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A child faces a series of potential pitfalls when searching for information online. This can be the ‘awareness barrier’, ‘fake images’ or ‘blended memory’. Andrew Shenton explains.

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      string(220) "This new strategy document from the Read On. Get On. campaign shows a new way of measuring how well 11-year-olds are reading – for the first time looking at reading for pleasure.
Leadership Briefing 11.04(124)"
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      string(390) "... will advocate and innovate to ensure services that promotechildren’s reading deliver quality efficiently.Week Commencing 21st November 2016http://www.literacytrust.org.uk/assets/0003/6217/Read_On_Get_On_Strategy.pdfhttp://www.literacytrust.org.uk/assets/0003/6217/Read_On_Get_On_Strategy.pdfLeadership BriefingLeadership Briefing – www.teachingtimes.comReports ..."
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      string(4266) "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.A STRATEGY TO GET ENGLAND’S CHILDRENREADINGKeywordsStrategy,children,reading,11-year-olds,measurement,primary schools,reading forpleasure, levelSummaryThis new strategy document from the Read On. Get On. campaign shows a new way ofmeasuring how well 11-year-olds are reading – for the first time looking at reading forpleasure.Developing the new measurement of children’s reading in primary schools is one part of the Read On.Get On. coalition’s new 10 point strategy, which underpins the campaign’s aim to get all 11-year-oldsreading well by 2025.Every year in England, thousands of children leave primary school without the confidence and fluencyin reading that they need. New assessment arrangements introduced in summer 2016 show only 66%of 11-year-olds reading at the expected level.This problem is reinforcing social and ethnic inequality and holding our economy back. The vitalimportance of teaching phonics and comprehension in schools needs to be complemented byapproaches that help every child to engage with and develop a love of reading.The research shows that pupils who enjoy reading ‘very much’ are three times as likely to readabove the level expected for their age as those who do not enjoy reading at all; whilst the nationalcurriculum requires schools to support children’s enjoyment of reading, this is not reflected in currentassessments.The campaign’s new strategy calls on the whole of society to play a role in getting England’s childrenreading and highlights the importance of collaboration and local leadership; including new andinnovative partnerships with business, publishing, the arts and the media to widen the reach of thecampaign.The 10 steps of the Read On. Get On. strategy: ■ Leadership ■ The government should restate its commitment to our goal. ■ The Read On. Get On. coalition will recruit local leaders to convene campaigns addressingspecific literacy challenges, using local assets alongside national programmes. ■ The Read On. Get On. coalition will advocate and innovate to ensure services that promotechildren’s reading deliver quality efficiently.Week Commencing 21st November 2016http://www.literacytrust.org.uk/assets/0003/6217/Read_On_Get_On_Strategy.pdfhttp://www.literacytrust.org.uk/assets/0003/6217/Read_On_Get_On_Strategy.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. ■ The Read On. Get On. coalition will work with the government and researchers to createa consistent national measure of children’s reading and ways of tracking progress in earlylanguage and literacy throughout the early years. ■ Changing behaviour and cultural attitudes to reading ■ The Read On. Get On. coalition will develop a new integrated, national programme ofactivities including a further behaviour change campaign to support parenting, early languageand reading. ■ The Read On. Get On. coalition will lead a national campaign and activities to promotereading for pleasure in schools, libraries, at home and in the wider community. ■ Early years ■ The government should increase investment in the early years workforce. ■ The government should refresh the role of children’s centres, which are a vital resource insupporting early language and reading skills in disadvantaged communities. ■ Primary school years ■ School leaders and professional bodies should support teachers’ professional developmentand subject knowledge of teaching and encouraging reading. ■ The government should work with academy chains and trusts, local authorities and schoolleaders to ensure that all primary schools have school improvement support when localauthorities no longer have a duty to supply it.WEB LINKA Strategy To Get England’s Children Readinghttp://www.literacytrust.org.uk/assets/0003/6217/Read_On_Get_On_Strategy.pdf"
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Leadership

