Technology in the Early Years: enhancing SEND policy and practice

Karensa Leith reports on Kinderly - the award-winning early years app for digitally recording early learning journeys and sharing with parents.

There have been huge changes in SEND policy in recent years, and practice must adapt accordingly. Technology is playing an increasingly important role and settings are finding that it provides new opportunities for enhancing SEND provision.

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      string(340) "... what if’ activities your class can enjoy. How would you feel if you were working as a ‘tied labourer’, a modern slave? antislavery.org provides case studies of young people currently forced to work as slaves. Their stories inspire vivid moral education classes. The Moksha Chitram board game has endless ..."
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      string(3603) "religious and community activities going on. Yell.com, upmystreet.com, multimap.com and earth. google.com were used to map routes, to find aerial photographs and to find the names and addresses of organisations. The pupils also used company websites to write or email people to arrange a visit. By following the swans, the pupils were using computers to discover their city in which they lived and the people who lived in it. They were also covering about half the school curriculum – geography, design and technology, citizenship, history, RE and English. In the original version of the project, Pollard has a fifth swan, able to fly anywhere in the world. This is a fine opportunity for global work and could involve use of the international resources at British Council Schools Online (schoolsonline.britishcouncil.org). This global discussion could be further developed through environmental sites such as the RE and Environment Programme’s reepinfo.org, the Global Village project at www.100people.org, and the ‘measure your impact on the planet’ exercises at myfootprint.org and footprintnetwork.org. Saying Goodbye So, we’ve said hello to new people, and have met them where they live. Time to say goodbye. What would you do if you knew when you were to die? The remarkably unpleasant ‘Death Clock’ at deathclock.com asks health questions, calculates the respondent’s life expectancy, and tells them when the day they are most likely to die on. Despite its unpleasantness, teachers tell me its impact on moral education can be remarkable. There are many other ‘what if’ activities your class can enjoy. How would you feel if you were working as a ‘tied labourer’, a modern slave? antislavery.org provides case studies of young people currently forced to work as slaves. Their stories inspire vivid moral education classes. The Moksha Chitram board game has endless uses. The game was developed in India to train children to escape from the cycle of rebirth and achieve nirvana. It was copied by Christian missionaries – in the UK, we know it as ‘snakes and ladders’. The game can be used to help pupils reflect on the ultimate end of life. Each pair of pupils should be given a 100 square grid with each square numbered. They should position clip art pictures of snakes and ladders on the chart. In pairs, pupils should consider what they want to achieve in life, and represent that in a document with text, pictures or audioclips. The students should then think about what might hinder them from achieving their goals, and attach a file describing each hindrance to each snake. Next the students should think about some of the things that might help them to achieve their goal, and produce a document or file describing each form of help. These are the ladders. Edit a ladder onto the board, stretching or shrinking the clip art to get the correct length of ladder. Then hyperlink the ladder to the file. You can even play the game using an electronic die. Professor Julian Stern is the Dean of Education & Theology at York St John University. ReferencesAbbott, C (ed) (2002) Special Educational Needs and the Internet: Issues for the Inclusive Classroom. London: RoutledgeFalmer.Rheingold, H (2002) Smart Mobs: The Next Social Revolution: Transforming Cultures and Communities in the Age of Instant Access. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Perseus. Stern, L J (2009) Getting the Buggers to Do Their Homework (2nd edition). London: Continuum."
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Computing and Coding

