Acts of Importance - Laws and Teaching

As teachers, we are impacted by a plethora of laws relating to working with young people.

BELIEVE ME - THERE ARE MANY!

This could make us new teachers anxious and concerned that we might be doing something wrong - especially those of us working in Further Education Colleges, who may not have initial teacher training under our belts.

What are the laws?

Which ones are the most vital?

Which ones do we attend to each and every day?

Which ones could be life or death for our learners?

How can I make sure I don't break the law???????

If you are strapped for time and just want a list of the laws - just click here.

Still with me? Okay let's begin.

Sifting through the regulations, some really are a matter of life or death and come at the top of my list.

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Safety, safety, safety.

Safeguarding and Health and Safety regulations come at the top of my list of laws that teachers need to understand and implement.

Health and Safety

Keeping the learning environment safe for students takes all sorts of people, including the Estates team, who keep premises safely maintained and perform PAT testing on electrical devices.

But teachers are on the front line and need to do things like ensure learners are not causing trip hazards with bags (my personal nemesis, as a teacher checking work!), using lit flames in class, or putting chairs on tables to reach something up high.

Covid-19

With the advent of Covid-19, we have had to implement social distancing, mask-wearing and ventilation. Not to mention the use of anti-bac sprays and gels. Legislation involving schools in relation to closures is included in the Coronavirus Act 2020.

Of course, if a student has an incident that requires First Aid, they should be referred to the duty First Aider.

The relevant legislation for this is the Health and Safety at Work Act of 1974 and also the School Premises (England) Regulations of 2012 and the Health and Safety (First Aid) regulations of 1981.

Teachers do Health and Safety training as part of their induction.

Children Act, 2004 and the Use of Criminal Convictions Data

Safeguarding of young people affects teachers even before they start, with the requirement of enhanced DBS checks (for criminal records) which relates also to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act of 1974 (teachers are required to tell of spent convictions).

Once teaching, we need to look out for signs of abuse or neglect, or anything that might indicate a safeguarding concern, and refer the student accordingly to the designated lead to assess. Even within the classroom, if we see inappropriate behaviour, then we may need to make such a referral. We have a duty of care - in terms of common law and within the legal framework of the Children Act.

Teachers do Safeguarding training during their induction.

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Protecting from Others

Next on my list is the teacher's duty to protect students from the negative impacts of other people in their community, who may not be part of their family. This is closely aligned with safeguarding, but I am putting it into its own section as it is usually a step removed from immediate physical harm.

Preventing Extremism

With a growing fear of home-grown and imported extreme views, the Prevent programme has been introduced to help identify, early on, if young people are vulnerable to extremism - be it extreme right wing, religious extremism or other forms of terrorism.

The legislation for this is the Counter Terrorism and Security Act of 2015.

Teachers do Prevent training during their induction.

County Lines and Drug Abuse

As in other towns, in my base of Banbury, we have a significant issue with County Lines drug dealing. This involves a safeguarding issue where students can be groomed to take part.

Spotting signs of a student being targeted for County Lines is another thing for which a teacher needs to look out. Sometimes a student may be seen as under the influence of drugs or as dealing in drugs - in these cases, the police should be called. The relevant legislation is the Misuse of Drugs Act of 1971.

County lines awareness is included in the latest Safeguarding training.

Drugs and Weapons

On rare occasions, there may be a suspicion that a student is carrying drugs or a weapon. In this case there are regulations relating to searching powers in the Education Act of 1996.

Modern Slavery

Young adults are at risk of modern slavery.

This takes a number of forms including

• Sex Trafficking

• Child Sex Trafficking

• Forced Labour

• Bonded Labour or Debt Bondage

• Domestic Servitude

• Forced Child Labour

As with Safeguarding and County Lines, signs of modern slavery may include changes in behaviour, depression, changes in how they look or attendance, as well as verbal disclosures. The relevant legislation is the Modern Slavery Act of 2015.

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Inclusion

Protection from Discrimination

Teachers have a duty to protect students from discrimination based on certain protected characteristics.

