2B:What is ‘success’ in teaching, training and learning?

Learners are most successful in achieving their literacy, numeracy and language goals when they enjoy the activities they are taking part in and receive praise for making even small steps of progress towards their goals. Good provision is based on respect for the individual and the development of good working relationships. Successful teachers build on learners’ strengths and use their interests to motivate them and to help them to focus on their learning.

Using games to develop skills

The following ideas for games have proved to be successful in helping learners to develop their literacy, numeracy and language skills.

• Playing word bingo using cards bearing the words that learners are currently learning to recognise (milestone (M) 7).
• Games where learners are divided into teams and individual learners are awarded points for correctly identifying sounds at the beginning, middle or end of words, or for correctly saying the sound that a letter makes (M8).
• Games where learners gain points for correctly writing words. Use words that each individual is presently working on (M8).
• Listening and responding to instructions set to music to learn a dance routine (M6).
• Taking part in a board game where each learner takes a card from a central pack. Each card shows a symbol or simple word and has a value up to 5. When the learner says what the card represents, they move their counter round the board for the number of spaces indicated on the card (M5).
• Playing ‘Simon says’ to listen and respond to simple requests containing one key word (M4).
• Playing games involving the use of dice, either saying the number or throwing twice and adding or subtracting the spots to make a total (M8).
• Games where learners are divided into teams and individual learners win points for carrying out tasks in a set time (measured by a timer), for example, putting 10 shells into a box, taking four rubbers out of one box and adding them to the two rubbers in the other box (M7).
• Playing a version of the game Twister, where learners follow directions to move into different positions (M7).
• Playing dominoes (M6).
• Using simple picture cards to sequence an activity. Learners win points by putting them in the correct sequence (M4).

Good teachers ensure that materials used in the games are adapted to enable learners with sensory and/or physical impairments to participate fully.

Many post-16 learners with poor literacy, numeracy and language skills make more progress in these skills through the opportunity to apply them in real situations and natural contexts than through more traditional classroom-based lessons.

Aliya is shopping at the local supermarket. She has made a shopping list using shopping cards and then uses these to find the food she wants on the shelves. She is working at milestone 8 (curriculum reference M8.1: Understand that images convey information).

Successful teachers make good use of opportunities within community activities such as shopping trips, swimming sessions and visits to the cinema to teach and reinforce literacy, numeracy and language skills. Careful planning is undertaken prior to such activities to identify the learning opportunities within them and to protect learners’ safety.

Effective tutors use context-based learning to develop skills and understanding that will have a practical application in learners’ lives. For example, a numeracy objective for one learner is to ‘take charge of her purse and get it out when going to the cashier’.

For another learner, the objective is to ‘give estimated amount of money for a drink she buys on a regular basis’. One young man who has not previously had the opportunity to handle money has been taught to always keep his money in the left pocket of his trousers. He has now learnt that he needs to pay for items and is able to find and proffer money unprompted. His tutor will now move on to developing his coin recognition and the concept of value.

Amy is working in the greenhouse as part of her horticulture session. She reads the instructions on the box of Miracle-Gro, measures the correct amount and mixes it with the correct amount of water. She is working at Entry Level 2 (curriculum reference MSS1/E2.7: Read, estimate, measure and compare capacity using standard units).

Successful providers give careful thought to their choice of equipment and materials for the teaching of literacy, numeracy and language skills.

They ensure that materials are matched to learners’ interests, experience and particular stage of development.

They avoid printed materials for those learners who do not understand symbolic representation and provide appropriate concrete materials for learners who find abstract thought and concepts difficult.

For example, learners who are learning to count are helped to do so by touching and counting objects such as plant pots, mugs, buckets etc. while they are learning other practical or vocational skills within real and relevant contexts such as workshops, kitchens and greenhouses.

Learners with sensory or physical impairments or specific learning difficulties such as dyslexia often need specialist equipment and materials to maximise their ability to develop literacy, numeracy and language skills. Specialist knowledge is needed to assess learners’ needs and to identify the most appropriate equipment for them.

It is important that learners’ support needs are assessed by a specialist before the start of their programmes so that the equipment and materials they need can be made available for them at the start of their programmes.

Particular expertise is required to identify the equipment that will be needed by learners who have profound and complex learning difficulties.

Tom is learning to use his new communicator.

Careful assessment of learners’ needs will be undertaken by a multi-disciplinary team that includes some or all of the following: speech and language therapists; physiotherapists; occupational therapists; teachers of the deaf or visually impaired; nurses; and technicians skilled in alternative and augmentative technology.

