Raising the confidence and self esteem of rural North Cornwall Key
"The five Secondary Schools of North Cornwall (Bodmin Community College, Budehaven Community School, Launceston College, Sir James Smith's Community School and Wadebridge School) formed a 'schoolsnetwork', as part of which they introduced an innovative support programme for students on the 'Increased Flexibility' course."
In this group of students a lack of 'a competitive edge' had been identified as a major issue. The schools agreed that such factors as poverty, isolation and social exclusion were particularly prevalent in this region, and that the impact of 'Foot and Mouth' had heightened these problems. Consequently, pupils often lacked self-esteem, as well as both academic and "emotional" intelligence.
It was therefore suggested that the 'Investment in Excellence' foundation for launching and evaluating it. 'Investment in Excellence', run by the Pacific Institute, aims to teach people, "how to accelerate individual and organisational potential by changing habits, attitudes, beliefs and expectations."
After very positive feedback from two Launceston College teachers who attended one of their courses, the decision was made to send groups of Increased Flexibility students from each school on the relevant equivalent course,'Go For it,' which is tailored to the 14-16 age range. It was also agreed that several teachers from each school would be trained as facilitators for the course, thus building capacity for the future. The schools were also keen to exploit the appropriate 'Breakthrough' Course and this built the capacity for this, too.
It was agreed that certain data would be necessary for use in assessing the impact of the course. Baseline data on the students was collated such as:
- Average Key Stage 2 score
- Key Stage 3 results and their average
- A teacher assessment
- Results of the first 'attitudes to learning' test.
Following the course, similar data has been gathered in order to assess the immediate and more long-term effects it may have had. Students were also asked to give feedback on the course itself, in the form of a brief questionnaire.
Results of the evaluation into the impact on students
When asked to give their immediate reactions to "Go For It", students were extremely positive. None of the pupils termed the experience as negative in any way, instead describing it as 'fun', 'challenging', and 'motivating', amongst other things.
Comments made by pupils on the evaluation forms included:
"Go For It' has made me use my brain in so many different ways, I feel more confident"
"Highly recommended for bullied people"
"I feel better about myself and positive I'll do better from now on"
Facilitators generally felt that students were "fully engaged by the activities", and that the events were a "real success".
Students completed questionnaires two weeks before attending the course and again at least eight weeks after it. They give a reasonable idea of the students' perceptions of themselves as learners. Most students had improved their scores, several quite drastically.
Launceston: 60% of pupils had raised their score, and 60% of these students raised it by more than five percentage points.
Camelford: 80% of pupils had raised their score. Teachers and parents have also commented at this stage. One mother said:
"Thank you so much for arranging the course...It has had a real impact (on my son)".
A teacher who attended the course confirmed that:
"The whole IIE experience has influenced my teaching in a positive way. I am more conscious of the way I speak to pupils, always focusing on the positive, never the negative...I found this gets a far better response from the student."
The vast majority of pupils who attended the course wanted to do it again; this prompted Wadebridge School in particular to organise a small reunion. It is obviously difficult to quantify the results of such an exercise, but several more long-term benefits have been notified following the course. Firstly, the attitudes of the pupils involved have generally improved, regarding both academic and personal issues.
For instance, one student commented after a science modular exam:
"I knew I would do well this time so it wasn't worth worrying about it when I got up this morning...and I remembered my breakfast."
Another said, in the context of 'Go For It':
"I'd have just hit him eight months ago." (!!!)
This seems to suggest that pupils are using constructively what they have learnt from the course some time after it, and that this has benefited both themselves and the people around them. Whilst the results vary amongst individual cases, the overall trends in this respect seem very positive. Similarly, the attendance of some of the groups has improved; the results are far from uniform, and whilst in some schools attendance has remained more or less constant, it has rocketed in others. One less ambiguous result is the change in attitude amongst the students towards further education; all the year 11 students involved are now seeking to continue education, and one even plans to go on to Higher Education.
Finally, the project has greatly improved relations between the schools and the individual members of staff across North Cornwall. Teachers found that the opportunities given at various meetings and seminars to exchange ideas were very constructive and helpful, and the programme seems to have added very positively to the achievements of such networking schemes as CASH (Cornwall Association of Secondary Head teachers).
Analysis of the summer 2004 exam results showed some very good performances, in value-added terms, across the schools.
