Guidance, ideas and examples to support schools in developing their curriculum, pedagogy, enrichment and support for more able learners, within a whole-school context of cognitively challenging learning for all. Includes ideas to support curriculum development, and practical examples, resources and ideas to try in the classroom. Popular topics include: curriculum development, enrichment, independent learning, questioning, oracy, resilience, aspirations, assessment, feedback, metacognition, and critical thinking.
This article was originally published in our “beyond recovery” resource pack. View the original version here.
Whilst primary schools share some of the general issues faced by all phases following the pandemic, there are specific aspects that need to considered for more able primary pupils. Research on the impact of the pandemic is still in its infancy and inevitably still speculative; while other catastrophic events such as the earthquake in Christchurch, New Zealand, are referred to, the pandemic is on a far greater scale and the full impact will take time to emerge.
What, at this stage, should primary school leaders and practitioners focus on to ensure more able learners’ needs are met?
1. Do: focus on rebuilding relationships
When pupils return to school the sense of community will need to be re-established and relationships will be central to this process. Pupils will need to feel safe and secure in school and the return to routines and robust systems will help with this. Not all more able pupils will have had the same experience both in terms of learning and home life. As always, creating a supportive learning environment will be vital.
2. Do: provide opportunities for reflection and rediscovery
All pupils need the opportunity to tell their lockdown stories and more able pupils should be encouraged to do so using their talents – whether written, artistically, through dance or other means. How best can they express their feelings over what has happened? This will allow them to come to terms with their experiences through reflection but also allow thoughts to turn positively to the future. In this sense they will be able to rediscover themselves and focus on their hopes for the future.
3. Do: use positive language
A key question (as they sing in Hamilton) is “What did I miss?” What are the gaps in learning and what is the school plan for transitioning back into learning generally and then with specific groups? We need to be careful of negative language; even terms like “catch up” and “recovery” risk suggesting we will never make up for lost time. Despite the challenge, we need to show our pupils and parents how positive we are as teachers about their future.
4.Do: find out where your pupils are
Each school will want some form of baseline assessment early in the year, whether using tests or more informal methods. Be ready to reassure more able pupils who perhaps do not achieve their normal very high scores on any testing. For more able pupils a mature dialogue should happen using pupil self-assessment alongside any data collected. Of course, each child is different and it is crucial that teachers know the individual needs of the pupils.
5.Don’t: overlook the more able
There is a danger here of the unintended consequence. The priority is likely to be given to pupils who have fallen even further below national expectation and this could lead to teachers having to divert even more time, energy and focus to these pupils at the expense of giving attention to more able pupils who may be deemed not to be a priority. More able pupils must not be neglected in this way due to assumptions that they are “fine” in terms of emotions and learning. They need to be engaged in purposeful learning and challenged as always.
6.Don’t: narrow your curriculum
Mary Myatt has previously talked of the “disciplined pursuit of doing less” and the pandemic is leading to consideration of the essential curriculum content that needs to be learned now. It may force schools to be even clearer on key learning, but we need to be careful of even greater narrowing of the curriculum, especially to test criteria. The spectre of “measurement-driven instruction” is always with us, particularly for Year 6.
7.Do: focus on building learners’ confidence
Pupils need to be settled and ready for learning, but this is often achieved through purposeful tasks. Providing more able pupils with the chance to work successfully on their favourite subjects as soon as possible can build confidence. It may be that pupils who are able across the curriculum have subjects where they fear having fallen behind more than in others. Perhaps they are very strong in both English and maths but worry about not excelling in the latter, and therefore feel concerned that they have fallen behind. It is important to gauge their feelings across the curriculum, perhaps through them RAG rating their confidence; this could then lead to individual dialogue between teacher and pupil regarding how to rebuild confidence or revisit areas where they perceive the learning is weaker. Learning is never linear; this needs to be acknowledged and pupils reassured.
8.Do: review your writing plan for the year
Teachers will be mindful of the challenges of achieving the criteria for greater depth, particularly in relation to the writing. It will be important to review the normal writing plan for the year to see that the key tasks are still appropriate and timed correctly. What does the writing journey look like throughout the year to achieve greater depth and will the normal milestones be compromised? The opportunity to experiment with their writing is essential for more able pupils, so when will this happen? Teachers in all year groups must not panic about the demanding standards needed, but instead remember they have the year to help their pupils achieve those standards, even if current attainment has dipped.
9.Do: review and adapt teaching and learning methods
The methods of teaching more able pupils will also have to be considered in the changed learning environment. Collaborative group work may be more challenging with pupils often sitting in rows and also having less close proximity to their teacher. A group of more able pupils crouched around sugar paper designing the best science experiment since the days of Newton may not currently be possible. But dialogue remains vital and time still needs to be made for it despite restrictions on classroom operations.
10.Do: remain optimistic and ambitious
We must remain optimistic for our more able pupils. We must not shy away from the opportunities to go beyond the curriculum to encourage and develop talents. More able pupils need to have the space to show themselves at their best. The primary curriculum provides so many opportunities for more able pupils to push the boundaries in the learning beyond the narrow confines of subject areas. This can be energising. The London School of Music and Dramatic Arts (LAMDA) proudly declares its students to be:
Creators
Innovators
Collaborators
Storytellers
Engineers
Artists
Actors
We can also add athletes and many more to this list. More able pupils need to develop their metacognition and seeing themselves in some of these roles can inspire and motivate them. Remember though, creativity can’t be taught in a vacuum. It needs content so that the creativity can be encouraged.
Given that the “recovery curriculum” may spend a lot of time re-establishing a mental health equilibrium and helping those with large gaps in knowledge to “catch up”, it may be that those more able pupils who are ready for it can be given license by teachers to experiment more with the curriculum, have more independence and get to apply their learning more widely.
Not merely recovering, but rebounding and reigniting with energy, vigour and a celebration of talents.
