Participation

Make sure your students are re-engaged

Jun 25, 2020 | Participation | 0 |

Reading time: 3 minutes

Students have not been engaging with education during lockdown, so schools have a responsibility to make sure students are re-engaged.

The NFER found that a third of pupils are currently engaged with education. 90% of teachers have said that their pupils are doing less than they would normally produce.

The reasons for the lack of engagement are varied. However, schools have a responsibility to provide an education which is engaging for their pupils whether they are inside school or learning from home. This blog post can help.

What the Government is doing to help disadvantaged students during lockdown

Apr 21, 2020 | Participation | 0 |

Reading time: 2 minutes

Disadvantaged students are being offered free laptops and tablets to help with their studies.

This was one of the announcements by Education Secretary, Gavin Williamson in his speech at 10 Downing Street on Sunday.

Schools have been closed since mid-March due to the coronavirus pandemic. Children of key workers and vulnerable students are still required to attend. But should this move have come sooner? And what will it mean for disadvantaged pupils?

Why now is the best time to learn about climate change

Apr 15, 2020 | Extra-curricular, Participation | 0 |

Reading time: 2 minutes

Among many things that have changed in the last month has been the impact the coronavirus and the world economy has had on climate change.

On 1 April it was announced that the COP26 climate summit, set to be attended by world leaders, was to be rescheduled.

But why is this the best time to learn about climate change?

Night school proposal: achieve your potential through online learning

Feb 20, 2020 | Life Skills, Extra-curricular, Participation | 0 |

Reading time: 3 minutes

Part time learning was once accessed by tens of thousands of adults through night schools – but due to funding cuts, many institutions have had to close. Following Baroness Alison Wolf’s appointment as skills policy adviser to the prime minister, they could be set for a revival.

Flexible learning is an essential option in education with a large number of people hoping to improve job and career prospects through further training. However, night school cutbacks have also coincided with an increase in online learning.

What are the benefits of night schools and online learning? And why are night schools set to be revived?

Support our children as they tackle the climate crisis

Sep 27, 2019 | Pupils, News, Participation | 0 |

Reading time: 2 minutes

Many of you will have seen pupils participate in climate crisis strike activities last Friday, deciding to get their education that day from a source other than the classroom.

Dropping into the Sheffield rally, I remarked to myself what a live educational experience this was.

Student activism – should it be encouraged?

Mar 15, 2019 | News, Participation, Pupils | 0 |

Reading time: 2 minutes

The 15th of February marked a turning point in modern student activism, with an estimated 15,000 pupils skipping school to attend climate protests across the UK.

And thousands of children across the world are expected to walk out of their classrooms today to bring more attention to the global climate crisis.

How to encourage participation in parents’ evenings

May 9, 2018 | Parents, Participation | 0 |

Reading time: 3 minutes

The power of parental engagement to positively affect a child’s learning is undeniable. Study after study highlights it as one of the most influential elements on positive student outcomes. Yet parents’ evenings remain a tough nut to crack.

5 simple strategies…to introduce debates into the classroom

Mar 6, 2018 | Participation, Life Skills | 0 |

Reading time: 4 minutes

Confidence, logical reasoning, a power of persuasiveness – some of the positive strengths developed when practising debating skills – are critical to many career paths.

Yet introducing debating to the classroom (with all the chaos, and loud versus louder voices) does not always lead to a positive, well-reasoned and all-round constructive debate.

How to Encourage Quiet Students to Participate in Class

Feb 16, 2017 | Teaching, Participation | 0 |

Reading time: 2 minutes

There is often frustration among teachers who cannot get the quiet students to participate in class, and as a result it is not uncommon for their names to be called out randomly in class – which can be very damaging to their confidence, especially if they do not know the answer.

So when it comes to teaching a class that has a couple of quiet students, here are a few tips for getting them to participate in class.

How to encourage teamwork in the classroom

Jan 12, 2017 | Teaching, Participation | 0 |

Reading time: 2 minutes

When it comes to teaching, one thing that helps the process is to have a cohesive feeling throughout the pupils in your class. It doesn’t matter if you are teaching primary school or older students, the principles remain the same.

That said, there are times when there will be differing personalities and characters in the classroom, meaning that teamwork is something that you need to work harder at achieving.

