Dr Marilyn Tew, Freelance
consultant and trainer and research Associate on the ELLI (Effective Lifelong Learning
Inventory) project at the University of Bristol
Introduction
Every year 2.4 billion pounds is spent in the British education system on summative
assessment procedures. The emphasis is on judgement by and accountability to external
bodies, meeting statistical targets in order to validate pupil’s progress and
achievement. So strong is this emphasis that it is rapidly becoming the case that we value
those things that are more easily measured. Yet we know that many valuable things cannot
be so easily measured. The qualities that enable us to engage with a situation, to be
motivated, to want to give of our best, cannot be captured by a test or exam. These are
part of a lifelong, reflective journey, which requires personal self-awareness and
accurate feedback from significant ‘others’ - people who can exercise
discernment and sensitivity. It seems as though education has become divided between two
positions. As if the external assessment and internal judgement were polarities,
diametrically opposed to each other and incompatible. Yet when the author, as part of a
PhD study, asked approximately a hundred pupils in Key Stage 3 what they considered
important to being effective in school, they revealed a different view. The pupils
understood effectiveness to include achievement and yet talked about school in almost
entirely emotional and social terms. They took the end products such as exam grades and
National Curriculum levels for granted and construed their school world in terms of the
emotional and relational qualities that enabled their peers to achieve. Their view was
that students could not do well unless they were confident, able to manage their emotional
states and engage in supportive relationships within school. In their view, it was not an
either/or argument rather that school effectiveness and achievement was dependent on
personal and social development. These skills, attributes and knowledge underpinned and
supported their ability to benefit from the more formal curriculum.
As a result of the research, and with the support of the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation,
the pupils’ view of what makes someone effective in school was put into a piece of
software TalkiT. TalkiT provides a ‘way in’ to talking about the things that
pupils identify as lying at the heart of a productive school life. It is a unique form of
reflective, formative assessment, written in the language of pupils which informs teaching
and learning and can be integrated into PSHE and Citizenship lessons to great effect.
Underpinning research
The research that lies behind the TalkiT questionnaire used George Kelly’s Personal
Construct Psychology to find out how approximately a hundred students in years 7 and 8
construed being effective in school.
Pupils identified a framework that described an efficacious pupil at their age and stage.
The framework comprised five main groups of constructs which characterised effective
pupils. Each was further divided making thirteen sub-groups.
Groups and constructs in the pupils’ effectiveness framework
Self-awareness - Integrity
Imagination
Optimism
Confidence
Using anger positively
Motivation Staying
on track with school rules and routines
Keeping going
Getting on with others Communicating well
Fitting in
Sharing
Working together
Understanding others Empathy
Being helpful
Main message
Perhaps the most striking thing about the data that emerged from the research was the
absence of reference to the formal school curriculum. The pupils construed effective
engagement in school life in almost entirely emotional and social terms. Only references
to school rules and routines marked this set of constructs as belonging to school life. In
every other respect it could have applied to successful or effective functioning in any
social context. In other words, the pupils understood school life in almost exclusively
social and emotional terms. They saw these qualities, attributes, dispositions and skills
as of paramount importance to being able to access the more formal curriculum and for
being able to engage with and get the most out of life at school. Not only was their
understanding of efficacy in school social and emotional in nature, they were also acutely
aware of what an efficacious person would be seen doing in relation to each area of the
framework. They could provide evidence to demonstrate the presence or absence of each of
the constructs.
What is TalkiT?
TalkiT enables a young person to assess themselves in relation to those things
that their peers have identified as important to being effective in school. The software
can be installed on a PC or a school’s intranet to enable students to fill in a
questionnaire as an exercise in reflective self-assessment. This self-assessment can then,
if so desired, be placed alongside 360° assessment profiles which are completed by peers,
tutors, teachers and other adults. The resulting graphs with their similarities and
differences provide a springboard for rich textured and productive dialogues about
personal, social and emotional issues as they pertain to life at school.
Individual and group profiles
Individual
Pupils complete a questionnaire by scoring themselves against statements in each
of the sub-groups. The scores are averaged, converted into a percentage and then plotted
to form a graphical representation of the individual pupil’s profile. The more
reflective and open the individual is when he or she completes the questionnaire, the
better the profile will match their lived reality. I am often asked about what happens
when pupils don’t take the process seriously or are so unaware of themselves that the
profile does not give an accurate reflection of everyone else’s perception of the
individual. It is these cases that benefit most strongly from a 360° profile, which
enables them to see how other people perceive them. The most powerful 360° feedback is
when a good friend, a significant teacher (with whom the pupil has a good relationship)
and a family member complete the questionnaire. All the graphs are presented superimposed
one on top of the other or as bars one next to the other. These visual displays make it
easy to make comparisons between one person’s perception and another’s. They
provide a starting place for exploring the similarities and differences, for providing
examples, looking for success and creating a forum for change.
