Teachers’ digest ISSUE.001 OCT 2020
Making Knowledge Stick GCSE & A-LEVEL EXAMS: Delay or cancel? Featured Articles
Calling all English Teachers!
Achieving Outstanding Independent Learning Improving Student Outcomes & Staff Well-Being
CONTENTS 06 GCSE & A-Level Exams 2020: Delay or Cancel?
08 Doddle Learn ups its game
Improving Stud comes and Well-bei
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Calling All English Teachers!
12 Improving Students Outcomes and Staff Well-being
The views, comments statements and opinions are not necessarily those of Study & Careers. Study & Careers will accept no responsibility for any loss incurred by any person or organisation as a result of using any material from this publication. info@studycareershub.com www.studycareershub.com 03333 44 35 44
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dents OutStaff ing
14 Doddle Learn is Being Transformed!
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Achieving Outstanding Independent Learning
18 Making Knowledge Stick
32 Linking Subject Teaching with Gatsby Benchmakrks
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Welcome to our special edition of the Teachers’ Digest which marks the beginning of a new chapter for Doddle. We would like to share some exciting news with you. We (Study & Careers Group) have just acquired Boardworks Ltd the company that operates Doddle Learn-the popular e-learning platform from GL Education Group this week. What does this mean for your school? Huge investment is now underway to help schools meet government requirements to integrate remote education into their entire curriculum. Existing subject content is being renewed and refreshed in line with the 2020/21 curriculum, and additional subjects (up to a total of 25) are being added to provide schools with a whole school resource. We’re also getting rid of flash technology which will be replaced with more modern HTML presentations. We’ve reviewed our prices too, offering our whole subject suite/bundle (25 subjects) for a reduced price of only £4000 per annum, to appeal to a broader range of schools, whose budgets we know are under increasing pressure. If you would like to discuss more or arrange for a demo get in touch with us hello@doddlelearn.co.uk 5 01865 208 440
GCSE and A-Level 2021 exams: delay o The pressure to delay or even
scrap next year’s exams is growing, following a study proving that most pupils had lost three or more months of learning due to the lockdown and COVID-19 related disruptions, with the majority of students in highly deprived areas losing more than four months in comparison to around 15% for those in less deprived areas. The Department for Education insists GCSE and A-level exams will go ahead next year but acknowledges a possible several weeks’ extension to the start of the 2021 exam season. According to their spokesperson, the DfE and current government’s policy is that 2021 exams are going ahead and they will work closely with Ofqual, exam boards and school and college stakeholders on an appropriate and fair approach, with a full a realisation that students are experiencing considerable disruption to their education in the current academic year. Ofqual has also confirmed that they are working with government and exam boards on the basis that “exams should run 6
next summer, albeit with contingency arrangements in place and subject-specific changes to reduce pressure on teaching time, as well as in line with appropriate public health advice”. There are increasing calls, including most recently from former education secretary, Lord Baker as well as several university vice-chancellors, for 2021 GCSE and A Level exams to be cancelled and be replaced by a robust well-moderated teacher assessment process, but ‘with no algorithm’. Lord Baker has also recommended that upon scrapping the exams, the government should then issue guidance to schools on “the sort of report that teachers should be keeping for each student now, not only on attendance, but on performance as the weeks and months go by.” “The advantage of internally set exams is that teachers will be able to adjust for student absence/ lost learning in a way that an external examiner will not. I think an early decision from the government is needed so that this guidance can be shared with and implemented by teachers in
plenty of time,” he argued. The Vice Chancellors of University of Birmingham and Sheffield Hallam University, Sir David Eastwood and Sir Chris Husbands, argue; “The danger is that next summer’s results will be as chaotic as this year’s, with students having had much less time to learn.” They propose that the government: “extend learning throughout this academic year, until July, and not sit exams. Trust teachers; give students time to learn; let schools do everything they can to make good the effects of Covid on young people.” The Liberal Democrats Education spokesperson has also criticised the government for having a “tunnel vision” by only focussing on going ahead with next summer’s exams instead of also planning for the possibility of “enormous numbers” of students not being able to sit them. The Labour party’s Kate Green (shadow Education Secretary) has also called for delays to exams next year because of the vast amount of time pupils
or cancel?
across the country have missed out on vital teaching. “They will have a mountain to climb to prepare for May exams unless the government steps in,” she said. The National Education Union are recommending considering about four different scenarios that could play out next year and under two of those scenarios, some children or enormous numbers of children will not be able to sit exams. They recommended an open-minded approach which include the possibility of scrapping exams and putting in place some sort of process by which their grades are allocated. Mary Bousted, joint general secretary of the NEU teaching union, said the government should stop sticking its fingers in its ears, but instead consider the fact that, “as the situation develops, it may become inevitable that what we have to move to is a system of centre-assessed grades”. We would love to hear your views? Please send your comments to hello@doddlelearn.co.uk
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Doddle Learn ups its game
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“It means schools can have a joined-up approach to e-learning across the entire curriculum, supporting pupil learning and helping teachers manage their workload in a consistent and coherent way.”
