41 research outputs found
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EAL and English: subjects and language across the curriculum
English is a core subject of the National Curriculum, and English is also the oral and written medium of instruction for the whole curriculum. ‘English across the curriculum’ conceptualises pupils applying their knowledge of these strands to other domains of subject knowledge. Subject English is highly politicised and contested; no other curriculum area undergoes such continuous scrutiny and revision. English as an Additional Language (EAL) is, in contrast, a ‘diffuse’ curriculum area which is not articulated as a distinct subject or a controversial domain of learning although, like English, EAL crosses all curriculum subjects.
Part of an online series on EAL and curriculum subjects, the article discusses how pupils learning EAL apply their developing knowledge of English as well as their other languages in this particular subject area and how the curriculum in English can create additional linguistic and cultural demands on pupils learning EAL, making subject knowledge and understanding more challenging.
Funded by TDA
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Creative Projects: Getting Parents Involved
Drawing upon data from a large-scale research project, the publication provides insights for schools into how creative approaches to the curriculum engage families and communities. Using case studies of schools involved in community projects, the publication offers examples and ways forward for schools in forging meaningful partnerships with parents
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Climate Change - All Change: evaluation of the primary school pilot for architecture
This report describes and evaluates a creative partnership between primary school children and an architectural design team, funded by the V&A Museum of Childhood and the Britta and Jeremy Lloyd Family. Two classes of 9 and 10 year old children worked intensively with an architect to design sustainable primary schools for radically changed environments in the year 2050. In classroom activities, children learned about the causes of climate change, and about sustainable building materials and energy sources, and they imagined new materials and energy sources for the future. The architect’s team elaborated children’s designs in computer models and an immersive display, illustrating the power of young minds to generate creative responses to the climate scenarios they may inherit. Interviews and endline survey data give evidence of impact: children increased their knowledge and understanding of climate science and of sustainable architecture. Outcomes show that young children are keen to be ‘climate literate’ and to develop skills for designing and making. The successful small-scale pilot is the model for a large-scale co-design programme for school children and designers from a range of disciplines
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It takes a village to raise a teacher: the Learning Assistant programme in Sierra Leone
This is a report on research funded by Plan International on the impact of Learning Assistant (LA) component of Girls Education Challenge Sierra Leone. The LA programme has enabled nearly 500 young women to train as teachers in remote rural areas where schools are understaffed and there are few female teachers. The LA programme provides a pathway to teaching through guided distance study and in-school work experience. This research examines empowering and constraining factors of the LA programme.
The research draws on interviews in two rural locations with 18 participants: Learning Assistants themselves, and those who work alongside and support them: headteachers, class teachers, subject tutors, community leaders, family members and programme staff
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Teaching grammar and testing grammar in the English primary school: The impact on teachers and teaching of the grammar element of the statutory test in Spelling, Punctuation and Grammar (SPaG) in England
In the academic year 2012-2013, Year 6 primary school pupils in England sat the first of a new statutory test in Spelling, Punctuation and Grammar (‘SPaG’) as part of their end of primary school assessments in English. This UKLA funded research examines the impact on teachers and their teaching of the grammar element of the statutory SPaG test. The aim of the research has been to evaluate the nature and the extent of changes to the teaching of grammar and to wider literacy teaching since the introduction of SPaG. The research explores teachers’ responses to teaching grammar to a statutory test format, and how teachers have implemented rapid curriculum change in their classrooms. The research explores issues of teacher knowledge, understanding, skill and enjoyment in relation to grammar, at their own level and for teaching pupils. In this research, teachers also discuss their observations of how pupils have responded to explicit grammar teaching and the grammar test. As part of this research we accessed Department for Education data on pupils by gender, ethnicity, language and deprivation in relation to SPaG attainment in 2014, to examine SPaG attainment patterns nationally. The research also analysed SPaG attainment for groups of pupils in four Local Authorities (anonymised as Castlehaven, Longcliffe, Narrowgate and Norchester), specifically in relation to pupils’ ethnicity, languages, deprivation and special educational needs.