Alternative Sports for Less Athletic Students

Jan 5, 2017 | Participation | 0 |

Reading time: 2 minutes

Many students will let out a chorus of groaning when you tell them that PE is the next lesson on the timetable. Most of them do not look forward to it, and quite a few are not particularly athletic.

For these students, PE is not a fun time, however, there are ways that you can get these students more engaged and enjoying PE, and that’s with some sports that might seem a little unconventional when compared to the traditional ones.

How to encourage student participation in the classroom

Dec 29, 2016 | Teaching, Participation | 0 |

Reading time: 3 minutes

Student participation forms one of the most crucial areas of teaching because participation enhances the learning experience of everyone involved – including the teachers.

Active participation can prove difficult for students as many are reluctant to raise their hands or even speak up, however, there are a range of ideas and methods that help to increase participation while also giving students the confidence they need.

Positives and Drawbacks of Active Learning

May 29, 2015 | Teaching, Participation | 0 |

Reading time: < 1 minute

We might think of active learning as an approach to instruction in which students engage the material they study through reading, writing, talking, listening, and reflecting. Active learning stands in contrast to “standard” modes of instruction in which teachers do most of the talking and students are passive. (University of Minnesota)

Engaging Parents

May 26, 2015 | Parents, Participation | 0 |

Reading time: 2 minutes

The dream for many a school is a cohort of students who all have supportive parents. Teaching would be effective, behaviour systems supported and funds raised by the PTA would enable trips to The Louvre for everyone. Well, maybe utopia is asking too much, but it is possible to engage your students’ parents and so improve their learning.

The first step is to work towards engaging parents in their child’s learning rather than trying to engage them with the school. This may sound like a petty distinction, but it is one that may mean the breaking down of many of the barriers to effective communication.

Alternative Provisions

May 16, 2015 | Alternative Curriculum, Life Skills, Participation | 0 |

Reading time: 2 minutes

With the changes to funding over the last few years, it is increasingly likely that schools will want to handle alternative provisions in-house to avoid the cost of supporting pupils being taught elsewhere.

There are various ways to address the issues within school and we will cover some of those today.

Strategies to Educate School Refusers

May 8, 2015 | Attendance, Alternative Curriculum, NEET, Participation | 0 |

Reading time: 3 minutes

With the statutory requirement to report attendance figures comes the additional need to look at why pupils aren’t attending. School refusers make up some of these statistics and this covers those who simply don’t want to go to school or those who are phobic and become incredibly anxious when attending is suggested.

It’s important to get to the centre of why a child refuses to attend, it’s also crucial to put support in place through educational strategies.

Innovative Ways to Encourage Students to do Homework

Mar 11, 2015 | Homework, Behaviour, Participation | 0 |

Reading time: 2 minutes

The success of a lesson can often depend on how many of the class have completed their previously set homework. If some haven’t attempted any or all of it, they are at an instant disadvantage in their knowledge of the activities ahead and they lack the achieving of set targets and goals.

The solution is to try to find innovative ways to encourage all the class to complete their homework on time. This way they stay up to date, their learning increases and they feel comfortable with tackling the next steps of the curriculum.

Ways to Raise Engagement in Maths

Feb 5, 2015 | Maths, Literacy and Numeracy, Participation | 0 |

Reading time: 3 minutes

Raising engagement in maths – and in turn attainment – is a major focus of every school curriculum policy. Looking at ways to motivate and enthuse pupils in a subject where some have always struggled isn’t easy.

However, there are ways to stop the jumble of figures being seemingly meaningless both on the page and in real life and to illustrate ways to put together the parts of the jigsaw which makes up the whole subject.

Introducing and implementing group work in the classroom

Jan 16, 2015 | Participation, Behaviour, Pupils | 0 |

Reading time: 2 minutes

Group work is an integral part of encouraging learning and motivating pupils to engage in activities which can help with the developing of thinking skills, ways of communicating and how to arrive at and make decisions. It’s an aspect of any lesson though which needs considered planning and careful facilitating to ensure that multiple factors are monitored so that pupils achieve the best outcome possible.

The use of tablets in schools

Jan 14, 2015 | Participation, ICT, Life Skills, Technology | 0 |

Reading time: 2 minutes

The use of tablets in schools is currently at its highest ever level, with no sign of a downturn.

Technology charity Tablets for Schools has recently released the results of a study examining the use of the hardware in both primary and secondary sectors. The figures show that of the 671 schools sampled, tablets are in use to some degree in 68% of primary schools and 69% of secondary schools.

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