lovely.

’

(Camborne Science & Community College, Cornwall)

Over time, the focus within Learning to Learn has extended from the individual learners and classes to systems within schools and inevitably to the world beyond the school. Schools undertook projects that explicitly focused on consultation or parental interaction, but also ones that had the overt aim to increase both the level and the quality of contact between home and school. One of the clear effects identified by the schools was the development of better relationships with parents and better communication about and understanding of their children’s learning, which the schools believe will have a beneficial impact on learning in school. Key lessons were that consultation needed to be authentic, timely, repeated, responsive and embedded in the process of re-design, and that interaction needed to be centred on real-world tasks related to the children’s learning, tasks which motivated parents to get involved. When these criteria are met, there is evidence from these case studies that both the level and the quality of contact between home and school improved. As part of the project, the teachers went through interviews to determine their views on Learning to Learn. For some teachers, engaging parents formed a significant part of the future plans discussed in the interviews. They talked about their dissatisfaction with the status quo of communication through newsletters and parents’ evenings, and expressed the desire to have deeper and richer interactions, whether face-to-face or by making better use of websites and other ICT-based systems.

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One of the areas stressed by teachers is the need to raise parents’ aspirations for their children, particularly in areas of social disadvantage. As parental aspirations are raised and schools engage positively and nonjudgementally with parents, the attitude of the school towards parents begins to shift and parents come to be seen less as hopeless and helpless but as active partners in effecting change. The process of repeated, authentic consultations has led schools to recognize that the ‘drive for standards’ is not always the first priority for parents, and that the development of the school needs to reflect their core concerns. There is a clear shift in the way in which some teachers now conceptualize parents as part of the school: for these individuals a ‘whole school approach’ has to go beyond staff and children to encompass families and communities. This is a gradual process but it can result in significant change, both in school culture and in the level of parental involvement. The project schools exemplify the effect where engaging parents leads to a virtuous cycle of increased engagement and better communication. Key common features include the use of a common Learning to Learn language at home and school and a focus on improving students’ experiences of school, whether in terms of curriculum, assessment or broader questions of well-being and happiness. While the process of engaging beyond the school gate has not been easy and has relied on the drive and inter-personal skills of key teachers, these schools have experienced a permanent shift in perspective as a result.

What next? Phase Four of the national Learning to Learn Action Research Project As mentioned above, at the end of Phase Three of the project we reflected on the 5Rs and, in discussion with the teachers, pupils, and other partners involved in the project, decided to update them and replace Remembering with Responsibility. Remembering is still part of the knowledge, skills and attitudes/attributes needed for a lifelong learner, but is now conceptualized as an integral part of the other Rs, without which they cannot function. Responsibility has been included as one of the 5Rs as, following the Phase Three findings, it is seen as being key to an individual’s learning process. A key feature of Learning to Learn is ownership. Learners need to take ownership of their own learning including planning and setting targets, as well as thinking about others as learners. The inclusion of Responsibility seeks to reflect this central requirement for Learning to Learn This framework has become the centre of Phase Four of the research. The table that follows outlines the new disposition table.

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28 Learning to learn for life 3 – research and practical examples for secondary schools

Attitudes/Attributes

Skills Demonstrates ability to:

Knowledge Knows how:

Readiness

Motivation Curiosity Self-belief/esteem Self-efficacy (optimism re the learning outcome, confidence and willingness to take risks)

Assess and manage own motivation towards a task Set specific goals which connect to particular learning Achieve a positive learning state Manage own learning process Talk about Learning to Learn in relation to a new task

To assess own motivation To set goals and connect to the learning To use a L2L language To assess own preferred learning environment To apply learning, including in different contexts

Resourcefulness

Learning from and with others Learning creatively in different ways Flexibility Applying learning

Make most of own preferred learning approaches and environment, and those of others. Develop and expand learning repertoire and to harness creativity Find and use information Communicate effectively in different ways Apply learning/use what has been learned, including in different contexts

The mind works and how humans learn To assess own preferred learning approaches and environment, and is aware that others may prefer different approaches To use different approaches to learning To seek out and use information, including through ICT To communicate effectively in different ways

Resilience

Keeping going Learning under stress Managing feelings about learning and teachers, peers and resources

Persist and apply learned optimism and self-belief/self-efficacy approaches Empathize and use Emotional Intelligence Use different approaches when stuck Use different memory approaches

To use learned optimism and self-efficacy approaches To empathize and use EQ approaches To proceed when stuck To use different memory approaches

Responsibility

Maximising own self-awareness Empathy towards other learners Understanding of how self and others learn Making best use of opportunities for collaborative learning

Understand and articulate own areas of strength and weakness Think about others as learners and ask for and offer help with learning Take ownership of own learning Learn alongside others

To be a good learning role model To plan and set targets for own learning To work with others to learn effectively To consider other people’s learning

Reflectiveness

Looking back Improving learning and performance Practising

Stop and reflect (e.g. ask questions, observe, see patterns) Experiment with learning Evaluate learning Use different memory approaches Make connections

To stop and reflect (e.g. ask questions, observe, see patterns), To experiment with learning To use different ways to evaluate learning To make connections

Section Three Practical experience of learning to learn – case studies from secondary schools

We are delighted to include in this publication case studies from a number of project schools focusing on the secondary stage. We hope that you will be inspired by the enthusiasm of the teachers who have written them to try out and adapt the methods they have used to develop Learning to Learn in your own school. As the case studies make clear, these methods are evolving and expanding and will continue to do so even after the project has ended. The impressive results of the schools have convinced the teachers involved to continue innovating. The case studies provide examples Learning to Learn supports the personalized learning agenda, which the Gilbert review of Teaching and Learning define as: ‘Put simply, personalized learning and teaching means taking a highly structured and responsive approach to each child’s and young person’s learning, in order that all are able to progress, achieve and participate. It means strengthening the link between learning and teaching by engaging pupils – and their parents – as partners in learning.’ You can find out more about other project schools’ case studies by visiting www.campaignforlearning.org.uk

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Case study 1

Does peer assessment improve pupil performance?

Focus in the 5Rs for Lifelong Learning

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RESILIENCE

Caroline Wood Fallibroome High School, Cheshire

REMEMBERING RESOURCEFULNESS

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REFLECTIVENESS

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READINESS

The school Fallibroome High School is a successful, mixed comprehensive school situated in Macclesfield, Cheshire. It has 1489 students including 292 in the sixth form, 4.97 per cent Special Educational Needs (SEN), 2.62 per cent Free School Meals (FSM) and very few pupils with English as an Additional Language (EAL). Attainment on entry to the school is above average and this is maintained or improved, with very strong results at Key Stage 3, Key Stage 4 and Key Stage 5, which is reflected in sustained A or A* scores in the PANDA reports. The intake of the school reflects a wide socio-economic spectrum and most parents are pleased with the school because of its high expectations and high attainment.

Why the selected project To investigate the degree to which developing reflection, resourcefulness and resilience skills through a peer assessment exercise improves the quality of work produced. The second year built on the previous research by investigating the relative improvement between high and low ability Year 7 pupils through peer assessment exercises and the effects of using different ability pairings of pupils. It also extends the area covered by previous research to a larger, more statistically valid sample. This case study aims to find out whether: Developing reflection, resourcefulness and resilience in Year 7 pupils through peer assessment raises overall standards and improves individual achievement; and

Case study 1

(In the second year) whether there is a greater improvement in the quality of work produced following a peer assessment when similar abilities of student are paired together.

The 5Rs Reflection is the key L2L skill targeted in this exercise, as the students are learning from the experience of having their rough draft judged by another student against the mark grid.

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Section Three

They are also using reflection by having to mark and comment on the quality of their shoulder partner’s work. (Their shoulder partner is the person sitting next to them). Resourcefulness is developed by knowing how to use the mark grid and ‘Hints for Success’ to identify what needs to be included for a high quality piece of work. Resilience is needed by the students when setting target areas to improve on. They also have to listen to someone’s opinion of their work, which may differ from their point of view and most importantly, learn from the mistakes made in their rough draft.

What did the school actually do? First year A homework activity was devised as part of a Year 7 Geography unit on Volcanoes and Earthquakes. I chose this particular activity since I wanted to adapt an existing piece of work to incorporate AfL (Assessment for Learning)/L2L (Learning to Learn) strategies, rather than ‘reinvent the wheel’. Homework 1: The two classes were set the task to prepare a rough draft of a news report on an earthquake of their choice. They were both given the same task sheet (see Appendix 3). This included a section on ‘Hints for Success’ based on the mark scheme, which gave them more detailed information about what to include to achieve a high quality piece of work. Sharing criteria with learners was one of the four areas suggested in Black and Wiliam, (1998), where they argued that, ‘When pupils do acquire such an overview (of the targets that their learning is meant to attain) they become more committed and more effective learners.’ Lesson 1: One class, 7O, having taken part in a quick starter activity of geographical hangman, undertook a peer assessment exercise with their shoulder partners during the first half of the lesson (see Appendix 4). I explained the nature of the activity to the whole class, before going around the room giving help/advice where necessary once they were underway. The activity involved them in reading their shoulder partner’s rough draft and ticking on a mark grid where they felt their partner had achieved in each of five areas. They then filled in an evaluation sheet, which fed back to the student things they felt were good and things they felt needed improvement in the report. The design of this part of the peer assessment activity reflects the basic principles of formative assessment in that ‘Feedback to any pupil should be about the particular qualities of his or her work, with advice on what he or she can do to improve, and should avoid comparisons with other pupils.’ (Black and Wiliam, 1998).

Case study 1

I was fortunate to have a classroom assistant in this lesson, although the students needed little help during the activity and responded to the exercise in a sensible manner. This was probably because they had been participating in peer assessment activities since the start of the academic year and had been trained to comment sensibly and provide constructive criticism to their peers. If they are to make the most out of a peer assessment activity, it is important that the students have a good grounding in AfL and clearly know what is expected of them, particularly in terms of their comments to other pupils. I encouraged volunteers to read out the evaluative comments they had written about their partners’ work in the lesson, a strategy I have used regularly during the year both to praise the quality of the assessors’ work and to discourage students from writing anything inappropriate. The other class, 7E, acted as a control group and did not experience this lesson. Instead, they continued with the usual scheme of work.

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Case study 1

Homework 2: Both classes were set the task to complete a finished copy of their news report. For the class who had experienced the peer assessment exercise, this meant that they had the opportunity to redraft their news report in line with the suggested improvements from this lesson. Lesson 2: At the start of the lesson, both classes peer marked the completed news reports, using the same mark grids. The class who had experienced the first peer assessment exercise used a different coloured pen to record these final marks on their original mark grids, so that their marks before and after the peer assessment exercise could be analysed.

Findings: First year A number of different evidence sources were used to answer my research questions: Mark grids from 7O recording the students’ performance both before and after the peer assessment exercise. This provided the data to investigate the first of my aims, to see if there was a difference in the quality of work produced by one class before and after the peer assessment exercise; Mark grids from 7E recording the students’ performance without experiencing the peer assessment exercise. This provided the data to allow investigation of the second of my aims, to compare the work produced by the two classes to see if the peer assessment exercise produced higher quality homework; I also conducted a simple questionnaire survey of 7O, to see how they felt about the peer assessment exercise; and a video of the peer assessment lesson was recorded.

Quantitative data The students in 7O who had experienced the peer assessment exercise improved in all five areas of the mark grid from their original rough drafts. The improvement was most marked in the Maps and Diagrams and Factual Content areas of the mark grid. This may be because these were easier areas both to assess and to make improvements on. However, the more challenging area of Writing Style also showed marked improvement following the peer assessment exercise.

Case study 1

When examining the quality of work produced by both classes, the percentage of students within each class achieving a particular position on the mark grid were compared, to eliminate the problem of having slightly different sample sizes on the day due to pupil absences. The results showed that a greater proportion of students achieved the highest grid position in 7O than 7E in three out of the five areas of the mark grid, including maps and diagrams, suggestions for future and writing style. The difference in total marks for writing style was less marked. However, in the area of research and references, 7E outperformed 7O. Why this anomaly arose I am unsure. If 7E had conducted more research, I would have expected their section on Factual Content to also have achieved higher than 7O, but this was not the case.

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Qualitative data Pupils in 7O were invited to comment on a simple questionnaire regarding whether or not they felt the peer assessment lesson had helped them. All of their responses were positive, including:

The lesson helped because I knew what I had to do to improve.

The comments my partner gave me helped me to realise what I needed to do to improve. Because of the help I got on the rough draft lesson, I added references and ideas for the future to prevent damage.

There were several benefits or positive aspects of the project. I was initially concerned about how accessible the language of the mark grid would be to the students. However, they were able to use the mark grid with little teacher assistance. This was born out in verbal discussions with both groups at the end of the project. The general feeling from the students was that they felt that it was easier to use the grid and that they could more confidently assess their peers with a mark grid than if they had been asked to write their own feedback comments. The students who took part in the peer assessment lesson seemed to be able to write some meaningful comments on their partners’ evaluation sheet. In general discussion with the students, it emerged that they felt that the scaffold had helped them write their usual evaluative paragraphs – but they also felt that there was an overkill on the ‘I particularly liked’ – one overall comment would have sufficed.

What did the school actually do? Second year

Case study 1

For the first peer assessment exercise, a homework activity, was devised as part of a Year 7 unit on volcanoes and earthquakes. This was chosen specifically since I wanted to replicate the research I had conducted in the previous year of Learning to Learn Phase Three (Wood 2005). The whole of the Year 7 cohort of 241 pupils undertook this exercise. I took the decision not to use a control group, since the pilot project in Year Two was conducted with a control group and I was mainstreaming it this year. To try to avoid bias and ensure consistency, the other three members of the geography department involved in the teaching of the Year 7 cohort were provided with a scheme of work detailing how to deliver this activity. Homework 1: Identical to first year’s task. Lesson 1: Similar to first year’s tasks for other classes. The pupils in my own class, 7S, were paired with a peer of comparable ability, based on an average of their Key Stage 2 results in English, Maths and Science. It was felt that an average

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Case study 1

of the three was most appropriate, since Geography covers knowledge and skills from all three disciplines. These students needed little help during the activity and responded to the exercise in a sensible manner. This was probably because they had been participating in peer assessment activities since the start of the academic year and had been trained to comment sensibly and provide constructive criticism to their peers. If students are to make the most out of a peer assessment activity, it is important that they have a good grounding in AfL and clearly know what is expected of them, particularly in terms of their comments to other pupils. I encouraged volunteers to read out the evaluative comments they had written about their partner’s work in the lesson, a strategy I have used regularly during the year both to praise the quality of the assessed work and to discourage pupils from writing anything inappropriate. Homework 2: Similar to first year’s task. Lesson 2: Similar to first year’s task. A second peer assessment activity, preparing a route to an information evening, was undertaken by my own class (see Appendix 5). This followed the same format of the previous exercise except that pairings on this occasion were between students with a difference in abilities, again based on an average of their Key Stage 2 results in English, Maths and Science. To do this, the Kagan principles of pairing were followed, whereby the upper quartile students were paired with the lower-middle quartile and the bottom quartile students were paired with the upper-middle quartile. Following the two exercises, interviews were carried out with a stratified sample, based on the ability ranges, of eight of the pupils in 7S. Two were taken from the upper quartile, two from the upper-middle, one from the lower-middle and three from the bottom quartile. The interviews were conducted individually, in an office outside their usual Geography lesson time, to give them more importance. To try to lessen the impact of the teacher on the discourse (such as the pupils guessing what the teacher is thinking, or providing the answers they think the teacher wants to hear) a mediated interview was used, whereby a set of questions was developed in advance of the interview, in order to structure the process. Each pupil was asked the same set of questions, with the opportunity to add more comment if they felt it necessary. The questions can be seen in Appendix 4.

Findings: Second year A number of different sources of evidence were used to answer my research questions:

Case study 1

Mark grids from all the Year 7 Geography pupils who took part in the earthquake peer assessment exercise. This provided the data from a more statistically valid sample, to see if there was a difference in the quality of work produced by the year group before and after a peer assessment exercise. Mark grids from pupils in class 7S who took part in a route to information evening peer assessment exercise. Interviews about the two AfL exercises conducted with a sample of pupils from each quartile of the ability range in 7S.

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Section Three

Quantitative data The earthquake peer assessment activity did improve the quality of work produced by the pupils across the year group, which reinforced my results from the previous year and provided more weight to support the Campaign for Learning’s case for the value of this type of technique developing, in this case, Reflection, Resourcefulness and Resilience in pupils.

Percentage improvement

The graph below indicates the percentage improvement made by the pupils in the peer assessment exercise across the five areas of the mark grid: suggestions for the future, maps and diagrams, research and references, factual content and writing style.

50 40 30 20 10 0 Suggestions for future

Maps & Research & Factual diagrams reference content Area of assessment

Writing style

Graph showing improvement by area

The area with the greatest level of improvement was ‘Suggestions for the future’, with a significant 43 per cent increase following the peer assessment exercise. This suggests that many pupils had simply omitted this part of the report in their first draft before it was highlighted by their peers. This was also the section where they had to display their own knowledge and understanding of the topic, rather than rely on it being included in reports on the internet relating to their case study that could simply be copied, and so it was more challenging and perhaps more susceptible to improvement through feedback. Another big area of improvement was in the ‘Maps and Diagrams’ section of the mark grid, where there was a 21 per cent improvement following the peer assessment exercise. This tallied with last year’s findings and it was felt that this was because it was one of the easier areas both to assess and to make improvements on.

Case study 1

There was a 16 per cent increase in ‘Research and References’. Although this was an easy area to mark and improve, the pupils have been expected to include references in their work since the start of the year, and this suggests that more of them are automatically including them in their first drafts without having to be reminded about it. In contrast with last year’s findings, there was only a 15 per cent improvement in the quality of ‘Factual Content’ after the peer assessment exercise. This was surprising, since this area was one which had shown the most improvement last year, because it was felt that it was one of the easier areas both to assess and to make improvements on. It is not clear why there was this marked difference between the two years. There was a 10 per cent increase in ‘Writing Style’ scores after the peer assessment exercise. This was the least improved area – perhaps since it is probably the most difficult to judge,

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Case study 1

as it may be conceptual or imaginative. Overall, the technical aspects of writing improved far more than the conceptual/imaginative. It could be argued that simply allowing a pupil to draft and redraft a piece of work, would automatically mean that they showed improvement. However, my previous experience of hundreds of pupils doing A-level and GCSE coursework shows that most pupils will not consider redrafting their work unless they are given specific pointers on where and how they can improve it. The key feature of a peer assessment exercise is that pupils are given someone else’s opinion on their work and how it could be improved.

Percentage improvement

When analysing the degree of improvement of different ability pupils, based on the work of 7S, some interesting differences emerged (see the following graph).

