Corseford School

Affiliation: Capability Scotland Capability Scotland logo
Case Study Focus: How inclusive pedagogies and technologies such as alternative and augmentative communication (AAC) systems are supporting young people to achieve qualifications which recognise language learning.
Establishments: Corseford School, Kilbarchan, Renfrewshire
Learners’ stage/s: Upper Primary to Senior Phase
Date: 2015

About the educational establishment and the learners

photo of Corseford School

Corseford is a grant-aided school in Renfrewshire and is run by Capability Scotland. The school supports children and young people with complex health, education, movement and communication needs aged 5-18 to achieve their potential.

Each child at Corseford, follows an individualised programme, tailored to their specific needs which consists of education, physiotherapy, occupational therapy, and health care as required.

Corseford follows the National Guidelines of Curriculum for Excellence. The school has primary, secondary and senior phase departments and children move through the school with an appropriate peer group. The balance of the curriculum changes as pupils move through the school in response to their changing needs and in line with the wellbeing indicators of Getting it Right for Every Child.

In secondary school, pupils have access to a broad range of subjects including: English, Spanish, science, social studies, art, music and drama and have the opportunity to obtain SQA national qualifications.

The senior phase provides an appropriate setting for older students to further develop their skills for learning, skills for life and skills for work. The programme is tailored around preparing pupils for independent living and there are opportunities for work experience and taster days at a local college.

Corseford School is committed to using the latest technology to support the independence of young people and to meet their complex needs. Many pupils depend on technology for communication, reading and learning. Technology is also vital to promoting independence as it supports pupils to use their Alternative and Augmentative Communication (AAC) systems, control their power wheelchairs and smart wheelchairs and operate environmental control systems.

Find out more about the school on the Capability Scotland website and in the school’s recent HMI Inspection Report.

Progressing towards the “1+ 2 Approach”

Recommendation 9 is a key recommendation of Language Learning in Scotland: A 1+2 approach (Scottish Government, 2012), in which:

'The Working Group recommends that language learning be recognised as an entitlement for all young people through to the end of their broad general education, S1 to S3.' (ibid: 41)

Prior to September 2014, French had been taught at Corseford in upper Primary, Secondary and Senior Phase classes but, with a change in staff, Spanish was introduced.

image of Spanish text

second image showing Spanish text

'It is our aspiration to fully integrate Spanish into the life of the school through displays and use in the individual classes as appropriate.' (Departmental Handbook, 2015)

'The most important thing to us is that the children are all entitled to the teaching and learning in the modern foreign language. I believe that they are entitled to the same quality of education as their mainstream peers, we just facilitate that in different ways. I would say that many of the children here are functioning in Spanish at the same level if not higher than mainstream peers, and that is due to the fact that we’ve got a really supportive team who put together the Spanish into the communication systems. I believe that children are entitled to equality of access to modern foreign language, it’s about how we facilitate that.' (Maggie Macaskill, Spanish teacher)

Planning

As described in more detail later, all young people at Corseford experience some Spanish language and culture by way of whole school activities such as assemblies and corridor displays.

In terms of specific lessons, learners of Spanish in upper Primary, S1/S2 or Senior Phase classes, have a variety of opportunities to develop and reflect on their skills in reading, writing, talking and listening in Spanish.

The aim is to develop pupils’ skills for life, skills for learning and skills for work and:

‘To provide a learning environment which takes into consideration the needs, aptitudes and abilities of all pupils.
To provide a learning environment which challenges all pupils and which all pupils find stimulating and demanding’ (Departmental Handbook, 2015, internal)

Poster display

image of wall display

Learning is pitched at an appropriate level of pace and challenge, going beyond the teaching of simple words and phrases towards the construction of oral and written sentences within a variety of contexts.

Learners who continue with Spanish in the Senior Phase are likely to be working towards accreditation at National 1, 2 or 3.

National 1 modules are: Life in Another Country: Aspects of Life and Life in Another Country: Language.

National 2 modules are: Life in another country; Personal language; Transactional language; Language in Work.

Modern Languages for Life and Work Award modules are: Modern Languages for work purposes; Modern Languages for Life; and Building own employability skills.

The key to Corseford’s approach to learning in Spanish and across the curriculum is:

‘Encouraging and facilitating learners’communication methods, including eye pointing, voice output communication aids (VOCAs), Step by Step, flashcards or other resources. This includes liaising with class teams and Speech and Language therapists to determine which communication methods are best suited to the needs of each pupil, what their Speech and Language Targets are, and ensuring that pupils have access to relevant vocabulary e.g. words programmed onto VOCAs, Boardmaker boards and flashcards prepared in advance.’ (ibid)

Implementation

Learners, support and teaching staff across the school participated in a Café Español in May 2015. Everyone was encouraged to use the Boardmaker menus to order food and drinks in Spanish while some of the Spanish students served and took payment in euros.

Spanish poster display Cafe poster Cafe items poster

‘All students contributed to our recent Spanish café. Students enjoyed making magdelenas and chocolate caliente to serve on the day and, using the language learned over the past three terms, students undertook roles as customers and workers in the café. Local schools visited and mingled with the students, who all excelled in their roles! Everyone enjoyed the delicious treats!
Many of the students have experience of holidays in Spain and this really helped them to link their prior knowledge with what they have been learning at school. The context of the café brought learning to life through a very meaningful experience.’ (Maggie Macaskill, SCILT newsletter, Spring 2015, p.18)

Carefully planned lessons provide opportunities for learners with communication challenges to use their AAC devices to communicate in Spanish.