Group
It is also possible to amalgamate scores to create a group profile. Group profiles are
much less threatening than individual ones. They enable a tutor or PSHE specialist to
discuss the aspects of effective functioning without naming individuals and so raise the
issues and develop an appropriate vocabulary prior to giving specific feedback to
individuals. The group profile also provides evidence-based insights into the ways in
which a whole group of students perceive themselves in each of the different areas. Such
knowledge informs selection and appropriate focussing of work during tutor time or in PSHE
or Citizenship lessons.
Giving feedback
Experience over the past two years has provided information about the giving and receiving
of feedback from TalkiT graphs. As with all PSHE assessment, it is really important to
locate the feedback in the correct discourse or paradigm. This is not a form of summative
assessment which produces an end-product picture of what a student is like. By its very
nature, TalkiT feedback is formative. It is designed to provide evidence from
self-reflection to explain past events and to inform future action. Its function is to put
the student’s perception of themselves and other people’s perceptions of them
‘out there’ on the table in front of us so that we can together talk objectively
about it without labelling the student or making unhelpful judgements.
There are several steps that need to be taken before individual graphs can be given to
pupils if they are to have the best impact and if they are to be used to inform future
growth and development.
Step one:
The first task is to develop a vocabulary around the thirteen constructs and
their five groups. The terms need to be defined and then exemplified from pupil’s
experience. Students often have only a vague idea of what terms like ‘optimism’
or ‘integrity’ mean. Yet when they use the student support booklet to explore
the definitions, they can find many examples to furnish evidence of the construct in
either their own life or the lives of those around them. The use of an explicit vocabulary
and the invitation to provide evidence opens student’s eyes to look for the effective
qualities, skills and behaviours in their everyday lives. It becomes an invitation to
notice successful performance in themselves and those around them.
Step two:
The second task it to invite members of the group to plot their estimation of the
group’s performance in each of the areas in TalkiT. One way to do this is to run a
facilitated discussion (such as circle time), establish an understanding of the terms and
ask pairs of students to rate the group’s performance in the different areas, putting
their estimated score on a large graph in the middle of the group. Once each area is
plotted, the estimated graph can be drawn and compared with the actual graph that the
computer generated from the class’ amalgamated scores. Exercises like this one lead
to opportunities to talk about levels of group self-awareness and tasks that increase the
group’s awareness of its actions in different situations.
Step three:
Once the vocabulary is established and awareness has been raised at a group
level, the individuals in the group are able to receive their personal feedback. Many
different models for giving personal feedback have been tried and in the end it becomes a
matter of the teacher’s personal preference and confidence. Some schools have used
the graphs as part of individual personal development plan interviews so that the
information is shared in a one-to-one context. Others have presented the graphs and asked
students to work in pairs or small groups to tell real-life stories about times they have
been confident, optimistic, imaginative, able to use their anger positively etc. From this
discussion, individuals can be encouraged to look at their areas of weakness and to think
of times when they did not perform effectively and how they might develop better
strategies in the future.
Step four:
The next step is to provide appropriate developmental work that will foster
social and emotional growth and learning. The feedback sessions provide evidence of work
that it would be profitable for the whole group to do in the different areas of emotional
literacy. Feedback also flags up areas of difficulty that exist for a smaller section of
the group. Group work and drama techniques can be used to tap into the expertise in the
wider group in order to furnish possible ways forward for those who find an area
difficult.
Step five:
In line with the experiential learning cycle, all development work needs time for
reflection, review and forward planning. TalkiT provides a means of informing personal
reflection, action planning and review of change and growth. The questionnaire can be
filled in annually and kept alongside other evidence of development and learning as a
record of personal and social growth. It can be used as the basis of action planning for
future targets in personal, social and emotional realms and provide evidence of personal
growth and learning for work experience placements and / or college interviews in Key
Stage four.
Conclusion
Many people in education, and not only PSHE specialists, feel that the system only values
those things that can be assessed easily. The so-called ‘softer’ side of
education – arguably the very things that enable and disable young people in the
whole business of a productive school life – is marginalized. Yet we ignore these
issues at our peril because research shows them to be the attributes, skills, dispositions
and knowledge that matter not only to life at school but also to life in general, at home
and in the workplace. TalkiT provides a way of enabling young people to assess themselves
in the areas that they recognise to be important for an effective life at school and
arguably, well beyond the confines of schooling.
For further information
email: info@marilyntew.co.uk
|
