Keeping the love for history alive
Benedict Freeburn, history teacher at St Mary Magdalene CE School, explains the positive impact great CPD can have on teachers’ passion for their subject. After giving explanations of how William the Conqueror won the Battle of Hastings to a multitude of classes, does your passion for teaching shine as brightly as it did the day you first walked into the classroom? The best teachers are highly skilled at ensuring true love for their subject endures, regardless of how many years they have been teaching it. But schools have an important part to play in nurturing this. History beyond the classroom School trips are a great way to spark students’ imaginations and immerse them in the subjects they are learning. Our school is ideally located for this and as a history teacher, I’ve seen the positive impact of taking students on half-termly trips to exciting locations such as the Tower of London and Hampton Court Palace. Giving students the chance to chat about the famous characters from history inside the rooms they inhabited, or see the actual graffiti created by those imprisoned in the Tower for themselves, really helps to bring history to life. But spending time outside of the classroom in these places can be hugely beneficial for teachers too, as I discovered recently when my colleagues and I attended a CPD event at the Tower of London. Always learning Having visited the Tower with our students at least eight times a year as part of the history curriculum, we were amazed at how much a CPD-focussed event enabled us to learn about the subject we love and the different ways of teaching it. One highlight of the event, which was run by Historic Royal Palaces, was being able to chat to a current GCSE examiner about the new numerical grading system. As a relatively new school, St Mary Magdalene is about to start teaching GCSEs for the very first time, so it was great to be able to ask questions and get a clearer understanding of what examiners look for in a grade 9 answer, and how this differs from the previous A* grade. Taking a tour from a teacher’s perspective, rather than that of a student, helped to underline how our trips to the Tower can support teaching at Key Stage 3, as well as our GCSE units. We returned to school invigorated with new lesson ideas and a deeper understanding of the site’s history – it is quite amazing how many questions you have when you’re not monitoring thirty students. The experience has changed our approach to teaching Key Stage 3 history. The Tower now plays a central role in developing students’ enquiry skills, featuring heavily in our Normans and Tudor schemes of work. The CPD event has also provided a strong introduction to the Elizabethans for Key Stage 4 too. Inspiring students School trips are designed to an experience that motivates students to make good progress back in school. CPD days away from the classroom are equally important for allowing teachers to delve deeper into their subjects and explore the most effective ways of teaching them. With over 70% of students at St Mary Magdalene studying history GCSE, we believe that the passion our teachers have for history is shared by our students. For more information, visit CPD for schools.
Learnit aims to ‘change the conversation in education’
Here, our editor Victoria Galligan speaks to the Learnit team to find out the background behind the new-for-2019 show and what educators can expect to see… How did the team come together? The Learnit team consists of Anil Aggarwal, an American tech-entrepreneur and investor, and Katy Fryatt, a Cambridge University graduate and a millennial parent. They met whilst developing the world’s most important events for fintech and retail innovation: Money20/20 and Shoptalk. Learnit aims to be “world-changing” – how does it hope to do this? Learnit is doing two really important things. Firstly, it’s uniting the entire global learning community – from government and educator leaders to startups, investors, tech companies and heads of talent and training within employers. We’re talking about learning, not just education. Secondly, we’re leading an intellectual conversation about the current and future state of learning. Our 100+ speakers will talk about how we can revolutionise education, and ultimately change the world. All speakers are chosen on merit, not ‘pay-to play’ and range from Andreas Schleicher at the OECD, to the Ministry of Education in Afghanistan, to the Head Master of Eton and to Euan Blair, who’s set out to build an outstanding alternative to university. Learnit itself is a venture-backed startup with $1million in funding. We’re building Learnit very differently to any other event. What makes Learnit stand out from other events? Learnit is bringing together the right people in an environment that is conducive to accelerated change. To do that we’ve focused on developing a groundbreaking agenda and thoughtfully curated networking program that will bring senior-level decision makers to learn and build the partnerships needed to make meaningful progress. We offer educator and government leaders free tickets and up to £750 for their travel. What are the main issues within education which you feel need changing the most? Education has remained largely unchanged for decades, and is now disconnecting from the real world in increasingly material ways. Children of every age go to school, are taught a government-prescribed curriculum, are tested and retested and then enter The Real World. And while The Real World has changed, and continues to change exponentially, education hasn’t. Making learning relevant is one of the greatest challenges facing education today. We’re changing the conversation. The speaker line up is unparalleled. Learnit’s 2019 agenda focuses on important, timely themes including Equality & Access to Education, The Future of Work, Educating Generation Alpha, The Business of Education, Learning Spaces in 2025, Impactful & Scalable Learning Innovations and Artificial Intelligence in Education. To book tickets for the event, which takes place January 24-25, see the Learnit website here.
