Bitesize Research: Strategies For Learning

By Jaya Carrier

I hope you’re all having a good week so far. This week, I was interested to come across an Edutopia article that features an interview with Daniel Willingham, a psychology professor specialising in neuroscience and learning, at the University of Virginia. 

Objectives: To understand the best strategies for learning based on the latest cognitive science.

Summary: 

• Willingham argues that with memory, counterintuitively, things that feel natural and effective may not be the best strategy. We may naturally tend to things that feel easier, even if they aren’t as effective.

• He argues we need to be teaching students how to access and comprehend challenging things

• He gives advice for particular things, including notetaking. For example, he argues that students should be advised to not copy what is being said verbatim when taking notes, but instead record what they are thinking. This way students will be processing  and understanding, which ultimately will help them to better remember in the long run.

• He also argues that focus is very important to discuss with students. In particular, he stresses that multitasking is very challenging cognitively, so studying with a phone close by should be avoided. 

• Willingham suggests that preparation before reading texts is likely to be helpful - generating some subheadings, and some questions including ‘what am I likely to learn from this?’ are likely to help most students with reading more complex texts.

• Willingham suggests that study skills should be integrated into lessons, rather than a standalone course.

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

• How do I use these principles in my lessons already?

• How do I speak to students about different study skills currently? What could I do to further develop this part of their learning?

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

Tips For Effective Reconciliation Meetings

By Paul Mulvihill

Welcome back and I hope everyone is well rested! In today's blog post, I want to explore “reconciliation or restoration meetings” and how we can all adopt a trauma-informed approach to these.

The best restoration meetings are when:

• Staff reflect on their own practice and decisions

• We accept and take ownership of the errors we make. This models to students that we all make mistakes and that it’s ok as long as we take responsibility and learn from them.

• There is a conversation about zones of regulation

• Staff are understanding and acknowledge that sometimes students might not be completely clear on exactly what happened in a situation or what mistake they may have made. This is completely normal if a student perceives that there is threat.

Restorations don’t go to plan when:

• People are talking at each other - instead try to use ‘active listening’ to hear the student out (even if you think they might not be stating facts)

• Staff want a reason from a student, asking questions like: ‘Why did you do this?’ and/or ‘Why do you think I sent you out?’ It is ok for students to ‘not know’ what they have done in order to be referred to the withdrawal room and it is our job to help them understand what mistakes they may be making. 

Some key tips:

Read the student reflection sheet carefully. If they are not up to the desired standard and have been rushed, ask them to complete it again and help them to do so if necessary. This can be a great opportunity to foster a positive relationship with the student.

Consider positive language which is non accusatory, for example, using the phrase ‘I noticed that you were turning around which disrupted the learning’ rather than ‘you were turning around’.

Ms Beckles and Ms Whyte like to start the restorative conversation with a simple, ‘How are you?’ and ‘Are you ready to talk?’ which gives the student an opportunity to explain how they are feeling and in turn will help them to recognise that they will be listened to.

Ms Beckles also likes to sometimes add, ‘Did I do something to upset you?’ This can be particularly useful if a student is in the red zone or has been rude to you.

Ms Taylor recommends the following: 

When having the reconciliation, be curious! Ask questions around 'What zone they were in when they entered the class?' 'When did they enter the red zone?' 'What do you think caused this?'  This helps the students reflect on things that may trigger them in becoming dysregulated, and therefore, helps develop their understanding of how to effectively manage their own emotions. You and the student can then come up with solutions as a pair which work for both of you. 

Bitesize Research: Political Understanding Of Young People

By Jaya Carrier

Welcome back everyone - I hope you’re all having a good week so far and that you had a nice half term break! As a school aiming for global, well-informed citizens and leaders, this week, I was interested to look at the Institute of Education’s recent report on political engagement in young people. 

Objectives: To understand emerging key themes and differences in the political understanding of young people

Summary: 

• The report identifies that between the ages of 11 and 16, political interest declines, particularly for students from lower income backgrounds. The family income appeared not to make a difference to students’ political interest before the age of 11.

• Fewer students from lower income backgrounds said they would vote in a future election aged 15. 

• The report identifies a growing gender gap in political interest between the ages of 16 and 30 - girls are much less likely to be interested in politics at 16, and their political interest grows at a slower rate than boys between ages 16 and 30.

• Girls taking vocational qualifications also had significantly less political interest than their counterparts taking other qualifications, whereas boys had better political interest irrespective of the kinds of qualifications they were taking.

• The authors believe that early adolescence is really important in terms of ensuring strong political engagement. 

• The authors conclude that more civic learning opportunities (such as in the French educational system) need to take place, particularly at post-16 level. 

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

• Does this research matter to my work? How does it impact what I do in PD or in conversations with my tutees?

• How does this sit with our vision of creating informed, internationally-minded/global citizens?

• How do I support the understanding of important concepts like community, citizenship, advocacy?

• How can we better engage girls and PP students in politics?

• How can we encourage our students to engage with socio political initiatives (e.g. Youth Parliament) to foster an interest in social change and politics? 

