Theyre Aye Now Sand in Theur article

"Theyre Aye Now Sand in Theur" Jake 4.11 Years

Transition and The Importance of the Learning Environment

by Gail Bedford (2003)

Abstract

This paper explores the importance of the school’s role as the leader of the learning community. It makes brief reference to a National Context where the educational experience has narrowed to focus on the raising of standards in Basic Skills, and created an agenda of Testing and Targets resulting in unacceptable levels of pressure and disaffected learners.

In response we have created a community that joins together family and school in order to embrace the child and establish positive attitudes to life long learning. Jake made a terrible discovery when he visited Year 1. He was a very young, boisterous 4 year old child with poor pre-school experiences and from a disadvantaged home environment. He needed space and opportunity to learn through physical and creative activities. Sand was his favourite and “no sand” and all it stood for in his new class would mean an inappropriate environment. This paper will show how one school, located in a poor to lower middle class community, has worked to manage this challenging experience whilst retaining the child’s needs as a focus and will show how, in the process, Action Research has become an important tool for examining the school, its problems and ways to surmount these problems. Embracing the child involves a quality Home and School Partnership, including the use of technology. Research projects have explored the importance of the Indoor and Outdoor Learning Environments providing curriculum opportunities that empower a child to discover how to learn. Technology has become an important factor in this process. All children should have an educational experience that offers a balance between challenge and support and each has the right to find “the sand” they need.

Key Words

Early Childhood Education. Effective Pedagogies. Learning Environments. Communities. Research.

“How do you know what to do when you don’t know what to do?” Alistair Smith (2002). A consideration of how we learn how to learn is an important factor in the way in which we work at Mount Pleasant School.

Copyright © 2003, Australian Computer Society, Inc. This paper was presented at the IFIP Working Groups 3.5 Conference: Young Children and Learning Technologies, held at UWS Parramatta in July 2003. Reproduction for academic, not-for profit purposes permitted provided this text is included.

1 Let us remember the child

Jake was still 4 when he visited Year 1 as part of the school’s end of year induction programme. He was a summer born boisterous child with a short attention span and needed space for physical activity and a variety of challenges in order to keep him motivated and engaged in learning. Sadly, he told his Mum when she asked about the visit, “ theyur aye now sand in theur”. Sand was his favourite activity and he had encountered a room full of tables and chairs. This piece of Action Research sets out to establish the importance of an appropriate learning environment that provides both stimulation and challenge so that every child is able to find the “sand” they need in order to extend their learning and enhance their life skills. The focus of this work looks at the interface between Reception and Year 1 and explores the tensions between what is, and what should be, the experience for the child.

2 The Child’s Experience

The pattern of early education experiences differs around the world with children aged 3, 4, 5 & 6 being part of a varying Preschool programme. Whilst the experience may be different in Austria, Italy, America, or England, the child is still always a child aged 3 ,4,5 or 6. A country’s culture and educational programme may mean that a 5year old in Italy ( Reggio Emilia, 1996) or Austria (Kindergarten 3-6) or England (formal education from 5) will have a very different learning experience in both curriculum and environment. Whilst I have explored issues raised by this fact the focus here is to consider the English child’s experience on transition from Reception (5yrs) to Y1(6yrs) and the current tensions being exposed in this transition of schooling from one year to the next.

In order to put this work in context, I need to make brief reference to the educational climate in England. In 1988 the Education Reform Act introduced a National Curriculum and Testing at 7, 11, 14 and 16. The teaching profession and children have endured continual change to that curriculum and testing programme with the addition of Baseline Profiling (assessment for 5 year olds), the introduction of Value Added (a system that measures the school’s input to a child’s progress from the age of entry to exit i.e. 5-11 Primary) and finally Ofsted (Office for Standards and Education) an inspection programme for all schools that makes public judgement as to how successful the school is.) Recently there has been the introduction of the compulsory Literacy and Numeracy Hours set alongside school targets and national targets followed by yet another Education Act (2001). Inevitably work done in many schools has narrowed with the successful outcome in Tests becoming a major focus. As teaching time for Physical Education and the Arts became reduced David Blunkett (Secretary of State) commissioned a study, “All Our Futures” (2002) which highlighted the importance of creativity within the child’s teaching and learning experience. Finally the introduction of the Foundation Stage Curriculum for all 4 and 5 year olds emphasising the importance of delivering learning opportunities through appropriate and often play based activities’ brings us to the present.

