Thoughts From A Visitor: Centre For Tutorial Teaching

By Tessa Palfreyman, Director of Teaching and Learning at CTT https://www.centrefortutorialteaching.org/ 

We are a global centre for tutorial teaching based in Oxford, UK. We are a community of professors, researchers, experienced teachers, executive leaders and instructional designers, each of whom have experienced the Tutorial Method at some point in our careers. Some of us have been delivering tutorials at the University of Oxford for decades, while some of us have implemented tutorial learning in our local primary school classrooms. We have staff who were taught by the Tutorial Method at the University of Oxford, and others who are veteran instructional designers who have long wanted to embed the method in their work. We were fortunate enough to have the opportunity to visit Westminster Academy in January 2023 and gained some valuable insights into the International Baccalaureate (IB), how it can work in a non-fee-paying school sixth form and the impact it has on students. There are a number of parallels between the IB and the Tutorial Method and this was evident when visiting the school. 

What did we do during our visit?

During our visit we met with Holly Youlden, Assistant Vice Principal for Teaching and Learning, and Dr Paul Wood, Principal and CEO of Westminster Academy. Holly and Paul talked us through the Diploma and Career-related IB programmes that are on offer to their sixth form students. We discussed the importance of students leaving school being fully prepared and equipped for further education and employment and what schools can do to ensure this. Dialogue-based learning and metacognition were two key pieces that we agreed were fundamental for students and the Tutorial Method and IB offer students. During our morning at the school, we were also able to observe some Year 12 and Year 13 students in their IB lessons in both Maths and Anthropology, this gave us the chance to see the two programmes in practice and the way in which teachers facilitate learning. In the Maths class, we were able to speak with three students and ask questions about their experiences of the IB and the way in which they are taught at the school. This was certainly the highlight of our visit and gave us insights and learnings we could take back to our work at CTT. 

What did we learn from our visit? 

We took a huge amount of learning away from our visit to Westminster Academy and are incredibly grateful to have met Holly and Paul and their articulate and interesting sixth form students. Hearing the positive impact that the IB has on students from both senior leaders and the students themselves consolidated what the data shows, but more importantly the crucial life-long skills that are developed through this way of teaching. As dialogue-based learning, independent work, study skills, relevance and intent are some of the key aspects of the IB programmes we, as experts in the Tutorial Method, were able to see how aligned the IB and the Tutorial Method are and how the method can be utilized by teachers on IB programmes to further enhance their teaching and offerings to students. We were encouraged to see how a programme typically only available in fee-paying schools is working so well in a state school, demonstrating the potential that other programmes and schools can have without being confined to traditions that may no longer work for students in the 21st century. We are excited to learn even more about the IB and the ways in which the Tutorial Method can be used within and alongside IB programmes.

How To Integrate TOK Into Lessons

By Charlotte Nicholas

It was really great to have the opportunity on INSET Day to speak a little more about TOK and critical thinking in our subjects. More often than not we are ‘doing TOK’ in our lessons but it would be fantastic if we were more explicit in our practice. This blog post aims to give you some suggestions on how to bring TOK into your teaching; from Year 7, all the way through to Year 13.

In order to ensure that our inclusion of TOK is consistent, It is crucial for us to have a shared knowledge of what TOK is. Below is a screenshot of the TOK specification. One suggestion of how to fit TOK into your lessons could be to use the It knowledge framework as a way of framing questions, for instance; which perspectives are involved in the arts? Are some perspectives more valid than others? Why? What methods do mathematicians use to make mathematical claims? What is the scope of language, can it be independent of knowledge?

One misconception with TOK is that it is the same as philosophy or ethics as this is included in the knowledge framework. It is important not to fall into the TOK trap of conflating these different subjects (although they are closely related). An ethical question may consider what is right or wrong or attempt to make moral judgements whereas TOK would consider which approaches might exist towards an ethical dilemma, what knowledge has informed these approaches and the role that knowledge plays in people’s perspectives and actions towards ethical issues E.g. As knowers, do we have a moral duty to examine our own biases and assumptions? Are there situations where ignorance/lack of knowledge is an excuse for unethical behaviour? It would be great to see more of us bringing TOK into our classrooms. Below are some suggestions of what you could do to include it more explicitly and meaningfully. I look forward to hearing from you about how this goes and how students respond!