These are:

• age

• disability

• gender reassignment

• marriage and civil partnership

• pregnancy and maternity

• race

• religion or belief

• sex

The legislation relevant to this is the Equality Act of 2010. The duty includes many aspects of inclusion such as use of materials and content that ensures groups are included in positive ways during lessons and learning.

Supporting Students with SEN

As well as the inclusivity implications of anti-discrimination, teachers have a duty to ensure students with SEN (Special Educational Needs) are included and supported appropriately to reach their potential. This extends to ensuring we link with appropriate institutions and develop appropriate Education and Health Care Plans and Individual Support Plans. This is in addition to the other aspects of safeguarding and duties of care. The appropriate legislation is the Children and Families Act of 2014.

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Protection of Personal Information and Property

Personal Privacy

Student information - personal data such as names, addresses, phone numbers and so on - should all be protected and only accessible to the people who need to know it. The appropriate legislation for this is the GDPR regulations which are part of the Data Protection Act of 2018.

GDPR training is provided to teachers during their induction

Intellectual Property

Teachers must be aware that images and videos may be subject to copyright and should be used appropriately. For example, images for slides in education should be selected using the filter "Creative Commons".

The appropriate legislation for this is the Intellectual Property Act of 2014.

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Standards of Teaching

Last but not least; it's hard to believe this comes so far down my list, but here we go...

Ensuring the teaching is at the right standard and following the National Curriculum is - of course - the main academic teaching goal for teachers. The legislation relevant to this is the Education and Inspections Act of 2006.

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Laws - The detail

Here are links to the laws for you lovely people:

1. Health and Safety at work Act 1974 - the Education context

2. Health and Safety (First Aid) Regulations 1981

3. Children Act 2004, (see section 11 on Safeguarding)

4. Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974

5. Counter Terrorism and Security Act 2015

6. Misuse of drugs Act 1971

7. Modern Slavery Act 2015

8. Education Act 1996

9. The Equality Act 2010

10. Children and Families Act 2014

11. Data Protection Act 2018

12. Intellectual Property Act 2014

13. Education and Inspections Act 2006

14. School Premises (England) Regulations 2012

15. The Coronavirus Act 2020

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It's Maths Jim, but not as we Know It...

...reflections on the first assessed microteach

So the first, assessed, challenge is over. One 20 minute micro-teach delivered.

There is quite a lot to process and reflect upon. But before I go inwards, let me go outwards and mention some of the lessons delivered by my fellow PGCE students.

Seeing them in action as teachers was wonderful. Some stood out, for me, in particular. I guess we all have our favourite teaching styles and also our favoured learning styles. For me, it needs to be high energy, active and fun. So many of my fellow students delivered, on all fronts. Well done, to every one of them.

We had one, who delivered a swash-buckling "How to be more Pirate" lesson.

We learned to use our Pirate "powers" in our teaching

Essentially, it was a drama lesson with a teacher training payload. How much fun did we have, waving our cutlasses and shouting out our Pirate names? Absolutely brilliant. The aim of helping us to improve our presence in the classroom, by embracing our inner pirates, was certainly achieved for me. Since then, I have walked and talked a little bit differently; with a swagger in my gait and a glint in my eye.

Another favourite of mine, was the hair-styling colour wheel. We got down and dirty with colourants and paint brushes, and learned all about how colours fit together and mix to make the perfect shade. Providing us with gloves and aprons made the whole thing twang, science-style. What a treat!

Then, how could I forget the "Suck, squeeze, bang, blow" lesson from our resident car mechanic teacher? Hands on with the engine parts, we learned all about the combustion cycle. Now I know exactly what a con rod is!

To calm us all down, we had a relaxing meditation, just at the right time of the day. Surrounded by the sounds of waterfalls and exotic birds, I found this magical and it very much appealed to my inner mindful self.

So that segues nicely back to me.

My main teaching focus is GCSE Maths. I teach to learners in the Lifeskills faculty at Activate Learning, Banbury College. Our learners have, mostly, negative experiences of school. Often they have come to us because they are electively home educated, or have had difficulties with school life that have meant they left without GCSE grade 4 in either English or Maths. Many of my learners have particular difficulty with Maths. They have almost an emotional block.

Would you rather do some Maths, or visit a Dentist?