In order to set the research in context here is a brief outline of our school as the leader of the learning community.

Mount Pleasant Primary is 115years old and has fourth generation pupils. It is situated in the heart of the United Kingdom’s Black Country. Originally famous for coal, steel, nails, chain and cut glass life was hard for the likes of Ozzie Biddle who as an ex-pupil still joins us on Friday afternoons as part of the Local History Group. At 89 Ozzie has much to share with today’s pupils and does. Gwen is 35 years old and is mentally disabled. She and seven other such friends join Year 6 on Tuesday afternoons and work together to produce a community news sheet. Joshua is 6 months old and comes with his Mummy every Thursday to a family share session in our Children’s Centre. During the week up to 50 children between the ages of 6months and 3 years come to the Centre with a family member to join in what some would call education and we call family fun. Tim Brighouse (recent Chief Education Officer, Birmingham Local Education Authority) draws our attention to the fact that a child spends a total of 15% of their time in school between the ages of 5 and 16 years and 85% of their time in the home and local community (2002).

How can the school give anything more than an educational focus if all we concentrate on is the National Curriculum and Testing during that time? At Mount Pleasant we work to draw together the interest and support of the home, the school and the community in order to embrace the whole child and move his/her development forward. Words such as “respect, values, standards, honesty” are part of our shared vocabulary. Phrases such as “being the best to beat others is not what we strive for but being the best we can be is”, “seeing our school as a daytime home and those in it as our daytime family “ have led to our school motto “Working Together: Achieving Together”.

3 Understanding the need for change

To further extend our understanding of how the child learns we have created a culture at Mount Pleasant that puts the child at the centre of all we do. Through the spirit of collegiality we have developed an approach to Team Teaching (TES 2003 ) that has enabled us to enjoy a professional openness and trust and encourages us to challenge (TES 2003) anything we consider to be detrimental to a child’s development Through our professional development programme we engage in Action Research often leading to innovative practice. As a result we now have an extensive Parents in Partnership Programme involving families with their children from 0 to 11 years.

We acknowledge the importance of communication and use technology to engage parents in dialogue around their child’s progress and motivate children to use ICT within their family as well as at school helping to expand their curiosity and knowledge and by empowering them to learn how to learn. We researched to understand “Factors Affecting Underachievement” (2001) and this led us to investigate the work of Reggio Emilia which in turn led us to understand the importance of developing teacher’s observation skills in order to plan an appropriate curriculum to meet individual needs (E.E.L. – Early Effective Learning).

Currently we are part of a National Research Programme looking at the child’s disposition to learn ( AcE – Accounting Early for Life Long Learning). When the conversations in the Staffroom began to dwell on distressed children and when reports came in of bed-wetting and tears at breakfast from parents I felt it was time to review what we were being directed to do. Teachers in Year 1 were concerned about having to deliver a tight (National) curriculum to children unused to the rigour of the Literacy and Numeracy Hours. Despite their most innovative teaching, teachers could not keep 5 year olds focussed on one area of learning for an hour. Where had our philosophy of “putting the child at the centre “ gone.? Not surprisingly we were not alone in our concerns.

Stenhouse (2000) is careful to stress that Action Research should contribute not only to practice but to a “theory of education and teaching which is accessible to other teachers.” “Situational – it is concerned with diagnosing a problem in a specific context and attempting to solve it in that context”.

I decided to: 1 - conduct a small research project within school. 2 -join in the National Debate.

As part of the study, I looked at three groups within the Transition R(eception) to Y(ear)1 Process: children, parents and practitioners.

• Individual Meetings with children and Individual Meetings with parents. Pre and post transition in July and September. Some of the meetings were conducted online;
• Group Meetings with parents.
• Questionnaires.
• Monitoring Absence/Attendance.
• Monitoring through work assessment during first six weeks of Autumn Term.

Membership of the three groups involved in the study consisted of:

- Thirty-six families, Reception teachers and three teachers working with Year 1, as well as the Headteacher and children were studied.

3.4.1 Typology of Transition.

• What makes for successful Transition?
• What makes for unsuccessful Transition?

Of the 53 children (including twins) 36 families took an active part in the consultation process i.e. 37 children representing just under ¾ of the Year 1 Cohort.