Bett and Learnit collaborate to gather global education professionals
Bett, the world’s oldest and largest EdTech exhibition, today announces a collaboration with Learnit, the brand new, venture-backed conference for the global learning ecosystem. This January, a group of Bett’s 35,000+ visitors, 200+ speakers and 850+ exhibitors will also be able to participate in Learnit at the QEII Centre in Westminster as one of its 1,000+ attendees, 150+ speakers, or 50+ sponsors. Rachel Brodie, Portfolio Director of Bett said, “Bett is the must-attend show for EdTech: for knowledge, for products, for networking, for suppliers, for learning and for the global education community. Learnit is where the global learning ecosystem goes for a conversation about the current state and future of learning. The significance and impact of both of these eventsis clear; they bring people together who believe education can change the world.That’s why we’re excited to welcome Learnit to London in the same week as Bett.” Katy Fryatt, Founder & CEO of Learnit said, “Change has never been this fast. The conversation and community at Learnit will explore what this means for learning at every age. Learnit welcomes government, educator leaders, heads of talent & training, startups, tech companies, investors and media from across the globe. Bett has long been the world’s largest and most important global EdTech gathering. It’s a fantastic place for teachers to see and experience the latest advances in education technology. We’re very excited to collaborate with Bett.” Before joining Bett, Rachel was an education publisher at Macmillan and also spent time teaching in Mexico City. Katy and Rachel spent a brief time working together on Bett in 2015. Katy spent the last three years working for Anil Aggarwal building Europe’s largest fintech and retail innovation conferences (Money20/20 Europe and Shoptalk Europe). Anil is a venture-backed tech entrepreneur with exits to companies including Google. He also joins Learnit as its Chairman and Co-Founder. “It’s time to rethink learning,” said Anil. “Our global education systems have been built on legacy. Learnit will celebrate the revolutionaries driving change in education and create an entirely new experience for the global learning ecosystem.” Bett will continue to take place at the ExCeL Centre, in east London, welcoming visitors from January 23 – 26, 2019. Learnit will take place in Westminster at the QEII Centre and Central Hall, from the evening of January 23 – 25, 2019. Visitors can register for Bett at www.bettshow.com and tickets for Learnit can be purchased here. Code QA100 gets readers £100 off general tickets at Learnit! About Bett Bett is the UK’s leading cross-sector education community. Every year Bett brings together 850 leading companies, 100 EdTech start-ups and over 35,000 learners and educators from around the globe. Bett’s mission is to bring together people, ideas, practices and technologies so that educators and learners can fulfil their potential. About Learnit At Learnit, we believe an event that unites the global learning community and leads an intellectually honest conversation about the current state and future of learning, can revolutionise education, and ultimately change the world. The Learnit community is inclusive, disruptive, bold and brave. It encompasses the entire learning ecosystem – from government, educators, corporates and established solution providers to tech startups, investors and media. It is united by a common goal to improve education outcomes globally. Learnit’s conversation is open and honest. It’s a conversation about how to give everyone, regardless of age, ethnicity or wealth, the opportunity to reach their greatest potential in a rapidly evolving world. It is untethered by legacy, politics or geography. Learnit’s 150+ international speakers are selected based on merit, not pay-to-play.
