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Does extra intervention, which focuses on the basic
knowledge needed in Resistant materials, have an impact
on attainment levels of students from working class
backgrounds?

DCR
4/11/2014

Kirsty Carlisle (B1031914)



Kirsty Carlisle (b1031914)
1

Does extra intervention, which focuses on the basic knowledge needed in Resistant
materials, have an impact on attainment levels of students from working class
backgrounds?
One in four children in the UK grows up in poverty, and for these children the impact on
their chances of education and life success is profound. (Jonathan Sharples, 2011).
The bulk of pupils at my placement school are from deprived backgrounds whose parents
are frequently imprisoned, drug abusers and/or alcohol addicts. The aim is to provide extra
intervention for the students that because of their home situation may not be given this
attention at home. I will be carrying this out through lunch times and checking progress
within my lessons. This will be to work on basic skills, knowledge and creativity required in
resistant materials. To allow me to assess this I will be using questionnaires and simple fact
finding tasks based on key words. I will also look at their target grades, grades half way
through the term and the end of term final grades. I have chosen two classes to do this with
so I can compare subjects and students.

If attitudes and aspirations do cause higher levels of attainment, then appropriate
interventions can be developed. (Stephen Gorard, 2012)

I am trusting that the extra time they receive, in which they wouldnt get at home helps with
attainment levels, mainly in Design Technology but possibly in other core subjects. Smaller
groups may be beneficial to these students as they will have one to one tuition and the care
they need. Discussion with staff members of the English department has provided a huge
insight into how well extra time given to students who may be struggling to find support at
home, can help improve an individuals performance if used productively.

Students on pupil premium tend to be those who qualify for Free School Meals or who have
been in care for six months or longer. Pupil premium is additional funding the academy
receives to further support the students and boost their attainment levels. I have discovered
many areas that require further development and systems have been put in place to help.
This study aims to take on the role of the parent through an after school club, creating an
atmosphere where the student feels comfortable to ask questions and display and present
work in a way they wouldnt in a mainstream class. More practically, pupil premium is not
always spent solely on the students it is intended for as the benefits tend to spill over to
Kirsty Carlisle (b1031914)
2

other pupils within the classroom, students eligible for free school meals are not segregated
into special classrooms, which is why an after school club is more appropriate.

Several talks later with SENCO staff, heads of department, tutors and students, it has come
to my attention that these students need intervention. Students seem to be well aware of
their status and this can have an effect on their attitude to learning, there is a constant battle
from many parties to close the gap between those on FSM and those that are not. The
expected national curriculum levels at the end of key stage 3 are between Level 4 and 5.
(see Figure 1). After scanning a few attainment documents within previous lessons and
looking at patterns, I noticed that students eligible for free school meals are not that far
behind in terms of target levels, it seems they just have less ambition to do so and attitudes
are steming from home situations that cannot be controlled at school. As learning needs to
be encouraged from home, part of my intervention is to introduce suitable homework tasks
that are challenging but not daunting, yet stimulate the learner, preparing them for higher
expectations of themselves and what they can achieve.

Home is perceived to be complementary to school based learning.
(Wolfendale, The influence of the home as a place for learning, 1992)

According to local authority attainment data for pupils eligible for free school meals in 2012,
64 percent of students from the East Midlands achieved a level 4+ at key stage 2, and the
pupils eligible for free school meals in secondary schools dropped by approximately 4%. In
my own opinion from what I have researched and found, I think this is ascribable to the
interventions in place within a secondary school to provide guidance to these students.
Although, secondary schools receive more money than primary schools, this may prevent
them from understanding or seeing the reality of the cost of spreading the funding around all
students who are not entitled to it as well.

In the 2013 to 2014 financial year, schools will receive:
953 for each eligible primary-aged pupil
900 for each eligible secondary-aged pupil
(Education, 2014)

Kirsty Carlisle (b1031914)
3

It could be debated that the interventions are occurring much too late and that it could be
harder to improve attainment levels at a later age due to the ambitions and expectations
already set. My study will try to improve attainment levels of a group of year eights and
sevens who have modest prospects of themselves and struggle in daily academic life.