Join the conversation: NACE member meetup, 15 September 2020
Join primary leaders and practitioners from across the country on 15 September for an online NACE member meetup exploring approaches to the recovery curriculum and beyond. The session will open with a presentation from NACE Associate Dr Keith Watson, followed by a chance to share approaches and ideas with peers, reflecting on some of the challenges and opportunities outlined above. Find out more and book your place.
Not yet a NACE member? Starting at just £95 +VAT and covering all staff in your school, NACE membership offers year-round access to exclusive resources and expert guidance, flexible CPD and networking opportunities. Membership also available for SCITTs, TSAs, trusts and clusters. Learn more and join today.
Robert Massey, author, teacher and lead for high-attaining students, shares his “three Rs” for the return to school.
The ‘new normal’ is full of contradictions. As teachers and students prepare to return to schools this September, we face a unique set of challenges. Much will be new, but some of what we do will look familiar and reassuring; a lot will be strange as we navigate physical barriers such as one-way systems and Perspex screens and the technological challenges of virtual meetings, but at the heart of what we do will be lessons and learning. Same old, same old.
Some schools have used the work of Barry Carpenter on a ‘recovery curriculum’ as a helpful way of thinking about the new term ahead, and I hope that the points which follow about language, mapping and high expectations are useful as suggestions towards a way of thinking about what the ‘new normal’ might mean.
Recovery: words matter
The language which schools and teachers use in the first term back will be vital in setting the tone for learning. It will be so tempting to resort to good old standby phrases used in the past following, for example, periods of pupil illness or teacher absence.
“We’ve got tons to catch up on!”
“We’ve missed months of learning since March.”
“You’ve had all this lockdown time to get the work I set you done.”
This is unhelpful for many reasons. It will serve to heighten anxiety among students, some of whom will already be worried about what they’ve missed, and more nervous than they may let on about what the future may hold. It will imply that responsibility for the ‘lost learning’ somehow rests with them. It will depersonalise the classroom experience: we’re all in this together, and we’re all ‘behind’.
Heads and senior leadership teams can take a lead here by sanitising such language from the classroom, and by sharing more positive phrases with parents. A recovery curriculum might be framed around metaphors of building:
“I’m just checking that we have strong foundations of learning in biology by revisiting cell structure.”
“Now we’re reinforcing the use of key terms in poetry that we’ve used before.”
“How as a class can we build upon last year’s work on Tudor monarchy as we move on to look at revolution and civil war?”
Reassurance: mapping the learning journey
This is not mere window dressing and pretty words. I’m going to be spending time with Year 9 mapping where they are as learners. If I don’t know where they are now, I can’t set out a learning journey for this term, still less beyond. Each pupil will need individual reassurance that I know where they are and where they can get to. This will take time and will mean less time to deliver content, but that is a sacrifice worth making this term of all terms. Reassurance, reassurance, reassurance is what I’ll be offering to my Year 13s faced with the traditional UCAS term on top of uncertain A-level assessment outcomes. Small steps will be my building blocks, starting from the here and now rather than what might have been, with big topics broken down into smaller and accessible chunks of learning which can be more easily monitored and supported should lockdown return.
A recovery curriculum is a joined-up piece of collective thinking shared across a school. There has never been a greater need for departments to look closely at how they link with others. Pupils and parents will be confounded if, to take a very simple example, the English department puts in effort to focus on the wellbeing of students by revisiting key skills and encouraging the articulation of doubts and fears about the current situation, while in maths the emphasis is immediately on tests just before half term and ‘filling in gaps’ missed in past months.
How will your department work together to share approaches to recovery and reassurance?
How will your faculty and school build shared attitudes and actions to support pupils’ return?
Remarkable students
I’m therefore emphasising for September the importance of pupil wellbeing and the reassurance of parents and colleagues. This does not mean a lowering of expectations. As children learn from our modelled attitudes and actions that the ‘new normal’ is more normal than new, they will understand that it is natural for us as teachers to set the bar of learning high, just as we used to do.
We are not revisiting, rebuilding and reinforcing past learning in order to stand still and stagnate, but rather are doing so as a springboard for the skills and content still to come. Think of it as recovery revision ready for new challenges ahead.
If I am teaching to the top with my Year 10s this term, as I hope I am, I will be doing them no favours if I simplify core content or fail to stretch them in discussion. The challenge for me will be to do this alongside the mapping and reassurance they need. So:
I’m building in more signposting: this is where we are, and the next three weeks will look like this.
I’m increasing ‘hang back’ time as the lesson ends, so that students can catch me or I can speak to them individually.
I’m reviving a pre-lockdown good habit of three Friday phone calls home to spread the message of reassurance, praise and high expectations.
Summary
The three aims stated above will need careful balancing and blending. Context is everything, and you know your students better than anyone else, so you can judge and provide the scaffolding and support needed for each class and each pupil. This will be a rollercoaster recovery term, where the language we use to map our learning journeys will matter a lot. Equally, the one-to-one reassurance we offer has never been more important. This recovery curriculum needs to remain ambitious, with teachers teaching to the top – combined with a culture of high expectations continuing from pre-lockdown days. Remarkable teachers will model this curriculum for our remarkable students.
Robert Massey is the author of From Able to Remarkable: Help your students become expert learners (Crown House Publishing, 2019). For a 20% discount when purchasing this or other Crown House publications, log in to view our current member offers.
This blog post is based on an article originally published on LinkedIn on 16 August 2020 – click here to read in full.
The fallout from A-level and GCSE results will be uncomfortable for government and upsetting and challenging for teachers and students alike. Arguments over whether this year’s results are robust and fair miss one key issue.
Put simply: "Has the exam system in England ever been robust and fair for individual pupils?"
For those of us who did well in exams and whose children also did well, it is too easy to be confident. Accepting that our success and others’ failure is a systemic problem, not a result of competence and capability, is not easy.
Let me be clear: I do not have confidence in the exam system in England as a measure either of success or capability.
[…] Try this as a thought experiment. Imagine that I gave an exam paper submission to 100 examiners. Let me assume that it "objectively" is a C grade.
