Accessible Research

Teachers are already busy. Calls for a 'research-engaged profession' can fall on deaf ears when there is quite simply already too much to do. At the of a long day, or when there are books to mark or lessons for a new spec to plan, the very last thing a teacher wants to do is start reading research, let alone do anything with it. Equally, even if there was the time, some teachers have no desire to engage with research - if we consider teaching an art, as many do, is this okay? 

Schools should consider carefully how best to impose anything new, particularly something as time consuming as engaging with research. Some schools have appointed specific TLR post holders to filter down the key findings that are useful for teachers. Others have incorporated it into CPD sessions or the appraisal process. This integrated approach may work in some schools, but requires time (again), money and an interest.

I remember David Cameron (not that one) saying at Northern Rocks 2015 along the lines of, "teachers are already spinning lots of plates, we need to work out which are Ikea and which are Wedgewood". If we are adding more, we need to take something away. We can't keep adding more.

Lately on Twitter, I've noticed a few quick wins:

1) Use Chris Moyse's 'Research in 100 words' posters. Download <here>

Put them up around school and rotate:

@AndyLewis_RE @stbons we have them dotted around the campus and change regularly pic.twitter.com/eU6didCdvk

— Chris Moyse (@ChrisMoyse) October 24, 2016

2) Use the Learning Scientist posters. Download <here>

I made an A5 booklet for 6th formers, I am going to make a display for the corridor and have suggested printing and putting student study booths

3) Share 'The Science of Learning'. Download <here>

In less that 10 pages, staff can have a complete overview of the best we currently know about learning. Cancel a meeting, extend a break time, provide a time to read it

4) Advertise ResearchEd conferences. See <here>

Pay for staff to go - they are on a Saturday!

5) Buy a couple of books for the staffroom/staff toilets. I'd start with <this> and <this>.

And if you can get Nick or David to come and do some INSET

6) Set up a time and space to discuss the opportunities and the challenges. 

Make sure there is free lunch, tea and cake.

For me, we need to work out what makes good teachers good so that we can help others grow to be even better. We know a lot more now that we ever did. Surely it makes sense to try and use it?

“Every teacher needs to improve, not because they are not good enough, but because they can be even better.” Dylan Wiliam

School leaders just need to create and provide the time, space and resources to make it happen.  

Further suggestions received:

1) Join the EBTN <here> [There is a cost...]

2) Sign up to the Best Evidence in Brief email <here> [I don't always find this accessible or practically useful]

Postscript

1) Research should not be elevated to a status above all else

2) Age and wisdom are INVALUABLE 

3) Teaching can never become technocratic - we always have context

4) Pedagogy can never be uniform - we always have context and need individuality 

5) Discussion is always needed to engage with the research - we always have context

6) We always have context

Thank you to Michael Merrick

Image courtesy of Animal Photos

If we want them to revise...

Wednesday was a 6 period day with a working lunch. It was really hard work and I then spent over an hour catching up on the day (ah... emails!), before heading home shattered around 5pm. I had some work to do on my textbook and naturally wanted to spend some time with my wife and young son. I know I would find this an impossible way to work day in and day out.

However that's what many staff are expecting of Y11 students at the moment. Thankfully no one wanted the pre-school slots, but visit the form rooms at 8am and there are many in working. They then attend lunchtime and after school revision sessions.  Some then head to various areas to work on coursework or other controlled assessments. They then leave when the bells signal it's time to go home at 5.40pm.

They then have homework to do, and of course revision. They also need to get the bus, or maybe two.

Is it any wonder that, as Head of Y11, I have parents calling me worried about their daughter? Students crying with the pressure? Reports of students falling asleep in lessons? Teachers complaining students are not doing the extra exam papers they set? Mental health issues are on the rise, while the services that help with our care of these young people face severe cuts.

The pressures internally and externally are creating a 'perfect storm' of pressure - and both students and staff are starting to really feel it. We must do something to combat it. We must play our part in trying to ease this situation. League tables, OFSTED, Performance Related Pay, EBacc... is everything really in the interest of the students? If not, maybe we need a different perspective.

I've written about the effectiveness of revision sessions before (see here), but I genuinely feel the culture is becoming unsustainable for all concerned. I also don't think it is helpful, in the long run, for our students. Particularly at GCSE, we can be very guilty of 'spoon feeding': providing revision guides, revision sessions where we do 'a unit in 30mins', Easter holiday 'catchup'.

Yet students then begin A-Levels thinking the same way. However it's far harder to provide similar 'get out of jail free' cards. There is confusion from students. Sometimes the realisation that they need to do it for themselves (and should have been doing all year long) comes too late.

If we removed this expectation (implicit or explicit?) of revision sessions, maybe we'd take away 'comfort blanket' that students feel... my teachers will work in overdrive to help me pass my exams. I sometimes ask my Y11 cohort - who is working harder right now? You or your teacher? Often the answer is the latter.

We need to make students realise that after 18 months of failing to work, last minute revision sessions won't solve their problems. If you have attended over 200 hours of English lessons, will 5 hour-long revision sessions make any difference? 

Schools have become obsessed by interventions, a buzz word that's become every day usage in education, which often means teachers should be able to demonstrate and document that they have gone above and beyond with students. Where does good teaching end and intervention begin? I'm all for identifying the underachievers and trying to get to the bottom of why they are underperforming, and teachers are well aware of their responsibilities to get the best grades possible. What's intervention? What's revision? What's just teaching?