I find that students who have less support in the home, in terms of resources such as
access to books, conversation and a decent space to work are not given the opportunity to
develop their social/communication skills. Communication is extremely important to allow for
successful designing and understanding to take place. Through close work with English
teachers, I have discovered that they encourage children to read to help develop their
literacy skills. Literacy has an important role in design technology in order to transmit
thoughts and understand key terms. The students I am working with have brilliant ideas but
find it difficult to transfer those ideas into text; I am going to put interventions in place to
improve this. Not being able to write down their ideas is limiting their access to the higher
grade levels and sometimes stops them from reaching their target grade. Trying to identify
understanding and the use of terminology within their work booklets I will hopefully be able
to see a clear improvement in attainment.. In 2012, only 61 per cent of children on free
school meals achieved Level 4 in English and maths at Key Stage 2, compared to 82
percent of their non-FSM peers. Nationally and within the North East region, 66 per cent of
children on FSM achieve this grade.

Students need to acquire a basic understanding of English language and literacy to be able
to access the higher levels, to be able to understand these key words they will need to be
made very clear. Looking at target grades for the end of KS3 has provided me with an
insight into the reality of how limited understanding of the English language can really affect
the attainment level outcome.
If language and literacy teaching is drilling of language fragments, with relatively
little access to continuous text, learners miss the opportunity to extend their
experience with English, a crucial part of language development.
(Wallace, 2013)
To prevent this I will be making use of images to link to key words throughout my study to
provide visual learning aids. This will allow students to 'see' the key word and visualise it
rather than just hearing about it. The word 'link' is very important at this stage.


Kirsty Carlisle (b1031914)
4

To conduct the study I have proposed in the first part of this essay I have selected two
groups that are focusing on resistant materials in year 7 and year 8. I have picked out these
two groups due to the low ability proportion involved. My objective is to find out whether
extra intervention based on the basic skills will help improve their attainment levels. The
basic skills being focused on are key words and how they help an individual access a higher
level by understanding the correct terminology used within resistant materials.

I began by giving them limited access to help sheets and using question and answer
techniques about key words. At the beginning of the process, it was apparent that the
students had very little knowledge of the key terms used in technology that may not be used
in everyday life. When asked about the key words in question, the students delivered an
inadequate understanding of them. I have come to believe that without access to these,
students will find it hard to answer questions and therefore making it harder to access the
higher levels.

Before carrying out my research I handed out a questionnaire to evaluate the learning of
new key words before lessons had begun (see appendix 3), this then allowed me to start to
compare the results, and gain a clearer understanding of what resources would be relevant.
I feel a comparison is necessary as the two classes are very different, the majority of
students in the year 8 STEM group are those of which that are on the Free School Meal list
that was spoken about earlier on. As previously mentioned these students tend to come from
troubled backgrounds, therefore, most find it hard to be told what to do. I tried to be clever
with my interventions and give the impression that it was their choice. For example, rather
than saying Your homework for next week is, Id say, Who can tell me what means?,
no one?... right, I would like someone to tell me what it means next lesson and theres a
reward. Rewards such as vivos (points that turn into money for students to buy resources
online) are a good way to create competition and although there is little bribery used,
students are completing homework tasks and learning, without even knowing it. This
seemed to work well during my study and suggested that making homework short and
sweet is a good idea.

I started out by introducing my homework intervention as this was the main aspect of the
study that I felt needed the earliest overview as I have come to realise its not a popular topic.
As I have started to develop a strong professional relationship with the students, I have
discovered information about their backgrounds which has given me a deeper insight into
Kirsty Carlisle (b1031914)
5

their academic support outside of school. General conversation has led me to believe that
Xbox and Facebook are of more importance than homework and in some cases sleep.
"Social media sites such as Facebook and twitter promote connectedness, but ay
also negatively affect a young person's ability to engage successfully".
(Gareth Hawgood, 2013)

Children often describe homework as a tedious job and being allowed to do what they want
is allowing them to make the wrong choices. The general comments I have received are my
mum and dad dont mind or homework takes too much time, these are quotes from two
year 8 pupils who have made poor attempts at homework through lack of interest and a
cant be bothered attitude. Other students within the class are easily distracted and certain
technologies that children are now surrounded by distract them, again linking back to things
such as Facebook and the Xbox.

