An English teacher has been awarded £15,000 to help support GCSE resit students using virtual reality.
Alice Eardley, from Activate Learning’s City of Oxford College Technology Campus has won £15,000 to use virtual reality (VR) and gaming systems to build an online vocabulary development programme.
She entered the Let Teachers SHINE competition, run by the education charity Shine, which offered to fund to teachers who came up with an innovative idea to help children from disadvantaged backgrounds succeed in English, maths or science.
She was one of 14 finalists who came up with unique ideas to raise achievement in English.
Boost results for GCSE resit students
Dr Eardley will work with colleagues Louise McGrigor and Christine Dawkins to use VR and gaming systems to support students resitting English GCSE who are also undertaking vocational courses at the college. It is hoped that the scheme will boost the achievement of GCSE resit students across the board.
“I’m really thrilled about winning this funding,” says Dr Eardley, who works at the Oxford college’s Blackbird Leys Technology Campus. “GCSE English resits can be a significant challenge for students and this gives us a fabulous opportunity to help boost their confidence and achievement.”
Director of the Applied Learning Foundation at Activate Learning, Anne Haig Smith, said she was delighted that the project caught the eye of judges.
“We’re sure that giving our more disadvantaged students an opportunity to build a deeper and more challenging vocabulary will have a profound impact on their future success.”
'Incredibly impressed'
The project will be run as a year-long pilot starting in September 2018 with follow-on funding available Shine for projects that have the potential to be scaled up in the future.
Shine chief executive Fiona Spellman said the high number of applications for the competition showed how many teachers wanted to go that extra mile to help disadvantaged children achieve their potential.
She added: “We’re delighted to be able to support these teachers and we’re looking forward to working with them to develop their projects so they can reach many more children beyond their school [or college].”
Tes editor Ann Mroz said: “I am incredibly impressed by the standard and quality of the entries this year and every winner has shown innovation and a dedication to improving attainment.”
Since August 2000, Shine has invested more than £25 million into projects that have created opportunities for 400,000 children across the country.
