Education Inspire magazine Issue04

2 | Inspire Inspire | 2

Transforming lives, inspiring change

Alsoinside:

Surge in maleteaching applicantsPaul Spitere talks about his decisionto retrain as a teacher after a careerin banking

Dyslexia andliteracy difficultiesSpecialist teacher, Debby Andrews,tells us about making a difference in your school

Making Science Fun At Spring Lane Primary School’sScience and Engineering Fair

Goodbye JoannaFarewell to Joanna Moxham after 30 years of inspiring students and colleagues alike

Fairfields Special SchoolAn interview with headteacher, Corallie Murray, for an insight into this successful school

WB10388_UON_Education Magazine_Iss04_AW:Layout 1 05/07/2010 09:55 Page 2

1 | Inspire | www.northampton.ac.uk/education | email: [email protected]


Contents

Inspire

Goodbye Joanna .....................................7

A Portrait of Fairfields Special School ..........................................9

RiSE.........................................................11

The School of Education isbuilding upon its success ....................17

Dyslexia and literacy difficulties: Is every child a reader in your school? ...........................................19

He was a Banker but now he’s a School Teacher...........................21

From Still Photographs to Movies using Photostory....................................23

Written and produced by The University of Northampton School ofEducation all submissions are property of Inspire magazine. The entirecontent © Copyright The University of Northampton School ofEducation 2008, and cannot be reproduced in whole or part withoutprior written consent.

Editor Paul Bramble – [email protected] Paul Bramble – [email protected] Design Depot Ltd, Merle Moustafa & Chris AllumDesign by Design Depot Ltd – www.designdepot.netPrinted by Sterling

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Be. An Inspiration is a successful annual eventorganised by the University's Recruitment andLiaison team and the School of Education.

Students participated in sessions includingPrimary and Early Years teacher training, EarlyChildhood Studies and Childhood and Youth.

The students also received a tour of ParkCampus, home to the School of Educationwhich included the new school experiencesection at the university Library.

Feedback from the participating students was extremely positive:

• “It was a really fun day and made mecertain that I want to enter into a professionworking with children.”

• “Great lectures and I felt really welcome.”

• “All the students I met were good and our team leader was amazing.”

• “I really enjoyed today, I learnt new thingsand had fun while doing so.”

The schools and colleges involved were BedfordCollege, Milton Keynes College, Oxford andCherwell Valley College, de Ferrers SpecialistTechnology College in Burton upon Trent,Wycombe High School and St Paul's CatholicSchool in Milton Keynes.

Be. An Inspiration is part of the programme of 'Be.' Events run by The University ofNorthampton's Recruitment and Liaison team in association with Schools across the institution.

Be. An Inspiration offersstudents a taster ofcareers in EducationOver 150 Year 12 students from schools and colleges around theregion took part in a recent experience day for those interested incareers working with children and young people at the School ofEducation in The University of Northampton.

“All the students I metwere good and our teamleader was amazing.”

“Great lectures and I felt really welcome.”



The University ofNorthampton presented its Court Award to JoannaMoxham, Divisional Leaderin Teacher Education,School of Education.

The Court Award has been awarded each year since1995 to an employee of the University who hasmade a significant contribution to the highereducation institution. The award is traditionallypresented at 'Court', an annual meeting whichbrings together people who have an interest in thelife and work of The University of Northampton.Court is an opportunity for the University to reportto the wider community on its achievements andfuture plans.

The award was made in recognition of Joanna’s 30 years of contribution and leadership of thesuccessful Initial Teaching Training (ITT)programmes within the University’s School of Education.

She was presented with the Court Award by theUniversity’s Chairman of the Governing Council,Deirdre Newham.

Joanna commented:

“I am delighted to have been recognised withthis award. It was totally unexpected and agreat honour. 80% of our teacher graduates go on to work in the county so throughout mytime here, I have seen our graduates go outinto the workplace and progress throughouttheir careers. This award goes to the wholeteam - our success in teacher education is from great teamwork within the School of Education.”

Above: L-R Deirdre Newham, Chairman of The University of Northampton's Governing Council,presenting Joanna Moxham with her award

Professor Richard Rose, from the School of Education, wasrecently invited to be one of thekeynote speakers at the 19thAsian Federation on IntellectualDisabilities Conference (AFID).The conference, held every two years, took place inSingapore in November 2009 and brought togetherresearchers and teachers from around the Asian

region. Keynote presentations were also given byProfessor Tai-Hwa Emily Lu from Taiwan, ProfessorLibby Cohen from the US and Professors TrevorPamenter and Nicholas Lennox from Australia.

However, for many of the delegates, the highlightsof the conference were the presentations given byyoung people with learning disabilities from India,Japan, Bangladesh and Malaysia. They spoke aboutthe impact of current developments in educationon their lives and how their opportunities areaffected by the actions of education policy makers,teachers and researchers.

Researchers attending the conference werechallenged to consider how they consult andengage with people with learning disabilitieswhen planning and conducting research. Theywere also reminded of the need to ensure thatresearch reports were accessible to a diverseaudience of potential users. This is an importantpoint for all who are involved in research withchildren and young people. The next AFIDconference will be held in South Korea in 2011.

Conference challenges education researchers

Divisional Leader in Teacher Educationreceives University accolade


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Primary School principals and

teachers from Hong Kong visited

The University of Northampton

as part of a project to observe

methods and practices for the

inclusion and teaching of students

with special educational needs.

A group of 12 principals and teachers from severalschools in Hong Kong took part in a week ofactivities organised by Sue Griffiths, Senior Lecturer at the Centre for Education and Research (CeSNER)in the University’s School of Education.

The group attended seminars held at TheUniversity of Northampton. They also had theopportunity to visit primary, secondary and specialeducation schools across Northamptonshire, andtake part in several classroom observations.

Sue Griffiths said: “It has been a very successfulvisit in which we have been able to provide thegroup with a good understanding of some of thepractical techniques, strategies and approaches toSpecial Needs Education and Inclusion that areused in the county’s schools.

“The teachers have been impressed by the teachingenvironments and facilities they have seen, andalso the culture and approach of learning throughplay and practical experience. I would like to thankthe schools who hosted our visits for being sogenerous with their time and in sharing resourcesand strategies. The teachers are holding aconference in July where they will be sharing theirexperiences with other schools in Hong Kong”.

The project, entitled “The Quality Education FundThematic Network - Serving Students withDyslexia”, is being run by Dr Fuk Chuen Ho from theDepartment of Special Education and Counselling atthe Hong Kong Institute of Education.

Dr Ho said: “Integrated education in Hong Kongtook place around ten years ago and initially therewere a lot of concerns about teaching studentswith Special Educational Needs in mainstreamschools. There is still room to improve, and we aregrateful for the opportunity to experience thesystems and support available in UK schools.”