I really enjoyed Shaun Allison's blog on "What to do with Y11?" (see <here>) and shared it with all staff. I really think that teachers should be putting all their energy and time into delivering the best possible lessons: "the people who will make the real difference between now and the exams are the teachers that see Y11, day in and day out.". The advice that Shaun then provided about effective learning and revision was excellent - read it, share it widely!

It's my first time as Head of Y11 and it has been a steep learning curve. In my somewhat limited experience, what would I do differently?

• Abolish the 'official' revision timetable (sadly staff don't stick to it anyway and we end up with staff competing and undermining one another).
• Discourage all revision sessions.
• Encourage staff to plan for learning throughout their syllabus (principles of metacognition and effective learning) so revision doesn't become such high stakes.
• Create effective work spaces for Y11 at lunchtime (i.e. a rota for the four form rooms for lunchtime: silent work / quiet work / 2x social - and enforce it!)
• Maintain detentions for work, homework and behaviour issues - these expectations must remain at the core of effective learning.
• Generate a culture of greater independence, self-reliance, determination and consequence - if you do not work, there will be repercussions (and it won't be a teacher reteaching you after school and in the holidays!).

I believe that this will help in some way create less dependent and teacher-reliant GCSE students. It will also be beneficial for the mental and emotional health of both staff and students, taking off some of the high stakes pressure.

I fully admit some of the students in my care have not woken up to the fact that their exams are coming up very quickly. This is a separate issue, that needs to be addressed in a separate way. 

John Tomsett wrote in his blog:

“All I can ask is that, on results day in August, we can truthfully say to ourselves that we did the very best we could without damaging our own mental health or the mental health of our students. We must not push for even better examination results at the cost of our well-being.” <see here>

My Y11 students, come August, will always be more than a set of grades. I also want them to be healthy (physically and mentally), happy, knowing that they can go out and change the world for the better in many, many different ways.

Images courtesy of Pixabay, Wikipedia and Pixabay

#TMIslington: Fighting the Forgetting Curve: My Battle Plan (6/7/15)

Image courtesy of Deuces Cracked

At TM Islington, I shared a 7 minute presentation on embedding some metacognition into my lessons including some 'quick wins' to incorporate into lessons planning. Ultimately we spend a lot of time preparing excellent lessons, but then don't always ensure that students remember them. What can we do to try to improve this?

View on GoogleDocs <here>

Further Reading:

• Ruth Powley has collated a number of ideas in a recent blog <here>
• David Didau has just finished a blog series on 20 Principles of Pyschology for teaching <here>

Related Posts:

My KS4 & 5 Metacognition booklet: http://tdreboss.blogspot.com/2015/01/metacognition-for-ks4-ks5.html

My KS3 Metacognition handout:

http://tdreboss.blogspot.co.uk/2015/05/accessible-psychology-ks3.html

An Essex Boy in Yorkshire [NRocks 2015 - Part 2]

Here is Part 2 of my write up and reflection (after lunch)... see Part 1 <here>

David Cameron

The REAL David Cameron, not the Number 10 one, who focused on education tourism - and a lot more besides! 

He began by recognising what a tough job we have and reminding us that we will be played... particularly by politicians. David also highlight the fact that teachers are driven by fear, constantly wondering, what will happen next in my classroom? 

There was many name checks of the Twitter/Blogger-sphere including Alex Quigley's 'teaching plateaus that featured recently in the Guardian (see <here>) and Debra Kidd's book where she says, "it is pedagogical activism that will be the butterfly of change.". David then pointed out with conferences such as NRocks that people are not compelled by status to come, they are here because they hope to learn and want to find something to put into practice - and there should be great comfort that many teachers still want to do that. 

He said that if we do not believe in change, then it will not happen. There is much to try and imitate, but adoption doesn't work; it doesn't take things to the heart. 

David cited David Starky's experience in the classroom (see <here>) where we say a world class historian unable to control a class, and unable to teach. Adoption leads to transient movement forward... take the free schools in Sweden - "That's what we need!" said the UK Government - but the OECD report has just declared it a "basket case, failing system". The great marketisation of schools has lead to complete disruption, but we're still sticking with it.

In one of many fun anecdotes, David said that people saying "work smarter" is a valid place for violence in education... it's basically saying, "you are working pretty stupid right now!". A very valid point, it is deeply unhelpful as a remark. He also cited David Brailsford and his marginal gains theory, often used by schools... is it really fair to compare an Olympic cycling team to a school? Is this a good analogy? Personally I have always thought that there is some value in it, but you don't co

me to a conference to nod along to everything.

It was then time for data. Schools have an obsession to get it right for the school, not the child. The idea that teacher can do everything is the very reason that teachers are being burnt out. He cited many examples of how agencies need to pull together and work together for the child.

An interesting comment he made was about 'the club'. We, as teachers, are in the club; we have knowledge. We need to give our children the knowledge so they can join the club. This is the way things work. However, should we not be challenging the rules of the club to let others in? This confused me. I don't know what the club would involve it wasn't the rules as they are... so anyone can get in? Or are we trying to say that knowledge isn't the key to great freedom and choice?