50 45 40 35 30 25 20 15 10 5 0 top

upper middle

lower middle

bottom

Quartiles

Graph showing improvement by ability level in 7S

Lower ability pupils showed the greatest degree of improvement, with the bottom quartile of the class on average making a huge 45 per cent improvement in the quality of their original work following the peer assessment. This group of pupils were starting from a low level with their first draft, so any changes they made would have a positive effect. However, these findings are supported by research elsewhere. For example, Black and Wiliam (1998) state that ‘While formative assessment can help all pupils, it yields particularly good results with low achievers by concentrating on specific problems with their work and giving them a clear understanding of what is wrong and how to put it right.’

Case study 1

The lowest achieving pupils found the qualitative aspects of the task very difficult and it could be argued that their written work may have reached a ceiling because their improvement is restricted to the technical aspects of the mark grid. However, it could also be argued that reading another pupil’s work during a peer assessment gives them ideas and examples of how someone else approached the task, and may help them to work through some of the qualitative aspects for themselves – so they may gain as much from the opportunity to give feedback to others as from the feedback they themselves receive. The process of undertaking a peer assessment exercise could also be used by the teacher as a way of identifying those pupils who lack understanding of the geographical concepts being studied. Analysis of the conceptual aspects of the mark grid following peer assessment of a first draft would highlight pupils who need extra help, allowing the teacher to target them individually.

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The highest ability pupils showed the smallest improvement, with the top quartile on average achieving a 12 per cent improvement. This was to be expected, in that they had produced high quality work for their first draft, so had little to improve on, but are conscientious and strive to do their best. I was afraid that they would become demoralized at having to change work they would have felt was their best effort the first time around, although surprisingly, the pupils themselves did not share my concerns. There is a further discussion of this aspect later in the case study, from the interviews conducted with the pupils. Middle ability pupils recorded higher than expected degrees of improvement. The uppermiddle quartile showed an average of 21 per cent improvement following the peer assessment, while the lower-middle quartile showed an average of 34 per cent. A minority of them seemed to not attempt to improve their work, as they felt satisfied with their result first time round and weren’t prepared to put the extra effort in to improve a little. Again, there is a further discussion on this later in the report. Only 55 per cent of the year group completed both parts of the peer assessment exercise. Two groups had a slightly higher completion rate than the others, but otherwise there was little variation. One of the groups with a higher completion rate was my own, so perhaps I stressed the importance of completion more than other staff. However, the other was a group taught by someone new to AfL this year, who felt that this group had a much more positive work ethic than her other groups. Upon analysing the data for my own group, 7S, of the eight pupils who did not complete both parts of the activity, six were in the lower half of the ability range, three of them in the lowest quartile. From the data above, this is precisely the group of pupils who show the greatest degree of improvement following a peer assessment exercise and therefore, would most benefit from AfL. They are also the pupils who I have difficulty in getting to complete and hand in homework on time. This dynamic would bear further exploration in future.

Qualitative data Although I did not analyse the data from the second peer assessment exercise, the interviews with a sample of the pupils suggested that they did not see any noticeable difference in the two partners they worked with (see later comments by students). The results of the interviews produced some interesting views, particularly on how the pairings are chosen for peer assessment exercises and also their feelings about re-doing their work.

Case study 1

Sixty-three percent of the pupils felt it was good to have the opportunity to improve their work following a peer assessment. For example, one of the lower quartile said,

. . . because you get a chance to do it again knowing what to put rather than what you thought you should do at the (first) time.

This rather surprised me, as I was unsure how some of them might feel about ‘re-doing’ their work. I don’t feel that they were telling me what they thought I wanted to hear: they seemed genuinely to want to do their best.

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Case study 1

Only one pupil said he did not bother doing it because he found it ‘boring’. This pupil regularly fails to complete written pieces of homework and in his interview, he said that he finds written homework ‘boring’. This may be because he finds it challenging, as he has the lowest KS2 results in the class. It is this small group of pupils that needs to be targeted, since as discussed above, they stand to benefit the most from peer assessment exercises. In terms of the choice of partners to work on peer assessments, all the pupils interviewed said that the teacher should choose who the pupils worked with. They also felt that the pairings should change during the year,

So you get to work with different people [and] to give (sic) feedback from lots of different people.

When it came to deciding how you should choose the pairings, there were differences of opinion, which gave a lot of food for thought. One pupil said it should be totally random; one said it should be based on friendship groups, as

It feels more comfortable working with a friend.

Two pupils felt that it should be similar abilities working together, as one low ability pupil explained

. . . because if they were of a higher standard they may try to get you to improve things that were a little too difficult for you.

This suggests that the pupil concerned may have had a negative experience of working with someone of a higher ability to herself in school at some point during the academic year. Two pupils said it should be different abilities working together, as one of the high ability pupils explained

So that higher ability can help lower ability. Lower ability would be able to help higher ability as long as they understood the mark grid.

Case study 1

This shows how important the choice of partners is for the teacher and pupil. It also highlights the need for a pupil-friendly mark grid. On the topic of the mark grid, all the pupils felt that both grids were easy to use and that they found them helpful when both assessing others work and improving their own work. One high ability pupil felt that the mark grid was definitely better than having to compose their own assessment comments, but said that it needed to be accessible to all ability levels if

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Section Three

everyone in the class was to get the most out of the exercise. This reinforces the earlier comment about the need for the mark grids to be pupil-friendly. On the subject of how well they had worked with their partners, seven out of eight of the pupils interviewed said that they had worked okay with their two partners. However, there was some suggestion that this would not have been as productive an exercise if the pairings had been with different people.

Didn’t mind, they were both in my class and I knew them both. Because I got on okay with them, I knew they were going to give me a fair mark, others in the class may not have.

Anecdotal evidence suggests that some peer assessments in other classes have not been as successful because of the attitude that a minority of pupils have taken to the activity. This again gives weight to the idea that the pairings should be changed at regular intervals during the year. I didn’t independently check the marking done by the pupils of their peers, since this would have been a project in itself to do formally. However, informal checks indicated that the marking was in line with expectations of the students. This was also confirmed in the interviews I conducted with the sample of students, since all but one said the marking of their work had been fair.

Summary of findings The first aim, to investigate whether peer assessment improves the quality of work produced, using a more statistically valid sample of a whole year group, was fully achieved. The study showed that there was a marked improvement following the peer assessment exercise. The second aim, to see if there is any difference in the degree of improvement following peer assessments using different ability pairings of pupils, was only partially achieved, due to time constraints. However, the study did show that the lowest ability pupils showed the greatest degree of improvement and also gave a lot of points to think about regarding the setting of key assessment pieces of work and the make-up of the pairings for peer assessment activities.

Conclusions

Case study 1

This project has highlighted a number of issues which need to be addressed at different levels, from the whole school through to the department and finally to individual teachers. To ensure that all pupils fully participate in improving their work following peer assessment activities, the school needs to change the culture of all the pupils, so that they always strive for their personal best and will not simply be satisfied with the average for their class. This is something that will take time, as AfL becomes embedded in the curriculum. To address the issue of low homework-completion rates by pupils in the lower ability ranges, the department could make greater use of the Year 7 peer mentors in trying to support these

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Case study 1

pupils in completing their work. We should also speak to the Learning Support Co-ordinator to see if it was possible to re-arrange the support lessons for literacy, so that they do not affect so many Geography lessons, or supply work for the pupils to complete in these lessons so that they did not miss out. Subject teachers who have limited contact time with their pupils have issues with AfL, in terms of the time taken to complete activities and its knock on effects of reducing the content of the scheme of work. For example, pupils in Year 7 only have one hour per week for Geography and if this happens to coincide with INSET days, bank holidays, special assemblies, and so on, staff may see them even less. Homework activities help to alleviate these time constraints; however, they are only successful if the pupils conscientiously complete homework. Perhaps more weight needs to be added to these pieces, with special consequence for noncompletion rather than the usual detention system. We could make use of the newly created learning managers to flag up and stress the importance of our key assessments in their assemblies. Parents could be informed about the importance of particular pieces either in a letter introducing the subject at the start of the academic year or in the termly school newsletters. These strategies would have the added bonus of raising the profile of the subject. On the topic of choice of pairings, teachers need to assess the individual ability levels of their pupils at the start of the academic year, so that they can make fully informed decisions about how they are going to organise the pairings for peer assessment exercises. The data suggests that perhaps a variety of different ability pairings throughout the year may cover all the anxieties and suggestions of the sample of pupils interviewed. Alternatively, for those teachers who see their classes on a more regular basis and rigorously use the Kagan structures in their seating plans, regular mixing of the groups of four would also meet the pupils’ concerns. Student-friendly mark grids are of utmost importance in making the peer assessment exercise successful and worthwhile. Perhaps the department needs to make more use of the Learning Support Department in this area, getting them to use their expertise to produce differentiated mark grids for the lower ability pupils. Want to try Caroline’s approach? She has offered the following advice:

Peer assessment advice 1. Use ‘Hints for Success’ on the task sheet

Case study 1

My experience is that the students find the ‘Hints for success’ on the task sheet really helps them to complete the activity, as they know exactly what they are expected to do to achieve a high quality piece of work, provided in a simple checklist format. When I interviewed the students, they said that the ‘Hints for Success’ helped because they were ‘really easy, just tells you what to do’ and were ‘easier than remembering comments from the lesson’.

2. Think very carefully about how you organise partners for peer assessment activities My research to date suggests that partners should be selected by the teacher, with careful reference to abilities, and should be changed at regular intervals during the year, such as every half-term or new topic.

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3. It takes time for students to become used to peer marking It is important to spend time developing the students’ ability to work effectively and sensibly during a peer assessment, so that they are able to provide fair and constructive criticism for their partners. This becomes easier as they progress through the school, particularly if AfL is adopted as a whole school approach and given importance within that.

4. Make use of your Learning Support Department Design of both the task sheet and assessment grids is crucial if all ability ranges are to be fully involved in the activity. Seek advice from your Learning Support Department on how to redesign them to assist lower ability pupils.

5. Plan carefully the inclusion of peer assessment activities into your schemes of work Peer assessment definitely improves the quality of work produced by all abilities of students but it does take longer to implement. It is important to balance out the time demands of peer assessment activities with the demands of completing the curriculum. Plan out your scheme of work to see which activities would best be suited to peer assessment and how they could be fitted in without having a negative impact on the breadth of work studied.

Research advice 1. Keep the scale of the study small Once you start to collect and analyse your data you will find that the size of your workload mushrooms, so it is always better to plan out a small-scale piece of action research, which can be taken further when, and if time allows in the future.

2. Adapt an activity you already do It is easier to use an existing activity or a modification of it to base your research on, since this will already be tried and tested and allow you to focus on your investigation.

3. Try to include interviews as part of your research I found the interviews I conducted to be probably the most useful part of my research. They allowed the pupils to have a voice and feel part of the planning/design of the work, and helped me to tailor the worksheets/mark grids more effectively.

Why take part in Action Research?

Case study 1

It allows you to take a step back from the day-to-day timetable of lessons and take the time to explore the teaching and learning in your classroom. It enables you to find out how best to implement particular teaching strategies to your own subject area. It allows you to look at the wider issues and how cross-departmental co-operation can help with problems which may at first sight appear to be subject specific.

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Case study 2

Assessing the impact of getting parents more involved in school

Focus in the 5Rs for Lifelong Learning

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RESILIENCE

John Welham Camborne Science & Community College, Cornwall

REMEMBERING RESOURCEFULNESS

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REFLECTIVENESS

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READINESS

The school Camborne Science & Community College is an 11–18 mixed comprehensive school in Cornwall. It is on the edge of the town (population 18,000) and on the western extremity of Cornwall’s only conurbation (population 45,000). The area is economically and socially depressed. Tin and copper mining and related engineering, which constituted the staple industry of the town, closed down over the past 10 years and there is little industry in the area to replace it. Indicative of the level of deprivation in the area is the fact that the school is one of three secondary and 30 primary schools in the CPR Success Zone. The school has an above average proportion of pupils eligible for free school meals; and though the proportion of students with special educational needs including statements is broadly in line with the national average, the proportion with a statement of educational need is well above the average figure. We see ourselves as a school in transition, in which the climate for teaching and learning is under constant review and improvement. Every decision made in school is now challenged with the question ‘How does this improve teaching and learning in school?’ Our growing confidence and steady commitment to improving the quality of our provision is underpinned by our involvement with organisations such as the Campaign for Learning, which supports our desire to research, reflect and learn.

Why the selected project

Learning to learn for life 3 – research and practical examples for secondary schools

Case study 2

During 2002–3 the school appointed an AST(Advanced Skills Teacher) as Community Co-ordinator. The purpose of this was to raise ambition and attainment through greater involvement of the community and, particularly, the parents in the work of the school. Specifically an intervention was planned which would encourage parents to play a more significant role in their children’s completion of GCSE coursework. The original aim of the project was to assess whether the intervention had the desired effect and was cost-effective.

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Section Three

The 5Rs The project focused especially on Readiness and Resilience. In engaging parental support for coursework in one subject area, Design Technology, the aim was to extend the supportive climate of the classroom to home, by providing parents with knowledge and understanding of the necessary processes and outcomes – not in order that they work on the assignments with pupils, but to provide additional emotional and practical support as needed. The classroom was extended into pupils’ homes. Pupils already knew that it was ‘o.k. to get stuck’; they now had support when they were stuck, not just in school but at home as well; they had access to additional ideas to help them to ‘unstick themselves’. The aims and context of the coursework were made explicit, demystifying the coursework process in parents’ minds. Thus, the gulf between school and home was bridged. Parents fully understood the demands on both their children and the staff, and felt part of the educative process. Teachers were required to contextualize and explain the assignments for parents; to chunk them into manageable pieces; to communicate with parents at different stages of the process; to offer flexible support and resourcing during the process. The Coursework Celebration at the end of the course valued success of students publicly, and was attended not just by DT(Design Technology) teachers, students and their parents, but by governors and teachers from across the school. This collective acknowledgement of student success is a key feature of events such as Summer Schools, but too rarely takes place as a matter of course in GCSE subjects. It is another aspect of the project that we intend to replicate in other subject areas in the coming years. As far as the students were concerned, their confidence and self-esteem grew markedly during the twelve months of the project. Resilience and Readiness improved significantly. The emotional support for pupils palpably increased and the results suggest that their grades were better as a result. Even in the cases in which they did not exceed their predicted grades, the attainment of their potential was made easier for them.

What did the school actually do? First Year Project One focused on the work of 113 Year 11 GCSE students in Design Technology, a subject selected because of the significant role played by coursework in the final examination.

Case study 2

The students involved, and the control group, were in five classes, taught by three different teachers. The classes were set by ability. Class 1 Teacher A Design Technology – Graphic Products 29 students, all expected to gain A–C at GCSE Class 2 Teacher A Design Technology – Graphic Products 8 students, expected to gain C–G at GCSE

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Case study 2

Class 3 Teacher B Design Technology – Product Design 17 students expected to gain A–C at GCSE Class 4 Teacher B Design Technology – Product Design 25 students expected to gain A–C at GCSE Class 5 Teacher C Design Technology – Resistant Materials 34 students expected to gain C–G at GCSE In DT Graphics, the coursework element constitutes 60 per cent of the final grade and is an area of the examination most ‘under the control’ of the member of staff and students – yet is also an area of noticeable underachievement. The initial focus of the intervention was to sell the importance of the coursework element to students and parents and to engage parental enthusiasm and support. Parents were invited to join their children and the Design Technology teachers for two introductory sessions, where they were given the outline of the course with a breakdown of the coursework assignments, and given a list of five things they could do that would help their children to complete the coursework successfully (for example, talking to their children about the coursework assignment; making time each week to review their progress; contacting school if they had any concerns; agreeing to support their children’s attendance at out-of-hours sessions). Parents were then shown an exhibition of selected (successful) samples of the previous year’s coursework and the breakdown of the grades for those pieces of coursework. The parents of just over 80 per cent of the students involved in the project attended this first session. The next stage was to invite these parents to a DT lesson during school time. They attended a special session with their children, which modelled the coursework process and helped them to understand how their children were expected to work. The challenge was broken down into stages that reflected how coursework was to be approached: Design time: initial thoughts, brainstormed/thought-showered by the group.

2.

Research time: the group had to look at research papers containing examples of previous work on such a project, from which they gathered information.

3.

The groups returned to their designs and tweaked them, informed by their new knowledge.

4.

Making phase.

5.

Trial phase.

6.

Final making phase.

Case study 2

1.

The approach to coursework in DT was modelled this way because, in DT coursework, a common problem is that students are impatient to get going and start making things, without the necessary planning and research. Many students find the planning and research

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Section Three

section of the work challenging, because it is not ‘practical’ or ‘kinaesthetic’. Through this parents’ session, the hope was that students and parents alike would understand that initial good ideas, followed by careful development, backed up by research, leading to adaptations of the original design, would lead to greater success with the final product. The school then ran a series of sessions out-of-school hours, during which the DT area was open and staffed, so that students could go in and work. Although not invited to attend these sessions, parents did encourage their children to stay after school and attend during half- term. DT staff and the AST Community regularly updated parents on how their children’s coursework was going, with the underlying principle that any such contact with parents had to be as positive as possible, always focusing on how well the children were doing and what was needed for the coursework to be made even better. Parents were welcomed to come in during the year as the coursework was done, and many did this. Finally, there was a Celebration of Coursework evening, open to the whole school community, to which the parents and students were invited. The final products of the coursework were on display and, over a glass of wine/juice, teachers, parents and their children were able to look back over the whole process.

Findings: Year One From staff The Head of the Design Technology Department stated that he had done nothing differently with his classes during the year, other than involve the parents in the coursework. However he noted the following: z

GCSE A*–C grade attainment improved in DT classes by 11 per cent

z

Graphic Products scored 88 per cent A*–C this year, more than double the wholeschool figure of 37 per cent (though the classes were partially set by ability and did not reflect the total ability range)

z

This is the first year that we have had 100 per cent coursework completion by 100 per cent of students in most of the classes

z

Continuation from GCSE to AS was significantly higher this year. The previous year we had 4 students doing AS DT subjects; following the project the figure is 20

The AST Community responsible for the intervention made the following points:

Case study 2

❛ The attendance of parents at the launch evening for the coursework was in excess of 80 per cent. ❜ ❛ Oral feedback from parents was, throughout the project, overwhelmingly positive. ❜ ❛ Involvement of parents in the half-term holiday coursework sessions (October 2003/Februray 2004) was significant. At least half of the students used this facility, usually accompanied for some of the time by a parent. ❜

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Case study 2

❛ The success of the intervention was helped by the fact that the AST Community was also Year Head for this cohort of students and had a well-established relationship with the parent body, making it easier to contact, encourage and cajole. ❜ The Headteacher made the following points:

❛ The atmosphere created by the project was remarkable. A real buzz in the department at both the launch and celebration events; the place was alive with activity during the half-term holidays and parents really were engaged with helping their children. ❜ ❛ I am convinced that this has had a marked impact on attainment and on how students and parents feel about GCSE and coursework in particular. It is something we need to replicate across the school in other subjects. ❜

From parents Parents were interviewed throughout the life of the project and especially at the final Coursework Celebration evening, when they were able to see the results of their children’s efforts. The comments gathered at the final Coursework Celebration were all positive, about the quality of the work produced and the value of being involved throughout:

❛ I am very impressed with the quality of work she has produced. It definitely helped to know what she had to do and understand the deadlines. ❜ ❛ The launch evening for the coursework made everything much clearer to both my son and myself. It definitely helped him to focus and he knew that I could give him help and support more easily because I understood what he had to do. ❜ ❛ It made a great difference to the way she and I felt about the project. I am sure she’s done better in her exams because of it. She has decided to take AS DT next year, which I don’t think she would have done before. ❜

Case study 2

From students Students were almost universally pleased with their results and felt that this intervention had made a significant difference to their coursework. Amongst comments collected were:

❛ It was great because Dad understood what I had to do and gave me lots of encouragement. He didn’t do the project with me or for me, but just knowing he was interested and ready to talk about it was a great help. ❜

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Section Three

❛ I was good because, in other subjects, Mum didn’t really know what pressure I was under but because she came to school to see what we had to do in DT, it made her more understanding and helpful. ❜ ❛ I think the school should do this for all the subjects, especially Maths and Science. ❜ 20 students of the cohort have continued with DT Product Design as an AS. When questioned, 80 per cent of them felt they had done better at GCSE partly because their parents understood what they had to do and were more involved in their work. Over half of the AS group decided to continue with DT post 16 as a result of their excellent GCSE scores, which were in part aided by the intervention.