Staff from CeSNER have been working with TheHong Kong Institute of Education and schools inHong Kong for several years. From 2007 – 2009Professor Richard Rose, Director of CeSNER, wasMarden Visiting Professor at the Institute and hasalso conducted joint research with them. Lecturersfrom CeSNER have provided training for teachingassistants across Hong Kong in collaboration withthe Institute.

Teachersfrom HongKong learnnew ideas atthe School of Education

This is the third consecutive occasion that the University has been awarded the highest inspection grade.

The report identified the key strengths of theUniversity as:

• excellent procedures to ensure that traineesfrom a diversity of backgrounds are selected on the basis of their potential to teach

• the good preparation of trainees to teach in a diverse society

• high quality training that inspires trainees to be successful teachers

• high expectations that are consistently sharedacross the partnership to ensure all traineessucceed

• the excellent clarity and cohesion of purposebetween centre - and school based training

• the outstanding quality of resources

• extremely innovative course leaders

Professor Ann Shelton-Mayes, Dean of the Schoolof Education, commented: “This is the third time insuccession that our Primary and Early Years InitialTeacher Training programmes have been judged‘outstanding’ by Ofsted.

“This is a wonderful achievement that reflects theprofessional commitment of all the University andpartner school staff who work in Initial TeacherTraining to develop our future teachers”.

The University of Northampton offers five routesto Qualified Teacher Status (QTS) – Primary andEarly Years at undergraduate and postgraduate leveland employment based route for Primary, EarlyYears and Secondary.

A team of inspectors carried out the week-longassessment in March 2010.

School of Education is‘Outstanding’ in Ofsted report

The University ofNorthampton’s School ofEducation was awarded‘Grade 1 - Outstanding’for its Teacher Trainingprovision in a recentOfsted inspection.



What links magnetic cars,marshmallow and pasta towers and Roman catapults? The answer is Spring Lane PrimarySchool’s Science and Engineering Fair.

This took place as part of The University ofNorthampton’s contribution to National Science andEngineering week in March. The aim of which is toinspire people to learn more about the wonders ofscience and technology.

The Year 2 trainee teacher Science Specialists from the School of Education’s BA (Hons) PrimaryEducation (QTS) course took up the challenge oforganising the event at Spring Lane. This involvedthem finding a range of activities that could makescience fun, excite the children and fire theirimaginations. Equally important was to ensure thatby the end of the afternoon the children were in aposition to share their excitement and new foundknowledge with their parents and carers.

Children learnt about forces and motion byexperimenting with a trebouchet, a Roman catapult,which was used to attack a formidable cardboardcastle. They quickly learnt how to alter the amountof force they applied in order to hit their target. Tohelp the children learn how magnetic forces work at

a distance, a track was laid out on top of a table, carswere placed on the starting line and were propelledto the finishing line by the ‘magic’ of magnetism.

The hall was buzzing. Children competed with eachother enthusiastically to build the highest towerfrom nothing more than dried spaghetti andmarshmallows. They learnt that certain shapes can bear more weight than others. Some of theresulting towers showed both ingenuity and flair but the ultimate target of reaching the ceiling was limited by the fact that the supply of marshmallows mysteriously dwindled as theafternoon progressed.

One set of experiments aimed at demonstrating theuse of energy stored in an elastic band as a meansof powering a boat had to be abandoned when thechildren’s enthusiasm outstripped the water table’scapacity to contain the water. Serious health andsafety consequences were avoided by the timelyintervention of a Senior Lecturer in ScienceEducation… with a mop and bucket.

Duncan McAlpine, Head of Spring Lane PrimarySchool commented:

‘The science Fair was a greatsuccess, and all of the childrenfrom Reception to Year 6 tookpart in the variety of highlymotivating and fun activitieswhich were planned andorganised by the students. At the end of the day thechildren were able to showtheir parents how to take partin the activities. We lookforward to repeating thisevent next year’.The children had a wonderful time ‘doing science’.They learnt about forces and motion, floating andsinking, aerodynamics and the strength of structuressuch as towers and bridges. It was particularlyencouraging to hear one grandmother say that shehad learnt more science from her grandson thatafternoon than she had ever learnt at school.

It was also very encouraging to hear from the Year 6teacher that some of the children still talked aboutthe Science Fair that last year’s Year 2 students hadorganised at the school. We now look forward tobuilding on our success with a similar event nextyear. These Science Fairs are an example of howclose links with local schools can be of benefit bothto our students and the children with whom theywork - a mutually enriching experience.



Kings Meadowwelcomes ourinternationalstudentsKings Meadow School invitedstudents from our MA internationalprogramme at the School ofEducation to join their celebration of the Chinese New Year.

This year saw Chinese students from the currentand previous years masters programme attendthe morning assembly and they gave the school a short presentation about China and Chinese New Year.

Later the students were divided into small groupsto do different activities with children and theirteachers in their classrooms. The groups took oncooking, Chinese character writing, how to usechop-sticks and traditional Chinese dancing.

The students did a lot of preparation for the day,regarding this kind of volunteering activity as anopportunity to learn about English educationsystem.

Zhao Yu commented:

“Before we went there we were worried about how to get in touch with children who presentbehavioural problems. But when we saw them and did activities with them, we realised that thechildren were lovely and smart. They were veryinterested in the activities. We all enjoyed beingwith them. We are looking forward to morechances like this to enrich our learning experiencesin the UK”.

Staff from Kaagvere School in Estonia learnt new approaches to teaching during a visit to The University of Northampton.

Four teachers from the school spent ten days inNorthamptonshire as part of a new project toimprove the social and emotional development of students in Estonia. The project is being run incollaboration with the Centre for Education andResearch (CeSNER) in the School of Education at The University of Northampton.

The visitors attended workshops at the University,and worked with local teachers and students.

Workshops explored the use of creative groupwork approaches, explored developing social andemotional aspects of learning, and included waysto integrate these approaches into the socialcurriculum of the school. These are newtechniques for schools in Estonia.

Kaagvere is a residential school for girls aged from 11-17 years old with emotional, social,behavioural or delinquency problems. The schoolreceived a grant of 750,000 Euros from theEuropean Union Social Fund in October 2009 to help them deliver more effective methods ofworking with these young people and to addresstheir difficulties.

Barry will be visiting Estonia in March with anumber of students that have volunteered to work in the school.

Barry Groom, Senior Lecturer with The Universityof Northampton's Centre, (CeSNER), has beenworking with the school for several years.

Barry Groom said:

''The University has developed very successful relationships

with several schools in Estonia.''

