Teachers demand clarity over definition of ‘coasting schools’

The Department for Education's 'coasting schools' policy will target ‘requiring improvement’ schools, but Nicky Morgan says it will also be about student progress and whether young people ‘reach their potential’. Her comments have sparked calls for more clarity. Pete Henshaw reports

Teachers and school leaders are calling for clarity over the government’s plans to intervene in so-called “coasting” schools.

At the very least, they want to have a clearer definition of what the term “coasting” actually means.

They have also warned the government that its discourse so far about the new policy is not a “helpful way of finding a solution” to often-complex problems.

It came as, over the weekend, education secretary Nicky Morgan revealed details of the policy – which was part of the Conservative election manifesto – to the media.

The manifesto document stated that “any school judged by Ofsted to be requiring improvement will be taken over by the best headteachers – backed by expert sponsors or high-performing neighbouring schools – unless it can demonstrate that it has a plan to improve rapidly.”

However, on Sunday (May 17), Ms Morgan said that while schools in Ofsted’s category of “requiring improvement” would indeed be targeted, the policy would also be “about (student) progress” and whether students are “reaching their potential”.

The plans are to be included within the Queen’s Speech next week, and will come alongside new powers to intervene in “failing” schools, including giving Regional Schools Commissioners the ability to bring in new leadership and support from other excellent schools and speeding up the process of turning schools into academies.

Speaking to the BBC on Sunday, Ms Morgan sought to clarify the coasting schools policy. She said: “We will look and see at the schools, whether it is that they are in the requires improvement category, but it is also about progress. 

“We’re introducing a new measure in secondary schools looking at the progress that students make over the course of their time there. Why is it that in some schools students are reaching their full potential and in other schools they’re not? It may be down to leadership.”

She continued: “I want to be very clear. Where heads show that they absolutely have the capacity to improve, they have a plan, they’re working with their governors, we want to give them time to do that.

“But where it is clear that the school does not have the capacity or the plan to get themselves out of requires improvement or be helping their students to fulfil their potential, to make their progress then ... we will intervene, we will put in support, there are National Leaders of Education, and of course we will look at the academy model too.”

And writing in the Sunday Telegraph, Ms Morgan added: “We’ll introduce new powers to intervene not just in failing schools, but in coasting schools – with a clear message that it is not okay to be just above the level of failing.

“These schools must improve too and will be put on immediate notice and required to work with our team of expert headteachers. Those that aren’t able to demonstrate a clear plan for improvement will be given new leadership – we know this works in turning schools around.”

There are 3,150 secondary schools in England, 23 per cent of which are currently within the requiring improvement category – around 725 schools. Seventy per cent are good or outstanding and six per cent are rated “inadequate”.

Teachers said this week that they want more clarity about the policy. Kevin Courtney, deputy general secretary of the National Union of Teachers, said: “It’s really unclear at the moment what they mean by coasting schools. For some people, it seems to be suggesting that every school has to be above average and that’s statistically impossible.”

Writing in his blog on Monday (May 18), Russell Hobby, general secretary of the National Association of Head Teachers, said the government’s “vague and generalised comments” would contribute to “a widespread atmosphere of fear”. He added: “How does the government define a coasting school? What interventions do they plan? What is sufficient evidence of a plan of improvement? How many schools will be targeted? A government serious about rebuilding bridges with the profession would have answered these questions before making an announcement.”

The Association of School and College Leaders, meanwhile, said that Ms Morgan’s discourse was “unhelpful”. General secretary Brian Lightman said: “Where schools are not good enough, the teaching profession and the government need to work together to put that right.

“However, a discourse about failing and ‘coasting’ schools is not a helpful way of finding a solution. The problems involved are often complex. For instance, a school may be underperforming in maths because it cannot recruit maths teachers as a result of the recruitment problems currently facing schools. 

“What is required is a carefully planned strategy for each school which addresses its particular issues. Simply changing the school structure or headteacher might not be the answer.”

