Neuroscience for Teachers is the brainchild of Julia Harrington, head of Queen Anne’s School, Caversham, and founder of BrainCanDo.

Up to 30 qualified teachers, from state and independent secondary schools – who have been teaching for between three and five years – will be recruited over the spring and summer of 2020 to take part in the pilot from September 2020 to June 2021.

The course will take place at Queen Anne’s School and will be free of charge, with training costs sponsored by BrainCanDo.

Participants will require the support of their school’s head and will be expected to commit to six interactive days of workshops across the next academic year.

At Queen Anne’s we have pioneered the application of educational neuroscience and cognitive psychology across the school for several years and seen the results in improved emotional wellbeing and improved academic performance

Harrington said: “I founded BrainCanDo to carry out research into how the brain learns, especially during adolescence, and how those findings could – or should – be applied in the classroom.

“We used to think that the brain stopped developing at age 11 but we now know that it continues to adapt well into adolescence. It’s obvious to me that both classroom teaching and pastoral care need to reflect this aspect of children’s growth.

“At Queen Anne’s we have pioneered the application of educational neuroscience and cognitive psychology across the school for several years and seen the results in improved emotional wellbeing and improved academic performance.

“I believe that learning to become a teacher is incomplete without some understanding of what’s happening in the teenage brain. So I asked Professor Patricia Riddell to design a completely new course to fill that gap in conventional teacher training.”

Professor Riddell is contributing to the project as an independent consultant in the field of applied neuroscience.

The aim is for a continuous neuroscience programme with up to 30 teachers from a wide variety of schools joining every year.

Headteachers can nominate a teacher to take part in the pilot by contacting info@braincando.com

The post Free neuroscience course for teachers open for nominations appeared first on Independent Education Today.

Some independent schools have since shared how they managed to keep learning going for pupils, when they had less than a week to do so.

Department gurus

Ieuan Weir, deputy head academic at Canford, and Tom Marriott, head of enrichment, share some of the key areas which contributed to the successful implementation of Microsoft Teams for remote learning.

1. Getting buy in from staff

• Introduce remote teaching to your staff in such a way that shows its power, but in a positive way. Many teachers will be slightly overwhelmed by the concept. The most important thing we did was to introduce it to staff not as how they would see it, but how pupils would see it, and this made it much easier to get buy in and an appreciation of how and why it would work. It made staff curious to try it for themselves, rather than burdened and much of the training happened through natural experimentation rather than formal times.
• Focus on the basic functionality. It’s too easy to get lost in the higher functions of these systems – that will come with time, but at the beginning it is about the basics only.
• We took the time to train the staff in-house rather than using an external IT company. This provided a lot of reassurance.
• We trained a guru for each department who then helped lead the training for their colleagues. This saved a great deal of time and also meant that each department had a colleague they could turn to for support and advice specific to their subject.
• We started a ‘buddy’ system whereby early adopters could help those less confident on the platform.

2. Ensuring availability of hardware

• We immediately ordered extra webcams.
• We conducted a survey immediately of staff IT equipment available to them at home to see how much hardware was needed short term from the school.

3. It’s fine to say it’s not perfect on day one

• We made this very clear to both staff and pupils. It was a new system, and everyone was learning the best ways to use it together.
• It’s been a learning curve for staff and pupils alike, and it has brought a real sense of collaboration. Pupils have come up with ideas too and it’s been great to see the way they have embraced the new learning environment.

4. Strong IT support

• We had a great IT support group in-house who have been absolutely brilliant in resolving problems for both staff and pupils and providing help and guidance.
• IT created a hub for remote learning within Teams with lots of help sheets and guidance (which teachers also helped to develop) to support staff using the platform. This has been a very helpful ongoing resource.

“This is a dynamic project,” said Weir and Marriott. “There was no earthly way we could have covered every base in a couple of days. We hope to familiarise ourselves with the more advanced opportunities the Teams platform and software can offer us as time goes on.”

Teams is now being used by departments across Canford, not just in remote teaching. Support staff are getting their teams together online to run meetings, and the IT team is on hand to help. The school said this will continue through the Easter holidays.

Live sessions

Dr Neelam Parmar, director of edtech, digital learning and innovation at Ashford, has been sharing feedback and advice from the school’s remote learning on a blog, which she will continue to update after the Easter holidays.

