CPD Reflections: Practitioner Inquiries From ECT2s

By Ben Law-Smith, Ayah Malik & Will Glydon

This term some of our Early Careers Teachers (ECT2s) have been busy working on their very first rounds of "practitioner inquiry" as part of the Early Career Framework. This process empowers teachers to identify areas of the teacher standards they would like to develop further and carry out a project to explore this area and trial a new approach in their classrooms. The process can be broken down into the 4-step practitioner inquiry cycle (as shown below) and is an excellent model to make meaningful improvements to our own practice.

I asked a few of our ECT2s to share what they had investigated for their first inquiries and what they had uncovered:

Can peer-led seating plans lead to more positivity in the classroom, improve discussion and maintain teaching and learning outcomes? by Ben Law-Smith

One of my targets this year is to facilitate better classroom discussion - a key part of Citizenship lessons which often have more speaking tasks than other subjects. I noticed last year that seating plans tended to stifle discussion because they were primarily used as behaviour management tools and placed students next to people they didn't necessarily want to talk to. This was especially pronounced in Y10-11.

I have twelve classes from all KS3-4 year groups and I told students to 'sit where they liked' when they came in for the first time. Predictably, they reacted very positively to this instruction. In each class I explained they had an opportunity to show me they could sit next to their friends but that I would move them all to a prepared seating plan if necessary. To date, four classes out of twelve have remained in peer-led seating plans - my two Y7 classes and my Y10 and Y11 classes. The paired discussion tasks are noticeably better in these classes as students are more at ease and willing to speak to the person next to them. The T1 assessments will clearly show whether on track grades have been maintained or improved upon but AfL in the classroom, peer assessments and book scrutinies have been very promising so far.

Whilst it may not be for every class, experimenting with peer-led seating plans could encourage student-talk during paired discussion work and create a more positive atmosphere in the classroom, especially for KS4.

To what extent does parental engagement lead to the engagement and subsequent attainment of pupils? by Ayah Malik

I focused on a group of Year 8 pupils. I planned to build a regular channel of communication with their parents, through frequent phone-calls home, to see whether this would impact their engagement in lessons and attainment. After each phone call, I made a note of the behaviour and engaanding of key concepts in lessons which was made apparent to me through targeted formative questioning of the students and progress made in assessments.

Moving forward I would like to increase my engagement with parents of all classes where appropriate to ensure I am using this to the children's advantage in order to better their learning and understanding.

What factors impact LPA attitudes towards history? by Will Glydon

I decided to focus on my Year 11 class as I had noticed that in last year’s results, the LPAs in my class did not perform as well as the MPAs and LPAs did. I therefore sought to address this. 

To understand which factors were impacting the LPA attitudes towards history, I decided to do a student survey which I made as a google form. The questions had a wide range as I attempted to target many angles to see what the LPAs were struggling most with. The questions were as follows:

• What do you do when faced with a problem in history?
• Which do you find the most challenging aspect of history?
• How clear is the chronology of what we study (which events happen when)?
• How clear are the writing structures (PEL/COPA)?
• What is something that other teachers do that helps you in other subjects that would also help you in history?
• Which topic do you find most challenging and why?
• What would benefit you more in history lessons?
• What is your target grade?
•  What is the best way that I could help you in history?

The responses were interesting and varied. The list below shows the most useful responses and techniques that I am going to use moving forward to address the issues that came up: 

1. Majority stated that they wanted more quizzes and they find them useful for remembering content

• Add in more Knowledge recap quizzes for retrieval- ensuring a knowledge quiz once a week for Do Now 
• Set more Seneca as homework (every other week) 
• Work with LSA and ensure that they quizzing LPAs whilst helping them during lessons

2. Students are self-sufficient and don't use many metacognitive strategies

• Add in slides about BBC (brain, book, Chromebook) before asking the teacher
• Print out writing structures so they have the information clearly in their books so don’t jump to ask me
• Metacognitive modelling when looking at exam questions and other tasks

3. Remembering the writing structures

• Print out writing stuctures sheet for each question
• Include writing structure questions in the weekly quizzes

My LPA students showed in their responses that they are still quite reliant on me as a teacher to lead from the front and they do not deploy metacognitive strategies to aid their work. This inquiry helped me realise that remembering writing structures is difficult and the students need more support with this. Students had also highlighted how important they found quizzes in other subjects and that this needed to be better implemented into our routines in history.

