STEM Café Sci – science for all


Welcome to Café Sci! Judith Wardlaw explains how


this national project has been implemented at The Thomas Hardye School


T


IME TO develop initiatives which give students a positive experience of science can be hard to find within a crowded curriculum. The Café Sci national network is growing rapidly, both within secondary schools as Junior Café Sci and in the community


as adult Café Scientifique. The flexible experience of setting up a café which has


combined both of these formats is highly recommended – tried and tested under the science college specialism at The Thomas Hardye School in Dorchester, where many and diverse practising scientists have joined students, staff and a wider public to discuss a rich menu of hot scientific topics. Links with industry, academia and non-


governmental organisations have been developed, enabling participating students to increase their subject knowledge beyond the curriculum and develop key communication skills (not only presentation, listening and debating with experts, but team and events management too). Three International Baccalaureate (IB) students helped arrange an inaugural Junior Café Sci after


Union address: UNISON Whither school support staff?


We will not return to the days when school support


staff were unrecognised, unrewarded and invisible says Christina McAnea


The 21st century school workforce would be unrecognisable to a time-travelling Ofsted inspector from 30 years ago. The largest group of support staff then worked in school meals and the symbiotic relationship between teachers and other school professionals was in its infancy. But the school world moved into accelerated evolution: local management of schools, self-governance; delegated budgets and an endless stream of policy leading to operational complexity. There were corresponding demands upon


the workforce and a growing list of support staff roles. Many school secretaries began a dramatic professional journey in business management and teaching assistants travelled from “helping out” to a four-level career in pupil support. Teachers fought for liberation from bureaucratic


burden in order to focus on teaching and learning. The Raising Standards and Tackling Workload Agreement of 2003 passed 24 administrative tasks from teachers to other staff, provided them with planning, preparation and assessment time and sowing the seeds for rarely cover regulations. The school staff remodelling agenda was forged in the white heat of social partnership. The Workforce Agreement Monitoring Group


(WAMG) brought together unions, employers and government on a weekly basis to consider a widening range of school and education-related issues. The corollary of reform for teachers was a further expansion of support staff roles. Cover supervisors were employed to manage classes in a teacher’s absence, higher level teaching assistant standards were developed to support teaching assistants to deliver specified work to whole classes and the certificate in school business management was launched. There


was an acknowledgement that the expansion of support staff roles and their centrality to schools and teaching and learning would need to be recognised. New negotiating machinery was trailed in


the 2005 White Paper Higher Standards, Better Schools for All. The government identified six work streams to be tackled by a WAMG support staff sub-group. They included the creation of models for new negotiating machinery as local government national bargaining was thought to be increasingly inappropriate for school staff and did not cover the growing number of self-governing schools. The School Support Staff Negotiating Body


(SSSNB) was announced in 2007 with the promise that it would achieve fairness and national consistency while allowing local flexibility. It began work under an independent chair a year later and was enshrined in law as a statutory body in November 2009 under the Apprenticeships, Skills, Children and Learning Act. Following the ascendancy of the coalition


government, the work of the SSSNB, which was at the crucial stage of testing job profiles in schools, was stopped in its tracks. All of the SSSNB parties urged the education secretary, Michael Gove, to facilitate a meeting on the future of the Body but urgency was met with stonewalling until the Daily Telegraph leaks on cuts shed some light on government thinking. A Cabinet Office list of bodies for chop or


change included the abolition of the SSSNB. It was proposed that pay review bodies should be retained with the exception of the SSSNB “in recognition that this workforce is not best served by such a national approach to pay and reward negotiations”. At time of writing, UNISON, as the lead union


for 300,000 school staff, is grappling with a range of emotions: confusion, frustration and bitter disappointment. As we have had no discussions with the government we are left to guess at its reasoning. Perhaps in the years that they have waited in


the wings, they did not notice the school workforce metamorphosis. Perhaps they are oblivious to the emergence of the professional school team. Perhaps they still think that “this workforce” is the mums’ army pottering about for pin money. Our members will decide how to respond but it is unthinkable that we could return to those discriminatory days when school support staff were unrecognised, unrewarded and invisible. To be continued...


• Christina McAnea is head of education at UNISON. Visit www.unison.co.uk/education


school in the 6th-form common room in September 2007. They chose “Designer Babies” as a first topic – one student designed and distributed a poster to advertise the event around the school and then acted as chairperson on the day. Free biscuits and soft drinks were provided. Local scientist Dr Claire Cailes spoke for 20 minutes


about scientific advances in human embryology – history, present and future possibilities – and ethics teacher Ian Harris gave a thought-provoking response before the discussion was opened up to the gathering of students and staff. Following a vote of thanks, the audience filled in evaluation forms. We were sufficiently encouraged by the feedback to stage the next event at the local museum and to invite the public to join in! Since then we have staged six cafés a year during


autumn and spring terms and now invite the public to join us at all events. Four are held straight after school


