Meaningful Assessment at the Margins

There is a global learning crisis in which students are being taught too much by rote and those from underprivileged backgrounds are not getting their educational needs met. Asyia Kazmi explains how the Assessment for Learning approach is helping teachers work with disadvantaged children across the world and in the UK.

My interview for the senior position in a tough London inner-city challenging school was going swimmingly until the head teacher asked about the barriers students face. I didn’t understand the question so the head teacher repeated it, which is never a good sign in an interview. My confusion remained – What barriers? What are barriers? The head teacher then helpfully expanded: poverty, English as an additional language, single parent families, etc.

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      string(5813) "�focus on global education   www.teachthinking.comTeaching Thinking&Creativity  Vol 8:2Listening to Jeffrey Sachs giving this year’s Reithlectures on BBC Radio 4 recently, I was struck by hiscomment that one of the reasons that climate changehad been largely ignored for so long by world leaders wasthat they didn’t know what to do about it.Although this may well be the case, such reasonsfor inaction are becoming less excusable in the lightof increasing numbers of initiatives and ideas offeringpractical ways of addressing the several pressing issuesfacing humankind currently, including climate change,poverty and globalisation. Whether or not we choose toact on these ideas, however, is another matter. Encouragingand enabling people to think about, understand, weighup and act on various issues of major concern to us andour world is, in my view, the purpose of global education.In this sense then, it is surely central to the purpose ofgeneral education.What is global education?There are a number of terms used in education which in myopinion mean broadly the same thing: global education,global citizenship, education for sustainability, the globaldimension, a global perspective, and developmenteducation. The plethora of terms may not be very helpfulfor those trying to get to grips with the complex subjectmatter – and I am involved in this confusion since, whilstI would usually talk about global citizenship, I am nowdescribing the same stuff as global education. However,I would suggest that there are two basic elements thatare common to all these terms, namely, social justice  andreducing our impact on the planet.Themesof globaleducationMary Young introducesthe main themes of globaleducation and suggests waysfor teachers to tackle themHospital in Kenya�Teaching Thinking&Creativity  Vol 8:2www.teachthinking.com   focus on global educationThere is certainly resonance between A Curriculum forGlobal Citizenship (1997) and a number of other currenteducation documents. Comparing the DfES SustainableSchools document (2006), the DfES/ DfID’s Developinga global dimension in the school curriculum (2005) andthe ‘Aims and Purposes’ of the National Curriculum inThe National Curriculum Handbook (both primary andsecondary) (1999), it is possible to see many overlaps.Each mentions sustainability, social justice, challengingprejudice, participation, respect for others and forhuman rights, and the need for waste reduction. Otherkey documents relevant to education such as the RaceRelations (Amended) Act (2000) and Every Child Matters(2004), address specific areas of this list.So, the significance of global education is that it can bethe prism through which thinking and teaching can beviewed, and which puts issues of justice and sustainabilityat the centre of education. It gives sense and relevanceto everything we do as it is all rooted in understandingourselves and our place in, and impact on, the world.The importance of global educationThe following are some of the reasons why it is importantto bring global education into education:l The issues that global education are concerned withare of central relevance to our lives. Resolving issues ofunfairness, lack of respect for diversity and conflict, forexample, are just as important in the classroom or localcommunity as they are in major world situations. If wewant to engage with society and feel positive aboutthe future, it is important for us – adults and pupils alike– to know that we each have choices and the potentialto make a difference. Such a difference can either be forthe better: the stance that townspeople in Modbury,Devon have taken on banning plastic carrier bags fromall shops in the town (The Guardian, 12 May 2007, p.11),for example, or for the worse: the Virginia Tech shootingsin the USA.l We are interconnected with others in the world and itis important that we and our pupils know that everydecision we make has an impact on others, even if wedon’t know what it is; for example, buying (or not buying)goods made in sweatshops; using (or not using) our car;challenging (or not challenging) prejudice when wecome across it.l Although the issues that global education is concernedwith are so complex, the knowledge, skills and attitudesneeded to begin to understand them can be addressedin school from an early age.l Many people are out to confuse us, from companiesselling us services and products we don’t actually need,to supermarkets telling us they have ‘green’ policies, tomultinational corporations who have greater wealththan a number of whole countries. If we want to try andmake sense of it all and understand why things are asthey are, it is important for us and for those we teachto be able to navigate through the hundreds of ideas,products, offers and initiatives coming at us on a dailybasis, to spot the honest ones and to make decisions wefeel are right for us and for the planet.l Global education can challenge misinformation, prejudice,and ignorance – all of which are unsustainable.The central challenges of global educationIn my experience of many years’ training of teachers inLondon and the south-east of England in global education,the central issues teachers habitually raise fall into threemain categories:l difficulties concerning a lack of the teacher’s ownknowledge and understanding of global issuesl uncertainty as to how to raise global issues inclassroomsl lack of confidence as to how to deal with the difficultiesthat might arise as a result of raising global issuesLooking more specifically at the"
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Creative Teaching & Learning