''We offer a range of advice and consultancy based on our

own experience of working with young people that have

challenging backgrounds.''

School of Education helpto develop new teachingskills in Estonia


Goodbye Joanna

Joanna started life as secondary teacher and came from Sheffield to teach in a NorthamptonSecondary middle school, Abington Vale High whichwith reorganisation became Abington Vale Middle.During the restructure of schools in the mid 1970s (moving from 2 to 3 tier), she wasoffered an opportunity of a secondment to do an advanced diploma in education. From there she applied for a job at Nene College (now The University of Northampton) and on October 1st 1979 started at Nene College.

Q:How has the School of Educationchanged over this time?

A:Geographically not much we were initiallybased in Sulgrave building, moved out to the Fawsley building and came back to Sulgrave.The school itself has expanded and diversified

considerably – in fact the whole institution has.When I first came here it was still predominately acollege of education and just beginning to go ontothe combined honours route. The institution wasalmost exclusively teacher training, in terms of theSchool of Education the staff has expanded, butbecause we have diversified, group sizes were muchsmaller, so the staff student ratio is much differentnowadays. There was much less postgraduate workback then, no masters and the work forceremodelling was not even thought of.

Q:How has your role evolved with it?

A:In the late 70s early 80s, Eric Ogilvie thethen Director of Nene College and anational figure in the education of the gifted andmore abled pupils had an internationally renowned

project based here to which I was appointed along with other people to carry on the that work. I did this for a number of years and then I began to work on the B.Ed (History), followed byresponsibility for humanities on the B.Ed. In thosedays the B.Ed was much larger than our currentundergraduate course is now, for a start it was a 4 year course.

I then went on to do a lot more school based work,including a research project on the PGCE, as after1993 the nature of the partnership with schoolschanged and schools were given a much greaterstatus. In the mid 90s I became PGCE course leaderand then became the head of Initial TeacherEducation (ITE) in 1997. This role in itself hasdeveloped significantly over the past 10 years as the pace of change in education has been really phenomenal.

Times are changing at the School of Education, while we welcome the new school build we have to say goodbye to a member of staff.Joanna Moxham who has inspired students and colleagues alike isleaving after 30 years.

Left to right: Dennis Parrot, Joanna Moxham & Mike Bell.




Q:You talk about the research you did with schools - how has yourrelationship with schools developed overthe years?

A:Obviously schools are always central to thisinstitution and the School of Education role– working with the next generation of teachers. Wehave always had good relationships with schools

and teachers, but in the 90s the nature of that relationship changed in so far as becamemore formalised with the shift towards sharedresponsibility and the need to assure quality. Roles and responsibilities were specifically laid out,money changed hands for the first time with thetransfer of funding to the schools for them toundertake formal mentoring responsibilities.

Q:Moving on from education are thereany funny memories you would like

to tell us about?

A:With a smile Joanna answers “Yes there arebut not many I can mention!”

I remember once I was sent to the train station topick up 2 senior figures in the world of education.One of them got into the back of my car and triedto strap themselves in without success – then I

realised the baby straps were still on – I politelytold him they will not fit you and to try the adult straps.

Another time back in the days when it wascommon place to give alcohol to visiting people ofsignificance. After lunch the ‘person of significance’fell asleep during the meeting - it would have notbeen so bad but there were only 3 of us.

On another occasion I was visiting WorcesterCollege of Higher Education and ended up drivingdown a pedestrian high street in the centre ofWorcester and stopping asking for directions.

Q:Those who know you, know of yourpassion for everything Italian!

An image did pop in my head of Joanna driving aFerrari, drinking Chianti (not at the same timemight I add), listening to Pavarotti and a follower of Valentino Rossi.

A:Well not everything Joanna replied! I love the language, food, wine and thecountryside. I think it is quite a diverse country and very interesting especially the British schools.But I would not live there, not for the time being anyway.

Q:What will you remember the most?

A:It is a cliché – but it is the people, it iseverybody, it is the students, the staffparticularly the staff in the School of Education.The institution generally is kind, helpful andsensitive to people’s needs. That is very much now as it has ever been.

With all the changes of staff and students there is a consistency about peoples high level ofcommitment, kindness and general optimism –even in adversity. That’s what I’ll remember thatI’ve been really lucky to have worked with thesepeople – from administrators, library staff to thestaff in the post room.

Also over the years I have seen a number oftrainees become teachers, headteachers – thatgives you a sense of satisfaction and that gives you hope for the future.

Q:Any words of wisdom/advice for thenext head of ITE here at the school?

A:Joanna laughs – keep a sense of humourand optimism. If you don’t do that you’relost – but you need that in teaching anyway.

We said goodbye to Joanna in May, after 31 yearswith us. Many fond memories were shared by anumber of friends, colleagues, students and formerstudents some of which are now headteachers.

Thank you Joanna for all that youhave provided us over the years;you will be missed.

Over the years I have seen a number of traineesbecome teachers, headteachers – that gives you a sense of satisfaction and that gives you hope for the future.


Fairfields was built in the 1920s as an ‘Open Air’school. In those days it was felt that children withproblems such as asthma or TB should be out inthe fresh air as much as possible and so at theschool all lessons were conducted outside. Theschool photographs show of rows of canvas bedslined up in the courtyard where children took theirafternoon nap, regardless of the weather! Theverandas and enclosed courtyards around theschool are architectural relics of those days. Sincethen Fairfields has evolved in keeping with everchanging Government legislation on Special Needs.

Fairfields aims to achieve a high level of pupilprogress and the best possible independence skills.

The school strives to achieve this by setting highstandards, expectations and individual targets andby working closely with parents.

In February 2009 Fairfields was deemedoutstanding by Ofsted. The inspectors report said“Fairfields School is an outstandingly effectiveschool. It provides a stimulating, supportive andpositive learning environment for its pupils, whichenables them to make outstanding progress. Theteamwork of the governing body, teachers andsupport staff is superb and is focused onencouraging pupils to thrive”.


A Portrait of Fairfields Special School

Fairfields school is an 80 place primary special school takingchildren with severe or profound learning difficulties,communication and physical difficulties, between 3 and 11years of age. Some children may also have multi-sensoryimpairment and / or complex medical difficulties. The schoolis situated in large well maintained grounds close to thecentre of Northampton. Its catchment area coversNorthampton and the South and West of the County.