From GCSE results

Class

Intervention by AST Community?

Number of students in class

Teacher

Written paper national mean score (Max. 140)

Written paper mean score for group (Max. 140)

Coursework paper national mean score (Max. 210)

Coursework paper mean score for group (Max. 210)

Completion rate of coursework assignment for group

GCSE results for 2004 are shown in the table that follows.

1

Yes

29

A

89

90.8

164.8

182.5

100%

2

Yes

8

A

63.8

51.6

104.3

93.8

100%

3

Yes

17

B

82.1

83.6

164.6

175.6

100%

4

Yes

25

B

63.3

78.6

105

160

100%

5

No

34

C

81.9

79.9

110

76

74%

Table showing GCSE grades for 2004

The GCSE results suggest: That students involved in the intervention were more likely to complete their coursework.

Case study 2

That the intervention helped the students to produce better quality coursework; in three of the four classes markedly better (on average) than the national average scores for these exams. The one caveat that needs to be mentioned is that Class 5 (which became the control group, in which parents did not become involved) became the control group because its teacher was not interested in being involved in the project, which may have had some effect on the results.

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Learning to learn for life 3 – research and practical examples for secondary schools

Case study 2

Conclusion Year One Several interesting outcomes emerged as a result of the project. A growing interest from other departments to do the same sort of programme next year. The enthusiasm of parents to get involved like this. It feels as if many have been impatient for the chance to get involved and support but have not been encouraged to, or have lacked school’s endorsement or even the vocabulary necessary to do so. The AST involved has found it more difficult to work with parents on a similar project in the year below (Year 10), since she did not have an established relationship with them. (As the Year Head for the Year 11 cohort, she had known many of the parents well). This suggests that, in the drive to improve attainment, a long term, focused relationship with parents bears dividends. The most important impacts/findings of the project: Focused, supportive parental involvement helps students to attain better grades. Although carried out by an AST, this work could (should?) be part of the work of Year Heads, whose focus could (should?) shift from a purely pastoral to one which supports academic achievement more directly. The AST Community role is having the effect we hoped for. Teachers can be persuaded that the additional time and effort put in with parents at stages of the course bears fruit. All the teachers (including senior managers) involved in the project are delighted with its impact and are determined to roll out this sort of intervention to an increasing number of subject areas in the coming year.

What did the school actually do? Second and Third Year

Case study 2

As a result of the success in Year One, the programme was extended and adapted over the following three years and, in Year Three, the aim became to chart the progress of the programme. The Parents in the Classroom initiative was expanded, targeting especially subject areas that had a history of student disengagement or had been in a state of development, in particular Maths, English, Design Technology and Science. The loss leader Challenge events, which were intended to draw parents into the school to work alongside their children, continued, but their cost-effectiveness in terms of staff time led to there being fewer such events in the following two years. In 2005–06 one village in the school’s catchment area was targeted, with a view to developing far stronger links between the village and school. This involved Camborne staff working in the village primary school on a variety of projects, a series of out-of-hours events using Camborne Science & Community College staff and expertise to explore the history and

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Section Three

culture of the village, and the very successful revival of the village summer festival, spearheaded by the AST Community. The parental sessions for launching and celebrating coursework in Design Technology continued and became part of the normal practice of the department. Other departments (Child Care and History) became involved in the parent/coursework project in November 2006. Quantifiable results in the Design Technology Department continued to show improvement, with DT graphic products achieving 58 per cent A*–C in 2005–06 and DT product design 86 per cent A*–C, compared with a whole school average of 39 per cent A*–C. The design faculty staff regarded the parent/coursework initiative as a significant factor. It raised the profile of the subject in student and parent eyes; ensured greater engagement in the course; and caused students and parents to work in a palpable partnership. In other subject areas that had become involved, most notably DT Food and Geography, the effect on coursework grades was similar. The single biggest change in the implementation of the intervention from Year One to Year Three was handing over the responsibility of the programme to the department concerned, the structure and setting up of the work having originally been undertaken by the AST Community.

Summary The project has: z

improved significantly the attainment of Year 11 GCSE students in those subject areas where it has been applied.

z

become an inherent part of our practice as a school, to the extent that having parents in lessons is now an accepted part of every day life.

z

greatly increased our confidence in our relationship with parents, to the extent that we are now ready to take even more radical steps to help parents improve their children’s educational chances.

z

For the staff involved, it has opened up significant new opportunities and equipped them with a range of new skills and attitudes.

z

For the school, it has given more credibility to the notion of ‘a community college’ and is daily leading to greater, more sustainable, meaningful and effective links with other bodies (for example, the local multi-agency teams) in tackling issues within the local community. Our current involvement in local neighbourhood regeneration projects owes a great deal to the successful implementation of this project.

Case study 2

Want to try John’s approach? He has offered the following advice

50

1.

Choose a member of staff who knows the area well.

2.

Choose an experienced member of staff whom parents perceive as a good teacher.

3.

Start with social events to entice parents in.

Learning to learn for life 3 – research and practical examples for secondary schools

Case study 2

4.

Choose a member of staff who is easily accessible to deal with issues (this means having a reduced teaching load).

5.

Be prepared to spend a lot of time on the phone and talking to parents.

6.

Listen to what families want and be responsive.

7.

Do all you can to make sure that every experience is positive: understate negatives and overstate positives.

8.

For out-of-school activities use local facilities which are familiar to families, for example the library, the Sports Centre and the bowling alley.

9.

Use the school premises as a venue as much as possible so that parents come to see it as an extended school, not just somewhere that their children go for lessons.

10.

Ensure that every activity you put on for families is of good professional quality. In the beginning it is better to do a little well than a lot poorly.

11.

Experiment with a variety of times for events: some during the school day, some after school and some in the evenings.

12.

Every family project has to involve an adult member of the family working alongside the student.

Case study 2

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Case study 3

An investigation of the impact on learning by single gender groups

Focus in the 5Rs for Lifelong Learning RESILIENCE

Mandi Horwood (MH), Erica Morgan (EM), Rita Martin (RM) The Roseland Community College, a Specialist Music College with English, Cornwall

REMEMBERING RESOURCEFULNESS REFLECTIVENESS READINESS

✓ ✓ ✓

The school The Roseland Community College is a smaller than average mixed 11–16 comprehensive school with Leading Edge status. It serves an extensive rural area which is economically mixed. Pupils are almost exclusively of white British background whose attainment on entry is broadly average. The school has an average proportion of pupils with Special Educational Needs (SEN), but an above average proportion with statements. Most numerous are those with specific learning difficulties, or social, emotional or behavioural difficulties. The school became involved in Learning to Learn Phase Three due to an interest in L2L and the different approaches it encompasses. It was felt that the developing innovative use of different organisational structures and approaches to the curriculum would be of long term benefit for the school. Running alongside and closely related to this has been the implementation of the Assessment for Learning strategy which is an ongoing whole school initiative, including INSET sessions and peer coaching in AfL. The school has, as part of this initiative, trialled and subsequently implemented a ‘comment only’ (formative) marking policy across the school. The school gained specialist school status as a College for Music with English during Year Three of the project. The Learning to Learn project made a definite impact on the bid.

Why the selected project

Learning to learn for life 3 – research and practical examples for secondary schools

Case study 3

The original aim of the project was to investigate ways to raise boys’ attainment in English. We were aware that our GCSE top sets were heavily weighted towards girls and we wanted to address this imbalance. The main aim of the study was to close the attainment gap between boys and girls. The project has taken place over three years, with each year having a more defined focus. Throughout the project, we aimed to encourage Reflectiveness and Resourcefulness through a variety of Assessment for Learning tactics, and used ICT and Drama to ensure the students’ Readiness to be independent learners.

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Section Three

The 5Rs Initially we focused very much on Resourcefulness. We then decided to broaden our original choice to add Reflectiveness and Readiness as these promote the key learning that we wanted to foster in our students to enable them to become independent learners. Reflectiveness, in particular, fits very well with the Assessment for Learning strategies we are using as part of our teaching. In addition, the introduction of Personalized Learning and Every Child Matters links into our findings that our teaching has to be tailored to enable each individual to learn. This is epitomized by the way we have had to adapt our approaches for each group even if they are the same gender. Every learner is different and every teacher needs to adapt to enable those particular Rs to develop skills for independent and lifelong learning.

What did the school actually do? First year We chose to research the impact of separating gender groups at Year 9 as it would give us an opportunity to investigate how the pupils prefer to learn, their learning strengths and whether separating gender motivated the pupils and increased their self-confidence and esteem. Over many years the top GCSE English group has consisted of approximately 80 per cent girls to 20 per cent boys. We were interested to try to bring about a change in this pattern and also the perceived notion that ‘only girls are good at English’. The two teachers involved specifically used and adapted schemes of work and individual lessons to challenge assumptions about the ways boys and girls learn. It was perceived that boys preferred to be active and physically engaged in their learning whereas girls appeared to learn better in small group discussions and analysis. We decided to use Resourcefulness as our main focus, as this fitted our aim which was to give students the opportunity to make the most of their preferred learning style to communicate effectively in different ways, including writing and speaking and listening.

Case study 3

We therefore set up three groups using CAT and KS2 data which suggested they were of similar ability, but at the higher end of the spectrum. These comprised of: one mixed gender control group, one boys group and one girls group.

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Learning to learn for life 3 – research and practical examples for secondary schools

Case study 3

The control group was taught from the existing schemes of work. The girls group (with MH) commenced with examining language in poetry leading to poetry in performance and using the identified skills in writing their own poetry. The boys group (with RM) started with looking at writing for different purposes and audiences, identifying the skills required and then using these to construct a website for the English hyperlink on the school website. These choices were made to build on existing strengths/interests coupled with working on perceived weaknesses. MH’s group’s strength was perceived as an ability to analyze and discuss language in pairs; the weakness was in not having the confidence to share understanding in performance and class discussion. RM’s group’s strength was a love of ICT and the weakness was writing for a purpose and different audiences, particularly developing ideas and using the different skills necessary. The two teachers constantly discussed and developed ideas and teaching strategies to ensure that the full potential of the group members was exploited whenever possible. This is exemplified by the following explanation of a lesson taught to the boys group (with RM).

I chose the ‘Lord of the Rings’ as a starter because all of these boys in an earlier lesson had named this as their favourite film of the moment. Therefore it immediately engaged them in the work and it also began to make more explicit to them the links and relevance of ‘Macbeth’ to their world today. The main part of the lesson was highly inter-active with the accent on speaking and listening. It also required movement. In case you are not aware of the concept of a ‘corridor of conscience’, it is when one chosen pupil moves down a line of other pupils, who are spaced apart, stopping at each one for a question which he has to answer. He also has one stock phrase with him, a quote from the play, which he must use at least once during his walk down the corridor. This exercise allowed the boys to discuss both sides of the characters involved and empathize with their feelings and reasons for actions. This active exercise and the plenary produced some excellent written work on characters and why they behaved as they did.

The same text was taught to the girls class with the following explanation:

Some of the students find speaking tasks a challenge so, in order to enable all the class to become actively involved, a variety of methods needed to be used. This lesson followed similar small group interaction on a limited section of Act 1 Scene 2. This was to enable the girls to become comfortable with the investigative style of examining language in the play through experimentation and discussion.

Case study 3

This lesson was one observed by an OFSTED inspector who commented on how engaged all the girls were. There was a lot of class discussion which was lively and focused. He also commented on the way open questioning kept the thought processes closely linked to the text and that it was clear that excellent learning was taking place.

Another example of the two groups working on the same topic from an entirely different angle was also observed by an OFSTED inspector. He commented on how fascinating it was

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Section Three

that the two groups reached the same excellent standard and the same quality of learning, through entirely different routes.

❛ A number of initiatives have been taken in the subjects of the curriculum in order to address the differences in attainment between boys and girls. In English, the performance of single-gender teaching groups is compared with that of mixed groups. In History, English and Science, the use of ICT has been increased to retain the interest and commitment of boys. ❜

What did the school actually do? Second year We decided to continue teaching the higher attaining students from the Year 9 groups into their Year 10 GCSE courses as single gender groups. We also decided to teach a Year 9 lower-attaining all boys group and to teach the top set in Year 9 as both dual gender and single gender, by using two teachers for two of the three lessons each week.

Year 10 High Ability Boys (taught by MH) Teaching and learning had to become far more active than is often the case once GCSE coursework starts. This was needed to engage and allow learning to happen almost without the boys realising it – particularly useful when tackling the huge volume of poetry required. Other tactics required were:

Case study 3

Clear learning objectives – discussed as a group and displayed; Long term learning objectives – often seen as the big picture – GCSE coursework – plus how skills relate to the exam; ‘What’s in it for me?’ – the group are all aiming for A* grades. We do not discuss lower grades when challenging our own attainment. Realistically, this is not a ‘true’ top set and the grades will vary from C to A*. The number of boys who attain A and A* grades is usually in low single figures;

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Learning to learn for life 3 – research and practical examples for secondary schools

Case study 3

Competition – there is fierce competition between some of the highest achievers. One mark difference can make a boy want to redo a piece to gain the final mark – and beat his friend; Varied teaching and learning tactics – it is vital to engage and hold the boys’ interest and attention. More traditional methods of chalk & talk are often ineffective with this type of learner; Peer pressure – the group has the desire to succeed. No one should be allowed to prevent that and, equally, each person does not want to be seen to fail. This is quite a contrast to recent years where the culture was that it was not ‘cool’ to be academically successful if you were male. An example of the power of peer expectation was in the second of two lessons. Linking to Resourcefulness, they had been set the challenge of ‘teaching’ the rest of the class a section of the poem ‘Limbo’ by linking it to facts about the slave trade. They used the laptops for one lesson and prepared a PowerPoint presentation along with drama if they so wished. These were then presented in the second lesson. The first few groups had good slides, using colour, imported pictures and text from a variety of sources along with clear oral presentations, while not relying on reading aloud to show the links to the poem. The following pair had downloaded a single page from the internet which they read aloud. There was silence when they had finished. The teacher said that she was disappointed, but then the others in the class told the two that they had let themselves down and offered suggestions as to the sort of things they could have done. These were two boys who were not as confident in the success culture of the class – was it really cool? However, in the next lesson – two days later – when asked for those who had not presented their work yet to raise their hands, these two boys put up their hands. The teacher made no comment, nor did anyone else. The two presented their new work – it was excellent. The most interesting point about all of this is that it would be difficult to imagine that result in a mixed gender class – there is too much self-esteem to lose.

Slavery A young doctor on board a slave ship was horrified at what he found. Conditions aboard the slave ships were wretched. Men, women and children crammed into every available space, denied adequate room, food or breathing space. The stench was appalling - the atmosphere inhumane to say the least.

Slavery and Limbo

Down, down, down is the lowest point of his life. When the drummers calling him Sun coming up and the drummers are praising me when things are starting to get better.

Case study 3

There is one part of the poem when the slave is being beaten: Knees spread wide and the dark ground is under me. This implies that someone has physically beaten the slave to the ground. He is also facing the ground and that's all he sees.

Focus on the lowest to highest points on the ship

PowerPoint presentation inspired by the poem ‘Limbo’ – this was the repeat presentation completed by the two boys as a result of understanding what was expected and aspiring to reach that standard

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Section Three

Assessment for Learning strategies – the use of learning objectives, open questioning (including ‘no hands up’), learning outcomes, oral feedback, and plenaries all work very well in all classes, and this is no exception. One strategy that is particularly effective is commentonly marking. The instant feedback and immediate action on improving the work is one that particularly appeals to boys. Surprisingly, however, one aspect that the boys do not seem to like is written peer assessment. They enjoy oral peer assessment and are becoming very good at it but the problem seems to be that, in written peer assessments, there is a small core of boys who are taking the challenges of wanting to be the best to extremes and marking others’ work in a negative and sometimes deliberately stupid way. This is a challenge that is being quietly tackled by using the ‘What’s in it for me?’ approach. Use of ICT and drama – ICT is vital in this modern age and the easiest way of ensuring that the boys are able to develop their writing skills – the usual weak point. Drama and speaking and listening tasks are also vital as boys learn well through discussion and role play. They are often not shy in presenting role plays and respond well to class direction. Laughter – a sense of humour is vital. As a group, they take great delight in teasing the teacher in a way that is not usually experienced in a ‘normal’ top set. Examples of this? One time, I was unavoidably late to a lesson, which the boys knew might happen, and I arrived to find one of the least likely boys ‘teaching’ the class how to plan a poetry response. The rest had their anthologies out and were ‘listening’ intently. This, they thought hilarious as I was so surprised. (However, I was delighted that they had obviously understood the previous lesson!). This type of behaviour is one that builds relationships and melds the group cohesively. Relationships – both between pupils and teacher/pupil, this is absolutely vital. This is nothing new. However, a female teacher with a boys-only group needs to develop ways of ensuring that the boys will work for her, such as having very clear – high – expectations of both attainment and self-discipline. Yet another is to use the strategies outlined already to help build relationships.

Year 10 High Ability Girls (taught by EM) This group demanded challenging lessons that would develop their already solid English skills and that the group’s work in Year 10 was of the high standard needed to secure the top end GCSE grades many of them were aiming for. Many of the students also had high expectations of themselves, so it was important to plan work that they would find stimulating and that they would value.

