9
BILINGUAL EDUCATION
PROJECT
SPAIN
Evaluation Report
ALAN DOBSON
MARÍA DOLORES PÉREZ MURILLO
RICHARD JOHNSTONE
BILINGUAL EDUCATION PROJECT
SPAIN
Evaluation Report
Findings of the independent evaluation
of the Bilingual Education Project
Ministry of Education (Spain)
and British Council (Spain)
Alan Dobson
María Dolores Pérez Murillo
Richard Johnstone
Edited by Richard Johnstone
MINISTERIO DE EDUCACIÓN
Instituto de Formación del Profesorado, Investigación e Innovación Educativa (IFIIE)
BRITISH COUNCIL, SPAIN
© 2010 Secretaría General Técnica.
Subdirección General de Documentación y Publicaciones
Ministerio de Educación
© 2010 British Council, Spain
www.educacion.es
www.britishcouncil.es
Designed by: Charo Villa
NIPO: 820-10-477-2
ISBN: 978-84-369-4991-9
Depósito Legal: M.16.053-2011
Printer: Gráfi cas Muriel, S.A.
3
CONTENTS
Foreword Ministry of Education 5
Foreword British Council 7
Acknowledgements 9
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 11
Published outputs 11
The national BEP in Spain 11
The evaluation 16
CHAPTER 2: CLASSROOM PERFORMANCE & EFFECTIVE PRACTICE 23
Study 1: Primary 5&6 learners’ performance in class 24
Study 2: Primary School 5&6 good practice in class 32
Study 3: ESO1&2 learners’ performance in class 41
Study 4: ESO1&2 good practice in class 47
Study 5: Infants and early primary 55
CHAPTER 3: BEP STUDENTS’ ATTAINMENTS 63
Study 6: Primary 6 pupils’ oral interviews in English 63
Study 7: Primary 6 pupils’ writing in English 70
Study 8: Writing in Spanish: BEP and non-BEP compared 75
Study 9: Performance in an international examination 79
CHAPTER 4: PERCEPTIONS 85
Study 10: Students’ perceptions in Primary 6 and ESO1&2 85
Study 11: Parents’ perceptions of the BEP 98
Study 12: Primary School class teachers’ perceptions 104
Study 13: Secondary School class teachers’ perceptions 111
Study 14: Perceptions of Primary School head teachers 120
Study 15: Perceptions of Secondary School head teachers 128
Study 16: Management issues 136
CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSIONS
Challenges & outcomes 141
Attainments 142
Good practice 142
4
BEP. EVALUATION REPORT
Perceptions 142
Matters for reection and further development 143
Factors associated with successful outcomes 143
Further investigation 145
THE EVALUATION RESEARCH TEAM 147
5
FOREWORD
MINISTRY OF EDUCATION
In 1996 the Ministry of Education and Science and the British Council signed an
agreement to introduce an integrated curriculum in Spanish state schools. In this way
bilingual education was established in 43 state schools with 1200 pupils aged three and
four. Since 1996 bilingual education has slowly but surely been introduced at every level
of education from age three through to sixteen in the project schools.
In 2006 the results obtained and the interest this Bilingual Programme had aroused
both in Spain and abroad led the Ministry of Education and the British Council to ask
Emeritus Professor Richard Johnstone OBE (University of Stirling) to carry out an
independent external evaluation. The objective data obtained would be used to
fi ne tune the Programme. Professor Johnstone, together with Dr. Alan Dobson and
Dr Dolores Pérez Murillo, have devoted three years to a detailed analysis of every aspect
of the Bilingual Programme. The Ministry of Education would like to take this opportunity
to thank them for their work, especially where they have uncovered an area in need
of improvement.
These results, illustrated in this publication, allow the Ministry and the British Council
not only to develop the Programme further but also to put on record for the benefi t
of others in the fi eld of education the successful teaching practices revealed in the
evaluation.
We hope that the publication will be of interest and use both to language teaching
experts and to members of the general public interested in bilingual education.
Eduardo Coba Arango
Director of the Instituto de Formación del Profesorado, Investigación e Innovación Educativa (IFIIE)
Ministry of Education
Spain
7
FOREWORD
BRITISH COUNCIL
It gives me great pleasure to present to you this report on the fi ndings of an
independent three-year investigation into the Ministry of Education / British Council
Bilingual Schools project. Bilingual English/Spanish education is one of the most
exciting innovations in the current education scene, with over 200,000 young
students studying a bilingual curriculum from the age of 3, either in our project
schools or in regional government versions of the project based on this original
model.
The evaluation has been headed up by a leading world expert in bilingual education:
Professor Emeritus Richard Johnstone OBE of the University of Stirling, Scotland. He
worked with a close-knit team of two main researchers – Dr. María Dolores Pérez
Murillo from the Universidad Complutense de Madrid and Dr Alan Dobson, formerly HM
Inspector at the Offi ce for Standards in Education (OFSTED) for England. I would like
to congratulate Professor Johnstone on this work and I am confi dent that with the
quality of this team we have in this publication a body of research that will become a
focal point of reference to everyone in Spain and indeed globally, who has an interest
in bilingual education.
Finally, I would like to express my sincere personal thanks to Pilar Medrano (Ministry
of Education) and Teresa Reilly (British Council) for their energy and commitment to
bilingual education, growing it from 43 schools in 1996 to the enormous network we
have today. It is with a high level of expectancy that I look forward to continue sharing
the vision with our partners in the Ministry of Education, a vision that is designed to
give young Spanish people the very best opportunity to equip them to be successful
in a modern, globalised, 21
st
century Spain.
Rod Pryde
Director British Council Spain
9
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
My colleagues and I on the evaluation team consider it a great honour to have been
charged with the responsibility of conducting this important research study.
The fi ndings and conclusions of our study are entirely our own, and are fi rmly based on
the research evidence which we have collected. I should like to acknowledge the full
acceptance of this independence by the Ministry of Education and the British Council,
and at the same time my colleagues and I wish to record our grateful thanks to them
for always being helpful and considerate.
Our task was to gather high-quality evidence on this one project, in order to learn
whether or not it was achieving its aims. Our task was not to compare it with other bilingual
education projects in Spain or elsewhere. Spain has made an impressive commitment to
early bilingual education in several different ways, through a variety of different projects
and involving a number of languages. We wish all of them well, but we seek to make no
comparisons and our report limits itself to the one project which we were charged to
evaluate.
My colleagues and I are indebted to a large number of people across several
different groups, such as school managers, class teachers, pupils & students, parents,
regional authorities, staff involved in research and teacher education, and one
prestigious external examination board (University of Cambridge International
Examinations). Conducting an evaluation in schools inevitably causes some degree
of inconvenience, and so we would like to thank all of those with whom we have been
in contact for the welcome they have afforded us and the interest in our research
which they have shown.
My fi nal word of thanks must go to my two research colleagues in the evaluation team,
Dr Alan Dobson and Dr María Dolores Pérez Murillo, for the excellent work they have
done in collecting and analysing data, preparing draft reports and contributing to our
study in many different ways; and I should also like to express my grateful thanks to
Margaret Locke for her skill, tact and patience in facilitating many of our arrangements
with schools.
10
BEP. EVALUATION REPORT
It is our sincere hope that our evaluation report will be of interest and use not only
to those directly involved in the project which we have been evaluating but also to
anyone who has an interest in children’s education through language at school.
Professor Emeritus Richard Johnstone
Director, Independent Evaluation of
National Bilingual Education Project (Spain)
11
This introductory chapter has three sections:
•
A brief note on the published outputs of the evaluation study
•
A description of the national Bilingual Education Project (henceforth, BEP) which is
the object of the evaluation study
•
Key features of the evaluation study.
PUBLISHED OUTPUT OF THE PRESENT EVALUATION STUDY
The main published output of the BEP evaluation will consist of the following texts:
•
The present Evaluation Report which sets out the background to the study and
the key ndings. This is the text which is intended for a wide-ranging readership. It
is published both as a printed book, made available in a limited number of copies,
and is also available on-line
1
.
Given the importance of presenting the Evaluation Report in both Spanish and English
within the one printed publication, there is a limit on the number of pages available for
either of these two languages, and as a consequence the Evaluation Report cannot
contain certain aspects in which some potential readers might be interested.
Accordingly, by May 2011 it is intended to make available:
•
An online Supplement which will contain an article setting the BEP against the
background of international research on bilingual education, which will offer
some additional thoughts on good practice and which will provide further detail
on the research approach that was adopted, e.g. the different instruments and
procedures that were used for data-collection and analysis, and presenting
some additional statistics and ndings.
THE NATIONAL BEP IN SPAIN
The national BEP in Spain began in 1996, following an agreement between the Ministry
and the British Council. It derived its inspiration from the British Council School in
1. The two published outputs mentioned above will be available on the websites of both the Ministry of Education (Spain)
and the British Council (Spain).
chapter 1
INTRODUCTION
12
BEP. EVALUATION REPORT
Madrid but soon assumed its own distinctive identity as a programme explicitly
intended for pupils in the Spanish state school system.
According to senior gures within the BEP, one of the reasons for initiating an
early bilingual education programme was an increasingly widespread feeling of
dissatisfaction among teachers and parents in Spain with the outcomes of what might be
termed the mainstream model of teaching a Modern (foreign) Language at Primary School
(MLPS), based on relatively small amounts of time per week being made available. This
perception of the limitations of the MLPS model is given authority by a review of research
on this topic across the European Union, sponsored by the European Commission, in
which the authors (Blondin et al, 1999)
2
found that, although pupils’ attitudes to MLPS
were generally positive, there was only limited evidence of pupils having developed
a uent, exible and accurate command of their foreign language by the end of their
primary school education.
By contrast, an early bilingual education approach offers in principle three potentially
key factors which differentiate it considerably from MLPS. These are:
•
an early start (in some cases beginning at the age of three)
•
a signicant increase in ‘time’ for the learning and use of the additional language,
and
•
an increase in ‘intensity of challenge’, in that pupils are challenged not only to
learn the additional language but also to learn other important primary school
subject-matter and to develop new skills through the medium of that language.
Aims of the national BEP in Spain
The published aims of the national BEP in Spain as set out in the ofcial Guidelines for
the Integrated Curriculum Primary (p. 87) as approved by the Ministry of Education in
Spain are:
•
To promote the acquisition and learning of both languages through an integrated
content-based curriculum.
•
To encourage awareness of the diversity of both cultures.
•
To facilitate the exchange of teachers and children.
•
To encourage the use of modern technologies in learning other languages.
•
Where appropriate, to promote the certication of studies under both educational
systems.
Key characteristics
The BEP possesses the following key characteristics:
•
It operates in state schools and not in schools that are private or fee-paying.
2. Blondin, C., M. Candelier, P. Edelenbos, R. Johnstone, A. Kubanek-German and T. Taeschner (1999). Foreign languages in
primary and pre-school education. A review of recent research within the European Union. London: CILT.
13
BEP. EVALUATION REPORT
•
It begins at an early age, normally when pupils are three or four years old.
•
It is based on a whole-school
3
approach, in order to ensure that all children at
the school have the same opportunity, regardless of socio-economic or other
circumstances.
•
It is supported by a set of Guidelines
4
which were shaped not only by staff of the
Ministry and British Council but also by participating teachers.
•
Before a school joined the BEP, there was a visit by staff from the British Council
and/or Ministry, in order to discuss with staff and parents what the programme
meant and to check that they were in favour of the school’s participation.
•
A signicant amount of curricular time is allocated to the additional language (in
this case, English), roughly equivalent to 40% of each week at school, allowing
pupils to learn a number of challenging subjects through English such as science,
history and geography.
•
The skills of reading and writing in English are introduced from an early point, in
order to complement the skills of listening and speaking and to promote an
underlying general competence in language.
•
From the beginning there was agreement with the associated secondary schools
that when the BEP pupils entered secondary school, they would continue to
receive a bilingual education.
•
The schools are situated in ten of the seventeen autonomous regions of Spain, plus
Ceuta and Melilla, covering a range of socio-economic, ethnic, linguistic and other
contexts; they were not selected on the basis of social or other privilege.
•
Supernumerary teachers were made available to each participating school in
order to support the everyday classroom teachers in implementing the EBE
programme.
•
Further support at national level was made available through the appointment
of a key person in each of the Ministry and the British Council who jointly oversee
the project, visiting schools, arranging for initial training and for Continuing
Professional Development (CPD) and also through the appointment of staff in the
British Council whose tasks include liaison with schools, development of a BEP
website, and production of a magazine (entitled Hand in Hand).
Schools and teachers
Initially, forty-four primary schools were involved in the BEP. Of these, only one has
dropped out. It was agreed at an early stage that the number of schools would not be
3. This means that when a primary school embarks on the BEP, all classes in the rst year receive the same early bilingual
education (EBE), thereby avoiding a two-track approach (in which one track has EBE and the other a mainly monolingual
education in the national language). When classes in the rst year move up to the second year, their EBE continues, so that
when the rst cohort have reached the nal year of primary school education, the whole school is being educated bilingually.
4. These Guidelines were subsequently endorsed by the Spanish Ministry as reecting a curriculum which was considered to
be appropriate for EBE and also was acceptable as a valid curriculum for children at school in Spain.
14
BEP. EVALUATION REPORT
increased until the rst cohort of pupils had completed their bilingual education at primary
school and had continued this for at least three years at secondary school. In the school
year 2008-2009 there were 74 primary schools and 40 secondary schools involved in
the BEP, distributed as follows:
Aragón (21 primary /4 secondary); Asturias (2/2); Baleares (2/2); Cantabria (1/1);
Castilla-La Mancha (7/7); Castilla y León (19/10); Extremadura (2/0); Madrid (10/10);
Murcia (2/1); Navarra (6/1); Ceuta (1/1); Melilla (1/1).
There were signs in 2009, however, of a possible decrease in the numbers of
secondary schools participating in the national BEP. This should not be taken as a
sign of disaffection with Bilingual Education, however, since in certain areas a regional
BEP has been developed with the secondary schools in the national BEP engaging
with their regional scheme in some cases.
Teacher appointments in state schools in Spain
In state schools in Spain, most of the teaching is done by funcionarios (teachers with
civil service status and conditions) who are appointed following a series of competitive
examinations (oposiciones). Some teaching is done by teachers on temporary appointment
waiting to present themselves for these examinations (interinos). Funcionarios may hold a
plaza ja (a permanent appointment to a specic school). Those who do not have a plaza
ja may be transferred to another school at the end of the school year.
Contracted teachers delivering BEP
When the BEP was set up in 1996, it was recognized that, although there were some
funcionarios with good English, stafng resources needed to be supplemented by native
(or near-native) speakers of English, and appointments of asesores linguísticos (AL)
5
were made. The number of AL varies at present from three to ve across the schools
according to their size. In the year 2008-2009, there were 231 contracted teachers of
this sort working in primary schools.
In 2004, when the rst cohort of pupils moved on to secondary education, individual
regional authorities (comunidades autónomas CCAA
6
) decided whether to appoint
contracted teachers to teach in secondary schools (ESO) or whether to use subject
teachers from their own workforce deemed to have adequate language skills. In 2008-
2009, there were fourteen ALs appointed in secondary schools in six of the regional
authorities, to teach science (ciencias naturales – CN) or social science (ciencias sociales – CS).
(CS includes geography and history).
5. This is the term most frequently used for contracted teachers on the BEP but the actual term used may vary from one
region to another.
6. In October 1999, the responsibility for education in Spain was given to the CCAA and they are now responsible
for the contractual conditions of teachers employed on the BEP. However, the overall role of the Ministry of Education and
the British Council in the project is to offer advice, support and expertise in areas such as recruitment and teacher
development.
15
BEP. EVALUATION REPORT
The contracted teachers were distributed as follows:
Per CCAA (primary / secondary: CN & CS): Aragón (53 / 0); Asturias (8 / 4: 2 & 2);
Baleares (6 / 2: 1 & 1); Cantabria (2 / 2: 1 & 1); Castilla-La Mancha (25 / 0); Castilla y
León (59 / 0); Extremadura (7 ); Madrid (42 / 0); Murcia (6 / 2: 1H & 1S); Navarra (13 /
0); Ceuta (5 / 2: 1 & 1); Melilla (5 / 2: 1 & 1)
Some of the regional authorities chose to use foreign language assistants (FLA)
(auxiliares de conversación) as well as or instead of AL in order to support teachers in
secondary schools. The number of FLA varies between one and four across the schools,
but there are no overall gures available for the number and distribution of these
appointments in the BEP schools across the regional authorities.
Recruitment of supernumerary teachers
For recruitment to primary schools involved in the BEP, applicants are expected to have
a native or near-native command of both spoken and written English, have recognized
European QTS (Qualied Teacher Status) in infant/primary teaching (exceptionally
teachers with secondary PGCE (Postgraduate Certicate of Education) or TEFL
(Teaching of English as a Foreign Language) qualications may be appointed) and
have had classroom experience with children between three and eleven years of age.
For teaching their classes in BEP secondary schools teachers are expected to have a
native or near-native command of both spoken and written English, hold a recognized
degree in a relevant subject and recognized European QTS in secondary teaching, and
have had classroom experience with children between 12 and 16.
Working arrangements
The ALs
7
are additional members of staff and are not in charge of any one class, i.e.
they are not class teachers. Timetables vary and teachers are expected to be exible.
Teachers on the BEP can expect to be employed in infants (3-6 years) or primary
(6-12 years) but in some schools teachers teach within both areas.
The AL, particularly at the infant stage, works alongside the class teacher or takes
the whole class for games, stories, reading and writing and other curriculum input.
However, in primary the AL is often, though not always, left in sole charge of the group.
Spanish teachers of English have been gradually brought on board to help deliver a
curriculum which includes subject areas from both the Spanish and the English national
curriculum.
In the ten comunidades (plus Ceuta and Mellila), every school has a maximum of four
ALs. One or two still have ve but once the fth has left, she/he is not replaced. A consi-
derable sum is invested in training Spanish teachers of English, and after two years there
should be less dependence on the ALs as the ‘only’ deliverers of the English component.
In secondary schools, there is a specic need for co-operation and coordination
between departments. The CN and CS teachers are expected to work closely with the
7. Although commonly referred to as ‘British’ in the schools, some of the AL may be from the Commonwealth, the USA or the
Republic of Ireland; some are Spanish teachers with a near-native command of English.
16
BEP. EVALUATION REPORT
English teachers, often planning together how the English department can support
the CN and CS teachers through, for example, the teaching of specic language skills,
areas of vocabulary, developing reading and writing skills and non-ction texts which
might focus on teaching and developing the specic language of instruction, prediction,
report writing etc.
The contracted teachers are on renewable annual contracts and do not have the same
conditions as funcionarios; for example they do not receive trienio, i.e. an entitlement
after three years of service.
INSET and Staff Development
Each year in early September the Ministry and the British Council organise a short
induction course for newly appointed contracted teachers.
A programme of staff development for teachers on the BEP is jointly run by the Ministry
and the British Council.
THE EVALUATION
The evaluation was funded jointly by the Ministry of Education (Spain) and the British
Council as an independent evaluation of the national BEP in Spain. After initial
discussions involving the Director of the evaluation and ofcials of the Ministry and
British Council in 2005, the evaluation began in 2006. At a much earlier stage in the life
of the BEP there had been an initial smaller-scale evaluation, designed to provide
feedback on how the BEP was faring in its initial development, and this study among
other things strongly supported a ‘whole-school’ approach.
Aims of the evaluation
The evaluation had three agreed aims:
Aim 1:
•
To provide research-based evidence on pupils’ English language prociency as
developed and demonstrated through the study of subject matter in a bilingual
context; and on their achievements in Spanish.
Aim 2:
•
To identify and disseminate good practice as occurring in the project schools.
Aim 3:
•
To provide research-based evidence on awareness, attitudes and motivation.
8
8. In fact, in the agreement between the funding bodies and the Director of the evaluation, Aim 1 and Aim 3 were conated as
one Aim, but in order to avoid possible confusion they are treated separately throughout the present report as two separate
Aims (Aim 1 and Aim 3).
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BEP. EVALUATION REPORT
Research questions
After discussion with the two funding bodies, four main research questions or themes
were agreed which would reect the above three general aims. These are stated here in
research question (RQ) form:
RQ1
•
How may the performance and attainments of BEP students be described?
RQ2
•
What evidence is there of ‘good practice’ and how may this be dened and
exemplied?
RQ3
•
How is the BEP perceived by key groups which have a stake in it?
RQ4
•
Is the BEP achieving the aims which it has set out for itself?
Roles of research staff
The research staff consisted of two Research Consultants, one Research Administrator
and one Research Director.
It was mainly the role of the research consultants to assist in developing the research
instruments, to visit schools, to collect and analyse data and to draft reports. As a matter
of principle, one of the two research consultants was from the UK, with English as rst
language but with high prociency in Spanish, and the other was Spanish, with Spanish
as rst language but with high prociency in English. All members of the evaluation
team were employed on a part-time basis and two of them were based outside Spain,
so it was important to design an evaluation study which would be conducted efciently
within the resources available. The Director took responsibility for the overall evaluation
strategy, for networking with the two research consultants, for liaison with the two
funding bodies, and for undertaking certain Studies in collaboration with colleagues.
Given the stafng of the evaluation team, inevitably much of their communication with
each other took place individually at a distance, by email, text-messages or phone. Each
year, however, there were minimally two or more formal meetings of the full team in order
to discuss plans and to report on progress. The meetings took place in private at the
ofces of the British Council in Madrid or London, and towards the end of most meetings
the two key contact persons representing the funding bodies were invited to join the
meeting. This enabled information on progress to be presented and also a constructive
informal discussion to take place of any issues which seemed to be arising. In addition,
a more formal interim report on progress was presented at the Ministry of Education to
a group representative of the Ministry and the British Council in 2007.
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BEP. EVALUATION REPORT
Increasing scope of the evaluation
Initially, main focus on primary schools
The initial understanding agreed by the funding bodies and the evaluation team was
that, given the resources available for the evaluation, it would be important to focus
on key points rather than attempt to cover every conceivable point of interest.
Accordingly, it was agreed that the main focus of the evaluation team’s efforts should
be on the BEP at primary school. There was good reason for this, in that the BEP
was well-established in primary schools but had moved into the associated secondary
schools only in recent years, and it seemed reasonable to surmise that perhaps
the secondary schools in some cases were still ‘coming to terms’ with the BEP. Although
classes in all years of primary school education, and also in infants’ classes, were
observed, it was agreed that the main focus in primary schools should be on the third
cycle of primary education, i.e. the nal two years which we shall term Primary 5 and
Primary 6. The reason for this preference was that it would enable a picture to be built up
of what the outcomes of the BEP were by the end of pupils’ primary school education.
Extending the scope in the light of emerging issues and needs
As the work of the evaluation team got underway, a case began to emerge for making
some modication to the scope of the evaluation as set out above. Four issues in
particular were becoming salient:
1. With regard to RQ3, the main groups intended for consultation had been students,
class teachers and Head Teachers, but interest grew in incorporating a parents’
perspective also, so this was agreed.
2. The rst cohort of BEP students to reach ESO4 (fourth year of secondary
education) did so in Autumn 2007 and became available for taking the Cambridge
IGCSE
9
examination towards the end of ESO4 in 2008. Interest arose therefore in
tracking students’ attainments at that level. It was considered essential to situate
these attainments in context, and so it was agreed with the funding bodies that
there should be additional data-collection from secondary schools beyond the
data-collection on primary-secondary transition that had originally been
envisaged. As a consequence, data-collection took place by means of classroom
observation of lessons in ESO1&2 (Secondary 1 & 2), the collection of ESO2
students’ perceptions, and questionnaire surveys of ESO2 students, secondary
school class teachers and Head Teachers, in addition to taking note of ESO4
students’ attainments in the IGCSE.
3. The evaluation team was becoming aware of some concerns that maybe BEP
students’ command of Spanish was being compromised as a result of having
some 40% of their education in another language. It was agreed therefore that a
9. IGCSE stands for International General Certicate of Secondary Education.
19
BEP. EVALUATION REPORT
comparison study should be undertaken in which BEP and non-BEP students would
be compared in respect of their written Spanish. However, this could not take place
in BEP primary schools because all classes were taking the BEP, so it had to take
place in the associated secondary schools which from rst year of secondary
education onwards had two sorts of intake: BEP and non-BEP. Accordingly, a
comparative study of BEP versus non-BEP in respect of writing in Spanish was
agreed for ESO2 (second year of secondary education).
4. In order to address RQ1 as fully as possible, it was agreed that account should
be taken of the performance of BEP students towards the end of ESO4 (fourth
year of secondary education) in the international IGCSE examinations. The rst
cohort of BEP students to reach ESO4 did so in school session 2007/8, and a
number of schools presented candidates for the IGCSE in summer 2008; to
be followed by a larger number of schools and candidates in summer 2009.
Accordingly, it was agreed that evidence should be collected on the IGCSE
performance of BEP students, particularly in 2009.
There was no request from the funding bodies for a comparative study of the
‘experimental versus comparison’ sort. In other words, the evaluation team was not
asked to compare the attainments of BEP pupils with non-BEP pupils of the same age.
It is quite common for evaluation studies to make this sort of comparison; however in
the present case it was not requested. Therefore, the focus was on the BEP itself as
a distinctive entity with its own aims, processes and values, and not on the BEP
as being better or worse than the existing mainstream curriculum in Spain (nor indeed
as being better or worse than any other bilingual education initiatives in Spain or else
where). By its very nature, the BEP offers a radically different education from the
mainstream system and it was therefore important to learn whether it was achieving its
own different ends. The one exception to this principle was the ‘comparison study’ of
BEP versus non-BEP students’ Spanish writing which has already been mentioned.
Selection of schools
In consultation with the two funding bodies, and taking account of the stafng resources
available to the evaluation team, the following selection of schools was agreed:
Sample A: Schools which would be visited and surveyed
Eight primary schools were identied for purposes of periodic visiting, taking into
account geographical distribution, social spread and school size, as well as a likelihood
of nding some instances of good practice. Careful attention was paid to the known
socio-economic and other background of these schools, in order to ensure that this
sample as far as possible reected normal state schools in Spain and did not constitute a
privileged élite.
In addition, there were three primary schools which contained special features of interest,
e.g. their socio-economic (under-privileged) background or linguistic prole (high
incidence of rst language other than Spanish). These three schools would receive one
visit each. Also to be visited would be the ten secondary schools associated with these
20
BEP. EVALUATION REPORT
primary schools (one BEP primary school did not have an associated secondary school),
making a total of 21 schools, sixteen of which would receive periodic visits and ve of
which would receive single visits.
Sample B: Schools which would be surveyed but not visited
An additional broader sample of 26 schools (thirteen primary schools and thirteen
associated secondary schools) was also selected for purposes of collecting more
representative data. While one particular school was chosen to represent one particular
comunidad where it was the only project school, the remaining schools were selected
randomly, conditional on representing a wide geographical spread. These schools
would not be visited but would be consulted by means of a periodic survey on specic
issues which would be the same surveys as for schools in Sample A above.
The 16 studies undertaken by the evaluation team
At an early point in their deliberations the evaluation team rejected the notion of one
large-scale intervention designed to catch everything. This might have been economical
on ‘time’ and on ‘visits to schools’, but it would be highly unlikely to capture any clear
or convincing picture of ‘good practice’. In order to understand what might constitute
‘good practice’ in the BEP, the evaluation team attached high importance to making
several visits to a limited number of schools rather than one visit to each school in
the programme overall. The several visits would avoid any problems arising from
unrepresentative, specially prepared, ‘one-off’ demonstration lessons and would enable
initial ideas on ‘good practice’ to emerge and then to be conrmed, disconrmed or
rened. That is why the sampling procedure as already described was adopted: visits
to the inner sample primary schools (backed up in due course by visits to their associated
secondary schools) would yield rich information on ‘good practice’, while more
contextual information on perceptions and attainments would be collected from the
primary schools in the wider sample further supplemented by their associated secondary
schools.
In order to address the two stated aims of the evaluation, it was decided to implement
sixteen different data-collection studies, each with a different focus and with differing
numbers of schools involved, depending on what was feasible for the evaluation group.
These sixteen studies generate the main data on which the present report is based.
It is important to state, however, that before any of these sixteen studies took place,
the members of the evaluation team made visits to several of the Sample A schools in
order to establish initial contacts, make themselves known to the staff, talk about what
the evaluation was likely to involve, and to collect such materials and documentation
as the schools wished to make available regarding the school in general or the BEP in
particular within the school. Where possible, the two research consultants made joint
visits to these schools, in order to develop shared understandings and to exchange ideas.
In addition, members of the evaluation team familiarised themselves with the BEP in
other, less direct ways, e.g. by attending, and in some cases participating in, courses or
conferences which involved BEP and possibly other teachers. This proved a highly useful
21
BEP. EVALUATION REPORT
procedure, since it enabled the evaluation team to learn about the BEP from practitioners
talking about particular aspects of the BEP as implemented in their particular schools.
The sixteen key studies which the evaluation team undertook are set out below:
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
Primary 5&6 learners’
performance in class
Good practice associated with
P5&6 classrooms
Secondary 1&2 learners’
performance in class
Good practice associated with
S1&2 classrooms
Infants and early primary
P6 pupils’ oral assessments in
English
P6 pupils’ writing in English
Secondary 2 students’ writing
in Spanish: BEP compared with
non-BEP
Secondary 4 students’
attainments in an international
external examination
Primary 6 and Secondary 2
students’ perceptions
Primary 6 and Secondary 2
parents’ perceptions
Primary school classeachers’
perceptions
Secondary school class
teachers’ perceptions
Primary school Head Teachers’
perceptions
Secondary school Head
Teachers’ perceptions
BEP management issues
Performance
Attainments
Good Practice
Performance
Attainments
Good Practice
Peformance
Attainments
Good
Practice
Performance
Attainments
Performance
Attainments
Performance
Attainments
Attainments
Perceptions
Perceptions
Perceptions
Perceptions
Perceptions
Perceptions
Perceptions
A
A
A
A
A
A
A
A
All
presenting
schools
A+B
A+B
A+B
A+B
A+B
A+B
A+B
Systematic observation
Systematic observation
Systematic observation
Systematic observation
Systematic observation
Assessment interviews
Scrutiny of students’
written texts under
controlled conditions
Students’ written
composition
Scrutiny of published
results plus notes on
performance of BEP
candidates authorised by
IGCSE Board
Questionnaire survey
Questionnaire survey
Questionnaire survey
Questionnaire survey
Questionnaire survey
Questionnaire survey
Questionnaire survey
Study Títle
Main
themes
Sample
Methodology
key words
22
PEB. EVALUATION REPORT
In the opinion of the evaluation team, these sixteen studies present a substantial set
of diverse data, considerably wider in range than what many evaluation studies have
attempted, but all of it relevant to the agreed aims and RQs of the evaluation study. A price
to pay has been the fairly small number of schools involved in some of the studies, but
the evaluation team believes that the large number of studies, each of which has probed a
different aspect of the national BEP in Spain, has generated interesting insights into what
was actually happening and into what key stakeholders actually thought. Many of these
insights would not have been possible if there had been a smaller number of studies but
with a larger number of schools.
Code of practice
The evaluation team welcomed the fact that the two funding bodies attached high
importance to the independence, objectivity and integrity of the evaluation. In order to
realise these principles, the evaluation team committed itself to a Code of Practice. This
is too detailed to be included in full in the present report, but some of its main features
are set out below.
Examples from evaluation team code of practice
•
Behaving fairly, transparently and independently, and in a consultative manner
•
Minimising inconvenience when visiting schools or collecting data
•
Contacting schools through an agreed procedure, in order to seek their agreement for
visits or other means of data-collection
•
Providing advance information in respect of visits
•
Securing the prior agreement of schools for all modes of data-collection
•
Maintaining anonymity, i.e. not relating any ndings, or interview data or observation data,
or other information to any named individual or school
•
Maintaining condentiality, i.e. not allowing unauthorised information or ndings to ‘leak
out’ into the system prior to proper publication of the report
•
Ensuring the security of data, so that it does not pass into unauthorised hands
•
Focussing exclusively on the aims of the evaluation
•
Not promoting the cause of early bilingual education, nor seeking to represent either
funding body, nor troubleshooting if problems in schools are observed.
23
Studies 1-5 are all based on detailed classroom observation.
Studies 1 & 3 identify aspects of pupils’ learning as exhibited in everyday classroom
activity, in the one case mainly with Primary School Year 5 and 6 classes and in the other
mainly with classes in Secondary 1 and 2 (ESO1&2). The illustrations offered are typical of
what an evaluator heard and saw during the observation of lessons. As in most classroom
situations elsewhere, some students in the lessons observed contributed more actively
(or audibly) than others who were equally able but more reticent or than some who were
less able. It is not assumed that the performances were ‘typical’ of every pupil in the
lessons observed, but the illustrations are representative of the performance of pupils
witnessed in interaction with their teacher and each other across the sample of schools.
Studies 2 & 4 provide evidence on the classroom practices which were associated
with the types of learning performance identi ed in Studies 1 and 3. We use the term
‘associated’ advisedly; we are not in a position to claim that the classroom practices of
Studies 2&4 ‘caused’ the positive classroom performance of Studies 1&3, but they were
certainly associated with them.
As has already been stated, the main focus of the evaluation at primary school level was
on Years 5&6, but the opportunity was taken also to observe teaching and learning with
younger age-groups, and this is reported in Study 5.
A note on the methodology of Studies 1-5
In all ve studies, the data-collection was based on a form of participant observation that
was devised so as to be appropriate for the evaluation, with the researcher participating
in an observer role. The term ‘evaluation’, especially when applied to a prestigious
national programme, can carry a heavy meaning. It was therefore considered essential to
collect data in a way that was as user-friendly as possible and in keeping with the code of
practice as set out in Chapter 1. It was decided therefore not to audio-record the lessons
because this would have been intrusive and might have disturbed the naturalness of
the setting. It was decided also not to develop a highly detailed observation schedule,
on the grounds that these bilingual classrooms in Spain were for the researchers
a relatively new phenomenon and it would not be appropriate to impose a detailed a
priori system. Instead, it was considered essential for the evaluator to be ‘open’ to any
incidents or interactions which occurred in order to gain an overall feel for the situation
and then to work towards a sense of what seemed salient to the notions of learner
performance and good practice.
chapter 2
CLASSROOM PERFORMANCE &
EFFECTIVE PRACTICE
24
BEP. EVALUATION REPORT
As each lesson proceeded, the evaluator took detailed notes, including precise notes of
exactly what was said by teacher or student in episodes which seemed salient.
