TLC are currently working on a project with the Welsh Government to develop and deliver bilingual training to Foundation Phase leads from across Wales, based on the new asynchronous professional learning modules, in the form of Playlists, for practitioners working with children aged 3-7.
This training focuses on the functionality of Playlists, the rationale behind the new training materials and their resources, and provides ideas and practical suggestions to deliver the professional learning modules to groups of practitioners.
TLC has recently worked in partnership with the Welsh Government to produce bilingual, asynchronous professional learning modules for practitioners working with children aged 3-7 across Wales. These professional learning modules are housed on Hwb and focus on the following areas:
Outdoor learning
Child development
Observation
Transitions
Play and play-based learning
Authentic and purposeful learning.
Working with the Welsh Government, their Advisory Group and a team of practitioners, these modules were written to replace the previous Foundation Phase training packs developed by the Welsh Government. This in-depth professional learning package has been written to focus on Curriculum for Wales and the curriculum for funded non-maintained nursery settings.
GLOBAL – REVISION OF BRITISH COUNCIL COURSE CONTENT |
TLC has had the privilege of working with the British Council to update and revise their ‘Teaching Critical Thinking and Problem Solving’ and ‘Teaching Digital Literacy’ courses, as part of the Core Skills Professional Development for teachers and school leaders training courses package. The materials were updated to include new developments and/or research and the addition of supplementary materials provided by the British Council. The training packages will be used in the UK and globally, as part of the British Council Connecting Classrooms through Global Learning programme.
TLC was awarded a contract by British Council Egypt to develop and deliver online training to pratitioners, teachers, school leaders and principals from across Egypt, as part of the Teaching for Success programme. The training sessions focused on:
Engaging with Special Educational Needs: Autism spectrum disorder
Engaging with motivational activities
Engaging with Special Educational Needs: Dyslexia
Engaging with Special Educational Needs: Social, emotional and behavioural difficulties
Engaging with professional development – peer observation
Engaging with Special Educational Needs: Visual, hearing and physical impairment
Engaging with SEN – Dealing with ADHD in the classroom
Assessment for learning
Classroom Management
Continuing Professional Development for school leaders
Continuing Professional Development for teachers
Digital Literacies – Learning Technologies in the classroom.
The training was successfully delivered to over 200 teachers over a 2-month period in 2021.
TLC worked with Gelligaer and Merthyr Commoners Association (GMCA) to develop a bilingual resource pack for schools and the wider audience to improve educational engagement with the historic and natural landscape of the Common. The activities are for Foundation Phase and Key Stage 2 learners encompassing the ethos and the content of Curriculum 2022. The aim is to reduce the negative behaviour of some on the Common, for example when off-roading, setting wild fires and fly-tipping. This will be housed at: https://gmcommon.org/.
Mexico - training teachers in stem pedagogies and assess them to become accredited stem ambassadors |
TLC was invited to work with the British Council Mexico and the Mexican Academy of Sciences again on STEM pedagogies. In 2016, TLC trained about 150 teachers on STEM pedagogies and proposed a model to cascade and sustain such training. The British Council Mexico approached TLC in 2018, to redraft the Core Skills Critical Thinking and Problem Solving CPD materials to make them better focused on STEM methodologies. The Mexican Academy of Sciences delivered the amended CPD materials and selected about 40 of the participants to be further trained and accredited to become STEM Ambassadors for Mexico. TLC devised and developed the accreditation model and the resources for the three-day training. In September 2019, TLC delivered the training in Mexico City and implemented the accreditation process. This process included self-assessments, formative assessments during the training and a mentoring process carried out through video conferencing. The project, completed in February 2020, gave the Mexican Academy of Sciences a pool of certified STEM Pedagogy Ambassadors from a wide range of backgrounds to support the national STEM movement in Mexico. TLC has since been invited to train these STEM Ambassadors in the accreditation process to sustain the project and increase the number of accredited STEM Ambassadors across Mexico.
