Careers Continued from page 36
there can be a negative link between high aspirations where those exceed their educational attainment. Croll (2008) and Yates et al (2011) found that “over-ambitious” adolescents from manual backgrounds were much less likely than their peers from professional, managerial and technical backgrounds to achieve high status occupations. They were also more likely to become NEET by the age of 18. Flouri et al suggest that differences in developmental stage, the use of emotional and behavioural outcomes rather than occupational ones and different measures used for disadvantage, could all have led to the variant results. The cohort used in Professor Flouri’s research will be revisited at age 11 and this will provide opportunity to see what impact a later developmental stage might have. If they are right and aspirations at age seven are signifi cant should we be waiting until the adolescent years to introduce children to the possibilities of the workplace?
Aspirations in Manchester A project based in Manchester is already becoming aware of the need to intervene early. The Strong Mums programme aims to engage young women in the Longbridge and Shaw Heath areas of the city, as well as further afi eld in Knutsford in Cheshire. In January 2012 it was making a difference to some families within the communities there. Strong Mums incorporates a series of workshops to help develop
self-awareness and uses practical techniques to enhance personal relationships. Its organisers recognised the diffi culties in getting their target group on traditional literacy and numeracy courses and devised the programme as a fi rst step to help open up discussion around some of the issues this group of women were facing. Although the programme was shown to make a big difference to those taking part, the organisers realised that they were dealing with issues when it was almost too late. “What these women needed was opportunity to raise their
aspirations and improve their self-esteem at a much younger age,” explained co-coordinator, Karen Ames. The result has been the creation of World Wide Young Women, a
project aimed at girls in year nine and now My World, which targets year 6 primary pupils.
A fantastic resource that uses a
wide variety of differentiated tasks to improve literacy, while adopting a creative learning approach across the curriculum.
Ms Ames added: “We felt that the earlier we began raising aspirations
and confi dence the more likely it would be to have a long-term impact.” The project has been driven by input from sponsors. Bruntwood, Manchester Airport and Tatton Park all contributed to the project. Ms Ames explained: “One of our main aims is to introduce pupils to
the world of work. We want to inspire them to achieve their potential, to recognise the opportunities that there are out there. Some of these children come from third generation unemployed.” The project takes the pupils out of school to visit the sponsors’
workplace. They are introduced to employees who tell them their own stories about working life and fi nally they present their project in the Concorde Hangar at Manchester Airport. The project does not just focus on working life. Ms Ames continued:
“It’s also about raising self-esteem, thinking around values, building teams and how to make a presentation. Many of the young people taking part were very hesitant about speaking out in front of others. You wouldn’t have recognised some of them when it came to the fi nal presentation at the graduation ceremony.”
Aspirations in York Giving a taster of the world of work is happening in York too. The charity York Cares has arranged for employees from 11 different companies to visit eight primary schools in the city. The project has two main purposes. First, to help link real-life and learning, but also it is designed to encourage employees to become involved with York Children’s University. The year groups taking part are not restricted and pupils throughout
the participating schools are provided with tasters of different work environments. York Racecourse, the University of York, the NHS, Northern Rail and Yorkshire Bank are just some of those supporting the scheme. York Children’s University focuses on York’s most deprived
communities and since it started in April 2009 has engaged with more than 886 children in employer-led modules. For example, Food and Hospitality with York Mariott Hotel includes a “Come dine with me” activity where the children cook alongside chief executives. The “Tracks and Trains” module (with Network Rail) prepares children to be trainee signallers and “Retail” (with Tescos) engages pupils in understanding more about the food retail industry. Barbara McGowan, senior fellow for the National Institute for Careers
Education and Counselling, said: “It’s not about helping children to think about whether this is what they want to do when they grow up, it is purely stimulus activity enabling them to encounter broader horizons and generate richer thinking about what the world of work can offer.”
Cross-curricular Literacy Challenges is a new and exciting series of six books specifically designed to develop writing, reading and speaking and listening skills from Levels 1–6, across the 5 to 14 age range.
This is done through interactive, cross– curricular projects that will encourage learners to enjoy and develop English as a language and key skill, thus becoming confident communicators.
VIEW sample lessons online! Challenge 2 Starting again
Aim: To present the information you have collected in Challenge 1 in a class or school assembly. Work as a group. Look at the information you have about Diwali, the Chinese New Year, Christmas and the New Year in the United Kingdom or the way your family celebrate a new year.
Everyone: Work with a partner. Each pair decide which information they will be presenting in the assembly. Think about: • • •
The age of your audience
The organisation of your information Interesting ways of presenting
• Whether you could add pictures to the presentation •
Foods people eat
Getting a visitor to come and talk to the audience about the special celebration. Arrange your information under the following subheadings: a) b) c)
Clothes that are worn
The way in which homes are prepared for the celebration d) Special colours associated with the celebration e) Stories that are associated with the celebration f )
Special colours associated with the celebration.
