Raising attainment with an interactive whiteboard in Key Stage 2

MiE, Vol 17 issue 3 T his study took place in a primary school in a northern unitary authority which, according to the DETR Indices of Deprivation 2000, has some of the most deprived wards in the country. The school (3–11 years, 225 pupils) is in a ward which displays all the features of a high poverty, high disadvantage area; housing in need of modernisation with a large number of void houses; a high proportion of one-parent families and high levels of unemployment and economic inactivity. Allied to this, common problems of neglect, vandalism, dumping of rubbish and general decay present the community with serious social challenges. Sixty-two per cent of children are eligible for free school meals and 85 children are on the special needs register, with six having statements. The school has two small units catering for children with moderate learning difficulties, an infant assessment class of eight pupils in KS1 and a support base in KS2 taking ten children. Children are predominantly white with (often limited) English as their first language. This report is about a class of 16 Year 5 pupils (ten girls, six boys) assessed to be of middle to lower ability, and thirteen Year 4 pupils (ten girls, three boys) judged to be more able through end of year non-statutory SATs. This report concentrates on the response of the Year 5 pupils to the introduction of an interactive whiteboard for mathematics teaching. Early studies of underachievement by Fraser (1959), Douglas (1964) and Plowden (1967) concluded that, overall, working class students underachieve and that they do this mostly because of home circumstances and “environmental” factors. More recently, Plummer (2000), documents the failure of working class children generally, and girls in particular, attributing their under-achievement not only to “social” factors, but also to the culture and expectations of the school system being different from that of working class homes. Mortimore (1998) found that the school a student attends does impact on their progress and development more significantly than other criteria such as race, sex, age and other background characteristics and Stipeck (1988) states that teacher expectation is a major factor in raising attainment. Students expect to learn if their teachers expect them to learn. We thus conclude that, however difficult the situation, the school can probably make a difference by reflective professional development and communicating high expectations. The school has a policy in operation to reward good behaviour. A major concern in psychology and education is that extrinsic rewards decrease intrinsic motivation to perform activities. Deci, Koestner, and Ryan (1999) presented a meta-analysis that claimed to support the view that rewards have pervasive negative effects on intrinsic motivation. They concluded that: