"But he started it"

Taking responsibility for managing one’s own behaviour

After two terms of my placement in a Year 1 class, I am getting to know the children and they me. I am practising minor behaviour management, (re-focusing pupils’ attention, calming escalating noisiness, etc) and the pupils take notice. On reflection, this (the fact that I do it at all, and the fact that they don’t completely ignore me) must be due to my increased confidence in the classroom, and to observing the techniques the teacher and TA use to manage behaviour. The children generally behave well. Not suppressed, but rarely rowdy. The teacher and TA work as a team with regards to managing behaviour; the TA taking the lead to allow uninterrupted teaching. I rarely hear either raise their voice.

I don’t often need to manage behaviour unsupported, however, recently I heard arguing and as the other adults were not available, I had to intervene. Jill Morgan, in ‘The Teaching Assistant’s Guide to Managing Behaviour’ stresses that prompt intervention can prevent arguments from continuing on into lunch breaks and beyond.

Rory told me Thomas had scribbled on his work, and indeed, Rory’s page was now barely legible.

One of my failings is to get cross when I perceive unkindness, but I resisted speaking harshly; I have been hard on my children in the past, only to discover the situation was not what I thought. I asked them to tell me what had happened, partly because I believe in fairness, but also because punishing inappropriately damages the relationship between adult and pupil.

Thomas had scribbled on Rory’s work because Rory had already “scribbled” on his. They continued to argue, with Tom saying; ‘he started it’. I told them that if they chose to continue arguing I would have to fetch the teacher (with her implied authority to impose sanctions).

The “language of choice” is a powerful behaviour management tool recommended on the DFeS “teachernet” web site, and one that supports a child in taking responsibility for managing their own behaviour. For a pupil to connect behaviour to an inevitable consequence, and choose to avoid that outcome is a sign of maturity. Choosing to behave appropriately is big step towards taking responsibility for one’s own behaviour management.

Premack’s principle (Premack, 1959, 1963) states that a ‘high probability’ (something you want to do) activity can serve as a reinforcer for a ‘low probability’ (something you don’t want to do) activity. This behaviourist method is analogous to operant conditioning, but Premack is referring to anticipated activities as rewards. The ability to choose one’s behaviour in anticipation of a future reward or in avoidance of a future negative consequence is one that signifies increasing maturity. Small children have no concept of time, so rewards or sanctions must be connected immediately to the action in order to have significance (extrinsic motivation). Older children become more able to link an action with a future consequence, and are able to choose actions based on consequences. This is the beginning of intrinsic motivation, the taking of responsibility for one’s own actions.

Phrasing is important. For example, “if you don’t eat your meat, you can’t have any pudding’ is a threat. But “you can have pudding when you’ve eaten your meat” entices by offering a reward, and makes it clear that the reward is contingent on eating the meat, so there is no expectation of pudding if the meat isn’t eaten. By using ‘when’ not ‘if’ there is expectation that the meat will be eaten and pudding forthcoming. So perhaps I should have told Tom and Rory “I won’t need to ask the teacher to sort this problem out, because I know you’re going to stop arguing”.

By stating; ‘if you do this, I will have to do this’ the TA makes it clear that they impose sanctions out of concern, rather than because they are mean, which places the onus for preserving the good relationship with the TA on the pupil.

Tom and Rory’s argument stopped. I like to think this was because the boys chose to stop arguing rather than be reprimanded, but perhaps it was because the argument was unwinnable. Perhaps, by offering the option to be mature and take responsibility for their behaviour, I offered a face-saving way to end the conflict. Anyway, I praised them for making the right choice and asked them to sit at opposite ends of the table.

In cases of provocation, whilst I sympathise with the victim of the original transgression, I would not grant them impunity, because it’s important to understand that a retaliating action is just as wrong as the provoking action, and that one can choose not to react.

Piaget’s theory of the development of morality suggests that children between the ages of 5 to 9 (moral realists) evaluate wrongdoing in terms of its consequences, not the intentions of the doer. Thus, a child who deliberately does slight damage is not as naughty as one who does a huge damage accidentally. Aged 7, children begin to understand that intention is important (moral relativity) and that punishment should fit the crime. This understanding facilitates another significant leap in the ability to take responsibility for one’s own behaviour.

It’s important for the teaching assistant to support pupils in managing their own behaviour, because with greater independence and the right to choose one’s own path that is granted as one gets older, comes the responsibility to choose actions that, at least, do no harm to others. It is a stage in the development of adult autonomous intrinsic morality, where the individual’s personal morality coincides with the laws of their society and they obey the law because they agree with it, not for fear of punishment. Or not. Their choice.

References:

Morgan, J ‘The Teaching Assistant’s Guide to Managing Behaviour’ continuum, 2007.

DfeS Teachernet web site http://www.teachernet.gov.uk

Wikipedia article on the Premack Principle: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Premack%27s_principle

accessed 9/1/11

Article: Piaget’s Theory of moral Development.

http://everything2.com/title/Piaget%27s+theory+of+moral+development

accessed 9/1/11

An interest shared leads to a problem halved

I began working with a Year 4 class (7/8 yrs) and covering playtime 4 times a week, I met a young girl (G) I had heard about from other staff, but had never worked with before. She came to the reading room to read with me and was quite dismissive and off hand, although she read very well. I made a note against her name in the observation book I used to keep notes on their reading progress in for her form tutor. I was told that she was very prone to sudden rages. She did not become violent but would verbally abuse anyone who approached her and it was causing problems with her friends, who were beginning to dislike her.

