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Prof Michael Worton |
UCL academy will ‘shake up’ the way lessons are taught
Sponsors unveil plans for a new mix and match teaching style that will ‘stretch’ pupils
HOLA! kids, here’s a question – or should that be a pregunta – for you: What’s the Spanish for oxbow lake?* It’s A* grades in two subjects if you can get it right.
Perhaps the exam questions will look a little different in real life, but in a major shake-up to the way lessons are taught in Camden, the sponsors of a new academy school are planning to teach geography in Spanish.
The idea is that pupils will get double the learning in the same time.
Other plans for pupils at the new school in Swiss Cottage will be lessons in modern languages that are better suited to the business world, such as Arabic and Mandarin.
After launching a consultation survey with would-be parents, University College London (UCL), the sponsors, have roughed out plans for how the new academy, due to open in Adelaide Road in 2011, might operate.
The academy’s future is still at the centre of a High Court challenge, with parents claiming the way UCL has handed the sponsorship of the project is flawed.
But university chiefs are preparing for a positive outcome by beginning their planning for the new school, which the Town Hall insists will alleviate the annual scramble for secondary school places in the north-west of the borough.
It remains a contested point at the Town Hall whether the school would serve more parents if it had opened in the south of the borough, where families have historically struggled to find anywhere to send their children once they leave primary school education.
If the school – which will specialise in maths, science and foreign languages – comes through the legal hurdles and political debates, the way pupils are taught will be shaped by UCL.
The public consultation on its proposals is being described as the only chance for prospective parents to have their say.
Announcing ideas for the new school that have made UCL’s shortlist, Professor Michael Worton, vice-provost at the Bloomsbury university, said: “There is an idea that some subjects are somehow in conflict with each other – for example geography and Spanish are learnt in different ways.
“We want to breakdown those boundaries – so we could have things like geography lessons being taught in Spanish.”
He added: “We will not just be teaching French, German, Italian and Spanish but other languages, such as Arabic and Mandarin, which are important to business.
“Knowledge of a foreign language is a vital element of a broad education.”
Prof Worton added: “We also want to focus on problem-solving in lessons. Our neuroscientists have said that working with actual objects can be much better than working with images on a screen.”
Academies are funded by the government, but are taken out of the control of the local authority with responisbility for staffing, curriculum and admissions resting with a private sponsor.
Opponents of the academy system have pointed out that UCL, specialists in higher education, are totally inexperienced in the secondary school sector and that Camden Council, with a proven track record in running its schools to a high standard, should have taken the reins.
Prof Worton said: “No local authority could offer the added value that we can to a school, when you think about the hundreds of academic staff and students that we can mobilise. We will have a mentoring system where pupils work one-on-one with UCL students and staff. Staff will be able to take Masters courses in teaching part time at UCL.
“We will be able to challenge and change the curriculum more rapidly than a school run by the local authority.”
He added: “We will cascade our work to the other nine secondary schools in Camden. I really believe they can benefit from us being there.
“There will be no favouritism. There will be no special places for pupils from the academy at our college. This is not about recruitment to UCL – it is about improving the aspirations of pupils.”
A central plank of the plan is to get pupils working harder through an extended school day.
Prof Worton said: “Students should be stretched. We are thinking very seriously about an extended day – by making extra-curricular activities compulsory and engaging students in volunteering.”
Union chiefs have raised concerns that the new £35million building and links with a leading university will “cream off” the best pupils and teachers from nearby schools.
Prof Worton said: “I reject that. I do not buy into this idea of not wanting a good school in an area because of its effect on others – that is a recipe for mediocrity.
“We will be working with the other schools – not against them.”
Two parents are bringing a High Court action against Camden Council on November 5 over the choice of UCL as a sponsor, which was made without a general tender.
The consultation on the future UCL Academy is open until November 25. The complete plans can be downloaded from the university’s website at www.uclacademy.com
* lago de herradura. |
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