I was a little disappointed at the start of this school year because for the first time in ten years our intake of new students to Philosophy, Ethics and Christian Thought was significantly down. We have always fluctuated between 3 and 4 classes of first year students (between 75-100 students) but this year our intake was just over 40.

Now don’t get me wrong, I know that R.S doesn’t always bring in the big numbers at A Level, I am also very grateful to still have four large groups over the two years. My concern is that next year our students will be entered onto a 3 A Level programme immediately (whereas currently they select four subjects, take one as an AS exam at the end of the first year and continue three subjects into the full A Level) and notoriously R.S is that fourth subject choice…not any more!

Rather than just blaming the new spec content, dip in the cohort or not being recognised as a facilitating subject, I have set myself a challenge (I do this quite often – remember the Revision Podcasts last year?!?) I am going to revamp, promote and advertise R.S. My main motivation (other than wanting a job next year) is that I believe that Philosophy, Ethics and Christian Thought is an amazing subject at A Level (slightly biased I know).  So I have come up with a number of areas where I think improvements can be made:

• Open Evening
• Taster Days
• Career Links
• Connections with local secondary schools
• Social Media

And this is how I am going to do it…

Open Evenings
Last year I put a lot of effort into revamping R.S on Open Evening, with a number of interactive stations, a Philosopher photo booth and updated handouts (for more details see: Open Evening Ideas for A Level R.S). The big problem though was that so many visitors never entered the room. So my plan for this year (and I best get a move on since it is in three weeks!) is to:

1. Create a promotional video with students (going to ask the students about this one)
2. Set up a large folding display board with important features of the subject, including trips, past and current student quotes, celebrity philosophers and topical discussion questions.
   (Update: first section on trips completed)…
   Finished product (it took far longer than I anticipated – there was a lot of cutting, laminating and sticking but I am very pleased with the outcome!)
   
   

   

   
3. Student helpers to go around college interacting with visitors. Update: I have created Discussion Question slips to engage parents and students in key ideas.
   
4. Send links via FB and Twitter to local schools with the promotional video. Update: two schools out of five re-tweeted, liked and/or shared the video, which is a really good start!
   
5. Pop-up-shop: enquire if there is a more focal point in college (such as our Hub or café) to set up a table with handouts, discussions questions and sweets…plus the display board. Update: we have been allocated a prime location in the café area to advertise the subject…fingers crossed we draw in some interest.
   
   

   

Continue reading “Fourth Subject Choice – Will this be the end of R.S?” →

What a term! In my previous A2 SOW (see Organising a New SOW: Second Year) you will notice that I planned to cover all six of the new DCT topics first (rather than traditionally starting with Philosophy then Ethics) which was definitely the right move! They are deceivingly chucky topics with a lot of new content to learn and understand (for me) then teach – so I am pleased I’ve got those out of the way. However because I underestimated these topics, I am now seriously behind where I optimistically planned I would be. So I went back to the drawing board to work out how in the remaining weeks left, I can cover A2 Philosophy, A2 Ethics and all revision.

In brief, the plan is that students revise AS Philosophy over Christmas, AS Ethics over February half term and AS DCT over Easter. This takes care of the bulk of self-revision. In class time the plan is to cover the new topics first, then the students sit a Key Knowledge Exam in the AS material to identify problem areas. I am then going to get them to vote from worst to best topics so I can focus their revision with me on the areas most needed. I will leave the topics they are happiest with until the end (if there is time). I think the only way to cover the new material and get the most out of revision together in class is by prioritising the topics the students most need to go over.

Click on the image below if you would like to see my updated scheme of work on TES:

 

In the up- coming weeks I will be blogging about revision techniques and I’m also looking into some sort of revision podcasts, so students can go over the revision lessons outside of class (the thought of recording myself at this point though still makes my tummy flip!!)

 

I have been very fortunate for the last nine years to have a large number of students wanting to study Philosophy and Ethics, with roughly 100-150 students taking the course each year. This may be due to early interventions including changing the name from Religious Studies to Philosophy and Ethics (R.S). This meant that students understood what the course entailed, helping retention. My students also did a number of activities that attracted the attention of the local news such as making a Holocaust patchwork quilt for Holocaust Memorial Day (see Leaving a Lasting Impression).

But unfortunately this year (whilst I am still very lucky to have 90 students) our cohort from schools is going down and R.S is going to be hit over the next few years because of this. So this year, for the first time in many years, I am going all out on Open Evening. Usually I just place books and DVDs of interest around the room, create a handout and have current students answer questions and talk and interact with potential new students. But not this year!

This year we had a number of exciting, interactive activities for students and parents to get involved with.

Around college laminated posters were placed drawing students and parents to the R.S classroom including:

• Posters with Quotes:
  
• Posters with Discussion Questions:
  
• Skeleton holding ‘What makes us human?’ outside the classroom
• Posters with ‘Fancy a Photo with a Philosopher’ (see below)

Continue reading “Open Evening Ideas for A Level R.S” →

First impressions are very important at the start of a new year. You always want to set the right tone for your classes – one that is both enjoyable and serious. It is about setting the bar with high expectations, introducing early challenge whilst making sure that students don’t drown with A level despair!

In the lead up to the start of term (and often during the first week back) you hear a lot of “What are your ice breakers?” I don’t have any for three main reasons: Firstly I believe that students soon get to know each other through the activities you do in lessons. My first activity is a picture of Socrates Death with “What is Happening” (download the PowerPoint and worksheet free from: TES Resources).

This activity works perfectly as an ice breaker because the students cannot get the wrong answer, it is directly linked to the learning and enables students to contribute freely if they are comfortable (giving off those initial impressions).

The second reason I don’t use ice breakers (by ‘ice breaker’ I mean those ‘talk to the person next to you, now tell the class what you have learnt’ sort of activities) is because we have so little time. I am half way through Plato at this point because we do not have the luxury to introduce students back slowly.

The third reason is because the course is tough, the content is heavy and the ideas are difficult to understand. I don’t want to lull my students into a false sense of security then surprise them with what the course really is like. Start as you mean to go on!

So here are my top tips for starting the year:

Continue reading “Goodbye GCSE…Hello A Level: Where to start when teaching A Level R.S” →