Soul and Chips

22 May 2018

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      string(5726) "Henley Business School, University of Reading17:00 Space Utilisation, Management and Efficiency: Updating Legacy BuildingsSPACEMANAGEMENT• Maximising space utilisation for multi-purpose buildings: Updating formal, informal, collaborative and personal learning spaces• Multi-purpose buildings and multi-functional spaces through flexibility and adaptability• Identifying critical space issues and their impact on budgetsKaren PickeringDirector, Page Park17:30 Chairperson’s Closing Remarks and end of Conference Day One17:35 Drinks ReceptionINTERACTIVEDISCUSSION28 Learning Spaces Volume Special IssueShowcasewww.teachingtimes.comCONFERENCE DAY TWO – THURSDAY 30th MARCH 20179Web www.learningspacesuk.com l Tel +44 (0) 207 036 1300 l Email enquire@iqpc.co.uk08:30 Chairperson’s Welcome08:35 Following a full day of presentations, case studies, interactive discussions, networking sessions and a beer or two, this session will presentthe opportunity for any delegate to have your say. The audience will be invited to stand at the front and sum up what they have learntfrom the day or provide a solution to a problem.Facilitated by the conference chair09:00 Supporting the 21st Century Learners and Future-Proofing Learning Spaces: Adapting to Changing Circumstances andDemandFUTUREPROOFING• Discussing the impacts of technology, evolving learning styles and the future campus: Delivering to the student expectations, both now,and in the future• Key considerations when developing spaces for the 21st century student: Utilising technology, spatial reorganisation and furniture, topromote relationship building and knowledge transfer• Future-proofing our estate: New buildings and redevelopments• Cost planning: What does it cost to retain your competitive advantage?• Continuous re-evaluation: Where do we look, who do we talk to, and when do we instigate change?Mat Davies, MCIOBOxford Saïd Estate Director, Said Business School, University of Oxford09:30 Enhancing Communication and Collaboration Between Project StakeholdersCOMMUNICATIONAND PROJECTDELIVERYPROCESSTensions exist in HE institutions as they try and reconcile the need to provide students with high quality ‘innovative’ teaching and learningexperiences with the drive to increase student numbers. In this presentation we will outline the journey from conception to completionof an experimental space that enables collaborative learning using innovative technologies with large groups of students (126). We willidentify the processes and activities developed to enhance communication and collaboration between project stakeholders and theimpact that these had on creating a space that demands pedagogic innovation and is highly sought after by staff and students.• Understanding the biggest challenges associated with effective communication through the planning, design and construction of alearning space• Utilising experience and acquiring feedback from the user groups• Stakeholder engagement and early involvement from the entire project team: Vision setting, planning and decision making• Collaboration tools for improving communication between educators, technology specialists, designers and buildersUlrike Thomas Dr Pamela WoolnerResearch Associate, Newcastle University Senior Lecturer in Education, Newcastle University10:00 Morning Coffee and Networking Break10:30 New Arenas for LearningE-LEARNINGThe internet is where the whole university meets, regardless of campus sites. The university is less dependent on physical location and anincreasing number of the student population do not fit into the traditional model of the 18-22 year-old student who lives on campus for4 years. We need to invest in our digital spaces and create an arena where staff and students can meet and collaborate with the worldaround us: other universities, companies, communities of practice etc.• How can we build attractive and engaging digital arenas for learning that both complement and enhance the physical environment?DAY ONERECAP SESSION29 Volume Special Issue Learning SpacesShowcasewww.teachingtimes.comCONFERENCE DAY TWO – THURSDAY 30th MARCH 20179Web www.learningspacesuk.com l Tel +44 (0) 207 036 1300 l Email enquire@iqpc.co.uk08:30 Chairperson’s Welcome08:35 Following a full day of presentations, case studies, interactive discussions, networking sessions and a beer or two, this session will presentthe opportunity for any delegate to have your say. 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Learning Spaces