Themes of global education

14 Feb 2008

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      string(5886) "the importance of recognising and respecting difference. It supported the principle that every teacher is a teacher of SEND. However, it also sought to address the lack of confidence experienced by many in the teaching profession regarding the identification and support of learners with SpLD, which may lead to a learner’s needs being either unidentified because of preconceptions of what constitutes an SpLD or unaddressed pending a specialist assessment, or to the attitude that learners with SpLD are the sole responsibility of the school SENCo. The training addressed such issues by focussing not on labels but, rather, on support based on observable behaviours and learner profiling, and, further, on utilising a range of whole-class techniques to establish a neurodiversity-friendly classroom. Devised to follow the recommended ‘train the trainer’ model, it was intended to be cascaded to all staff in the school at a ‘core skills’ level.The training was divided into three sections:Part 1. Seeing the whole picture promoted the importance of holistic learner profiling, taking into account the range of strengths and challenges that might be present in a learner with an SpLD. Part 2. Understanding neurodiversity discussed the concept of neurodiversity and its origins in the work of Judy Singer. In this section of the training, a new Combined SpLD / Neurodiversity Checklist was presented, which had been devised to take into account the overlapping nature of SpLDs. The checklist aimed to provide a framework through which to observe and understand learner behaviours and encouraged teachers to look beyond individual labels and preconceptions of what it might mean to be dyslexic, dyspraxic, and so on. Part 3. 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The webinars have since been viewed in excess of 4,500 times.Assessing the impact of the ‘Teaching for Neurodiversity’ TrainingA research team from the Education Faculty at Manchester Metropolitan University designed and carried out and an evaluation the impact of the Teaching for Neurodiversity project over the year of the project, producing their Final Report in March 2017 (Griffiths et al. 2017).MethodologyTo evaluate the impact of the training, the evaluation team developed three surveys.  Survey 1 was to assess delegates’ knowledge, skills and understanding about neurodiversity and SpLDs at the start of the training day, the second to assess their knowledge skills and understanding at the end of the day and the third to be completed after three months by colleagues who had received the cascaded training.From the impact data in Survey 3, three primary schools, three secondary schools and two colleges were to be selected as showing high impact, to be researched in more depth as series of case studies, through interviews with those who had the training cascaded, plus two other members of the teaching staff.Summary of the Project Evaluation FindingsData from Surveys 1 and 2 found statistically significant gains in delegates’ knowledge and understanding of SpLDs and neurodiversity, their understanding of support strategies for the diversity of learners in the classroom and their knowledge of multisensory approaches to learning and of metacognitive techniques. General feedback on the training was overwhelmingly positive, though some delegates did report already having the knowledge skills and practice in their institutions, and a minority seemed to have misunderstood the aims of the training and had expected more advanced level training for themselves, rather than being trained to cascade a core-level training pack to colleagues.Results from Survey 3 showed a consistently majority of respondents (55-70%) reporting a positive impact upon their knowledge, skills and understanding of how to identify and support the diversity of learning needs within their classrooms. In the same way, between 60-75% reported positive impacts upon whole-school approaches to supporting the needs of the diversity of their learners: both those with and without identified SpLDs. 53.4% noted improvement in student engagement in learning already and 44.5% of improvements in pupil performance. 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Dyslexia

