CONTRIBUTORS The art of collaboration
This month, GRAHAM COOPER, head of product strategy, Capita SIMS, offers some pointers for schools thinking about collaborating with other establishments to improve educational outcomes.
Many schools are looking at ways in which they can work together across departments or across different schools to improve educational outcomes, increase opportunities for professional development and enrich their pupils’ learning experiences. But what is the secret to a successful collaboration, and how can you
increase opportunities to collaborate to improve your teaching practice? Capita SIMS ran a workshop on the subject and asked teachers from a range of schools for their views.
Investigate a range of partnerships When we talk about collaboration, chances are that we are referring to formal meetings held with neighbouring schools in which one school moderates the other’s practices. But the advice from our delegates was not to think only about formal school-to-school relationships; consider external links with universities, or less formal meetups with colleagues in nearby schools too.
Gather together a team Let’s be frank, getting a collaboration up and running won’t be easy. To sell collaboration to everyone, gather together those who share your vision to help your idea gain momentum. Remember too that it is much easier to create a sense of engagement when
the person you are asking to join your team knows they have something to offer on that subject. Work to the key strengths of the people in your group. And never underestimate the value of meeting people face to face.
Face the fear From the outset, accept that your collaboration idea will face barriers, so plan how you might respond to them. Individuals may worry that a new project could put pressure on their already
busy workload. Provide evidence that it will have a positive impact once things get off the ground. And hold regular meetings to ensure everyone is given the opportunity to air their views.
Solve problems together Collaborations work best when there is an objective or problem to solve. Take the new assessment landscape, it would be useful to exchange ideas and advice with neighbouring schools to improve your own practice. Or instead look at the issue of literacy amongst boys in your area. If you’re a primary, think about inviting teachers from nearby secondary
schools to a few lessons. One of our delegates revealed how it gave secondary teachers an insight into the quality of work the children can produce – they had not expected it to be so high, and so meant they felt they should set the bar higher when pupils join his school from now on. You may get value from sharing data too. By allowing every school in a
multi-academy trust to see what the strengths and weaknesses are across the group, for example, individual schools could work with those facing similar challenges to their own.
Involve students Students can be your best ambassadors for collaborative working. A panel member recalled how a maths trail was held in the woods for a number of local schools. It encouraged students to bounce ideas off each other, with one boy saying, “We work this problem out like this at school. How do you work it out?” Another who arranged for some GCSE music students to help with primary school music classes revealed how the younger children were much less anxious about starting secondary school.
Go it alone If, despite your best efforts, your school is not ready for collaboration, try to develop your own peer-to-peer collaborations. Bouncing ideas off teachers in other schools gives you a good test run before implementing them in your own lessons. Don’t forget to check social media for details about local TeachMeet events where you can find potential collaborators and exchange ideas too. Remember, distance need not be a barrier to creating a community of
teachers either. Start conversations on Twitter or write a blog to encourage a dialogue with other teachers from around the country. Happy collaborating.
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Teaching practical science as a non-specialist
This month, regular Education Today contributor KIRSTY BERTENSHAWoffers advice to non-specialist teachers having to teach science.
With a shortage of teachers in general, and lack of funding for schools, it is now more common than ever for non-specialist teachers to be teaching a practical subject such as science. These may be teachers from other subjects taking on a few lessons a week, cover teachers taking over a class, or unqualified teachers and supply teachers. While this allows teachers to broaden their own horizons, and enjoy a new part of the curriculum, it does lead to concerns about quality of teaching and safety. This concern has been raised by CLEAPPS among other organisations. So if you are a non-specialist teaching science, what can you do to
ensure the safety of yourself and your classes while embracing the experimental nature of the subject? Firstly, decide if the practical is beneficial to the teaching and learning,
or if it is just for the sake of doing a practical activity. Work out if the activity has to be practical. Can the class learn a concept another way, using active learning such as an information hunt, comprehension task or modelling? This can be tricky when teaching GCSE or A-Levels as the new courses require practical work to be carried out. Can the practical be amended so the class only do a small part of it, preferably the easiest and least dangerous? If a practical is required, can you get training from a colleague? Often,
technicians can teach you how to set up equipment and carry out practicals safely. It is really important to practice a practical you haven’t done before to evaluate the potential pitfalls and hazards, decide where you want equipment stored and how to tidy up the experiment at the end. Observe a lesson with the same or similar practical. This way, you can see how safety concerns are addressed, and work out how to organise the practical when you have a room full of students. Training courses are often available from organisations such as the
Institute of Physics (IOP), STEM learning centres or even Osiris Educational. These are specifically designed for non-specialist teachers and cover the more common practical elements in GCSE and A-Level courses. If your school can’t fund a course, you can buy books from various online marketplace sellers designed for non-specialists. Practical science doesn’t always go to plan, and the simplest practicals
can produce anomalous results. This can be confusing to young students and undermine the content being taught. One solution to this is to show a video of the practical instead. There is a great deal of YouTube devoted to common science practicals. Be aware - they may be using different equipment, terminology or pronunciation if they are US videos. If it is an obscure practical, it may be necessary to film a technician or colleague performing the practical. Another alternative is using an animation available on the internet. These are particularly good for time consuming practicals, and to show what the inside of equipment looks like. If videos and animations aren’t suitable, then why not ask a
technician to demonstrate the practical instead? Technicians know the equipment better than most teachers, they have better practical skills, and can usually answer the weirdest questions! Using a different staff member can also have the advantage of being more exciting than usual lessons, so students are more observant than usual. Ultimately, don’t be intimidated by the idea of practical work, there are alternatives and help is available!
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http://www.saps.org.uk/secondary/themes/1280 u
http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/article/40-cool-science- experiments-web
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https://www.stem.org.uk/cpd/44588/physics-non-specialists- learning-language-physics-introducing-energy-and-electricity
October 2016
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