The quotations are an exact representation of the words uttered, but use is not made of
a phonetic or other form of academic research-based script. The quotes are reproduced
in standard written English script. This poses limitations, in that spoken language and
written language operate according to different systems, but has the advantage of being
accessible to a wide readership. Soon after each lesson the evaluator converted these
notes into a more coherent text and added any personal reections which seemed
appropriate, making sure that eventual readers would be entirely clear as to what was
factual report and what was reection.
These more coherent notes form the basis of the texts of Studies 1-5. Analysis of these
texts plus further more summative reections are set out in the Key Points sections
which conclude each study.
In the ve Studies which follow:
•
the factual report is in black
•
what was said by pupils and teachers is in blue and is placed between single quotes
•
extracts from the researcher’s observation notes are placed between double quotes
•
personal reections or further recollections which the researcher introduced
subsequently are integrated with the text in separate paragraphs beginning with
the indication Notes.
STUDY 1:
PRIMARY 5&6 LEARNERS’ PERFORMANCE IN CLASS
This study focuses on the performance that pupils typically demonstrated in science and
in language & literacy lessons by the end of the third cycle of primary education.
Introduction
The analysis is based mainly on an analysis of lessons from ten of the Sample A schools
and partly on group interviews in six of the Sample A schools. During the lessons, notes
were taken on an observation sheet. As soon as possible after a lesson the notes were
written up in more complete form and key points were extracted which were judged
to provide evidence of some aspect or other of what pupils could do in their everyday
classroom interactions.
The observations of Year 5 lessons are included in the analysis and illustrations below
since they provide further evidence of what pupils can achieve during the third cycle
of primary education. Where the examples are from Year 5, this is clearly stated. The
availability of evidence was partly determined by the timing of the visits which had to take
other constraints into account.
25
BEP. EVALUATION REPORT
Opportunities for listening and speaking
Most pupils were motivated and participated in some way in almost all the lessons seen.
There were various examples of pupils being effectively engaged through question and
answer activities in whole-class situations. However, pupils were much more likely to
have opportunities in lessons to respond to, rather than give, instructions and to answer,
rather than ask, questions. Although there were opportunities for pupils to interact
with their teacher in almost all classes, opportunities for them to interact with each other
were limited in about half the lessons seen.
In science lessons, pupils in Year 6 covered a range of topics, for example the respiratory
system; ecosystems; and climate zones. Consequently, in lessons they were exposed
to, and expected to cope with, a range of specialist terms including: ‘pharynx, larynx,
trachea; echinoderms, arachnids, crustaceans; desert, rain forest, savannah’.
In language & literacy lessons, pupils in Year 6 covered a range of topics, including
Halloween, a history of chocolate, the Tsunami of 2004 and various stories such as
those of Roald Dahl. The texts they encountered covered a wide and often demanding
range of vocabulary, for example: ‘ghost, phantom, spectre, apparition; ladybird,
grasshopper, seagull, centipede; cacao’.
Using listening and speaking skills
Following up lessons and responding to teachers’ questions
In interaction with the teacher, the great majority of pupils were apparently able to follow
a lesson incorporating specialised vocabulary. They were able to cope with the teacher’s
questions and show understanding of concepts, for example when recapping:
(Circulatory system)
Q: ‘What is the difference between the red and the blue lines (on the poster)?’
A: ‘Arteries (red) carry oxygen and veins (blue) carry away harmful substances.’
(Climate zones)
Q: ‘Where are the temperate zones?’
A: ‘They go from the tropics to the polar circles.’
On a range of topics the pupils were able to develop and consolidate their knowledge and
understanding through dialogue with the teacher.
The sense of sight
During a recap of work on the sense of sight, pupils had to explain each component part
(retina, cornea, etc on a plastic model), for example:
T: ‘What is this part called?’
P: ‘The retina.’
T: ‘How does it function?’
P: ‘First the light enters through the pupil and reaches the retina…’
26
BEP. EVALUATION REPORT
The nervous system
Similarly, pupils were expected to explain aspects of the functioning of the nervous
system:
T: ‘What is the function of the nervous system?’
P: ‘It controls everything.’
T: ‘How many the cells are there in the brain?’
P: ‘Millions?’
P: ‘Billions?’
T: ‘Hundreds of billions.’
T: ‘What are nerve cells called?’
P: ‘Neurons.’
T: ‘What does the cerebellum do?’
P: ‘It controls coordination and balance.’
T: ‘What does the brain stem do?’
P: ‘It coordinates with rest of the body, it controls all the systems…’
Materials
Pupils identied cotton as a natural material. The teacher asked: ‘Why is it natural?’
One pupil replied ‘because it comes from a plant’; another that ‘it comes from
cotton owers’. The pupils are willing to have a go, particularly boys. For example, one
improvised to explain ‘dry grass’ (straw) was used in making bricks out of clay in former
times. Another in reply to the teacher asking about a rubber band ‘Where is it from?’
stated ‘part of a tree’ (Y5).
The Stone Age
Pupils beneted from whole-class question and answer mode: this motivated pupils and
drew out suitable contributions as in a Year 5 lesson about life in palaeolithic times:
Q: ‘What is pre-history?’
A: ‘It’s a long period of time before documents existed.’
Q: ‘Why is the Stone Age so called?’
A: ‘Because everything that survives from (human activity) then is made of stone.’
Q: ‘What is the stone called that is very important for pre-history?’
A: ‘Flintstone.’
Q: ‘Where did Stone Age people live?’
A: ‘In caves.’
Q:’ Did they have permanent addresses?’
A: ‘No.’
Q: ‘Why?’
A: ‘Because they were nomads.’
Q: ‘How many jobs were there in the Stone Age?’
27
BEP. EVALUATION REPORT
A: ‘Two - gatherers and hunters.’
Q: ‘Who was in charge of hunting?’
A: ‘The men.’
Q: ‘What did the women gather?’
A: ‘Fruit, vegetables.’
Q: ‘What do we mean when we say animals are extinct?’
A: ‘They don’t live any more.’
Offering explanations
The rain cycle
In a discussion about the rain cycle, pupils offered various explanations in their own words
‘the water escapes from the sea into clouds. The clouds go up the mountains… (girl);
the sun makes the water hot and it goes up in clouds.’ (boy). When pupils did not recall
the precise words to explain, they were sometimes able to improvise, for example:
T: ‘What is the problem (about shortage) if there is lots of water (on the world’s
surface)?’
P: ‘It’s with salt.’
The sense of hearing
From a discussion concerning the ear:
T: ‘What happens when you have a cold?’
P: ‘Mucus goes through the Eustachian tube into the middle ear.’
T: ‘How does the doctor know this if he cannot see into the middle ear?’
P: ‘He sees a change in the position of the eardrum.’
States and properties of materials
The teacher expects the pupils to give examples of liquids, solids, gases etc; they
offer: ‘oxygen, nitrogen, helium, carbon dioxide’ etc. as examples of gases.
There are plenty of volunteers to provide explanations, for example about liquids:
‘If a liquid is not in a container, it will spill (spread) out.’ (boy)
‘If we pour a liquid from one container to another, it changes shape.’ (boy)
‘If you put the water from the jar into the beaker, it will take the shape of the new
container. The shape of the water change’ (sic) (girl).
‘We can see that solids can be different. They have different volume and matter.’
(girl)
Types of energy
From a discussion concerning electrical and chemical energy:
T: ‘What happens in a fan?’
28
BEP. EVALUATION REPORT
P: ‘Electrical energy is converted into mechanical energy.’
T: ‘What happens in a car?’
P: ‘Chemical energy is converted into mechanical energy.’
Physical and chemical changes:
In another class, examples of chemical changes were identied such as ‘cooking,
burning, fermenting’. The class were invited to say which substances ferment.
Examples given by pupils included ‘milk changing into yoghourt, apples into cider’.
An experiment followed with teacher commentary supported by cuecards:
‘This is a powder called bicarbonate. We’re going to pour some bicarbonate into
the balloon. Then we pull the mouth of the balloon over the mouth of the bottle
and mix the bicarbonate and the vinegar...’ (The mixture produces bubbles and gas
rises inating the balloon.)
Pupils summarized what they had seen, for example:
P: ‘We poured the liquid (vinegar) into the glass bottle.’ (girl)
P: ‘We put the bicarbonate into the balloon.’ (boy).
T: ’ What did we do next?’
P: ‘We pulled the mouth of the balloon on to the mouth of the bottle.’ (boy).
P: ‘We mixed the bicarbonate with the vinegar.’ (boy)
Offering statements or comments
In group discussions, the pupils generally coped well talking to a stranger in English.
Notes taken included the following:
•
“They are condent talking to a stranger and have ready understanding.”
•
“The pupils (…) were able to exchange personal information in a natural way.”
•
“They helped each other out well in English in discussion with the visitor.”
•
“A wide range of ability (…) all understood the visitor’s questions although he had to
repeat some.”
•
“Two pupils are very nervous but all are condent in presenting family and personal
information and all ask some questions.”
•
“Can reel off several (consecutive) sentences on personal information without
hesitation”.
In some classes pupils were encouraged to take some initiative in making statements or
offering comments. In a literacy class, pupils were expected to come to the front to make
statements of three sentences with gaps for the class to complete using the past tense
for example:
‘I… to the cinema with my friends.’
‘I… in a football team.’
‘Yesterday I… a beautiful dog.’
29
BEP. EVALUATION REPORT
Some pupils used examples with modals. For example: ‘I like to… I can… at the thing in
the sky’.
In a Year 5 literacy class:
“T returns the papers to the pupils. She asks them to look at each other’s work and say
why they think it is good.
On a sentence ‘In Dani’s concert everybody did the actions…’ a boy commented: ‘This
sentence is good because it has a capital letter, neat handwriting (etc)’.
Teacher gets Pupils involved in using language for practical classroom purposes including
giving instructions to each other. When one boy who has not done the illustrations for
homework tries to get away with doing them in class, the other pupils are expected to
tell him what he shouldn’t do. Therefore another boy told him: ‘Don’t draw pictures in
class, it was for homework’.
In a science class, most pupils were able (with support in some cases) to explain
concepts related to sound (‘volume; pitch’) and light (‘opaque, translucent’) and the
stronger ones were able to go beyond this. For example a boy volunteered to draw a
diagram to explain ‘angle of incidence’ and ‘angle of reection’. A girl could provide
substantial explanations without hesitation:
‘We know that light travels in straight lines because… behind the opaque object,
you cannot see the light, only the shadow. When you put a bottle or glass in front
of a source of light, the light travels through it.’
It is worth noting that the girl who provided the above comment has a rst language
which is neither Spanish nor English.
Some pupils were able to use English effectively in more exible situations, for example:
“(pupils contributing ideas from previous lesson) ‘nutrients pass through the
circulatory system; oxygen travels through our bodies and reaches every part.’”
“(Feedback from subgroup (two girls, one boy) on the desert as an ecosystem.) Pupils,
particularly the boy, managed sustained sentences without the need of notes. Pupils
helped each other out in a mature way using English.
Second subgroup (three girls) on the rainforest. Girls use a visual from a book, not
reading from it but talking about it. Pupils make a few slight errors, e.g. ‘support for
‘sustain’”.
Quality and accuracy of language
Although pupils’ capacity to communicate in a range of situations was the main focus
of observations, the quality and accuracy of the language used were also monitored.
It would be unfortunate if concern for accuracy were to inhibit pupils’ willingness to
communicate, but accuracy is needed if their linguistic resources are to be developed
further and they are to cope with more demanding situations.
30
BEP. EVALUATION REPORT
Pronunciation
(In a group interview) “Errors of pronunciation tended to focus on specic sounds such as
‘my job’. A frequent mistake was the ‘s’ and ‘sh’ sounds e.g. pronunciation of ‘shopping’.
Some specic sounds and intonation of about half the group make it harder for an English
native speaker to follow without a knowledge of Spanish”.
Certain combinations of consonants present difculties for Spanish-speakers. In one
class for example the uency of reading and accuracy of pronunciation, e.g. ‘clothes,
whole’, varied greatly. This kind of familiar difculty is reected in the pronunciation of the
past tenses in English, for example: ‘worked, honoured, walked (èd)’.
Although intonation is usually acceptable and does not often seriously impede
understanding, the stress can be misplaced, particularly on ‘technical words’, for example:
‘retina, transparent, miniscule’.
Vocabulary
In some respects, coping with general vocabulary was more of a problem than scientic
terms.
(In a group interview) “Some uncertainties, for example seeing ‘babies’ as synonymous
with ‘children’ (Question to interviewer: How many babies do you have?’).”
In another school, a boy who said ‘asignatura’ was immediately corrected by his peers.
The pupils interviewed could explain the game of handball to the visitor who did not know
the game, but none knew the word ‘goalkeeper’ in English, although all were enthusiastic
about football.
Syntax
“Pupils are asked to make two New Year resolutions each (one afrmative, one negative)
relevant to school or home. Examples:
‘I am going to: ‘behave in class’/‘study more’/ ‘help my mother at home’.’
‘I am not going to’: ‘play with my Playstation 2 all day’/‘eat so much chocolate’.”
“During the class reading of a story, the teacher interrupts occasionally to ask pupils at
random to put statements heard in the story into the negative, for example: ‘He wasn’t’,
‘she didn’t’ etc. Most pupils get these right but mistakes like ‘She not was…’ do occur.”
“Pupils were invited to ask questions which they do willingly, although the question forms
and word order are not always correct, for example ‘It has to be a glass bottle?’.”
(In group interviews) “Difculties in use of (past) tenses: four pupils were comfortable
using past tenses, three uncertain. (The tutor said afterwards that he was rather
concerned about their insecure use of tenses in unpredictable situations.).”
“(Apart from the boy with an English father) their grasp of tenses varies - tendency to use
the present for past and (perhaps more understandably) for the future.”
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BEP. EVALUATION REPORT
“(In a group interview in another school) All were secure in past tenses except for one boy
who said ‘last week I go’ (corrected immediately by his peers).”
Errors occurred in marking the past tense, for example, ‘injur(ed), escapèd’. In the
spoken language, these may be due to awed pronunciation (see above) rather than to
lack of grammatical knowledge.
Use of the denite article can be over-worked, for example:
‘I do the homework, the training.’ (past)
‘After the school I go.’ (future)
Pupils can be uncertain also about the choice of prepositions, for example:
“The teacher expects pupils to be precise. For example, a pupil offers ‘the camel has
a hump’.
The teacher prompts: ‘Where?’
A pupil rephrases: ‘The camel has a hump in the (sic) back’”. (Y5)
P: ‘S is going to explain you’ (sic).
P: ‘I go to play tennis at (name of town)’.
Conclusion: Pupils’ classroom performance in Primary 5&6
T
he lesson notes obtained for Study 1 focusing on the classroom performance
of pupils in Primary 6 reveal a good general participation in class and intellectual
engagement with subject matter, with no obvious observable evidence of pupils
falling behind or becoming alienated. Given that these are 11-year-old children,
there is a condent command of technical vocabulary in respect of several
different aspects of science, and also of English-language structure, revealing
an ability to produce extended utterances and not just single-word responses.
Pupils generally show ease of comprehension of their teacher’s spoken
utterances. The target language (English) indeed seems well-integrated into
the learning of both science and English, in keeping with the rst aim of the BEP.
There does not seem to be any obvious loss of learning of subject-matter as a
result of learning science through the medium of English.
Pupils were able to express a wide range of language functions which reect the
discourse of science lessons, e.g. giving reasons; giving explanations; dening
or exemplifying concepts or terms; expressing if-then relationships; describing
sequences of action; describing functions of organs or objects; describing what
things are like; expressing necessity; expressing how elements combine. There
are some errors in English language but these seem to be largely developmental
and are largely over-ridden by the positive things which pupils can already do
in English in their science lessons. When errors are made there is recurrent
evidence of helpful and corrective feedback being offered by other members of the
peer-group.
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BEP. EVALUATION REPORT
STUDY 2:
PRIMARY SCHOOL 5&6 GOOD PRACTICE IN CLASS
In Study 1, the focus was on what Year 5&6 pupils could do in class towards the end of
their primary school education. Study 2 draws on the same lessons but focuses on the
classroom practices which seemed associated with these pupil outcomes.
Introduction
Whole-class teaching was the predominant teaching style adopted, although there
were signicant exceptions. However, the predominance of the whole-class mode did
not necessarily mean that the teaching was narrowly ‘didactic’. Features of the most
effective teaching included: careful (short- and sometimes medium-term) planning,
a good rapport with pupils in an orderly but relaxed atmosphere, and an ability to spot
a key learning point and use it for the benet of the class as well as the individual.
Questions were well pitched to take account of the range of ability in the class and to
draw out answers from pupils’ underlying knowledge (particularly in science). There were
examples of paraphrase, analogy and visual material being used well for this purpose.
In science good use was made of simple visual aids, there was successful group
work based on thoughtful organization, and evidence of some differentiation in lesson
planning. In language & literacy, the teachers showed due concern for accuracy of
language, particularly where it affected meaning/understanding, but did not pursue
this concern in a way that inhibited or demoralised pupils when they were using English
willingly in class.
Lessons were usually well prepared with links to prior learning and with content
sequenced to deliver the objectives, although in about a third of lessons objectives
were implicit rather than explicit. Teacher’s explanations were clear and pupils
understood what they had to do. In about half the lessons progression could have
been strengthened and plans for the following lesson made more explicit.
Effective practice was reected in a number of ways: in the organisation of group work,
providing ‘hands on’ experience, the approach to prompting and correction, linking
language and content in teaching points, and the judicious use of Spanish to support, but
not replace, teaching through English.
The text types encountered by pupils were usually printed information texts. Recorded
audio or video texts were rarely encountered, so that the voices pupils heard were
predominantly the familiar ones of their own teachers.
Group work
There were examples of successful group work based on thoughtful organization.
In a science lesson, the composition of groups was drawn up by lots in order to produce
different mixed groups in each lesson. The investigative tasks for each group were
clear, the pupils knew the time available (8 minutes) to complete them for plenary
presentation, were allowed access to reference books and completed the tasks on time.
33
BEP. EVALUATION REPORT
“Group 1 (2b, 2g)
Pupils have to take turns in joining up three elements on a board: scientic term,
denition, picture. A wired circuit (battery-powered) lights up when correct
connections are made between the elements. Pupils have to log their attempts and
successes so the teacher can check later how each is coping.
Examples of denitions:
‘The large part of your brain that helps you to move and remember’ (cerebrum)
‘The part of the brain below the cerebrum’ (cerebellum)”
Pupils are encouraged to discuss their work with each other provided they do so in
English. For example, in a language & literacy class, pupils asked questions in English to
clarify a mime on the Halloween theme to identify a character or book or lm such as ‘A
vampire’, ‘Ghost Busters’, ‘The Worst Witch’, ‘I Know What You Did Last Summer’.
In another class, the teacher read a summary of ‘The biography of Harriet Tubman’ twice
and then:
“Pupils are asked to note keywords only (it is meant to be comprehension, not
dictation) and then share notes in English with their group. Teacher circulates and
helps pupils to conate their ndings, getting them to complement their notes
with details spotted by others.
Notes from separate groups are combined and compared with those from the whole
class to build up a picture e.g.
‘… was married at age 24;’
‘1861-1865 – helped army of the North against the army from the South;’
‘(later) started a school for black children.’
Pupils showed a range of performance in note-taking – a demanding exercise for
pupils of this age. Their notes ranged from half a page to one sentence.”
In a Year 5 science class, work on vertebrates and invertebrates was consolidated rst by
groups presenting to the class through a spokesperson posters from a previous lesson
(e.g. Sponges: ‘they live in the rocks in the sea, they are not symmetrical, they lter
nutrients from the sediment…’), and then by further group work involving denitions
and classication:
“Group work shows evidence of: clear expectations, instructions well presented,
groups well organized. At each stage output from group work is checked and
reviewed with the class.
Read and match: Pupils have to match denition to ‘exoskeleton, arachnid’, etc.
Pupils have to work out whether particular animals are vertebrate or invertebrate
(‘panda, snake, dragony’, etc.).
Pupils have to classify groups of animals into proper category e.g. mammals,
reptiles, (in)vertebrates. (Some pupils not afraid to ask visitor in English for help).
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Pupils have to choose an (in)vertebrate to describe to the class.
There is assessment of descriptions by teacher, trainee and peers.
Aggregated results for 4 activities for each team recorded on a grid.”
Notes: “A well organized lesson conducted at brisk pace, well managed to keep all pupils
involved. Teacher has presence, does not allow pupils’ concentration to become eroded,
pupils worked well together throughout. Pupils showed good understanding of content
and language. They speak with some condence, generally pronouncing clearly.
Teacher is rm, but pleasant. Has very good English and speaks naturally, but can model
it when accuracy needs improving. Appropriate content jointly planned with science
teacher who is present to help with group work.”
Hands-on experience
Good use was made of simple visual aids.
For example, a model of a skull was used with the ‘brain’ lifted out. The teacher explained
that the parts of the brain operate like a team, but there are some key players (parallel
made with football). Questions used simple examples to draw out understanding:
T: ‘Hypothalamus – it operates like a thermostat. Do have one at home?’
P: ‘Yes.’
T: ‘What does it do?’
P: ‘It (the hypothalamus)normally keeps the body temperature at 37°.’
T: ‘How small is the pituitary? Like a bean? P: Like a lentil. T: You’re getting very
close. Think of green. P: A pea.’
Science Year 5: “Literally a ‘hands-on’ lesson with the teacher providing samples of
material (e.g. leather, paper) for pupils to handle and examine. She gets pupils to work
out what ‘natural’ means in this context: they arrive at the provisional denition that
it means ‘material from animals or plants or out of the ground, whereas
‘manufactured’ materials, such as plastic, involve some kind of processing.’
For example, the teacher holds up some wool. A pupil suggests it is ‘cotton’. Teacher
says ‘No, it comes from a creature with four legs’. Several pupils chorus: ‘Sheep’.
Other pupils point out that ‘sheep are not green!’. Teacher replies the wool is dyed and
asks what the natural colour of wool is. Pupils offer white or grey. The teacher has high
expectations reected in nuances of meaning and suggests e.g. ‘whitish, greyish’.
The teacher then asks ‘Who can tell me which objects around the classroom are made
from natural materials? Pupils produce a book (Q – ‘Is it all natural? – what about the
spiral-binding?’), and pin board (cork)’.
The same process is repeated more quickly identifying ‘manufactured materials’ around
the room. This leads on to further discussion of materials, such as ‘pencil sharpeners’,
which are made out of more than one material.
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In a recap at the end of the lesson, the denition is agreed that ‘natural materials are
from animals, plants, or from the ground and manufactured materials are made by
humans processing natural materials’”.
In another school, pupils were motivated by a Year 5 lesson on the ‘circulatory system’
which involved a ‘doctor’ taking the pulse rate of various ‘patients’ before and after they
had been sent for a run. A table of results from different ‘patients’ was then drawn up and
discussed.
Linking language and content
Pupils’ progress was enhanced where the teacher provided them with a stimulus to offer
more sophisticated and accurate language.
Science Year 6: “The teacher asks for repetition for reinforcement, and moves forward
pupils’ utterances by encouraging the use of additional language, particularly adverbs or
adverbial phrases e.g. ‘more often, so much, better’”.
Language & literacy Year 5: “The teacher shows pupils pictures and pupils have to offer
a sentence on each one. Her expectations are high and she expects them to lengthen
sentences by adding (say) adjectives or adverbial phrases where they can, for example:
‘The camel is walking in the hot desert in the afternoon’”.
Science Year 5: “The teacher supports her commentary on the experiment with cue-
cards of key language. She draws attention to the importance of verbs which are colour-
coded differently from nouns”.
Science Year 5: “The teacher is keen for pupils to retain specialist vocabulary and refers
to ‘The Flintstones’ as a mnemonic for ‘int’”.
Language & literacy Year 5: “The teacher makes a point of choosing words for tests
and reinforcement from material covered in the past week in language & literacy and
science. The tests require a demanding level of understanding of English grammar
(e.g. verbs: ‘burn, bring, bend, build’ etc) and vocabulary (‘sticky, congratulations,
delighted, evidence’ etc).”
Language & literacy Year 5: “Sentences are pooled by the class on the board and teacher
draws out grammar points focusing on the present continuous, such as ‘sit/sitting; put/
putting; touch/touching’. Teacher plays close attention to spelling and pronunciation,
for example ‘talking/ walking’”.
Science Year 5: “The teacher prompts the class about an experiment about chemical
change simply by asking ‘next?’, ‘nally’ etc. and only offers the answer if the pupil is
stuck. A girl commented ‘Finally the gas goes up into the balloon and… (teacher)... the
balloon inates’”.
In a lesson about reviewing work on the digestive system, the teacher used sustained
probing to check understanding of the topic and the pupils’ grasp of language to talk
about it. Cards were given out referring to terms of parts of the digestive system: tongue,
teeth, large intestine, etc. The teacher asked the class to explain the process in response
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to questions but gave pupils the responsibility for working out the correct sequence, for
example:
‘What comes rst?’
‘What comes next? ‘
‘What does each part do?’
‘What is the role of saliva?’
The teacher linked the explanations to health issues. For example,
T: ‘Is the stomach (always) in the same position?’
P: ‘No.’
T: ‘How long does food stay in the stomach?’
P: ‘For two hours’. (T then explained one should not go swimming for at least two
hours.)
The teacher then took another tack: ‘This organ is about seven metres long. What is
it?’ A pupil explains it is ‘the small intestine’. At each stage the teacher got the class to
volunteer statements about what happens, prompting as necessary (e.g. ‘What happens
then?’):
P:‘The food goes into the small intestine and starts absorption.’
T: ‘An important organ helps?’
P: ‘The pancreas.’ (T then explained the function of the pancreas.)
The teacher asked what function the oesophagus has:
P: The oesophagus passes the food to the stomach.’
T: ‘What shape is it?’
P: ‘It’s like a tube.’
The nal part of the lesson was used to check on (un)healthy eating. Pupils had to
volunteer principles (expressed through modal verbs) learnt through recent lessons. For
example:
‘I must eat more breakfast’
‘I need to eat more fruit and vegetables (5 pieces a day’); to drink more water
(8 glasses a day’).
Prompting and correcting
The teachers showed due concern for accuracy of language, particularly where it
affected meaning/understanding, but did not pursue this concern in a way that inhibited
or demoralised pupils when they were using English willingly in class. For example, one
teacher, revising time expressions such as ‘on Thursdays’, ‘every day’ etc. to indicate
routine activities, focused on the need for pupils to understand why a particular form
is correct. In another school the teacher kept a log of mistakes to comment on later,
particularly where these involved exceptions.
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In another school, in a lively lesson about ‘Charlie and the Chocolate Factory’, the
teacher used exposition to stress, for example, the distinction between ‘write’ and ‘wrote’,
and gave analogies to illustrate pronunciation, for example ‘bus’/‘bucket’. However,
for the most part she involved the class naturally in checking and correcting language
within the ow of the lesson:
“Pupils were expected to spot ‘deliberate’ mistakes which were used as teaching
points for example, ‘Grandpa (sic) Georgina’.
Efforts were made to consolidate and extend vocabulary, for example, (T) ‘Who can tell
me what word we use for mother and father together? – (P) Parents (T reinforces:
not Fathers’)’.
Stress pattern of ‘chocolate’ demonstrated and then drilled for practice ‘I like chocolate.’
T: ‘What do we need if seven people live in a house?’ Teacher writes rooms on
board. Keeps an eye on detail, for example, pointing out ‘only two letters t in toilet’
and then getting pupils to make it plural. Saves up errors for correction rather than
interrupt ow of class. ‘Don’t worry about the spelling just yet’.
Teacher usually got pupils to work out corrections where possible. ‘How many ‘o’s do we
need for an ‘oo’ sound?’ What’s wrong with ‘(sic) siting-room’?
T: ‘Did they sleep on the oor?’
P: ‘Yes’.
T: ‘Directly?’
P: ‘No, on a mattress.’
T: ‘Do you know what a mattress is?’
P: ‘A large mat? Perhaps, more like a small carpet?’”
Use of Spanish to support teaching
There was sometimes a tendency for pupils to use English less often than they should.
One school had made a conscious decision to revisit repair strategies because older
children in the school apparently tended to speak less than they used to. Repair strategies
revisited included:
‘Can you repeat?’
‘What is X in Spanish?’
‘What does Y mean?’
‘How do you pronounce it?’
‘May I…?’
For reinforcement, a class had to write individually two exchanges involving question and
answer and illustrate e.g.
‘Can I borrow (it)?’
‘Yes, you can/Of course you can.’
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‘How do you spell it?’
‘I don’t know/I can’t remember.’
Although the teachers stuck to English virtually all the time and expected pupils to do
the same, learning could be enhanced where the teacher had a command of Spanish and
exploited this judiciously, for example referring to the Spanish equivalents of key terms:
Science Year 6: “The teacher delivers the lesson in English but offers Spanish equivalent
or invites pupils to offer equivalent of key terms, particularly where they are not cognates
e.g. ‘stream’ = ‘riachuelo’; ‘fresh water’= ‘agua dulce’.”
Science Year 5: “Teacher explains the functioning of the middle ear, getting pupils to
identify ‘cavity’ etc. Spanish synonyms are referred to where appropriate.
‘A very little bone called the ‘hammer’ touches the ear drum.’
‘Do you know what a hammer is?’ (Pupils not sure).
‘It’s a tool we have in our homes we used to drive things in… (‘martillo’).’
‘The hammer touches the eardrum at one end and the other touches the anvil.’
‘What is an anvil?’ (Pupils not sure)
The teacher reminds them of a recent medieval market in which a man was working with
iron in order to convey the idea of an anvil. The teacher asks for the Spanish word just to
make sure they all understand – ‘yunque’”.
Language & literacy Year 6: “The teacher explains ‘I am (not) going to…’ structure in
Spanish for those who are not sure but reverts to English once the concept is understood”.
Language & literacy Year 6: “The teacher’s knowledge of Spanish is very useful e.g. a
boy comments (on a photograph of Harriet Tubman): ‘She is a monja’ and the teacher
responds ‘No, she’s not a nun’ without interrupting the ow of English”.
Quality and accuracy of teachers’ English
In all the schools pupils were taught by a mixture of native speakers of English and
Spanish natives who had studied English to a high level and/or had had a substantial
period of residence in an English–speaking country.
The Spanish teachers of science usually spoke English well with sound syntax and usually
without strong accents, although some were more condent and uent than others. The
mistakes they made were usually lexical or morphological, occasionally syntactical (e.g.
word order) or involved pronunciation/intonation, for example:
Lexis/Morphology/syntax
‘We are going to make a revising (sic) for this unit.’
‘advices’ (for plural of advice)
‘What for do you need energy?’
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‘makes that the hammer starts vibrating
(the hammer) hits on (the anvil)‘
Pronunciation
‘vital functions (short vowel)’; ‘carbon dioxide (ee)’
‘sweat (sh)’; ‘sheets (s)’
‘interpret ’; ‘appropriately (stress)’
Such mistakes did not impede understanding, but pupils need an accurate model to
emulate, at least in the case of language central to the topic being studied, and to support
the development of their capacity to communicate effectively.
A science teacher whose English is very secure took the trouble to emphasise the
importance of correct endings, for example ‘protect - protected’, as in ‘the lungs are
protected by the ribcage’. In another case, the science teachers saw their role as
complementary to that of the language teachers. For example, they mark science tests
for content so that understanding is rewarded, but small unit accuracy is monitored and
corrected subsequently in language & literacy lessons.
In many cases, language & literacy lessons are taught by native speakers of English, but
there are cases in which they are taught by native speakers of Spanish with appropriate
experience and expertise. Their English is good and they make very few mistakes, as in
the following Notes extracts:
“Teacher has good English, accurate, uent with good pronunciation.”
“… English is uent with just a few lexical and pronunciation errors. Some ‘cultural’ issues
need explanation e.g. ‘clothes shop/boutique; newsagent’s/quiosko’. Main (occasional)
syntactical mistake concerned word order (e.g.) Do you know what’s that?”
Use of ICT
The pupils interviewed in groups reported limited use of computers at school. There
were limited examples of the use of ICT in lessons, although use of the Internet had
been increasing in the last two years. The quality of planning was a key factor in the
ICT lessons seen.
For example, in a Year 5 science lesson the objective was to nd information according to
‘Atlantic/Mediterranean/Subtropical/Continental climate for fauna or ora’ and pupils
had to complete in pairs a different box (for example ‘Flora in a continental climate’) on
a worksheet with a view to pooling information later. Unfortunately, limited progress was
made because the implications of the task had not been considered with sufcient concern
for the linguistic and information issues involved. Pupils had to too many sites to search
and the entries found were often too dense in information and academic in style.
In contrast, a Year 6 language & literacy lesson exploring the origins and history of
chocolate was more successful. An initial brainstorming produced a wealth of words
including ‘cacao, white/ brown (=dark), hot, snack, ice cream, bar, liquid, melted’,
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and some related notions were explored e.g. ‘Where is cacao from? What do they do
with the beans?’ A single website was chosen in advance by the teacher so that pupils
spent time scanning text and using their reading skills rather than sur ng. Although
some pupils needed more support than others, it provided appropriate challenge. Higher
attainers showed they could cope with continuous text and write relevant answers.
Conclusion: Good practice in Primary 5&6
T
he teachers involved in Study 2 exempli ed an impressive range of ‘good
practice’ teaching strategies. We have not sought to analyze these into ne
categories but present them in two groups. Both groups consisted of good practice
strategies which involved the use of English as target language. One group
consisted of strategies relevant to good teaching in general; the other group con-
sisted of strategies speci cally focused on language forms.
