Month: July 2015

Modern foreign languages in the primary and secondary school: Teaching the new National Curriculum
For the second year, we are delighted to be able to offer free and extensive CPD for primary and secondary school language teachers through funding from the government, co-delivered by experienced local teachers and University tutors.

The programme will begin with a whole day of input and activities, followed by monthly twilight sessions and will end with a half-day event. French language upskilling sessions will be provided for primary teachers in addition, each month.

Government funding allows us to be able to make a substantial contribution to supply costs for teachers attending the first and last event plus some twilight sessions.

The programme will be of benefit for all those teaching languages, especially colleagues leading languages provision in schools, as well as those new to delivering primary languages.  The language of focus for primary colleagues will be French; for secondary colleagues, sessions will include examples in French, German and Spanish.  Much of the content for secondary colleagues will be very relevant for the new GCSE specifications, especially with regard to spontaneous speaking and literary texts.

Sessions will include:

• Creating a joined up KS2-3 curriculum for languages
• Developing core oral skills, including accurate pronunciation and spontaneous oral interaction
• Literacy skills in the foreign language –including reading for comprehension, appreciation and vocabulary development
• Developing grammatical competence across Key Stage 2 and 3
• Developing learners’ listening skills
• Assessment
• Primary-secondary transition

As well as gaining a wealth of practical ideas, participants on the programme will also enhance their understanding of the principles that underpin effective language learning.

Last year there was a very high demand for places so please book early at: http://store.rdg.ac/UoR-ModernForeignLanguagesinthePrimaryandSecondarySchool15

Session 1
Whole day, Friday 9 October, 09.30-15.30, Institute of Education: The new National Curriculum across Key Stages 2-3 and principles of effective teaching and learning; developing learners’ listening skills; assessment and evaluation; transition issues

 

 

Twilight Sessions – All held at the University of Reading, Institute of Education, London Road Campus

Session 2 (Speaking): Wednesday 4 November 2015, 16.30-18.30

Session 3 (Speaking): Thursday 3 December 2015, 16.30-18.30

Session 4 (Reading):  Wednesday 13 January 2016, 16.30-18.30,

Session 5 (Reading/writing): Thursday 4 February 2016,16.30-18.30,

Session 6 (Grammar/writing): Wednesday 2 March 2016, 16.30-18.30,

Session 7 (Sharing practice; transition): Half day, Wednesday 23 March, 13.30-16.30

If you are unable to attend the first whole day session, you will still be very welcome to come to the twilights.  We also welcome different teachers from the same school for different sessions, i.e. attendance can be ‘shared’ within a school, so that ideas can be cascaded across colleagues.

Additional French language tuition will be offered on the following dates for primary teachers, with all sessions held at the University.  There will be two levels of classes, one for beginners with little or no knowledge of French, one for ‘improvers’ or Intermediate learners

Beginners	Intermediate/Improvers
Tuesday 20 October, 17.00-19.00	Thursday 22 October, 17.00-19.00
Tuesday 24 November, 17.00-19.00	Thursday 26 November, 17.00-19.00
Tuesday 8 December, 17.00-19.00	Thursday 10 December, 17.00-19.00
Tuesday 19 January, 17.00-19.00	Thursday 21 January, 17.00-19.00
Tuesday mid-February, 17.00-19.00 (date TBC)	Thursday mid-February, 17.00-19.00 (date TBC)

 

We will pay for one day’s supply cover for teachers who attend the first and last event plus some twilight sessions, with schools asked to fund the remaining half-day.  There are no further costs for the CPD. Further details will be emailed out with joining instructions before the first event.

For further information about any aspect of the CPD, please contact:  education-events@reading.ac.uk  or  phone 0118 378 2612

 

This CPD is being delivered as a consortium led by the University of Reading and involves the following partners:

• Bartholomew School, Eynsham
• Fair Oak Junior School
• Keep Hatch Primary School
• Oxford University Department of Education
• Radstock Primary School
• The Willink School, Burghfield Common
• Wellington College Teaching School Partnership
• Wokingham Secondary Federation

 

Over the past three years, the John Madejski Academy has been supporting Dr Carol Fuller, Deputy Director of Research at the University of Reading, carry out a study into the effects of outdoor learning and exposure to outdoor education on students’ social, character and academic development.

Whilst many people agree that there are positive benefits, very little hard evidence exists and through working with Ufton Court, a small focus group of students, now in Year 11, have been making regular visits to engage in an outdoor learning programme. The Academy and University have also been tracking their academic progress data and regularly taking student voice feedback via interviews and questionnaires.

The focus group made their final visit to Ufton Court this week as the research period now draws to a close. Students have been challenged each visit to undertake more adventurous activities and develop their skills in leadership, team work and communication. This visit saw some of the most difficult activities yet with students building a medieval slingshot, designing and building a chair from resources found in a woodland and putting their team work skills to the test on the low rope challenge.

The initial research findings are highly encouraging and Dr Fuller will now conduct further analysis before writing up the study for publication in academic journals.  The University would like to thank the Academy as well as Ufton Court for their support of this programme and also the group of students who have willingly engaged in all aspects of this research with energy and enthusiasm.

The University of Reading recently presented Internet pioneer Dr Vinton G Cerf with an Honorary Degree of Doctor of Science. Dr Cerf is widely known as one of the ‘fathers of the internet’, co-designing its protocols and architecture. Today he is Vice President and Chief Internet Evangelist for Google, contributing to global policy development and the continued spread of the Internet.