Primary years (Seesaw and Showbie):

• Really good idea to stop children spamming a conversation thread on Showbie. Great way to stop this by Pausing Student Post.
• A shortened timetable up to 1pm with an optional online lunch for children overseen by a parent/guardian close by. This timing worked well for our younger ones with extended activities for the afternoon (if needed).
• Uploaded worksheets was really great and the students could annotate on top of them. I think a stylus of some sort would be helpful.
• Visibility is key – more teachers are going to add in voice feedback and video (captured by camera) into lesson starters.

Secondary years (Office 365 suite of applications):

• Older students worked pretty much independently on their tasks and offered peer to peer support.
• Most students worked through either a PC/laptop (of their own) and their mobile phone and connected into our school Office 365 environment. This was more challenging for younger students than the older ones – in terms of keeping up with the pace of technology and submitting tasks.
• Students expressed that they appreciated the pre-recorded lessons and catch up session with students. Helped sustain the connectedness and flow. Lessons where teachers were not available was difficult and not engaging.
• Timetable is relatively shorter. While lessons were still 40 minutes in length, the rest of the day was shortened to avoid an extended day of screen time. This is reflected in setting homework and marking time for teachers.
• A typical approach to teaching online can consist of the following (please adapt to what works best for you): 10-15 minutes teaching/sharing of information/discussion, 15-20 minutes task, five minutes wrap up.
• A really good tool is the whiteboard app in the Windows store within a live session. Great way to collaborate with your students in one place and it’s available to use within Teams.
• Live sessions work the best. Students feel connected with teachers. How we managed to roll it out in one week is incredible.

“As we progress into online teaching, how can we automate our marking?” said Parmar.

“The use of Kahoots, Nearpods, Whiteboard, Forms and Stream could possibly be on the rise. Within the senior school, we are tweaking our timetable to make it more sustainable and looking to offer extended breaks within lessons to offer a chance to relax, unwind and walk away from the screen.

“These are interesting times but we have launched successfully and it will only get better.”

You might also like: Stamford D&T teachers producing 200 face masks a day for NHS

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According to an NHS report, 12.8% of 5-19 year olds have a mental health disorder.

Teacher Training: Embedding Mental Health in the Curriculum is a new microcredential aiming to counter what experts at the recent Bett conference agreed was a real lack of guidance in the area.

“We believe learning environments should foster mental health and wellbeing, but unfortunately, in many cases, school and university cultures can actually contribute to mental health problems,” said the OU’s manager for accessibility and inclusive practice, Kate Lister.

You may also like: The financial implications of mindfulness and wellbeing in schools could be significant

Rather than only offer help when a student experiences difficulties, argues Lister, support should be proactively built into the curriculum.

“Though this is a relatively newly researched area, more reports are emerging that suggest that, in order to make a real impact, mental wellbeing needs to be embedded throughout learning, teaching and assessment,” she added.

To that end, the 10-week course is open for enrolment now, and set to begin on March 30.

Worth 10 UK credits, the mircrocredential will be carried on the FutureLearn platform and cover such topics as the relationship between mental health and learning, inclusive learning design and pedagogy, and the barriers to cementing mental health teaching in the curriculum.

Kate Lister’s TEDX talk, ‘How to make learning support mental wellbeing’

The post Open University bids to combat student wellbeing crisis appeared first on Independent Education Today.

Richard Tillett, principal of Queen’s College, London, said he experienced a “total collapse of confidence” in his third year at university.

One of his tweets read: “Despite having over thirty lessons, I failed my first driving test because I drove straight over three mini-roundabouts. I blamed anybody and anything else, but the fact is: I drove straight over three mini-roundabouts. #failureweek.”

During what the school marked as ‘Failure Week’, all PSHE lessons explored what it means to fail, how we can re-define failure (e.g. by calling it a ‘first attempt in learning’), what it means to have a growth mindset and how failure can be good for your brain.

Tillett said: “I believe it’s crucial that those of us in leadership roles speak out honestly about our own failures and how they have made us better, more resilient and ultimately more successful people.

I believe it’s crucial that those of us in leadership roles speak out honestly about our own failures and how they have made us better, more resilient and ultimately more successful people

“Failure Week at Queen’s College, London is about ensuring our pupils feel safe to fail, in a supportive environment at school, and recognise that failing the first time can actually lead to better overall outcomes.

“I believe the current culture of perfectionism that pervades social media is really damaging and, frankly, dishonest.

“I hope, by sharing some of my own personal failures on social media, I can demonstrate to pupils here that some degree of failure in life is inevitable and can equip us, ultimately, to succeed.”

