In between Bank Holiday garden tidying, preparing a room for decorating, trips to the dump and then a couple of hours of painting, I've been seeing a constant stream of tweets about the year 7 "resits" proposed for those who achieve less than the "expected standard" in the recent testing. It has provided some food for thought. 

In a few weeks’ time, the results of this year’s SAT tests for year 6 children will be returned to schools to share with children. Some will have done well enough, while others won’t have done. That there will be a range is highly likely. That this range will tell teachers who was an able learner and the gradation, as a class list down to the child who has come “bottom”, will also be no surprise. They could have told anyone that anyway. They know their children after a year of hard work, like every one of their colleagues.

Transition is a testing time anyway, especially as it involves moving schools, for many, at year 2 and 6. Transition within a school can be testing, as children and teachers build an attachment for each other. By the end of any year, good teachers will have extended their children in all areas, to a point where they are unrecognisable from the children who entered the class only ten months earlier. They mature, physically and mentally, achieving at levels higher than the previous year. They, their parents and the teacher are proud of their joint achievements.

Ok, I can dream that it is like that for every child in every class, but, realistically, it isn’t perfect.

However, there are some aspects of transition that can cause stresses for receiving teachers, and have done probably always. The receiving teacher has to “get to know the children”. This can take a couple of weeks or so in a primary classroom, where a teacher will have worked with the children for 25 hours a week, across a range of subjects. Even at three contact hours a week, a Secondary teacher will take 7-8 weeks to have that much contact. That’s not changeable, although I have visited a few Secondary schools that have actively pursued more of a Primary approach, with one significant teacher for much of year 7.

Before levels, transition discussions were largely centred around behaviours and friendships, who was good at different subjects and who needed some help, reading levels, and their most recent maths, English and topic books. For Secondary transfer it was the behaviour and friendship issue that dominated, as they tested after entry.

Levels gave a common language for transition, with specific numbers attached to specific children. Understanding that all “3b” children were not identical was an essential element of transition, in order to ensure that “best fit” didn’t mean missing bits as the new teacher sought to move on from “3b”. This was a main driver in developing the “Two page approach to writing”, with associated individualised targets, to remind the teacher and the child about their next steps.
 
The “missing bits” in “best fit” that were seen as one reason for getting rid of levels, to me, are still embedded in the system. Children will transition from one year to the next with some having achieved within the year and others not having done so. If a child achieves at 60, 70 or 80% of the year programme, there will be “gaps” in their understanding, which, if not identified and addressed, will remain as unfilled. “Bridging gaps” only succeeds if the gaps are kept in front of teachers and children as things to work on. Tracking the gaps is a necessary part of teacher activity.

The SATs results will show those working at certain expected standards. Those who don’t reach that expected standard apparently will have to retake the year 6 test at the end of year 7. That suggests that either year 7 will become a reprise of year 6, especially in maths and English or that some will be separated from their peers (streamed) to be coached separately, identifiable as the “slow learner” group. Each will have specific areas of need; some will be minor, having missed “achieving” by a mark or three, while others may have significant areas of need and may still have after the end of year 7.

The year 7 resits will distort transfer and add stress to many vulnerable learners at a time when they will already have concerns. Their attachment and security needs will be many. If a school tests children on another scale on entry for their own data purposes, they might be able to argue not to undertake the year 7 SATs, but that will be a brave head.
Rather than the money for year 6 and 7 SATs, why not move the funding to year 4, allowing two years of the remaining time in Primary for issues to be addressed?

If teacher assessment within year 6 was moderated, with Secondary colleagues present, it would become part of year 6 and 7 CPD; agreeing standards.

If book use between year 6 and 7 could be locally agreed, they could transfer with the child, to be used on entry, maintaining earlier quality, as previous benchmarks would be evident.

If personal targets were all on fold out sheets, the receiving teacher would have immediate access to that information.

Secondaries have never really accepted Primary data anyway, preferring to retest, so that is likely to continue.
Just to send children to Secondary school “below expectation”, will do nothing for the child’s future learning, their parents’ understanding or the receiving teachers’ organisation. That’s one reason why the new system will not work any better than the last.

Why do we keep deceiving ourselves that these tests give a more useful judgement than teacher expertise? Whatever the score, knowing the detail of how to get “better” is the core of progress.

​The words are mightier than the numbers…

Shorter, focused questionnaires?