Through my ability to appreciate that homework can be seen as a daunting task for both
parent and child, I devised a plan to simplify homework task whilst focusing on the key words
needed to be able to understand Design and technology jargon within lessons. Through
readings I have discovered, it seems to be a general belief that the thought of working at
home, after school hours isnt the problem, its the nature of the homework and depth of it
thats intimidating. I began to understand that homework would play a huge role in my study
and the scheme of work for the year 7 Jitterbug project states that students need to be able
to list health and safety rules, electronic components and tools used to be able to reach the
project outcomes, (See appendix, Figure 4). If homework is not used correctly and effectively
then this is likely to cause an issue during this intervention, which could have the opposite
effect on the success of homework intervention to introduce key words.

Equally, as revealed before, parents still play an important role in their child's education.
Unfortunately for the students I am focusing on, their parents are either non-existent or have
their interests in other business than homework. It is important for me to keep in mind that
some cases are less extreme than others; parents just dont have time due to work
commitments. All the same, the students needed that extra time, as part of my study I have
taken on the role of the parent to provide extra time to prove that working at home, focusing
on key words rather than lengthy essays and extra intervention, in terms of resources used
within lessons can improve attainment. I asked students, who qualified for free school meals
to fill in a short questionnaire. (See appendix, Figure 5). I conducted this research to allow
Kirsty Carlisle (b1031914)
6

the students to express their views on support they receive outside of school hours. This
was to help me gain a wider view on this area and structure my next intervention. The results
shown that the majority of students don't receive the support we expect they should, which
links back to my initial research on free school meal children and the conceptions of home
life that are made about them.
Parents are conspicuously absent: they appear to exist only in relation to their
primary legal duty to send children to school. (Wolfendale, An Historical Perspective,
1992)
In this case, this statement can still seem to be true, however, this view is somewhat dated
especially as parents in this century have begun to take more of an important role within
school life and become heavily involved with interventions that may be put in place. These
days its more of a two way system; however, as previously stated the students I have
focused on dont receive this regular support that a teacher would expect.

I believe that for homework to be effective, it needs to be short and sweet as well as
relevant to lessons in the future, not just previous lessons. In order to show the reason why
any student has done a particular homework, I have made sure to make a point of the
homework during the lesson of which the homework is due. This means that the students
can begin to justify why they have to complete homework tasks. To ensure this, my
intervention consisted of short homework tasks that aimed to motivate students to find out
the information needed in order to access the next lesson. To test this theory I created fact
finding homeworks. (See Appendix, Figure 6). Students were given a simple task based on
finding out the definition of a key word and creating a way to be able to understand and
remember it. When comparing the unmodified and modified homework tasks, it became very
apparent that a smaller homework task that leads the student to think it will take two minutes
of their time will actually provide a better outcome and raise the standard of work. (See
Appendix, Figure 7). The graph shows the homework outcomes for each homework, I have
used three students in particular to show my findings as these students do not excel in
extended learning tasks due to inadequate production of the task or as spoke about
previously the 'can't be bothered' attitude to learning. This all seems to stem from the limited
support at home, however, when asked to attend homework club, these students raised their
percentage of the amount of homework complete drastically.

Linking homework to attainment in this case is very important. To try and ensure every
student made a decent effort to complete the extended learning task, it was made very clear
Kirsty Carlisle (b1031914)
7

that it will be revisited within the next lesson, every time a question was given for homework,
the starter task revolved around the answer. I have come to believe that this allows students
to learn from others and compete with answers, as well as sharing with the group. Promoting
competition may have increased the number of students completing homework but it has
also started to show the growth in confidence within the class and the ability to use key
words when talking about practical tasks and learning objectives.

