NTEN Staff Presentations: Wave 1: November 2014_March 2015

1. ‘The National Teacher Enquiry Network (NTEN) is a collaborative
partnership of schools and colleges committed to innovation and
improvement in staff professional development. By engaging in
existing evidence to develop world-class practitioner research, our
members work together to improve, share and promote highly
effective, evidence-based practice across the network and beyond.’
http://tdtrust.org/nten/lesson-study/

2. Enquiry
‘Which works more effectively: friendship
groupings or seating plans, in order for year
10s to progress?’
Lauren Draper
Onomen Edeko
Andrew Stansfield

3. What’s the point in having seating
plans?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dMdTBep3W9c

4. Initial Research
Students have shown to use social activity to develop co-operative learning
strategies across a range of different classroom settings and while not all lead to
equally effective strategies in learning most if not all such strategies are related to
the development of a portfolio of transferable skills such as self esteem or the
ability to work well with others (Slavin, 1988)
"...students tended to use friends on their program of study as a referral point to
judge their own academic competency"
"...students who were categorised as friends were seen as a valuable source of
knowledge, which was not subject to a hierarchical structure based on seniority"
(Antonio, 2004)
"...Our attempts to identify and understand deep structures will remain just that -
attempts.“ (Sims-Schouten et al. 2007)

5. Students
Drama (AST):
JC – Tends to be unfocused and doesn’t contribute or develop any ideas
GL – Can be a difficult student, average ability but tends to try hard
JR – An able student, can be talkative but usually engaged
LL – Naturally gifted, but seeks reassurance frequently. Often struggles when put
outside of her comfort zone
Maths (OED):
LL – Can by ‘whingey’ but very capable student. However, struggles to apply herself to
tasks
SC – Unenthusiastic and can appear unfocused, but very bright
LH – PP student, fairly quiet but very engaged in lessons
JK – Lacks concentration and doesn’t apply herself fully to tasks

6. Drama – Friendship groupings

7. Drama – Teacher set groups

8. Drama – Findings (student)

9. Maths – Friendship groupings

10. Maths – Teacher set groups

11. Maths – Findings (student)

12. How does working in friendship
groups affect your learning?

13. How does working in teacher-set
groups affect your learning?

14. Advantages and Disadvantages

17. Staff Questionnaire and Feedback

18. To sum everything up…
“Ofsted suggest that the best way of getting serious
work out of boys in a mixed school is getting them to
sit with slightly lower ability girls. If they sat with higher
ability girls then they just go into learned helplessness
mode and get the girls to do their work for them. If
they are sat with girls of the same ability range they go
all stupid and competitive. But if you sit them with girls
they can help, they change character immediately:
becoming nurturing, gentle, supportive and interested
in their own attainment and that of others.”
(Phil Beadle, How to Teach)

19. NTEN
Nat
Closing the ‘gender’ Gap!
Boys will be Boys!
Roma Lafferty,
Khaver Ehsan

20. 1. Diagnostic stage
Objective:
Identify strategies that show engagement and
motivation, (or lack of).
Factors for underachievement.
Strategies to move them forward.

21. Students identified and utilised for the
research project
Student Reading Age Assessment
Reading
Assessment
Writing
End of KS3
Target
RD 11.5 4c 4c 5a
WP 13.25 5b 6c 6a
LC 15 4b 5a 5a
JR 12 4a 4c 6c

22. 2. Research and delivery
• Four underachieving boys who are very able, were
identified to observe the factors that were contributing
to their underachievement.
• Class teacher designed a series of lessons that
challenged their motivation.
• Strategies included:
- Being taught by a male and female teacher.
- Scaffolded lessons that addressed any
misconceptions.
- Activities that engaged and motivated learners.

23. Experiment
Experiment 1
• Class teacher (male)
performed a lesson that
intentionally lacked
direction and clarity of
tasks.
• The same experiment was
carried out by a female
teacher, using the same
strategies.
Observations
• Observer noted that the
students in both lessons were
unsettled and lacked
motivation in completing tasks
set.
• They were easily distracted
and were determined to
distract others.
• Observer noted that the
distractions and disruptions
were heightened in the female
teacher’s class.

24. Experiment
Experiment 2
• Class teacher (male) then set
up a lesson that was
personalised to suit the needs
of the learners and directed in
a way that addressed all
misconceptions.
• The same experiment was
carried out by a female
teacher, using the same
strategies.
Observations
• Observer noted that the students
in the male teachers class were
very focused and engaged.
• The explicit nature of the
instructions allowed the students
to independently guide their own
learning.

25. Experiment
Experiment 2
• Class teacher (male) then set
up a lesson that was
personalised to suit the needs
of the learners and directed in
a way that addressed all
misconceptions.
• The same experiment was
carried out by a female
teacher, using the same
strategies.
Observations
Observer also noted that the
students were engaged in the
female teachers class but were
heavily dependent on her.
They were determined to work well
for her and needed reassurance that
the quality of the work was up to
standard.

26. Experiment
Experiment 2
• Class teacher (male) then set
up a lesson that was
personalised to suit the needs
of the learners and directed in
a way that addressed all
misconceptions.
• The same experiment was
carried out by a female
teacher, using the same
strategies.
Observations
They did not have the same desire in
the male teacher’s lesson as,
stereotypically, male teachers will
not have as high expectations of
boys and will focus their attention
heavily on their behaviour.
The disruptions were not as evident
in comparison to the previous
experimented lesson, but still lacked
focus.
The female teachers lesson aided
more discussion while the male
teacher made effective use of ICT to
engage and motivate.

