Guiding Question: How do we know if XP works?

Critique is in the DNA of XP Trust. This is how we hold ourselves to account. It is our scholarship and our rigour. If we seek to find out if XP works we are critiquing our practice and our role in developing it.  We are seeking evidence not proof.

To date there has been published research carried out by XP staff and directors (see below) that examines aspects of XP’s curriculum, pedagogy and vision. All staff at XP need access to this literature to inform their work, and also to be inspired to build on it by pursuing their own research questions, as curriculum scholars. In this way all staff can claim authority for their curriculum, to improve it, and, if necessary, to be able to defend it. If we only rely on the outcomes of our work we will always be destined to reproduce what others schools do and to be measured by their criteria.

Building Background Knowledge

XP Trust was built on the notion of teachers as learners from its inception. In 2013 the trust’s founders Gwyn ap Harri, (Chief Executive Officer) and Andy Sprakes (Chief Academic Officer) invited Dr. Richard Pountney, Sheffield Institute of Education (SIOE), Sheffield Hallam University (SHU), to support the application for a free school and to provide academic underpinning for its work. This liaison has grown into a school-university partnership, in which colleagues from SIOE/SHU have joined as directors, provided expertise and fieldwork in numerous expeditions, and undertaken specific research (see below). In 2014 Richard became Chair of Trust, Vice Chair of Directors and Director for Curriculum. 

The focus of this partnership has been academic underpinning of the XP Trust’s curriculum and its pedagogy. This includes providing rigour to the process of curriculum development, and to co-researching the work of the schools in the trust. It has involved XP’s contribution to initiatives as the Wipro STEM Fellow and Mentor Programme, involving ten trust staff to date, and the GROW Mentoring Programme, providing post-Covid support for over 50  XP/E KS4 students.

The partnership with Sheffield Hallam University (SHU) (Pountney and Said, 2018) has been the localised focal point for establishing the school’s common mission for all their students – to be able to go to university, if they so wish. This highly ambitious expectation has allowed their students to set their aims high, from whatever context they have come from. 

For the ‘Chefistry’ expedition for example, (guiding question ‘What has Chemistry got to do with cooking?’) year 7 students from XP were led by Neil Bricklebank, Professor of Chemistry at SHU, in experiments on the states of matter. And, Norman Dinsdale, Master Chef of Great Britain, guided them in preparing food using liquid nitrogen. These are deep, visceral experiences that help to enrich the education and lives of the young students at XP, who are making outstanding academic progress because of it. They are also examples of how learners have been given fair access to expertise and a fair distribution of knowledge that prepares them to be successful in the modern world.

This approach goes beyond simple notions of preparation for adulthood in order to uphold access to powerful knowledge, (Young and Muller, 2013).  Founded in social justice, this extends to epistemic justice (McClean, 2015), in which young people can be given access to new contexts – and to understand not just how the world can be different, but how their place in the world can be different (see Harris-Evans, 2022, XP Equity Mapping Report).

What have we found in our research on XP and what have we done about it? 

Notable in this inquiry to the work of the XP is the following empirical research, the majority of which has been undertaken by XP staff and directors (our XP Research Crew)

  • The attention to subject integrity in an expeditionary approach (Pountney and McPhail, 2017; Pountney and McPhail, 2019). The approach to expeditions is found to be based on a principled approach to curriculum design and is most effective when curriculum design takes account of conceptual coherence  in the context of interdisciplinary expeditions. 
  • The value of crew (Loe et al., 2017). Research shows that at XP the expeditionary approach results in improved Teachers’ relationship with the students at 83% (25% higher than the norm); higher level of Students relationships with the teachers at 78% (16% higher); and greater Students relationships with other students at 64% (19% higher).
  • ‘We Are Crew’ and relational proximity (Sprakes, 2022). This is adapted from the chapter written by Andy Sprakes for the publication, ‘Square Pegs – Inclusivity, compassion and fitting in – a guide for schools By: Fran Morgan , Ellie Costello , Ian Gilbert.’ The document explores the positive influence of Crew on both developing relationships and embedding a positive culture. See also Sprakes, 2024.
  • The involvement of parents (Sprakes, 2015). This study of new parents at XP identified the importance of engagement, effective communication and parents’ understanding of the schools’ vision, its curriculum and pedagogy, underpinning connection with the wider community.
  • Children’s Society Report on Well Being 2017 Children’s Society Report XP Summary 2017
  • Teachers as co-designers of the curriculum (Hotham, 2020) This case study examines curriculum making in Green Top Primary School, and how teacher collaboration aids design, while identifying curriculum subject knowledge as paramount. The study recommended the development of curriculum expertise more widely in the school, beyond key curriculum leaders. 
  • Providing real world experiences (Partridge and Bath, 2019). XP is included as a case study of intentionally linking learning to real-world issues as per the progressive model. Staff at XP teach across the humanities or STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts and maths). They have deep knowledge of subjects and collaborate with colleagues to find meaningful links in the national curriculum and standards between their area of specialism and that of their colleagues.
  • An active and engaging pedagogy (Campbell, in progress). This PhD examines active learning in science, in which the trust participated. It finds the importance of the social as well as the epistemic to promote an “elite” curriculum, in which students are active participants.
  • The importance of outdoor education and fieldwork to the XP curriculum (ap Harri, 2023). This research examines teachers’ understanding of the purpose of the outdoor curriculum, as central to the notion of Outward Bound and the Duke of Edinburgh scheme, followed in the trust, in order to inform a curriculum in which outdoor education is central, in line with the principles of Kurt Hahn.
  • Attention to Equity (Harris-Evans, 2022). This study, produced by SHU, reports that the trust shows a strong commitment to equity mapping , but this needs to be fully mapped and a level of entitlement clearly stated.
  • The importance of extended school time D6 (Pountney, 2021a).  The evaluation by SHU showed that the average improvement for the group who attended more than 70% of D6 in the year 2020-21 is 5.5 for A8, and 0.55 for P8 – equivalent to an average improvement of half a grade at GCSE. In terms of HOWLs, there was seen to be a significant connection between above “secure” (grade 3, of rating 1-4)) for pupils who attended more than 70% of sessions (Work Hard average 3.7; Get Smart average 4.1 and Be Kind average 3.6).
  • The XP activist curriculum (Pountney, 2021b; Pountney and Timmers, 2023) identifies how XP Trust addresses climate emergencies by actively involving learners in their community and giving voice to their concerns about sustainability and the environment.