In the following case studies, two learners, Alan and Stephanie, have been able to make progress in literacy, numeracy and language by using specialist equipment.

Alan

Alan is an IT student who attends the Study Plus workshop to help him improve the literacy skills he needs for his main programme. Alan is developing his reading skills by using the Read and Write system. By using this system, Alan is able to work independently in taught sessions. He is also able to read his emails and work on college assignments during the evenings and at weekends.

Stephanie

Stephanie’s assessment highlighted the difficulties she was having with reading due to text ‘moving’ on the screen when she attempted to read it. Her personal tutor and the basic skills coordinator worked together to develop an approach using a coloured filter and a yellow background. The IT access team set up a ‘roaming profile’ that allows her to work anywhere in the college. Stephanie is now using an Intellikeys keyboard that enables her to write independently.

Simon uses a voice-activated computer.

Successful providers are aware that a learner’s response to assessment will be more accurate and reliable if the assessment is undertaken through real and relevant activities that are incorporated into normal, everyday sessions. The following example shows how one provider has successfully adopted such an approach.

Initial assessment through timetabled activities

Amy's measuring skills are assessed as she works in a horticulture session.

The first half-term is used as an induction period for new learners and as an opportunity for them to take part in taster sessions in all areas of the curriculum. During this period, different parts of the initial assessment process for literacy, numeracy and language are incorporated into the curriculum areas and staff are allocated responsibility for assessing each learner’s literacy, numeracy and language skills as well as their subject-specific skills.

For example, the horticulture teacher assesses each learner’s skills in number by checking, for example, if he or she can count out three spades or put four seed trays on the bench and then add two more. Similarly, the daily living skills teacher assesses each learner’s money skills. Concepts of position and direction are assessed in dance and drama sessions, and concepts of colour, shape and size are assessed in art and craft sessions. Residential staff have responsibility for assessing the learners’ concept of time.

The outcomes of initial assessments are given to each learner’s personal tutor, who uses the information to write the learner’s baseline profile and to set literacy, numeracy and language goals for the learner’s first ILP.

Once the initial assessment process is completed, the outcomes are used to develop a baseline profile for the learner.

Baseline assessment

The following example is an extract from the learner baseline profile for Daniel, showing his literacy, numeracy and language skills on entry to the programme. This baseline profile provides a starting point for monitoring Daniel’s progress.

The following example is of a section of Daniel’s ILP showing the literacy, numeracy and language goals that have been set for him in response to the information in his baseline profile. His progress is monitored against these goals.

View Daniel's ILP extract

Effective teachers then plan their lessons by setting objectives for each learner in the group. Objectives are set for subject-specific skills and personal and social skills as well as objectives for literacy, numeracy and language. Throughout the lesson the teacher and/or support staff check the learners’ progress through observation and by questioning. At the end of each lesson the teacher and/or support staff make brief notes about the progress each learner has made in relation to the objectives set for him or her.

The following examples show how different subject staff devise objectives to help Daniel work towards the literacy, numeracy and language goals in his ILP. They also show the comments they have made at the end of the session about Daniel’s performance in the session. In this session, Daniel is making a wooden plant holder.

View Daniel's session plan extract - Making a Plant Holder

The following session plan extract shows literacy, numeracy and language objectives for Daniel within the context of his residential accommodation. In this case, Daniel is involved in preparing the evening meal.

View Daniel's session plan extract - Preparing Food

Effective providers ensure that all staff who work with a learner including, where appropriate, those who work in the residential accommodation, have the opportunity to contribute to the summative assessment of his or her progress. Summative assessment is undertaken at the end of a set timescale or at the end of a short course. Within good provision, procedures are in place to gather this information from staff and to send it to the learner’s personal tutor. Personal tutors have a key role in ensuring that learners are working towards the goals in their ILPs across the extended curriculum, that their progress is recorded and their achievements are collated in their records of progress.

Careful records are kept of the progress learners are making towards literacy, numeracy and language qualifications and, where appropriate, learners are entered for the national tests in literacy and numeracy.

Summative assessment

The following example is an extract from Daniel’s summative assessment report. It describes the progress he has made from the starting point outlined in his baseline profile and highlights the ‘distance travelled’ since he started his programme.

Summative assessment report extract for Daniel

The following example shows the new literacy, numeracy and language goals that have been set for Daniel in response to his summative assessment.

View Daniel's revised ILP extract