Lowest attaining 20%
Jan 16th, 2007 by Don Ledingham
At the Musselburgh Cluster meeting today we discussed our strategy for supporting the lowest attaining 20% of students in East Lothian.
We had a very stimulating debate about this issue and a number of questions emerged:
1. Is there a difference between the lowest attaining and those with the lowest ability?
We thought there was - it is possible to have low attaining pupils who have plenty latent ability but who underachieve due to a variety of complex variables
2. Are the lowest attaining 20% of pupils in East Lothian in the lowest attaining 20% of pupils in Scotland?
The statistics would suggest that they are not. In fact only around 5% of our pupils would make into the national group.
3. Will all the work - e.g. tracking, curriculum, planning. target setting, learning and teaching - we are doing on raising the attainment of all pupils help our lowest attaining 20%?
We reckoned it will.
4. Can we identify children who at risk of failing later in school at earlier stage?
We all could - the tell-tale signs are all too obvious?
5. Could we identify the factors which contribute to a child being more likely to fail at school?
Yes
These questions linked with a discussion we had had earlier in the morning where we had spent time considering how the poor behaviour of a small number of pupils can have a detrimental impact upon the learning of many others.
We explored the possible impact of a strategy which looked to intervene snd support children and families at an early a stage as possible. If it’s possible for a nursery teacher to say with confidence that a child will not be able to cope at secondary school why do we wait until that crisis emerges ten years later when it’s too late to do anything about it?
For our next meeting each HT will try to identify such vulnerable children in their school. We will also look at some of the research about variables which exacerbate that vulnerability. Next we’ll consider some things we could do collectively to develop a strategy which operates through the age spectrum from 0-18 including how we engage with other agencies in the development of this strategy. Finally, we will look at some case studies of children in the secondary school who are now disengaged from the learning process and try to identify why and what might have been done to avoid this consequence.
Some of the words which characterised this discussion were “radical” , targetting”, collective action” and “partnership” - I have to admit to being uplifted by such a professional and solution focussed dialogue.
Surely we need to re look at ‘early intervention’ something which I think seems to have been forgotten about. Nursery teachers I’m sure do not even look as far as secondary education. With confidence most could predict who will and wont cope with the early years of primary education.
Children learn by thinking and learn to talk by talking: “We become ourselves through others” (Vygotky).
May I suggest 3 interventions: play, play and play; interspersed with lots of stories to listen to and to create collaboratively. (And starting at 6 rather than 4 and a half might help too!)
“Today the most important and also the most difficult task in raising a child is helping him [sic] to find meaning in life. To find deeper meaning, one must become able to transcend the narrow confines of a self-centred existence and believe that one will make a significant contribution to life .. In order not to be at the mercy of the vagaries of life, one must develop one’s inner resources, so that one’s emotions, imagination and intellect morally support and enrich one another .. When children are young it is literature that carries such information best.”(Bettelheim 1976)
“The major determinant of educational acheivement is the extent of a child’s literacy. Without the ability to cope with the linguistic representation of ideas that are disembedded from a context of specific personal experience, children become progressively less able to meet the demands of an academic curriculum and are judged to be intellectually limited (whether justly or not)” (Wells 1986).
Oops this is becoming an M.Phil dissertation! Sorry.
Dear Hilery,
Just a note to say I find myself in complete agreement with you, dissertation or not. Perhaps if teachers get a chance to cater more for different learning styles it might help the situation, but I’m afraid for the children who can’t translate their thoughts into written language the future is tough. My daughter does almost all her creative work as art and craft, what do I do with her ?
I don’t know blogging protocol so I shall write a short, simplistic answer to Jane’s question. Hope that’s okay.
Get her some mind mapping software, Jane, (Kidspiration, Inspiration - in all schools; Mind Genius - in secondaries) so that she can record her creative thoughts. The programs translate the thoughts into linear format and into Word or Powerpoint format if required so that an outline of work in more traditional ways is produced relatively simply. At least then she may have broken that awful blank-sheet-of-paper problem!
No guarantees - but something to explore. Hope this helps.
PS I’m happy to talk any kids or teachers within East Lothian through mind mapping - or other ’study skills’/learning styles. Contact me (Dyslexia Support Service) through Pupil Support. That’s my promotion over, Don.
Thanks Hilery, I shall certainly try that.
Perhaps I’d better email you at your own Base instead of taking up space on Don’s Blog. I’ll send you my email address.
Best wishes,
Jane Peterson.
Well, it’s really useful for many of us so if you can explain more here or, better still, on the new ASN blog that David’s just about set up that would be great.
This would be so useful. My sister told me that I should find a book on mind mapping (completely forgotten the author/title) - have looked for it without success. I’ve just been trying to get my eldest to do some revision for prelims & am trying to get him to do some mind maps or at least flash cards to break up the information, but it is brick wall stuff. It would be great to see some of this type of thing come out of the schools directly to the parents - I need educating too - so that we can feed it back to the children. I was about to write something on my blog about it, which I still will, but I think peer tutoring would also be a big help. Parents & teachers simply don’t do cool.
The originator of the term was Tony Buzan, and he has written a whole pile of books on this and other mind-related topics. Here’s an attempt at a list
I use Mind Maps all the time, and think they’re really useful. Maybe your son would like the idea of mind-mapping software, such as the free, open-source, Freemind, which Don has mentioned before?
Tony Buzan, that was the man. I’ll take a look at Freemind.
Once the ASN blog is up and running (how will we know?) I should be delighted to put up my own presentations and thoughts on Learning to Learn, and anything I know about learning differences and styles. I believe enabling children and young people to learn HOW to learn is the most important thing professionals can do. To (mis)quote Hoffer: ‘In times of change, learners will inherit the earth while the learned are beautifully equipped for a world that no longer exists’.
I will certainly be very happy to contribute to a community of interest once the ASN blog is online - though I would hate it if this stuff were regarded as solely for those with additional support needs. ALL kids benefit from demontrating their knowledge and understanding in different ways. We need to challenge our ‘able’ (whatever that means) pupils to the point of failure (but make it safe to fail). Sometimes expecting them to provide a piece of work in a different format (e.g. a visual representation or a role play rather than a piece of continuous prose) is just the right challenge they need to stimulate deep thinking and reflection. Obvious but true nonetheless.
For despairing parents (mine’s in the middle of Higher prelims too. Oh the angst):
The LT Scotland website http://www.ltscotland.org.uk/studyskills…) has some very illustrative pointers on study skills generally, divided into 3 sections: 5-9, 10-14 , 15 +. There you will find useful tips on memory, organisation, exam techniques, etc. with some interaction to motivate kids.
For teachers, I recommend anything by Alistair Smith (and others) at Network Educational Press on learning to learn - very user friendly summaries of research and suggestions of practical strategies on how to implement new understanding of how the brain works into the classroom.
Oh there’s masses of information. Get in touch!
Hilery
Hilery,
Today I set up the Support for All blog. So far you, Elizabeth Cowan and Katy MacDougall are set up with access. I’ll be emailing with details.
Thanks David. I’ll look forward to exploring.