CONTRIBUTOR


Can a re appro burd


CONTRIBUTORS reduced-hours roach ease the


rden on teachers? Thismonth, regular


Education Today


contributor GRAHAM COOPER, head of


education at Capita SIMS, report


rts on the use of reduced-hours in a


London school and asks what the ramifications might be for the system as awhole.


I came across an article recently on the inews website reporting on a school in London which plans to make a significant alteration to its teaching hours as part of an extended experiment, essentially introducing POETS day (Push Off Early, Tomorrow’s Saturday), making Fridays a half day for their pupils. The school plans to stay open until 5pm on Fridays, offering students supervised study and talks from guest speakers, while maintaining that attendance of these sessions will be optional.


At the heart of this experiment, according to the school’s Executive Headteacher, is an attempt to address the insidious culture in education of teachers being required to work longer and longer hours, reducing their motivation and impacting the quality of lessons.


Against the backdrop of pupils and their families being punished for removing children from lessons for personal reasons, it does, on the surface, seem somewhat counterintuitive to offer learners a free pass for half a day away from the clas sroo m.


That said, the school in question is a high-performing state comprehensive, with consistently high GCSE grades and an outstanding inspection report from Ofsted – so it would realistic to expect that many of the pupils will gladly accept the offer of optional, supplementary study opportunities. In addition, how much of an impact on teaching hours and pressure on staff would a large scale switch like this actually make? If it is successful, then the ambition of teachers feeling more refreshed and passing on their additional energy to the pupils by way of engagement is potentially something to be excited by. However, if that additional time only becomes filled with finally getting to do those unwanted tasks and administration, then it’s hard to see much an impact actually being felt.


does an effective reduction of around 10%just mean that subj will need to be further condensed elsewhere in the week?


And with time t o actually teach and inspire pupils alre ady being squeezed, bjects and topics


Perhaps the promotion of supervised, individual study during school hours is something to explore further. The continued rise of onl learning environments – and their reflection of the mode that pupils increasingly need to develop skills such as research and communication via digital tools. The ‘old school’ approach of learning lessons parrot-fashion or taking reams of notes on lengthy historical accounts are most definitely consigned to the past; could we instead s learners being led to discover content and details around


While some pupil their own skills and


s will still need more support and gui intuition? I hope so.


dance than others,


encouraging an approach of individual study an d personalised pathways has the potential to create almost niche curricula, with students learning entirely at a pace dictated by their ability and propensity to learn.


We’re probably still a long way away from this kind of reimagined learning environment, but the continued growth of artificial intelligence in education settings definitely makes this more the realms of the near-future then Tomorrow’sWorld.


1 8 www .education-today.co.uk.co.uk www


rn workplace – mean ine and digital


topics of study using ee a switch to


Tr omiinoes is a great game for enhancing maths ski ls such as number


Triomi


noes is a great game for enhancing maths skillls such as er recogniit


tion and ad addition. The number th less con onfidence or ers in eac or simply to invo ach tile need to


be added together, along with any bonus points, and a running totall kept for each player. The game can be altered to restrict the time ii


students.students.


Snakes and Ladders is an old favourite that most students know the rules to. It can be amended to include facts that students collect as they go along, or have information on the ladders and snak es to justify the moves. For example, the game could be th e journey of a caterpillar with the end being metamorphosis into a butterfly. Each snake could have a reason for delay, such as birds are seen so hide, or the weather gets colder, so you remain in your chrysalis. Each ladder then has a positive effect, moving the caterpillar along faster, e.g. “you find a cabbage patch and eat a lot of leaves”.


