Stay up to date with notifications from The Independent

Notifications can be managed in browser preferences.

When learning is just a game

Fran Abrams
Wednesday 12 June 1996 18:02 EDT
Comments

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

Jo is concentrating hard on a solitaire game called "Jumping Bugs" and Rebecca's group is arranging dominoes into patterns. Meanwhile, Chris is proudly displaying some games she has made up herself. This is maths with a difference.

What marks it out, of course, is the fact that Jo, Rebecca and Chris have long since left primary school. Now they are in the second year of a teacher-training course at Bishop Grosseteste College in Lincoln. In a few weeks' time they will try out their games on some real pupils and will write essays on whether they met their aims.

"It's extending the children, rather than time-filling," Chris explains. "It isn't arithmetic but it's arithmetical thinking. It's a way of making the children think more logically."

Students here have little time for Gillian Shephard's planned reform of teacher training, which is partly aimed at squeezing out the child- centred teaching methods they are learning. Every pupil is an individual, they argue, and this kind of lesson caters for differing needs as well as being great fun.

In a recent teaching practice session Peter Wilkes, a fourth-year student, gave all his pupils Argos catalogues and asked them to decide what they would like to buy if they had pounds 50 to spend. It was basic arithmetic, he says, but the children enjoyed it far more than they would have done if he had simply stood at the front and lectured.

Peter says he uses a great deal of the "whole class" teaching that ministers and advisers want to see increased, but it is interspersed with group sessions and is filled with chances for the children to participate.

This college is regarded as one of England's finest. The schools inspection body, Ofsted, visited a year ago and was impressed. The maths in particular was said to be very good, and students learned a wide range of professional skills. English was good too, though the students' knowledge and understanding of language was sometimes deficient.

The principal, Professor Leonard Marsh, says it turns out teachers who can employ both traditional and modern methods. But the image of teacher training institutions as bastions of 1960s liberalism remains, and sometimes puts him at a disadvantage. "People expect me to have sandals, long hair, two earrings and a nose ring. Instead, I have a multiplication table chart," he says.

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in