Alan Pritchard

Developing the mentoring role: some research recommendations

Abstract Two years ago we reported in Mentoring our plans to carry out research which compared the effectiveness of secondary PGCE training in completely school‐based programmes; those run by consortia of schools, with programmes which are partnerships between schools and higher education institutions (see Abbott, Evans, Goodyear and Pritchard, 1993). This article presents a summary of those findings of the first year of our study which relate specifically to the mentoring role. The research findings in full and the research design are presented in our interim research report (Evans, Abbott, Goodyear and Pritchard, 1995). Our study focuses on the dual system of secondary PGCE initial teacher education which came into operation in September 1993. This dual system was created by the Governments reforms of initial teacher education which were introduced by Circular 9/92 (DFE, 1992) and by the Blue Paper (DFE, 1993). Running alongside the reformed higher education‐based provision, whose courses we refer to a...

Introducing new students to ICT: Giving a purpose to it all

This article is a case study, assisted by the collection of data which has been analysed as an evaluative measure, of the initial element of an Information and Communications Technology (ICT) module for a cohort of trainee teachers on a Postgraduate Certificate of Education (PGCE) course for primary school teaching. The standards which the trainees must achieve require them to be competent, confident and knowledgeable in their use of ICT. With a diverse range of backgrounds and experience amongst the cohort, it was decided to adopt a problem-solving approach in order to allow all trainees to work with a range of ICT applications at a level to suit their particular stage of development, rather than a skills-based approach which in the past had led to difficulties with pitching the work at an appropriate level for the groups. We considered that this approach to the use of ICT served as one model for ICT use in schools. The progress of the work is reported; an evaluation for the purposes of internal monitoring of the effectiveness of this approach is also reported. The approach was deemed appropriate by most trainees, and served to decrease anxiety and increase confidence.

Case Study Investigation of a Videoconferencing Experiment in Primary Schools, Teaching Modern Foreign Languages.

The MustLearnIT European-funded research project with partners in Greece, Poland, Cyprus, Finland and the UK aimed to investigate ways of teaching and learning modern foreign languages (MFL) to early learners in small/remote primary schools where there were no specialist MFL teachers. This was to be carried out through new technologies such as videoconferencing. In the UK, distance was less of a problem, whereas lack of linguistic expertise (subject knowledge and pedagogy) for primary school teachers was likely to prove more challenging, given the governments plan for all pupils in England to study a foreign language throughout Key Stage 2 (ages seven to 11) from 2010. This article firstly examines a number of background issues in teaching MFL in primary schools in England and reviews two UK-based projects from the emerging literature on videoconferencing. It then reports on the MustLearnIT project conducted in the UK, which investigated the use of secondary teachers to teach French to primary school children through videoconferencing, and explores the perceived benefits in terms of pupil learning and staff development. The MustLearnIT project findings suggested that this approach, making expert subject and pedagogical knowledge available through current technologies, can be effective. The article ends by considering implications for the future.

The Refinement of an “Ideas Map” as a Means of Assessment and of Enhancing Children’s Understanding of Texts

Ideas maps, or concept maps as they are more usually known, have been accepted by a number of teachers as a useful way of helping establish or clarify children’s knowledge about a particular topic. Here Alan Pritchard presents the results of a useful study which explored the use of ideas maps as a means of evaluating children’s abilities to engage with and understand text.

Should children work in groups with a computer

Traditionally-if it is possible for anything with so short a history in schools to have any traditions-children have been encouraged to work in pairs or small groups with computer programs. There are many sound reasons why they should be encouraged to do this. The reasons can be educational, social or even economic. Instinctively many teachers, myself included, want children to work together, not just at the computer, but in many different situations and groupings. When the reasons for this are probed it is usually the case that the positive benefits can be seen to far outweigh the possible negative side of the matter.

Engagement with Ideas and Understanding: An Essential for Effective Learning in the Electronic Age

Learning, in the early years of the twentieth-first century is seen as a constructive process which is: enhanced by collaboration with others, at a range of different levels; affected by the context of the learning, its “situation”; and sometimes given impetus through an awareness, at a person and individual level, of the processes involved — this refers to metacognition. With these ideas very much in mind, a consideration of the importance of significant engagement with knowledge and concepts is made and developed in this chapter. Notions of constructivism are briefly reviewed, and the ideas of Vygotsky, Lave and Wenger, and Flavell, amongst others, are considered. A model of the learning process which puts engagement at the centre of the enterprise is presented and discussed in detail. The idea of flow, a state of intense involvement, is introduced and considered in the context of schooling. Deep and surface learning are defined and then considered. The long term aim of most education is seen to be achieving lasting, that is, deep, meaningful, and accessible learning. The importance of engagement for almost all kinds of learning is set out and examples from both recent classroom research and of practice witnessed in many classrooms on a regular basis are given. Conclusions are drawn from the evidence presented from the work of cognitive psychologists and reports of research, concerning the importance of the situatedness of learning, the importance of working together, in groups or in pairs, including the part played by dialogue with others, and the explicit knowledge which individual’s might be encouraged to develop as a part of the learning process.

Logo, motivation, and a project about garden gates in a primary classroom

This is a description of a unit of work undertaken in a primary (Key Stage Two) classroom. It illustrates an approach to teaching which, in this case, appeared to increase the level of engagement of the children. This increased engagement in turn appears to have led to increased motivation and an improvement in the standard of work produced by the majority of the children in the class. The work involved the measurement of garden gates in the vicinity of the school and the children making use of photographs, measurements and sketches to help them to reproduce the gates as Logo designs. The complexity or simplicity of the end products (Logo designs) was left to the individual children to establish. Naturally help was given on the way and great progress was made by some children in their understanding of the basics of Logo. The teacher was in a position to monitor the progress of the work and in particular to notice increased motivation and enthusiasm for school work generally. It is not possible to show with any certainty that the style of curriculum organisation or the use of Logo were responsible for the increase in motivation but the feeling of the teacher, and of others involved, was that the work undertaken by the children during the school term in question contributed greatly to the children’s enjoyment of school which in turn, it is believed, contributed to the satisfactory progress of the children. This is not a report of an empirical study, but a case study report of one example of “good practice” with a commentary which, it is hoped, will encourage discussion and consideration of ways of organising the primary curriculum and of the use of Logo.

Integrating design and technology with physical education

Summary The above examples are but a few ideas which may stimulate teachers and children to develop other activities that have an educational benefit and which motivate children in design and technology and physical education. They will not replace core teaching and learning in physical education and design and technology but should form an integral part of the overall school curriculum. Sound planning and curriculum development strategies should, we believe, allow the inclusion of such activities in the curriculum of the primary school.