Snakes and Ladders is an old favourite that most students know


the rules to. It can be amended to include facts that students collect as they go along, or have information on the ladders and snakes to justify the moves. For example, the game could be the journey of a caterpillar with the end being metamorphosis into a butterfly. Each snake could have a reason for delay, such as birds are seen so hide, or the weather gets colder, so you remain in your chrysalis. Each ladder then has a positive effect, moving the caterpillar along faster, e.g. “you find a cabbage patch and eat a lot of leaves”. Bingo is a favourite of mine, it can be adapted in so many ways! For maths, try having sums or equations on the board in each square,, and the teacher calling answers to make it a bit more difficult. The students then must prove they win that card by telling the teacher the sum that matches that answer. I suggest a 3x3 griid for thiis, but more can be added depending on the ability of the group. For use in science, students can choose element names from the periodic table and then the caller shouts out the chemical symbolls. Alternatively, common chemical reactions could be used such as respiratiion, photosynthesis, oxidation, reduction etc. to raise the difficulty. This could be expanded in Engllish by having a mix of verbs, adjectives,, nouns etc. on the board and the teacher calling out words on cards that students can win by matching it to the type of word on their board.Modern foreign ges can allso use biingo, with foreign words on their boards and the English equivalent read out, or vice versa.


Bingo is a favourite of mine, it can be adapted in so many ways! For maths, try having sums or equations on the board in eac square and the teacher calling answers to make it a bit more difficult. The students then must prove they win that card by telling the teacher the sum that matches that answer. I suggest a 3x3 gr d for th s, but more can be added depending on the ability of the group. For use in science, students can choose element names from the periodic table and then the caller shouts out the chemical symbo s. Alternatively, common chemical reactions could be used such as respirat on, photosynthesis, oxidation, reduction etc. to raise the difficulty. This could be expanded in Eng ish by having a mix of verbs, adjectives nouns etc. on the board and the teacher calling out words on cards that students can win by matching it to the type of word on their board. Modern foreign langualanguages can a so use b ngo, with foreign words on their boards and the English equivalent read out, or vice versa


Children have amazing imaginations, so it s a shame not to give them the opportunity to create games themselves. This coulld be for r evision of a topic, as homework to research a topic and design a game to teach others, or just a summary of learning. Hints and support may be needed as the idea is introduced, perhaps providing blank cards or board game templates with empty squares. This is a cheap and easy introduction to the classroom, only really requiring the purchase of packs of dice. A column on toys and games in teaching would not be


Children have amazing imaginations, so it i is a shame not to give them the opportunity to create games themselves. This cou d be for revision of a topic, as homework to research a topic and desig n a game to teach others, or just a summary of learning. Hints and support may be needed as the idea is introduced, perhaps providing blank cards or board game templates with empty squares. This is a cheap and easy introduction to the classroom, only really requiring the purchase of packs of dice A column on toys and games in teaching would not b


complete without including coding. There are many free websites where students can learn and use code to create their own games. Over time, once confident and competent, students can code games that encourage learning or revision of specialist subjectbject knowledge. Once shared, these games offer peer support, developing more than just coding skills but an awareness of how we lear


Kirsty is the founder of STEMtastic, an education consultancy with a focus on Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths www.stemtastic.co.uk


Kirsty is www


Kirsty is the founde a fo


fo ta der of STE w.stemtastic.co.u k TEMta


focus on Science, Tee, Technology ww.


tastic, gy,


y, Engineeri


c, an educatication consulta cy with ring andMathMaths


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complete without including coding. There are many free websites where students can learn and use code to create their own games. Over time, once confident and competent, students can code games that encourage learning or revision of specialist subj knowledge. Once shared, these games offer peer support, devel oping more than just coding skills but an awareness of ho w arn!


be added together, along with any bonus points, and a running tota kept for each player. The game can be altered to restrict the tme it takes by playing single rounds only or having teams nstead of play


ollve more


t takes by playing single rounds only or having teams i instead ayers for those with


To


Toys and games in teaching


t eachin g


Continuing on fromlas month’s column on using toys and games in teaching, regular Education Toda contributor KIRST


Continuing on from last month’s column on usin toys and games in teaching regular Education Today contributor KIRSTY BERT


TY


BERTENSHAWthis month shows howgames can be used or easily adapted for use in the classroom .


RTENSHAW hismonth shows how games can be used or easily adapted for use in the classroom.


Marc h 2019 2019


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