Case study 3

Aware that the combination of students affects all classes, my main concern for this single gender group was that the girls would work well together and that cliques would be avoided. The range of personalities in the group also meant that some girls were more confident and more outspoken than others. It could not be assumed that the absence of boys would take away everyone’s apprehensions about public speaking instantly. It was also important to remember that, even within a high ability group, some students would be reticent about sharing their work in front of others. To meet the needs of this group, I employed the following tactics: Assessment for Learning – as before; Clear objectives on board – as before;

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Learning to learn for life 3 – research and practical examples for secondary schools

Case study 3

Speaking and listening – to encourage a positive and supportive learning environment and to boost their confidence in public speaking, I was conscious from the beginning that group and whole class discussions was very important for the girls. These led on well to the formal presentations and drama-based work that were incorporated into lessons for exploring themes as well as for GCSE assessments. The sharing and group praising of work became the norm;

Focusing on Juliet’s experiences in Romeo and Juliet allowed them to consider their positions in society, to appreciate how Juliet felt in her social context and to empathize with the very themes and ideas their coursework would focus on. I found that the many personal issues that arise from the GCSE poetry anthology could be discussed without embarrassment and that students could develop their learning by referring back to their own experiences. Such personal and valuable reflection would not be possible in front of boys and, just as importantly, in front of a male teacher. Gender-specific subject matter did seem to encourage the girls’ confidence in public speaking.

Subject matter – one of the most important things in studying English is the ability to empathize with a range of characters and situations. I soon realized that one of the greatest benefits of a single gender class was the opportunity for choosing a subject matter that would relate specifically to girls and that would allow them to empathize with the subject matter; However, I also acknowledged that it is imperative that the girls do not focus too much on the female perspective. Working with the boys, taking on the opinions for others and empathizing with characters unlike themselves are vital for their full intellectual development and their appreciation of English. Over the course of the year, my working relationship with the girls became an important factor in the class’ success. The girls became increasingly confident in their single gender lessons and I was conscious of not allowing a lax and casual atmosphere to detract from this positive outcome. The above strategies reminded students of the aims for the term – and for the GCSE course as a whole – helping to achieve this balance. While appreciating the girls’ intelligence and humour, I also found it important to remember that they were still young students who required friendly yet firm support. I became aware that their mature and articulate outlook did not guarantee they could approach higher ability work without structured preparation and support; they still needed to develop and have confidence in their own resourcefulness.

Year 10 Dual Gender Project

Learning to learn for life 3 – research and practical examples for secondary schools

Case study 3

Following the previous year’s KS3 results and the impact the single gender groups had on the pupils concerned, we felt we wanted to take the research further. However, we wanted to measure the ongoing impact single gender learning has on their actual attainment and perceived attainment. As part of our research, therefore, we planned in a joint dual gender project in the Summer Term. From this, we hoped to see whether the pupils felt that being taught in single gender classes was having a positive impact on their confidence, Resourcefulness and attainment. The dual gender project should show this by each group being able to develop Resourcefulness and Reflectiveness to use the skills developed in their single gender classes.

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At the end, each group presented their work to the classes. As teachers, we found the domination of the boys in the presentations very interesting. One girl came to us afterwards, frustrated because she had not been able to take enough of a role due to one boy completely taking over. As they were being assessed also for speaking and listening GCSE, it seems that some of the boys decided to show what they could do without realising the unfairness of the way they were dominating the proceedings. The girls had prepared well and were keen to show what they could do; the boys’ dominance deflated some of their enthusiasm and confidence. The initial working in groups seemed to be successful in that they all tried to take on different roles and the gender stereotype was not vastly apparent – however, the outcome showed a clear split in presentation with the competitive streak in many of the boys clearly showing. Equally, it was observed that, in the group preparation, some of the boys tended to sit back and allow the girls to organise and do much of the hard work.

Year 9 We wanted to investigate two areas: z

How one teacher, teaching one topic to two different gender groups, could adapt the teaching to appeal to the perceived preferred learning styles. This varies from previous teaching as each teacher only taught one gender. The ‘control’ was the single lesson per week taught by MH as dual gender.

z

How a lower-attaining boys group, with all the anti-academic achievement culture, could be helped to become more confident in their learning and more resourceful, motivated and ready to take on future learning and success.

Both teachers found the experience unsatisfactory. The main reasons for this were: z

Lack of freedom to develop or switch lessons depending on how the group responded;

z

Limited building of teacher/pupil relationships;

z

Constant confusion from the pupils as to where they should be.

However, in terms of analyzing teaching methods, the experience was interesting. Here the differences between the teaching directed at the boys and the girls could be seen.

Year 9 Lower-Ability Boys Group (with EM)

Case study 3

Originally made up of 13 boys, one of the main issues about this group was the mixture of personalities within it. As well as taking the lower ability of the group into account, I also had to consider the teaching and learning of dominant, attention-seeking students alongside that of some very quiet, unassuming students. In planning the lessons, I aimed to keep the louder, more challenging students focused on the work while also encouraging the quieter students to discuss their work in an open and comfortable learning environment. This is a concern with any teaching group, and would no doubt also be true of an all-girl group, but the extremes of the personalities in this group and the male bravado that I felt was apparent made this an overwhelming concern for this particular group.

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Case study 3

To meet the needs of this very distinctive all-boy, lower-ability group, I employed the following tactics: Clear objectives on board – as before;

Example: During speaking and listening exercises it is easy for students to become distracted and for them to be unaware of what skills they are audience to. Asking the boys to present persuasive presentations individually, and early on in the academic year, EM felt the boys would need a toolbar to aid their understanding of what was expected of them and what they were actually achieving. Converting the toolbar into a checklist for the audience to tick during the presentations kept the boys focused. They listened intently to what was being said and were competitive and eager to find out who had ticked which key feature and whether their own assessment matched the teacher’s.

Peer and self assessment – highlighting key features of their own and others’ work, listening out for key features while others read, devising toolbars as a group and referring back to them during drafting process, checking of toolbars during speaking and listening tasks. However, self-reflection was not always easy for the boys as, for some, the natural, defensive response was that everything is ‘easy’. This strategy needs to be introduced carefully and the ‘What’s in it for me?’ element explained. Variety of small, focused tasks with lots of opportunity for talk – allows students to reflect on and understand their learning; effective behaviour management, sharing and applauding of work encourages sense of pride in achievement and establishes ethos of desiring success (students would want to share their work with the group). Mixed groupings – allowing different personalities to work together, experimenting with group sizes, encouraging a supportive working ethos, encouraging healthy competition, varying approaches to tasks, enabling peer and self-assessment. Use of Drama and ICT – as before

Case study 3

Example: Naturally, studying a drama script lends itself to Drama within the English classroom so it is unsurprising that the boys found Drama as an excellent approach to exploring the key scenes of Macbeth. Although the dynamics of the group meant that any physical work had to be approached with caution, with structured preparation and clear expectations, the boys were able to interpret the key scenes and explore the key ideas successfully. While an all girl or mixed gender group would also benefit from Drama in the classroom, EM felt this was particularly beneficial for the boys as they were able to empathize with the characters and their situations without the need for sustained writing.

All of the above tactics helped towards a good working relationship between the teacher and students, as they meant the boys had a good understanding of her expectations, they understood what they were learning and why and they were encouraged to acknowledge their own and others’ achievements. This Reflectiveness is a vital key in Learning to Learn as too often this lower-ability behaviourally challenging group is kept

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‘under control’ by highly-structured, teacher led/fed work which would not easily allow independent learning. As an observation by all the teachers involved, one of the issues with boys, who are less motivated academically, is that they dismiss achievement. Their questionnaires would indicate that they did not wish to continue in single gender groups and did not feel that they had achieved well. However, in discussions with a teacher, the majority felt that they had achieved more than expected, as the lessons were so geared to their specific needs. The Key Stage 3 results also show good achievement. The lesson learnt through the research was that a better way of collecting views and evidence from lower-ability students may be through oral, non-leading, open questions rather than written responses to a set questionnaire.

What did the school actually do? Third year We developed our investigation into how teaching and learning methods could enhance learning and raise attainment, with particular use of Assessment for Learning (AfL) tools. The key focus group was the Year 11 boys group to see if the gender gap at GCSE could be narrowed further.

Year 11 High Ability Boys (taught by MH) Written coursework – the main element of Year 10 – was over and the group needed to concentrate on preparing for the examination. The key areas identified by them were writing skills and exam tactics. They wanted to know exactly what was being examined and how. We also had to study a novel and complete our study of the poetry anthology. A Flavour of Some of the Teaching and Learning Tactics:

For the novel: Debates such as Who was the boy with most leadership qualities and why? This was at the beginning of the novel when they had no idea of the events. This was discussion with oral feedback and a printed sheet from their discussion reproduced from notes made on the interactive whiteboard. No writing at this stage.

Case study 3

z

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Case study 3

Drama: z

In groups of three, they were given slips of paper with quotes about two of the boys taken from Chapter 3. These were not obviously about a character but had inference such as “a gaudy bird from a primitive nest of sticks” or “a pair of gaudy butterflies that danced”. The groups had to perform those quotes in any way to give a flavour or idea about the boy. They had no idea which boys they were referring to. Results included choral chanting; flying through the air as a pair of birds – (from the quotes, although not quite the anticipated result!); mime with relevant quotes spoken and an acrostic from the first letters. Although this was not a ‘normal’ character study, some of the boys remembered the quotes so well that they used them in the examination.

z

Discussions – pairs and groups. This was often sparked off from working through a task on a PowerPoint presentation (see Appendix 1). This was far better than the usual question and written answer – although notes were kept – as it had elements of Resourcefulness and Reflectiveness.

z

Competition – a vital element! I challenged the boys by asking them – in groups – to find the answers to questions or to track a character or event in the novel. This would be a race to see who found the answer first or whose was the most detailed response. We also recorded the findings in different ways such as a tracking timeline.

Poetry: Again, I often would ask them to investigate or take on dramatic roles. They might have to ‘teach’ another pair their poem or give a presentation to the class which would have to show some relationship to either their own experience or modern life. Some of these were fascinating as they came up with connections that I often had not thought of – this illustrates another key factor in teaching boys, the importance of relating what they are learning to their own experience and the broadening that experience.

Writing and responding to non-fiction texts: Using Success Criteria – vital although I did not give them a list. Instead we analysed examples – often from previous pupils– and created our own success criteria. After trialling this a few times, the boys were asked to create their own without an example to work from. This was very successful and led nicely into planning – an aspect of writing that boys in particular often hate. However, this time they could see the relevance. Understanding the use of Success Criteria made it easy for the boys to use a self-assessment form based on their mock GCSE papers. (See Appendix 2). This broke down the paper into a combination of simple exam tactics and areas of knowledge. Their revision was then based on this self-assessment.

Case study 3

Making it real and relevant to the final GCSE z

Writing a speech that they would perform to small groups and have it peer-assessed.

z

Using texts, for example, newspapers that had been printed the day before.

z

Looking at what would be assessed and trying to match the assessment criteria to an exemplar piece and then their own.

z

Trying to grade it using similar approaches.

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z

Writing paragraphs first and the linking them with sentences or connective words taken from a selection on cards – some of which would never work – that is, a game.

z

Looking at websites and magazines that they knew or found to analyse.

None of these approaches are unusual in themselves; however, using such a variety kept the boys challenged and motivated. With the comment-only marking for shorter pieces, they could also see instant success as they improved their work – excellent for motivation.

Speaking and listening: There are three final assessments for this element of the English GCSE. There was no problem in choosing the pair or individual assessments as we did many; however, the Drama piece was more challenging as it had to be sustained and in-role. Therefore I wrote a murder mystery. It would take place in a golf club in 1930 near Chicago, USA. As I needed to create five groups and, once a group performed the murderer would be revealed, I altered the murderer, motive and weapon for each group. This was greeted with great enthusiasm and once the first act was peer assessed, the performances were raised and several A* and A grades were able to be awarded – particularly to some of the less able writers among the group who suddenly showed amazing talent.

Year 10 High Ability Boys I chose to teach the equivalent Year 10 class to my Year 11 class as I wanted to see if the teaching & learning strategies I had used for Year 11 would be as effective with a different group. I quickly realized that, although many of the strategies themselves – particularly AfL – would work; I had a greater task in the resourcefulness element as the spread of ability and confidence varied immensely. For more information please see our case studies.

Year 10 Lower Ability Boys (taught by EM) Having taught this small group of boys in Year 9, I was confident that our relationship would stand us in good stead for GCSEs. However, a few new students were joining the group and, of course, the demands of the GCSE course would require much more of the students. My strategies for taking the boys further included: Typically, Year 10 focuses on written and spoken coursework and so requires a lot of sustained writing; a particular challenge for this group. With this in mind, I was careful to pick subject matter that I thought would stimulate the boys. Obviously, this is a consideration for any group but the single gender of the group gave me the advantage of being able to choose particularly boy-friendly subject matter. Coursework included analysing a scene from ‘Shaun of the Dead’, studying Iago’s role in ‘Othello’ and looking at Victor and his creature in ‘Frankenstein’.

Other strategies included:

Case study 3

Assessment for Learning: as before; Speaking and Listening and Drama: as before; Breaking tasks down: In order to keep the boys and their work focused, much of our coursework has been based on the close analysis of a key scene or chapter in relation to the novel, play or film as a whole. For example, whereas with the all-girls set, I had based their prose study on an analysis of a range of chapters in a novel, the work with the boys was based on the close analysis of one particular chapter. No doubt I would have taken this

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Case study 3

approach with a similar ability mixed gender group but this does reflect the majority of the work I have done with the boys.

Findings A summary of findings for each year of the project can be found below. For a more detailed description on the findings and data collection methods please visit the Campaign for Learning’s website, www.campaignforlearning.org.uk.

Year One findings z

Key Stage 3 results showed a marked improvement in writing;

z

the ‘value added’ gap between girls and boys has closed;

z

teacher assessment has been raised in boys’ writing and girls’ speaking and listening;

z

comments from both pupils and parents confirm these views;

z

setting for Year 10 has continued as separate gender for the top two sets as there were almost equal numbers of boys and girls – never before achieved.

Year Two findings z

Key Stage 3 results show a significant improvement, particularly in writing;

z

there is a far greater number of Levels 6 and Levels 7 achieved in the top set;

z

motivation from higher attaining boys has increased considerably with considerable lessening of the anti-academic achievement culture;

z

Year 10 girls are far more confident with their speaking skills;

z

the Year 10 boys, in particular, seem to be enjoying lessons far more.

Year Three findings z

Single gender teaching in English can raise attainment by raising self-esteem and motivation, particularly in boys;

z

Motivation of the boys led to a perceived reduction in the ‘cool’ anti-academic culture across the school;

z

Assessment for Learning strategies and adapting teaching methods helped develop Resourcefulness, Readiness and Reflectiveness.

z

The impact of the project has coincided with a shift in the gender attainment at GCSE – boys outperformed girls by 2 per cent for 5 A*–C grades and by 10 per cent for 5 A*–C grades including English and Maths – thus leading us to believe that there is a link, although this may not be measurably and directly attributable.

Case study 3

Conclusions The most important findings are: z

The culture of a year group, and even a whole school, can be changed into a more focused learning community by using the attributes of Resourcefulness, Reflectiveness and Readiness along with another R – Responsibility. Leadership from

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students with self-esteem, motivation and independence of learning can help sway those who feel it is not cool to be a boffin. z

Using Learning to Learn and Assessment for Learning strategies can help improve results at KS3 and GCSE in English.

z

Single gender groups help increase motivation and attainment through teachers not only adapting their methods to appeal to the perceived interests and needs of the group but also extending, developing and challenging their perceptions.

z

The teachers involved, Mandi Horwood, Rita Martin and Erica Morgan, have all found the project interesting, enjoyable, challenging and, at times, highly entertaining!

Future developments? Due to staffing issues there was one GCSE cohort (2007–09) that has not been taught in single gender. Interestingly, most of the teachers have noted differences in the motivation of these groups in comparison to single gender – the hormones do fly! The 2008–10 cohort is back into single gender as the majority of the English teachers and the Leadership Team – including the Headteacher who had taught a challenging boys’ group in the 2006–08 cohort – felt that this had proved to be the more successful in terms of motivation, culture and raising boys’ attainment.

Case study 3

The teachers and the school will continue to strive to enable our students to become confident, independent learners with secure self-esteem and a desire to meet new challenges. This may include continuing single gender teaching; it may not. What it will definitely include are the two key strategies – Learning to Learn and Assessment for Learning.

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Learning to learn for life 3 – research and practical examples for secondary schools

Case study 4

Using learning mats in mathematics John Rutter Ellesmere Port Specialist School of Performing Arts, Cheshire

Focus in the 5Rs for Lifelong Learning

✓

RESILIENCE REMEMBERING RESOURCEFULNESS REFLECTIVENESS READINESS

✓ ✓ ✓ ✓

The school Ellesmere Port Specialist School of Performing Arts is situated in a large Council housing estate, which is an area of social disadvantage. There are approximately 950 pupils drawn from 14 main feeder schools. Almost all pupils are of white British background. It has roughly 22 per cent Free School Meals (FSM). There are 35 per cent KS3 pupils and 45 per cent KS4 pupils with SEN, almost all of whom are fully integrated into lessons, with those pupils who are not fully integrated at least partly integrated. A high proportion of pupils have problems with literacy with only 53 per cent starting with Level 4 at Year 7. CAT testing indicates that a high proportion have difficulty with literacy and numeracy.

Why the selected project We intended to find out during this research whether using learning mats improved pupils’ ability to learn. This area was chosen as that most appropriate to the needs of pupils and the school. Many of the pupils in the school have a poor attitude to learning and come to lessons unprepared for study. It was intended to use the project to research into ways to interest and stimulate these pupils into taking a much more positive view of their own potential, by giving them knowledge and understanding which they could use to direct and control their own learning.

Case study 4

The 5Rs The research was directed at developing the elements of Readiness, Remembering and Reflectiveness in pupils in Key Stage 3. The intention was to develop ways to improve behaviour as the result of enabling pupils to create their own higher levels of skills and understanding. This would, it was envisaged, lead to higher levels of self-esteem as achievement improved, so to aiding the success of a vital school aim – the improvement of attendance in Key Stage

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3. It was believed that to improve the general attitude to learning in the school would enable it to produce learners who were satisfied with their understanding of their abilities and potential and determined to build on this throughout their lives.

What did the school actually do? First year In Maths, the starters were used to encourage curiosity and motivation before a lesson began and also to improve a pupil’s willingness to learn (Readiness). Mind maps were used primarily to introduce and conclude topics and also to aid the pupils’ revision for any forthcoming tests. It was hoped that this would encourage Reflectiveness, pupils’ memory skills and recall (Remembering). Once we had decided which classes would take part in the study the implementation of the strategies took place at the individual teacher’s pace. The following are accounts by individual teachers of the main strategies used. Sue Moore: For those Maths lessons where a starter was deemed appropriate, an activity was used to begin the lesson. I used a wide variety of starters, some of which are as follows: z

Whiteboards for pupils to answer questions individually but as part of a whole class activity

z

‘Number fans’ for pupils to display answers within a group

z

Quizzes on past topics

z

Number puzzles to promote logical thinking

z

‘Follow me’ cards used as a class activity

z

Demonstrations by pupils for pupils

z

Matching exercises to revise topics

All students very quickly fell into the routine of completing a task at the beginning of most lessons. Pupils clearly enjoyed such activities, particularly those that involved whiteboards or number fans, where the pupils had the sole responsibility for the resources. I used mind maps mainly to conclude a topic as I hoped that the class could revise the topic when constructing the mind maps and then use them as a revision tool to help with their recall and remembering skills.