A Strategy To Get England’s Children Reading

17 Nov 2016

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      string(320) "The English education system is experiencing an era of unprecedented change, at least as significant as the move to Local Management of Schools after 1988. Nowhere are these changes more keenly felt than amongst the leadership teams and governing bodies of the country’s schools. This research offers a fascinating ..."
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      string(269) "... servicesof a school chain3 2 7 +5A specialist leader ofeducation (SLE)2 1 5 +4Other 8 7 7 0No response 2 5 8 –N = 833 827 826 –Note: More than one answer could be put forward so percentages may sum to more than 100.The percentages in this table are ..."
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      string(535) "The English education system is experiencing an era of unprecedented change, at least as significant as the move to Local Management of Schools after 1988. Nowhere are these changes more keenly felt than amongst the leadership teams and governing bodies of the country’s schools. This research offers a fascinating consideration of the schools’ landscape and clearly highlights how it has evolved over the 10 years since the first review of school leadership in England in 2002. By the National College for School Leadership - 2012"
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      string(5605) "of externalsupport now (tickonly 3)%C. Probable threemost importantsource in 18months’ time (tickonly 3)%Anticipated changein the three mostimportant sources(B minus C)Percentage pointsThe local authority 87 54 29 -25The schoolimprovement partner77 52 32 -20Informal supportfrom another stateschool56 37 31 -6Professionalassociation/union56 23 23 0National College forSchool Leadership46 19 19 0Ofsted 35 13 15 +2A private educationalconsultant or smallconsultancy28 19 20 +1Diocese board orchain28 13 13 0Schools forum (egfinance support)22 7 7 0Commercialorganisation19 9 15 +6Specialist Schoolsand Academies Trust15 6 11 +5National or localleader of education(NLE/LLE)11 6 14 +8A teaching school 8 4 13 +9The central servicesof a school chain3 2 7 +5A specialist leader ofeducation (SLE)2 1 5 +4Other 8 7 7 0No response 2 5 8 –N = 833 827 826 –Note: More than one answer could be put forward so percentages may sum to more than 100.The percentages in this table are weighted by school type and student FSM eligibility.Source: NFER and IOE leadership survey for the National College, 2012The trends in support expected by headteachers were broadly consistent with the actions they reportedundertaking or planning to undertake at a whole-school level.98 © National College for School LeadershipOn teaching schools, as Table 7.2 demonstrates, 2 per cent of respondents in the survey sample reported thattheir school was already in the process of becoming a teaching school. A further 9 per cent were planning tosubmit an application to become a teaching school. A further 10 per cent were already participating formallyin a TSA, with about one-fifth (18 per cent) planning to do so in the future. However, despite the importanceof TSAs within the current policy framework, 70 per cent of headteachers had no current plans to participateformally in a TSA and 61 per cent had no plans to work informally with a teaching school in their area. Wenote that the National College’s annual survey, undertaken at about the same time, reported that 27 percent of heads found the model of teaching