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.
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.
Posted By Nicola Morgan,
31 January 2018
Updated: 20 August 2019
Think you understand what makes young people tick? Think again. Award-winning author and expert on teenage brains Nicola Morgan shares five factors which are often overlooked, but which hold the key to effectively supporting today’s young learners.
I’m delighted to be giving the keynote speech at this year’s NACE Cymru Conference, in Cardiff on 28 June. I’ve been asked to write a blog post introducing some of my ideas. I’ve thought of “five things we forget at their peril” – ideas which underpin my philosophy and which will, I hope, resonate both with those of you who can’t come to the conference and those I’ll be talking to on the day. I will explain everything in detail in my speech, with fascinating science!
1. Young people know a lot about a lot... and very little about a lot
Today’s teenagers know far more than I did about the “big wide world”. Thanks largely to the internet, social media and globalisation, they’ve interacted with people from different backgrounds and cultures, been exposed to wide-ranging ideas, breathed diversity, celebrated difference. They are often streetwise, worldly wise and knowledgeable in ways I couldn’t have imagined.
But we should not overestimate their knowledge of basic psychology, biology and life skills. They often don’t know that headaches and stomach aches can be a symptom of stress or that sleep and calories are necessary for learning and brain function. They don’t always know about metacognition or growth mindsets and far too often have too much done for them by their parents.
2. Young people do not have our life experience – they do not know that “this too shall pass”
How young people’s bodies and brains react to stress is almost identical to our own: they feel the same; they are the same; prick them and they bleed, stress them and their bodies flood with alerting chemicals. But they arrive at these pressures new. They do not know, because they have not experienced, that how they feel about something today is not how they will feel tomorrow or next week or next month.
We need to tell them, often – just as we remind our own friends in pain or turmoil – that everything changes, passes, morphs into something manageable and often something forgettable. In my keynote, I’ll talk about the brain difference that underpins this, but let me just say now that they are in the moment because the moment is big and new and dramatic and all-consuming. They are less able to look ahead and to rationalise. But they will learn to do so faster if they have the chance to try and if they are guided.
3. Failure is the greatest risk our students face, and the lucky ones will fail soon
We want our young people to be resilient, to cope with setbacks. Resilience grows from experiencing difficulty and being supported, with empathy and metacognition, to pick ourselves up and try again. To get back in the saddle.
Too many parents and schools raise the stakes until failure is The Worst Possible Thing. But failure only means that you aimed high enough. Real success comes from being ambitious, understanding “what went wrong” and keeping on trying, but trying better. Too many of our brightest children don’t experience failure at school and are failure-phobic, coming to a crashing fall later. Ditto their parents, who helicopter in to prevent the failure.
4. Stress is life-saving and dangerous, performance-enhancing and performance-wrecking
Don’t be afraid of stress: it enhances your life and gives you the physical and mental state for super-performance. The key is to know your triggers and symptoms and learn how to feel stress when you need it and not when you don’t. My course Stress Well for Schools teaches all this in detail.
5. Digital natives do not have specially evolved brains
They were born with the same brains as the rest of us. They’ve spent a lot of time on screens so they have learned those skills. The more time we spend doing something the better we are at it. It’s very simple: use it and don’t lose it. There are skills you have that “digital natives” don’t have but which they could learn, too. They’re not special.
“But, surely, they’re better at multi-tasking? They do it so much, no?” Ah, no. The opposite. In my keynote, I’ll explain exactly why and exactly what they are better at… Trust me: the science on this is fascinating, revealing and important. And relevant to us all.
Posted By Tom Hills,
19 June 2017
Updated: 07 August 2019
Ynysowen Community Primary School is a successful primary school in Merthyr Tydfil, South Wales. The school is a Digital Pioneer School for the Welsh government and is a self-improving school. Ynysowen achieved its second NACE Challenge Award accreditation in May 2017.
Tom Hills, deputy headteacher and additional learning needs coordinator, gives an overview of the substantial work the school has done in the area of marking and feedback.
For a long time now schools have known that the feedback students receive is a vital component in moving learning forward. Some, like John Hattie, go as far as to say that it is the single most powerful modification we can make with regards to improving achievement, while the Education Endowment Foundation cites an average gain of up to eight months progress.
Couple this with the fact that marking features at or near the top of every survey conducted into teacher workload, and there are potentially huge benefits to all involved – if we get it right. And if we get it right, then we can lift the lid and remove some of the traditional glass ceilings that are in place in education, particularly for MAT learners.
“Non-negotiables” for marking and feedback
Based on this, we took the decision to review our already established good practice at Ynysowen Community Primary School. This led to us forming the following requirements as the basis for all subsequent work in this area.
We insisted that marking and feedback must:
Be highly valued by the pupils;
Be informative in terms of next steps;
Impact upon pupil progress;
Be highly valued by the staff;
Be manageable;
Put the onus on learners taking ownership and responsibility for their improvement and progress.
In order to achieve this, we set out the following non-negotiables.
Every time a member of staff puts pen to paper to mark, learners will respond.
When marking a body of text, marking will signpost learners to errors to correct via a coded marking system. (Code placed in the margin on the line where the error occurred.)
When providing feedback by comment it will, where possible, contain an element of self-regulation, as this develops greater skills in self-evaluation or confidence to engage further on a task. Where this isn't appropriate, comments will focus on the process used in the task, or on the content of the completed work.
Dedicated Improvement and Response Time (DIRT) must be used at the start of every lesson.
Impact and ongoing developments
The new coded marking was implemented in conjunction with DIRT and immediately had the desired impact of increasing pupil engagement with marking, and substantially reducing teacher workload. Within two weeks, staff reported learners beginning to use the coded mark system without prompting to self-assess and improve their work – before their teacher could mark it.
Over time, training was given to staff with regards to moving from task- and product-related comments to process and self-regulation. Initial baseline book review showed 65% of comments across KS2 were task- and product-related, 30% were related to process and only 5% self-regulation. After training, this moved to a much more balanced 40%, 35% and 25% respectively. Work is ongoing to further improve this swing.
When asked about marking and feedback, learners respond very positively. They talk with confidence about the purpose of marking and articulate clearly how it helps them move on in their learning; they love DIRT time. All teachers report a huge reduction in marking time.
This project has been the catalyst for more evidence-based reviews of practice. We have undertaken substantial work with regards to questioning and are currently taking some tentative steps in beginning to explore the area of metacognition for our older learners. Marking and feedback will be reviewed next year to look at how best to incorporate the features available in Google for Education (previously Google Apps for Education) – something the school uses extensively.
Making use of Google for Education
Google for Education offers facilities, the likes of which have never been readily available to schools in such a user-friendly way. Learners can use the apps to share their work and allow comments, so peers can suggest changes and leave feedback. This, however, need not be limited to within the classroom or even school – opening up all sorts of possibilities for school-to-school working across the world.
Then there’s Google Forms, which provides a different dimension to peer- and self-assessment. Theoretically learners could create their own form asking for feedback on specific things in their work and invite responses from people across the world.
Google Classroom makes collating learners’ work easy and quick and allows teachers to make and/or grade work and send it back to the pupil who can make alterations and re-submit. With the huge range of extensions and apps available in the Google Marketplace, this feedback could now take the form of saved audio clips – something that will make feedback even more detailed and accurate, with no time cost.
For those who prefer to use a pen to mark, there are now apps that allow the use of a stylus to physically mark pupils’ digital work. This is then converted to a .pdf and stored alongside the original work.
Given that Google for Education is continually updating and adding new features, the feedback functionality stands to get better and better, which can only be a good thing!
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