She was above average intelligence in most of her subjects and in conversation, but had a very disjointed home life with her father living in the States with a new family, which involved lots of step-and half-siblings, her mother remarrying and her uncle dying suddenly. The death made front page news on some of the papers, which had angered her further.

Over time I built up a relationship with G, began when she discovered our shared love of the Tudor period in History. After a while (and a little gentle prodding) she began to talk about how being angry affected her and how she needed to be left alone but everyone wanted to know what was wrong and that made it worse.

In essence, she was angry at the world, frightened of the future, frustrated at her lack of control over everything and isolated from parts of her family. I asked her what she Elizabeth 1st would do, which made her smile a little and told her that I would need to talk to her form tutor. She seemed quite relieved and a behavioural plan was put in place for her, with staff aware that she would be allowed to sit outside the office if she needed some space, and her mother was kept informed. She responded well to the measures put in place and spoke to her friends about how she was feeling, which in turn made her a lot calmer in general and had much better control over her temper.

I was pleased to have been able to help and even though our connection was random, it illustrated that our mini gossips after reading ‘Beware, Princess Elizabeth!’ by Carolyn Meyer we had opened up communication between us that she trusted and that I, as a TA, should not dismiss any detail about the children in my care as being insignificant.

R Ryan

So what of the TA?

None of the child development theories by the below theorists even mention a T/A
Arnold Gesell 1880-1961
Sigmund Freud 1856 – 23 September 1939
B.F.Skinner 1904 – August 18, 1990
Alfred Bandura 1925-present
Lev Vygotsky 1896-1934
Jean Piaget 1896-1980 1980
Erik Erikson 1902 – 12 May 1994
Most of the theorists were born over a century ago when the role of a teaching assistant wasn’t in existence.

The digital age of mass media internet connected, game console playing, mp3 listening youth is here and now. Banduras BoBo Doll study has already highlighted that what the child sees they will try to imitate.

Hours per year the average American youth spends in school: 900 hours
Hours per year the average American youth watches television: 1500
The average child will watch 8,000 murders on TV before finishing elementary school. By age eighteen, the average American has seen 200,000 acts of violence on TV, including 40,000 murders.
(Cmpiled by TV-Free America)

Clearly media will have a great influence over children.
Risk behavior & peer pressure as studied by Allen, Porter, McFarland, Marsh, & McElhaney (2005). has shown that popular adolescents are strongly bonded with their peer group and that adolescents are likely to experiment at this time with things such as drugs and alcohol.

Peer pressure is when the child is persuaded to adopt values, beliefs and goals or to take part in similar activities as the rest of the peer group. The children most susceptible to peer pressure are those with low self esteem who adopt the group’s norms to enhance their own self esteem. The children that don’t give in to peer pressure are often unpopular. This conforming to social norms and experimenting will affect their self esteem.

Birth order is also said to effect a child’s development: first-born children obtain better grades and are more often high school valedictorians than later born children. Altus. 1966.
Parental influence on child development has been widely studied the way in which parents reward and punish children has an effect also not punishing children for bad behaviour has an effect later in life as the child not punished for aggressive behaviour has been found more likely to be aggressive towards their peers (Wiley,1998).

Display of interest in a young child's activities is correlated with greater levels of response from the child (Landry, et al 1998.) The amount of time spent talking to our children by our parents pointing out new objects and encouraging children to talk can develop language skills. This can have a knock on effect as the child progresses quicker at school and perceives themselves as more competent than their peers.

Parents and families can also have an unconscious effect on our children’s development “emotional identification” whereby the child unconsciously believes they share some of their parents attributes such as phobias. Even who a child’s parent is can have an effect as we somehow believe “Like father like son” Earlier in this report It is stated that household income has a profound effect on child development, that along with parental influence, mass media and peer pressure, would appear to have much greater influence on a child’s development than a T/A but research by Dr John Brown and Professor Alma Harris from the Institute of Education for the TDA 2005-2008 found that there was a statistically significant relationship between increases in expenditure on teaching assistants and improvements in attainment. It also found that having more T/A’s meant higher attainment whilst fewer T/A’s in a school had lower attainment. The research does state that effective deployment of T/A’s is key to this success.

M King

The importance of empowering pupils to take responsibility for their own behaviour management

Supporting pupils to take responsibility for their own behaviour management forms a key part of the remit of any school educator. Often entrusted with classes of 30 or more children, step one in supporting pupils to take responsibility for their own behaviour must be to ensure that one is demonstrating responsible behaviour oneself. It is basic human nature for people to mimic each other, consequently it follows that pupils will mimic certain behaviours in the classroom. With this in mind, it is vital that from the outset, a confident, constructive and upbeat attitude is adopted in order to instil a positive mentality throughout the education setting. If an educator appears defeated, angry and unconfident the children will sense this and will almost immediately begin to adopt a similar style.

As a secondary school pupil, I studied William Golding’s book Lord of the Flies. An albeit fictional work, the book tells the tale of a group of British schoolboys marooned on a deserted island. In the absence of adults, the boys attempt to govern themselves with quite disastrous consequences. Whether to behave in a civilised manner or whether to be overcome by a more primal ‘survival of the fittest’ instinct, these supposedly well-educated children resort to an almost primitive state. Exploring the theory of ‘pack mentality’ over individual conscience, the book provides food for thought as to the cost of leaving children to cultivate their own sense of right and wrong...

