ENRICHMENT A passion for teaching


Dr Peter Kent and Dr Annabel Kay discuss their school’s enrichment programme and giving staff the chance to teach things that they really enjoy


A


few yeArs ago the singer songwriter Neil young released an album entitledAre You Passionate? Not his best album, but it does help us to raise the issue of how passionate we are about what we teach our students.


Normally a subject is offered to students because it


is thought to be important, a vital piece of what students should know or a crucial next step on the journey to future employment. In a typically english way, large parts of our curriculum seem to be based around a sense of compulsion or duty, with students being implicitly told: “Do this, it will be good for you.” Profound learning often follows a different route.


The moments of enlightenment that stay with young people into adulthood take place when a teacher has a chance to share with students something that they care deeply about, a topic or a skill that has inspired them and which they want to share with others. five years ago we decided to explore the creative


energy that could be unlocked by giving our staff the opportunity to teach things that they really enjoyed. Hence all students were offered a half-hourly “enrichment” slot on a twice weekly basis. Teachers were not asked to follow the diktats


of the national curriculum or Assessing Pupils’ Progress structures. Instead they were given chance to share with students something that they were really


interested in and which they wanted to share with others. when considering the most appropriate time slot to


allocate to enrichment we deliberately created space in the middle of the morning to demonstrate to others how important we considered enrichment to be. some colleagues expressed concern about the use of prime learning time and requested its relocation to the


end of the day. This alternative would not, we feel, have delivered the benefits that we see in terms of improved behaviour in the lessons that follow on from it because students have had a meaningful break from academic lessons, and the enthusiasm from staff who are not tired as they would be later in the day. enrichment is open to teaching and non-teaching staff alike, with some sessions run by members of the


www.etwinning.net The Community for Schools in Europe


With over 90,000 active members in 32 European countries, eTwinning is an eff ective online partner fi nding and collaboration tool for teachers, pupils and schools.


 Bring Europe to your classroom  It’s free, easy and safe to use  Develop 21st century learning skills  Raise standards and motivation in your classroom  Access great professional development opportunities  Work towards a full International School Award


“eTwinning is an easily accessible network that enables teachers and pupils to participate in international projects that reaps both personal and pupil benefi ts”


Steven Hales - Executive Head Teacher, Burnham Market Primary School


6th form. There are no requirements to offer something related to subject specialism, in fact we prefer staff to offer something outside their subject area, linking instead to their hobbies and interests. each term there are upwards of 70 activities on


offer and examples include marquetry, cookery, model- making, Arabic, film club, debating club, political discussion groups, origami, horticulture and practical microbiology. staff are able to selected the age range most


appropriate for their enrichment but most groups are open to all ages resulting in year 7 and 13 working alongside each other. students opt each term, giving first, second and third choices, and we work very hard to make sure that they are allocated to activities that they have chosen. At first the new curriculum structure was treated


with a degree of suspicion by staff and students alike. However, as the idea sunk in that it really was a chance to do something that they enjoyed and found interesting, and not just another way to add to the stash of GCses that students accumulate, so enthusiasm steadily grew. However, in order to capture a sense of pride and


enthusiasm in our learning, we need to move beyond the language of compulsion and statute that all too easily gets mixed up with our curriculum models. we believe that our structure of enrichment periods


offers one way to unlock the sense of creative energy and dynamism that should be present in learning within schools. By allowing staff to share what energises them,


learning becomes something that is fun, rather than a chore based upon duty or compulsion. students and teachers tell us that enrichment often forms their favourite part of the school week precisely because of the sense of excitement in learning that it produces. whisper it softly to those in charge of our education system, but creating a sense of enjoyment does seem to significantly improve learning.


SecEd


• Dr Peter Kent and Dr Annabel Kay are head and deputy head respectively of Lawrence Sheriff School in Rugby


For further information and support, visitwww.britishcouncil.org/etwinning SecEd • September 16 2010 7


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