During Parent Partnership visits, the question of seeking parent views is often raised as a topic of discussion.
It can be a seasonal event, the sending out of the Ofsted questionnaire to seek parent opinions about the school. The return rate is often poor, when schools are asked and the outcomes often less than useful. Equally, not every school is good at reporting outcomes from questionnaires. The longer the questionnaire, the longer the set of answers needed, which doesn’t make for easy reading.

Instead of sending out a long questionnaire, sometimes several pages of questions, why not tailor a few questions each month, related to the school development agenda, recruiting parent views on areas that are of mutual interest. If you are considering changes in some areas, over time, focus on one at a time and ask questions that have obvious utility. Schools send out regular newsletters, so these can be on tear off slips, or filled in electronically through the website, prompted by text messaging.

At parent’s evenings, a single question at the door could have green and pink post its, to quickly capture positives and areas for improvement.

Feeding back to parents can often be a significant missing element within what can seem like high quality communication.

A number of schools are now using a form of “You said, we thought, we did…” as a way to report to parents the outcomes of comments from parents. Where this happens, parents value the obvious two way nature of the dialogue, even if the issue raised has not resulted in immediate action. To understand the school rationale and possible limitations in decision making is purposeful.

The “You said, we thought, we did…” response can be shared back via the newsletter or website, or, as I saw in one school, on a parent notice board. In all cases where this is an obvious feature of school life, parents comment on the very good nature of communication.
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This is such an easy tweak to make to school life, yet can have a significant impact on relationships.
 

I am in the middle of a month of School Direct activity, with significant events marking the end of the training year, leading to the award of QTS and post grad qualifications. It is a delight to work with groups of energetic, enthusiastic young teachers, looking forward to their new life as a teacher. Then I read tweets and see colleagues writing about leaving. There have to be ways to ensure that this initial enthusiasm and energy remain in the system.

One significant element of the route to becoming the best possible teacher is high quality dialogue with colleague professionals; sharing practice, unpicking successful and less than successful lessons. In recent years, the appointment of a professional mentor has been a part of ITE training routes and into the NQT year. This person acts as internal quality assurance as well as professional coach, guide, model and counsellor. They signpost the trainee to appropriate expertise, to reading material and to resources that will enhance their developing practice.
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The role of the mentor has benefits to the trainee, but also to the mentor themselves, as they have to distil a great deal of information so that it can be enacted with ease during the ITE experience or within the NQT year. Trainee’s generic knowledge of areas such as behaviour management, planning details for learning, SEND and assessment, have to be transformed in practice to the needs of the receiving school, where each can be subtly or, more often today, distinctly different. The focus on evidencing the Teaching Standards is also important, so brings these to the fore in the mentor thinking too. These can be separated into the personal and the practical, as per the following diagrams.
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Once a trainee is in a school setting, the in-school support is key to their success or not and this, context-driven difference, can be significant, leading to variation in outcomes that can make a difference to the employment prospects of the trainee.
Many ITE trainees go into school practice with assignments to be completed, in addition to the teaching roles. Overview planning can be a key element of success, ensuring a balance of demand.
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Getting to know the children well is a key element of success, with Teaching Standard 2 (Progress and Outcomes) impacting on planning (TS4), assessment within and after the lesson (TS 6) and adaptations within and between lessons (TS5), as well as qualitative judgements about outcomes, all leading to knowing the children better.
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Inset at the Garden in Mind, changing views.
NB The Garden in Mind was eventually removed from Stansted Park by Ivan Hicks, but he has developed other similar areas around the country.

If you want to develop and outward looking school shouldn’t you go outside for inspiration from time to time?
​From the Independent, 1st August 1993 (photos from http://www.ivanhicks.co.uk/ current )

Gardening: Enchanted gardens: Lobsters of inspiration: A crustacean on a lawnmower, a Cosmic Tree of cable drums - surrealistic symbolism blooms beside the passion-flowers in a Hampshire plot.

​There's no point being sensible in such a dream-like place. Nothing is what it seems inside this half-acre plot in the grounds of Stansted Park in Hampshire. Everything symbolises something else. The three-tier box topiary tree symbolises a wedding cake which symbolises fertility. Dangling prisms twinkle like diamonds. A red lobster from a fishmonger's display sits on an old lawnmower, symbolising the surrealist poet Gerard de Nerval who used to take one for a walk on a lead.

