Leadership

“Fake News” must be challenged

With so many impressionable young people devouring online content every single day, how do they tell what’s real, what’s fake?

A feature of 2017 has been the frequency with which reference has been made to “fake news” in the reporting of current affairs stories. Fortunately, the concept is not difficult to pin down. Speaking on the BBC radio programme Law in Action (2017), Magnus Boyd defines “fake news” as “false reporting, inaccurate content but dressed up as real news”. Joshua Rozenberg adds that it is “content deliberately designed to misinform and mislead”.

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      string(5657) "Leadership BriefingLeadership Briefing – www.teachingtimes.comReports Summaries – a weeklyservice of essential summaries,in-depth reports and criticalanalysis that’s new and relevantto education, linked to originalsource documents.SCHOOL FUNDING PRESSURES IN ENGLANDKeywordsSchool funding,pressures,local authority,maintainedschools,balances, cashflow, deficit,financialstrugglesSummaryThis new report by the Education Policy Institute examines the latest trends in local authoritymaintained school balances, and assesses whether all schools will be able to meet costpressures over the next two years, following recent government funding reforms.It shows that the number of state secondary schools falling into deficit in England has almost trebledin the last four years to more than a quarter.The EPI report focuses on local authority schools because the data is publicly available. It excludesacademies, which account for about 60% of secondaries and 20% of primaries in England.The research adds to growing evidence of the financial struggles faced by a significant minority ofschools. The report also found two-thirds of council schools spent more than their income in 2016-17,while 40% have had balances in decline for at least two years in a row.Key Findings: ■ The number of local authority maintained secondary schools in deficit reduced from 14.3 per centin 2010-11 to 8.8 per cent in 2013-14. Strikingly, however, over the period of four years up until2016-17, the proportion of local authority secondary schools in deficit nearly trebled, expandingto over a quarter of all such schools – or 26.1 per cent. The average local authority maintainedsecondary school deficit rose over this 7 year period, from £292,822 in 2010-11 to £374,990 in2016-17. ■ The number of local authority maintained primary schools in deficit has also risen. In 2010-11, 5.2per cent of local authority primary schools were in deficit – this reduced in the following year to3.7 per cent, before staying at a level of around 4 per cent until 2015-16. However, in 2016-17,the proportion of primary schools in deficit increased significantly, to 7.1 per cent. The averageprimary school deficit also noticeably increased, from £72,042 in 2010-11, to £107,962 in 2016-17. ■ At a regional level, the South West had the highest percentage of local authority maintainedsecondaries in deficit over this period – with 22.1 per cent of schools in deficit in 2010-11, risingconsiderably to over a third of schools (34.9 per cent) in 2016-17. The East had the lowest – with7.5 per cent of local authority maintained secondary schools in deficit in 2010-11, rising to 17.5per cent in 2016-17. ■ The North East had the highest number of local authority maintained primary schools in deficit inWeek Commencing 26th March 2018https://epi.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/Schools-funding-pressures_EPI.pdfLeadership BriefingLeadership Briefing – www.teachingtimes.comReports Summaries – a weeklyservice of essential summaries,in-depth reports and criticalanalysis that’s new and relevantto education, linked to originalsource documents.2016-17 at 10.1 per cent. The East of England consistently had the lowest, with 2.6 per cent indeficit in 2010-11, rising to 3.4 per cent in 2016-17. ■ A large proportion of local authority maintained schools are now spending more than their income.Over two-thirds of local authority maintained secondary schools spent more than their income in2016-17. Significantly, such events are not just occurring for one year – we find that 40 per centof local authority maintained secondaries have had balances in decline for at least two years in arow. ■ Similar figures are found for local authority maintained primary schools – in 2016-17, over 60 percent were spending more than their income. A quarter of local authority maintained primarieshave had a falling balance for two years or more. ■ Funding allocated by the government through its new National Funding Formula for schools(NFF), fails to meet pressures on schools budgets produced by this cost alone. This is despitethe announcement of an extra £1.3 billion in funding for schools by the government in July 2017. ■ As many as 40 per cent (around 7,500 schools) are unlikely to receive enough additionalgovernment funding in 2018-19 to meet these pay pressures alone. For 2019-20, this proportionrises to nearly half of state-funded mainstream schools in England (around 9,000 schools). ■ Schools are facing a variety of cost pressures, yet this analysis shows how many schools arestruggling just from this staffing cost alone. In addition, our assumption of 1 per cent staff payincrease over the next two years is cautious – with the government having signalled that futurerises in teachers’ pay may be higher than the current 1 per cent cap over the next few years. ■ For a significant proportion of schools in England, being able to meet the cost of annual staff payincreases from a combination of government funding and their own reserves looks highly unlikely,even in the short term. ■ In response to pressures, schools have undertaken various efficiency measures to deliver costsavings, such as switching suppliers, reducing energy usage and reducing the size of leadershipteams. ■ However, education staff account for the majority of spending by schools – around two-thirds. It islikely that schools will find it difficult to achieve the scale of savings necessary without also cuttingback on staff. Many schools will face the challenge of containing budget pressures and"
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Leadership