Mr Courtney said that educational underachievement was often linked to poverty and urged the government to focus on social justice.

He added: “The government is looking in completely the wrong place if they are interested in social justice. There is no convincing evidence that the academies programme has improved education overall or for disadvantaged children. 

“However, there is overwhelming evidence that the poverty and inequality many children face is a real obstacle to their educational achievement. The government should act on poverty reduction urgently.”

6 ways to get your staff to engage with technology

6 ways to get your staff to engage with technology

By Rachel Jones on Wednesday, 13 May 2015 10:00 | Technology

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Not all teachers want to embrace the new technology available to them. e-learning coordinator Rachel Jones teams up with teacher and National Space Centre lead educator Daniel Harvey to discuss how digital passion can be spread.

Many schools are either; paid up members of the use-technology-in-lessons club, or are slowly coming round to understand that children's use of technology is not likely to diminish, and as such they can take the learning to the children in their classrooms taking advantage of using children's own devices.

For those enthusiastic staff, the challenge of using technology is embraced, and many schools have trailblazers of staff who really enjoy experimenting with using devices. Well, splendid for them - but what about your average classroom teacher who has a basic knowledge of technology and already feels time pressured, and so 'doesn't have time' to sit and play within and become more familiar? And what about the teacher whose classroom practice is good and supporting good pupil outcomes?
This piece looks at six ways that you can encourage staff to move from consideration of how and when devices can be used though to building their confidence in using technology and develop their practice in lessons to support student learning.
1. Give the reason they need to learn a context.
Teachers, on the most part respond well if you can demonstrate the why they need to learn something new. The best reason you can give them is that will improve their students performance, attainment and therefore impact on improved life chances. In fact, find me a teacher who doesn't want this, and I will show you someone who needs to move to different profession. With that in mind, some staff respond well to being engaged with the educational research about the impact of the use of technology. You might like to share snippets of the NAACE report on the impact of iPads at Longfield academy.
You might also like to show teachers an infographic of the SAMR model, which shows how technology can be used to really impact learning. Whatever route you chose to take, show staff the benefits are for the learners, and while staff need to be comfortable with the technology, it is the students who will be using it. You might like to make posters for each department to remind them, but remember the SAMR model is not an OFSTED judgement. If staff are working at a substitution level they need to be supported to move beyond it, not judged for their use of technology. Nurture their progress, don't judge.
2. Make staff support and flexible as possible.
A whole day of INSET dedicated to IT training would be a slow death for even the most enthusiastic tech-savvy teachers. Short, sharp blasts are much better. Run evening and lunchtime twilight sessions on different days so that teachers with duties still have the opportunity to attend. Alongside this, it really helps to have a member of staff who can support teachers in lessons. Running your first NearPod can be scary, so try and have someone who is free to do some supportive handholding or evening lurking in lessons. Be available to offer department and 1:1 support. Everyone is learning at their own pace, and will need different types of support to succeed. Basically, treat your staff like you would a very differentiated classroom and be ready with all types of support, as well as catering for emergencies when they arise.
There is no panic on earth like a lesson totally tanking because the IT isn’t working. Been there, done that, and I have the T-shirt. It really helps to let staff know the IT won't always work and that they should have a plan B. If all else fails, they should know it won't kill anyone if the kids use paper that lesson instead of blogging, for example. So, be flexible in the support you offer and be prepared to take the learning to the staff, rather than sitting there and waiting for them to come to you.
3. Drip-feed inspiration.
You know how it is when you come back from an awesome training day or a TeachMeet, all buzzy with ideas? Well, I still manage to forget most of them. Teachers during the day-to-day routine of their classrooms stand even less chance of remembering that awesome they were shown during training, no matter how great it was. You just can't compete with the pressures of reports/CP issues/inspections/marking and all the other stuff that keeps teachers’ brains busy.