Study Careers will now embark on an accelerated programme of investment and improvement after acquiring Doddle from GL Education.
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opular online learning platform Doddle Learn (previously known as Doddle) will be offering an expanded range of 25 GCSE and A level subjects as its parent company Boardworks Ltd comes under new ownership with Study Careers. The increased subject portfolio will feature new courses including Psychology, Sociology, Computing, Economics, English Literature and CEIG (Careers, Employment Information and Guidance) as well as having more in-depth Science resources. The improvements come as schools increasingly turn to online learning providers to support them with catch up provision, and a blend of home and school learning resources as they face the challenges of further pupil absences due to Covid-19. Study Careers will now embark on an accelerated programme of investment and improvement after acquiring Doddle from GL Education. Developments for the newly branded Doddle Learn include new practice papers, enhanced homework resources and quizzes right across the secondary and sixth form curricula to ensure it stimulates pupil learning and helps teachers manage lessons and homework easily. Doddle Learn is designed around making content, supplementary classwork and homework easy and productive for students, teachers and parents. Uniquely, students and parents can access all their subjects on one platform making Doddle Learn an essential and convenient component of secondary and sixth form learning infrastructure. The new ownership secures the jobs of 25 experienced employees and a doubling of staff numbers as part of the improvement programme. Study
improving the content, this w it one of the most cost-effect ondary school/sixth-form res hubs.
Careers is already recruiting highly qualified and experienced teachers to develop content on the platform. A new low-price subject bundle offer is being introduced for existing and new customers, representing excellent value for money at a time when Covid-19 is putting additional pressure on already stretched school budgets. The complete 25-subject suite is available for only £4,000, which equates to £160 per subject. With the huge investment in
their child’s homework assessments and progress.” As Doddle Learn’s Marketing Director, Julie Kenyon highlighted, “It is already a great online learning and homework asset for schools, pupils and parents but there is always scope for improvement. Our experienced team is committed to continually develop content to keep pace with curriculum changes and the evergrowing role digital plays in supporting pupil learning and helping teachers manage their workload.”
will make tive secsource
Rob Cavender, Director of Learning at a top college in West Yorkshire welcomes the news: “Doddle Learn is already a great resource for schools and I’m pleased to hear that further investment is going into expanding their offering to include many more subjects and updated content. It means schools can have a joined-up approach to e-learning across the entire curriculum, supporting pupil learning and helping teachers manage their workload in a consistent and coherent way.” For more information, contact Doddle Learn’s customer services team on 01865 208 440 or visit www.doddlelearn.co.uk
improving the content, this will make it one of the most cost-effective secondary school/sixthform resource hubs.
Keith Bero Chief Executive Officer of Study Careers says, “Doddle Learn is a unique digital learning platform because it provides pupils and schools with an extensive range of GCSE and A level subject content and homework support all via just one login. It also helps teachers manage lessons and set homework and allows parents to view 9
Calling all English teachers! Doddle is renewing and expanding its English Language and Literature provision for Key Stage 3 and 4. Having been a teacher of English in secondary schools for over 30 years, I know how intense and time-consuming the preparation, delivery and marking load can be for even the most experienced practitioners. Whilst no on-line platform can ever hope to replace the enthusiastic, inspiring, well-informed teacher, on-line provision can act as an invaluable aid in quickly assessing students’ levels of knowledge and understanding. However, it’s clear that in order to be beneficial to both the English teacher and student, there are some significant challenges ahead for Doddle if it is to create sufficiently wide-ranging, challenging and relevant material for all aspects of the English syllabuses taught both in the UK and abroad. As the new Senior Executive Consultant for Languages, it is my responsibility to ensure that high-quality material is available to support staff and to help students to make progress. Taking Doddle’s English Literature provision as an example, it is evident that there is currently support for some of the most popular set texts for AQA. There are lessons, presentations, mini quizzes and
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worksheets for Macbeth, Romeo and Juliet, An Inspector Calls, A Christmas Carol, Jekyll and Hyde, Frankenstein, The Sign of Four and all the poems in the AQA Anthology. However, whilst these may indeed be the most popular texts studied in most secondary schools, I would like to also focus on enhancing our current provision in texts such as Great Expectations, Pride and Prejudice, The History Boys, Animal Farm, Blood Brothers, DNA and the ‘Telling Tales’ prose anthology. There is also a need to further develop updated material for those
“It is my responsibility to ensure that high-quality material is available to support staff and to help students to make progress.”