You might also like: Is it really good to fail?

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The new obligation will come into force in August, under Section 28 of the Education (Scotland) Act 2016.

Aimed at teachers aspiring to become heads within the next two to three years, the programme – delivered in partnership between universities, local authorities and Education Scotland – awards a 60-credit postgraduate certificate.

The course gave me so much confidence to do my job and helped me to grow my relationships within the school

Participants are offered the support of a headteacher mentor and local authority co-ordinator, as – via a blend of theory and practical examples – they build the knowledge, skills and understanding required for leading a school.

On successfully completing the programme, participants are awarded the Standard for Headship.

“Doing the Into Headship programme has been the best decision I have made and the best experience I have had,” said Shelley McLaren, head of Craigroyston Community High School in Edinburgh for the last 18 months.

You may also like: Leading, learning, nurture, service and care – experiences from a first year of headship

“The responsibility of being headteacher is huge, as you have so many aspects to managing a school,” she added, “but the course gave me so much confidence to do my job and helped me to grow my relationships within the school.

“Through attending the programme, I have met so many headteachers and aspiring headteachers, and together we are open and honest with each other and are able to share advice and give each other strength to do our job.”

The application process for entry to the programme is open now. For further information, please visit teachinscotland/career-progression

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Pretty soon the arts became seen as the less economically useful strand of learning and that anything that wasn’t focusing specifically on STEM subjects wasn’t worth investing time or money in. 

But it soon became clear that STEM alone wasn’t enough. A 2018 NUT survey suggested that teachers believed that too narrow a focus on core subjects prevents creativity from flourishing.

A STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics) approach takes the benefits of STEM, integrating them in and through the arts. Adopting the STEAM teaching approach allows students to integrate these principles with art and design too, breaking the all-too-often present idea that pupils are ‘arty’ or ‘science-y’ and preventing these labels, and the associated preferences and barriers, to set in.

Far from STEAM being simply science and maths with art tacked on, STEAM is an approach that uses them as access points for guiding dialogue, exploration and critical thinking. 

21st-century teaching

The fact is that the four vital disciplines of science, technology, engineering and maths are crucial in tackling the major challenges we face, from future-proofing transport infrastructure to feeding the world’s growing population.

However, says Karolina Hammer, IB maths teacher at the ACS International School, Cobham: “Traditional, didactic teaching methods, which explore individual subjects in isolation, are no longer appropriate or useful in today’s world.

Subjects such as science and maths cannot simply be taught in a standalone way if students are to develop the skills they will need to thrive at university and beyond.”

Real STEAM teaching should involve two or more of the elements taught and assessed in and through the other. Good STEAM teaching should also include good collaboration between teachers in different departments, the potential to adjust scheduling to accommodate new ways of teaching (such as open-ended lessons) and professional development in STEAM principles. 

For example, Hammer’s class recently ran a space-themed LEGO robotics activity. Students built and programmed robots and then created science-fiction stories for their robotic creations to ‘act’ out.

Hammer says: “They then filmed the robot scene and created an iBook. This open-ended task developed students’ vital STEAM skills and encouraged them to apply their knowledge, innovation and imagination.”

Another example might be in Cobham’s lower school where students studying the respiratory system presented what they’d learnt by creating a film, using an app called Puppet Pals to explain the different anatomy and systems. This sort of exercise allows learners to look at existing subjects in new ways or flex different skills on existing knowledge.

Hammer says: “The students were able to use their knowledge in science and technology combined with creativity to create multimedia projects which explain an anatomical process in a new way.”

This year the school created a STEM team – a more formal version of the ‘club’ it has run in previous years. The new group undertakes calculations, programming, 3D printing and creates project portfolios. Hammer says: “Students also take part in inter-school challenges such as the FIRST LEGO League (an international competition organised by FIRST for elementary and middle school students).

“As part of this challenge, students have to work together to explore different STEM concepts and design a solution to a real-world problem. For this year’s challenge, the team built a model of an accessible playground which was wheelchair friendly.” Challenges like this, says Hammer, “are enormously beneficial as students get to explore their ideas in a competitive environment, which sharpens their focus and skills”.

Traditional, didactic teaching methods, which explore individual subjects in isolation, are no longer appropriate or useful in today’s world

Codebreakers

Andy Lutwyche is a maths teacher at Roedean School where STEAM is incorporated across the curriculum, whether through ‘Baking Bad’ activities (using recipes to work out ratios, surface area, volume and equations for catering requirements) or using graphing software to draw pictures using lines and curves.

