MOST ABLE PUPILS: AN ENGLISH PERSPECTIVE

English educational context Highly controlled, centralised and monitored system. Most schools follow the National Curriculum: Community schools (controlled by local authority) Foundation or voluntary schools (have more freedom to change things) Academies (independent of local authority) Grammar schools (run by council, foundation or trust, with academic entrance examination)

Composition of school population 2.8 percent of state pupils have SEND with an educational, health and care plan, more than one-half of them remain in mainstream classes and another 11.6 per cent will be receiving SEN support in class 24 per cent of state pupils are from ethnic minority groups (in primary schools 26.5 and in secondary schools 22.2 percent) 30 percent of pupils live in Poverty, highest level since 2010

Terminology Varied and changing over time Often ‘gifted and talented’ Recently, ‘most able’ (Office for Standards in Education, 2015) ‘Highly able’ (Sutton Trust, 2012; 2015) ‘High learning potential’ (Potential Plus) ‘Teaching must be adapted to respond to the strengths and needs of all pupils, including those of high ability’(DfE, 2011)

Initial Teacher Training Teachers’ standards introduced in 2011 and updated in 2013. Two parts: teaching, and personal and professional Minimum level of practice expected from the point of being awarded ‘qualified teacher status’ (QTS) For all trainees, all newly qualified teachers in statutory induction period and all teachers.

Relevant teaching standards Set high expectations Promote good progress and outcomes Demonstrate good subject and curriculum Plan and teach well structured lessons Adapt teaching to respond to strengths and needs of all pupils (including differentiation) Make accurate and productive use of assessment Manage behaviour effectively

Most able students,Ofsted, 2013;2015 Many of most able students who attend non-selective secondary schools fail to achieve potential compared with students in selective and independent schools More than a quarter of higher-achievers at the end of primary school fail to maintain progress through secondary school Talents of these students need to be harnessed for the next generation of business, political and intellectual leaders

Reflections of a teacher educator In terms of own beliefs, the comparison of English system with the Czech Republic practice of early identification was powerful With constant change in English policy provision for more able learners is left in flux New national curriculum made major changes to all subjects for five- to fourteen-year-olds, purported to favour those ‘at the peak of the spectrum’

Dissemination actions Newsletters to 200 schools, meetings with colleagues and taught sessions for the post-graduate certificate of education (PGCE), School Direct and Teach First trainees Informal presentation to the education department to disseminate findings from the Czech training and update on the progress for the BCU training to colleagues in secondary education

Dissemination actions/cont Trainees’ fifth tutor observation (April/May, 2018) focused, where possible, on more able learners, following specific training on Module 5 Development Day (based around outcomes of training events in Czech Republic and Birmingham). Trainee outcomes for differentiation were higher than in previous years with trainees beginning to understand how to stretch and challenge more effectively in classrooms

Feedback from trainees on dissemination “I feel more confident in identifying higher attaining learners based on creative assessment and dialogic methods than purely on test scores” “I have improved my understanding of challenging through questioning (following video clip of fruit analogy of Julie Taplin)”

Feedback/cont “My pupils’ test scores have gone up because I understand how to use homework to apply real-life contexts to learning more now.” “I still feel pressured to focus on ‘PP’ pupils rather than the more able unless the two overlap. My school needs to show ‘value-added’ therefore extra time goes into planning for intervening with PP pupils. I feel prepared to teach more able and I think my classroom practice improved.” [PP = pupil premium]

Feedback continued “I am currently working alongside the SENCo with a focus on more able pupils and how we can improve our policies to support them. I am attending a course in November called ‘How to challenge and extend able learners to learn more.” Overall 94% trainees felt well prepared and 6% adequately to teach more able students.

External examiner’s comments on BCU trainees Last year, it was recommended that school mentors would benefit from further training This year, school mentor training ensured that strategies to support trainees working with high-potential learners was promoted through augmenting trainee subject knowledge and marking comments/analysing feedback given to students BCU external examiner noted that differentiation of the BCU trainees was a strength

In my role as external examiner in other training institutions Recommendation was made for: more focus on provision for more able students on strategies for identification and catering strategies gleaned from training events; closer tracking of trainee subject knowledge; STEAM workshops to examine cross-curricular links, as seen in Ireland, to promote this.

External examining in other training institutions Recommendation made: To shift focus of differentiation strategies away from less able and SEND to include more-able pupils.

Example of one trainee’s practice Example of linking subject matter and real-life by creating a lesson focused on the codes on bank notes to detect fraud. This was tied in with the introduction of the new £5 note. The pupils were enthralled by the concept. The lesson included group work and individual work to allow for a more discursive element as well as to allow individual stretch and challenge.

For the more able learner … The task adds breadth (enrichment through a broader range of texts and tasks) Adds depth(extension through more detail and complexity) Is open-ended to stimulate more unusual Encourages research and experiment, reflection and self-evaluation

Summary In England, highly diverse classrooms where teachers have the responsibility to ensure progress for all (planning three learning routes in class with individual programmes for SEND and assessment of emerging skills, meeting or exceeding expectations) Major strategy is to differentiate tasks for all levels of ability (by input, process or outcome) A major impact of the project has been to shift focus of differentiation strategies away from less able and SEND to include more-able pupils and to ensure needs of more able are better understood by trainees, their school mentors and university staff.