schools appealing, with secondary schools (54 per cent) andacademies (52 per cent) most likely to consider working as a part of a TSA in the next 12 months. However,only a third of primary (35 per cent) and special (36 per cent) schools had such plans.On local authority services, 41 per cent of headteachers had stopped or intended to stop using servicesprovided by their local authority. A majority of respondents (69 per cent), however, also reported that theywere already or planned to collaborate with other schools to fund aspects of the local authority improvementservice to ensure specific services were sustained. This suggests that while a significant minority of schoolsmay soon stop using a range of local authority services and diversify their support, many schools may also(simultaneously) recognise that their local authority provides (a number of) effective and beneficial services.Interview and case study participants also described a range of examples of the demise of local authoritysupport services, in keeping with the broader, changing role of the local authority described in chapter 4.Where local authorities were effectively redesigning (or rebranding) coherent packages of support, however,schools and especially primary schools readily bought into these. In a number of contexts, engagement (ordisengagement) with the local authority appeared to be driven more by the local authority’s capacity tocontinue to deliver services and support rather than schools making a concerted decision to disengage –particularly where relations were historically strong.Table 7.2: Current whole-school support services (headteachers)Has your school, or is your school,planning to:Alreadyhappening%Planning to%Neither%No response%become a teaching school? 2 9 86 2participate in a teaching school alliance? 10 18 70 2work with a teaching school in your area? 15 22 61 2contract support or advice from anotherstate school? 18 13 66 2contract support or advice from acommercial organisation? 19 15 64 3stop using services provided by the localauthority? 25 16 58 2collaborate with other schools tofund aspects of the local authorityimprovement service to ensure thoseaspects are sustained?40 29 30 2N = 833Note: From a series of single-response itemsThe percentages in this table are weighted by school type and student FSM eligibility.Due to rounding, percentages may not sum to 100.Source: NFER and IOE leadership survey for the National College, 201299 © National College for School LeadershipThe current importance of the local authority was also reported by middle/senior leaders. The middle/seniorleader survey presented respondents with an open-ended question asking them which three most importantsources of support and advice they expected to use over the next 18 months (rather than the list of sourcespresented to headteachers in Table 7.1). As demonstrated in Table 7.3, the most frequently cited source wasthe headteacher/deputy head of the school (one-third of middle/senior leaders stated this). The other mainsources of support and advice mentioned by middle/senior leaders were the local authority (29 per cent),school/cluster network (20 per cent) and the National College (16 per cent).Table 7.3: Sources of support and advice (middle/senior leaders)Most important sources of support and advice %Headteacher/deputy head of this school 33The local authority 29School cluster/network 20National College for School Leadership 16Peers/colleagues in other schools"
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Leadership

