LEARNING FOR LIFE
The TRICS of the trade
Two years
ago, Colmers
School took
the decision
to introduce a bold, new
programme which has
transformed how its
students learn. Using
personal, learning and
thinking skills at its
heart, this innovation has
drawn national attention.
Assistant headteacher Phil
Parker explains
hree years ago, using the Pupils
T
attitudes to self and school survey
(Pass), we found our students
struggled in key areas of learning: self-
esteem, confidence, and a readiness
to learn. It explained our students’
behaviour and attitudes. 2007. Our staff have always worked hard to get the all staff were involved in its delivery. PowerPoint Colmers. They are a big part of communicating the
Teachers complained of spoon-feeding, students best from our students so we realised any further presentations teach traditional study skills, emotional learning process.
facing difficulties often gave up, aspirations were improvement had to come from the learners. intelligence activities, global issues, and careers advice. We have deconstructed these skills so their elements
focused upon easily achieved careers that required few But this is more than a glorified Pshe course. It is are taught explicitly in Learning for Life. Problem-
qualifications beyond Level 2.
Learning for Life
holistic; citizenship, enterprise education, work-related solving, leadership, and research, for instance, are
We were a “good” school, but hungry to be graded Learning for Life provided the solution. We introduced learning – it is all here. all skills broken down into “10 top tips” located in
“outstanding” by Ofsted, which we achieved in July the course into tutorial sessions twice a week so that The resources, created in the last 18 months with students’ learning journals – which informs parents of
the help of consultants student Coaching Ltd, provide the learning process too. Consistent messages ensure
a five-year, progression-led programme which takes students apply these skills across all subjects. an
Union address: ATL
our students on a learning journey addressing those assessment system informs key stage 3 students on their
difficulties which had previously blighted our students’ progress in TrICs. reward systems in both key stages
chances of success. reinforce success. at the end of the year we will report
Admission controls
their progress in TrICs to parents.
Accessible learning
Learning is clearer, easier to understand,
Good timing is everything. The arrival of the consistent and holistic. Consequently students are
Martin Johnson
want a place in a particular school than it has the Qualifications and Curriculum authority’s (QCa) confident, achieve more, and react positively to
capacity to cope with. personal, learning and thinking skills made us realise new challenges. Visitors frequently comment on the
discusses what
however, all the main political parties claim they they needed to be integral to learning at Colmers. energy and sense of purpose found in our school, we
are interested in collective fairness, or social justice. They are the skills that define learning. They are the believe this is why.
What is fair for society as a whole? an admissions “soft skills” employers want to see too. The challenge
kind of fairness
debate conducted on the basis of social justice would was to give them a greater sense of identity, accessibility
Momentum
produce a very different model. and to embed them into all learning. Ofsted has praised our innovation. The QCa visited and
we should be looking for
The most socially just way of allocating school We combined the six skills into four, simplified them invited us to join their curriculum development group.
places would be to do everything to help all pupils so every student understood what was needed in order to The Learning and skills Council funded research into
in school admissions
achieve their potential. This would be achieved by learn. TrICs was born – Team, reflective, Independent our success and facilitated the extension of Learning for
having the most socially balanced intakes possible. and Creative skills. They underpin everything at Life and TrICs into our consortium of schools across
There are many reasons for this, but they largely south and west Birmingham.
ThIs GOVernMenT has continually tightened boil down to minimising the number of schools with When our school was featured in January’s
the rules so that state schools which select pupils by a culture of indifference to learning among pupils. Secondary Teacher magazine we ran a conference
‘unfair’ criteria are now breaking the rules, which There has been a fairly constant level of social to respond to the interest it generated. attended by
a few are doing, or they are grammar schools or segregation in our schools – with local variations. senior leaders and advisors from across the country, we
specialist schools which are still allowed to select around a third of pupils would need to be in received a great deal of positive feedback.
by ability or aptitude, whatever that might be. now different schools for the school intakes to match the One teacher commented: “I definitely came away
ed Balls seems to think the government may have diversity in the local population. with the ‘wow factor’. My heart-felt appreciation
gone too far, and has asked for an investigation of This is not going to happen as long as parents are for hosting one of the most valuable professional
the lottery principle. encouraged to think in terms of a right to choose. It development days in my 22-year career.”
Fairness turns out to be a slippery idea as a will only happen if we follow the practice of many another added: “It is rare that I am moved by
way to fit pupils to schools. This is partly because other countries in relegating parental preference as a events such as these, but I was. your students simply
successive governments have misrepresented the criterion for placing pupils. exemplify the power of your work at Colmers and are
law and practicalities in the pursuit of a market Which is where a lottery could work. What what I came into the job for.”
model of schooling. according to this deeply flawed could be fairer? If pupils are allocated to schools by and what of our students? They generate this buzz
idea, parents acting as consumers and choosing chance, segregation disappears except where local because of their commitment and motivation. When
which school they want for their child will force up communities are segregated. This system is not in asked recently, “what is learning?”, this statement was
standards in schools because school funding is based use in england, except where a few authorities are offered by one student: “school provides you with
on pupil numbers. using it as a tie-breaker. learning in the academic sense, but I’m a different
as is widely known, but seldom mentioned, any suggestion to introduce it would be noisily person today compared to the person I was five
parents do not have a right to choose their child’s resisted by those parents who seek to use their years ago. It’s not only about a grades, but it’s also
school, only to express a preference. This has to material and cultural advantages to further aid their about mortgages, career paths, being organised, time
be the case because, and here’s one of the flaws in already advantaged offspring. Is this social justice? management, and so on. If you’re successful in learning
the market model, the number of schools is largely surely progressive governments should aim to give a you discover who you are as well.”
fixed; except when someone thinks it’s a good idea leg-up to those who start disadvantaged? This is the as Learning for Life is adopted by schools across
to waste money by opening lots of new schools in sentiment behind the fashionable – and misguided the country, our next conference in May will provide
places where they are not needed, let’s call them – rhetoric about social mobility. insights into how we have built this momentum.
academies. ed Balls has called for the adjudicator to express Our experience shows us it can be applied effectively
By encouraging an unrealistic expectation of a view. The minister should give more thought to in other schools too. SecEd
choice, governments have led parents to think it’s what he means by fairness, and whether it can be
only fair that they get their child into their chosen achieved without opposition from those who benefit • Phil Parker is assistant headteacher at Colmers
school. most from an unfair society. School in Birmingham.
It is this version of fairness that mainly features
in the admissions debate – of the right for individuals • Martin Johnson is deputy general secretary Thinking ahead: A science (top) and a
Further information
to get what they want. a tension arises because not of the Association of Teachers and Lecturers. mathematics lesson at Colmer School, The next Learning for Life conference is on May 14.
everyone can get what they want – if more parents Visit www.atl.org.uk which has adopted the Learning for Life Contact 0121 453 9771 or www.studentcoaching.co.uk
strategy in its classrooms and for more on Pass, visit www.pass-survey.co.uk
12 SecEd • April 23 2009
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