Pupil Grouping and the Learning Environment

Another influential factor in determining the character of the classroom ethos is the way in which pupils are grouped, both within the classroom and within the school more generally.

Peter Kutnick and his colleagues report on the findings of an extensive research study of the prevalence and impact of different kinds of pupil grouping in primary and secondary classrooms in England. The report indicates that there is no evidence to support the view that any particular grouping strategies lead to significant improvements in attainment. It is then suggested that there is only 'limited evidence that pupils or teachers had received training or support to work effectively within their classroom groups.'
(Kutnick et al., 2006: 7).

http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/~ttzelrn/contexts/unit3/documents/kutnick_et_al.pdf

Interviewing 2 Teachers

I interviewed two teachers with differing approaches to pupil grouping. My questions were base on the findings in Kutnick et al.’s report

Here are the summaries of my findings:

The first teacher I interviewed is an art teacher. She said that she prefers to put the chatty students with the less chatty. She separates the badly behaved students but sometimes has a problem with those pupils shouting to each other across the room which disturbs the whole class. Her classes are mostly projects so the students work individually, but when they are working together she mixes the genders. She groups the pupils according to skill and interests and the groups are usually 4 or 5 students. To cater for children with specific education needs she monitors and pays special attention to those pupils. She finds that grouping the pupils in mixed ability encourages them top teach each other.

I then interviewed a teacher who teaches Business Studies and Maths. She found that the groupings changed in each subject because Business Studies is more discussion orientated. She too puts the students in groups of mixed gender and ability and finds that the pupils will assist struggling students. She give each group a score and reflects on this score every month, then she changes the group accordingly. She lets students choose their own groups.

My Preferred Approach

My own preferred approach to pupil grouping in the classroom is to have students of mixed ability and mixed gender sat together in groups no larger than 4.  Although I like to vary the groups. Particularly in ESL where I usually start off as 1 big group, break students into smaller groups and then into pairs – this depends on the activities. I always make sure the groups are mixed by gender and ability by regularly getting pupils to swap with each other. This creates a stimulating environment because when a higher level ability student works with weaker students they can teach and encourage those weaker students although at times the pupils with higher ability might overpower the struggling students, or the weaker students may not contribute as much. Another reason is that some pupils don’t like working together so if groups are consistently changed it is fairer for everyone.

When I teach Global Perspectives I group students with mixed ability and it is hoped that every group will be at the same level of achievement. I separate the students who are badly behaved because when these students are grouped together they can be very disruptive to the class. As there are only 2 girls, I group them together as they give each other support and confidence making a safe learning environment in a male orientated classroom. When it comes to the externally marked projects I will let students choose their own group – this involves them in the decision making, but if a group is formed which I feel could not preform to the best of its ability I will advise the pupils against it.

Our school is too small to have any sets, but if it was big enough I would group pupils in a mixed tutor group which would be together for most subjects. This would create unity and companionship amongst the class. I would then group them in ability, for subjects like Maths,  Languages and sciences as I find that pupils with a lower ability can slow down the progress of these particular subjects. A different pace  and quantity of material covered is needed for each ability hence the introduction of the ‘extended’ curriculum in Cambridge IGCSE. I would make 3 different sets for ESL – beginner, intermediate and advanced because it is very difficult to prepare a lesson which meets the needs of a number of different students with a variety of English ability levels and it is not as productive or stimulating for the pupils. There would only be 1 set of mixed ability for Global Perspectives. 

Social and Emotional Aspects of Learning

'Social and Emotional Aspects of Learning' (SEAL) is a comprehensive approach to the promotion of social and emotional skills in the classroom, introduced in England and Wales beginning with the Primary National Strategy in 2005. The aim of the approach is to help to promote positive behaviour and effective learning.

http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/~ttzelrn/contexts/unit3/documents/seal_guidance.pdf

Social and emotional aspects of learning, such as self awareness, managing feelings, motivation, empathy and social skills are considered to be important in the SEAL approach because Social, emotional and behavioural skills underlie almost every aspect of school, home and community life, including
effective learning and getting on with other people. They are fundamental to school improvement. Where children have good skills in these areas, and are educated within an environment supportive to emotional
health and well-being, they will be motivated to, and
equipped to:

• be effective and successful learners;
• make and sustain friendships;
• deal with and resolve conflict effectively and fairly;
• solve problems with others or by themselves;
• manage strong feelings such as frustration, anger and anxiety;
• be able to promote calm and optimistic states that promote the achievement of goals;
• recover from setbacks and persist in the face of difficulties;
• work and play cooperatively;
• compete fairly and win and lose with dignity and respect for competitors;
• recognise and stand up for their rights and the rights of others;
• understand and value the differences and commonalities between people, respecting the right of others to have beliefs and values different from their own.