Encouragement has had a huge impact on the comprehension of key words and raising
attainment levels. As part of my intervention I made use of lead learners. To work out who
my lead learners were, I looked at the students end of Key stage three target, counted back
four sub levels and this allowed me to work out their end of year Design Technology target.
The students working at 5c and above were then defined as the high ability group. To start
with I used the high ability students of the groups to lead tasks and be the confident role
model. After a few homework tasks had been set and students began to settle into the
lessons, those of a lower ability, that were almost silent at the start with litter understanding
of the key words began to speak up. Half way through my research I decided to swap my
lead learners to those of a lower ability. This was to assess if my interventions were working
and in the hope that the new lead learners were able to access the higher levels of
vocabulary to raise their attainment levels. However, some of the new lead learners were still
not so confident and didnt have the full understanding of a key word such as Aesthetics or
Aerodynamics and therefore couldnt access the harder questions. The result of this
progress check leads me onto my third intervention.

My third intervention focused on pedagogy, constructivist teaching. Conducting a progress
check (See Appendix, Figure 8) allowed me to see where each student was at after my first
two interventions. I started off by planning more involvement for the students so the lessons
were more interactive, I believe children learn from experience. Rather than giving the
students the key words they needed to know, with their previous knowledge of them from
previous lessons I began to facilitate the learning, instead of spoon feeding them. Students
started to become more independent and trusted their own judgement, but, most importantly,
werent afraid of getting answers to questions wrong as others answers would come from
around the class. I started every lesson with a 5 minute run through of lesson objective and
lesson outcomes and how they could achieve these goals, students were asked to give
themselves a target at the start of each lesson that focusses on the key word of the lesson.
This enabled the students to take control of their learning. (See Appendix, Figure 9). Both
classes began to be more respectful of others answers and if there was a dispute over what
Kirsty Carlisle (b1031914)
8

was right, it was dealt with in a very mature manor. Again, this links back to me
encouragement statement. If students feel supported, they are more likely to take risks; from
this I began to receive greater results. Praising students encourage this behaviour and
scaffolding became a regular occurrence within lessons. Students started to take more
control and ask questions. Every time an answer was given I began to ask others to expand
on the answer, using words such as that is because, why?, what would happen if,
what do you mean by that. (See Appendix, Figure 10). Evaluations written by the students
began to be contain more content but also the value of content was high, the use of key
terms and words started to become apparent and through class discussion, it is clear that
the extra intervention has started to help.

Although some students still found this difficult they were still able to use key words, from
looking at the start of the rotation and looking to the middle of it, the majority of students
have gain major progress and are already on target for receiving their end of year target
grade. Students with a target grade of 2a and 3c are working at a minimum level of a 4c.
(See Appendix, Figure 11). This is beginning to show that the basic knowledge of key words
and understanding their meaning can allow any student to improve their attainment levels if
they are given the extra time to understand it. Over complicating tasks can confuse students
of high ability, so extra care needs to be taken to not over complicate tasks for the lower
ability so they become motivated and believe they can complete the task too. Easily
understood lesson objectives and learning outcomes became a key concept of allowing
students to access key terms the needed to improve their knowledge.

My findings have shown that although the students who were part of the gifted and talented
group in school and those that averaged between a 4b and 5a, were able to think logically
about the word and try to make a sound explanation of what the word might mean. As
average target level is level 4a, I have looked at the design and technology level descriptors.
These were shown to students as a learning outcome at the start of each lesson, to
encourage students to take control of their learning. To access each level they needed to
meet a certain learning objective (See Appendix, Figure 12).

At level 4 Learners should be able to identify some of the
main stages needed to make a product, identifying the tools and equipment needed.