He concluded by saying we are not going to find the answers to our problems in Taiwan or Sweden. We only every talk about adding to teachers workload instead of taking things away... what we need to do with the spinning plates is work out which are Wedgwood and which are Ikea! Which lead to a rousing finale of David shouting about us taking control as the Clash played...

Follow David on Twitter <here>

John Tomsett

It is always a pleasure to hear John speak; he is also one of those who appears to cross the traditional / progressive divide being asked to speak at pretty much every conference going! His blog is always an honest joy to read (see <here>) and he is insightful on Twitter (see <here>)... can't wait to read his book!

The reason I was so keen on this, is that I wanted to see John's meta-cognition ideas in practice. I've been working hard on this, this year and having read a blog back in April, I thought to myself... I do that, I think... (see <here>). For A-Level Philosophy, I simply deconstruct the questions; I underline, highlight, annotate, in front of the students so they know my thinking in approaching a question. I was glad I was no alone! 

John explained how with his Physics class, he knew that they knew the material but couldn't understand why they got such poor marks. He started to look to meta-cognition (the posh word for how your brain works), looking at how it reacts to pressure and what happens when we don't know what to do. So rarely do we train up our brains for exams!

He bought an Ipevo visualiser, gave them another copy of the mock paper and spent time going through questions explaining his own thought process. They annotated as he did. 

John then gave out a third exam paper. Nearly all students went up 3 or 4 grades with no new teaching of content.

We then tackled Hannah and her sweets together! It worked and I am glad my Ipevo arrives next week so I can start looking at other ways to help students with this technique.

The second half of the session included various other nuggets of wisdom from John, based on ideas found in his book: "This Much I Know About Love Over Fear ... Creating A Culture For Truly Great Teaching" (see <here>). He spoke about how school leaders must drive out fear; fear debilitates. We also need to teach students to avoid fear. John spoke about why this must be the reason to take away graded lesson observations for a start. Teachers should not fear the students in their class not getting the right answer... after all they shouldn't be doing easy tasks! He also refered to Rita Pierson's TED talk about being the champion for our students (see <here>)

He ended by highlighting the fact our students are living in a perfect storm. There are cuts to CAMHS and other mental health providers, we have cliff-edge judgements, terminal examinations, harder exams and social media that leaves no down time. 

We ended this time with Joe Strummer... 

Again, it's worth checking out John's blog on his session <here>

Closing

After this there was heated discussion between Mary Bousted of ATL and Sean Hartford from Ofsted about the inspection future.

Then music and silliness. Then the pub... see more <here>

All in all, well worth a weekend in Leeds!

An Essex Boy in Yorkshire [NRocks 2015 - Part 1]

Northern Rocks was many things for me. It was CPD, it was reflection, it was a chance to network, and a time to socialise with friends. I've already written a short post about how great it was to be part of Staffrm on tour and the SLTCamp reunion! Read it <here>

This blog focuses more on the CPD, including some vital reflection. It's probably got an RE and pastoral leadership slant.

Martin Robinson says in Trivium 21c, “Schools need... a culture that is at once traditionalist and progressive”. I was reminded of this as I arrived and was told, "this is pretty left of middle and progressive" (I would probably have known, had I had time to study the programme in advance!). I didn't know if this troubled me or not, as I often find myself drifting towards the traditional and right of centre as I hit 10 years in the job. I become obsessed with students learning stuff, and writing essays, and reading. However I am also a Head of Year and I know that actually to facilitate that, you sometimes need to step outside of the traditional approach to 'make things work' in a specific context.

The opening debate featured discussion on the Ebacc, teacher retention and government rhetoric adn testing. A few things, and reflections, that stick out in my mind:

• There is not enough pressure promoting the importance of arts: government, parents, universities, students themselves... are the arts actually important? (I believe yes, so why are we not doing anything?)
• School leaders are not currently doing enough to protect the arts, they can be rebels!
• Why are there so few teachers willing to run extra curricular activities than enrich the lives of students, sharing their own passions and interests? (Workload is the simple, and probably correct answer)
• In an increasing 'evidence based' culture, can we evidence the arts and the effects of arts education?
• Should a basic curriculum not include art, drama, gardening, cooking, sport, outside learning... and documenting this would include lots of opportunities for reading, writing and maths? Personally despite the noble content, I'm not sure I could cope with such a curriculum!
• Teacher recruitment is linked to the economy and as the economy does up, teachers go down... the labour market is what it is. I can't help feel, government rhetoric doesn't really help though!
• Teachers are made of tough stuff, if you couldn't cope with Gove, you'll never cope with Y9! Totally agree with this from Laura McInerney.
• The fragmentation of training routes is confusing and not helpful to graduates. Most teachers couldn't tell someone who wanted to become a teacher how to become a teacher, let along the 'best' way!
• What do teachers want more of, time or money? (Or both?)
• Andy Knill made a very valid point of valuing teachers aged over 50.
• Marking... became a key theme of the day. Triple impact marking got an absolute slating time and time again as not the best use of teachers time. An example was cited of teachers spending lots of time taking photos of practical lessons to keep them as evidence. For who?
• School leaders are key to workload and need to be clear on what Ofsted want (and don't want) and ensure it is communicated to staff. 

Stephen Tierney 

"We are going to collaboratively plan what we want to teach, teach it as well as we possibly can and then find out what worked and what didn’t.  It’s our new master plan." 

