Diary of an NQT The Team Challenge


THIS WEEK I’ve been considering the role of competition in life. As a biology specialist, I’ve been teaching year 10s about competition among and between organisms of the same species (not orgasms, as one year 10 suggested shortly before lulling into an embarrassed silence). Biological organisms tend to compete for


one of three things: food; territory and mates. Humans also tend to compete for these three things as well, whether they want to believe it or not. I believe that competition is in our nature. When I attended


school, competition was encouraged and positively rewarded, provided we played by the rules. There were prizes for coming top in tests, prizes for the most house points, and even prizes for the smartest uniform. Of course in any competition there are winners and losers and some people tended to win more than others. Perhaps this could set the losers up with a perpetual sense of failure, and instil a “why should I bother” attitude. However, I don’t really think this happened very often as I believe deep down we all want to win at something. Within the school, there’s a big focus


this year on encouraging competition. I for one have really taken this on board. For my first NQT observation, which thankfully was with a top set, I was able to try out a few high-level competitive ideas I’d played with and refined during my PGCE training. The “Team Challenge” pits teams of students


against one another. I like to use a random name generator occasionally with some classes, and I tell the class that I’ve used this to sort out teams. I haven’t of course – I’ve carefully selected the


The right label Moral support


AS THE parent of any teenager can tell you, labels are important. The right label on your clothes, phone or gadgets can you make cool, can help you fit in, and can even make you popular. The right label can give you power. The wrong label can, therefore, be a disaster.


Just ask any teenager who was forced to wear the “wrong” trainers, upgrade to the “wrong” phone, or hang out with the “wrong” group. Or just ask any adult who was


“labelled” at school? How many of us who as children were declared “bad at sport” went on to be good? How many of those with “must try harder in maths” on their report cards are now accountants? The truth is, rightly or wrongly,


labels stick, which is why the latest labelling trend in education is so worrying. In July, Panorama revealed


that 17,000 working teachers were not competent. In August, many commentators here welcomed the decision by the Los Angeles Times to “name and shame” its district’s worst teachers based solely on local school data. This month, it has been announced that 700,000 children have been wrongly labelled as having SEN, when really bad teaching and poor pastoral care is to blame. One in 10 trainee teachers’ degrees are not good enough and to top it all off the exam system is “diseased”. This season then “bad” is the trend for


teachers. Yet, are our teachers really that bad? If we look at what teachers have been dealing with


over the same period, then the simple answer is no. Teachers have had to deal with uncertainty over


a new coalition government, the introduction of new academies and free schools, the threat of cuts and redundancies, a shortage of teachers, further debate over national tests and for some the disappointment of the cancellation of the Building Schools for the Future programme. Meanwhile GCSE and A level students achieved record results. Many other industries have gone on strike for far less. Of course, there will always be a minority of


employees who do not meet the required standards in any profession. Given that teaching is a uniquely


challenging profession, it is hardly surprising that some staff, and let’s be honest, we are talking about a very small percentage of teachers, struggle, but what kind of support do teachers get if they are failing? Moreover, at Teacher Support Network, we have


found that some of the teachers who have called our support lines have been labelled as “bad” when they are simply missing skills and experience. With advice from one of our trained coaches, these teachers have often been able to identify how they can be proactive in improving their skills and gaining confidence to seek support. Many have gone on to have very successful, rewarding careers in education. In recent months, several


NQTs have told me that they would have benefited from much more ongoing support in the classroom, both during and after


completing their normal training. The reality of inspiring, leading


and managing a classroom on a daily basis is a skill that takes time and experience to develop, while the role of a teacher is ever-changing. What may have been true during training, may not necessarily be the case once qualified. Far from insulting or “naming and shaming” those teachers that have been labelled as “bad”, we should be encouraging and supporting them, so that their full


potential can be reached. Furthermore, if we continue to label teachers and the profession as “bad”, how do we expect it to improve in the future? If we


want to attract the most talented to the profession, then surely we must present a profession that is inspiring, exciting and attractive. In short, we need to give teachers the right label. Teachers must be celebrated. Great teachers


are made by encouragement and support, not by vilification and reproach. Teachers are great. Now, that’s a good-looking label.