Teaching for Neurodiversity

10 Sep 2018

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      string(5727) "My name is Jude Daniel Smith, and I’m a 15-year-old climate activist from Sheffield, England. Early last year, I set up Youth Strike for Climate Sheffield with some friends – since then, I have come to volunteer with UKSCN, and, most recently, with Teach the Future. Teach the Future is the UK Student Climate Network (UKSCN) and Students Organising for Sustainability (SOS-UK) joint campaign to repurpose the education system around the climate emergency and ecological crisis.As students studying across the UK, it is our experience that the majority of teaching and learning throughout the entirety of our education is misaligned from the systemic changes urgently required to make our society sustainable. Our education system routinely fails to educate, prepare and equip us, and our fellow students, for the climate emergency we are inheriting.I joined Teach the Future as, being in Y10, I have gone through the education system without once being empowered to, nor taught how to, take action regarding climate change. As any youth activist would tell you, the climate emergency is the most crucial and time-urgent issue humanity has ever faced. Consequently, you’d believe that a multitude of comprehensive steps would have already been taken to enable young people to swiftly and efficiently mitigate the catastrophe at hand – despite this, those in power have continuously failed our generation, yet still expect us to amend the mistakes of humanity’s past. Education is one of the few pillars of contemporary society which keeps its seemingly crumbling roof stable, so why is its potential – that being the fact it so easily could be the birthplace of classes upon classes of pupils armed with the knowledge they need to help fix the world around them – so nonchalantly ignored? This sense of urgency which I wish I did not have to constantly harbour is why I have such a passion for youth activism. I joined secondary school and, within days, began to realise and rationalise the utter scale of the shortcomings of global governments on an array of different issues. I would plead with my teachers to answer my questions about the world, about what could be done, but could never get a straight reply – I realise now that that is due to a simple fact. Educational facilities are not equipped to teach about the subject of climate change, yet people expect them to be the enablers.   In a survey collated by SOS-UK (*SOS-UK 2020) around multiple schools and colleges across the country, it was found that 75% of teachers would say they do not feel knowledgeable enough to teach students about climate change, and at the same time, only 4% of students would say they know a lot about climate change. These statistics are a disturbing representation of the root cause of both the climate emergency and anxiety stemming from it. Teach the Future aims to convert anxiety into agency through direct reform to all aspects of our education system; rather than just curriculum modification, we need a complete overhaul of our education system, detailed in our asks. In England, we have three: 1. A Government-Commissioned Review We need a review into how the whole of the English formal education system is preparing students for the climate emergency and ecological crisis. 2. Teacher Training and Qualifications We need inclusion of the climate emergency and ecological crisis in teacher training and a new professional teaching qualification. 3. English Climate Emergency Education Act We need the implementation of the ECEEA (English Climate Emergency Education Act) to ensure strives towards net-zero carbon schools, more investment into youth services and governmental support for climate activism. In Scotland, we have four: 1. A Government-Commissioned Review We need a review into how the whole of the Scottish formal education system is preparing students for the climate emergency and ecological crisis. 2. Teacher Training and Qualifications We need inclusion of the climate emergency and ecological crisis in teacher training and a new professional teaching qualification. 3. Increased Priority For SustainabilityIn School Inspections and Publicly Influencing Educational Rankings We need Education Scotland to ensure that the Chief Inspector of Education puts significant new emphasis on learning for sustainability in all HGIOS assessments from January 2021 and that it is included in the HGIOC assessment process for further education colleges.  4. A Scottish Climate and Biodiversity Emergency Education Act We need the implementation of the SCEEEA (Scottish Climate and Biodiversity Emergency Education Act) to ensure movement towards net-zero carbon school; more investment into youth services and governmental support for climate activism. The documents detailing our asks can be found on our website – www. teachthefuture.uk As a young person, I can fully realise the ability of formal education, and that is why I speak out. I can imagine what it could be. 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Climate Change