Profile: Corallie MurrayI worked in Special Education shortly afterqualifying as a teacher a long time ago! I startedmy career teaching in a day school in Leicesterattached to a mental hospital in the days whenyoung children with severe learning difficultieslived on locked wards in these hospitals. Every daynurses would bring the children over to the schoolfor the morning, collect them to go back to theward for lunch and return them to school for theafternoon. It was often the only time the childrenleft the ward. It seems such archaic practice but itwas only 25 years ago. Since then I have worked in day and residential settings for children withmoderate and severe learning difficulties and in aresidential school for young people with moderatelearning difficulties and emotional and behaviouraldifficulties. I became deputy headteacher ofNorthgate School in Northampton in 1996 andhave been headteacher at Fairfields since 2001. I can honestly say I have enjoyed every moment of my career and consider it a privilege to haveworked with the children I have met along theway. Whilst working in Leicester I did my Mastersdegree in Special Education at Leicester Universityand am now near to completing my PhD at TheUniversity of Northampton under the guidance ofProfessor Richard Rose.


Q:What does Fairfields offer in termsof facilities and the curriculum?

A:We offer a wide range of facilities and resources at Fairfields but our finest resourceis undoubtedly our staff. We employ 90 people in avariety of roles that support our children and theircommitment, dedication, and to our children, andtheir pride in their role as educators, never ceases toamaze me. They are the reason Ofsted has twiceconsidered us to be Outstanding in every category.They are a very special group of people.

Our facilities include a hydrotherapy pool, sensoryand soft play areas, physiotherapy and music roomsand lots of well equipped, specially adapted outdoorplay areas. In terms of therapies we have speech andlanguage therapists, physiotherapists, a full timeschool nurse and a wonderful music therapist whoworks with children on an individual basis.

We are unique within the county in that our day today work with our young children is centred aroundthe principles of Conductive Education. This wasdeveloped in the 1950s in Hungary by Dr. AndrasPeto and focuses on helping children to developtheir physical skills. We employ two Hungarian‘conductors’ trained at the Peto Institute in Hungaryand send staff there annually to update and refreshtheir skills. Sessions for different groups of childrenrun two or three times a day within school and thechildren work 1 to 1 with the same staff member as much as possible to develop continuity and atrusting relationship. We also encourage parents to come and work with their children to learn andunderstand Conductive Education and to continue to use these techniques within the home setting. We also run sessions for pre school children andtheir parents.

We follow the National Curriculum modified tomeet the needs of our children and enhance thiswith our sensory and experiential curriculum whichenables us to differentiate activities to suit theparticular learning styles of groups of children.

Corallie is currently researching for her PhD at themanagement of change within a Local Authority(comparison) of SEN.

Q:What impact has your study hadupon you and the work of theschool?

A: I have really enjoyed researching my PhD which is based on a comparative study ofthe leadership of major educational reform in twolocal authorities. It is hard to combine running abusy school with finding the time to study but Ihave found it quite therapeutic and because it is anarea of great interest to me it doesn’t feel like hardwork. I have been particularly interested in howeducational leaders approach change and the impactthis subsequently has on the overall process. As aconsequence I think my own practice in leadingchange has altered slightly in light of what I haveconcluded from my research and I think ourleadership team now spend more time preparing for change prior to initiating it!

Q:How does this relate to theoutreach role of the special school?

A: Government legislation and the development of local authority initiativessuch as the Northamptonshire Inclusion Partnershipmean that special school staff will be spending moretime in mainstream settings working with theircolleagues. The aim of the partnership is to increasecollaboration and share practice between special andmainstream settings and as a result the roles ofspecial school staff will change and furtherengagement with stakeholders will help define moreclearly what that role should be.

Q:How has your work benefitted or is likely to benefit the authority?

A:Northamptonshire is one of the authorities used in the comparative study and one ofthe main observations is the extent to which itconsulted with stakeholders and prepared for thechanges and the impact this had on the outcomesof the reform. There are some important factors that would be useful for consideration beforeimplementing major change again and these formthe basis of the conclusions and recommendationsof the research. One of the most interesting featuresof the study was that the authority who researchedhow similar reform had been carried out in otherareas led a much more successful review.

Q:What have you learnt about themanagement of change in generaland specifically in relation to SEN?

A: I think my research has consolidated some of my theories about change as a processand its impact on different stakeholders. It is suchan emotive experience for some and the sameprinciples apply in all settings. One of the leadersof the two local authorities I researched had beenan educational psychologist and used his obviousknowledge of human motivation and reward theoryto lead his staff through a very successful majoreducational review. The most important feature of change leadership has to be ownership –disempowerment often leads to resentment andresistance. The other piece of reform used in thecomparison.

Q:How do you perceive the future for the changing roles andmanagement of special schools?

A: I have always believed there is a role for special schools in the education system and

although this role changes with governments I thinkthere will always be children whose educationalneeds can best be met by the provision specialschools offer. I was heartened when BaronessWarnock said the same four years ago. I think ouroutreach role could further develop so that there aremore opportunities to support pupils and colleaguesin mainstream in a more cohesive way.

Q:What relationship does the haveSchool have with the University andwhat opportunities are available?

A:We have a very effective relationship with the university and take students onplacement from a variety of disciplines. We havePGCE and Early Years students on teaching practicewith us and occupational therapy and social workstudents on placement with us. As an Investors inPeople school we are committed to the personaldevelopment of our staff and they are encouragedto access some of the excellent courses run by theuniversity. As a result we have staff who are nowHLTAs and others who have undertaken training inautism, speech and language therapy and in workingwith pupils with severe learning difficulties. Two ofour staff are also in their second year of aFoundation degree with the university. We have alsofurther developed our international links as a resultof our collaboration with the university and hostvisits from overseas groups of teacher andheadteachers at the request of the university. A visit from a group of Indian teachers from Kerelahas resulted in us developing a link with their schooland our fundraising activities over the last year haveenabled the school to employ three learning supportassistants to work with children with autism. In October two of our staff are going to work at the school to help train these support assistants to better carry out their role. We also have links with schools in Uganda and Thailand and are nowsearching for a European link.


Interview with the Headteacher, Corallie Murray



Research in School of Education

RiSE

John was interviewed at The University ofNorthampton for a series of filmed interviews for awebsite resource for trainee teachers, teachers andmentors ‘Behaviour4Learning’.

Q:What advice would you give to newteachers?

A:Try to maintain your thinking brain. AnAmerican analyst, William Glasser, has agreat phrase that he uses about the classroom. He teaches the students the art of looking on. When something’s going wrong, look at it, and askyourself the question, how did I get here, and what’sthe route out? You’re trying all the time to maintainyour analytic brain. We can’t always change ourbehaviour on the spot, but the great single truthabout the classroom, is that the most importantinfluence in the classroom is the behaviour andactivities of the teacher, of us. And so we need tomaintain our analytic brain as far as we possibly can, because we’re the only thing that we can reallychange. We can’t change the students directly, wecan only change ourselves. We need to hang on tothat truth. And I guess the thing to avoid is the flipside of that, especially when we start teaching. We’re going to be assaulted by all sorts of primitiveinstincts. There’ll be children we don’t like, there’ll be children we think are humiliating us, there’ll bechildren we think are just impossible to get throughto. We’re not going to feel that way in six monthstime, or a year’s time, we’ll know them, we’llunderstand how they tick. We’ll have affection forchildren who might have driven us mad initially.

