VIEWS & OPINION


Music for the millennials


Music for th e millennials


Comment by GEORGE HAMMOND-HAGAN, Ivor Novello Award winner and founder of Studytracks


Comment by GEORGE HAMMOND-HAGAN, Ivor NovelloAw


yt Awardwinner and founder of Studytracks


This year’s GCSE results showed a record drop in grades, with the biggest year-on-year decline since 2008. Consequently,


thousands of students had to re-sit exams. Exam


success depends on several factors; student attainment, attendance, and


commitment to school. Another crucial factor is how well they apply


prepara time, tr How themse


lves to studying. ever, a lot of the


tion and revision aditional exam


methods fail to engage students effectively. Take highlighting for example. You start highlighting words and phrases and before you know it, the whole page is just a block of rainbow colours. Techniques like this simply lead to copious amounts of misdirected studying and procrastination.


Today’s students need revision methods that are not only effective, but engaging and motivating too, reflecting their tech-savvy, 21st century lifestyles.


For example, most of us love listening to music - whether it be Justin Bieber,Mozart orMichael Jackson. And, as research has found that listening to music has several health benefits including relieving stress and improving cognitive performance, it’s no surprise that we regularly tune into the radio or plug in our headphones to concentrate or unwind.


Yet, despite these benefits, many teachers and parents believe that when students listen to music it distracts them, rather than benefits their learning, despite the fact music engages them and they enjoy listening to it. It begs the question: what would happen if, rather than keeping work and play as separate entities, the two were combined? And more importantly, would this approach be more productive for students?


After all, songs are very catchy; we can often memorise lyrics without even realising and find ourselves singing along the next time we hear the song. This is because the lyrics, or “hooks” as they’re known in the music industry, are repeated throughout the song and become embedded in our memory. So, if we apply this concept to studying, and combine tracks with lyrics containing revision material, then it’s going to be greatl y beneficial to students’ learning .


James Cartmell, a student from Lancashire, listened to songs containing revision lyrics for his GCSE exams and said, “The lyrics repeat the words over and over again, so it’s easy to remember and recall the content. In exams, you can think back and remember the songs, rather than the boring pages of a textbook.”


Likewise, if we can give our students a contemporary way to revise - one that doesn’t necessarily involve a pen and paper and time spent sat at a desk- then it’s going to engage them far better and, in turn, they’re going to spend more time revising, rather than misdirecting their energy Listening to music may have once been perceived as a


for students, but for today’s students it can be used as a tool for revision, an effective method o f revision that not only appeals to them, but ensures that all-important material for their exams is retained in their long-term memory and can be easily recalled.


With the proliferation of edtech and the variety of revision resources available, students are able to revise in a way that motivates them, and appeals to their tech-savvy, instant and millennial lifestyles, giving them the chance to enjoy studying and, in turn, improve those all-important exam


Novemb e grades.


r 2016 2016


procrastination form and time.


VIEWS & OPINIO N


Safeguarding in schools: b e safe, not sorry


ry constable,MART


Comment by former chief RTIN BAKER,


managing director of My Concern’s creators One TeamLogi c


Safeguarding continues to be an increasingly important challenge for schools, with the Department for Education’s (DfE) recent release of its updated statutory guidance, ‘Keeping Children Safe in Education’, clearly demonstrating Government’s continued focus on the need for further improvements in professional practice.


The guidance stresses that in addition to putting preventative processes in place there is also a need to build a mutual understanding between, staff, students and parents of the dangers and risks. One of the major challenges is bringing together the ‘real world’ and ‘digital world’ issues affecting students, putting the student at the centre and taking a holistic view of what is going on in The range of safeguarding concerns now has grown exponentially to include issues su exploitation, female genital mutilation, radi c


being handled in schools their world.


alisation, on-line bullyin g ch as child sexual


and e-safety issues. In addition, there has also been a significant increase in the number of young people experiencing complex mental health issues, with self-harm a common problem. This creates an enormous responsibility for schools in managing what can be extremely challenging and time-consuming issues. The evidence clearly shows that even more time is being spent on safeguarding – but in most cases this is being managed on paper and email.


Given the volume of information being produced in schools there is an increasing need to ensure that data is securely stored, but still accessible and shared appropriately. Serious Case Reviews frequently criticise agencies for not sharing relevant information but this can be extremely difficult to achieve when that information is on paper and locked away in someone’s office. This is where secure cloud-based solutions come into their own, enabling data to be shared within schools, between agencies, in multi-academy trusts and across local geographical areas.


This helps to identify emerging trends and spot all safeguarding concerns affecting an individual, group or whole school. In turn, every one of those schools is then able to take a consistent approach in the way in which safeguarding concerns are reported, which will inevitably have a big impact on effectiveness.


A recent example of this approach in action is within the Service n’s Education Service run by theMinistry of Defence (MoD). nistry recognised the importance of equipping and protecting its 21 schools internationally through the introduction of our secure safeguarding software,MyConcern, which provides both an enhanced local capability forMoD schools as well as the functionality to analyse safeguarding data, to identify trends and to share information internally and with trusted partner agencies, environment.


TheMi Childre


While the prevention of risks and protecti


on of students is key, all in a secure


schools must not forget to remain compliant when it comes to purchasing. This can easily be achieved through the use of an education sector specialist framework. As NeilWatkins, managing director of Think IT, explains: “EU procurement frameworks make it easier and more cost effective for schools. Rather than having to write detailed requirement specifications, go out to tender and evaluat e lengthy and often technical proposals, they can simply purchase through a specialist framework, like Think IT, which is what theMOD schools did. It removes the headache of whether schools are complying with legislation and means that they can buy with the reassurance and confidence that software is not only fit for purpose, but also high-quality.”


www. wwweducation-toda y.co.uk.co.uk 51


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