Views & Opinion


The simplicity of learning to fly Comment by ALICIA BLANCO-BAYO, Early Years teacher at Kirkham Grammar School


Not so long ago, it was believed that learning had to happen in a structured environment allowing children to focus during a specified period of time so that tasks could be completed once a particular concept had been explained. What occurred along the way meant that only those children who could manage this type of learning succeeded and the more adventurous children, who were unable to fit into the “focused” category, chose other routes. It became the norm in many parts of the world and we simply accepted that directed instruction to deliver knowledge to a group of individuals was what teaching was all about. Today we know that teachers are not


fountains of knowledge and that understanding how children learn and how we can facilitate that process is a lot more important than whole class teaching and completion of set tasks. This recalls the importance of the Characteristics of Effective Learning, and how the gathering of information about children’s responses is so essential when trying to develop an environment that promotes spontaneous learning. It was during my trip to Nepal that I found the


time to reflect on the real meaning of early learning and how my role as an educationalist has changed over the years. As I surrounded myself with children who had very basic needs in the village of Lele in the outskirts of Kathmandu, I found myself wanting to learn about these children’s lives. As I got to understand their daily lives, it became clear that the children in this village were as excited to learn as the children I had come across in countries where education is accessible to all. I wrote many notes about children’s responses to spontaneous activities and how we communicated using symbols and body language. As I read through my notes and reflected on the children’s reactions to a variety of stimuli, I realised I was actually gathering information so I could work out how to plan future learning. One might have thought their needs were different to those of children in the West, but the more time I spent analysing their responses, the more I realised that these children’s excitement for learning was, if anything, more palpable. A chance to learn and a person who was prepared to interact with them meant they could develop the basic skills


that would make it possible for them to have more opportunities. As I continue my journey trying to understand


whether the children of today have the right type of opportunities, I remember some of the children I met in Lele and their excitement to be given a book they could not yet read but which was the key to a door they really wanted to go through. The door to an imaginative world that can awake a whole world of fantasy to help them become creative individuals. The door that allows children to enter a world where they can become anything and anyone as they take part in imaginary adventures. All they need is people like us ready to explore that world with them.


Can schools do more with less? Comment by ANDREW KITTERICK, former teacher and now Education Director at Pivot


Think of a typical school that you know, primary, secondary or other. Does that school just educate children or does it do more? I realise that this is quite a general question and the answer could be different to varying degrees dependent on a number of factors – location, size, diversity of pupil role, etc. Whatever your experience or opinion, I think that what most people would


agree with is the fact that schools and staff are having to deal with complex changes in society that create challenges for those tasked with educating and caring for children. This coupled with financial challenges, issues around recruitment and retention in teaching, pressure on results, the focus on academisation and reduced LA capacity of services, create a different and challenging landscape. From my recent experience, I have found the large majority of schools


already go above and beyond what they do. However, sometimes they require support and capacity to develop a clear plan of how they want to work in an “early intervention and prevention manner” in reaction to changing need. This is now a well banded about strapline of addressing issues across the health, social care and education sectors, but there is sometimes a disconnect in schools of how you actually do it. Over the past couple of years, I have worked directly with a large number


of schools, both primary and secondary, to consider how schools can react to changing complexity of need while still meeting targets they have to achieve, and how they fund this, measure it and prove impact. One of the ways in which schools can do this is to do what they do best -


think innovatively. How do we do less with more? How do we balance academic attainment with a rising social and pastoral need? How do we ensure we educate as well as care, and not the other way around? And how


January 2017


do we react to a changing need that happens faster than legislation, policy and funding can adapt to? Here are a few suggestions taken from the work I have done with schools


which have helped improve not only individual pupil attainment and whole school performance, but also proactively improve pupil wellbeing: • Evaluating and developing the school’s Provision Map – identifying and assessing every intervention we do/service we provide and how efficient this is.


• Thinking differently about CPD – in house rather than ‘conference’ with a focus on checking if knowledge is being embedded and cascaded into practice.


• Use of social workers to tackle attendance and connected issues innovatively and to build in house skill and capacity around assessment, referrals and accessing statutory services.


• Developing in-house provision and therapeutic support as an alternative to external alternative provision – cheaper and the children are with the experts.


• Reviewing and changing pastoral and support staff roles/focus – are these roles appropriate to changing need or do they require a different focus?


• Thinking of how we engage with parents and difficult to reach families – being proactive and planning initiatives rather than responding reactively to crises.


• Applying a more rigorous business model to ensure added value. Remember, early intervention represents an intelligent approach to


spending. It requires small investments to deal with root causes, rather than the much greater costs if dealing with the after-affects.


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