The toolkit assessed over 20 different approaches to improving learning in schools, estimating the extra progress over the course of a school year that an ‘average’ student might expect if this strategy was adopted. The toolkit also provides guidance on whether the approaches are applicable to primary or secondary school settings, and in which core subjects – English, maths or science
The study summarises evidence gathered from 1000s of studies involving millions of pupils across the world.

It looked at value for money, saying funding does not always raise grades.  Giving pupils clear and effective feedback was considered “very high impact for low cost” in the study.  Here are a summary of some of the findings.�
On effective feedback – “One study even estimates that the impact of rapid feedback on learning is 124 times more cost effective that reducing class sizes.”
On peer tutoring – “Benefits are apparent for both tutor and tutee, though the approach should be used to supplement or enhance normal teaching, rather than replace it.”
On meta-cognitive approaches – “Studies report substantial gains equivalent to moving a class from 50th place in a league table of 100 schools to about 25th.”
On homework – “It is more valuable at secondary school level and much less effective for children of primary school age.”
On teaching assistants – “Most studies have consistently found very small or no effects on attainment.”
On school uniforms – “No robust evidence that introducing a school uniform will improve academic performance.”
On reducing class sizes – “Overall the benefits are not particularly large or clear, until class size is reduced to under 20 or even below 15.”
On one-to-one tuition – “Pupils might improve by about 4 or 5 months during the programme, but costs are high as the support is intensive.”
On ability grouping – “There may be some benefits for higher attaining pupils, but these are largely outweighed by the negative effects on attitudes for middle and lower performing learners.”

‘Hinge questions’ stem from the idea that it’s vital to have the foundation blocks of maths in place before you can build upon them. Dylan William, who was behind The Classroom Experiment on BBC2, has researched this area and there’s a great explanation of his thinking here. It’s a long transcript of a speech, but we found it very worthwhile (there’s also an MP3 recording of the talk).

A key point of his is that teachers do not create learning, and yet most teachers behave as if they do. Learners create learning. Teachers create the conditions under which learning can take place. Our schools don’t function like that, which is why somebody once joked that schools are places where kids go to watch teachers work. The article gave us lots of food for thought.

123maths.co.uk and our one-to-one books work on this principle that the basic building blocks are crucial.

Carol Taylor, Director of Operations at NIACE, said:  “We have a huge numeracy problem in this country. We see having poor numeracy skills – being bad at Maths – as a badge of honour. No one would dream of boasting that they couldn’t read, but many people stand on platforms, write in blogs, appear on radio and television TV, admit to friends and colleagues, proudly showcasing our inability to handle everyday maths.” People who reach adulthood with poor numeracy skills are more than twice as likely to be unemployed, far less likely to receive work-related training, get a promotion or receive a wage increase, the report said

At the end of 2010, a report in the Observer reported children who just miss out on obtaining a statement are being excluded from school at a particularly high rate. Figures show that children on “school action plus” (those with special needs but no statement) make up 44% of all permanent exclusions in 2008-09. Meanwhile, 8% of exclusions involved pupils who had been granted a statement and 20% were children on “school action”, the level below “school action plus”. More than 70% of those excluded permanently had some form of special educational needs.

The figures were revealed in a response to a parliamentary question by the Conservative MP Charlotte Leslie, who said, “Over the last decade, we have seen a culling of special school places and statements, all under the name of ‘inclusion’. While genuine inclusion is obviously a good thing, these figures show the reality of a decade of an ideology of inclusion: children who would previously have been given statements and had their needs legally enshrined have suffered under a scheme which was designed to be the ‘inclusive’ version of a statement.”

Sarah Teather, the children’s minister, said she wanted to see children with special needs have the same opportunities as every other child. “We need to intervene early on to address any behavioural issues before they lead to exclusions,” she said. “We know that many parents feel they have to battle with the special needs system in order to get the provision they feel they need for their children.”Her department will publish a green paper reviewing how the process could become less adversarial.
The full story is available at http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2010/dec/19/special-needs-permanent-exclusions-school

For this reason, 123maths.co.uk takes a step by step approach, filling the gaps in a child’s knowledge. During this process they gain confidence and knowledge, allowing them to access the topic that they’d had problems with.

All our online books work on the principle that, in order to develop, the foundations have to be solid. Often, it’s a case of not knowing which areas are wobbly, so we assume that it’s best to start from the beginning.

a new approach to identifying SEN through a single Early Years setting-based category and school-based category of SEN;

• a new single assessment process and Education, Health and Care Plan by 2014;
• local authorities and other services will set out a local offer of all services available;
• the option of a personal budget by 2014 for all families with children with a statement of SEN or a new Education, Health and Care Plan;
• give parents a real choice of school, either a mainstream or special school; and
• introduce greater independence to the assessment of children’s needs.

One of the aims is to get SEN roll numbers to fall. Wrongly labelled’ special needs children will get more pastoral care, as the Green Paper targets family issues that ‘make pupils fall behind’.

More than one in five children in England are identified as having SEN 21% of the school population in January 2010. Only 2.7% have statements. More than half of the pupils, 11.4%, are in the school action category. In recent years the proportion of children with SEN but without statements has nearly doubled, from 10% of all pupils in 1995 to 18.2%, or 1.5 million children, in 2010.

In the green paper, the government calls for the roll-out across the country of a pilot project that has cut the proportion of children on the SEN register by 10%. The Achievement for All scheme currently operating in 10 local authorities identifies why children are falling behind and gives them personalised support. In one case at a school in Coventry, a girl whose family life was chaotic was given lifts to school by a teacher. The government is concerned that at present children are wrongly labelled as having SEN, and that teachers’ expectations of these children are too low.

The consultation process for these plans run from 9 March to 30 June 2011.

Kara Toynton, she of Strictly fame, presented a programme that was on BBC3 just before Christmas. I don’t think it got a great deal of publicity, but it looks into the reasons why some people are dyslexic.

The programme investigates the associated difficulties pupils with dyslexia have. Kara visits a specialist dyslexic school and looks at the multi-sensory activities used there.

It’s a very personal look at how she’s affected and you may know someone who’d benefit from getting a watchable individual view of dyslexia.

The programme was called ‘Don’t call me stupid’ and can be found on Youtube.