The learning journey for maths_776

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The learning journey for maths
The education journey from Foundation stage to GCSE should indeed be a journey of excitement and exploration and a route once travelled never forgotten. The enjoyment of what you tried, how you tackled it and who shared the experiences with you should be memorable. But what is the reality of the journey through some of our educational establishments? One that is engaging, interesting and fulfilling or a journey inadvertently forgotten, like a drive through a dull and lifeless landscape? Which experience do we want for our pupils and students if they are to be inspired and have the skills to continue the learning journey?Some educational journeys can be likened to a car journey using a satellite navigation (SAT NAV) system. The directions given from the system will of course help you to reach your destination but what of the journey itself, is it one of constant attention without deviation to a focus of knowledge throughout, awaiting the next piece of information at chosen given times? The SAT NAV instructs us where to go, when to turn right or left, when to leave the motorway, which junction to choose, which exit to take on the roundabout, when to turn around and of course it informs us when we have arrived at our destination.Similarly many teachers can be as didactic in their approach to the teaching of their students, recommending the best way, directing the class how to tackle a question, how to solve a problem, how to plan an assignment and students follow the route, fully attentive never veering from the route. They travel through their educational journey diligently, without question, for they did not have the opportunity to question only listen and absorb. Inevitably they will reach their destination, many most successfully but then as they leave school with their qualifications their part in it all can sometimes be doubted,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych]!Questions could then be asked, how did they get there and what will they do without the instructional force? What choices did they make, what decisions were deliberated upon, what reasoning occurred along the way? The journey was a successful one but what of learning?The SAT NAV education approach comes into its own,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], reaching your destination – successfully indeed but what’s in between – can they remember the route; find their way back, where have they been, what roads were taken?Consider the journey without the additional support of a SAT NAV. The journey begins – which route shall we take? Which motorways or road will we choose? What will determine our choice? The weather, any roadworks, who our passengers are on our journey, the time of year, the time of day. What will happen should there be a traffic incident, which route shall we plan to avoid it, how will we know – what information source shall we use? where will we leave or join the motorway again – what time will we get there? Think of the feeling of success on arrival at your destination – the experience of learning along the way. The choices which were correct, the choices one wouldn’t make again, the memory of the route all instigated by the driver and perhaps through sharing thoughts with the passengers. Experiences in the classroom need to be more like this to promote good learning and a memorable start for our children if they are to continue as life long learners.Our students need to have the opportunities to make choices,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], to share ideas along the way, to get things wrong and correct themselves, to reason and communicate their ideas with their peers, to participate in their learning journey and assess their achievements. They need to share in their successes and plan routes and action to improve on their weaknesses. Research tells us that following a diet within schools of being instructed and directed through exams does not benefit students as lifelong learners and in entering university difficulties arise for these students who now have to begin their thinking journey without the skills of enquiry needed to do so!It is with this in mind that we need to reflect on practices within our schools and within our own classrooms, what are the conditions for learning like to support students in your classroom? Is the climate encouraging choice, risk taking and rich in learning opportunities or one that is limited in pupil choice, more directive and instructive in directing children in what you think they should do and where you think they should go?It is indeed an opportunity for us to review the conditions in which our children should begin their journey to become life-long learners. How would you describe the climate in your classroom? Do children ask questions, reason and debate in your lessons, take risks and have opportunities to reflect and self-correct their ideas, are they motivated as learners or are they passive? Is the most common sound heard in the classroom, the sound of your voice?The Excellence and Enjoyment package from the Primary National Strategy contains CPD material and resources to help create a learning culture in the classroom in its Conditions for Learning booklet. One section looks in more detail at the impact effective teaching has on learning, creating classroom environments, which empower students to make decisions and confidently participating in their learning. The quality of teaching is the key factor that contributes to creating these conditions. In developing a thinking environment we need to reflect on the learning activities we give our children to tackle. Do they challenge our children to think, reason and communicate or are they note taking or practising what they already know? Have we moved our children’s learning on in the tasks we have set or are they filling and drilling? How often was the homework the copying of a diagram or the answer to a closed question from a textbook? Opportunities need to engage our children and challenge them to think.The questions we ask, how open are they – do they make cognitive demands on our students? Higher order level questions can provide a productive and progressive challenge to learning. We need to ask fewer questions, which lack value in favour of higher order questions, which will stimulate our students. (Blooms Taxonomy 1956).The interactions we facilitate within our lessons, what opportunities do we provide for paired talk and group interaction? Children learn well from their peers, effective paired talk builds confidence and can support our learners to develop good communication and reasoning skills. The way in which we arrange our classrooms, pair our children and scaffold group interaction build our students’ learning power. How often do children become so engrossed in their focused discussions that you appear to be in the way?The motivation we strive to create in our classrooms begins with the teacher. How do we appear in the classroom door to begin our lessons – happy, welcoming, eager to start or less than presentable, tired and harassed? Have you looked around the school hall on a Monday morning assembly and viewed your colleagues’ expressions and body language, our children certainly do? Children need to feel they are wanted in their lessons that their contribution is important. We need to ensure they know they count and that every child does matter.The SAT NAV system for motorists is indeed a wonderful device; it enables drivers to navigate from one destination to another with few skills needed to be drawn upon. It does not enhance the motorist’s education nor challenge his thinking. The SAT NAV education shuttles our students from a starting point to an end, some learning will take place along the way, through one exam to another but the contribution to learning power is very limited. As both state and independent schools address research which confirms these findings we need to reflect on current practice in our classrooms and in our schools. Helping our children to develop as confident, enthusiastic and effective life-long learners to fulfil their full potential which cannot be co-navigated through simply exam instruction and technique. It must be nurtured throughout their school life and effective teaching is the most successful route.References Bloom B et al (1956) Taxonomy of educational goalsClaxton G (2002) Building Learning PowerWegeref R, Littleton K, Dawes L, Mercer N and Rowe D (2004) Widening Access to educational opportunities through teaching children how to reason togetherBuilding Learning Power – [link widoczny dla zalogowanych]
The Court of Appeal pointed out that R and F's submission in the county court was of overt, conscious racism, and it was not prepared to find that there had been unconscious discrimination.The decisionThe Court of Appeal said that, unlike the ordinary civil claim where the judge decides, on the claimant's evidence only, whether the claimant has made out a case, in this case the judge had had the benefit of the whole of the evidence. Despite the school's failure to comply with the statutory requirements, the judge had been entitled to find on the basis of all the evidence that R and F had not proved racial discrimination.

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