The Seven Point Checklist For Successful Learning Spaces

13 Mar 2017

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      string(5677) "students spending one day per week learning more practical qualifications. A relationship was set up with Nescot in Ewell, Surrey, and our Year 10 students were given the opportunity of studying one from Construction, Amenity Horticulture, Working with Children and Working with Animals from September 2000. Students were formally disapplied from a modern foreign language and technology to enable this to be timetabled.By the summer of 2002, 80 students were benefitting immensely from this partnership: improved attendance, less dropping of subjects, fewer fixed-term exclusions and improved results. There was also considerable benefit at school, with ‘regular’ lessons not being disrupted by a disengaged minority. On the back of our success, we were designated a model of good practice by the Government Office for London and were included in their Work-Related Learning: Learning for Life report.1 However, there were issues. Firstly, it was a significant financial commitment:  course fees, minibus overheads and the costs associated with allocating a senior member of staff to the college two days per week. Secondly, we had concerns that sending our students—often the most troubled—elsewhere didn’t sit with our inclusive ethos. Consequently, in the coming years we developed facilities and staff expertise that enabled us to bring all of these areas of learning to school. We also added Car Mechanics and Hair & Beauty to our portfolio, with financial support being provided by the New Opportunities Fund.In adding these choices, we had also created another issue. Our option selection process—options evening, options booklet, a few displays containing textbooks and exercise books, teachers selling their subject accompanied by a few disinterested students—was no longer fit for purpose. Students were not getting a clear overview of what to expect, particularly for subjects that did not exist within the Key Stage 3 timetable. Consequently, we introduced Taster Options in Year 9 from 2003. All students tasted four options in the Autumn Term, followed by four in the Spring Term and four in the Summer Term. Towards the end of the summer the students then selected the final four subjects from the twelve tasted to take through to accreditation at the end of Year 11. There were no pathways, no set routes for certain types of students. All learning was viewed as non-hierarchical, subjects as of equal value. All students were allowed to choose subjects that they were passionate about. As a result, there has never been a time during my leadership when decisions about options have been determined by the needs of the school league tables. It has always been about the students.In the summer of 2006, and one year into my headship of the same school, I was informed that we were to become the Building Schools of the Future (BSF) – One School Pathfinders charged with reimagining education for the 21st Century. The scheme was unprecedented in its scope, with a strong desire that education was reimagined and used to inform others in seeking the new. Among all of the areas to be considered was the curriculum, including 14–19 provision.During our period of envisioning the new school throughout the autumn of 2006, and drawing on the work of Ted Sizer—’you cannot teach a child you do not know well’—we realised that we had to design a school around the primacy of relationships: smaller learning communities; small teams of teachers who had greater contact with fewer students; a curriculum that is holistic and co-constructed; a pedagogy that is inquiry-based and experiential; assessment that is authentic; flexible timetable with blocks of time for whole-class and small-group teaching, as well as individual learning; strong student voices; and genuine partnership with parents, businesses and the local community.We were happy with the changes that had been made to our KS4 curriculum, and the developing pathways into KS5, but our desire to emphasise the primacy of relationships and develop the attributes in our vision statement—ambition, commitment, resilience and perseverance, confidence to take risks, an ability to organise and present oneself effectively, intellectual curiosity, imagination and creativity, initiative and self-motivation to learn independently and with others, and optimism for a future in a rapidly changing world—was not being realised by our Year 7 and 8 curriculum. In particular, we had real concerns about the transition from primary school—one teacher teaching everything in Year 6—to secondary school—upwards of twelve teachers teaching twelve subjects in Year 7.We looked around at various off-the-shelf options, but decided to create our own curriculum, and so the Excellent Futures Curriculum (EFC) was born in September 2008. Sitting alongside English, a language, maths, music, physical education and science, EFC was initially taught for twelve out of 29 lessons per week in Years 7 and 8. Over time, slight changes have occurred in Year 8, with student voice being the driver in reducing EFC to eight periods to enable students to study two periods of art and technology, including food technology. 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Leadership

