November 25, 2019
by Jean
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As you work on your degree you might find this website useful:
The website is a comprehensive resource of educational legislation and commentary on the political context that surrounds it. If you need to find out where an initiative or approach came from or track back to see how it developed over time you can do this here.
September 30, 2019
by Jean
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When you are examining the curriculum, what is taught and how learning is organised, making international comparison can be useful.
In this article in the guardian, journalist Sally Weale discusses the approach to the curriculum and learning in Finland.
As a university student you would want to use links, names and titles to track back to the original sources used if you were considering using this material in an assignment.
This could lead you to look up:
PISA
Pasi Sahlberg
John Jerrim / IOE blog
Finnish National Agency for Education.
Reading these sources could lead you to some useful reading but you should also search in NELSON for additional academic material.
September 23, 2019
by Jean
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On Thursday 3rd October it is National Poetry Day in the UK. There are lots of resources here to support you in doing something at school. You can see them here.
There are resources, poems, events, as well as a YouTube competition, information about BBC Radio and local poets and research about young people’s attitudes to poetry.
The education resources can be found here.
There is a Toolkit for schools, competitions and resources for #MyNPDPoem.
There is a collection of poems around the theme “truth” to inspire poem writing and you can send away for resources to use in school on the day here.
There are other useful resources for primary and secondary pupils on the BBC Live Lessons website here.
References:
National Poetry Day (2019) Website banner. [online] Available from: https://nationalpoetryday.co.uk/wp/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/NPD-2019-Website-Banner.png [Accessed 19/09/2019].
National Poetry Day (2019) Education image. [online] Available from: https://nationalpoetryday.co.uk/wp/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/NPD-2019-Website-Banner.png [Accessed 19/09/2019].
September 9, 2019
by Jean
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September 4, 2019
by Jean
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September 2, 2019
by Jean
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Today you will receive an email from Abbie Deeming, the course leader. You will probably be thinking about the first day and what to bring. Here is a reminder:
You must bring:
2 forms of ID for enrolment
You can check what else you need to bring for enrolment here.
You should bring:
Something to use to make notes in
An academic year diary or calendar
You might like to bring:
Food and drink:
A packed lunch or money to buy lunch in the student restaurant / local shops at lunchtime.
A drink and / or money to buy a drink at breaks. If you bring a reusable cup hot drinks are cheaper.
Useful information to collect:
When you begin to take part in discussion about your setting and when you begin to write assignments you will need some basic information about your school to provide contextual background. It would be useful if you could collect this information and have it to hand over the opening weeks of the course.
This includes:
Type of School (LA / Academy etc)
Location of school (rural, suburban, urban)
Age of pupils
Number of pupils on roll
Number and type of staff
% of pupils with SEND
% of pupils learning EAL
% of pupils with Pupil Premium
Unusual or distinctive features of the school
September 1, 2019
by Jean
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Recommendation from one of our colleagues, Paul Sedgwick:
The Secret History of a School on BBC Radio 4.
“Alan Johnson, the former Education Secretary, tells the story of English education over the last 140 years through the prism of one school – St Michael and All Angels in Camberwell.
Over the decades, the school has undergone many transformations, including names, in response to changes in policy, but its purpose has remained constant – to provide decent and free education to local children.
The story is told through original documents – from headmasters’ logs and inspection reports – and the testimony of the children and teachers who went there. It is as much a social history of inner-city life down the ages as it is a study of our attempts to educate the children of poor families.”
(BBC, 2019, lines 3-14).
Reference:
BBC (2019) The Secret History of a School. [online] Available from: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0002rk0 [Accessed 29/08/2019].
August 26, 2019
by Jean
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As you begin university you will need to consider where you are going to study at home and begin to prepare this space so that you are ready to use it from the beginning of September.
There are some hints and tips here that you might find useful.
When you begin year 1 of the FDLT course you will be studying these modules:
PDT1065 Pupil Engagement and Assessment
PDT1066 Introduction to SEND, Diversity and Inclusion
PDT1068 English and Maths: Core Subjects
PDT1076 Using Digital Technology to Inspire and Support Learning
PDT1077 Work Based Reflection
PDT1078 The Practitioner’s Role
You will find these titles useful to label files and set up folders on your computer.
August 26, 2019
by Jean
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Before you start the FDLT course we’d like you to introduce yourself to the group on these Padlets.
Leicester group Padlet.
UN group Padlet.
There is no need to have a Padlet account of your own to post onto the Padlet. All you need to do is click on the link above to open the Padlet and click on the pink plus sign to open a box to type into.
You can also upload a photo by clicking on the upload arrow at the bottom left below the text box.
If you want to comment or ask a question you can comment below the posts.
Please make sure that you have done this by September 4th.
If you need any help with this you can email jean.edwards@northampton.ac.uk
August 12, 2019
by Jean
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Here are some suggestions for pre-course reading:
Bates, B. (2016). Learning theories simplified : … and how to apply them to teaching. London: Sage.
Have a look in particular at the sections on Vygotsky, Bruner, Dewey, Piaget and Skinner. This book is easy to read and each section is relatively short. You will find it useful in a number of the modules that you study.
Also familiarise yourselves with the findings and recommendations of these two research projects:
Blatchford, P., Bassett, P., Brown, P., Martin, C., Russell, and Webster, R. (2009) Deployment and Impact of Support Staff Project, Research Brief. [online] Available from: http://maximisingtas.co.uk/assets/content/dissressum.pdf [Accessed: 06/08/2019]
Sharples, J., Webster, and Blatchford, P. (2015) Making Best Use of Teaching Assistants Guidance Report. [online] Available from: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/ioe/sites/ioe/files/TA_Guidance_Report_MakingBestUseOfTeachingAssisstants.pdf [Accessed: 06/08/2019]
You can click on the links in the references above to access these reports. We will be discussing these in one of the first modules that you will study.