So we’ll feel those primitive emotions aboutchildren, but I guess the two bits of advice stringtogether. We’ve got to know and recognize thoseprimitive feelings, but we have to remember that it’sus that determines what happens in the classroom,and in fact it’s us that’s largely determining thebehaviour that the children manifest towards us in the classroom.

Q:Have you any advice on managingbehaviour?

A:Once we have a framework, we have to operationalise it. And when we’reoperationalising it, we’re talking a lot about teacherbehaviour. In fact we’re beginning to talk aboutassertiveness. Let me tell you a story, I learned thisfrom Lee Canter, who was the guy who co-defined a certain discipline. He said, that when he doesmentoring, he can get any class to behave withinabout five minutes by following this method. Heexplains to the teacher his mentoring, he uses asignaling system.

If he holds up one finger, it means you haven’t made your expectations clear. The children don’treally know what it is you want. You haven’t toldthem clearly enough and you haven’t checked forunderstanding, so you need to tell them again. If he holds up two fingers, it means, they know whatyou want to do, and some of them are doing it, andyou’re not letting them know that you’ve done theright thing. You have to praise them for it; you haveto acknowledge the appropriate behaviour. You’re

just standing there like a dummy, you’re not saying,‘great, well done, Philip, you’ve got your bookopened at page 76, that’s what I’m looking for’.When he holds up three fingers, it means there aresome children floating off task, and you need to getthem back on task. It doesn’t mean go and screamat them, it means go over there and say ‘ladies andgentlemen, we’re working through page 54 of ourgeography book, I see you’re not doing that, do youneed any further help and support getting back ontothe task’. And then when he holds up four fingers, it means you’ve threatened a sanction, and now it’stime to give it out. Don’t be one of those peoplewho’s forever saying, ‘you made a poor choice, if Ihave to talk to you one more time, I’m going to seeyou after the lesson’. If you’ve told them you’regoing to see them after the lesson, if you have tospeak to them again and they’re still mucking about,go and do it.

What’s interesting about that story is that byworking in a classroom in that way, you can changethe adults’ behaviour, and the minute the adults’behaviour changes, the childrens’ behaviour changesquickly. And I’ve got to say, I’ve tried it and it worksvery well. So what we get from that overallframework is a much clearer way, that helps us tothink and analyse our behaviour in the classroom. So if you’re having trouble in a classroom, are youclear enough in your expectations, are you beingrewarding enough, are you redirecting the childrenwho are off task, are you being tough enough, areyou being firm enough and once you’ve laid outyour ground, are you sticking to it.

A conversation with John BayleyJohn Bayley is best known for featuring in more than sixtyprograms in the regular spot “Teaching with Bayley” onTeachers TV. He is an experienced teacher and a skilledmentor. Ofsted described his leadership of the LearningSupport Service & Pupil Referral Unit in Southwark as"outstanding". John has also led school improvementprogrammes in hundreds of schools and colleges.



One more thing I want to pop in there about adultbehaviour, which I think is the best single piece ofadvice I can give about behaviour management, inany classroom, anywhere, is go out and buy yourselfa small digital voice recorder, they’re about the sizeof a mobile phone, I think they cost about £30 thesedays. Go and buy one, stick the batteries in, stick in your breast pocket and then teach for an hour.You may want to pass the off license on your wayhome in the evening, because the next thing youneed to do is listen to yourself for an hour. Ortwenty minutes if you’re feeling a bit faint hearted.And listen to yourself. Are your directions clear, areyou being sufficiently rewarding, are you redirectingchildren who are off task, and do you follow upwhen you’ve issued warnings. That’s more or lessbehaviour in a nutshell.

Q: If you’re establishing yourself tostart off within a school, what wouldyou recommend to a new teacher?

A:There are three things I’d like to talk about.First of all I’d like to talk a little bit about the stress of the job. Teaching nowadays is a verystressful high level professional occupation. I’ve donesome work with Sara Bable, I’ve listened to hertraining new teachers, and she talks about arriving at a school in September full of optimism, ready torock, and then falling in a curve down to Decemberwhere you feel awful and decide whether or not youwant to stay in the profession, and then your level ofoptimism picks up again from January onwards andrises. And I think that in that initial collapse of

optimism, that people quite often experience, thereare two things going on. One is, as we get better atthe job, we get more discriminating, so we feel ourfailures more than we did initially and it takes thatfirst half term to stabilize the repertoire.

And the second thing that’s going on is just gettingused to giving your life away, especially in that firstyear of teaching. You often don’t sleep properly, youwake up early in the morning to plan. Every lesson’sa challenge. We have to surrender the life that wehad, so paying attention to sleep, self maintenance,looking after yourself, try not to go out drinking inthe middle of the week, all that kind of stuff is vitally important.

So the first thing is, look after yourself, and makesure you have someone to share your problems anddifficulties with. I think the second thing is to haveworked out a routine, for how you’re going tointroduce yourself to children.

I was involved in making an interesting set ofprogrammes recently. We got hold of a set ofexperienced teachers, working at the beginning ofthe year who hadn’t met before and who didn’tknow the children. So that, how they worked withthose classes was not at all due to their ascriptiveauthority in the school, it was just to do with thetechnique that they used. And what we noticedabout those teachers was they were absolutelyprepared to the eyeballs, they had their seating planworked out, they had their initial set of expectationsthat they had to explain to the children, worked out

in detail. They had the lesson planned minute byminute, so after having got the seating plan right,and then done their expectations, immediatelythere’d be a mystery problem for the children tosolve, so they would get engaged in that, and thenthere would be some immediate feedback. So what I learned from watching those adults, was that theywere meticulously planned, and they had a reallyclear set of expectations.

The third thing that I would do, is make sure I had areally strong grasp of what the school’s policies andprocedures are. It’s very difficult to fly alone. Everynow and then you get someone who arrives in theclassroom and can do it all for themselves. But Ithink understand the kind of support that you canget from your colleagues in the classroom. Whetheryou have a closed door or an open door policy. All of those things are enormously important.

The full interview will be available onBehaviour4Learning’s YouTube channellater this summer(www.youtube.com/behaviour4learning).




ProjectIrisResearchers from TheUniversity of Northampton’sCentre for Education andResearch (CeSNER) arecurrently working on a three-year study of specialand inclusive education in Ireland.