In life, we are compelled to take personal responsibility seriously. As UK citizens we have a duty, a moral obligation to maintain a good character and to behave within the laws of the land. These laws have materialised over time to protect us from harm and to uphold a certain set of moral beliefs. As adults we all know the consequences of breaking these laws which for the majority of people provides a sufficient deterrent from any illegal activity.

This model of society is reflected in school; most schools have a set of ‘rules’ which denote what types of behaviour are acceptable and unacceptable as well as a set of consequences should these rules be broken. This constitutes the foundation for supporting pupils to take responsibility for their behaviour management but thereafter much work needs to be done to encourage pupils to firstly adhere to these and to secondly understand why their behaviour is so significant to their overall life chances.

Rules alone are not enough to instil in pupils a sense of responsibility, some will naturally display good behaviour but at the other end of the scale there are those pupils whose behaviour is likely to be a perpetual cause for concern. Some poor behaviour can be attributed to conditions such as Tourette Syndrome or ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder) but often it can be a reflection of a pupil’s home environment.

Where a pupil’s upbringing has a bearing on their behaviour it is especially important that the school works hard to support those pupils in taking responsibility for their own behaviour. They are likely to have the most to learn and at the same time the most to gain. We need to impress upon these pupils from a young age the benefits that come from behaving well, they need to know what it feels like to receive praise in order to deter their negative behaviour. Benefiting the school as a whole, supporting children to take personal responsibility should lead to calmer classrooms and playgrounds, improved self-esteem and confidence as well as better attitudes and social skills in general.

In supporting pupils to take responsibility for their own behaviour, at the forefront of our minds should be the thought that sooner or later these pupils will be independent, needing to make life choices for themselves; if they have been encouraged within school from an early age to take their responsibilities as an upstanding member of society seriously then they will have every chance to achieve a positive outcome.

S Walker

Influences on childhood development

As everyone is different it is very difficult to assess what would be the greatest influence on a child’s development with out making generalizations. There are many factors that can influence, however in this instance the affect that gender, having high expectations and the T.A as a role model will be discussed. It is possible to suggest that taking a holistic approach when discussing the development of a child would give a more in depth and accurate analysis, and that in fact all three of the aforementioned influencing factors are heavily interlinked.

Whether or not we are male or female is something that affects each and every one of us right from birth, although the study of gender is relates to sexual identity as opposed to physical sex. Thompson (1975) suggests that children become aware of their sexual identity at around 3 years old. This is the phallic stage according to Freud and it is during this stage of development that children become aware of sexual stereotypes such as activities and roles that are associated with a particular sex, thus gender begins influencing us from a very young age.

Adults, however are responsible for stereotyping children right from birth, the baby x experiment conducted by Smith and Lloyd (1978) outlines quite clearly how stereotyping can affect behaviour. For example, babies that were dressed in blue, a colour strongly associated with baby boys were treated with less obvious affection and were told they were “big” and “strong, where as the babies that were dressed in pink, a colour associated with girls were held for longer and were told they were “cute” and “pretty”. In doing this we are imprinting certain gender stereotypes and labeling children from a very young age and this is something that follows us throughout our lives.

Although as a society we have broken a lot of the old fashion gender ideologies they are still very much ingrained in our thought. This was highlighted when observing child A, she considers herself to be more feminine, she likes to play with make up, dress up and bake often activities that are associated with females. However she does have an interest in football but was reluctant to join the school team or even go to practice because she thought that it was only for boys and that she would be made fun of. Although this would probably not have been that case it outlines perfectly the affect that gender stereotyping can have on a child.

But to what level does gender effect pupil performance and development? Biologically girls most reach puberty earlier than boys and are often considered more advanced in a lot of areas. Research conducted by Croxford et al (2000) suggests that boys are often catching up with girls in terms of academic achievement. It could be argued that by putting emphasis on more masculine activities such as outdoor play and rough and tumble and by having strong male sporting role models, young boys have less of an interest in quieter more feminine activities such as reading and writing and because of this are underachieving academically. However there are still academic expectations placed on all pupils regardless of weather or not they are male or female.

Every body has expectations either or themselves or others but usually both. In terms of pupil development and regardless of gender, having specific expectations can have a fundamental effect.

Rosenthal and Jacobson (1968) illustrated how the self-fulfilling prophesy as suggested by Merton in the 20th century can have a profound affect on development. The self fulfilling prophecy suggests that we become what others expect us to become and they undertook a study that looked at the effect that a teachers expectations have on pupil performance by studying a group of children in a school. At the beginning of term selected children took I.Q tests. The teachers were told that certain children had achieved highly and were bloomers, even though this was not the case, they were also told that selected children has achieved poorly and were therefore not bloomers. At the end of term the children took another I.Q test. The results of those considered bloomers were considerably higher than the in the first test and those considered non- bloomers, whose results were even lower than the test they originally took.

It transpired that the teachers had been paying more attention, giving more encouragement to and praising the bloomers far more than the non-bloomers who often took a back seat in class and were treated differently. The experiment, although a little unethical highlights how expectations or pre conceived ideas can have an affect on development and performance. In this instance high expectations have positively affected the bloomer pupils in terms of academic achievement however specific expectations can sometimes be a double-edged sword as the non-bloomer pupils suggested.