Lutwyche says: “We do a lot of activities that are a variation on just doing a long list of questions from a worksheet or book. These include ‘codebreakers’ where the answering of questions reveals the punchline to a joke, and the girls like providing jokes for inclusion in future codebreakers.”

Lutwyche also lets his students see the relevance of subjects to each other: “I get a lot of students asking about the relevance of mathematics for interior design, where there is a lot of crossover (measures, graphs, etc).”

Incorporating the skills across the curriculum, he says, “really helps towards breaking down barriers between mathematics and other subjects”. He says: “It makes maths less ‘taboo’ as a subject, highlighting that it affects our daily lives and makes it less abstract in the minds of the students, showing that it can be a bit of fun.”

In today’s climate, says Hammer, people must develop and apply transferable skills and be able to think across subject boundaries. And crucially, beyond their classroom walls: “My students are great with ideas and they are inspired by their surroundings, from developing disabled accessibility in the playground here at ACS, to designs for safe water delivery in the remote communities our students have fundraised for in Namibia.”

She adds: “This cross-curriculum approach nurtures logical thinking, problem-solving and persistence, encourages collaboration and communication, and provides the opportunity for students to develop practical, future-focused skills, in an imaginative, fun and creative way.”

This, she says, ultimately leads to a generation able to express new ideas and perspectives across subjects and bring innovative ideas to life.

Successfully incorporating STEAM into your teaching requires a conscious effort and dedication

Learning with purpose

Karen Steel is a junior schoolteacher at Hamilton College, where topics are routinely delivered as interdisciplinary learning. Steel says: “We don’t make it fit; it has to be purposeful.”

The junior school has Makerspace lessons where children work on a design/create topic which, says Steel, “may or may not link with the class learning”.

She adds: “The children learn to work together, compromise and create, problem-solve and make adaptations to their designs and creations.

“For example, when teaching about the change in transport over the ages, I teach how to ride a bike, examine the working parts and draw using charcoal.”

Head of maths at Hamilton Mark Shields says his department extensively uses the resource ‘TWIG’ – “Short, well-created videos that highlight the real-life context of mathematic concepts being taught.” This, he says, is used as a starter for many lessons across all age groups.

He says: “The department will always endeavour to link coursework to everyday life and work and we also highlight various STEAM-related competitions (such as Enterprising Mathematics, Ninja Maths and Young Mathematicians Awards) at which our students have gained much success.”

At Hamilton, a STEAM noticeboard is in place to allow the maths department to link its work to STEAM. This, says Shields, “is used to highlight any wider curricular activities and identifies the large range of careers in STEAM.”

In addition, STEAM ‘ambassador’ roles have been created to highlight the applications of mathematics in the workplace: “As this is pupil-led, it will hopefully help encourage more pupils to be aware of STEAM and take part.”

A curricular shift like this might seem onerous, and Rachel Hall, managing director of educational app Busy Things, says: “Successfully incorporating STEAM into your teaching requires a conscious effort and dedication, which means you always need to be thinking how you can creatively add these subjects into your lessons.”

However, it can be fun and incremental too, she says: “Look for activities which encourage the learning of more than one STEAM subject – it will be more fun and benefit pupils the most.

“For example, simply beginning classroom projects that you can all monitor each day can help to develop your students’ understanding of different subjects.”

Far from STEAM being another acronym that teachers have to remember or worry about, it’s a no-brainer approach to teaching applicable skills.

You might also like: Space travel should be STEAM-powered

The post Incorporating STEAM into the wider curriculum appeared first on Independent Education Today.

The school said it is the first Scottish sixth form to offer a ‘triple pathway programme’ and give students “choice and flexibility” to “tailor their programme to their strengths, interests and future study or career goals”.

Strathallan offers students a choice of 24 subjects and is set to add the one-year Highers to their offering from September of this year. This new route will run alongside the current A-level and two-year Higher options, giving students three routes to future study or work.

With this addition, Strathallan will be able to offer a genuine and unique triple-pathway system and will be the only Scottish boarding school offering both A-Levels and one-year Highers

Headmaster Mark Lauder said: “With this addition, Strathallan will be able to offer a genuine and unique triple-pathway system and will be the only Scottish boarding school offering both A-Levels and one-year Highers.