Different things that happen at this time for people to watch or take part in. Use the Record your information sheet to help you.
As a group decide an order for the pairs to present their information. Have a practise before you show your work to your audience. Remember to speak loudly and clearly. Perform your assembly.
Challenge 2
Afterwards with your partner talk to people in the audience about the assembly and how much they learned about the special celebrations around the world. Did they learn what you wanted them to?
Everyone: In your pairs report back what was said to you about your assembly and decide what went well and what might need improving.
Myself 46 Cross-curricular Literacy Challenges – Book 4
Choice 1– work in pairs You are going to measure your hand. You are going to measure your partner’s hand. Get a large piece of plain white paper. Work together. Draw round your hand and cut the drawing out. Write your name on your drawing. Draw round your partner’s hand and cut the drawing out. Get your partner to write their name on their drawing of their hand. Look at your cutout hand and your partner’s cutout hand. Which one is the smallest? Which one is the largest? Measure them using Multilink.
Can you measure your hands another way? Try it out. Talk to the rest of your group about the best way you have found to measure your hand. Put your hand on the display wall in your classroom. Think about where it will go…is it smaller or larger than other people’s?
54 Cross-curricular Literacy Challenges – Book 1
Any other information that might be useful for the assembly.
Aim: To measure the heights, hand sizes and foot sizes of the children in your class. Everyone: Make a display wall with the word ‘smallest’ at one end and ‘largest’ at the other.
Clothes that are worn.
Starting again – Challenge 2 Everyone
Name……………………………………………………………………. Record your information Remember to use only the information that you might want to use in your assembly
Name of festival: Foods people eat.
Each book contains ‘Challenges’,
The way in which homes are prepared for the celebration.
or literacy projects, that include differentiated ‘Choices’ for children to select and to work on independently, in pairs or in small groups.
Stories that are associated with the celebration.
Different things that happen at this time for people to watch or take part in.
Aims of the series: Challenge 2 Myself Cross-curricular Literacy Challenges – Book 4
Aim: To measure the heights, hand sizes and foot sizes of the children in your class. Everyone: Make a display wall with the word ‘smallest’ at one end and ‘largest’ at the other.
47
Choice 2 – work in pairs You are going to measure your foot. You are going to measure your partner’s foot. Get a large piece of plain white paper. Work together. Draw round your foot and cut the drawing out. Write your name on your drawing. Draw round your partner’s foot and cut the drawing out. Get your partner to write their name on their drawing of their foot. Look at your cutout foot and your partner’s cutout foot. Which one is the smallest? Which one is the largest? Measure them using Multilink. What is the diff erence in the number of Multilink? Try another way of measuring your foot and your partner’s foot. Talk to the rest of your group about the best way you have found to measure your feet. Put your foot up on the display wall in your classroom. Think about where it will
go...is it smaller or larger than other people’s?
Choice 3 – work with a friend You are going to measure your height. You need to have a very long strip of white paper attached to the wall. Stand beside the paper and get a friend to help you mark how tall you are on the strip of white paper. Mark how tall your friend is on the strip of white paper. Who is the tallest? Who is the shortest? Measure how tall you are using Multilink. Is this a good way to measure? Can you fi nd another way to measure how tall you are? Talk to the rest of the group about the best way you have found to measure how tall you are. Arrange your strip of paper on the wall next to the strips of paper made by other people in your group. Arrange it in order the shortest to the tallest.
Cross-curricular Literacy Challenges – Book 1 55
n To introduce children aged 5 to 14 to a variety of challenging tasks that will develop key literacy Skills
n To offer differentiated activities that will allow all learners to work on the same Challenge but at a level which is suitable to them.
To order call: 01722 716935 • email:
sales@hopscotchbooks.com visit:
www.hopscotchbooks.com
38 Price
£24.99 each
The implications Primary schools already recognise the importance of PSHE and the need to develop pupils’ self-esteem. Creating a culture of high expectations for disadvantaged pupils has never been more prominent on the agenda and schools serving these catchments might be particularly interested in the implications for their practice. However, it might benefi t all schools to address the issue of low aspiration and ingrained cynicism occupying at least some pockets of their communities. Established projects like My World and those of York Children’s
Covers ages 5 to 14 Includes CD with activities
University can challenge the negative perceptions of work and the future that even very young children are already absorbing. If the research has got it right, then encouraging realistic career
aspirations could be an important step towards securing pupils’ engagement and help them to manage their behaviour too.
• Suzanne O’Connell is a freelance education writer and former primary school headteacher.
Further information ■ Do Primary School Children’s Career Aspirations Matter? The
relationship between family poverty, careers aspiration, and emotional and behavioural problems. Flouri, E and Panourgia, C. (2012).
■ “Strong Mums” is a partnership between Open Doors2 Ltd, Occupositive, Cheshire East Lifelong Learning and Longbridge & Shaw Heath (Knutsford) Business Support Group.