Review of the school leadership landscape

6 Jul 2017

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      string(4643) "for Scholarship and Teaching and Learning, 11, 1-4. ■ Dunworth, K., & Santiao Sanchez, H. (2016). Perceptions of quality in staff-student written feedback in higher education: a case study. Teaching in Higher Education, 21(5), 576-589. ■ Flanagan, S. (2014). How does storytelling within higher education contribute to the learning experience of early years students? Journal of Practice and Learning. 13(2-3), 146-168. ■ Flint, A., Oxley, A., Helm, P., & Bradley, S. (2009). Preparing for success: one institution’s aspirational and student focused response to the National Student Survey. Teaching in Higher Education, 14(6), 607-618. ■ Garratt, D. (2011). Reflections on learning: widening capability and the student experience. Cambridge Journal of Education, 41(2), 211-225. ■ Golding, C., & Adam, L. (2016). Evaluate to improve: useful approaches to student evaluation. Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education, 41, 1-14. ■ Golubchikov, O. (2015). “Negotiating critical geographies through a “feel-trip”: experiential, affective and critical learning in engaged fieldwork. Journal of Geography in Higher Education, 39, 143-157. ■ Grebennikov, L., & Shah, M. (2013). Student voice: using qualitative feedback from students to enhance their university experience. Teaching in Higher Education, 18(6): 606-618. ■ Hagenaur, G., & Volet, S.E. (2014). Teacher-student relationship at university: an important yet under-researched field. Oxford Review of Education, 40(3), 370-388. ■ Hoon, A., E. Oliver., Szpakowska, K., & Newton, P. (2015). Use of the ‘Stop, Start, Continue’ method is associated with the production of constructive qualitative feedback by students in higher education. Assessment and Evaluation in Higher Education, 40(5), 755-767. ■ Jenkins, A., Jones, L., & Ward, A. (2001). The Long-term Effect of a Degree on Graduate Lives. Studies in Higher Education, 26(2), 147-161. ■ Khan, M. (2013). Evaluation of Course Evaluations: Views from Students, Staff and Senior Management: Enhancing Student Feedback and Improvement Systems in Tertiary Education. CAA Quality Series 5, 112-123. ■ Lambert, J. (2013). Digital Storytelling: Capturing Lives, Creating Community. Abingdon: Routledge. ■ Lenton, P. (2015). Determining student satisfaction: An economic analysis of the National Student Survey. Economics of Education Review, 47, 118-127. ■ Mackenzie, J. (2008). Conceptual learning in higher education: some philosophical points. Oxford Review of Education, 34, 75-87. ■ Menis, S. (2017). Non-traditional students and critical pedagogy: transformative practice and the teaching of criminal law. Teaching in Higher Education, 22(2), 193-206. ■ Nasser-Abu Alhija, F. (2017). Teaching in higher education: Good Teaching through students’ lens. Studies in Education Evaluation, 54, 4-12. ■ O’Donovan, B., Price, M., & Rust, C. (2008). Developing student understanding of assessment standards: a nested hierarchy of approaches. Teaching in Higher Education, 13(2), 205-217. ■ Petty, G. (2014). Teaching Today. Cheltenham: Nelson Thornes.  ■ Seale, J. (2010) Doing student voice work in higher education: an exploration of the value of participatory methods. British Educational Research Journal, 36(6), 995-1015. ■ Sherwood, G and M.A. Nind. 2014. “Parents’ experiences of support: co-constructing their stories.” International Journal of Early Years Education 22 (4): 457-470. ■ Silverman, D. (2014). Interpreting Qualitative Data. London: Sage. ■ Spooren, P., Mortelmans, D., & Thijssen, P. (2012). ‘Content’ versus ‘style’: acquiescence in student evaluation of teaching? British Educational Research Journal, 38, 3-21. ■ Stein, S.J., Spiller, D., Terry, S., Harris, T., Deaker, L., & Kennedy, J. (2013). Tertiary teachers and student evaluations: never the twain shall meet?  Assessment and Evaluation in Higher Education, 38(7), 892-904. ■ Surgenor, P.W.G. (2013). Obstacles and opportunities: Addressing the growing pains of summative student evaluation on teaching. Assessment and Evaluation in Higher Education, 38(3), 363-376. ■ Weiner-Levy, N. (2008). Universities as a meeting point with new academic knowledge, society and culture: cognitive and emotional transitions during higher education. Cambridge Journal of Education, 38(4), 497-512. ■ Winchester, T.M., & Winchester, M.K. (2014). A longitudinal investigation of the impact of faculty reflective practices on students’ evaluations of teaching. British Journal of Educational Technology, 45, 112-124."
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Professional Development