“For those pupils on course to gain excellent GCSE results and not wishing to limit themselves to one specialism through A-Levels, the Scottish Higher model and its curriculum fit neatly with our philosophy and that of our founder Harry Riley of an academic, holistic, forward-thinking school offering opportunities for all to excel.”

The co-educational independent day and boarding school for nine- to 18-year-olds is based in rural Perthshire near Bridge of Earn and was founded in 1913.

The post Strathallan to offer pupils ‘triple pathway’ to study appeared first on Independent Education Today.

From the survey of over 1,000 stakeholders in business, education and the arts, headteachers and governors, Durham University and Arts Council England recommended that arts and culture should be an essential part of the education of every child. As part of this, their vision includes the Department for Education embracing the arts as a substantive part of the full national curriculum at all key stages, not as an add-on.

With this in mind, I have spoken to arts education experts in independent schools and the wider industry to ask them about why this type of creative education is so important for today’s pupils and the performing arts industry, as well as their thoughts on what the future holds.

Decline of arts

Despite the fact that the creative arts industry contributed more than £100bn to the UK economy in 2017, according to Gov.uk, formal arts education has been in decline. A 2018 BBC survey of over 1,200 schools found that nine in 10 had cut back on lesson time, staff or facilities in at least one creative arts subject, and one out of 10 said it was increasingly relying on voluntary donations from parents for both art and music lessons.

Michelle James is the CEO of Sing Up, a provider of singing resources for schools. She thinks that education policy moving away from creativity to facilitate an increased focus on STEM subjects, as well as the introduction of the English Baccalaureate (EBacc), promotes the message that the best way to prepare children and young people for future careers and to boost the nation’s economy is to focus on a narrower curriculum.

She says: “It isn’t only this which has created an environment in which it is difficult for arts subjects to thrive.

“Inevitably, parents and students also hear this same message and begin to make decisions based upon it – for example, deciding to opt out of learning an instrument or spending extra-curricular time on arts-based activities.”

Learning to be creative

Adam Bainbridge, head of art at Brampton College, thinks that arts education is crucial for today’s pupils as it teaches them how to be creative, and that this ability is so important for their futures, as well as ours. In addition, he says it’s assumed that arts education in schools and colleges has little value beyond themselves and to the world of work outside of the arts, and that it’s a misconception for pupils to feel that they’re not creative if they can’t create artwork.

He says: “People’s creative potential should be utilised in all areas of life, not just through art. We need creative scientists, mathematicians and engineers as well as creative artists and writers. The arts industry should not be the sole domain of creative people.”

Trinity College London’s Arts Award allows young people to deepen their engagement with the arts, build creative and leadership skills and also achieve a national qualification. Trinity College’s head of music, Francesca Christmas, says that in order for students to interact with the world around them in an informed way and grow as rounded individuals, they need to engage with and understand different art forms.

The arts industry should not be the sole domain of creative people

In addition, she says these skills are important for sustaining the creative economy and contributing to community cohesion.

She says: “Experiencing the arts at school is important for sustaining the substantial contribution made by the creative industries to the UK economy; both through building the audiences of the future and showing young people that careers in the arts are a viable option.

“There is evidence to show that participation in arts and culture can contribute to community cohesion and reduce social exclusion and isolation, and also encourage young people to contribute to society now and in the future, as active and responsible citizens.”

Promoting the arts

At Roedean, the number of students that have opted to study art at GCSE has increased by 225% over the last two years, and Sarah Strachan, head of art and design, says that at A-level they are increasingly seeing students selecting art alongside more traditional STEM subjects.

In order to support the increased uptake in the subject, this year the school has created three new dedicated teaching spaces and has contributed significant investment in resources and equipment.

There is evidence to show that participation in arts and culture can contribute to community cohesion and reduce social exclusion and isolation

Commenting on this investment and the importance of art in schools, Strachan says: “Studying art in school can be a first step towards developing solutions for our real-world challenges. 

“Today’s A-level art students are tomorrow’s green architects and vehicle designers. Studying art offers the opportunity for our young people to begin to dare to dream about better solutions for our future.

“Art is thriving at Roedean, however, without art in schools, and significant investment in arts education across all sectors, we are at risk of losing this breeding ground for new talent.”

At Lewes Old Grammar School (LOGS), all students have music, art and drama lessons in years 7 and 8 with the opportunity to deepen their understanding in year 9 and go on to study GCSE from year 10 onwards. Scholarships are available for students on all instruments, and Matt Casterton, head of music, says that peripatetic instrumental and singing lessons are popular, with a large number of students taking lessons every week.

