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Collaborative Cross-Phase Teaching To Support Improved Engagement During P7-S1 Transition

TITLE OF DEVELOPING PRACTICE EXAMPLE

Collaborative Cross-Phase Teaching To Support Improved Engagement During P7-S1 Transition

CONTEXT / BACKGROUND

The setting for this practice is a 3-18 service for pupils with Social, Emotional or Behavioural Needs. Two areas have emerged as requiring focus and development; engagement across the whole service, and management and support of phase transition processes.

It is hypothesised that a lack of engagement in the Service in general may be due to a variety of  barriers, including a lack of parental support, low self-esteem, historical exclusion from education and displacement from peers and a familiar community setting. These are exacerbated during the phase transition period by additional factors, including fear of the unknown, a loss of familiarity, strained relationships with individuals and disillusion with “traditional” pedagogical models. The overall lack of engagement then manifests itself in lower levels of attainment and achievement, particularly in literacy.

It is the aim of this practice change to address the issue of non-engagement during the period of phase transition and to interrupt this process with strategies that it is hoped will address some of the hypothesised factors negatively affecting engagement

WHAT WE DID

During the period of practice change, P7 pupils spent increasing amounts of time in the Secondary building, culminating in a full-time move to a designated BGE classroom. A mixture of Primary teachers, Secondary teachers, Inclusion Support Workers, Family Support Workers and Support for Learning Assistants worked collaboratively to provide a safe and nurturing environment with familiar faces and routines, but also allowing pupils to experience the wider range of experiences and larger staff group within the Secondary school. All of this is designed to increase pupil engagement with a view to improving Literacy across the curriculum.

 

HOW WE DID IT

At the centre is the question of engagement itself; often quoted by education professionals but rarely with critical reflection on its meaning or how it is measured.

Engagement can be defined as consisting of three components: behavioural engagement, which is the most easily observed component, includes involvement in academic and social activities, and is strongly linked to positive academic outcomes; affective engagement, which encompasses emotional reactions to school and the actors associated with it, as well as an innate willingness to engage with academic tasks; and cognitive engagement, which encompasses the inclination to make the intellectual effort to comprehend difficult concepts and develop the required technical skills

Engagement plays a significant part in developing academic resilience, as well as being a critical component of long-term achievement and academic success. Lack of engagement can take several forms, categorised as passive non-engagement, for example daydreaming, or active non-engagement, such as deliberate non-compliance.

Disengaged pupils often show little effort and will typically give up when challenged by a task. One suggested approach to increase engagement is to provide meaningful “real world” assignments; another is to ensure pedagogy connects to pupils’ cultural and lived experiences.

Literacy levels were chosen as a measure of impact, partly due to the universal requirements for literacy, but also as pupils were routinely tested in literacy during this period and therefore would not be subjected to additional assessment.

IMPACT / OUTCOMES

Findings

  • Overall engagement has increased across all three measures (behavioural, affective and cognitive) during the period of the practice change
  • Pupils who were higher achievers in Primary school showed the largest increase in engagement
  • Behavioural engagement increased in all pupils
  • Affective engagement showed the smallest improvement in all pupils
  • Literacy improvement is yet to be fully gauged as final data is not yet collated and analysed but indications are that overall literacy levels have improved

Outcomes

  • Pupil learning has been positively impacted by increased behavioural and cognitive engagement
  • Improved engagement has facilitated relationship building between pupils and secondary staff
  • Staff have used the opportunity to develop skills in professional partnering and collaborative planning and teaching
  • The school has benefitted from a more orderly and controlled transition process, and will expand the process in subsequent sessions
Links

Our Blogs - https://blogs.glowscotland.org.uk/fa/inclusion/

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Falkirk

Where?

Bog Road, Falkirk, UK

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CONTACT PERSON

Paul Stones

CONTACT EMAIL

paul.stones@falkirk.gov.uk

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