Evaluation through story-telling! – a tool for improving teaching

18 Apr 2018

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      string(5610) "60www.teachthinking.comIn serviceIn serviceIn serviceIn serviceIn serviceTeaching Thinking&Creativity  Summer 2004Trainingfor thinkingRobert Peers introduces anew training initiative fromNorthumberland and theUniversity of Newcastle: theNorthumberland TeachingThinking CertificateWhy do you need a certificate to show that youcan teach thinking? Well of course, you don’t.There are many colleagues successfullyteaching pupils to think up and down the land. However,the popularity of the Teaching Thinking Certificate doessuggest that many colleagues welcome the opportunityto engage in guided action research and to accredit theirskill in an aspect of their craft that is attracting increasingnational attention.The Certificate’s origins go back to the NorthumberlandThinking Through Humanities group set up by Mel Rockettin the 90s. Members of that group had an enthusiasm fortrying out the thinking strategies developed by David Leat,Steve Higgins and Vivienne Baumfield at the University ofNewcastle’s School of Education. The members – teachersand LEA colleagues – represented many subjects and allphases, a mix which heightened their awareness of theflexible nature of these infused strategies, and led them toexperiment outside the area of Humanities.The idea for a Certificate grew out of the realisation that, ifthe processes undertaken by the group during their researchcould be formalised, this could offer a helpful way forwardfor other colleagues. Mel Rockett, Vivienne Baumfield andJames Nottingham (now Director of our sister organisationNRAIS) created a draft course which involved modelling thestrategies and asking teachers to try them out in theirclassrooms. The following session would begin with areflective activity where teachers could share theirexperiences and learn from each other (see Figure 1).Robert Peers introduces anew training initiative fromNorthumberland and theUniversity of Newcastle: theNorthumberland TeachingThinking Certificate61Teaching Thinking&Creativity  Summer 2004www.teachthinking.com In serviceIn serviceIn serviceIn serviceIn servicePrinciplesThe pattern of an interactive session followed by actionresearch was based around a fundamental design feature– that the course should be episodic, and not a single event.The much quoted research of Joyce and Showers (Joyce &Showers 1988) showed us that ‘parachute’ type INSETevents where a so-called expert arrives, dispenses wisdomand then is never seen again, are unlikely to do more thanraise awareness of an issue (and that’s on a good day!). Bydeliberately creating reflection time and sharing activitiesas part of the course, teachers could experience forthemselves the constructivist, Vygotskian approachunderpinning teaching thinking. And there was anotherreason – we wished to show that teaching thinking shouldnot be a bolt-on activity, either for teachers or for theirpupils.When Professor John Edwards shared his ‘ActionLearning’ cycle at the Harrogate International ThinkingConference in 2002, the rationale of the course found ahelpful expression (see Figure 2). What is unique about thiscycle is that, unlike other learning cycles that are usuallydrawn as closed circles, this is drawn as a series of linkedloops. What makes this attractive is that it replicates ourreal life learning where, according to Edwards, we have toexperience a piece of learning eight or nine times beforewe become proficient. In other words, learning is neithercircular (characterised either as ‘going in ever-decreasingcircles’ or as ‘disappearing up one’s own …’) nor is it linear(carrying on regardless of the evidence or one’s priorlearning), but iterative.The action learning model is particularly helpful in thisinstance because the full implications of thinking forlearning often take time to sink in. On initial acquaintance,many teachers tend to use the thinking strategies as novelactivities to extend their repertoire with little or no timeset aside for reflection on the process. There is nothingwrong with this, and the lesson may prove to be verysuccessful by Ofsted measures, but it is not developingthinking for learning. Our experience is that, in order toteach infused thinking effectively, many related aspects ofpedagogy come into play. Carol McGuiness helpfullyreminds us that the process of infusion can be highlytransforming:To infuse – to introduce into one thing a second thingwhich gives it extra life, vigour and a new significance.(Webster’s Dictionary). The teaching of curricular contentFigure 162www.teachthinking.comIn serviceIn serviceIn serviceIn serviceIn serviceTeaching Thinking&Creativity  Summer 2004is infused with the explicit instruction of thinking skills.So teachers used to teaching in a familiar way year afteryear suddenly find themselves looking excitedly at thearrangement of the classroom furniture, the range and styleof questions they ask, the amount of whole class teachingthey use, the type of activities they create, the nature andlength of the plenary session and so on. In other words,the introduction of the thinking strategies re-invigoratesboth the subject content and the teacher whilst providingpupils with the skills to become more effective learners.The action learning cycle confirms that this shift inpedagogy doesn’t usually happen overnight.The Certificate come of ageUsing the fledging course they had helped devise, MelRockett and James Nottingham began training teachersfrom several interested schools in Northumberland and aspart of the Berwick RAIS project. By the time the"
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Creative Teaching & Learning

