Creative Teaching & Learning

Note to the new Minister: Scrap EBacc and Nick Gibb

It’s customary to give the new Education Secretary some policy advice, and ours to Justine Greening is to reverse the disastrous decline in arts subjects since the introduction of the English Baccalaureate (EBacc).

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      string(3200) "academisation, especially in the ‘Achieving Excellence Areas’of the country with the worst performance.We wait to see whether Justine Greening will be content to let the National SchoolCommissioner and his RSCs continue to grow their power in this way to the growingexclusion of LAs, or whether a new way will be found to balance the RSC-LA relationshipfor the benefit of all schools and students.Roger Inman is a solicitor for schools and head of education at Stone King LLP.Knowledge trails1. What could the new Education Bill mean for schools? – Forced academisation will play alarge role in the government’s efforts to raise standards, if their first Education Bill is anything togo by. Roger Inman asks: is any school safe?library.teachingtimes.com/articles/what_could_the_new_education_bill_mean_for_schools2. Note to the new minister: Scrap EBacc and Nick Gibb – It’s customary to give the newEducation Secretary some policy advice. This is ours.teachingtimes.com/articles/note-to-the-new-ministerReferences1. Department for Education (2016) Educational Excellence Everywhere. [pdf ] Available at: gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/508550/Educational_excellence_everywhere__print_ready_.pdf [Accessed 15 August 2016].2. Department for Education (2014) The constitution of governing bodies of maintained schools: Statutoryguidance. [pdf ] Available at: gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/459032/The_Constitution_of_Governing_Bodies_of_Maintained_Schools_Stat_Guidance….pdf [Accessed 15 August2016].3. Department for Education and National College for Teaching and Leadership (2015) Governance handbook.[pdf ] Available at: gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/481147/Governance_handbook_November_2015.pdf [Accessed 15 August 2016].http://www.stoneking.co.uk/http://library.teachingtimes.com/articles/what_could_the_new_education_bill_mean_for_schoolshttp://library.teachingtimes.com/articles/what_could_the_new_education_bill_mean_for_schoolshttp://www.teachingtimes.com/articles/note-to-the-new-ministerhttps://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/508550/Educational_excellence_everywhere__print_ready_.pdfhttps://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/508550/Educational_excellence_everywhere__print_ready_.pdfhttps://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/508550/Educational_excellence_everywhere__print_ready_.pdfhttps://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/459032/The_Constitution_of_Governing_Bodies_of_Maintained_Schools_Stat_Guidance….pdfhttps://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/459032/The_Constitution_of_Governing_Bodies_of_Maintained_Schools_Stat_Guidance….pdfhttps://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/481147/Governance_handbook_November_2015.pdfhttps://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/481147/Governance_handbook_November_2015.pdf"
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Leadership

Beyond Brexit: All quiet on the education front?

