Student and Staff Research

Primary research into student and staff attitudes towards independent learning at Lingfield Notre Dame

Staff Survey

• Researching the opinions of the staff towards independent learning (IL)

• Important to reflect both individually and as a department on our own views on IL

• Sharing good practice

What is IL• Motivation• Students develop their own

learning• Taking responsibility• An understanding of

progress• Willingness to go beyond• Teacher as a facilitator

• Applying skills/knowledge• Research appropriately• Drive learning with

students’ own targets• Perseverance• Confidence in learning• Self-Reliance

Basically we described our perfect student

Students’ Perception of IL

• Carrying out research (hugely popular)• Doing what your teacher tells you to do

outside of the classroom• Reading about your subject• Taking responsibility for your work

Largely focuses on a reliance on the teacher

How we currently cultivate IL in our classrooms

• Student lead presentations (most popular response)

• Students marking sample papers

• Target setting with students• Ask students to create their

own tasks based on a topic

• Students design a mark scheme/revision materials

• Subject topic video walk-through

• Scaffolding• Recap testing• Improvisation tasks

Its important to reflect on our practice and examine the skills that we are equipping our students with.

Are we developing resilient self-reliant students or passive dependent ones?

As teachers we would like to be better at …

• Developing students’ knowledge beyond the syllabus• Challenging students• Developing creative activities• Flipped learning* • Creating an atmosphere of total engagement• Improving originality• Leading exploratory lessons• Supporting pupil lead workshops

*Flipped learning is when students carry out research/knowledge acquisition at home and engage in concepts in the classroom with the guidance of the teacher

Things we feel we do well…• Set clear deadlines• Make resources accessible • Encourage students to reflect on how they can

approach problems• Praise IL• Discuss feedback in marked work and set

targets

We work REALLY hard. Wouldn’t it be nice if the students worked as hard as us?

How do we make students take responsibility for their learning and see that they are the

key to their own success?

Students reflecting on their learning

Self-perceptions• Group 1: Motivated and academically able (27%)• Group 2: Not motivated and academically weak (10%)• Group 3: Motivated and academically weak (40%)• Group 4: Not motivated and academically able(22%)

Self-Reflection

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Reflecting on this data• Interesting how the students perceive themselves; opposite to

most staff perceptions of them

• There is a broad spread between the learners’ attitudes- this suggests we have to consider carefully how differentiated independent learning can be delivered/supported

• Students who have a clear aim were far more reflective and recognised the need for carrying out work beyond the lesson

Motivations

Top three student motivations for carrying out independent learning:

1. Career aspirations /financial gain2. Threat of sanctions

3. Extend learning

Key Points• Students see their learning as the teachers’

responsibility; if lessons are entertaining and engaging they will carry out the additional work set

• Students take a passive role in their learning; barriers to learning, such as social media and talking with friends are done ‘to them’, this highlights a lack of ownership over their learning

• IL means research, there was no thought about IL within the classroom, or as a method of achieving their goals and extending their achievements

‘The teacher needs to make the topic interesting.’‘The teacher should be there on tap.’

Moving Forward

• Staff: reflect on our own practices, how do we cultivate independent learners within our subject and our classroom?

• Students: how do we create students who take ownership of their learning?