Carolyne Coyle reports on how a revolutionary teaching technique is working at one Bradford school and the impact it is having on the pupils' problem-solving

In most classrooms at Challenge College there is a new green bin to collect paper for recycling. At first glance this might not seem a major development but it is the result of a new way of teaching pupils vital skills.

The bins were installed after Year Eight students took up a " Critical Skills" challenge on their personal development course.

Their task was to look at the possibility of starting recycling in school.

After doing their research, they had to present their ideas to senior staff and convince them it would be feasible, giving details on how it would be managed.

And now their ideas have now become a reality.

A team of six pupils empties the bins at the end of every day into green bags which are taken by cleaning staff to a huge recycling bin provided by Bradford Council.

The team told teachers in each classroom how the scheme was to work and now those who put the wrong kind of paper in the bin get a misdemeanour slip.

Rachel Smith, the school's senior strategic leader for teaching and learning, set the task. She said: "They've really embraced this challenge and they're really enthusiastic about it.

"They are so proud of their efforts and it has given them all a huge confidence boost. The main thing is they've been using their critical skills to make the project work.

"It takes a lot for them to stay behind every day for ten minutes but in giving something to their school they are getting a lot back."

Mrs Smith was the district's first qualified teacher-trainer in Critical Skills - a learning strategy based on thinking and tight deadlines.

Now all teachers at Challenge College in Frizinghall use the programme to encourage pupils to learn essential skills needed for their working life after school.

Critical Skills puts the onus on pupils to think how a challenge can be achieved within a limited time. And how they succeed is down to them.

It might seem the teacher is leaving them to their own devices but, Mrs Smith said, each challenge had to be carefully planned and progressed.

Developed by teachers brought together by the Antioch New Graduate School, in Keene, New Hampshire, in the US, the Critical Skills programme was introduced to the UK in 2000.

It was set up after teachers and business leaders were concerned students were leaving school with qualifications but very few working skills.

The aim is to help them develop a wide range of skills, including solving problems, making decisions, thinking critically, communication, organisation and management.

Students are set challenges in which they must rely on each other to meet a strict deadline and deliver quality work.

They present their findings to an audience and give feedback to other groups, as well as criticising their own work.

Mrs Smith, who started Critical Skills training in August 2001, said she had already been teaching in a similar way but without the "tag".

"The formal training gave me a framework to work from and the language to use," she said.

"Now if I walk into a classroom here and I say I want a 'quality' audience, the students know I want them paying attention, looking to the front and willing to make an effort, even if it is a topic they might not enjoy."

Teachers at Laisterdyke High and Parkside School, in Cullingworth, are now being trained and other schools are looking into the system.

"The advantage we have at Challenge is that when we walk into a classroom the pupils understand the language we are using and, through teaching in this way, we are helping to produce independent thinkers who will be an asset to the working world," said Mrs Smith.

e-mail: carolyne.coyle

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