Kirsty Carlisle (b1031914)
9

At level 5 They should be able to generate design ideas that satisfy a few of the
design criteria, and refer to social, moral, environmental or sustainability considerations
. (Ltd, 2013)

In order to access these levels the students must be able to identify tools and equipment,
and know exactly what is meant by moral, environmental and sustainability mean. If students
struggle to do so, they are instantly taking away the chance of improving their attainment
levels.

To provide extra support for those students that struggle with writing in sentences and
entering key words in the correct place, I put together resources that assist with this. (See
appendix, Figure 13). I created a list of sentence starters and placed key words everywhere.
Encouraging light revision, after already going through homework tasks, starters and lunch
time sessions, students were then also given help during lessons. The evaluations that came
back were of a high standard and many students had improved their attainment level by
showing they could identify tools and equipment and understand key words. To back up this
statement, a formal lesson observation also states that
All booklet work is of a high standard (armstrong, 2014)
People that work a long side me at my placement school have picked up on the progress
and standard of the students work. This instantly shows that although some interventions
worked better with some than others, they have had an impact on the students knowledge
and their level of progress. As previous talks, noted earlier in the essay, with the English
department, it is clear that their reading intervention is making a large positive impact on
their students, therefore, I have used a literacy focus task that focuses on some basic
punctuation, as key words are important, it is also important that the students can construct
a sentence. These focus tasks, are put in place in each term and cover, a certain topic, the
one I put in place was the use of plurals. (See Appendix, Figure 14). This mini intervention
helps the students think about their grammar and punctuation, making it easier for them to
incorporate key words into sentences.

From the findings (See Appendix, Figure 15) of my previous interventions and the reality of
constructivist teaching and how well it works, I decided to formally assess the classes by
creating a fun and stimulating environment. To test their knowledge and to see if they
understand the key terms, such as all the different tools and equipment used within the
Kirsty Carlisle (b1031914)
10

lessons, materials looked at and any other terms that appeared occasionally within the
projects. My first approach was based on a test format end of unit exam, this didnt go down
so well as its boring, why do we have to do a test, although these were the responses I
received and I already expected that response, the students took it very seriously and were
eager to see their results. Due to the response, I wanted to focus on a previous intervention
that focused on constructivist teaching and decided to use games as a way of assessing
their progress and begin to level their final attainment grade. I used games such as bingo,
quiz master, guess who, word hunts and match the pairs. The students responded extremely
well to these and seemed oblivious to the fact they were being observed and assessed and
seemed un aware that they were learning something, however, they fully understood that
they now knew about the key words and questions were easier to answer and they felt
more confident. (See Appendix, Figure 16).
Now I understand the words, I enjoy it more! Year 7 student.
I am a thermoplastic and my nickname is HIPs, what am i? Year 7 student.
Im enjoying the lesson more because I understand! Year 8 student.
These new ways of finishing a lesson that I have tried to create, has made a vast
improvement on the students' motivation across both classes. Students begin to compete
with others, but this creates a stimulating environment.

At the start of my intervention plan, the students knew very little about key terms and what
they meant. As I have worked through my research, I have realised that not all students
receive the support needed to help with attainment levels such as the basic reading
materials, homework help or a workspace. Although, at such a young age, intervention may
seem too early, I have found that the earlier these key terms are put in front of them and
offering extra support for those students who may not be provided with the opportunity focus
at home, however daunting it may be or however long it may take, we will be creating better
design and technology practitioners. I conducted this study to find out if extra intervention
given to the students who need it most, would boost attainment levels. With the majority of
the students involved in this study, improving their grades and most being on or above target,
I now believe that this is the case. However, along the way I have discovered that 'fun' is a
huge part attainment. Relating tasks to relevance and providing a 'fun' way to learn seems to
be the key to success.
"If I'm enjoying something, I am learning something!"
Quote, year 8 student.
Kirsty Carlisle (b1031914)
11

