Mumsnet Learning - what do you think and what next?

[GeraldineMumsnet]

Hello, we've been publishing MN Learning articles from Pearson since May and covered a range of educational topics and themes. Plus, each month has had free, linked activities to play with your children.

Now we've almost reached the end of the year, Pearson (and MNHQ) would love to get your thoughts on the articles and free content - and also what you might like to see us produce in 2012.

Thank you.

PS We'll be publishing some Christmassy activities on Thursday.

I'm afraid that Pearson is just a teensy bit discredited at the moment when it comes to educational standards

Hi Pearson & Mumsnet:

There are several issues that keep cropping up and would help Mum's everywhere in UK to understand what is going on:

1. Explanation of reading bands - not just explaining what age these bands are for but what this equates to on SAT levels KS1/ KS2. Also useful to have an explanation of what differentiates levels on purple or gold band for example - and equating colour bands from different publishers - e.g. ORT vs. Big Cat.

2. Useful to have an up to date recommendation of books at various reading levels - useful for parents to see what is available and look out for them in libraries/ shops.

3. Explanation of basic reading, writing, maths curriculum by year. So that parents can understand generally what should be covered in Y1, Y2, etc...

4. Glossary of maths, reading, writing (? also grammar) terminology with examples.

5. Advice on sticking points - phonetics - sounding out more complex words
   Maths - adding/ subtracting over ten

6. Get some serious debate on standards in education - get in academics, Ofsted representatives, Head Teachers, etc... and really argue through whether it is essential children do x (say learn multiplication tables to 10 by age 9).

7. Advice on applying for school places that reflects how best to fill in choices on LEA application forms in terms of what criteria LEAs are actually ranking on.

8. What information parents are entitled to get out of parent/ teacher meetings - some advice for parents (angry/ disappointed/ happy parents) on what to expect, what questions to ask and how to get useful feedback on progress would be helpful.

I could go on - but basically I think there should be someone monitoring discussions and when an issue (reading, struggling with additions/ subtractions >10) keeps cropping up - identify it and make it a subject on the general education page.

I personally would prefer more links to free support materials. Maybe Y1 website of the week, etc... but set up for each year. And then archive this - so people who are away don't miss out.

I also would like to see interviews with educators/ role models in children's learning. Have Carol Vorderman come on and talk about maths. Have Jacqui Wilson come on and talk about reading.

There are a lot of mediocre schools and teachers out there. Parents instinctively know their children aren't getting enough, but often have no idea where to start and what should or shouldn't be taught at that level/ Year. Mumsnet should plug in parents to what is 'standard' and help to ensure that parental expectation is supported by accurate external information. A lot of good information is given out and then disappears over time - Mumsnet should gather advice/ websites/ etc... and present them in a condensed way on the educaiton page so Mumsnetters can access ideas/ information rapidly.

Pastsellbydate thanks so much for your comments, it's really helpful to hear your ideas. Some of the things you mention we've already planned in for 2012 and the rest we'll work into our future planning as best we can. Do you have any feedback for us about the sections we've already published?

You could have a section about when to be concerned.

ie if your child can't do X by Y then you should be discussing it with someone.

Also, dispel the myth that if they can't do something it's because they're only 4 / a boy / summer born / a lively child / not ready / not interested........

And that if their teacher wants to put them on the SEN register / give them an IEP - it's because there's a problem! Not for any other reason.

There is no information regarding alternatives to using phonics for the teach reading.
Over 10% of children are cognitively not able to use phonics, including those who have Auditory Processing Disorder, and ADHD.
This is a large gap in the provision of basic information regarding the teaching of reading inline the international neurological research.

Both Parents and those involved in the education system need to have access to this type of information to help support their childrens diverse learning needs, which are so often not being met by current UK government provision, and ill informed advice.

Where are the articles? Thanks. Would like to have a read.

Hi AdditionMultiplication, here's the link

www.mumsnet.com/learning

Thanks.

Hi Pearson/ Mumsnet:

Actually I hadn't looked at the learning pages in a while clearly - because there's much more on than when I first looked.

In general it looks like a lot of those common questions (and vocabularly misunderstandings) are being addressed. But parents would like specifics.

So for example, when you describe in the literacy FAQs about attainment at Level 4 - it's all very general with no examples. Some scanned in examples of actual students work (or typed up if appropriate) at that level would really help parents to gauge what Level 4 work is like.

The vocabularly games are differentiated in that there is a section 'for older children' - but you aren't clearly explaining whether those first games (e.g. My Aunty's cat or I spy) are for KS1 - which I suspect they are but someone at a school where they're only colouring all day (and let's face it that does happen) may not realise that a child in Class R may be able to engage in a game like that. Obviously there is a huge range of ability possible - but an indication for parents (tricky for YR - moderately difficult for Y1 - easy for Y2 would help parents to understand that their child really should be able to do this). It may seem crazy - but when schools are endlessly telling you 'Oh, we believe it's best to let them develop at their own rate and do not provide an indication of progress against the SATs levels, it then becomes very difficult as a parent to understand what a child in YR to Y6 should be able to do easily or with difficulty.