I have found it really useful to send a very short (50 word max) email every day with an IT teaching and learning tip, with an image to attract the eye. I also post these to a blog so that teachers can look them up later if required. The impact of this has far surpassed my expectations, and I am often stopped in the corridor at work to be told that staff had tried using a tool recommended in the email. A quick walk down the corridor often reveals teachers using the ideas from the email, even though they never mentioned to me they they did so. This slow drip feed of information has had real impact, more so than a whole day INSET. A great forum for drip-feeding inspiration might also by a weekly teaching and learning briefing. This gives opportunity for both digital learning leads to demonstrate key tools as well as inviting staff who have had success to share their experience with staff. Presentations by students and digital leaders are also particularly powerful.
4. Embed the use of technology into the best practice framework for your school.
Some schools are using an action research model to more objectively consider the impact of a particular teaching and learning strategy. Through considered and deliberate practice, more objective reflection and data can be made to showcase exactly what digital learning strategy was used, why it was used, how it was used and developed and refined, what benefits to learning it brought about, as well as consideration of both quantitative and qualitative data cross referenced with lesson study style observations from colleagues. By putting this forward for peer review within staff body, it enables the learning gains to be considered in a more reflective and professional way. This also makes the process of showing impact take place over a longer time rather than just a handful of lessons.
5. RiskIT (and other national schemes).
The NAACE-sponsored RiskIT campaign, which has been running since 2012, can be an effective wrap-around to encourage staff to try out new ideas in safe format. Originally started by Mr A Benjeddi from Northfleet School, this programme looks to integrate positive feedback, encouragement, teaching and learning support, technical support, digital leaders. This helps both staff and students to create an environment where, for a fortnight, every teacher in the school tries to implement at least one strategy successfully in the hope and belief that it will be sustained.
6. Build the use of IT into crucial pedagogical functions, such as assessment for learning.
Digital learning tools such as Socrative, Kahoot and Quick Key enable teachers to check what has been learnt and how well in a responsive, fast and efficient way. They can also allow for assessments to be easily shared and the data compared to see what is happening within year groups and between groups. The creation of these data files can prove so useful for real just in time formative assessment through a combination of multiple choice, true/false or text based questions. They can easily become a department’s assessment tool of choice as long as careful thought goes into the question design and option choice for students. Using IT to build upon key pedagogical areas, such as assessment, is a fundamental way to show staff that it has a meaningful place in school.
These are six stories, six ways that have encouraged, enabled and supported staff to consider the benefits to learning and their practice, that informed and considered use of digital learning technology can bring. Understanding the needs of staff and how best to support staff as either individuals or as department members is critical in determining what support and learning process you choose to offer to your colleagues. Crucially, remember, you can’t win them all. Some staff will take absolute delight in refusing to engage with technology at all (using an iPad as a bookmark is one memorable episode here).
All you can do is continue to chip away, positively role modeling why the technology is useful, as well as involving their department, who might well show them some subject-based reasons for using the technology. Remember to capture success and share them it via the mechanisms described above or other ways, such as an iTunes U course or video log, which will maintain momentum with staff and help to really deepen the quality of practice.

Digital Badging Sparks Professional Learning

Monday, October 27, 2014 at 12:00am
By:

Last year, Laura Fleming, the media and technology integration specialist at New Milford High School, launched Worlds of Learning @ New Milford High School—a digital badging platform that’s ushering in a new era in teacher professional development at the New Jersey school.

The digital badging platform, which offers teachers resources for learning and using digital technology in their classrooms, is among the first of its kind to reward teachers for their informal professional learning. Because of the flexibility of the platform and the support of school administrators, New Milford teachers earning the digital badges have more control over their professional development than ever before.

Today, every teacher at New Milford High School voluntarily uses the digital badging platform, and thousands of educators and non-educators worldwide have used the website. As the concept of professional development continues to evolve, digital badging could play an important role in how educators learn and receive recognition.