Would all 100 examiners give it a C? If not, what is the spread? Is the spread the same for English literature, physics and geography, as just three examples? If you cannot provide clear evidenced answers to these questions, how can you be confident that the system is objective?
If we look at the examiners, the same challenge appears. Are all examiners equally consistent in their marking, or do some tend to mark up or down? Where is the evidence, reviewed and published to demonstrate robustness?
We also know that the month you are born still has an effect on GCSE grades. What is robust about that?
[…] I have known children who have missed out on grades after divorce, separation and death of parents, siblings and pets. I cannot objectively give a measure of the impact, but then neither can the exam system. I would add that I suspect a classmate of mine missed out because of hayfever. Children with health issues such as leukaemia and asthma whose schooling is disrupted have had their grades affected every year, not just this one.
So, the high stakes exam system is, for me, a winner-takes-all loaded gun embedding inequality and privilege in the outcomes.
Can we do better? Well, if we want to use exams, then each paper needs to be marked by say five independent assessors. If they all agree on a "B" then that is a measure of confidence. This is often a model used for assessing loans, grants and investments in businesses. It does not guarantee success of course, but what it does is reduce reliance on potentially biased individuals. If I was an examiner and woke up today in a foul mood, would I mark a paper the same today as yesterday? I would not bet on it.
The really interesting cases in my experience are where you get 2As, a C and 2Ds, for instance. In my experience, I've seen it more often in "creative subjects", but some non-traditional thinkers in subjects like mathematics (a highly creative discipline, by the way) often don't fit the narrow models of assessment of our exam system. The problem with this example of bringing people together to try get a consensus on a "B" is that it eliminates the value that comes from the diverse views and the richness of the different perceptions.
So, for me, for a system to be robust it has to have more than one measure to allow the individual, parents, universities, FE and employers access to a richer view of an individual. If someone got an ABBCD in English that is as interesting as someone who got straight Bs.
[…] There are already models that command respect in grading skill levels. Parents are quite happy if a child is doing grade 6 piano and grade 2 flute at the same time. They are quite happy for a child to sit when ready and have the chance to resit. Yet in the school setting the pressure is there for a child to be at level 8 say for all subjects. That puts unnecessary pressure on pupils, teachers and schools.
Imagine how society would react if you could only take the driving test once at 17 and barriers were raised to stop you retaking it.
[…] This year’s bizarre algorithmic system is not robust, but then we have never had a robust system as far as I am concerned. Let's open our eyes and build something that we should have more confidence in. Carpe diem.
Join the discussion: share your views in the comments below (member login required).
Posted By The Bromfords School & Sixth Form College,
03 July 2020
Amy Clark, Assistant Headteacher for Quality of Education, explains how The Bromfords School and Sixth Form College has used Microsoft Teams to support both students and staff – delivering remote learning, pastoral support and peer-led CPD.
Being thrust into the world of remote learning has galvanised us to dig deep as a profession and do what we do best: find ways to make learning enjoyable – even in the toughest of times. At The Bromfords School, a small group of us had already been trialling the use of Microsoft Teams with our sixth form pupils to enhance the provision they were receiving, with the focus on enabling students to participate in a learning-rich environment without having to be in the classroom. Students loved having access to a digital learning space, outside of school, that they could use to have academic debates on key topics, share links to wider reading or resources and generally support each other in a collaborative way.
We also saw Teams as a way for staff to share best practice CPD. We all know what happens when you attend an amazing INSET day or twilight session; you eventually find time to do planning and create some wonderful resources that you share with colleagues, but they get lost amongst the mass of emails, meaning the brilliant work done often gets lost. The plan was to use Microsoft Teams to provide a specific space for professional dialogue about teaching and learning, where teachers could share resources, upskill each other and continue to develop as professionals.
Then along came COVID-19 and thrust our plans forward…
Using Teams for academic, pastoral and peer support
Even though the timeline for rolling out Microsoft Teams across the school was sped up, our staff certainly rose to the challenge. Whilst Teams isn’t the only software we have used to communicate remote learning to students, it is quickly becoming a space that students use for both academic and pastoral purposes.
Tutor group channels were set up on Teams for every year group, where tutors have been able to ‘check in’ each week with pupils. This has ensured that students’ academic needs are met, that students have access to advice should they need it, but most importantly, tutors could keep track of students’ mental wellbeing. Open lines of communication meant that if a child was struggling, we could support them. Students didn’t know how to work remotely, how to organise their time or how to be self-motivated; our use of Teams has provided them with methods for easy communication with an adult they are familiar with on a daily basis.
We hope that by having the lines of communication open to students and having a compulsory check-in each week, the bridge between students working in isolation at home and returning back into the building is eased and that that we are able to lower anxiety for our students.
Our Teams CPD channel has supported staff not only in developing their IT skills to enable the best possible provision for students, but also in accessing a range of ideas they might not have come across before. Our channel has ‘How to…’ videos on topics including the use of narrated PowerPoints, quizzes or forms on Teams, how to use ‘assignments’ within Teams and mark these using a rubric to give feedback on the work completed, to name just a few. Staff have also shared information on how to create drop-down and tick-boxes in Microsoft Word, where to go to get icons for dual coding, methods for increasing student engagement and other concepts that will improve remote learning.
Even staff members who are self-proclaimed ‘technophobes’ have been able to develop their IT skills to ensure the digital learning process for our pupils is as strong as it can be. The channel has enabled everyone to feel like we are all in this process together, all learning together – and nothing is as daunting when you have others by your side.
Five core principles for effective remote learning
As a school, we were keen to ensure we were catering to the needs of all our pupils during this time, with our more able students being a key focus. We wanted to ensure the provision offered to this group remained high quality so they were able to continue to be challenged academically – avoiding the dreaded generic worksheet, a one-size-fits-all approach. We also found that many of our more able were struggling with managing workload, which developed increased levels of anxiety.
A group of leaders and I developed what we felt were the five core principles of remote learning and delivered this to staff through CPD meetings, to ensure our more able students were academically and emotionally supported.
