TMOxford Ian menter Cheney School 2014

1. The Oxford Education Deanery:
a site of intersecting practices
Ian Menter, Ann Childs, Ian Thompson
Department of Education, University of Oxford

2. Development of the Education Deanery
 Internship scheme (30 plus secondary schools)
 Discussion with headteachers
 Development of ‘demonstration projects’ – action
research fellowships; research on aspirations;
learning in science
 Discussion within the University
 Deciding on partnerships – Oxford City Learning (11
institutions)
 Launch event November 2013
 Plans for expansion

3. Principles of the Deanery
 Investment in the future of the teaching profession
 Doing high quality research that is relevant to the
future of the profession
 Developing the best subject pedagogy
 Working with young people to sustain their
engagement in learning
 Creating strong learning environments
 Adopting a constructive and critical approach to
curriculum development and assessment
 Drawing on and contributing to the pool of expertise
across all participants

4. Cherwell Internship project
 6 interns (2 biology, 2 physics, 2 chemistry)
 September- December (2-3 days) Jan-April (full time)
 Inquiry project based on a departmental priority
decided by science department

5. Inquiry project
 Improving the attainment of the middle groups in Y
10 and 11
 Issues raised:
 1. Teachers have noticed that students understand
at the time and seem to make progress in their
learning but this progress is not sustained in future
lessons
 2. From 1. this means that students are not building
up a secure and rich knowledge base
 3. Study skills are an issue; for example when asked
to search and look back for information students are
unable/unwilling to

6. Partnership
 Tutor designed research and trained student teachers in
research methods
 Structured observations and follow up interviews with
their Y10, 11 groups
 Student teachers wrote up individual findings for an
assignment
 Overall report of all findings to department team to act on
 “I have no idea what will be coming up in the next lesson
– it would be helpful to get a scheme of lessons given to
you at the beginning. Most of the time I don’t even know
what the topic is called, I just do the work I’m given and
don’t really know why I’m doing it’

7. Giant
metallic
e.g. Cu, Fe ,
Au, Na
particles
=_______?
Simple
molecular
e.g. N2, H2,
O2, Cl2
particles
=_______?
Giant
molecular
e.g.
allotropes of
carbon,
diamond
and graphite
particles
=_______?
Simple
atomic
e.g. He, Ne,
Ag
particles
=_______?
Giant ionic
e.g. NaCl,
MgO
particles
=_______?
Simple
molecular
e.g. H2O, NH3,
CH4
particles
=_______?
Giant
molecular
e.g. silicon
dioxide.
particles
=_______?
Elements Compounds

8. Follow-up
 ann.childs@education.ox.ac.uk
 ian.menter@education.ox.ac.uk
 ian.thompson@education.ox.ac.uk
 www.education.ox.ac.uk