Diseño y selección de los elementos aislantes

In this chapter section, I will outline the ‘case’ of each of the organisations involved in this research as well as the child from each school selected for the in depth analysis. Much of this data has been taken from recent OfSTED reports, but these have not been referenced so that confidentiality can be maintained. The format for describing each school is consistent so that the reader can draw comparisons with relative ease.

Angelford Primary School is deemed by OfSTED to be a good school and has approximately 400 children aged four to eleven. It is a mixed gender school with most children from white British backgrounds and a significant proportion of children from minority ethnic groups. Angelford school has two-form entry with approximately 28 children in each class. Mathematics was highlighted as an area for development during the school’s last OfSTED inspection, with the teaching in mathematics described as ‘ineffective’. Prior to this research project, Angelford School had never taken part in any video conferencing activities. The numeracy coordinator has taken on the leading role in learning how to use the video conferencing equipment for the purposes of this project. The school has an ICT technician to support them one day per week provided through the Local Authority, but this is not usually on Friday when the video conferencing sessions take place. Angelford School has chosen to set their video conferencing equipment up in the ICT suite using an interactive whiteboard to receive video from the other schools.

The child selected by Angelford School to participate in the stimulated recall interviews is called Amy. Amy’s class teacher describes her as ‘modest, but extremely sharp when it comes to mathematics’. Amy is predicted a level five in her forthcoming mathematics SATs and is considered by her teacher to be the most ‘lateral thinker’ from those in the video conferencing group.

Benefactors Primary School is deemed by OfSTED to be a good school and has approximately 450 children aged three to eleven. It is a mixed gender school with about 50% of children speaking English as an additional language. Benefactors School has two-form entry with approximately 29 children in each class. Mathematics standards at the school are considered by OfSTED to be better than average, although not as good as English or Science. Prior to this research project, Benefactors School had never taken part in any video conferencing activities. One of the year six class teachers, who is also the school’s ICT co-ordinator, has taken on the leading role in learning how to use the video conferencing equipment for the purpose of this project. Benefactors School has privately employed an ICT technician to support them one day per week. However, this technician claims to have no experience of video conferencing technology and has provided limited technical assistance to date. The technician will be available during some of the Friday morning video conferences. Benefactors School has chosen to set up their video conferencing equipment in the ICT suite using a data projector to receive video from the other schools.

The child selected by Benefactors School to participate in the stimulated recall interviews is called Brian. Brian’s class teacher describes him as ‘good in maths tests, but impatient in maths lessons’. She warns that Brian is sometimes a ‘practical joker’, but this tends to be when he has finished his work and is not interested in the extension task. Brian is predicted a level five in his forthcoming mathematics SATs.

Churchill Primary School is deemed by OfSTED to be a good school and has approximately 200 children aged four to eleven. It is a mixed gender school with most children coming from white British backgrounds and a significant proportion of the children coming from minority ethnic backgrounds, particularly from India. Churchill School has one-form entry with approximately 31 children in each class. Mathematics standards at the school have been better than the national average for a number of years, although OfSTED have identified provision for the most able as a

target for improvement. Prior to this research project, Churchill School had never taken part in any video conferencing activities. The Head Teacher has taken on the leading role in learning how to use the video conferencing equipment for the purposes of this project, although the school’s Site Services Officer has also received some basic training. Churchill School has an ICT technician to support them one day per week provided through the Local Authority, and this is usually on Friday when the video conferencing sessions take place. This technician will normally be available to help resolve any technical issues as they arise. It should be noted that this is the same technician supporting Angelford School. Churchill School have set up their video conferencing equipment on a trolley so that it can be easily transported to different locations in the school as and when required. In general, however, the equipment is set up in the ICT suite for the video conferencing sessions and an interactive whiteboard is used to receive video from the other schools.

The child selected by Churchill School to participate in the stimulated recall interviews is called Charlotte. Charlotte’s class teacher describes her as being ‘outstanding at maths and always keen to impress others with what she knows’. Charlotte will often be found in the library at break time looking up ‘weird and wonderful things’ on the internet. Charlotte is predicted a level five in her forthcoming mathematics SATs.

Daleway Primary School is deemed by OfSTED to be a good school and has approximately 550 children aged three to eleven. It is a mixed gender school with about one third of the children coming from minority ethnic backgrounds. Daleway School has three-form entry with approximately 24 children in each class and the mathematics standards are considered to be better than the national average. Prior to this research project, Daleway School had already been involved with video conferencing for about two years, having taken part in activities coordinated through the Global Leap project described in chapter two. The Deputy Head Teacher at Daleway School is

for the purposes of this project. Whilst Daleway School do have an ICT technician provided through the Local Authority to support them for one day per week, this has had little impact on the video conferencing technology. This is because the technician is not usually available in the school on Friday mornings and the Deputy Head Teacher tends to resolve any technical difficulties personally. Daleway School has chosen to set up their video conferencing equipment in the ICT suite using a 42” plasma screen television to receive video from the other schools.