Training for Thinking

28 Feb 2011

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      string(4586) "the final document.14 A similar concern with traceability may be considered ahallmark of effective information use and, therefore, a high level of informationliteracy.“It may be,for example,that moredetail needsto be addedor the materialalready setdown must beplaced in awider contextand both canbe achievedby ‘mining’the sourcecontentaround theinformationthat has beenused ”41Volume3.3nCreativeTeaching&LearningInformationSkillsWays ForwardSo as to combat the potential problems associated with ‘blended memory’ it isimportant that learners accept four key principles:Although work in relation to many academic assignments involves the keystages of identifying what information is required, looking for it and then puttingthe appropriate material that has been found to use in a way that satisfies theneed, these phases do not always proceed in a clear, sequential manner. Itmay be, for example, that, even when the learner believes that their work isnearing completion, they realise that it is necessary to go back to the literaturein order to add more material on a particular matter.The revisiting process is often simplified if the learner keeps records ofwhich information has come from which sources. The recording process mayembrace the making of notes, the annotation of printouts and photocopies,and the addition of cross-references.Such records should include the full bibliographic citation of the work thathas been consulted. This enables the pupil to locate the source in questionas speedily as possible and, when incorporated into the final assignment,the references help the reader to assess the soundness of the learner’sarguments.It is unwise for the pupil to assume that, at some point in the future, theywill be able to remember accurately and in detail, without documentaryassistance, the origin of particular information that is found in the work thathas been produced.Whilst these principles can be justified on the basis that they amount togood academic practice, ‘selling’ them to pupils through reference to specificscenarios, like situations where blended memory can cause confusion, maystrengthen the educator’s hand by giving them added weight.Dr. Andrew K. Shenton is the Curriculum and Resource Support Officerat Monkseaton High School in the north-east of England.nnnnReferences1. Durrance, J.C. (1984) Armed for Action: Library Response to Citizen Information Needs. New York, Neal-Schuman.2. Świgoń, M. (2011) Information limits: definition, typology and types. Aslib Proceedings, 63(4), 364-79.3. See, for example: Pattee, A.S. (2008) What do you know? Applying the K-W-L method to the reference transactionwith children. Children and Libraries, 6(1), 30-39; Rowlands, I. et al (2008) The Google generation: the informationbehaviour of the researcher of the future. Aslib Proceedings, 60(4), 290-310; Shenton, A.K. (2010) Etic, emic, orboth? A fundamental decision for researchers of young people’s information needs. New Review of Children’sLiterature and Librarianship, 16(1), 54-67.4. Walter, V.A. (1994) The information needs of children. Advances in Librarianship, 18, 111-29.5. Shenton, A.K. (2009) Young People’s Information Universes: Their Characteristics and Development. Saarbrücken,VDM.6. Shenton, A.K. and Hay-Gibson, N.V. (2011) Modelling the information-seeking behaviour of children and youngpeople: inspiration from beyond LIS. Aslib Proceedings, 63(1), 57-75.7. Shenton, A.K. (2009) Search images, information seeking and information literacy. Library Review, 58(2), 109-15.8. Robinson, S. (2011) The cheating memory. Doctor Who: Day of the Daleks. DVD [disc two]. BBC.9. Chen, C.-C. and Hernon, P. (1982) Information Seeking: Assessing and Anticipating User Needs. New York,Neal-Schuman.10. Poston-Anderson, B. and Edwards, S. (1993) The role of information in helping adolescent girls with their lifeconcerns. School Library Media Quarterly, 2(1), 25-30.11. Bates, M.J. (1996) Learning about your users’ information needs: a key to effective service. In: Cohen, A. (ed)The Fifth Pacific Islands Association of Libraries and Archives Conference, 6-10 November 1995. Federated Statesof Micronesia, Pacific Islands Association of Libraries and Archives, 5-12.12. Tarter, A.-M. and Hyams, E. (2010) Teaching students to become independent learners. Library and InformationUpdate, August, 28-30.13. Dervin, B. (1977) Useful theory for librarianship: communication, not information. Drexel Library Quarterly, 13(3),16-32.14. Pickard, A.J. (2007) Research Methods in Information. London, Facet."
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Special Needs

Why can’t I find what I’m looking for?

16 Apr 2018