The child/student, our first notes on Visual Learning

Hattie's main argument in this section of his book is that students enter school not only with prior achievements, but also personal dispositions, and that these dispositions can then have an impact on the outcomes of schooling.

He identifies the key dispositional ingredients as:

1. the way the child is open to new experiences;
2. the child's emerging beliefs about the value and worth of investing in learning;
3. the manner in which they learn that they can build a sense of self from their engagement in the learning enterprise:

He explains that although children enter the school with these, they can be changed by the school, and that they need to be nurtured in order to raise achievement. He states that many feel that such dispositions to learning should be used as performance indicators of the school. This is something that we will look to incorporate into our school assessment. 

The personality attribute that is identified as critical is that of openness to new experiences.

"Openness to experiences involves the willingness (and it is an active process) to experience new ideas, to think outside the box, and of not being tied to one way of thinking. It involves a motivation to explore ideas, and to invest in the process of learning."

We hope that the approach of our school will actively support and develop this disposition, by encouraging children to pose their own questions and offering the time, space and access to expertise to find their own solutions. They will have the time to fully explore the ideas that interest them, and as they will have chosen their path we believe they will be more invested in the process. As a staff we will be there to support the students in linking their time and effort to the learning they are achieving, making this connection explicit.

Background

In the book they also identify that by the time a child enters school there have been a range of factors that have played a "major role in generating subsequent differences in school-based achievement" including prior achievement and lack of academic success. As a school, we should be looking into what we can offer to support these very young families in creating strong home learning environments. We feel very committed to the idea of the school reaching the community beyond school age, both before and after. This community aspect could be built into the students experience, embedded in our curriculum, so when planning a project they would look at how they could involve or support the community. For example creating and producing plays for pre-schoolers, writing stories and running a story time at the library, devising games and spending time as play workers in the local parks.

Creativity is also identified as another prior influence on achievement. It has been found that "Programs with more hands-on activities had stronger effects than those relying on more passive methods" "Those activities that directly adressed students' initial understandings were much more powerful than those which focused more on presentation of accurate scientific information with less attention to students' current understanding" As a school, our vision is for children to build their learning on practical experiences. To investigate their ideas, test, explore and update their thinking through this process. As the children will be leading their learning, being supported in posing their own questions as well as discovering the answers, it will always start from what they already know/understand and build upon this.

Each of the chapters had a great deal of detail, and would make enormous blog posts, so I have made notes on this sub-section of Background, in my next post from this book I will continue onto Attitudes and dispositions.

Another like minded group aiming to set up a free school.

Since starting this project, I have been blown away by the kindness and generosity of people also involved in the process. I have also been heartened to find others putting children at the centre of their plans. Once such group is the Canterbury Free School, who are aiming to apply in the same round as us.  They have kindly written an introduction to their vision and experience, we have our fingers crossed for them.

We are a group of parents and teachers based in Canterbury who are working towards setting up a primary Free School with the aim of opening in September 2015, based on the principles of the Reggio Emilia approach.  Our vision is that our school will be a welcoming and inclusive place where all children, families and teachers are valued as capable individuals who learn best together.  We will champion independent thinking, cultivate healthy social-emotional development, and will be rooted in our community and the natural environment.  We aim to raise educational standards with our unique curriculum, which will driven by our children’s interests and innate love of learning, setting them on the path to future success.

What inspired you to apply to open a free school?

We want to provide an education that encourages children to have a lifelong passion and enthusiasm for learning, with a flexible, skills-based curriculum that allows children to explore their own interests.

Who was the main instigator? How did you build your team?

Amy and Zoe are both teachers with young children.  We were concerned about the things we dislike about primary education at the moment, such as too much teaching to the test, a very rigid and prescriptive curriculum, lots of government interference, a heavy focus on data and test results and so on.  We feel very strongly that this is not the best way for children to learn.  We talked about homeschooling, and then we found that a lot of other parents had the same concerns as us so we thought, why not set up a homeschooling school, and the idea has evolved from there!  We have so far built our team through word of mouth and social media, although we are now approaching local businesses for support.

What are the most important aspects of your school to you?

It's really important to us to have an extended Foundation Stage to age 6, as research shows this gives children the best possible start.  We also won't compromise on having a curriculum that can be adapted according to children's interests.  Assessment for learning will also be a key feature in our school, based on portfolios of children's work rather than formal written tests.  Another key aspect of our school is the Forest School, where we hope to have children in the forest one full day each week, all year round.  Basically we want to focus on learning and what is best for the children, rather than on data.

What are you finding the hardest part of the process?

At the moment everyone in our steering group is a parent with young children at home, this makes for a considerable juggling act and lots of late nights!  

What has surprised you most about the process?

We have been surprised that everyone involved with the process has taken us so seriously and really respects our vision and ethos.  We were concerned that because our approach is a bit different to the norm that people would see us as a bit 'alternative' and 'out there' but so far everyone has been very supportive, perhaps because we have worked hard to back up all our ideas with evidence.