Project IRIS (Inclusive Research in Irish Schools)will explore the way in which support servicesand resources are used by primary, post-primaryand special schools, and how the curriculum isdelivered to those with special educational needs.

Professor Richard Rose and Mary Doveston areworking with colleagues from Trinity College,Dublin, and the Institute of Child Education and Psychology Europe on the project, which is funded by the National Council for SpecialEducation in Ireland.

The project is looking at all aspects of special and inclusive education through a nationalsurvey, interviews, focus groups with key serviceusers and providers, and the construction of case studies in a sample of schools.

This project, the largest ever funded in Ireland,builds upon a long established partnershipbetween researchers from Northampton andDublin. Details of the project can be found atwww.projectiris.org

What kind of work have you done with The University ofNorthampton?Richard Rose and I began working together on a project for the Irish Disability Authority, whichresulted in a book called ‘Encouraging Voices’ –about pupil participation. Currently we arecollaborating on Project IRIS, a study of special and inclusive education in Ireland.

What kind of outputs have you seenon the research?There have been a number of conferencepresentations, published papers in internationaljournals and chapters in books. Richard and Ihave also joint authored a book which is due to be published in May.

What are the advantages of workingin partnership with The Universityof Northampton?The key advantage is that no matter what youbring to the party, there is a lot coming back. It’s a reciprocal relationship and you find outwhat informs your colleagues, which is veryencouraging. In academia there is an over-emphasis on the individual, as the expert or the star. In education, we learn an enormousamount from each other. I feel the advantagelies in working with like-minded people,exploring issues, developing differentperspectives and then bringing that expertise to the forefront.

RiSEcontinued...

Interview with Michael Shevlin

Senior Lecturer in Special Education at Trinity College, Dublin



An essential part of this collaboration has been to support Estonian EBD schools in extending theirskills and experiences in supporting the personal and social development of young people. CeSNERhave provided schools with a range of supportiveprofessional activities including training seminars,research partnerships, exchanges and thedevelopment of practice based initiatives.

Successful practice related to education for young people with EBD, across internationalcontexts, indicates that the school curriculum should include activities that promote social and emotional aspects of learning. This providesstudents with positive experiences that help buildindependent lives.

One school to have benefitted is Kaagvere School inTartu, a school for girls with a range of psychological,social, emotional and behavioural difficulties.

In 2009 the school was awarded funding from the European Social Fund to support a focusedprofessional development and training programmefor its staff and develop their social educationalcurriculum to include innovative approaches thatengage students in a range of activities promotingself-esteem, co-operative working and creative expression.

Barry Groom, Senior Lecturer with CeSNER, has beenworking with the school for several years. He hashelped to support the introduction of creative groupwork which provides students with a safe structureto build self-esteem and friendship; promote co-operation and trust; consider issues such asconflict resolution, resilience building and angermanagement; and to develop emotional expressionand understanding.

A range of pro-social skills are developed throughthe activities that focus, through creative expression,on issues that impact on the students’ lives andexperiences. The group process providesopportunities for students to work throughdifficulties and tensions as well as experience group cohesion, emotional security and trust.

The collaboration is due to continue until September2011. CeSNER will lead on providing advice onappropriate social curriculum activities related to thestudents’ social and emotional learning; supporting

the school in the development of strategies toembed approaches within professional practice; andundertaking professional development and traininginitiatives with staff.

Four teachers from Kaagvere school recently spentten days in Northamptonshire, and Barry will bevisiting Estonia in March with a number of studentsfrom The University of Northampton who havevolunteered to work in the school.

Staff from The University of Northampton’s Centre for Education and Research(CeSNER) have been working with colleagues at the University of Tartu and theUniversity of Tallinn in Estonia, in the research and development of provision and practice for young people with Emotional and Behavioural Difficulties (EBD)since 2001.

Supporting personal and socialdevelopment in Estonia

Kaagvere School



PhD success

Mary originally came to Northampton to study forthe MA Education. On completion of this degree shedecided to stay here to develop her research for aDoctorate. She received her PhD at the graduationceremony at Northampton’s The Derngate Theatrein February 2010.

Her thesis explored Chinese teachers’ understandingof special educational needs and their responses tothe need to increase their skills and responsibilities inaddressing the requirements of such pupils. This is arelatively new research area in China and Mary’s

work makes an important contribution to ourunderstanding of the subject within this context.

During her time at The University of Northampton,Mary worked alongside researchers on severalprojects, including research into extended services in schools.

She has published papers in several academicjournals and currently has a contract to write a book based upon her thesis.

At the School of Education we are proud of thesuccesses of our Doctoral students. Dr Mary Feng is just one example of the outstanding quality ofstudents we see.


RiSEcontinued...

Research student conference

The theme of the conference is ‘Researchinglearning; learning to research’. It featured paperspresented by research students from both TheUniversity of Northampton and other universities,and a series of poster presentations by Doctoralstudent supervisors.

After the presentations – a panel including ProfessorPhilip Garner and Professor Richard Rose, both fromthe School of Education, and External PhD

Supervisor and Visiting Professor Roy Evans – gavefeedback on the presentations.

The keynote address was given by Dr Jo-AnneDillabough, a Canadian researcher currently workingat the University of Cambridge, whose work hasfocused on cross-national social and culturalexclusions, particularly in cities. Professor AnnShelton Mayes, Dean of the School of Education,opened the day’s events.

Conference attendees commented:

"Brilliant opportunity - thanks so much. Let's do it again!""Great event - I look forward to the next one. Well done to the organisers."

In May research students from the School of Education hosted a conference at The University of Northampton for fellow research students, supervisors and MA students who wish to learn more about PhD research.

For details of other research projects at the Schoolof Education, please visit the school’s web pagesat www.northampton.ac.uk/education


Are you a Teaching Assistant, Cover Supervisor, Unqualified Teacher or Learning Mentor?

Foundation Degree in Learning and Teaching

New Venue: University Centre Milton Keynes

The FDLT also provides the opportunity to prepare for assessment against the Higher Level Teaching Assistant standards and to progress to an honours degree and possible Qualified Teacher Status,

for example via the employment-based Graduate Teacher Programme. If you have already gained HLTA status you qualify for module exemption.

Start date: September 2010 Location: University Centre Milton KeynesOther venues include: The University of Northampton, Park Campus and Beauchamp College, Leicestershire

Duration: 2 years full time (1 day per week, linked workplace learning)About the course: www.northampton.ac.uk/teachingassistants

For an application form, please contact Justine Edwards, Admissions Co-ordinator

telephone: 01604 892203 email: [email protected]

The course is designed for teaching assistants, learning support staff and unqualified teachers who are working in an education setting and who wish to gain a recognised

qualification to support their work practice and career aspirations.

