Statistically 6% of school children are gifted; ergo 94% are not. It is an incredible feat for teachers to modulate their teaching style and content to effectively incorporate minority groups. In a class size of 30 the law of averages has to prevail and the teaching focused on the average performer.

This is indifferent news to the gifted or struggling child falling outside the arithmetic mean who can only hope that by exception the skill of the teacher may occasionally address their particular needs.

Of equal concern is the ongoing motivation of both sets of children. It is well proven that the majority of gifted children go off the boil at around 12 – 14 years. Their abilities unnurtured they become bored with the continuing need to wait for the class to catch up, or react to peer goading. Being exceptional can be very “uncool” and their performance at exams deteriorates as they literally switch off.

It would be difficult to effectively address the needs of these children in the normal classroom. They need the same encouragement and mentoring as the average child but at a much higher operating platform generally outside the scope of the conventional class. If the gifted child is to be nurtured to benefit the individual’s needs, and let’s face it society at large, we should not squander this potential. Somehow we need to collectively address the 6% by area or region in focused teaching. This will take time to resolve bureaucratically, in the meantime it is essential that the gifted children are motivated and challenged. This must come from the home environment in the short term. Technology and educational development have resulted in a range of modern teaching resources used in schools that are now available for home use to reinforce the classroom lesson. An immediate solution would allow gifted children to access these resources to advance their learning along predefined curriculum, working maybe one or two years in advance of the standard. 

If you want your children to have some real fun after the ups and downs of SATs, much of Topologika’s range provides a great fun way of entertaining whilst still learning skills and knowledge on a computer. Their Mania range covers maths, science,  and literacy. As an example, ScienceMania covers science in stunningly motivating maze-worlds such as School World, Industrial World, Scally’s World and Blocko World. Children win points, clear obstacles and outwit other players by correctly answering multiple-choice revision questions on four topics: Scientific Enquiry, Life Processes & Living Things, Materials & their Properties and Physical Processes. They can play ’solo’ or compete across a network or even the Internet. Another pack that can keep kids busy during the long summer holidays is Scally’s World of Problems which looks at thinking and games design skills – ideal for all the family.

“With a forward by Sian Lloyd, this well produced and colourful book is a good introduction to teaching sign language to young children and babies. It uses an illustrated monkey character called Olli who features in a series of stories and great photographs of children signing. Helping them build up a vocabulary of over 100 signs children can sign along to the story as you read. There is an index of signs at the back of the book as well as a lot of helpful information on how to teach your child to sign and why signing is useful.” Learning to sign with Olli
Sophie Wolley. Royal National Institute for the Deaf.

Alistair Owens

educational games www.keen2learn.co.uk

Check out this great new book just launched on Keen2learn. Aimed at all parents to help their child learn to communicate the book was recently reviewed by Julie Fennelly of the National Childminders Association. Learn to sign with Olli.

“I was thrilled to review this book, in April 2007 I did a two hour basic sign language course & this has helped me to extend my sign language vocabulary & use it with the children. I like the way it is set out with signs before each story & additional signs before the next, red & blue lettering is a good idea & clarifies new signs & those you should already know.

The children I look after are mainly aged three & under & I am finding the stories with limited or only one picture a little bit too long for them & am having to read half & then half at another time as they loose attention span. One of the storeys is shorter, but I think an even shorter story would have been great. It is very difficult for a childminder working alone with three young children to sit & read the book & also be in front of the children so that they can see me signing, so for that reason one person reading & one signing would be much more successful & less of a stain. (A nursery or preschool).

The information on use is clear & to the point, layout, pictures, colours & writing style encourage use, it has really helped me to continue signing with the children. As you can probably imagine it is really important to keep using the sign language otherwise it is quickly forgotten. In addition suggestions for rhythms & songs to do with the children based on the themes of the stories are proving a real success & again sign language can be used with these which is easier because once you know them of by heart you don’t need to hold the book which leaves hands free to sign. I give this book 9 out of 10.”

With young children around the role of the parent extends from teacher, cook, bottle washer, counsellor, swimming instructor, dietician and taxi driver. When they finally go to school is it viewed with relief or dread? A few precious hours between 8am to 4 pm when parents, especially mothers, get a break, or the loss of the learning bond nurtured over the first five years? (more…)

The learning process managed during the school years is designed to instigate learning and stimulate an individual’s further quest for knowledge. Exams are means of checking the performance process but unfortunately the original dual intention appears to have been lost. Knowledge has been overshadowed by performance and a tendency to “teach to test” to maximise exam results to achieve the ideal position in league tables.

Teachers are busy and stressed and the probability of a change in the system to broaden a child’s knowledge occurring in the short term is remote. Perhaps this is the point when parents need to step in and give their child some hands-on support at home. Broadening their understanding fuels a desire to learn more. Rather than just an exam result we can fuel broader based knowledge that will serve them better for the future.

Alistair Owens (The Guardian education blog) www.keen2learn.co.uk

The proposal to scrap the conventional exam and SAT removes part of the instrument dashboard.

Ever thought about driving your car without the speedometer working? Perhaps you can guess your speed or extrapolate it from the rev counter ( something I recall doing in Switzerland after the speedo failed. Cruising alongside other cars I got the kids to look at their speedo reading at differing speeds and we ( temporarily) recalibrated the revs to become miles per hour.

The point; without some form of instrument or assessment how do we accurately measure the performance of a child and adjust the teaching effort accordingly. The proposed testing of 1% of children seems to be a relatively crude sample with high hopes in the accuracy of the measure, rather like saying that random breath tests will as a consequence eliminate drink driving.