GETTING STARTED

In September 2013, Fleming joined New Milford High School with a plan to revitalize the school’s media center and introduce students to digital technology. Digital badges—electronic records of achievement—could encourage students to learn new skills, she thought, but only if she could get teachers on board.

Before she could gain their support, however, she needed to introduce the faculty to the concept. “I realized no one at my school was familiar with digital badging,” she says.

Within a month, Fleming had launched the Worlds of Learning website—a digital badging platform for teachers interested in learning and applying digital tools in their classrooms. The site, she thought, would give teachers a chance to “walk the walk”—experience firsthand the benefits of digital badging as a learning tool.

Once registered for the website, teachers can choose to pursue up to 13 badges that reflect professional learning related to different elements of digital technology. The website provides resources for learning how to use digital tools and for applying those tools in the classroom. After implementing a new technology, the user submits proof—possibly a lesson plan or a textual description of how he or she used the tool—and the badge is added to the user’s digital backpack, an online display of the user’s achievements.

Fleming designed Worlds of Learning with usability in mind. The website is easy to navigate, and teachers typically need to spend no more than 10 minutes on the website to learn how to use a digital tool. “It was my hope that they would spend a larger chunk of their time integrating the tool into their practice,” Fleming says.

RECOGNIZING PROFESSIONAL LEARNING

Once the digital badging website was up and running, teachers took to it right away. Fleming presented the platform during faculty meetings, and Eric Sheninger, the school’s principal at the time, spoke to teachers about ways to use the digital badges to showcase their learning during annual evaluations.

While New Milford’s teachers are not required to use the digital badging platform, the school recognizes teachers who choose to do so. During annual evaluations, teachers present portfolios that showcase their professional learning over the year, and the digital badges provide a perfect source of evidence.

“We were able to connect and align the digital badging platform with our existing evaluation tool, and it just became a natural complement and support structure for what we were trying to accomplish,” Sheninger says.

Teacher choice—whether to use the digital badging website and which badges to pursue—has been a primary factor in the success of the initiative. Traditionally, professional development has been something “done to people,” Sheninger says. By re-conceptualizing the professional development requirement to reward teachers for training they independently pursue, he says, administrators can inspire a new attitude toward professional learning.

“A hybrid approach that blends formal and informal is the holy grail of professional learning going forward,” Sheninger says.

As a former teacher, Fleming sees enormous benefit in rewarding teachers for informal learning. Teachers have always devoted their personal time to learning new skills, but digital badges are a way to make that professional learning visible. “I think that our teachers were happy there was a system in place that would acknowledge those skills and that learning,” Fleming says.

THE IMPACT OF DIGITAL BADGING

New Milford’s digital badging initiative has contributed to “a monumental shift in teacher learning,” Sheninger says. “It turned into a healthy competition where not only were teachers getting the digital badges that were going into a digital backpack and portfolio, but they were printing the badges and showcasing them on the outside of their doorways.”

Soon after the website launched, teachers weren’t only earning badges—they were helping create them. Fleming awards digital leader badges to teachers who provide guidance to help other teachers learn new tools.

Teachers are also showing interest in digital badges for students. As is the case with teachers, Fleming anticipates that students will benefit from compiling evidence of skills that support career readiness. “The open badges stay with the learner all through their learning, no matter where they go and beyond high school,” she says.

THE FUTURE OF PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

Sheninger, who now serves as a senior fellow and thought leader on digital leadership with the International Center for Leadership in Education and Scholastic Achievement Partners, sees digital badging as just one component of a needed shift in teacher professional development. Today, he advocates for self-directed and flexible professional learning frameworks as a means of improving the quality and cost of professional development.

“It’s difficult, time-consuming, and financially constraining to go through traditional pathways for professional growth,” Sheninger says. “Now, with new platforms, people can learn in their pajamas, they can go outside, they can do it when it’s convenient for them. Most important is that they’re learning and they have something to show for their learning.”

