ECM and Inclusion:Unlocking the Voice of the SEN pupil with the Alien Coat Game

1. ECM and Inclusion:Unlocking the Voice of the SEN pupil with the Alien Coat Game V.Coultas@kingston.ac.uk

2. Focus of the enquiry • Y7 class with low levels of literacy • Non-fiction unit teaching pupils how to give precise instructions • Collaborative scheme of work • Lesson concentrated on oral outcomes • Despite challenging behaviour very positive response. Why?

3. Analytical frame • Goodson(1983) suggested that links should be made with teachers’ ‘personal troubles’ and ‘educational issues’ • Interested in voice of teachers in urban comprehensive schools • Reflection on classroom experiences of teachers teaching pupils with SEN/EAL at critical moments • How empowered teachers are able to use a wider range of teaching repertoires

4. Where are we most likely to find ‘challenging children’ ? (Big picture) • In urban schools with high numbers of children on the free school meals register • In urban schools with high numbers of children on the SEN register, with large numbers of children on school action and school action plus • In urban schools with high numbers of staff turnover/about to close • In the lower sets of these schools

5. Classroom Example • Comparison between higher and lower set • Narrative account after teaching took place, only one view..but also discussions with other teachers e.g. music and drama • Focus on a critical moment where new insights were gained

6. Classroom example • The Alien Coat game with 72a

7. What does this tell us? • Identification with the Alien/use of props • Energy directed towards performance not misbehaviour • Orally inventive, able to experience success • Imaginative use of body language and space • No reading or writing obstacles • Gave them control over their learning • Built on positive experiences in music and drama • Still difficult to teach......

8. Willy Russell (1991) ‘Schools assume and reflect a middle class culture with literacy at its heart, whilst kids from working class families are part of a culture that has not literacy at its heart, but oracy’

9. What can be done in the classroom? • Reassert role of talk for learning, behaving and building trust • Establish a positive ethos for talk • The ‘calmer’ to teach and prepare listening • Routines, rehearsal and repetition • Start small with pair work • Link talk to direct experience/interests • Interrogate tasks to ensure real group work • Praise success with talk • Allow time for ‘play’ and reflection on talk • Use evaluation of talk to assess learning

10. And the school? • Audit opportunities for speaking and listening • Role of speaking and listening in establishing a ‘community of learners’ • Encourage teachers/adults to teach collaboratively • Establish panels and debates • Award prizes for speaking and listening • Encourage teachers and pupils to reflect on their learning and share experiences/difficulties

11. What does this tell us about inclusive teaching? From the whole to the parts • Build a common bond with challenging learners building on their strengths • The progress of the whole group influences the progress of each learner (B. Simon) • Differentiation through talk establishes common interests but allows for different input bringing the school closer to the home (Cook et al)

12. ECM Policy: Tensions between ECM and target led culture • Prescriptive English curriculum has disempowered teachers and downplayed significance of exploratory talk • Individualistic era of school improvement can lead to an undervaluing of the importance of sharing good practice • Labelling of children as ‘no hopers’ can direct resources away from SEN pupils • Deficit image of ‘the disadvantaged’ can also fail to focus and build on pupils’ strengths-oral skills for example.

13. Differentiation though talk-leads to empowerment • Pupils experience success with talk • Differentiation through talk and small group learning is distinct and different from ‘target setting’ and ‘negative labelling’(Hart, 2004) • Inclusive teaching can compensate but…. • Schools alone cannot succeed-govt and society need to challenge inequality for Every Child to Really matter.