What to do with year 11! They just don’t care!

 

 

One Day Last April…

One day last April my 15-year-old son came home with a letter sent to all year 11 parents. It outlined the school’s proposals regarding GCSE revision plans, classes and strategies.  The letter was practical; it helped me understand what revision classes were available for Brad, and promotional; it reassured me that the school is on top of the exam game. However, one sentence caught my attention and made me feel immediately concerned, not just for Brad, not just for his cohort but for all of the current cohort countrywide year 11’s who will taking their GCSE’s that summer. The sentence iterated that Brad and his fellow students should be doing “4/5 hours of focused active revision every day”.

…one sentence caught my attention and made me feel immediately concerned, not just for Brad, not just for his cohort…

Last year Brad got up every morning at 7, prepared his breakfast and packed lunch and set off for school at about 8. He arrived at school at 8.30 when his school day begins. He had lessons all day. He left school at around 3 and arrived home at 4.  He then did his homework for at least an hour, this took him to 5 o’clock.  The expectation was that he then revises until 9 or 10 o’clock at night. When is he supposed to eat or God forbid, relax?  So, what or whose purpose does this advice really serve?

..the following weeks are the most anxiety provoking in the school calendar….

…September

I know from my experience as a teacher that the following weeks are the most anxiety provoking in the school calendar. I also know that a particular focus of that anxiety is year 11. The honeymoon period of September when all was new and seemed possible, when all students paid attention, gave way to October where routines were established and challenging pupils recognised and differentiated for.  So far, so good. Then, post half term, things begin to wobble and by Halloween, many year 11 students have retreated into a terrifying denial.  The once singular diet of exam success has been chopped into soup of exemplars, mock exams, WAG grades and data drops.

…by Halloween, many year 11 students have retreated into a terrifying denial.

…by Halloween

It is at this point that “the anxiety flip” happens.  The yawning chasm of indifference expressed by year 11 students is rushed into by teachers.   Anxiety the students deny shows up alive and pulsating in the teachers. It flows through the aorta of meetings up to heads of department, heads of year into the heart of senior leadership. Here it beats out the familiar rhythm; what’s to be done about year 11, what’s to be done about year 11?

With few new solutions a familiar formula flows back back through the body of the school down to heads of department, heads of year etc, though to teachers. First is a demand for clearer data, then more focused intervention, and generally more effort all round.  Feeling the burden of care, year 11 become the focus of a series of covert accusations the sum of which is politely phrased as “They just don’t care!”

…praying for a snow day

By December, everyone is praying for a snow day!

…for all the revision cards they have suggested, the trump hand lays with the students;

Many teachers feel as though they are having little impact and for all the revision cards they have suggested, the trump hand lays with the students; are they willing to play fair and pick up the pack?  By January, every year 11 student has heard the phrase “your GCSE’s” a thousand times, maybe two thousand. Every class, every teacher, every school assembly, many tutor times all have a GCSE focus. Any student not focused in lessons is shamed; they are not only letting themselves down but they are letting the whole class down – maybe even the whole school. The final big stick of potential life failure weighs heavy in teachers’ hands to be used as a last resort – often with little affect. Students continue to resist.

And in a way, why wouldn’t they?  – Because the schools focus has been on previous exam cohorts – these students have been allowed to coast through school to this point. Now, suddenly  they are in demand. Why not make the most of their moment in the sunny glare of school attention? The continued warmth of teachers who finally seem to care. Also, students might be forgiven for feeling that the adults are panicking. It is they that have an unfathomable problem and the students who can decide when and if to provide the answer.

Why not make the most of their moment in the sunny glare of school attention?

exams have no secret admirers

By Valentine’s day, exams have few secret admirers. I worked in 4 state schools. Each one responded the same way to this problem; keep raising the stakes, upping the threats, arranging more interventions every lunchtime, every evening after school, arranging ‘How to revise’ evenings for parents.

There is nothing wrong with these initiatives. Far from it. One might be concerned if schools didn’t offer students these resources. However, there is a communication in all of this that marauds like a screaming banshee in every intervention room, revision evening and every letter that goes home to parents.  It’s the wailing communication that the school has lost the plot. Insisting that a child do 5 hours revision every day is a case in point.

And what’s worse, this kind of mania can be both ineffective and potentially irresponsible.

Every year, and I see no reason why this year will be any different, too many teenagers in year 11 suffer mental illness, breakdown or suicide due to exam stress and every year there is outcry and a collective agreement that something needs to be done.  And then, by June, the exams are over, everyone’s exhausted. Year 11 students leave. And all is forgotten. Via a painful 9 months gestation, as the blossom gives way to first fruits, Exams are painfully born.

…too many teenagers in year 11 suffer mental illness

There is a term in Organisational Psychology called the “sentient task”. It is the task those in the organisation can be observed to be carrying out in their actions. It’s not what they say they’re doing but what you can see them doing.  The interesting thing about the sentient task is that it can work in contradiction to what the organisation is set up to do; its “primary task”. The primary task of a school at exam time is to prepare students for exams.  The focus should be on the students, their needs, the best way to get them through the exams. However, with stakes so high for the school in terms of results, the sentient task of the organisation becomes centered around the adults avoiding problems for themselves.  No one does this on purpose. Teachers and school leaders are, for the most part, good people but they are only human. It is only natural to look after oneself.  However, when this is translated into whole school action – what can be observed in that action is the drive to save the school rather than to help the children.

…what can be observed in that action is the drive to save the school rather than to help the children.

Research shows that exams do have a place in the development of young minds and rightly in our learning culture. Exams allow students to know the extent their skills have developed and shows them what they might need to do if they want to improve at that skill. Exams introduce children to the reality of competition. In any environment their skills will often be compared and considered against those of their peers.

But should exams be a way that schools are judged against other schools, against funding models, against government targets?  If this is the purpose of exams, and people’s jobs begin to depend on whether pupils succeed or fail then this threat will become a large part of the way those exams are planned and implemented. In this scenario, the pressure comes off the students and onto the teachers, onto the head, onto the governors, onto the system and the sentient task takes over.

Exam time is tough, that’s a reality and teachers, in my experience always step up to the plate and give one hundred and twenty percent.  They always go above and beyond.  I am calling only for balance and maturity. Remember that we are the grown-ups here and what we communicate to students at this time of year can not only help them pass their exam, it can demonstrate that we, the grown-ups, are clear about what’s important and that we are not only in charge of them but in charge of ourselves.

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Steve Carr

Good Relationships equal Great Progress When students (and teachers) feel safe they will risk everything in the service of their education. These ideas and theories are grounded in 6 great years of MA research into the link between child development and life-long learning and many years creating great relationships with literally thousands of students. The greatest complement I ever heard from many of those students was that my classrooms were the 'safest place to be'. I now run accredited professional development workshops for teachers, teams and school leaders to help them create safety and put the power of positive human relationships at the heart of progress. To find out more email: steve@stevecarrtraining.com or subscribe to this blog

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