Bitesize Research: Post-Pandemic Language Loss By EAL Learners

By Jaya Carrier

I hope you’re all having a good week so far - nearly at the half-term break now! In our INSET session T2 we’ll be welcoming two keynote speakers - one focussing on EAL learners, and one on safeguarding. The former will be led by Sarah Leonard from The Bell Foundation, whose recent report about EAL learners and language loss offers some interesting insights into the current context nationally. Objectives: To understand the language loss by EAL learners following the reopening of schools after the pandemic Summary:

• 59% of secondary school teachers reported some language loss for EAL learners following the reopening of schools after the pandemic
• 1 in 12 teachers who reported language loss for their EAL learners believed them to be specifically disadvantaged as a result of this
• The report recommends that schools have specific strategies in place to support these students, who may otherwise be rendered ‘invisible’
• The report also recommends that schools ensure they have:
• Targeted support for EAL learners who are about to take public examinations
• Work with parents to ensure they can comprehend key school messages effectively
• Provide EAL learners with rich opportunities for extracurricular activities
• Ensure that requisite pastoral care is provided for EAL learners who may be at greater risk of social isolation in schools.

How does this impact me and my practice?:

Some reflections arising from this that might be helpful to consider are:

• How do I know who my EAL learners and tutees are?
• What am I doing to support them both in lessons and more widely?
• What more do I want to find out about supporting EAL learners?

Please do get in touch if you would like to talk further about this - I’d love to hear from you!

Putting It Into Practice: Roadmapping

By Holly Youlden

This term we've been talking about the power of roadmapping, and using backwards planning to ensure your lessons have impact. In this blog post, we are going to explore some of the ways you can put pedagogy into practice by looking at staff reflections, reading, and top tips! 

Staff reflections:

Charlotte Nicholas in the History team has been focusing on the concept of roadmapping over the past year so was a natural fit to lead our CPD session on the topic in September. She summarised some of the key research in this area in this slide below and shared a specific example from her Year 9 medium-term planning. Note how clearly Charlotte has identified the substantive and disciplinary knowledge required in the units, as well as thinking about where specific transferable skills may feature:

(From C. Nicholas' "Roadmapping" CPD, 1st September 2022) 

We spoke to some of the colleagues who attended Charlotte's CPD to reflect on what they had learnt:

What were your key take-home message about roadmapping?

Roadmapping is an excellent way to signpost curriculum content to students and sequence learning in a way that reinforces student knowledge, helps them to prepare for what is coming up next and what they need to remember (potentially for GCSEs, assessments, etc). I haven't specifically made any new resources, however have integrated this into my thinking when planning, especially the Do Now- more retrieval based, linking to past learning and the Plenary, recapping today's lesson as well as looking ahead to the next lesson. 

(Alice Hall, Expressive Arts)

The end product is what gives the roadmapping process its shape, direction and structure. It also supports the idea of very high expectations in which the teacher holds the learners and encourages students to have the same expectations upon themselves. I particularly liked the idea that students know where their learning is heading and how this may encourage them in their journey despite the challenges they may face along the way. 

Roadmapping may require complete or at least partial re-planning of schemes of learning. One of the main challenges is obviously finding the time to achieve this. So backwards teaching will perhaps have to begin where there are clear gaps of planning based on students' starting points (from pre-assessment for example) and also consider whether the teacher can get sufficient challenge opportunities to get accurate feedback throughout a sequence of lessons. In other words, find areas of schemes of learning that require both more challenge and more effective ways to differentiate learning through the principles of roadmapping instead of replanning a whole scheme of learning. 

(Diogo Pereira, Science) 

How can I learn more?

Watch...

• Kitchen pedagogy 2.4- Instruction by Tom Sherrington here

• Instruction collection by Cult of Pedagogy here

Read...

• Blog post from Michelle Chen about curriculum development and planned skills progression

  
  

• CPD slides from Charlotte Nicholas about roadmapping

• Backwards planning takes thinking ahead by Rebecca Abler here 

• Backward design: the basics by Jennifer Gozales here

Speak to...

• Charlotte Nicholas- History

• Lucy Taylor- Geography

• Dipesh Patel- Science

Please share any great examples of roadmapping with me at h.youlden@westminsteracademy.org.uk!

Bitesize Research: Role Of Technology In Post-Pandemic Education Recovery

By Jaya Carrier

I hope you’re all having a good week so far. The ongoing research into the impact of the pandemic and into education recovery is an area that has maintained my interest for the last few years. As such, I was interested to see the summary paper from the Educational Policy Institute event about education recovery for disadvantaged students and in particular, the role played by technology in alleviating the gaps.

Objectives: To evaluate the ongoing education recovery for students after the pandemic, and the role that technology has to play within this

Summary: 

• Disadvantaged students have disproportionately fallen behind their peers after the pandemic, and a number of critical barriers to effective education recovery remain for these students including:

• Low attendance rate

• Poor mental health

• Exacerbated existing socioeconomic divisions

• Technology has an important part to play in overcoming these barriers

• EdTech and technology must build on and use existing evidence-based understanding of effective pedagogies in order to be effective 

• The use of technology will also be important to support students at risk of being NEET and will enable them to improve their employability skills

How does this impact me and my practice?: Some reflections arising from this that might be helpful to consider are: 

• What are the barriers for the disadvantaged students in my classes or tutor group? How do I know?

