VIEWS Volunteer Service Overseas (VSO)


Forty years on: Former VSO Volunteer Ken Longden


returns to Nigeria During his three year VSO placement in the 1970s, Teacher Ken Longden, taught Chemistry and Physics at ‘Community Secondary School’ in Ugep, Southern Nigeria. Forty years later, he reluctantly joined LinkedIn which reunited him with many of his former students and brought back wonderful memories.


Although not an ardent social networker, I eventually gave in to the many invitations to join LinkedIn. I’m very glad that I did, because in May 2013, I was contacted by one of my former students, who was working for a health programme in Nigeria. This led to many exciting phone calls and emails, and within a few months, I had heard from more than fifty former students! Some of my former students were the first in their family to go onto


university. It’s incredible to see that these men and women - now in their fifties - are active in all walks of life – teachers, environmentalists, engineers, journalists, politicians, police officers, lawyers, doctors, nurses, civil servants, religious leaders and others who are successful in business and commerce. Five of them are working in the US in medicine and academia and one is a lawyer in London. Many of my students’ children are now following in their parents’ footsteps. In December 2013, just a few months after reconnecting with them


on LinkedIn, my wife and I were able to visit Nigeria, with all expenses generously met by my former students. It was a week of celebrations and parties in Calabar and Ugep. We also had receptions with various community leaders, the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Calabar and the Governor of the State! It’s amazing to see how Ugep - once known as the largest village in


West Africa - has been transformed into a modern town. The roads are tarred and now lined with trees. There’s hardly any traditional thatched houses left. I’m pleased that my old school has been modernised with some new


additions, including a computer lab and a library. During my visit there, I laid the foundation stone for a staff house, which one year group funded. I was interested to find out what my students had gained from my


teaching. They said that I taught without having a book in front of me, which meant I took the time to prepare my classes and made them my own. This in turn, helped my students to develop their own understanding. They felt that I had taken the time to get to know them and


appreciate them as individuals. They could see that I worked hard and provided extra lessons where necessary. The three Cs - ‘communication’, ‘caring’ and ‘commitment’ made a huge difference to their exam results! In the current climate which questions the effectiveness of


volunteering and international development, it’s encouraging to learn that volunteers can make a difference. As well as having a positive impact on my students, I can see the value of volunteering in my own life. I have continued to work in Africa for most of my career. I’ve been working in Lilongwe in Malawi as an Education Advisor for the past eighteen years and I’ve also worked in Botswana and Zimbabwe. Volunteering really does change lives and that, of


course, is what VSO is all about. uwww.vso.org.uk/bethevolunteer/education


July/August 2016


British Educational Suppliers Association (BESA) Five steps to Progress 8 success


This month, BESA Director Patrick Hayes looks at Progress 8 and offers some pointers to success in this recent measure.


In October 2013, the Department for Education (DFE) announced a new accountability system would be implemented from 2016. A key part of the new system is that schools


now have to show they are supporting all their students, with one of the measures, ‘Progress 8’, capturing the progress a student makes from the end of primary school to the end of secondary school. Regardless of your view on Progress 8, teachers need to take on an


additional burden in investing time in understanding what is required of them before they reach Progress 8’s ultimate goal. At a time when they are facing severe workload challenges this, certainly, is not going to be welcomed. BESA member SAM Learning provides online homework and exam-


preparation services to secondary schools which puts them in the enviable position of understanding a lot about what is required to meet the goals of this new accountability system. We therefore asked them to share the findings from their recent survey and offer us insight and guidance into complying with the new requirements. Here are their five pieces of insight and advice.


1) Training In SAM Learning’s recent Progress 8 survey, which had over 400 teacher responses, an alarming 32 per cent of those surveyed said that they have had no training about Progress 8. While there’s no denying that Progress 8’s data-heavy method is


complicated and difficult to get your head around, it’s mandatory. In order for teachers to fully understand it, training, either internal or external, is essential.


2) The arts The introduction of subject buckets is an integral part of Progress 8. The three buckets contain the core subjects. Only Bucket 3 can consist of any remaining EBacc subjects as well as approved academic, arts or vocational qualifications. The idea is that students will be encouraged to take a broad and balanced range of subjects. However, the concern is that the arts would “not be given sufficient


time and funding”. Schools therefore need to decide how they budget for these subjects.


3) Personalised approach The subject and curriculum requirements of Progress 8 will arguably force a one-size-fits-all approach to teaching. SAM Learning’s survey raised a concern that the system is too “narrow for some students” and a measure that will potentially add to some students’ sense of failure. Ensuring that students don’t fall through the gaps is vital.


4) You’ll have to develop new methods of targeting intervention There’s perhaps an unfair view that, under the old accountability measures, schools would target their intervention at a very particular section of students, namely those on the C/D grade boundary. Progress 8 is intended to address this imbalance by requiring schools to raise attainment for all students, and failure to do so will result in an instant Ofsted inspection. Therefore time, resources and attention will have to be more evenly spread across year groups.


5) Translating Progress 8 to parents might be difficult Surveyed teachers expressed surprise at the fact that parents don't understand the old levels system. Yet, it is now being replaced with a numerical system that is more incomprehensible and will be even harder for parents to interpret, so schools must ensure that they support them when the new system is implemented.


Regardless of what you think of Progress 8, the weight of


implementing it will fall squarely on the shoulders of teachers. We hope this gives you an insight into what other schools are feeling and considerations that need to be made.


uFor information from BESA contact: uPatrick Hayes u020 7537 4997 upatrick@besa.org.uk uwww.besa.org.uk


www.education-today.co.uk 7


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