Case study 4

At first the pupils found it difficult to construct them alone so it was always a group discussion about what should be included. Once the pupils became more familiar with the concept, I was able to guide the discussion but allow the pupils to have more input into its content. After a few weeks I began to introduce games using the mind maps. For example, pupils would form groups of three or four and have one large A3 piece of paper. I would have already developed a mind map on a topic and I would give the pupils 1 minute each to study the mind map at the front of the class, then return to their group to draw what they could remember. As a team they had to devise strategies to remember as much as they could and then I would ask them questions based on information from the mind maps. I hoped that this would highlight ways in which the pupils could use their mind maps during revision. Although mind maps were completely new to all of the pupils at the beginning, they have become quite proficient at constructing them now and can see the benefits of using them.

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Case study 4

John Rutter: To examine the effectiveness of mind mapping in mathematics it was necessary to find a way to incorporate mind maps in to the lessons of the two classes involved, but at the same time continue with an element of traditional teaching to ensure the curriculum was delivered. Initially this was to be achieved by mapping to recap and review at the end of each topic by developing a map with the class. Mind maps were well received: pupils enjoyed this way of working and were keen to contribute to the discussion necessary to produce the maps. .

It soon became apparent that mind maps were also an effective way to introduce new topics. This presented the challenge of designing mind maps for new topics. Some of the rules for mind mapping needed to be relaxed to produce maps with a high content of formulae and diagrams.In some cases concepts maps were more appropriate and pupils needed to be taught how to make appropriate choices in presentation. It was also important for pupils to be given opportunities to produce their own maps as a step towards becoming independent learners. This was achieved by encouraging the use of maps during note taking, recall sessions where students would be expected to reproduce maps and mind mapping revision homework. An alternative approach was to present the main content of a lesson in the form of a mind map with key questions radiating from a central image. Pupils were allowed to work in pairs tackling the questions in the order they preferred. They were encouraged to use mental strategies and no formal presentation was required. I found that with fewer constraints on the presentation of the work pupils preferred this method of approach to more traditional lessons. Assessment of these lessons was also effective as it soon became apparent which types of questions pupils were finding difficult or unable to complete. A mind map style was also used to design assessment tools as an alternative to tests and pupils found these less intimidating than tests. These proved to be a very effective means of formative assessment.

Case study 4

A mind map style was used to design assessment tools as an alternative to tests

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Mind maps or concept maps also proved to be an effective method of organising plenary activity as these could be referred to at various times during the teaching process. Since starter activities were already an integral part of mathematics teaching at the school, this project would provide an opportunity to measure the effectiveness of a variety of mindfriendly starter activities. A range of visual, audio and kinaesthetic activities were be used in these classes and evidence was be collected to establish pupil attitudes towards these activities and their contribution in raising attainment. The starter activities included matching games, loop or follow-me cards, counting-on activities, visualizations, puzzles, 30-second challenges, tests, use of number fans, memory games, brain gym and interactive teaching programs. Initially activities were not necessarily related to the content of the lesson, but due to time constraints on delivery of the content of some lessons it became necessary to use the starter to deliver some of the lesson content. Using some of the puzzle activities included in the textbook as starters became an effective way of doing this. Pupils were engaged in these activities, which were used to inform the teaching. In some cases, dealing with misconceptions highlighted during starters formed the main part of the lesson. Having starters relevant to the main lesson made much more sense as this meant that there was less deviance from the original lesson objective. Some of the more effective starters were discussions prompted by concept maps. These provided visual support to discussion and reference material for use during the lesson. Interactive Teaching Programs also proved to be effective starter activities. These were used at appropriate times to introduce and reiterate concepts and methods.

Findings: Year One During the first year of the project we had shown that mindmaps were a useful tool in the classroom for developing the dispositions to learning through the 5Rs. Mindmaps provided opportunities for plenaries and starters and as revision tools. Some pupils had difficulty producing their own mind maps and others had problems with the radial layout of mindmaps. We decided to look at the benefits of producing learning mats in a variety of styles for pupils at different levels for a range of topics. Many of the designs adopted were based on ideas that had come out of previous work on mind maps. Pupils were also given the opportunity to develop their own learning mats. The aim of this was to provide us with evidence of the features that would appeal to pupils. These ideas would then be adopted for learning mats produced by staff. Through the use of effective mind-friendly starters and plenaries, using mind mapping and peer support, pupils in Key Stage 3 learn more effectively and are able to remember key facts and reflect on the learning objectives. We are looked specifically at Readiness, Remembering and Reflectiveness.

Case study 4

Sue Moore has seen more enjoyment from the pupils in her lessons, which has encouraged her to become more imaginative and more confident in her ideas and teaching. She has picked up many good ideas from the huge amount of research and books that have been read or discussed, and she continues to develop herself professionally. Her bank of starters expands each lesson and she has found this project exciting and hugely effective. She would like to develop a more structure in the maintaining of teacher and pupil logs. John Rutter found developing a Learning to Learn approach in the classroom both challenging and rewarding. He is developing his own style of Concept mapping to convey

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Case study 4

mathematical ideas and has produced a portfolio of maps which he hopes other teachers will find useful. Mind mapping is now becoming an integral part of many of his lessons. Pupils are now able to produce mind maps and are beginning to see the benefit of using this strategy. This approach has been of significant benefit to EBD and Dyslexic pupils and has had a positive influence on behaviour and attitude of the research groups. We also used the questionnaire that we had designed ourselves to find out about the pupils’ attitudes towards activities that they have used specifically within our Maths Lessons, and also to examine if their preferred learning styles had changed. By varying how they are used, mind maps have proved useful: as starter activities, for introducing the main content of lessons, to encourage discussion, for plenary activities and as assessment tools. Paired-working and peer support has helped to promote discussion between pupils about the work being studied, provide support for weaker pupils and encourage peer and selfassessment. Pupils involved in the project have become more involved in the learning process and have become increasingly willing to try different approaches to develop their learning. Pupils have improved their ability to produce and use mind maps effectively and developed their ability to work in peer groups. The teachers involved have developed a bank of resources and strategies that can be used in the future and cascaded to other staff. Involvement in L2L has allowed us to develop and practise ideas and techniques that we felt would enable pupils to develop such skills. Through networking with colleagues involved with the project in school and other schools nationwide, various approaches have been adopted and refined. We have tried strategies that would not previously have been considered with varying degrees of success and we now take more risks in the classroom. Pupil questionnaires have provided a valuable insight in to the changing attitudes of pupils and the opinions and needs of the pupils are being considered much more in the learning process. We are beginning to use assessment that measures the effectiveness of activities in lessons, rather than merely the attainment of the pupils. Learning to Learn has had a serious impact on all members of this project.

What did the school actually do? Second year

Case study 4

Following the success of the L2L research process in Year One it was logical to continue and expand the development of activities to encourage learning. Whilst some success had been achieved in other subjects with mind mapping and group work, it was decided that the focus now needed to shift to starter activities. Starter activities were being used in the mathematics department but not consistently, and the activities used were not easy to integrate in to lessons and often wasted valuable teaching time. Rather than prepare pupils for learning, they often only seemed to ‘wind up’ the pupils. Developing the activities in mathematics by use of PowerPoint as a tool for

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delivery seemed logical, as there was already a range of activities available that could be adapted. It was also envisaged that this could then be extended to other subject areas. The aim of the research was to develop a variety of mathematics lessons, games and activities designed to improve teaching and learning. Underpinning the research was the importance of providing a visual stimulus to pupils and to encourage the use of visual stimuli in their own learning and revision. The progression to the use of PowerPoint and interactive software to deliver mental and oral starters, lesson content and plenary activities was a logical step and an obvious base for research during Year Two. This involved developing a range of activities including starter activities, lessons and plenary activities to aid the delivery of lessons and stimulate the learning process. The hypothesis investigated was that the use of PowerPoint starter activities, lessons, games and plenaries would develop the ability of pupils to learn. Throughout the research process we needed to: z

trial the lessons and activities in the classroom;

z

evaluate the impact of these lessons on teaching and learning; and

z

promote the successful elements of this research through the forum of Learning to Learn (L2L).

In order to provide a focus on the Learning to Learn principles (5Rs) I aimed to show that the activities would support the following: z

Readiness – Lesson starters and introductions prepared with PowerPoint help pupils to get in a mind state for learning quickly.

z

Remembering – Visual effects and games as well as constant review help pupils to remember lessons.

z

Resourcefulness – Use of effective PowerPoint starters can provide pupils with a constant review of essential skills.

z

Reflectiveness – Pupils can be provided with constant review of topics and plenary activities can be built in to presentations.

z

Resilience – Building in more examples and instructions with clear explanation can improve pupils’ resilience to cope with work set.

Case study 4

To facilitate the research a range of lessons and activities were developed using PowerPoint. These included:

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z

Structured Lessons with Test Starters;

z

30-second Challenges;

z

Five Question Mental Starters;

z

Matching Exercises;

z

A Blockbuster activity – ‘Rounding Busters’;

z

Bingo Games;

z

Picture Matching – ‘Shapes’.

Learning to learn for life 3 – research and practical examples for secondary schools

Case study 4

Structured lessons with test starters The use of PowerPoint to improve the effectiveness of teaching was most successfully trialled with Year 8, Set 4. This class had previously been a difficult group to settle and pupils often took a while to get started with their work. Their short attention span allowed only short teacher input and changes in routine often caused problems, as did transition between activities. The teaching for this group with PowerPoint involved lessons chunked in to short manageable sections, starting with a mental test or simple number activity. The main part of the lesson comprised prompts in the form of examples for the teacher to complete on the whiteboard. Pupils were then encouraged to follow examples presented by the teacher. During these lessons pupils settled more quickly, took the tests quite seriously and were then ready to start work. Transition between lessons was less of a problem. Pupils were able to follow the examples more easily than when the answers to examples appeared automatically on a mouse click as part of the presentation.

MENTAL MATHS CHALLENGE 16 50% of this

8

n2

64

six extra

70

x4

280

10% of this

28

1/

7

of this

4

multiply by 9

36

n

6

x8

48

30-second starters used to start Year 9 lessons

30-Second challenges During the research process we developed a set of 30-Second Challenges’ which were used as starter activities. These were used with classes where the content was at an appropriate level and they were adapted for use with lower ability groups. These activities were intended as a means of reminding pupils of key skills, for example, finding square roots, squares, cubes, and for revision of multiplication and division.

Case study 4

We found during the study that it was essential to provide a copy of the activity for pupils to record their answers, as some pupils often had difficulty working only from the projector. This also made record keeping easier and more pupils took the activity seriously as there was an expected written outcome.In some cases verbal input was also necessary in terms of explanation of key skills and this provided a valuable teaching opportunity. These activities helped staff and pupils to identify learning needs, which could then be addressed during lessons. As time progressed pupils became much more familiar with symbols for squares, roots and cubes and improved their ability to find fractions of quantities and percentages.

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Mental Starters were used to provide a constant review of key skills

Five question lesson starters These starters were most appropriate for Years 9 and 10 Classes and were used mainly for revision. The activities had been used before in a verbal format and the adaptation in to PowerPoint presentation was intended to encourage teachers to use these on a more regular and consistent basis. Pupils would benefit by the visual display of the questions. It was hoped to improve the performance of pupils in the mental Key Stage 3 tests and provide a constant review of topics. These activities proved to be very popular with the pupils in Key Stage 3 and Key Stage 4. Pupils asked to complete a series of tests rather than have normal lessons as they became aware of the learning process in which they became involved. They realized that the tests involved Key Skills and when unable to answer questions they were anxious to learn how to

Shapes

Parallelogram Pentagon

Case study 4

Octagon

Rhombus

Trapezium

Hexagon Isosceles Triangle

A simple interactive shape-naming exercise was used as a starter to help with spelling of key words

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answer the questions. The activities have become accepted practice by even the most sceptical staff members. The project has also helped develop the use of PowerPoint lessons in classrooms as little extra planning is needed. To extend the impact of the study from previous research, the number of classes used to trial these activities was increased. An example of the activities produced is presented below; these are also shown throughout this case study.

Findings: Year Two A simple learning log had been used to gauge pupil responses to activities used. Pupils also had opportunity to expand on reasons for their choices, which provided useful research evidence to support findings.

Questionnaire Responses in KS3 and KS4 Which part of the lesson helped you to learn best? Results using a 5 point scale response

Mental Starter

3.59

55%

PowerPoint

3.88

68%

Teacher’s Explanation

3.68

59%

Examples

3.56

58%

Text Book Exercise (Practice)

3.13

41%

Worksheet (Practice)

3.44

51%

Game

3.93

70%

Group Work/Paired Work

3.45

55%

Mind Map

3.18

36%

Plenary

3.44

49%

Other

3.09

34%

The responses show a positive attitude towards the PowerPoint used in the lessons and the use of games Results from the analysis of the pupils’ learning logs

z

lesson starters and introductions prepared with PowerPoint help pupils to get in a mind state for learning quickly, thus improving pupils’ Readiness to learn;

z

the visual content of PowerPoint lessons and games as well as constant review help pupils Remember lessons;

z

use of effective PowerPoint starters can provide pupils with a constant review of essential skills to develop Resourcefulness;

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The outcome of the research process has been extremely positive for both pupils and teachers. The questionnaire responses and observation supported the hypothesis in a number of ways:

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z

when pupils are provided with constant review of topics and plenaries built in to presentations there is an improvement in their Reflectiveness on learning; and

z

building in more examples and instructions with clear explanation can improve pupils’ Resilience to cope with work set, and encourage the use of teacher examples and models.

What did the school actually do? Third year During the first two years of the L2L project research has been undertaken by a number of primary schools into the use of learning mats (for example see McAlevey and Barrett 2005). I was aware that little or no work had been done in the use of learning mats in secondary schools. My intention was to build on the research in the first two years by developing a learning mat resource bank for use in maths. Whilst generic learning mats have been produced by a number of companies and some by the Cheshire Maths Team, there was a distinct lack of learning mats focussing on specific topics. Once these resources had been developed they could be trialled in the classroom.

An example of a learning mat based on angles

Case study 4

It was intended that once learning mats had been developed and used in the classroom a pupil attitude survey would be used to measure the effectiveness of learning mats as a learning tool. Unfortunately the development of learning mats was a slow process and only a limited number of teachers managed to use them to an extent that enabled pupil attitudes to be measured within the time frame available. It became apparent early in this process that there was a clear value in pupils creating their own learning mats. Where possible this was encouraged. Pupils in foundation groups engaged well in these activities in a similar way to lessons involving mind maps. The learning

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mats produced were limited to the existing knowledge of the pupils and rarely extended to new learning. In extension groups pupils engaged well in the design of learning mats in topics which often extended their learning beyond prior knowledge. These groups were also able to develop the learning mats by producing electronic versions using PowerPoint and Macromedia Flash. I became interested in the impact of this process on pupils at this level. I wanted to investigate the level of quality and accuracy that could be achieved in the mats produced and the effect this process had on the pupils involved. This was one of the most significant developments in the project. The main focus of this project was my own Key stage 3 classes, a Year 8 Set 2 and a Year 9 Set 1. Mats were developed for and by these classes, and I hoped to gain sufficient evidence from these groups to support my hypothesis. As the project progressed learning mats were used with other classes and the project extended to other classes.

Findings: Year Three We intended to find out during this research whether learning mats improved pupils’ propensity to learn. There were a number of significant findings that support this hypothesis. Approximately 40 per cent of pupils in the sample had little or no experience of working with learning mats. Approximately 60 per cent had varied experience of using and producing learning mats. Just over 50 per cent of pupils either agreed or agreed strongly to the statement ‘Learning mats help me understand the work,’ ‘Learning mats would be useful for revision’ and ‘If you make your own learning mat it helps you learn’. 0nly 30 per cent said that they enjoyed making their own mats, however, and just over 20 per cent said they would prefer learning mats made by their teacher.

Learning Mats are best if they are produced by computer Learning Mats would be useful for revision I cannot understand Learning Mats Made by other pupils Learning Mats should be available for all topics Learning Mats make the work more interesting If you make your own Learning Mat it helps you learn The quality of Learning Mats is important I enjoy making my own Learning Mats I would prefer Learning Mats made by the teacher Learning Mats help me understand the work

Agree

10%

20%

30%

Not Sure

40%

50%

60%

Disagree

70%

80%

90%

100%

Case study 4

0% Strongly Agree

Strongly Disagree

General results from the pupil questionnaire

Almost half agreed that learning mats should be available for all subjects. The high response rates of ‘Not Sure’ to many of the questions is believed to reflect the number of students who had not experienced learning mats. The high proportion of positive responses suggested an overall positive response to learning mats.

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Most Important Features of Learning Mats 50% 45% 40% 35% 30% 25% 20% 15% 10% 5% 0% Pictures

Key Words

Examples

Cartoons

Colour

Key Ideas

Space to Write

Laminated

A3 Size

Pesonalised

Pupil responses with regard to different elements of the learning mats

The most important features of learning mats for pupils were key words (73 per cent of pupils), worked examples (73 per cent) and an element of colour. Pupils also thought pictures an important feature of the mats. Staff involved in the process had a positive reaction to learning mats as pupils involved in the lessons had generally been responsive. There was a significant difference in attitude between pupils of different abilities. Whilst most pupils enjoyed the activities, more able pupils had a much more positive reaction to the mats as learning tools rather than just as the outcome of ‘fun’ lessons. Whilst the response to use of learning mats indicated by the survey was positive, only a relatively small proportion of pupils overall had experience of learning mats. Although the result of the survey indicated that a high proportion of pupils who had experienced learning mats reacted positively, the research would have been more effective if more pupils had been engaged in the activity and the pupils had all had similar experiences.

Conclusions

Case study 4

The focus the project in the first year was the use of mind mapping and peer support in lessons. Our main findings were that,

78

z

by varying how they were used, mind maps proved useful in a range of ways: as starter activities, for introducing the main content of lessons, to encourage discussion, for plenary activities and as assessment tools.

z

paired-working and peer support helped to promote discussion between pupils about the work being studied. They provided support for weaker pupils, and encouraged peer and self-assessment.

Learning to learn for life 3 – research and practical examples for secondary schools

Case study 4

z

pupils involved in the project became more involved in the learning process and became increasingly willing to try different approaches to develop their learning.

z

pupils improved their ability to produce and use mind maps effectively. They developed their ability to work in peer groups. The teachers involved developed a bank of resources and strategies that could be used in future and cascaded to other staff.