I had been keen to hear Stephen speak as he produce's a lot of really useful resources that he shares via Twitter and his blog (<here> and <here>).

He started off challenging us all to picture great teaching. I admit that it is not a clear vision that I have made explicit to myself, like many, and this is perhaps a worry when you are leading, observing, supporting and challenging. He is Stephen's vision:

He asked some pertinent questions about planning... always ask why you are doing something in a lesson? "Where is the learning?" He reminded us about the best ways to assess and how that should be our start point and work back. Architects ask, "How do we want to live?" rather than "How do you want the concrete poured into the foundations?" Plan learning and cut out the nonsense... are you simply tacking in some resource you found? If you don't know why it is there, take it out.

Stephen also reminded us about the authority leaders have: you dictate how people spend their time in school, what classes they teach, what meetings they attend (reminding me of the Billy Bragg line, "no power without accountability" - and how schools need self-reflection over the 'workload crisis'). He also said that for too long in his career, meetings had too many apologies... if you are simply relaying information, surely there is a better way to do things rather than replicating meetings down a chain of command? he suggested that meetings should be focused on talking about your subject and how to teach it better.

As a leader, you do not want someone doing a great job, and someone doing a useless job, when had you planned it together, they would have both been doing a good job. Learning and teaching is complex and should usually be a team-based decision making process. Too often we use teams for simple decisions and discussions, wasting expertise.

A real interesting piece of information share was that the majority of students get to the right place, by the wrong route... raising lots of questions about post-level assessments, trajectories and flight paths:

Stephen then concluded asking about how well we know 'our people'. Do we know our team / staff's interests, skills and needs? He explained how his schools use a GoogleForm to pair staff up for coaching and mentoring. He also said it is a really high priority to do all that he can to keep good staff, and develop them, as they are what really make the good school.

We were left with some questions as leaders:

• How will you seek to build quality into every child’s learning experience?
• How will you use assessment to support teaching & learning?
• How will you develop teachers (and keep on developing them) to be the best they can be?

For me, the most powerful thing that came from listening to Stephen is that he has really considered the vision that he wants for his students, staff and schools. There appears a great coherence and lots of joined up thinking... observations, planning, appraisal, CPD, teaching... all are part of this. 

I strongly urge you to have a read of Stephen's presentation in full <here>

Hywel Roberts

It is always pleasing when someone who works as education consultant reminds the audience that there are no magic beans! Sadly for too long there have been those who have tried to sell a solution to a school that will solve all things... thankfully Hywel is different, and in many ways more than that! 

He session was slightly controversially named, "Lessons Worth Behaving For", which promoted one or two sat at home on Twitter to make the assumption that Hywel was saying there are also some lessons NOT worth behaving for. This was not the case at all. 

Hywel explained that we have to take some responsibility in setting the tone for our classrooms; we know how kids behave in certain areas and spaces and need to be proactive in our approach. He then went on to talk about hooks... and how staff need a set of experience and skills up their sleeve. It did worry me that we were getting into the 'relevant and engaging' discussion; whereby too many teachers have a potentially dangerous idea of that this. 

However Hywel looked at some ideas to do with studying the Egyptians and then went on to explain how teachers need to be the 'Sherpas of the curriculum' creating deliberate engagement by being organised, meeting and greeting students, welcoming them to the classroom with warmth and intimacy. 

There was some important discussion about survival. I think he is right to say, particularly in secondary, we get obsessed with coverage and travel through the specification for GCSEs. He made a reference to Jaws and the 3 characters who had 3 different views: "We've always done it like this", "We need to do things differently" and "Can we just get it done?".... Too often, we are the goats on the roof simply trying to survive:

(and the goat on the left is doing a learning walk!)

The final thought was this, we need to make children obsessive about their learning, They may leave saying, "Please can we do it again?"... or for a Y9 they may say, "It was alright."!

Overall, a really entertaining session that did make me keep thinking about relevance and engagement, despite quite a few nods to primary teaching, this was well-worth attending.

Follow Hywel on Twitter <here>

Part 2 to come!

Edexcel GCSE Religion & Media

Image courtesy of The Guardian

Firstly, I think religion and the media is fascinating. I always do some really good work on Islamophobia with Y9 for example. However I also feel it is done quite badly on the Edexcel GCSE RS course. It is also an area where teachers are often looking for inspiration...

Background Reading

• Why are we watching Shrek? by Robert Orme - "RE teachers should not have to pretend that there are important religious insights to be gained from spending lessons watching Shrek, Finding Nemo and Bend it like Beckham."
• DVD RE by Dawn Cox - A more general overview of why we use DVDs but also highlights some of the problems.

At the end of the day, for the next two years, we still need to teach it.

This year I have left the media content to the end, in the hope that by doing a distinct 'Religion and the Media' unit, I can cover it a little better. The four areas to cover are:

• How two television and/or radio programmes and/or films about religion may affect a person’s attitude to belief in God.
• How an issue arising from matter of life and death has been presented in one form of the media, for example in a television or radio programme, or in a film, or in the national press.
• How an issue arising from matter of marriage and the family has been presented in one form of the media, for example in a television or radio programme, or in a film, or in the national press.
• How an issue arising from religion and community cohesion has been presented in one form of the media, for example in a television or radio programme, or in a film, or in the national press.

