English and ICT Year 9-10Transition Project 2004
Why use ICT in English to enhance Yr 9-10 transfer?:
In 2003 OfSTED reported that ‘ICT is often well used in teaching media studies….. However, in many schools the use of ICT remains limited or unimaginative, with little beyond the typing up of coursework pieces or poems for display and some rather unproductive Internet research. ’ However, Becta also conducted a survey of ICT use and reported their findings in ‘ What the research says about using ICT in English’ (2003) Their conclusion noted ‘ it appears that the key advantage of using ICT effectively in the English Curriculum is that it promotes greater engagement with the subject, both by allowing opportunities for reflection and analysis and by developing the higher-level thinking skills necessary to communicate ideas. ’
From a pupil’s perspective, moving from Key Stage 3 to Key Stage 4 may seem less important than at the other key stages, particularly in English because it is a subject that they do not have a choice about continuing to study. However, the skills needed to approach GCSE study require an increased maturity and independence as a learner, requiring the higher-level thinking skills noted by the Becta research.
In June 2004 we invited interested English departments to participate in a cross-phase project where ICT was used in a more challenging context to bridge the learning skills between Key Stage 3 and GCSE. Six schools joined us for this and produced some interesting ideas for ways of working with Year 9 pupils in the weeks that followed their SATs. Three of the schools, Rugby High School, George Eliot School and Studley School have generously given their resources and lesson ideas for other teachers to use.
Conclusions:
The project was an exciting one which really did engage the interest of the students. The example of Studley is a particularly good one to illustrate how a project in the summer of Year 9 can be effectively and relevantly returned to at the beginning of Year 10, eventually providing students with their first piece of coursework. Each school assessed the effectiveness of their project against a task checklist which enabled a clearer focus on the increased demands of GCSE work. (Task Assessment Sheet)
All the teachers involved in 2004 are going to use an ICT approach to a bridging unit in 2005 and they would recommend using this medium if you really want to challenge and engage students during this period of time.