Primary education: working with partnerships for the new era

Sally Elton-Chalcraft (UoC)Alice Hansen (alicehansen.co.uk)

Alison Jackson (TEAN)Elaine McCreery (MMU)

David Morris (UEL)

Session Outline

• Introduction to TEAN• Overview of the project• Case studies:

– Manchester Metropolitan University– University of East London– University of Cumbria

• Discussion• Plenary

TEAN

The project

The needs of primary teacher educators across England in relation to their ITE curriculum

development

Report: this can be found at:https://stream.cumbria.ac.uk/ap/tean/index.html

The objective was to develop, evaluate and analyse case studies in ITE designed to address

the challenges facing ITE providers.

Project overview

Project components and timings

January - July 2010

Case Studies from three ITE providers

August 2010

Report completed

Case studies published as appendices & resources

for ITE community

March 2010

ITE Co-ordinators (n = 84)

Issues identified

Election June/July 2010

ITE providers (n = 40) Online survey

Presentation aims

1) To identify factors that contribute to the development of successful partnerships.

2) To explore the impact of ITE partnership approaches that enables student teachers to:– plan a child-focused learning experiences – use cross-curricular ways of working– improve subject confidence and expertise– take risks– prepare for a range of future contexts

Manchester Metropolitan University

Manchester Art Gallery

• Focused on imagination and looked at innovative ways of interpreting and using art work.

• Gave us the opportunity to think about how we could use these experiences back in the classroom.

‘For every failure, there's an alternative course of action. You just have to find it. When you come to a roadblock, take a detour.’

Mary Kay Ash

Student Enquiry Conference

• Encouraged us to step out of our comfort zones.

• Gave us ideas on how to start planning a creative scheme of work.

• Gave us ideas of how we could implement creativity into the classroom.

‘If you want to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first create the universe.’

Carl Sagan

What is creativity?

• The ability to take risks and step out of comfort zones.

• The ability to acknowledge possible problems instead of having them presented.

• The ability to use imagination to generate new ideas.

• The ability to be resilient and solve problems, even when hurdles arise.

• The ability to set targets and goals and achieve them.

‘Thank goodness I was never sent to school; it would have rubbed off some of the originality.’

Beatrix Potter

Benefits and restrictions of creative and cross- curricular teaching

Positives • Would fit in well with the

proposed new curriculum.• Allows children to transfer

their knowledge and skills between subjects.

• Strengthens the relevance of the curriculum.

• Useful for APP.• Motivates some children

who struggle with certain subjects.

Negatives• Current curriculum

causes restrictions.• Finding resources and

stimulus can be difficult.• Some children may

struggle to adjust to the teaching and learning style.

‘The way to get good ideas is to get lots of ideas, and throw the bad ones away.’

Linus Pauling

With thanks to:Hayley WyattJoanne PatonLeanne Doole

All children are artists. The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up. Pablo Picasso

University of East London

THAMES VIEW INFANTS – A LEADING EDGE ICT PARTNERSHIP

An evaluation of how onsite training in an ICT leading-edge infant school impacts on PGCE students’ ability to effectively integrate the use of technology

across the primary curriculum.

Strengths of the modelof partnership used

• Provides a training opportunity that couldn’t be replicated at university• Encourages a deeper dialogue between the school and UEL• Provides a successful model of ICT provision across the curriculum which is

vibrant and innovative• Student teachers get to see the model working for themselves• Affords the opportunity to see how home access engages families and the

community• Appreciate what the school achieves in the context of its socio economic

background• Compensates for any experiences where they may be in a low ICT resource

setting or where leadership and the use of ICT are lacking• Affords the opportunity to understand the wider context and application of

ICT in school such as a paperless admin office and the role of the school’s ICT technician

• Enables teachers and staff in school to appreciate that what they take for granted is leading edge.

Benefits of the partnership

The Headteacher commented that:• The experience was vibrant and real providing a hands on experience

as opposed to a “lecture style” approach towards teaching and learning.

Teachers / mentors commented that:• It provided the opportunity to actively and practically engage with

teaching technologies without being under the pressure of observation• Afforded an opportunity to see what children can achieve with ICT

despite coming from a socio-economic challenging background• Gave them experience of teaching children who were used to using

technology on a daily basis to support their learning in every subject• Student teachers could experience first hand high levels of pupil

engagement in using ICT across the curriculum.

Impact on student teachers' learning

Key themes emerging from the students’ focus group:• Their surprise and enhanced awareness of what very young children could

achieve in terms of using ICT to support learning in different subjects given the right resourcing and school ethos

• The way in which bespoke ICT resourcing was used to meet the needs of learners such as a wide range of early years toys and enlarged and colour coded keyboards

• Students commented on the benefits of seeing practice where a wide range of ICT applications are being used to support learning

• The removal of misconceptions that high levels of ICT usage would have a detrimental impact on pupils’ social skills and achievement in traditional areas of the curriculum

• The way in which the experience prepared them for working in a high or low ICT resource setting

• The chance to see what was possible with good examples of ICT being embedded in every subject including PE

• Allowing them to make the connection between the use of ICTs in university based sessions and their application in the classroom.