The debate of what media to use comes up frequently on Twitter and Save RE, so I thought it would be valuable to collect some data on what RE teachers are using...

If it is not possible to use the embedded form, please click here: http://tiny.cc/religionmedia - and share widely!

The important bit... see the results here: http://tiny.cc/viewreligionmedia (if you want to be added as an editor to help keep it tidy, please email me at TalkingDonkeyRE@gmail.com) 

Poor Old PowerPoint

Image courtesy of Microsoft

Like so many things on Twitter, the use of PowerPoint has become a little polarised of late. Is it the worst tool used in school or is the best? Much of the recent discussion has been about the former. I've heard "Death by PowerPoint" many times, and to some degree absolutely accept it as a problem. Does that mean we ban it though? 

An article by Bent Meier Sørensen from the university of Copenhagen was tweeted LOTS in the last few weeks, Let’s ban PowerPoint in lectures – it makes students more stupid and professors more boring (see <here>) which argued that universities should not be using in lectures at all. Ross McGill aka TeacherToolkit also suggested in order to test resilience we should abandon PowerPoint for a day (see <here>). Yet it is important to state, that I too have written blogs about 'No Tech Day' (see <here> )

PowerPoint began life as a presentation tool for the world of business. Since then it has been adopted by all. Schools, with the adoption of IWBs and projectors have particularly taken to it's easy to use format. Lessons can easily be put together with far less hassle than the previous tools of OHTs/OHPs and even the chalkboard. Why would they not use PowerPoint?

I think personally, the big problem with PowerPoint is that it is often used badly. The five things that I think make a BAD PowerPoint that has no place in the modern classroom:

1. Too Long - A lesson PowerPoint should have 6/7 slides maximum.
2. Too Much Text - If you have a lot of text, use a textbook or print it out. It gets too small and too hard to read.
3. Bad Colours - I am colourblind (green/yellow) but this is only a small part of the issue of garish colours too frequently seen on PPTs. Did you drop some acid before making it?
4. Image / Text / Layout - Think carefully about what needs to go where. Review it. Look at it in Slide view.
5. Unnecessary Animation - PowerPoint has many features, you don't need to use them all.

 However the 5 reasons that I still use PowerPoint very frequently in my lessons:

1. It saves time - It is a lot quicker and easier to find a PowerPoint in my ordered user area that dig out worksheets, OHTs. It saves me writing things on my white board repeatedly (which is in a very poor condition anyway). I can also get it up quickly when I arrive in the room. 
2. It saves on scarce resources - Photocopying is expensive if done regularly and we can always purchase all the resources we want. PowerPoint 
3. It allows me to devise my own tasks based on existing resources - I often don't like the tasks in textbooks, even if the content is good. I used that as my source material and then devise my own tasks which appear on the board.
4. It's quickly and easily adaptable - When I review lessons, it is very easy to change my tasks, information so that my lessons as the best they possibly can be. 
5. It can incorporate audio / visual - A image or a video can really help enrich a lesson and embedding or linking to these in a PowerPoint can help improve a lesson.  

I feel this 'ban PowerPoint' rhetoric is misleading. It can be a really useful tool for lesson planning and delivery. Bad PowerPoint is obviously detrimental to these very same things. Perhaps it is a wider pedagogical question... good teaching will not be boring nor make students more stupid, bad teaching may well do! 

Other presentation software is available: Apple's Keynote, Google's Slides, Prezzi 

They all have the same advantages and disadvantages... although special mention to Prezzi which does sometimes make me feel a little seasick!

Resourcing NEW GCSE / A-Level RS

Image courtesy of Geograph

From 2016 there will be a new GCSE and a new A-Level in Religious Studies. Both will look dramatically different to everything in existence at the moment. Over the last few weeks, there have been conversations happening about what resources people will need. I have been thinking about this from both a personal and wider professional point of view:

1) What will be my priority to seek out to ensure my own teaching and resources are ready for September 2016?

2) What will be a priority, budget wise, to invest in from a department point of view?

Obviously the other thing that I am considering is that I run a non-profit resources website for Catholic RE that does cover parts of the GCSE and A-Level in RS. I am always wondering what, if any, future the site has? See www.CatholicREsource.co.uk . I also run the RC Dropbox and A-Level Dropbox - do these have a future? Will they come in to their own as teachers desperately look to share their new resources in exchange for others? Or will more teachers look to create and then sell their resources (cf TES, Sellfy, Resourceasaurus etc) rather than contribute for free? Will many teachers (due to their over-worked, over-stressed lives) remain as takers rather than givers?

Meeting with colleagues, there is a real fear about the new qualifications. There will be more content, and it will be more demanding. Some new topics entirely, and for many, a second religion at GCSE for the first time. The backdrop is an ongoing lack of time and a lack of money. September 2016 will come around very quickly and where there are so many subjects facing exam reform, as well as budget cuts in general (see <here> for more on this), what will RE departments be able to afford?

I began to really think, what is it that I will really want for September 2016. What would relieve the stress and make life easier for me personally?

CPD

Days out of school are really tough. Everyone may soon be wanting them... exam boards will be trying to 'woo' us all with their new qualifications (Have you heard about the exciting sounding AQA bus tour?). These will be potentially a whole day off, with travel, to look at the specifications; could you do this 3+ times for each board? It's a vital decision so it makes sense to pick carefully. But then, another day or more for more training once you have picked? More days off to brush up on subject knowledge? Also a key question, will it just be for Heads of Department/Subject Leaders? How/when will they disseminate the information? It may be okay for all these days off if it were just one subject. I can see schools limiting heavily what they allow staff to do. 'Rarely Cover' was well-intentioned but poorly realised.

