Education and Learning Programme

Report

This programme has a strong focus on supporting innovation and aims to achieve significant impact, ideally at a national level, across a range of education themes. Our work fosters the development and sharing of new practice, experiences and learning between and within schools, local authorities and voluntary organisations.

This year the Education and Learning programme has seen strong progress in its existing Special Initiatives and created a new one. We have also reconsidered our approach to Open Grants and are soon to announce revised guidelines for one theme in order to help us maximise the impact of our support.

Learning communities

Most of our Special Initiatives take an action-orientated approach, creating learning communities focused on the theme of the initiative, that operate together as a mutually supportive community of enquiry and learning. Where possible we also seek out a wider community of practitioners, with whom we can further test our emerging models. Our commitment to open source principles and sharing our learning on an ongoing basis also offer opportunities for practitioners more widely to learn from our developing thinking and practice.

The fifth and most recent Special Initiative, Musical Bridges: Transforming Transition, presents an exciting challenge and requires a more collaborative and strategic role for the Foundation from the outset. This three-year initiative got underway with the appointment of Adrian Chappell as Programme Convener in January 2010. Musical Bridges builds on the success of Musical Futures in changing the way music is taught in secondary schools, to look at improving the transition from primary into secondary schools in relation to pupils’ music education.

The initiative follows careful scoping and consultation, and is steered by a National Working Group comprising Youth Music, Music Manifesto Partnership & Advocacy Group, the DCSF (now DfE) and the National Music

Participation Director. We intend to influence practice in facilitating transition at an administrative level, on social and personal progression, on curricular and pedagogic continuity and on more effective management of young people’s learning – with the well-being of the child/young person firmly placed at the centre of the initiative.

This additional music initiative is particularly timely given the significant government support for music in primary schools in recent years (through schemes such as Sing-Up, Wider Opportunities, and The Instrument Fund) that has raised young people’s motivation and desire to be musically active. The initiative addresses the risk that these gains will be lost in the intervening years before they might benefit from participation with Musical Futures approaches towards the end of Key Stage 3.

Highlights from other Special Initiatives have included opportunities to bring learning communities together to draw out the emerging learning, to encourage networking and to develop our thinking further. The first national event for Learning Away took place in January 2010 in London, attended by 70 people with all of the 13 Learning Away clusters represented. The day was a great success with participants meeting and hearing from each other. Sir Tim Brighouse, Education and Learning advisor, delivered an inspiring keynote.

In March, our convention in Leeds on higher education student retention attracted over 160 delegates, with 60 submissions received from across the UK. The quality of the submissions was very high, resulting in a thought-provoking two-day conference. Paul Hamlyn trustee and Education and Learning Committee Chair Estelle Morris reminded us in her welcome speech of the Foundation’s core value of maximising opportunities for individuals to realise their potential and education’s key role in enabling a better quality of life. This is particularly true for those from disadvantaged circumstances and a key challenge of this initiative is bringing about institutional change to ensure continued success and engagement for more vulnerable students.

Our involvement in Whole Education, an alliance of non-political organisations working towards a more holistic approach to education, offers new opportunities for us to share our learning with others and promote the educational values and practices we believe in. Whole Education will provide events and an online social network for teachers and practitioners, enabling them to link up with initiatives from across a spectrum of organisations. Learning Away and Musical Bridges will have a strong presence in this community. Musical Futures and Learning Futures will also contribute content, linking to their own established websites.

The overall aim is to develop a large body of expertise and experience from across the sector to help move towards an education system that looks at the whole child and does not focus on an overly-narrow range of skills and qualifications, literacy, numeracy and tests (important though they are)1.

Impact on Open Grants

The ethos espoused in Whole Education is also prevalent in our Open Grants scheme, where we are committed to finding more creative ways to improve knowledge management and transfer of learning among grantees, and with others that could learn from them.

With this in mind we are planning a round-table discussion in Summer 2010 for recipients of grants awarded under our relatively new Speaking and Listening theme, in order to facilitate exchange and possibly plan for a collective showcasing of current PHF work in this field for the National Year of Speaking and Listening in 2011.