•
Keeps all pupils involved in the lesson
•
Checks pupils’ outputs
•
Is willing to collaborate with colleagues
•
Is rm but pleasant
•
Uses visual aids
•
Gives clear explanations of what pupils
are to do
•
Reviews pupil outputs with the whole class
•
Gives clear guidelines for use of ICT in class
•
Exudes ‘presence’
•
Keeps pupils’ attention focused
•
Avoids spoon-feeding
•
Presents tasks in a clear and interesting
way
•
Keeps a log of mistakes for subsequent
comment
•
Chooses websites which are appropriate
and comprehensible
•
Helps pupils work out their own solutions
•
Helps pupils focus on linguistic form as well
as function and meaning
•
Pays due attention to accuracy, especially
where meaning would otherwise be
compromised
•
Introduces deliberate mistakes for pupils to
identify and correct
•
Helps pupils focus on key words
•
Helps pupils develop clear de nitions
•
Helps them describe the properties of things
•
Helps them make contrasts, e.g. … whereas …
•
Helps them develop robust classi cations
•
Helps them develop use of the passive voice,
essential for science
•
Pupils have to extend their utterances by
using additional vocabulary
•
Colour-codes in order to highlight particular
types of word, e.g. verbs
•
Allows judicious use of Spanish
Good practice strategies:
Language used for
GENERAL TEACHING
Good practice strategies:
Speci c, though not exclusive,
focus on LANGUAGE FORM, FUNCTION
AND DISCOURSE
We cannot claim that strategies such as those listed above were the direct cause
of the impressive learner performance which is set out in Study 1. What we can
claim with certainty, however, is that these strategies were recurrently observed in
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STUDY 3:
ESO1&2 LEARNERS’ PERFORMANCE IN CLASS
Introduction
In the rst two years of secondary school education, students’ comprehension is
challenged in new ways. They study a wider range of subjects through the medium of
English, for example, geography and history are more often taught through English,
and new subjects are added, such as technology and PE. Within subjects, the linguistic
challenge is increased as students are required to study a wider range of topics and in
more depth. In science, for example, they have to understand more complex concepts
and phenomena. The examples which follow are mainly from Secondary Year 2; where
they are from Secondary Year 1, this is indicated.
Opportunities for listening and speaking
In a lesson about human fertilisation, students had to understand the menstrual cycle and
its implications for birth control, the causes of multiple births, the development of the
foetus during pregnancy and the relevance of different blood groups.
In the study of ecological systems, students had to classify animals in terms of ‘predator’
and ‘prey’ and justify their conclusions, cope with specialist terms such as ‘carnassial’,
and appreciate the particular distinction made by ecologists between ‘population’ (the
number of a particular species in the same place) and ‘community’ (all species within an
ecosystem).
In a range of subjects, students have to be sure of denitions and differences, for example
between ‘climate’ and ‘weather’, ‘precipitation’ and ‘rain’ and ‘coin’ and ‘currency’.
In dealing with the weather (Secondary 1), students were at ease with terms such as
‘stratosphere’ and ‘troposhere’, ‘alto-cumulus’ and ‘cumulo-nimbus’. Similarly, on work
on ‘geothermal energy’, they were challenged to understand the difference between
(say) ‘igneous’ and ‘metamorphic’ rocks. In a lesson analysing sound, students had to
Study 1 lessons which had impressive learner outcomes, and so at the very least
there is an associative relationship if not one that has been demonstrated to be
causal.
It is worth noting that, regardless of whether the lessons were science, language
& literacy or other, the teaching was focused on language as well as on subject
content and skills. If we take science, for example, learning to ‘do’ science did not
just mean learning to do experiments; it also meant learning the vocabulary and
the discourse of the language of science, hence the importance, for example, of
getting denitions and classications right and of learning the use of the passive
voice. In the language of current language-teaching research, there was ample
‘focus on form’ as well as focus on meaning and function.
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understand the precise terms ‘amplitude’, ‘pitch’ and ‘timbre’. In technology, students
had to be able to explain the difference between ‘series and parallel circuits’ and use
formulae and notation to carry out calculations through the medium of English.
In a history lesson on the feudal system, students had to be able to identify (say)
‘baron’ from clues such as ‘tenants in chief’, ‘given land in return for loyalty’ and
‘providing the King with money and an army’.
In a geography lesson on demographic transition models, students had to cope with
the specialist terminology of demography and with open-ended questions such as
‘what can governments do to ‘increase natality’ and ‘reduce mortality’.
In an English lesson, students had to spot nuances in language, identifying the differences,
for example, between ‘grunt’ and ‘snarl’ and ‘squeak’ and ‘screech’.
In an outdoor PE lesson, students had to understand rst time quite complex instructions
for working in teams and to organise themselves without fuss. The instructions involved
getting all the footballs to the other end of the pitch against challenge; a relay-
dribbling the ball to the far end and halfway back, passing from the halfway line to a
teammate to nish; and two students racing to the far end to win one point for getting
the ball and two for getting back to their own line without losing it to the opposition.
Using listening and speaking skills
Providing explanations
Students demonstrated that they could provide their own explanations in dialogue with
the teacher or with each other, for example:
Q: ‘What is fertilisation?’
A: ‘Fertilisation is the joining together of the sperm nucleus with the egg cell.’
Q: ‘Where does it take place?’
A: ‘In the rst part of the Fallopian tubes.’
(Owls as predators) ‘They can see in the dark, they can rotate their head, they
have very good hearing and sharp feet (sic)’.
Students also showed they could conduct and discuss experiments in English and then
feed back to the class.
Sound
“Groups were given bottles containing varying amounts of water. Each group had to
study three bottles and agree hypotheses about how the sound would change
according to the amount of water in each bottle to be struck. Hypotheses were clearly
written in English. These were subsequently checked in the experiment for feedback
about the results in plenary. The students observed the ground rules and discussed
experiments with each other in English.”
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Acids and alkalis
“The teacher had prepared and distributed a range of samples: ‘lemon, juice, coke,
vinegar, bicarbonate, milk, water’. Through question and answer, he got students
to hypothesise about what kind of substance each pair had been given. Students in
pairs then tested their anonymous substances by dipping paper indicators and reading
off Ph numbers, and/or by taste or smell –where appropriate– and discussed this in
English. Effective discussion of hypotheses and results through question and answer
followed in plenary.”
Elements and their properties
In another science lesson, students engaged with enthusiasm in a question and answer
session with the teacher as a prelude to more independent speaking. For example,
Q: ‘Can you describe the smell?’
A: ‘It’s repulsive and smells like rotten eggs!’
Q: ‘Can you tell me something about mercury?’
A: ‘It’s toxic and therefore must stay sealed.’
Q: ‘What is the difference between a mixture and a compound?’
A: ‘A mixture can be returned to its earlier state.’
Q: ‘What is the process called when we turn a solid into a gas?’
A: ‘Sublimation.’
The dialogue then proceeded in a more open way:
Q: ‘Who could tell me something about, for example, polonium?’
A: ‘Its symbol is Po, it is number 84 in the periodic table. Its mass is 209. It is
highly radioactive…’
Q: ‘Who could tell me something about uranium?’
A: ‘Uranium is very toxic (but) it is used in many production processes. Its symbol
is U.’
Notes: “All students showed interest and contributed something. They showed
good understanding, spoke clearly with good pronunciation and were willing to
listen to each other. In the open-ended situation, the stronger students showed they
could reel off statements based on their studies, consisting of up to 10 well
constructed sentences in English without notes or ‘parrot’ memorisation and with
little hesitation.”
Coping in an interview
In a language & literacy class studying Kensuke’s Kingdom by Michael Morpurgo students
rose to the challenge of coping ‘in the hot seat’.
“In each of seven groups, ‘journalists’ prepared questions for the ‘Kensukes’, whilst
the latter reected on what they might be asked in the ‘hot seat’ where they would
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BEP. EVALUATION REPORT
be allowed no notes – the teacher had made the ground rules clear: ‘If you don’t know,
you have to improvise’. The students demonstrated that they could organize group
work in a mature way, design appropriate questions to ask and, if in the ‘hot seat’
themselves, cope by improvising where necessary. In each group, three ‘journalists’
asked ‘Kensuke’ questions for him (her) to respond to in character.
Each interviewer had prepared 6-10 questions. The ‘Kensukes’ were in the hot seat
for 10 minutes and acquitted themselves well, in some cases stringing together
six-sentence replies without hesitation. Good use was made of past tenses and
connectives.”
Improvising
There were examples of students improvising or using English spontaneously in various
contexts.
In a history class, students had to explain words in the text on the spot and showed
that they could improvise. For example, a ‘raider’ was described as ‘a person who
takes things without permission’; a ‘tapestry’ was described as ‘a carpet used for
decorating the walls’.
In a science lesson, a boy put on the spot by the question ‘What is an earthquake?’,
responded with ‘a sudden movement of the earth’.
In another school, students in a language & literacy class improvised to explain, for
example, ‘copper brown’ (colour of copper), and ’wispy hair’ (individual hair).
In a social science lesson, a boy, when asked what ‘distribution’ meant, offered ‘they (the
suppliers) spread it’. Asked by the teacher to be more specic, after reection, he said
‘they transport goods to other customers, to other factories’.
In language & literacy class, some students showed they were able to put arguments
on the spot, for example the case for allowing mobile phones on transport: ‘If you
are travelling by train or whatever and one of your family needs to get in touch
urgently...’ The students were willing to offer opinions on most things. For example,
in reply to the question ‘Is a Play Station a waste of time?’, a spontaneous response
was ‘For me, it’s a silly thing’. When someone claimed not to know an answer, others
offered spontaneous comment such as ‘You do know what it’s about, don’t be silly!’
The teacher did not discourage banter, so when she pretended ‘I’ve never seen a
Play Station’, the spontaneous response was ‘I’ll lend you one!’.
In a history lesson the students (Secondary Year 1) recapped with the teacher a unit on
Ancient Egypt. They were expected to give answers in full sentences, and to draw upon
their linguistic resources, where they did not know the exact words, for example:
‘A pyramid is a place where they buried the Pharoahs.’
‘They have tombs but I can’t remember what they are called.’
‘They are polytheistic - they believe in many gods.’
‘They believe in life after death.’
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‘He (the Pharaoh) has absolute power which means he controls all the people in
the city.’
‘If people don’t do what the Pharoah says, the Pharoah does something bad (to
them).’
‘A functionary (civil servant) is someone who is paid by the government.’
‘(Nobles)… they can be veterans of war or friends of the Pharoah. He gives riches
and land to the nobles.’
‘(Who were the slaves?) The slaves were prisoners of war.’
‘The women did domestic things. They had no legal status.’
Presentations
In a language & literacy lesson in another school, a girl and a boy did presentations on a
subject of their choice to the class.
“Presentation 1 on her experience of the BEP, particularly in the early days: she began at
age three, found it easy at rst, because it involved saying simple things about colours,
animals, and own age. Went on to describe some of the teachers she had had for example
‘a good person’, ‘a lovely person’. She offered a personal view ‘in my opinion, the
bilingual education programme has been useful until now…’
She spoke for three minutes without notes. All other students had to ask questions about
her presentation, for example:
‘Is the programme hard?’
‘Do think you will continue with the programme?’
‘Did you think this topic would be hard to speak about?’
‘Do you prefer English or American people?’
‘Do you prefer X or Y (schools)? What do you like most about the programme?’
‘Would you like the opportunity to go to the United States or England?’
‘Is it more difcult to follow American English (than British English)?’
‘What is your favourite bilingual subject?’
The presenter offered a range of views on the spot, for example, ‘I like more (sic) history,
because it is easy for me, and on the other hand, I like English because we do a lot
of activities’. ‘I don’t (always) like science, because I don’t like rocks etc… (I nd) the
human body is more interesting’.
Presentation 2 on ‘Do you think money brings happiness? The student (male) spoke
for two minutes without notes, was much more hesitant but tried to tackle this more
discursive topic: on the one hand…, on the other hand…; my opinion of the (sic)
money is… Questions to him included:
‘If you had a lot of money, what would you do?’
‘If you were offered money to leave your family, what would you do?’
‘If you were rich, would you give money to poor people?’
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The students were fully involved in listening to and asking questions about the
presentations and remain engaged to the end. There were even complaints that not
all of them had had time to ask a question about the second presentation.”
In another school, students presented to the class biographies of famous women in
history such as ‘Sapho, Ada Byron, Wangari Maathai, Soa Kovalevskaya’ and ‘Margarita
Salas’. Most used the data projector with short texts, captions and illustrations. Although
the quality of oral production varied, all spoke for 3–5 minutes and presented relevant
information in a coherent way. None read his/her presentation, although some were
more likely to refer to the text than others. One boy spoke throughout condently without
notes and one girl barely referred to hers, simply making reference to captions on
the screen to reinforce points.
Quality and accuracy of students’ language
The students generally spoke accurately and uently and in most cases without very
hispanicised accents.
Mispronunciations were usually inuenced by Spanish, for example ‘(e)strontium,
(e)school, (e)start; claws, cubs; radium, potassium , amazing; lithium, marchioness’.
Some mispronunciations partly reected wrong cognates or misspellings, for example
‘Noruegan, fetus’.
Mispronunciation was most noticeable when students were reading aloud, for example:
Notes “‘Reading aloud not always clear – partly a question of expression, partly a
question of accent/mispronunciation (e.g. ‘height/hate)’. Lack of clarity would
present a problem for a listener who was not used to Spanish intonation.”
“Intonation quite often impeded, though it did not prevent, comprehension in
conversation. Uncertainty about stress patterns was not helpful in this respect, for
example ‘activist’, ‘Florida’.”
Errors occurred in morphology or syntax, perhaps most often in the use of past tenses,
for example ‘has/had’; ‘locate(d)’ or ‘he redistribute(d) his inheritance’. This is of
course often linked to unclear pronunciation, for example ‘he walk(ed)’ v. he walkèd.
(See also Study 1 above)
Word order with ‘does’ sometimes presented problems. When not concentrating, some
students tended to drop the subject pronoun, particularly with the verb ‘to be’, (for
example ‘(He/she) is a + noun’) under the inuence of Spanish in which the verb usually
marks the person.
Some errors perhaps occur more frequently in Secondary 1 than in Secondary 2, for
example:
“(students) cope with the English equivalent of tenses without hesitation, and errors
are of pronunciation or morphology (for example, run - runs) rather than syntax
(although ‘if you have/had’ is not clear to some, and use of (denite) article
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uncertain). Questions are usually formed correctly but some aberrations, e.g. ‘Do you
are? - - - Are you?’
“Responses are generally accurate, but with some slips on subject pronouns (with
occasional confusion between ‘him’ and’ her’) or omitting the denite article”.
Quite often students in Secondary 2 are able to correct themselves or each other:
“some students can self-correct on the spot e.g. ‘gets not pregnant’ - - - ‘doesn’t get
pregnant’.”
“The students were also able to correct themselves and each other, for example the
pronunciation of (say) ‘Vikings’ or ‘fought.”
“(errors) include beginning English statements with ‘that…’
1
and occasional individual
syntactical aberrations. For example, ‘How is wolf write?’
Corrected by other students
‘How do you spell ‘wolf’?’”
1.
Literal translation of ‘que’. In Spanish ‘que’ may appear at the head of a sentence, especially in speech, for example to
reinforce a previous statement.
Conclusion: Students’ classroom performance in Secondary
1&2
T
he learner classroom performance in Secondary 1&2 as set out in Study 3
continues and extends the development noted in Study 1 for classes in
Primary 5&6. There is a wider range of specialized vocabulary, greater sureness
of distinctions and denitions (e.g. extending basic denitions by adding
additional words of their own choosing) and greater length of utterance. The
consequences of particular scientic processes are also further developed,
(e.g. ‘It’stoxic and therefore must stay sealed’). There is evidence of students
talking coherently at some length and with little hesitation, with no notes or
promp-ting. They also show themselves as being able to organize their own group-
work, to conduct experiments, to construct their own arguments more or less
on the spot, to express the implications of particular propositions (e.g. … which
means that...), and to explain alternative points of view (e.g. …on the one hand...,
on the other...). There is also a sense of the class as a social community, even
when engaged in serious learning, with evidence of spontaneous banter and also
of peer-support when a difculty arises.
STUDY 4:
ESO1&2 GOOD PRACTICE IN CLASS
Introduction
The effective lessons in Secondary 1 and 2 were evidently the result of careful planning,
well-judged support for students, awareness of both language and content issues,
and involved students through giving them scope to make contributions and to move
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towards greater independence as learners. Some examples are set out below (from
Secondary 2 unless otherwise stated).
Effective lessons
The following three descriptions illustrate range of characteristics of effective lessons.
One: “The (science) teacher is very experienced and enjoys her subject. The atmosphere
is relaxed but focused and respectful. The session is well organised (including safety
aspects such as the use of goggles and ensuring adequate ventilation). The teacher
allows students to speak (when it is appropriate for them to address the class such as
in a presentation) and interrupts rarely; when she does so, it is to correct a key point
or develop it for the benet of the rest of the class. (…) The teacher’s sensitive
approach delivers successful outcomes. Her English is good. It is geared to the needs
of teaching the subject, and her pronunciation is very clear.”
Two: “As an introduction, the teacher elicits specialist terms such as ‘ecologist’, ‘habitat’
from students. He gets them to provide denitions, for example, of ‘predator’ and ‘prey.’
He then leads them to identify the consequences of certain changes, for example:
‘If animals don’t adapt, …they die.’
‘If they die young, …they don’t reproduce.’
‘If they don’t reproduce, ...they don’t pass on their genes.’
Individual and pair work are checked in plenary using the Interactive Whiteboard (a girl
works the laptop). Teacher gets the students to read out the adaptations (identied with
predators) they have drafted before showing them the model text. He then expects them
to read aloud accurately the text on the screen as reinforcement. ‘Drag and drop’ is
used on the Interactive Whiteboard to match words with denitions, drawing on student
contributions.”
Three: “Students have to work out answers to new questions about electrical circuits
using a datasheet. The teacher focuses on the secure understanding of concepts and
developing condence in using formulae and the language needed to deal with them. He
therefore emphasizes learning skills: for example, the need to set out given data properly
to work out an answer, leaving sufcient space on the board, writing the formula rst
before substituting numbers, not leaving out stages before the solution. He also makes
sure students are aware of the difference in electrical notation between the United
Kingdom and Spain.”
Supporting learning
The teachers appreciate that independence has to be founded on secure understanding.
A geography teacher for a unit on demographic transition systems recognized the need
to provide handouts matched to his students’ needs linked to the chapters in a rather
demanding textbook, and a summary of the key points.
The history teachers in another school had made similar efforts:
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BEP. EVALUATION REPORT
“The worksheets showed evidence of a lot of preparation by the history teachers
and an attempt to make the text accessible; a range of sources is included in the
booklets (maps, timelines, denitions, Who’s Who? etc).”
In a language & literacy class, the teacher deployed a range of support for drafting written
instructions:
“A writing frame is provided, and a handout on how to write instructions. The teacher
puts starter questions, for example, ‘What do you need to take into account?’ The
plenary continues drawing out contributions about the various contexts (recipes,
manuals etc) in which one nds instructions.”
Clear exposition to the class followed up by sensitive monitoring provide a basis for
students to undertake individual or group work:
“The teacher explains amplitude, pitch (sound frequency --number of vibrations:
fewer vibrations means a lower sound), timbre (a guitar and a trumpet sound
differently, even when they have the same frequency, amplitude and pitch) and how
sound travels through the air. The health issues are highlighted e.g. ‘100 decibels for
more than 15 minutes can damage your hearing, and an MP3 player can reach
120 db...’
He then monitors progress (in the experiments) with the FLA to ensure that students
are carrying out procedures correctly and consistently. He puts questions to guide
their thinking and does not give them the answers. The students observe the ground
rules and discuss experiments with each other in English.”
In a social science lesson, introducing basic economics, the teacher provided clear
explanations of concepts, but did not rely on a purely didactic approach:
“Brainstorming: ‘What do we think the economy is about?’ Students offer ‘money,
trade’ etc.
The teacher (using the Interactive Whiteboard) explains the system of production
and distribution and consumption, but does not spoon feed pupils – he asks them to
have a go at dening terms rst. At each stage, he takes their anecdotal points and
moves them towards a denition or principle. He establishes that production can be
about services and asks for examples. Pupils offer ‘police’, ‘health’, ‘education’ (etc)
and these concrete examples are used to move the lesson to the next stage.
In dealing with supply and demand, he covers content and language points at the
same time, for example the use of ‘the more… the more…’, ‘the less… the less’ in
linking general price increases to the previous summer’s petrol price hikes.”
A history teacher makes particular efforts to get students in ESO1 to draw upon their
latent knowledge, for example:
“The teacher coaxes precise wording out of students, for example ‘They needed
treasure for the other life... the… (boy) the afterlife’.
He asks students to explain particular terms, for example:
Delta: ‘It is the place where the river and the sea join’.
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BEP. EVALUATION REPORT
He constantly checks understanding, for example:
(P) ‘When the water hits the sea...’ (T), ‘it slows down, and...’ (P) ‘it (Lower Egypt)
oods.’
Students are helped to convey meaning when they may be unsure of the precise words”.
Sometimes support involves a close focus on detail:
Notes: “A lively lesson contacted at a brisk pace and with good humour. Discussion
of answers prepared by students for homework: silent letters– ‘knit, know; wren,
write; dinghy; hymn; and homonyms such as write/right; cheque/check;
our/ ower; steel/steal’.
Context is used for reinforcement, for example: ‘hymn/national anthem, piece/
peace (International Day of Peace project); (stainless) steel’.
Students are expected to pronounce words clearly and spell them out for the class.
The teacher insists on detail, for example, in ‘allowed’ the ‘t/d’ distinction is explained
with a reference to voiced sounds. Clarity is insisted upon in the pronunciation (for
example) of ‘mixed’ and ’missed’. (ESO1)
Humour and fun have a place alongside rigour in consolidating students’ understanding
and knowledge. For example, ‘bingo’ can be used to practise and reinforce knowledge
of the elements in the periodic table and their correct notation, or teams can
indicate by a ‘Mexican wave’ their recognition in a recording of the sector of the
economy (primary, secondary…) which they represent.
In a social science class, the teacher provoked a bidding war among the class to illustrate
the functioning of supply and demand:
‘Supply – how much of something is available’. T explains by bidding to buy
highlighter pens from pupils: competition brings down from E20 to 30 cents (since
everyone has one)!
‘Demand – how much of something people want’. T starts a second round of bidding
in response to a pupil who asks how prices can go up. They have to imagine there is
only one highlighter available in the class and one is needed by each student for an
exam!”
Presentations
Expecting students regularly to do presentations to the rest of the class was an effective
vehicle for developing independence and responsibility. In one school, this experience
was integral to the language & literacy programme in ESO1. Each week two students
had to do a presentation to the class, choosing from a list posted in the aula bilingüe
by the English teacher. It provided a challenging opportunity for sustained speaking
by students facing an audience without notes. The questioning by the rest of the class
(all are expected to ask at least one question of each presenter) ensures that all are
involved and provides an opportunity for formulating a range of questions with teacher
feedback. When the students make mistakes, the teacher corrects sympathetically and
constructively.
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Peer assessment
Peer assessment was used as a means of motivating students, for example in a PE lesson
students were asked to award points (1 2 3) to other teams. This produced an aggregated
range of 4-9 points and on the basis of this it was decided that the rst team would play
the third and the second the fourth.
Peer assessment could be developed further. It provided a further source of responsibility
and helped students to form an idea of standards for themselves, for example:
“Peer assessment, grading on a scale of one to 10. Within each group, the ‘journalists’
grade Kensuke’s responses; the ‘Kensukes’ grade the questioning according to the
interest and challenge of the questions. Students are expected to say what the
most interesting question was and how effective the answer was. The students set
quite high standards commenting, for example, (with some exaggeration) that some
questions were ‘poor’. The teacher did not accept such dismissive comments without
explanation – the students had to give reasons such as saying that simply asking
questions on the level of ‘what is your name?’ was not sufciently challenging.”
Teacher assessment could be used formatively. One English teacher had a grid with
explicit criteria about accuracy and quality of expression which she used to take
systematic notes on student presentations to the class for subsequent individual and
group feedback. The formative process also took place during the presentation class with
questions from her for clarication or to steer peers’ questions away from the anecdotal
(e.g. ages) towards the substance (e.g. signicance of the person’s contribution) of the
presentations.
In another school, instances of use of Spanish by pupils in language & literacy classes
were noted on a grid by teachers and could be used as a quantitative basis for critical
comments in termly reports to parents! In this way, summative reporting could have an
effect on formative assessment.
The place of Spanish in lessons
Teachers used a range of English synonyms to support understanding without resorting
to Spanish, for example (Secondary 1): ‘to mate/make love; to betray/ breach his
trust’.
A social science teacher used paraphrase in English:
“Pupils ask for explanation of terms such as ‘stock breeding’. The teacher explains
the term is related to cattle. He then explains ‘itinerant agriculture’ (‘Burn rst, grow
for a year (or a few years) and move on’) and ‘subsistence agriculture’ - ‘you
grow it (the crop) and use just enough’.”
In an English class, the teacher had a range of strategies to get students to work things
out:
“The teacher explains meaning by giving examples ‘I spotted Carmen in the middle
of a whole crowd of people’; and by giving them clues to work out. For example, we
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BEP. EVALUATION REPORT
have ‘puppies’ - Who’s got ‘kittens’?; ‘People have nails, lions have… (hint: rhymes
with paws;, I am looking for the place where the lion sleeps… den; this is a word
we use for baby lions… cubs’.”
Teachers found ways of communicating meaning without resorting to Spanish, but
some adopted a pragmatic approach: they used Spanish briey on occasion to clarify
concepts but otherwise all explanations were in English. Some accepted the Spanish
equivalent of terms offered by students, but followed this up, for example: ‘I know the
Spanish word for twins is gemelos but what does it mean?’.
One particular science teacher (Spanish native) showed how the two languages can
support each other and provide underpinning for science teaching:
Notes: “(The teacher’s) assets include very good use of English, clear explanations
and a sense of humour. He makes a point of correcting pronunciation (‘nitrogen,
percentage’) and grammar (‘I’ve heard’ and not ‘I hear’ for past tense. He has a
range of vocabulary and can explain links for example: ‘breath, breathing, breathless,
breathtaking’. He supplies the Spanish equivalents of key words for example, ‘aliento’,
‘suspirar’, ‘buceadores’. Knowledge of Spanish is used well e.g. to explain ‘(des)
plegar’ v. ‘(un) fold’ to reinforce understanding.”
The use of native speakers of English
The use of foreign language assistants (FLA) and, in those comunidades which employ
them, asesores linguísticos (AL), could provide valuable support for learning, for example
with the FLA sharing a presentation with the teacher by reading the text to provide
a model of native speaker English pronunciation and offering some comment by
agreement.
With planning, a foreign language assistant can become more proactive:
Notes: “The foreign language assistant plays an important role in the lesson, for
example suggesting improvements in wording such as a ‘reliable’ method rather
than a ‘good’ method. He corrects pronunciation in a discreet and sensitive way, and
asks appropriate content questions or adds extra thoughts at appropriate points, for
example, about triplets or quadruplets when multiple births are under discussion.”
The availability of an AL provides the opportunity for team teaching or splitting a class, for
example with the specialist colleague covering the laboratory work and the native speaker
revising the theoretical aspects in the classroom. Such teamwork, with joint preparation,
made effective use of their combined strengths.
A small number of the comunidades employ asesores linguísticos in secondary schools.
Where they are employed, they are clearly an asset and their value is appreciated
by the schools, not least because they are hard to replace when they move on: whereas
the pool of native speakers of English with primary school experience is relatively
large, native speakers with the specialist expertise in natural or social sciences needed
for subject teaching in secondary can be very hard to nd.
Various examples of effective practice noted above were observed in lessons taught by
asesores linguísticos. In addition to their teaching expertise, they bring other benets:
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they are available as linguistic reference points for their Spanish colleagues, they bring
authentic native speaker intonation and use of idiom to the students, and, as they are
not necessarily from the United Kingdom, they can bring with them something of the
educational culture and teaching styles of other parts of the English-speaking world.
Quality and accuracy of teachers’ language
Those teachers who are native speakers of Spanish are generally uent and accurate
when presenting topics
2
and rarely have strong Spanish accents when speaking
English. Inevitably, there are some slips, but these do not usually seriously impede
communication:
Notes:
“Teacher has a uent and accurate command of English. Errors are usually slips of
pronunciation e.g. ‘(e)strips; written tasks (taks)’.”
“The teacher’s English offers a good model with few errors (e.g. ‘pregnant of, penis,
implantated’), and only a slight Spanish accent.”
“The teacher has a detailed and uent knowledge of English but with some familiar
occasional aws in pronunciation, e.g. ‘asks (aks), you, (e)speaks’.”
Teachers, including many in subjects other than English, are concerned about pupils’
accuracy and some have the condence to pick up language points:
“(The teacher, while introducing economic concepts) makes pertinent language
points, for example spelling out new words such as ‘bidding’ and emphasising
terminological points such as the fact that ‘R&D in English is I&D in Spanish’
(investigación y desarrollo)”.
“The teacher (a science specialist) draws attention to the importance of accurate
pronunciation in, for example, ‘eventually, dividing, identical, and joined’.”
Another science teacher made a point of practising the pronunciation of the elements,
for example, ‘aluminium, nitrogen, calcium’…, ensuring that the correct syllable was
stressed.
“Reading aloud – teacher (geography) corrects pronunciation of ‘desert’, and
‘dessert’ and recaps fractions in English and their pronunciation (when students
are uncertain).”
“The teacher (science) insists on (answers in) full sentences, for example, ‘The sperm
must reach the uterus, stick to it and implant itself.”
“The teacher (a history specialist), corrects language points appropriately, for
example, pronunciation of ‘claimed’ and use of the auxiliary in ‘had promised’.”
Some specialists in subjects other than English have a condent grasp of the English
language for dealing with situations as they arise. For example, a PE teacher uses natural
colloquial English to cope exibly with situations on the sports eld, for example:
2.
One teacher with accurate English with good pronunciation and intonation was very clear in exposition, but made the
specic point that he found it harder in practicals where he had to improvise to handle unpredictable questions in English.
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‘It’s no big deal’ (when some students fuss about nothing).
‘Form groups of 7 – you two have only 6, so one person has to run twice.’
‘Rafa, you’re not listening: here’s what you have to do.’
‘Guys, I told you not to hang about. If you have no class, go to the library’ (to
students from another class who were loitering on the fringes).
Some teachers had the condence in spoken English to introduce a note of humour. For
example:
Notes: “Teacher’s English is good - it is clear and accurate. He is well organized and
enjoys a good relationship with the class. His humour is appreciated: for example
when a boy misreads a Ph number, he comments ‘If that’s right, you should see a
doctor!’.”
Notes: “Teacher has a quiet sense of humour, which is appreciated. For example,
he interjected ‘200 what? Chorizos?!’, when a student did not specify ‘watts’. He
also told an old joke about a teacher asking ‘What’s the unit for measuring power
(watt)?’. The student in the story said, ‘What? His teacher replied ‘That’s right!’.”
Conclusion: Good practice in Secondary 1&2
A
s was the case in Study 2 which featured Primary Years 5&6 teachers, the
more specialised teachers of Years 1&2 at Secondary in Study 4 show a wide
range of ‘good practice’ strategies. As with Study 2, we cannot claim that
these strategies are causally related to the learners’ impressive classroom
performance, but they are certainly at least associated with it. Some of the
strategies featuring in the Study 4 text are listed below. They do not appear to
be greatly different from the strategies used with Primary 6 pupils (Study 2). With
the teachers in the present Study 4, however, there may be a somewhat greater
emphasis on using English for purposes which reect the Secondary 2 students’
more mature cognitive capacities. These purposes could include articulating
underlying principles, expressing particular types of relationship, and clarifying
the consequences of particular processes. As with the good practice strategies
identied in Primary 5&6 lessons, we provide a similar grouping for classes in
Secondary 1&2:
These strategies appear to come from the teachers’ professional experience
accumulated over a number of years, and so in addition to the strategies listed
above there are issues such as how well the teacher knows a particular student
or class, how the teacher interprets the particular situation within a given lesson,
and which strategy a teacher chooses to bring into play at what time, for how
long and for what purpose.
The strategies are summarised below and overleaf:
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STUDY 5:
INFANTS AND EARLY PRIMARY
Introduction
The evaluation team’s priority for collecting evidence at primary school was years
5&6, since it was important to learn as much as possible about how the BEP was faring
towards the end of children’s primary school education. Nonetheless, it proved possible
to make a small number of visits to observe classes of children at the infants and
early primary stages. Our account of these lessons is essentially descriptive, based on
notes taken during and shortly after lessons and is supplemented by some concluding
thoughts on the BEP with children aged 3-7.
Pupils aged 3-7 experienced through English a range of visual, auditory and kinesthetic
learning. Considerable attention was paid in lessons to reinforcement and consolidation.
Songs and mime featured prominently.
•
Creates relaxed, focused and respectful
atmosphere
•
Adapts material to suit different student’s
needs
•
Requires class to ask probing questions
about peers’ presentations
•
Monitors progress sensitively
•
Steers students away from the anecdotal
and guides towards underlying principles
•
Prompts students to draw on their own
latent knowledge
•
Encourages students to work things out for
themselves
•
Encourages peer assessment & evaluation
•
Constantly checks for understanding
•
Asks questions which guide thinking but still
pose a challenge
•
Has special grid for taking notes in order to
monitor student performance
•
Focuses on spelling distinctions, e.g. our /
ower
•
Helps students express particular
relationships, e.g. The more… the more…;
the less… the less…
•
Expects high standards of pronunciation &
spelling
•
Helps develop initial drafting skills, e.g. What
do you need to take into account…?