​Lobsters are a good clue to the main inspiration behind Garden in Mind. For as long as he can remember, garden designer Ivan Hicks has admired surrealist artists like Rene Magritte, Salvador Dali and Giorgio de Chirico. 'I love all those paintings full of melancholy viaducts and strange towers,' he says.
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​The influence of surrealism is everywhere as you look around this garden. The colourful, artistic planting is interrupted by visual jokes and weirdly puzzling images. 'This is Derek,' says Hicks, pointing out a naked shop dummy painted with a fantasy landscape including a maze, medieval tower and a classical temple reminiscent of Stourhead garden, in Wiltshire. Derek's mate Claudia is a female mannequin, painted with blue sky, fluffy clouds and the vapour trails of aeroplanes.
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​When you have a school that is only a few miles away from a local landmark, have a TA whose husband manages the adjacent garden centre, where there’s a very pleasant coffee shop in the orangery, would you seek to use it within an Inset opportunity?

There were some new staff, some new ICT kit recently installed, a need to enhance classroom use of images and we were actively developing the approach to writing described in “Two page approach to writing”. So we were team building, all staff, ensuring an equal opportunity to explore ideas. It was a chance to put adults in the shoes of child learners, encountering something new.

Having started with coffee and a pleasant shortbread and armed with cameras and small notebooks (to write in, with pencil!), the whole staff went to this surreal garden. To say that it caught some by surprise would be an understatement. The initial comments were somewhat hostile, suggesting a waste of time, not able to understand, gardens have grass and flowers. But, as the morning wore on, it was the smaller details which caught the eye. The brave started to say they actually could see the ideas behind the garden, some began to draw and write as an aide memoire and take photographs.

The discussions became more nuanced, developing a broader understanding. As the garden had been influenced by Magritte and Dali, the artists began to appreciate the translation from painting to garden, so seeing the garden as a living painting. There was a significant sharing of background experience, deepening the group understanding.

Back in school, for the afternoon, teams had the task of developing flyers for the experience, based on their experiences, collected images and the conversations which had arisen. The team came together, within a collective project.

Discussion demonstrated that virtually the whole Primary curriculum could be serviced from the one experience, eg:-

•          Maths, measures=length, shape=2D and 3D, counting, matching, sorting, scale drawing, balance.
•          English, oracy throughout, reading (broad), writing=notemaking then drafting text for flyer (re-reading), descriptive and imaginative writing in the open air.
•          Geography, mapping skills, links to scale, OS map work=plan a walk.
•          History, Stansted House and Gardens, History of Garden/gardening.
•          Science, plants, materials and change.
•          Music, based on percussive instruments=wind chimes.
•          Art, observational drawing, painting, collage, sculpture.
•          RE, special places, spiritual feelings.
•          ICT, images, text.

The exercise was one of opening eyes and minds to the potential in the environment to support the curriculum. As a result, staff became more innovative in their approaches, supporting and challenging each other. The curriculum became richer, engaging and inspiring children further. It was a virtuous spiral.

And from Ofsted at the time:-
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The quality of curriculum planning is very good. It is planned in discrete subjects for
mathematics and English and in topics for science, history, geography and art. Other subjects
link with this where possible and some good links between subjects are identified. Planning takes
account of what has gone before and builds systematically on existing knowledge, understanding
and skills, ensuring continuity from year to year. Planning and outcomes are monitored by curriculum co-ordinators.
The curriculum is enriched by a good number of visits and visitors to give first-hand experience
and by a good range of extra-curricular activities. Visits include museums, theatres, churches
and many local places of environmental, historical and geographical interest. Visitors include a
theatre group, a local potter, a poet and the church team.
 
It’s a case of know-how and show-how.

Assessment, to me, is getting to know, matching and challenging children’s needs even better, while not forgetting what they don’t appear to know and still need to work on, or show evidence that they have a particular bit of knowledge or skill.

The word progressive is use to suggest forward movement, rather than a pedagogical style, although some element of the blog may be suggestive of a style. It looks at information feeding forward to support decision making.

That assessment is, or has been made to become, complex, seems to be a daily matter on social media. Some simplify it to formal testing, while others add regular quizzes, book scrutiny or discussions. In many ways, assessment is an amalgam of all of them, in that each is an opportunity for a child to perform in a specific situation, each of which can elicit a facet of the child’s understanding, even if that is a phobia of testing.

