Friday Mindset #151

Happy Friday!

We’re back, suntanned and rested. Some of you are prob’ly still sucking icepops in the garden, but for us, term’s up-and-running again. Thirty new subscribers showed up over the last fortnight so welcome one and all. Heading into the best term of the year, the business end, exams looming with all the hope, stress and drama they bring, etc etc.

OK. Lots to share this week. Let’s dive in.

Something to try...

You’ll be aware of the recent fuss over PISA scores. They’re in worldwide decline; we’re getting less effective at demonstrating our intelligence in these tests. But why? Well, first here’s an article to put you in the picture:

But what we really want to share today is Professor of Computer Science at Georgetown University, Washington, Cal Newport’s take on the situation. He gives a fifteen-minute talk about the PISA scores, drawing on an FT article by data-analyst John Burn Murdoch that covers the issue. The full talk’s interesting (you can access it here) but we’ve gone through it and trimmed it to six minutes so that you can watch and discuss with students. It should make a great little tutorial activity.

What we particularly like is Newport’s three suggestions for resisting the decline in academic ability:

1. Read regularly, somewhere away from your phone

2. Schedule phoneless ‘reflection walks’, thinking through a difficult problem as you go

3. Take up a hobby that requires concentration and skill development, like learning to play a sport or instrument.

Here’s the video. We hope it gets an interesting conversation going!

Something we're reading...

Martin’s upcoming book is The Backpacker’s Guide to University, co-written with Dr Jo Phillips, a university teacher of fifteen years. It’s a guide to successful university study written for year 12 and 13 students, as well as undergraduates, and parents.

Throughout the book, interesting research papers are referenced and explained. Here’s the section looking at a paper exploring student success at university, focusing on what the research team call ‘non-traditional’ university students - that is; first-time attendees, those from socio-economically deprived areas, or under-represented groups.

First, an extract from the book:

In 2019, academics from the University of Reading and Imperial College London published the results of an interesting study (Wong and Chiu, 2019). They’d gathered together thirty students who were on course for the very best grades and interviewed each of them for ninety minutes. The students were asked about the same things: high school experiences, how university had been different, how they prepared for assessments, what feedback they’d been given, how they solved problems and, crucially, what advice they’d give to others.

These students were all on different courses – criminology, sociology, international relations, education – but their interview answers were surprisingly similar. What follows are extracts taken word-for-word from their advice to new students. The patterns are remarkable:

‘They’re lecturers, not mind readers … talk to the staff in your modules, really speak up.’

‘I’ve learnt to let other people look at my work … [it] really helped.’

‘If you need help, you need to go to the lecturer. They’re not going to come find you if something is wrong with your essay … you have to up your game now.’

‘Don’t be afraid to talk to your lecturers. You know, always communicate with your lecturers, tell them if you don’t understand something.’

‘Go and bother your lecturers and ask them to see drafts.’

We might often imagine that students who are on track to get the best grades are the ones who aren’t asking for help; that they can do it without assistance. But this study, and others, shows that there tends to be a positive correlation between asking for help and achievement – and also a positive link between asking for help and feeling part of a supportive community, which in turn boosts feelings of optimism and belonging.

And here’s the paper itself:

Portal Talk...

No sunbathing for Tony! He’s been locked in a dark room updating the portal. And we’re really excited about some of the changes coming soon. One of the key developments has been to make the portal easier to use and navigate, to providing key information in a more intuitive way:

New student homepage - we have added the option to upload student academic data, so you can see their target grades alongside VESPA scores. And in addition to the VESPA Hub, we have added a new student productivity hub containing some new features to help build student independence:

New staff homepage - The new staff homepage shows the VESPA questionnaire results immediately without having to navigate further, as well as a direct comparison with your own tutor / year group results compared to the whole school results:

And finally, we have added the missing jigsaw piece for student coaching conversations by giving you the option of adding student academic data directly above the student coaching reports:

See why we’re excited? We’re planning on making these features available from September, however if you would like to trial these features for us now please get in touch and I will get you set up - [email protected]

And if you don’t know anything about how this fantastic tool can transform student proactivity and independence… no problem. We can help you there. Find out more about how the VESPA Portal is revolutionising student coaching conversations by using the link below to arrange a demo!

Our latest offer…

A book giveaway this week! We’ve had our copy of Urban Myths About Learning and Education for many years, and have flicked through and re-read it many times. (In fact, go back far enough and you’ll see we recommended it on this very newsletter - issue 16? Something like that?)

But our shelves are groaning and it’s time to move a book or two on, so this one’s going to be winging its way to whoever gets in touch with us first! Email [email protected], say hello and leave a work address, and we’ll post it out to you if your message is the first to land.

It might be you! Go. Do it now. Now, go. And good luck 😁

OK let’s bounce, the sun’s out and somewhere nearby there’s a supermarket fridge stocked with glistening ranks of chilly beer. Have a good one.

All the best to you and yours,

Martin, Steve and Tony