Dr Cerf has received numerous awards including the US Presidential Medal of Freedom, US National Medal of Technology, the Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering, the Charles Stark Draper award and Officer of the Legion d’Honneur. In 2012 President Obama appointed him to the National Science Board.

Dr Cerf is a hearing aid user and together with his wife, Sigrid Cerf, who has a cochlear implant, is a strong role-model for deaf people and innovative forms of communication. After the degree ceremony, Vinton and his wife Sigrid met Cathy Wardale, Programme Director of Theatre Arts, Education and Deaf Studies. This unique course is offered nowhere else in the world and offers the chance to study theatre arts, education and deaf studies together, with a focus on Sign Theatre.

Dr Cerf then visited the IoE’s Learning Hub where he discovered a unique innovative learning tool – a talking pen pal book which allows children who speak different languages to learn together in one classroom.

He met Ken Carter, Founder and Executive Director of Decibels, a charitable company with the aim of promoting the arts-based education and training of disabled children and young people. Ken is also Director of the Deafax Research and Development Unit, of which Dr Cerf is Honorary President. Both charities are based at the University’s London Road Campus and work closely with the Institute of Education.

Dr Cerf said: “The University of Reading has a well-earned reputation in the academic world. The award of this degree honoris causa means a great deal to me, personally and professionally. I hope I can continue to earn this distinction in the future.”

 

In a thought-provoking take on a genre traditionally associated with the 17^th century, a group of ultra-modern international artists, including the IoE’s John Mitchell, is reinvigorating the ancient art of still-life. Their exhibition, Nature Morte is now set to tour Sweden, Norway, Belgium and the UK.

The exhibition is based on Michael Petry’s recent book of the same name for publishers Thames & Hudson. A distinguished lecturer in art at the IoE, John was invited to participate first in the book, then the exhibition. John has been exhibiting to international acclaim since 1979 in private and public galleries and has been inspiring students at the IoE since 1989.

Nature Morte will bring together historic still-life paintings with completely contemporary artworks that nevertheless use the language of the past for modern concerns. The show explores the eternal human themes; life, death and the irrevocable passing of time. In observing these new works for our modern world, we are forced to stop and reconsider what it means to be human.

 

 

Venues:

Norway (June 6 – August 30, 2015)
Hå gamle prestegard
www.hagamleprestegard.no

Sweden (May – August, 2016)
Konsthallen- Bohuslän

Dates to follow:

Belgium

London

“Oh Wow!”

I received this email recently:

“I am the Subject Librarian for Classroom Resources at the University of Chichester so I would be really interested to hear how you select, display and promote your stock.  I can bring some photos of our collection and hopefully we could share ideas.  I asked to visit Reading because I was particularly impressed with the way that the collection was promoted on the website”

What struck me was the line: “I was particularly impressed with the way that the collection was promoted on the website”

It got me thinking about how The Learning Hub had impressed someone who had not visited and also how, upon entering the building many visitors utter the phrase: “Oh Wow!” or its equivalent.

How did The Learning Hub create the ‘Oh Wow!’ factor? Firstly by involving the stakeholders; during the first meeting of key stakeholders in June 2014, I asked the group to write a letter addressed: ‘wishes and worries’. These are some of the responses

Wishes:

• To reinvigorate and extend provision and opening hours.
• Greater student, school & teacher use.
• External & internal courses running in the space.
• Expanded lending stock.
• Increased marketing of student services.
• See the space used in a more dynamic way.
• Having a more visible presence on social media.

Worries:

• Important to distinguish between resources that can be loaned and those that cannot.
• Ensure we maintain and improve flexible cross-curricular resources.
• Ensure the space will fulfil different functions, with different separate entities.

Upon reviewing these statements a year later, all agreed their ‘wishes’ had been realised and the worries had not materialised.

It appears that by involving key individuals in the change process at the earliest stages of repurposing gives the change driver an insight into not only the obstacles which could impede the very change that is envisaged, but also provides clear areas of action that will drive the change forward. The wished changes are not the sole reserve of the change driver, change has already occurred even if it is only in the expressed wishes of statement makers. These key statements can be adhered to, revisited and used as a framework for the journey ahead.

The email I referred to contained the phrase “I wanted to visit Reading because I was particularly impressed with the way that the collection was promoted”. It appears that she is intrigued by the images of the space that made The Learning Hub ‘stand out’ from other resource centres. Could this be due to the blurring of lines between The Learning Hub’s purpose and its image?

As already mentioned most new visitors expressed an ‘Oh Wow!’ response upon entering the building and sometimes asked what the space was for; some asked whether it was a library or a shop. It is neither and this blurring of the purpose of the building is an element that perhaps gives the space an unique and distinctive edge; it has moved away from the ordinary to the extraordinary by adjusting the expectations of what a resource centre should look like; it is a resource centre but this isn’t immediately obvious and it therefore surprises the visitor by blurring the expectations of what it should look like. Hence the “Wow” factor.

It could be argued that the building should have a clear purpose for its users but if that was the case then the Subject Librarian would not be visiting: the space wouldn’t stand out and it wouldn’t inform or develop beyond the confines of its building. One could argue that to create extraordinary teachers, one needs extraordinary teaching spaces, not just in the conventional sense, within a classroom, but also through all the spaces they engage with. By blurring the lines and modelling a different type of environment, that is not obvious to the visitor, The Learning Hub provides a model for the future development of other spaces. Visitors to The Learning Hub at the Institute of Education will perhaps create extraordinary elements within their own spaces and hopefully we will all benefit: “Oh Wow!” Indeed.