Since launching the digital badging website a year ago, Fleming has received hundreds of requests from users hoping to replicate the platform. In response, Fleming has made its materials freely available for download. While building a similar website requires some technical expertise, Fleming admits that her own experience was somewhat limited when she began the process. “I knew in my mind what I wanted, and I had to take some risks in order to get there,” she explains.

Due in large part to her resourcefulness, Sheninger considers Fleming “the most significant hire” he has made. “I knew that bringing her in as a new type of librarian would provide that missing piece for our transformation efforts.”

What makes great teaching? Review of the underpinning research

Author: Robert Coe - Cesare Aloisi -Steve Higgins and Lee Elliot Major

Summary

This report reviews over 200 pieces of research to identify the elements of teaching with the strongest evidence of improving attainment. It finds some common practices can be harmful to learning and have no grounding in research. Specific practices which are supported by good evidence of their effectiveness are also examined and six key factors that contribute to great teaching are identified. The report also analyses different methods of evaluating teaching including: using ‘value-added’ results from student test scores; observing classroom teaching; and getting students to rate the quality of their teaching.

Key findings

The two factors with the strongest evidence of improving pupil attainment are:

• teachers’ content knowledge, including their ability to understand how students think about a subject and identify common misconceptions
• quality of instruction, which includes using strategies like effective questioning and the use of assessment

Specific practices which have good evidence of improving attainment include:

• challenging students to identify the reason why an activity is taking place in the lesson
• asking a large number of questions and checking the responses of all students
• spacing-out study or practice on a given topic, with gaps in between for forgetting
• making students take tests or generate answers, even before they have been taught the material

Common practices which are not supported by evidence include:

• using praise lavishly
• allowing learners to discover key ideas by themselves
• grouping students by ability
• presenting information to students based on their “preferred learning style”

read the full report

How to introduce mindfulness into your classroom: nine handy tips (The Guardian)

Holly Welham

Wednesday 23 July 201417.49 BST

Mindfulness, the technique of mastering "living in the moment", helps us to combat distractions in a busy world. On a personal level, practising mindfulness can be really beneficial for teachers, but studies are increasingy showing that it can be helpful for students too.

But how can you use it in the classroom? We ran a live chat on the topic recently. Plenty of teachers shared their advice, tips and tricks – here's a round up of the ideas that were shared:

• Get students to think about being mindful with some simple activities

Exploring body sensations is a nice way to introduce mindfulness to pupils. For example, you could ask students to walk slowly, or get them to eat something enjoyable and then something unpleasant (I use raw onion or mild chilli), so they can focus on savouring the now and exploring discomfort. Also, playing with a shock ball is a good approach to talking about turning towards life's fears.

• Don't neglect to teach the theories behind mindfulness

I've found that as much as teenagers enjoy learning the technique, they also like to understand the principles that come with the practice. For example, what are the relationships between the body, mind, emotion and action?

• Address concerns that the practice will conflict with religious beliefs

There is a wide mix of faiths in my school, with some very devout Christian and Muslim pupils, and I have to say, this has not been a problem when teaching mindfulness. I think the fact that we present the method as part of a healthy lifestyle, as opposed to a religious practice, has helped with this.

Students are taught the technique as part of personal, social and health education. This subject is timetabled for all students and in these classes we teach all sorts of life skills, from voting to relationships. It is presented as one possible way to move towards better mental health and we are very careful to keep the practice secular. For example, we talk about the mind and consciousness, but never the spirit or soul. This distinction has meant that even those with a fixed faith do not feel their beliefs are threatened or challenged. We also offer courses for parents and send letters home before students start the course.

Becky Turnbull teaches the Mindfulness In Schools project to students at Altrincham Grammar School for Girls.

• Build the practice into the curriculum

If you're struggling to find time in the school day to teach mindfulness, there are lots of opportunities within the curriculum that are adaptable to these activities. On a school trip today about coasts, for example, the children not only learned about the history of Brighton, coastal erosion and tides, but they also made their own Andy Goldsworthy nature sculptures. We then explained that the artworks were in the present moment, but when the tide comes in they will disappear, or people will add to them and they will change.