Evenings and weekends have become more 'popular' with the TeachMeet style CPD as well as an increasingly number of other courses, sessions and conferences (ResearchEd, Pedagoo etc). However how many want to give up their precious evenings and weekends? It is a lot to ask already over worked teachers struggling with a work/life balance.

A compromise that I envisioned at a conference that I recently ran, The London RE Hub, was that we should record all the sessions so that people could watch or listen in their own time. In department meetings / INSET, in their car (audio recordings), in their spare time. It really puts the teacher back in control of their CPD and their work/life balance. You can see what I've tried to build as a legacy <here>. This comes off the back of videoing and sharing things like the Culham St Gabriel's weekend RE TeachMeet <here>, various TeachMeet events, and even CPD sessions that I've run for other schools <here>. 

Online Resources

These always sound like the future. Some schools have got rid of libraries, they have 1:1 iPads, BYOD, wifi everywhere. On the other hand, I know of plenty of RE teachers who are based in a ‘temporary building/ Portakabin’ without a projector. I also think it is difficult to assume all students have access to a range of tech at home. Provision varies widely. I love technology, but I am still not sure how these are the future of education, in or outside the classroom just yet.

Textbooks

These for me, remain a key to secondary teaching. They provide a body of input that can be relied on for cover, non-specialists, exam practice, textual references etc. I also refer to the textbook more than the specification in order to make sure I have all bases covered. However on the other hand, I don't think I have ever found a textbook that I have loved that has done everything for me. For GCSE, I currently use a mixture of two. They are also expensive.

PPTs

I often worry about 'death by PowerPoint'. I have also seen so SO many bad PowerPoints; garish colours, silly animations, information overload. 

On the other hand, I realise that these are essentially my lessons plans. The majority of my lessons are sequenced and detailed with my PPTs. They are my guide to the progress and development of the lessons across a unit. However fear not, they are often in a constant state of flux as I change things, (hopefully) improve parts and tasks.

Yet rarely do I just use someone elses. PPTs need to be editable for anyone to make a lesson their own.

Lesson Plans / Schemes of Work

As above really, an outline can be great to see where you need to cover what, but the teacher needs the freedom to use their own strengths, adapting as fit for their own classes.

Videos

YouTube has changed teaching. However not all of it is great. I am a massive fan of Andy McMilan (see <here> ) and I hope he remakes videos for the new GCSE and A-Level specs. I am also starting to use other sites such as TrueTube and this often make a great syllabus. I am trying to collate many of my favourites on CatholicREsouce.co.uk. Students do increasingly expect something professional looking, however they also get a lot of personal videos such as those made by David Webster <here>. Everyone better get busy as soon as the specs are out!

Worksheets

A good worksheet can be hard to beat. A good worksheet takes ages to make...

So, what do you think you will need most with the new GCSE and A-Level RS?

What resources will be most important to you?

CPD (Day out of school)

CPD (Evening / weekend)

CPD (Online via video etc)

Textbooks (Hard copies)

Textbooks (Electronic)

PPTs

Lesson Plans / Schemes of Work

Videos

Worksheets

Exam-style Questions

Anything Else?

Poll url: http://vote.pollcode.com/68861168

Outlaw RE [Think Bomb]

I attended an RE Thinking Day organised by Culham St Gabriel's and I was asked by Mark Chater to plan a 'Thought Bomb' which would engage and energise the participants in the day if the mood got a little flat. We had so much to sort out that we never got the chance. Here are some of the things I was going to say...

What would you outlaw in RE?

Many RE teachers only get 1 hour a week to teach their subject. As a result there needs to be careful consideration, and reflection, on how to use that time. I am lucky to get slightly more time as I work in a Catholic school, but regardless, we never finish the syllabus at Key Stage 3 and finish with just a few lessons to spare at GCSE (as for A-Level, you always need more time!). Time is incredibly precious and there needs to be careful consideration of opportunity cost.

In microeconomic theory, the opportunity cost of a choice is the value of the best alternative forgone, in a situation in which a choice needs to be made between several mutually exclusive alternatives given limited resources. <link>

Sadly time restraints are also coupled with other issues such as 'low enthusiasm' in  RE. There is often a pursuit to make things fun, interesting, relevant and engaging. I fear at times people loose sight of the RE. Lesson objectives are a waste of time for students to be copying, but vital for the teacher, "What RE are you trying to ensure that students learn today?"

Sometimes the RE part gets lost. Really lost.

When discussing this, Daniel Hugill reminded me of this:

@DanielHugill

I think the two most key things here are the via negativa, what engaging and relevant are not. Sadly this is what sometimes happens.

I decided upon not picking examples that I think are wrong, because actually, everyone does know their own classes best. The teacher is the only one who actually knows if their students are learning or not. It is also a delicate issues as some teachers will spend a lot of time planning such lessons. The key question must be, is this activity genuinely and demonstrably enabling your students to learn and remember things? How do you know? Could you be doing something better with your time?

