Views Volunteer Service Overseas (VSO)
Literacy in Papua New Guinea As someone who struggled to read and write at school herself,
Kate Evans - a Primary School Teacher from Oxfordshire, relished the opportunity of improving literacy in Papua New Guinea on a VSO Volunteer placement.
’I’m based at the ‘Our Lady of the Sacred Heart Kabaleo Teachers College’ on the remote island of East New Britain. I work on the ‘Language Support Programme’ which aims to improve the literacy of Lecturers and student Teachers. Teachers in PNG don’t have sufficient language skills to
deliver their lessons. I produce course books which help develop those skills and build up their confidence and also offer them training and support. Literacy is the starting point for everything. At school, I struggled to hold a pen. Fortunately for me, I had persistent parents. Once a child is confident in literacy, it helps them access other areas of the curriculum. If they can’t read or write, they’re at a huge disadvantage. As a Teacher Trainer, I run conferences and workshops on grammar, reading, writing, assessment, speaking and listening.
Teaching is very different here. There aren’t enough tables or chairs so children have to sit on the floor- not great for doing their best work. There’s a lot more ‘chalk and talk’, where the Teacher stands at the front and talks about one topic or supervises one activity. Bright children finish in three minutes and have nothing to do, the rest struggle. 7.30am Arrive at work and catch up with colleagues. Topics of conversation include who had an exciting evening? Has our timetable changed today?
8:00am I have a 1-1 meeting with a Maths Lecturer who shares what she’s planning to teach this week. I make suggestions on how best these topics could be taught.
8.50am The student teachers start to arrive. After some deliberation, my co-lecturer and I begin teaching. We experience a power-cut part way through the lecture, but nobody is remotely bothered, so we continue in semi-light.
9.50am We gather in the staffroom for ‘morning tea’ which comprises a drink, a cracker and a briefing about the Student Council Election Results. We’re reminded that mentors are needed for returning students who failed last year.
11.05am Students arrive at the office to get their lesson plans signed off in preparation for tomorrow. I suggest how to make them more student- centred and interactive and praise those already taking this approach. 12:00pm I eat my lunch under the Lau Lau tree where other Lecturers are chatting and eating. I decide to return to the office and finish the lesson plans.
2:00pm I meet with a Lecturer who will be delivering a phonics training session with me at a local primary school this afternoon. En route, we discuss everything we would want to change about education if we had a magic wand.
2.50pm We arrive at the school and get escorted to the classroom. The one hour training session begins. We share phonics knowledge, teaching ideas and resources and answer any student queries. This is my favourite part of the day as I get to see children.
4:00pm The hour session is coming to a close, but I’m assured I can carry on!
4.30pm I finally leave the school and return to the office via the market. It’s just a wonderful place to be - the ladies are so keen to talk to me! Everything happens there - it’s the hub of Kokapo.
5:00pm I pick up my things from the office and start my long and hard 90 second commute to my home on campus!
Papua New Guinea is a beautiful country. Even the rain here is really impressive and invigorating - even just to watch it, if you’re not out in it. This whole experience is life-changing.
020 8780 7500
enquiry@vso.org.uk
www.vso.org.uk/bethevolunteer/education
October 2015
British Educational Suppliers Association (BESA) Computers 'do improve'
pupil results, says BESA Earlier in September, we were all a little taken aback by the BBC’s report, ‘Computers do not improve pupil results, says OECD’ which questioned the value of classroom technology.
At first glance, this appeared to be a significant worry for UK schools, who have worked so hard to realise the benefits of technology in education.
Our annual ‘ICT in UK State Schools’ research which we issued at around the same time as the OECD
Caroline Wright
findings were published, showed that pupils are currently exposed to ICT for 53 per cent of teaching
time in comparison to 50 per cent in 2014. Looking ahead, the 609 schools surveyed (294 primary and 315 secondary) forecast that this exposure will continue to rise, with pupils expected to use technology for 58 per cent of learning time by 2017. With this in mind, the OECD report appeared to be all the more incredible.
So we started to look at its findings in a little more detail. Of course, it turns out that the news headline didn’t quite tell the full story!
Firstly, the OECD report is based on international findings and not solely focused on UK schools. Historically, it is certainly true that there have been many unwise investments in technology. In almost every case where investment has not gone to plan the reason is overwhelmingly due to a lack of effective investment in continuing professional development (CPD) and teacher training; this often results in hardware sitting idle or teachers having little idea of how to use it effectively.
Our experienced and driven teachers recognise that when technology is used correctly, it can be a very effective way of engaging children to understand all learning objectives, including the core skills.
It is this lack of sufficient training that the OECD concludes is the differentiator between technology being used well, or failing. As the pioneers of using technology in education, UK schools have had many years to learn from their early mistakes; consequently, technology is now used well and effectively. Thankfully, most schools now budget for training when they invest in any new technology. As a result, we are not only seeing improved results in traditional examinations but also higher levels of pupil engagement, which improves overall outcomes. As the education sector’s trade association, working with schools, suppliers and the Government, we have urged both suppliers and schools to ensure that any investment in technology includes high quality training. We do appreciate that finding time to schedule training sessions can be hard. However, while initial product training is vital, there are other opportunities to support your CPD including Bett (20-23 January, ExCeL, London), which offers four full days of free CPD sessions on the broadest range of topics.
In summary, BESA will continue to remind schools and our supplier members that investing in sufficient training is vital in enabling the judicious use of technology to support the greater exploration of all subjects. Any strategy ignoring the technology our children use every day and that permeates modern life will risk failure.
For information from BESA contact: Caroline Wright 020 7537 4997
caroline@besa.org.uk
www.besa.org.uk
www.education-today.co.uk 7
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