You don’t need us to tell you how disruptive Covid-19 has been for students’ education this year. While catch up programmes and initiatives are usually designed for small, isolated groups of students with particular needs, we’re now facing a situation where almost all students are dealing with gaps in their learning thanks to lockdown- despite the heroic efforts of teachers.

Yet how can we tackle this? Many schools are operating within class bubbles, making catchup interventions more challenging. Additionally, where catchup strategies are traditionally designed to cater to a small number of students with additional needs, today we’re talking about the catch up of the many, not the few- and in particular, that of the forgotten middle.

Those students who have particularly engaged parents, or who are particularly motivated learners may not suffer long term impacts following lockdown. However, those students that rely on hands-on learning support within school environments to achieve good grades, may be the ones who see the largest gaps in their learning this year.

In these unprecedented times, there are ways to ensure that “the forgotten middle” is not left behind.

To help get your school prepared for the new catch up budgets coming this autumn, we’ve put together some top tips to help your students catch up and keep up this year….

1. Map it out

When it comes to catching up, the priority has to be on ensuring the students have a solid grasp of the key areas of the curriculum. This might sound obvious, but basing your catch up strategy on your schools’ curriculum map that works with the new Ofsted framework is key to making it easier to spot gaps across students’ learning.

Some schools have uploaded a simplified form of their curriculum map for each year group onto a shared drive/VLE so that it can be easily shared with parents, carers and students. This makes it easier to get them to participate in the catch-up process, as they’re aware of what they ought to know and ensures all relevant information is in one place.

2. Review targets from the previous year

With Covid-19 disrupting the end of the previous academic year, taking a backwards step and reviewing targets from last year to see where the gaps are is a vital part of any catch-up strategy.

Targets easily identify where children are falling behind, but a combination of transition notes and assessments completed during lockdown can help to paint a clear picture of where the issues lie.

While it might seem counterintuitive to go over old ground when there’s so much to catch up on, it’s a vital part of the learning process. Indeed, Willingham suggests that information should be ‘overlearned’ by 20% (Willingham, 2010).

Try and get as much information from previous teachers about where students were behind or ‘coasting’ in relation to their targets, and integrate those areas of weakness into your lesson plans so revision forms part of your new lessons.

3. Use tech to help segment settings

One of the biggest challenges teachers are facing is how to segment classes while working in ‘bubbles’. Ordinarily, you’d be able to split groups to offer more bespoke lessons according to students’ needs, but of course for most schools that is no longer possible.

One school we know has been using digital devices to help tackle this issue. If you’ve got to invest time in certain lessons covering old ground, and you’re concerned about your higher achieving students getting bored, setting them independent learning on their digital devices can be a short term solution to that, while not jeopardizing student safety in these strange times.

4. Early, informal baseline settings

We are all concerned about the impact of Covid-19 on students’ mental health, as no one will have come out of this entirely unscathed. Students are already feeling a large amount of pressure in a normal school year, so the added pressure of assessments following a disrupted summer term poses problems for staff who need to gauge attainment, without wanting to put undue pressure on the students.

One way around this is to conduct early, informal baseline assessments so that settings can be established. This could be done through a self-questionnaire, a project, or a writing sample to name but a few.

5. Testing as learning

As the year progresses, don’t be afraid to use testing as a form of learning. Testing not only allows both you and your students to identify gaps in their learning, but also helps them to get back into the mindset of formal assessments, while forcing students to think harder about the information they’ve retained. As Karpicke says, testing is “not merely a tool for assessing learning but also a tool for enhancing learning.”

Research shows that discussion of a topic forces you to better understand your own points, helping to reinforce the knowledge. Whether that’s through verbal or written discussions, if a student has the opportunity to articulate the information they’re supposed to have retained, this supports recall at a later date (Karpicke, 2012).

Elaborative interrogation is a good way of taking this further for students who already have a good grasp of the topic, as it allows them to turn facts into ‘Why?’ questions, supporting critical thinking.

6. Digital & online catch-up sessions

With Covid-19 far from over, it’s important for schools to implement catch up strategies that can be carried out under a second school closure, should that occur.

There are many online and digital providers offering resources, tools and platforms to help support schools and facilitate student catch up programmes, and in all probability, your school will already have access to some e-learning tools which may well have additional functionality you weren’t aware of. It’s important to challenge your technology and software providers to deliver support for you, particularly in these challenging times. If you don’t think you’re getting the most out of a service or provider, ask them for training or advice. Most good providers will do so for free.

Furthermore, many ed-tech providers are continually looking for ways to improve, so if you need something they don’t currently provide, talk to them about additional functionality and offer your school to beta-test these solutions.

7. Bookend Learning – Preload Lessons

With only so many hours in the school day, how can teachers be expected to catch students up on months of lost teaching time due to COVID lockdown?

The answer many teachers are adopting is a Bookend Learning approach or Preloading lessons.

What does that mean? Students are asked to research/prepare before a lesson, meaning they walk into the classroom already having a basic knowledge of the topic. Creating this foundation means teachers can accelerate active teaching time.

This can then be followed up with a post-lesson assignment designed to reinforce and deepen understanding, which will help to close the attainment gap more quickly.

8. Make the most of government-funded tutoring

Teachers are already stretched under these Covid-19 conditions. This is where tutoring can offer support. The government has announced £350 million for the NTP specifically to support school catch-up plans.

This support could be especially invaluable for the forgotten middle, for whom some additional support can pay dividends.

When it comes to selecting professional tutors, ensure you ask tough questions around flexibility, availability and experience. With Covid-19 restrictions making day to day teaching and learning more inflexible, sourcing tutors that will work around the schools’ timetable is of paramount importance.

If you’d like to find out more about how the government funding works, and further advice on how to make the most of it for your school, click here to download our free tuition funding guide.

For more information, book a free call with us at Manning’s and we’ll help walk you through the process, free of charge.

Sources:
Why Don’t Students Like School: A cognitive scientist asks questions about how the mind works and what it means for the classroom, Daniel T Willingham, Jossey-Bass, 2010
http://learninglab.psych.purdue.edu/downloads/2012_Karpicke_CDPS.pdf
http://www.lovelearningideas.com/blog-archive/2014/11/29/catch-up-pedagogy