Current news

City University leads the way in celebrating communication success...

15/07/09

On Wednesday, 15th July, Dr Victoria Joffe from the Department of Language and Communication Science, City University, London, hosted a champagne reception to celebrate the work undertaken by teaching and support staff as part of the Enhancing Language and Communication in Secondary Schools (ELCISS) research programme. This programme, funded by the Nuffield Foundation, and led by Dr Joffe, has been conducted in 21 secondary schools in the London boroughs of Redbridge and Barking and Dagenham.

A significant number of secondary school pupils have serious difficulties with language, communication and learning, placing them at significant risk for low educational achievement, behavioural problems, psychosocial and emotional difficulties, poor employment prospects and - in some cases - descent into criminality. This problem has been highlighted in numerous reports at national and European levels, most recently the Bercow Report (2008). However, there has been a serious shortage of specialist support and insufficient knowledge and lack of training in secondary schools.

The main components of the programme consisted of the delivery of two language intervention programmes (narrative and vocabulary enrichment) by teaching assistants (TAs) from the 21 schools to approximately 370 year 8 and year 9 secondary school students with speech, language and communication needs (SLCN). The Teaching Assistants were targeted in particular, because they frequently work directly with students with SLCN, with little or no specialist support or training.

The project also incorporated training of mainstream teaching and support staff. This reinforces capacity building and ensures that the knowledge base remains in the schools. Workshops have been highly individualised to meet the specific needs of each school, and have expanded beyond the local area to spread the benefits of the collaboration nationally and internationally. The benefits of this collaborative enterprise have been significant and widespread.

Management and teaching staff have reported substantial improvements in awareness of language and communication difficulties across staff, and staff have also reported important changes in the students' educational performance, behaviour, socialisation, confidence levels and self-esteem. The positive impact of the intervention is also evident from the students' own evaluations of the intervention sessions. Data analysis is currently ongoing but preliminary results are promising and suggest that the students have made progress in areas of language and communication targeted by the ELCISS sessions.

The reception was to acknowledge and celebrate the work of the teaching and support staff involved in the project. Guests included key people from the Redbridge and Barking and Dagenham Local Education Authority, Primary Care Trust, secondary schools from the 2 London Boroughs, City University and representatives from Afasic, ICAN, RCSLT and The Communication Trust.

Guests were welcomed to the University by Professor Malcolm Gillies, Vice Chancellor and President of City University, London. Dr Joffe, the ELCISS programme director, described the programme in more detail and acknowledged the contributions of the teaching and support staff. This acknowledgment was echoed by Professor Julie Dockrell, from the Institute of Education, University of London, who spoke of the important work that TAs are doing in the classroom, from which academics can greatly benefit.

Certificates were distributed to the TAs by Adrian Bailey, MP for West Bromwich West; whilst the Mayor of Redbridge, Councillor Thomas Chan, and Honorary Alderman, Fred Jones, from Barking and Dagenham, looked on. Mr Bailey congratulated the TAs for the tremendous work and commitment they had shown duration the programme. He expressed hope that collaborative programmes such as the ELCISS programme be rolled out in future to secondary schools around the country, including his own constituency.

Professor Mary Watts, Pro-Vice Chancellor at City University, London, brought the formal proceedings to a close with recognition of the crucial role of collaborative practice between teaching and therapy staff, and between researchers and practitioners: collaborations which form the foundations of the ELCISS programme.

For more information, contact Victoria Joffe

Back to all news