‘The key to teaching and learning here is the methodology, particularly in terms of communication and visual prompts as well and sensory prompts too. You know methodology is so important to us and it’s how we bring learning to life for our kids. It’s just about making sure that the messages that I want to get across in my teaching … the children are able to respond to them through their communication systems and it’s about good planning and organisation and staff support who know the children really well too.’ (Maggie Macaskill, Spanish teacher)

image of talker technology photo of Lisa with talker technology

Spanish words and phrases are programmed into their communication systems by skilled staff. Teigan, S1/2 explained that her talker is easy to use. Lisa, S1/2 said that the pages with the Spanish words on the talker are useful in lessons. Sometimes Jack uses a talker, other times he uses a Pragmatic Organisation Dynamic Display or PODD book.

photo of Jack with talker

‘I give a list of vocabulary that I’m going to be teaching at the beginning of each term, what they already have their previous vocabulary on from the very beginning of Spanish up to where they are now and then anything that we use incidentally I think will be on … then the talker gets done on an ad hoc basis … I always provide the list for the PODD books to Speech & Languages Therapy and the talkers to the class staff who know how to programme them at the beginning of each term.’ (Maggie Macaskill, Spanish teacher)

Pupil Support Workers are trained to programme the devices and adding new vocabulary is a regular part of their job. They agree that it is a straightforward process although sometimes it might take two or three attempts to input variations of a Spanish word before they get the right pronunciation from the machine.

Find out more about PODD books, other augmentative and assistive communicative technologies, AAC Scotland and the Other Ways of Speaking publication from the Communication Trust.

The recent addition of a sensory theatre at the school has great potential to open up new learning experiences for pupils.

sensory theatre table sensory theatre image

Rufus and Gary enjoy a virtual trip to the Costa del Sol in the sensory theatre, where there are images to look at, sounds to hear and feel, objects to touch and smell.

At Corseford School the methods of assessment used will be highly individualised, dependent on the needs of individual learners … Pupils take part in their own assessment by evaluating their work against clearly-stated criteria. Peer assessment is also used.
Formative Assessment is used on a near constant basis. As staff members and pupils work closely together, decisions are made on understanding, learning, progress, level of support required and next steps. Given the complex needs of our pupils, these decisions will often be informed by outside factors which can impact learning and progress. This assessment may take the form of considered questioning, observation or classroom interactions which promote learning.’ (Departmental Handbook, 2015, internal)

For CfE friendly advice, ideas and research for languages for any learner with additional learning needs, go to Languages without limits.

Impact

Impact has been felt across the school’s community and beyond.

For example, Gary in the upper Primary class uses a Nova Chat (talker) to communicate and after only a couple of Spanish lessons he was using the Spanish words programmed into his talker to chat to people and greet them along the corridor. One of Gary's daily responsibilities is to deliver the lunch list for the primary school to the kitchen staff. After only two weeks of Spanish lessons Gary greeted the staff by saying "Hola, here is the lunch list for primary. Adios!".

‘Gary has really got to grips with his communication device in just a few months. On top of that he has picked up Spanish really quickly and his enthusiasm for learning a new language is great, he is a wee star!’ (Fiona Catterson, Head of School)

In the Senior Phase class Sam explained that he had enjoyed learning about transport and using his symbols in Spanish class. Jack thought Spanish lessons were fun and his teacher was great, though sometimes it can be tricky to answer questions. Jack goes on holiday to Spain every year and is able to communicate in Spanish with his PODD book and his talker on his visits.

Parents and guardians have been overwhelmed by the progress of the students since they began Spanish in September 2014.

With Gary using his VOCA to communicate effectively in both English and Spanish, his parents said that they had never thought that he would be able to use one language, much less two.

Rufus has impressed also his parents as he is able to keep up with his sister when they do Spanish homework together.

‘I can definitely see a huge improvement in their confidence.’ (Maggie Macaskill, Spanish teacher)

Scottish Education Awards logo

In awarding the inaugural ‘Making Languages Come Alive’ category at the Scottish Education Awards 2015 to Corseford School, the SEA judges commended staff for their innovative and engaging approach to teaching. Pupils were also praised for their impressive learning and ability to use the Spanish language confidently in lessons and in other areas of school life including school assemblies.

‘I am so proud of everyone at Corseford School for their achievement in winning a Scottish Education Award for 'making languages come alive' for pupils, many of whom use assistive technology to help them communicate,’ said Dana O'Dwyer, Capability Scotland Chief Executive. ‘Capability Scotland's schools have a strong track record of promoting innovative teaching methods which make the curriculum accessible for the children and young people who attend them. Staff and pupils at Corseford have shown just how effective this can be in practice.’

Next Steps

Following on from the success of Spanish, the plan is to introduce Gaelic as a second additional language (L3) in 2015-16.

‘The teaching of Gaelic will be contextualised within our annual Scottish culture topic as an interdisciplinary topic which the the students participate in each year, building on what they have learning in previous years. Teachers will be trained in pronunciation of simple words and phrases. We aspire to achieve progression from simple words to sentences by the end of a pupil’s time with us.’ (ibid)

References

Scottish Government (2012) Language Learning in Scotland: A 1+2 Approach. Edinburgh: Scottish Government.