• Apply Michael’s idea of bringing in a current affairs / news article into your lesson and getting students to approach it from a TOK lens. Please see Michael’s slides here.

• Apply Michael’s idea of starting with a misconception / finding out what students already know. E.g. What moral values do you think scientists have?

• Ask students provoking questions using the TOK concepts; certainty, truth, explanation, culture, evidence, justification, power, perspective, values, objectivity, responsibility and interpretation. How has your culture affected your perspective? Do you think the fact we have discussed is objective? Is religion the only place that faith plays a role?

• Use objects in your teaching (students use objects in their TOK exhibition). For instance, get students to consider how objects link to your specific discipline and the knowledge within it. What can this phrenological skull tell you about historical knowledge and scientific knowledge?

• Consider the content you are teaching from a different perspective -- How about if we asked the same question to an indigenous community? How about if we asked this question to a religious / non-religious group?

• Encourage students to consider themselves as ‘knowers’ and use phrases like ‘experts’ ‘ ‘community of knowers’ etc.

• Subscribe to Michael’s newsletter at Theoryofknowledge.net and frame your thinking in a TOK way more frequently.

• Mention TOK or critical thinking explicitly and use the TOK logo whenever you are doing some TOK thinking to get students to think explicitly about it.

• Discuss the methodology in your subjects with students to help them understand how knowledge is formed in your area. E.g. Why do historians’ views change over time? How do scientists ensure their work is accurate? Is only the artist's intended interpretation of their art the only valid view?

• Stay up to date with the yearly TOK essay titles (see below) -- discuss with students how you would approach them from your perspective / with your expertise.

Finally, it would be excellent to welcome staff to the TOK Exhibition event on Wednesday 22nd June 5pm-7pm. This will be a fantastic opportunity to learn more about what students have been doing in TOK and in order to probe their thinking further with your expertise. Thanks for reading and happy TOK’ing!

How Can The IB Learner Profile Characteristics Be Developed Across A School?

By Paul Wood

I mentioned during INSET that, as a whole, WA didn't look or feel to me like an IB school during the pandemic-constrained months from January to July. Our excellent IB DP and CP programmes have, in many ways, continued to exemplify what is great about the IB, even during lockdowns and on-site constraints. However, those sixth form programmes occupy a relatively small physical space at WA and involve only ~13% of our students. So I'm wondering about the extent to which the IB influences our students' experiences in Y7-11 and that's something for us all to think about and discuss in the coming months. I appreciate Holly inviting me to expand on that observation via this blog post about my previous experiences with the IB Learner Profile. I also mentioned during that same INSET talk that I do understand that what I saw and felt last year was constrained by COVID and I want to emphasise that again here. Indeed, it’s been fascinating and enjoyable these past two weeks to see the variations that are now emerging in the students’ classroom experiences and I certainly believe I’m seeing much more of the "real" WA. As you hopefully all know, the IB learner profile (LP) comprises ten characteristics that will be familiar to, and demonstrated by, all students who experience IB programmes:

• Inquirers
• Knowledgeable
• Thinkers
• Communicators
• Principled
• Open-minded
• Caring
• Risk-takers
• Balanced
• Reflective
  