We felt that remote learning should be:
Concrete: it should have a clear purpose and learning intent that fits with the wider curriculum. There should also be clear timings for tasks so that students do not spend excessive amounts of time on projects.
Inclusive: consider how you stretch your most able students by providing links to wider reading, podcasts, challenge tasks or breadth of choice such as presentation methods.
Considerate: taking into consideration students’ learning environments and access to materials they could need. Also planning tactically so that students do not become overwhelmed with the sheer amount of work expected of them.
Reflective: students should have feedback at key points and self-assessment opportunities through sharing clearly defined success criteria.
Engaging: staff should incorporate a range of learning activities and software to avoid students becoming demotivated. Also focusing on mechanisms for praise so that students know their hard work is being recognised.
The concepts here are not new. But when staff are also dealing with the pressures and anxiety a COVID-19 teaching world presents, it is a timely reminder that the core principles of teaching must remain so that students can continue to succeed. The five core principles listed above all aim not only to enrich the remote learning a student receives, but also take into consideration students’ mental wellbeing too.
When we return to school, I hope the lessons learnt from using technology during this time do not get lost. Many members of staff have told me how much they have enjoyed using Microsoft Teams to support learning and how they will continue to use it moving forward, particularly to aid collaborative work with peers and to support home learning. Our eyes have been opened to the potential of this technology in supporting and enriching the curriculum for more able students though many of the methods listed above. It has certainly provided both staff and students with a very different learning experience, with the potential to continue to enrich learning beyond the classroom for students and increase enjoyment in developing pedagogy for staff.
Christabel Shepherd, NACE Associate and Trustee, and Executive Headteacher of Bradford’s Copthorne and Holybrook Primary Schools
Over the past few months, I have learnt a great deal about myself and, more importantly, about the conditions which are central to the effective education of the children in our schools.
In the two primary schools that I lead, home-learning during this crisis has taken two forms: printed packs of differentiated work for the core and wider curriculum (a mixture of practise, retrieval and application, as well as some new learning); and remote learning via the various sites and activities to which we have directed children (these include Mathletics, Times Tables Rockstars, White Rose Maths Hub, Accelerated Reader etc.). All of this has been supported with regular telephone check-ins with pupils and their parents/carers. The results in terms of pupil engagement have been mixed and, in turn, the impact on pupil progress is difficult to measure.
All good teachers know their children. They can spot immediately when a child has “zoned out”; one whose stress levels are increasing because they clearly don’t understand; the more able learner who is afraid to put pen to paper for fear of the work being incorrect or imperfect; or the student who is frustrated or bored due to insufficient challenge.
When children are at home, we are not there to pick up on these signals and support them appropriately, and it is not easy to spot these signs on a computer screen. Without this, it is more difficult to identify misconceptions and address them effectively and before they become ingrained; it is nigh on impossible to remind children to think back to the strategies they have been taught in order to choose the most effective one or to think about which “learning muscles” they will need to use for a task; it is much harder to encourage children to attempt a challenge and face possible failure without the culture of supported risk that we have so skilfully developed in our classrooms. Never has the need for that human interaction between teachers and pupils been so stark.
So, what can we do now to mitigate this and contingency plan for the future?
Metacognition and self-regulation
For months prior to the COVID-19 crisis, metacognition and self-regulation strategies had started to become a key focus for many schools. Much of what many excellent teachers already do by default has been given a name and its importance highlighted by the findings of evidence-based research. This has been widely shared through, for example, the work of the EEF, with more and more teachers beginning to see and understand the benefits of building these strategies into their everyday work.
Had this been going on for longer and such learning behaviours been entrenched in our children, I feel that the negative effects of lockdown would have been lessened. As it is, I feel that much more work needs to be done in this area. Many of our learners – especially in primary schools – are only at the start of their “learning how to learn” journey, so do not yet understand or have embedded the key metacognitive or self-regulation skills, nor in turn the levels of intrinsic motivation to enable them deal effectively with home learning. Whereas at school, we would have been praising children for thinking about and then using appropriate strategies, there is concern that – in many homes – children will be being praised purely for task completion rather than the way it was approached and their metacognitive strategies.
This has strengthened my view that the need for children to be taught metacognitive and self-regulation strategies should be made an even higher priority. By the way, I’m not talking about special “learning how to learn” slots in the timetable; I’m talking about those strategies being central to our pedagogy in every lesson. Although many teachers do this naturally, I believe that we must all make a conscious decision to do this, directly teaching and modelling those learning behaviours through our own practice and daily interactions.
At this point, I would like to mention parents. They are a piece of the metacognitive puzzle I feel is currently being overlooked. We engage them in workshops to help them support their child’s subject-specific learning, yet it is rare to hear of a school where work is being done to support parents’ understanding in this area in order to help make them real partners in their child’s learning. If we value metacognition for our pupils, then parents must be made partners in this too.
Remote learning
This has been on my mind a great deal. As we know, many children and their families do not have access to the internet, suitable devices, or both. However, where such provision is in place, I feel we can do better than the scattergun approach currently in place in some schools by considering the inclusion of some key features/approaches:
Introduce the lesson or theme by speaking directly to all the children in the class via a web-based platform such as Teams, Zoom, Google Classroom etc. During this short meeting, the teacher does a general check-in with everyone and maybe even a quick starter with children holding up their answers on whiteboards. The teacher then sets the learning task – and this has to be very carefully considered.
As part of this, the children are directed to a short, explanatory video such as those provided by the White Rose Maths Hub, Khan Academy etc. Whatever source is chosen, the key is to find examples where there is simplicity in terms of format and clarity of explanation, where children have the chance to practise what is being introduced, pause, review and then continue with the explanation. The production should not be at the expense of the quality of exposition. Teachers may even wish to make their own explanatory videos; these do not need to be “all singing, all dancing”, but must adhere to the school’s safeguarding policy.
A specified time is then provided for the children to work on the set task. During this time the teacher is still available online so that pupils can ask for help or guidance.
