Getting Started with Research: The big Picture & Action Research
Speak Out! 2011-2014
Patcham High School
Preliminary Findings from Evaluation
Julia Sutherland, Mark Warner & Jo Byrne
Overview
Introduction to team
Research Context & rationale: Patcham High
School Speak Out! funded by Paul Hamlyn
Project aims & ‘ingredients’
Main findings of Evaluation
Implications for developing good practice?
How relevant to your school?
Pair buzz…
Why focus on talk and reading for students in receipt of the Pupil Premium?
Why talk or oracy?
Develops cognitive ability, reasoning & understanding – measurable impact on attainment in English, Mathematics & Science (Alexander, 2012)
Oral ability relates to social, emotional, moral & cultural development; well-being; ability to participate in democracy - citizenship
Oral language is foundation for all reading comprehension, writing
Children’s unequal starting points: pre-school oral experiences & practices – how far do they ‘fit’ with school’s?
At 3 & 5 years, gap in vocabulary & cognitive development between lowest SES 20% versus highest SES 20% = 1 year (Blanden/Michin,
2011
These gaps widen through schooling (Blanden/Michin, 2011; Feinstein, 2003)
Why reading?
Increases vocabulary, inference, comprehension, cognitive development, cross-curricular understanding
Fifth of students in UK/Europe have low reading attainment
Attainment gap between weak/strong readers widens at secondary school
(EACEA, 2011; DCSF, 2010)
Motivation to read is strongly associated with reading ability
(McKeown, 2013)
Children from low SES backgrounds are less likely to enjoy reading independently
(Clarke and Akerman, 2006)
Reading enjoyment is a more important determinant of children’s educational success than their family’s socioeconomic status
(Clarke & Rumbold, 2006; OECD, 2002)
Context for Reading & Talk projects,
Patcham High School, 2009…
Urban, average-sized comprehensive.
In 2009: high proportion of Pupil Premium; nearly a quarter of students with SEND
60% had reading age 2 years below chronological age
Response to Ofsted
Mark Warner’s & colleagues’ ongoing commitment to students’ independent reading – beliefs + some research
Whole-school, 3-year Project Aims
2.
3.
4.
1.
Develop students’ oral skills & confidence, focusing on most disadvantaged, Yrs 7-11, enhancing ability to progress to education, employment & training
Enhance teachers’ ability to develop talk
Establish community involvement
Increase students’ motivation & engagement in independent reading: focus on reading for pleasure
Project Ingredients
High status for Reading & Talk
DEAR + Talk + Awards for both
Talk: Briefing, Assemblies, Friday Bk Talk
School & Local libraries at heart: hosting events & developing exciting stock of books
Accelerated Reader to monitor reading progress & make library more user-friendly for weaker readers
Creative, linked projects: some outside
Community links: volunteers, parents, writers, parents, universities involved
CPD: reading & talk; Teacher research: English Dept
Examples of interventions
Structured group coaching on talk for most in need
Paired reading with adult volunteer:10-week blocks
Year 9 low set – storytelling to Year 5s
Slam poetry: students with challenging behaviour; collaborative training & strategies for Girls & talk
TV project – creating a ‘One Show’ video
Tiger’s Den & employer workshops & visits
Reading competitions; After-dinner DEAR; book groups, Friday Book Talk, Assemblies, Staff briefings
Training for existing Student Voice activities: e.g.
Lead/Support Students; Teachers’ Critical Friends
CPD for teachers sssss
by specialists internal/external
External inputs
INSET day on oracy and literacy: workshops
staff training on pair and group talk
Better Reading Partners Training in
Teaching & learning communities
TA training in Questioning and Talk for Writing
Inset Day - Talk for Writing
Mixed-method Evaluation
Comparative baseline & final oral attainment data
Years 7-9 and 11, from English teachers, 2013-14
Comparative reading-test scores for Paired Readers
33 Interviews with groups of students, teachers, project leaders and other stakeholders, across most projects [+ teacher questionnaires in process]
Observations, e.g. Awards Ceremony, coaching
Yr 10 Student Questionnaires on Reading Attitudes
7 Case Studies on PP & SEND students
Triangulation of perspectives and methods
Qualitative Findings on Talk
What the students say…
All projects highly rated, especially by students with weaker oral skills, but also provide extension & challenge for all
Coaching well evaluated, once adapted for students with weak oral skills only – not ‘one size fits all’
Improvements in:
Communication, fluency, confidence, extending talk registers
Articulating feelings & ideas, negotiating with unfamiliar adults/teachers & avoiding conflict
Collaborating, building relationships & appreciating different views, after early resistance, including out-of-school contexts
Leading & supporting others
Developing skills in interviews & making transition to FE, work
Students’ views
Group, exploratory talk is useful for learning across curriculum – deepens thinking, co-construction of understanding
Value increased independence of teachers & peer support
Show sophisticated understanding & reflection on talk: ‘go meta’: e.g. range of discourses, audiences, purposes; relationship between talk and identity – power imbalances; rights to speak
Mid-Year 2: Year 10 students report teacher-practices changing:
‘Improved teacher questioning’: ‘more challenging with good follow-up questions’ – probing their thinking.
More effective use of pair and group talk & space for students to develop ideas –praise for dialogic teachers who create this space
Value ‘real-world’/out-of-classroom contexts: TV, Storytelling…
Observations of ‘Awards’ show celebration of progress in talk, make links between home/school & show Community of
Practice developing
Findings on Reading
Embedded whole-school culture of reading & book talk
Greatly enhanced motivation & engagement – all year groups
Reading data shows development in reading scores for PP: 10wk paired reading, average scores rose by 1 year
Importance of talk, class & peer, to developing enthusiastic independent readers: DEAR + Talk + Accelerated Reader
Year 10 classes where tutors regularly engaged in rich talk about books made the greatest development in: a) reading comprehension b) attitudes to reading – this engagement more likely to be sustained after project
Relationship between reading & talk constantly reinforced:
Speak Out! Awards celebrate reading achievements – After-
Dinner Dear, Reading aloud
Evidence of sustained change in teacher practices?