– convenient for retired community members – and two are held at the local arts centre in the evening (appealing to the working community). Numbers attending have varied from 18 to 90 – very much depending on topic – but have shown an upward trend; the age range of attendees is even greater. The wide range of subjects tackled has been cross-


curricular – linking not only the sciences and ethics but also with psychology, geography, sport science, law, religion, philosophy, economics etc. Many of the themes chosen by the students or suggested by participants have coincided with a national celebration such as Darwin 200, International Year of Biodiversity, National Science and Engineering Week, or the school’s policy to become more sustainable. To date we have enjoyed debates on biofuels, spooks


and surveillance, does science improve the world?, nuclear power, nanotechnology, science myths and the media, Darwin, religion and reason, has science failed to save our oceans?, cigarettes and alcohol – addictive behaviours?, Polar exploration, should extinct species be reintroduced?, how the Environment Agency is facing up to the South West’s sustainable energy needs, and most recently science and the swerving free-kick. On several occasions, two or three speakers have


contributed to the presentation from a variety of stakeholder standpoints (and not always in disagreement with each other). In the next academic year we will stage cafés on Nanotechnology: Challenges for the future; The moral maze of bioethics; The emergence of terrestrial vertebrates; and Alternative medicine on trial. Costs are kept to a minimum as the events are free


to all; speakers do not receive a fee although travel costs are refunded. In certain cases, speakers have also given complementary talks to particular student subject groups within curriculum time before the Café Sci to make the journey extra worthwhile. Students from all years are encouraged to attend


(and also staff for CPD). The project provides ample opportunity for IB students to achieve “Creativity Action Service” hours as part of their programme. A group of gifted and talented year 10 students and a 6th-form volunteers, who helped over the 2009/10 season, show- cased Café Sci at the South West Regional Big Bang Fair recently held at Bath University and achieved British Science Association Silver CREST Awards. The support given by being affiliated to the national Café Sci network is invaluable and has led to extra


What is Café Sci?


Café Sci has been running in UK schools for five years. A café is an informal dialogue event, where key stages 3, 4 and 6th-form students discuss contemporary STEM issues with experts. Cafés are lively forums for inquiry-based learning about science and technology, in particular those aspects with a social, cultural or ethical dimension. Topics do not necessarily have a link to the curriculum and there is no student assessment involved.


What happens?


Cafés usually take place at lunchtime or after school. The format is simple and a relaxed atmosphere promoted by refreshments and informal seating. The guest speaker has around 15 minutes to introduce the topic, then the café is open for questions and debate. Each event lasts around 50 minutes. Cafés are not lectures. The cafés are organised by teachers, with support and input from students, especially around choice of topic. Some students want to discuss controversial science, others applied science, and there are also students keen to talk about “pure” science.


Why set up a Café?


Café Sci is a relatively easy and inexpensive way to promote STEM subjects in school, using a student-friendly format that can reach beyond the “usual suspects”. It is intended to challenge teenage perceptions of science and scientists, provide them with an opportunity to interrogate contemporary science on their territory, on their terms. The Café Sci website has resources to help schools set up and run a Café. We can also offer support via phone and email.


Mary Arber, director of Café Sci


STEM debate: A Thomas Hardye School Café Sci


The Thomas Hardye School Café Sci: Preparation


• Choose dates to minimise calendar clashes


• Book a room • Discuss and choose topics with students • Source speaker/s • Consult speaker/s for biographical notes to prepare introduction


• Create publicity (via email group, posters, school website etc)


• Prepare timetable for the event and evaluation formS


• Assign jobs to team members and prepare – practise chairing, for example


On the day • Arrange room informally with chairs around tables, self-service refreshments


• Set up computer (sometimes PowerPoint or DVD is requested although discouraged so that it does not become a formal seminar)


• Meet and greet participants (sign in) • Introduce speaker/s, chair session and give thanks


• Hand out evaluation forms • Take photos and notes for publicity


After: • Check evaluations • Send thanks to speaker/s • Report back to Café Sci and contribute to the website


enrichment opportunities (including an invitation to take part in a National Café Sci celebration at the Royal Institution with Baroness Susan Greenfield and an award for Best Independent Café in 2009). Year 10 student Kerry Gorham, said: “I have


come away from each café wanting to know more about the subjects discussed. I have also had the opportunity to meet lots of people, from speakers to café regulars.” Hannah Sanderson in year 13 added: “It is a


wonderful way to share knowledge in the community, and a lot can be learnt from hearing different people’s opinions and experiences as well as sharing your own.” Science presented in an informal café-style setting


is a stimulating experience. Why not give it a go at your school and customise the format to suit your local circumstances?


SecEd


• Judith Wardlaw is the industry partnership development manager at The Thomas Hardye School in Dorchester.


Further information


• Café Scientifique: www.cafescientifique.org • Junior Café Sci: www.juniorcafesci.org.uk • CREST Awards: www.britishscienceassociation. org/web/ccaf/CREST


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SecEd • October 14 2010


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