Skills Builder Global

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Community Senior High School, Idata/Ilagbo

Context

Community Senior High School, Idata/Ilagbo, is an institution located at the outskirts of Lagos state. This school is owned and run by the state government. It serves more than three of the most marginalised and uncivilised communities of Ibeju-Lekki Local Government Area of Lagos State. Our learners are ages 14 to 19.

Overall impact

We started the programme by engaging ten students who were members of the Students' Representative Council (SRC), and two teachers, focusing on listening skills. This programme has opened the eyes of our learners to the benefits of active listening. As they transition from one step to the other, their concentration during lessons has improved, our students now get more from school than before.

Keep it simple

We have posters of our focused skill on the walls of our classrooms. The meaning and steps of essential skills are uniform across the subjects integrating this skill. We model simplicity and consistency in the use of specialised terms in describing listening skills and steps among members of the school community. We teach our learners to think of essential skills as a building, listening skills as one of the walls of the building, and the incremental steps of listening skills as the blocks of the wall. Listening skill is referenced every week during our early morning assembly.

Start early, keep going

Initially, we selected ten students to take part in the programme. After some weeks, we decided to extend it to the whole school. We have three classes, population of each class is above 80. The age of learners who participated in this programme is between 14 – 19 years. We started with a baseline assessment to ascertain learners’ skill level before the programme. We started with listening skills by integrating the universal framework into the English Language lessons. At least once every week, learners have the opportunity to learn and practice listening skills.

Measure it

We conducted baseline assessment at the beginning of the programme. The data gathered from this assessment was used to determine the skill step to focus on with our learners. We employ group-level assessment in measuring the progress of our learners during every term. This method enabled us to handle the large class that we have in the institution. We sometimes observe the group of students in their natural state – while they are having a friendly chat. The English teacher often uses the data collected from formative assessment to decide what skill step to focus on.

Focus tightly

One of our teachers often engaged in focus and explicit teaching of essential skills. We taught the students the steps of listening, the students can now recognise and recall these steps of the Universal Framework. We had the skill icons on the board and wrote information about the skills on the board too.

Keep practising

During English language lessons, we referenced the essential skills. We used these lessons to further build the students' understanding of the listening skill. One of the parts of the national curriculum aligns really well with the listening skill so this helped us to teach this holistically.

Bring it to life

Developing strong listening skills is directly linked to an increased attention span during lessons. Furthermore, these skills are crucial for students to maximise their learning during after-school appprenticeships, as effective listening is a prerequisite for success in such practical settings. Beyond academic and vocational training, listening stands out as a communication skill highly germane to fostering relationships within families and the wider community.

What's next

Following our registration for the next academic year with Skill Builder Partnership, we are extending the awareness of the programme to the primary schools and junior high schools in our communities. We believe that essential skills are important through education and at all ages, and getting children at these levels of their education to start thinking about developing essential skills will make the programme more effective. We will be focusing on developing other skills. Our science teachers will focus on Problem- Solving, Creativity, and Teamwork. The English language teacher will focus on speaking.

Nigeria