It has already been suggested that having high expectations of a pupil can be positive. However from personal experience I know too well the physical and emotional affect that high expectations have. For example, during 6th form my English teacher who had a huge amount of faith in me nominated me to lead a group in a public speaking competition. The subject was genetics a topic I knew little about, although I rehearsed and prepared thoroughly I felt an enormous amount of pressure to do well, however when I actually had to deliver my speech I crumbled and could not finish.

Hans Seyle (1936) suggested that we all react to stress. Although his approach is fundamentally a biological idea he outlines the physical effects that stress can have. He suggested that we go through 3 stages of stress, the first one being Alarm; I certainly felt alarm when I was standing in front of a room full of people and there was also a marked physical response, my heart rate was significantly raised and by palms were sweaty. The next stage he suggests is resistance, I tried to cope and find my words but very quickly I moved on to the exhaustion stage, in the end I cried and gave up. Although this taught me valuable lessons I will never forget this experience.

In this instance it could be suggested that the belief and encouragement my teacher had in me accompanied with the high expectation I had of my self somehow lead me to be very unsuccessful in this particular task. However I do feel that it was more the lack of self-belief and low self-esteem I had that lead me to fail not the high expectations of the teacher, and had he not pushed me to leave my comfort zone I may have never learnt the lessons I did.

Self-esteem is something that is closely linked to expectation. Low self-esteem is thought to foster delinquency and poor academic achievement in children and it may be the case that low-self esteem should be considered when working with a particularly difficult child (Rosenberg, Schooler and Schoenbach 1989). Mehan et al (1994) suggested that support and believing in pupils could dramatically improve academic achievement and boost self esteem. This is where the Teaching Assistant (T.A) can be of great influence and can be a positive role model.

The Social learning theory as suggested by Bandura, Ross and Ross (1961) clearly addressed how we model ourselves and imitate others. We learn behaviour and copy those we look up to, for example Child B has a strong interest in languages and this stems from her sister taking Spanish in school. When asked why she wanted to study Spanish she answered rather flippantly “Well Emily did it so I thought I would”, quite clearly her older sister has affected her choices and therefore has been a role model. The T.A is often considered to be a role model for children so it is important to consider what makes a good role model.

When taking all of the above into consideration it is the role of the T.A is present to guide instruct and inform pupils and positively reinforce a wide range of topics and by doing this in accordance with the ECM agenda (2008) they can play a big part in encouraging pupils to achieve there potential.

However a T.A can only have a positive affect on the development of the child if they follow the guidelines set by the EMC agenda (2008). When undertaking the role of a T.A professionalism and positive behaviour is highly important.

Dr R Silverman (2008) suggests that there are 7 characteristics that a role model has that must remain constant to have a positive effect. For example, make positive choices and being aware that your choices are being watched. Think out loud where possible, when you are faced with having to make a decision talk to the pupils about it and weigh up pros and cons. Apologize and admit when you make mistakes, children need to see that it’s ok to make mistakes but they need to learn to be humble and know when an apology is necessary. Follow through; always complete tasks and practice self discipline. Pupils need to see that setting and achieving your goals boosts self-esteem and leads to rewards. Show respect the simple philosophy treat others as you wish to be treated can be applied in this instance and it something that should be instilled in children from a very young age. Be well rounded pupils need to see that their role model can be many things and can adapt to many situations. It may encourage them to think if they can do it so can I. Last but by no means least he suggests that to be a successful role model you need to have confidence in who you are. Understanding the curriculum, having good organizational skills and good communication with the teacher can give a T.A a great deal of confidence in the classroom.

How can a T.A influence the development of a pupil? Norman Triplett (1898) published the earliest research regarding social facilitation. The idea of social facilitation suggests that a person performs more effectively when being watched by another person, when working in a group with their peers or when presented with positive stimuli such as reward charts or incentives. A T.A can be responsible for delivering rewards or informing the teacher that a child has achieved. They are also able to observe and be aware of any pupils that are falling behind or that are not included in the task because of this they are able to encourage and guide those that are falling behind by facilitating a group.

The Every Child Matters agenda (2008) ensures that Teachers and T.A’s are able to support the child academically, socially and emotionally. As a T.A it will be your role to support the pupils you work with in this way. It could be argued that in some instances the T.A is the greatest influence particularly if they spend a lot of one-to-one time with a pupil. However, T.A’s can face challenges because of this. If they are working with a child one-to-one it is usually because they have a learning or behavioural difficulty of some degree, this in itself can sometimes hard to deal with especially if there is no support from the parents and or teacher. As previously suggested it is important to remain professional and therefore not get too emotionally involved.

This essay addresses the fact that there are many factors that influence a child’s growth and development and it is very difficult to suggest what the greatest influence is. In certain circumstances the T.A can have a huge affect on a pupils development but without understanding and appreciating the challenges that they may face and the background of the pupil it is impossible to suggest that they are the main influence. As we have seen gender and high expectations can also impact heavily and including the fact that the T.A is a role model can be taking into consideration exclusively. We must look at many factors that influence a child to be able to draw any substantial conclusions and also remember that everyone not every one is the same and will therefore react differently to certain influences.

M. Tweedie

References:

Brain, C. and Mukheri P (1988) Understanding Child Psychology. Cheltenham. Nelson Thornes LTD.