Commenting on the music provision at LOGS compared to state schools, Casterton says: “While schools in the state sector are facing having to cut back on music and arts provision, here at LOGS music is highly valued with continued investment both in terms of time and money.

“From talking to parents of prospective students, it seems that high-quality arts provision is a real selling point for a school so this may well be attracting families that may not have otherwise considered an independent school.”

Over the last two years, Brampton College has introduced a new mid-year show where students exhibit their final outcomes for their coursework unit in a gallery in Brick Lane. This gives art and photography students the chance to work collaboratively to curate an exhibition and consider how their work should be displayed.

Commenting on the impact the exhibition has had, Bainbridge says: “Often in classroom environments there are few opportunities to consider the presentation and display of artworks, and how their display might affect how the work is experienced or interpreted. Students have really enjoyed presenting an exhibition open to the public, with an opening for friends and family.

“The arts subjects are really well supported and encouraged at Brampton, with the department’s work featuring prominently around the college.”

What does the future hold?

In the future, Christmas thinks that diversification of learning contexts will lead to the emancipation of students in their arts education, offering them greater control over what and how they learn.

She says: “The role of educators and schools will undoubtedly shift as technology develops and enables connectedness and self-directed learning. Within this, teachers will cease to be the sole mediator of arts provision.

“At Trinity we want to respond to the changing landscape for teachers and ensure that we provide support whatever context they are working in, whether as teachers and leaders, or as mentors and coaches.”

James believes that a cycle is occurring in education at the moment and that creativity is once again on the rise, suggesting that The Durham Commission’s report could be evidence of this.

She says: “Of course creativity and arts are not mutually interchangeable concepts, but they are deeply intertwined, particularly in an educational context. If you want to teach students to be creative, the arts are a fantastic and obvious route to achieving that.”

From speaking to our experts, what’s clear is that now more than ever, today’s educators have a key role to play in sharing their passion for arts subjects and inspiring the next generation of creative talent.

It has never been more important for pupils to pick up an instrument, paintbrush, pencil or microphone, and encourage that creative spirit to flow for their own benefit, as well as for the future world of work.

Shaping the next generation of musicians

After only five years at Lomond School, head of music Doug Fleming has quadrupled the number of upper school pupils taking the subject, with a clean sweep of A passes for all SQA exams in two consecutive years in 2017 and 2018 – a record for the school.

The school has also seen its saxophone offering grow from a solo performance of one to a group of 12, which has allowed the department to form both a sax ensemble and a separate jazz ensemble. Now, as the sax collective continues to grow, Fleming is hoping to replicate the same advance for the department’s clarinet players, and both cello tuition and the orchestra have also trebled in size within the last five years.

Fleming says: “Getting pupils started with a musical instrument from a young age is extremely beneficial to the child. Not only will they be developing the skills in that instrument with its own intrinsic rewards, but many studies have shown that exposure to music can accelerate academic development including improved numeracy, reading and speech skills, as well as concentration levels and, of course, self-confidence.”

In addition to strong SQA results, many of the Lomond pupils learning an instrument have been extremely successful with very good ABRSM results. Seventeen-year-old Emily Shaw, who has grade eight distinction for clarinet, auditioned for the National Youth Orchestra of Scotland (NYOS) and 16-year-old Ryan Cosgrove-Clark is working towards grade eight piano after taking up the saxophone last August and achieving grade four distinction after just four months.

You might also like: Best of British – what can UK independent schools offer in an education?

The post Arts education in independent schools appeared first on Independent Education Today.

In our new book, What works? Research and evidence for successful teaching, we summarise over 8,000 studies to guide teachers on improving classroom practice. Research can tell us what has worked in the past for some classrooms but equally important is to know what hasn’t worked.

Below we list 10 common classroom myths.

1. Group learners into sets

Grouping children into sets according to their current performance makes little difference to learning outcomes – and this is the case in maths, where setting is common, as in other subjects. In theory, it allows teachers to target a narrower range of pace and content during lessons. But in practice it creates an exaggerated sense that pupils are at the same level.

Schools also do not actually test for ability; they group on current performance. Otherwise you wouldn’t have so many summer-born children in what are called ‘low-ability’ sets. Consider carefully when you need to use the approach, and if you do, assign the best teachers to the lowest sets.

