Teachers’ International Development Programme – TIPD

Hertfordshire LEA Co-ordinated Study Visit

Visit to Montreal – Spring 2004

Summary profile
Local Education Authority: / Hertfordshire
Full name of LEA Visit Leader:
E-mail address: / Elizabeth Jones

Reference and Title of Visit: / SV480
Key Stage 3
Provider: / The British Council
Country/Region visited: / Montreal, Canada
Types of schools visited: / High Schools
Age of students observed: / From 12 - 17
Language/s used: / English / French
Key Educational Purpose of the Visit: / To compare and contrast the provision for Key Stage 3 (11 –14) students with that of UK.
To observe any strategic implications for development of students’ learning and personal development.

Introduction

Intended aims of the visit:

To explore effective teaching and learning strategies at Key Stage 3 that are being used and developed in other educational systems.

To examine how other educational systems ensure both access and challenge in the curriculum they offer

To consider curriculum design, particularly how Arts subjects are developed alongside core subjects.

To observe how different management structures facilitate the dissemination of good practice at Key Stage 3

To investigate how other systems create a culture and ethos of achievement, celebrating the strengths of individual students

Expected outcomes of the visit:

Observations to provoke reflection on current practice, leading to a more informed approach to developing teaching and learning at Key Stage 3

Promotion of independent learners and development of thinking skills amongst Key Stage 3 students

An understanding of various curriculum design/models

Links between host and participants’ schools around themes of mutual interest.

How were these to be identified and recorded?

Participating teachers agreed to record major findings on visits and then to meet together daily as a group following a visit to discuss and collate observations, implications and new ideas.

A final meeting was agreed upon for each school to discuss overall implications for their school’s circumstances and particular projects and ideas they would like to take forward.

Report of the experience:

The visit, despite not having the proposed Key Stage 3 focus, proved to be very successful in terms of participants observing a range of alternative curriculum ideas and structures which they could then implement aspects of in their own schools. The group valued the opportunity to work together and with teachers from a different system and were insightful in their understanding of how much could be implemented.

The Quebec system is different from our own in that they take students a year later i.e. at age 12 and they work towards a graduation at 17 rather than independent grades in different subject areas. There is no inspection provision but observed schools were committed to improving achievement and attainment for all students without this external factor.

Their system draws clear lines between that of teachers (educators) and administrators (leadership / management personnel) with administrators having to find ways to bring income into the schools. The administrators are appointed by the School Board and can therefore be deployed at any school. It is common for them to be moved every five years and it is not unusual for an administrator to move from elementary (primary) to high school (secondary) positions.

The facilities in the schools visited were enviable withspacious school building, theory classrooms and practical rooms in Design Technology and Science and a range of PE spaces including competitive level gyms.

There seemed to be a greater emphasis on work life balance with all staff have approximately 2 free sessions per day and a flexibility over use of time.

Staff are not used for substitution and this in turn led to a calmer working relationships with students. This was enhanced in the schools visited by a strong focus on vertical pastoral groupings (families) and a high profile peer mentoring/peer education scheme.

There appeared to be a greater trust placed in teacher judgements of students’ achievement with no internal or external moderation of assessed work.

We were given insights into the variety of social and economic challenges posed for some schools and exposed to programmes that set out to deal with these issues and create a safe learning environment for students.

Interestingly, we perceived there to be less of a focus on teaching and learning techniques and teaching to students’ preferred learning styles, but we did observe that generally, students seemed to be more confident, independent learners.

Evaluation

Summary of the key educational outcomes

These outcomes are necessarily focused on generic whole school developments as the visit offered very little exposure to Key Stage 3 provision.

  1. Proposed development of a ‘Leadership programme’ as part of students’ PSHE / citizenship curriculum
  2. Proposed development of ‘Visions’ Programme for key groups of underachieving students
  3. Enhancement of cross-curricular links to focus on skills needed for success in all subject areas
  4. Establishing links with School Board to facilitate Montreal based summer school programme

In addition to the above, each school has taken on a variety of projects, links and ideas that it will be pursuing at school level. Many of these outcomes were incidental to the planned outcomes, but highly significant in development of teaching and learning. (See ‘How will you apply them to your work?’)

How can the findings be applied to the UK context?

We found that some findings could be applied more directly than others. For instance, work on cross-curricular projects, monitoring of absence, an honours board celebrating achievement, use of various art and design teaching techniques and enhancing the learning environment were all aspects that could be applied directly to schools in the UK.