Few, if any of them can create a full picture of a child’s total performance; even the most sophisticated exam will often enable a child to pass or fail on the basis of a norm referenced outcome. A child getting 46% where the pass mark is 45% achieves, but, by definition has a 55% “gap” in understanding. This kind of formula will apply to KS2 SAT outcomes, GCSE “O” and GCE “A” levels. Unless a child gets 100% in an exam that tests everything, they have a “gap” in their knowledge. No one is perfect. Mind you, the National Curriculum does allude to that expectation, in that the only assessment criterion, first articulated in the draft documentation, was to know and understand the contents of the programme of study.

Apart from the terminal exams, which I have argued, within KS2, could be better organised into year 4 as diagnostic tests to support development in years 5&6, most assessment is of a day to day variety, which I summarised in the 3G assessment system blog.

Teachers are first and foremost human. They normally have a class of 30 children, in Primary, for every subject.

The teacher “mark book” on the desk, the written plans, once written, may play no real part in any lesson. It is the residual awareness of the child need that then guides interactions.
I have to presuppose that the tasking of the children has been tailored as carefully as possible to their needs, not just a sheet downloaded from the internet as an “activity”, which can become de facto “busy work”. This presupposition of matching needs also includes the idea of challenge.

Before differentiation became a word, match and challenge were the bywords for activities.
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To that end, it is worth thinking about aides-memoire, for the teacher and support adults, which can enable them to guide a child’s development in a detailed manner. Readers of the blog may already have looked at the blogs on developing exercise books as personal organisers. In this blog, I want to make use of the premise of that blog and develop the idea further to support assessment activity.

The original two page approach derived from the National Writing Project as a means of collating the writing process into a practical form. Over time, it became tweaked and adjusted to need, with the addition of personalised “flaps” to support more independent working practices. Key vocabulary for a topic can be separated to another flap, for reference.

Any readers old enough to remember the series of GCE revision guide series based on playing cards? That principle, of essential knowledge, has similarities. Flaps could support revision at a later stage.

The target flap, where some teachers might be less happy with individual target setting, could be transposed into a teacher aide memoire. I have simplified this to WILF, to suggest “what I’m Looking For”. I know some hate WALT and WILF, but it provides a useful shorthand. This can be used for general ideas in a subject that might transcend the differences between lessons, whereas the specifics can be detailed in Success Criteria for that lesson. The “teacher flap” could be seen as feed forward marking, if general needs exist.

Children, especially from upper infants, can begin to self-assess against criteria, and can be asked to highlight specifics within their work that exemplify the expectations of the lesson and their ongoing learning, eg if one of their “targets” was “conjunctions” or “fronted adverbials” and they can highlight/underline correctly an example in their writing, the teacher marking is eased a little.

Using the left-right page idea allows for some editing and redrafting of ideas. A contents page at the front eases finding specific topics. Summarising boxes can be developed, perhaps in the right hand corner of the right hand page to identify key ideas for memorisation. Quickly flicking through the book at a later stage can enable rapid recall.
Order and organisation can support child and adult working practice.

In Primary, consideration of all significant writing in one exercise book can enhance the value of each piece. In fact, it might be worth considering one book for English (main writing), Topic (other writing) and maths, with a sketch book to secure aspects of art.

Passing books within transition periods and continuity of working within them enables receiving teachers to maintain the quality that was achieved in July. Planning a two week “settling and sorting topic” allows this to embed before moving forward.

Order and organisation can support assessment, progress and secure outcomes.

Why am I feeling so cross? Because a group of people appear to be hell-bent on chopping up the education system to serve some kind of dogmatic purpose that they argue will make education “better”, but, in reality, will ensure that a generation of children will live through an extended period of insecurity.

This week, I reflected on internal school organisation that supports the delivery of a broad, balanced and relevant experience for both staff and children. This is the bread and butter of education, that, each and every day, every child should receive the best quality of education that can be provided at that school.

Using the term, “at that school” is somewhat loaded, in that the school is provided by an external authority. The quality and repair of the building fabric is determined by someone other than those whose job it is to make the best use of the place. Quality can range from brand new and purpose built to almost condemned, but not quite yet as there’s no extra money.

Under Local Authorities, birth data for different areas were used to predict the need for school places over the foreseeable future, from infant to secondary. This might mean extension of some facilities, while others might become less needed, with amalgamation as an option. Local decisions were made my locally responsible people. Parents and Governors could lobby or make representations to local representatives. Decisions, in favour or against, could be addressed at a local election.