References
armstrong, C. (2014). Lesson Observation. Mansfield.
Education, D. f. (2014, January 22). Pupil Premium: information for schools. Retrieved March 02,
2014, from Department for Education:
http://www.education.gov.uk/schools/pupilsupport/premium/b00231348/pupil-premium-
information-for-schools-and-ap-settings
Gareth Hawgood, A. P. (2013). Sociocultural Factors. In Cambridge Checkpoints HSC Personal
Development, Health and Physical Education 2013 (p. 51).
Jonathan Sharples, R. S. (2011, January). C4EO. Retrieved February 06, 2014, from
http://www.c4eo.org.uk/themes/schools/classroomstrategies/files/classroom_strategies_re
search_review.pdf
Ltd, A. i. (2013). Level Descriptors . Attainment Criteria for Key Stage 3 Design & Technology , 1.
Stephen Gorard, B. (2012, april ). Educational attainment and participating. Retrieved February 04,
2014, from http://www.jrf.org.uk/sites/files/jrf/education-young-people-parents-full.pdf
Wallace, C. (2013). Texts and Pratices: Sociolinguistic and political perspectives. In C. Wallace,
Literacy and the Bilingual Learner: Texts and Practices in London Schools (p. 29). Palgrave
Macmillan.
Wolfendale, S. (1992). An Historical Perspective. In S. Wolfendale, Empowering Parents and Teachers
(working for children) (p. 6). London.
Wolfendale, S. (1992). The influence of the home as a place for learning. In S. Wolfendale,
Empowering parents and teachers (working for children) (p. 37). London.

Bilbliography
Attitudes and aspirations on educational attainment:
http://www.jrf.org.uk/sites/files/jrf/education-young-people-parents-full.pdf
Blog, does the gap matter to children?
http://ioelondonblog.wordpress.com/2013/03/26/does-the-gap-matter-to-children-eligible-for-
free-school-meals/
Department for education: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/new-data-reveals-the-
truth-about-school-performance
Department for Education and Employment Standards and Effectiveness Unit (1998).
Homework: Guidelines for Primary and Secondary Schools. London: DfEE.
Effective classroom strategies:
http://www.c4eo.org.uk/themes/schools/classroomstrategies/files/classroom_strategies_rese
arch_review.pdf
Kirsty Carlisle (b1031914)
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Effective classroom strategies for closing the gap:
http://www.equitableeducation.co.uk/1/post/2012/12/effective-classroom-strategies-
forclosing-the-gap-in-educationalachievement-for-children-and-youngpeople-living-in-
poverty-includingwhite-working-class-boys-by-c4eo.html
Handbook of Adolescent Literacy Research:
Leila Christenbury, Randy Bomer, Peter Smagorinsky (2011). Handbook of Adolescent
Literacy Research. london: Guilford Press. 452.
Is Homework Important for Increasing Educational Attainment? (Institute of Education, 1998),
40 pages, Richard Cowan.
Homework: The Evidence, Volume 21 of Bedford Way Papers, Susan Hallam, (stylus plus
Llc,2004) 118 pages.
Key stage and expected attainment:
https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/219195/sfr25-
2012ks3.pdf
Local authority attainment data for pupils eligible for free school meals in 2012:
http://www.ofsted.gov.uk/resources/local-authority-attainment-data-for-pupils-eligible-for-
free-school-meals-2012
Ofsted: http://www.ofsted.gov.uk/news/children-free-school-meals-are-being-failed-
northumberland-0
Pupil Premium:
http://www.education.gov.uk/schools/pupilsupport/premium/b00231348/pupil-premium-
information-for-schools-and-ap-settings











Kirsty Carlisle (b1031914)
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Appendix
Figure 1:

Figure 2:








Figure 3:
Questionnaire

1. Circle the key words you understand?
Aesthetics, Ergonomics, Anthropometrics, HIPs, Thermoplastic, Braising, pillar drill, Aerodynamics, Rolling
resistance, Motor, Soldering.
2. Do you use key words in your written work?
3. Do you find key words hard to remember?
4. If yes, why?
5. How would you remember key words?
6. Do you find it hard to put key words into sentences?

Kirsty Carlisle (b1031914)
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