These approaches have been used in my school for the Primary where it is incorporated to other subjects. It is adopted to such an extent that our school has a theme of the month dealing with various social and emotional issues. Personal, Social and Health Education (PSHE) has been introduced to our secondary where we have one 80 minute lesson a week. It has not yet been incorporated into other subjects, teachers are free to do so but I have seen no evidence of it.

Secondary teachers could make the most of SEAL resources in creating a positive classroom ethos in the following ways:

 As communicative discussion activities in ESL lessons – the material can be used to prompt discussions and introduce students to new vocabulary 

Revision techniques– Students can be taught various ways of dealing with stress and anxiety whilst preparing for exams.

Empowering pupils - This might be in a situation where there is an argument or disagreement between friends. If all students are educated with SEAL resources they will be able to deal with these problems without having to involve the teacher.

As a warmer – confidence and self esteem activities could be used as warmers to energise students and therefore make them more motivated.

SEAL has its critics and sceptics, some of whom see it as a further – and in many ways unhelpful - extension of what is claimed to be a wider 'therapy culture'. A recent book review in The Daily Telegraph expands on some of the concerns.

Creating a positive classroom ethos

This is advice from Scotland (The Highland Council, 2010) on creating a positive classroom ethos.

In my opinion, what educators mean by ethos is the way in which students, teachers, parents and any other school staff behave and treat each other in order to make a positive learning environment for all involved.

It is important because if students and teachers have negative thoughts, lack of motivation and low self esteem the learning and teaching can not be utilised to its maximum benefit. Feelings of  being inadequate and having low self esteem can have a damaging effect on a school and classrooms because pupils feel discouraged and don’t want to learn.

The whole school ethos impacts the classroom because feelings are infectious. If all school staff feel confident, have a sense of place and well being they will lead by example creating comfortable classrooms for students with positive attitudes. A whole school ethos is a set of rules which create boundaries for every one so negative behaviour can be irradiated.

The following link is a blog about classroom displays:

http://usefulwiki.com/displays/

The value and purpose of classroom display in contributing to a stimulating and safe learning environment is huge.

Students are able to use them as a learning resource, to celebrate achievement, to celebrate diversity, to promote a sense of community and belonging, to improve the environment, to provide information and to prompt feedback. Classroom displays give students more purpose to the work they are doing and they are able to compete to get ‘that space on the wall’.

Wall displays and seating arrangements have an impact on the quality of classroom learning because children are affected by their surrounding environment.  Classroom displays provide stimulation for children and can be used as a resource. Seating arrangements have an effect on how much information pupils are absorbing.

A minimalist approaches could be effective because it creates a calm, neutral environment for pupils to learn in. They are less likely to day dream or lose concentration. It is especially useful for students who have special needs because over stimulation can be damaging to them?

I think that wall displays could have a different effect according to the age range of the pupils. Younger children who have shorter concentration spans and learn easily by observation could be stimulated by lots of wall displays where as older pupils may find it to be a distraction.

Here is a list of what I consider to be five important factors in creating a positive classroom ethos:

Classroom displays – A happy medium, not too much and not too little. The pupils should contribute to the displays.

Seating arrangements – Seating arrangements should be flexible so they can be moved at any time for different activities. I think students should sit on ‘island’ tables so they can discuss and confer. All pupils must be facing the teacher.

A good relationship with the teacher – The teacher must have a good relationship with the students and vice versa so students feel relaxed and confident.

Classroom contracts – It is beneficial for pupils to be involved in the decision making process and they have a clear idea of what is expected of the teacher and themselves. It is mutually agreeable.

Clean and tidy organised rooms – Clutter and mess can be very distracting for the teacher and students so it is best that the classroom is clean, tidy and well organise for accessing computers, books and other materials.