Cross curricular ICT learning experiences

How did they make wine?Marketing and tourism

Coming home from the mill - LS Lowry

Bringing the mill to life

Implications for future practice

Development points included but were not limited to:• Build in student preparation prior to the visit, for example by making a teaching

pack available online beforehand• Each Thames View Infants training day is currently supervised by the ICT tutors

and this experience needs to be broadened to allow all members of the primary team to have this experience

• Create an ownership opportunity where the primary PGCE team attend an INSET session and jointly plan the design of the Thames View Infants training day with the school staff

• Extend the Thames View Infants training to more than one day• Consider splitting the training day by timetabling an early observation visit prior

to UEL based sessions and prior to the delivery of a lesson at Thames View Infants

• Develop a partnership with a school where student teachers have the opportunity to experience a similar environment in Key Stage 2.

University of Cumbria• Case study: An evaluation

of the impact of a one week saturation placement on- children’s, teacher’s, and student teacher’s learning.

• One child said:

‘It was the funnest week in the whole history of funnest weeks’

Evidence of impact on student teacher’s learning:• Ownership of learning : ‘more informal approach can let

children guide their own learning far more’ • Cross curricular learning : ‘revisiting topics increases

understanding’• Motivation :‘children were motivated and could see that their

work was purposeful, ‘ children were more motivated to achieve through this teaching and learning style’

• Children’s progression Students commented that the placement encouraged ‘flexible approach to teaching which enabled all learners to progress’

Rooted in theory: Fisher and Williams (2004 ch 12) Time for creativityBoden (2001) Creativity and knowledge baseHeilmann (2005:15) Extensive knowledge in the field

Student teacher’s learning

• Impact on student’s professional understanding ‘Aware of how to introduce creative thinking into all aspects of the curriculum’, ‘make links between curriculum areas more clear’

• Impact on final block Students said ‘using all aspects learned about in this placement having seen their advantages and disadvantages and how to apply them in the classroom feel as though my toolbox has more equipment in it now.’ ‘ thinking about skills not subjects’, ‘contextualised learning and free play’, ‘teacher in role’, ‘interaction and involvement and engagement’ .

Professional Understanding

• One student felt that by adopting creative techniques in the classroom might pre empt behaviour issues ‘helpful with behaviour management strategies’.

• Reservations ‘difficult for some children to adapt to change and there was a need for more gradual introduction [to the placement] , ‘ probably not a true to life reflection of normal teaching’, ‘you wouldn’t be able to be quite so energetic in every lesson as both you and the children would be exhausted’, ‘I’m still getting to grips with lesson delivery behaviour, assessment differentiation and resources and to incorporate creative thinking seems not of primary importance’ ‘Sometimes children found the change to routine difficult’

Claxton (1998:14) “more intelligent to be less busy”

Behaviour management

Impact on learningEvidence of impact on children’s learning:• The majority of children from each of the

four schools said that they found the work fun ‘They were brilliantly fun’.

• Several children also spoke of excitement ‘I remember being being excited when we

were about to make our inventions’ ‘felt free every day’

• A teacher commented ‘ the children were enthusiastic and engaged’.

Next steps in relation to developing the model further

Issues which we will address in the future include: • Ensuring the module is delivered in appropriate time slots –

the students meet the teachers at least 3 months before the week placement. The Seminar and lectures provide students with sufficient time to consider : definitions of creativity, models of creative thinking, creative teaching and creative integration of subjects, reflection on activities synthesizing theory and practice etc

• Ensure all students attend the 2 visit days and the whole week’s placement to begin to build a rapport with the children and teachers

• Tutors and teachers support and encourage student collaboration in planning, teaching and reflection (seeing the benefits of a community of enquiry, knowledgeable others)

Heilmann (2005) Creativity and the BrainLoveless (2005: 27) Creativity in social and cultural contexts

Over to you• What might the ‘new era’ look like?• What partnership issues are you currently

discussing in your provision, and how are you addressing them?

• What do you feel are the factors that contribute to successful placements?

• What approaches are you using to enable high-quality partnerships that enhance student teachers’ learning?

• How might you use the case studies with your colleagues/student teachers/mentors?

BibliographyBoden (2001) Creativity and knowledge ch 6 in Craft, A., Jeffrey, B. and

Leibling, M. eds (2001) Creativity in Education London: ContinuumClaxton, G. (1998) Hare Brain Tortoise Mind: Why intelligence increases when

you think less Forth Estate: LondonFisher, R and Williams, M. eds (2004) Unlocking Creativity London: David

FullenHeilmann, K.M. (2005) Creativity and the Brain Hove: Taylor FrancisLoveless, A. (2005) Thinking about Creativity ch 2 in Wilson, A. ed (2005)

Creativity in Primary Education Exeter: Learning Matters