Teenage exam success in 2015 could be down to the “fun factor” of the play-led Foundation Phase (FP) for teachers as well as boys, emerging evidence suggests.
Latest inspection reports and anecdotal evidence from head teachers indicates the play-led strategy has raised teachers’ performance and vastly improved pupils’ all round communication skills.
The motivating effect on teachers disillusioned by the spoon-fed ideals of the National Curriculum - combined with increased engagement of boys - is seen as a powerful alliance in raising Wales’s flagging achievement on the world stage over the next decade.
“It will be interesting to see how much the quality of teaching has risen when we have some hard evidence,” said Bev Jenkins, HMI inspector for the Foundation and Primary team.“The Foundation Phase is just as much fun for teachers as pupils; they are excited and motivated. You could say the FP has the fun factor for teachers as well as pupils”.
Encourage teachers to think like children
Teachers are encouraged to think and sometimes act like children under the FP. Courses in childhood activities, such as den building, are becoming increasingly popular.The FP theory is that young children should not be bubble wrapped; rather, they should be involved in hands-on team building exercises with a personalised focus on literacy and numeracy. The result, say experts, will cure teenage disaffection and create a generation of adult workers who can problem solve independently.
Most heads contacted by the NAHT Cymru spoke of significant improvements in the spoken, listening and social skills of pupils – especially boys. They also said the confidence of teaching staff and pupils had grown.A couple of schools said boys were now outperforming girls in the early years, but teachers said the inclusiveness of the FP had benefited both sexes.
The Foundation Phase became statutory for all reception classes this September five years after the first pilots and following a one-year delay. By 2010-11 all children will be taught under its seven areas learning. Some experts reckon a child retains 80 per of new information taught in a FP class compared to 10 per cent under a desk-bound approach.
Teachers in England are said to be “green with envy” with the teaching freedom of the FP because they see their play based equivalent, the Foundation Stage, as being too prescriptive and target led.
Ann Roberts, from the British Association for Early Childhood Education, saw evidence of this at the association’s annual conference in May.Delegates, many from England, were taken to schools to witness structured play in action.
“They (the delegates) were full of praise for the quality of the provision, and for the exciting usage of outdoor classrooms,” she said.
Kate Parfitt, Foundation Phase teacher at Catwg Primary in Neath Port Talbot, said the strategy had launched Welsh education into the 21st century.
The world is the children's oyster
“The world really is the children’s oyster,” she said.“The children are keen, motivated and we’ve seen differences in handwriting, language, auracy and number work. Teachers are enthusiastic, interested and excited and this has stimulated the children”.
But play is a serious business for Wales if the nation is to improve its educational rankings on the world stage.
In 2007, the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), a comparative study of the ability of 15-year-olds from developed countries in reading, maths and science, left Wales tailing the other home nations with a performance equaling Azerbaijan.
This summer, First Minister Rhodri Morgan said the FP was Wales’s fix for the “long tail of non-attainment bedeviling education”.
But while £170 million has been pumped into the strategy over the three-year roll out, heads still fear it might not be enough.
The Welsh Assembly Government (WAG) pumped an additional £5 million into the FP for September 2008 following officials' admissions that the strategy had been short-changed from the outset.
Previously, the NAHT Cymru estimated the funding shortfall for the FP could be as much as £800,000 in some local authorities.
After the extra money was announced, the Welsh Local Government Association still said another £10 million had to be found.
As the draft budget beckons, there are fears the Foundation Phase could take a hit as the Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, warns of cuts and the economic downturn claims casualties.
Greatest cheerleader
Education minister Jane Hutt said: “The arguments for safeguarding funding for the Foundation Phase remain strong and robust. The FP is our success story on the ground and I will be its greatest cheerleader”.
However, some heads also see a shortage of high quality training in the FP for teachers and learning support assistants as a potential spoiler.
Vanessa McCarthy, head of Brynnau Primary, Rhondda Cynon Taf, said schools should not be expected “simply to make do”.
She said providing high quality training for teachers and learning support assistants was crucial for the strategy's long term success, despite witnessing marked improvements.
“More has to be done to provide good quality training for teachers who are now expected to manage LSAs as well. At the moment the quality of training provision is patchy,” she said.
But some of the pressing concerns revolve around the FP’s continuity into KS 2. Many schools fear having to snatch resources from older pupils to prop up the FP and ensure a 1:8 teacher to child ratio for under-5s and 1:15 for older children. All schools believe meeting this ratio is all important to succeeding, despite expert opinion otherwise.
David Egan, Professor of Education at UWIC, hears the concern. The academic is presently reviewing the "bit in the middle curriculum" for 8 to 14-year-olds on commission from WAG.
"There was a lot of concerned feedback from schools over the transition of the Foundation Phase from KS1 to 2 – it’s something we've looked at,” he said.But he sees part of the problem in teachers' adjustment. "Teachers at KS2 can become stuck in subject boxes," he said.
Anna Brychan, Director of NAHT Cymru, said:
“We’re only a year in to the national roll out of the Foundation Phase but our members are already impressed with the results. Our overriding concern now is that the Foundation Phase stays right on top of the agenda. If it’s to work – and our members are absolutely determined that it must – it needs sustained support and investment.”
Nicola Porter is a freelance education reporter
and former editor of TES Cymru
Page Published: 23/09/2009