TLC worked with British Council in South Africa to adapt the TVET Core Skills materials, to make them more relevant for teachers / trainers within South African vocational colleges. The materials included ‘An Introduction to Core Skills’ and ‘Critical Thinking and Problem Solving’.
Between 2015 and 2021, TLC delivered bilingual Core Skills and competencies training to teachers across Wales.
The training sessions focused on two of the British Council’s Core Skills areas – Critical Thinking & Problem Solving and Digital Literacy, as part of the Connecting Classrooms programme. The sessions consisted of two initial training days followed by a mentored action research project back in school that culminated in a reflection and sharing day. This training was delivered to nearly 600 teachers across Wales.
In 2018, TLC was awarded a second contract by the British Council and DFID to design, develop and deliver four training courses to support teachers in Wales to implement Curriculum for Wales through a focus on the four purposes, as part of Connecting Classrooms through Global Learning. These courses included:
How can our learners become digitally competent in an everchanging global society?
How can our learners become ‘ethical, informed citizens of Wales’ - through cross-curricular approaches?
How can we improve learners’ emotional intelligence through a focus on global contexts?
How can our learners become ‘enterprising, creative contributors’ in an everchanging global society?
The training was successfully delivered to over 800 teachers over the length of the 3-year contract.
TLC currently assesses all international Connecting Classrooms through Global Learning (CCGL) online submissions for the British Council. There are seven in-depth courses available for teachers to participate in and submit their completed documents for assessment. Initially, teachers submit an Action Plan outlining their proposed school-based project. TLC provide formative feedback on the plan and suggest possible improvements. Teachers use their amended Action Plan to carry out the project in school, reviewing progress and writing a final report. The Action Plan, Review and Report are all submitted and TLC assesses these in accordance with British Council’s CCGL online course assessment guide, to determine whether the teacher has successfully passed.
TLC had the pleasure of working with Bridgend County Borough Council to develop a bilingual digital educational resource that celebrates Managed Conservation Grazing and educates the public about it.
The resource includes:
Free educational materials for schools, including a presentation and information sheet for anyone to learn more about Managed Conservation Grazing.
Lesson plans at all Key Stages for teachers to use to support the understanding and importance of Managed Conservation Grazing. These are linked to the new, post-Donaldson curriculum and the Digital Competency and Literacy Numeracy Frameworks.
The resources are housed on the Bridgend Reach website.
thailand - developing a stem progression framework, formative assessment materials and summative stem tests |
TLC worked with the Institute for the Promotion of the teaching of Science and Technology (IPST) and the British Council Thailand to research top-performing education systems in STEM before developing a STEM progression from ages 7 to 18. TLC then designed and developed formative classroom materials for assessment alongside a series of summative assessments for Grades 3, 6, 9 and 12. These assessments were piloted and the data fully analysed before preparing the tests for use.
TLC worked with the National Schools Partnership to revitalise and relaunch the Royal Bank of Scotland’s MoneySense website. The website aims to improve financial education in schools across the UK.
thailand - designing, developing and piloting a new STEM Vocational Curriculum |
TLC has successfully completed a contract with the Thai Government and the British Council Thailand to update their vocational STEM curriculum for ages 15 to 18 in Thailand by producing a new STEM bridging curriculum. The review involved working with high performing vocational colleges in Thailand to integrate STEM pedagogies into the curricula of agriculture, industry, food technology, hospitality and tourism, engineering and biotechnology.
Over a period of three years, TLC trained more than 200 vocational teachers in implementing the new STEM curriculum in their colleges. This was a highly successful project with many colleges spreading the pedagogies across all areas of learning by in-house training and observations. We have recently been asked to do some refresher training on the STEM curriculum in Thailand.