Quiet reading in the mornings is seen by many of our children as a mindful activity – as they are focusing solely on that one thing – and many schools encourage mindful walking around school.

• Books can be a great way to talk about mindfulness

There are some really nice ways to explore mindfulness with books. One of the texts we've used is The Snowman by Raymond Briggs. We reflected on the child's friendship with the snowman and how wonderful it was to see, but also how sad we felt that it couldn't last forever (spoiler alert – the snowman melts!). We then talked about where we see that happen in our own lives.

We also read a picture book about a boy who was afraid of the monster who lived in his cupboard, using this as an analogy to think about fear. In the book the child is afraid because he doesn't know the monster so I got the class to draw their own "perfect" monsters, thinking about what scared them and making an effort to get to know these fears so they can understand them better like the boy.

• Encourage random acts of kindness

On a school trip to Brighton pier, I gave my students some small change to go on the penny machines. Towards the end of our visit they had some pennies left over. We decided that they could pass these pennies along to other people in the arcade, and therefore pass along the good fun we had. The children left the arcade buzzing and smiling, happy that they had done something good. We also talked about the fact that we can't always expect something in return, but that it's still worth the effort.

Ross Young, teaches at The Dharma Primary School in Brighton, which is the only primary school in Europe that has an ethos based on mindfulness and Buddhist ethics.

• Get parents involved

The Wake Up Schools programme offers school interventions which also include practices for parents; we will be offering this at the Dharma School in Brighton in September. These workshops have been run in India several times with great success. The parents loved being at the school and it helped them realise how their own wellbeing affects that of their children. You can see a film about one of these weeks on the Wake up Schools website.

In Plum Village we have also been offering a summer retreat programme for the last 30 years, with parallel activities for children and parents, and many families have reported success in bringing the practice home.

Brother Ben runs mindfulness programs for young people and helps steer the Wake Up Schools initiative.

• It needs to begin with the teacher

Before we can expect children to be mindful, it is important that we ourselves are mindful. When I spoke about the benefits of mindfulness to the staff in my school, it was the first time most of them had heard of the technique and many said they'd like to learn more.

I'm nearing the end of delivering an eight week course to staff, which I've been running one evening a week after school. Take up has been high, and with it being such a busy time of year in school, it shows the need for mindfulness to help teachers deal with stress at work.

Emma Naisbett, teaches mindfulness to students at a state school in Liverpool.

• Help students keep a regular check on how they're feeling with a mood diary

At Mindfull we ask our 11 to 17-year-olds to fill in an online mood diary to encourage a higher degree of mindfulness and help them understand different moods. It's been an effective way of getting them to pinpoint and reflect on what it is that triggers different feelings, and therefore better recognise external stressors and find ways to cope with them.

The ed tech trends on the cusp of mainstream

By Stephen Noonoo, Editor, @stephenoonoo

May 11th, 2015

As far as driving education technology adoption over the long term, the report singles out two movements: First, the shift to deeper learning approaches, perhaps best typified by the move to putting greater emphasis on project-, inquiry-, and challenge-based learning; and second, the rethinking of how schools work, away from traditional bell schedules and siloed subject instruction. Instead, schools are starting to turn toward multidisciplinary approaches that are, according to the report preview, leading “some teachers and administrators [to] believe that schedules should be more flexible to allow opportunities for authentic learning to take place and ample room for independent study.”

Over the next three to five years, collaborative learning approaches, affecting the way both teachers and students learn, and a shift from “students as consumers to creators” could help drive the types of technology schools adopt. Of the latter, the report points to “the growth of user-generated videos, maker communities, and crowdfunded projects” increasingly becoming the means for active, hands-on learning.