Cheminais, R. (2008) Every Child Matters, A practical guide for teaching assistants. Oxon. Routledge Taylor Francis Group

Walton, A. and Goddard, G (2010) Supporting Every Child A course book for foundation degrees in teaching and supporting learning. Exeter. Learning Matters.

http://powerfulwords.wordpress.com/2008/03/31/are-your-teachers-positive-role-models-for-children/ Accessed Dec 2010

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_facilitation Accessed Dec 2010

http://www.scotedreview.org.uk/pdf/171.pdf Accessed Dec 2010

http://people.stfx.ca/x2005/x2005eko/Pysch%20260/winter%20paper/1130189.pdf Accessed Dec 2010

http://www.jstor.org/pss/2095720 Accessed Dec 2010

Planning, Preparation and Delivery of work

My first impression was that planning was solely the role of the teacher, but delving deeper, I realised that the TA too, contributes to planning. My reason for thinking this is because in my experience I have not been involved much in the planning. Usually the teacher tells me what topic we will be discussing, on the day, in small group time, where I will be responsible for delivering this to a group of about 10 pupils. I was not shown the plans, until recently, having started the course, I asked if I may see them.

The teacher will be responsible for long term planning and short term planning. She may or may not choose to do these with the TA. The may not be time for the teacher and the TA to sit down together to plan. The TA may be responsible for simplifying a lesson for less abled pupils or extension work for the more abled. The TA may also be working with a pupil with special needs and will be required to adapt lesson to suit the specific pupil.

I was asked to plan an activity to assess the level of number skills the pupils were at. I had time to plan and prepare, and make it an exciting activity for the pupils, so it went very well. The pupils were eager to participate, and this was a result of the planning and preparation that had gone in before.

PREPARATION
In my opinion, preparation is the role of both the teacher and TA. The Teacher is required to prepare delivery of lessons to the class as a whole. She needs to be aware of VAK learning preferences, and prepare to deliver lessons appropriately. The teacher may ask the TA to work one to one with pupils who have specific VAK learning preferences. It could be that there are pupils with special needs and the TA may be responsible for preparing lessons to suit those pupils individually. The teacher may ask the TA to have resources and spaces ready for teaching, and so the TA will be doing the preparation before the learning. So even if the teacher has done the planning, the TA will be playing a big role in the preparation.

For example: when we are going to have discussion time, the TA is responsible for getting the seating, projector, white screen, lighting etc. ready. So in a sense she is doing the preparing for the delivery of the learning. The teacher will be leading the discussion, and she will have done the planning, but the TA will be responsible for the preparation work beforehand.

DELIVERY
The teacher is there to deliver the learning but the TA is there to support the teacher. It could be that the TA is asked to deliver part of the lesson. The TA will be responsible for delivering to SEN pupils. The TA may be required to take over the delivery of a lesson should the teacher be called off on an emergency.

The teacher may ask the TA to deliver a specific topic, drawing on her strengths, knowing that the TA has more experience in that area.

In my opinion, both the teacher and the TA are responsible for the delivery of learning, which is a very important part of learning.

P Clarke

Thoughts on Independent Learning

A common whinge when I was at school, was; ‘why am I learning this? I am
never going to use it after I’ve left school’. What my friends and I didn’t fully
understand was that learning how to think and learning how to learn is the
most important knowledge a child can acquire at school. With the tools to
acquire knowledge, a pupil has the chance of a fulfilling future beyond school,
and it is as important to promote these skills as to teach to curriculum goals.

There are two ways in which pupils can learn independently. ‘Interactionist
independence’ refers to pupils who are motivated, creative and enjoy cooperating
with their peers on classroom tasks without constantly seeking adult
approval. ‘Isolationist independence’ refers to children who are able to work
on their own and think for themselves, perform tasks and solve problems
without reference to others.

From a teacher’s point of view, pupils who are able to learn independently
allow the teacher to plan differentiated lessons, and to concentrate on
teaching and learning over organisation.

Mayer et al’s 2008 literature review showed several benefits to the pupil:
• improved academic performance;
• increased motivation and confidence;
• greater awareness of their limitations and their ability to manage them;
• enabling teachers to provide differentiated tasks for pupils.

Jill Williams’ teacher survey identified a wide range of intrinsic benefits to the
child. Teachers believe that independent learners “further own learning by
using their own ideas to form opinions and have the confidence to test them
out”. Williams, 2003. This validates the learner’s own experiences as a source
of knowledge, which must increase self-confidence.

Independence of any type involves understanding the consequences of one’s
actions and taking responsibility for them. Independent children have a sense
of well-being that comes from the intrinsic life skills that taking responsibility
for one’s own learning can bring. Taking responsibility for one’s own learning
and that of one’s peers fosters greater social abilities, self-discipline and
mutual respect for peers and teachers which creates a richer learning
environment.

Motivation is fundamental to learning to learn independently and it is important
to motivate students to enjoy the learning process – this effect will last beyond
the pupils’ school career and stand them in good stead as economically active
adults. It is suggested that over-reliance on top-down teaching methods can
de-motivate pupils and that “teachers should not assume that because they
are teaching, pupils are learning”. (Williams, 2003). Part of independent
learning is learning how to think, and it is important to teach in a way that
develops analytical and systematic cognitive and meta-cognitive skills for the
pupil to be able to approach problem solving throughout life.

Meyer et al discovered that independent children work to a higher standard;
this effect may result from developing thinking skills that encourage creativity
in thinking. Creative thinking enables pupils to take ownership of their work,
which might provide an intrinsic motivation to do more than the minimum.
Both interactionist and isolationist independence are useful skills, but the
more rounded individual is able to work in both ways, and in our society, the
ability to work in collaboration with others is highly valued. Promoting a love of
learning, and imparting the tools for acquiring knowledge gives each pupil the
ability to shape their own life in an active sense.