TLC worked with the Mexican Academy of Sciences in Mexico and the British Council Mexico. We reviewed the La Ciencia en tu Escuela (Science in your School) distance learning website to develop a training package on the STEM pedagogies of higher-order thinking skills, quality questioning, collaboration, problem solving, creative and critical thinking, metacognition and formative assessment. The highly successful training was delivered to large groups of teachers, both primary and secondary, and a group of tutors from La Ciencia en tu Escuela and teacher trainers and educators from Mexican universities. TLC reviewed the processes used and made recommendations for the future development of La Ciencia en tu Escuela and how best to integrate STEM pedagogies into classroom teaching in Mexico.
TLC worked with the British Council in Mexico City to develop prototypes for Maths apps for Grades 5 and 6 learners, in English. TLC’s role in the process was to ensure STEM pedagogies were explicit to teachers as they used the apps. Again, the STEM pedagogies included were higher-order thinking skills, quality questioning, collaboration, problem solving, creative and critical thinking, metacognition and formative assessment. The prototypes of the apps were then trialled with groups of teachers and learners to assess their functionality and usefulness in delivering mathematics to Grade 5 and 6 learners. TLC also wrote a step-by-step guide for teachers as to how to plan for and use an app in lessons. We also wrote a report on the processes used in development of the apps and recommendations for the future. The British Council presented the prototypes and their final report to a wide-ranging group of educational experts from the government, stakeholders and partners in Mexico. The report and prototypes were very warmly received.
TLC worked with the British Council in Colombia to incorporate STEM within the Numerario component of Palabrario & Numerario, thereby strengthening the teacher-training process through introducing strategies, methodologies and materials for classroom application.
The main objectives were to:
incorporate Science and Technology linking to other core skills already addressed by the Programme (reading, writing and maths) through knowledge transfer, best practice and successful strategies already implemented in the UK STEM education in primary education.
increase the programme’s performance and potential scalability (math, reading, writing through STEM) through the advice and counselling on the design and creation of innovative tools (such as routes, methodologies, pedagogical techniques, technological resources, long-term impact assessment instruments, amongst others in the Numerario component) to be used with teachers.
enhance performance of the current operation by incorporating new methodologies and strategies through the technical assistance.
TLC had the pleasure in working closely with Techniquest between 2012-2016 delivering high-quality, bilingual Foundation Phase and Key Stage 2 STEM Outreach to primary schools across Wales. Beginning in 2012, TLC started to deliver its Outreach to schools in North West Wales, under contract to Techniquest.
After the initial one-year contract, the Outreach was expanded so that we delivered further high-quality shows and workshops across various local education authorities to approximately 10,000 learners per year across 540 primary schools. By 2015, our contract included Gwynedd, Anglesey and the Aberconwy area within Conwy, Ceredigion, Carmarthenshire, Pembrokeshire and the Brecknock and Radnor areas within Powys.
Several times a year special science and maths events were organised, during National Science Week and at the end of the school year, in central locations such as Plas Menai, Rheidol Hydropower Station and Electric Mountain. These events varied in length from one to five days and accommodated up to 120 children per day. For these special events, children were offered a full day of educational activities which included two Techniquest science or maths shows/workshops plus a specially designed numeracy and literacy trail around the venue.
Within 2013, TLC took on a small contract with Techniquest do deliver bilingual workshops to just under 1000 KS3, KS4 and Post-16 learners within North West Wales. The workshops focused on taking Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM) subjects and skills and putting them into a real world context and demonstrating their importance in daily life.
A similar contract was awarded to TLC in 2015, but this time the workshops were to be delivered bilingually in Carmarthenshire, Ceredigion and Pembrokeshire to KS3 and KS4 learners. Again, the workshops focused on STEM skills and putting them into a real-world context. These workshops supported the teaching of the National Curriculum in Wales, the Literacy and Numeracy Framework, work-related education and the Welsh Bacc.