And in the short term, over the next year or two, the rise of STEAM learning (science, technology, engineering and mathematics, plus the arts) is impacting technology adoption, especially, according to the report, “as there is more multi- and cross-disciplinary learning taking place at schools, revealing how these seemingly disparate subjects are interconnected.” Similarly, blended learning is noted to be “on the rise,” even after accounting for the “burnout of massive open online courses (MOOCs),” thanks to “progress in learning analytics; adaptive learning; and a combination of cutting-edge asynchronous and synchronous tools.”

In development

The bread and butter of the report, however, is the popular list of “Important Developments,” which predict which technologies could reach mainstream status—a place in 20 percent of classrooms. Compared with the report’s list of trends, which focus on the conversations and needs of schools that lead to technology purchases, the developments section “is much more influenced by what is happening in the world around schools,” Johnson says.

And as ed tech movements enter the mainstream, or else stagnate, they naturally drop off the list. This year, the report pegs makerspaces and BYOD as the two most likely to enter mainstream in the next year. The latter is a holdover from last year described as having the potential to save districts money while mirroring the contemporary shift to using personal devices in college and career settings. Makerspaces, a term virtually absent from last year’s report, “came on the radar due to grassroots support from a passionate community,” according to the preview.

In a similar vein, 3D printing could enter mainstream in just two or three years, buoyed by both falling prices and the rise of makerspaces. Adapted learning technologies, which “refer to software and online platforms that adjust to individual students’ needs as they learn,” are given the same prognosis. “In schools,” the report notes, “many teachers envision these adaptive platforms as new, patient tutors that can provide personalized instruction on a large scale.”

Farther out, badges and microcredit—a movement somewhat linked to gamification—could gain momentum over the next five years, although its adoption to the mainstream has stalled in the past as companies and efforts come and go. Despite the fizzle of Google Glass, the report notes wearable technology—think education-focused uses for Oculus Rift or even the Apple Watch—could see wide adoption in the same time frame as price points, technology advances, and new learning applications put it within reach for more and more schools.

Under the radar

The report isn’t necessarily the final word on education development and trends, and the NMC’s panelists frequently make tough choices in narrowing down their list. This year, Johnson said, trends such as redesigning learning spaces and an increasing focus on the measurement of learning were in the running up until the final vote. On the development side, cloud computing, learning analytics, and visual data analysis came close to making the cut.

Other efforts, even those that have appeared in past reports, were dropped altogether. Gaming, Johnson said, is a good representative example: “We retired games and gamification this year, as we do not see it entering the mainstream any time soon, despite the broad interest in the topic and the evidence of its efficacy,” he said. “It is just out of reach for most people, and the developments most experts thought were coming that might make it easier have not materialized yet. If that changes, it could come back.”

On a final note, something to watch going forward might be how teaching innovations are being scaled from the few to the many, which is mentioned in the report under the “Challenges” section as one that is “complex to even define, much less address.” Says Johnson, “There are a lot of good minds thinking about how to scale teaching innovations—we are watching places like India, Africa, and Latin America, where the need for innovation is far greater than in the U.S.  We expect that the challenges faced in those countries is so great that we will need fresh new ideas to have any hope of meeting the needs there.”

12 ways to adopt Google Apps for Education

By Laura Devaney, Director of News, @eSN_Laura

May 11th, 2015

Following are the 12 tips, each with a brief description.

For detailed information about any of the tips, interested educators and technology leaders can download the guide for free here, and can take the Google Apps for Education Safety Audit here.

1. Become a student again: When it comes to implementing technology in the classroom, successful teachers endeavor to understand workflow from a student’s point of view.

2. Set milestones for teachers and students: Regardless of which side of the classroom you’re sitting, it’s important to identify where Google Apps for Education can help and focus on those areas first.

3. Remove obstacles: Don’t give yourself, or students, excuses not to use the productivity tools provided for classroom collaboration.

4. Understand safety risks: With Gaggle Safety Management for Google Apps, controls are already set—and regularly updated—to filter text and images.