TDA Endorsed

The TDA / fdf Institutional Endorsement process has identified that the Foundation Degree in Learning and Teaching meets the national requirements for qualifications for the Children and Young People's Workforce.

For further information please visit www.tda.gov.uk


The School of Education isbuilding upon its success

A remodelling of the School’s Sulgrave building will develop a ‘state-of-the art’ learning space and several social learningspaces. These new spaces will serve Initial Teacher Training,Early Years, the Children’s Workforce and the Wider Schools’Workforce. In addition, there will be a new extension to thebuilding which will create a new entrance and reception,display, exhibition and event space.

The quality of Learning and Teaching space was givenparticular importance given the need to model ‘best practice’in professional development programmes and to matchprofessional expectations in the context of the 21st CenturySchools Building programme. The Student AdministrativeTeams will also be co-located to enhance effective studentsupport and working with academic teams.

The building is set to increase the research capacityincorporating the School’s Approved Research Centre(CeSNER) to channel staff activity and the growing numbersof Doctoral students. This is a response to the Schoolsinternational reputation in special needs education andinclusion.

In total the remodelling and expansion will double in size thefacilities available totalling a project investment of £3.8m.

A major expansion of the School of Education starts this summer.The School has successfully grown year-on-year in terms ofstudent numbers, professional courses and research. This majorinvestment by The University of Northampton will maintain theschool’s current position as a nationally recognised outstandingprovider in education.




Dyslexia and literacy difficulties:

Is every child a reader in your school?

Do you have a specialist teacher of dyslexia in your school?

Previous government targets suggest that providing a trained

specialist teacher in every school can help you meet the needs of all

the children in your school with literacy difficulties. OCR Level 5

gives accredited specialist teacher status. OCR Level 7 participants

are fully trained to administer standardised tests and write

diagnostic dyslexia reports and reports for access arrangements.

Debby Andrews, newly qualified specialist teacher for learners with dyslexia

Making a difference to your school

Debby Andrews talks about her experiences on the course: I have always been passionate aboutteaching children to read which is probably why Ihave taught for 20+ years in an Infant/Key Stage 1classroom. I decided to do the OCR course so that I would be in a better position to help children whowere really struggling to make sense of print. I alsowanted to be able to assess children for dyslexiaboth within my school and, looking to the future,on a private basis.


OCR Certificates and Diploma programme

For further information please contact Charlotte Stewart

email [email protected] or telephone 01604 892651

www.northampton.ac.uk/education

Train to be a Specialist Teacher and Assessor of Learners with Dyslexia

Studying again

I wasn’t sure about studying again initially – it hadbeen 20+ years since I last wrote an essay! But Ineedn’t have worried. I thoroughly enjoyed everymoment of Year 1 – in fact, it was great to studyagain and I wasn’t as rusty as I thought I would be! I suppose studying is a bit like riding a bike, younever forget.

OCR’s impact on my practice

I teach in a small village primary school with justless than 100 children on roll. I have been theSENCO since I joined the school in 2000 but myrole has been to co-ordinate rather than to teachchildren with special educational needs. However,this year, the head felt that because of my OCRtraining, it would be sensible for me to actuallyteach children with reading and spelling difficulties.I therefore have the luxury of being out of the classand working with individual children/small groupsputting into practise all I have learnt over the lastyear. What a privilege! I am working with childrenwith dyslexia, children with reading and spellingdifficulties (as yet undiagnosed) and boostergroups. We are only 4 weeks into term and alreadythere are small success stories. My only problem is

sleeping – my enthusiasm is keeping me awake atnight. New ideas for inspiring children are great butI wish they’d stick to daylight hours!

The future

I am looking forward to what promises to be anexciting, challenging Year 2. I then want to go onand finish my Masters in Education – my thirst forstudy has been rekindled!




Q:Did you always want to become a teacher?

A: No, the recession made me. So quipped a TimesEducation Supplement reader in answer to therecent survey question. And, while the responsemight not win interview points, it does contain a stark truth. Teaching has long been a femaledominated profession; last year men accounted for just 13 per cent of staff.

The credit crunch, it seems, is changing that. Rising levels of unemployment have coincided with soaring male applicants to primary schools,shifting the current landscape of education.

The last year has seen a 52 per cent surge in male primary applicants, according to the TrainingDevelopment Agency. Paul Spitere, 27, is a PGCEstudent at The University of Northampton.Originally from Cork, Paul took voluntaryredundancy from his banking job last year to take up a career that had always been in the back of his mind.

“Going into teaching was a conscience-led decision,”he recalls. “The idea of making a difference inpeople’s lives appealed to me. The idea that you canreally impact children’s lives quite profoundly, andgive them the education they deserve, is a real pull.”

The number of male teaching students at the university is slowly on the up, says Paul. The shortage of male primary and nursery teachers has often been put down to the“nurturing” nature of working with young children; a role seen as stereotypically female. And in a society rattled by fears of paedophilia and a profession plagued by both myths andrealities of career-wrecking accusations – steering clear of young children is viewed at times as a safer option.

Rising unemployment has seen a surge in maleapplicants hoping to enter education

He was a bankerbut now he’s aschool teacher...



During the PGCE course however, which involves ayear’s intensive teacher training, and includes schoolplacements and theory work, students can be placedat any school, with any age group. For a time, Paulfound himself in a nursery. Despite enjoying theexperience, and being well-received by parents,colleagues and children, he admits being a man in anearly learning context can prove too uncomfortablein today’s society. “Today, as a man working aroundtoddlers, you can’t help thinking that people arejudging you,” he says. “There is a chronic shortage of male nursery teachers. It’s roughly one per cent.And it is a shame.

But, personally, I wouldn’t want to put myself at riskbeing in that environment. It’s not worth it.” Thereality, however, is that the vast majority of parentsand schools welcome a male presence in education.

When family breakdown and absentee fathers are a norm, male teachers can provide a positive rolemodel, and someone to talk to, for young boys.

Paul says: “Parents have received me really well. They said it was great to have a male teacher, and one said her daughter absolutely loved me!That’s a nice boost. It did me a lot of good.”

Now nearing the end of his year, he reflects back. “I found it very difficult for the first couple ofweeks. The course is very intensive but in a way I was complacent about it at first. I’m naturallyconfident. You actually have to work extremelyhard – you can be planning until midnight or 1amfor a single lesson. “In terms of the job, yes theholiday’s good, but the hours are hard – you’reworking 50 or 60 hours a week, and you certainlydon’t leave the school by 3.30pm. Most teachers I know don’t actually finish until at least 7pm.”

