APT4Schools

Results

Many of us in education today realise that, in order to honour our students' entitlement to the rich and useful school experience they deserve, we have to do 'more with less'. The drive to meet targets within a limited budget is an enormous challenge for us all and, at times, the resultant stress and disaffection can make an already difficult job seem impossible.

At last, there is a growing recognition that in order to make education viable for all children, we have to amplify their voices. The Student Voice and personalising learning agendas endorse this notion, for how can we personalise learning without placing the person, the student, at the very heart of innovations?

A whole range of peer mentoring initiatives are now springing up, involving students in their own education in dramatic and successful ways. Academic Peer Tutoring
takes this philosophy one step further and acknowledges that, with tailored support, students make excellent teachers. By shifting the teacher’s role from instruction to facilitation, we remove the symbol of authority and diffuse the possibility of rebellion which, for some students, has replaced learning as their focus.

Furthermore, by exposing to learners the mechanics of assessment, and empowering them to operate the machinery themselves, students are better equipped to excel. After all, we would not think of taking a driving test without reference to The Highway Code!

For many of us, the audit culture in education leads to deep feelings of disconnection and even despair. Our creativity, curiosity and enthusiasm bow under the weight of externally set targets, standardised norms and an industry of grade prediction that has made self-fulfilling prophesy the driving force in many of our classrooms.

APT4schools cherishes the human being in what can be one of the most rewarding periods of a person’s life – their schooldays. Great emphasis is placed on wellbeing and on the student-teacher relationships which support success. In this environment, academic attainment is inevitable.

For almost fifteen years, in a range of contexts, I have helped countless students to reach their learning potential. APT training involves both academic and personal development and this versatile, inclusive and enjoyable approach to education makes learning a desirable outcome for all.

As an English teacher before founding APT4schools, an unconditional belief in students’ unlimited potential facilitated results as dramatic as those gained through Academic Peer Tutoring. In the year when our school’s 5 A-C grade average was 24%, 77% of my Y11s achieved A-C in their English Literature GCSE, while 75% reached A-C in their English (Language) exam.

I am equally committed to enhancing the school experience of teachers, vocational professionals who deserve the very best in terms of trust and recognition. I work with colleagues through the paradigm changes that are necessary if students are to maximise their APT experience. The results speak for themselves…

Some Examples of Results..

London Borough of Hillingdon mixed comprehensive school Y7 APT4literacy tutees’ results Summer Term 2003
English NC Writing Levels before APT	English NC Writing Levels after 7 hours APT
3a	4b
3a	4b
2a	3a
3a	3a
3a	4a
3c	3b
3c	3a
4a	5b
2b	3b

London Borough of Southwark mixed comprehensive school
Y7 APT4science tutees’ results Summer Term 2004
English NC Writing Levels before APT	English NC Writing Levels after 6 hours APT
3b	4a
4b 4a	4a
4b -	-
3c	4a
4b	4a
3c	3a
3a	4a
5b -	-
4a	6b
5b -	-
3b	3b
4a	5a
3b	4c
4b	4a
3a	-
4a	4a
-	4c
3c	3c
4a	5a
4b	3a
4a	5a
3c	4c
3b	-
3a	3a
3a	3a
4b	-

London Borough of Bromley girls’ comprehensive school
Y9 APT4AEN tutors’ results Autumn Term 2005 Y9
English NC Writing Levels before APT	English NC Writing Levels after 7 hours APT
4b	5a
6b	6a
6c	6c
4b	5c
4c	4b
4b	6b
5c	5c
4a	5b
4b	5b
4b	5c
5a	6c
4b	5a

Details of a specific APT programme

The results below are from one term of our first year-long APT4literacy programme in the Additional Educational Needs Department of a girls’ comprehensive school. We split the Y7 AEN cohort into three groups according to their Reading Age at secondary school transfer. Each Y7 student in this group of twenty-seven were taught for one term by one or more of a group of fourteen Y9s.

The Reading and Spelling Ages of a child not defined as having additional educational needs can be expected to rise in line with their chronological age, that is, one month for one month. For a child defined as having additional educational needs, the expected progress may be roughly halved. After eight hours of Academic Peer Tutoring:

of twenty-seven English NC Writing Levels assessed, eighteen (67%) went up.
of twenty-five Reading Ages assessed, sixteen (64%) went up, thirteen (52%) by more than three months (time between tests).
of twenty-five Spelling Ages assessed, seventeen (68%) went up, sixteen 64%) by more than three months (time between tests).
of twenty-seven APT tutees, ten (40%) have graduated from Curriculum Support because their Reading and Spelling Ages are now higher than 10yrs 6mths (the school’s threshold for intervention).
Some teachers reported a marked improvement in confidence and attitude to learning for some of the APT tutors and tutees.

We are now in our third successful year of this. and a range of other APT schemes at the school, and are building a school-wide culture of Academic Peer Tutoring.