The focus in the second year of the project was the effective use of PowerPoint in mathematics lessons. The outcome of the research process was extremely positive for both pupils and teachers. The questionnaire responses and observation supported the hypothesis in a number of ways:

z

Lesson starters and introductions prepared with PowerPoint helped pupils to get prepared for learning quickly, thus improving pupils’ Readiness to learn;

z

The visual content of PowerPoint lessons and games as well as constant review helped pupils to Remember lessons;

z

Use of effective PowerPoint starters can provide pupils with a constant review of essential skills to develop their Resourcefulness;

z

When pupils are provided with constant review of topics and when plenaries are also built in to presentations there is an improvement in their Reflectiveness on learning; and

z

Building in more examples and instructions with clear explanation can improve pupils’ Resilience to cope with the work set, and thus encourages the use of teacher examples and models.

The key findings during Year three of the research and additional outcomes were, z

Pupils agree that if you make your own learning mat it will help you to learn and understand the work.

z

Over half of pupils said that learning mats make the work more interesting.

z

Pupils could see the value of learning mats as revision tools.

z

Developing learning mats was time consuming and not all pupils appeared to value teacher produced learning mats.

z

Learning mats were sometimes too complex and needed to be simplified.

z

More able pupils were able to produce their own high quality learning mats.

z

The important features of learning mats were key words, worked examples and colour.

Case study 4

During a recent HMI Inspection, it was noted in the school’s report that we are successfully developing the school’s attitude towards teaching and learning.

❛ The whole school emphasis on improving teaching and learning . . . has had a notable impact which is reflected in the recently improved tests and examination success. ❜

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The enormous impact that teaching and learning is having on the school so far has been recognized, and we very much hope that this success continues to grow with this project. The staff have the full support of the school to continue to develop mind-friendly learning, as was also noted in the HMI Inspectors’ report:

Case study 4

With this recognition and support, we hope our success will continue to grow so we can share our knowledge and skills with others to encourage effective practice across the school.

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Section Four Developing learning to learn in your school

Convinced that Learning to Learn works? Want to find out if you can create similar results in your school or classroom? But where do you start? This section offers some brief guidance on putting Learning to Learn into practice in your school or classroom. It does not attempt to provide a blueprint or suggest that there is one right way to introduce Learning to Learn. Every school is different – as the project schools have discovered. They have learned some valuable lessons about implementing Learning to Learn and about resilience when things do not go as planned. It is important that what you do is appropriate to your situation and takes account of the way you and your colleagues already plan your work. The following cycle may be helpful in structuring your thinking.

Take stock

Define issues and goals

Monitor, evaluate and review

Plan the approach and put it into practice

No doubt you already do steps 1 – 3, but the 4th step of Reflection is the vital element to Learning to Learn. Please note that this is an ongoing process and not a one-off cycle.

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Taking stock When thinking about how you are going to implement Learning to Learn in your school, you first need to establish whether this is a school-wide initiative or a project involving just a few teachers – or perhaps you may be going it alone initially. You will, of course, need management support so that you have time to plan and develop work. If you are a lone pioneer or one of a small group of like-minded people, do not despair. It may take time to interest and involve your colleagues, and share your findings and your successes. Many of our project teachers have found that what started as small initiatives in one or two classes are now being spread across the school because of their success. Many schools report positive impact on teacher motivation and team working as a result. As well as assessing the level of support and size of the Learning to Learn team, you might wish to identify other initiatives that are already in place or planned in your school that will have an impact on or relationship to Learning to Learn. You will also need to take stock of your school’s and your own teaching and learning approach. This may be set out in formal statements such as the School Development Plan or Teaching and Learning Strategy. You will also of course have a sense of the ethos of the school from your own observations. Taking time to think through how Learning to Learn will fit with the ethos of your school in advance will be time well spent.

What makes a Learning to Learn school? – teacher or pupil? Before considering specific issues in your school and fixing your goals, you might find it helpful to reflect on what makes a Learning to Learn school and how its teachers and pupils would experience it. We asked a selection of project teachers the same questions and they came up with the following, which we have touched on earlier in the book. You may find it useful to discuss your own perceptions on this issue with colleagues before you read the ideas that follow. In any event, try not to be swayed by these answers when putting together your own initial thoughts.

What is a Learning to Learn school? A school that focuses on: School culture – focus on teaching and learning, open to change, increasing pupil motivation, everyone is a learner, lively or stimulating, high aspirations, good physical environment, parental involvement, raising standards, boosting teacher morale. What pupils do – pupil involvement or responsibility, pupils take risks, pupils are reflective. What teachers do – variety of styles and approaches, using research, self-evaluate, common approach/teamwork, positive relationships, broad rich curriculum, clear vision from the head, explicit cross-curricular links, creativity.

Who is a Learning to Learn teacher? Someone who is concerned with: Effective relationships with pupils – inclusivity, listening to pupils, role model.

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Developing learning to learn in your school

Process features (such as talking about learning) – learning alongside pupils, planning, talk about learning, creative, team player, resourceful. Environmental factors – positive environment, explicit teaching of Learning to Learn skills, recognition of Learning to Learn.

Who is a Learning to Learn pupil? Someone who shows: Awareness of the process of learning – process knowledge, self-evaluating autonomy, resourcefulness, problem solving, remembering. Psychological preparedness for learning – independence, motivation, reflectiveness, resilience, adapt to change, enjoy learning, self-confidence, empowerment. Effective communication – communication skills, working with others, active participation, emotional skills. How do your answers compare?

Defining issues and goals Having assessed where you are starting from, the next question is ‘Where do you want to get to?’. Your Learning to Learn team, having decided what a Learning to Learn school, pupil and teacher would look like, could use the following checklist to help in brainstorming the answers to these key questions. z

What are the big issues for learning and teaching in our school?

z

What do we want to change and why?

z

How do we want to change and why?

z

How do we want to change it?

z

Are there particular groups of pupils causing concern?

z

Is parental involvement or the lack of it an issue?

z

What goals do we want to achieve in the next year and the next three years?

z

What will success look and feel like?

z

How can we build this into our School Development Plan/ Teaching and Learning Strategy/other planning processes?

At the Campaign for Learning, we like to say that Learning to Learn isn’t just another thing to add to your list of Things To Do – it is a single effective way to tick off the top 5!

Planning your approach and putting it into practice Having sorted out the issues that you want to focus on and what your goals are, you can now plan your approach and put it into practice. As the section on school interventions on page 19 shows, some of our project schools developed individualized programmes based on their own intuition and experience, whilst others used a range of published approaches. The key factor is your judgement of what will work best in your school. Sufficient time for

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planning, INSET and review is also crucial. The other crucial factor is to make your approach manageable. Don’t plan a grand scheme if you know you don’t have time. Think about what you are already doing, how Learning to Learn fits with this and how one action can achieve several aims. At this point, the 5Rs framework may come in useful. The project schools have used the framework to structure their research. Many started by identifying the R or Rs they would like to develop and shaped their approach or method from there. The 5Rs are also useful as they can provide a common language that teachers, pupils and parents can use. It is important that everyone involved in a child’s education has a common language so that everyone understands each other and, more importantly, that the child is part of the process and their learning is not just something discussed above their heads. The 5Rs can be flexible so feel free to adapt them for your circumstances.

Monitoring, evaluating and reviewing As with any new development, you will want to build in ways of checking on progress and using this information to evaluate and review how Learning to Learn is developing in your school. In addition to hard data from SATs or GCSEs, which only provide very limited information for pupils in examination years, you may want to consider one or more of the data collection tools used by our project schools that are set out on page 19. Many of our project schools emphasize the exploratory nature of Learning to Learn and the importance of keeping teaching and learning strategies under review so that there is continuous improvement. This is apparent in the increased importance of Reflection, one of the 5Rs, as a focus of enquiry.

Lessons from the project Of course making all these changes is never going to be easy, as some of the project schools have admitted in their case studies. Here are some of the lessons they have learnt.

Learning environment A desirable and key feature, identified by the teachers, for implementing Learning to Learn is that the whole school acts as a positive learning environment. This includes the headteacher, who, as the lead learner, is learning alongside the teachers, the pupils, other school workers, the parents and the community. The school is a learning community where everyone goes to learn together: making this explicit has generated many benefits for project schools. This type of environment needs to be low risk and non-threatening. It is this space that gives the Learning to Learn teacher/leader(s) the ability, and the permission, to trial ideas and develop them to meet the needs of the school. In turn, this impacts positively on the teacher(s) involved. If you are a lone innovator, this is harder to do, but you can create a learning environment within your classroom with yourself as the lead learner.

‘

I felt able to experiment with my teaching and learning methods which was really positive.

’

Teacher, Fallibroome High School, Cheshire

Part of this learning environment is the opportunity to talk about and share your ideas, whether it is with colleagues, through a network, via a website or beyond. It is always beneficial to discuss your work and experiences, particularly if you are a lone innovator in your school.

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Developing learning to learn in your school

‘

Teachers believe very firmly that the best and most useable ideas come from other teachers, and that it is teachers and teachers’ peers who are the most credible source of new knowledge and how to apply it.

’

Teacher, Fallibroome High School, Cheshire

Timing

When introducing Learning to Learn into a school, the scale of the changes and timing are important factors to consider. On reflection, one school, for example, felt that they would have made the same changes, but with hindsight they would have implemented them more gradually rather than all together. Other schools found that introducing Learning to Learn techniques at the same time as preparing for an OFSTED inspection was challenging. Changes in key staff can also have an impact on the implementation of Learning to Learn, as was found in some of the project schools.

Impact of data Another key issue that needs to be considered when spreading Learning to Learn is the impact of data that may not show the expected positive results. Your school may not have to make the information available outside the school, but it is important to take note of it. Important questions to ask include: z

Why did the data not show what you had expected?

z

Were there external factors influencing the results?

z

Can the data be broken down to identify differences between age, gender, ethnic or any sub-groups of learners?

z

Are there any positive or interesting findings that can be drawn from this?

It may be the case that you have found the answer to a different problem than the one you were hoping to solve. A celebrated example of this concerns the researchers who were looking for a link between lung cancer and pollution. They found no link whatsoever, but accidentally found a link between lung cancer and smoking. If they had not looked at the results more closely and from different angles, the link between lung cancer and smoking could have been hidden for years.

Scaling up A further important lesson learned by the project schools relates to the scaling up of projects. To ensure that the expansion is successful, colleagues new to an idea need to have the knowledge and background information of the innovation and be convinced of its benefit before they take it into their classroom. They also need to be allowed to tinker with the innovation, so they have ownership and are able to make it appropriate in the context of their own classrooms.

Conclusions To implement Learning to Learn in your school, it is best not to look for a set answer, or a box of tricks. Our research shows that what works best is likely to be something which has been designed especially for your school, by those who know it – that is, you! This is not to say that you are alone in implementing your approach. As we have discussed, working in networks or having regular conversations with your colleagues to gain ideas is essential. It is hard work to develop a programme which is right for you, but our project schools are very clear

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about the benefits. The key thing you need to remember is to make whatever you plan manageable and appropriate in your context.

What next? As with any research, you end with some answers, but also a new set of questions. Phase 3 of the national Learning to Learn Action Research Project was no different. For this reason, the Campaign for Learning has decided to continue with a fourth phase of research. Phase 3 was successful in demonstrating that Learning to Learn approaches can support development in schools, the professional learning of teachers and the development of students’ understanding of their learning. But perhaps the most important question still to be examined is – ‘How does involvement in Learning to Learn over time impact on students’ and teachers’ views of themselves as learners, and how does this, in turn, affect their knowledge and skills for Learning to Learn?’ Alongside the schools project in Phase 4, we are also undertaking a Learning to Learn project in FE. In the light of 14–19 developments, particularly around functional skills and Personal Learning and Thinking Skills, and the need for new models which will help young people take charge of their own learning in the lead-up to the proposed raising of the participation age, we feel it is important to make these links and that schools and colleges have much to gain from sharing their experiences, approaches and insights with each other.

And please keep in touch! We would love to hear how you get on with implementing Learning to Learn in your school. We also want to keep you updated about any new developments in our own Learning to Learn research. We have established a national Learning to Learn Network which any school or college can join to keep in the loop, and we run regular conferences, seminars and training sessions on Learning to Learn. We also offer a consultancy service to schools new to implementing Learning to Learn through our Support Our Schools service. Please email us L2l@cflearning.org.uk or log on to our Learning to Learn website at www.learningtolearn.co.uk to find out more. Good luck!

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Section Five Useful resources

Introduction Lucas, B. and Greany, T. (2001) Learning to Learn: setting an agenda for schools in the 21st century; Stafford: Campaign for Learning/Network Educational Press. Lucas, B., Greany, T., Rodd, J. and Wicks, R. (2002) Teaching Pupils How to Learn: research, practice and INSET resources; Stafford: Campaign for Learning/Network Educational Press. Greany, T. and Rodd, J. (2003) Creating a Learning to Learn School: research and practice for raising standards, motivation and morale; Stafford: Campaign for Learning/Network Educational Press. Goodbourn, R., Higgins, S., Parsons, S., Wall, K. and Wright, J. (2005) Learning to Learn for Life: research and practical examples for the Foundation Stage and Key Stage 1; Stafford: Campaign for Learning/Network Educational Press. Rodd, J. Phase One and Two Research Reports, available from the Campaign’s website www.campaignforlearning.org.uk. Higgins, S., Wall, K. et al. Phase Three Research Reports, available from the Campaign’s website www.campaignforlearning.org.uk. Goodbourn, R., Higgins, S., Siegle, L., Wall, K. and Wright, J. (2006) Learning to Learn for Life: research and practical examples for Key Stage 2; Stafford: Campaign for Learning/Network Continuum Press. Wall, K., Higgins, S. and Packard, E. (2007) Talking about Learning: Using templates to find out pupils’ views; Southgate Publishers.

Section One Ipsos MORI (2008) Schools Omnibus 2008 (Wave 14), Campaign for Learning. Leitch Review of Skills (2006) Prosperity for all in the global economy - world class skills, Cabinet Office, www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/d/leitch_finalreport051206.pdf. Baumfield, V., Hall, E. and Wall, K. (2008) Action Research in the Classroom. London: Sage.

Section Two Bartsch, K., Horvarth, K. and Estes, D. (2003) ‘Young children’s talk about learning events’, Cognitive Development, 18: 177–93. Baumfield, V. M. (2006) ‘Tools for Pedagogical Inquiry: the impact of teaching thinking skills on teachers,’ Oxford Review of Education 32(2): 185–96. Baumfield, V. M. and Butterworth, A. M. (2005) Systematic Review of the Evidence for the Impact of Teaching Thinking Skills on Teachers, London: EPPI-Centre, Social Science Research Unit, Institute of Education.

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Baumfield, V., Higgins, S. and Lin, M. (2002) ‘Thinking through teaching: professional development for innovation and autonomy’, Education Review, London: National Union of Teachers, Autumn 2002: 61–67. Baumfield, V., Higgins, S., and Leat, D. (2001) Thinking Through Primary Teaching, Cambridge: Chris Kington Publishing. Buzan, T. (2001) Mind Maps at Work: How to Be the Best at Work and Still Have Time to Play, London: Harper Collins. Clement, M. and Vandenberghe, R. (2000) ‘Teachers’ professional development: a solitary or collegial (ad)venture?’ Teaching and Teacher Education, 16: 81–101. Condie, R. and Munro, R. (2007) The Impact of ICT in Schools – a landscape review Coventry: BECTA. Cordingley, P., Bell, M., Rundell, B. and Evans, D. (2003) ‘The impact of collaborative CPD on classroom teaching and learning’, Research Evidence in Education Library. London: EPPI-Centre, Social Science Research Unit, Institute of Education. David, M. (1998) Review essay: ‘Home-school relations or Families, Parents and Education’, British Journal of Sociology of Education, 19(2), 255–61. Davies, J. and Bremner, I. (1995) ‘Change in self-esteem between year 2 and year 6: a longitudinal study’. Educational Psychology, 15(2), 171–180. Day, C. (1999) Developing Teachers: the challenge of life-long learning, London: Falmer Press. Deal, T. E. and Peterson, K. D. (1998) Shaping School Culture: the heart of leadership, San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. Dennison, P. and Dennison, G. (1994) Brain Gym: the teachers’ edition, Ventura, CA: Edu-Kinesthetics Inc. Dewey, J. (1997) Experience and Education, New York: Touchstone. Falzon, C., Higgins, S. and Wall, K. (2004) (‘Using ICT-supported action research as an approach to teacher professional development and systematic enquiry’ ), paper presented at the First International Innovation Education Conference, July 2004, The University of Leeds, UK. Fuller, A. and Unwin, L. (2003) ‘Learning as apprentices in the contemporary UK workplace: creating and managing expansive and restrictive participation’, Journal of Education and Work, 16: 407–26. Gardner, H. (1993) Multiple Intelligences, Philadelphia, PA: Basic Books. Gardner, H. (1993) Frames of Mind: theory of multiple intelligences, Glasgow: Fontana Press. Glaser, B. (1992) Basics of Grounded Theory Analysis, California, CA: Sociology Press. Goodbourn, R., Higgins, S., Parsons, S., Wall, K. and Wright, J. (2005) Learning to Learn for Life: research and practical examples for the Foundation Stage and Key Stage 1. Stafford: Network Educational Press. Goodbourn, R., Higgins, S., Siegle, L., Wall, K. and Wright, J. (2006) Learning to Learn for Life: research and practical examples for Key Stage 2. Stafford: Network Educational Press. Haggarty, L. and Postlethwaite, K. (2003) ‘Action Research: a strategy for teacher change and school development’, Oxford Review of Education, 29(4): 423–48. Hall, E., Leat, D., Wall, K., Higgins, S. and Edwards, G. (2006) ‘Learning to Learn: teacher research in the zone of proximal development’, Teacher Development, 10(2): 149–66. Hall, E., Wall, K., Higgins, S., Stephens, L., Pooley, I. and Welham, J. (2005) Learning to Learn with Parents: lessons from two research projects, Improving Schools, 8(2): 179–91. Hannan, G. (1991) Equal Opportunities (Outcomes: Handbooks for Effective Development), Glasgow: Simon & Schuster Education. Higgins, S. and Leat, D. (2000). ‘Horses for courses or courses for horses: what is effective teacher development?’ In J. Soler, A. Craft and H. Burgess, eds Teacher Development: Exploring our own practice. London: Paul Chapman. Higgins, S. E. and Baumfield, V. M. (2001) Thinking through Primary Teaching, Cambridge: Chris Kington. Higgins, S., Wall, K., Baumfield, V., Hall, E., Leat, D. and Woolner, P. with Clark, J., Edwards, G., Falzon, C., Jones, H., Lofthouse, R., Miller, J., Moseley, D., McCaughey, C., and Mroz, M. (2006) Learning to Learn in Schools Phase 3 Evaluation: Year Two Report, London: Campaign for Learning. Higgins, S., Wall, K., Falzon, C., Hall, E., and Leat, D., with Baumfield, V., Clark, J., Edwards, G., Jones, H., Lofthouse, R., Moseley, D., Miller, J., Murtagh, L., Smith, F., Smith, H., Woolner, P. (2005) Learning to Learn in Schools Phase 3 Evaluation Year One Final Report, London: Campaign for Learning.

