BESA CORNER
This month, in our ongoing feature highlighting the work of members of the UK education suppliers’ trade body BESA, we hear from publisher ORIEL SQUARE; and learn about speech and language support programme SECONDARY LANGUAGE LINK.
Preparing learners for the demands of the digital workplace
Why direct instruction and the development of core knowledge and skills are vital components in preparing learners for the demands of the digital workplace.
We are delighted to share insights and experiences from those involved with education across the globe in our Autumn issue of Oriel Square’s “Education Insights, Trends in International Education”. In this edited extract, Phillip Lupton and Hana Twebti discuss three key principles to help leaders prepare learners for the demands of the digital workplace. Are we at risk of putting the digital cart before the horse?
Whether you’re excited or unnerved by the increasing pervasiveness of digital technology, there’s no denying its growing impact on how and what we
teach. A recent McKinsey & Company report considers how educators should respond to digitalisation:
‘As companies in all sectors deploy new technologies … workers need to adapt their capabilities continuously. Private- and public-sector leaders have a critical role to play in helping prepare the workforce of tomorrow for this skills revolution.’
The report arrives in an educational landscape in which all stakeholders must grapple with the potential uses and misuses of language learning models (LLMs) like ChatGPT. Leaders in K-12 education will find the following three principles to be useful navigational aids: • Digital use does not in itself develop digital literacy. • Prerequisite knowledge and skills still matter. • Effective teachers and school leaders understand points 1 and 2. Digital use does not in itself develop digital literacy
To kick us off, let’s get this old chestnut out of the way: like Santa and the Easter Bunny, ‘digital natives’ do not exist. Like all skills, digital literacy must be explicitly taught to prepare students for the demands of the future workplace and enable them to harness the power of AI or LLMs. Teachers and SLT staff might be tempted to simply incorporate digital programmes into day-to-day lessons. However, increasing only the frequency with which students use digital resources is unlikely to yield the desired results.
Prerequisite knowledge and skills still matter In 2018, PISA updated its reading assessment to reflect some of the emerging demands of this technologically led ‘skills revolution’, including what it calls ‘dynamic navigation’. The ability to ‘read from multiple sources; distinguish what is high-quality, credible information; and corroborate information, detect potential conflicts and resolve them’ (breath) is just the tip of the iceberg.
If we neglect to teach the basics of numeracy and literacy, reasoning that advanced technology has made these skills redundant, we actually limit our students in understanding and using said technologies to their full potential.
Effective teachers and school leaders understand points 1 and 2 When setting a course for the future, school leaders must ensure their educational vessels are well calibrated to the demands of the emerging digital workplace. This means supporting teachers in developing solid comprehension of what constitutes good teaching and learning in this environment. Professional development courses can offer this support and should cover the two orienting principles we’ve discussed to properly equip teachers with the essentials they will need in today’s classrooms.
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Key Stage 3 is a golden opportunity for developing speech and language
In this extract from ‘Between Brains: Supporting SLCN in Tweens and Teens’, Juliet Leonard, specialist speech and language therapist, discusses Key Stage 3 intervention for students with SLCN.
In the last year the shocking rise in speech and language challenges has been widely reported with one in five pupils at
primary and secondary schools struggling to talk and understand words. For those students who ‘slip through the net,’ it’s not too late. Key stage 3 is a crucial time for intervention for students with SLCN. While teenagers are a wonderful group of people, the changes that are occurring in their brains can be overlooked or perhaps misinterpreted. So, what is happening in brain function at this age and how can we support young people with inspiring and motivational, but functional interventions?
The changing brain
A child’s brain is fully grown by the age of 6 and so the changes occurring in the adolescent brain are not about size, but about composition. Hormones start to kick in and (aside from the obvious physical changes) the second largest change in brain development begins. The brain is having an ‘edit’ and an ‘upgrade’ and neural connections are becoming hardwired in a process called ‘sprouting’. At the same time, neural links that are not frequently used are dying away, which is called ‘pruning’. The remaining neural links are upgraded, the signals are sped up and the brain begins to work more efficiently than it has ever worked before.
There is something else that is special about this time. Over the adolescent years, the brain gains speed but also loses flexibility and reliability, but there are some years in adolescence when the teen brain is still increasing in speed while maintaining pliability and agility. This golden window of opportunity is an excellent time to focus on speech and language, as sprouting occurs when ideas are reinforced. As students are at a ‘use it or lose it’ stage, we need to use this chance to hardwire the skills that will be useful, can be generalised, and that will set them up for adulthood.
Suggestions • Language tasks should be directly related to the student’s experiences to increase engagement and enable the best chance of them generalising skills.
• Give the student frequent decision-making opportunities that put them in the position of leader – especially regarding topics where the student is the ‘expert’.
• Provide space for independence – time for spoken problem-solving, personal reflection and identification of strengths and needs.
• Focus on functional – skills must be useful and natural for the student to be able to take their new skills and put them into practice.
• Use an evidence-based speech and language support programme such as Secondary Language Link.
How can Secondary Language Link help? • The universal standardised screen identifies the needs of students aged 11-14 years. Speech & Language Link recommends it is used with all of year 7
• Targeted, immersive interventions support identified students in small groups
• Tracks progress • Supports professional development for staff with the SLCN Toolkit
For more information and to book your FREE TRIAL please visit ๎
www.speechandlanguage.info
January 2024
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