Some things I would consider making Outlaw RE:

• Play dough
• Pipe cleaners
• Treasure hunts
• Making masks or costumes
• Building 'junk' models, particularly of places of worship
• Drama [it always ends in a fight, even with girls!]
• Tenuous-link films
• Word searches [cryptic ones may be useful]
• Paper aeroplanes
• Marshmallows and pasta
• Raps

I am also happy to change my mind on things. I have done many of these in the past, maybe you can convince me why they are still okay for use in the classroom? Perhaps I am growing ever educationally conservative (with a small c) as I continue to teach - after all I found myself nodding along to James Theobold's recent Labour Teachers blog <here> and have been called 'Govian' for being a lover of knowledge!

When you get towards the end of Y11, or Y13, with your classes, you really do realise that time is very limited with them. I need to ask myself, could I have taught them any more? Could I have imparted any more of my wisdom before they go off into the wide world? I am incredibly lucky to have a fantastic education behind me, did I do enough to pass that on? Did I forget that RE is incredibly fascinating in it's own right and that's why I studied it to Masters level? Can I not pass at least some of that on without resorting to non-RE things? Crucially, what am I trying to achieve here... a better knowledge / understanding / skill-set in RE, or how to build things from junk / how to play class clown in drama / treasure hunt 'skills'?

I end with a quote from a favourite film of mine (that I used to, perhaps tenuously, watch in it's entirety with Y9 when we had a small paragraph in a chapter explaining Carpe Diem):

Keating: "Seize the day. Gather ye rosebuds while ye may." Why does the writer use these lines?

Charlie: Because he's in a hurry.

Keating: No. Ding! Thank you for playing anyway. Because we are food for worms, lads. Because, believe it or not, each and every one of us in this room is one day going to stop breathing, turn cold and die. <Source>

Oh and make sure you read David Ashton's RE:online blog on this. Far better than mine, found <here>

Revision, Revision, Revision?

Image courtesy of Artinfact

Revision is a very odd thing in schools. There is a very important question to be asked which should be at the heart of a schools provision, "Who is working harder? Teacher or student?"

I have worked in schools where the following are provided, even expected by students:

• Revision guides - some handwritten by teachers, some photocopied at great expense to the department.
• Revision classes - at lunch time or after school, even in the school holidays.
• Revision conferences - often provided externally, sometimes funded by students, sometimes by the school.
• Revision skills days - often provided at great cost to the school by external providers.
• Study Leave

First and foremost, I am not saying these are a waste of time. I am absolutely sure these help students improve their final grades. I think few teachers would want to try research on this and do nothing in the final weeks and months of the GCSE and AS/A2 courses as a RCT. However, I think there some important things to consider:

• Does the student see their revision guide as being superior to their two years of notes, activities and carefully crafted lessons? 
• Is the revision guide more a 'lucky charm' than a genuine tool for learning? (I have seen students hugging one saying that "everything will be okay now".)
• Is it good use of the teachers time to be producing an extensive revision guide? 
• Are revision classes a substitute for time spent learning at home? (I fear students RE revision entails turning up for 20 minutes on a Thursday lunchtime to 'tick that box')
• Should teachers be expected to do these extra classes? (I have heard of some schools which pay... the pressure can either come from SLT, colleagues who do it for their classes or students themselves)
• How useful are revision conferences? (Are they just affirmation for the teacher that they have indeed taught it right?)
• Do revision classes cater for all the needs of the students attending? (Can you help the student working at a D grade get the C while also helping stretch the A to an A*?)
• Are revision skills days a good use of budget when teachers in school could be taught how to deliver these with the right CPD?
• Do we presume that outsiders have a greater effect on our students than us?
• Are we confident that students spend 5hrs or more revising at home each day? 

These may sound negative, but I think schools do need to take careful look at their provision. Not only from a budget point of view, but also for staff well-being and actual impact on students.

It reminds me of what my personal trainer at the gym once told me, 'most people put on weight when they join the gym as they overly treat themselves for their hard work'. Do our students over reward themselves when they buy a revision guide or attend a revision lesson?

As always, some do, some don't. It's not as simple as 'revision input is a total waste of time', nor it is 'the best thing we can do for our students'. I've got lots of students asking us for our department revision guide at the moment, plus asking me to give up a full day of my school holiday to do revision lessons. I'm just wondering the best response...

Stop The Madness!

Image courtesy of AV Club taken from the Last Stop: This Town video

At an Eels gig, many years ago, at the Royal Festival Hall, the lead singer Mr E had whipped the crowd into a frenzy. People were on their feet, screaming "I love you E", waving their arms. His reply to calm the lively audience was, "STOP THE MADNESS"! 

This has been the repeated call from a small, but growing, group of teachers in school over the last few years too. STOP THE MADNESS.

This is just some of the MADNESS (read falsities, lies, discredited research...) that still remains in schools, schemes of work, university courses, INSET training:

• Brain Gym:

• VAK:

Image courtesy of Systramartha

• Left Brain / Right Brain: 

Image courtesy of Huffington Post

• The Learning Pyramid:

Image courtesy of The Peak Performance Centre

• Thinking Hats:

Image courtesy of TandLHub

Andrew Old wrote a great TOP 10 THINGS TO AVOID IN INSET and these make a few appearances. It's a very worthwhile read <here>. This was indeed published at the start of THIS academic year (2014-2015), not in 2007.