Other findings such as the Leaderships and Visions programmes, whilst being among the most interesting and exciting of all the projects we witnessed, will require more creativity and in some cases, a change to current systems and structures to enable them to be facilitated. Nevertheless, the participating schools were so impressed with this creative approach to timetabling to account for students’ needs that they have all taken up the challenge of investigating and hopefully implementing these programmes to some extent.

Overall, we found much that could be applied, with a little consideration, to our context and which would enrich current good practice in teaching and learning in the participating schools; we also found much to be envious of as well as realising the strengths of aspects of our educational system.

How will you apply them to your work?

The following represents a composite list of the developments planned by various participants to integrate findings of the trip into their work in schools:

Establishment of ‘leadership group’ in school incorporating Key Stage 3 and 4 students to take responsibility for the organisation of social and community activities including fundraising events, projects with local community, development of year book

Exploration of opportunities for leadership and visions programmes in school to cater for all learners.

Consideration of curriculum potential and opportunities for ‘co-operative and project based learning’, particularly in Year 7 to enhance transition projects. This style of learning would aim to emphasise the evaluation process, focusing on what students have learnt across all subjects

Investigation and dissemination of LINUX systems within schools with the intention of being more resourceful with computers and facilitating greater access for all teachers and students

Development of ‘motivational quotations’ around the school, using the Lakeside model to endorse and promote a positive learning culture

Investigating ways to acknowledge and credit student involvement in extra curricular work and promoting development of well-balanced individuals

Use of ‘Power Pals’ materials to enhance current mentoring programmes in participating schools

Discussion and recommendations about timetable allocations with aim of reducing stress for staff e.g. only teaching a maximum of 4 out of 5 periods per day

Direct use of school’s procedure to track absence from lessons through use of absence slips posted in pocket on door and collected by monitor for spot checks

Further development of learning environment in school through consideration of signals to lesson change, atmosphere created in key learning areas e.g. library and resources area and signs around the school to create a cross curricular ethos e.g. Bronte Boulevard

Introduction of planning room with counsellor to replace some internal suspensions

Use of particular observed Art techniques and ideas to enhance curriculum

E.g. 4-colour wax resist technique, glue stained glass windows, cardboard sculptures

How do you intend to disseminate the findings of your visit?

The following represent the various ways in which participants will work in their own schools and settings to disseminate findings:

Feedback in form of either written reports or presentations to be made to/in:

Management teams

Staff meetings

Teaching and Learning Groups

Governors

These reports/presentations will use photographs, info pamphlets, and other school based materials to highlight practice observed.

In addition, presentation of key findings and experiences will be shared through assemblies and high profile displays.

At LEA level, trip leader will:

Report findings to Principal Adviser for Teaching and Learning at the LEA and subsequently to the Teaching and Learning Team as a whole.

Publish a report of the visit on the Hertfordshire Grid for Learning website.

Share generic key messages with senior leadership colleagues at their conference in November.

Proposals for future developments and continuing links?

The following continuing links with host schools and Local School Board were agreed upon and will form the basis for Hertfordshire – Montreal partnerships 2004 –5 with the intention of developing these links further in future years:

Continuing links with Lester B Pearson School Board with initially a return visit in Summer 2004, and potentially a pilot of Montreal-based Summer school programme for Hertfordshire students in Summer 2005

Links with science teacher at LakesideAcademy to examine possibilities of project based learning in science

Links with History teacher at RiverdaleHigh School to consider curriculum developments and for host schools to receive UK based materials which would help them develop the skill-based aspect of their history curriculum.

Links with French teachers at RiverdaleHigh School to facilitate effective language partners for Hertfordshire language students.

General advice for other visitors to the country/region:

It is worth checking that all host schools know the objectives for the trip in advance to allow for a more focused visit

All schools have comprehensive websites which provide a flavour of the education provided and it is worth visiting these before the visit

Mobile phones proved to be particularly useful, especially to contact other participants when the group had split up

We would recommend that any visitors liaise with Lester B Pearson School Board who work with the English speaking schools in Montreal and have an good and developing international programme

It is useful to take a laptop computer to record group’s finding as the trip progresses

In terms of sightseeing in the region, MountRoyale and Old Montreal and the Olympic stadium are definitely worth a visit

The bus service to Quebec and the mountains is cheap and efficient