2. Encourage re-reading and highlighting to memorise key ideas

Re-reading and highlighting are among the most common and apparently most obvious ways to memorise or revise. They give a deceptive feeling of being on top of the material. However, a range of studies have shown that testing yourself, trying to generate answers and creating intervals between study to allow forgetting are all more effective approaches.

3. Improve confidence and aspirations before teaching content

Attempts to boost the motivation and confidence of pupils before teaching them new material won’t achieve much. The impact on subsequent learning is close to zero. Children become demotivated if they are failing in class. If they can succeed academically, they may gain confidence as well. Boosting achievement gives the learner a realistic chance of raising aspiration. Think of this as a spiral interaction: increase achievement – raise aspiration – increase achievement – raise aspiration.

4. Teach learners in their preferred learning style

The widespread belief that students can be classified as visual, auditory or kinaesthetic learners is persistent, despite several reviews debunking learning styles. One survey found over nine in 10 teachers agreed with the claim that individuals learn better when they receive information in their preferred learning style. Yet the evidence is clear: there are no benefits from this approach. Vary the way you present information, and encourage learners to understand their strengths and capabilities, but do not limit learners by targeting what you think is their ‘style’.

5. Ensure learners are active not passive

Beware ‘learning pyramids’. They detail precise percentages of material that will be retained when different activities are employed, or formulae showing how much people remember of what they hear, read and see. These percentages are pure fiction. If you want students to remember something you have to get them to think about it. This can be achieved by being physically ‘active’ or ‘passive’.

6. Digital technology increases boys’ motivation

Yes, but it also improves girls motivation and engagement too. There is very little difference between the sexes in terms of the impact of digital technologies on motivation. The key question is does it increase pupils motivation to learn? Or is playing with technology just more fun than normal lessons? Technology can be used in a range of ways to support learning, but a more ‘engaged’ class may not actually be learning any faster or more efficiently.

7. Teaching assistants don’t help pupils progress

It’s true that poorly managed and prepared teaching assistants have little impact on learning. But that’s the whole point: they need to be managed by teachers, and be prepared and trained. TAs can be invaluable secondary educators.

8. Reducing class sizes improves learning

Reducing class sizes has surprisingly limited impact on pupils. Smaller classes work when teachers change the way they teach, catering to individual needs of pupils and receiving more feedback from children. It’s not reducing class size that matters, but how you adapt teaching style with fewer pupils. That’s why little impact is observed until class size is reduced to under 20 or even below 15 pupils per teacher.

9. It’s always good to praise pupils

Praising pupils can feel like the right thing to do – affirming the work of learners. But studies suggest the wrong kinds of praise can do more harm than good. Praise meant to be encouraging and protective of low-attaining students conveys a message of low expectations. Criticism of poor performance can indicate a teacher’s high expectations. Praise is valued more when it is meaningful and less frequent.

10. Allow learners to discover things for themselves

There is no evidence that discovery learning works better than other approaches. The theory is that pupils will remember something if they discover it for themselves. How easy is it to ‘discover’ French vocabulary and grammar? It may be possible, but it wouldn’t be a good use of pupils’ time.

Studies suggest teachers should actively teach new ideas, knowledge or methods – so called ‘direct instruction’. Of course, for younger children developing familiarity with materials and their properties is an important part of learning, but this does not mean that they can’t also benefit from directed and guided interaction.

‘What Works? Research and evidence for successful teaching’ by Lee Elliot Major and Steve Higgins is available from Bloomsbury Education.

W: https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/what-works-9781472965639/

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Cheadle Hulme School, a Greater Manchester-based independent school, will become one of eight regional hubs for training maths teachers.

“As a school,” said headmaster, Neil Smith, “we are committed to developing the next generation of teaching professionals; a cohort who will have expert subject knowledge, be confident in the classroom and able to collaborate with colleagues throughout the school.”

You might also like: “There needs to be a systematic shift in how teachers are trained,” says Dr Ahmed Hussain, senior director of academics at Wellington College China

Recruitment for the programme, aimed at both recent graduates and career changers, will commence in January, with trainees set to take to the classroom from September.

Participants will have their development supported via weekly academic theory sessions, and also see their experience widened by working for six weeks in a second school.

Come the end of the year, they will receive qualified teacher status (QTS), a Postgraduate Certificate in Education (PGCE) and credits towards a Masters qualification.

Main image © Jason Lock Photography

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