•
Emphasises proper procedures for setting
out data
•
Elicits precise use of language
•
Requires regular presentations by students
to whole class
•
Provides clear explanations
•
Helps students clarify the consequences of
particular processes
Good practice strategies:
language used for GENERAL TEACHING
Good practice strategies:
speci c, though not exclusive, focus on
LANGUAGE FORM, FUNCTION, DISCOURSE
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Infants aged three+
Lesson 1
Theme: To reinforce items of language studied so far.
Description (with comments):
The part of the lesson observed consisted of songs and mime performed by the whole
class:
‘Little nger (etc.) where are you?’ (to tune of ‘Frère Jacques’) with mime.
‘Head, shoulders, knees and toes…’ with actions. Followed by (e.g.) ‘lean to one
side; lean to the other’.
A ‘conga’ is formed – Pupils join up and move round the room as red or green is shown.
‘Green for… go’, ‘Red for… stop’”
Notes: “Pupils are motivated and respond well. (Class teacher provides some
support by being present, smiling encouragement, performing the actions, and
mouthing the sounds).
An effective, though ‘standard’, recap lesson. Good use of auditory and kinesthetic
activities. Teacher has very good English.”
In some classes the progress of the three-year-olds is remarkable and individuals get the
opportunity to take the lead.
Lesson 2
Theme: To consolidate understanding of colour and shape.
Description (with comments):
“Routines established – ‘Cross your legs, fold your arms’ etc.
(T) ‘Who is the leader?’
(P) ‘Pedro.’
Leader: ‘Touch your eyes, nose (etc)’. (They do so identifying correctly).
T asks: ‘How has he done? So-so? Good? Very good?’
Pupils decide ‘good’ (the pupil himself says ‘Very good!’)
T: ‘What’s this picture?’
P: ‘A girl.’
T: ‘Girls stand up.’
The girls stand up- plus Sergio who feels like standing up (!).
The teacher modies her statement in order to include Sergio and allow his action to be
considered as correct:
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BEP. EVALUATION REPORT
T: ‘OK, the girls, and Sergio!’
Various actions are performed, then repeated with the boys.
A CD is played: the class form a ‘crocodile’ and move around with the appropriate actions:
gallop, tiptoe, run, skate, jump to music.
Sing along: ‘I like to eat apples and bananas’ (etc).
T draws on board: ‘What is it?’
P: ‘An umbrella.’
T: ‘What’s this on the display?’
P: ‘Rain.’
Practice of colours.
T: ‘Who’s wearing pink, purple, yellow, blue?’ (etc)
P: Stand up as appropriate.
Class sing: ‘Red and yellow and pink and green… I can see a rainbow’.
Flashcards of objects returned to T: ‘Can you give me the…? Can I have the (colour)
ashcard?’
Practice of shapes.
T: ‘What’s this?’
P: ‘A circle/ a triangle’ (etc).
T: ‘What colour is the triangle?’ (etc).
P: ‘Blue’ (etc).
Pupils in threes perform actions for carol ‘Oh Christmas tree…’.”
Notes: “A remarkable lesson showing the impact of three months of very effective
teaching of very young children.
Pupils show amazing gist comprehension, and retention of ideas of colour and
shape and of songs. Pronunciation is very good.”
Lesson 3
Theme: Consolidation of work on parts of the body and clothes.
Description (with comments):
“A class leader is chosen for each session to lead practice of the activities:
‘Boys sit down.’
‘Girls stand up.’
‘Three claps.’
‘Four jumps.’
‘Touch your eyes, ears, shoulders’ (etc).
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Practice of clothes.
Pupils guess the item from mime and then the word is practised, e.g.
‘Hat H-A-T’ (hand in front of mouth to feel aspiration)
(Similarly with ‘scarf, gloves, coats’).
Pupils then colour in specic items of clothing on individual sheets.”
Notes: “The pronunciation of pupils who perform is good. Others seem a little
subdued (hardly surprising for 3-4 year olds at almost 13.00 who have been in
school all morning), but their reactions indicate that their comprehension is good.
A successful consolidation session led by an experienced teacher who has very
good English and understanding of how sounds are articulated.”
Infants aged ve+
Five-year-olds developed their listening and speaking skills further and took the rst steps
towards literacy.
Lesson 4
Theme: To consolidate pronunciation and recognition of the letter ’s’ and a range of
related vocabulary.
Description (with comments)
“T greets the class using their names linked to animals with captions in the carpeted
corner, for example ‘Good afternoon, Sara Snake, Mercedes Mole’ (etc).
Pupils then chant the days of the week. They revise the names of the four seasons: they
can recognize the captions without the pictures. The teacher checks their understanding
by asking, for example, ‘Is it summer or winter? What does it begin with?’
Pupils then sing a song about spring. Cards are handed out. The states of the weather
are linked to the seasons. Teacher asks: ‘What’s the weather like? Is it windy? Is it
raining? Is it sunny?’
She then asks pupils to return the cards to her: ‘Who can give me spring (etc)?’
‘Snake in the grass’ song is sung to demonstrate and reinforce the letter ‘s’. T says’
I want you to say star, snake (etc) when I get to it (in the pictures)’. More things
beginning with the letter ‘s’ are introduced: ‘sun, sail, sock, snowman, spider’
etc. Pupils then count the number of things which they know which begin with ‘s’.
Matching follows with teacher asking what the picture on the card is, for example
‘snail’ and then asking them to choose the word ‘snail’ from the captions.
Pupils then proceed to colour in pictures of the seasons. This is introduced by asking
individuals to bring the items needed: ‘Can you bring me a crayon, some glue (etc)?’
The opportunity is taken to check on colours, for example, ‘What colour are the
scissors?’
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BEP. EVALUATION REPORT
The children are given individual names, for example ‘Abel Ant’, ‘Sam Snake’ etc with a
picture to stick on the front of their individual folders. They proceed individually to the
table area to begin this work without fuss. They are focused and interested in the task.”
Notes: “An effective lesson improving/consolidating understanding of vocabulary
and quality of pronunciation. Good use of song, mime, games and ashcards
throughout.
Pupils benet from Teacher’s planning and good organization and respond well to
high expectations. Teacher uses English throughout for all instructions. Pupils’ short
answers indicate good understanding and retention.
Pupils respond very well: they are well motivated and most show obvious enjoyment.
They can remember days of the week, seasons; remember and identify nine words
beginning with ‘s’. Their pronunciation is very good.”
Lesson 5
Theme: To cover a range of language supported by songs.
Description (with comments):
A range of activities:
•
‘How are you today? I’m happy (grumpy etc) – What a happy day!’
•
‘Give me some colours’.
•
‘Who is my helper? (Helper identied) ‘Where shall we put his hands? (shoulders,
elbows…)’
•
Counting numbers 1-7. ‘There are seven days in the week Monday, Tuesday etc’
‘(‘Clementine’ tune)
•
Song: ‘Today is…, yesterday was…’ (‘Frère Jacques’ tune)
•
‘Is it sunny? Cold? Warm?’ P reply and indicate with symbols/captions on chart.
•
Letters - the letter S. with shape and sound e.g. ‘the s-s-s-s-snake is in the grass’
similar approach to the letters N, I, A, T. Some P can link with earlier work e.g. when
the T says ‘Where can we nd (the letter) ‘T’, she is expecting Teresa, Tomás etc,
but two pupils actually offer ‘Tuesday’.
•
‘This is my father, mother’ (etc) (Tune of ‘London’s burning’).
•
‘Hands up if you have a brother! Finger on your nose if you have a sister!’ (etc)
•
Song: ‘Going to build a house, with a chimney tall…’ (‘Gillygilly…’ tune). A model
of a house (‘Advent calendar’ type) with rooms that open up is placed on the oor.
Pupils are to nd a bathroom (etc) and say something about it. ‘Pick a room.
What’s in the sitting room?’ Use of 3-phase questioning by T where necessary:
‘What do you think is in there? Is it the father? Is it the father or the mother?
Who is it?’.
•
Cards placed on the oor –pupils turn them over– ‘Who’s that?’ Answer e.g.
‘grandpa’, pupils match the card against the chart. Pupils are expected to guess
what the next (card) is going to be.
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BEP. EVALUATION REPORT
Notes: “A lively, varied and well-organised lesson with all pupils fully engaged.
Good use of auditory and kinesthetic learning. The lesson focuses on listening
and speaking, but pupils can recognize and match short captions such as those
indicating the state of the weather to symbols on the chart.”
Early primary
In the rst cycle of primary education (Year 1 and 2) pupils were able to handle a wider
range of questions, take more initiative and began to handle more demanding content,
for example in Conocimiento del Medio.
Year 2
Lesson 6
Theme: To classify materials for appropriate recycling.
Description (with comments):
“Teacher has brought in a bag of miscellaneous rubbish. Pupils decide which recycling
bin particular items are to go in. Lots of pupil involvement: individual pupils pick other
pupils to answer questions. The class are consulted by the teacher about the answers, e.g.
(T) ‘What material is this? (P) Plastic? (T) Where does it go?… (P) It goes in the recycle
bin’.
Teacher has high expectations of listening comprehension, for example assumes they
know what polystyrene is; expects them to complete statements e.g. ‘batteries go in
the special container because they are very t---- (toxic)’.
Pupils are invited to ask a visitor questions based on the theme of the city which they are
studying. Examples include: ‘Do you like buses/ trains/ ships? Do you live in a city? Do
you like your city? Why do you like your city?’. Most pupils are keen to ask questions
including one girl with special educational needs (she asked ‘Do you like buses?’).
Pronunciation is generally good.
Pupils have been making cardboard displays of a ‘super city’. One boy is invited to
explain his city (‘school, ofce block, parking lot’, etc) to the visitor. He is rather shy
but manages.
Class reading of a story about a city is begun. Pupils are asked about the city e.g. (T) ‘Why
is it a disaster?… (P) Because there is a lot of rubbish’.
Towards the end of the lesson pupils are still very enthusiastic though starting to get
‘high’.
Generally the teacher involves pupils in monitoring the class’s behaviour themselves e.g.
they all (including children with special educational needs) get the chance to become
‘Captain Silence’ and give thumbs up or down about the behaviour of others.”
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BEP. EVALUATION REPORT
Notes: “A lively lesson with an animated teacher involving all pupils – she has given
them the condence to ask as well as answer questions.”
Lesson 7
Theme: To consolidate understanding of our world and the animals in it before going
on to the Solar System.
Description (with comments):
“Story – Eric Carle ‘Rooster’s Off to See the World’
(Second half of lesson seen) ‘All the animals go back home: 5 sh swam home
(4 turtles crawled home, 3 frogs jumped home’ etc).
Material from the story is used to link to work in science: ‘What group of animals
does X belong to? Is it a mammal? Is it oviparous? Viviparous? Where do they live?
How do they move? Recap of vocabulary - sh/ns/scales’ etc.
Pupils are reminded that most of the Earth is covered by water, hence ‘The Blue
Planet’. (The work in science is to proceed with a study of the ‘Solar System’.)
Good atmosphere in class, help by the teacher’s rm but pleasant approach, pace,
and determination to draw in all pupils. (One boy has to go out briey – elbow injured
earlier in the day – he explains in English ‘My elbow is hurting’.)
The teacher picks up similarities in sound where reinforcement is needed e.g. ‘Carle/arm;
rooster/sister’.”
Notes: “A well prepared lesson linking science and language & literacy work. Pupils
show good understanding of language and content. All pupils remained focused
almost until the end.”
Conclusion: Children’s classroom performance and Teachers’
good practice in Infantil and Early primary
The lessons observed in Study 5 which focuses on younger children in infants
and early primary show substantial progression in pupils’ learning during their
initial years. Initially, their activity is based on actions, songs, chants, games,
objects and visuals. Their utterances are of two sorts: learnt phrases and
individual words, the latter often in response to the teacher’s questions. Their
pronunciation is generally very good and they show enthusiasm for what
is asked of them. They also show high speed of comprehension and an ability
to demonstrate this quickly through actions and mimes. By Year 2 of primary
school, they have moved into the use of English for doing science in the form of
studying the environment. They learn to understand and to complete correctly
quite complex incomplete utterances given by the teacher; and they are
challenged to provide longer utterances in response to technical questions and
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BEP. EVALUATION REPORT
which show some degree of verbal reasoning (e.g. ‘because there is a lot of
rubbish…’) and they are acquiring increasing amounts of technical language
which derives from the environmental theme they are studying (e.g. ‘viviparous’).
The teachers are generally calm, organized and encouraging. Their English is
good, as is their planning and organization, and initially they make use of
established routines. They have high expectations of their pupils. When
environmental studies is introduced at the primary school stage, this is intended
and taken seriously, though with no obvious loss of enjoyment, and there is a focus
not only on subject-matter and relevant activity but also on the sorts of language
that are needed to do environmental studies well. This includes encouragement
of accuracy and recap of vocabulary (e.g. ‘sh, n, scales’) and the pronunciation
of particular sounds in different words (e.g. ‘rooster; sister’). Study 5 shows the
benet of beginning at a young age, provided that the teaching is appropriate,
as it was in the classes observed. Knowledge, understanding, insights, attitudes,
routines and skills are all being developed in these early years which explain
in part at least the promising subsequent attainments of students as observed in
Studies 1 & 3.
63
An important aim of the evaluation was to report on BEP students’ attainments. To some
extent, this has already been discussed in Chapter 2 through the description and analysis
of what students at different stages of their education could do in class. This picture of
classroom performance is complemented in the present Chapter 3 by four studies which
focus on BEP students engaged in different sorts of assessment:
•
Study 6 focuses on students’ spoken English in Primary 6 when undertaking tasks
in groups of three
•
Study 7 focuses on students’ written English in Primary 6
•
Study 8 focuses on the written Spanish of students in ESO2 (Secondary Year 2)
•
Study 9 focuses on BEP students’ attainments in the IGCSE towards the end of
ESO4.
Studies 6, 7 & 8 were necessarily limited in scope, given the staf ng and other resource
constraints which applied to the evaluation, but each yields some important insight which
complements the bigger and more summative picture arising from the external IGCSE
examination results in Study 9.
Indeed, thanks to the overall design of our evaluation, none of these small studies
stands alone. Study 6 featuring students’ spoken English for example is closely related
to Studies 1-5 which also feature students’ spoken English; it is also related to Study 10
(Chapter 4) which is concerned with students’ perceptions. Similarly, Study 7 & Study 9
both reveal aspects of students’ written pro ciency in English, while Study 8 & Study 9
both tell us something about students’ pro ciency in Spanish.
STUDY 6:
PRIMARY 6 PUPIL ORAL INTERVIEWS IN ENGLISH
Introduction
Interviews in English with Primary School Year 6 pupils were held at eight schools between
November 2008 and January 2009.
The main aim of the interviews was:
chapter 3
BEP STUDENTS’
ATTAINMENTS
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BEP. EVALUATION REPORT
•
Aim 1: to build up a picture of the range of pupils’ performance in spoken English
when interacting in groups of three in a largely unprepared conversation with a
stranger over a range of topics based on four tasks.
A subsidiary aim was:
•
Aim 2: to obtain the views of pupils about their BEP experience and to learn some-
thing of their language experience beyond the classroom.
Study 6 was not designed to assess the attainments of individual pupils, but to yield
an accurate verbal description of the characteristics of spoken English as exhibited
by pupils at the top of the range and by pupils in the middle/lower parts of the range
in a controlled setting. In each school, three groups of three pupils (one ‘top’ and two
‘lower/middle’) were chosen by their teachers, thus producing a total of 72 pupils.
Overall, 34 boys and 38 girls took part.
The arrangements for, and conduct of, the interviews resulted from piloting at the end
of the previous school year in two schools. All the interviews, including those in the pilot
phase, were carried out by the same interviewer.
Only ve pupils (from two schools) of the 72 had visited the UK or another English-speaking
country. None spoke English as a home language. No pupil had any language other than
Spanish as his/her (regular) home language except for one boy who spoke Polish with his
mother.
The schools followed the guidelines for the composition of interview groups, but did not
nd it easy to identify two groups each of which would represent the full range of the
lower two-thirds (middle/low) of the cohort. The school’s identication of the weakest
grouping in each case, however, largely coincided with the interviewer’s conclusions
about pupils’ performance in the interviews.
Conducting the interviews
Each interview was scheduled for 30 minutes. The pupils in each school were anonymous.
At the beginning of each interview, the interviewer introduced himself to each group
basing his remarks on an outline script to explain the nature of the interviews to the pupils.
The tasks
Pupils were asked to talk in English in relation to four tasks, each of which would be likely
to entail somewhat different sorts of language:
Task 1: Their experience of the bilingual education programme
Task 2: A book or story they had enjoyed
Task 3: An aspect of science they had found interesting
Task 4: General discussion with the interviewer about their interests, holidays etc.
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BEP. EVALUATION REPORT
Pupils’ insights as revealed in Tasks 1-4
Before providing information on pupils’ performance across these four tasks, we provide
some initial information on the insights the four tasks revealed.
Task 1: Talking about the BEP experience
What pupils had to say in respect of Task 1 was directly relevant to Aim 3 (page 16) of
the evaluation study, in that it offered insight into pupils’ perceptions of the BEP
1
. This
served to triangulate with other information on pupils’ perceptions revealed in other
studies, especially Study 10. At the same time, what pupils had to say on this same
task was particularly relevant to Aim 1 of the present study, in that the conversations
were conducted in English.
Task 2: Talking about a book or story
The range of stories about which pupils chose to speak was rather limited with few
picking ‘whole books’ and some choices were determined by lms seen rather than
books read.The stories which they mentioned included ‘Jack and the Beanstalk, Little
Red Riding Hood, Sleepy Hollow (5), Guy Fawkes (2), Charlie and the Chocolate
Factory (4), The Railway Children (4), Zorro (3),James and the Giant Peach, the
Chronicles of Narnia (3), The Gingerbread Man, Around the World in 80 Days (2),
Romulus and Remus (6), St George and the Dragon, Flat Stanley, Thrill Bill and Super
Simpson’.
Task 3: Talking about Science
Pupils mentioned a range of science topics that had interested them: ‘the human
body (reproductive, digestive, respiratory, nervous systems etc); plants (e.g. photo-
synthesis) and animals; types of energy; solids, liquids and gases; healthy lifestyles
(diet, avoiding drugs); ecosystems (pollution)’. In one school, pupils recalled history
topics (‘pre-historic nomadic peoples; the Romans’) more readily than science topics.
In another, ve pupils outlined features of the geography of the UK. The area of conoci-
miento del medio comprises science, history and geography and there is a tendency in the
schools to use ‘science’ as a shorthand term for this curriculum area as a whole.
Task 4: General conversation
The general conversation was used partly to encourage pupils to talk about a wider
range of topics if they wished and partly to prompt use of language not covered
sufciently by their earlier contributions on other topics, such as narrating past events
(e.g. previous holidays), or describing (e.g. description of a classmate for the others to
identify). Most of the pupils apparently spend their holidays with their extended family
somewhere in Spain, so the range of experiences about which most could talk was not
1. The pupils were generally very positive about the BEP experience: their responses are discussed with other evidence
about pupil perceptions in Study 10.
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BEP. EVALUATION REPORT
extensive. Few pupils took up the option to ask the interviewer questions, although pupils
in one top group asked several questions each and would possibly have continued if time
had not run out.
Characteristics of pupils’ performance
We now turn to identifying key characteristics of pupils’ spoken language performance
in English across the four tasks. In order to do so, two main perspectives were taken
into account:
•
Capacity to cope: when in conversation with a stranger with unprepared tasks
drawing on knowledge and understanding gained during their experience of BEP;
this included the criterion of uency.
•
Quality of spoken language-use: in terms of range and accuracy.
Capacity to cope
The following scale and indicators were used in making judgements about how well the
groups of pupils performed for each task.
Copes with ease
Copes usually
Copes with diffi culty
•
Shows good understanding of the subject matter and can coherently
convey information and ideas; draws readily on appropriate language to
describe/explain/discuss/justify opinions
•
Responds instantly; consistently con dent
•
Copes well with a wide range of questions
•
Pauses rarely (e.g. to marshal thoughts for a more complex statement/
argument)
•
Rarely stuck for appropriate words and has a range of coping strategies
•
Often takes the initiative
•
Shows sound understanding of the subject matter and can convey basic
relevant information using appropriate language;
•
Responds with little hesitation; usually con dent
•
Rarely needs questions clarifying
•
Pauses occasionally
•
Sometimes cannot recall common words but can usually nd a way
round this (e.g. asking for help in English)
•
Sometimes takes the initiative
•
Shows some understanding of the subject matter and can convey some
information
•
Responds with hesitation; not con dent
•
Frequently needs questions repeating/clarifying
•
Pauses frequently
•
Has to search for (quite) common words
•
Shows no initiative
LEVEL
OF COPING
INDICATORS
Table 6.1: Levels of coping
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BEP. EVALUATION REPORT
Quality of spoken language-use
Judgements were also made about the quality of language displayed in terms of range
and accuracy. These were informed by the questions set out in Table 6.2 below:
Range
Accuracy
•
What range of vocabulary and grammar do pupils generally display?
•
Do they have the range of vocabulary and grammar to deal with
speci c topics (e.g. in science)?
•
How secure is pupils’ grasp of vocabulary?
•
How accurately can they deploy their resources in oral interaction?
•
What kinds of errors do they make?
•
To what extent do such errors impede the listener’s/interlocutor’s
understanding?
Tabla 6.2: Quality of language
How well did the pupils perform?
As in the lessons observed in schools (see in particular Studies 1&2), performance in
listening comprehension was often high. Few pupils experienced dif culty in following
the interviewer, even if their productive skills were limited or even very limited in
some cases. With few exceptions, the pupils were at ease dealing with a stranger in a
foreign language. Many pupils showed a remarkable con dence.
Across the 24 groups, pupils usually responded well to the invitation to help each other
and co-operated well, although individuals mostly made some effort to answer on their
own rst. Some of the stronger pupils spontaneously but politely corrected the grammar
of their peers, for example prompting ‘went’ when the speaker had used ‘go’ when the
narrating past events. On the whole, the ground rule of speaking only English to each
other in the interviews was respected, although weaker pupils were more likely to resort
to a quick whisper in Spanish to their companions.
Correspondence with school’s grouping
Top groups
In three schools, the top group identi ed coincided closely with the interviewer’s
judgements and all the criteria for ‘copes with ease’ were met by the nine pupils
involved. Across the sample of 24 pupils in top groups, 15 (8 boys, 7 girls) fully met all
the criteria for ‘copes with ease’.Where pupils in the top groups did not meet all the
criteria for ‘copes with ease’, there was no consistent pattern of speci c criteria being
missed. However, boys (9/11) were more likely than girls (8/13) to meet the criterion ‘often
takes the initiative’.
Middle/lower groups
The spread of performance in middle/middle-lower groups was most varied. For
example, two girls from two different schools had a performance which spread across
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BEP. EVALUATION REPORT
the full range of criteria for the whole coping scale. About a fth of pupils in the middle/
‘middle-lower groups (9/48 pupils) met the criterion ‘often takes the initiative’ under
‘copes with ease’.
The ‘middle/lower’ groups were usually less uent than pupils in the top groups, but some
‘middle’ individuals were tenacious and resourceful and kept going even if rather jerkily.
Some middle groups managed to maintain a sort of ‘collective uency’ by helping each
other. In two lower groups, the pupils frequently needed questions to be repeated or
formulated. They could make themselves understood but needed a lot of support with
vocabulary and their sentences were fragmented.
Coping with the tasks
The ‘coping’ scale as set out in Table 6.1 above was applied in the interviews and
performances were matched to the criteria on a ‘best t’ basis. The overall performance
of high-, middle- and low-attaining pupils across the sample may be described as follows:
High-attaining pupils
They showed good understanding of subject matter. They could coherently convey
information and (some) ideas, drawing readily on appropriate language to describe
and explain; the strongest could offer and justify opinions in discussion. Pupils were
consistently condent and responded instantly, pausing rarely but for good reason and
often took the initiative. They coped fully with a wide range of questions, were rarely
stuck for words, and had a range of coping strategies to fall back upon if necessary.
Middle-attaining pupils
They showed sound understanding of subject matter and could convey basic relevant
information using appropriate language.They were usually condent, responded with
little hesitation and sometimes took the initiative. They rarely needed questions to be
claried. When they could not recall common words, they could usually nd a way round
this, for example asking the interviewer or each other for help in English.
Low-attaining pupils
They showed limited understanding of subject matter but could convey some
information. However, they tended to respond with hesitation, paused frequently, and
most showed little (or no) initiative. They frequently needed questions to be repeated
or claried, had to search for quite common words, and tended to confer with each other
in Spanish as a rst resort when seeking help to formulate a reply in English.
On the whole, the performances corresponded to the groups (top, middle/lower) in
which the pupils presented themselves for interview.
Performance: Quality of language
As set out in Table 6.2 above, the quality of language used by pupils at the three levels of
grouping was judged in relation to ‘range’ and ‘accuracy’.
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BEP. EVALUATION REPORT
Top groups
•
Range: The ‘top’ groups could recall content and had the language to talk about
it. They had a wide vocabulary and lexical errors were usually Hispanisms which
did not necessarily affect the listener’s understanding, such as ‘to do a plot’ or
‘met with’ or ‘a little bit fat’ or ‘they expose’ (= exhibit), ‘funny’ (= humorous/
amusing), ‘pabellón’ (= pavilion).
•
Accuracy: Pupils in the top groups were often very accurate.They pronounced
well with occasional slight errors: e.g. ‘mixture’, ‘suit’, ‘kite’, ‘aunt’, ‘cousin’. Most
could manage complex sentences involving relative, coordinate or subordinate
clauses with a range of connectives. They could also readily correct themselves
(e.g. ‘go - went; say - said; long - tall; his - her’).
‘Middle/lower’ groups
•
Range: The ‘middle/lower’ groups usually had’ a less extensive active vocabulary
than the ‘top’ groups. Where they recalled basic information, they quite often
experienced difculty in developing points further, although one girl had a very
good recall of technical terms in science.
•
Accuracy: The ‘middle/lower’ groups more often had less accurate pronunciation
(for example, ‘Spain’, ‘spots’, ‘put’, ‘person’, ‘Hastings’, ‘brain’, ‘picture’, ‘April’,
‘electricity’) and less clear intonation than the ‘top’ groups. In a few cases in low
groups, weak pronunciation hindered communication at times, for example when it
was not possible to distinguish ‘forty’ from ‘fourteen’. With some exceptions, pupils’
grasp of grammar was weaker, although a few could still self-correct (for example,
‘go - went’). The most frequent errors were:
– missed or wrong (he/she/it) subject pronoun [this also occurred with some pupils
in the top groups];
– wrong (or uncertain) verb form (‘he go (es); past tenses);
– forgetting common idioms (saying for example, ‘I have 11 years’; ‘she has got
12 years old’);
– confusing ‘me’ and ‘I’;
– uncertainty about some plurals (e.g. ‘three childrens’).
Conclusion: Primary 6 pupils’ spoken English
W
hereas Study 1 focuses on what students were able to do during lessons,
Study 6 focuses on their performance in speaking English in more controlled tasks.
However, it is not an ‘assessment’ study focusing on individual pupils and giving
them a mark. Instead, it sets out to identify the key characteristics of Year 6
pupils’ spoken language in a specic setting – namely, groups of three pupils
being interviewed by a member of the evaluation team for 30 minutes in respect
of four tasks which covered a range of discourse types, topics and language
functions.
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BEP. EVALUATION REPORT
STUDY 7:
PRIMARY 6 PUPILS’ WRITING IN ENGLISH
Scripts exemplifying Primary Year 6 students’ writing in English in eleven primary schools
in 2008 were made available to the evaluation team by the Ministry and the British
Council. All eleven were from the evaluation’s ‘inner sample’ and so the team were already
familiar with these schools.
The scripts had been requested by the Ministry and the British Council from schools
as part of an annual process whereby schools submitted examples of students’ work in
English on various tasks taken under controlled conditions. Each school was requested
to provide at least one example of higher performance, one example of middle-range
performance and one example of lower performance.
Rather than constructing tests and having to undertake lengthy procedures for ensuring
the validity and reliability of these, the evaluation team were grateful to the Ministry and
the British Council for providing the examples of Year 6 students’ writing which they had
received, thereby offering the evaluation team an opportunity independently to comment
on and indeed rate the students’ scripts. An additional benet of this procedure was that
it entailed no additional effort on the part of schools and no disruption to their normal
working.
Aim
The aim of Study 7 was:
•
To analyse the performance in written English of students in Primary 6 in order
to be able to describe what students at the top of the range, in the middle of the
As such, it complements the information on pupils’ spoken English as evidenced in
everyday classroom settings in Studies 1&2.
The generally uent, wide-ranging, accurate, coherent and ‘on-task’ performance
in spoken English by those in the top and middle ranges must be considered as
meeting the aims of the BEP, both in their ability to cope with the four tasks and
in the quality of spoken English language which they were able to produce – all
the more so, given that the tasks were undertaken in interaction with an adult
person who was either not at all known, or not well known, to them and that only
a broad indication of the nature of the task had been given beforehand. Also worthy
of note was the pupils’ ability to function as a social, collaborative group during
the interviews (rather than as isolated individuals) and to show condence and
interest in undertaking what was asked of them.
The weakest pupils were by no means inarticulate. Many were capable of
understanding, and some capable of communicating basic messages. At the same
time, though, the evaluation team suggests that consideration should be given to
nding ways of helping these weaker pupils to increase their range, uency and
accuracy in spoken English production, if they are to gain the richest benets of a
BEP education.
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BEP. EVALUATION REPORT
2. The pupils were given a choice of context: a beautiful little cottage, an old stone castle or a strange dark tower. The ope-
ning sentences were provided and they had to continue the story in their own words.
range and towards the bottom of the range were able to do when undertaking
a descriptive-narrative writing task in English under controlled conditions akin to
those of a test.
The aim did not consist of identifying the numbers of students in each school who were
able to perform at particular levels; nor did it consist of evaluating schools in comparison
with each other.
Nature of task and in-school rating system
Two pieces of writing per student were provided by the Ministry and the British
Council, one of which was of a descriptive-narrative nature in which students were asked
to imagine what lay behind a mystery door
2
. This descriptive-narrative task was
chosen for inclusion in the present evaluation study, because it would enable students to
write at some length, to shape a text in their own way, to use such linguistic devices
(connectives etc.) as they were able to, and also to use their creative imagination.
For the in-school assessment by teachers, criteria had been supplied by the Ministry and
the British Council, and the schools were requested to allocate marks of 1 to 5 and to
relate these to a three-band framework (Band 1 being lowest and Band 3 being highest).
The teachers’ scores in terms of marks and bands as above were made available to the
evaluation team, along with the actual scripts themselves.
Of the eleven schools, ten submitted three pieces of work to the Ministry and the British
Council as requested, and one submitted ve, making a total of thirty-ve. All of these
scripts were read by the evaluation team, though in two cases faintness of copying made
the reading very difcult.
Evaluation team’s criteria
The criteria developed by the evaluation team consisted of four general criteria
(‘readability’, ‘range’, ‘accuracy’ and ‘tness for purpose’), each of which consisted of a
number of more specic criteria which helped identify what the criteria meant to the
evaluators. The criteria had been developed following a pilot which involved two
evaluators marking independently a small sample of scripts from 2007.
The criteria were:
Readability
•
Legibility
•
Comprehensibility (= read & understood)
•
Spelling
•
Punctuation
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BEP. EVALUATION REPORT
Range
•
Common structures & vocabulary
•
Appropriateness to topic
•
Pool of verbs, prepositions, connectives, determiners
•
Complexity of sentences
Accuracy
•
Grammar
•
Word-order
•
Impact on clarity/comprehension
Fitness for purpose
•
Length
•
Effectiveness as an act of writing
•
Degree of repetition (of content / language)
•
Coherence
Applying the criteria
When a student’s script was read, a mark was allocated to each of the above four
criteria. These criteria are not intended to be universal for all ages and stages of learner.
They reect what it seemed reasonable to expect of Primary 6 students on the BEP
programme and in the circumstances in which they took the particular assessment.
Student performance on each criterion was evaluated on the basis of the following
scale: ‘excellent’, ‘very good’, ‘good’, ‘satisfactory’, ‘barely adequate’, ’largely inadequate’,
‘almost wholly inadequate’ and ‘wholly inadequate’. The evaluators applied their
judgements on the principle of ‘best t’.
•
Excellent 3+
•
Very good 3
•
Good 2+
•
Satisfactory 2
•
Barely adequate 1+
•
Largely inadequate 1
•
Almost wholly inadequate 0+
•
Wholly inadequate 0
The four criteria were equally weighted. The use of a plus sign (+) amounts to 0.5, so for
example 2+ = 2.5.
The marks for the four criteria were tallied to give an overall score out of 14. This would
tell the evaluation team whether a student was at the top of the range, or in the middle
or towards the lower end, and it would allow a comparison to be drawn with the
ratings (high, middle and lower) supplied by the schools.
73
BEP. EVALUATION REPORT
Administering checks
The following procedure was used to ensure consistency using the above criteria
within the evaluation team. A small sample of scripts from 2008 was marked ‘blind’ by
two evaluators. Following discussion, one member of the team read all the scripts and
rated them according to the evaluation team’s agreed procedures. Another member of
the team second-read the same scripts in order to ascertain the level of within-team
agreement. This proved also to be very high, with only minor disagreement being found
in respect of two students, which further discussion resolved.
Despite the differences between the procedures and criteria used by the evaluation
team and the teachers at school, a very high level of agreement with the teachers
was found in respect of which performances were top of the range, which were in the
middle and which were towards the lower end.
Findings
What does higher-level performance look like towards
the end of Primary 6?
Table 7.1 sets out the indicators of higher level perfomance.
CRITERION
Readability
Range
Accuracy
Fitness for purpose
Spelling is very accurate; any inaccuracies which occur do not hinder the
reader’s understanding.
Punctuation is accurate
Has a range of structure and vocabulary which is fully appropriate for the
speci c topic and task (narration, description etc).