Teach The Future: The View Of A 15 Year Old

11 Sep 2020

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      string(5757) "Even before COVID 19 some schools had already seen a paradox starting to form on two fronts. Firstly, with the rise of terms such as Cultural Capital, Global Citizenship and Cosmopolitan Capital, parents have become more aware of the need to choose a school that will develop particular attributes in their children for them to have a successful future. At the same time they have shown signs of becoming worried over their perceived loss of heritage which is possibly why we are witnessing the rise of nationalism in the West.Secondly, PISA, the organisation that ranks the education systems of different countries by comparing the results of students had launched a new Cultural Competence assessment in 2018. The assessment “is composed of two parts: a cognitive assessment and a background questionnaire. The cognitive assessment is designed to elicit students’ capacities to critically examine global issues; recognise outside influences on perspectives and world views; understand how to communicate with others in intercultural contexts; identify and compare different courses of action to address global and intercultural issues.” Many of the best schools rose to this challenge by utilising strategies from cultural competence theorists to align the interests of different stakeholders and create their vision of 21st Century education. Being sensitive to the needs of all the members of any community is a difficult task and, if your school is using an international curriculum, then it may face more challenges to fit the requirements of the host nation. Education as asocialising agent has always been a concern for any government to create acohesive society. So educators must understand the importance of education inboth the local and global context they are teaching in. It’s often seen as bestpractice to inform newly hired teachers about the culutral or poitical taboosof the society they are working in.Aligning the mission to everyday activitiesMost schools that have written mission statements aligned to creating  21st Century Global citizens have looked at the relationship between the values that are evident in their school community and the characteristics that they want their students to embody. This involved developing a strategy to resolve numerous philosophical, social and cultural differences which is then articulated in their policies. The approach is realistic in that it is necessary to take into account their Cultural setting and the resources they have to utilize. Each aspect of thestrategy has a process that creates an inclusive atmosphere where the studentis not just seen in academic terms, rather the whole person is cultivated tohave confidence in their abilities to succeed in both social and professionalcontexts and be perceptive of the environement they are in. A key aspect ofsuccees is having teachers that value diversity and inclusion, which is alsoreflected in the staff recruited. Creating the Teaching Culture  As the students weserve become increasingly diverse in many ways (race, culture, language,class, religion, sexuality, and more), educators are recognizing the needto increase their cultural competency in order to better supportstudents and meet the complex demands of of these societal and curricularchallenges. Acquiring the vocabulary, knowledge, and skills to define abstract sociocultural issues will benefit teachers in both their private and professional lives by improving their understanding of the complex situations that children face every day in school (due to their many social group identities), enhancing their ability to view situations from multiple viewpoints, and enriching the curriculum. These insights will help to create a school environment committed to equity and place children in circumstances where their status (Personal Cultural Capital) is respected rather than devalued. “The 10 C’s Model of Awareness and Change” (© 2002 by Patti DeRosa MSW/MA and Dr Ulric Johnson) is one tool that can support the development of our socio-cultural awareness. Developing Teachers  – utilising the current skill setAddressing the philosophical differences between staff is vitally important in setting the right atmosphere. This includes developing relational trust between staff and recognising that staff will undoubtedly be trained in different era’s where their training may have placed emphasis on different elements of an educators role. And it’s the responsibility of the Leadership team to ensure that staff are given necessary training for their professional development. Ensuring that all staff are aware of the necessity to establish consistency in their approach to all children can be aided by reviewing studies such as the Rosenthal effect to ensure that everyone sets high expectations for students. And reviewing the work around restricted codes to ensure that students are not misunderstood on the basis of their vocabulary. For example paying attention to what the student says as opposed to how students speak when answering questions.Providing teachers withacces to a counsellor alongside hosting wellbeing initatives lends helpsdevelop the culture of support. Equally it is becoming a common theme thatschools are investing in building their staffs’ emotional intelligence whilstusing a variation of instructional rounds to identify the unique strategies forsuccessfully teaching their unqiue student body.  Cultural competence embededd in the curriculum Identifying"
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Leadership

Cultural Competency - And How To Make Sure Your Children Have It

1 Nov 2020