Go with the flow
by: Educational Visits
3 Minute read
Sometimes just the thought of organising an Educational Visit can be a hurdle for school staff. A feeling that there is a lot of pressure on the Visit Leader, along with an uncertainty of whether they are “doing it right” even after Visit Leader training.
It can be useful for school staff to treat each Educational Visit as a lesson (or series of lessons), something they are good at doing already!
Knowing the FLOW of planning using EVOLVE can help relieve the concerns of staff and help them to become more effective at delivering learning in other locations.
When teachers are going through Initial Teacher Training the worry of planning hours of lessons combined with the thought of standing alone in front of a class can seem terrifying. This is managed with a mentoring system utilising experienced staff. To begin with smaller lessons are planned alongside the mentor, gradually building to whole lessons and series of lessons with the mentor checking and supporting offering advice and guidance as appropriate. Eventually the teacher becomes more effective and confident with both their planning and teaching. Using planning FLOW for lessons builds confident teachers delivering effective learning.
The EVOLVE system allows schools to deploy a similar model for Learning Outside the Classroom.
Less experienced Visit staff can gradually build their plans supported by the EVC as a mentor, allowing for their plans to be checked and guided before approval. Further mentoring comes from the Head as visits become more complex or remote, with the Educational Visits Advisory team as a top level of mentoring. All these levels are there to support and guide school staff to deliver safe and effective learning for pupils.
As staff develop in confidence the level of direct mentoring will reduce, enabling the EVC to take on their crucial monitoring role across the whole school.
Further support with enabling staff to plan using EVOLVE can be gained from the Educational Visits Advisory team with training. For more details Evolve for Visit Leaders | NYES Info