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NAACE NEWSLETTER
May 2020

THANK YOU!!

Thank you on behalf of the Board of Management and all Naace members

To all the Key Workers including NHS Staff, Care workers, delivery staff, shop staff, emergency workers and teachers and support staff who are working to keep us all safe in these very different and often challenging times. Many of the teachers and schools staff looking after the children of key workers and vulnerable pupils will be Naace members, so a double thank you to them.

ADVANCING EDUCATION JOURNAL - SPRING EDITION

The latest version of the Journal is now available to members on the web site.
Many interesting and challenging articles complied by Christina Preston as our editor. From Where were we before March 2020 to Resources
Available to Schools for Online learning to Looking Forward to what might be the situation in the future. As always with some book reviews too!
If you would like to contribute to the Journal in a future issue please contact:

In the Naace Advancing Education journal you will find longer article about resources that are being put together for teachers and children in this pandemic.

Firstly Professor Sarah Younie started a small project in Leicester that has now attracted a global following and multi-agency funding. The original aim of The Germ’s Journey was to engage children in the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS- 3-5 years of age) and aid their understanding of germ transmission and infection prevention through the use of specifically developed interactive learning resources. But now the project is being introduced in Indian and Africa because the engaging resources are having some influence on the spread of germs.

The Germ’s Journey link is here:


More resources for dealing with the lockdown are here The link from our resources page is here:

https://mirandanet.ac.uk/resources-for-learning/ (Illustration ‘pdf Soaper Heroes)

Secondly Rob Ellis has spent some time pulling together a brief overview of free resources for Naace members to pass on. With so many children off school because of the coronavirus he has collected together materials to help parents find suitable material for their children while they are at home without the parents themselves actually having to become teachers. Indeed, not only does he provide free resources but he also provides hints and tips about how to search and about how to use the web safely which parents will find useful.

This is not a definitive list, rather a sample.

https://youtu.be/TwtS6Jy3ll8 Internet growth https://youtu.be/aDycZH0CA4I Online behaviour offline https://archive.org/web/Find out what a site used to look like https://www.snopes.com/


Thirdly the Open Content Toolkit is new resource developed by Theodore Kuechel which shares contemporary, and historical online open-content media resources or assets from around the world. These include images, maps, documents together with audio and media files. It is a vast collection, numbering in the millions. The toolkit provides examples and advice for using them. The tookit is organised into categories and it covers areas including copyright, search tools and techniques, remixing and digital and media literacy. Start exploring the toolkit here at the Welcome to the Open Content Toolkit page.

BOARD OF MANAGEMENT

The members of the BoM are: Ji Li (Vice Chair), Laurence Boulter (Vice Chair), Christina Preston, Ed Fairfield, Gary Talbot, Andrew Murden, Andrew Davis, Gavin Hawkins, Phil Blackburn (Chair)

The Board of Management has met twice since our last newsletter – both online. We have looked at how we can help schools and individual members during the current situation. A number of schools are actively looking to renew their NaaceMark awards or apply for the first time in the summer term. Unfortunately, due to the current situation, visits to schools for assessment cannot be arranged, so we have extended the ‘lifetime’ of awards due to end this summer term (i.e it will be three years since the award was made) – see the article below. It is hoped that we can restart the assessments as soon as schools re-open fully. Until then we are taking ‘bookings’ for assessments using the SRF online system and allocating assessors so that once we get the ‘go ahead’ things can move quickly.

We have also set up small working groups to move the associations work forward. These groups are: Self Review Framework group, Third Millennium Learning group, Quality Assurance group, Finance group, Partners group, PR group, Website group and the Teams group (to help us make better use of our online facilities). The Board members who make up each of the groups are shown below:


Self Review Framework                 Partners                               Website
Gavin Hawkins                                 Andrew Murden                    Laurence Boulter
Andrew Davis                                   Ed Fairfield                           Ed Fairfield
Phil Blackburn                                  Ji Li                                       Matt Rogers
Matt Rogers                                     Gary Talbot


Quality Assurance                         Finance                                 Teams
Gavin Hawkins                                Ji Li                                         Andrew Murden
Andrew Davis                                  Laurence Boulter                    Laurence Boulter
Andrew Murden                               Andrew Davis                         Andrew Davis
Phil Blackburn                                 Gavin Hawkins                        Matt Rogers


Third Millennium Learning                                                           PR/Communications
Phil Blackburn                                                                                 Ed Fairfield
Andrew Davis                                                                                  Andrew Davis
Gavin Hawkins                                                                                Phil Blackburn
NaaceMark and ICT Mark accreditation extended for qualified schools

Naace, the education technology association, has announced that it will extend schools’ NaaceMark and ICT Mark accreditations for six months in light of the current situation.
With many schools facing uncertainty and working hard to adapt to remote learning and working, Naace is looking to make life easier wherever possible. Understanding that many schools are proud of their ongoing NaaceMark and ICT Mark accreditation, Naace is taking away the pressure of reapplying so that educators can focus their efforts where they’re really needed. 
This might not be the best time for schools to be planning their NaaceMark or ICT Mark award application, so Naace is extending all accreditations set to expire before the end of the 2019/20 academic year by six months to allow for more time to manage renewals.
Phil Blackburn, Chair of Naace, commented: “Here at Naace, we can see that teachers are working hard to help their students adapt to home learning and continue developing – all while having to adapt themselves. We’re very keen to support schools and teachers in any way we can given the current situation, so it made perfect sense to extend accreditations set to expire within the next few months.”
Schools may still choose to apply for NaaceMark and ICT Mark renewal if they are able to, but there is no pressure to do so.
Naace is also looking to share best practice advice on using technology to enable or support home learning. If you or your colleagues have had positive experiences, whether with a particular software, online learning resource or something else entirely, please get in touch using Naace’s social media channels: Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.
Partnership with Eummena.

