Thoughts From A Trainee: Impact of COVID-19 On Y10 Students

 By Tom Cooper & Najiyah Rahman

From September to early January we embarked upon a School Based Study research project that looked at the mental health and educational impacts caused by COVID-19 on Year 10 aged students within Westminster Academy. Our study sought to understand student mental wellbeing and educational development, as well as identify where Westminster Academy could potentially assist Year 10 students with mental health and attainment issues. 

This topic was selected after discussions about the unique challenges that teaching Year 10 poses. Year 6 (in 2019) was their last formal year of teaching, with Year 7 (2020) being disrupted by the pandemic lockdown restrictions. Our initial assumptions were that students would have faced distinct detrimental effects on their social and educational development, which could be seen through low level disruption and lack of attention in lessons.

Literature surrounding this topic suggested that our assumptions corroborated with published studies on such matters. For example, independent enquiries into the mental health and wellbeing of young Londoners (by the London Assembly Health Committee) saw that 85% had stated that the pandemic made them feel “down” or “very down”. UNESCO (2021) also noted that the lives and education of nearly 1.6 billion students were also adversely affected.

To investigate, we conducted a questionnaire, shared with all Year 10 tutor groups, gaining 112 responses out of a potential 200. The survey used a mix of qualitative and quantitative data, asking students to reflect on their mental health and schooling during and after the pandemic. The largest problem identified by the study was that 60.7% of students felt that the greater concern was the impact of the pandemic, and their lost learning, on their potential GCSE attainment. 

We also found that there was no obvious negative impact on mental health caused by COVID-19, with as many as 50% of the respondents disagreeing that the pandemic had a negative impact on their wellbeing, with only 23.2% of students saying that they were adversely affected. Of 112 students, only 19 students stated they received support for their mental health during the pandemic, with 52 stating they received no support at all, showing that while students were aware of what networks were available for support, they were not effective in accessing them. Students proposed changes to the school day, reductions in homework, school wide assemblies addressing the matter, and asked for more one-to-one sessions for support.

The study presented an interesting insight into the opinions and problems Year 10s have encountered during their schooling, as well as their judgement on how best they can be aided. 

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!

Bitesize Research: Impact Of Lockdowns On Students Around The Globe

By Jaya Carrier

I hope everyone’s had a great week so far! I was really interested to see this recent article which compiles some of the positive outcomes of the pandemic discovered by educational research conducted in different countries. Whilst we know that the pandemic has had a huge number of very negative and difficult consequences, I was intrigued to see a different perspective. Objectives: To collate recent international findings about the impact of the pandemics and lockdowns on students. Summary:

• The article suggests that in three critical areas there have been positive changes arising from the lockdowns and pandemic:
• Improved digital skills: There is evidence that the lockdown improved teachers’ and students’ digital skills and fostered a greater deal of creativity in thinking about teaching and learning. There is also some evidence that students have been better able to problem solve, and enjoyed being able to learn more at their own pace as a result of more online learning.
• Improved communication and assessment: There is evidence that the limitations on ways of assessing students during the pandemic led to greater creativity in ideas around assessment.
• Parental engagement: There is some evidence to suggest that in supporting learning at home during the pandemic during lockdown, parents now have a greater degree of understanding and engagement in their child’s learning.

How does this impact me and my practice?:

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

• What positive outcomes for your teaching practice have followed the pandemic?
• What positive outcomes for students have arisen due to the pandemic?
• How might you build on this going forward?

If you would like to discuss this further with me please get in touch! I’d be delighted to hear from you!

Bitesize Research: Ongoing Challenges Schools Face Following The Covid-19 Pandemic

By Jaya Carrier

I hope everyone has had a great week so far. This week, I was interested in the NFER study from September 2021 that looks at some of the ongoing issues from the lockdowns and the pandemic for school settings. This study is based on in-depth interviews with 50 senior leaders from mainstream primary and secondary schools across the UK.

Objectives: To provide ongoing insights into the challenges of recovery, wellbeing and support for schools following the Covid-19 pandemic. 

Summary:  

The key findings were:

• Curriculum modification was a typical response to the pandemic. This took different models including; narrow (prioritising literacy and numeracy over other subjects); focused (prioritising core content within subjects); blended (supporting literacy and numeracy through other subjects); and continuous (covering content over a longer period of time).
• Pupil mental health and wellbeing is an immediate and urgent concern for school leaders. School leaders in this study reported that in particular there was an alarming increase in self-harm. 
• Pupils were less prepared emotionally and academically for transition between YR6 and YR7
• School leaders identified requiring robustly funded support for pupil wellbeing as the most urgent support needed from government and policy. 

How does this impact me and my practice?:

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

 

• How have I adapted the curriculum? If I’ve adapted the curriculum, which model of curriculum recovery have I followed?
• How can I support pupil mental health and wellbeing? How might trauma-informed approaches support this further?
• How is the transition going for pupils in my YR7 classes or tutors? What might I need to be mindful of with respect to their ongoing transition from YR6-7? 