• 14 children had experienced Transition problems
• 15 families felt more involved with their child’s learning than in Reception;
• 18 families less involved and 3 families the same.

3.4.2 Transition Problems; A summary of parents comments and views

Parents felt that change “is always difficulti” and “children take time to adjust”. Some “lack confidence” and are “apprehensive / always worried by new things”. In Reception children had always played in friendship groups and worked in family groups with an identified adult. In Y1 some had been "moved from their friends they had made in Reception" and were now working in ability groups. They didn’t feel the same link with any one adult. “He still needs someone to cling to” said one parent.

Some children had been distressed, causing equal distress to their parents. Crying, they had not wanted to go to school and had wanted parents to stay with them in class; behaviour not previously presented. “He’d never been like that before”, said another parent. A number, mostly boys, expressed the view that “the works hard and there’s no play".

"Floods of tears and generally upset about going to school. I, if anything, was even more upset and couldn’t understand why he was so sad about going to school but I did establish in his own words “there’s no play and the work is hard”. I so wanted to go in and comfort him. He’s the youngest in the class. If he had been born 3 days later he would still be in Reception now”, said another parent.

Teachers are sensitive to the needs of children and had “consoled and encouraged “ the children to “settle and make new friends” Parents promises of “treats at the end of the day” had some success. Children had” got used to it even though he doesn’t like it” and “ accepted that she’s got to go”. Being more involved with their child’s learning had helped in some families but not with the families who had felt less involved.

Some parents felt there was “more openness with teachers who seemed more approachable”. There was more “homework type activities” in which the family could become involved and the adults enjoyed the opportunity this gave them “to spend time “with their child. Some noted that the child was now “older and more interested” and “able to talk more about what he has done “at school. Parents welcomed “the comments put on work “in children’s book bags and “used them as a guide” for work done at home. Those involved in the Parent Workshop felt more knowledgeable when helping their child.

Some parents felt the classroom was less accessible and therefore there was less opportunity “to be involved with the teachers”. “You feel you are disturbing the routine of the day”, and as a result they felt less aware of what their child was doing and so were unable to help as much. Others felt they knew less about how the class was “organised” and were less “informed than in Reception” and that there was less opportunity for workshop involvement.”

• S.H.A.R.E. Afternoon workshops involving Literacy and Numeracy. Had an uptake of 13 families.
• I.C.T. Linking teachers with homes to discuss children’s progress/ teaching I.T. skills to parents in school/ video conferencing between children and their parent .Uptake 19 families. Two teachers lead these workshops enabling us to create powerful learning experiences for children and parents. A Dudley Local Authority initiative has enabled all schools to become generously resourced with ICT equipment. The Education Department became part of a National pilot linking schools with business and resulting in a forefold increase in equipment in schools. In addition quality training and support has enabled interested practitioners to trial and then introduce new ideas in technology resulting in innovative practice.
• A Research project looking at a child’s disposition to learn has had an uptake of 19 families. The AcE Research Project echoed the wider consultation findings.

Children interviewed had felt “excited” about their new class but “missed their old teachers”. T hey had missed the space and the play activities and the opportunity “ to choose what they did “ and when. All felt the work was hard but whilst some enjoyed that others found it very challenging.

Practitioners interviewed felt they had “little understanding of the recently introduced Foundation Stage Curriculum” and so felt unsure of how they could “best build on the children’s experiences”. They were concerned that “ they had little flexibility for change as the National Curriculum had to be delivered” In particular the constraints of the hour for Literacy and Numeracy were unbearable equally for them and the children. Children were directed to set activities and given little choice in a classroom layout that once established did not change.

Having been directed to consider the issue of the six week holiday as an interruption to children’s learning the observer discovered that not all children’s learning regressed only the children whose prior learning had not become embedded. This observation is important as children who are able to should have the opportunity to move their learning forward. Teachers should use assessment data from the previous class and early child observations in the new school year to inform planning for teaching and learning. A period of settling in and revision would seem unnecessary for many children