As with any other desired learning outcomes of a school, it is not desirable (or possible!) for every teacher to aim to develop all of these characteristics in every lesson! Rather, IB schools should be able to point to purposeful opportunities - in lessons and in extra-curricular activities - via which students can increase their understanding and demonstration of the LP over the course of their school careers, so that by the time the students leave the school at Y11 or Y13, they are able to speak reflectively about each of the characteristics in a sincere manner. Lessons involve reference to, and discussion of, the LP terms as an introduction to related learning activities. There is little value in the LP existing only as a poster on a classroom wall. And there is little value in a teacher discussing with students what it means to be "risk taker" at school, if students are never given opportunities to take intellectual and academic risks, in a supportive environment that recognises "praise-worthy failure". In my experience, schools achieve purposeful development of the LP via skilful and coordinated cross-curricular and extra-curricular planning. I've seen that to be the case no matter what the pre-CP/DP academic programme. In other words, the LP can be woven into the planning of KS3/KS4, of IB Middle Years Programme, and of American standards-based curricula. However, without that coordinated, scaffolded curriculum planning, the LP will develop in ad hoc, coincidental ways at best. Where I've seen this Y7-11 planning work best (including effective alignment with sixth form curricula), the academic curriculum is planned in teams, both horizontal and vertical, working under the guidance of a single schoolwide curriculum coordinator who ensures everyone is "rowing in the same direction". Those teams meet before, during, and after discrete periods of learning ("units" or whatever they might be called). If the planning and teaching are well-coordinated, any student could move seamlessly from one class of a course to another, without noticing a difference in outcomes. This is not to suggest that all students should do the same activities at the same time with the different teachers of the course. Rather, the teachers agree on those outcomes and the related common assessment tasks, and then the teachers help every student demonstrate their learning in the common assessment task, even if they complete different activities along the way. That's the essence of individualised learning and it requires skilful classroom facilitation to complement the coordinated curriculum planning. (And I'll emphasise that it does not need to happen in every lesson every day - it needs to be an appropriate part of a thoughtfully coordinated curriculum). In summary, I've seen the LP characteristics best developed in Y7-11 in schools that have (i) coordinated, schoolwide curriculum planning and review, (ii) purposeful but authentic reference to the LP characteristics sprinkled throughout that curriculum so that they all received attention over the course of the five or seven years, and (iii) classroom teaching that, over time, helps students understand and demonstrate the LP characteristics by connecting them to subject area learning.

IB Hub Day T&L Reflections 2020

WA has successfully held 4 inaugural subject specialist IB Hub Days this year. This has been a fantastic opportunity for our staff body to showcase their IB Approaches to Teaching and Learning, and also to create links with other IB schools and educational consultants and guru's in their subject areas. The agenda for the days have been of high quality, thought provoking and inspiring for those involved. A big thank you to all those who have been involved in organising the days - you are stars!

Below are the reflections from the English, Geography, History and Maths Hub Days and how the CPD from them have influenced these teachers' teaching and learning going forward.

English by Julian Gyll-Murray

T&L strategies learnt on the hub day: 

The most fascinating part of the day was the sessions delivered by two guest speakers- Susan Neilson and Gary Snapper. 

Susan spoke about how to develop student autonomy, and how crucial it is to guide students to approach texts in a self-sufficient manner. She emphasised the role of discussion and creative writing, the impact of modelling reading together as a class community, and the use of using student-led agendas in order to cover the themes of a text.

Gary delivered an inspiring session on approaches to teaching poetry in the IB. He recommended starting discussions on poems about the entire text before breaking them down, in order to develop a practice of forming a holistic understanding of the poem. He also showed creative ways of analysing the structure of poetry through exercises such as altering the order of stanzas, which gives the students a new perspective on the poet’s authorial choices.

How these strategies have been implemented in my/our practice:

As IB teachers, we adopted a number of Neilson’s strategies, such as letting students create an ‘agenda’ of what they would like to focus on in particular texts. Some of us have used the likes of Padlet to do this in lockdown to good effect. In the literature course, we have adopted much of Gary’s advice in order to approach the Unseen Poetry component of their Paper 1 exam. Here, good questioning was key, ensuring that students communicated their reaction to the text as a whole before thinking how the author elicited that reaction.