It’s Time Ofsted was Replaced with A System of Trust

13 May 2019

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      string(5582) "Sartrouville, a Parisian suburb, forged at a Special Schools and Academies Trust (SSAT) conference in 2009. Sarah Sawyerr , the assistant head at Ricards Lodge, and Ninette Mostefai , the head of modern foreign languages, developed a project idea with College Colette’s English teachers Celine Le Marec and Ludovick Ballester. They wanted their students: To explore foreign cultures To become aware of their European citizenship ● ● T o d i s c o v e r l i t e r a t u r e f r o m different cultures T o d e v e l o p i n t e r n a t i o n a l friendships At College Colette, 23 boys and girls from a fast-track English set were chosen to take part in the project. In London, the project generated massive interest among year 9 and 10 students – so only students studying both French and drama were allowed ● ● to audition. Candidates were asked to perform the balcony scene from Romeo and Juliet – in French! Planning the lessons Sarah explained: “We chose to study Romeo and Juliet because it ’s a classic which transcends boundaries. And on a practical note, there are no copyright issues with Shakespeare! ‘L’Ecole des Femmes’ is a classic French text from one subtle, particularly as it can be difficult to spot. It can be much easier for bullies to taunt their victims through anonymous messages than face-to-face. Young people need to realise that once you put something online it is very difficult to take it back – and that it is very difficult to tell tone of voice in typed text. Something meant as a joke can be taken literally and appear threatening. In conversations between our new students, we can see how online text can be viewed differently by different people and can end up being harmful. It is vital to consider others online.    e-learning reports 45Volume 1.1 n Creative Teaching & Learning of Shakespeare’s contemporaries, Moliere.” To begin the project, the students were put into pairs – one from each school. Sarah remembers: “A lot of our girls didn’t want to be partnered with boys! But it hasn’t made any difference.” The students were asked to write a profile about themselves to give their partner. The French students wrote in English and the English students in French. The partners are now regularly in contact about the project and use the internet to swap ideas. Web cams are set up during rehearsals – which take place after school and in day-long sessions – so the students can watch each other and advise on pronounciation. They can also report on their own progress – with sets, costumes and characterisation. Sarah said: “I think these students have the advantage of growing up with Myspace, FaceBook and Twitter – they are used to remote relationship building. They took to it like ducks to water. “We began studying the plays in September. We are studying Moliere while the French school studies Romeo and Juliet. We’re hoping to do a teacher swap – where Ninette and I go to Paris to run a Shakespeare masterclass. “This summer, we will put on a joint production of the two plays – performing them to each other via webcam and live in London and Paris.” The French group will visited Ricards Lodge in March. It was the first time the two groups met face to face. Sarah said: “We really want to take our students to France in May and we have applied for funding from the Youth Opportunities Fund. But it’s expensive – these days, we can’t just place students with a French family because CRB requirements on an international level are too complicated. I would advise any school considering this project to secure funding for trips before raising everyone’s hopes.” The project has been a challenge, Sarah admits. “Translating a play is quite tough for GCSE. But it’s worthwhile – not just in language terms, but for everything the girls are learning about French culture.” The Key The project at Ricards Lodge was so innovative it was featured in a case study by ‘The Key’ – an independent national support service for school leaders – usethekey.org.uk. The Key supports school leaders by showcasing best practice ideas from across the UK and providing expertly researched answers to questions on school management issues. Fe McKerrell, a researcher at The Key, said: “This project is highly innovative. It makes great use of technology to deliver an authentic i n t e r n a t i o n a l e x p e r i e n c e f o r students.” Catherine Allan is a writer and researcher on e-learning The balcony speech – in French Ô Roméo! Roméo! Pourquoi es-tu Roméo?  Tu serais Paris je t’aimerais,  je t’appellerais  mon abricot. Rentre chez toi Roméo  avec ta face de pet où je ne serai plus une Capulet. Virtual workplaces The VIBE’ is a series of ‘virtual world’ software – which can give 14-19 diploma students workplace experience. Liz Forrester, from the Specialist Schools and Academies Trust (SSAT), explains I n my work, I talk to teachers every day. I’ve found that diploma teachers are struggling to give their students enough hands- on, industry experience – which they expect on a regular basis. Getting students work placements can be very difficult for teachers – not all local businesses are interested. At the Specialist Schools and Academies Trust (SSAT), we dreamed up a solution – we needed to develop virtual learning resources to recreate workplace scenarios. To do this, the SSAT partnered with the university of Salford’s Virtual Environments"
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Creative Teaching & Learning

Technology and learning

5 Apr 2010