Following the announcement of our partnership with Eummena to bring the Self Review Framework to schools, countries and regions supported by the Eummena charity, we are very pleased to be able to update members on the progress of the work.
·       Documents were signed off at the BETT exhibition
·       An installation of the SRF system on a server provided by Eummena has now been completed and is undergoing final testing
·       Training has been provided by Naace to members of staff at Eummena in how to administer the SRF system online
Online Masterclasses – an article from Gavin Hawkins – member of the board of management.

An unexpected, and positive, outcome of the current restrictions placed on schools by the Covid-19 pandemic has been the relative ease with which school staff can participate in a range of professional development opportunities.

Across the country, providers have reached out to schools, teachers, and support staff through a range of communication and collaboration tools. An example of which has been the staggering number of teachers who have participated in online “Masterclass” training provided by the Citizenship, Language & Literacy (CLL) team from the Wolverhampton City Council School Improvement Service.

The Masterclasses, focusing on raising the skills and confidence of teachers delivering primary literacy, started as a result of the school improvement advisors need to continue to provide support to schools, but be unable to deliver face-to-face CPD and staff meetings in the traditional way.

Each week two to three free Masterclasses are provided by advisors within the CLL service using Teams Live, with teachers signing up to receive online resources, videos, and direct online delivery. The sessions last for just over an hour, followed by an opportunity for Q&A and presentations from teachers in schools who are willing to share their own practice.

Mark Smith, Senior Advisor of the Communication, Language & Literacy service says he has been “stunned and humbled” by the response to the Masterclasses. In just the first two weeks of the programme, a total of nearly 1800 teachers and support staff have attended the sessions delivered so far. With further sessions planned up to half-term, one can only expect the numbers to continue to rise.

Such has been the popularity of the Masterclasses that schools beyond Wolverhampton are now logging on. Teachers far away from Wolverhampton in Kent have recently taken part and all schools are welcome to take part in this free service. Further details can be found via the CLL Twitter feed @CLLWolves. Upcoming Masterclasses include Speaking and Listening to Support Writing, Linking Reading and Writing, and Ideas for Coming out of Lockdown.

It is the government’s aim for teachers and support staff to receive professional development opportunities, as outlined within the “Realising the Potential of Technology in Education” strategy. The benefits afforded by access to technology for teachers and support staff, accompanied by high quality delivery and resources, would seem to be an essential recipe for increasing numbers of school staff to engage with meaningful CPD at a time of great uncertainty.
An article from Dave Whyley a long time Naace member, originally written for the BETT Community.

Your School Online - Key considerations for school leadership

For everyone in leadership positions in the school sector, the Covid 19 pandemic has posed significant challenges. Not the least of which is how to deliver continuing education to learners who are working remotely from the physical school building. Ed Tech is obviously in a key position to support schools in delivering a continuing educational offering, but doing this effectively, is more challenging than some would make out. In an effort to support schools the Ed Tech industry and Ed Tech community have been buzzing with “Free Trials” and copious amounts of links to documents and suggested activities. How should schools safely and effectively respond to this need and what might be the key considerations for school leadership?

Read the full article on the Naace Website here.
SPONSORING PARTNERS

Naace is grateful to the organisations in the edtech industry for their continued support.

Thank you to:
Aver
CREATE Education
Elementary Technology
KAZ Type
Learning By Questions
Promethean
Technical Marketing PR
texthelp

Details of all our Sponsors can be found on the website here.

We will try and feature one of our sponsors in each newsletter. This issue it is texthelp
At texthelp, we aim to help every student understand and understood. To achieve this we’ve created an award winning range of innovative software solutions that help educators and students improve literacy, maths and assessment.
Our flagship product, Read&Write supports reading, writing, study and exams and is in use by over 20 million users worldwide. EquatIO is an innovative software solution that helps pupils explore, express and engage with maths on digital devices. With WriQ, we’ve built an automated assessment tool for writing - helping reduce marking bias, save teachers time and visualise writing success or areas for change. Our iOS app Snapverter makes documents accessible on the go, and Fluency Tutor builds confidence in reading skills.
Combined, these tools work across all major platforms - on PC, Chromebook and Mac plus content types from Word and Google Docs to the Web. They’re proven to deliver impact at all ability levels and across all levels of education from KS2 through FE/HE and on to the world of work.
Microsoft Gold Partners, and Googles Education Partner of the Year, 2016, Texthelp was founded in 1996 and is based in Antrim, Northern Ireland. It has grown to over 170 staff in offices that span the UK, USA and Australia, with every Texthelper making a commitment to positive change through education technology.
 
 
Naace - The Education Technology Association

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