Can readily call upon a pool of key verbs, prepositions, connectives,
determiners etc. Includes complex sentences (e.g. subordinate clauses,
relative clauses)
Use of grammar is very accurate, the word order is correct and any
errors do not lead to lack of clarity (e.g. in marking of tenses; agreement
of subject and verb; use of singular and plural nouns; use of prepositions
in phrasal verbs or to express location)
The script can be read and understood without hesitation
The narrative succeeds as a story in terms of interest, imagination etc.
If repetition of language and/or content occurs, it does not detract from
the effectiveness of the story
The overall structure of the text is coherent (e.g. organisation of content;
sequencing of paragraphs)
PERFORMANCE REALISED BY STUDENTS
Table 7.1: Indicators of higher-level performance based on evidence of Primary 6 students’ writing in English
74
BEP. EVALUATION REPORT
Readability
Range
Accuracy
Fitness for purpose
The script can be read and understood but the reader may have to pause
to identify some words
Spelling is mostly accurate but may sometimes hinder the reader’s
understanding
Punctuation is usually accurate
Has a range of structure and vocabulary which is usually appropriate for
the speci c topic and task (narration, description etc)
A range of key verbs, prepositions, connectives, determiners, etc is used,
Includes some complex sentences (e.g. subordinate clauses, relative
clauses).
Use of grammar is mostly accurate, the word order is usually correct,
Errors may be quite frequent but only occasionally lead to lack of clarity
(e.g. in marking of tenses; agreement of subject and verb; use of singular
and plural nouns; use of prepositions in phrasal verbs or to express
location)
The narrative largely succeeds as a story in terms of interest, imagination,
etc.
There may some repetition of content and/or language and this may
detract from the effectiveness of the story
The overall structure of the text (e.g. organisation of content; sequencing
of paragraphs) is usually coherent
CRITERION PERFORMANCE REALISED BY STUDENTS
Table 7.2: Indicators of middle-level performance based on evidence of Primary 6 students’ writing in English
CRITERION PERFORMANCE REALISED BY STUDENTS
Readability
Range
Accuracy
Can be read and understood but some effort may be needed
Spelling is frequently inaccurate and may hinder the reader’s
understanding
Punctuation is sometimes inaccurate
Has a limited range of structures and vocabulary appropriate for the
speci c topic and task (narration, description etc)
Has a limited range of key verbs, prepositions, connectives, determiners
etc
Includes no, or very few, complex sentences (e.g. subordinate clauses,
relative clauses)
Use of grammar is inaccurate and word order may be incorrect
Errors are frequent and lead to lack of clarity (e.g. in marking of tenses;
agreement of subject and verb; use of singular and plural nouns; use of
prepositions in phrasal verbs or to express location)
Table 7.3: Indicators of lower-level performance by Primary 6 students writing in English
What does middle-level performance look like towards the end of Primary 6?
Table 7.2 sets out the indicators of middle-of-the-range performance.
What does lower-level performance look like towards the end of Primary 6?
Table 7.3 sets out the indicators of performance towards the bottom of the range.
75
BEP. EVALUATION REPORT
Fitness for purpose
The narrative only partly succeeds as a story in terms of interest,
imagination etc
There is repetition of content and/or language; this tends to detract from
the effectiveness of the story
The overall structure of the text (e.g. organisation of content, sequencing
of paragraphs) lacks coherence
3. See Study 9 in the present report.
Conclusion: Primary Year 6 pupils’ written English
Study 7 is concerned with Primary 6 students’ written English and the aim was to
describe the characteristics of written English composition as shown by students in
the top, middle and lower ranges of performance. Across the criteria, it was found
that a distinction could indeed be established between higher, middle and lower
performances.
Nevertheless, it is possible that in one or more individual strands within the criteria
of a middle performance may show some characteristics of a higher, and some of
a lower, performance. Similarly, a higher performance may show characteristics
of middle performance in some strands and this may also occur with a lower
performance.
The higher performances demonstrate a very good standard of writing under timed,
controlled conditions in terms of range, accuracy and the ability to write a coherent
and interesting story of some length. On the basis of this evidence from BEP pupils
aged 11 in Primary 6, it is not surprising that the strongest students from the initial
cohorts to take the IGCSE at age 16
3
show themselves to be capable of obtaining
the highest grades even at IGCSE English 1 (an examination designed for mother
tongue speakers).
The middle performances overall were good, but did not sustain accuracy or
display the range of language of the higher performances. Some were comparable
in length and ambition with higher performances but their resources became
overstretched. However, many of these performances suggest the students are
on course for a respectable grade at IGCSE when they complete ESO4.
The lower performances may include some passages of reasonable accuracy with
appropriate vocabulary, but do not have the resources for composing a narrative
without support under timed conditions. They tend to be too short in length for
a story to be developed. Communication and coherence may be undermined by
a convergence of inaccuracies: orthographical, morphological and syntactical.
Sometimes the style and spelling suggest these students may be capable of
stronger performances in speaking.
76
BEP. EVALUATION REPORT
STUDY 8:
WRITING IN SPANISH: BEP & NON-BEP COMPARED
A comparative study
The evaluation remit received from the two commissioning bodies (the Ministry of
Education and the British Council) was to report on the extent to which the BEP
initiative was achieving its aims. It was not designed to report on the extent to which
BEP students were superior or inferior to non-BEP students. The evaluation team agreed
with this approach, because BEP v non-BEP comparisons would have been costly
and difcult to achieve, particularly as the BEP curriculum, as has been explained in
Chapter 1, was not the same as the mainstream national curriculum in Spain.
However, one exception was made, in that a BEP v non-BEP comparison was sugges-
ted to the commissioning bodies by the evaluation team in respect of BEP students’
writing in Spanish. The reason for this was that some parents and Head Teachers had
expressed concerns about the possibly negative effects of the BEP on their children’s
command of their national language. While they were for the most part well aware of
the advantages which they saw the BEP as bringing, there was a thought in some minds
that there was possibly a price to pay for this and that BEP students might be weaker
in Spanish on the grounds that a signicant portion of their education was being
conducted in English, in most cases about 40% of a typical week. In order to address
this concern, the evaluation team, with the agreement of the Ministry and the British
Council undertook a small-scale research study which would compare BEP students with
non-BEP students in their command of written Spanish. Study 8 therefore exceptionally
involves a BEP v non-BEP comparison.
Location of the study
It was decided not to locate this particular study in primary schools. This was because
the BEP was based on a ‘whole-school’ approach at primary and there were no (or at
least, very few) non-BEP students in the BEP primary schools. A comparison could have
been made between BEP and non-BEP at primary school level, but this would necessarily
have involved bringing a number of non-BEP primary schools into the arrangement, which
would have introduced a complicated set of additional variables. It was decided therefore
to base the comparison at Secondary 2 level. The secondary schools with a BEP cohort
also had non-BEP classes, and therefore it would be possible to achieve a comparison
of BEP and non-BEP students in the same schools at secondary level.
Selection of schools and classes
Four secondary schools were identied from the ten associated with Sample A on the
basis of showing a range of socio-economic and other characteristics. That is, the four
selected secondary schools in no way represented an élite set within the overall sample.
77
BEP. EVALUATION REPORT
An initial letter was sent by the Ministry to the Head Teacher of each school, explaining
briey the proposed research study and inviting their participation. This was backed up by
a letter from the Director of the evaluation which explained in some detail what would be
involved.
In each school therefore a BEP class and a non-BEP class were involved in the study.
Where there was more than one non-BEP class in Secondary 2 in a particular school, the
decision rested with the Head Teacher as to which class it would be.
There was no assumption that the two classes (BEP and non-BEP) were necessarily equal
in all respects except the one obvious respect in which they differed, i.e. one was BEP
and the other was non-BEP. In keeping with the practice in Spain, the non-BEP class was
mixed-ability. The same applied to the BEP class, except that in some cases a small
amount of drop-out had occurred and therefore was not quite mixed-ability in the same
sense as the non-BEP class. More importantly, however, the aims of BEP education must
differ in some respects at least from the aims of mainstream education and by the time
students were coming towards the end of Secondary 2, it was inevitable that there would
be differences of various sorts between the classes.
Aim
Taking the above contextual features into account, the aim of Study 8 was:
•
To compare the performance in written Spanish of BEP and non-BEP classes towards
the end of Secondary 2 in four secondary schools.
The task set was:
•
Choose one of three options: a lm you have liked, a play you have seen or a book
that you have read. Say what it is about, summarise the content, express your opinion
about the lm or play or book and explain why you hold this opinion.
The students were given 40 minutes to complete their task. Neither their name nor that
of their school was recorded on the answer papers. Following custom and practice
in Spain, a target number of words for the writing task was not indicated, but students
had two blank pages available as a rough indication of the desired length.
Task Administrator and Script Markers
In order to bring the maximum of neutrality and objectivity into the evaluation procedures
for this comparative study, a team of three independent persons was appointed, none of
whom had any prior connection with the evaluation:
•
One person was the task administrator, a person of Spanish nationality, a native
speaker of Spanish and with school-teaching experience, who went to the schools
and who personally administered the writing tasks. This involved settling the class
down, giving out the task-sheet, explaining the nature of the task, asking them to
write in their best possible Spanish, giving the students 40 minutes to do the task,
collecting the scripts and taking them away in sealed envelopes for collection by
the evaluation team.
78
BEP. EVALUATION REPORT
•
The two other persons were also of Spanish nationality, native-speakers of
Spanish and recently retired highly experienced teachers of Spanish in secondary
education. It was their task to read and mark the scripts which the students
produced. They were allocated two BEP and two non-BEP groups each but did not
know to which group a particular batch of scripts belonged. That is, at no point did
they know if they were grading a script written by a BEP or a non-BEP student.
Criteria and Banding
The two markers used a set of criteria agreed in advance with the evaluation team and
applied these on a ‘best t’ basis to each script in order to place it in one of four bands:
excellent, good, adequate, not adequate.
The evaluation team elaborated a set of draft criteria and procedures in English.
These were then discussed and re ned through discussion with the two native-speaker
Spanish teacher markers and a nal version in Spanish was agreed which the markers
subsequently applied.
Table 8.1 sets out the four bands of performance and the criteria which the evaluation
team and the two markers agreed to apply.
Excellent
Good
An ‘excellent performance’ will contain all the features of ‘good performance’ (see
below) but there will be a clear sense of ‘something more, something special’. The
script will contain most of the following features:
•
Engages the reader’s attention and interest
•
Uses language with some re nement, e.g. to explain ideas clearly
•
Makes good use of technical terms where appropriate
•
Uses language with some air, e.g. creativity, imagination,
•
Complexity of structure, e.g. to develop an idea or argument beyond a simple
statement.
[An exceptional performance would be likely to provide further evidence such as:
rhetorical devices, e.g. irony, repetition, analogy, use of evidence, exaggeration,
understatement, register (formality-informality); cognitive depth,
e.g. exempli cation, analysis, synthesis, evaluation, persuasion, logic,
speculation, comparison, contrast]
A ‘good performance’ is likely to meet all or most of the following criteria
comfortably, though not necessarily perfectly in all cases:
•
Grammatical accuracy
•
Accurate spelling
•
Accurate punctuation
•
Legible writing
•
Meets the requirements of the task
•
Coherent structure
•
Use of connectives
•
Variety of lexis and of language in general
Table 8.1. Bands of performance and criteria for Spanish writing task
79
BEP. EVALUATION REPORT
BEP 19 (25,3%) 20 (26,6%) 26 (34,6%) 10 (13,3%) 75
Non-BEP 37 (44,6%) 25 (30,1%) 17 (20,5%) 4 (4,8%) 83
Not adequate Adequate Good Excellent Total
Twelve scripts were chosen at random for standardisation purposes by the two markers
in discussion, then each marker marked the classes assigned to them independently. For
moderation purposes, each marker marked six scripts independently from each class
assigned to the other marker.
Findings
The results were as follows:
Adequate
Not adequate
If ‘excellent performance’ is understood as ‘more than good’, then ‘adequate
performance’ is ‘less than good’. An ‘adequate performance’ may be de ned as:
•
Just about meets most the criteria outlined above for ‘good performance’ but
with recurrent weaknesses
•
These weaknesses however do not detract from a sense that the writing task
has been accomplished to an extent that the reader can understand.
A less-than-adequate performance will lead the reader to consider that the task
has not really been accomplished because the de nition of ‘adequate
performance’ has not been met
It emerges from the above that the performance of the students in the BEP groups was
clearlystronger than that of the non-BEP groups.
Analysis of the results by school indicates that the BEP groups had a clear advantage in
three of the four schools, with the results being roughly equal in the fourth. This fourth
school (in which the BEP and non-BEP results were roughly similar) was set in an area
with a signi cant middle-class professional intake, which offers at least a hint that in
respect of writing in Spanish the BEP may have generated most bene t for students from
backgrounds that were not socio-economically privileged.
Conclusion: Secondary 2 students’ written Spanish – BEP
and non-BEP compared
This comparative BEP v non-BEP study arose from the concerns about
students’ written Spanish expressed by some staff and parents. The performan-
ce of the students in the BEP groups was clearly stronger than that of those
in the non-BEP groups. It would be reasonable to conclude that the BEP
experience has not been detrimental to the Spanish of the students involved and
that indeed there are grounds for considering that it may have been bene cial
when compared with non-BEP students. However, two words of caution may be
appropriate. First, whereas the non-BEP classes were fully mixed-ability, the
BEP classes were not quite fully mixed-ability in that a small amount of drop-out
80
BEP. EVALUATION REPORT
STUDY 9:
PERFORMANCE IN AN INTERNATIONAL EXAMINATION
Introduction
In 2008 a rst cohort of BEP students took the University of Cambridge IGCSE
examination, followed by a second and larger cohort in 2009. The present Study 9 reports
on the performance of BEP candidates, particularly in 2009.
Study 9 is unlike the other studies in the present report. In these other studies,
the planning, design, data-collection analysis and presentation of ndings were the
responsibility of the evaluation team. In Study 9, by contrast, the planning, design,
administration, analysis and presentation of ndings were performed by the IGCSE team
itself.
The contribution of the evaluation team to the present Study 9 has been limited to
setting the context, drawing on ndings which seem most relevant and considering the
implications for the BEP.
The evaluation team are most grateful to CIE (Cambridge International Examinations) for
giving permission to draw so largely on the report (and on what in our present Study
9 is termed as Table 9.1) which they themselves prepared on the performance of BEP
students.
The Cambridge IGCSE
The Cambridge IGCSE examinations are well-known and used across the world. They
reect an international curriculum that seeks to develop students’ skills in creative
thinking, enquiry and problem solving, and to prepare them for the next stage in their
education.
Cambridge IGCSE has wide recognition from higher education institutions and employers
around the world as evidence of academic ability.
Schools can offer any combination of subjects. Each subject is certicated separately.
Over 70 subjects are available, offering a variety of routes for learners of different
abilities. These routes include a Core route on which students are eligible for Grades
C to G, and an Extended route on which students are eligible for Grades A* to E. (An
element of calculation and familiarity has to come into deciding which route to take, since
students on the Extended route who perform at a level below Grade E do not gain a
compensatory grade at any of the Core levels.)
had occurred before Secondary 2. Second, it is worthy of note that 25.3% of the BEP
students performance was rated as ‘not adquate’, as compared with the 44.6%
of non-BEP students who were rated as ‘not adequate’
81
BEP. EVALUATION REPORT
So far as languages are concerned, English 1 is for students with English as mother
tongue and English 2 is for students for whom English is an additional language. The
same distinction applies within the IGCSE scheme to several other languages, so in
the case of Spanish there is Spanish 1 (mother tongue) and Spanish 2 (foreign language).
The Cambridge IGCSE is of cially benchmarked to the national GCSE examination in
England, and indeed may now be taken by schools in England instead of the GCSE.
BEP and the IGCSE
In October 2008, the Ministry of Education in Spain was established as the distributor
centre for the Ministry/British Council BEP schools. This meant that administrative
matters were centrally organised and a coordinator was trained by Cambridge International
Examinations (CIE) to manage the processes. Centres had a direct point of contact and
support for ensuring the administrative procedures were carried out effectively.
Overall performance of BEP students in 2009
The actual grades were as set out in Table 9.1:
Spanish 1
English 1
English 2
Geography
Biology
History
Mathematics
Combined
Science
French 1
Total
candidates
Cumulative %
SUBJECT
Table 9.1: Grades achieved by BEP students in Cambridge IGCSE (2009)
A*
52
5
2
1
1
0
0
0
0
61
4
A
107
10
5
9
11
0
0
0
0
142
14
B
130
48
31
31
5
3
1
0
1
250
31
C
85
70
94
67
20
5
5
3
0
349
55
D
27
129
91
84
6
8
7
2
0
354
80
E
1
82
42
58
3
2
0
4
0
192
93
F
0
20
9
13
5
7
2
0
0
56
97
G
0
3
1
1
1
2
0
0
0
8
98
U
1
13
21
0
0
0
0
0
0
35
100
TOTAL
403
380
296
264
52
27
15
9
1
1447
Commenting on the overall performance of BEP students, the Cambridge IGCSE report
states:
A total of 1447 entries from 36 schools were made for IGCSE examinations and 98% of
candidates achieved a pass at grades A*-G. The overall pass rate has risen noticeably
from 91% last year and the results show a very encouraging performance by candidates.
The majority of centres chose to enter candidates for an English examination, Spanish
82
BEP. EVALUATION REPORT
and Geography but this year a number of centres also entered for Biology and History,
with a few candidates entering for Combined Science, Mathematics and French. The
range of examinations being taken is evidence of growing condence in centres with
integrating Cambridge IGCSEs into their curriculum. (Introduction section of the Report).
Performance in individual subjects
English
Compared with the results for 2008, the 2009 pass rate (grades A* to G) rose in English 1
(intended for students with mother tongue English but taken by many BEP students with
mother tongue Spanish) from 93% to 97% and in English 2 (for students whose mother
tongue is not English) from 78% to 93%, in both cases with a signicantly higher number
of candidates than in 2008. In English 1, 35% of candidates achieved grades A*-C and, in
English 2, 45% of candidates achieved these higher grades.
On English 1, the report comments that the percentage of higher grade passes is likely
to rise further ‘with increased familiarity with the approach towards textual analysis and
extended writing found in this examination’.
On Paper 1 (core reading) the report comments:
The standard of written expression was mainly satisfactory to good and there were
very few scripts indeed in which the candidates’ linguistic capacity was so limited that
meaning was signicantly obscured. Handwriting and presentation were generally
satisfactory to good.
In English 2, candidates performed well on the listening component in both core and
extended tiers.
On Paper 1 the report comments:
The extended writing tasks... were generally well attempted, with many candidates ful-
lling the question requirements appropriately and at length.
In English 1 and English 2, candidates who failed to achieve a pass had typically been
entered for the Extended tier and were therefore unable to access the lower passing
grades of F and G.
Spanish 1
The pass rate for Spanish 1 (intended for students with mother tongue Spanish) was very
high (99.8%) with only one candidate being unclassied. There was an increase in the
proportion of candidates achieving the highest grade of A*.
Geography
The report comments that candidates’ performance in Geography in 2009 showed a
marked improvement at all ranges of ability and a 100% pass rate resulted [40% of
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BEP. EVALUATION REPORT
candidates obtained a higher grade (A*-C).] The results indicate that centres are
becoming increasingly familiar with the demands of the syllabus and are successfully
integrating preparation into the curriculum.
Biology
In Biology 100% of candidates achieved a pass (A*-G) and 71% a higher grade (A*-C). The
examiners commented:
Ten centres entered candidates for biology this year and the results were very
positive. This is particularly so since teachers had limited familiarity with the syllabus
and the approach taken, in particular the focus on practical work.
On Paper 6 (Alternative to Practical), they remarked:
The standard of English was high and the presentation of answers showed good
understanding of the questions.
History
Five centres entered candidates for history and this drew the following comment from
the examiners:
They achieved very positive results with 100% pass rate’. [30% higher grade passes
(A*-C)].
The examiners added the contextual comment:
History was identied in a curriculum mapping exercise as a particularly challenging
examination for students from the MEC/British Council bilingual schools to attempt
due to the range of topics that need to be covered and the approach taken by the
examination.
There is no comment in the report other than statistical on the three subjects
which attracted very few entries: combined sciences (9-2 centres), mathematics
(15-3 centres), and French 1 (1 candidate).
Administration, training and support
To facilitate communication among the schools, a consultation day was held for the
coordinators from each centre. Topics covered during the day included administrative
information, discussion around entering for a wider range of subjects and access to
support materials. During the day there was a request to make information more readily
available to parents. As a result a yer and presentation introducing Cambridge IGCSE
were circulated to schools shortly afterwards.
Training sessions led by experienced Cambridge IGCSE examiners were held for
teachers of English 1, English 2, Spanish, geography and biology. The sessions included
an introduction to the syllabus for teachers from the schools who were entering
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PEB. EVALUATION REPORT
Conclusions: Performance in an external international
examination
Study 9 focuses on the performance of BEP students in the IGCSE. Key points
to emerge are as follows. Compared with the 2008 cohort (the rst BEP cohort
to take the IGCSE), the 2009 cohort showed increases in the number of schools,
the number of students and the levels of performance. Some BEP students (with
mother tongue Spanish) ventured to take English 1 (intended for students
with mother tongue English) and performed with success. The performance in
Spanish 1 (for students with mother tongue Spanish) was high. The performance
in content subjects, especially Biology, History and Geography (all examined in
English), showed that BEP students were able to tackle successfully subject matter
in their additional language that was cognitively demanding.
candidates for the rst time and covered advice and suggestions on relevant classroom
activities that help integrate preparation for the examinations into classroom practice.
Examiners leading the training sessions stated they were impressed by the dedication
and professionalism of the teachers from these schools.
85
The focus in this chapter is mainly on the perceptions of the BEP held by different
groups of stakeholders:
•
Study 10: Perceptions of BEP students in Primary 6 and ESO2 (Secondary 2)
•
Study 11: Perceptions of parents of students in Primary 6 and ESO2 (Secondary 2)
•
Study 12: Perceptions of Primary School Class Teachers
•
Study 13: Perceptions of Secondary School Class Teachers
•
Study 14: Perceptions of Primary School Head Teachers
•
Study 15: Perceptions of Secondary School Head Teachers, and nally
•
Study 16: Management issues
In addition, certain Studies contain some background information on the respondents
which may offer some insight into the context in which their perceptions have been
formed.
For reasons of space as already stated in Chapter 1, it is not possible in the present
Report to discuss any Study in detail or at length. The emphasis here is on presenting
the ndings at this stage as ‘low inference’ factual information, with little statistical
processing or interpretation. In the Supplement, to be published separately and
subsequently, we will aim to provide further detail on research procedures and analysis.
STUDY 10:
STUDENTS’ PERCEPTIONS IN PRIMARY 6 & ESO2
Introduction
The main source of data on students’ perceptions arises from a questionnaire which
was administered to students in Primary 6 and ESO2. This constitutes the main part of
the present Study 10.
In addition, however, we provide complementary information on Primary 6 pupils’
perceptions as collected during the oral interviews in English. In Study 6, pupils’
performance in English language is reported, whereas in the present Study 10 we
focus on their perceptions of the BEP as expressed during these same interviews.
chapter 4
PERCEPTIONS
86
BEP. EVALUATION REPORT
QUESTIONNAIRE STUDY: PRIMARY 6 & ESO2
Aim
Study 10 had the following main aim:
•
To investigate the perceptions of BEP students in Primary 6 and Secondary 2 in
respect of a range of topics associated with their bilingual education.
The two year-groups of Primary 6 and Secondary 2 were deliberately chosen for two main
reasons:
•
Primary 6 is the nal year of primary school, and this made it possible to build up
a picture of perceptions as they had developed by the end of children’s primary
school education; and Secondary 2 would show what students’ perceptions were
like after they had had almost two years in which to settle into the different routines
of secondary education. It should be emphasised, however, that this was a cross-
sectional study, with data from Primary 6 and Secondary 2 being collected at
the same time. It was not a longitudinal study following the same students from
Primary 6 through to the end of Secondary 2.
•
Other studies (Studies 1-4, Studies 6-8, Study 16) within our overall set of sixteen
studies also featured Primary 6 and/or Secondary 2, and thus we would be able
to generate a wider understanding of what was happening within these two vitally
important year-groups.
Nature of the study
It was decided to collect data from Primary 6 classes in four primary schools within
Sample A, and from ESO2 classes in the four secondary schools which were associated
with these, in each case one class per school. None of the schools could be considered as
being located in a community that enjoys marked socio-economic advantage.
We had another reason for preferring to work with the number of schools we chose,
namely quality and unobtrusiveness of data-collection. If we had decided on a larger
number of schools, we would have had to send the questionnaires out electronically
or by post and requested that the schools make the arrangements for giving them out,
explaining what was to be done, taking the questionnaires in and returning them to the
evaluation team. This would have added to the burden on school staff who were already
very busy. In addition, it would have been highly likely to yield a less than full return
which might in turn have compromised the reliability of the study. Moreover, we
would not have been able to exercise any quality-control over the way in which the
questionnaire was administered, and there might have been some undesirable variation
in this from one school to another.
By deciding on 4 + 4 schools, we were able to ensure a high quality of standard procedure,
in that a Spanish-speaking member of the evaluation team went to each of the schools
and administered the questionnaires herself. This meant that the school staff would not
be asked to do any additional work on behalf of the evaluation, and that she herself
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BEP. EVALUATION REPORT
English
Spanish
Both
2 / 1
96 / 117
0 / 1
0
0
0
Language used Female / Male N/A
Table 10. Language used in the open-ended question
PRIMARY YEAR 6
English
Spanish
Both
15 / 19
66 / 55
1 / 6
1 / 2
0
0
Language used Female / Male N/A
SECONDARY YEAR 2
would ensure that roughly the same amount of time was made available to each class, that
the same things were said to all classes before they began, e.g. guarantees of anonymity
for each student and each school, that any questions they wished to ask at the start
could be answered authoritatively and in the same way, that the questionnaires could be
collected and put straight into sealed envelopes (therefore not available to any persons in
the school other than the member of the evaluation team) and that a 100% return would
be obtained. The evaluation team considered that these were powerful advantages arising
from their chosen procedure.
The numbers of students participating in the study were: Primary 6: 217 students (99 girls,
118 boys); and Secondary 2: 165 students (83 girls, 82 boys).
The questionnaire was in Spanish for the primary pupils, but secondary pupils were
provided with two identical questionnaires in English and Spanish for them to use the
language of their choice. However, some pupils answered the open-ended questions in
English.
Item 21 asked the pupils in an open question to comment on what they like/dislike
about the bilingual programme. There were a high number of responses from the pupils,
as illustrated in Table 4 above. Spanish was the preferred language for responding
to the question among primary pupils, and only three pupils used English. Unlike
those for primary schools, the secondary school questionnaires were bilingual, and
pupils were free to choose from any of the two languages of instruction. With these, the
answers were also mainly in Spanish. Only 15 girls (over 18 per cent of all females) chose to
respond in English, together with 19 boys (over 23 per cent of the males.
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BEP. EVALUATION REPORT
Key ndings
The following ten tables present key ndings of the questionnaire study. In each case
the gures given are percentages of the number of responses received for the
particular item.
1. Happiness with their BEP experience
This item asked P6 and ESO2 students to rate the extent to which they were happy or
otherwise with their BEP experience.
VH = Very Happy H = Happy N = Neutral NH = Not Happy NaaH = Not at all Happy
60,00%
50,00%
40,00%
30,00%
20,00%
10,00%
0,00%
P6
VH
H
N
NH
NaaH
ESO2
The great majority of P6 and ESO2 students are happy or very happy with their BEP
experience.
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BEP. EVALUATION REPORT
70,00%
60,00%
50,00%
40,00%
30,00%
20,00%
10,00%
0,00%
The great majority of students nd their BEP experience to be interesting or very
interesting.
3. Usefulness of BEP experience
This item asked them to rate the extent to which they thought their BEP would be
useful for their further studies and career.
VU = Very Useful U = Useful N = Neutral NU = Not Useful NaaU = Not at all Useful
90,00%
80,00%
70,00%
60,00%
50,00%
40,00%
30,00%
20,00%
10,00%
0,00%
P6 ESO2
VI
I
N
NI
Naal
P6 ESO2
VU
U
N
NU
NaaU
The overwhelming majority perceives their BEP experience to be useful or highly useful.
2. Interest aroused by their BEP experience
This item asked them to rate the extent to which they had found their BEP experience to
be interesting or otherwise.
VI = Very Interesting I = Interesting N = Neutral NI = Not Interesting NaaI = Not at all Interesting
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BEP. EVALUATION REPORT
4. Condence while learning through English
This item asked them to indicate how condent or otherwise they felt while learning other
subjects in English.
VC = Very Condent C = Condent N = Neutral NC = Not Condent NaaC = Not at all Condent
60,00%
50,00%
40,00%
30,00%
20,00%
10,00%
0,00%
A clear majority is condent or very condent while learning through English, with only a
small minority holding a negative view.
5. Condence in Self
This item asked each student if the BEP had helped them develop self-condence.
DY = Denitely Yes Y = Yes N = Neutral No = No DNo = Denitely No
50,00%
45,00%
40,00%
35,00%
30,00%
25,00%
20,00%
15,00%
10,00%
5,00%
0,00%
P6
ESO2
VC
C
N
NC
NaaC
P6 ESO2
DY
Y
N
No
DNo
A clear majority believes that the BEP has helped them develop self-condence, with only
a small minority holding a negative view.
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BEP. EVALUATION REPORT
6. Broadening understanding of subjects learnt at school
This item asked students if the BEP had helped them, or not, to broaden their understan-
ding of subjects they were studying at school, e.g. science, history.
DY = Denitely Yes Y = Yes N = Neutral No = No DNo = Denitely No
A clear majority believes that the BEP has helped them broaden their understanding of
subjects learnt at school, with only a small minority holding a negative view.
7. Broadening understanding of Europe
This item asked students if the BEP had helped them, or not, to broaden their understanding
of Europe.
DY = Denitely Yes Y = Yes N = Neutral No = No DNo = Denitely No
P6
ESO2
DY
Y
N
No
DNo
60,00%
50,00%
40,00%
30,00%
20,00%
10,00%
0,00%
P6 ESO2
DY
Y
N
No
DNo
A clear majority believes that the BEP has helped them broaden their understanding of
Europe, with only a small minority holding a negative view.
50,00%
45,00%
40,00%
35,00%
30,00%
25,00%
20,00%
15,00%
10,00%
5,00%
0,00%
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BEP. EVALUATION REPORT
8. Broadening understanding of Spain
This item asked them if the BEP had helped them, or not, to broaden their understanding
of Spain.
DY = Denitely Yes Y = Yes N = Neutral No = No DNo = Denitely No
A clear majority believes that the BEP has helped them broaden their understanding of
Spain, with only a small minority holding a negative view.
9. Ability in Spanish
This item asked them to rate their overall ability in Spanish.
VP = Very Positive P = Positive N = Neutral NP = Not Positive NaaP = Not at all Positive
P6
ESO2
DY
Y
N
No
DNo
100,00%
90,00%
80,00%
70,00%
60,00%
50,00%
40,00%
30,00%
20,00%
10,00%
0,00%
P6 ESO2
VP
P
N
NP
NaaP
The overwhelming majority has a very positive view of their ability in Spanish.
50,00%
45,00%
40,00%
35,00%
30,00%
25,00%
20,00%
15,00%
10,00%
5,00%
0,00%
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BEP. EVALUATION REPORT
A clear majority believes the BEP has helped them to feel they can study abroad
successfully in the future. ESO2 students are more aware of this than those in P6.
Additional ndings
The questionnaire generated a number of additional ndings which are summarised
below. Each item offered a ve-point scale of response, re ecting Very Positive (VP),
Positive (P), Neutral (N), Not Positive (NP) and Not at all Positive (NaaP). In each case
below, we present the combined V + VP percentages and also the combined NP+ NaaP
percentages of P6 and of ESO2 students. (The middle position of ‘Neutral’ is not given
here).
11. Self-rating of abilities in English
P6
ESO2
DY
Y
N
No
DNo
70,00%
60,00%
50,00%
40,00%
30,00%
20,00%
10,00%
0,00%
Understanding people when they speak
uent English
Speaking English
Reading material in English, e.g.
textbooks, stories, articles
Writing in English, e.g. letters, reports,
stories
65,9% 73,3%
55,1%
52,7%
65,4% 82,3%
67,1% 69,7%
VP+P NP+NaaP
10,6% 2,4%
24,6%
11,5%
12,9% 2,4%
2,5% 4,9%
S2
P6 S2P6
10. Capacity to study abroad successfully
This item asked students if the BEP had helped them, or not, to feel they could study
successfully abroad at some point in the future.
DY = De nitely Yes Y = Yes N = Neutral No = No DNo = De nitely No
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BEP. EVALUATION REPORT
Students in both P6 and ESO2 hold positive views of their abilities in English. The speaking
skill is the one which both groups consider to be least highly developed. ESO2 students
hold clearly more positive views than P6 students in respect of their listening and
reading comprehension abilities.
12. Contextual factors
For the following contextual items, responses were on a ve-point scale: Very Often (VO),
Often (O), Sometimes (S), Rarely (R) and (Never (N). In each case below, we present the
combined VO+O percentages for P6 and ESO2 students and also the combined R+N
percentages. (The middle position of ‘Sometimes’ is not given here).
Use of computer at school in past six
months for learning and using English
Use of computer out of school in past
six months for learning and using
English
Opportunity to speak English in past
three years in Spain with students
whose rst language is English
Opportunity to visit a country in past
three years where English is rst
language
24,2%
36,4% 46,0%
16,6% 14,6%
3,7% 3,6%
VO+O R+N
30,2%
28,5%
27,6% 17,6%
63,0% 50,9%
86,9% 87,9%
S2
P6 S2P6
Students in both P6 and ESO2 use computers out-of-school more than at school for
learning and using English, though the extent of use cannot be described as substantial.