4 Oct 2016

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      string(228) "With government backing to the tune of £49 million Maths Mastery has stormed into our education system promising great things.  But what is the evidence? What even does it mean? John Dabell takes a look at a strange phenomenon."
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      string(354) "... its weight behind it and invested heavily. The £41 million funding for the maths mastery specialist teacher programme is a huge step and the schools minister, Nick Gibb, describes mastery as “one of the most valuable education initiatives undertaken by our government over the past few years”.Maths mastery is ..."
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      string(5683) "In his finger-poking and thought-provoking book ‘How to survive and succeed as a Headteacher’, Kevin Harcombe asks us to press the pause button and think carefully about jumping on trendy  bandwagons. He says, “Snake-oil salesmen used to roam the Wild West selling paten miracle cures; they are mirrored in current education by pedlars of wares that promise to interest, excite, inspire and raise attainment.”Does maths mastery fit into this quick-fix promise of a miracle cure for maths attainment in the UK?  One thing is certain, maths mastery has been, and still is, extremely influential with many schools adopting the approach as their maths modus operandi. Mastery carries a lot of political and educational capital because the Government has put its weight behind it and invested heavily. The £41 million funding for the maths mastery specialist teacher programme is a huge step and the schools minister, Nick Gibb, describes mastery as “one of the most valuable education initiatives undertaken by our government over the past few years”.Maths mastery is literally being flown in from the East to save our souls and the ‘I can’t do maths’ British disease. Chinese maths masters have been parachuted in to show us how to do the maths and how teaching masterly can help pupils become independent, resilient and skilful learners.    But have we been sold a pedagogical pup and do you need to go down the mastery route? What is mastery?In recent times, the term ‘maths mastery’ has taken on a life of its own and is spoken about almost reverentially. It’s almost as if it has stepped out of the misty mountains and something we should bow to, kiss its feet and make an offering.Mastery is commonly seen as an export of South-East Asian jurisdictions such as Shanghai or Singapore although ‘mastery’ doesn’t actually belong to one country or one city – mastery belongs to everyone.  When we strip it back to the bare bones, mastery isn’t that mysterious at all and it’s something that many schools have done for years even if they haven’t labelled it ‘mastery’.     There is no single meaning of ‘mastery’ which everyone agrees on but Charlie Stripp, Director of the National Centre for Excellence in the Teaching of Mathematics (NCETM), provides us with a helpful definition of what mastery is. “Teaching maths for mastery involves employing approaches that help pupils to develop a deep and secure knowledge and understanding of mathematics at each stage of their learning, so that by the end of every school year or Key Stage, pupils will have acquired mastery of the mathematical facts and concepts they’ve been exposed to, equipping them to move on confidently and securely to more advanced material.”This definition is a shrewd one because it talks about ‘approaches’ to helping children get to grips with their maths. You may have heard maths mastery spoken about as the ‘mastery approach’ but this is a myth: various approaches are used to bring about deep understanding through intelligent practice with variation. These approaches are ways of teaching schools used pre and post National Numeracy Strategy (NNS) and within the NNS itself. For example, ‘maths mastery’ focuses heavily on using pictorial representations but then these would be used as part of good teaching anyway within a banquet of activities that effective maths teachers would have planned for in any event.  You might have been quite happy up to now that your mixture of approaches gleaned from various sources was already producing creative human calculators with an understanding of concepts deeper than a wishing well.       Maths mastery is constructed on the belief that every child can succeed given the right amount of time and the right kind of attention. Mastery teaching involves making sure that every child is included and can access the whole curriculum so everyone can develop a deep, secure conceptual understanding of every part of the maths curriculum. Mastering a concept means being confident and competent.   You may have heard that mastery means differentiation is out but this is another maths mastery myth. There is still quite a lot of differentiation taking place based on effective interventions whereby teachers differentiate the time and support they give pupils, not content. The whole class move at the same pace but children who learn faster (called rapid attainers) stay on the same content but are stretched with more complex problems that are richer challenges.   You might question whether this approach is a radically new way of teaching and learning if you have already been teaching like this for 20 years. Then again, you may have been setting for maths and not had to deal with a whole class of needs wider than the Grand Canyon. Mastery may phase many primary school teachers because the majority are not big fans of maths.  As Nick Tiley-Nunn says in his witty and intelligent book ‘How To Teach Primary Maths’,   “The majority of primary teachers have not studied mathematics at a higher level. In fact, I would probably go a step further and say that there are more primary teachers who actively dislike maths than enjoy it. There are a lot of primary teachers who would not teach maths if they had any choice at all.”It’s worth remembering therefore that mastery is making primary teachers nervous because their maths is already fragile and shaky compared to their"
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Leadership

Maths Mastery – Is It Just Another Fad?