3.5.1 Action on Research Findings

The research findings have been used to recommend the following points:-

• Begin the Induction Programme in June to give children time to become comfortable with their new environment and routines. Involve family members in this process.
• In September be clear with parents how they can become actively involved in their children’s learning.
• Extend our ‘Domino Day’ Practice. During the first half of the Autumn Term, a teacher who has previously taught the class spends one morning each week with the children in their new class. This gives an opportunity for pastoral support and facilitates the monitoring of the standard of work being produced.
• Planned extension of the Foundation Stage curriculum to bridge the transition period i.e. September to as long as the “child” needs.
• Major review of indoor and outdoor learning environments. The organisation of the indoor environment should provide the flexibility to acknowledge the children’s various levels of maturity and to change with them as the school year unfolds and their needs change.
• Create child led learning environments that stimulate curiosity, motivate involvement and provide support and challenge at appropriate levels for each child.
• Provide a group of trained adults (teachers, teaching assistants, trainees) and by involving parents on a rotation system have enough adults spread throughout the areas to be able to intervene with the right question at the right time or to work alongside the child in partnership.

Future Action

Consider the findings and look for commonalities that can be applied to every Transition point so that children become familiar with the process of change.

An interview I gave followed by an article in “The Times Educational Supplement” (2003) has led to a high level of National interest in our work and there is a growing debate regarding the pressure young children are put under with the testing regime and a call for the Y1 child to encounter an appropriate curriculum.

A new group, “The National Primary Education Alliance” has formed, representing more than half the Primary Schools in the country with a common cause: to lobby the government to remove Tests for 7 year olds. This would remove the pressure from children and teachers alike in Year 2 and give even more space to the Year 1 child. We would then be able to use the teacher assessment for the child and not, as at present of the child.

4 Creating the appropriate environment to support the learner

The learning environment we create should embrace the child, nurture his/her uniqueness and enable each child to be whatever he/she can be. To create an appropriate learning environment for the Year 1 child we need to consider:-

• how the child learns;
• the importance of Emotional Intelligence;
• the opportunity for creativity;
• the organisation of the indoor and outdoor learning space;
• the role of the adults engaging with the child;
• show how important it is that the characteristics of the above become embedded in whole school practice enabling a child’s learning to build year on year so that transition from one year to another means merely a change of space and personnel and not a change of learning culture.

Recent research has extended our knowledge of how the brain works and for e.g. Gardner’s (1982) work on multiple intelligencies has highlighted the importance of variety in teaching styles so that the visual, auditory and kinaesthetic needs of the learner are met. We know for e.g. through Kennedy’s (2002) work that learning is at three levels and that learning opportunities should be structured to allow the child’s learning to progress from shallow through deep to profound learning. Time for reflection should be built in so that knowledge and skills become embedded allowing the skills of communication collaboration and investigation to provide the firm foundations of knowledge on which to build. Goleman (1999) shows us that self-esteem is critical to learning and there is now great interest in the way that emotions impact on our learning and achievement.

“Each of us has a different mosaic of intelligences. Uniform schooling ignores these differences… each child has a spark in him/her. It is the responsibility of these people and the institutes around each child to find what would ignite that spark”

( Gardner, 1982)

Being an Emotionally Literate school/community means that we should cater to the Head(Intelligence Quotient.), the Heart(Emotional Intelligence) and the Spirit(Spiritual Intelligence) (Smith, 2002). The whole school culture must value the individual and each individual must feel valued. How we handle the truly innovative/creative child so that his/her uniqueness is valued and not seen as odd is a challenge that must be won. By creating regular opportunities for sharing and learning about emotions and by publicly praising all forms of achievement a secure environment will give confidence to the child so that being different can be celebrated.

“Self esteem is the value we put on ourselves and teachers can esteem learners/provide esteeming experiences/help learners by framing experiences so that there is challenge but achievable challenge”

(Smith, 2002)

Creativity is “imaginative activity fashioned to produce out comes that are both original and of value” (Joubert 2002). As the leader in the learning community “we can teach creatively and we can teach for creativity by encouraging self belief and identifying and fostering the creative potential of all pupils” ( Joubert 2002). By being prepared to change roles as the leader and the learner; by creating an environment in which problem solving and risk taking are the norm; by providing time for experiment and investigation; by adapting teaching styles to meet individual learning needs; by respecting unusual questions and crediting original ideas; by giving formative feedback to the child during the activity; by encouraging children to have the confidence to work alone but also develop the social skills to be able to work as part of a team we are enabling the “spark to ignite” (Gardner, 1982).

