The Challenge of Year 8

Jean Rudduck and Julia Flutter

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Why focus on Year 8?

In many schools, Year 8 is seen as a difficult one – a year when pupils’ commitment to learning can waver. This resource summarises what has been learned from pupils and teachers in a range of schools about their experiences of Year 8 and it describes a range of innovative and successful strategies developed by teachers.

Official reports have sometimes given the impression that the dip in progress in Year 8 is largely attributable to the quality of teaching. The Challenge of Year 8 suggests that the situation is more complicated than that and explores a set of issues including teaching but also involving:

• school organisation
• the ‘connectedness’ of curriculum content
• the perceived identities of different years
• ‘hidden curriculum’ messages about ‘what matters most’ in secondary schooling
• Year 8 pupils' sense of social maturity.

What pupils say:

• “In Year 8, there’s not much going on. You can take it easy.”
• “It’s the only year when you get a rest.”
• “I always feel like – oh, I shouldn't be working this hard because it is only Year 8.”
• “Once you get to Year 9 that is where it starts getting more important.”

The research in schools

This publication presents data from interviews carried out with Year 8 pupils and their teachers in a number of schools in different parts of the country. The analysis is based on research into Year 8 as the second year of secondary schooling. Nonetheless, the approaches teachers have used to find out how their pupils see Year 8 and the ideas they have developed to strengthen and sustain engagement could be relevant to middle schools where some Year 8s are no longer as committed to learning as they once were.

What can be done to rescue Year 8?

The data highlight the need for schools to create opportunities for Year 8 pupils to have more autonomy and responsibility at this stage in their school careers. It also underlines the importance of giving Year 8 a clear identity and making it seem special.

Learning how to learn

The Challenge of Year 8 argues that Year 8 is a good time to focus on continuities in learning and ways of learning and to help pupils develop confidence in talking about and taking responsibility for their own learning.

What can you do?

The publication offers guidance on ways of seeking pupils’ views of Year 8 and gives many examples of things that teachers can do, in response, to strengthen their pupils’ engagement with learning in Year 8.

Contents

Acknowledgements

1 Why focus on Year 8 and why consult pupils?

• Why Year 8?
• Why consult pupils?

2 Dimensions of the problem

• The organisation of learning and the status of Year 8
• Pupils' sense of maturity and seniority
• Teaching and learning: What makes a good lesson?
• The importance of teacher-pupil relationships

3 Responding to the analysis of the Year 8 dip

• What schools have done
• Profiles of school initiatives

4 Getting started in your school

• Gathering data as a basis for informed action
• Ways of finding out what pupils thing about Year 8

5 Some relevant research

6 Endnote

Appendix 1: Examples of questionnaires

Appendix 2: Projects referred to in the text

References