Therefore, my approach to teaching these learners is to try to make the lesson not really about the Maths, but about something else. I hope this approach helps those who are negative about Maths, believe they are just bad at Maths, or even Maths phobic.

I can totally relate to the latter, as I feel this way about visiting the Dentist.

So, to my Microteach. I had twenty minutes to bring a little bit of new knowledge in GCSE Maths to my group, and I wanted to do it without it feeling like a Maths lesson.

I used one of my favourite storylines; Glastonbury. Having surveyed my peers two weeks before the lesson, I knew that only one of them was able to arrive at the correct answer to a particular problem - sharing a number in a ratio - so this was my topic.

My lesson included props, music, edtech and videos; there were seven students in my lesson.

I passed the Microteach and was extremely relieved.

My fellow students gave me lovely, positive, feedback. Having spent so much time preparing and planning the lesson, this was wonderful to read.

Themes of positive feedback were;

"Fun/engaging/enjoyable" (6 said this), "I learned, was informed/achieved" (4), "Visuals" (3), "Use of structure" (3) and "Not like a maths lesson" (2). This last item is my personal favourite, as it was an objective of mine to try to make the lesson feel different - specifically for those who are Maths-phobic.

Did the Theories work?

My constructivist approach worked well; everyone joined in with the swing of the lesson. This is something I am already doing with my Banbury learners, though I am including an extra step of "gut instinct" after connecting with previous learning, but before teaching anything brand new, to start those brain cells reaching out for what they already instinctively know.

Using a Growth Mindset approach also worked well, reducing the pressure for getting answers right and rewarding effort. One student said, "Even though I am naturally suspisious and a little scared by maths, I felt safe and comfortable. I thought the explainations were clear" (sic).

Using The Activate Learning learning cycle gave structure and made it easy to inform students what to expect and what stage we were at.

Finally the Sticky mnemonic (thank you, Lemov), was very much appreciated by one learner who said. "Thank you ADDISH". Add. Divide. Share. Our method learned.

Even Better If...

But what could I do better or differently next time?

Wacky Visuals

Although many liked my visuals, one student put them in both positive and negative columns. This seemed curious, at first, but on reflection, I can see that some learners may be overwhelmed by the intensity of some of my slides. This was repeated in the feedback I received from Angie, the assessing tutor. Having asked, 2 weeks before the lesson, if any had any issues or support requirements, only one did - they had asked for a little more time to process.

I took this as a carte blanche to be creative with my visuals. However, of course, many of my learners are, in reality, autistic and some may indeed feel overwhelmed by lots of colourful images or videos, so I am keeping this in mind for my future planning.

Phone Problems

Two of my students in the Microteach were unable to use smartphones during the lesson. I am mindful that things can and do go wrong - for students and for teachers. Having a paper backup for the final quiz would have been better. Again, I will certainly bear this in mind in future.

Individual Assessment

Finally, Angie also pointed out that the final quiz was not done by all (two did

it as a team and those without phones could not do it at all).

Also, that, although there were other assessments during the lesson, I could have used - say - a mini whiteboard each to check individual understanding

I totally agree, and have started to do this immediately in my Maths lessons in Banbury. I had been using them on and off, but now they are out every time.

But Did they learn Anything?

I posed the question I asked in the pre-lesson quiz again at the end of the lesson. Although two didn't answer it at all because of phone problems, in the pre-lesson quiz, only 16% of learners in my class got it right. After the lesson? 80% got it right. If we combine this quantitative data with the qualitative feedback - specifically those who said they had learned something new - then I believe the lesson was a success. My learners - on the whole - now know how to share a quantity in a given ratio.

That makes me very happy.

Potato/Potata: Academic vs Vocational

There has long been discussion about the value of academic vs vocational education, but can we reach a point where we can blur these lines, to the benefit of learners?

Let's be clear, here. I was recruited to teach 2.5 days per week of GCSE Maths. Academic, right?

As of today, I teach 3.5 days per week and cover: GCSE Maths (academic), Level 1 IT with Business (vocational), Digital (vocational non-qualification) and Science for electively home educated learners (non-qualification, but required for the EHE gold standard).

Even after only a year of teaching, because I straddle both types of the educational divide, I have some things to say.