Not many in either group have opportunities to speak English in Spain with students
whose rst language is English. Only a small minority have had the opportunity to visit
an English-speaking country.
In their own words
Students were additionally invited to express their opinions of the BEP in Spanish or
English in their own words. In keeping with their responses to Questions 1-20, their views
were strongly positive. In order of frequency, the views which emerged from our analysis
of key words & phrases and then grouping these to form larger categories were:
•
The crucial role of English in the expectations students have for their future after
school
•
Awareness that they are learning an important language that will enable them to
communicate with people worldwide
•
The sense of achievement that their language ability has improved as a result of the
BEP
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BEP. EVALUATION REPORT
•
Great interest for the target language, the culture and the speakers of the language
•
They also provided other positive responses about the bilingual programme, e.g.
the classroom atmosphere in the lessons, and expressed intention of continuing
with the BEP.
The following quotes from students are representative of their views:
Me ha parecido muy bien poder hablar dos lenguas, porque gracias a eso podré
tener un futuro mejor.
I think it is good to be able to speak two languages, because thanks to that, I will have
a better future. (Primary male)
El inglés es un idioma que se habla en muchos países y al viajar también sirve
mucho.
English is a widely spoken language and also useful for travelling. (Primary female)
Pienso que el programa bilingüe me ha ayudado mucho porque ahora comprendo
el inglés y soy capaz de leer, escribir y hablar bien en inglés.
I think the bilingual programme has helped us a lot because now I can understand
English and I’m able to read, write and speak good English. (Secondary male)
Por estudiar inglés tenemos más excursiones, salidas en las que se habla inglés
ya que podemos hablar con nativos, nos enseñan pronunciación y cosas útiles.
Because we study English, we have more school trips where English is spoken, and we
can talk with native speakers and teach us pronunciation and useful things. (Secondary
female)
Es una experiencia muy buena y así sé muchas cosas de Inglaterra.
It’s a good experience where we learn many things about England. (Primary male)
Me ha encantado este proyecto y pienso seguir haciéndolo en el instituto y si
puedo también en Bachillerato.
I love this (bilingual) project, and I want to go on doing it at secondary school and if I
can, also in Baccalaureate) (Primary female).
A small number of concerns were expressed, e.g.
Algunas veces las asignaturas son más difíciles en inglés, pero se puede llevar
bien.
Sometimes the English subjects are more difcult, but you can easily cope with it
(Primary female)
En las materias como Historia y Geografía o Ciencias Naturales al darlo en inglés
damos menos materia, pero por lo general a mí el proyecto me encanta.
In subjects like History or Geography, since English is the language of instruction, we
learn less content. But in general, I love the project. (Secondary female)
Yo no provengo de un colegio bilingüe, a mí me cuesta más entender las cosas.
I do not come from a (primary) bilingual school, for me it is more difcult to learn things
(Secondary male)
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BEP. EVALUATION REPORT
Cuando mi profesora de inglés me habla en inglés yo la entiendo, salvo cuando
estamos hablando de algo nuevo no me entero mucho.
When my teacher speaks to me in English, I understand her, but if we are learning a new
topic, I don’t understand much.
(Primary female)
La educación bilingüe a algunos les puede gustar, pero a mí no me gusta mucho.
I think that some people may like bilingual education but I don’t like it very much.
(Primary male)
La única desventaja es que cuando me voy de la escuela tengo que esperar al
día siguiente para poder volver a practicar inglés en clase.
The only disadvantage is that after school, I have to wait until the next morning to be
able to practise my English. (Primary female)
Una desventaja es que tenemos séptima hora y bueno pues cuesta al principio.
A disadvantage is that we have an extra lesson (as opposed to the students who are
not enrolled in the project) and, well, it takes a bit to get used to it. (Secondary male)
PUPILS’ INSIGHTS AS REVEALED IN THE STUDY 6 ORAL INTERVIEWS
This part of Study 10 drew on interviews with 72 additional Primary 6 pupils, 34 boys
and 38 girls, from all eight schools featuring in Study 6. Thereby, it adds to the numbers
of pupils’ whose perceptions were sought and provides information which is
complementary to that generated through the questionnaire.
Task 1: Talking about the BEP experience
What pupils had to say in respect of Task 1 was directly relevant to Aim 3 of the present
study, in that it offered insight into pupils’ perceptions of the BEP.
The pupils were very positive about the BEP experience. They frequently appreciated
opportunities to be actively involved in speaking in lessons in English.
When asked what they most enjoyed, about a fth mentioned science (particularly
experiments
1
) in English as a highlight. In one school, six pupils said they most enjoyed
using computers to send messages via a ‘computer forum’ to people abroad (the
forum is promoted by the BEP coordinator in this school) and in another three schools
pupils said they had enjoyed using PC tablets in English. In another school, six pupils
mentioned a ‘Roman newspaper’ they had produced recently in groups covering topics
such as the Punic Wars
2
. Six pupils in another school mentioned songs as something
they had enjoyed most in language and literacy lessons. Hands-on activities, such as art
lessons in English and following instructions in English to bake a cake in language and
literacy lessons, were each mentioned by three pupils respectively.
When asked what they liked least, pupils usually seemed surprised by the question. Hardly
any pupils came up with a specic example (apart from the usual groans ‘homework’
1. Six of the eight pupils who specically mentioned experiments were in the same school which provides extensive hands-
on experience of experiments.
2. This school is in a city with a prominent Roman history and visible remains such as a theatre.
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BEP. EVALUATION REPORT
and ‘exams’!), although one group suggested that some of their peers struggled to
understand from time to time in some lessons.
In response to the question ‘Do you think that the [BEP] experience will be useful to you
when you leave school?)’, the range of comments was limited in most cases to saying
that they would know more English than non-BEP pupils from other schools on entering
secondary education. Eight mentioned English as a world language/lingua franca, but
most could not look beyond having an advantage in English at the secondary school.
Eight thought that a wider range of jobs would be open to them, but most pupils had
not really thought that far ahead at this stage. About half said they had a future career in
mind at this age and the ones stated were probably more aspirational than realistic in
some cases – examples:
‘teacher (10), doctor (4), vet (2), scientist (4), policeman/woman (4), footballer
(2) archaeologist, information technologist, architect, businessman, mechanic,
hairdresser, basketball player’.
Task 3: Talking about Science
Pupils mentioned a range of science topics that had interested them: ‘the human
body (reproductive, digestive, respiratory, nervous systems etc); plants - e.g.
photosynthesis - and animals; types of energy; solids, liquids and gases; healthy
lifestyles (diet, avoiding drugs); ecosystems (pollution)’.
In one school, pupils recalled history topics (‘pre-historic nomadic peoples; the
Romans’) more readily than science topics, probably because they had done more work
on history recently. In another, ve pupils outlined features of the geography of the UK.
The area of conocimiento del medio comprises science, history and geography and there
is a tendency in the schools to use ‘science’ as a shorthand term for this curriculum area
as a whole. The three strands in the area tend to be taught by the same teacher and
the schools spend most time on science; history and geography tend to be covered in
blocks at different times of the year.
Task 4: General conversation
The general conversation was used partly to encourage pupils to talk about a wider
range of topics if they wished and partly to prompt use of language not covered
sufciently by their earlier contributions on other topics, such as narrating past events
(e.g. the previous holidays), referring to the future (e.g. the forthcoming holidays) or
describing (e.g. description of a classmate for the others to identify).
Most of the pupils apparently spend their holidays with their extended family
somewhere in Spain, and quite often in the same province where they live (and seven
pupils had not been away from their town at all during the previous summer), so the
range of experiences about which most could talk was not extensive. Only a few had
travelled abroad during the holidays: three to Disneyland France; three visiting relatives
in Ecuador, Italy or Poland; one each to Amsterdam, Dublin, London, Rome.
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BEP. EVALUATION REPORT
3. Only ve of the 72 students interviewed for Study 6 had ever visited an English-speaking country and none spoke English
as a home language.
Conclusions: Perceptions of BEP students
T
he questionnaire study and also the oral interviews in English taken together
show that the great majority of students in Primary 6 and Secondary 2 had
developed clearly positive attitudes to their BEP. They found the bilingual
programme especially interesting and they expressed their satisfaction with it.
With regard to gender differences, female pupils seemed to be slightly more
enthusiastic than males. Three-quarters of the respondents, regardless of their
gender, felt condent in learning through English.
Students felt the BEP had helped them broaden their understanding of other
subjects, and a motivating factor was the sense of success in learning other subjects
through the medium of their additional language. They did not feel that their
Spanish language skills had been compromised by their participation in the BEP.
They felt rather more condent in the receptive skills (listening and reading) than in
the productive skills (speaking and writing).
In general, pupils felt that they were not making frequent use of ICT resources
available at school such as interactive whiteboards, though there were differences
across schools. Overall, students seemed to be using the internet outside school
more often, particularly, a third of the secondary pupils admitted making frequent
use of it to improve their English.
Students strongly believed that English would bring benet to their future studies
and their eventual career. They were well aware of the considerable effort needed
in becoming bilingual in an essentially monolingual environment (they had little
opportunity to use their English outside school and most had never visited an
English-speaking country
3
).
The secondary students’ main concerns were related to studying content subjects
in English, specically the complexities of content words or the nature of the
syllabus they learn as opposed to pupils in monolingual schools. Similarly, primary
pupils expressed concern regarding their abilities in the target language, in relation
to specic language skills. Newcomers to the BEP seemed to have more problems.
Interestingly, their negative comments were often followed by a positive remark,
and pupils who did not like the BEP were a minority.
STUDY 11:
PARENTS’ PERCEPTIONS OF THE BEP
The evaluation team considered it essential to seek the views of parents whose children
were participating in the BEP. However, it was not clear to the evaluation team how best
they might achieve this, and after consultation with, and with the co-operation of, the
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BEP. EVALUATION REPORT
Ministry and the British Council, it was decided to do so by rst seeking the collaboration
of school Head Teachers and through them the Parents’ Associations of particular schools.
All of the information sent out by the evaluation team emphasised the independence of
the evaluation, gave assurances as to condentiality and anonymity and was signed by
the Director of the evaluation.
It was decided to focus on four primary schools and their associated four secondary
schools drawn from the inner sample. In addition, it was decided to focus on parents of
students at Primary 6 and parents of students at Secondary 2, because this would allow
information arising from the parental survey to be added to the picture of these two
key year-groups as built up through other studies of the present report which focus on
one or other or both of Primary 6 and Secondary 2 (i.e. Studies 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 10).
The above procedure proved effective, generating 94 responses from parents of students
in Primary 6 and 102 responses from parents of students in Secondary 2.
Aims
There were four aims for Study 11:
Aim 1:
To gauge parents’ overall views of the BEP as it applied to their child in Primary 6
or Secondary 2 (Items A and 1B of the questionnaire)
Aim 2: To gauge parents’ responses to specic key aspects of the BEP (Items 2-11)
Aim 3:
To explore parents’ perceptions concerning their child’s bilingual education, in
comparison with other children (if any) in the family (Items 12-14)
Aim 4:
To obtain background contextual information (Items 15-21)
The questionnaire consisted of 21 items.
•
Items 1-11 were quantitative and invited parents to express their perceptions on a
ve-point scale.
•
Items 12-14 were open-ended and invited parents to express their perceptions in
their own words.
•
Items 15-21 sought factual information by means of parents ticking a particular box
or inserting a word or short phrase.
The items were as set out below. They are given here as slightly condensed questions (to
save space). The full version of the question for Item 2, for example, reads as: ‘has the BEP
helped your child to make progress in English?’.
Findings
Perceptions of parents of students in Primary 6
The perceptions of parents of students in Primary 6 are set out below.
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BEP. EVALUATION REPORT
Aim 1
•
The vast majority of parents (88.3%) held a favourable or very favourable view of
the BEP and only four parents out of 94 held an unfavourable or very unfavourable
view.
Aim 2
•
The proportion of parents (86.2%) who believed that the BEP had contributed to
their child’s prociency in English was close to the overall satisfaction rate in Aim 1.
•
Over half the parents (55.4%) believed studying other subjects in Spanish had
helped their child’s progress in these subjects, and more than two-fths (42.6%)
of parents believed that studying other subjects in English had helped progress in
these subjects.
•
Over three-fths of parents (63.8%) believed the BEP had helped their child
to understand other countries better, but under half the respondents (43.6%)
believed that the BEP had enabled their child to make contacts with other
countries.
•
The items about the contribution of the BEP to the child’s personal development
and career prospects drew positive responses from over 60% of respondents.
Aim 3
General comment on the BEP
•
Just under half the parents (46/94) offered comment. Although parents generally
agreed that their child’s speaking skills in English had beneted generally from
involvement in the BEP, some reservations were expressed about some aspects of
students’ English, such as grammar and writing.
•
The (reducing) availability of native speakers of English in the classroom was
clearly a concern for a signicant minority.
•
Concern was also expressed about the impact of the BEP on the content subjects,
particularly science.
Parents with another child involved in the BEP
•
A fth of respondents (20.2%) were in a position to answer this question. The
answers in some cases were too generalised or unclear for a pattern to be
identied, but there was a slight tendency to imply that the provision and/or
quality had been better formerly.
•
The (reduced) availability of native speakers in the classroom was again mentioned
and there were further references to other aspects of English, such as the learning
of grammar.
Parents with another child not involved in the BEP
•
Only three respondents said they were in this situation: two of the three felt that
the child not following the BEP was doing/had done better than the one in the BEP.
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BEP. EVALUATION REPORT
Aim 4
•
The numbers of students referred to in the parental questionnaires were evenly
balanced between girls and boys (47-46).
•
In most cases (62) the mother responded on the half of both parents. The parents
were usually of Spanish nationality (88) and spoke Spanish at home (91). Few of
the students have visited an English-speaking country (10), but over one third
of the parents (35/93) claimed that English was spoken at home at least
occasionally. This proportion is surprisingly high but may possibly be attributed to
parents using English from time to time to help their children with homework etc.
•
Eight of the children had studied on the BEP for four years or fewer.
Perceptions of parents of students in ESO2 (Secondary 2)
The perceptions of parents of students in Secondary 2 are set out below.
Aim 1
•
Eighteen parents (17.6%) said their child was not on the BEP during primary school
education and therefore they were unable to answer this question. The vast majority
of parents who responded (71/84 = 84.5%), held a favourable or very favourable
view of the BEP [a proportion similar to that of P6 parents (88.3%)] and only seven
parents held an unfavourable or very unfavourable view.
•
The proportion of ESO2 parents holding a favourable view of the BEP in secondary
was higher: 94/102 (92.2%).
Aim 2
•
The proportion of parents (92.2%) [P6 parents 86.2%] who believed that the BEP
had contributed to their child’s prociency in English was similar to the satisfaction
rate in Item 1B above (overall view of child’s bilingual education at secondary
school).
•
Two-fths (43.1%) of parents believed that the BEP had contributed to their child’s
prociency in Spanish (P6 parents 31.2%] and a similar proportion (42.2%) believed
that it had helped their child’s understanding of Spanish culture [P6 parents 38.0%].
•
Almost three-fths of parents (58.8%) believed studying other subjects in Spanish
had helped their child’s progress [P6 parents 55.4%), and more than two-fths
(44.1%) of parents believed that studying other subjects in English had helped
progress [P6 parents 42.6%].
•
Almost four-fths of parents (79.4%) believed the BEP had helped their child to
understand other countries better [P6 parents 63.8%], and about two-thirds (66.7%)
of the respondents believed that the BEP had enabled their child to make contacts
with other countries [P6 parents 43.6%].
•
The items concerned with the contribution of the BEP to the child’s personal
development and career prospects drew positive responses from over roughly
four-fths of respondents of respondents [P6 parents about three-fths].
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BEP. EVALUATION REPORT
Aim 3
Comments about the bilingual education which child is receiving
•
Thirty-eight of the 103 parents responding (36.9%) took up this invitation. Responses
varied in length (ranging from a short sentence to three paragraphs) and linguistic
sophistication. Ten expressed no reservations about the BEP and several of these
were very enthusiastic. Six indicated they regarded the BEP as an investment in the
students’ future life and career.
•
Where parents expressed reservations about one aspect of the BEP, this was often
accompanied by a positive comment about another aspect.
•
Few of the comments were specically about students’ prociency in English. Five
responses emphasised the students’ command of English, four specically noting
speaking/ listening as a strength. Three parents believe their child’s grasp of
grammar was weak and one commented that students struggled to follow recorded
speech as opposed to their own teacher.
•
There was some unease that the progress in English in primary school had not been
built upon (see below).
•
Nine respondents were concerned about progress in the content subjects: they
felt their children made less progress than children in non-project groups, or at
least experienced difculty in articulating (say) scientic ideas in Spanish. Three
expressed concern by implication that their child’s overall progress was affected
by having to study through the medium of English. Three were concerned that
studying other subjects through English reduced the parents’ scope to monitor
and support their child’s studies, particularly homework.
•
Concerns were expressed about the amount and quality of teaching in English.
Seven respondents stated that exposure to native speakers was reduced after
primary school and more native speakers should be employed in secondary. Two
responses pointed to the need for upskilling in English for teachers specialising in
subjects other than English. Three parents believed more should be done to arrange
visits and exchanges abroad.
•
Six responses referred to cutbacks in resources resulting in fewer lessons in English
(e.g. in science) or larger class sizes.
Parents with another child involved in the BEP
•
Seventeen parents completed Question 13. Twelve had daughters and ve had sons
in ESO2.
•
Not all the respondents indicated whether the sibling was younger or older or in
which years of primary or secondary education they were studying or had studied.
Of those which indicated, the sibling was younger in 11 cases (10 boys, one girl) and
older in one case (boy).
•
Seven respondents were happy or very happy with the BEP and two thought that
provision had improved since their rst child had gone through the programme.
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•
Reservations expressed mainly concerned stafng changes (6), usually linked to
the availability of native speakers as teachers. The presence of native speakers
was associated with better pronunciation. One parent pointed out that staff without
a full command of English tended to teach by the textbook and offer few
explanations. Two parents referred to a reduction in the number of classes delivered
through English in primary schools.
•
Two parents offered the view that the secondary school did not foster the BEP as
well as the primary school.
Parents with another child not involved in the BEP
•
Six parents responded to Question 14. Two referred to a specic child. One mother
stated that her other daughter not in the BEP was receiving a good education, but
not as good as that offered within the BEP. In the other case, the mother indicated
that her child’s English was very decient compared with that of her sibling within
the BEP.
•
The other four responses offered an opinion, although they did not explicitly refer
to another child in education outside the BEP. The opinions offered were:
– the BEP prepares children better for the future in Spain or abroad
– BEP staff work more closely with students and raise them to a higher level more
schools should offer the BEP
– bilingual education is better and should involve all subjects except mathematics
and Spanish language.
Aim 4
•
Six parents did not respond to this section.
•
The numbers of students referred to in the parental questionnaires included slightly
more girls than boys (52-45).
•
In most cases (67) the mother responded on behalf of both parents. The parents
were usually of Spanish nationality (82) and spoke Spanish at home (89). About a
quarter of the students (27) had visited an English-speaking country, but over a
third of the parents (35) claimed that English was spoken at home that least
occasionally.
•
About a third (33) of the students had studied on the BEP for four years or fewer.
Conclusions: Perceptions of parents
Study 11 focuses on the perceptions of parents of BEP students in Primary
6 and Secondary 2. The great majority of parents of students in Primary 6 and
also parents of students in Secondary 2 perceived their child’s BEP education
in clearly positive terms. The most obviously positive aspect was their child’s
prociency in English, and in addition there were positive perceptions of their
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STUDY 12:
PRIMARY SCHOOL CLASS TEACHERS’ PERCEPTIONS
The evaluation team considered it important to seek the perceptions of primary school
classroom teachers, given that it was they who had the task of teaching on their school’s
BEP programme.
During the many visits which the evaluation team made to primary schools, there were
opportunities to observe classes and to have informal discussions with class teachers.
These were helpful in providing initial insights into the class teachers’ perceptions.
Nonetheless, it was considered useful to develop a questionnaire instrument which would
go to a large number of classroom teachers at the same time and which would collect
their perceptions in a more systematic fashion.
Aims
A questionnaire was developed which had the following four broad aims:
Aim 1: To collect background information on the teachers
Aim 2: To gauge their perceptions of the benets or otherwise of the BEP
Aim 3: To identify factors which they considered might be inuencing the BEP
Aim 4: To gain insight into what they perceived as being other important issues arising
from their participation in the BEP
The questionnaire was sent in electronic form to Head Teachers in the 24 sample primary
schools, with the request that it be passed on to class teachers, along with a covering
letter which invited them to complete the questionnaire and return it. This was done in
such a way that it was not possible for the evaluation researchers to identify the teacher
or the school, in order to maximise anonymity.
Findings in relation to Aim 1
Completed questionnaires were returned by 102 class teachers (80F, 21M, 1 not
indicated), which the evaluation team considers to be a very good return.
child’s better understanding of other countries, personal development and career
prospects. Both sets of parents had concerns which they wished to express.
Concerns common to both groups were related to their child’s command of
grammar (though it was not clear whether this referred to Spanish or English or
both), to a perceived reduction in the availability of native-speakers of English and
of resources for the BEP more generally, and of the impact of the BEP on their
child’s learning of important content areas. Differences between Primary 6 and
Secondary 2 parents were not substantial.
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•
The nationality of the teachers was: Spain 80, UK 15, USA 3, Argentina 1 (dual
nationality with Spain), Ireland 2, not indicated 2.
•
The categories of teaching were: AL 31, FSPF 8, FCPF 60
4
, other 3.
•
Of these teachers, 39 reported that they taught one year-group, and similarly 28
taught 2 year-groups, 22 taught 3 year-groups, 4 taught 4 year-groups, 2 taught
5 year-groups and 6 taught 6 year-groups. There were 8 teachers who taught
infants, 45 who taught Primary 1, 38 who taught Primary 2, 35 who taught Primary
3, 30 who taught Primary 4, 31 who taught Primary 5 and 35 who taught Primary 6.
•
All of the following curricular areas were represented in the responses: Art /Art
& Design / Arts & crafts; Physical Education; English / English Literacy / Phonics;
Science; History; Geography; Drama; ICT; Library.
Findings in relation to Aim 2
A key purpose of the questionnaire was to establish the extent to which the class
teachers perceived the BEP as being bene cial or otherwise for pupils, teachers and
school. Table 12.1 sets out the responses received from the 102 teachers. The responses
are given in percentage terms. The percentages do not necessarily add up to 100%, since
in a very small number of cases a particular questionnaire item did not receive a response:
Q10… for pupils?
Q11... for teachers?
Q12… for schools?
0
0
0
0
1%
0
1%
1%
0
10,8%
26,5%
17,7%
85,3%
70,1%
81,4%
Not at all
bene cial
Not
bene cial
Neutral Bene cial
Highly
bene cial
How bene cial or
otherwise has BEP been…
Table 12.1: Extent to which class teachers perceive BEP as being bene cial or otherwise
The questionnaire also contained a number of open-ended items which allowed teachers
the opportunity to explain in their own words the reasons for their choice. These include
the following sets of perceptions, with the numbers (not percentages) in brackets
indicating the number of mentions earned by the matter in question out of a total of 102
possible responses to each particular item.
Primary School class teachers’ perceptions of how bene cial
or otherwise the BEP has been for pupils
Overwhelmingly, class teachers considered that the BEP had been highly bene cial or
bene cial, as is demonstrated by Table 12.1 above.
4. AL asesor lingüístico; FSPF - funcionario sin plaza ja; FCPF - funcionario con plaza ja.
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BEP. EVALUATION REPORT
•
The main benet was perceived as being to the children’s language competence
(82), taking the form of benet to their prociency in English as exemplied by
various aspects such as pronunciation, grammar, vocabulary, communication
skill, listening, but also more general benet to their awareness and knowledge of
language, e.g. learning to attend to meaning or form, learning to express oneself in
different ways, learning to function bilingually.
•
In second place was benet to the children’s cognitive development (41), exemplied
by qualities such as exibility, open-mindedness, learning to think before doing,
development of learning strategies, acquiring a disciplined approach to learning.
•
In third place was benet to children’s social and cultural development (27),
exemplied by qualities such as tolerance of other ways of life, learning respect for
others, ability to develop new relationships.
•
In fourth place was motivation (25), including positive perceptions, self-condence,
sense of achievement, high interest levels.
There were other perceptions which, though not as numerous as those already described,
nonetheless gained support, for example:
•
The BEP introduces children to different classroom methods which are not normally
encountered in Spanish schools (19)
•
It gives children the advantage of an early start and a more natural way of acquiring
language (15)
•
It gives them invaluable exposure to teachers who are native-speakers of English
(9), e.g. ‘speaking to someone who is ‘really’ English gives them a great sense of
achievement’
•
It enables them to learn that English is not just a subject but also a means of
communication and of learning (8)
•
It increases their chances of good employment and a good career later in life (8)
•
It is perceived as not bringing disadvantage to children’s Spanish, e.g. ‘it is said that
the project would go against the Spanish language, but according to the teachers
at the ‘Instituto’ we send our children to, their level of Spanish is more or less the
same...’.
While the perceptions were strongly positive, there were some undercurrents of caution.
Although these gained small numbers of mention, they are worth noting, given that a
major and explicit aim of the BEP is to embrace the whole school. For example, ve class
teachers expressed a view which is exemplied by the following:
•
‘Children who do not attend everyday or who have a low level in other subject areas
are wasting their precious time’
•
‘Not all pupils can do it’
•
‘It is a mistake to make English compulsory for pupils with learning difculties’.
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BEP. EVALUATION REPORT
Primary School class teachers’ perceptions of how benecial
or otherwise the BEP has been for themselves as class teachers
Almost all of the open-ended responses focused on how benecial the BEP has been for
class teachers.
•
The most frequently-mentioned benet was that it enables them to learn new things
(59), e.g. improving their teaching, gaining new knowledge, developing new skills,
making new contacts.
•
Closely linked to this, in second place, came a sense of greater job satisfaction (52),
exemplied by qualities such as increased condence, feeling part of a successful
project, feeling inspired, being able to express one’s imaginative side, experiencing
a real sense of challenge, and gaining greater personal satisfaction.
•
In third place came specic benet to the class teachers’ English (32), as evidenced
by more opportunity to use English, gains in accuracy and uency of use.
•
In fourth place (23) came the satisfaction from seeing clear benets to their pupils,
e.g. ‘It is most satisfying to see how my pupils are able to communicate by the end
of year 6’.
•
Then came in fth place better interaction with colleagues (18), e.g. more opportunity
to share ideas, a feeling of enrichment from learning from other BEP colleagues.
•
In sixth place (14) a feeling that the BEP has given them greater opportunity to search
for and choose their own materials, to make their teaching more meaningful and less
textbook-based, leading to greater freedom and exibility in their approach. Many
class teachers indicated that teaching on the BEP was hard work and exhausting,
and that careful planning was required, but this did not appear to detract greatly
from the benets which they perceived.
Primary School class teachers’ perceptions of how benecial or
otherwise the BEP has been for schools
Again, almost all comments indicated a favourable view:
•
The most frequently mentioned benet to schools was that the BEP enhanced
recruitment to the school (27), e.g. ‘our school is now over-subscribed’, ‘parents
changed their children’s school in order to come here’.
•
This was closely followed by a perception that the BEP adds to the school’s
prestige (23), e.g. the BEP marks out the school, its staff and its pupils as being
different.
•
This in turn was followed by a perception that it has helped create a different and
better school ethos (21), e.g. ‘the project makes the school come alive’.
•
Then came a perception that it is popular with parents and families (20), e.g. ‘most
families ‘usually help us with anything we ask for’.
•
Other perceived benets to schools received fewer mentions but are worth noting
and may be summarized as follows: ‘the BEP has been good for schools in areas of
low socio-economic status’ (8); ‘it produces good outcomes and children do well at
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BEP. EVALUATION REPORT
secondary school’ (8); and ‘it helps create extra-curricular links for the school (4),
e.g. ‘book fair’, ‘opens new doors for the school’.
Although the views were mainly focused on benets arising from the BEP, there were
some cautionary thoughts also, e.g.
•
‘The project has gone very well until this year, but now, as we don’t have the same
number of teachers teaching, things are changing;’
•
‘There have been lots of problems for the school in developing the project
properly, but the pupils do benet;’
•
‘There is a division between specialists and other teachers, and also between
asesores linguísticos and other teachers – the workload is not necessarily evenly
shared;’
•
‘There are still some teachers who think concepts ought to be taught in Spanish
rst.’
Findings in relation to Aim 3
National factors
The questionnaire sought classroom teachers’ views of the particular provisions made at
national level by the British Council and the Ministry.
•
The most frequently mentioned provision (78) was the documentation which sets out
the integrated curriculum Guidelines, and almost all comments were favourable,
e.g. ‘we use it every day as guidance’, ‘it is our Bible’, ‘it makes things clear’, ‘it is
most helpful’, ‘extremely benecial’.
•
In second place came in-service courses and conferences (47), and again the
great majority of comments were favourable, e.g. ‘a great help, ‘some wonderful
ideas’, ‘really interesting’. Such problems as were mentioned tended not to arise
from inadequate delivery of a course or conference but rather from their location
(too far away), their lack of frequency, the fact that they were not compulsory
and difculties associated with supply cover. Although gaining much favourable
comment, the courses and conferences attracted certain reservations in small
numbers. For example, ‘we need more and earlier information on the courses that
are available’, ‘the courses we nd to be contradictory from one course to the next’,
‘we need more opportunity to participate in them’, ‘we’d like to participate but there
are not enough places’.
•
In third place came project materials (44), with the Hand in Hand magazine
frequently being praised for its interest, coverage and relevance, e.g. ‘HiH is
useful because it shows how other schools are working’, ‘HiH is interesting and
gives us ideas’. Occasional reservations were expressed in terms of exclusion ‘our
contributions to Hand in Hand were always ignored, so now we no longer send
material or take an interest’ and insufciency ‘the material produced is good but I
deeply feel that something else should be done in terms of sharing materials’, and
The materials are good but we feel are too scarce, including for children aged 3’.
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BEP. EVALUATION REPORT
•
The project website received 38 mentions, with most of the mentions being
favourable, e.g. ‘a worthy educational resource where you can nd ideas and
resources’, ‘we use it, it is very interesting’, ‘very quick and easy to access all
necessary information’, ‘ very useful for ideas sharing’ – however, there was also
a signicant minority of less favourable mentions, e.g. ‘not so useful’, ‘we use the
materials but still many things could be done better’, ‘gives good ideas but these
are not developed’, ‘not very useful and under-used’.
Regional / Local factors
There was less response from classroom teachers in respect of regional or local factors
which they perceived as having a positive or negative inuence on the BEP in their
school. Nonetheless, a small number of factors deserve to be mentioned.
•
The most frequently-mentioned factor was the Education Authority of the
particular Autonomous Region. There were 3 positive mentions, e.g. ‘They provide
training courses for teachers in their own bilingual scheme and we (BEP teachers) are
allowed to take part in these’. On the other hand there were 14 mentions which were
less positive or even negative. Within this group, the most frequently cited observation
was that the regional education authority had its own bilingual programme and was
seeking to attract BEP teachers into it. The evaluation team wishes to make it clear
that it has no way of checking the validity of such statements, but we feel we must
report them, because they were made to us through the open-ended section of the
present questionnaire in which teachers were free to express themselves in their own
words.
•
Next in frequency were parents. In a small number of cases there were
expressions of difculty, e.g. parents of children at a particular school generally
did not know English and therefore could not really help their children with their
homework. However, a majority of observations (11) were strongly positive, e.g.
parents show a big interest in the BEP and offer encouragement.
•
The third most-frequently mentioned factor was socio-economic (10), with
particular prominence given to socio-economic disadvantage perceived as having
some degree of negative effect on pupils’ attainments.
•
Other factors attracted a small number of observations, e.g. local events (9)
such as plays, town-twinning arrangements, festivals which helped create a social
context to which the BEP could contribute and which in turn could support the
BEP; also, teacher conditions and supply (5) in which a feeling was expressed
that there was an increasing lack of native-speaker teachers and a need for more
asesores lingüísticos.
Findings in relation to Aim 4
Primary School class teachers’ perceptions of their use of ICT
Responses to this item provided information both on the types of technology use and
also on the themes which were addressed while using the technology.
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BEP. EVALUATION REPORT
•
The internet (48) was clearly the most widely used aspect of technology and
attracted favourable comment, e.g. ‘we have a collection of favourite links for
each topic’, ‘we use it to show videos which the pupils have made’, we use it
for webquests’. In second place came Powerpoint (24), followed by video/TV/DVD
(12) and whiteboards/digital boards (9).
•
Of the themes addressed through the technologies, the leader was science (20),
followed by cartoons, games, quizzes (17), then by lms, stories and plays (15),
then by songs (10) and by linguistically-focused activity (9) such as vocabulary,
grammar and phonics.
•
There was a prevailing impression of intermittent use with some 8 responses
suggesting something more in the form of regular, planned systematic use. There
were 13 responses which explicitly indicated that there was a problem of lack of
access to computers, e.g. ‘our school has only one computer and 450 children’.
There could be a problem with exchange, e.g. ‘an email exchange was sent to a
partner school in the UK, but no reply’. There were several expressions of interest
and potential use, e.g. ‘I am unable to exploit the medium as much as I would have
liked’, ‘I would like to use a whiteboard but we do not have one’.
Primary School class teachers’ perceptions of the sorts of information,
support, advice and in-service which they would nd useful
Responses to this item fall into two categories: needs/wishes and topics.
•
Of the needs/wishes which the teachers expressed, clearly the most frequent one
was sharing ideas and experiences with teachers in other schools (22) which
might include actual visits to other schools to see colleagues teaching in class,
and also a greater degree of co-ordination across schools, enabling teachers to
be more in contact with each other. The second-most frequently expressed need
(7) was for better website information which might include a central library of
material, the availability of modules, an ethos of collaborative creation and sharing
of materials.