School Funding Pressures In England

22 Mar 2018

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      string(5715) "to host a journalist from The Guardian, Niamh McIntyre, to really bring the newsroom to life. She came in to talk to the children about the importance of reporting and fact checking and worked with them on their own writing. It was really valuable for the children to hear about the writing process from Niamh’s point of view. She explained how an article can be written and published within one day, but sometimes they take several weeks to take shape, while they investigate the story, conduct interviews. She also explained how lots of people are involved in the refining process, which means learning to write and work collaboratively is a really important part of her job. This was a fantastic insight from a working reporter and was something the children hadn’t thought about before.During training, we learnt that a Parliamentary Commission into Fake News and the Teaching of Critical Literacy Skills in Schools found that only 2% of children and young people in the UK have the critical literacy skills they need to identify fake news correctly and that children’s inability to identify it is driving a culture of fear and uncertainty in the younger generation which can have harmful effects om their wellbeing.1 Therefore, we felt it was our duty to get students actively engaged in the news and learning how to spot fake news so they could learn to approach information critically, and having a visit from a working journalist and engaging them in a newsroom environment really excited them.Impressing the value of reporting fairlyThere are a range of NewsWise lesson plans available online. One example is the topic of: balancing a story. In this lesson, in fact, gave us an opportunity to fulfil one of our class objectives of developing the children’s extended writing. We looked at a story of a school who had banned homework, a topic of conversation that is of course of great interest to the children, and we explored the pros and cons of the issue, looking at how we present a balanced argument and what language and tone works best.However, the topic that really stood out for my class was the lesson on holding power to account which explored the reporting of the Windrush scandal, where lots of people from the Caribbean who have been living in the UK for decades were threatened with deportation. The way the reporting of this issue challenged power and helped to bring about change was of particular interest for my class, as around a third of the class have Caribbean heritage. The lessons included: role plays, video interviews of the victims and different articles on the issue which painted a full picture of the scandal for the children to examine.This topic had a real impact on the class. They were justifiably shocked and then outraged by the unfairness of the treatment of individuals, such as Paulette Wilson. Hearing her story about how she was detained in an immigration removal centre and threatened with deportation despite having lived in Britain for 50 years, helped them to understand the scandal on a personal level. They particularly enjoyed the role play activities, where one child would portray someone in power (for example, the head of a large corporation, or the Prime Minister) and the other played someone who didn’t have a high level of power.This prompted a larger discussion on experiences the class may have had when they themselves had felt powerless, and how they could change that in the future. Through the timeline of events, from the story breaking to the resignation of the home secretary, the children really got to grips with how the news has the power to change perceptions and affect the world they live in. I loved being able to show the children how important it was for them to make their voices heard and look for the truth at the heart of the matter.I felt that it was really important to give pupils an opportunity to write for themselves, become the journalists and produce their own fair and balanced news stories and put their skills into action. Taking into account all the skills they’d learnt about fact checking and bias to develop their own authentic voice. The children’s article ideas ranged from an air crash that had recently happened in Indonesia, to local environmental concerns and even the lack of pancakes at school on Pancake Day! After a great deal of discussion and research, they voted for their top two choices: air pollution and age restrictions on video games. I was proud to see them choose big issues which mattered to them. They loved taking ownership of their stories and engaging with the writing process, from the interviews and research they conducted as homework, to the drafting, writing, editing and publishing they did in class.The thrill the children had from seeing their work published on the front page of the NewsWise website was a total delight to witness. Not only had their work been shared and celebrated within school, it was also a real-life news story. What could be more rewarding than that? To celebrate their new skills and their work, we championed the entire class during a special “Golden Achievement” assembly, in front of the school and presented them with NewsWise certificates.Traditionally, news has been taught in primary schools by introducing an imaginary scenario. 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Creative Teaching & Learning

