Friday Mindset #185

Happy Friday!

Before we get started, a quick announcement. Back in February, we ran a training session, and promised to repeat it for those of you who couldn’t make it. A reminder of the content:

“We’ve been doing a fair bit of work recently with disengaged students who are two or more grades from where they want to be, and are mired in despondency and inertia. It’s a tough gig… but we think we’ve got something that’s making a difference, and we’d like to share it. We’ll be trying to keep numbers small, so get in quickly!”

We’ve called it Effective Pre-Exam Intervention. Here’s the repeat date and time:

DATE: Wednesday May 6th, at 3:45pm for 45 minutes.

TOPIC: Effective Pre-Exam Intervention

If you missed it last time and fancy coming along, say hello at [email protected], and we’ll send you the Zoom link.

OK, done. Let’s dive in.

Something we're reading...

We had fun with Richard Calcutta’s Attack of the Zombie Learning Theories this week. It’s a neat piece, succinctly written, well referenced, and amusingly illustrated.

A good one to read yourself, or perhaps take a class through:

We half-expected Carol Dweck’s work on Growth Mindset to be present, such has been the patchiness of replication attempts in recent years.

The long and short of it: some studies (6500 students) show GM has an affect on student achievement, but other studies (over 500 students) demonstrate it doesn’t. The attitude component of VESPA has always included growth mindset alongside other constructs such as buoyancy, agency, self-confidence, and optimism, so we’re always eager to read new evidence arguing either perspective.

If you fancy checking out a pretty brutal takedown of GM - balanced in places but, on the whole, brutal - try this one. And if you need a quick crash course on the replication crisis…

Portal talk…

Just a quick reminder this week, about our new VESPA 2.0 online features:

One-click sign in - staff and students can sign in with their existing Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace accounts. No more password spreadsheets.

A proper student hub - questionnaire, report, activities, task board, study planner, calendar all in one place. Dark mode included, because apparently this matters very much…

A redesigned home page - a cleaner starting point for staff and students, helping everyone get to the right place more quickly.

Student Voice - a brand-new tool that lets you ask your own custom questions alongside the VESPA questionnaire. Think of it as a pulse check that runs itself.

New UCAS application system - students can build and share their UCAS applications more easily, with pastoral and subject staff able to view, support and advise at the right points in the process.

Lightning-fast dashboards - cohort data loads dramatically faster, with clearer national benchmarks, percentage-based comparisons and improved distribution charts.

Smart coaching overview - filter, sort and drill into student data faster than ever. AI-generated coaching narratives, intervention finder and simple export options are all built in.

Lovely stuff! Migration’s simple we can help set up your staff accounts, connect your student directory, and make sure your existing VESPA data carries over smoothly. Book a quick call and we’ll show you the new platform:

Something to try...

Recently we’ve worked with an organisation to help them draw-up a list of student study behaviours all staff could get behind. This particular college wanted to get away from vague exhortations (‘work harder’, ‘revise more’) and instead replace them with simple, replicable behaviours that all students could assess themselves on, engage with, and introduce into their studies. (Behaviours that could then be shared with parents too.)

Working with them on the project, we landed upon three domains for habit and study behaviour development, and chose eight key behaviours for each domain:

1. 8 Behaviours In the Classroom

2. 8 Behaviours During Study Periods

3. 8 Behaviours for Successful Revision.

Subscribers - you’ve got all three lists to take a look at below…

Subscribe to our premium content to read the rest.