Learning Targets

I can identify gaps in my practice

I can describe methods I can use to understand how the gaps arise

I can collect data on my practice in appropriate ways

I can analyse my findings and identify changes needed 

I can share my findings with crew in a form that is accessible and can inform the work of others

These LTs address competence for performance and can direct the work of XPU.

The references below, cited above, are for published, and in most cases peer-reviewed, outcomes of this work to date. (Note there is also a considerable body of associated research produced by EL Education).

References

ap Harri, K. (2023) Secondary school teacher perspectives of outdoor learning and its impact on mental wellbeing and academic attainment, unpublished masters dissertation, Sheffield Hallam University. MA Ed Research Project 22.8.23.pdf

Campbell, R. (in progress) Active science curriculum making: Teacher knowledge and expertise, unpublished doctoral dissertation, Sheffield Hallam University

Campbell, R. and Said, M. (2020) Powerful knowledge: a 3-Dimensional approach to curriculum making focussing on beautiful work, development of character and academic success, BERA British Curriculum Forum online event, Researching curriculum subjects: how teachers plan, design, and lead the curriculum. Retrieved from: https://www.bera.ac.uk/media/powerful-knowledge-a-3-dimensional-approach-to-curriculum-making 

Harris-Evans, J. (2022) Evaluation of the XP Equity Mapping Project Report. Sheffield Hallam University. [link to doc}

Hotham, E. (2020) At the interface: A case study of the relationship between the practices of teacher curriculum making and professional learning, unpublished masters dissertation, Sheffield Hallam University. [link to doc]

Loe R, Verbi S and Gibbs B (2017) Building Relationships through Expeditionary Experiences. Relational Schools Foundation. Available at http://relationalschools-org.stackstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Building-relationships-through-expeditionary-experiences.pdf 

Partridge and Bath (2019) Schools without walls, Royal Society of Arts. Available at https://www.thersa.org/globalassets/pdfs/the-rsa-schools-without-walls.pdf 

Pountney, R. (2021a). Evaluation of the XP Trust D6 (extended school time) Report. Sheffield Hallam University. Retrieved from https://xpschool.org/d6/ [link to doc]

Pountney, R. (2021b) The activist curriculum & global climate change education: Interruption, intervention or integration? Research Intelligence, 148, 26-27 [link to doc]

Pountney, R., & McPhail, G. (2017). Researching the interdisciplinary curriculum : the need for ‘translation devices. British Educational Research Journal, 43(6), 1068-1082. doi:10.1002/berj.3299 [link to doc]

Pountney, R., & McPhail, G. (2019). Crossing boundaries: Exploring the theory, practice and possibility of a ‘Future 3’ curriculum. British Educational Research Journal. doi:10.1002/berj.3508 [link to doc]

Pountney, R., & Said, M. (2018). Developing effective learners through a school/university partnership in curriculum making. Impact, 3. Retrieved from https://impact.chartered.college/article/pountney_said-curriculum-making-school-university-partnership/

Pountney, R. and Timmers, K. (2023) The design of the curriculum for sustainability and climate education in the early years, in Weipeng Yang, Sarika Kewalramani,  and Jyoti Senthil (eds.) Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics (STEAM) Education in the Early Years: Achieving the Sustainable Development Goals. Routledge https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003353683 [link to doc]

Sprakes, A. (2024) Building a curriculum through the concept of ‘Crew’, in Czerniawski, G., Jones, S.,  Holmes-Henderson A., Pountney, R., Pugh, V.-M. & Yang W. (Eds.),  Curriculum in a changing world: 50 think pieces on education, policy, practice, innovation & inclusion. British Educational Research Association.

Sprakes, A. (2015) Expecting the unexpected: parents’ perspectives on a new school, unpublished masters dissertation, Leicester University [link to doc]