■ Occupational Choice, Socio-economic Status and Educational Attainment, Croll, P. (2008).
■ Early Occupational Aspirations and NEETs, Yates, S et al (2011).
Healthy eating Teachers’ notes
Skills opportunities in this Challenge Literacy:
The purpose of this unit is to help children understand that eating healthily is a good thing to do. The word ‘diet’ is not part of the vocabulary of this unit as the word diet has connotations that can lead to false ideas about healthy eating.
Healthy eating is about fi nding out about how diff erent foods sustain us and how we can make sure that we are eating healthily. Sweets and chocolates are not always bad and can be part of a healthy eating approach to food. The unit provides opportunities for diff erentiated work in English, Maths, Science, Geography and ICT.
Skills opportunities in this Challenge Literacy:
The children learn to scan indexes, dictionaries, and IT sources to locate information quickly and accurately. They can use IT to record their information if desired. They can organise and use information to inform their speaking and listening and writing.
For information The Collins Dictionary defi nitions are: Protein – any of a large group of nitrogenous compounds
that are essential constituents of all living organisms. Carbohydrates – any of a large group of energy-producing
compounds, including sugars and starches, that contain carbon, hydrogen and oxygen.
Vitamins – any of large group of substances that occur naturally in certain foods and are essential for the normal functioning of metabolism in the body.
Metabolism – the chemical processes that occur in living organisms, resulting in growth, production of energy, and elimination of waste.
English:
• Speaking and listening – The children show that they can use appropriate vocabulary and include relevant detail. They show through relevant comments and questions that they have listened carefully.
• Reading – The children show understanding of themain points and can obtain specifi c information through independent reading.
• Writing – Children can use appropriate and interesting vocabulary and also use the main features of diff erent forms of writing appropriately.
Maths:
The children show that they can collect and structure information, interpret their own data and others’ data, organise their work and refi ne ways of recording their results. The children show they can make links to other areas when problem solving or using data for a particular purpose.
Science:
The children show that they can make suggestions about how to collect data to answer questions. They can use simple texts to fi nd out information and record their observations in a variety of ways.
They understand the importance of adequate and varied food choices for the health of human beings. They can refl ect on and evaluate evidence when making personal choices or bringing about improvements in performance or behaviour. They have the opportunity to prepare and enjoy eating healthy food. They develop strategies to improve their personal well-being.
8 Cross-curricular Literacy Challenges – Book 3 Cross-curricular Literacy Challenges – Book 3 9
Geography: The children can use a map and gather information to locate places that provide the food they have identifi ed in their Challenge. For extension they could fi nd out why these foods grow in the diff erent countries.
ICT: The children are able to use the survey to collect data and analyse it. They can use ICT to generate, amend, organise, record and present their work.
Guide to teaching Challenge 1
Preparation For this session it will be a good idea to carry out a food-tasting session, maybe inviting a local chef to come in and help. Introducing food and its diff erent tastes, colours and purposes will be a good introduction to the Challenge.
Introduction
Introduce Activity sheet 1 and explain that they are going to carry out an investigation into what people eat and which foods are healthy foods. Discuss with the class the ways they think this can be achieved. Explain what a survey is and that they will be carrying one out.
Main activities
Help the children into threes – you can do this by ability, as a mixed-ability group or let the children choose who they wish to work with. Ensure that those who need support have adult help where possible.
After the survey has been carried out there are three Choices that are available to the children according to their ability. Choice 1 is for those who need support with their work, Choice 2 for most children and Choice 3 for the more able. The results can be shared and displayed. A map is available on the CD.
Discussion
Encourage the children to look at their display and as a class discuss what they have learned from their investigation.
Conclusion Ask the children to think come up with a sentence that will remind them to eat healthily.
Guide to teaching Challenge 2
Preparation For this session, ensure that you have dictionaries and other research texts that will help the children to fi nd out the meanings of proteins, carbohydrates and vitamins. Part of their literacy work would be to learn these words so they can be pronounced properly and their meaning understood. The included defi nitions might help.
Introduction Hand out Challenge 2 and ask the children how they will fi nd out what proteins, carbohydrates and vitamins do. List their ideas and then set the fi rst Everyone task.
Main activities
Set the group task and if you wish, use the spreadsheet for the children to record their answers. You want them to identify that meat, fish and kidney beans have protein; bread, rice and potatoes are carbohydrates and fruit and vegetables contain vitamins.
Children can be given the Choices to work on as the teacher prefers to organise the class. Choice 1 is for those who will need support, Choice 2 is for most and Choice 3 is for the more able. For the Choices the generic Action plan sheet can be used to help the children plan their work.
Conclusion
Ask the children if they can tell you why it is important that they eat proteins, carbohydrates and vitamins to be healthy. If they wish they can carry out the extension task; a map is available on the CD.
Discussion
Ask the children how they think they can make sure that they eat healthily. Write up their ideas as a reminder for them.
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