So why, write another blog post on this? It's because despite the absolute discreditation of these things, they still keep cropping up on my Twitter TL and various other professional sources of information that I use. The other day I spent time going through being "the voice of reason" asking people if they knew these ideas were nonsense? Sadly, no one entered into discourse with me, which was probably for the best as I was in a grump and argumentative mood. On first hearing, they also sometimes seem like good ideas; that's why they still exist in some peoples educational thinking.

My interest in "stopping the madness" came when I first came across ResearchEd, which lead me to read Ben Goldacre's DfE paper Building Evidence into Education. If you haven't read this, I strongly urge you do so <here>. He then came to speak at the first Research Ed conference (watch <here>) and the words that stuck with me was the label of much teaching being peddled quackery. By this he meant the pseudo-science found worryingly prevalent in education, often promoted by businesses and training providers who have a vested financial interest. He also meant the way in which teaching has, in the past, not been very evidence based. Tom Bennett refers to it as snake oil (this is a great read <here>).

"If you do what you've always done, you'll get what you've always gotten."

I've found Mark Twain, Henry Ford and Tony Robbins credited with this. Maybe it's another internet-created, made up quote (it just needs an inspirational image in the background, ready to be shared on Instagram; no one ever checks their accuracy either do they?), but the sentiment perhaps is correct. However it does need some further, careful, consideration. If you do do something different, you may get a better result, but you may not. How do you know what will get you a better result? What is your evidence? How do you know?

In December 2013, I was invited to the DfE to take part in some work on EBT (Evidence Based Teaching). This was an interesting evening where a group of teachers offered their thoughts and experience. I had completed my MA and found that the research I had conducted was very meaningful to my practice and I was already considering 'what can I research next?' (and I still am! If anyone fancies funding my PhD, I'm all ears). I chatted to David Laws MP in the lift and he even told me that he "loved EBT".

However the sad reality that was relayed by DfE staff. EBT would be a 10 year project and no minister can undertake a 10 year project... Gove lasted another 8 months and who knows if Nicky Morgan will still be there after the next election. So if not the DfE, then who? As with all the best initiatives, schools and teachers can perhaps do it better than civil servants and those in government office.

I was reminded of this recently when a colleague gave me a flyer in the staffroom with a simple, "You're interested in research, right?". Interestingly it featured Carl Hendrick who I had been chatting to about being a research lead just a few days before over a curry:

Carl works at Wellington College who have embraced the idea of making research useful for staff AND engaging in active research themselves:

Wellington College has launched the first major school-based research centre in the UK, saying that in the future, children should be taught based on what research shows is effective, rather than relying on guesswork, hunches or ideology. [See more  <here>]

Some schools which I have come across that are investing in research leads and active use of research include Huntingdon School under Alex Quigley and more recently Highbury Grove School under the new headship of Tom Sherrington. Perhaps the first I came across was Kev Bartle's Cannons High School encouraging staff to investigate marginal gains? Maybe they will be looked back on as the trailblazers of EBT or whatever it ends up being know as, hopefully just 'teaching'.

'Clinical reasoning' in medicine began in the 1960's after a long period of 'clinical judgement' and an 'art of medicine' whereby decisions depended on individual doctors deciding what evidence, if any, they would consider using to treat a patient. This would be merged with personal beliefs and any number of other varying factors. Clinical reasoning or Evidence-based medicine (EBM) optimises decision making and uses acceptable evidence from well designed research. It highlights epistemological strength and results in only the strongest types being recommended for patient use. It involves meta-analysis, systematic review and RCTs.

I really believe that the mid 2010s will be looked on as a pivotal moment in education. It was the moment where teachers, empowered by the new democracy of the internet, facilitated by Twitter, TeachMeets, ResearchEd conferences / Tom Bennett and Andrew Old curries, said STOP THE MADNESS. 

This obviously needs time and money. These are two things that most schools do not have. Equally individual teachers are, generally speaking, on their knees, all the time. It is hard to find time to read, let alone undertake, research. When I did my MA, I pretty much had to give up Sundays and all my holidays. To undertake research with my current workload would undeniably shift my work-life balance the wrong way (and hence me abandoning my NPQML). However as previously mentioned, some schools are managing to find the time and money as part of a CPD and school improvement programme. Who's next?

Some recent blog posts on using research in schools:

"Why should teachers engage with, and in, research?" by Sara Stafford (Director of Research at Highbury Grove School)
A valuable post that explains concisely, and with diagrams, what a school director of research does and how the school are going to use research to be a 'praxis' that transforms practice by engaging with and in research. Read it <here>

"4 ways to use evidence in education - and 15 places to start" by Harry Fletcher-Wood  (History teacher and Teach First researcher)

Harry gives 4 straight forward ways in which schools and staff can use research, He then gives some links to some great starting points. Read it <here>

"Why every school needs a research champion" By Carl Hendrick, (Head of Learning and Research, Wellington College)

A useful overview on what a research champion is and why they are important; 7 clear reasons are provided. Read it <here>

"50 shades of uncertainty in educational research" by Jane Pettifer 
Some key questions asked and answered about using educational research. Read it <here>

There is also a new Journal for Applied Education Research which looks like it will be worth investigating. It promises "Peer led, classroom focused education research". Find out more <here>

Research Ed: "Working Out What Works" - the website <here>