At the end of the time, the children return to the screen in – as necessary – smaller groups, to share what they have done and get instant feedback from the teacher. This Assessment for Learning is key as it allows for any misconceptions to be addressed quickly. Once this has been done, the next lesson can be in the form of the opportunity to practice and apply this learning through an online portal such as Mathletics, Learning By Questions, HegartyMaths etc., before the next live lesson is introduced.
There has been some scaremongering about not delivering live lessons remotely as it may leave teachers at risk of malicious allegations. Aren’t teachers just as much at risk of this in the classroom each day? In most instances remote learning allows us to record the session so that there is a clear log of what has taken place. Please do not think from this that I am saying we should deliver live lessons without careful consideration; but I do think that some remote contact between teacher and learners is essential.
Parents and carers
During this crisis, I have been metaphorically slapped in the face by the importance of parents and carers. Don’t get me wrong; I’ve always known they were important and I have always been proactive about ensuring – through the provision of workshops, letters home and open events – that they were able to support their children with homework. However, the notion of whether parents were in a position to “go it alone” when it comes to educating their children has never really been a consideration. This has now changed and it is something that is polarising concerns around the likely widening of the gap caused by social disadvantage.
This has made me realise that our approach towards parental engagement needs to change. This is currently still shaping up in my mind but I think we need to be far more strategic and passionate.
Initially, on a practical level, in a similar way that we do for pupils, we need to either prepare or signpost explanatory clips for parents covering each area of the curriculum so they have a resource available for reference and to help them feel more confident when home-educating. We have done this in the past for areas such as guided reading, but I think we need to go much further.
We will need to look, too, at how clearly and to what degree we share with parents our aspirations for their children. Has this been merely a paper exercise in the past, or part of the school’s mantra, rolled out for assemblies and on special occasions? Or is the heart of the school’s vision and ethos shared with passion, and its core explained? Do staff members have the opportunity to be open and honest about their own life and education journey to this point so that parents and children understand that education opens the doors of opportunity and helps to provide children with the cultural capital they need to succeed? Are we honest and open about the real difference each stage of a child’s education makes to their future, rather than making sweeping generalisations about this to parents? Have we truly explained, for example, why synthetic phonics and reading are so important? How often do we hold small discussion groups for parents, where we can drill down into the importance of education and their role in this?
These questions need to be posed to and explored by the whole school community in order for us to find the best way forward and ensure our reflections and learning from the lockdown period are put to good use.
On a personal level, lockdown has taught me the value of making time for both reflection and my own professional development. I have taken the opportunity to address this and as a result I see what I have been missing.
This article was originally published in the summer 2020 special edition of NACE Insight, as part of our “lessons from lockdown” series. For access to all past issues, log in to our members’ resource library.
Listening in to over 200 school leaders, teachers and young people in online forums and in personal conversations, I am hearing a recurring theme: “Some children have done better without me teaching them.” Some teachers add, “…which is a worry.” Most are keen to explore the reasons why some children are thriving on home learning, when many appear to be struggling. While it is vital that the reasons for this struggle are identified and addressed, there is also much that school leaders and teachers can learn from the “rising stars” – young people who were not identified for a particular ability, skill or expertise in the classroom but who are blossoming at home, surprising their teachers.
Why were they not noticed in school? Why are they thriving at home? What can we learn from them, for our future practice, as we prepare for more students to return to the classroom?
Limiting factors within schools
Although the rising stars appear to come from all phases, types of school and a range of socio-economic contexts, common limiting factors in their schools’ culture and organisation are emerging:
Less confident schools, that are focused on exam outcomes, attendance targets and rigorous behaviour management structures, where young people are lost in the drive for data;
Schools with highly structured, frequent testing, where young people have too few opportunities to be inspired, to be creative, or to learn in depth;
Schools with strict ability grouping and differentiation practices, built on assumptions of ability;
Prescriptive schemes of work that leave little scope for teachers’ creativity, or for young people’s expertise – there is no time for deep learning in a classroom where quantity matters more than mastery;
Pedagogies that are teacher-focused and controlled, leaving too little scope for young people to become independent researchers, problem solvers or learning leaders;
Schools that misconstrue presentations of negative learning character as misbehaviour: the window-gazer, who finds the ideas inside her head more interesting but has no chance to share or explore them; the disruptive, who wants to let the teacher know that he is capable of much more challenging stuff but doesn’t know how to say it; the angry or withdrawn, who doesn’t understand and can’t process the work because her learning needs have not been recognised; the passive, unconfident, who finds the classroom crowded and oppressive;
Schools that have an extended core curriculum at the expense of the creative/expressive arts, design and PE, where young people have little opportunity to grow into disciplined, collaborative, creative learners and critical thinkers, or to have their creative/expressive/physical abilities and talents acknowledged and celebrated.
Why are some students thriving at home?
Teachers are telling anecdotes about the “rising stars” they are noticing and are asking their pupils why they are more engaged and making more progress.
What is striking is the deepening mutual trust and respect which is clear in their voices:
“I am encouraging students to engage with their world, to discover new resources. They are enjoying daily, short skills practices that they self-assess with the help of a simple quiz. They enjoy gaining mastery, rather than marks.”
“I have discovered hidden stars from having personal learning conversations. I was bogged down in a mountain of marking and concerned that only 30% of my students were submitting any work. So I decided to abandon the prescribed written feedback procedure and give each student a two-minute verbal personal moment each week. I didn’t realise how important it was for students to see me, to be called by their name and to feel they mattered to me. I have been really surprised by how able many of them are.”
“I find that quiet students are benefitting from being at home, without the pressures and noise of school. I didn’t realise how capable they are and am wondering why they are not in the top set.”
“I’m in a school where we are expected to maintain the full curriculum and schemes of work. We soon discovered that it was impossible, so my department re-designed the study programme, built on two principles: students can follow their own interests; they should create something – grow it, design it, build it, then teach your teacher and class what you know. We are on hand with advice and we have created a huge bank of resources for them to use, including examples of the department’s special interests and their own creations. Some great experts are emerging – both students and staff!”