Embedding a life-long love of science through a high-quality resource
Executive head teacher Malcolm Drakes explains how a science resource has changed the way that the subject is being taught across Broadford Primary School… “Pupils at Broadford Primary School wake up excited at the prospect of the school day ahead. We work to give the 568 children in our care a rich educational experience with challenges and the highest quality teaching. “We want our pupils to develop a lifelong love of learning. This informs every aspect of our work and has won us recognition from outside bodies. This year we were chosen as the Times Educational Supplement Primary School of the Year and we also won the coveted Overall School of the Year 2017. “Here was a set of simple but effective resources that would let us deliver high end lessons with a WOW factor” “It is hard to believe that back in March 2012 Broadford Primary School was in Special Measures. The Senior Leadership Team decided that a systematic and sustained focus on continuous professional development (CPD) was key to improvement. “Within two years the school was transformed. An emphasis on planning, resourcing and training meant that teachers were more confident and competent when teaching core subjects. Creating awe and wonder in science lessons “A fine example of this was the teaching of science. Very few primary teachers have a background or qualification in science. This is a pity because science, taught well, provides some of the most exciting and dramatic moments in a classroom. “We wanted to thrill them with exciting experiments and activities so that even the youngest of our pupils could experience the ‘awe and wonder’ of science. It was a tall order. It was essential to equip teachers with the necessary subject knowledge and to find the money for resources so that they could conduct high quality experiments. “There was no local training we could tap into and we were disappointed to find that many of the science schemes we could buy in would require the teachers to interpret the ideas, resource the lessons and develop their own subject knowledge. “This was going to place too heavy a workload on our teachers and would make it very difficult for us to differentiate teaching so that we could provide high end challenges for our more able learners. “We came across Empiribox and were immediately impressed. Here was a set of simple but effective resources that would let us deliver high end lessons with a WOW factor. “Each month all year groups study the same topic featuring hands-on investigative activity guaranteed to engage pupils of all abilities create a school-wide buzz of excitement and promote collaborative working and best practice amongst staff. “Empiribox was developed by Dan Sullivan, an experienced secondary head of science. It gives us twelve themed monthly packages of inspiring lesson plans covering chemistry, biology and physics and assessment tools designed to measure, track and record pupil development. Everything is mapped to the KS 1 & 2 National Curriculum schemes of work. It is a great time saver for our staff and means we don’t have the stress and anxiety of planning the annual science curriculum. “When you are delivering science sessions you need equipment but we don’t have the necessary space to store science resources when they are not in use so we were delighted to discover that Empiribox would deliver a trolley load of specialist equipment for every year group and collect it when the classes had finished that topic. “This is such a brilliant idea: it keeps down our capital costs, makes best use of our limited storage space and provides all the kit needed for exciting hands-on activities designed to enthral pupils of all abilities.” “The training provided by Empiribox is a key benefit for us. We estimated that the cost of training 25 teachers for three days would typically total upwards of £10,000 alone, so the Empiribox package represents an affordable solution for our school and the CPD they provide is free. “The company provides a termly CPD training programme delivered by science graduates which boosts the confidence of our teachers and makes sure lessons go with a bang – sometimes literally! “Empiribox was rolled out across the whole of KS1 and KS2 from February 2015. Each month all year groups study the same topic. They enjoy practical investigations suitable for the whole ability range and we even find staff talking about the topics and working together so there is a school-wide buzz of excitement. “They have access to online resources to support planning and to enable them to answer questions from curious pupils and Georgina Barron, our AHT for Curriculum, regularly observes the lessons and then helps teachers to develop the quality of their teaching “We have been working with Mead Primary School, one of our partner schools in the federation. The teachers can work together on training, planning and evaluation so pupils at both schools get access to the same high quality teaching. It also means that science teaching in the federation is not just the responsibility of one member of staff so we can ensure consistency even if staff leave or are absent long-term. “Teachers are building their skills and subject knowledge. Tej Lander, a Year 4 teacher, told me, ‘Empiribox has really helped me to develop my scientific knowledge. My confidence with the vocabulary and how to address misconceptions has really improved with the training.’ “His pupils are very appreciative too. Paige said, ‘The teacher demonstrations have been amazing. When my Mr Lander blew the top of the paint can off it was incredible. It makes the learning so much fun.’ “When we asked the staff, 90% agreed strongly that their scientific knowledge had improved while 100% said they were more confident at planning and delivering experiments with their classes. “Working with Empiribox has significantly helped to raise