Clearly SATs are receiving some criticism and can do with being changed if only to avoid the knowledge limiting teaching to test syndrome. The final arbiter are the results in the formal external exams. Maybe we should ask teachers to design an instrument panel that is an ongoing accurate indication of the final result.

Rather than completely handing over your child’s education to teachers at school, modern teaching resources can be now be used at home to let you play a highly productive role in supporting your child and the teacher.

Teachers face a continuing dilemma. The pressure to achieve results coupled with a constant flow of changes to procedures and teaching content is taking its toll as stress levels rise. In these circumstances it is best to consider working smarter than harder to relieve the pressure by reorganising objectives.

Teaching is a numbers game. The preparation and planning behind the scenes can be brilliant but the outcome on which teacher and school are measured is predominately dependant on the enthusiasm and base ability of the pupils in school.

If class size is the arbiter that most of us believe holds the greatest influence how can the current 1:30 teacher child ratio be reduced? Recruiting, and more importantly, retaining teachers is not an easy solution. In an environment that sees a significant number of trained teachers leaving the profession after three years, and at the senior level, deputy heads reluctant to take on a Headteacher position, the constant level of vacant positions across the board defeats any easy solution to the teaching ratio.

How then can the ratio be reduced? There are 26,000 schools and 435,000 teaching staff in the UK. but a huge resource remains largely untapped. There are 7.5m households with school aged children. If just 10% of interested parents were co-opted to support the teaching process an additional 750,000 “teaching support” positions would be created.

Most parents feel isolated from the schooling process when their child reaches five. Abdication, relief, return to work holds some significance, but so is a feeling of inadequacy, a reluctance to interfere and perhaps a personal bad experience of school influences most parents to distance themselves from the learning process that they provided when their child was a toddler.

The interested sector attends parents night and read end of term reports with some frustration as any corrective action tends to fall to the teacher. It is the equivalent of a shot in the foot for the teacher and an impasse as parents are not “teachers”. But technology and educational development over the last 5 years has seen the introduction of a vast range of teaching resources used in school that are also ideal for home use. Predominately in the form of educational games they can be used to practice the lesson content at the child’s pace at home. A more constructive angle would see the teacher holding an academic review meeting with the parents to suggest remedial work that can be completed at home.

Instead of the current parental involvement being limited to fund raising by the interested few, by giving parents the opportunity to take an operational role with their child would instil a new level of commitment. Statistics show parents spend 25% more time with their children than a generation ago, and children only spend 15% of their time in school. This energy needs to be tapped by teachers taking more of a manger role in the teaching process and mobilising the parents to act as trainer-coaches to provide a one hour a day fun practice session at home.

The re-engagement of the parent on 1:1 ratio with their child, assisted by a huge element of enjoyment, provides the opportunity for the child to practice the lesson content to improve understanding and performance back in school. Practising the lesson content at the pace of the child achieves the highest level of learning retention says the national training laboratory in the USA. Repetition plays a major part in building up speed. Ironically whilst this function is perhaps ideal for the home environment and provides structured involvement for the parent, it is the most difficult to achieve in school due to staffing, time and resource availability.

Teaching is a number game, and the opportunity to capture a hidden army of 750,000 parents should not be missed. It could attract the hard to reach parents, and those whose bad experience at school can be overcome through this form of “Learning in disguise” where they learn as well.

Alistair Owens

www.keen2learn.co.uk

Once again our teachers are involved in time and cost consuming activities that detract from their primary role. Difficult to say how society can easily correct the tendency towards violence that has precipitated these measures, but they are set to become a further drain on existing budgets.  The financial burden leaves some schools’ budgets with just £150 to equip a class with its educational resources for a year.

Something has to give. The allocation of time, energy and costs to this programme will improve our children’s security but we have to accept the resultant drain on the school budget and teaching capacity. The need for increased security is undeniable, so we need to review options to reinforce the depletion in the teaching process.

As learning is significantly enhanced through practice we have the option to increase practical support at home to support the teaching load .

 Modern teaching resources are predominately in the form of educational games, so the practice function is structured as a maths game or English game etc. The fun element is crucial and removes the association with it being another form of homework. Evidence shows a 25% improvement in performance can be achieved through practicing at home, but perhaps the real benefit lies in the closer interaction between parent, child and teacher. The possibility that this activity can offset the drain on our teaching capacity is the goal.

Young children shooting their hands up to answer a question is the enduring image of the primary school classroom. But now it seems that this age-old tradition could soon come to an end, with teachers being advised to pick out children to answer questions, says The Times.

The initiatives are an attempt to help the thousands of “invisible children” who excel in school at 7, but fall behind in key subjects such as English and maths, by the time they are 11.

Children in the comfort of the home environment generally feel confident to ask questions of parents knowing the answer will tailored to encourage. Swap this for the crowded classroom of 30 and a lot of that confidence evaporates. Many children lack the self confidence to stand out in a busy class and put a hand up. Not necessarily any indication of ability and perhaps a surprise for parents to learn that their child is so quiet in class.

Although the criticism of Government policy attempting to micromanage the role of teachers will invoke reaction there is something at stake here. We really do need to ensure that these “invisible children” are engaged, hands up or otherwise. The maxim that for every hand that goes up eight others would have liked to ask the same question and benefit from the answer should not be overlooked.

The significant “Every Parent Matters” policy also issued by the DfES proposes the positive engagement of parents in the schooling process. Parents are to be encouraged to re-adopt a more interactive role at home to reinforce the lesson content. The use of modern teaching resources used in school can also be used at home to practice the lesson content at the pace of the child and tease out those unasked questions.

Children, teachers and parents would be the  benefactors of this contagious interaction.