Katie Middlehurst, St Ann’s CE Primary School
Project rationale
Whilst watching ‘Oracy in Action’ at School 21, I was inspired by the talk-rich assembly that I observed. I noted that compared to the current practice in my school, there were far more opportunities for the students to: engage in exploratory talk; speak to larger audiences; be exposed to interesting stimuli for discussion; utilise scaffolds and protocols; reflect and receive feedback. Therefore, I decided that perhaps introducing talk to our collective worship would be the most appropriate way to ensure that our pupils’ voices are valued and continuous professional development is provided for the staff. Following this, I started to carry out further reading and research into talk-rich assemblies. Whilst engaging in the talk-rich assemblies webinar, it came further apparent that practitioners should begin to rethink assemblies. Hyman (2018) stated that ‘If we believe in young people finding their voice, and if we believe in students taking charge of their own learning, then it’s time to make assemblies a symbol of 21st-century learning.’ Similarly, Goldsworthy (2018) implies that practitioners should ensure that assemblies are truly worthwhile by selecting the most appropriate materials.
To begin with, I used the following exploratory research question:
‘What is the current state of play regarding talk during collective worship?’
Following initial investigations, I developed the following exploratory research question:
‘To what extent does talk-rich collective worship implemented for nine weeks improve the participation among Early Years Foundation Stage and Key Stage One students?’
I have chosen to carry out this action research project with Foundation Stage and Key Stage One students. I have targeted these students for several reasons. In my school, collective worship has always been carried out with the whole-school at the start of the day for the duration of 15 minutes. This duration of time allows Key Stage Two classes to engage in an hour of the core subjects Reading, Writing and Maths before their lunch-time break. In order to successfully introduce talk to collective worship, I realised that I would need to extend the 15-minute duration. I also believed that in order for there to be enough space to create talk circles in the school hall, it would not be possible to invite the whole-school simultaneously. Therefore, in agreement with the Headteacher, it was decided that collective worship would remain the same for Key Stage Two students but Foundation Stage and Key Stage One students would subsequently be able to engage in talk-rich collective worship for the duration of 30 minutes. Starting the research project with Early Years Foundation Stage and Key Stage One students also meant that the impact of the talk-rich collective worship can be evaluated by the school over an increased period of time. It also meant that the Early Years Foundation Stage staff could gather greater evidence to support their judgements in relation to the assessment of the ‘Communication and Language’ prime area.
Baseline data
At the start of the year, the Early Years Foundation Stage and Key Stage One teachers were asked to complete a questionnaire which asked them to evaluate to what extent they believed that students participated in collective worship (Table 1). A score of 1 indicated that there was limited participation whilst a score of 10 indication that there was maximum participation. Overall, the average score at the start of the year was 6.2. This indicated that in order to allow the students to find and use their voice in collective worship, our traditional collective worship needed to be redesigned.
Table 1. Teacher ratings of student participation in collective worship (pre-intervention)
| Teacher A | Teacher B | Teacher C | Teacher D | Teacher E |
| 5 | 5 | 6 | 8 | 7 |
Intervention & intended impact
Over the course of the nine weeks, I carefully planned collective worship for the Early Years Foundation Stage and Key Stage One students. As well as ensuring that all of the traditional elements of Christian worship were incorporated, I started to search for relevant, interesting stimuli for discussion. During the first week, I ensured that an interesting stimuli for discussion was displayed as the students entered the hall. The staff were asked to organise the students into talk circles and prompt the students to begin to reflect upon the stimuli provided. After providing a brief summary of the collective worship redesign, I thoroughly explained and modelled the use of the discussion guidelines that would subsequently be revisited during the following weeks and the staff would begin to use in the classroom. During the collective worship, the students were provided with many opportunities to engage in exploratory talk. When providing a summary of the exploratory talk that they had engaged in, the students were asked to stand up and share their reflections with 180 students and the staff that were present. This was a much larger audience than the students were used to. Typically, the students would have only talked in front of the 30 students in their class.
From this, I hoped to raise the perceived level of student participation during the collective worship. Simultaneously, I hoped to develop the knowledge, skills and confidence of the staff that were present so that they could successfully raise student participation in the classrooms by facilitating exploratory talk, using discussion guidelines and protocols and providing interesting stimuli for discussion. Finally, I therefore hoped that this project would contribute towards the School Improvement Priority of embedding Oracy across the curriculum.
Impact data
In order to measure the impact of the project, I subsequently collected quantitative and qualitative data. To collect quantitative data, using a questionnaire, I asked the same five Early Years Foundation Stage and Key Stage One teachers to evaluate to what extent they believed that students now participate in collective worship. This time, the average score was 8.8. Overall, there was an average increase of 2.6 (Table 2).