5. Lead by example: The only way to build new habits is by intentionally and routinely engaging new practices.

6. Provide proper training: Training is extremely important from day one, and it should continue throughout the adoption year and beyond.

7. Integrate Google Apps for Education into your curriculum: As teachers review current curriculum, teaching methods and activities, it will be easy to demonstrate that Google Apps for Education can fit into current teaching practices, making them faster, engaging and more efficient.

8. Prepare a rich template gallery: Don’t reinvent the wheel. There are plenty of public templates popular with educators, including meeting agendas and lesson plans.

9. Ensure lessons meet Common Core and ISTE standards: Common Core and ISTE standards require the use of technology, whether it’s for producing and publishing writing, interacting and collaborating with others, conducting research projects or analyzing arguments.

10. Use Chrome extensions and third-party apps: The Google Apps Marketplace is another invaluable resource.

11. Leverage account provisioning and single sign-on: The end result will be simpler technology integration, which also frees up a school or district IT department, resulting in reduced costs and fewer delays to overburdened school and district technology resources.

12. Track usage: Everyone says they’re using Google Apps, but how do you really know if everyone is using it to its full potential?

‘Fidgety children risk bad grades at GCSEs,’ research shows

Published on May 1, 2015, by Tony Harbron

The Telegraph is reporting a new study that suggests a relationship between attentiveness of children in primary schools and the likelihood of achieving good grades…

…Researches analysed the behaviour and exam results of more than 11,000 children who took part in Bristol’s Children of the 90s study…

For every point rise in a child’s fidgeting levels at age seven, researchers found a two to three point drop in GCSE scores.

They also found a 7 per cent increase in the likelihood of them not achieving at least five C grades in their exams…

Lead researcher Kapil Sayal, professor of child and adolescent psychiatry at Nottingham University’s School of Medicine, said: “Teachers and parents should be aware of the long-term academic impact of behaviours such as inattention and distractibility.

“The impact applies across the whole spectrum of scores at the population level and is not just confined to those scoring above a cut-off or at the extreme end.”

More at: ‘Fidgety children risk bad grades at GCSEs,’ research shows

See the results of the study in the Journal Of The American Academy Of Child And Adolescent Psychiatry at: Childhood Behavior Problems and Academic Outcomes in Adolescence: Longitudinal Population-Based Study

Ok, this is fascinating but what is it really telling us?

Surely the inattentiveness is the first place is a symptom and not something you can just eliminate when identified and thereby remove the long-term impact?

Perhaps just having awareness of these results can help teachers realise the need to intervene with an inattentive child and that might help? 

Opening up learning: Google in the exam room

Learning is changing, but are schools systems and testing methods keeping pace with these changes? Should they? In a recent BBC TV interview, the head of the examination and qualifications organisation OCR, Mark Dawe, argued that exams and other testing should change to accommodate the new ways of learning that are emerging. He suggested that we should now allow internet access into the exam room, because 'it reflected the way pupils learned and how they would work in the future.'  His ideas were immediately shot down by Chris McGovern ,representing the Campaign for Real Education, who remarked that this proposal was tantamount to dumbing down education. 'We have to test what children are carrying in their heads,' he said.

Dawe of course disagrees with this conclusion, preferring a more progressive approach to testing. He suggests that Google and Internet enabled devices in the exam room is inevitable. He argued that 'when we are asking a question and we know there is access to the Internet, we could ask a different question - it's about the interpretation, the discussion.' This is a fundamental challenge to the way examinations are conducted, and a positive nod in the direction of the new ways of technology enabled learning that some educators find entirely problematic.

What are your views on this debate? Do you think children should be able to access the Internet during their exams? Or should we be cautious and continue to maintain the status quo? If Internet access is made available during exams, will the questions need to change? If so, what will be the benefits and the challenges? The comments box below awaits your views.

by Steve Wheeler