• What is important in the WA context in terms of disadvantaged students using technology? 

• How am I using technology to support my disadvantaged students?

• How do I ensure that good pedagogies are reflected in the way I use technology for learning?

Please do get in touch if you would like to talk further about this - I’d love to hear from you!

Putting It Into Practice: Student-Centred Learning

By Holly Youlden

At the start of term, we spoke at length about the importance of learning being student-centred. In this blog post, we are going to explore some of the ways you can put pedagogy into practice by looking at staff reflections, reading, and top tips! 

Staff reflections: 

Having spent a year exploring the topic of “student-centred learning” with their Professional Learning Community (PLC), Charlotte Dunn and Maya Amara summarised what this meant in their CPD session during INSET. They summarised what student centred learning means and does not mean in our context in this table: 

What ‘student centred’ does mean in our context

What ‘student centred’ doesn’t mean in our context

Students are given lots of opportunities to talk to each other through pair or group discussion When group work does take place it is well scaffolded and structured Students are given opportunities to reflect on how they might approach a task before doing it Students work on tasks that are appropriate for their ability levels and needs Students have some sense of autonomy over their learning. They feel empowered.

It doesn’t mean there is no teacher talk - direct instruction is extremely valuable when teaching new concepts or modelling It doesn’t mean there is no scaffolding or structure to lessons  It doesn’t mean group work every lesson It doesn’t mean that different groups of students should always be doing something different from each other. It doesn’t mean that students are completely in control of the classroom It doesn’t mean students need to ‘discover’ new learning for themselves. We still need to teach them things.

(From C. Dunn’s “Student-Centred Learning” CPD, 1st September 2022) 

Reflecting on the training, Jenny Scott said her biggest takeaway was “the idea of using choice (which makes a task more student-centred) as a form of differentiation. For example, in the past I have commonly included a gap fill task followed by a stretch question, but what if the more able students could choose to do the more advanced question instead of the gap fill, rather than as an additional task? A consideration that was discussed around this was students choosing an option that wasn't actually the best task for their level, so this is something that I am excited to trial in my lessons in future and see how I can best overcome this hurdle.”. 

Similarly, Jojo Laber from Maths said that this session helped her realise that, “facilitating a student-centred learning environment is more natural than you'd think! Although at first impression it may seem like there's more work involved, it actually becomes a much less energy-demanding lesson when you're sure that the students know what direction to take their learning in for that lesson. It provides the opportunity for students to take ownership of what they're learning and therefore feel more encouraged to engage well throughout the lesson.”

How can I learn more?

Try reading…

• Blog post from Andrew Moore about student-centred scaffolding

• Blog post from Flo Rayner about group work

• CPD slides from Charlotte Dunn and Maya Amara about using choice to make lessons more student-centred

• Never Work Harder Than Your Students by Robyn R. Jackson (Professional Learning Library)

• Teaching Walkthrus by Efrat Furst, Clare Sealy, Dylan Wiliam, and Kate Jones (Professional Learning Library)

• Student-centred page on the Professional Learning Platform

Try speaking to…

• Charlotte Dunn- English

• Maya Amara- Maths

• Georgina Abbott- Expressive Arts

• Dipesh Patel- Science

Please share any great examples of student-centred learning with me at h.youlden@westminsteracademy.org.uk!

Bitesize Research: Why Failure Is Important For Learning

By Jaya Carrier

I hope you’re all having a good week so far. One of the things that has shaped our ongoing thinking about performance management has been the idea of ‘praiseworthy failure’ (Edmonson, 2011). Connected to this, I was interested in a recent interview with learning scientist Manu Kapur, who was explaining his ideas about failure in student learning.

Objectives: To understand the importance of failure in student learning processes

Summary: 

• Kapur’s concept of ‘productive failure’ suggests that teacher impulses to immediately correct or help students may not best enable their learning.

• He suggests that teachers should design elements of failure into their courses of study. This could include ‘purposeful obstacles’, problem solving and activities which are challenging such that they are just beyond the reach of the students.

• Kapur argues that ‘productive failure’ is much more effective than ‘discovery learning’, whereby the goal of the former is to incorporate failure in a safe and coordinated way.

• Kapur argues that productive failure enables a good mid-point between direct instruction and discovery learning, and that if faithfully adopted according to the original principles, students can unlock 10-20% better results in their conceptual understanding and in their ability to transfer ideas to novel problems or scenarios.

How does this impact me and my practice?: Some reflections arising from this that might be helpful to consider are: 

• What sorts of purposeful obstacles or productive failure tasks would work in my subject and with my learners?

• What might the benefits of using tasks like this be?

• How does this link to the IB learner profile and Approaches to Teaching?

Please do get in touch if you would like to talk further about this - I’d love to hear from you!