He adds: “I’m looking forward to getting started,but there’s a touch of apprehension. The PGCE goes

so quickly, it’s a whirlwind. I’ve wondered if I’ll beready to take up a post when it ends. But a teachertold me every teacher feels like a fraud for the firstfive years. That resonates for me. There are timeswhen I feel like I’m going to be ‘found out’ – I feelsometimes like I’m no more qualified to teach thana parent. “But I think, even if you were to train foranother five years, you still wouldn’t be any moreready. Sometimes you have to jump in and seewhat happens – that’s my attitude to life generally,and that helps.

“There’s no doubt in my mind that this is what I’msupposed to be doing.

It just fits. And it definitely isn’t a job you can dohalfheartedly.” It is, he says, a job he loves. But hisfears are very real. In a target based, results-drivensystem, he worries his love of teaching will beeventually be lost under a pile of paperwork. It iswhere, he says, the UK education system could learn something from its Irish counterpart – asystem in which a more flexible, teacher-ledcurriculum still reigns.

“Being dumped with paperwork does take awayfrom the education you can provide. And I do fear that my natural enthusiasm for the job willeventually be beaten down. One teacher I spoke totold me, ‘I’m a worse teacher than when I started,but I’m a better planner.’ And that made her sad.”He goes on: “I like to bring a sense of fun to school.I want students to enjoy learning. Because if theyenjoy it, they throw themselves into it more. I don’t just want them to be there because theyhave to be – I want them to want to be.

And I certainly don’t want them to be aware of thebureaucracy in education.”

He laughs as he recalls one particularly memorablelesson. “It’s a science experiment where you mixthese mint sweets and a coke drink. It explodedand soared to the ceiling in a fountain. They wentmad for it, they absolutely loved it.

And, hopefully – they’ll remember it. For my part, I still light up when I think back on it.”

This article was first published in the Northampton Chronicle & Echo, Tuesday, April 20, 2010www.northamptonchron.co.uk

Paul Spitere, 27, is a PGCEstudent at The University ofNorthampton. Paul took

voluntary redundancy from hisbanking job last year to take upa career that had always been

in the back of his mind.

“Parents have received me really well. They said it was great to have a male teacher, and one saidher daughter absolutelyloved me! That’s a niceboost. It did me a lot of good.”



From Still Photographs toMovies using Photostory

Here on our teacher training courses we encouragethe use of movie making as an educational toolwhile at the same time teaching the skills ofstoryboarding and editing. It constantly amazes mehow quickly students learn to manipulate visualimages using software such as Windows MovieMaker and iMovie. And how, increasingly really quiteyoung school children come to grips with the newmedia. Much of this work involves the use of videocameras but it is possible to produce movie likeexperiences using still photographs using a free

download called PHOTOSTORY 3 (with version 4available for Vista, see panel for the download site).

This software is perfect for replaying thephotographs taken on a school trip or visit. Likewiseall children’s art work, both 3D and 2D can berecorded and transformed into an engaging moviepresentation. Wherever school work can benefit fromphotographs then Photostory can be used to turn aphoto album into a movie which can be shown viaPowerPoint or in Windows Movie Player.

A collection of still images is shown sequentially by Photostory with associated labels, commentary,pans and zooms and even music. It will always provedifficult to illustrate the power of a movie via awritten article and a full tutorial is available from the site in the panel. But making a movie out of still using Photostory is a story in five chapters.

First there was film and then there were films. In America the film that movedbecame known as a movie and for a long time a difference in terminology wastolerated. The Americans made movies and went to the movies to see them.In the UK we made films and went to the pictures to watch them. But thingshave moved on and we no longer visit the pictures and no longer use film andso, thanks to the dominance of the United States in the computer market, newtechnologies encourage us to make movies.




Chapter One:Import your picturesOnce you have chosen whether to start a new story or edit anexisting one, Photostory will need to know which images you areusing in the presentation. We encourage our students to use theirown photos and the same could be true for pupils, although itcertainly possible to use images from the web, copyright permitting.Once they have been imported they can be re-ordered, added to or deleted. It’s here that the first artistic considerations need to beexercised while thinking about how the final story will look. It’s alsopossible to make changes to the pictures as well, if necessary.

Chapter Two:Adding titlesIt’s possible to label or title all the images in the story, but providingtitles on the first slide is probably essential. By default the titlesappear in black in the centre of the slide but both the position andcolour, along with the font and style are easily changed. It’s good funadding credits to the final slide as well. These titles can also be usedto tell the story, but there are other ways.

Chapter Three: Making the pictures move and adding a commentaryThis is the most creative of the chapters. Each photo will be shownsequentially by the software. At this point you can decide how long eachimage is on the screen and how the camera will pan or zoom across theimage. This effect is known as the Ken Burns effect and it’s what makesthis style of presentation much more engaging than PowerPoint, forexample. Photostory will do all this automatically if you wish but it’sgreat fun choosing to do your own and it helps the author toconcentrate the eye of the viewer on the most important parts of the story or picture.

At this point too you can add a narration. There is a record button builtin, so if the computer is equipped with microphone a commentary canbe added to any or all slides.

The next button takes you to...

The next button takes you to...

The next button takes you to...(overleaf)



Chapter Four: Adding musicThis can really bring the story to life. One of the things that make thisprogram so accessible is that it is capable of producing many featuresautomatically, while at the same time allowing the user to override itsdecisions. The adding of music is an example of this. There is a built-inmusic generator that will provide original and entertaining music whenyou select options such as the tempo and mood and style. Alternativelymusic can be imported from other sources. Either way music adds areally professional touch to the show.

Then finally to...

Chapter Five: Creating a MovieUp to now we have been working on a project and now is the timeto make it into a movie. We mostly use the movies on their own orwithin PowerPoint but because the movie is presented in .wmvformat, it’s possible to upload to YouTube as well if a larger or moredistant audience is anticipated.

Before chapter five it is always possible to go back and change anyaspect of the presentation. The order, titles, motion, narration andmusic can all be changed. In fact this is one of the best features ofcomputers for artistic work. Having a go and testing the outputbefore going back to make things even better is both powerful and motivating.

If you are looking to enhance you pupils experienceof trips, assemblies, art or even ICT, Photostory iswell worth a look. On a personal note I’ve found thattransferring digital photos to a movie is a good wayof remembering and celebrating important familyoccasions too, and the movie on CD makes a finethank you present.

Good luck



Photostory 3ResourcesThe program itself can be downloaded from http://tinyurl.com/uonpsdownload

A YouTube tutorial is available athttp://tinyurl.com/uonphotostory

Another tutorial presented and an example movie is available at http://tinyurl.com/UonPSExample


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Education Inspire magazine Issue04

Education

Transcript of Education Inspire magazine Issue04