Learning without Limits

Learning without limits - Dame Alison Peacock - 23.10.14

Lifting the lid on learning- keeping the door open for children to learn

The conflict between professional principles which drive you and the accountability and pressure from external forces.

Raising aspirations of low attaining children and parents 

Escaping from the bottom set:

Labelling leads to, " destruction of dignity so massive and pervasive that few subsequently recover from it." Hargreaves 

Trivial things like where you put your bag etc. can dominate a child's experience of school depending on the atmosphere and priority of the school- FEAR

The same can be said for children labelled in academic terms

Negative feedback can hinder learning and aspirations- emotional impact

Teachers following lesson plans rather than using professional judgement just to meet curriculum needs.

Teachers and pupils disengaged- poor behaviour/ low aspirations 

Making an irresistible curriculum- excite children and empower staff

Currently, we have freedom but it doesn't feel as if we have direction 

Academic Studies

http://learningwithoutlimits.educ.cam.ac.uk/downloads/creatinglwl_forumarticle.pdf

http://learningwithoutlimits.educ.cam.ac.uk/downloads/creatinglwl_forumarticle.pdf

Learning without Limits Books

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Learning-without-Limits-Susan-Hart/dp/033521259X

The Research School

http://thewroxham.org.uk

Classroom Based Study

http://www.cambridgeassessment.org.uk/Images/challenge-and-success-alternative-approaches-to-assessment-in-the-primary-classroom-alison-peacock-presentation.pdf

Teachers arrive at school defeated- under pressure to cover all areas of the curriculum, all the 'we have to' things, marking and evidence to show the feedback that is happening.

Building on excitement in the classroom rather than suppressing it.

Wroxham School 

Children at Wroxham love their school: children learn by choosing their own challenges, independent learning not forced, lots of fun elements around the school-bus, jeep, someone dressed as a rabbit.

Children collaborate and know how to work well with others- trusted to make sensible choices

Circle Groups- Y6 work with younger children

Pupil Voice - has a powerful role in the school and children are empowered and taking ownership

A Team Approach 

School improvement didn't come from monitoring, work scrutiny or any other 'traditional' methods

Developing a team amongst the staff

Living a vision of trust, co agency and inclusion 

A listening school

Mutual respect

Enabling and supporting

Monitoring quality of learning NOT quality of teaching 

Encourage risk taking

Staff self- regulate, manage, improve, motivate

Children do the same

Whole School Democracy 

Everyone is valued

A participative culture

Weekly mixed age circle meetings- instead of assembly- shared agenda: game, news bulletin, shared discussion. Democratic Engagement 

Older children act as role models- they value younger children, raises responsibility, model teaching practice, culture of respect

Shared decisions

Challenging yourself is valued BY ALL

making sure the curriculum has a little bit more to stimulate and engage children

Sparking interest and keeping it going- with staff and children 

Professional Learning:  Trust

Listening not telling

Freedom for staff to make own judgements 

Put in place contexts that create rich contexts for learning 

Open-ended curriculum experiences

Connecting books and Brains

Evidence in books etc. surface evidence doesn't provide a full picture of the thinking and process behind learning

Giving children a quality assessment process NOT just in books- evidencing process

Writing is to convey meaning- needs an audience- motivates- who will read my ideas?

Children want to boast about their learning

Making school unmissable 

Lesson studies rather than lesson observations 

Teachers and children NOT graded

Once graded- feedback is irrelevant 

Co Agency

Thinking in partnership

Making suggestions

Shared involvement

Help bring ideas to fruition

Feeding in ideas and materials 

ASKING QUESTIONS 

Challenging

Everybody

Maximise opportunities for all staff to learn from each other

Value different ways of working 

Capitalise on differences to inspire teaching

Create structures to encourage mutual support 

Dispositions

Openness

Questioning

Inventiveness

Persistence

Stability

Generosity

Empathy

New Curriculum 

Dialogic pedagogy

Authentic first hand experiences

Open ended challenging tasks

Language for learning- talk is important 

Creating First Hand Experiences

Historical features to support understanding- Celtic roundhouse, trenches etc.

Assessment 

No 'ability' groups

Children choose levels of challenge- mainly in maths, literacy children make their own list of personal challenges and tick them off when they think they have achieved them

http://vimeo.com/69709930

Feedback is positive, high quality discussions

Secretarial skills- enabling children to keep up with their ideas- eg. Handwriting practise

Learning partners- choose partners for a week etc. 

High expectations 

Lesson study

Background metric for triangulation- levels recorded but not shared with children or parents

Discussion with staff- who are exceeding your expectations, who is in line, who is below expectations 

Based on Y2 performance but viewed of in terms of expectation and challenge

Whole school accountability NOT just teacher in the class

Teachers need to model challenge, openness and reflection

Working with Families

Trust

Openness

Learning Reviews

Reports written in a dialogue with children

Family Learning

Keeping learning interview records/ notes

Children produce a learning review video/PowerPoint and evidence from work, discuss successes and challenges with child, parents and teacher- How can I improve? 

Children identify issues and think of a way to resolve them

Y6 children choose if they feel confident to do level 6 paper

Children choose whether or not to work in a fast paced level 6 target group

Whole family approach- child, head, teacher, parents

100% attendance 

Use a whole day and evening

Reports

Children write comments about their learning throughout the year

Comments passed to next class teacher or used throughout the year

Language of school talks about challenges and next steps NOT levels

Booster groups are supplemented by a Maths Club which children sign up to depending on their challenges- squash and biscuits provided!

Developing a culture of togetherness 

Shared responsibility

Powers shared amongst all not a select few

Child behaviour 

http://www.alfiekohn.org/index.php

In Summary:

Children are not labelled

Children are given responsibility for their learning

Children feel empowered (co agency)

Children's learning is celebrated and shared

Staff put children at the heart of planning

Feedback is positive but not graded

Learning experiences are exciting

Self assessment is key

Families engage in all aspects of learning and evaluation