The quality and variety of applications received under the Speaking and Listening theme has noticeably increased in 2009/10. We are particularly interested in activities that develop, in realistic and ideally in ‘real-world’ contexts, the speaking and listening skills that will help young people.

In 2009/10 we undertook a review of the Truancy and Exclusion theme within our Open Grants scheme as we felt that we could improve and maximise the impact we make through our grants. We commissioned a review from the Institute for Public Policy Research and New Philanthropy Capital, which aimed to understand the broader truancy/exclusion context in the UK in terms of policy and good practice, better understand the impact of PHF grants awarded under the Truancy and Exclusion theme (from 2005–08), and inform the future development of the grant programme2.

Reflecting on a number of lessons, including the importance of relationship building, developing young people’s social and emotional competencies and the impact of sound project management, we have re-launched the theme with an emphasis on inclusive approaches that build on knowledge of what works and have the potential to make an impact at a sector level. The re-launched theme has a new, more positive title: ‘Add to the learning – preventing school truancy and exclusion’.

“Exclusion has become the single biggest issue ACE deals with and it is great that a funder like Paul Hamlyn shares our view.”

-Simon Hepburn, CEO, ACE [Advisory Centre for Education]

Special Initiatives

Learning Futures

Developing new teaching and learning practices in schools

£696,858 in 2009/10

Learning Futures is committed to finding new ways to build learning around students’ needs, interests and passions, while still achieving positive outcomes. 2009/10 has seen the first year of implementation of Learning Futures across 15 sites. Innovative practice has been developed around four key themes – enquiry-based learning, expanding locations and partners for learning, co-constructing learning, and mentoring.

The key message from an interim evaluation report by researchers from Bristol University is that we are breaking new ground in theory and practice and can already measure the impact that Learning Futures has had on students’ and teachers’ approaches to learning:

  • Participating schools are noticing improvements in student motivation, behaviour and attendance
  • Schools that are incorporating more than one of the key themes in their interventions are seeing greater impact than those with a single focus
  • Increasing engagement takes time, and an appropriate set of organisational conditions, to work
  • A Learning Futures school will need to be characterised by teachers, leaders and a community who engage in learning shaped by the same design principles: openness to learn, willingness to change and shared commitment to organisational and professional learning.

We have made considerable progress in understanding how engaging students with their learning can impact positively upon their experience of school. Our latest publication, ‘Engaging Students’, highlights the understanding we have developed since last year on what we mean by engagement and how we might achieve it in all our schools. Further pamphlets will be published in 2010 detailing our emerging findings on the four key themes central to Learning Futures.

It is now clear that our decision to offer schools only one year to pilot their new or extended approaches was unrealistic. It gave all involved in the initiative insufficient time not only to develop and trial practices designed to achieve a step change in learner engagement, but also to create with confidence the tools and resources that would enable others to replicate them. The evaluation has, however, shown the clear potential of the Learning Futures approach. We have therefore extended the initiative by a further year and are now working with a smaller group of schools.

Learning Away

Achieving more through school residentials

£1,624,657 in 2009/10

The Learning Away initiative selected 13 clusters of schools, (including 59 primary, 12 secondary, and four special schools) in summer 2009. These schools now form our core ‘community of practice’ and represent a diversity of approaches to the use of residential learning experiences and a good geographical spread.

The 13 clusters are supported by advisors and the team at PHF to develop, pilot and embed innovative residential learning experiences, integral to a wider curriculum or whole school improvement strategies.

We anticipate three key challenges in the years ahead. The first is to build relationships and partnerships at all levels and to generate interest from other schools and interest groups. The second is to work with young people on co-design and delivery. Third, we must work to open source principles, sharing the learning of both what is and is not working, along with the how’s and why’s.

Through the process of Learning Away we are seeking to collect evidence to persuade other schools to engage in a similar way with residential education. To this end we are delighted to be working with independent evaluators from the Centre for the Use of Research and Evidence in Education (CUREE).

“Being away from school, in a beautiful and inspiring environment, reignited the children’s passion for English and enabled them to produce their best work.”