Creating A News Literate Generation

9 Apr 2020

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      string(5632) "copy, science in the health and safety aspect of food management etc.Connecting what we teach them in maths and science and literacy with a project setting helps children realise that real learning happens when you apply prior skills and knowledge to a new situation. Authentic, real-world projects reinforce the need to do this in the changing workplace.Why develop ambitious cross-curricular projects?The goalposts are moving again. New voices in Ofsted suggest we can transform our curriculum to make it prepare children better for living in a fast-moving, uncertain world driven by social media, where the gig economy represents the career choice for many. Employers complain that school or university leavers need more resilience, emotional intelligence, better communication skills, self-regulation and learning strategies, which, as EEF research shows, particularly benefit disadvantaged learners who struggle to fulfil their potential. How can the new freedoms within the curriculum deliver these without adding huge work burdens to our exhausted teachers?Carol Dweck’s research demonstrated how developing a growth mindset can help children and adults become the lifelong learners they need to be to thrive in school, relationships and the workplace. Many schools have identified slogans and strategies to help children get in the habit of enjoying the struggle of learning rather than obsess about test scores. But what sort of curriculum will support, challenge and, indeed, embed thinking that empowers all our pupils for a future that is changing so quickly?Knowledge is essential, despite having Google. Alongside knowledge, critical thinking is needed to help us challenge fake news and take a philosophical approach to simplistic statements so we can evaluate, analyse and argue a case, developing the essential habit of empathising, if not agreeing, with other viewpoints. Crucially, we also need to apply metacognition whenever our emotions are manipulated by the herding instinct within social media. Teamwork in projects, negotiating with each other and examining sources of evidence are all useful activities to develop these vital skills. Children can develop their own low-stakes tests, such as quizzes, bingo and word searches to check on how they are acquiring important knowledge about their set topic. Their learning is self-motivated and peer pressure in their teams works to raise standards.Working in teams to create an authentic real-life outcome enhances achievement, as Ron Berger explains in An Ethic of Excellence. When we give children real-world projects that involve critically examining models of excellence and which result in a public presentation, we raise the bar. By using this approach, with the PLTS as an assessment tool, and encouraging peer critique and peer coaching throughout a project, we will help develop the habit of metacognition. This will foster a learning mindset that will enhance progress in all aspects of the curriculum. Project work is our opportunity to connect other learning and grow skills to make emotionally intelligent learners.As a teacher, curriculum leader and Head teacher, I have spent three decades developing cross-curricular projects for Key Stage 2 and 3, and many of these ideas were developed in my books The Primary Curriculum Toolkit and The Competency Curriculum Toolkit. Projects can give pupils explicit opportunities to connect their learning with their personal development, take an active part in designing their own learning challenges and evaluating outcomes and develop a growth mindset culture that values effort and learning. Projects designed with these aims in mind align with the latest 2019 Ofsted curriculum guidance, which encourages a broad and balanced curriculum that empowers all learners. The measure of success will be how pupils can apply what they have learned, both knowledge and skills, to the next stage of their progress.How do we plan a series of cross-curricular projects? There are great examples to download which can be mixed and matched with bespoke projects designed by staff to create commitment and enthusiasm. Keep guidance simple and flexible so that teachers can adapt ideas to suit any age group. How about using this framework to guide staff to build some cross-curricular projects?Taking risks for learning – ‘Playing with Fire’One of the most inspirational experiences I have had as a trainer and consultant was visiting West Rise Junior School in the South Downs. Head teacher Mike Fairclough bases his curriculum on ‘doing and making’ in an environment where water buffalo run wild across 120 acres of marshland in the school grounds. Projects involve tending to these beasts and a range of impressively dangerous activities from rifle shooting to fire making.Building Bronze-Age roundhouses and beekeeping are further examples of practical projects that reconnect children to the natural world through animals and plants. The aim is an education that builds character and capability. All this requires high expectation and trust. West Rise is an outstanding Ofsted state school and offers us the example of how ambitious we can really be when considering cross-curricular projects that are truly memorable experiences.Guidelines for ambitious cross-curricular projects:Use knowledge input from the internet, teacher or local expertise. Study examples of excellence within the topic. Develop ambitious, real, local projects that push boundaries and encourage risk-taking. Have a choice of activities to empower learners and encourage accountability and"
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Growth Mindset