The impact so far:

Unfortunately, due to the lack of exams this year it has been difficult to measure the impact of these practices in concrete terms. However, it has definitely made IB English a more engaged and student-led experience for our cohorts, and has garnered a more enthusiastic and self-sufficient approach for many in the DP student community.

Geography by Grey Day

T&L strategies learnt on the hub day: 

I found the talk on ‘Thinking like a Geographer’ particularly interesting. As with most subject curriculars, the tendency is to stick with the required content and teach what is needed for the exams, however Karen Corfield introduced us to a number of resources that may not have been necessary for the IB curriculum, but would further broaden and strengthen our students’ knowledge of the wider world, allowing them to think more critically which would have a positive impact on their IB learning.

How these strategies have been implemented in my/our practice:

This could be implemented by creating reading/documentary lists for students to follow. Students could then complete reflections on what they had read/watched and link it with what they are currently learning at the time. Students could also complete mini research topics on current geographical events and affairs which may not necessarily be within the IB curriculum but would broaden their knowledge of the wider world and allow them to make links to what they are currently learning while also improving their critical thinking and research skills. 

History by Jodie Coller, Corinna Matlis & Charlotte Nicholas

T&L strategies learnt on the hub day: 

Our goal is to give students the kind of complex knowledge and arguments they need to succeed in IB history, and, following the IB Hub Day, it was clear to us that incorporating more historiography and more depth studies into our schemes of work will help us achieve this goal.  

How these strategies have been implemented in my/our practice:

Historiography: We incorporated historiography largely through two mechanisms. The first came back to IA technique. Through our discussions with other schools, it became clear that many history departments focus their students on a historiographical debate for their IAs. This is an excellent technique because it allows students to frame their own arguments through a comparison of historians’ arguments, and it forces students to evaluate carefully two different perspectives on an issue.  

We have also embraced historiography in our teaching of IB both through incorporating short snippets of historians’ work into most lessons, thereby showing our students that the topics we are studying are also debated by historians and that we want our students to join in the debate. 

Furthermore, we’ve begun to incorporate longer pieces of historiography into lessons by assigning academic articles as part of the required reading for students. We feel this is important as these articles not only introduce students to different perspectives on our topics but also act as models for students in how historians write and build arguments.  We have even started working this kind of task into activities for younger students from KS3 through activities like guided reading and using scholarship to answer enquiry questions.

Maths by Maria Prodromou

T&L strategies learnt on the hub day: 

On the agenda was a talk from Professor Karen Page on Voronoi Diagrams, a geometric construction new to the specification change this year. We saw a plethora of applications of a mathematical tool/construction to other subjects such as Biology (in nature and disease) and Geography (toxic waste dump problem). This gave us an opportunity to learn more about a piece of maths knowledge we have never taught nor ever applied! 

The problem solving session provided strategies to develop students’ inquiry skills. The wording of the questions were “unusual” in terms of standard Mathematics questioning - showing us how to create problems by purposely missing information that the students would need - can they realise what information is important to answering a problem? Some questions didn’t have a question and teachers were encouraged to write the hardest question they could think of, given the information - a task harder than it sounds!

 

The session on implementing the Toolkit gave an insight into how to use technology to enhance learning and create depth of understanding as the new syllabus has a strong focus on use of technology. Tom Holmes gave a phenomenal presentation on how to use geogebra to model real life contexts - a powerful tool to show the dynamism of maths, and limitations of a model.

How these strategies have been implemented in my/our practice:

It’s been great to take some of the examples Prof Karen Page spoke of and plan them into lessons on the Voronoi diagram and show students the cross-subject use of them - they love seeing maths in different contexts! It’ll be interesting to see if any student has been inspired by these wonderful constructions to ask a question to explore using them in their IAs. 

As Key Stage 5 Coordinator for maths the inquiry based questioning is something that we have been working on implementing in our new lesson planning for the new specification to create curious, problem solvers! It has also been great to plan lessons entirely dedicated to the toolkit with Geogebra, which the students have responded really well to as it’s something different to doing maths on paper.