REAL Alternatives Hub

REAL Alternatives is a specialist cohort hub led by TBAP Teaching School Alliance (TSA) and the Innovation Unit. It supports teachers who work with challenging and vulnerable learners. These learners exist both in mainstream schools and alternative provisions. The REAL Alternatives Hub is a community of ambitious teachers, schools and providers who believe that innovation is necessary to unlock the unique challenges facing these learners across our education system. It seeks to support them to reach their full potential in both school and adult life.

The hub complements the work of the TBAP Teaching School Alliance through its network of schools and also draws new participants from across London and the surrounding counties. Hub schools jointly develop new ways of working building upon the evidence of what works in the UK and international examples of advanced practice. Teachers are collaborating to design, implement and evaluate new practice and bespoke projects in their schools to see a positive impact on pupils in terms attendance, behaviour and learning outcomes.

To get involved -

I have been teaching Modern Foreign Languages (MFL) in the Alternative Provision (AP) sector for the past six years and I know it can be challenging, learners find it hard to engage with the material or find any enjoyment in repetitious grammar drills. I have also often been struck by how disempowered AP learners feel when it comes to education. This project however, took away all of the usual restrictions in the classroom and gave my students the freedom to be independent, to be responsible for their own learning and progression, whilst simultaneously learning to associate language learning with fun.

Through the combination of blended learning with individualised activities, this project let me return the power of learning to my students and gave them the tools to motivate themselves. I also rarely have a chance to share my teaching practices with a wider network, and I relished the forums and open ‘critical friend’ sessions during which I met with some truly inspiring practitioners. I cannot overstate the monumental impact the project has had on my teaching practice, my confidence in myself and the confidence of my students.

- Aisha De Lizarazo, TBAP MFL Teacher, TBAP 16-19 Academic AP Academy