Rapid advice across a wide spectrum of need could be available with a couple of well-directed phone calls. Under Local Management of Schools (LMS), schools could make financial decisions for themselves, or choose to participate in Service Level Agreements (SLAs) with Local authority provision. An example might be the School Library Service, which, for an annual fee, ensured the regular exchange of a significant number of books, ICT support and free training for librarians. As the budget was school controlled, decisions that affected that school, on a day to day basis, as well as longer term, such as staffing, could be made. Where economies were made, these could be used to make decisions on the “nice to have” elements.

Teacher supply, through ITE departments of universities, was generally assured, and certainly quality assured by the awarding of Qualified Teacher Status to trainees completing their 1 year PGCE or a 3 year undergraduate course. Quality assured, from selection through to qualification, ratified after their Newly Qualified Teacher (NQT) year, then through competency procedures when in post, all judged against the Teacher Standards, allowed the profession qualified status. Becoming an outstanding teacher takes time, reflection and personal development.

That some areas historically have found difficult in attracting staff, with consequent difficulties in learning outcomes, cannot be denied. There have always been “popular” schools, attracting good staff, who, quite often, then choose to stay where they can establish greater equilibrium in their lives. These schools become successful over time, remain over-subscribed, ensuring continual budget and continue to succeed, with locality house sales sought by new parents wanting school places. Higher prices drive up their aspiration.

Stability is a very sound place within which to develop strong structures, capable of dealing with changes, expected and unexpected, whereas the opposite is also true. Instability in staffing does not allow a clear narrative to be developed, nor to be sustained, as staff turn-over reduces the “Tribal Memory” of the school, requiring constant reinvention, in an environment that requires a period of sustainable calm, to enable development.

So how do we achieve the perfect state? Probably never, because education is based around people and people don’t always function perfectly all the time.

However, there are some key points which must be in place.

Buildings:-
An identifiable authority ( as local as possible) to provide the essential infrastructure, including repair and maintenance, required as a result of local birth and building data that ensures that all buildings meet an agreed national minimal standard.

Resources:-
Finances should be known over, preferably, a three year period, to enable local decision making and the smooth provision of human and physical resources to fully effect an efficient education for all children.
High quality teacher provision should be a national priority, based on the qualified teacher system. This is the only way that professionals can ultimately be held to account in exceptional circumstances.

Oversight:-
Where Local Authorities have been responsible for education, and many have now been run down, it is proposed that systems of smaller Multi-Academy Trusts (MATs) will take over responsibility. Where these are geographically dispersed, local quality might be compromised, as advisors and assessors have to travel long distances to address issues.

The DfE doesn’t have the capacity to run 25000 schools, nor do the eight Regional Schools Commissioners, nor, occasionally, do the already existing Academy chains, even relatively small ones.
 
(Personally, I’d rather have seen LAs maintained, strengthened (and regularly inspected) to oversee whatever structure is developed within their locality, to quality assure provision for the people who elect representatives as councillors. Local accountability should be maintained.)

Quality Assurance is currently in the hands of Ofsted. This has been adapted and continually looks to do so, to support school judgements.
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And, to finish on a slightly peevish note. None of the proposed changes are actually necessary. There is the argument about raising standards, which was articulated in the last Government by David Laws, the then schools’ minister, who argued that, at KS2 children should reach a level 4b to be “secondary ready”. Levels were promptly abandoned and a new, “more challenging”, “national standard” introduced, by Nick Gibb. They may have had flaws and, over time, been misused, but levels did give a national benchmark and professional vocabulary for moderating discussion.

If, instead of all the effort that has been expended over the past six years, a simple question had been asked of the teaching profession, in year one of the 2010 Government, “How can we get more children to level 4b, in maths, reading and writing?”, with a national dialogue, not only would improvement have been achieved earlier, but significant professional development might have ensued.

A little more understanding of education, a great deal of well thought through strategy, better and clearer communication and dialogue, bringing in all “stakeholders”, and a great deal less hot air and bluster.

That’s how schools get better. Moderation is needed.

• If moderation occurs across a school, there is common assent to decisions regarding achievement and progress expectations.
• Teaching is, after all, a team game, each stage reliant on the previous one.
• If moderation occurs across schools, an area wide understanding occurs.
• If outcomes of National testing are seen as moderation, the outcomes could provide exemplar material to support internal moderation.
• If moderation became a common tool across all schools, supported by external expertise, as necessary, there would be a reduced need for formal testing, so we could save money on SATs testing.
• If specialist in-house teachers became (nationally accredited) trained moderators and mentor, for internal and external use, the use of such people would provide opportunities for mass CPD and lead to higher expectations, based on a common understanding.
• If lesson observations became a moderation exercise, based on the common agenda of the teaching standards, then feedback would be developmental. Nobody is perfect all the time.
• If Ofsted and other assessment/inspection visits were moderation visits, to validate the judgements of the internal moderation team, we would establish expectations common to every school in the country.
• If Ofsted inspectors moderated each other, the judgements across every establishment would be consistent.
• If judgements across every classroom in every school in the country were common, as a national educational establishment we would make progress.
• A bit of joined up, strategic thinking, would not go amiss.