What lesson could be more important than that?

References:
DFeS Teachernet web site
http://www.teachernet.gov.uk/teachingandlearning/onetoone/tutors/
accessed 20/11/10
Every Child a Chance Trust web site
http://www.everychildachancetrust.org/WhatWeDo/index.cfm
accessed 20/11/10
Joanna Budden - Role-play
http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/think/articles/role-play

J Wilson

"Write Dance"

WRITE DANCE
This is a fantastic addition to the learning experience of those pupils who struggle to form letters or numbers. This may be because they have a disability or a special educational need, for example a child coping with dyspraxia has great difficulty organising movement of any kind especially the more intricate movement required to operate a pencil successfully.

How it works A story is told to the pupils to begin with for them to `set the scene’ for example a robot moving through the town making sharp angulated movements, the pupils then find themselves a space and begins to move like the robot to an apt piece of music.

This simulates the movements required to produce numbers and letters with straight lines like and `A’ and a `K’ or a `4’ and a `7’.

Once the children have experienced this they are given a large sheet of paper or chalk for the playground to make marks on the paper or playground just as they were with their movements. Sharp, angulated, edged marks on the sheet, with 2 different colours.

Children enjoy the process from the story, to the movement, to the mark making, bringing enjoyment to a very difficult area for these children.

A Hopton

Assessing PECS and "TA devised" Numeracy Support

There are many different approaches and methods used to support individual learning needs, for the purpose of this analysis we will be considering the advantages and disadvantages of the previously discussed Pictorial Exchange System (PECS) and Teaching Assistant Devised Numeracy Support. We will analyse the overall effectiveness of each method in supporting individual learning under the following categories individualism, audience, economy, implementation and enforcement, transferability and skills promotion. The first method we will consider is the PECS programme:

Individualism.
The system is a very simple programme that can be easily adapted to suit the individual learning needs of the pupil; a simplistic PECS system may be used to obtain required items and this may be developed alongside the individual progress of the child to aid more simple sentence construction and the completion of more complex tasks such as taking a bath. A Teacher’s or Teaching Assistant’s artistic skills can be drawn upon to increase the individual nature of this programme.

The focus on the individual with the PECS programme fully supports the individual learning needs of pupils, however the effectiveness of doing so relies heavily upon the availability and competence of teaching staff, being easily reduced by poor staffing levels and incompetence will reduce the effectiveness of the system.

Audience
PECS is supportive of a wide range of individual learning needs and it’s potential audience is vast. It benefits children and adults with communication problems due to learning difficulties such as autism or aspergers, deaf children that would otherwise have to rely upon peers and teaching staff knowing sign will also be able to communicate through the ‘universal language’ of this system helping to breakdown barriers enabling communication to a much wider range. Equally those who experience language difficulties of having English as an additional language (EAL) will also benefit greatly from this system as it can used to support and reinforce current teaching and communication exchanges.

Teachers also often use the system to support daily routines and timetables, even if they do not have pupils with specific communication difficulties, for example, a Reception Teacher will experience a great benefit in using a pictorial system to outline the day’s activities.
Arguable the only limitation with PECS and the audience in which it appeals is determined by the effectiveness of the person(s) participating in the system. Poor implementation may result in mixed communication and confusion and an unwillingness to be involved, with individual learning needs not being effectively met.

Economy
The ‘tools’ required for the implementation of PECS are low in terms of monetary outlay as pictorial cards can be personally created or downloaded from suitable websites at limited expense. Expenses arise however from staff training, ideally staff will receive formal training on PECS but school budgets may not always be able to accommodate this. Also, the initial phase of PECS ideally requires two people per child in order to maximise the effectiveness and fully support their individual learning needs.

Implementation/enforcement
The system is very effective and in it’s most simplistic terms, easy to implement and monitor. As extensive picture recognition and symbolic understanding are not required prior to the starting of the system (they develop as the system progresses), the implementation of PECS is not hindered by long drawn out revision sessions. Enforcement of the system tends to be easy as the pupil with communication difficulties responds well to the behaviourist nature of the programme and it’s immediate rewards, similarly the communicative partners respond well.

The inception and enforcement process sounds very simplistic to follow but in practice difficulties arise, essentially there are six defined stages that should be followed for the system to reach it’s potential. Errors may arise in practice and the development of the individual child with learning difficulties may be affected. It is also essential that the teaching and learning environment has to be consistent if the PECS system is to achieve maximum effectiveness.

Transferability
For a system to be effective it is vital it is portable between environments, the PECS programme is certainly recognised as being transferable between home, school and the wider community and this is indeed a major strength. As well as being commutable between environments it is also able to progress with the development of the individual child by assisting a child without speech to communicate, progressing to help a child with verbal skills. It can be used effectively throughout education and into adulthood if necessary meeting the child’s individual learning needs at each stage of development.

The ease of transferability obviously depends upon all environments cooperating in the system, whilst educational settings can be safely assumed to welcome the PECS programme, home settings and the wider community may not be so accommodating and obstacles may arise in supporting individual learning needs.

Skills promotion
PECS is instrumental in developing a child’s communication skills, with skill levels increasing as you progress through the six phases. Improved communication also reduces the level of anxiety and frustration typically experienced by a child with communicative difficulties, in turn improving a child’s general functioning ability. The system also helps to promote independent academic and social skills.