27. Experiment
With Scaffolding
This included:
• Success criteria (AFL)
• Sentence stems.
• Layout
• Checklist
• Modelled response (Good
and Bad)
• ICT (chromebooks)
Observations
• With two scaffolded lessons, one
directed the learning and the
other allowed the students to
choose the topic they wanted to
write about.
• Two students enjoyed the
writing task where they were
allowed to write a story on a
topic of their choice.
• The other two struggled to think
of a story as they lacked
creativity and originality and
enjoyed adapting a text into
their own words more.

28. Causes of the Gap
• Literacy
• Behaviour and social groups
• ‘Meta’ learning
• Parental influence
• Stereotyping boys in school

29. Literacy
“In many schools, boys’ underachievement is
associated with poor skills in the use of
language, which is reflected in their
performance in GCSE examinations in modern
foreign languages, religious education and
drama, as well as in English Language and
Literature. Boys achieve notably worse results
than girls in National Curriculum English tests at
KS2 and KS3.”
Ofsted, Boys’ Achievement in Secondary Schools, 2003

30. Behaviour and Social Groups
“Boys are more likely to be affected by negative
peer pressure. Boys are also more likely to
experience criticism and a sense of failure at
school, whereas girls are more inclined to give
high status to hard-working pupils. Boys are more
likely to be deprived of a male adult role model,
both at home and in school, and this has a
negative effect on their achievement in general.”
DfE, The Research Evidence on Writing, 2012

31. ‘Meta’ Learning
“Girls are more likely (by international
measures, as well as British) to ‘control their
learning’: check what they have learned and
review what they still need to learn.”
Boys are less reflective and often fail to grasp
the ‘bigger picture’ in the classroom.
DfE, Gender and Education, 2007

32. Parental Influence
“Boys benefit to a greater extent than girls
from living in a household with highly
educated parents or where parents display
positive attitudes towards education.”
ESRC, Gender Differences in Educational Aspirations and
Attitudes, 2013

33. Stereotyping Boys
“As children progress through school, they
increasingly endorse the stereotype that girls
are academically superior to boys… Our
findings suggest that children not only
endorse gendered academic stereotypes, but
believe that adults share them.”
Hartley and Sutton, A stereotype threat account of boys’
academic underachievement, 2013

34. Practical Solutions from the
Research
1. Whole School
2. In the Classroom

35. #1: Whole School
• Literacy interventions
• Counteract negative views of
educational achievement
• Engage with parents
• Avoid emphasising gender
differences

36. #2: In The Class Room
• Praise behaviour as well as effort and
success
• Involve students in the tracking of their own
progress
• Break down tasks into small stages and
feedback as soon as possible.
• Tackle negative stereotypes of boys
• If the subject allows it, let boys choose their
subject matter.
• Teaching techniques for boys

37. Teaching Techniques for Boys
• Classroom discussion
• Short term targets and goals
• Variety of learning opportunities
including using ICT

38. Engage with Parents
Ensure we engage with parents and involve
them in their children’s education
achievement. We don’t have to focus on boys;
improving all parents’ attitudes towards
education should result in the boys benefitting
more.
• Postcards home
• Phone calls
• Positive communication

39. Counteract Negative Views
We need to present boys – particularly
younger boys – with positive male role
models. Research suggests they can come
from a range of places:
• Peer mentoring from older, academically
successful boys
• Male teachers
• Outside agencies (external visitors etc…)

40. Praising Behaviour
• Academic achievement tends to be lower
• Boys tend to display lower effort levels
• Behaviour deteriorates
Praise good behaviour, good effort and,
finally, academic achievement.

41. Thank you.

42. Breaking down barriers to
learning for EAL students
J. Cordwell, A. Middleton, E. Shorter

43. Enquiry
Knocking down barriers to learning for EAL students
when comprehending keywords and concepts
Why?
• 1st tier EAL students unable to keep up with the
pace of lessons
• They write and contribute less than non-EAL
students
• They spend most lesson time focussed on
comprehending basic instructions
• The commonly-used school policy of total
immersion is not supporting the students’
learning in all cases

44. Diagnosis
Knocking down barriers to learning for EAL students
when comprehending keywords and concepts
• Miscue analysis and writing diagnostic
(reading test with questions) showed both
students below level 3 literacy
• Questionnaire about educational background,
experience and culture revealed both had
learnt Geographical keywords and concepts in
their 1st language

46. Subsequent planned interventions
Knocking down barriers to learning for EAL students when
comprehending keywords and concepts
• Topic introduction packs (addressing key words and
concepts)
• Use of google translate in the classroom
• Use of multimodal stimuli
• Continual reference to keywords throughout the lesson
• Clear and consistent use of pause for thought and AfL
• Pairing with non-EAL students
• Further encouragement to contribute to class
discussion

48. Findings
Knocking down barriers to learning for EAL students when
comprehending keywords and concepts
Measured:
• Time taken to start work
• Quantity and quality of written work
• AfL targeted questioning
• Attainment level of work produced
We have visibly seen an improvement…

49. Whole school benefits - How do we move forward?
“What’s good for the goose is good for the gander”
• Smoother transitions for students
• User friendly interventions
• Greater confidence and intrinsic motivation in
students
• Encourages a supportive atmosphere of
shared responsibility, community and
inclusion
• Conducive to rapid and sustained progress
across the board

50. Thank You.