Practitioner Enquiry 'Rebranding of workshops, making the most effective use of student support via “Consolidation Club” to stretch and challenge and provide intervention for at risk students.'

Context This research idea was initially developed as a department (Sociology), with the aim of encouraging regular workshop attendance of students. The club aimed to run during two periods and one lunchtime a week where assigned staff were free. Workshops were rebranded and advertised as a club that was available to ALL of our students with the aim of focusing on: - Encouraging individual/independent working of students - Further developing ideas/topics covered in lessons to promote ‘stretch and challenge’ for higher level students - Providing support for ‘at risk’ students by covering areas/topics taught in lessons

Why rebrand workshops? Workshops were used throughout the previous academic year and statistics told us that these, when attended regularly, had a positive impact on teaching, learning and student results. One key problem however, was that there was only regular attendance by certain students. ‘Consolidation Club’ aimed to encourage ALL students to use the extra support on a regular basis. A strong emphasis was placed on students helping themselves in a ‘safe’ environment with a ‘door is open to all’ feel.

Practitioner Enquiry Process Co-coaching The first phase of the practitioner enquiry process enabled us to team up with a co-coach who was researching a similar topic area. This enabled us to share ideas and also feedback on any progress we had made throughout our research. Finding a chance to meet with other commitments could be difficult throughout the process however it was useful to share initial ideas to get started on implementing changes.

Changes Implemented Phase 1 - Pilot Study The first two weeks of Consolidation Club had a high turn out however the allocated room was not available due to disruptions of the flood in main building! We therefore aimed to ‘re-launch’ the club at a later date Focus Group Our student representatives gathered feedback from all classes to get students’ views of Consolidation Club after the Pilot Study The students then collated this information to ensure it was more valid. Here are some of their findings...

Focus Group Feedback “We don’t want to give up our free periods or lunchtimes to attend Consolidation Club!” “I don’t have enough time to attend with all my homework.” “We feel supported enough in lessons.” “Free periods are to socialise aren’t they?!” “I work better on my own at home.” “It runs during lunchtime?!...Food comes first!” ““Our teacher hasn’t told us about Consolidation Club...what is it?”

Changes as a result of findings Phase 2 – Raising Attendance! During a staff meeting Consolidation Club leaders aimed to encourage staff to: - Reiterate to students that Consolidation Club is flexible (timings etc) - Promote the benefits e.g. homework feedback to whole revision sessions - Advertise Consolidation Club to ALL of their students - Encourage students who are on grade boundaries, consistently miss homework deadlines, struggle with the current topic

Practitioner Enquiry Support Phase 3 – Refining the research When discussing some of these issues with others working on Practitioner Enquiry I realised that I needed to refine my research. I then made smaller changes and aimed to focus on promoting Consolidation Club to my groups rather than trying to enforce whole departmental changes. This saw a transformation in Consolidation Club and regular attendance increased dramatically. A welcome and vibrant feel was created and I was seeing a range of my students attending the sessions. Students also started to bring friends from other classes.

Happy ever after...! Consolidation Club has finally reached the ‘fairytale ending’ I was hoping for! We have regular attendance from a range of students (some working on homework, others writing additional essays). I have incorporated Twitter to remind students that they need to attend Consolidation Club (they check this more than their and it is working well...I’ve even had some “retweets”!) The biggest achievement is that Consolidation Club has almost become self sufficient and students let themselves into the room and work as a team to stretch and challenge/teach/help each other.

Challenges Ahead Consolidation Club does still have a long way to go when ensuring that ALL of our students benefit. My aim next year is to discuss these findings with the department on planning day to encourage the whole team to focus on its promotion. Consolidation Club has taken a lot of my free time and effort and I now plan to structure it more effectively for next year.