Outcomes and Impact

Teaching, Learning and Assessment

Some of the outcomes and impacts relating to the influence of our project on teaching, learning and assessment are listed below. For further details, including a range of images that illustrate this work in action, please see appendices 3a – 3h.

• Board game instructions – Students were allowed to change the rules of well-known games and even made up a Boccia tournament with completely new rules. Engagement in this activity was 100%.
• College Fayre – Creation and organisation of activities lead by the Kickstart student ambassadors will be rewarded with £100 worth of board games chosen by the students: increasing self-esteem and feelings of praise and reward.
• Citizen of the Month Awards – Including ‘Most Helpful’ and ‘Most Kind’ we found increased offers to lead activities. Students were proud to be named Citizen- based on our ASPIRE principles*. Attendance awards are also given out.

* The College introduced a programme called ‘Aspire’, designed to complement and enhance learning. All students take part in the Aspire programme and the aim is to give students every opportunity to develop their talents and enrich their academic journey, through support and encouragement.

• Spelling tests – Students using their own marking to make class spelling tests increased literacy skills immediately.
• Starter activities – Students ‘playing teacher’ leads to other students wanting to be the next ‘teacher.’ Grades in the next formative assessment improved as students wanted to impress each other!
• Student Ambassadors – Students who volunteered to lead activities were made student ambassadors. This really upped the importance and reverence attached to volunteering to lead. We now have 5 ambassadors who have been invited to Open Evenings and other college events with special lanyards and T-shirts and pin badges. We now have another 4 students desperately wanting to be ambassadors!
• Student led structure of lessons – Led to increased interest in upcoming themes, extracts, and topics. Students even chose which extracts they prefer to use in their mock exams. Raising retention and attendance for the mock exam weeks!
• Group work – Students choosing their own groups had an incredibly positive impact as they are usually against any form of group work but being allowed to work in a group of their own choosing (with their friends mainly) helped improve participation and engagement.
• Nominating a leader to take responsibility and feedback findings to the class. The relief of having one person allocated to speak was received well as it takes the pressure away from students who did not want to address the whole class.

The most impressive impact is that after our director saw our research work, she decided to implement all these activities into our Grade 1,2 and 3 GCSE English Schemes of Work for 2022-2023!

Organisational Development

Changes and improvements in our practice were shared by keeping the wider English team updated in team meetings. We will be incorporating student-led activities into maths, employability and tutorials on Kickstart from now on. We had identified that most students on Kickstart have a 10 to 15 minute maximum concentration span. This increased immediately when students took ownership of activities. This also increased when we conducted a series of shorter activities, or where students could rotate the room spending 15 minutes at each activity station (board games and story development).

Activities were designed to meet the neuro-divergent nature of our students. For instance, ASD students appreciated knowing the week before what activities were student-led, so they could feel prepared to step out of their comfort zone. ADHD students enjoyed the fact that there were opportunities to switch activities more often than in traditional English classes and that they could lead at times. Shy students preferred to be involved behind the scenes, preparing activities and setting up equipment etc. At no point were students with dyslexia disadvantaged in any way. Anxious students could buddy up in pairs and remain with a student they were comfortable with. Feedback across the board was one of motivation and enjoyment above more traditional task methods.

Prominent educational researcher Robert Marzano stated that ‘positive relationships between teachers and students are among the most commonly cited variables associated with effective instruction’ (Resilient Educator, 2020). The building of positive, honest, relationships are key in motivating our lower-level students. Our research has found that the use of games and spelling tests during lessons has increased engagement. Encouraging students to physically write on the board, during starter activities and spelling tests has proven successful in increasing punctuality and attendance. Seeing the students interested and excited to participate has certainly proved the research worthwhile. Marzano agrees that increasing participation ‘in … simulation and games will help ensure everyone in the classroom is learning’ (ibid). When students are enjoying what they are doing engagement increases, concentration levels improve, and they no longer see the lesson as a chore.

Our evaluation and adaptation of lesson plans and structure has had a positive impact. These concepts are outlined further through the student case studies. Promoting autonomy within the classroom has further assisted teaching, learning and assessment.

Research shows that student-led learning can be more effective than other approaches led by teachers. Student-led learning gives students permission to make mistakes and try again in a safe and comfortable environment. Student-led learning encourages students to think for themselves, rather than simply following teachers’ instructions. Our research findings therefore correlate strongly with Marzano’s theory, that ‘student-led learning makes students partners in their own education, which translates to higher levels of cooperation and interest’ (ibid).