The child selected by Daleway School to participate in the stimulated recall interviews is called David. David is described by his class teacher as being ‘very strong minded in maths’ and ‘not prepared to change his solution if he believes he is right’. He continues to explain that David often takes on a leading role with a small group, but can sometimes be ‘a little bossy’. David is predicted a level five in his forthcoming mathematics SATs.

Eastport Primary School is deemed by OfSTED to be a good school and has approximately 500 children aged five to eleven. It is a mixed gender school with most children coming from white British backgrounds with a significant proportion of the children speaking English as an additional language. Eastport School has two-form entry with approximately 38 children in each class. Mathematics standards at the school are better than the national average, although OfSTED have identified provision for the most able as a target for improvement. Prior to this research project, Eastport School had never taken part in any video conferencing activities. The Deputy Head Teacher, who is also the year six teacher, has taken on the leading role in learning how to use the video conferencing equipment for the purposes of this project. Eastport School has an ICT technician to support them one day per week provided through the Local Authority, but this is not usually on Friday when the video conferencing sessions take place. It should be noted that this is the same technician supporting Angelford School, Churchill School and Daleway School. Eastport School have chosen to set up their video conferencing equipment in a classroom since space in the school is

limited. The consequences of this are that another class might simultaneously be in progress in the same room as the video conferencing sessions. It has been agreed that this unusual arrangement can go ahead, but it will be reviewed at a later stage if it is considered to be causing problems for the other schools in the conference. An interactive whiteboard is used to receive video from the other schools.

The child selected by Eastport School to participate in the stimulated recall interviews is called Emma. Emma’s class teacher describes her as being ‘very quiet when she is thinking about a maths problem, but then very vocal when she has a solution’. Emma is predicted a level five in her forthcoming mathematics SATs.

Fieldhaven Primary School is deemed by OfSTED to be a good school and has approximately 250 children aged three to eleven. It is a mixed gender school with about one quarter of the children coming from minority ethnic backgrounds and an above average proportion of children having learning difficulties or disabilities. Fieldhaven School has one-form entry with approximately 32 children in each class and the mathematics standards are considered to on a par with the national average. Prior to this research project, Fieldhaven School had never taken part in any video conferencing activities. The Deputy Head Teacher has taken on the leading role in learning how to use the video conferencing equipment for the purposes of this project. Fieldhaven School has an ICT technician to support them one day per week provided through the Local Authority, but this is not usually on Friday when the video conferencing sessions take place. It should be noted that this is the same technician that is supporting all of the other primary schools in this project other than Benefactors School. Fieldhaven School has chosen to set up their video conferencing equipment in a small meeting room normally used for one-to-one tuition for children with learning difficulties. A large television screen is used to receive video from the other schools.

The child selected by Fieldhaven School to participate in the stimulated recall interviews is called Frank. Frank is described by his class teacher as being ‘good at maths, but often immature with his behaviour’. He continues to explain that Frank gets ‘easily distracted’ and ‘has trouble concentrating for extended periods of time’. Frank is predicted a level five in his forthcoming mathematics SATs.

The secondary school in this project from which I was delivering the conferences has been given the pseudonym Osborne Road Secondary School. Osborne Road School is deemed by OfSTED to be a good school and has approximately 1750 children aged 11 to 18. It is a mixed gender school with about one quarter of the children coming from minority ethnic backgrounds. Osborne Road School has eight-form entry with approximately 28 children in each class. Osborne Road has a chief- technician and two assistants who are available during normal school hours to assist with technical issues across the school. However, neither of the assistants have the experience or expertise to be able to help resolve issues relating to video conferencing. As such, I needed to rely on the chief- technician who was often unavailable at short notice as he was dealing with other issues across the school. The chief technician was not prepared to be on standby to assist with problems during video conferences, but instead agreed to help out if he happened to be available at the time. Whilst not an ideal situation, it should be remembered that some of the primary schools also had limited technical support. Osborne Road Secondary School is a Maths and Computing College as part of the government-funded SSAT programme. The technology in the school is of a high standard since video conferencing equipment has been in place for around two years prior to this project beginning and the school also has a dedicated classroom with built in cameras and microphones for recording lessons. The school has several ICT suites and two banks of laptops available for staff to use across a range of subject areas. Maths provision in Osborne Road is considered by OfSTED to be well above average. The video conferencing equipment is generally kept in storage on a trolley when not in use. For the purposes of the video conferencing sessions, the equipment was set up in a small classroom normally used for teaching mathematics to small groups of 6th_{form students. The benefit of using}

this particular room was that it had two internet ports; one for the video conferencing equipment and another for connecting a computer to the internet.