Centre for Professional Education

PGCE SD MA1 Research-in-practice Planner

Name: Julie Robinson Subject: English Date: 17th October 2013

Selected area of focus: Behaviour(ie Inclusion, Assessment, Language and Literacy, or other agreed field)

Section 1 – The Research Topic: Your proposed title: The Impact of Seating Arrangements on Behaviour for

Low Attaining Students

The focus (ie teaching/learning/ pupil development etc) Pupil development in terms of being able to work independently and as a group without going off task and behaving inappropriately.

What subject specific area or problem have you identified? Major problem identified is that the boys distract the girls and therefore this is having an impact on pupil development and engagement in English.

Why is this topic important to your professional development? Without the right classroom environment, behaviour of pupils impacts upon teaching behaviour and learning outcomes. In my experience the school policy of sitting boy/girl next to each other is not wholly effective and I would like to explore alternatives.

What evidence from different sources do you have to support the issue/topic/problem that you have identified? ( ie data, lesson observation notes, teacher comments, SoW, pupils’ work etc) Pupil’s work; lesson observations, pupil engagement, repetition of instructions due to disruption by those sitting next to them.

Section 2 – The Literature Review: What topics/concepts will form the focus of your review? Seating arrangements,

behaviour, gender studies, child development, peer relationships and influence.

What sources/authors/research/readings have/will you refer to? I will use the key terms above to research the question.

(The sections below are optional at this stage)

Section 3 – The Teaching and Learning: Which group(s) are you proposing to work with? Year 7 Set 4 – 16 pupils (10 girls and 6 boys)

Which topic(s) will be involved? Horror genre – writing their own horror story

What are the key aims of this topic? Improve literacy skills alongside English subject specific key concepts and

skills.

How does this topic support your proposed research plan? The tasks can be varied between independent working and group working.

Pupil’s work can then be assessed to see whether seating arrangements can impact on their behaviour and if this is reflected in the work they produce.

Section 4 – Methodology/Data Collection Plan Describe the sequence of your planned intervention (ie what are you going to do) Lesson 1 and 2: School policy seating arrangement – boy/girl Lesson 3 and 4: seating according to attainment grades ie: high attainment

with low attainment Lesson 5 and 6: pupils choose where they sit

What particular method(s) for data collection will you use and why?Questionnaires after each two lessonsFocus group of 6 pupils – 3 boys and 3 girls after each 2 lesson cycle. Questions will be semi-structured to allow for feedback from pupils.Observations by non-participant to record off-task behaviour using pre-defined checklist.The pupil’s work will then be used to inform discussion.