Creative writing is a struggle for many young people, who often have a fixed view “I can’t do it.” One Year 5 pupil was very anxious about having to do creative writing tasks at home. “In school, there’s a plan on the board and I can put my hand up when I’m stuck.” Finding it easy to come up with “lots of ideas”, but getting stuck on how to develop them further, he is enjoying sharing his ideas at home and on FaceTime with his friends. “It’s much nicer than at school and I think I am getting much better.”
One-to-one tutorials are building young people’s confidence and respectful relationships with their teachers, who are able to see their capacity. A Year 12 tutor was struck with how powerful the tutorial can be: “It’s fascinating to listen to him. He has great insight and knows more than I do!” Another Year 12 student is appreciating the value of having a trusting and mutually respectful relationship with her tutors. She had a difficult pathway through the GCSE years, excelling in the subjects where she had private one-to-one tuition but unable to achieve her best outcomes in the rest. Now, through daily contact with her tutors, personal advice whenever she wants it, constant collaborative learning opportunities with her peers and with new-found confidence in her capacity, she is totally engaged with her Year 12 studies. “I miss being in school and I certainly miss my friends, but the work is going well. And I am looking forward to going in after half-term for real, live tutorials.”
“At Key Stage 3, introverted students remain mute for the lesson, reluctant to engage or speak but still submit a high standard of work. In contrast, when speaking to these students on a one-to-one basis, they will be forthcoming with how they are feeling. One ‘live’ call a week from their tutor is making a big difference to their progress and their wellbeing. Key Stage 4 and 5 students have adapted exceptionally well. I should mention that they are used to independent learning: they do a lot of reading around their subjects.”
What can we learn for our future practice?
Good friends from the retired headteachers’ community are entertaining each other with tales from the home front. They are discovering that IT is not a mysterious world inhabited by the young but an exciting avenue into following their interests and exploring new places: playing in a huge online orchestra, singing in Gareth Malone’s choir, visiting the theatres, galleries, faraway lands. And they are clearing the loft! An opportunity to throw out unneeded items that must have been useful once, but you have forgotten why – but also to rediscover lost treasures, hidden gems, that deserve to be brought back into the home, polished and put to good use. Perhaps this period of home schooling is our chance to clear out the curriculum and pedagogy loft, to discard what is not useful and to rediscover and polish up the gems of our principles and practice in the light of what young people are telling us.
NACE’s core principles include the statements:
Providing for more able learners is not about labelling, but about creating a curriculum and learning opportunities which allow all children to flourish.
Ability is a fluid concept: it can be developed through challenge, opportunity and self-belief.
In its chapter on Teaching for Learning, The Intelligent School (2004) presents a profile of the Learning and Teaching PACT – what the learner and the teacher bring to learning and teaching and, in turn, what they both need for the PACT to have maximum effect. Features of the PACT are visible in the accounts of rising stars, where both learner and teacher bring:
A sense of self as learner;
Mutual respect and high expectations;
Active participation in the learning process;
Reflection and feedback on learning;
And where the teacher brings:
Knowledge, enthusiasm, understanding about what is taught and how;
The ability to select appropriate curriculum and relevant resources;
A design for teaching and learning fit for purpose;
An ability to create a rich learning environment.
“Place more emphasis […] on the microlevel of things […] It encourages a culture that is more open and caring […] It requires genuine connection.” – Leading in a Culture of Change (2004)
Chapter 4 of Michael Fullan’s Leading in a Culture of Change is entitled “Relationships, Relationships, Relationships”. Young people are letting their teachers know that personal conversations are enabling their learning. One group of Key Stage 3 students have asked their teachers to stop using PowerPoint presentations, which they feel unable to understand – “But it all makes sense when we talk about it with you.” Learning conversations may be a rediscovered gem in some schools, worth bringing down from the loft of forgotten treasure.
From the same chapter: “When you set a target and ask for big leaps in achievement scores, you start squeezing capacity in a way that gets into preoccupation with tests […] You cut corners in a way that ends up diminishing learning […] I want steady, steady, ever deepening improvement.”
Motivation comes from caring and respect: “tough empathy” in Fullan’s terms. The rising stars are being noticed in a learning environment free from classroom tests and marking. We may need to take a close look at assessment practices in our loft clearance and rediscover the gems of self-assessment, academic tutorials, vivas and reflective discourse.
Can we improve young people’s chances of stardom by considering some fresh thinking, as we prepare for more of them to return to school?
What will “homework” mean? Can we build on what we are learning about best practice in home schooling?
How will we inspire (rather than push) young people to high aspirations and outcomes?
How can we listen better and build respectful, healthier learning relationships?
Can we design learning for depth and mastery rather than for assessment/testing and quantity?
How can we open up the curriculum and learning to creativity?
How can we exemplify and model best learning in our lessons?
How can we give young people time, resources and personal space to learn how to learn, to become the best they can be?
References and further reading:
The Intelligent School (Gilchrist, Myers & Reed, 2004)
Leading in a Culture of Change (Michael Fullan, 2001)
Knowledge and The Future School (Young, Lambert, Roberts & Roberts, 2014)
Reassessing Ability Grouping (Francis, Taylor & Tereshenko 2020)
This article was originally published in the summer 2020 special edition of NACE Insight, as part of our “lessons from lockdown” series. For access to all past issues, log in to our members’ resource library.
NACE Education Adviser Hilary Lowe explores the challenges of “lockdown learning”, how schools are responding, and what lessons could be learned to improve provision for all young people both now and in the years to come.
We have been submerged with COVID-19 stories. But very few of those have told the tale of what is happening to thousands of young people whose lives have been disrupted and delayed or of their teachers who have been keeping calm and carrying on, often going to extraordinary lengths to try to ensure continuity and quality in those young people’s education.
NACE too has been trying to run business as usual wherever possible, working with members and colleagues to find creative and innovative ways of serving the school community in immediate practical ways. We have also been planning for possible future scenarios in the way we work with schools and others involved in supporting the education of highly able young people. We know that things may never be quite the same again. We could even go so far as to hazard that many of the changes we are seeing in the way schools and national organisations are supporting young learners in lockdown are heralding a new age in education.