7 Nov 2017

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      string(325) "... active members of a public library, and we are asking all schools to arrange library membership for all their Year 3 pupils.’4Nick Gibb, then Minister of State for school reform, wrote this in his foreword to a Government document of 2015 on the next steps for reading. While not ..."
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      string(5693) "Why public libraries?Public libraries have a unique role in offering neutral spaces at the heart of local communities where everyone is welcome and where a love of reading can be fostered. Key to literacy is not just the mechanics of learning to read, which schools are best placed to facilitate, but the wider curriculum tenet of ‘reading for pleasure’.Of importance is the offer to all who come into the library space. The library does not have the stigma of other public ‘institutions’ and welcomes all ages.An ongoing campaign to ensure all children are reaching desired levels of reading proficiency by the age of 11 is the Read On Get On campaign, initiated by Save the Children. The foreword to the latest research report from this alliance of groups interested in reading states:Being able to read well is vital for a child’s prospects at school and in life. Yet every year, almost 148,000 children leave primary school in England unable to read well. This includes one-third of all children growing up in poverty. For many, the impact on their life chances is likely to be dramatic. This national failing helps explain the persistent educational divide in England that, each year, prevents thousands of our poorest children from fulfilling their potential.1This is an uncomfortable fact, and it is of concern that children are still not receiving equal opportunity to read and read widely, when there are facilities available for this to happen in libraries as well as schools.A useful summary of the current state of public libraries is given in a recent report by the Carnegie Trust, which has pulled together statistics for the five jurisdictions of the UK (England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and Ireland).2The national curriculum’s programme of study for English provides an intention for teachers in relation to pupils that aims ‘to develop their love of literature through widespread reading for enjoyment.’3Public libraries play a key role in supporting both pupils’ learning and reading for pleasure through the extended provision of a wide range of attractive reading material to enable that flame of love to be ignited and to continue to burn. The collections in public libraries help pupils choose their next read from a wide selection of books at the right level—from board and picture books, through early readers and short chapter books and then longer texts and novels for young adults. The emphasis is very much on the child’s choice and this helps children to practise the skill of decision-making and develops their confidence in exploring new genres and new authors. In addition to the provision of fiction and recreational non-fiction for reading for pleasure, public library books have consistently provided a rich repository of knowledge for homework needs, accessibly laid out in attractive non-fiction titles, or longer volumes covering a wealth of subjects, including encyclopaedias and other reference works.With the addition of online resources, public libraries continue to offer this unique stream of curated resources to enhance what might be available in the home or school library, but also to redress any inequality of access where children have no workspace or Internet or computer access, or where they do not have books in the home, or where schools are unable to provide sufficient facilities or stock to meet demand. Both avid and less enthusiastic readers will always benefit from the additional free resources available from the public library, but the singular advantage of the public library system in the UK is the variety and currency of stock available to all at no cost.Activities in library spaces encourage creative use of the resources, not just as an adjunct to school work, but as fun-focused events in holiday times, where learning takes place often without the participants realising this! Many schools encourage regular class visits for induction into library use as well as library or school staff-led sessions on specific curriculum topics, local studies or sessions led by writers and performers which use books as the basis for a host of creative ideas for sessions. Further out-of-school activity complements school targets by supporting children to continue their reading through holiday periods, as evidenced in the highly successful national Summer Reading Challenge, now approaching its 20th year of operation across UK public libraries, and also in the multiplicity of activities facilitated by library staff from storytelling to craft activities to festivals in and out of term times. Public libraries also offer activities relating to a variety of national promotions, from Harry Potter Day and World Book Day to Shakespeare Week and Black History Month.For young adults, libraries provide opportunities for volunteering and work experience, enabling them to develop skills and gain confidence in the workplace that will help them with their job and college applications.‘Libraries also have an important role to play in children’s reading habits. The government would like all children to be active members of a public library, and we are asking all schools to arrange library membership for all their Year 3 pupils.’4Nick Gibb, then Minister of State for school reform, wrote this in his foreword to a Government document of 2015 on the next steps for reading. While not all schools have taken up this challenge, many library services have invested in schemes to issue library cards to pupils across schools in their area. Even without this, there is good evidence of children"
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Family