•
Of the topics which were mentioned, the most frequent was more guidance
and support on general classroom planning and methodology for bilingual
education (38), e.g. how to plan lessons and manage classes, how to teach content,
how to introduce differentiated activity to cater for different needs, how to adapt
one’s teaching to suit different age groups, how to teach for bi-literacy, including
the teaching of reading, writing and their relations with spoken language including
phonics, how to teach pronunciation. In second place (12) came ICT and new
technologies such as interactive whiteboards, followed by teaching for literacy (11,
including reading and writing and their relations to spoken language), and then by
teaching science (5).
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BEP. EVALUATION REPORT
STUDY 13:
SECONDARY SCHOOL CLASS TEACHERS’ PERCEPTIONS
The present study of the perceptions of secondary school class teachers is intended to
complement Study 11 which is focused on primary school class teachers. As was the case
with Study 12, a questionnaire instrument was used, since it was the simplest and least
intrusive means of systematically collecting appropriate data.
The questionnaire was sent in electronic form to Head Teachers in the 23 sample
secondary schools, with the request that it be passed on to subject class teachers,
along with a covering letter which invited them to complete the questionnaire, put it in
a sealed envelope and return it. This was done in such a way that it was not possible for
the evaluation researchers to identify the teacher or the school, in order to maximise
anonymity.
Aims
The questionnaire had the following four broad aims:
Aim 1: To collect background information on the teachers
Aim 2: To gauge their perceptions of the benets or otherwise of the BEP
Aim 3: To identify factors which they considered might be inuencing the BEP
Aim 4: To gain insight into what they perceived as being other important issues arising
from their participation in the BEP
Conclusion: Perceptions of Primary School class teachers
Study 12 focuses on the perceptions of primary school class teachers. These
were overwhelmingly positive towards the BEP in respect of its impact on pupils,
teachers and schools. Among the perceived benets of the BEP for pupils were:
increased prociency in English; stimulus to cognitive development (e.g. exibility,
open-mindedness, learning to think before doing, development of strategies,
acquiring a disciplined approach to learning). Of the provisions made at national
level, the most appreciated was the documentation which sets out the Guidelines
for the integrated curriculum, followed by the courses and conferences. There
were clear signs of a wish to have more contact with BEP colleagues in other
schools in order to share ideas and materials. A small minority expressed some
reservations about the suitability of EBE for low-attaining children, and there were
some perceptions of a tension between the BEP and regional bilingual education
initiatives.
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BEP. EVALUATION REPORT
Findings in relation to Aim 1
Subjects taught – Category of teacher – Nationality
– Years of teaching – Male/Female
Responses were received from 65 class teachers (female 47, male 16, no indication 2).
With ve exceptions (2 UK, 2 dual nationality, one unclear), the respondents were of
Spanish nationality.
•
The vast majority (59) were teachers with civil service status (funcionarios) and
most of these (50) had a permanent post (plaza ja) at their current school. Five
teachers were contracted teachers (e.g. asesores linguísticos) and the status of one
was unclear.
•
The teachers were very experienced: 51 of them had been teaching for more than
10 years. The teachers’ main subjects were:
– English 33
– Natural Sciences
5
16
– Social Sciences (geography and history) 2
– Physical education 2
– Technology 2
•
Nine of the teachers stated that they taught a second subject (art 1, drama 1,
English/ literacy 3, science 3, technology 1).
In-service
Fifty-eight teachers reported having attended at least one INSET event (conference,
course, seminar/workshop, working group) in the last three years. Of these teachers, 45
had received methodological training, 3 linguistic training and 10 both.
•
The providers of INSET indicated were:
BC/MEC 46
IGCSE (via BC) 30
Comunidad autónoma (CA)
6
48
Courses in the UK 8
Escuela Ocial de Idiomas (EOI) 3
Comenius/Leonardo 7
Other (universities, publishers etc) 30
7
Five teachers indicated that they themselves have been ponentes at INSET events in the
BEP regions or further aeld.
5. In ESO 1 and 2; biology and geology and/or physics and chemistry in ESO3 and 4.
6. The respondents did not always make it clear whether individual INSET events in their CA (e.g. in a teachers’ centre) were
delivered by the CA or by the BC in collaboration with the CA. Unless the BC was specically mentioned, it was assumed that
the event was organised by the CA itself, so the role of the BC may have been slightly underestimated.
7. The training mentioned here was not necessarily specic to BEP, for example English language teaching methodology,
training in the use of new technologies, use of the European Language Portfolio.
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BEP. EVALUATION REPORT
• ‘Both [BC history and English courses] have improved my methodology’
• ‘All of them [BC and CA English courses] more than useful for classroom practice’
• ‘Great source of ideas for the classroom’ [BC science]
• ‘All types of course [BC and CA science] are useful for us’
• ‘All the courses [BC, CA, university English] have been useful for me because on
one hand I have improved my English level and on the other hand I have learnt new
methods of teaching’
• ‘Useful activities to practice in class and get students talking’ [Comenius English]
• ‘All the above [BC English] have been interesting and useful. The ones concerning
IGCSE exam preparation just essential’
• ‘They [CA and IGCSE science courses] have all been extremely useful. Courses have
been really informative and work groups have been a good excuse to produce,
collect and organise teaching materials’
• ‘It [BC course] was really useful as we talked/practised about all topics on teaching
English (listening, speaking, grammar, writing, etc)’
• [BC science] ‘a really good teacher provided us with good ideas and a wide range
of ideas for teaching Biology or Geology’
• ‘The most useful for me was the shadowing which took place in (name of a city in
England).’
Positive
comments
on in-service
provision
Evaluative comment was offered on at least one INSET event by 32 of the 58 teachers
who had been involved in them; the other 26 simply offered the title of the event or a brief
description of its content.
The evaluative comments were usually short, but, with rare exceptions, were positive
or very positive: the provision was typically described as ‘useful’ or ‘very/really useful’.
Some respondents gave a little more detail:
• ‘Not adapted [from primary?] to secondary teachers’ [university course]
• [CA CLIL] ‘A good course though not very [useful] for me since most [other]
participants were primary teachers experienced in teaching other subjects in
English’ [secondary science teacher]
• ‘I realised that the information I got there was at a very high level. The activities
proposed were too dif cult for students in a normal secondary school.’
Some
reservations
about
in-service
provision in
general
Very few comments expressed reservations. It should be noted that there was a range
of in-service providers (not only the MEC/BC). Since the comments came from an open-
ended item, it is not possible for us to indicate if they referred to MEC/BEP provision or
to other provision, but we consider it is important to indicate what these few reservations
were since they re ected a need as expressed by teachers:
Topics most enjoyed by students, according to their teachers
Responses were analysed by subject area: science, social sciences, English. In each
subject area the responses varied in detail from broad generalisations about learning,
to statements which listed half the curriculum for each year of ESO to some speci c
references. Examples were not always attributed to a particular year in ESO.
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BEP. EVALUATION REPORT
Science
•
Most areas of the syllabus were mentioned by somebody. Some topics were re-visited
in different years (e.g. reproduction in ESO1 or ESO3). The ones most frequently
mentioned were: the plant and animal kingdoms (4), reproduction (5), genetics (5),
plate tectonics (7). The content was stated often without a reference to the actual
activity involved but laboratory work (including dissections), use of computers,
visual illustration, games (e.g. chemistry bingo!) were mentioned as motivating.
Social sciences
•
Again the responses collectively covered a wide range of syllabus topics and most
had only a single mention. The topics most frequently mentioned were pre-history
and/or the Ancient World (9) and twentieth century events (including the World Wars
and the Russian Revolution) (8). Where examples of activities were given, these
usually involved computers, group work or working with a native speaker.
English
•
The range of examples here was extremely wide with some respondents simply
mentioning a genre (e.g. drama) and others individual works (e.g. ‘To kill a
mockingbird’). A range of authors was mentioned including CS Lewis, JK Rowling,
Roald Dahl, George Orwell, Michael Morpurgo, Oscar Wilde and J Wilson. Non-
literary topics included British-American differences, environmental issues, ethical
(e.g. life) issues, current affairs as well as pop culture. Films were frequently a
source of motivation and the response to activities promoting active involvement,
such as debates/discussions, interviews, letter exchanges, writing poems/stories
and role plays, was generally positive.
Use of ICT
Responses were analysed by subject area: science, social sciences, English. In each
subject area the responses varied in detail and included some generalisations (e.g. about
students enjoying ICT) that were not really usable.
Science
•
The references to particular technologies were rather general and not usually
attributed to a particular year in ESO. The most frequent specic references
were to presentation technology (notably Powerpoint/data projector) (13), digital
whiteboards (5) and the internet (12). Two teachers aspired to (more) access to
digital whiteboards and one to access to a computer room.
Social sciences
•
Broadly the pattern reected that for science. The most frequent references
were to presentation technology (10), interactive whiteboards (6) and the Internet
(10). Two teachers aspired to (more) access to digital whiteboards.
English
•
The pattern of returns for English was: presentation technology (14), digital
whiteboards (5) and the Internet (16). Five teachers desired (more) access to
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BEP. EVALUATION REPORT
interactive whiteboards. The use of CD and DVD, particularly for showing lms, was
a feature of the returns from teachers of English (12).
Findings in relation to Aim 2
Secondary school class teachers’ perceived bene ts
or otherwise of BEP for students
The secondary school class teachers’ were highly positive in their perceived bene ts of
the BEP for students:
•
78.5% rated the BEP as being highly bene cial
•
18.4% rated the BEP as being as being bene cial.
In addition to the above, respondents were invited to express any further thoughts they
might wish to express in their own words. These are set out below:
• Developing knowledge and skills in English
• Generally higher level of knowledge and skills (16)
• Learn more vocabulary more effectively (7)
• More balanced pro ciency in the four skills (5)
• More focused and resourceful language learners (5)
• Develop stronger listening skills (5)
• Develop stronger reading skills (3)
• Motivated/committed/con dent learners of English (9)
• More ef cient and thoughtful learners across their studies (12)
• More open-minded/aware of the wider world (9)
• Better prepared for their future career (8)
• Concern about accuracy (2)
• Concern about developing vocabulary in other subjects (2)
• Student complacency (2)
• Non-committal (e.g. ‘It depends on the students’) (3)
Perceived
bene ts
Perceived
reservations
Secondary School class teachers’ perceived bene ts or
otherwise of BEP for teachers
Secondary school class teachers were highly positive in their rating of the BEP for
themselves:
•
60% rated it as being highly bene cial
•
32.3% rated it as being bene cial
In addition to the above, respondents were invited to express any further thoughts they
might wish to express in their own words. These are set out below:
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BEP. EVALUATION REPORT
Secondary School class teachers’ perceived bene ts or otherwise of BEP
for schools
Secondary school class teachers were highly positive in their rating of the bene ts of the
BEP for their school:
•
55.4% rated is as being highly bene cial
•
35.4% rated it as being bene cial
In addition, respondents were invited to express any further thoughts they might wish to
express in their own words. These are set out below:
• Greater job satisfaction/professional development because more challenging (35)
• Opportunity/stimulus to innovate/ nd own materials/try new methods (20)
• Opportunity to teach better motivated students (17)
• Teaching is more motivating and rewarding (11)
As a result of the above:
• Opportunity to maintain/develop own English (16)
• Opportunity for international teaching experience
• For UK/USA teachers in Spain (3)
• For Spanish teachers who might work abroad (2)
Other points:
• Opportunity for teamwork/work with FLA (2)
• Access to new technologies (3)
• Smaller teaching groups (3)
• More hours devoted to English (2)
• INSET opportunities (3)
•
More time-consuming/pressured than other teaching (20)
(some teachers admitted that job satisfaction countered this to some
extent)
•
Attitudes of non-BEP colleagues (2)
•
Insuf cient support from school (2)
Perceived
bene ts
Perceived
reservations
• School has greater prestige/attracts more students (38)
• Provides access to better education, particularly in poor areas (8)
• Increases proportion of motivated/committed students (13)
• Brings in more supportive parents (9)
• Different culture in the school (‘more international’, more events) (10)
• Exchange opportunities (7)
• Stimulus to professional development (7)
• INSET opportunities (4)
• Improves quality/results/bachillerato staying on rates (6)
• Better resources (smaller groups 3; materials and/or FLA 6) (9)
Perceived
bene ts
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BEP. EVALUATION REPORT
Findings in relation to Aim 3
National factors infl uencing the BEP in school
The British Council and the Ministry provided different types of support for BEP teachers.
These included the BEP Guidelines, courses / seminars, projects, materials (such as the
Hand in Hand magazine, and the BEP project website):
• Attitudes of colleagues (perceptions of BEP ‘élitism’; complaints about impact on
timetables/class sizes etc.) (13)
• Insuf cient support from local administration (3)
• Examinations issues (2)
Perceived
reservations
• Guidelines: used, (very) useful (44)
• ‘Hand in hand’/other materials used, (very) useful (17)
• Involvement in projects (‘Global Classrooms’ (4) and ‘Our grandparents and
ourselves’’ (8) valued (12)
• Courses etc highly regarded (34)
• Visits to UK highly appreciated (4)
• Website used (9)
• Few/none of the above used (5)
• Website: low awareness, little used, not very helpful for secondary (12)
• ‘Hand in Hand’/materials: need more coverage of secondary/subjects other than
English (8)
• Access to courses: in outlying areas (2); match for teachers new to BEP (4) (6)
• More speci c secondary guidelines needed (3)
• Time needed to pursue the interesting ideas/suggestions offered by BC/MEC (4)
• No help received from British Council or Spanish authorities except the BC/Ministry
Guidelines (2)
Positive
responses
Reservations
expressed
More local factors infl uencing the BEP in school
Fewer responses were received for this item (with 17 no-responses):
• Good support from CA (8)
• Good support from HT/colleagues (3)
• Exchange link arranged (1)
• FLA provided (1)
• ‘New’ [to BEP] students in ESO1 an asset (1)
• CA not supporting BEP/tension with its own policies/provision (16)
• Socioeconomic factors (parental expectations; barriers of paying for examinations,
travel etc) (5)
• Non-BEP teachers see BEP as a threat (3)
• ‘Isolation’ (only one BEP centre in one CA; distance between centres in another large
CA; BEP students a very low proportion of cohort in one school) (3)
• Lack of knowledge about the BEP among teachers (1)
Positive
responses
Reservations
expressed
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BEP. EVALUATION REPORT
Approaches or techniques found to be useful when
teaching subject(s) to BEP students
Two teachers stated that their approaches were no different from those used with other
classes. There was a tendency for teachers to reiterate generic teaching principles
that could apply to any language provision (clear objectives, match to need etc). Of the
usable responses, seven emphasised the need to ensure interaction/students taking
responsibility for speaking in class. [No response: 10 teachers].
Findings in respect of Aim 4
Challenges faced when teaching subject(s) to BEP students
This item generated a disparate set of responses. Most respondents focussed on
problems rather than on ‘challenge’ in a positive sense, although there was some genuine
soul-searching by some teachers anxious to do a good job. A lot of ‘one off’ comments
were made, therefore few patterns were identi able. Some themes nevertheless emerge:
• Some students not really up to taking the BEP (1)
• Private sector competition (1)
• No exchange (1)
• Need native speaker (not just FLA) (1)
• Anxiety about lack of materials and/or time taken to nd/create/adapt them (19)
• Lack of a textbook and dependence on worksheets/photocopies is time-consuming
(3)
• Delivering curriculum integration in secondary content subjects (overload; added
distraction of IGCSE; nding material in English on Spanish history
–e.g. the Reconquista– a problem (8)
• Maintaining own and colleagues’ English (6)
• Concern about students’ accuracy (3) and expression, particularly written, (12) in
English
• Students struggling with content subjects in English (2)/handling concepts in
science in English (3)
• Attitudes of some BEP students: for example ‘superiority’, complacency, laziness,
adolescent reticence… (9)
• Other points:
– How to work with FLA (3)
– Attitude of non-BEP teachers (3)
– Heterogeneous classes (2)
– Problems with exchanges (2)
– Lack of continuity (staf ng) (2)
– Lack of CA support (2)
– ICT access (2)
Themes to
emerge
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BEP. EVALUATION REPORT
• Drama/dramatising/role play (12)
• Group work (5)
• Oral presentations (5)
• Projects (5)
• Debates (1)
• A range of ICT was mentioned:
– Powerpoint (4)
– Internet (4)
– IWB (3)
– Other (2)
• The importance of having an FLA or other native speaker in BEP classes was mentio-
ned by ve respondents.
• Various materials/activities were mentioned:
– Songs (2), games (2), newspapers (1)
– ‘Hands-on’ activities: scienti c experiments and reasoning (4), storytelling (2),
summarising (2), class questionnaires (1).
• Learning strategies:
– Skimming/scanning (2);
– Schematic presentation of information/ ideas (e.g. mind maps; graphs) (4).
Speci c
approaches
mentioned
Information, advice, support and in-service training
it would be helpful to receive
Five teachers said they would welcome any information about what worked elsewhere in
the BEP. There was a tendency to ask for quite basic training, for example in encouraging
students to speak, teaching grammar in context, vocabulary building, reading techniques.
• More courses needed (including science, social science and IGCSE) (21)
• More ICT access (e.g. information on web-pages) (5)
• More focused materials/guidelines (6)
• Speci c subject material (e.g. ancient history, physical education) (2)
• Opportunity to observe in a UK school (or at the least a native speaker teaching in
Spain) (8)
• Opportunity for on-site training - having own lessons observed plus feedback (3)
• Better/ more frequent contacts with teachers elsewhere in the BEP (6)
• Accreditation as bilingual education teachers (3)
• Free examination entry (e.g. Cambridge English) for BEP teachers (2)
• Native speakers (AL or FLA) needed for support (3)
• Training in how to work with an FLA (1)
• Supply of British textbooks (1)
• Samples of Spanish textbooks from other Hispanic countries (1)
• Access to BC library (now closed!) (1)
Speci c
requests
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BEP. EVALUATION REPORT
STUDY 14:
PERCEPTIONS OF PRIMARY SCHOOL HEAD TEACHERS
Towards the end of the rst full year of the evaluation, the views of primary school Head
Teachers or senior managers were sought by means of questionnaire in order to provide
mainly factual information on the BEP. The 2009 questionnaire was more detailed and
wide-ranging, including not only a request for further factual information but also for the
Head Teachers’ perceptions of several different aspects of the BEP. The present report
is based on the views of seventeen Head Teachers, representing over 70% of primary
schools in the combined Sample A+B.
Aims
The aims of the questionnaire were:
Aim 1
To gauge the perceptions of Primary School Head Teachers (PSHT) on the BEP
in their school
Aim 2
To gauge PSHTs’ perceptions of specic aspects of the BEP
Aim 3
To explore PSHTs’ perceptions of other aspects of the BEP
Aim 4
To obtain contextual information on the BEP in each particular school
Findings in relation to Aim 1
Since the number of respondents is not large, we present our ndings as straight
numbers rather than as percentages. The number of responses varies slightly from item
to item. In one case a school supplied two questionnaires, presumably from Head Teacher
and another senior person, and both have been included, which explains the number
18 in one case.
Conclusion: Perceptions of Secondary School class teachers
Study 13 focuses on perceptions of secondary school class teachers.
Overwhelmingly, they considered the BEP brought benet to their students, to
teachers and to schools. Most obvious benet to students was in their command
of English. A large majority felt the BEP brought benet to themselves as teachers,
e.g. opportunity to try new approaches and to develop their own English. Of the
main national factors, most appreciated were the Guidelines and the courses/
conferences. Some reservations were expressed about the suitability of the
magazine, the projects and the website for secondary school education (it being
felt these were more suited to primary schools). Some expressed reservations
about the attitudes of colleagues who were not involved in the BEP. Some felt there
was a tension between the national BEP and regional bilingual education initiatives.
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BEP. EVALUATION REPORT
Findings in relation to Aim 2
This section consisted of a number of speci c questions.
Table 14.2 sets out the PSHTs’ perceptions of speci c aspects of the BEP
1. Overall view of BEP in
their school
2. View of BEP in Cycle 1
(Years 1-2)
3. View of BEP in Cycle 2
(Years 3-4)
4. View of BEP in Cycle 3
(Years 5-6)
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
3
4
5
3
14
13
12
14
Highly
Unfavourable
Unfavourable
Neutral
Favourable
Highly
favourable
Table 14.1: PSHTs’ overall perceptions of the BEP
Table 14.1 sets out the PSHTs’ general perceptions of the BEP.
Table 14.2: PSHTs’ perceptions of speci c aspects of the BEP
5. Does BEP generally help
pupils develop a good
command of English?
6. Does BEP help pupils
generally broaden their
understanding of Europe
and world?
7. Does BEP help pupils
generally broaden their
understanding of life in
Spain?
8. Does BEP help pupils
generally develop
con dence and
self-esteem?
9. Does BEP generally help
pupils’ knowledge of
Spanish language?
10. Does BEP generally
help pupils broaden
their understanding of
other cultures?
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
1
0
0
1
4
3
5
0
5
11
11
9
9
12
12
5
2
5
2
5
De nitely
No
No
Maybe
Yes
De nitely
Yes
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BEP. EVALUATION REPORT
11. Does BEP generally
help pupils broaden
their range of social &
interpersonal skills?
12. Does BEP generally
help pupils broaden
understanding of
subjects such as
science, history,
geography?
13. Does BEP generally
help pupils make good
contacts with pupils in
other countries?
14. Does BEP generally
help pupils think
exibly & creatively?
15. Does BEP generally
help pupils gain good
preparation for future
studies at secondary
school and beyond?
16. Does BEP generally
help pupils develop
knowledge & skills
useful for future
employment?
17. Has BEP been of
bene t to girls?
18. Has BEP been of
bene t to boys?
19. Has BEP been of
bene t to pupils from
socio-economically
disadvantaged
backgrounds?
20. Has BEP been of
bene t to pupils from
socio-economically
advantaged
backgrounds?
21. Has BEP been of
bene t to pupils from
backgrounds neither
advantaged nor
disadvantaged?
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
1
0
0
0
0
0
0
2
4
1
2
0
0
0
1
1
1
0
8
9
11
10
9
9
11
10
8
11
11
7
4
4
4
8
8
6
5
7
4
6
De nitely
No
No
Maybe
Yes
De nitely
Yes
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BEP. EVALUATION REPORT
22. Has BEP helped the
school gain a more
international ethos?
23. Has BEP helped the
school develop good
contacts with schools in
other countries?
24. Has BEP generally
helped teachers
develop new
approaches to their
teaching?
25. Has BEP had a
positive in uence on
attitudes & motivation
of teachers?
0
0
0
0
0
1
0
0
1
1
2
2
11
12
9
11
5
3
6
5
De nitely
No
No
Maybe Yes
De nitely
Yes
Findings in relation to Aim 3
New technologies
The responses varied in length (one to 10 lines), clarity and speci city. Some did not cover
all aspects of the question; a few gave examples, others did not.
In 13 cases respondents indicated that the school used ICT in all years. The pattern of
use varied from school to school with some mentioning particularly use with younger
children and others with older children, although across the sample the amount of use
reported in each cycle is similar: infants - 4 mentions, rst cycle - 6, second cycle - 5, third
cycle - 5. Two respondents stated use depended on individual teachers or groups of
teachers (for example, within a cycle or a subject). It was rarely explicit whether ICT was
used more or less in subjects conducted in Spanish. One respondent stated it was used
to the same extent and for the same purposes as for other subjects and another asserted
that teachers on the BEP used it more than their colleagues.
The use of digital boards was noted by six respondents and nine referred to use of a
language laboratory/ video room/ multimedia or computer room. The speci c uses of
ICT were rarely mentioned, but by implication searching the Internet for topic or project
material and (visual) presentation of material were frequent activities. One respondent
mentioned that pupils in Year 6 had a ‘blog’ for showcasing and sharing their work,
another provided recordings of stories for pupils to take home to read and listen to
with their parents, one used the Web to link with other schools in Spain and the United
Kingdom, and another participated in an online forum with New York.
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BEP. EVALUATION REPORT
Three respondents mentioned the importance of receiving INSET in ICT: one of these
schools provided in-house INSET and another was going to make the development of
‘competencia digital’ by teachers and pupils a whole-school objective for 2009-2010.
Only a few respondents mentioned shortage of resources: two schools wanted more
digital boards and two others (software) material specic to the BEP. Two respondents
referred to the sporadic use of digital boards and language labs by their staff. One said
having to change rooms in order to use ICT hindered development and another was
frustrated by Internet problems in the past year.
Transition primary-secondary
The general view was that transition (and not just for BEP pupils) is a complex process
calling for planning and coordination. Most respondents (10) believed that with
coordination transition can be relatively easy (for example, to judge from feedback from
former pupils and secondary colleagues), but four characterised transition as difcult or
not easy. However, two of the latter stated that transition had improved since the early
days of the BEP. Various examples of effective transition arrangements were described
by three schools.
Late starters
Most respondents (10) stated that integration of late starters was difcult and this was
particularly the case with older (third cycle) pupils, although the degree of concern
expressed varied considerably: from ‘bastantes dicultades’ to ‘prácticamente imposible’
and ‘un fracaso en líneas generales’.
Four respondents stated that the integration of late starters came down to individual
cases. Successful integration was usually linked to pupils of high ability, prociency in
English and/or strong parental support, a factor emphasised also by four respondents.
Extra support from the school was also needed to help facilitate integration; this was
difcult to provide where there were stafng cuts. One school provided specic tuition
by English specialists in small groups of pupils (3-5) in order to help late starters catch up.
Another indicated it tried to make extra provision but gave no details.
Science was noted as a particular problem for late starters (two cases). One of these
schools did what it could in language and literacy classes, but late starters had to study
science in Spanish in a small group with their class teacher.
Two schools said they counselled certain late starters off the BEP if their parents agreed,
but one of these said some parents would not accept this, such was their desire to get
more exposure to English for their child ‘a toda costa’.
One respondent mentioned that pupils from other countries were often adapting to
Spanish language and society as well as coping with a minimal knowledge of English.
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BEP. EVALUATION REPORT
Pupils giving up BEP
Six schools reported that they had had no dropouts from the BEP. The other schools
reported few dropouts, although retention is a signicant issue for some of them. The
reasons for giving up the BEP were rarely limited (one case) to lack of progress in English
in isolation. Five respondents mentioned learning difculties and/or lack of progress
generally (but particularly in mathematics and Spanish language). Two referred to pupils
with another mother tongue needing to devote more time to Spanish. Three said the
reasons for leaving were attributable to factors extraneous to the BEP such as parents
relocating for work reasons. Two suggested some parents had withdrawn their children
because they did not value the opportunities on offer.
Early Introduction of Reading and Writing in English
Most responses (13/17) indicated that that reading and writing had been introduced to
some extent during Infantil, with three Head Teachers observing that reading and writing
were pursued in a more formal and systematic way from Year 1 of primary onwards. Two
responses indicated that reading and writing had been introduced from the age of three
years, two from the age of four, and four from the age of ve; another four did not indicate
the actual age. The other four responses referred to a start in the rst cycle of primary,
by implication in Year 1.
Not all respondents offered an opinion about a very early start, but the 10 responses
which did so were positive and several Head Teachers were very enthusiastic. One school
referred to the importance of using a ‘concepción global’ of language learning and
another referred to the benets of the experience for Spanish as well as for English. Two
schools linked success to the presence of a (trained) native speaker in the infant years
from the beginning of the BEP, an asset which was less likely to be available from now on,
owing to stafng changes within the schools.
National factors
Two respondents did not comment separately on each factor listed in the questionnaire
but stated that they were all useful.
Comments about the Guidelines (13) and the courses (14) were almost invariably
complimentary. The Guidelines were described as (very) useful and (frequently) used and
comments like used ‘con intensidad’ and followed ‘con delidad’ were made.
The courses were valued and were usually sought after. One Head Teacher commented
that colleagues who did not attend in person still beneted from their colleagues’
participation; another pointed to the contrast between teachers who were keen and
participated frequently and others in his/her school who showed little interest.
The comments about the other materials and activities were more varied, but still mainly
positive. The magazine (Hand in Hand) was mentioned by 10 respondents. One of these
said it was not used and two that it was used very little. One respondent commented
that the ideas and experiences described were not always ‘extrapolables’, but the other
responses were much more positive.
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BEP. EVALUATION REPORT
The various projects were mentioned by nine respondents. One school did not participate
in them; the Head Teacher of another school did not know what they were. The other
comments were usually positive. One school stated that the projects motivated learners
and another that the project had beneted the school and not just the (BEP) group.
The Internet was referred to by nine respondents. Two said that it was used little and
another Head Teacher did not know how much it was used in his/her school. The other
respondents described it as a useful resource which some used frequently. Difculty of
access was regarded as a drawback by three respondents.
Other factors
Two Head Teachers did not respond to this item, another stated he/she was not aware of
any other factors.
Most responses reected issues raised earlier. Five expressed concern about stafng and
continuity. Three respondents remarked on the lack of interest in their school by their
CA which had its own policies for bilingual education. One respondent referred to late
starters, one to poor parental support, even hostility, and another said parents were put
off keeping their children at the BEP school because of their perception of the partner
BEP secondary school.
The school in a CA with no BEP secondary school regretted this gap in provision.
Two schools referred to issues concerning migrants as late starters and speakers of
other mother tongues. One referred to the standing of the school and of languages in a
major university town as a signicant advantage.
Findings in relation to Aim 4
The main purpose underlying Aim 4 was to collect contextual information. For present
purposes space allows us only to provide a brief written account of key ndings.
Number of pupils per school
•
Respondents were invited to allocate their school to a particular grouping, e.g. 150-
199 pupils, 200-249 pupils, 250-299 pupils… up to 700-749 pupils.
•
There was one school at 150-199 and one at 700-749. Most were in the categories
350-399 and 400-449.
Percentage of pupils per school with mother tongue other than Spanish
•
Respondents were invited to allocate their school to one of the following percentage
groupings: 0%; 1-4%; 5-9%… etc. up to 25-29%.
•
One school reported itself as being at 0%; six at 1-4%; ve indicated 5-9%; three
at10-14%; and two at 15-19%
Percentage of pupils per school with Special Educational Needs (SEN)
•
Five schools reported themselves as being at 1-4% of pupils with SEN; ve at 5-9%;
four at 10-14% and three at 15-19%.
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BEP. EVALUATION REPORT
PSHTs’ estimated socio-economic background of pupils per school
•
With regard to percentage of pupils from socio-economically disadvantaged
backgrounds: one school reported itself as being at 5-9% of pupils; ve at 10-14%
of pupils; one at each of 15-19%, 20-24% and 25-29%; two were at 30-34%; one at
40-44%; and one at 85%.
Percentage of pupils in each year of the school participating in the BEP
•
Primary 1 classes showed 100% participation in BEP across all 17 schools; Primary
2 showed 100% in 16 schools and 95-99% in one school.
•
There was a slight decline up to and including Primary 6 which showed 13 of the 17
schools at 100%, and one each at 95-99%, 90-94%, 85-89% and 75-79%.
Number of schools with pupils moving out of the BEP in each year of the school
•
In Primary 1 and Primary 2 there was no drop-out in all 17 schools which responded
to this item. There was a slight drop-out thereafter of up to and including Primary 5
which showed 13 schools with no drop-out, and Primary 6 which showed 10 schools
with no drop-out.
Numbers of schools with pupils moving into the BEP in each year of school
•
There was 5-9% in one school at Primary 1, and 1-4% in one school at primary 5 and
also at Primary 6.
Time spent per week in particular subjects
•
Time for English ranged from 120-149 minutes per week to 330-359 minutes per
week, with 210-239 minutes per week being the most widely adopted.
•
Time for history, geography, science (these tended to be conceived as one subject
area) ranged from 90-119 minutes per week to 270-299 minutes per week, with 180-
209 minutes per week being the most widely adopted across all six year-groups
(Primary 1 through to Primary 6).
•
Art ranged from 30-59 minutes per week to 120-149 minutes per week, with 90-119
being the most common across all six year-groups.
•
PE fell exclusively into the category of 30-59 minutes per week for all six year-
groups in the one school which registered this subject area.
•
Mathematics was also in the 30-59 minutes per week category in the one school in
which it was registered.
Schools with particular categories of staff
•
With regard to asesores lingüísticos (AL), three schools reported themselves as
having 2, one had 3, 10 had 4 and three had 5.
•
With regard to funcionarios con plaza ja, two schools had 2, three had 3, three had
6, one had 8, four had 10 and one had 12.
•
With regard to funcionarios sin plaza ja, one school registered 1, one had 2, one had
3, two had 4 and one had 5.
•
In addition, one school registered 1 auxiliar de conversación.
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BEP. EVALUATION REPORT
Schools with teachers who have received INSET during 2008/09
•
There were ve schools in which 1 AL had received in-service training; four schools
registered in-service for 2 ALs; two schools registered training for 3 ALs; and three
schools registered training for 4 ALs; three schools registered training for 1 FCPF;
seven for 2 FCPFs; one for 3 FCPFs; two for 4 FCPFs; one for 10 FCPFs; and 1 for
13 FCPFs. One school registered in-service training for 1 FSPF and one for 4 FSPFs.
Schools with a partner-school in an English-speaking country
•
Thirteen responses indicated a partner school in an English-speaking country.
Schools involved in exchanges during 2008/09
•
Four schools indicated exchange of teachers; four indicated exchange of pupils; 11
indicated exchange of correspondence (e.g. email) and/or of materials.
Conclusions: Perceptions of Primary School Head Teachers
Study 14 focuses on the perceptions of primary school Head Teachers. Their
general perceptions of the BEP were overwhelmingly positive. Their perceptions
of specic aspects of the BEP were also clearly positive, e.g. BEP helps broaden
pupils’ social and interpersonal skills and is good preparation for future studies,
brings benet to pupils from socio-economically disadvantaged backgrounds.
There was some uncertainty in respect of benet of the BEP for pupils’ Spanish and
knowledge of Spain. Of the national factors, most appreciated were the Guidelines
and the courses/conferences, a few thought the website merited a review. There
was some concern that the provision of supernumerary teachers (native speakers
or highly uent speakers of English) might be reducing.