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

Thoughts From A Trainee: Evaluating The Implementation Of Behaviour Policies

 By Lorenzo Stefanile

When considering what to focus on for our PGCE-required “School Based Study”, Joyce Wu and I found ourselves consistently coming back to WA’s behaviour policy and how it is implemented. My only other educational experience has been working as an LSA in an independent school in London which was quite a contrasting experience to my time at WA. At my previous school, it almost seemed like there was no behaviour policy; teachers were not allowed to give detentions, and consequently there was often disrespect and defiance from the students toward the teachers. Therefore, after arriving at WA and seeing how there was a clear and well-defined behaviour policy that was implemented by all teachers, made me curious to explore the concept further. 

We divided our study and consequent presentation into three parts:

1. Understand through the literature on the subject and discussions with other teachers, what the true purpose of a behaviour policy is, and how we can measure its efficacy.

2. Collect and analyse as much quantitative data as we could from Arbor on exclusions, detentions and G22. Send out and analyse surveys from teachers and students about the WA behaviour policy (thank you to all those who filled it out).

3. Draw conclusions from the quantitative and qualitative data we have collected and make some suggestions on how we can improve our behaviour policy.

We focused first on defining the purpose of a behaviour policy and settled on several points which include:

• To provide an opportunity to put shared values about the ways school communities are expected to behave into practice

• To enable each pupil to have an appropriate environment for learning and each teacher to create a suitable environment

When considering how one could even measure the success of a behaviour policy, we settled on two ways; the first is quantitatively using data on exclusions, rewards, and exam results; however, we agreed that the more important measures were the socio-personal ones like classroom behaviour, social relationships, student wellbeing and teacher satisfaction. As we found from a report of a school that created a hugely successful new behaviour policy from scratch:

“Any successful organisation needs to engage with all those in the organisation to be ‘partners in change’. [The team in charge of developing the policy must make] great efforts throughout the development of the project to seek the participation of all the key players in the school, the teachers, parents and, above all, the pupils in all aspects of the formation of the new policy.” 

Secondly, we gathered and analysed survey data from both teachers and students. We received some interesting feedback. The staff’s feedback on the behaviour policy can be summarised as the following:

• Routines and reminders/warnings are seemingly the most effective methods of behaviour management at any age

• Some staff struggle to find time to run detentions

• Sometimes there are inconsistencies in enforcing the behaviour policy

• Activities that are more reflective may be preferable to a sanction such as G22 in some instances

• There can be teacher bias in terms of which students they sanction

The students’ feedback was surprisingly similar in that they reported that:

• Some teachers appear to have their own behaviour rules

• There can be a lack of consistency in enforcing behaviour policy

• Some teachers need to communicate more patiently with students and create a respectful relationship

• There can be teacher bias in terms of which students they sanction

These results show a general consensus among the staff and student body on which areas need improvement.

So, what are the next steps? How can we improve? 

There are certainly some implementations that every teacher could personally put in place, such as the following:

• Regular communication with students and staff to evaluate the implementation of the behaviour policy

• Encourage verbal positive feedback and physical rewards for good behaviour. 

• If the parents can see the reward, it’s even better, as the students get double the praise. Contact parents for positive achievements like accumulation of house points, not just for detentions.

However, as a teacher wrote in response to the survey we sent out:

“A policy on its own is not sufficient at deterring unexpected behaviours. Its success is underpinned by staff approaches, good relationships with students and consistent application over time” – anonymous WA teacher

Bitesize Research: Themes Emerging In Education Internationally

By Jaya Carrier

I hope you’re all having a good week so far and that you’re looking forward to the half term - when it gets here, I wish you all a well earned rest! This week, I was interested to look at the OECD’s triennial report entitled ‘Trends Shaping Education,’ which was released in 2022.

Objectives: To understand what the emerging key themes in education are internationally. 

Summary: 

• The report concludes that the following themes are emerging as trends in education internationally; climate, equity and inclusion, preparing a new workforce for new global markets, digitisation and knowledge democracies.

• For climate, the report argues that a changing climate will inevitably impact educational practices, both logistically, and in terms of the curriculum. The report also argues about the importance of equipping students to become empowered about climate action.

• For equity and inclusion, the report acknowledges a potential tension between acceptance of oneself, but also of having ambitions and goals. It argues that educators need to find a balance between these two important things.

• For preparing a new workforce for new global markets, the article suggests that the global workforce are increasingly required to have high-level, complex thinking skills. The article argues that education systems need to consider how best to prepare young people for success within this market.

• For digitisation, the report suggests that blended or hybrid learning is likely to be an increasingly prevalent feature of the education system.

• For knowledge democracies, the report argues that social media has given access to a huge array of information and this amplifies the risks of misinformation. 

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

• How does this link to our status as an IB school? 

• Do you agree that these are the key themes? Why? Why not?

• How much am I currently discussing and considering these themes? How could I include them further in my practice?

• What support do I need within these themes to further my practice? 

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