Teaching and learning styles
These subjects should not be taught in a traditional didactic way. Students will need certain skills to compile a portfolio of assignments so spend time teaching these skills.
Resources
The students will each need a portfolio; Hope sell one that has a plastic covering into which the students can slide a cover page and a spine label.
Free leaflets picked up from, for example, the library provide a good source of information and addresses to which students can write to.
Newspapers and magazines are a good source of articles for reference as well as of pictures for students to cut out to use to illustrate their portfolio work.
There are regularly television programmes screened in the evening on relevant issues, which are worth videoing as buying ready-recorded tapes is expensive.
A digital camera is very useful for recording visits out, speakers in, work placements etc. and can provide valuable evidence for the two portfolio assignments as well as material for wall displays.
The portfolios need to be kept locked up in the room the students mainly work in so that they are accessible. This might mean purchasing a lockable cupboard.
Room
It is ideal to be timetabled in one room for all the lessons so all the resources and portfolio cupboard are close at hand. Making the room look different reinforces the idea that this is a different approach so make careful use of display work. The set size needs to be limited to about 16 or 17 because:
- it is hard to find placements for many more at once they will fit in a minibus when you go out on visits it is hard to cope with storing and marking more portfolios
Selection of students Take the time to select your students carefully. Once they have opted for the subject it is a good idea to interview each student individually and select them according to criteria such as:
- Having a positive, genuine career reason for taking the subject; this may be a legal requirement if your options system means that you are disapplying students from the national curriculum to take the course.
- Good attendance - because of the ongoing collection of work for the portfolio assignments it is important to have students who are in school regularly and won't let you down by not turning up for work placements.
- Good behaviour - when they are out on work placements you need to be able to trust them to behave, as well as when you have speakers in.
- Well motivated - because of the large percentage of marks awarded for the portfolio work it is important to have students who will work hard throughout the course.
Visits out
The double lesson on the timetable and the small group ensures minimum disruption when you want to take students out to the world of work.
Speakers
It is very useful to have speakers coming into school. Send a whole school letter out to all parents to generate a list of people who work in the relevant area, and ask the staff or your own friends. Stress to anyone coming in that they need to talk at the level of the students and not use lots of jargon.
Work placements
It is very important that if the course is going to be vocational in nature the students get to go out into the world of work. This has many benefits, such as:
- an opportunity to collect information needed for their portfolio assignments,
- an opportunity to see what it is really like to work in the area relevant to the course, so giving the students the chance to decide whether it really is for them,
- an opportunity for students to see the structures, workers, qualities, skills and other ideas they have learned about in school as they are in real life, so making them more relevant and memorable.
However, work placements need to be carefully planned so that:
- the school timetable gives you a double lesson either straddling morning break or in the afternoon, to give more time without affecting other subjects,
- they are as close to school as possible so that students are not having to waste a lot of time travelling or spending a lot of money on bus fares,
- they are from the data base of the LEA EBP containing all the places used for work experience which will have been vetted for health and safety and will have the correct insurance cover,
- you make a personal visit to each place to clarify details and give them a copy of a work placement diary so that the supervisor knows exactly what the students will be trying to find out,
- students are prepared for the placements - think about grouping, contact name and number, work placement diary, what to do if ill, if have a problem, the importance of attendance, punctuality and good behaviour, confidentiality issues if relevant, signing in and out of school, a pass to show authorities, uniform, supervision arrangements, ask if allowed to take photos, collect leaflets,
- parents are prepared - what is happening, when, supervision arrangements, a reply slip which asks parents to sign to say that they are happy with the arrangements,
- other staff are prepared, including office staff.
Use of Computers
Students need access to computers to conduct research and to word process work, particularly their assignments as this enhances the presentation. Students need to be trained in the use of the Internet to access relevant information. Encourage students to use a search engine such as
google. If you direct students towards specific websites check that they are still available.
Delivery through Key Skills
Although it is not necessary to test the Key Skills they form a good vehicle for delivering the course. It is useful to get students used to identifying the Key Skills they use so that they become second nature to them. The Portfolio This will contain the assignments based on Units 1 and 2. Consider producing guidance sheets to help guide the students through each of these. The assignments take a lot of time to compile, and it is worth devoting a considerable amount of lesson time to the process. Emphasise to students the need to signpost each piece of work so that it is clear which of the criteria it is covering. Assessment and moderation When you mark an assignment it is important that you have a pro-forma per student, which could be in the form of a table showing all the assessment criteria references with empty columns for you to write comments and allocate marks.
You need to decide early on when to put students in for the externally set test for the first time as it will affect the order in which you teach the units. Consider a policy on re-sits; they have to be paid for and you might decide to charge students for a re-sit whether it is because they have failed the first time or simply want to gain more marks.