-Lucy Whitman, Head of English, Canterbury High School

Musical Futures

Supporting innovation in school music education

£213,311 in 2009/10

Now into its sixth year, the Foundation’s longest running Special Initiative continued to grow in 2009/10. The programme’s website (www.musicalfutures.org.uk) has been redeveloped, and now contains a wide array of teacher-generated materials. There has been consistent demand from practitioners for the new teachers’ resource pack, ‘Musical Futures: An approach to Teaching and Learning, 2nd edition’, which was launched at the London International Music Show Conference in June 2009. The widening reach of the programme was further highlighted when the NAMM Foundation announced funding for the Australian Music Association to launch Musical Futures in Australia in 2010. Based upon the trajectory from 2006–09, we are confident of achieving our target of seeing Musical Futures adopted in 50 per cent of all UK secondary schools by July 2012. However, there is still work to be done in terms of the longer-term embedding of Musical Futures into general policy and practice. To this end, trustees agreed in December 2009 to extend funding for Musical Futures until July 2012.

Musical Bridges: Transforming Transition

Developing strategies for transition in music education

£49,259 in 2009/10

Musical Bridges: Transforming Transition is our newest Special Initiative. The scheme works with schools, local authority music services and other music education providers to promote effective transfer strategies that support the musical, educational and personal development of young people as they move from primary to secondary school. The programme has begun gathering evidence through seminars in different parts of the country with teachers, local authority music services, musicians and young people. These will reveal key issues and suggest how and where practical interventions can be initiated. A new database will cross-reference best practices in music transition, in time creating an important resource for teachers, musicians, parents and young people. We are also commissioning research to explore the role music plays in the personal and social development of 9–13 year olds both in and outside of school.

What works? Student retention and success programme

Supporting and retaining students in higher education

£30,209 in 2009/10

This three-year Special Initiative focuses on identification, evaluation and dissemination of good practice, specifically in relation to the retention of students within the higher education sector. We are one year into the programme of activity with seven clusters of higher education institutions (19 participating institutions in all). The main aim is to evaluate good practice and share results within the group and more widely. In March 2010, we organised a convention attended by over 160 delegates in Leeds. A few themes emerged over the course of the convention, which we hope may provoke discussion and debate within the sector:

  • The potential role that the student voice may play in improving retention and success
  • The need to move from research about retention to evidence-informed action
  • The importance of managing and coordinating an institutional approach to improving student retention
  • The necessity of making a distinction between student retention and student success.

An early indicator of interest in this work within the sector is the Student Retention and Success Network – an online ‘community of interest’ – which currently has 490 members (at June 2010). We are working with HEFCE as co-funders of the programme to develop a ‘community of engagement’ – a group of institutions that implement and trial outcomes of the programme. In the first instance we are looking at developing and testing the Student Retention and Success model. This began with a consultation workshop held in June 2010.

Open Grants scheme

Grants awarded 2009/10

Peace Child International Speaking and Listening theme

£89,350 over three years

Peace Child International (PCI) was awarded a grant to develop a new conflict resolution project, Constructive Communicators, in 40 secondary schools in Essex, Suffolk, Norfolk, Hertfordshire, Middlesex, Buckinghamshire, Cambridgeshire and Bedfordshire. A London school, in which Constructive Communicators was piloted, reported a transformation in attitudes and behaviour after three months of working with PCI. Incidents of violence dropped in the year group, academic performance improved and there were significantly fewer exclusions reported.

Over the three years PCI will develop two programmes with Year 9 and Year 10 ‘Ambassadors’ who will go on to teach their younger peers listening, self-expression and conflict-resolution skills using activities and drama in workshop sessions which they will co-devise. Ultimately the project aims to enable participants to take control of difficult situations, gain an insight to their own responses and those of other people and recognise alternatives to anger and conflict in schools and communities.

Individual and community impact: By embedding Conflict and Communication Ambassadors in schools, PCI hopes to make a difference to individual students, their families, schools and communities, leading to better engagement at school, easing transition and also reducing levels of truancy.