Main findings:
In English primary schools, since the introduction of the statutory SPaG test:
• Time spent teaching decontextualized and contextualised grammar has increased significantly;
• Grammar is now taught explicitly and formally as a classroom literacy routine;
• The grammar test format influences teaching content and approaches;
• Teachers observe that pupils enjoy learning grammar and taking the test;
• Teachers disagree about the extent to which explicit grammar teaching and testing have a positive impact on pupils’ language and literacy skills;
• Teachers feel more confident about teaching grammar.
Additional desk-based research indicates:
• Ethnic and linguistic minority pupils perform as well as, or better than, white and native English speaking pupils on the SPaG test;
• Pupil socioeconomic deprivation is the strongest indicator of low performance on SPaG;
• Socioeconomically disadvantaged pupils perform better on SPaG when they are learning in classrooms that are linguistically and ethnically diverse
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Learning Assistants in Sierra Leone: model, innovation, and impact
In Sierra Leone, where there are few female educators, over 500 formerly marginalised women are on track to become qualified primary school teachers in rural districts. As ‘Learning Assistants’, the young women follow a combined programme of tertiary college distance study and in-school work experience. Learning Assistants help teachers and children in village primary schools. At the same time, their distance studies guide them on child-friendly practice and subject knowledge.
We will present the LA programme model, its components and participants, its success factors and challenges. In the Global North, unqualified ‘classroom helpers’ or ‘teaching assistants’ are familiar faces in primary schools. This role and route into teaching, and its potential to support lifelong learning and employability, are innovative in the Global South.
We will compare data from March 2019 field research (interviews with Learning Assistants, their mentors, and school headteachers) to findings from field work undertaken in 2016-2017 with the same participants. In particular, we will examine classroom observation data that illustrate how Learning Assistants are taking steps towards effective pedagogies in highly challenging school and classroom contexts.
We will demonstrate how the LA programme is making a sustainable impact on individuals, schools and communities: women who were not in education or employment have gained meaningful work, and confidence and status as paraprofessional learners; male tutors and mentors are supporting female empowerment; headteachers value the support that Learning Assistants provide in large classrooms and note increasing attendance and enrolments; families believe children are safer in schools that have female staff.
We invite colleagues to consider the extent to which the LA programme offers a potential route into employment for young women and how increasing numbers of female teachers into the profession may impact on the quality of primary education
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Moving towards more participatory practice with Open Educational Resources: TESS-India Academic Review
The purpose of this academic review of TESS-India activity in three states (Bihar, Madhya Pradesh and Odisha) was to seek evidence for change brought about by TESS-India in teacher education in each of these states. The findings offer informed guidance on future trajectories for TESS-India activity and support discussions with key stakeholders in each of these states.
The overarching goal of TESS-India is to support delivery of quality pedagogic change in teacher education and school classrooms. TESS-India activity is designed to meet identified professional development needs of teachers and teacher educators in each state. Thus it takes a slightly different form in each state, appropriate to local priorities and conditions. The Review focus was similarly differentiated in each state to align to TESS-India activity in that state.
The review field work was carried out by academics from the Open University UK and the Head Academic, TESS-India Country Office, between 30 January and 4 February 2017. It adopted an essentially qualitative approach to understand educators’ (trainee teachers, teachers, local teacher educators and DIET faculty) experiences with the TESS-India resources and the influence of this engagement on their pedagogic practice. Data was generated from multiple sources including analysis of key documentation, semi-structured interviews with teachers, teacher educators and policy makers, and classroom observation. Teachers, teacher educators and SRG members were sampled at different locations within each state.
The focus of TESS-India activity to date has been to strengthen the existing government (state) educational system at the elementary stage - SCERT, SSA, DIETS, DEO, DPC (SSA), BEO, BRP, BRC, CRCC, HT, Teacher, Child – in alignment with national policies, frameworks and the RTE Act. The project aims at supplementing and complementing GoI and State specific efforts and activities. Although TESS-India has produced original Open Educational Resources (OER) to support educators working in the secondary stage, as yet there is very little evidence of sustained TESS-India activity with this phase of schooling or with the TESS-India School Leader OER. The review findings are therefore focussed on activity at the elementary stage and are reported at different levels of the system in line with the TESS-India theory of change.
The report found that use of TESS-India OER is contributing to quality change in classrooms with students and trainee teachers.
• SRG members met by the review team were using the TESS-India OER and described how this use was prompting them to experiment with more interactive and participatory practices.