It is a case of all things in moderation. I’ll drink to that- in moderation, of course.

We are talking of little people’s life chances.

What level of disorganisation can you deal with in life?

On a personal level, I think that, over time, I have become more organised, in order that I can then deal with the inevitable changes to plan that life offers. In order to ensure some element of home-life balance, as a teacher, I sought to ensure that marking was done at school before leaving, so that, if anything needed doing in the evening, or at weekends, it would be an aspect of planning. There were inevitable compromises, as meetings or training events impacted. There had to be some element of flexibility built in. As life impacted, too, when I was a headteacher, I needed work to be as organised as it could be, to enable quality time at home.

I have begun to wonder if technology, while making some elements of life easier over time, have actually made some elements of teacher life harder. An example of this would be planning.

Whereas, as a classroom teacher, my planning was handwritten in a hard back notebook, for me, as an aide memoire, today teachers can be asked to fill in an electronic proforma, with boxes designed to inform someone in a management role that certain aspects have been considered and often written in considerable detail. I would concentrate on the bigger picture, of the essential knowledge to be shared and particular needs of children to be considered, whereas now, I often see plans as scripts, developed from an earlier medium term plan. It is possible to think that teachers are being asked to over-plan.

This was an element that exercised me throughout my time as a headteacher, as I was aware that I needed to strike the right balance between my need to know what was going on in the school, in order to be party to and to be able to share the overall narrative, while at the same time, safeguarding the well-being of staff and ensuring that they had sufficient thinking time to develop practice.

The only way to take charge of this is to operate within different levels of interlocking organisation, starting at school level.

The curriculum was clearly developed within a planning structure that I have blogged about, with different timescales developed that enabled quality time for thinking.

In essence, the whole was based on

Every topic being developed as a “specification” that detailed the essential knowledge that underpinned the learning as well as the anticipated range of outcomes across a mixed ability class, based on capabilities developed from “level descriptors”.

Topics lasted as long as needed, not allowed to expand to fill a half term/term. There was flexibility to link topics where a teacher saw creative benefits. This allowed for subtly different interpretations each year.

An annual plan for each year group (see above), covering all subjects in outline, was developed on a July closure, before the new academic year, ensuring a positive start in September.

First two weeks in September given to a teacher topic to get to know the children well.

The second Friday of the September term given to admin for the year and time to develop a detailed overview of the remainder of the half terms’ plans, based on good understanding of children’s needs. A copy came to me.

Teacher short term and daily plans were personal, in any form that supported their teaching.

Teachers met with parents in week 3 or 4 in September to share the year plan and to share ways in which they might help their children during the year.

The school overall plans ensured that high demand times for teachers, such as report writing, February and June/July, were not subject to high demand training or meeting schedules.

Knowing that specific information is required at specific times allowed teachers to organise their own diaries to ensure that this was done, in so doing reducing the need to chase staff and add to pressure.
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Knowing ahead of time that certain topics would be covered enabled library book exchange to ensure that there was sufficient stock available to support research, that high demand on some equipment could be managed and that necessary stock items could be ordered in time.

Good structural organisation also enabled quality thinking time to be planned and funded, so that development time could be focused and more effective, both in creation and dissemination of projects. Occasional slippage, caused by staff absence, or an unexpected eventuality, as can easily occur in school, could be managed more easily.

Reading. Using a well ordered colour coded reading system allowed staff to enable children to have free access to books for changing, maintaining interest and motivation. With guided reading books at teaching/challenge level, home books were at a colour below, so a greater fluency level meant children could read them for themselves.

Writing. Order and organisation was developed in the approach to writing, with books developed as personal organisers. This allowed teachers to interact with individuals with a known agenda for development. It supported dialogue and written feedback, so marking became more focused to need, so had greater impact.

The whole enabled a clarity of narrative at child, parent, teacher and school level, ensuring that everyone had as clear an idea of direction of travel as we could hope to achieve.