COMING SOON!
English departments which have chosen to study texts offered by the Cambridge iGCSE, Pearson/Edexcel and OCR. How many Cambridge iGCSE students are due to study Nineteen Eighty-Four or Jane Eyre, Othello or Twelfth Night, the short stories from ‘Stories of Ourselves’ volume 2 and the poetry selections from ‘Songs of Ourselves’ volume 1? How many English departments which have chosen to study the Pearson/ Edexcel Literature syllabus would benefit from supportive material on texts such as The Woman in Black, Animal Farm, Boys Don’t Cry, The Merchant of Venice, Much Ado About Nothing or the Pearson/Edexcel Poetry Anthology? Might not students who are studying the OCR Literature syllabus benefit from revision material on War of the Worlds, Anita and Me, My Mother Said I Never Should
and the OCR poetry anthology ‘Towards a World Unknown’? I will be focussing on providing resources for these texts in the coming months. In order to assess the quality, variety and relevance of Doddle’s current English provision in Language and in Literature, and to identify the future needs of English departments, I will be contacting our partner schools across the country to seek feedback. This is a significant undertaking, but this input will be invaluable in enabling Doddle to provide English teachers and their students with relevant, engaging and high-quality resources to support learning. Rob Cavender is the new Doddle Learn Senior Executive Consultant for English & MFL. To get in touch email Rob@studycareers.org 01865 208 440
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Case-study: Imp outcomes and s ity of teaching and learning in Science, and the results have proven very positive. Not only is there a small but significant trend between student usage and improved progress in assessments, but we have also seen an increase in learner confidence, engagement and thirst for knowledge. One of the unexpected side-effects of Doddle was the improvement in staff well-being. The majority of staff using Doddle on a regular basis have agreed that it has reduced their workload, mainBy Mark Lee, Head of Science at Highfields School in Wolverhampton. Over the past few years, we have tried a number of different online learning platforms to support our learners’ revision and manage teachers’ workload. None have ticked enough of the boxes at Highfields to warrant us continuing to fund the resource until now.
Improving student outcomes Highfields School In January 2018, we started using Doddle. We launched this as part of my own National Professional Qualification for Senior Leadership project into the impact of digital technology on the qual12
ly through the use of self-marking quizzes as a tool for formative assessment. Staff are also finding it much easier to support learners that have been absent for a time.
Staff well-being They can set individuals targeted work that will enable them to access the lesson content they have missed and set detailed, relevant cover work when unable to teach their lesson.
proving student staff well-being Following the introduction of Doddle at High-
At the time, the focus in Highfields was support-
fields, we carried out a student voices survey.
ing upper ability learners who appeared to be
The results of that survey were overwhelmingly
underachieving quite considerably throughout
positive. 88% of respondents said that they
Year 8. Following the implementation of Doddle
thought their use of Doddle helped them do
at Highfields, these learners made improvements,
better in their end of KS3 Science examination
with Doddle contributing to as much as one
with 71% of learners feeling more confident in
GCSE grade progress or more. The overall trend
the run up to their assessment as a result of
confirms that increased use of Doddle has a posi-
using Doddle.
tive impact on progress.
Moving forward, we are beginning to use Doddle for retrieval practice. Quizzes that cover previously learnt material are being set by teachers in advance of new topics to test their understanding, revisit previously taught topics and make key links to different areas of the course they need to access.
Doddle has supported our learners in becoming much more independent in their learning. Once they grasp how simple Doddle is to use, they can go on to use it at any time to help improve their knowledge and understanding. This has only been enhanced and simplified further by the introduction of the Doddle App that many of our learners use to access their Homework tasks and additional revision in their own time. 13
DODDLE LEARN
IS BEING TRANSFORMED! THE PLATFORM YOU KNOW AND LOVE IS ALSO GOING TO BE GETTING A NEW LOOK AND FEEL.