The Ethics of Classroom Observation

In the following quotation from an article about the ethics of classroom observation, Barnard suggests that it would be ethical for the process of observation to be mutually beneficial both for observer and observed:

Observers need to advise teachers of their intentions in a timely and sensitive manner in order to gain their willing participation. It is also important to take steps to make observation useful to both parties. For example, providing feedback to the teachers can be mutually beneficial. Indeed, it is essential for quality-control purposes, for otherwise the process is one-sided and quite unjust. Student teachers will often find teachers and students very happy to discuss their observations. Because good classroom observation is a mirror of professional practice, experienced teachers will wish to reflect upon their own teaching and learning situation as seen through fresh eyes. 
(Barnard, 1998: 53)

Here are my five proposed key guidelines for ethical classroom observation:

1) All parties;  including the teacher, observer, students, and school board must be informed of the observation within 1 week of the observation taking place

2) Any information obtained must not be used for any malicious reasons and should be used in the best interest of all parties involved, any loose talk should be avoided.

3) All parties must give consent if the information is to be used externally for the viewing of any parties not involved and participants should feel free to withdraw their consent at any time and for any reason.Those being observed should remain anonymous

4) Constructive feedback must be provided by the observer orally and in written format.

5) Participation should be voluntary

The Value of Observation

Carefully guided classroom observation can be invaluable in helping teachers at all stages of their careers to improve their practice. For you, such observation could take several forms:

• By you of other teachers

• By other teachers of you

• By you of you - via video

Both structured and open-ended observation are effective. One is more specific than the other and this can be both an advantage and disadvantage. The advantages of structured as opposed to open-ended classroom observation are the observer has a specific aim to which he/she is observing. The observer will have all plans and materials prepared and the observer will have a clear idea as to what he/she is watching for. The disadvantages are the students may act in a different way rather than naturally if they know they are being observed. The observation might be too narrow if a specific area of research has been established.

Rafi.ki

http://www.rafi.ki/site/

Linking your classroom to the world.

Rafi.ki is a secure online learning community that lets your pupils talk to schools all over the world.

Rafi.ki features:

• In the atlas area, pupils can safely publish information about themselves
• Lesson ideas can be shared in the resources area
• In the school yard, pupils can chat to each other across the planet and make contributions to an online newspaper
• The projects section stores curriculum-driven projects from particular countries which teachers in other countries are free to use and adapt
• In the communicate section, pupils and teachers can talk to each other across the world through email, video-conferencing, and instant messaging
• The staff room is an area where teachers can share resources and best practice, supporting and advising each other

The two areas I explored were the communicative section and the resource area. This website will be very useful for me. Particularly for the Global Perspectives Subject that I teach. This subject requires students to correspond with other schools to work together and gain different view points in projects. The resource area has lots of material that I would use and I would like to upload materials for others. It would also be helpful for me to contact teachers from around the world who teach the same subjects as me and perhaps collaborate. It will also be very helpful in my ESL classes for pupils to get a pen friend so they can write letters and practice written English. I think there will be more incentive for pupils to try harder and take more pride in their work if it can be uploaded and shared with other schools who are free to comment or criticise.

The British Council World Class

http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldclass/getstarted/

The British Council offers a range of funded opportunities for professional development and links with schools around the world. It manages the Global Gateway website on behalf of the Department for Education, which provides support and information for schools looking to develop international partnerships, including a partner-finding database and international resources for the classroom.

The advantages of online collaboration with a partner school somewhere else in the world are:

• Different perspectives on a variety of subjects
• The ability to share recourses
• Share ideas and techniques with other schools
• Share experiences with other teachers
• develop a global dimension in the curriculum.

The benefits for pupils are:

• being able to share information
• pupils can select a pen friend to practice letter writing in ESL
• pupils get a different perspectives from different schools in different countries
• pupils learn correspondence techniques

The benefits to my own personal development are:

• I will gain knowledge through advice and collaboration
• I can discover different teaching methods which work in other countries
• I can discuss any issues with non- biased teachers from other schools
• I can get support from experienced teachers

Improving Approaches

After watching the 3 programmes, it is my opinion that in Indonesia improvements could be made to exercise programs, vocational education and performing arts.