Children play freely exploring what is possible with what is around them. Physical play can be directed but still provoke the child’s imagination and so leads them to use objects and materials creatively. The adult’s role is to provide the resources to stimulate play and further enhance the child’s learning. Both environments should offer opportunity for exploration and communication. With 9/10 top toys last Christmas having some form of technology in them technology should have a high profile within the learning base. Investigation, creation, role play, the arts and physical play should be the daily right of the child not a half hour slot on the weekly timetable. With careful planning we should provide activities that will challenge the child equally whether indoors or out. Indoors the furniture and areas of learning need to be flexible and capable of changing to reflect both a change in activities and also the growing maturity of the group. The room should look different in July from the previous September echoing the child’s physical social and academic development.

The skill of the teacher/support staff is in providing the balance between challenge and support. Children should be developing the skills that allow them to interact effectively with each other and the adults in the room. The adult, by knowing when to intervene and how, and by using open ended questions can help the child to move away from being merely a passive learner. The use of adult observations in order to understand how the child is learning and therefore to plan for the next step extends the learning experience. It is also important that there is a climate of co-operation between the family members and the school staff. By sharing educational aims and establishing a good communication system based on mutual respect the child benefits at the centre of the learning community.

The successful child is confident and secure in his environment and relationships. In order for progress to be made year on year agreed practice must become embedded throughout the school. The promotion of collegiality allows for the development of a whole school ethos that will support the child’s learning and social growth. Transition points must share common practice and staff must have high expectations for each child based on their professional evidence not merely test results.

5 Summary

As leaders of learning we should know what we are teaching the child and why. We should be providing a curriculum and environment that motivates, inspires and challenges the child and when using assessment we should make it pertinent to the child’s needs. We should establish an openness that enables a school to lead change from within absorbing the change and having the confidence and capacity to build on. We should encourage a willingness to share the practice that has brought about successful change with the wider professional community.

This paper has brought together the concerns of teachers and the views of parents. Our school based Action Research has led me to enter the wider professional education debate and as a result to acknowledge that each child has the right to find his/her “sand” within the learning environment and that as the leaders within the learning community we must provide it.

6 References

BLUNKETT D (1998) Secretary of State for Education and Employment. (Commissioned “All Our Futures” by National Advisory Committee on Creative and Cultural Education 1998.

BRIGHOUSE, T (Conference 2002) Key speaker “One Voice: Many Places” Conference at Birmingham Conference Centre on Arts and Creativity.

Education Reform Act (ERA): The School Assessment and Curriculum. 1989 CIR05/89. DfEE Publications.

Education Act 2002 www.dfes.gov.uk/educationact2002

Education Act 2002 extended the National Curriculum for England to include the foundation stage www.qca.org.uk.

GARDNER H (1982) Art, Mind and Brain: A Cognitive Approach to Creativity. New York Basic Books.

GOLEMAN D (1999) Emotional Intelligence. Training Journal (Interviews Issue) July 1999. Interviewer Martin Delahoussaye in connection with working with Emotional Intelligence.

HARTILL J (2001) Action Research in Best Practice Research Scholarship. An investigation of the Factors which may affect individual pupils in the early years and the consideration of the implications for my school Mount Pleasant Primary.

www.mount.dudley.gov.uk/publications.htm (Active July 2003)

JOUBERT M (Warwick 2002) NAHT (National Association of Headteachers) Conference "Thinkers as Learners:Learners as Thinkers”.

Research Officer on “All our Futures” Creativity, Culture and Education. Report produced by National Advisory Committee on Creative and Cultural Education (1998)

KENNEDY H ( Warwick 2002) NAHT (National Association of Headteachers) Conference "Thinkers as Learners:Learners as Thinkers”.

Executive Director London Leadership Centre.

MOUNT PLEASANT PRIMARY SCHOOL www.mount.dudley.gov.uk/publications.htm (Active July 2003).

Research paper Factors Affecting Underachievement, Hartill J (2001)

Primary Returns to Playtime, Times Education Supplement, (Newspaper Article 21.01.03)

Two by Two, Times Education Supplement (Newspaper Article 21.03.03)

MUNICIPIALITY OF REGGIO EMILIA (1996) in The Hundred Languages of Children Exhibition. Official Publication by the Municipiality.

SMITH A (2002) Keynote seminar. Learning to Learn in Schools: Putting Theory into Practice. Belfast. Technology Exhibition/Education Northern Ireland.

STENHOUSE L in COHEN L 5th edition 2000. Research Methods of Education.

Gail K Bedford.