Centre stage papers – Days 3, 4 & 5: Extending the vision

School engagement: some strategies

 

 

Henry Ford used to quip that, when asked what people wanted in the way of transport, they were likely to respond with ‘a faster horse’.  That’s a real problem for modernisers caught between the realisation that the current ways of working in schools are outmoded, but future models remain unproven. We all know that schools have real problems engaging students, particularly those who come from poorer backgrounds. For such students, the current education deal – be compliant, work hard and you will gain what you need to move on – is not an attractive one. Indeed, this proposition is based on the language and behaviour of deferred gratification, something that middle class students understand but that their poorer counterparts do not.

Rethinking the model

Making schools more engaging places will only come about if we rethink the whole process by which they operate.  There are five areas that need to be worked on simultaneously.

1. Curriculum. There is a need to move away from traditional approaches, to involve students in more choice and the opportunity to work independently.  Project Based Learning offers a route forward here and, in particular, the use of meta questions that span traditional subject areas, for example, ‘Is all violence wrong?’  ‘Will science save us?’  ‘Is truth always necessary?’

Additionally, how do we design a curriculum around experiences and events as much as around subject content? 

2. Space.  We need to redesign learning spaces. Must they always be small classrooms?  Must they always be owned by teachers?  Is it not possible to design space that is optimised for learning, allows pupil ownership and ends the culture of ‘student as nomad’ as we currently know it?  If we were to use the design principles that are utilised elsewhere in our society, might it be possible to create an environment that students and teachers actually wanted to be in? 

At New Line Learning in Maidstone we have developed a ‘learning plaza’ for 90 students using a different set of principles. We are using this as a test bed to design the next iteration of the concept. The school has tried to think through all the variables in the process of using space and linking it with learning.

3. Teachers.  The biggest challenge is probably not students but teachers.  They have to be retrained to work in new ways, less as subject specialists and more as mentors and guides for students. This will require both contractual changes and a series of ongoing training programmes. The solution is to frame teacher work within a wider skills agenda and offer bespoke training with regard to specialised and identifiable skills that will be necessary to work in these new ways. Teacher assessment would then be tied in with their skills development.

In this developing model, we can imagine specialised sub-groups of teachers tasked with different activities, such as assessment, curriculum development and research, and training.

4. Skills for Students. Exams are still necessary but they are no longer sufficient. To fully engage with pupils, we need to lay out skills pathways for them and to assess their progress with reference to them. This agenda would neatly dovetail with a similar agenda for staff and be mutually reinforcing.

5. ICT Platforms. Within these new, more fluid, learning environments, ICT will be essential, with one-to-one access for both students and teachers.  An ICT-driven environment allows online materials for students, online reporting every six weeks or so, and the use of online key performance indicator systems that allow students to tell teachers how they are doing.  The online reporting system allows data mining so that students who are slipping can be identified and helped.  

Additionally, by looking at data on students, we can begin to understand sub-groups based on performance, neighbourhood, and consider risk factors that might inhibit their progress. By analysing this information, we can diminish risk and increase resilience in target sub-groups.

Taken together, these measures might aid the development of a more engaged model of learning in our schools.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Mr Chris Gerry is Executive Headteacher at New Line Learning, a hard federation of three secondary schools in Maidstone, Kent, United Kingdom. The schools are innovative and pursuing rebuilds along a redesigned basis.

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