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We know that this process hasn’t progressed as quickly as we had originally hoped and we apologise for the inconvenience this has cause you, your colleagues and your students. As you now know, Doddle has recently come under new
ER N VE
GE RN IN LE A OT E EM DR AN ITA L IG NG D KI MA
Over the next few months, we will be replacing the most popular of these presentations with more up to date, Flash-free, mobile friendly versions. We plan to finalise and share the details for each subject and topic with you as in the next couple of months.
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We are removing all the Flash content and saying goodbye to the outdated and less used presentations that no longer meet our high standards. In addition to removing Flash and ensuring these resources are still accessible after December, we are working hard to modernize both the content and functionality of the presentations.
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Full support will be available on release, but you can expect to see this new and improved platform going live ahead of Christmas this year!
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Modernising your resources When it comes to Flash you may have a lot of questions. We want to reassure you that this is our top priority as we make plans for new investments and revitalize Doddle.
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So, what changes are coming?
Making digital and remote learning even easier than ever The platform you know and love is also going to be getting a new look and feel. We have been working closely with our users to update Doddle’s interface, making it even easier to find and assign the resources you need. Alongside these changes we are also updating the markbook, so it’s even easier to understand how your students are engaging with their learning.
SIE
It is in this spirit that 2020 will mark an exciting new chapter for Doddle that we are delighted to be able to share with you now.
ownership, and it was while this transition took place that we were required to pause the work. It is however our priority now and efforts have begun again to make progress as quickly as possible. We believe most Flash-based resources will be replaced by year-end, in line with our commitment to providing world-class resources and focusing our attention on making sure the content we do provide is valuable and core to your teaching needs.
EA
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his year has shown us just how important digital platforms can be for the future of education and we are taking strides to meet the evolving needs of schools in the digital age, whilst ensuring we maintain a high standard of resourcing that truly meets your pedagogical needs.
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By Helen Wesson, Science Faculty Leader at Baxter College
Case Study
Achieving Outstanding Independent Learning
“I enjoy the quizzes as they help me to test my understanding and correct my mistakes.” Winner
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he past few years have seen Baxter College set its sights on improving attainment by promoting independent learning. The results have been remarkable and they have observed a real growth in proactive, motivated learners as a result. Outstanding independent learning at Baxter College Helen Wesson, Science Faculty Leader at Baxter College, wanted to encourage independent learning with her Year 10 cohort to ensure they got into the habit of studying from home in preparation for Year 11. Providing personalised guidance to make sure this work was direct-
ed to target weak skills for each student was an important hurdle to overcome. On top of this, Helen wanted to make sure that her efforts to better resource home learning weren’t reliant on an increase in staff workload. This is why she chose to use Doddle. “Doddle helps us to track our students’ knowledge and helps them to understand what they need to do to improve. The resources on Doddle provide an excellent opportunity for students to work independently on their weaknesses, check their understanding, review and consolidate their learning.” Science markbook By using self-marking quizzes for regular
“The resources, particularly the presentations, have helped me learn the key terms. As English is my second language, Doddle is very clear so I am able to understand and make progress.” Runner up low-stakes testing, teachers at Baxter College get an insight into the weak skills which are holding their students back and can easily assign meaningful intervention. With over 20,000 resources across 25 subjects at KS3, KS4 and KS5 at their fingertips, Doddle provides them with quality resources to engage students and promote meaningful independent learning. Helen planned an ac-
tion research project to measure the impact of a competition on the level of independent learning and revision completed by Year 10. Over just two weeks, in the run-up to the Easter holidays when it can sometimes be difficult to motivate students, teachers noticed impressive improvements in students’ independent learning, with marked increases in the time spent working from home through Doddle!
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To all teachers, school/coll
We would like to express our heartfelt and sinc responded to the extra-ordinary challenges COVI scap
We are so proud of how you have all risen to the system fun
Once again,
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Thank you
lege staff and key workers!
cere gratitude for the incredible way you have ID-19 has brought to the entire education landpe.
e challenge and collaborated to keep the entire nctioning.
, thank you!
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The publica Government’s all young people provision by 202 plements the Ga B
Some of the nu from Careers L this Handbook porting students pir
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ation fully supports the statutory requirement that e must receive good careers 20. The handbook fully comatsby Good Career Guidance Benchmarks.
umerous positive comments Leaders who have adopted k as their core text for sups to achieve their career asrations include:
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hat every student needs to ntering the world of work”
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