A Guide to Good Project Work

13 May 2019

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      string(394) "... information they need..2Spotting False NewsFor ‘Houses and Homes’, the children are provided an assignment to investigate and collect details about houses and buildings. Spotting fake news is also incorporated into the lesson – teachers provide guidance on fake news signifiers and pupils must discern between reliable and unreliable sources of ..."
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      string(5637) "The challengesWhen the National Curriculum was updated in 2013, we took the opportunity to review our cross-curricular methodology and our topics across all subjects, checking that they were engaging, up to date and supportive of pupil progression. To be aligned with the digital age, it was essential that our approach to learning had a significant technological slant.All subject leads audited their curriculum content and units of work; as IT and Computing coordinator, I wanted to implement a resource which equipped pupils with up-to-date skills such as coding while also retaining the creative element of our previous curriculum.The software also needed to be simple, creative and easy to use so that all pupils, including the youngest year groups and children with SEND, could access the resource independently.Finally, we wanted to foster learning at home and involve parents in the education process. To streamline this, our ideal solution was one that could be integrated into our ‘e-school’: the online learning platform our pupils use at school and at home to access games and resources.”The solutionTrafalgar Infant School has subscribed to LGfL for approximately the last ten years, and the j2e Tool Suite is included as part of the LGfL ‘Let’s Get Digital’ subscription. Included in the curriculum resources package Energise, j2e is provided at no extra cost to LGfL subscribers, so there was no need to take budget into consideration. With its balance of practical computing skills and opportunities for creative expression, it became clear that j2e would work really well for our pupils.The j2e Suite provides a fun, creative online environment where text, graphics, animations, sounds and videos can be accessed on a single platform. The tools lend themselves to open-ended tasks, rather than prescriptive ones which encourages children to use their imaginations.SeamlesslyAs it works seamlessly with other resources, it is ideal for cross-curricular learning and can be used in almost any lesson. To support a cross-curricular approach, all lessons are focused around a specific topic or theme to give learning an overarching narrative.The j2e resource forms an important part of our strategy and includes creating animations, coding with Turtle and j2code, practising spellings and phonics patterns via spellblast, completing homework tasks and creating and sharing documents and videos. One of the books we cover in our Year 1 topic ‘Night and Day’ is: Man on the Moon: a day in the life of Bob. Pupils use the Tool Suite to create a space animation based on Bob’s adventure – designing speech bubbles and dialogue supports the English curriculum, while for Art and DT learning pupils create a moonscape. To reinforce the maths curriculum, the children learn to tell the time and as in science they investigate light and materials in relation to how Bob could hide from the aliens.In Year 2, pupils are taught about ‘Materials and Electricity’. One of the books used in this topic is The Lighthouse Keeper’s Lunch The children create an animation in jit mix as a way to record their science investigation. By using mix the children can also add text to explain the investigation and write up results.“For the Year 1 topic ‘Houses and Homes’, pupils use j2webby, an online creative platform which uses blogging technology, to complete a ‘webquest’ – “an inquiry-oriented lesson format in which most or all the information that learners work with comes from the web.”1 Students are given a specific task (or quest); and use different pages and links on j2webby to search for and find the information they need..2Spotting False NewsFor ‘Houses and Homes’, the children are provided an assignment to investigate and collect details about houses and buildings. Spotting fake news is also incorporated into the lesson – teachers provide guidance on fake news signifiers and pupils must discern between reliable and unreliable sources of data. The information they collect is captured in a screenshot andsaved to a PowerPoint presentation. The presentation contains general material about houses and homes as well as extracts and images from the book A Walk in London.“We use j2e5, part of the Tool Suite and the online creativity tool for various individual and collaborative learning tasks and have also found that it is a valuable tool to engage our pupils with SEND. All children with SEND access j2e5 via j2launch (the landing page for j2e tools) on their individual iPads. Young people who find writing with a pen and paper a challenge can easily make notes on-screen, as well as add images and annotations for further clarification.Their portfolios of work are saved to a file; j2e5 keeps every revision of a document which means support teachers and parents can view various versions of a child’s material and accurately assess their progress. Teachers also upload photos of children performing practical activities to keep parents updated.During lockdown we have been able to use j2e5 to support lots of different areas of the curriculum including creating a workable music keyboard supporting Y2’s keyboard topic and also to host a music assembly for the children.j2homework has also provided the opportunity for pupils to submit work for their teachers to monitor.Staff have been using the shared folders area to post videos and messages from school as well as teaching videos to support the children’s home learning and will be continuing to do so alongside live TEAM’s videos with children who are unable to"
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Digital Learning

Very Young Children Can Be Creative Digital Learners!

29 May 2020