As part of our work on teaching and learning at school, we felt it was important to have a group of children to represent their peers. Over the past three years, different groups of children have produced some great research, presented findings to their peers and collaborated with children in staff in our partner schools both here in the UK and in Australia via video conference.
In the beginning the children led surveys into preferred learning styles and MI which they then presented back to the rest of the school through assemblies and powerpoint.
The group made films entitled ‘What is Learning?’ and ‘The Ideal Teacher/Ideal Learner’ where they used the findings of research they had done with the different classes to create an informative film which we shared with our partner schools (who all made a similar piece based on their own findings.)
The films provoked some great discussion among staff and children and helped make us all aware of how we can become more effective as both teachers and learners.
This last year the children have worked on Guy Claxton and Chris Quigley’s research into learning. Along with all our partner schools the children have worked through Quigely’s five Rs of learning. The first R we looked at was reflectiveness. The children decided to create a learning mat with prompts for children to be more reflective. They chose to work with a Y3 class who they observed and then discussed with the teacher before deciding how the learning mats could hep them.
Other projects this year have included a learning inventory to help learners become more resourceful and a poster campaign to help children become more resilient. The children enjoy looking at differences and similarities in the work of their peers in other schools. We ended the year with a T&L conference where the children presented their findings to each school’s T&L group. Interested to know people's thoughts.
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The two key qualities needed by teachers are professionalism and creativity. However we utilise new technologies and other resources in the classroom, teachers need to have a creative approach. We need to harness children's curiosity, their desire to explore and their technological undertanding in order to provide them them the best learning experiences possible. Most importantly, we need to help them navigate thier own learning journey and facilitate this as best we can. A new role for teachers or a new knid of teaching?
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As a headteacher and father I see many children disengaged from the education system. For many, formal schooling is a hindrance to their real learning. What should be providing them with core life skills and the tools for the future is turning many off that most important of human traits - learning. Education is a complex, uncertain and ever changing landscape that mirrors the world we live in.
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