Boosting Access to Reading Resources

6 Feb 2019

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      string(347) "... Affecting Children Index (IDACI), continue to outperform pupils resident in the most deprived areas. The gap is largest in writing and smallest in mathematics.ActionNotesSchools Minister Nick Gibb: “It is a real concern that almost a third of all Key Stage 1 children receiving free school meals are failing to ..."
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Leadership Briefing 5.06 (54)"
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      string(5476) "ResourceKEY STAGE 1 ATTAINMENT BY PUPIL CHARACTERISTICS, IN ENGLAND 2009/10Original DocumentKey Stage 1 Attainment by Pupil Characteristics, in England 2009/10. This new Department for Education report showing Key Stage 1 attainment by pupil characteristics has revealed the need for a greater focus and emphasis on the teaching of reading and writing in primary schools. Almost one in five seven-year-olds in England did not reach government targets for literacy this year, although results improved overall. Boys did better in reading and writing than last year – but still scored lower than girls – with one in four not reaching the level expected. Children on free school meals and those with special educational needs continue to perform least well.KeywordsAttainment, pupil characteristics, reading, writing, targets, literacySummaryThis new Department for Education report showing Key Stage 1 attainment by pupil characteristics has revealed the need for a greater focus and emphasis on the teaching of reading and writing in primary schools. Almost one in five seven-year-olds in England did not reach government targets for literacy this year, although results improved overall. Boys did better in reading and writing than last year – but still scored lower than girls – with one in four not reaching the level expected. Children on free school meals and those with special educational needs continue to perform least well.Key Points:· The Statistical First Release by the Department for Education shows that almost one in five seven-year-olds in England did not reach government targets for literacy this year.· Overall, there was a slight rise in reading and writing levels compared to last year’s results, while those for maths and science fell slightly.· Girls continue to outperform boys in all 4 elements (reading, writing mathematics and science) at Key Stage 1, with the biggest differences in reading and writing. · Writing continues to have the largest attainment gap (11.2 percentage points). · 80.9% met the grade in reading this year and 75.5% in writing – although both totals are an improvement on last year.· Mathematics continues to have the lowest attainment gap (3.0 percentage points), with 90.8 percent of girls achieving the expected level compared to 87.8 percent of boys.· Pupils of Indian, Chinese and Mixed White and Asian origin had the highest proportions achieving the expected level in reading, writing and mathematics. In science, a higher proportion of pupils from Mixed White and Asian, Indian and White British backgrounds achieved the expected level than their peers. Pupils in Traveller of Irish Heritage and Gypsy/Roma groups continue to have the lowest proportion of pupils achieving the expected level across all 4 elements.· Pupils of any Black background achieved below the national level in all 4 elements.  The difference is largest in science – a gap of 5.7 percentage points – where 83.0 percent of Black pupils achieved the expected level compared with the national level of 88.7 percent.  The difference is smallest in reading – a gap of 2.3 percentage points – where 82.3 percent of Black pupils achieved the expected level compared with the national level of 84.7 percent.  Across all 4 elements the gap has narrowed compared to 2006, most notably in reading where the gap has closed by 3.1 percentage points.· A higher proportion of pupils whose first language is English achieved the expected level in all 4 elements than pupils for whom English is not their first language. The difference was least in mathematics and greatest in science.  Across all 4 elements the gap has continued to narrow since 2006, most notably in reading and writing.· Pupils not eligible for free school meals (FSM) continue to outperform pupils known to be eligible for FSM across all 4 elements. The gap is largest in reading and writing. Among children on free school meals 71.7% reached Level 2 in reading and 66.4% did so in writing.· Pupils with no identified SEN continue to outperform pupils with SEN. The gap is largest in reading and writing. Only just over half of children with special educational needs (51.6%) met the target this year for reading – with even fewer (43.3%) making the grade for writing. Pupils with SEN continue to perform relatively better in science and mathematics than in reading and writing. Science continues to have the smallest attainment gap (31.9 percentage points), with 64.1 percent of pupils with SEN achieving the expected level compared with 96.0 percent of pupils with no identified SEN.· Pupils resident in the least deprived areas, as defined by the Income Deprivation Affecting Children Index (IDACI), continue to outperform pupils resident in the most deprived areas. The gap is largest in writing and smallest in mathematics.ActionNotesSchools Minister Nick Gibb: “It is a real concern that almost a third of all Key Stage 1 children receiving free school meals are failing to achieve the standard in reading and writing.“Getting the fundamentals right is crucial to a child’s success in secondary education and throughout their adult life, and the government is committed to getting all children reading and writing to a high standard.”AuthorRaspal Chima, Imaginative MindsDate CreatedNovember 2010Enquiries to:raspal.chima@yahoo.co.uk (Authoring Unit)Month / YearPage 1 of 1©Birmingham City Council"
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Leadership

Key Stage 1 Attainment by Pupil Characteristics

18 Nov 2010