TLC has produced an accredited specification for AHDB Llaeth/Dairy and HCC (Hybu Cig Cymru Meat Promotion Wales) for the Global Citizenship Challenge in the Welsh Baccalaureate (Foundation/KS4). The Challenge focuses on sustainable food production and how to ensure that food production is local with minimal environmental impact. To support its use there are learner materials and teacher notes on the AHDB – Llaeth/Dairy website at www.ahdb.org.uk/wales .
wales - developing a literacy and numeracy toolkit partnering teachers and the arts |
TLC has produced bilingual, web-based materials for the Arts Council of Wales within a Toolkit to promote literacy and numeracy skills through the Arts. The materials to support collaboration between schools and artists include:
classroom-based rich activities for teachers
guidance for artists to develop their own rich activities
guidance for artists and teachers to support initial contact and processes to follow for collaboration
guidance for artists to support their understanding of the National Curriculum, the LNF and links to the Arts, how to work with schools to develop and evaluate projects
case studies of effective collaborative projects including assessed learner work.
TLC delivered bilingual teacher training courses across Wales to both trainee teachers and practising teachers for Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board – Llaeth/Dairy. The courses were accredited through Agored Cymru at Level 4. Over 300 trainees and teachers took part in sessions to support them in using dairy farming as a context to develop literacy and numeracy activities. This pilot delivered an evaluation report and recommendations for the future.
We have redesigned the bilingual information boards and designed a working model of the power station for visitors for Statkraft Energy Ltd. at Rheidol Power Station, working in partnership with Techniquest, Cardiff.
TLC produced bilingual materials for Bridgend County Council, which aim to enthuse young people and parents alike with the diversity of Bridgend County's outdoor spaces.
The materials recognise and embrace the wealth of biodiversity within Bridgend and those for families and schools are focused on developing the literacy and numeracy skills of children.
There are three main parts to the materials:
a Family Activity pack of things to do in the outdoors. This has eight activities for you to try (with or without your children!) which should cause much head scratching and discussion.
a set of Schools' Rich Activities, ranging from Foundation Phase to Key Stage 3, with suggestions for Key Stage 4 learners. These should help teachers to develop learners' literacy and numeracy skills (as in the LNF) and use outdoor learning experiences to motivate them and therefore improve outcomes.
a Schools' Biodiversity Action Plan to help schools to develop their own outdoor spaces in order to increase biodiversity in Bridgend and enthuse learners.
All the materials have been trialled with families and across Bridgend's schools. The materials can be found on Bridgend County’s website at https://www.bridgend.gov.uk/residents/schools-and-education/outdoor-education/.
Building on the already successful Bridgend Outdoor Schools project, TLC developed further bilingual materials including packs of family, school and further/higher education activities for Kenfig National Nature Reserve.
The materials are available on the Bridgend County’s website https://www.bridgend.gov.uk/visit-us/nature-reserves/family-activities-at-kenfig-nature-reserve/ and can be downloaded by families and teachers/lecturers before they visit this special area of conservation.
There are three main parts to the materials:
a Family Activity pack of things to do in Kenfig National Nature Reserve, plus a separate downloadable Geocache trail to follow around the reserve
a Schools’ Activity Pack, ranging from Foundation Phase to Key Stage 3 (four at each phase/key stage with an additional KS2/KS3 activity)
a Further and Higher Education Activity Pack with suggested activities focused on sampling habitats, plant and animal species, visitor-use and management at Kenfig NNR.
Five ‘Bridgend Outdoor Schools’ (BOS) geocaches have also been hidden around Kenfig National Nature Reserve to encourage families to explore the reserve and appreciate the various wildlife on offer.
TLC developed bilingual children's interactive exhibits for Oriel Pendeitsh on behalf of Gwynedd County Council. Designed by TLC! and built by Techniquest, Cardiff, these exhibits will help young children to understand the history of Gwynedd and especially the Caernarfon area.
TLC produced materials for young visitors to the National Slate Museum, that draw out the Numeracy aspects of the exhibits - as linked to the national Literacy and Numeracy Framework in Wales.
TLC developed the initial, comprehensive suite of bilingual Guidance for implementing the LNF for all mainstream teachers in Wales, under contract to the Welsh Government. The guidance includes: training workshops, advice on curriculum planning, classroom tasks and exemplars of learners' work assessed against the LNF.
These materials can be found on Hwb.