1. Are we lighting the fires or still filling the pails?
Lancashire A G&T Conference
Friday 16 May Sue Mordecai President of NACE

2. School Improvement Agenda
Unrelenting focus on poorly performing and failing schools – schools causing concern
Increased focus on:
- coasting schools
- improvement of all schools
- outstanding schools as leaders

3. Statutory School Targets 2009
KS2
% of 11 yr olds achieving L4+ in both Eng and maths
% making 2 NC levels progress in Eng from the level attained at the end of KS1 (taking the average of reading and writing at the end of KS1)
% making 2 NC level progress in maths
KS3
% of 14 yr olds achieving L5+ in both Eng and maths
% of 14 yr olds achieving L5 in science
% making 2 NC levels progress in Eng from the level attained at KS2
% making 2 NC level progress in maths from the level attained at KS2
KS4
% achieving 5 A*-C grades inc Eng and maths
% making the equivalent of 2 NC levels progress in English from the level attained at KS3
% making the equivalent of 2 NC levels progress in maths from the level attained at KS3

4. Gifted and Talented – National Strategies Annual Plan 2008-09
LAs should take a lead role in ensuring all schools have access to a trained and appropriately supported LT for G&T
Self-evaluation and improvement for G&T is integral to whole school evaluation leading to an action plan for G&T improvement
Effective analysis and use of data to identify underachievement and tailor teaching to ensure at least two levels of progress for G&T pupils

5. Gifted and Talented – National Strategies Annual Plan 2008-09
Mainstreaming G&T education through quality first teaching that challenges all pupils on a day to day basis
All schools have G&T pupils and should identify these for the National Register
Capture WhatWorksWell and ensure others can learn from it

6. To support schools: Number of publications E-modules
National Quality Standards
- Whole school
- Classroom / Subject specific
Accreditation

7. Narrowing the Gap in the Performance of Schools
Able pupils moving slowly through KS2
Narrowing the Gap in the Performance of Schools
In general…
Comfortable in small groups but quiet in whole class
Eager to please, keen to learn, quick to pick ideas up
Show perseverance
But…
Risk-averse
Reluctant to seek help, turn first to friends
Easy to miss
Often expected to support the less able in mixed groups

8. Narrowing the Gap in the Performance of Schools
Able pupils who struggle to move from KS2 L3-L5
Narrowing the Gap in the Performance of Schools
They are easily distracted in class, engage in low-level disruption (slow to settle, walking about, chatting, etc)
They tend to be disorganised (books, sheets, pens, etc)
They have low concentration spans, quickly losing the thread of what they are doing, poor recall of previous work
They have few strategies for independent work so often give up on a task
They often do not ask questions in class
They thrive on activities such as games, quizzes, so called ‘fun’ activities, etc

9. What Y8 want from education…
To be confident
To be able to hold intelligent conversations with people
To be able to walk into a room full of strangers and feel capable of informed discussion
Ability to discuss and be heard
To have the skills of negotiation and know how to influence others – good communication skills
Having as many different experiences and opportunities opened up to me as possible
To be able to do things that other people cannot do
To have skills that will last into later life
To be well rounded

10. Teaching and learning experiences
Open ended and varied
Differing lengths
Challenging (something we can’t do)
Related to real life
Stretch the imagination
Offer leadership opportunities
More discussion and debate
More research opportunities
Greater freedom of choice

11. Teachers highlighted Discussion of the ‘bigger picture’ with students
Thinking time
Support to enable students to take responsibility for their own learning
Alternative not extra activities
Resources which go beyond the national curriculum
‘Challenging students to go the extra mile’

12. Students considered the following inhibited learning:
Disruptive behaviour
Peer pressure
Too much teacher talk
Concentration on exams
Intense academic time-table
Success pressure
(students acknowledged that teachers had to ‘conform to a system’)

13. Teachers emphasised: Current exam system Parental expectations
Lack of time for enrichment
University curriculum

14. Bring back knowledge…
‘I have come to realise a really important distinction between knowledge and experience. It’s happening a lot in the curriculum now, educationalists say you must make the curriculum more relevant, more in touch with the student’s experience. Whereas I would argue that the reason we have schools is to give an opportunity for people who have a rather narrow experience within their families and homes to go beyond their experience so they can actually see there are other ways of thinking about things. And that is a social justice issue’
Michael Young ‘Bringing Knowledge Back In’ 2008

15. The Five Minds for the Future
Disciplined
Synthesizing
Creating
Respectful
Ethical
The first three are cognitive, the last two relate to the world of other individuals and are thus more social and affective

16. 2008 National Year of Reading – ‘Read Up, Fed Up’
A national survey
11 – 14 year olds
Focus groups
Plus 1,340 surveyed online.

17. 2008 National Year of Reading – ‘Read Up, Fed Up’ – main findings
There has been an ‘explosion of digital reading’ – 4 out of 10 top reads were online
Teenagers love reading film scripts and song lyrics
Traditional literature ‘is by no means lost’
80% of teenagers have actually written their own story, film, play or song
45% of teenagers have been told off by parents for reading something deemed improper
Nearly a third of boys said they loved reading because it helped them get better at hobbies
39% of girls said they loved reading because it provided an escape or quiet time to enjoy on their own.

18. What constitutes challenge?
higher order thinking skills
questions, questions, questions
no artificial ceilings / open ended tasks
to self assess
to take risks and go further
demanding vocabulary
demanding resources
very little instruction
increasing the pace
changing the rules
‘the unexpected’

19. Developing thinking: Bloom’s taxonomy de Bono’s ‘Six Thinking Hats’
TASC
David Leat ‘Thinking through…..
Robert Fisher
P4C

20. Cambridge entry 2008 What is the purpose of comedy? (MML)
Where does honesty fit into law? (Law)
‘Make Poverty History’ is a commendable thought – is it a practical one? (Land Economy)
Was Romeo impulsive? (English)
How would you describe a human to a person from Mars? (Medicine)
Do you think Feminism is dead? (Classics)
Why does the word ‘God’ and ‘I’ have a capital letter? (Oriental Studies)

21. Oxford entry 2008
How high can I go up a mountain having only eaten a Mars bar? (Physics)
Who is your favourite metaphysical poet? (Maths)
What problems do fish face underwater? (Bio Sciences)
Is there a difference between innocence and naivety? (English)
What makes a strong woman? (Theology)
Is nature natural? (Geography)
Was Shakespeare a rebel? (English)

22. What do gifted children need?
Acknowledgement and understanding
High challenge – low stress
Learning environment that invites enquiry (mistakes are OK!)
Flexibility
Ground rules
The ‘unexpected’
To be valued for who they are – not what they can do

23. Research by Dweck
Studies show that children who are praised for their intelligence learn to value performance, while children praised for their effort and hard work value opportunities to learn
Carol S. Dweck Professor of Psychology at Stanford University. Her most recent book is Mindset published by Random House 2006

24. Research by Dweck
Studies show that teaching children to have a ‘growth mind-set’ which encourages a focus on effort rather than on intelligence or talent, helps make them into high achievers in school and in life
Such children think that intelligence is malleable and can be developed through education and hard work. They want to learn.
Those children with a ‘fixed mind-set’ were concerned about looking smart and had negative views of effort, believing that having to work hard at something was a sign of low ability. They thought that a person with high ability did not need to work hard to do well