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Learning to learn for life 3 – research and practical examples for secondary schools

Useful resources

Higgins, S., Miller, J., Wall, K. and Packard, N. (2004) Learning about Learning: developing digital portfolios in primary schools, Newcastle: University of Newcastle. Higgins, S., Hall, E., Wall, K., Woolner, P. and McCaughey, C. (2005) The impact of school environments: a literature review, London: Design Council/ CfBT. Available to download from www.ncl.ac.uk/cflat. Hodkinson, H. and Hodkinson, P. (2003) ‘Improving the learning of secondary teachers: supporting an expansive learning environment’, paper given at the British Educational Research Association Conference, September 2003, Edinburgh. Kagan, S. (1994) Cooperative Learning, San Clemente, CA: Kagan. Kagan, S. (1992) Same-Different: A Cooperative Learning Communication Building Structure, Kagan Publishing: www.Kaganonline.com. Kemmis, S. and McTaggart, R. (1988) The Action Research Planner (3rd ed.), Geelong: Deakin University. Kuhn, D. (1999) ‘Metacognitive development’, in L. Balter and C.S. Tamis-LeMonda eds Child Psychology. A handbook of contemporary issues, Philadelphia: Psychology Press: 259–86. Leat, D. and Higgins, S. (2002) ‘The role of powerful pedagogical strategies in curriculum development’, The Curriculum Journal, 13, 103–21. MacGilchrist, B. and Myers, K. (1997). The Intelligent School. London: Paul Chapman. McLaughlin, C. and Black-Hawkins, C. with Andy Townsend (2005) Practitioner Research and Enquiry in Networked Learning Communities, Cambridge: University of Cambridge Faculty of Education for Networked Learning Communities. McLaughlin, M. W. and Yee, S. (1988) ‘School as a place to have a career’, in A. Lieberman ed. Building a professional culture in schools, New York: Teachers’ College Press. Miles, M. and Huberman, M. (1994) Qualitative Data Analysis. London: Sage. Mortimore, P. (2006) Lecture at the Institute of Education 11 October 2006 based on an article in Politiken ‘Strengths and Weaknesses of Folkeskole’ (2006) which was the outcome of an OECD review of the Danish Education system. Moseley, D., Baumfield, V., Elliott, J., Gregson, M., Higgins, S., Miller, J., and Newton, D. P. (2005) Frameworks for Thinking: a handbook for teaching and learning, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Reeves, J. and Forde, C. (2004) ‘The social dynamics of changing practice’, Cambridge Journal of Education, 34: 85–102. Robinson-Pant, A. and Cox, S. (2005) Empowering Children through Visual Communication, London: CfBT. Rodd, J. (2001) Learning to Learn in Schools: Phase 1, London, Campaign for Learning, (see www.campaignforlearning.org.uk/projects/L2L/Resources/researchreports.htm) Rodd, J. (2002) Learning to Learn in Schools: Phase 2, London, Campaign for Learning, (see www.campaignforlearning.org.uk/projects/L2L/Resources/researchreports.htm) Ronnerman, K. (2003) ‘Action Research: educational tools and the improvement of practice’, Educational Action Research 11(1): 9–21. Rudduck, J. and Hopkins, D. Eds (1985) Research as a basis for teaching: readings from the work of Lawrence Stenhouse. London: Heinemann Educational Books. Sakoda, J. M., Cohen, B. H. and Beall, G. (1954) ‘Test of significance for a series of mathematical tests’, Psychological Bulletin, 51(2), 172–75. Hall, E. and Santer, J. (2001) ‘Building Relationships with Parents: Lessons in Time and Space from three research projects’, in Day, C. and van Veen, D. Eds Educational research in Europe Yearbook 2000, Leuven: Garant. Somekh, B. (1995) ‘The Contribution of Action Research to Development in Social Endeavours: a position paper on action research methodology’, British Educational Research Journal, 21(3):339–55. Standing, K. (1999) ‘Lone mothers and parental involvement: a contradiction in policy?’ Journal of Social Policy, 28(3), 479–95. Stenhouse, L. (1975) An Introduction to Curriculum Research and Development, London: Heinemann. Stenhouse, L. (1981) ‘What counts as research?’ British Journal of Educational Studies 29(2): 103–114. Swaffield, S. & MacBeath, J. (2005) Embedding Learning How To Learn in school policy: the challenge of school leadership, Research Papers in Education, 21: 201–15.

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Section Five

Veenman, M. V. J., Kok, R. and Blöte, A. W. (2005) ‘The relation between intellectual and metacognitive skills in early adolescence’, Instructional Science, 33: 193–211. Wall, K., S. Higgins, and Smith, H. (2005) ‘“The visual helps me understand the complicated things”: Pupil views of teaching and learning with interactive whiteboards’, British Journal of Educational Technology, 36(5): 851–67. Wall, K. and Higgins, S. (2006) ‘Facilitating and supporting talk with pupils about metacognition: a research and learning tool’, International Journal of Research and Method in Education 2006, 29(1): 39–53. Wall, K., Higgins, S., Miller, J. and Packard, N. (2006) ‘Developing Digital Portfolios: investigating how digital portfolios can facilitate pupil talk about learning’, Technology, Pedagogy and Education, 15(3), 261–73. Wilson, S. M. and Berne, J. (1999) ‘Teacher learning and the acquisition of professional knowledge: an examination of research on contemporary development’, in A. Iran-Nejad and P. D. Pearson, Review of Research in Education: 24, Washington DC: AERA: 173–209. Zeichner, K. M. (2003) ‘Teacher Research as Professional Development for P-12 Educators in the USA’, Education Action Research, 11: 301–26.

Section Three The Roseland Community College Black, P., Harrison, C., Lee, C., Marshall, B., and Wiliam, D. (2003) Assessment for Learning: putting it into practice, Open University Press. Black, P. and Wiliams, D. (1998) Inside the Black Box: Raising Standards Through Classroom Assessment, NFER Nelson Publishing Co. Ltd. Clarke, S. (2001) Unlocking Formative Assessment: practical strategies for unlocking pupils’ learning in the primary classroom, London: Hodder and Stoughton. Clarke, S (2005) Formative Assessment in the Secondary Classroom, London: Hodder and Stoughton. Coffield, F., Moseley, D., Hall, E. and Ecclestone, K. (2004) Should we be using learning styles? : What research has to say to practice, available for download at: www.lsda.org.uk/pubs/dbaseout/download.asp?code=1540. Coffield, F., Moseley, D., Hall, E. and Ecclestone, K. (2004) Learning styles and pedagogy in post-16 learning: A systematic and critical review, available for download at: www.lsda.org.uk/pubs/dbaseout/download. asp?code=1543. Every Child Matters: www.everychildmatters.gov.uk/. Literacy Trust single gender abstract: www.literacytrust.org.uk/research/classsinglesexabstracts.html. Horwood, M. and Martin, R. (2004) An investigation of the effects of gender specific classes for teaching secondary English (The Roseland Community College Year One Project). Available at: www.campaign-for-learning.org.uk/ pdf/L2L/Case%20Studies%202003_4/Roseland2004.pdf. Horwood, R. and Morgan, E. (2005) An Investigation of the Impact on Learning of Single Gender Groups (The Roseland Community College Year Two Project). Available at: www.campaign-for-learning.org.uk/pdf/ L2L/casestudies2004_5/Roseland.pdf.

Ellesmere Port Specialist School Buzan, T. (2001) Mind Maps at Work: How to Be the Best at Work and Still Have Time to Play, London: Harper Collins. Greenhalgh, P. (2002) Reaching Out to All Learners: A Mind Friendly Framework for Learning, Stafford: Network Educational Press. McAlavey, F. and Barrett, M. (2004) Implementing and developing ‘learning mats’ and ‘stuck mats’ in Key Stage 1 (St Saviour’s Infants Year One Project). Available at: www.campaign-for-learning.org.uk/pdf/L2L/ Case%20Studies%202003_4/StSaviours2004.pdf.

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Useful resources

Rutter, J., Parkin, A., Morris, D. and Moore, S. (2004) Learning to Learn: a mind-friendly approach to mathematics and humanities (Sutton High School Year One Project). Available at: www.campaign-for-learning. org.uk/pdf/L2L/Case%20Studies%202003_4/Sutton2004.pdf. Rutter, J. (2005) Developing the use of PowerPoint Resources to Support Learning (Sutton High School Year Two Project). Available at: www.campaign-for-learning.org.uk/pdf/L2L/casestudies2004_5/Sutton.pdf.

Camborne Science & Community College Claxton, G. (2004) Building Learning Power: tracking learning online, available at: www.buildinglearningpower. co.uk/site/index.php?page=section5. Coffield, F., Moseley, D., Hall, E. and Ecclestone, K. (2004) Should we be using learning styles? : What research has to say to practice, available for download at: www.lsda.org.uk/pubs/dbaseout/download.asp?code=1540. Coffield, F., Moseley, D., Hall, E. and Ecclestone, K. (2004) Learning styles and pedagogy in post-16 learning: A systematic and critical review, available for download at: www.lsda.org.uk/pubs/dbaseout/download. asp?code=1543. De Bono, E. (2004) Edward De Bono’s Thinking Course, London: BBC Books. De Bono, E. (2004) How To Have A Beautiful Mind, London: Vermilion, Ebury Press. Gardner, H. (1993) Multiple Intelligences, Philadelphia, PA: Basic Books. Gregorc, A. (1985) Inside Styles: Beyond the basics, Maynard, MA: Gabriel Systems. Gregorc, A. (1986) Adults Guide to Style, Maynard, MA:Gabriel Systems. O’Conner, J. and Seymour, J. (2003) Introducing NLP: Neuro-Linguistic Programming, London: Harper Collins. Welham, J. (2004) Assessing the impact of a whole school Learning to Learn policy (Camborne Science & Community School Year One Project:2). Available at: www.campaign-for-learning.org.uk/pdf/L2L/ Case%20Studies%202003_4/Camborne32004.pdf. Welham, J. (2004) Assessing the impact of getting ‘more parents involved in school’ on student motivation and achievement (Camborne Science & Community School Year One Project:1). Available at: www.campaign-forlearning.org.uk/pdf/L2L/Case%20Studies%202003_4/Camborne12004.pdf. Welham, J. (2005) Investigating how Learning to Learn can Support the Key Stage 2/3 Transfer (Camborne Science & Community School Year Two Project:2). Available at: www.campaign-for-learning.org.uk/pdf/L2L/ casestudies2004_5/Camborne.pdf.

Fallibroome High School Black, P., Harrison, C., Lee, C., Marshall, B., and Wiliam, D. (2003) Assessment for Learning: putting it into practice, Open University Press. Black, P. & Wiliams, D. (1998), Inside the Black Box: Raising Standards Through Classroom Assessment, NFER Nelson Publishing Co Ltd. Clarke, S. (2001) Unlocking Formative Assessment: practical strategies for unlocking pupils’ learning in the primary school, London: Hodder and Stoughton. Gormally, J. (2004) Learning together implementing co-operative learning in the secondary school (Fallibroome High School Year One Project). Available at: www.campaign-for-learning.org.uk/pdf/L2L/ Case%20Studies%202003_4/Fallibroome2004.pdf. Gormally, J. (2005) Building the Capacity to Learn to Learn (Fallibroome High School Year Two Project). Available at: www.campaign-for-learning.org.uk/pdf/L2L/casestudies2004_5/Fallibroome_Gormally.pdf.

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Section Five

Useful websites

92

Aspiro

www.aspiroweb.co.uk

Building Learning Power

www.buildinglearningpower.co.uk

Campaign for Learning

www.campaignforlearning.org.uk

Curee

www.curee.co.uk

Department for Children Schools and Families

www.dcsf.gov.uk

National Literacy trust

www.literacytrust.org.uk

Kagan Publishing

www.kaganonline.com

National Family Learning Network

www.familylearningnetwork.com

National Foundation for Educational Research

www.nfer.ac.uk

Research Centre for Learning and Teaching, University of Newcastle

www.ncl.ac.uk/cflat

Select Education

www.selecteducation.co.uk

Teachernet

www.teachernet.gov.uk

Teaching and Learning Research Programme

www.tlrp.org

Learning to learn for life 3 – research and practical examples for secondary schools

APPENDIX 1

Technical details for the Ipsos MORI surveys 2008 Survey – 2,387 secondary school pupils responded aged 11–16. Data was weighted by gender, age and region. Data was collected between 11/01/08 – 28/03/08. The survey was undertaken through Ipsos MORI’s young people omnibus. 2007 Survey – 2,417 secondary school pupils responded aged 11–16. Data was weighted by gender, age and region. Data was collected between 15/01/07 – 20/03/07. 2004 Survey – 2,412 secondary school pupils aged 11–16. Data was weighted by gender, age and region. Data was collected between 12/01/04 – 12/03/04. 2002 Survey – 2,670 secondary school pupils aged 11–16. Data was weighted by gender, age and region. Data was collected between 14/01/02 – 8/03/02. 2000 Survey – 2,207 secondary school pupils aged 11–16. Data was weighted by gender, age and region. Data was collected between 01/00 – 03/00. 1998 Survey – 4,245 secondary school pupils responded aged 11–16. Data was weighted by gender, age and region. Data was collected between 19/01/98 – 13/02/98. Where percentages do not sum to 100 or figures alter in commentaries, this may be due to computer rounding. N.B. Not all response options are listed in the tables, or mentioned/discussed in the text.

Learning to learn for life 3 – research and practical examples for secondary schools

93

Appendix 2

94

APPENDIX 2

Learning to learn for life 3 – research and practical examples for secondary schools

Summary of case studies from Cheshire

School/ Teachers

First Year Research Title

Second Year Research 5R Focus

Fallibroome High School Learning Together: Resilience (Jane Gormally & Francis Power) Implementing Cooperative Resourcefulness Learning Techniques In A Readiness Secondary School

Third Year Research

Year1

Title

5R Focus

Year

Title

5R Focus

Age

Y7

Building The Capacity To Learn To Learn

Reflectiveness Resourcefulness Resilience

Y7 Y8

Implementing Assessment For Learning With Year 7 Pupils

Resilience Resourcefulness Reflectiveness

Y7

Does Peer Assessment Improve Pupil Performance?

Reflectiveness Resourcefulness Resilience

Y7

Exploring The Impact of Using Differentiated Ability Pairs On Pupil Performance After A Peer Assessment Exercise

Reflectiveness Resourcefulness Resilience

Y7

Developing Formative Assessment In Secondary Design & Technology

Resilience Remembering Reflectiveness

Y7 Y8

Reflection For Learning

Reflectiveness Remembering

Whole School

Fallibroome High School (Caroline Wood)

Fallibroome High School (Francis Power)

Henbury High School (Ann Dutoy)

Learning To Learn: Improving Students’ Understanding Of How They Learn

John Street Primary School (Lyn Marshall)

Using The Teaching of PE To Develop Readiness Skills To Enable Children To Learn Successfully

Readiness

Y2 Y5

Leaf Lane Infant School (Shelley Long, Lindsey Weedall, Cathy Houghton-Eccles

Stop! Time To Reflect

Reflectiveness

Whole School

Reflectiveness Remembering Resourcefulness

Using Learner Logs Remembering To Reflect And Reflectiveness Remember

Y7

Whole School

Learning to learn for life 3 – research and practical examples for secondary schools

Over Hall Primary School (Claire Edgeley, Simon Kidwell, Nicola Dowling & Peter Lambert

Using Multiple Intelligences To Create Resourceful Lifelong Learners

Resourcefulness

Y3 Y6

Creativity In The Classroom

St Saviour’s Catholic Infant School (Fleur Mcalavey & Mary Barrett)

Implementing And Developing ‘Learning Mats’ And ‘Stuck Mats’ In Key Stage 1

Remembering Resourcefulness

Y1 Y2

Developing Resourcefulness Learning Mats And Remembering 5r Table Tops In Key Resilience Stage 1

Reception Y1 Y2

Sutton High School2 (John Rutter, Dave Morris, Annette Parkin, Sue Moore & Dave Blake)

Learning To Learn: A Mind-Friendly Approach To Maths And Humanities

Remembering Readiness Reflectiveness

Y7 Y8 Y9

Developing The Use Of PowerPoint Resources To Support Learning

Resilience Resourcefulness Remembering Readiness Reflectiveness

Winsford High Street Primary School (Chris Stelling, Helen Barwick & Vicki Lewis)

Creating Resourceful Lifelong Learners

Resourcefulness

Nursery Creating Year R Resourceful Y1 Lifelong Learners Y2

Winsford High Street Primary School (Sonya Huxley)

Resourceful Lifelong Learning

Resourcefulness

Y3 Y4 Y5 Y6

Wolverham Primary School (Moira Conde)

Developing Resilience In Pupils Throughout The Primary School

Resilience

Y6

Woodford Lodge High School (Martin Fleetwood, Karen Hunt, Tracy Walsh & Vicki Harrison)

A One Year Study Of Delivering Non-Fiction Texts Within A MindFriendly Structure

Remembering Resourcefulness Readiness

Y7

A One Year Investigation Of How To Improve Student Attainment Through Peer and Self Assessment

Reflectiveness

Developing The ‘Every Child Matters’ Agenda At Over Hall Primary School

Reflectiveness

Whole School

Y7 Y8 Y9 Y10

Using Learning Mats In Mathematics

Resilience Resourcefulness Reflectiveness

Y8 Y9

Resourcefulness Reflectiveness

Whole School

Developing A Circle Time Model Involving Children’s Self Assessment And Developing Cooperative Learning Strategies For Lifelong Learning

Resourcefulness Reflectiveness

Whole School

Resourcefulness Reflectiveness Remembering Readiness

Y7 Y8 Y9 Y10 Y11

A One Year Study Assessing The Impact Of Questioning Upon Pupil Outcomes

Reflectiveness Remembering Resourcefulness Readiness

Y7 Y8 Y9 Y10 Y11

2 Now Ellesmere Port Specialist School of Performing Arts

95

Appendix 2

1 See http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/EducationAndLearning/Schools/ExamsTestsAndTheCurriculum/DG_ 4016665 for an explanation of school years the National Curriculum in England.

