How is the transition in learning best managed between Years 9-10 and Years 11-12?

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1 How is the transition in learning best managed between Years 9-10 and Years 11-12? Callum Tipple and Robert Blakeman Rationale Within this project we wished to investigate how teachers and learning assistants can best help students making the difficult transitions between KS3 to KS4, and KS4 to KS5. Students often find this leap very challenging, yet we feel that effective help from schools can reduce the difficulty of this transition in learning, making the jump far more manageable and comfortable for pupils. The aim of our project was to gather information on the types of strategies currently employed by Rainham Mark Grammar School, and to evaluate whether or not these were the most effective; from there, we then wished to figure out which strategies the students themselves find most helpful, and where there is room for improvement within this aspect of pastoral support at Rainham Mark, with the final intention of making this transition in learning one to relish, rather than one to fear. Method In order to carry out our investigation, we employed some more abstract and challenging techniques than usual, as we felt that these would really challenge the students thinking, and allow them to reveal their actual inner feelings and thoughts, rather than merely superficial statements. We selected students from a range of ability levels in order to gain a representative picture of student life as a whole, and used a group of three students from Year 10 and three students from Year 12 as our sample we felt that these groups would give the most useful data, as they had partially gone through the process, but were still in the process of the transition in learning. With each of the groups, we first used a hidden voices activity, which involved the students identifying their deeper thoughts and feelings about the transition process on A3 sheets, with the students encouraged to be creative and forward with their ideas. We elected to utilise this activity as our project was dependent on the students identifying their emotions about what they were going through, and thus we wanted a more personal and creative approach to the project from the students. In addition to the hidden voices task, we used an activity which we called Hotspots. This task involved the students being shown a variety of strategies on the board, and as they were being displayed the students were asked to give a score out of 10 based on how well that strategy had been used in the past at RMGS, and how important/useful it is in managing the transition process. This activity allowed us to hone in on the strategies that really help students, whilst also allowing us to evaluate the success of currently deployed

2 strategies at RMGS, and how these strategies can be built upon to further help students to bridge the gap in learning.

3 Key to Data Hotspots Strategy One Strategy Two Strategy Three Strategy Four Strategy Five Key to Data Hidden Voices Yellow = helpful techniques Orange (Year 10)/Pink (Year 12) = hindrances

4 Data Hotspots Year 10

5 Hot Spots Year 12

6 Hidden Voices Year 10

7 Hidden Voices Year 12

8 Analysis Hot Spots We found a number of themes which were commonplace for both Year 10 and Year 12. One of these was the use of interesting and engaging activities, which allowed the students to grow accustomed to the increase workload which the transition process encompassed. In addition, both year groups noted that additional help outside of the class from their teachers aided the transition process as it allowed them to firm up their knowledge of previously taught content without falling too far behind in their studies. However, there were also key differences between the two groups of responses; Year 12 for example emphasised the importance of individual attention and discussion with subject teachers whereas the Year 10 pupils felt that the help gained from past exam papers was more beneficial to their transition process, helping them to adapt to the requirements of a GCSE study. Another noteworthy observation from the Hot Spot activity is that upping the workload prior to the official transition process can prove a helpful force in readying students; however this is dependent upon the individual students and their ability levels. Hidden Voices The Hidden Voices activity proved to be a useful aid in developing understanding of the student perspective on the transition process. The Year 12s chose to emphasise the importance of the teacher s interest in the specific subject field, suggesting that such passion on the teacher s part translates to their students, and thus making the increased workload and difficulty much more manageable. Furthermore, they also highlighted the critical role which teachers played in order to maintain the necessary knowledge outside of the classroom environment, and the fact that this corroborates with the data collected in the Hot Spots activity suggests that this is of critical importance to Sixth Form learners. On the other hand, the Year 12s reported that they found the immediate increase in the general workload at the start of the year damaging to their learning, thus making it critical for teachers to gradually increase workload as the year progresses. This observation was also backed up by the Year 10s, who strongly felt that a gradual increase in the difficulty of the course coupled with challenging exams at the end of Year 9 was beneficial to the transition process. A comment unique to the Year 10 sample is that there is demand for some sort of taster period for the different GCSE option choices available to students, as the students felt that this would help them to select options carefully and thus make the transition somewhat easier. In a similar vein, the independence given by teachers at the start of Year 10 proved to be extremely useful to the sample, as they relished the chance to learn by themselves,

9 and felt that this helped them to manage the transition and feel comfortable about it, something also achieved through teacher deployment of engaging pedagogical techniques such as use of interactive whiteboards. In contrast, the intense start to Year 10 proved damaging to students and their self-confidence, and thus it was discovered that high levels of difficult homework, coupled with high-pressure and testing right from the beginning, disrupted the students and set them off on the wrong foot for the two years ahead. Implications for learning In summary, it can be seen that the transition process is of the utmost importance to students at the beginning of Key Stages 4 and 5, and does result in significant additional stress and pressure at a difficult time. As a result, the implementation of certain strategies in teaching and learning are critical in order to engage students and ensure that confidence and standards can be maintained throughout the switch to a higher level of difficulty and workload in GCSE or A-Level studies respectively. A significant and common thread running through the data collected is the importance of the teacher as a learning tool. According to both Year 10 and Year 12 students, individual attention and help from teachers was something not always consistently deployed, yet something which would benefit learners throughout the ability spectrum in consolidating knowledge, and thus removing a significant portion of the stress and anxiety that students face when grappling with a new course of study. However, equally important is the passion the teacher has for the subject which they are delivering, as it is this which secures confidence and faith in the learners, and thus they feel far more comfortable and at ease from the start, whilst also becoming far more engaged (something which transcends ability levels). Specific techniques can be seen to play a marginally less important role for students; however, it is notable that a gradual increase in workload towards the end of the preceding year and a somewhat gentler start to the new course was something that facilitated the transition process for certain students, suggesting that, depending on ability level, this would prove useful to at least alleviate the immediate jump in workload at the beginning of specifically GCSE study. Equally, innovative pedagogical techniques and a heightened level of independence would prove a useful force for engaging a wider range of students from the beginning of the new course having said this, students placed more emphasis on the teacher role; this implies that it was the teacher rather than necessarily their teaching style that is the most critical factor in the transition process. By Callum Tipple and Robert Blakeman

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