VIEWS & OPINION How flipping the classroom encourages


independent learning and cuts workload Comment by DANIEL WILSON, level 3 vocational teacher of Creative Media Production and Computing at Ashton Sixth Form College


An NUT survey has found that 90% of teachers have considered leaving the profession within the last two years. The reason given for this is more often than not workload, with 96% of teachers stating that their workload has negative effects on their home life. Another survey, conducted by GOV UK, found that teachers are routinely working 18 to 19 hours a week from home, taking the average teaching working week to 54 hours. These statistics make for unsettling reading; they also suggest that self-preservation is a key issue for teachers in 2018. However, embracing technology and flipping the classroom can cut the workload of the teacher and improve the student experience.


As the name suggests, the flipped classroom rotates the traditional model of teaching and learning. Rather than spending session time delivering content, leading up to an in-class assessment or homework task, learners engage with content from home. Class time is then spent consolidating learning through peer and one-to- one activities and discussions to check learning. The education training provider SOPHIA found that 96% of teachers who had engaged with flipped learning techniques would recommend


the model to their peers. 9 out of 10 teachers acknowledged a positive change in learner engagement, with 71% of teacher surveyed witnessed positive changes in learner outcomes. Although the benefits for the teacher are apparent, the benefits to learners also make for positive reading. By placing trust in your learners to access classroom content from home you are also allowing them to individualise their learning, working at their own pace. Learners can make independent decisions on how they learn, with some students taking notes, others preparing questions for their peers and teachers, and some following their natural curiosity to other sources, furthering their knowledge of a topic. By encouraging students to play a more active role in their learning we can also nurture determination. Away from the crutch of the teacher, learners will be required to problem solve and show initiative and resolve; important skills in and out of the classroom.


The flipped lesson


Teachers can create an online, easily accessible location for flipped lessons. This can be a traditional VLE platform e.g. Blackboard or


Canvas, a blogging platform, YouTube channel or social media site. At the end of the lesson, learners can be directed to the flipped task and be given the opportunity to ask any questions. Learners are then required to access and work through the task set. This task can be to watch a video, read a presentation/article or listen to a podcast using an app such as Podbean. Whilst learners are undertaking the task you may ask them to take notes, generate questions, conduct further research or keep a glossary. When learners arrive at their next session the teacher should provide them with a series of differentiated tasks to work through, to test their learning. Learners should be encouraged to do this independently or with their peers, further encouraging determination and problem-solving skills. Whilst students are busy, the teacher can circulate the room, interacting with each student, checking for individual learning and aiding any strugglers, before repeating the cycle at the end of the session.


This method can be used sparingly or for an entire curriculum, and can be an outstanding tool for instilling grit in learners and taking the pressure off teachers.


‘We don’t need no education’ – why Gen Z are


ditching the business degree Comment by AMANDA FOLLIT, Chair of Young Talent at BIMA


The UK’s university system is at a crossroads. Government is pushing an individual funding agenda. Institutions have become reliant on generating income from individual fee payments. However, fewer young people are choosing to go to university at all - numbers from the UK were down 5% in 2017. Very soon the maths for funding won’t add up. The estimated £60,000 total cost of a three-year degree is a significant contributor to this drop off in attendance. But it’s not the only reason. The expectations of digitally relevant courses at universities differ between education, business and candidates.


Universities are still focused on academia, but businesses are expecting them to deliver work-ready, digitally skilled graduates to fill their ever- growing open positions, while candidates take digital courses at universities expecting to be trained in tools and techniques to enable them to walk into increasingly high paid jobs.


All three are heading in different directions and that isn’t helping the widening digital skills gap.


Generation Z are highly attuned to the march of progress in the digital world and have decided that university isn’t their chosen path, so they’re voting with their feet.


There are of course changes afoot. By 2020, most school leavers will have been offered the ‘T Level’ – a vocational qualification in digital, construction, education and childcare (initially) taught to A Level standard. These will have included a mandatory work placement. From here, further education starts to look like a high cost, high time commitment project that doesn’t give this generation the return they will be looking for.


February 2018


But education is still needed in there somewhere. Digital start-ups that want to scoop up Gen Z talent can provide the flexibility and the inspiring environment that they desire but they haven’t got the capacity in such small businesses to spend so much time delivering training. Eight of Europe’s top 20 universities are based in the UK. The UK and France have the most millennials with STEM degrees, but dropout rates are high. Students want the learning, but the delivery and content are falling short of what they really want. Digital makes up 20% of the UK economy but there’s no defined path from education into industry.


On the BIMA Young Talent Council we are listening to the next generation. Sitting alongside the council we are setting up an advisory panel made up of 10-18 year-olds to consult with them on what they need to happen and then bringing those ideas to educators and the digital sector jointly.


For their part, the digital and creative industry has to get behind training providers and contribute to courses, working together as a partnership to deliver them in the community.


If we really want to benefit from the skills that Generation Z are going to bring as a natural result of growing up in an always-connected world, we need to start looking at things the other way up - what skills do those young people bring? Where can they fit? And how can we shape the way we work around them for efficiency and growth?


If we stop trying to reshape these young people into an out-of-date, pigeonholed mould we will see innovation and ideas thrive and a wealth of new talent waiting in the wings to take the next stage.


www.education-today.co.uk 21


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