Whole School

Appendix 2

96 Summary of case studies from Cornwall Learning to learn for life 3 – research and practical examples for secondary schools

School/ Teachers

First Year Research

Title

Second Year Research

5R Focus

Year

Title

5R Focus

Third Year Research

Year

Alverton Primary School (Ben Chalwin)

Title

5R Focus

Year Group

Developing Motivation And Attitude To Resilience Learning Through Kinaesthetic And Physical Resourcefulness Approaches To The School Day Readiness

Year 6

Developing Motivation And Attitude To Resilience Learning Through Kinaesthetic And Physical Resourcefulness Approaches To The School Day Readiness

Y6

Alverton Primary School (Rick Gill)

Raising Self-Esteem Through Circle Time In A Year 3/4 Class

Resilience Readiness

Y3 Y4

Alverton Primary School (Katherine Hamley)

Raising Self-Esteem Through Circle Time In Year 6

Resilience Readiness

Y6

Alverton Primary School (Helen Hughes)

Raising Self-Esteem Through Circle Time In Year 5

Resilience Readiness

Y5

Developing Motivation And Attitude To Resilience Learning Through Kinaesthetic And Physical Resourcefulness Approaches To The School Day Readiness

Reception Y1 Y2

Alverton Primary School (Denise Lawry)

Raising Self-Esteem Through Circle Time In Foundation Stage 2

Resilience Readiness

Reception

Developing Motivation And Attitude To Resilience Learning Through Kinaesthetic And Physical Resourcefulness Approaches To The School Day Readiness

Reception

Alverton Primary School (Cathryn Wicks)

Raising Self-Esteem Through Circle Time In Year 5

Resilience Readiness

Y5

Developing Motivation And Attitude To Resilience Learning Through Kinaesthetic And Physical Resourcefulness Approaches To The School Day Readiness

Y5

Brannel High School (Heather Jenkins)

Learning To Learn: A Whole School Approach

Resourcefulness Reflectiveness Remembering Readiness Resilience

Y7 Y8 Y9 Y10

Developing Creativity Readiness Across The Primary Resourcefulness School

Whole School

Camborne Science & Community College (John Welham)

Assessing The Impact Of ‘Getting Parents More Involved In School’ On Student Motivation And Attainment

Resilience Resourcefulness Readiness

Y11

Assessing The Impact Of ‘Getting Parents More Involved In School’ (Update From Year One)

Resilience Resourcefulness Readiness

Y11

Camborne Science & Community College (John Welham)

Assessing The Impact Of A Whole School Learning To Learn Strategy

Resourcefulness Readiness Resilience Remembering Reflectiveness

Whole School

Assessing The Impact Of Academic Coaching On GCSE Performance

Resilience Resourcefulness Reflectiveness Readiness

Y11

Learning to learn for life 3 – research and practical examples for secondary schools

Camborne Science & Community College (John Welham)

Kehelland Village School (Richard Gambier, Karen Brooker, Carol Polgase, Carol Rees, Marion Davies & K. Bennett)

Life-Long And LifeWide Learning

Lanner Primary School (Liz Martin & Pippa Pender)

Using Different Readiness Teaching Techniques And Organisation To Develop Readiness Skills

Remembering Reflectiveness Readiness

Investigating How Resilience Learning To Learn Resourcefulness Can Support The Key Stage 2/3 Transfer

Y7 Y8

Investigating How Learning To Learn Can Impact On The Key Stage 2/3 Transfer (Update From Year Two)

Resilience Resourcefulness

Y8

Whole School

Engaging All Learners Through Developing Thinking Skills

Resourcefulness Reflectiveness Remembering

Whole School

Investigating Children’s Ability To Plan And Assess Their Own Learning

Readiness Reflectiveness Remembering

Whole School

Y2 Y6

Will The Use Of Formative Assessment Techniques Increase Pupils’ Involvement In Their Own Learning?

Reflectiveness

Y5 Y6

Will Involving Pupils Reflecting On Learning Reflectiveness Through A Network Increase Motivation And Resilience?

Whole School (Focus Y6)

(Continued )

Appendix 2

97

Appendix 2

98 Learning to learn for life 3 – research and practical examples for secondary schools

School/ Teachers

First Year Research

Title

Second Year Research

5R Focus

Year

Title

5R Focus

Third Year Research

Title

5R Focus

Year Group

Lanner Primary School (Liz Martin & Pippa Pender)

Will Involving Pupils Reflecting on Learning through the use of E-portfolios Increase Motivation and Resilience

Reflectiveness

Y6

The CPR Learning Space (Becky Williams)

Creative Use Of Technology To Optimise Peripheral Learning

Remembering Resourcefulness

Y6 Y7

Developing Formative Assessment Strategies Across The Primary School

Reflectiveness Remembering

Whole School

Pennoweth Primary School (Elizabeth Andrews, Sarah Delaney, Henna Dulwich, Pat Farley Nicola Furnish, Sally Garbutt, Ann Horner, Heather James, James Kitto, Jo Pedley, Devinder Sharma and Helen Tonkin)

The Role Of Environment In Developing Lifelong Learners

Reflectiveness Resourcefulness Readiness

Reception Y1

The Role Of Video Recording In Developing Lifelong Learners

St Meriadoc Infant & Nursery School (Linda Stephens And Irene Pooley)

Does Introducing Parents To Learning To Learn Techniques Have A Positive Effect On Pupils’ Achievement?

Resilience Readiness

Whole School

Does The Practice Resilience Of Parents Learning Reflectiveness Alongside Their Readiness Children Have A Positive Effect On Pupils’ Achievement?

Remembering Reflectiveness

Year

Reception Y1

Y2

Learning to learn for life 3 – research and practical examples for secondary schools

The Roseland Community College (Mandi Horwood, Rita Martin & Erica Morgan)

An Investigation Resourcefulness Into The Effects Of Gender Specific Classes For Teaching Secondary English

Y9

An Investigation Into The Impact On Learning Of Single Gender Groups

Resourcefulness Reflectiveness Readiness

Y9 Y10

Investigating The Impact On Learning Of Single Gender Groups

Resourcefulness Reflectiveness Readiness

Y11 Y10

Treloweth Primary School (Pat Williams And Ann Webb)

An Investigation Of The Impact Of Formative Assessment Strategies On Behaviour, Self Esteem And Attainment

Whole School

An Investigation Into The Impact Of Quality Questioning Strategies

Reflectiveness

Whole School

An Investigation Into The Impact Of A Skills Based Curriculum On Pupil Resilience And Resourcefulness

Resilience Resourcefulness

Whole School (Focus on Y6)

Does The Use Of A Prior Activated Learning Strategy Enhance Pupils’ Resilience And Improve Teaching And Learning In Mathematics

Resilience

Y9

Treviglas Community College (Michelle Eathorne)

Reflectiveness

Appendix 2

99

Appendix 2

100

Summary of case studies from Enfield School/ Teachers

First Year Research

Second Year Research

Third Year Research

Learning to learn for life 3 – research and practical examples for secondary schools

Title

5R Focus

Year

Title

5R Focus

Year

Title

5R Focus

Brettenham Primary School (Shelley Bannister, Julie D’Abreu, Christina Sultan & Lesley Ann Rose)

Developing Oracy In Year 2 With A Particular Focus On TurkishSpeaking Pupils

Resourcefulness

Y2

Creating Resourceful Lifelong Learners With A Focus On Turkish Speaking Boys

Resourcefulness

Y2 Y6

Fleecefield Primary School (Emma Glasner & Ulfët Mahmout)

The Possibilities Of Paired Learning In The Primary School

Resourcefulness Reflectiveness Readiness

Y6

Putting Paired Learning Into Practice In The Primary Classroom

Resourcefulness Reflectiveness

Hazelbury Infant School (Laurel Barber & Janet Thomas)

Introducing The Personal Effectiveness Programme Initiative (PEPI) Into An Infant School

Resourcefulness Readiness Reflectiveness

Reception PEPI: Personal Effectiveness Programme Initiative

Hazelbury Junior School (Christine Clipson)

Developing Reflectiveness And Resourcefulness In Year 4 Pupils

Reflectiveness Resourcefulness

Y4

Oakthorpe Primary School The Talk Project (Louiza Loizides, Sandra Sefer, Michelle Wood, Kate Billings & Lyn Davis)

Resourcefulness Reflectiveness

Raynham Primary School (Lorraine Downes, Felicia Lord-Attivor & Karen Steadman)

Developing Resilience

Wilbury Primary School (Anne Mulcahy & Elaine Saini)

Using Formative Assessment Strategies To Improve Children’s Writing Or “Nobody’s Brain Is Ever Full Up”

Year Group

Y2 Y4

Putting Paired Learning Into Practice

Resilience Y5 Resourcefulness Reflectiveness

Remembering Reflectiveness Readiness Resilience Resourcefulness

Reception Y1

PEPI: Personal Effectiveness Programme Initiative

Remembering Reception Reflectiveness Y1 Readiness Y2 Resilience Resourcefulness

Developing Reflectiveness And Resourcefulness In Year 5

Reflectiveness Resourcefulness

Y5

Developing Mind Maps® As A Tool For Improving Writing Quality In Year 5

Reflecting Remembering

Y5

Y2

Reading For Pleasure – Can Talking Help?

Resourcefulness Reflectiveness

Y2 Y5

Nurture – Can It Help The Hard To Reach?

Readiness Resilience

Y4 Y5 Y6

Resilience

Y6

Using Visual Clues To Reflect On Learning

Reflectiveness

Y2

Using Visual Cues To Reflect On Learning

Reflectiveness Y1 Resilience Y2 Resourcefulness Readiness

Resourcefulness Reflectiveness

Y2

Developing Formative Assessment Through The Primary School

Resourcefulness Reflectiveness

Y2 Y3 Y4 Y6

To What Extent Is Resourcefulness Y3 The Development Of Reflectiveness Speaking And Listening Skills A Prerequisite For Children To Become More Efficient Learners?

APPENDIX 3

Homework task sheet

Learning to learn for life 3 – research and practical examples for secondary schools

101

APPENDIX 4

Peer assessment handouts

102

FACTUAL CONTENT

The report includes some basic facts about an earthquake.

The report includes some limited details about the earthquake and the damage caused.

The report gives details of the earthquake with a good description of the damage caused.

WRITING STYLE AND USE OF GEOGRAPHICAL TERMINOLOGY

Simple report written using basic vocabulary.

The student writes a factual report with little use of Geographical terminology.

The student writes a mainly factual piece, with some attempt to use a dramatic reporting style. They begin to use correct Geographical terminology in all explanations.

MAPS AND DIAGRAMS

The student does not include any maps or diagrams.

The student includes a simple map or diagram.

The student includes clear map(s) and diagram(s).

SUGGESTIONS FOR FUTURE

The student does not include any ways of reducing the damage from a future earthquake.

The student gives few suggestions of ways of reducing the damage from a future earthquake.

The student suggests some ways of reducing the damage from a future earthquake.

RESEARCH AND REFERENCES

The student has done very little research.

The student has done some research but this has not been very thorough.

The student has obviously done some good research, but they have not included a list of their references.

Learning to learn for life 3 – research and practical examples for secondary schools

Appendix 4

Very good research means that the report covers the factual details of the earthquake well, with lots of information about the damage caused.

Excellent research means that the report is full of a wide range of factual details about the earthquake, its cause and effects, including interviews with affected people.

The student writes using a dramatic reporting style. Good use of appropriate Geographical terminology throughout.

The student writes fluently, using an individual and very dramatic reporting style. The causes of the earthquake are clearly explained to the reader. Excellent and accurate use of Geographical terminology throughout.

The student includes accurate and very detailed map(s) and diagram(s) which have some annotations.

The student includes accurate and very detailed map(s) and diagram(s), which are clearly annotated to explain what they show.

The student suggests a range of ways of reducing the damage from a future earthquake and gives some explanation of how they would help.

The student suggests a wide range of ways of reducing the damage from a future earthquake and explains clearly how they would help. They also give their opinion of which are the best options for their chosen location.

The student has used a number of resources in their research and there is a basic list of references.

There is clear evidence (i.e. detailed list of references) that the student has used a wide range of resources in their research, both on the INTERNET and also books/newspapers.

Learning to learn for life 3 – research and practical examples for secondary schools

103

APPENDIX 5

Homework: Route for information evening Learning objective: Using mental maps to practice route planning and description. z

Task: You are unable to accompany your parents/guardians to the information evening and do not have a map of the school. They want to see the room where your form registers and visit some of your other classrooms. You need to provide them with written instructions which:

Describe the route from the school’s main entrance to your form room. Describe the route from your form room to your Geography classroom. Your work will be assessed on: The accuracy and directness of your routes. HINT remember to observe the one-way system! How easy your description is to follow, by someone who does not know the school layout. HINT you will need to include some landmarks, for example the pond, so that they know they are on the correct route!

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Learning to learn for life 3 – research and practical examples for secondary schools

Learning to learn for life 3 – research and practical examples for secondary schools

How accurate and direct is the route from the SCHOOL’S MAIN ENTRANCE to your FORM ROOM?

They did not write a description of the route or the route did not start/finish in the correct place.

The route would have taken the parents/guardians part of the way but they would not have been able to make it without help from student guides.

The description of the route was quite accurate, with only a few mistakes or stages missed out. There was some mention of when the parents/ guardians would change direction on the way.

The description of the route was accurate and included all changes in direction.

The description of the route was accurate and detailed, including all the changes in direction. It followed the most direct route, keeping to the one-way system.

How easy is this route to follow?

The route was very confusing and the parents/guardians would not have been able to follow it.

The route could be followed by someone who knew the school but was not very easy to follow for the parents/guardians. There was no mention of landmarks they would pass, to help them on their way.

The route was quite easy to follow. It included some landmarks parents/guardians would pass on the way but these may not be as obvious to them.

The route was easy to follow, including obvious landmarks passed on the way.

The parents/guardians would have found the route extremely easy and interesting to follow. It included lots of obvious and useful landmarks passed on the way and perhaps showed them some things relevant to the student’s own life in school. There was also some idea given of the time it would take.

How accurate and direct is the route from your FORM ROOM to your GEOGRAPHY CLASSROOM?

Did not write a description of the route or the route did not start/finish in the correct place.

The route would have taken the parents/guardians part of the way but they would not have been able to make it without help from student guides.

The description of the route was quite accurate, with only a few mistakes or stages missed out. There was some mention of when the parents/ guardians would change direction on the way.

The description of the route was accurate and included all changes in direction.

The description of the route was accurate and detailed, including all the changes in direction. It followed the most direct route, keeping to the one-way system.

How easy is this route to follow?

The route was very confusing and the parents/guardians would not have been able to follow it.

The route could be followed by someone who knew the school but was not very easy to follow for the parents/guardians. There was no mention of landmarks they would pass, to help them on their way.

The route was quite easy to follow. It included some landmarks parents/guardians would pass on the way but these may not be as obvious to them.

The route was easy to follow, including obvious landmarks passed on the way.

The parents/guardians would have found the route extremely easy and interesting to follow. It included lots of obvious and useful landmarks passed on the way and perhaps showed them some things relevant to the student’s own life in school. There was also some idea given of the time it would take.

Appendix 5

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APPENDIX 6

Interview questions Interview questions for 7S Re: peer assessment exercises on earthquake news report and route to information evening Do you feel you improved the quality of your work following the peer assessment? Got worse

Stayed the same

Improved a little

Improved a lot

Dramatic improvement

1

2

3

4

5

Did you actually try to improve/re-draft your homework? If so, why? If not, why not? How do you feel about re-drafting/improving your homework? Don’t bother doing it

Waste of time

A chore but okay

Good to have the chance to have another go

Great opportunity to do the best you can

Other comments: Do you feel the amount of improvement you have made justified the time taken to re-draft the work? Comments: How do you feel about the quality of the peer marking of your work? Accurate? Fair? Not fair/accurate – too easy or too harsh

Person didn’t take it very seriously and guessed

Okay

Other comments: Were you able to work okay with your peer marking partner?

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Fair

Took time to mark very accurately

Appendix 6

Comments: Did you find any differences in the peer marking done by the two partners you had for the two exercises? Comments: What about the comments they both wrote about how to improve your work? Were they useful? Was one more/ less useful than the other? Did you act upon them? Comments: How do you think peer marking partners should be chosen? By students – friendship groups

By teacher – same ability

By teacher – different ability

By teacher – randomly

By teacher – alphabetically by surname

Same partner all year

Different partner each time

How did you feel about marking your two assessments? Comments: Do you feel the mark grids were okay to use? If not, what suggestions could you make to improve them? Comments: How useful/easy to use did you find the homework task sheets?

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Index

30-second challenges 73 5Rs of Lifelong Learning 17–18, 27–8, 31–2, 44, 54, 67–8 assessment exploration of 19–20 formative 19–20 peer 20, 31–42 strategies 57 attainment 23 Camborne Science & Community College (case study) 43–51 Campaign for Learning 4, 13–14, 21 case studies learning mats 67–80 parental involvement 43–51 peer assessment 31–42 single gender groups 53–66 classroom activities 7–8 classrooms 9 community, impact of Learning to Learn on 26–7 computers 10 contextualized innovation 20–1 data collection 18–19 drama 61, 63 Ellesmere Port Specialist School of Performing Arts (case study) 67–80 Fallibroome High School (case study) 31–42 formative assessment 19–20 gender groups 53–66 grandparents 10–11

process of 3 responsibility for 5 students’ attitudes toward 4–12 talk for 20 learning culture 24–5 learning environment 84–5 learning mats 67–80 learning preferences 6–7 Learning to Learn case studies 31–80 defined 3–4 impact of 22–7 implementation of, in your school 81–6 scaling up 85 whole school approaches to 21 Learning to Learn Action Research Project 13–28 context of 4 contextualized innovation 20–1 evidence collection 18–19 exploration of assessment 19–20 findings 22–7 lessons from 84–5 methodology 18 parental involvement 21 Phase One 14 Phase Two 14 Phase Three 14–17 Phase Four 27–8 project history 13 research framework 17–18 school interventions 19 listening 59, 64 mental starters 74–5 mind maps 68–71, 78–9 National Family Learning Festival 21

ICT 57, 61 innovation, contextualized 20–1 interaction, learning as 20 internet 10 laughter 57 learners attitudes of, toward learning 4–12 impact of Learning to Learn on 24–5 see also students learning 5Rs of 17–18, 27–8, 31–2, 44, 54, 67–8 attitudes toward 23–4 enjoyment of 5 as interaction 20 places for 9–10

parental aspirations 27 parental involvement 21, 43–51 parents impact of Learning to Learn on 26–7 role of 10 peer assessment 20, 31–42 peer pressure 57 poetry 63 PowerPoint 71–3, 79 pupil performance see student performance readiness 17, 28, 44, 54, 67 reflectiveness 17, 18, 28, 31–2, 54, 67, 84 relationships 57 remembering 17, 18, 27, 67

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Index

resilience 17, 18, 28, 44 resourcefulness 17, 18, 28, 54 responsibility 27, 28 Roseland Community College (case study) 53–66 school interventions 19 school leadership 25–6 schools changes in, sought by students 11–12 impact of Learning to Learn on 25–6 parental involvement in 21 qualities of Learning to Learn 82–3 single gender groups 53–66 speaking 59, 64

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student performance, impact of peer assessment on 31–42 students attitudes of, toward learning 4–12 changes in schools sought by 11–12 impact of Learning to Learn on 24–5 learning preferences of 6–7 qualities of Learning to Learn 83 talk, learning through 20 teachers 10 impact of Learning to Learn on 24 qualities of Learning to Learn 82–3 teaching, impact of Learning to Learn on 24 timing 85

Learning to learn for life 3 – research and practical examples for secondary schools