Indonesia should encourage children to do exercise before school to focus children and expand their concentration spans. Classrooms are very crowded here, so perhaps smaller class sizes will be beneficial to allow students to move more freely and teachers can introduce more active learning activities. This country should include teachings of the importance of exercise and a healthy lifestyle in the Physical Exercise curriculum because children here spend way too much time playing computer games or staying inside air conditioned houses, this could lead to serious health problems in the future. Heat is a major factor in children not wanting to exercise outside so schools should lead by example designing indoor air conditioned sports facilities. Swimming pools could be utilised much more and swimming should be made a priority. School hours could be made longer so children can incorporate more sports activities. To increase children's competitive and team spirit Saturday sports game fixtures should be mandatory.

Vocational education in Indonesia should enable students to do an apprenticeship or a work experience placement, this would dramatically improve this countries employment and widen children's horizons when looking for a career. An improvement would be the placement of a careers advisor in each school who could offer career guidance, they would teach students and put into practice skills necessary to survive in different work environments. In many schools here they have various food vendors which sell lunch and snacks to students, schools could allow students to set up their own canteen or a similar business, the implementation of a school business in each school could give students practical business education, team work skills, confidence and encourage them to think for themselves.

Being in Asia, drama is not seen as an important subject, I would like to see more teaching of the cultural importance and history of the performing arts in Indonesia and think that schools should teach puppetry and various traditional Indonesian dances, this could be incorporated into the 'Indonesian' and 'History' curriculum. As they do in Cuba, students could teach other students what they have learnt so students gain leadership qualities as well as being creative.

Differences between the English Educational System and JIMS

Both English schools and my school use the British system of GCSE and A Level for secondary. The main differences would be the number of students. In my school there is a total of 40 students in our secondary school so some classes are very small, the smallest being 3 students and the largest being 14. Being an International School some students are from Indonesia and the others from many different countries (mostly Asian). Some are good at English whereas a handful have very limited English. Apart from my English as a Second Language lessons, students are all combined into the same classes, with no special needs support for those who don't speak English. Students are from very wealthy backgrounds who are used to being looked after by maids, or driven around by drivers; this makes them a bit disorganised and they are used to being 'spoon fed'.

The school I teach in does not have the same strict rules as I remember British school having and there is a lot more freedom for the students, this makes it hard to enforce discipline.

The curriculum's are very similar, although we offer fewer subjects; 7 in total. We are a new school that is still growing and therefore the school is still 'testing the water', for example, last year was the first year students took their iGCSE and A Level exams and now there is talk of the school switching to the International Baccalaureate system.

Other than that, we have many resources available and our school strives to be as similar to the British system as possible.

Four go to Kenya

This documentary showed 4 teachers from England going to Kenya to teach.

The main problems faced by the teachers were:

- Mixed ages – because in Kenya if you don’t pass the exam you have to stay at school and as a result there are 20 year olds in the same class as 16 year olds.

- Mostly writing – the students were taught parrot fashion, meaning they were read information whilst they copied it down.

- Too much content – there is too much to cover in the Kenyan syllabus and therefore no time for teachers to use creative activities to enforce learning.

- Teaching styles – because the students were used to 1 particular style of teaching they did not react well to anything different and could not apply themselves fully.

'There was lots of teaching but not much learning .... We want assertive and confident people'

I totally agree with this statement. I do not think students can learn by just writing and being read to. There was no investigative learning enabling students to think for themselves and use research skills. The students were too placid, they were not keen to try different techniques and ask questions. If a student is assertive and confident they are more likely to ask questions and talk to there peers (on task) making learning for in depth and rewarding for the teacher and student.

The difficulties involved in transferring teaching techniques from one teaching culture to another is that students from different countries are brought up in different ways and as a result have different mannerisms, personalities and learning styles. For example, a debating activity in England would end up very heated with the teacher most likely having to step in so the lesson can progress, where as in Indonesia they end up agreeing with each other and it all a bit too pleasant.

Another aspect might be class size, in Indonesian schools there can be up to 40 students in one class, so classroom management will have to be different from teaching a class that is smaller. Also syllabuses might be different, so even if you are teaching in a way that is engaging students it might not be teaching them the techniques to pass exams. 

Students may not react well to a change of technique, they may be so used to learning in a particular way that no other way works for them.