Steve Oakes - The a Level Mindset: 40 Activities for Transforming Student Commitment, Motivation and Productivity

Oakes and Griffin have produced a remarkable resource that offers a significant guide to enhancing teaching and learning at A level, but with implications beyond Years 12 and 13. The resource is firstly a very practical guide to support the how of effective learning as well as the what. As such it provides a necessary antidote to an approach based on managing information and develops a coherent strategy to empower students understanding and help them become confident self-managing and self-aware learners. The second important point about this resource is that it provides a model that will stimulate professional dialogue around such approaches in primary schools and Years 7 to 11. The materials will also serve as a very powerful preparation for studying in higher education and employment.
Oakes and Griffin are to be congratulated and thanked for a highly practical, relevant and supportive resource.

John West-Burnham, Honorary Professor of Educational Leadership, University of Worcester

Anyone who has ever worked with young people recognises that helping them achieve success is a complicated affair and simply telling them to study harder rarely has the desired effect. What is special about this book is that Oakes and Griffin havent tried to reinvent the wheel but have searched through the work of some inspirational characters whose work has implications for coaching young people. They have gathered an impressive array of gems and then packaged them into a structure which is immensely useful. Their VESPA skeleton is powerful and offers an exciting array of practical tasks that can be used to help young people. This is not a one-size-fits-all book not every activity suits every child the authors recognise that this is a pick and mix approach to coaching. If I were still head of a school that taught A levels I would immediately order a copy for all staff teaching in that area if it didnt teach A levels, I would probably still buy the books: some of these activities are real gems and suitable for young people of a wide age range, so much so I think I might try some myself (and it is a long time since anyone has called me young!).

Dave Harris, Business Director, Independent Thinking Limited, author and consultant

At a time when too many of us lament the way A level teaching sometimes feels like a bit of a conveyor belt, heres a book designed to give responsibility for learning back to students. Its an ingenious compilation of techniques to manage our learning in these times of information overload and endless distractions. The book is more than a set of tips; its an empowering and optimistic practical approach which will help students to become more reflective learners and better at managing their studies. I learnt a great deal from The A Level Mindset and would see it as an essential part of any sixth form programme.

Geoff Barton, General Secretary, UK Association of School and College Leaders

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The A Level Mindset is a book that is steeped in hard won wisdom from school leaders who have clearly grappled with supporting students at this critical stage of their education. It is a book full of practical insights and it provides an excellent framework for teachers and school leaders to help students develop their working habits. This book provides ample solutions to support students organisation, goal setting, and much more, helping to complement our development of their subject knowledge. The VESPA framework that informs the book is well supported by interesting scholarship and there are lots of real gems of teaching strategies that can deployed in the classroom. The book is accessible, enjoyable and really got me thinking about my A level teaching.

Alex Quigley, teacher, Huntington School, author of Teach Now! English

This book is very obviously written by those who have had the experience (and pleasure) of working with sixth form students and the challenges that supporting them to achieve their potential brings.
The mindset approach, although based on research and theory, feels very real in the strategies and suggestions put forward. The practical and easy-to-follow strategies will support both the sixth form pastoral team, those involved in motivating the sometimes demotivated, with strategies such as the dashboard activity and 20 questions, and also the A level teacher looking for ways to strengthen resilience through practices such as The Three Rs of Habit.
I look forward to trying these techniques both in the classroom and also in more personal one-to-one intervention sessions. I strongly believe that this book will support the drive in any sixth form to raise achievement and also help develop a positive ethos which all staff can contribute to. A really positive and motivational tool for all heads of sixth form.

Caroline Lee, Head of Sixth Form and Assistant Head Teacher, Brighouse Sixth Form College

The awareness of attitude, mindset and mental toughness has risen to the top of the agenda in the world of education, particularly regarding their importance for student attainment and well-being. They make a crucial difference. However, the challenge for teachers and pastoral staff is how to apply this effectively with their students.
Steve Oakes and Martin Griffin have created a first class and very practical guide to the application of these ideas in the classroom. Combining their practical experience (they have done it in the classroom themselves) and a good understanding of the theory behind their approaches, this book is a treasure trove of tools and techniques, easily adopted by teachers who want to make a difference.

Doug Strycharczyk, Managing Director, AQR

A thoroughly enjoyable book; The A Level Mindset has successfully integrated research and practice into an excellent user guide. It will be a valuable resource for students, teachers, parents and carers. The tools and techniques described are both workable and relevant.

Professor Peter Clough, Chair of Applied Psychology, Manchester Metropolitan University

When you enter a mindset, you enter a new world. In one world the world of fixed traits success is about proving youre smart or talented. Validating yourself. In the other the world of changing qualities its about stretching yourself to learn something new. Developing yourself. Dweck (2007), p. 14

Our story starts some years ago, in a basement office.

We were studying that summers A level results suffering the final stages of the journey all of us go through. Its the one that starts with sleepless nights and anxiety dreams in late July, escalates to full-blown catastrophisation by early August and ends with the anti-climax of results day which, instead of triumph or abject disaster, offers the usual mixed bag of successes and disappointments.

Picking over the grades and preparing our analysis for the head teacher that year, one fact stood out above all others. There didnt seem to be a direct link between success at the end of Year 11 and success at A level. Looking back, this sounds both a counterintuitive and, at the same time, an entirely logical observation. But at the time it seemed a significant revelation. Surely, we conjectured, those students who succeeded at the end of Year 11 continued this pathway of success and succeeded again at the end of Year 13.