STUDY 15:
PERCEPTIONS OF SECONDARY SCHOOL HEAD TEACHERS
Towards the end of summer term 2007 questionnaire feedback was obtained from
the Head Teachers of 21 of the 23 secondary schools in the combined Sample A+B.
The 2009 more detailed Study 14 questionnaire reects the views of Head Teachers in
twelve secondary schools, representing slightly more than half of the same sample. Taken
together, the schools reected a good socio-economic mix that could not be considered
as privileged.
Aims
The aims of the questionnaire were:
Aim 1
To gauge the perceptions of Secondary School Head Teachers (SSHT) on the
BEP in their school
Aim 2
To gauge SSHTs’ perceptions of specic aspects of the BEP
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BEP. EVALUATION REPORT
Aim 3
To explore SSHTs’ perceptions of other aspects of the BEP
Aim 4
To obtain contextual information on the BEP in each particular school
Findings in relation to Aim 1
Since the number of respondents is not large, we present our ndings as straight numbers
rather than as percentages. For most items all twelve responses were received but in
certain items there were fewer than that.
Table 15.1 sets out the SSHTs’ general perceptions of the BEP.
Table 15.1: PSHTs’ overall perceptions of the BEP
1. Overall view of BEP in
their school
2. View of BEP in ES01
3.View of BEP in ES02
4.View of BEP ES03
5.View of the BEP in ES04
Highly
Unfavourable
Unfavourable
Neutral
Favourable
Highly
favourable
Findings in relation to Aim 2
This section consisted of a number of speci c questions. These are reproduced below in
slightly condensed form to save space. In all items the word ‘generally’ was included in
the actual questionnaire, so Item 5 reads in full as: ‘Does the BEP generally help Students
develop a good command of English?’ All of the questions focus on aspects which the BEP
sought to develop, and so in each case a straightforward question was favoured which
asked PSHTs whether or not the BEP helped with that particular aspect, giving them a
balanced range of responses from which to choose.
Table 15.2 below sets out the PSHTs’ perceptions of speci c aspects of the BEP:
6. Does BEP help Students
develop good command
of English?
7. Does BEP help Students
broaden understanding
of Europe and world?
8. Does BEP help Students
broaden understanding
of life in Spain?
9. Does BEP help Students
develop con dence and
self-esteem?
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
1
6
1
1
8
5
9
11
3
0
3
De nitely
No
No
Maybe
Yes
De nitely
Yes
Table 15.2: PSHTs’ perceptions of speci c aspects of the BEP
1
1
1
1
0
0
0
0
0
1
0
0
0
0
0
4
2
3
3
5
7
9
8
8
6
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BEP. EVALUATION REPORT
10. Does BEP help
Students’ knowledge of
Spanish language?
11. Does BEP help Students
broaden understanding
of other cultures?
12. Does BEP help Students
broaden range of social
& interpersonal skills?
13. Does BEP help Students
broaden understanding
of subjects such as
science, history,
geography?
14. Does BEP help Students
make good contacts
with Students in other
countries?
15. Does BEP help
Students think exibly
& creatively?
16. Does BEP help Students
gain good preparation
for future studies at
secondary school and
beyond?
17. Does BEP help Students
develop knowledge &
skills useful for future
employment?
18. Has BEP been of
bene t to girls?
19. Has BEP been of
bene t to boys?
20. Has BEP been of
bene t to Students
from socio-
economically
disadvantaged back-
grounds?
21. Has BEP been of bene t
to Students from
socio-economically
advantaged
backgrounds?
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
1
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
8
1
0
2
3
3
0
0
2
2
2
1
4
8
8
9
5
8
6
7
6
6
5
7
0
3
3
0
4
1
6
5
3
3
5
2
De nitely
No
No
Maybe
Yes
De nitely
Yes
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BEP. EVALUATION REPORT
Findings in relation to Aim 3
New technologies
Most of the respondents stated explicitly that ICT was used in all years. Some did not
specify which subjects were involved, but there were six references to social sciences,
ve to English, four to natural sciences and one to technology.
Some respondents did not specify the equipment or applications used but Internet
access (six including intranet in one case) and video projectors (4) received most
speci c mentions followed by digital boards (3), computers (3 - not explained), language
laboratory/multimedia room (3).
The activities mentioned ranged across materials selection and development, theoretical
explanations, student presentations, storage of students’ work, practical exercises and
reinforcement /revision.
One SSHT wrote a very comprehensive summary of ICT use across a range of subjects
and applications in his/her school. One school had given a users’ questionnaire to its
students and high levels of satisfaction were reported. Another school was hoping
to expand use of its language laboratory through providing speci c INSET for this
purpose. Two schools wished that more materials relevant to the BEP were available.
22. Has BEP been of
bene t to Students
from backgrounds
neither advantaged nor
disadvantaged?
23. Has BEP helped school
gain a more
international ethos?
24. Has BEP helped school
develop good contacts
with schools in other
countries?
25. Has BEP generally
helped teachers
develop new
approaches to their
teaching?
26. Has BEP had positive
in uence on attitudes
& motivation of
teachers?
0
0
0
0
0
0
1
2
1
1
0
1
2
0
2
10
8
6
9
8
2
2
2
2
1
De nitely
No
No
Maybe
Yes
De nitely
Yes
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Transition primary-secondary
Most respondents described transition overall as easy/ good/ smooth and attributed this
to a effective communication/coordination with the partner primary school. One declared
that the BEP students ’se han adaptado perfectamente al IES’ (implying that others had
not).
One respondent indicated transition was difcult when the timetable did not facilitate
coordination; another described transition as difcult and referred to students adjusting to
a different context in the school where the ‘programa British’ was only one among several
and there were ‘diferentes exigencias de comportamiento en el aula’. Some of the Head
Teachers who were comfortable about transition being smooth mentioned a few issues
of adjustment for students. One referred to some tensions among students but attributed
these partly to ‘adolescencia incipiente’. Another stated integration was something which
was achieved in the rst term: ‘se integran totalmente al nal del 1r trimestre’. Another
referred to students adjusting to a different pace of work and level of difculty but
described transition overall as a ‘uida’. Another mentioned there had been problems in
the past where students had ignored primary school advice not to continue with the BEP
and had dropped out during ESO1, but now there was ningún problema de adaptación.
Effective coordination was achieved through various ‘mecanismos’ including regular
meetings. Some respondents gave some details about the arrangements which included
exchanges of visits between primary and secondary school and transition units for
students agreed between the primary and secondary school (in one case expecting
students to undertake summer reading).
Late starters
Two of the twelve Head Teachers stated that they had had no such students in the past.
The other head teachers did not see this as a signicant problem and reported few
individual difculties. Effective integration was usually attributed to: (insistence on) a
good level of English on entry, and well-qualied and committed students. In three cases,
an entry test in English was regarded as an important lter.
Two referred to initial difculties for incoming students in coping with aural comprehension
in the rst term. One respondent referred to two dropouts in ESO2 who apparently
missed their original social group. The same respondents mentioned two recent migrant
students with at least adequate English who had had different experiences: one had
integrated well, but the other had not, possibly owing to social rather than linguistic factors.
One Head Teacher stated integration was easy because incomers ‘han demostrado ser
mejores que la mayoría de aquellos alumnos provenientes del Programa’. Another saw
different reasons for successful integration: ‘Se han integrado perfectamente en todos los
casos al existir un clima abierto y tolerante’.
Students giving up BEP
All the Head Teachers reported few dropouts but only two quantied their statement: one
or two in each year and six or seven over four years.
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BEP. EVALUATION REPORT
Most respondents considered that the reasons for not continuing were not specic to
the BEP and they referred in various ways to lack of motivation/effort/organisation/study
habits. Some students had a limited capacity to cope with the curriculum at secondary
level; in two of these cases, primary school advice not to continue in the BEP had been
ignored by the students or their parents.
The other Head Teachers believed that drop-outs occurred when students could not cope
in English with a more demanding content and a wider range of subjects in the secondary
curriculum.
One respondent cited the case of two students who had passed everything who had
withdrawn from the project because ‘no se encontraban a gusto’, but the statement was
not explained.
National Factors
Not all respondents commented on the ve factors listed, although ten mentioned the
Guidelines and/or the courses.
The 10 responses on the Guidelines indicated that they were (frequently) used and seven
respondents described them as (very) useful.
The comments on the courses were very positive: all ten responses indicated in some
way that these were (very) useful. Some suggestions were made for increasing access
to the courses: one respondent pointed to the need for all teachers new to the BEP to
have specic INSET and another wanted INSET for all BEP staff, mentioning that some of
his/her teachers have had none since joining the BEP four years ago. The same Head
Teacher called for a national meeting for secondary Head Teachers and coordinators
involved in the BEP.
Five responses mentioned the projects and three of these schools had participated in at
least one project.
Four responses referred to the magazine. One of these stated that the magazine was used
a lot, two a little, and one hardly at all.
Five responses mentioned the website: one stated it was used a lot and another was used
a little. The other three claimed it was not really relevant to secondary schools.
Other Factors
Three Head Teachers did not respond to this question. The comments made by the others
covered the following issues:
•
claims that the CA authority offers limited support
•
lack of regulación for BEP project schools
•
zonicación educativa in the city restricts access to the BEP for some students
•
need to keep continuity in provision of FLA
•
contracts for native speaker teachers (AL) need sorting out
•
INSET is needed for ICT
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BEP. EVALUATION REPORT
•
more local INSET needed
•
teaching through the medium of English has knock-on effects on other departments
within the school
•
the exceptional commitment of teachers makes the BEP successful
Findings in relation to Aim 4
The main purpose underlying Aim 4 was to collect contextual information in parallel to the
contextual information collected from Primary School Head Teachers in Study 14.
Number of Students per school
•
The schools ranged in size from 500-1099 students, with most in the range 500-799
students.
Percentage of Students per school with mother tongue other than Spanish
•
Most schools had between 1% and 9% students with mother tongue other than
Spanish.
Percentage of Students per school with Special Educational Needs (SEN)
•
Most schools reported between 1 and 4% students with special educational needs.
SSHTs’ estimated socio-economic background of students per school
•
With regard to percentage of students from socio-economically disadvantaged
backgrounds, there was a fairly even distribution from 5% to 30%, though one
school reported 50-54%. With regard to socio-economic advantage, a fairly even
distribution between 6% and 24% was reported.
Percentage of Students in each year of the school participating in the BEP
•
The secondary schools were quite different from the BEP primary schools, in that
a ‘whole-school’ policy prevailed at primary school level but the secondary schools
took in not only students from BEP primary schools but also took in students who
had not experienced a BEP.
•
In ES01, one school reported at 5-9% and the others ranged from 20% to 45%.
From ES02 onwards there was somewhat less participation in the BEP, though it
was not entirely clear if this was caused by drop-out or if the secondary schools,
having come into the BEP much more recently than the primary schools, were in
some case still building up their numbers. At any rate, in ES04 there was one school
with only up to 4% of students taking the BEP, with the remainder spread between
15% and 35% of the overall numbers in that particular year-group.
Number of schools with Students moving out of the BEP in each year of the
school
•
Only a small amount of drop-out was reported, except in one school which had 25-
29% drop-out in ES01. There was one school with 15-19% drop-out in ES02. In the
other schools, drop-out was largely conned to 10% or less across all year-groups.
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BEP. EVALUATION REPORT
Numbers of schools with Students moving into the BEP in each year of school
•
There was evidence of a substantial new intake in a small number of schools. In
ES01 there were two schools with 35-39% new intake to the BEP, and one at 30-
34%, while in ES02 there was one school with 35-39%; one with a similar number for
ES03 and another with a similar number for ES04. In addition, four schools reported
new BEP intakes of 5-14% in ES01, and three others at 5-14% in ES02.
Time spent per week in particular subjects
•
For English Language & Literacy the time spent per week ranged from 150 to
360+ minutes, with most being in the area of 240 to 300. This was relatively stable
from ES01 to ES04.
•
For History, Geography and Science together the range was 150 to 330 minutes
per week, with most schools reporting between 150 and 240, except in the case of
ES04 where there were a few instances of 300 to 360.
•
The other subjects reported by respondents were Technology, Mathematics, Music,
Art, Ethics, PE, Computing, Communication Processes and Study skills. Each of these
occurred in only one or two schools, and the minutes per week ranged from 120 to
201, except in the case of Study Skills which featured in one school, with 60 minutes
per week in ES04.
Schools with particular categories of staff
•
The use of asesores lingüísticos was much less widespread in the secondary schools
than in the primary schools, with two in one school and one in another.
•
The funcionarios con plaza ja embraced two schools with 3, three with 4, one with
6, three with 7 and one with 10.
•
The funcionarios sin plaza ja were reported as ve schools with 2, three with 3, one
with 6 and one with 9.
•
The instances of auxiliar de conversación showed an increase over provision at
primary school, with three schools having 1 or 0.5, two having 3, and two with 4.
Schools with a partner-school in an English-speaking country
•
Six responses indicated a partner school in an English-speaking country
Schools involved in exchanges during 2008/09
•
Two schools indicated exchange of teachers; two indicated exchange of students;
ve indicated exchange of correspondence or materials.
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BEP. EVALUATION REPORT
STUDY 16:
MANAGEMENT ISSUES
The main focus of attention in collecting data relevant to Aim 1 (‘Good Practice’) was on
classrooms and classroom teaching. At the same time, however, it was possible to gain
some insights into school management issues pertaining to the BEP and some aspects of
good practice. These insights did not arise solely from a special, separate ‘good practice
in management’ data-collection exercise, but arose also in the process of collecting data
for several of the other studies which feature in the present report, particularly but not
exclusively Studies 13 and 14, which are concerned with primary school and secondary
school Head Teachers.
The present note is in two sections:
•
A note of some management issues which arose from discussions with Head
Teachers and other senior management. Some of these are complex and do not have
one clear and obvious way forward, so we present these as issues for discussion and
not as recommendations on what to do.
•
Some instances of what the evaluation team and the senior management concerned
considered to be good practice that seemed to be achieving a benecial effect.
Conclusions: Study 15: Perceptions
of Secondary School Head Teachers
Study 15 focused on the perceptions of secondary school Head Teachers. As
was the case with the primary school Head Teachers, the secondary school Head
Teachers’ view of the BEP overall in the rst four years of their school was clearly
positive. The aspects considered most benecial to students were: ‘command of
English’, ‘preparation for future studies’, and ‘develops knowledge and skills for
future employment’. As was the case with the primary school Head Teachers, the
two areas of some uncertainty were in respect of the impact of the BEP on students’
Spanish and on their understanding of life in Spain. Of the national factors, most
appreciated were the Guidelines and the courses/conferences. The magazine and
the website were considered to need up-dating. There were some expressions of
concern that the regional education authority might not be fully supportive of the
BEP. Transition from primary to secondary education was generally perceived as
being successful, despite the difculties which could arise, e.g. time-tabling, or BEP
students having to t into a culture that contained non-BEP groups (different from
their primary schools which did not have non-BEP groups). ‘Late starters’ in the BEP,
e.g. students joining the BEP in rst year of secondary education who had not had
BEP at primary school, were generally not perceived as a major problem.
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BEP. EVALUATION REPORT
Examples of management issues arising
from discussions with Head Teachers
The evaluation team interviewed each Head Teacher and the jefe de estudios at the
beginning of the series of visits and useful informal discussions with either the Head
Teacher or the jefe de estudios (or both) took place during the subsequent visits.
These conversations provided valuable insights into some of the issues involved in the
organisation and management of the BEP in schools. It is not assumed that all these issues
arose in all schools, but there was a degree of consistency about the concerns raised.
The issues are reported here because we believe they offer useful points for others to
consider when setting up or maintaining a BEP or similar projects.
Primary schools
The issues in primary schools mainly concerned the deployment of staff. The importance
of having teachers who are native speakers of English, or teachers with near native-
competence in English, was universally recognized and therefore their effective and
efcient deployment needed careful consideration. For example:
•
Should such teachers be deployed evenly across infant education and the three
cycles of primary education or concentrated with particular age groups?
•
Should they ‘move on’ with a particular cohort or stay in the same cycle?
•
In timetable slots where two teachers were available, should they team-teach or split
the class into two smaller groups (and usually one able, one less able) and alternate
between them?
•
If the class (form) teacher had little English, how could he/she gradually become
more regularly and actively involved in the teaching?
•
How could any exibility in stafng be used to support children with signicant
learning difculties or who joined the BEP with limited English during the primary
years?
•
Given that there have been reductions in stafng affecting the availability of AL,
what kind of adjustments to previous practice would be most effective?
•
How does one ensure continuity in planning and teaching if key teachers (such as
AL) are on temporary contracts or are funcionarios sin plaza ja and therefore may
not be in the same school the following year?
Secondary schools
Secondary schools are different in their structure and organisation with most teachers
delivering a particular subject specialism, but similar stafng considerations apply – e.g.
the deployment of AL (where available) and FLA.
In both primary and secondary schools, management has to be sensitive to maintaining
the goodwill and motivation of non-BEP staff whose own deployment across the
years and teaching groups may be affected by the need to ensure that 40-50% of
the curriculum is delivered through the medium of English.
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BEP. EVALUATION REPORT
Secondary schools include BEP cohorts but they are not ‘bilingual schools’ in the same
sense as the primary schools where the BEP applies to (virtually) the whole school.
Indeed, the BEP cohort may be a (small) minority in some secondary schools. This raises
questions about curriculum and organisation. For example:
•
Should BEP pupils be taught as a discrete group for all subjects including those
delivered in Spanish?
or
•
Should they be spread across the teaching groups for the subjects delivered in
Spanish, notably Spanish language and mathematics?
Both arrangements have advantages: for example, the former may be more efcient to
organise (and timetable constraints may make it inevitable), the latter may assist in the
social integration of BEP pupils within the school as a whole.
In some schools a substantial proportion of BEP students (10-35%) are new to the Project
when they arrive at secondary school. Schools have to be satised that such pupils have
a level of English sufcient to cope with learning curricular subjects through the medium
of English. However, the previous learning experience of these pupils will be different in a
number of respects and this also needs to be taken into account in the teaching.
Pupils in ESO4 have the possibility of entering for the IGCSE examinations (see Study 9)
in one or more subjects and take-up varies between schools, partly because parents
have to nd the examination fees themselves. Given that there are differences between
ESO syllabuses and IGCSE syllabuses, there are implications for the preparation which
teachers need to invest in the IGCSE which may not apply to all pupils in a given class.
The bachillerato is not part of the BEP which extends to the end of compulsory
education and therefore it falls outside the evaluation. However, Head Teachers report
that they are frequently asked by parents why there is no continuity in the BEP experience
beyond ESO4.
Some examples of good practice in management
Below, we list some examples of what seemed to be good practice that was achieving a
benecial effect on the motivation or the performance of teachers and/or students:
•
the promotion of team teaching, e.g. with teachers working together in planning,
teaching, providing focused individual support and monitoring progress
•
regular weekly meetings of staff teaching a particular subject (e.g. English
Language & Literacy) or group of subjects in order to develop a team approach, to
share insights and experiences and engage in collaborative planning
•
participation in local or regional authority projects, e.g. to encourage good
practice across the whole school in respect of ICT
•
developing the school website so that it becomes a useful and informative tool
for the school staff and students and also for the local community and for partner
schools in other countries
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BEP. EVALUATION REPORT
•
encouraging regular links with partner schools in English-speaking countries,
i.e. going beyond a school-link as simply a symbolic feature of a BEP school, and
encouraging staff and students to engage in genuine intercultural exchange
•
adapting the curriculum to suit students with special educational needs, but doing
so while still maintaining a valid bilingual education
•
encouraging discussions, collaborative planning and reciprocal visits between
staff of primary school and associated secondary school, in order to facilitate the
transition of pupils
•
deploying staff so that at times a particular class can be divided into two groups in
order to provide more focused and specialised support
•
promoting imaginative cross-curricular links, e.g. art and science
•
ensuring that the visual prole of the school, through a public display of signs,
symbols, images, charts etc makes it clear that this is a school which provides and
takes pride in bilingual education
•
developing the use of formative assessment to support learning more effectively
•
adopting a bottom-up approach to planning, implementation and evaluation, with
class teachers regularly consulted and involved in decision-making.
Conclusion: Some management issues
Study 16 was not based on its own separate data-collection exercise. Instead,
the data were gradually accumulated in the course of data-collection for the
other studies. A number of important issues have been identied which required
the attention of management staff in primary schools, and likewise in secondary
schools. In addition, a range of examples has been identied of good practices
initiated by or involving school management staff which lent support to the BEP
in a variety of ways. Study 16 brings these examples together in the one brief
account.
141
Challenges and outcomes
When rst introduced, the BEP represented an initiative that was intended to be very
different from the prevailing model of languages education in Spanish schools, and its
key characteristics have been set out in our introductory chapter. In making a judgement
about its effectiveness several years later, it is appropriate to bear in mind two major
challenges which it had to face:
•
First, the challenge of being successful across a large number of schools, all in the
state system and across a wide range of socio-economic circumstances.
•
Second, the challenge of being successful in a societal environment in which (as
our evidence clearly shows) very little English is used by pupils in their lives outside
school. This makes the challenge different from that in countries such as Denmark,
Finland, Holland, Norway or Sweden where there is much more access to and use of
English in society at large.
The evidence which we have gathered from our sixteen studies clearly indicates that
the project has achieved considerable success in all three areas which we were asked to
investigate: performance and attainments, good practice and perceptions. Each of
the sixteen studies has its own Conclusions which we do not repeat here, and the reader
is referred to these in order to build up a picture of what has been achieved overall.
The national BEP has been both radical and innovative by accessing primary schools in
the state sector on the basis of a ‘whole-school’ approach. As such, it moves early bilingual
education (EBE) away from the connotations of socio-economic privilege with which it
has sometimes been associated in the past and projects EBE as a national phenomenon
across a substantial number of schools rather than as a small-scale enterprise in
favoured circumstances.
The evaluation team is not in any doubt that this important innovation has been well-
supported at national level and that staff in schools appreciate this support, particularly in
the form of three key components: the Guidelines, the in-service courses or conferences
and the provision of supernumerary teachers, particularly in primary schools.
chapter 5
CONCLUSIONS
142
Attainments
With regard to students’ performance and attainments, we were able to draw on three
sources of evidence: rst, detailed observation and analysis of what students were able to
do in class; second, analysis of their performance in special in-school assessment tasks;
and third, their performance in a prestigious international external examination.
Taking all of this together, we discern a strongly positive picture and conclude that the
majority of students are gaining much from their bilingual education. They are reaching
commendable levels of attainment, in their everyday classroom performance (Studies 1
& 3), their spoken English (Study 6), their written English (Study 7), their written Spanish
(Study 8), and also in the IGCSE examination (Study 9). Their progress in the IGCSE
was particularly prominent in the 2009 results which showed increased numbers and
increased levels of attainment, with some of the cohort of students (with Spanish as
mother tongue) being successful in English 1 (which is intended for students with English
as mother tongue). The IGCSE examination also shows clearly that the students are
showing increasing levels of attainment in content areas such as history, geography and
biology, all of these examined in English, and that they achieve a high level of performance
in Spanish 1 (for students whose mother tongue is Spanish).
Good practice
With regard to good practice, Studies 1-5 exemplify at length and in detail the wide range
of practices which good teachers at both primary and secondary levels introduced into
their classrooms. These good practices seemed to fall into two broad categories: good
general practices and good language-focused practices, and the concluding sections to
Studies 2 and 4 identify those which were exemplied in the lessons observed.
We are not claiming that these good practices ‘caused’ the impressive learner outcomes
which we observed. Our research was not designed to identify cause-effect relationships.
Our approach to good practice was not to start with some theoretical notion of good
practice and then to try to nd out what its effects were. Our approach was the other
way round: to start with the notion of successful classroom performance by BEP students
and then to consider the practices which accompanied this. That is why in our rst four
studies we present, as Study 1, Primary 5&6 successful classroom performance; then, as
Study 2, the practices which were associated with this successful classroom performance;
then, as Study 3, Secondary 2 successful classroom performance; followed by, as Study 4,
the practices which were associated with this successful classroom performance.
Perceptions
With regard to perceptions, we have collected evidence from the main BEP stakeholders:
the pupils (in both Primary 6 and Secondary 2); parents of students in the same schools
and year-groups; primary school class teachers; secondary school class teachers; primary
school head teachers; and secondary school head teachers. Across these different
groups, the perceptions of the BEP are consistent and strongly positive, with negative
opinions only in a small minority of cases in relation to only a small number of aspects.
BEP. EVALUATION REPORT
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BEP. EVALUATION REPORT
The BEP is widely seen as conferring benet not only on the pupils but also to teachers
and schools in a number of ways which our evidence identies.
Matters for reection and further development
Given the major challenges which the BEP has faced and to which we have already
referred, it would not be reasonable to expect everything to turn out perfectly, and
we have been able to identify a small number of matters for reection and further
development which the Ministry and the British Council might wish to consider. These
are briey set out below:
•
There is an issue of sustainability in that the costs of delivering the BEP include the
provision of a substantial number of supernumerary native or near-native-speakers
as asesores lingüísticos, particularly in primary schools. The presence of this form of
teaching support has been greatly appreciated, so a question arises as to whether
this will be maintained into the future or whether a plan will be developed for some
other form of provision.
•
There is an issue of low-attaining students. It is a real achievement that, on
the evidence of the present evaluation, possibly up to 90% of students may be
considered as having experienced a successful or highly successful BEP. Given
however the strong commitment to a ‘whole school’ approach, there will be merit
in giving further consideration as to how the lowest-performing students may be
helped in deriving a richer benet from their BEP than at present.
•
There is an issue of relevance to secondary schools of what the BEP at present
provides by way of its website and its magazine. These seem to be more geared
to the needs of primary schools, and this is understandable, given the fact that
primary schools have been much longer involved in the BEP than have secondary
schools. We are aware that steps have already been taken to address this matter.
•
Finally, there is the matter of ICT provision. We mention this because ICT-use
was one of the stated aims of the BEP. During the initial phases of the evaluation,
we found limited evidence of meaningful ICT activity. Recently there have been
encouraging signs, but still with much to do. There is a case for considering
ways and means of helping teachers by means of ICT to access, adapt and share
materials and ideas for teaching their students.
Factors associated with successful outcomes
In collecting our evidence and in forming our judgements, we have inevitably been drawn
into a consideration of what might explain the undoubted success which the BEP has
achieved. As already indicated, our research was not designed to identify cause-effect
links, and so we cannot make claims of the sort that Factors X, Y and Z ‘caused’ positive
outcomes A, B and C.
However, although we cannot adopt a strong cause-effect position, our reections on
the evidence do lead us to the view that a number of identiable factors may have had
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some role in contributing to the project’s positive outcomes. We see these factors as
being of four sorts: societal factors, operating in Spanish society at large; provision
factors, consisting of speci c provisions which the education system makes, whether at
national, regional or school level; process factors, consisting of processes of teaching &
learning, management, assessment and evaluation; and personal factors.
These are set out below:
BEP. EVALUATION REPORT
• Political will for this form of education, extending over 15 years and
accommodating changes of government
• Parental interest & demand
• Widely held view that English as global language is important for the
international citizenship of the young people of Spain
• An early start (in some cases from age 3)
• Substantial time for education through the medium of English (40%)
• Leadership at national level from Ministry & British Council together
• Supernumerary teachers uent in English
• Supportive national Guidelines on BEP curriculum
• Highly valued in-service courses for teachers
• Prestigious external international examination for students at age 16
• General teaching strategies
• Language-focused strategies, covering grammar and vocabulary, plus the
discourse of different school subjects
• Creation of community atmosphere in class, in which students collaborate
• Activities which offer students cognitive challenge, integrating their
knowledge across subjects
• Use of assessment in support of learning
• Management approach based on consultation and collaboration with
teaching colleagues
• Numerous examples of dedication by school staff to the project and
commitment to making it succeed
• Willingness of students to rise to the considerable cognitive, social and
emotional challenge of being educated for substantial periods of time
through the medium of an additional language
Societal factors
Provision factors
Process factors
Individual/Group
factors
The evidence of our evaluation suggests that all of the above factors have contributed
to the success of the BEP (Spain). This success cannot be explained by reference to one
factor only.
In concluding our report, we consider it appropriate to signal a caveat about the
interpretation of our ndings: the evaluation was not commissioned to compare the
possible merits or demerits of the BEP with mainstream non-BEP education in Spain, nor
with other bilingual education programmes, whether in Spain or elsewhere. Our remit was
to focus on the BEP phenomenon in its own right, and we believe that the sixteen studies
provide a wealth of information relevant to this purpose.
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BEP. EVALUATION REPORT
Further investigation
We also consider it appropriate to emphasize that our study has been an evaluation.
There are several other kinds of research in addition to evaluation research, and we
believe that through these other kinds of research, there is still much to learn about
bilingual education within the present BEP and also more generally in Spain and further
aeld. In conducting the evaluation, it became evident that a large number of specic
topics would merit further investigation, perhaps by doctoral students, or perhaps by
research staff or groups in universities, or perhaps by teachers themselves.
Examples of possible topics might be:
•
focusing on low attainers (the bottom 10% that our evaluation suggests are having
difculty with the BEP as it is at present) in order to investigate ways of enabling
them to enjoy a more successful and enriching BEP experience
•
investigating learner variables such as socio-economic status, rst language (if
different from Spanish as national language), self-condence, group afliation,
ethnicity and culture, geographical location, motivation, strategies - in respect
of their possible association with outcomes such as examination attainments,
intercultural competence, citizenship
•
investigating teacher variables such as general teaching strategies, language-
focused strategies, assessment in support of learning, differentiation of instruction
according to learner need and interest, use of mixed-mode teaching (e.g. Spanish
and English), the creation of a collaborative classroom climate
•
investigating ways and means of enabling BEP students to gain greater exposure
to and interaction with English-speakers additional to their BEP teachers (on whom
our ndings show they are at present heavily dependent), and making use of ICT
networks and recorded materials in the process
•
reviewing the role of asesores lingüísticos in order to pilot and monitor a mentoring
role for them in support of BEP classteachers.
There are many more such topics, demonstrating that bilingual education offers rich
potential for further research, as more and more countries come to view it as a model
of education that is well worth exploring in the attempt to provide young people with
an education that will prepare them for citizenship both of their home country and of a
global world.
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Dr Alan Dobson
Formerly a teacher of languages, Alan Dobson was the senior inspector (HMI) for foreign
languages in England until 2002. Since then as an independent education consultant,
he has worked with various public bodies in the United Kingdom and abroad on the
evaluation of language projects in schools and teacher education.
Alan Dobson has worked with the Council of Europe for almost 20 years and was elected
President of the Governing Board of the Council of Europe’s European Centre for Modern
Languages (ECML) in 2008. He has also been involved in various European Union projects
and was the UK representative on the EU Expert Group on Languages 2002-2008.
As an undergraduate, Alan studied in Madrid for some months in the Facultad de Filosofía
y Letras and he has been a regular visitor to Spain since then. In recent years he has
been invited to give ponencias in Spanish at seminars organised, for example, by the
Universidad Complutense, the Junta de Andalucía and the Ministries of Education of Spain
and Chile. He has actively promoted the teaching of Spanish in the United Kingdom for
some 40 years and is one of the longstanding Amigos de la Consejería de Educación in
London.
In 2004 he was appointed a ‘Comenius Fellow’ by CILT, the National Centre for Languages,
in recognition of his contribution to languages in the United Kingdom. In 2010 he became
President of the National Association of Language Advisers.
Dr María Dolores Pérez Murillo
María Dolores Pérez Murillo is an experienced foreign language teacher and teacher
trainer. She has been working at the Faculty of Education, Complutense University,
Madrid, for more than ten years, and has been involved in undergraduate and
postgraduate teaching. She has organised three teachers’ workshops on bilingual
education, and has also given talks on the topic in Spain and other European countries,
such as Slovakia and the United Kingdom.
She holds an MA in Applied Linguistics and a PhD in Linguistics in the area of Bilingual
Education from Lancaster University, UK. She has conducted research projects on
the teaching and learning of English as a Foreign Language and bilingual education,
including her own doctoral dissertation, a longitudinal classroom-based case study of
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BEP. INFORME DE LA EVALUACIÓN
a bilingual school in London. She is currently a member of DIDACTEXT, a Complutense
University Literacy Research Group.
In addition to contributing to the initial teacher training of Primary and Secondary
school teachers, she has been actively engaged in the Research Training Programme
entitled Didácticas de las Lenguas y Las Literaturas, with the course ‘Bilingual Education’.
She is also involved in supervision of postgraduate research projects: DEA (Diploma de
Estudios Avanzados), MA dissertations in the Master’s Degree in Secondary Education and
PhD thesis. Her research interests include bilingual classroom interaction and bilingual
teacher development.
Professor Emeritus Richard Johnstone OBE
Richard Johnstone is Director of the present Evaluation Study in Spain, and Emeritus
Professor of the University of Stirling in Scotland. For many years he was Director of
Scottish CILT, the national centre for information on language teaching & research in
Scotland, funded by the Scottish Government. He has extensive international experience
of research and teacher education in Modern Languages at Primary School and was an
author of two research surveys in this area commissioned by the European Commission.
In addition, he wrote for the Council of Europe the document on the Age Factor in the
learning of additional languages, identifying the possible advantages and disadvantages
of making an early start, and this document has been published in the Council of Europe’s
Languages Policy series.
For many years now he has directed national and international research projects on
different forms of Bilingual education. These include: national research studies on
Gaelic-medium and French-medium primary school education in Scotland; a Feasibility
Study on Early Bilingual Education in Italy, involving collaboration between the British
Council and the Italian Ministry of Education; a similar Feasibility Study in Portugal; and
an exploratory Study on Bilingual Education supported by the British Council East Asia
Network, involving Indonesia, South Korea, Thailand, Vietnam.
From 1991 to 2010 he wrote the annual review of international research on the teaching
and learning of additional languages for the research journal Language Teaching,
published by the Cambridge University Press. His main foreign languages are French
and German, and he is a keen learner of Mandarin, Cantonese and Scottish Gaelic.