Horn of Africa Youth Association

Supplementary Education theme

£73,500 over three years

This grant enables Horn of Africa Youth Association (HAYA) to deliver a new mentoring service to three Hillingdon schools, particularly targeting low-achieving young refugees and their parents. The proposal brings together a number of factors that we know work: multi-agency working, parental engagement, alternative accreditation routes, mentoring, and peer-mentoring, and schools-based counselling and early preventative approaches. This programme of work is aiming to change the way education is viewed by Somali parents and their children. It promotes participation at all levels through encouraging parents to work together with schools, and work together with their children.

HAYA intends to communicate the learning and outcomes with other youth and education related projects in West London and with other projects nationwide both to promote the learning and also to form future learning partnerships.

Individual, organisational and sectoral change: This grant aims to bring about change in the lives of both children and adults. The organisation is working more strategically at both local and national level (workshops are planned for Cardiff and Sheffield where large Somali communities reside) and may influence practice in schools by encouraging more proactive engagement of refugee/ethnic minority parents.

Paddington Arts Ltd

Speaking and Listening theme

£133,219 over three years

The Word of Mouth project will give 450 young people from inner-city London the opportunity to interact with professional poets and speakers, and gain new skills. The young people will learn to research and present an argument persuasively, understand that there are at least two sides to many issues, respect other views, and gain the confidence to speak in public. The poetic element will also develop cohesive thought patterns and the use of spoken words to deliver persuasive communication personally and to large audiences.

The project will impact strongly on the attitudes of the young people as well as their abilities and confidence to express their views coherently. The project will be user-led, guided initially by skilled professionals, promoting development of leadership and organisational skills, thereby supporting young people to take charge of their personal development and significantly raising their longer-term prospects.

Encouraging participation: The project features a large annual event, to bring groups together in a public debate/ Poetry Slam, to be transmitted on local and online radio, and made available on CD/DVD. Participants will have opportunities to work in partnership with Save the Children’s Inspiring Change Programme.

“By taking part in Word of Mouth we were able to show what type of community we are, and to get the good things recognised and less of the bad.”

– Derrick McMillan, age 15

Ongoing grants

School-Home Support Service

Preventing Truancy and Exclusion theme

£98,770 over three years

This grant funds two full-time support workers working with five schools (one secondary school plus feeder primaries) clustered around a children’s centre in one of the most deprived parts of Darlington.

The award enables the expansion of School-Home Support Service’s (SHS) core service into a new area, the North East of England. It has developed and delivered a subsidised School- Home Support training programme offering four courses directly to school staff. It also includes provision for developing and piloting tools to assess the impact of SHS’s work that can then be used by SHS staff across the country to significantly enhance evaluation and quality assurance processes.

Changing practices: This work has the potential to influence home-school liaison practice more widely in schools, particularly through the roll-out of the training programme. School-Home Support is aiming for the training programme to become financially sustainable by 2011.

Completed grants

At-Bristol

Supplementary Education theme

£37,748 for 21 months

At-Bristol received funding for the Bright Sparks project, which works to build the confidence of supplementary school leaders supporting the science curriculum by developing creative teaching approaches and inspiring Key Stage 2 and 3 students to consider careers in science.

Supplementary school leaders and students were consulted in order to establish their needs and barriers to learning about science. Leaders were offered one-to-one mentoring with At-Bristol staff and continuing professional development sessions. Activity days were organised to put the approaches learned into practice with 122 students. The project linked into the Aiming Higher black and minority ethnic (BME) initiative at the University of the West of England, which provided inspiring BME science role models.

Measuring impact: The uptake of GCSE science increased from 42 per cent to 78 per cent of the students participating in Bright Sparks. All 22 participating teachers reported that they had learned a variety of creative teaching methods which were transferable to other subjects. When asked what was crucial to the project’s impact, leaders named the creative approaches, the interactive methodology and the inspirational role models.

Footnotes

  • 1 Collaboration: Other collaborations, at a programme and corporate level, include our membership of the Woburn Place Collaborative of funders promoting social justice, sustainable development, human rights and democracy, and the Cultural Learning Alliance
  • 2 Sharing learning: Other programme evaluations this year have included the Reading and Libraries Challenge Fund and Refugee and Asylum Seeker Fund reports (Social Justice). The Breakthrough Fund will also be evaluated