Could this be the watershed in the paradox of a pandemic that has shut down many forms of normal life which will usher in some of the radical changes pundits are predicting might emerge in other areas of social and economic activity? Could this be the time we move from what is still in many ways the Victorian order of schooling to a new order for the 21st century? An order which connects the best of what we know about how we learn and what we need materially to learn – and how we teach, with the benefits of technology and informed by the needs of society and the individual in the uncertain years to come.
Facing up to the cracks and gaps in the current system
It has been both fascinating and humbling to hear how NACE member schools have moved with great alacrity from largely classroom-based learning to providing schooling, including pastoral support, from a distance. This has often been – although not of course exclusively – from a low base of technological skills and hardware and little training in designing distance learning.
We know with even greater certainty than we did before that young people’s home environments are not always conducive to good learning. We also know that millions of young people do not have access to the technology and basic resources which could support their learning and wellbeing at a distance. The deep cracks in social and economic equity are becoming even more obvious to teachers whose profession at its noblest aims to develop young people to aspire to be the best that they can be. Recent reports from the Sutton Trust, amongst others, attest to the ongoing deep social divisions with which we are already familiar and to the emerging impacts of the pandemic learning lockdown on young people, not only on their achievement but also on their aspirations (Sutton Trust, 2020).
Acknowledging the stark picture painted by the Sutton Trust research on pupil engagement and the capacity of schools to deliver distance learning, we know through contact with our member schools and through our two recent online member meetups that there are both state schools and independent schools making things work despite the odds. NACE has been privileged to be able to gather a wealth of knowledge about both what is working well in supporting learning at home and what is proving most challenging.
Challenges and concerns
Lack of engagement from learners and parents
Lack of technologies and resources at home
Marking and feedback
Accelerating and monitoring progress for all learners
Learner choices and future decisions e.g. options, post-16, post-18
Future behaviours and engagement when back in school
Growing ‘disadvantage gaps’ and how to manage/remediate
Supporting learners with additional, particular needs e.g. SEND
More able learners who are socially disadvantaged
More able learners affected by the pressure they put on themselves or excessive pressure from parents
Transitions and transition points e.g. Years 6 and 13
Negative effects on mental health and wellbeing
Realities of what can be achieved at home
Teacher capacity and skills
What’s working?
Clear, consistent cross-school strategy regarding distance learning and learner contact
Systematic approaches with checks and monitoring
Making expectations clear to learners and parents (e.g. parental guidance and communication apps)
Different models according to need, age, experience of online learning, populations, access to technology and resources e.g. some schools delivering a “normal” timetable of lessons virtually; some providing a mix of timetabled lessons, extended projects, suggested downtime activities; some schools delivering individualised learning packs to pupils’ homes
Many schools favour a mix of online and offline learning
Some schools are trying to tailor provision to individual needs e.g. more able learners having access to appropriately challenging resources, guest speakers, debates and projects which involve higher level skills and knowledge
Some schools are prioritising language development and reading as a priority
In the best of cases schools plan home learning according to best practice in effective learning and effective distance learning e.g. retrieval/recall, use/application, new learning etc; judicious use of what can be learned without too much scaffolding; sometimes readjusting planned schemes and schedules of work; allotting “transition time” for catch-up and individual support
Some schools are trying to connect current distance learning to future work to be undertaken when school restarts
Emphasis on motivation and keeping learners engaged e.g. feedback, praise and rewards, competitions
Emphasis on supporting wellbeing and mental health
Regular contact via email/text and phone e.g. once a week and sometimes once a day for more vulnerable groups
Platforms such as Microsoft Teams, Zoom and Google Classroom enable greater participation and interaction, peer-to-peer and peer-to-teacher
For more insights into how schools are responding to current challenges, watch the recordings of our recent virtual member meetups:
Secondary session (28 April 2020)
Primary session (29 April 2020)
What lasting improvements will be made?
In addition to considering how the many and significant challenges will be addressed, it is interesting to speculate on what will be taken forward from all the excellent practice we have seen being developed. Even more interesting might be to speculate on the more radical consequences of the current period on how we teach and learn in future, not only to be ready for further periods of uncertainty but perhaps because we have glimpsed and exercised approaches that might simply allow to do things better for all our young people. Perhaps we have also glimpsed ways in which we as educators would prefer to approach our profession, learning and development.
To conclude then, here are a few future schooling scenarios. Some are more readily doable and could in the short-term help to mitigate the educational damage currently being wrought. Some will require more radical changes in thinking and resourcing at a national level. It is encouraging that we are seeing in this country at least a recognition of and the opening of a debate about how to alleviate some of the collateral damage produced by the present schooling situation and the educational inequalities it is making more visible.
Future scenarios:
Every child in school ensured access to appropriate education technology (basic internet access in every home with school-aged children?)
Schools open longer as “learning hubs”, equipped and resourced to support children’s and parents’ learning and wellbeing
Priority given to developing parental and community engagement
School structures and timetables to allow greater tailoring of learning and greater personalisation e.g. through mixed-mode learning, time for one-to-one, consolidation etc
A major focus in all schools on high-level language development, reading and cultural capital
Emphasis on development of metacognition, independent learning and study skills
Planned opportunities for all learners, including the more able, to learn and be assessed at appropriate levels and points in their learning
School staff trained in designing online learning and assessment in conjunction with evidence-based classroom pedagogies
Greater use of technology for professional dialogue, planning and CPD
As well as responding to the current situation through increased online CPD, resources and guidance, NACE is planning additional ways to support schools and more able learners in the medium- and long-term. As always, this will include listening to what members are telling us about what they need, encouraging more schools to join the NACE community, and making our voice heard at policy levels and with partner organisations to ensure that learners, including the most able, are at the heart of any educational change and improvement.
What would be most useful for you and your school this term? Complete this short survey to help shape our response.
NACE Associate and R&D Hub Lead Laura March explains how Southend High School for Boys (SHSB) is ensuring learners continue to encounter “desirable difficulty” during the current period of remote learning.