Quantitative Data
Table 2. Teacher ratings of student participation in collective worship (post-intervention)
| Teacher A | Teacher B | Teacher C | Teacher D | Teacher E |
| 10 | 9 | 9 | 8 | 8 |
| +5 | +4 | +3 | +0 | +1 |
Qualitative Data
During the questionnaire, I also asked the staff to reflect upon what they have learnt from participating in the talk-rich collective worship.
Illustrative Teacher Comments:
I have learnt…
- ‘that talk and discussion helps children to actively participate.’
- ‘how to incorporate Oracy opportunities into different lessons and recognise the importance this has on children’s leaning.’
- ‘how to give children the opportunity to discuss, build on, disagree and summarise discussions in an appropriate, non-threatening environment.’
- ‘that children need time to reflect in order to participate and respond.’
- ‘that talk-rich collective worship gives the opportunity for all children to take on a role.’
- ‘how to incorporate Oracy opportunities into different lessons and recognise the importance this has on children’s leaning.’
- ‘how to give children the opportunity to discuss, build on, disagree and summarise discussions in an appropriate, non-threatening environment.’
- ‘that children need time to reflect in order to participate and respond.’
- ‘that talk-rich collective worship gives the opportunity for all children to take on a role.’
Also, the staff were asked to reflect upon the impact of the intervention.
Illustrative Teacher Comments:
- ‘The children are much more confident when sharing their ideas with others.’
- ‘The children are much more engaged and as a result, they are making greater progress. By participating in discussion, they are acquiring a wider range of vocabulary and becoming more confident when speaking to a variety of audiences.’
- ‘It has allowed the children to participate in discussions and hear ideas from students that they wouldn’t normally talk to. Usually, collective worship is very ‘adult heavy’ and this has allowed for class discussion.’
- ‘The children are now showing empathy and listening to others’ opinions and attitudes’.
- ‘The collective worship Oracy project has impacted upon the progress of pupils particularly in increasing their confidence to speak aloud and are now much more engaged in the sessions.’
In preparation for our SIAMS, a Senior Diocesan Adviser visited the school to support the senior leaders with their self-evaluation of the current practice in relation to the seven strands. In order to evaluate the impact of collective worship, the adviser observed the Early Years Foundation Stage and Key Stage One students participating in talk-rich collective worship. Following this, it was noted on the Self-Evaluation Form that ‘The Senior Diocesan Adviser has identified our ‘School 21’ style worship as innovative practice to be shared.’
In conclusion, the data demonstrates that introducing talk has successfully increased the level of participation that Early Years Foundation Stage and Key Stage One students have engaged in during collective worship. Additionally, the five teachers that were continually present during the nine weeks have been able to develop professionally and therefore start to increase the students’ level of participation in their classrooms. As a result, there has also been a positive impact upon the students’ social and emotional development. For example, there has been an increase in the children’s confidence to participate in discussions, listening skills and empathy.
Research Ethics
In order to include the quantitative and qualitative data listed above, a consent form was attached to the questionnaire that the staff were asked to complete before and after the intervention. The consent form reassured the staff that all of their answers would be treated anonymously. They were informed that they had the right to withdraw from the project until their answers to the questionnaire were submitted. Finally, they were asked to tick a box to agree that the information gathered in the questionnaire could be used as part of the impact report for the Oracy project.
Evaluation
To begin with, it was challenging to redesign the timetable so that sufficient time and space could be provided for the talk-rich collective worship to take place. To overcome these challenges, I was only able to facilitate talk-rich collective worship with Early Years Foundation Stage and Key Stage One students. In the future, I will aim to provide the opportunity for all students to be given the opportunity to engage talk-rich collective worship and therefore continuous professional development for all staff. However, the implications of facilitating this will have to be carefully considered and agreed by all staff.
Following this, my next step is to conduct learning walks. By conducting learning walks, I should be able to observe how effectively talk is being used to increase student participation in the classrooms. I will also conduct student interviews so that I can gather students’ views on how talk has impacted upon their: level of participation in collective worship, level of participation in lessons, confidence to contribute to discussions, confidence to speak in front of a large audience and knowledge of the discussion guidelines and protocols over time.
References
Goldsworthy, I. 2018. Assembly: outdated, ineffective and a waste of time. [Online]. [Accessed 12 February.] Available from: https://www.tes.com/news/assembly-outdated-ineffective-and-waste-time
Hyman, P. 2018. Redesigning the traditional assembly. [Online]. [Accessed 12 February 2019.] Available from: https://www.edutopia.org/blog/redesigning-the-traditional-assembly-peter-hyman
The Church of England Education Office. 2018. Statutory Inspection of Anglican and Methodist Schools (SIAMS) An Evaluation Schedule for Schools and Inspectors. London: Church House.