• Teachers observed and / or interviewed by the review team were drawing on TESS-India OER to inform their lesson planning and subsequent teaching.
Evidence seen by the review team (learning journals and learning plans) indicates that the practices being developed by these teachers are shared by other teachers in the cohort of teachers participating in TESS-India focus district activity.
However the innovation in practice and transformation in pedagogy promised by TESS-India OER is still in the early stages and the evidence is highly emergent. But, critically, through engagement with the MOOC and other TESS-India learning resources, policy makers and lead teacher educators (for example SCERT Directors) are changing their thinking about teacher professional development, moving away from cascade models to a focus on continuous professional development and learning of teachers in their classrooms with support from teacher educators/ experts, either virtually or face-to face
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Teaching grammar and testing grammar in the English primary school: The impact on teachers and teaching of the grammar element of the statutory test in Spelling, Punctuation and Grammar (SPaG) in England
This is a report on research funded by the United Kingdom Literacy Association (UKLA). It is the full report from which the peer reviewed paper in Changing English (Safford 2016) is drawn.
This research examines the impact on teachers and their teaching of the grammar element of the statutory SPaG test. The aim of the research has been to evaluate the nature and the extent of changes to the teaching of grammar and to wider literacy teaching since the introduction of SPaG. The research explores teachers’ responses to teaching grammar to a statutory test format, and how teachers have implemented rapid curriculum change in their classrooms. We present the perspectives of teachers as they adjust to new English assessments and new expectations for children’s language in the primary school. Our research explores issues of teacher knowledge, understanding, skill and enjoyment in relation to grammar, at their own level and for teaching pupils. In this research, teachers also discuss their observations of how pupils have responded to explicit grammar teaching and the grammar test
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Evaluation of Hackney Learning Trust's Reading Programmes
The Open University were commissioned to evaluation Hackney Learning Trust's reading programmes: Destination Reader (for KS2) and Daily Supported Reading (for KS1). The reading programmes provide detailed pedagogies for teaching reading for schools in areas characterised by low social mobility and higher levels of poverty. Fifteen schools though south eastern England were included in the evaluation during the time period January 2018 - June 2019. The aim of the evaluation was to understand: the impact of the programmes on reading attainment and progress; teachers' knowledge and skills in teaching reading; children's reading skill, engagement and independent problem solving; changes in reading culture in the schools. The methodology consisted of in-depth case studies of 5 schools over 1.5 years; analysis of pupil reading test data; a pre-programme survey and a follow up survey 1.5 years later. The evaluation found that reading cultures in the schools were transformed to prioritise and value reading to a greater degree than before. Teachers felt more confident and knowledgeable about teaching reading and teachers and children were highly engaged with the programmes which were firmly embedded in all five case study schools. However, there was no evidence of a consistent increase in reading attainment across the 15 schools. Also, there was no evidence of an increase in children's enjoyment of reading or engagement with the new reading skills they learnt as part of the programmes. The former finding may be due to the short timeframe of the evaluation and the latter finding may be because children very quickly became fully engaged with the programmes
‘Give courage to the ladies’: expansive apprenticeship for women in rural Malawi
Apprenticeship in developed and industrialised nations is increasingly understood as a theory of learning which connects workplace activity and formal study. The concept of ‘expansive apprenticeship’ defines frameworks for workforce development where participants acquire knowledge and skills which will help them in the future as well as in their current roles, whilst ‘restrictive’ apprenticeships limit opportunities for wider, lifelong learning. In developing nations apprenticeship is a traditional route to learning and employment, but apprenticeships in these contexts tend to reflect a restrictive approach characterized by narrowly defined roles and weak educational outcomes. This paper examines a project in Malawi which uses concepts of expansive apprenticeship to address barriers to female continuing education and chronic teacher shortages. The Malawi Access to Teaching Scholarship recruited one thousand women to follow a year-long combined programme of academic distance study and practical work experience in rural primary schools. The aim is to increase the numbers of women teachers in Malawi, especially in rural areas. The Scholarship materials and support structures are designed to move participants from restrictive to expansive contexts for learning so that Scholars develop hybrid roles as students, community workers and apprentice pedagogues. The programme’s resources and approach offer an innovative model of expansive apprenticeship in Sub Saharan Africa