If you would like to discuss this further with me - please let me know! I’d be delighted to open up these discussions and conversations.

Thanks, Jaya

How To Use Chromebooks Without Disruption

By Izzy Hilliard

Over the course of the last year, Google chromebooks have been a complete lifesaver. From zoom lessons to online assessments, WA has been ahead of the game when it comes to digital infrastructure and online learning. 

However as a return to “normal” learning inches ever closer, we are all experiencing the same issue. Students are on their chromebooks all the time. You haven’t asked them to be, but their reasoning of “wanting to see the slides” appears valid and slowly you notice a handful of students are on their chromebooks and you are not sure why. Whatever the reason may be, it is becoming more difficult to control our students on their chromebooks. 

What can you do to maximise the benefits of using chromebooks but minimise disruption?

1. Build routines

This seems obvious, but only because routines are vital when it comes to technology within schools. Chromebooks do not need to be out until a task needs them, and after the task they should be put back into their bags. Once the routine is set, your students will become quicker and quicker with this process. 

2. Make any use of chromebooks short and purposeful

The only reason students should be on their chromebook is when you have asked them to be. Having a short, interactive task such as a mentimeter for class discussion or a Google Forms quiz for AfL, these tasks should not take over ten minutes. After this point I find all minds begin to wander, whether that be towards checking emails or playing tetris. 

3. Make students know you’re watching

One of the many benefits of Google Classroom is that you can cast students’ work if needed. This isn’t just great for reflection and peer assessment, but also makes your classroom know that at any point you can showcase their work. I would not advise doing this as a name-and-shame as that is not beneficial to healthy relationships, but I think it does show you who is struggling, who is doing well and, potentially, who is being lazy.

4. Follow behaviour policy

If you have to stop your teaching to tell a student to put away their chromebook it is a disruption to learning. Even if they are looking at the slides, checking their timetable, or if they did just want to check their emails, it still counts. You had to stop teaching twenty five students to tell one off and this is disruptive behaviour when they know the routines you have set. 

5. Remember the good

Behaviour with chromebooks is still hard, even if you have the best routines and you ensure that all use is perfect, jazzy and interactive. It might still go wrong. Keeping in mind that we asked students to use their chromebooks for the better half of a year to learn. They have built their own routines over that time, where the chromebook is integral. Reconstructing this takes time and perseverance. The benefits chromebooks have given us over the last two years far outweigh the negatives we now have. 

Bitesize Research: Within-class Attainment Grouping

By Jaya Carrier

We mostly teach at WA in mixed ability groupings, and this is underpinned by a very important part of our educational philosophy. As such, this week, I found it interesting to read about the idea of within-class attainment groupings in this summary from the EEF - namely, grouping students in mixed ability groups together with peers of a similar attainment level. 

Objectives: To understand the impact of grouping students of a similar attainment level together in lessons.

Summary:  

The key overall themes are:

• Evidence suggests that grouping students with those of a similar attainment level has a positive impact on all learners
• Despite the overall positive effect, there does appear to be less of a beneficial effect for lower attaining students
• There are some studies that suggest that grouping students in this way has a negative impact on other factors such as student confidence - possibly as it discourages the belief that attainment can be improved through effort 

How does this impact me and my practice?:

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

• How might considering this help the learning of some students in my lessons? What might I need to implement this?
• What impact does the currently COVID situation have on this? 
• What other strategies might be needed for LPA students to support their learning?
• How might I mitigate potential negative impacts on confidence if I were to use this strategy?

If anyone would like to discuss this further with me - please let me know! I’d be delighted to open up these discussions and conversations.

Pride in Books

How do you encourage students to ensure their books are kept with a high level of pride, when it has been publicly acknowledged that they won't be marked?

This week the leadership team were asked this great question as a way of ensuring high standards are continued into the covid-restricted classroom.

Most of the ideas discussed were around getting buy-in from students as to why it’s important to lay their work in their books properly: it shows progress, it shows the high expectations of themselves in terms of pride in their learning. 

Teachers can show examples of books with a logical, easy-to-follow layout and discuss what they’ve done to make their notes clearly tangible. This is an opportunity to showcase examples where students have less “neat” handwriting, so that we can emphasise this isn’t a question of pure aesthetics but making books a useful tool for organising learning.

If students can buy-in to the idea of their books being a clear and well organised revision resource that they can use for day-to-day recall or bigger summative exams they will start to maintain their own high expectations of their books. 

If you would like to still show students you are still looking at their books, an idea posed by one leader was to ask students to hold their books up in a lesson and do a scan of them from the front - it’ll be easy to tell whose book is looking a little scruffy!

A great idea posed by another leader would be to involve showing the books to parents at Progress Review Day meetings and/or parents and using the time to get parental buy-in too. 

If you have any other ideas we’ve missed in the discussion please do comment with it below; we’d love to hear from you and what you’re trying in the classroom!