Ideally, I'd like to see the Mumsnet/ Perason learning page ground truthing our understanding of what a 6 to 7 year old in KS1 Y2 is capable of doing, for example. I had to go into a school on instinct and say I'm concerned my DD1 can't subtract 1 from 10 and it's March Y2. I knew it was a real problem - but because I couldn't back it up, 3 teachers and the Head tried to persuade me that what I needed to understand was that children develop in maths at "their own rate." Fortunately Mumsnet guided me to some help for DD1 - but we parents really do need to be armed with facts and information to take into school in such situations. It's not about telling schools/ teachers they've got it all wrong - it's not that simple - but I do feel if I could have said this is below where a child should be achieving at this point, I may have had a stronger argument for additional support, which my DD1 so desperately needed.

I've been on Mumsnet now for nearly 2 years and I am so grateful for the advice, support and good humour of countless Mumsnetters out there. It's been such a help!

Thanks for all your comments so far, it's really good to hear what you think. Please do keep posting your feedback throughout the holidays and into the New Year.

Happy Christmas from the Pearson Home Learning team.

The basic 3Rs curriculum can be found here:
www.niched.org/docs/the%20primary%20framework.pdf

broken down by focus area and by year.

Hope this helps.

Not exactly a learning article but could you tell me if the new Rapid Phonics will be available on line or just in paper form?

Hi there, my main feedback is that despite being aregular I had NO IDEA about the above resources.

Hi mrz, Rapid Phonics will be both print and online. So you'll get the lesson plans and activities in the printed teacher's guide and 56 printed decodable readers. You'll also be able to get eBooks of all the printed readers online. It's all due to be published on 10th Feb.

I too would like to see some very clear "if your child is 6.5 by the end of P2, she should be able to do X, Y and Z with reading; 1, 2 and 3 with math; etc. In P3, this is the type of work she will be asked to do." Too often, I feel like a ridiculously pushy parent because I think DSD has made a lot of academic progress since last year, but then see her coming home with schoolwork she is not capable of completing and repeating material she did the year before. When is it a problem? When are my expectations unreasonable and when should I be worried and pushing for more support?

I would also love to see some clearer, detailed (any???) information about the Scottish curriculum, because as far as I can tell, it is very different to the English and Welsh systems and standards, and I think this affects what I can expect from my DC and from their schools. On first glance, it looks as though the highest priority in CfE is to create "happy students", and it has taken a lot of digging for me to find any standards at all. I am an immigrant to Scotland and it has taken awhile to get clued up on the school structure here. Any parent-focused, rather than educator-focused, advice would help immensely.

Thanks!

Thanks so much to those of you who took the time to post on this thread over the last few weeks. Any feedback on our pages and articles is always helpful. We?ll take into account the things you?ve mentioned as we plan for the next few months and beyond.

Some of you didn?t know we were here. We publish something every month, this is always mentioned in the MN newsletter and we have a permanent box on the MN main home screen (you have to scroll down to halfway). So I?ll pass the question back to you ? how would you like us to let you know when there?s something new to see? How can we keep you better informed?

We?re working with Mumsnet as the educational ?experts? and we?re here to provide useful information and support with educational issues. What we are really careful not to do is to tread on the toes of Mumsnetters regarding parental and family issues; there are some topics we steer clear of for that very reason.

What about a 'what's new' or 'useful stuff' tab at the top?

Very basic but important: Please could you not organise the pages so that we can easily print them off in one batch? I looked now for the first time, never knowing this information was on here but quickly got discouraged/annoyed by the lack of ease with which I could print off any information - or is this intentional?!
I would want to print off the info and read it in my own time, there is too much here to absorb on screen for me.
I had to keep going back ad forth to each individual topic and there wasn't even a 'next' so that I could read the next page!

Why is it that 'Learning' stops at Year 6? Does it not happen in secondary school? Are there no issues? I'm working with Pearson currently and I know they are eager to develop a greater transparency in secondary education. I'm an education consultant working in primary and secondary, an ex-deputy headteacher too. Parents need just as much support post KS2. Your bulletin boards show this.

You need to be addressing secondary issues just as much otherwise Mumsnet is in danger of conforming to your critics accusation of stereotyping.

Thank you Sarah
Do you know if we will have to subscribe to the Rapid e books separately ?(we already subscribe to Phonics bug and Bug Club)

I've been here for years and am a regular but this is news to me. I do visit the Education topics though - perhaps something pinned?

EggsOveryZee, very recently we reorganised all of our topics to include sub-index pages so that you can clearly see all the aspects that have been covered and can click on to the section that you're interested in. We thought that this was the best way of navigating our ever-growing library of content. We wanted it to be a reference area that MNetters regularly dipped in and out of for specific bits of information which was current and up to date.

SuePurblybilt, as I've said before we promote our content in MN newsletters and on the main MN home screen. From now on I will also post to say when we're published our monthly article pages and free content, thanks for the idea.

Hi mrz, the Rapid Phonics readers will be available on subscription (£65 per year). You won't be able to access them through Bug Club - you will go to a different url, and have a different logon and password for them.

Here's the page on the Pearson website which tells you more about the program:

www.pearsonphonics.co.uk/RapidPhonics/RapidPhonics.aspx

Hope this helps! Sarah

Great thanks ... now I just need to speak to the head ... our children love the old Rapid Readers so the Phonics books will be well received.

Hi Labradorfan this is interesting feedback, thanks. It would be great to know if any other Mumsnetters who are parents of secondary aged children would like this kind of support.