Towards Project Based Learning - The Long and Winding Road

How have we timetabled PBL

As mentioned The Year 7 PBL programme we have begun this year is the first year of a programme which will develop in every Year group in the Academy.   Currently 72% of the curriculum for Year 7 is PBL, 9% PE, 7% Languages and 12% Enrichment.  

The Enrichment time is made up of 2 100 sessions per week where the students on rotation participate in programmes of study which cover some of the more practical traditional subject areas, such as: Science, Technology, Music, Drama, Art, ICT.   This is an opportunity for the students to gain more practical experience in these areas.   there is an element of choice for the students as they progress through the year.  

Languages and PE are discrete because we felt they would not appear often enough in projects with out making the projects too contrived.  

For the remaining 72% of the time the students work on either a Literacy or Numeracy project.   Personal Learning Facilitators usually begin the day with their "Learning Family".   This is where they ensure the students know what they are doing, organise them into teams if necessary and generally set them on their way.   For the rest of the day students either:

• Spend time in "focus groups" where the  work in their teams, either researching, carrying out work on their project, developing ideas with a facilitator (teacher) or blogging (reflecting on their work).   This time is staffed by a variety of teachers and learning support assistants, sometimes in large rooms where two classes can be combined into one.
• Attend an individual or team tutorial with their Personal Learning Facilitator. 

• Attend a seminar, where they learn "difficult concepts" which will help them with their projects.  (I heard read a good quote somewhere - I think on the Edutopia site -, which stated: "Why do we teach maths first then engineering?  It should be the other way around; develop a need for maths through teaching engineering.").   These are usually staffed by maths and English teachers, who sometimes relieve other teachers to deliver  an area of expertise.

Our day for the rest of the Academy is split up into three 100 learning blocks plus a 40min Learning Family time at the end of the day.   On a Thursday we also have an enrichment session at the nd of the day where students do a variety of activities, from pottery to board games, to archery.   On a Friday there is no Learning Family time and they go home early.  

Enough for now.   Next time I'll describe some of the issues we've had since beginning the programme.

My wife is baby sitting next door, for those who want to know.  

Learning in phases

My wife doesn't mind me writing if I give her a mention . . . tonight she is at a book group.

Okay with that out the way, I can continue my seemingly sad life, by writing about our phased curriculum structure in the Academy.  

If you don't want to read my rambling intro, please go to the "point" from the 3rd paragraph below.

At the moment, in an inner city school such as ours, a large minority, possibly majority, don't access the curriculum effectively enough.   The government has set a bench mark of 30% 5 A - Cs including English and Maths.   I guess it's pretty fair to say that if 70% of the students are not gaining an A - C in Maths or English (a level 2 qualification), then they will not have really accessed the richness or depth different subjects offer.    We would love to aim for at least 80% of our students gaining English and Maths Grade C.    I think this is possible, but to do it we to accept that until the students are ready to fully access discrete disciplines/subjects, they need to develop good English/literacy and Maths/numeracy skills and develop really good habits of learning.  

Before I go on further let me take time to boast a little - This Year I'm pleased to say we doubled the results of the predecessor school going from 30% to 62% A - Cs and from 19% to 35% with English and maths.   Quite a jump in one year.   It has encouraged the community to believe in us (our admission figures have shot up)  and the government are our best friends.    But it's still 65% without English or Maths and of those who have succeeded, how many have the aspirations and wherewithal to really flourish in life; especially when we have systematically worked with many students, spoon-feeding where necessary to ensure they achieved their targets?    I don't mean to demean the effort of our students, it is our fault that we have not given them the opportunity earlier on in their education to become more independent learners.   The secondary model of education really does seem to create a dependency culture in our students, when it comes to learning.   This has not been helped by the pressure on us through league tables and OFSTED

And now to the point

This is why we have introduced PBL to our Year 7s and more specifically only Literacy and Numeracy projects (along with discrete PE and languages).   It allows us to focus on what matters and enable students to access the curriculum in a more effective way later on.

Phase 1 - The students begin in Year 7 at this phase.   and do not move onto the next phase until they have achieved a Level 1 (grade D equivalent) qualification in English and Maths and exhibit good habits of learning (will talk about htis in another blog).   The students follow the PBL Literacy and numeracy programmes.   When they have attained Level 1 they will be ready to move to

Transition 1 -This is a half a year programme which gives the students the opportunity to sample discrete subject taster programmes in order to enable them to make informed choices for Phase 2.   They will also continue to study maths and English and take part in an extended project.   The aim is to re-timetable the whole school twice a year.   This meeans some students by Feruary Year 8 will be ready to progress to the transition stage.   There will also be some Year 9 and 10s.  

Phase 2 - At this phase the sttudents (now working in mixed age groups) will begin the more traditional GCSE, BTEC and new Diploma programmes of study.   We still intend to teach these in a PBL fashion.   By now the student should have t he necessary literacy and numeracy skills to easily access the curriculum.   And hopefully gain their Level 2 qualifications, especially in English and Maths.   For those students who have struggled with mainstream education we will have alternative pathways from Year 10.  

Transition 2 -At this stage some students from Year 10 and some in Year 11 will begin a half year transition to Phase 3 course.   This is much needed where the gap between GCSE and A Level is a shock to most students.   This stage will involve taster programmes and study skills.   It is hoped that by doing this we will also reduce drop out rates at this level

Phase 3 - This involves Level three qualifications.

Will it work?   Will we achieve 80% 5 A - Cs including English and maths?   Come back in 5 Years and find out (providing I'm still in a job and not run out of town).  

11.00pm and my wife is still not back from her book group - must be a dead interesting book, or is it my turn to be suspicious?

A year on . . .

Okay a whole year has passed and I know I haven't been very good at keeping up to date, but I have been busy - honest. 

A quick update - We have now launched our PBL curriculum in Year 7.   Their whole curriculum is PBL apart from discrete PE and Languages.  The students work on two projects; a literacy one and a numeracy one.   Each project lasts roughly 3 - 4 weeks.    I appointed two excellent Assistant Heads who are responsible for literacy and numeracy.   Their job is to lead the development of projects with the aim of creating maths and English projects in which the students don't realise they are doing maths and English.   The emphasis is on developing good habits of learning and excellent literacy & numeracy skills.   It seems to be working, but we have a long way to go to really see it becoming effective. 

The following link is a presentation which summarises the rationale and philosophy underpinning what we are aiming to do in the Academy.   It is important to note that we apply the same philosophy to our curriculum as we do to our ethos/behaviour management as we do to our staff development.   Download Schools of tomorrow for the students of today

For my own organisation rather than your reading pleasure: below is a list of topics I intend to cover over the coming week:

• A new way to organise the whole curriculum "Phase Learning"
• How PBL is timetabled
• A review of PBL at the Academy to date - some of the issues we have encountered
• Staff development

• Use of technology

Now if I manage to do all of these topics, will someone please explain to my wife why I'm spending all this extra time shut away in a room on the computer.   She's beginning to get suspicious.