Case studies

Innovatory Approaches to Supporting Schools

Ivan Pegg is Project Director of the Wakefield Education Action Zone. He has been working with Alite on innovatory ways to improve learning in the Yorkshire schools.

Wakefield EAZ consists of 16 schools across the whole of the Wakefield Metropolitan District, 11 Primary schools and five High schools, all of which serve deprived areas of the district. The schools were selected on the basis of the areas they served. Consequently, around half of all High school feeder schools are in the Zone. As the schools are geographically quite a distance from each other, our activities have had to build a partnership which in some cases never existed. In the early stages of the Zone it was important to identify key activities that would impact on achievement and draw schools into what was then a disparate relationship. Accelerated Learning was one such activity.

The EAZ strategy is to focus on just two strands: leadership and learning. We believe that these two major strands are the key to progress. Our rationale was that schools which are well-led and unashamedly focused on learning will make progress. Our training budget reflects this commitment and our investment in Accelerated Learning is a deliberate part of the process.

After the launch, schools were invited to nominate two teachers each to attend the six-day training course over the year, led by Nicky Anastasiou. The course was divided into two days per term and the schools committed to cover the supply costs, whilst the EAZ funded the training, bought books for each school and hired the pleasant learning environment of a local hotel.

Twenty teachers completed the course in the first year and it began to have significant effects in their schools. We were impressed by both the quality of the training and the impact the teachers were able to have in their classrooms as a consequence. In some cases the impact was more significant for the whole school, than in others. This was particularly the case where the two teachers trained represented 25% of the staff. In other cases the impact was initially felt only in a department or one classroom. In one High school it has led to the teacher becoming an AST and leading the school on teaching and learning linked to the Key Stage 3 TLF strategy. She and I later had the privilege of seeing the AL principles being applied on a visit to Russia. This took place in a Saturday morning class led by a Russian colleague in the heart of Samara - she hadn't been to any of Alistair's presentations, but clearly good practice is appreciated the world over!

Work in other schools includes:

• Reframing the language of Year 4 and 5 pupils to encourage a more positive attitude
• Exuding high aspirations and using positive affirmations with the disaffected and the underconfident at a Junior school
• Applying a range of AL strategies to promote resilience and responsibility amongst Primary school children
• Using the AL Cycle for INSET
• Rewriting the delivery of a GNVQ course to incorporate more AL strategies
• Auditing a Year 10 class's opinions and needs in Science and then adapting the teaching style to take account of visual, auditory and kinaesthetic learners
• Applying for a Best Practice Research Scholarship to consider the use of music in teaching literature with a focus on recall.

The second year of training led to even greater benefits:

• Additional teachers have been trained in some schools and other schools have been brought into the process
• The LEA Maths Advisor and the second Zone Learning Manager have been trained alongside the teachers
• Lesson observation schedules have been developed for a whole school using the Accelerated Learning model
• Primary and Secondary Lead Learner groups have been set up and supported by Zone Learning Managers.

As a result of the work undertaken in the first year, negotiations took place with Leeds Metropolitan University to accredit this training for the Zone's teachers. Consequently, we now have that accreditation, which means that teachers can earn 40 points (which is more than 20%) towards an MA. Academic requirements are fully met by incorporating a reflective journal of 6000 words into their action research projects that explore at least one aspect of Accelerated Learning. Non-graduate participants in the training (e.g. Teaching Assistants) are also catered for with 45 points towards a degree by submitting an 8000 word assignment. The training is known as the Professional Diploma in Education (Accelerated Learning).

As an EAZ we have committed ourselves heart and soul to this training in Accelerated Learning - and already we are beginning to see positive outcomes with the learning in each of the three key stages we work. Last year Key Stage 4 results in the Zone were the best ever, and this year has seen results in Key Stages 2 and 3 reach new levels, requiring us to consider new raised targets for the future. We are seeing our commitment beginning to pay off for the learners, but we all know that it is not just about results; our next step will be to complement the work we have already done with training on Emotional Intelligence.