Edward Vickerman
‘My dyslexia is a gift – it is the reason that I teach the way that I teach.’ E.Vickerman 19/6/10On 27th October 2009, Edward Vickerman
was named Outstanding New Teacher of the Year at the Annual Teaching Awards.
In his third year of teaching and his second
school, he is currently head of business and Enterprise Specialism at Freeston
Business and Enterprise College near Normanton in West Yorkshire.
Dyslexic himself, to the extent that he was not
expected to get any qualifications and was heavily discouraged several times
from fulfilling his ambition to become a teacher, he understands how all children
learn differently, and has particular insight into the needs of a dyslexic
child in the classroom.
He has revolutionised both the curriculum and the
teaching space in the 3 classrooms in his charge: there are comfy sofas, bright
coloured paint on the walls, a U shaped desk and a traditional desk to support
the computers necessary for the courses, but no classic ‘school’ desks or
tables and chairs.
One room has a coffee machine.
There are no textbooks in his classroom –there
are some in a cupboard, “For emergencies!” he says; but he says in this
computer age they are obsolete –everything can be found on the internet.
Some of the students use their own mobile phones
to record information, put it on screen or communicate with each other in
class.
For those who don’t have their own technology, in
the cupboards are flick video cameras, which students can take out to film
something, which can then be put on a screen and discussed by a group. There is
no need for them to write if they don’t wish to –their input can be recorded on the
video and saved to computer –even for homework: they can take a video home and
then email their work to Ed.
In terms of curriculum Edward has introduced a
variety of different courses, from academic, exam based, such as GCSE Economics,
which suits some students, through BTech and courses, which rely largely on
coursework and presentations to courses that rely on controlled assessment and
have NO exam component whatsoever. In this way he caters for all his students
learning styles, without ever lowering expectation. Each is able to achieve
according to intellectual ability without being hampered because of academic
problems.
Many students do no writing at all. Exercise
books are provided with one page lined and the other blank so that those who
like to take written notes can do so and those who prefer to draw their way
through their note taking have that choice; and for those who don’t like either:
some are given Dictaphones, others can use the flick videos –it’s horses for
courses.
And the results tell their own story and keep the
head happy that she took a risk and backed the vision of this amazing young
man. Edward Vickerman is getting 94% of his students coming out at the end of
their courses with A*-C grade qualifications; though he is dissatisfied because
he is failing that other 6%.
He says “Why should they have to sit and be
taught at when they want to be active and on the move. They’re 15 and 16-year-olds, they don’t want to be sitting down listening.” He is working on ways of
fulfilling the students’ needs even better.
And his classes are engaged with their learning:
the students work independently much of the time, individually or in groups,
with guidance and direction from him.
But more than that, the inventiveness he brings
to his lessons is practical and hands on: turning the classroom into an
airliner, with himself as an incompetent air steward to demonstrate how not to
do customer care.
Organising a trip to New York, for which each
student has to raise £600 themselves, to investigate marketing in US stores and
to show these youngsters, from what is regarded as a disadvantaged area, that
there is a whole world out there, much of which is different from their
experience and full of opportunities.
Putting clocks in the classroom set to different
times from other world cities, to keep it in the forefront of the students’
minds that there is a big world out there and that they need not be confined by
their dyslexia, or anybody’s low expectations of kids from Normanton.
Getting the support of local businesses to help
set up Freeston’s version of The Apprentice.
Edward is inspiring the entrepreneurial spirit
present in so many dyslexics; many are already running their own businesses
before they leave school and he has set up a young enterprise award scheme with
a group of gifted and talented year 11s. But it’s not all about the profit: the
students are already setting up schemes raising funds to give something back to
the community.
This is real, hands-on stuff –not stuffy theory
from some textbook –and that suits dyslexics and non-dyslexics alike down to
the ground.
Furthermore his methods and the ethos he creates
are expanding into the rest of the school and further afield as teachers from
schools all over Yorkshire come to observe the phenomenon and learn.
He says he got many of his ideas from his mother,
a primary school head and is adamant that his methods, with only a little
modification for different space and circumstances, will work to engage the
majority of children in any school situation.