Critics of the system believe it hinders verbal speech however research shows that pupils have begun to develop speech whilst working with the PECS programme.

The second area of support we will consider is TA Devised Numeracy Support (TADNS):
Individualism
TADNS is a highly individualised support programme with each exercise designed with specific individuals in mind e.g. ‘Doubling Bingo’ was created especially to compliment the childrens' strength in times table fact recall whilst addressing her weaker area of doubling [email for full details].

The flexible nature of the support enables development of programmes alongside the development of the child, as the skills of the child develop the emphasis of the support can change in order to address further areas of strength and weakness. The artistic skills of the Teacher and/or Teaching Assistant are paramount in creating aesthetically appealing exercises suitable to meet the needs of the individual child.

As support is focused, competence levels improve usually within a short period of time, this benefit also creates a disadvantage in that each game has a relatively short shelf life for the child(ren) it was created for. It relies upon the individual to continually create further resources which as previously noted, is time consuming.

Audience
A wide range of individual learning needs can be met due to the flexibility of the support, the potential audience for TADNS is unlimited and can benefit children of all ages and ability levels ranging from general learning difficulties to the gifted and talented. Resources are very visual and clear step by step instructions are provided, both of these characteristics will assist children with special educational needs such as autism and aspergers in participating.

The support can be provided to individuals, small groups or whole class environments. The drawback with this support is that the larger the number involved in playing the larger amount of time is needed to prepare adequate resources, taking up inappropriate amounts of the Teaching Assistant’s time.

Economy
The games used to support the TADNS programme are very cost effective to produce in terms of materials, easily sourced from the classroom or internet (ref: www.primaryresources.co.uk). Very little is required in terms of staff training as all games are written with clear instructions. Children can initiate and play the games without adult assistance so additional staffing levels are not required. However, as detailed in previous sections, games are time consuming to create so the consideration of labour costs is necessary.

Implementation/Enforcement
The TADNS games are designed to be user friendly by children, each with a clear set of instructions that children can easily follow without the necessary intervention of an adult. Implementation is straightforward and upon initial instruction from the Teaching Assistant children will be able to self start and carry out the sessions independently, although a distant overview from an adult is recommended to notice progress levels.

The sessions are designed to compliment classroom teaching and often take place during main teaching sessions, difficulties arise however if children need additional support in past topics (as in often the case) and children are taken out of class for additional sessions. This may have the detrimental effect of causing them to fall behind in other areas of numeracy.

Transferability
The TADNS is easily commutable and can be effectively played within school or at home. Realistically, the games themselves will not be taken out and used in the wider community but of course the acquired skills of addition and subtraction and so on will be. The games are fundamentally created to meet the individual learning needs of pupils and by their very nature enable them to progress along with the individual(s) through all areas, levels and ages of schooling. Whilst in theory TADNS tasks can be adapted to support the individual learning needs of pupils throughout schooling, in reality it is most suitable for children of primary school age.
Skills Promotion.

TADNS helps to develop a wide range of numeracy skills and can essentially cover every area of numeracy dictated by the individual learning needs of the pupil. In addition TADNS helps to develop invaluable skills of teamwork as games typically require a minimum of two to play, an ability to follow multi- part instructions, self initiation and independent problem solving, communication and social skills.

In conclusion, there are many ways of supporting the individual learning needs of the pupil. We have analysed predominantly two forms of support namely PECS and TADNS and in outlining the benefits of each system, both are arguably as effective as each other. The particular strength of PECS is the ‘universal language’ which facilitates participation by a wide audience. With this system, an increased audience does not necessarily create the need for the time consuming preparation of additional resources, so progress is rarely hindered. Additional resources may however be an area of weakness for the TADNS as indeed new resources are constantly required in order to keep in line with the progress of the child. The progression of the tasks alongside progression of the child’s ability is however one of the main strengths of support and it is important therefore to try to manage time effectively to enable the continual recreation of tasks.

Upon reflection of the benefits of these methods, it would be short sighted to choose one method as both provide equally invaluable ways of supporting individual learning needs. The methods can be used separately or can indeed work together well as the processes compliment each other. In applying the methods it is of vital importance when considering support for individual learning needs you fully understand the individual learning needs of the pupil(s) concerned so that you can facilitate the most appropriate support and maximise learning potentials.

Exposure to culture/religion in the classroom

The recognition of different Cultures/Religions is an intervention that can be used to help foster social inclusion for pupils of a different religious or cultural background than the majority of the class. It is an intervention that supports the Individual learning needs of an EAL learner (English as an Additional Language).

When a child’s first language is not that of the learning environment s/he is in, the child not only has to learn the target language but they also have the added pressure of adapting to the new predominant culture.

It is important to have parents or (guest speakers) come into class to share the particular language, religion or culture of the specific child with the whole class. Not only does it benefit the child as it increases their self-esteem and sense of self-worth. It generates positive reinforcement of the value of their religion or culture which in turn promotes the confidence and motivation of the child to learn independently. It also benefits the other class members as they are increasing their knowledge of other cultures and religions.

“If a bilingual learner feels valued, has a positive sense of identity and is engaged cognitively in activities that are challenging, interactive and instructive, then learning takes place.”
www.naldic.org.uk assessed (2010)

Child B is in Year 1 he is from Iraq and his first language is Arabic and he is a Muslim. His mother was invited in to class to speak to the class about Islam. Child B sat in front of the class with his mother and recited a prayer in Arabic which his mother then translated. He showed the class some calligraphy in Arabic which he translated. He finished by showing his Dish Dash (traditional clothing from the Middle East.) The children then asked general questions about Islam and his country of origin.