Yes, where students draw parallels between interventions & pedagogy in lessons:
Year 9 storytelling; Poetry project; DEAR;
Paired reading
Lessons cited often linked to Teacher Research
Gradual shift to higher-level, collaborative talk
& space for student voices to develop
Changes at KS4 particularly convincing & linked to assessment – students report teachers recognising value of talk to deepen understanding
Issues and Challenges
Time – luxury of 3-year project to learn from mistakes & gradually change cultural & pedagogic practices
Year 1 of project: ‘pockets of excellence’ some progress in culture of pair/group talk in lessons, but not embedded
‘Coaching’ sessions initially disconnected from core curriculum; little consolidation via AfL: ‘bolted-on’? Driven by pressure to meet quantitative targets expected in funded projects (900+ students targeted)?
How to gain whole-staff commitment & lasting change of pedagogy, embedding culture of developing talk/reading?
Resources & Leadership – Funding, Passion of team leaders
Implications
Whole-school commitment – embedded over time
Oracy & Reading at Centre of student learning
Library as Fulcrum of Activity – See new NC & policy docs
Real-world contexts – literacy must feel relevant, real audiences, opportunities for talking more formally to range of unfamiliar people/different purposes
Induction into school oral discourses - structured pair/group exploratory ‘talk for thinking’ – use of ground-rules, reflection - KAL
Creativity of approach – poetry-writing, TV project
Teacher Researchers as Change Agents, driving project, with 2 critically reflective ‘Teacher’ Coordinators: could more teachers be involved in sharing & developing practice from start of project?
School openness to change? Project benefitted from dynamic culture in school & esp. English Dept, after waves of research on reading & talk
Difficulty of measuring impact & attributing significance – collecting reliable quantitative data – S and L grades; Accelerated Reader data?
The most valuable bit was that you were counting on yourselves to get it right […] This was good, instead of having a teacher telling you what to do and the different stages, you could do it your own way and with your own ideas (Jade, Yr 10, Sch Action +)
Student voices
Speak Out! 2014
I think that the Speak Out! TV project and everything we've done with speaking and listening has really helped with my life to like make it less daunting for speaking in front of other people and it's also helped with class discussion […] to join in with them, instead of just sit back and watch everyone else. It's raised my confidence a lot [Steve, Year 10]
I think [my talk] improved when I’m speaking to the teacher because when I speak to them formally, they find it more polite and it helps me if
I'm in trouble because I can put my side of the story and they listen better… Teachers have started liking me more now (Vince, Year 8)
Yes, sometimes I sit upstairs and speak to my brother or I'll read to my brother and he sits down and listens and he's quite happy that I can actually read to him […] because I can read and talk better now.
(Carrie, Yr 8 with ASC, School
Action +)
Students now achieve well, gaining
GCSE results in line with national averages and, in some subjects, notably English, well above them.
This has been helped by the good range of literacy initiatives in place
Students are tolerant, work together happily and understand the needs of others.
Ofsted, 2013
DEAR is recognised locally and nationally for its success. This has encouraged students to read more widely, talk about their books and write about them in the school magazine.
The school’s strong focus on literacy is helping prepare students for the next stage of their education
Implications & sharing practice
What is of immediate interest or concern?
How far does it match your school context?
Whole-school, creative literacy approaches:
How achievable?
What are issues & challenges?
What is role of teacher? Senior leader? TLC?
Match with policy – new NC?
Contacts
Julia Sutherland jcs23@sussex.ac.uk
Mark Warner
MWarner@PatchamHigh.org.uk
Guardian Pleasure for Reading Conference
2 Sussex Teacher Researcher conferences
Jo Byrne Jbyrne@PatchamHigh.org.uk
Bibliography 1
Alexander, R. (2012) Improving oracy and classroom talk in English Schools:
Achievements and Challenges. Extended version of a presentation given at the
DfE seminar on Oracy: the National Curriculum and Educational Standards, 20
February, 2012.
Blanden, Jo and Stephen Machin (2010) “Changes in inequality and intergenerational mobility in early years assessments” in Kirstine Hansen,
Heather Joshi and Shirley Dex (eds) Children of the 21st century: The first five
years. Bristol: Policy Press.
Clarke and Akerman, (2006) Social inclusion and reading An exploration.
London: National Literacy Trust
Clarke & Rumbold (2006) Reading for Pleasure: A Research Overview. London:
National Literacy Trust
Dickerson, A. & Popli, G. (2012) Persistent poverty and children’s cognitive
development: evidence from the UK Millennium Cohort Study. Working paper
2012/2. London: Centre for Longitudinal Studies, Institute of Ed, University of
London
Bibliography 2
DCSF (2007) English Subject Leader Training Materials Speaking
& Listening (2007) London: DCSF
EACEA (Education, Audiovisual and Culture Executive
Agency/Eurydice). (2011) Teaching Reading in Europe: Contexts,
Policies and Practices. Brussels: EACEA, Eurydice (Excellent report & key few pages on reading comprehension)
Feinstein, Leon (2003) Inequality in the Early Cognitive
Development of British Children in the 1970 Cohort, Economica,
70, 73-97.
Literacy Guide for Secondary Schools: 2013-2014. (2014)London:
National Literacy Trust.
McKeown, S.P. (2013) Reading Motivation and engagement in the
primary classroom: theory, research and practice. London: UKLA
(mini-books series; see Talk for Reading, C. Warner, same series)