• Julian Stanley is chief executive of the Teacher Support Network. Visit www.teachersupport.info or call 08000 562 261 (England), 08000 855088 (Wales). Moral support returns in two weeks.


teams based on ability and my observations of who works well with whom. I then give each team a challenge to complete


in a set time which is too much work for one person alone, thus forcing co-operation. The classes then have to feedback what they have learned from the challenge in the form of a three-minute presentation and Q&A session. While this is going on, the other teams are marking them according to a marking sheet I’ve written. The group with the highest


mark wins a prize, in this case a lucky dip into a box of tiny sweets, plus The Challenge Cup. The team that lost is awarded a Wooden Spoon. In this lesson, the


team that complained throughout the challenge that there wasn’t enough time and failed to work


together scored the least points, but crucially saw that


it was possible to produce the work as another team with an identical challenge won. They now hold the wooden spoon and wish to “get rid of it” in the next challenge. In a test


in the next lesson, the entire class preformed excellently, showing that they had learned from one another. As


a result, I passed my first observation with flying colours. I noticed that similar ideas about


competition, especially for boys, where used in the recent television programme on BBC2 about raising standards in education. Perhaps our natural competitiveness is once again being rekindled as times become tough?


• Our NQT diarist this year writes anonymously and is a teacher of science from a secondary school in the East of England. He returns next week.


OBESITY The obesit


A range of school-based programmes aimed at


tackling childhood obesity have been seen in recent years. A new study from CfBT Education Trust looks at the impact of these programmes and what really works. Dr Geraldine Hutchinson explains


T


HE HIGHER the profile and intensity of concern for obesity among children, the greater the pressure on schools. Isn’t it at school that children learn about the world and themselves, where they gain an understanding of discipline? This kind of attitude,


alongside an acceptance of a degree of responsibility, has been translated into a raft of school-based obesity programmes over recent years. A new study published by CfBT Education Trust


has reviewed the range of programmes undertaken and their impact as a way of highlighting what types of school programme have been attempted, their effects, and issues relating to why they have and haven’t worked. In general, there are two types of school-based


interventions, those focused on physical activity and those on nutrition. These may be run individually, or combined as a multi-component intervention. Many are curriculum-based programmes involving existing classroom teachers to deliver the scheme, but there are examples of where schools have brought in experts from outside to provide specialist support. Schools provide the opportunity, equipment and


“breaks” ideal for physical activity. Some have simply lengthened the time available to PE as one way of addressing the obesity issue – but the competition for curriculum time can mean this is impossible. Research has also shown that a 40-minute PE


lesson can involve a remarkably small amount of actual moderate or vigorous physical activity – an average of just eight minutes according to one study. The success of a physical activity approach can also


depend on gender. One scheme attempted in the US included twice-weekly dance sessions backed up by health education lessons. It had a major impact on the body mass index (BMI, a measure of body fat based on height and weight) of girls taking part – but little on the boys. One example of a successful physical activity


programme is the ICAPS community partnership. As well as an educational component run in schools to increase adolescents’ knowledge and skills about physical activity, the scheme promoted new physical activity opportunities in lunch and break times and after school with a focus on developing lifelong behaviours. The educational aspect explored physical activity


opportunities in everyday life, promoting simple things like active commuting and taking the stairs. Physical activity is also encouraged in each class through active breaks. The new opportunities aimed to overcome such obstacles as poor accessibility to facilities, unsafe areas,


highlighting of obesity can have detrimental effects for some children, with the potential for programmes to end up stigmatising overweight children, encouraging fear of food and negative body image


‘ 8 SecEd • September 30 2010 ’


inappropriate opening times, lack of transport, and facilities being too expensive. Guest instructors provided young people with


opportunities within school to participate in informal games or aerobics and dance with an emphasis on non- competitive and accessible activity. Sporting events and bicycle and on-foot school transfers were also organised. Community representatives got together to organise


ways in which the local environment could be made more supportive of a physically active lifestyle. Initiatives included low-cost or free entry to swimming pools and sports clubs and free transportation. Planning for cycle lanes was also initiated. The results after the first six months of the project


showed that adolescents in the intervention schools had increased their physical activity and the proportion not taking part in supervised physical activity at school reduced significantly, as did the proportion of those spending more than three hours a day in sedentary activity. However, parental participation was low, particularly


in low socio-economic groups (25 to 40 per cent), despite parents stating their interest in the project. But the study did demonstrate that school-based PE programmes have the potential to form community links


Any kind of awareness-raising and


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