Academic

Firstly, my approach to teaching GCSE Maths was to identify over-arching storylines, or themes, as vehicles for the learning. Let's look at some of these before I continue with this thought:

GCSE topic My Overarching Storyline or Theme

Number Beckham of the Bronx - Murder Mystery

Algebra AlgeBro – Rapping to Solve X

Ratio Glastonbury

Probability Viva Las Vegas

Statistics Social Media Madness

Distance Speed Time, Pressure etc Buzz Priest - Astronaut

Before I began developing my lessons, I had, arguably, decided on a vocational approach to teaching this academic subject. Hadn't I? As an example, installing ourselves (the class and me) in "Las Vegas", put a real-life context around all the probability we learned. We discussed the gambling industry.

How it operates, its business model, how it makes its profits, the fact that "The House Always Wins" and the risk of gambling addiction. These are, largely, vocational discussions. Yet during these discussions, we learned about predicting what the likelihood is of rolling a 6 or a 2; we worked out how to identify the likelihood of a casino having both a circus and a roulette wheel.

So, vocational content seeps, liberally, into my academic lessons. More than that, vocational context is the vehicle for the lesson. This does not reduce or replace the academic subject coverage. It just puts the learning into perspective.

My idea is that the context is of interest to the learners (aged 14-19), so is more likely to engage them. Keep them interested. Choose to turn up that day.

In addition, they will learn a bit about the world, about my own real-life experience and perhaps this will positively influence them in their future lives. In my example, if just one learner chooses not to fall into the trap of compulsive gambling, then I will feel fully justified.

Vocational

But does it work the other way around? Does academic content seep into my Vocational lessons? Let's take my IT with Business course. We focus on Project Based Learning; topics and focus areas chosen by learners based on their own interests.

For example, the first two terms are taught under the umbrella project of learners starting their own business. This builds up to a Trade Fair just before Christmas. Product and service choices are made by the learners themselves. From packaging chocolates for sale to (specifically) Goths, to 3D printing bespoke gaming characters, to composing music for paid download, to producing Minecraft Top Tips videos. They produce a business plan (and learn MS Word), produce a profit and loss spreadsheet (and learn MS Excel) and create a website for their business. They physically create that business, the products or services within it, the sales process and financials, then actually sell to customers at college. This is highly vocational. Where is the academic content? Where is GCSE Maths included, or English?

Well, it is.

The content for English and Maths is inserted into my vocational subject in the opposite way to how I insert vocational topics. Remember I had an overarching theme for GCSE Maths - and that theme was the vehicle for us learning a particular set of topics? Well, with IT and Business, the overarching theme is, indeed the vocational topic - the project. The Maths and English are inserted in these types of ad-hoc ways:

• by correcting spelling or grammatical mistakes in their business plans

• by coaching them on times tables in the Excel modelling for their profit and loss spreadsheet

• by using charts - such as bar charts or pie charts - in descriptions of business functions, and explaining in detail how these charts are produced, encouraging learners to use these charts in their own business plans

So the micro-insertion, "from underneath", of GCSE Maths or English content into the vocational lesson, is at the detailed level rather than at the overarching level. This makes sense, as it would be impossible to engage my learners any other way.

How does this link with the Intent and Implementation strategy for Activate Learning?

The template for Schemes of Learning (SOL), issued to teachers within Activate Learning, (headings below) has an explicit requirement for each lesson to be designed with reference to "Wider curriculum elements" including Maths and English.

Conclusion

Academics have long argued over the outcomes for learners of an academic vs vocational approach to education. The discussions have been framed as polarised - "either"/"or".

But in my foray into teaching, my instinct was to mix the two from the start - with this hybrid approach, I hoped to engage learners in a Further Education academic topic, where they may not have engaged with that topic in a school setting.

The SOL template, issued by Activate Learning to teachers, explicitly seeks to embed aspects of Maths and English in any scheme of work. Of course, this would, chiefly, be relevant for vocational topics (admittedly, you could include aspects of English in the GCSE Maths course, and vice versa). So embedding English and Maths into the vocational SOLs is part of Activate Learnings own vision for its vocational lessons.

I argue that we should also do the opposite, and frame academic lessons within a vocational storyline.