Additional linked blogs

Planning Learning
Director of education or scriptwriter?
Planning Permission?
Myopic planning?
Reading; essentials
Get them reading!
​Reading is a personal thing
Reading; between sessions
Reading dynamics
Fifty(ish) reading ideas
Reading; once upon a time...
Note making, not note taking...
Draft-check-improve/redraft
National writing project; revival time?
All writing in one exercise book?
Writing process; tweak your books
Exercise books as personal organisers?

Something, of worth, to talk about, to read about then maybe to write about, with an adult coach, guide and teacher.

Nobody can fail to notice that (new tougher) SATs start today. An article from the Telegraph on 6th May, by Javier Espinoza, that I saw as a tweeted link, suggested that the current (tougher) testing regime was an essential part of raising standards. What surprised me was Nick Gibb’s statement that tougher test somehow ensure a rise in quality.
Nick Gibb said: "Our argument is that if you don't come from a home where your parents speak in a grammatically correct form day in day out, if you don't have a home surrounded by books, where reading isn't a daily occurrence, [children] need that kind of structural instruction and teaching about how sentences should be constructed.”

When I was a headteacher, our intake included children from households such as those described. This was identified as an issue to be tackled, so we ensured that there was a rich language environment; talking learning, regularity of reading, personal and shared, across a wide range of genres, children working in pairs or threes to discuss preparatory activities or to solve problems, creating stories, pieces of collaborative art work and much home activity was developed to support dialogue and discussion.

Children need to become confident communicators.

The deficit model implied by Nick Gibb may be a feature of a number of areas; it was identified in the late 1960/70s in a number of studies, including Wilkinson, Plowden and Bullock, but the prescription being suggested now will not necessarily improve the confidence of the children as communicators. In fact, I’d argue that some may become more reticent as their awareness of their deficit becomes clearer, largely as a result of the necessary repetition to become “correct”, with the implication that they are always getting it wrong. Is unconfident but correct significantly better than confident with a few errors? I’d rather children developed confident articulacy applied across all the subjects of the Primary curriculum, instead of spending, in some cases, a disproportionate time on grammatical constructions that many adults, including Nick Gibb, find challenging.

Meanwhile (using a time connective) the broader curriculum, which embeds the wider, world-describing vocabulary of culture and science, is, with anecdotal reports, sacrificed. Inevitably (oh look, a fronted adverbial), in my opinion, over the next few years, children in Primary schools will experience a shallower diet across subjects, if teachers continue to focus on the narrowness of SPaG. English may be based on SPaG, which gives it an importance, but confidence in use, across all areas of learning, is equally important.

We need to teach children to communicate, to speak, read and write, with confidence. Different subjects offer variety of vocabulary and communication needs, so a broad balanced curriculum is an essential component to good communication, including SPaG, but I’d argue for SPaG in use and application, rather than a dry focus on teaching it.

It is possible to have both as quality aspects of teaching and learning.
If that makes some elements of testing more difficult, we should be able to cater for that.

​Inevitably, however many times I proof read my blog, readers are likely to find something that they see as a grammatical error. To err is human...

This phrase came about in conversation a week ago, when working with a School Direct trainee. It was clear in discussion that the trainee had a vision of what was needed in the lesson and that much pre-learning had occurred beforehand. The attempt to introduce several layers of knowledge backfired a little, as there was limited checking that the earlier knowledge had been sufficiently assimilated. The first phase of knowledge could be considered as “structural knowledge”, in that it was akin to a series of folder headings that were to be used to log the later information. The idea was sound, but the execution, in less secure hands allowed some slippage.

In a world of knowledge, the supposedly knowledgeable will be queen or king. There is significantly more knowledge today than when I started school. One only has to look at the current year 6 SATs to see that significantly more is being demanded than when I took the 11 plus back in 1964. Equally, the curriculum is organised in such a way that knowledge is the most significant factor.

Information is available at the click of a button, on a tablet, PC or smart phone. There is so much information that reflecting on it, distilling it and even considering it’s worth can take considerable time. It is very easy, for an interested teacher, to discover a world of facts on any subject that can be shared with the children.

My first wife came from a farming family. There was an apocryphal story told about one youngster going to school. The teacher, knowing the farming background, prepared some flash cards with pictures of animals, to support the learning of early words, such as cow, pig, horse, chicken and pig. As the teacher turned over the flash cards, the other children happily answered with pig, chicken, horse, until it was N’s turn and the cow picture was placed on the table. It elicited no response. The teacher was astonished. “You see these every day, N, you must know what it is.” “Well, I can see that there’s some Hereford in there, but, can’t decide what it’s been crossed with.” Out of the mouths of babes, etc. Nearly five years of farm experience had instilled a great deal of detailed knowledge; considerably more than was expected and probably more than the teacher at that stage.