In a recent ResearchEd presentation, Paul Kirshner delivered an insightful presentation based on the book Lessons for Learning. In one of his tips, he highlighted the need to avoid offering too much new subject matter during remote learning and to instead use this time to focus on maintaining the skills and knowledge that have been previously learnt. We know how easy it is to forget this learning without regular retrieval practice – we see this happen every year over the six-week summer break. Sometimes we underestimate the power of revision and repetition and this is a good opportunity to encourage pupils to consolidate knowledge from prior learning (see example retrieval grid).
For effective independent learning to take place, it is helpful to provide step-by-step worked solutions and provide alternative routes for all learners so they are offered support during their practice. On the other hand, we want there to be some form of “desirable difficulty” – not too hard, not too easy. Desirable difficulties are important because they trigger encoding and retrieval processes that support learning, comprehension and remembering. If, however, they are too difficult (the learner does not have the background knowledge or skills to respond to them successfully) they become undesirable difficulties and pupils can become disengaged, especially when working from home without teacher instruction and regular prompting (Bjork, 2009).
As time goes on, students’ internal resources start to increase as they begin to learn the content. At this point students are in danger of finding the task too easy. If there is no difficulty involved, then learning is less likely to occur. The best choice here is to start reducing the amount of support so pupils can achieve independence.
To help us reflect on this research, departments at SHSB have used two frameworks when considering and reviewing the tasks and activities being presented for remote learning:
Fisher and Frey: the gradual release of responsibility
In Better Learning Through Structured Teaching: A Framework for the Gradual Release of Responsibility (2008), Douglas Fisher and Nancy Frey probe the how and why of the gradual release of responsibility instructional framework – a model which is deeply embedded across SHSB (see this summary of how we are using this model to inform our approach to remote learning). To what extent have we been providing tasks that fit into each of the four stages of effective structured learning? Is there a gradual shift in responsibility from the teacher to the pupil, moving from “I do” to “you do together” and “you do alone”?
Sandringham Research School: the memory clock
We also wanted to think of simple ways to continue to achieve the interactivity that is crucial to teaching and learning. The “memory clock” shared with us by Sandringham Research School has helped pupils revise and consolidate their knowledge. To avoid offering too much subject matter at once, the clock prompts pupils to structure learning into chunks and to always end with ‘assessing’ to self-regulate their own learning (see this example from SHSB Business department). It is important to ensure each study session has targeted questioning to check content is understood before moving on.
Ensuring learning is transferred into long-term memory
A wealth of research tells us that delivering new information in small chunks is more effective for working memory – the type of memory we use to recall information while actively engaged in an activity. The capacity to store this information is vital to many learning activities in the classroom and just as important for remote learning. Presenting too much material at once may confuse students because they will be unable to process it using working memory. We can observe when this happens in the classroom and respond by explaining and repeating the material. It is more difficult for us to identify this in remote learning.
In both models outlined above, you will see recall and retrieval plays an important role. This has been embedded in our SIP over the last few years and departments at SHSB have been creative in revisiting material after a period of time using low stakes quizzes, retrieval grids, multiple choice questions and images. This review helps to provide some of the processing needed to move new learning into long-term memory and helps us to identify any misconceptions before introducing new material.
Fisher, D. and N. Frey, Better Learning Through Structured Teaching: A Framework for the Gradual Release of Responsibility, Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, Alexandria, Virginia, 2008.
Kornell, N., Hays, M. J., & Bjork, R. A. (2009). Unsuccessful retrieval attempts enhance subsequent learning. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 35, 989–998.
Organisations across the world have responded to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic by sharing free resources to help support schools, students and families. We’ve rounded up a selection of free resources available from our partner organisations – focusing on challenge alongside enjoyment, enrichment and wellbeing.
Oxplore – “Home of Big Questions”
A digital outreach portal developed by the University of Oxford, Oxplore aims to raise aspirations and stimulate intellectual curiosity amongst 11- to 18-year olds. The “Home of Big Questions”, it tackles complex ideas across a wide range of subjects, drawing on the latest Oxford research and promoting interdisciplinary enquiry.
Get started:
Watch this short video for an overview of the platform and how it can be used.
Download this free activity sheet designed to help students and families get started.
Read this blog post for more ideas, including additional resources to print and use at home.
Follow Oxplore on Wordpress and Twitter for new Big Questions, live online events and more.
NRICH – “low threshold, high ceiling” maths activities
Based at the University of Cambridge, NRICH provides free “low threshold, high ceiling” maths resources for learners aged 3-19, designed to enrich mathematics teaching and learning through challenging, engaging and meaningful activities.
Get started:
Watch this short video for an introduction to NRICH’s “low threshold, high ceiling” approach.
Visit NRICH’s maths at home webpage for a selection of maths activities to try at home.
Take a look at this overview, article and video for accompanying tips and guidance on using the activities.
Shakespeare’s Globe – free online screenings and resources
The iconic Shakespeare's Globe theatre offers resources and services to support teaching and learning with Shakespeare for all ages. During the current period, the Globe is opening up access to its catalogue of past production recordings through fortnightly releases on YouTube, including introductory talks from the Globe's Head of Higher Education and Research, Professor Farah Karim-Cooper. This year's 90-minute Playing Shakespeare production of Macbeth will be available from 11 May until schools reopen. Schools can also request free access to all Globe Player films, as well as many other educational videos, by contacting Bloomsbury.
The Day – daily articles and activities based on current affairs
The Day turns the daily news into lessons designed to get students thinking for themselves and engaging with the world. In response to current demand, it has launched a free daily newsletter for parents and carers supporting students at home. It is also offering free access to articles relating to different aspects of the pandemic, with links across the curriculum – with an added focus on activities to complete at home, both online and away from the screen.
Many more organisations are offering free resources to support and engage students across all ages, abilities and areas of interest. For additional ideas and inspiration, take a look at:
What resources, websites or approaches have you found useful in supporting more able learners remotely? Share your recommendations in our online forums.
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