The children’s topic at the time was actually Islam and the class were looking at how Allah’s name was written in Arabic. The whole class then wrote Allah (God’s name in Arabic) in a beautiful Calligraphy and coloured it in. Child B was able to collaborate on an equal level with his peers and help other children on his table to write in Arabic correctly. The other children were also looking to Child B for his assistance. The intervention supported the boy by empowering him to have the confidence to actually take ownership of his learning and actually lead the learning within his small group. It is interesting to note that throughout this activity he did not require the help of the teacher or TA. He took responsibility for his learning instead of being dependent on the teacher/TA to do it for him.

He was confident in his knowledge and engaged and motivated throughout the activity. Through the correct choice of intervention and subsequent follow on activity Child B had a positive independent learning experience. The foundation has been laid to build a confident self-motivated independent learner.

S. Shobbrook

Independent Learning

The TA’s role in promoting independent learning is very important. The post of TA is in existence because it has been recognised that there is a place for someone to support the teacher as well as supporting the children. It is a kind of ‘linking’ role which bridges the gap between teacher and pupil. Even the very best teacher needs a TA because they cannot deal with the varied and complicated needs of a classful of children whilst delivering a lesson at the same time. A TA is someone who is there, ‘on the ground’, as it were, who can spot things that a teacher can easily miss. This is very much true in the case of independent learning.

It is true that a TA is under the rule of the teacher and does not have autonomy when it comes to their own time. As a result they are limited as to the support that they can offer. This is because it is possible that after spending a long time building up rapport and a positive relationship with a child a TA can find that they’ve been given another job and are no longer giving support to that child. This can be frustrating for the TA and potentially upsetting for the child. Sometimes continuity is difficult because perhaps a TA only works part-time, or spends time in different classes on different days. All of these factors can make a TA’s role difficult, but, nevertheless, they have an important part to play.

A TA can promote independent learning in several ways. One-to-one TA support has already been looked at in detail, offering as it does the chance for the pupil to gain independent learning skills by asking open questions, giving choices, breaking tasks into simple steps, building strategies to cope with problems, and by role-modelling positive, realistic behaviour. Children often find TA’s more approachable than teachers, and will inevitably look to them as role-models. It is therefore very important to show children what realistic goals can be achieved, as unrealistic role-models are so often portrayed in the media in this current age of the ‘celebrity’.

The TA can also praise and encourage in a specific, realistic way. This promotes a positive self-image which in itself is possibly the most important factor in being an independent learner. A child who feels validated and empowered will be able to approach learning in a resourceful and enthusiastic manner, and will believe in their own capabilities. The TA can help a child to plan their own tasks and can encourage them without rushing them. In this way a child will be able to concentrate and think for themselves. They can also encourage reflection which in turn makes the setting of targets something which they can do for themselves. By allowing a pupil to correct their own work a TA not only gives them a degree of autonomy but helps them to understand what they did wrong and to discuss it.

By doing activities which are based on the ‘bottom-up’ approach to teaching a TA can encourage independent thinking which leads to intrinsic, rather than extrinsic motivation, as the pupil begins to enjoy the process of learning in its own right, rather than as something which they are rewarded or punished for. The psychologist Daniel Goleman developed the concept of ‘emotional intelligence’ which Linda Pound describes as “knowing one’s feelings and using them to make good decisions in life; being able to manage moods and control impulses; and being motivated and effectively overcoming setbacks in working towards goals”. Our emotions play a huge part in our learning, and if we are feeling negative emotions this will make learning very difficult. A TA can help a child to feel emotionally comfortable enough to learn.

This can all be done not only in one-to-one learning, but on an everyday basis in school. For example:

In the class at primary school that I am working in we have started to do activities centred on ’complex’ and ‘compound’ sentences as a class and in pairs. Two of the children have poor literacy skills, so while the teacher went through the exercises with the class I sat at the table with these two children and helped them, encouraging them to be as imaginative and inventive as possible. They both found the activity fun and I made sure to allow them enough time to write their ideas down and only corrected a couple of their many spelling mistakes as this was an exercise designed to think about sentence structure, and not a spelling exercise. I knew that they have separate spelling activities during the week and wanted to give them the chance to enjoy thinking up funny sentences .This had several positive outcomes: it improved their self esteem, it encouraged their intrinsic motivation, as they enjoyed themselves, it empowered them, and it meant that they could stay in the class and participate, as well as building a good relationship between myself and them.
(Reflection, November 2010).

A good TA can encourage independent learning by building on a child’s strengths, and adapting lessons to their interests, as well as adapting to different styles of learning. The TA must take great care not to do work for pupils, but allow them to take responsibility for themselves, balancing giving guidance with allowing them to understand a process and make mistakes. The TA must also balance all of this with giving support to the teacher as well, and ensure that they do not undermine them in any way.

Above all, independent learning skills will carry a child through their school life and on into adulthood. Successful adults need these skills to grow and develop, and including experiential learning into a child’s school life will build these skills for their future. The Teaching Assistant is very well placed to incorporate all of these elements into a child’s learning and, if they are creative, can make independent learning a pleasure that benefits pupil and teacher alike.

C. Thompson