Pre-school children encounter knowledge in a haphazard way, often dictated by family circumstance, sometimes through attending a pre-school experience. If you live in a family that takes weekend walks into different environments, camps, goes on holidays, visits museums, galleries and other places of interest and all the while talking about what is being seen in nominal, descriptive and questioning terms, it is highly likely that these children will have a language advantage and be capable communicators as well as explorers, even at a young age.

Young children enjoy sharing what they have learned. “Did you know that…?” can promote a conversation that, in itself, becomes an opportunity to insert additional information, or offer a new strand for the child to consider. It is likely to be tuned to the evident need and interest of the child. Effectively, the adult gives to the child what they ask for.
School is usually different, in that while there is the mantra that “learning is not linear”, information, or knowledge is more often presented in a linear manner, lesson by lesson, week by week, term by term. Topics are ascribed to year groups, which might dictate the level of knowledge being disseminated.

Processing the volume of information that is offered during the course of one day can cause some difficulty, with some slippage between lessons. The process of learning, therefore, has to run hand in hand with the knowledge, so that each child can have the chance to keep up with peers.

Education has never been a simple act of tell, remember, test, as long as I can remember. Even in classrooms that would have been described as “traditional”, there was considerable discussion, often led by the teacher, but also facilitated discussion between peers. This discussion opened up avenues that enabled the teacher to add information into the discussion that was relevant and kept the thinking flowing. As a result, we learned the processes of learning, so that independent activities, such as homework, could be attempted with confidence.

In many ways, what this describes to me is the value of interaction and the relationships between the teacher/coach and learners. To be able to “infiltrate” a discussion, as an active participant, rather than a leader, is a particular skill, in order to understand the nature of the discussion and to be able to add, without providing a diversion. Teaching requires a variety of approaches, which have to be honed in practice.

Teaching, at heart, is knowing stuff and having the skills to get the knowledge across, in ways that the learners can assimilate and be able to act on their new knowledge. It is a communicative act, engaging minds, linking with earlier understandings, adding to or altering these, so that, after the period of thought, some change has been wrought that we might call learning, a change of state.

Putting these interactions in order is a series of lessons which require the planning of a scheme of work, a medium term, or a topic plan. Into each, the teacher injects the appropriate next step being sought. As there is always so much knowledge that can be incorporated, it is sometimes the case that teachers fill the available time with their available knowledge, whether useful at that point, or not. In so doing, they may well be in danger of wasting learner time, which is needed for reflection and assimilation.

In another blog on Planning Learning, I argue that looking at planning over different timescales enables concentration on the lesson in hand as the dynamics of the year have been considered.

The National Curriculum falls into topics, which, as a school, we developed as topic specifications that, when placed end to end, formed the whole school curriculum map, so every teacher knew the essence of what they had to cover.
It is worth considering planning at different levels, too, the management need and that of the teacher going into the classroom to teach.  These needs are different. Management needs to know that the overall planning has been done, that ensures the curriculum for the year group has been covered. In my planning model, this is done in late June/July, before the start of the next academic year. This is the simplicity, from which amplification occurs.

The next level of planning is a composite, in that the medium term plan is an overview of more detailed intentions, for the curriculum, with some awareness of anticipated learner needs. The autumn term plans were created on the second Friday of the autumn term, after a “settling” project enabled the teachers to get to know their children as well as possible after the holiday.

Teacher day to day plans are aides memoire, and can be as complex or as simple as the teacher requires in order to create the best possible lesson and each lesson may require a teacher to think and plan differently. A prepared format can inhibit their thinking. However, should there be evidence that lessons are not planned, leading to poorer learner performance, formalising the process is usually an easy option.

A teacher needs the clarity of a stand up performer, to go into each lesson with the essential lesson structure that can then be moulded through interactions with the audience responses, in order to ensure that every interaction has purpose and a positive outcome. The simplicity of the storyline is amplified through the integration of an enhanced vocabulary/knowledge in response to evident awareness and need, adding value to the sum of learning.

It is the gentle teasing of the threads that ensures the warp and weft of weaving that supports learning over time. Each child's life is different, so poor working on the warp and weft may have created small holes which may require attention, the job of the teacher, acting as a learning coach.