Chris Chivers (Thinks)

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image-based recount

15/10/2014

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Storyboarding or image-based recount

Narrative accounts follow a particular linearity, which lends itself to being captured as a series of images. These images can be the essential storyline, which then supports a recount, either orally, in writing, or more subtly as animation.

According to kdmcBerkeley Multimedia Storytelling Institute 2013:-

A storyboard is a sketch of how to organise a story and a list of its contents. It helps you:

  • Define the parameters of a story
  • Organise and focus a story
  • Figure out what medium to use for each part of the story
This storyboard definition in the context of the Institute inevitably leads to animation, but the storyboard idea supports every aspect of the curriculum, supporting the linking of literacy to every subject.

The idea in essence is very simple, in that it is simply a series of drawn or photographed images collated to tell a coherent story. An example below comes from http://accad.osu.edu/womenandtech/Storyboard%20Resource/ . It is possible to create an accompanying story, which could be oral, as a rehearsal for writing later. So, it would be as possible to look at this as a means of capturing a science experiment, an historic event, a D&T task report or an outdoor/offsite experience as it would be to determine the narrative direction of a story, in any genre.



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We have become habituated to thinking of Monday as the first day of the week, therefore looking at starting activities from that point. What would happen if we considered Friday as the day when a main activity was started, where the input, stimulus and journey overview were developed, leading to a home activity to create a suitable storyboard in preparation for draft writing on Monday morning.

The storyboard would become the “script” for an oral recount to at least one partner, to be followed by the drafting of the first “chapter”. Engagement, feedback, reading aloud to a partner, followed by adaptation, might lead to a second draft. Home activity can support successive drafts, with editing and redrafting becoming part of the main lesson.

“Concertina” story books are very useful simple storyboards, for a younger writer to write one sentence per page. Front and back can be used to extend the story if wanted.

It can be used to capture the life cycles of animals or plants, becoming a linear diary, or the main parts of a science exploration. Equally a history recount could be “concertina-ed”, make a concertina or folded story book.

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With digital cameras now an integral part of classrooms and visualisers becoming much more common, the ability to capture images of activity, to be shared, recounted and discussed should ensure that this approach is not only an easy extension of classroom practice, but an essential element which supports both the subject study and the broader aims of literacy, which is expected of every lesson.

If in doubt, storyboard.

Capture ideas and discuss them. Easy as A,B,C.

For further writing frames and to embed them into a process approach to writing, have a look here.
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Note making, not note taking...

15/10/2014

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Seeing the photographs on Twitter of TM London and reading the feeds from several attendees demonstrating the high proportion who were very active during the evening keeping track of their though pads, pods or tablets, followed by a visit to a classroom for a student observation where the children were taking notes on their wipe on wipe off boards, I was moved to reflect on the development of my own note-making habits, recognising that they are likely to be seen by the tablet brigade as retro.

Notes for discussion about reading with TA.

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As a regular visitor to schools in a range of roles, or to observe students on teaching practice, there is a need to capture a great deal of information in a relatively short time. Initially, my note taking was very traditional, notepad and seeking to take verbatim notes of all the conversations. I came away with sheaves of paper, ordered and organised, but which then had to be read in order to make sense of the information before typing the report.  I did consider learning shorthand to speed the initial process, but came to the conclusion that it was the form of note taking that was causing the problem. The notes were not supportive of at a glance recall of the conversations and contexts.

During my years as a headteacher, I kept a reflective journal, as suggested by the late Neville West, then Reader in Education at Sussex University. This gave rise to the two page approach to writing developed within the school. Both were premised on the idea of a capture page and the second to order and organise thoughts, many of which led to further exploration and development.

So, working with a notebook of blank paper and operating landscape, rather than portrait, I started to develop diagrams that showed a train of thought. This allowed both written and drawn aspects to capture thoughts, linked by arrows as needed. It also allowed questions to arise. Summarising after the event simply meant folding over the page to allow a narrow piece of the back of the page for bullet points forming the first draft of the report, or my revision notes. This approach is akin to storyboarding a talk. I found that I was better able to recall the detail, using the visual prompts and as a result, felt better able to capture the essence of the schools visited within the final report.

Notes from discussions with parents and community members.

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This became
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What’s the point for teaching and learning?

1)       Too much note taking in Primary is on WOWO boards, so will be lost.

2)      Notebooks are usually 1cm lined, so do not lend themselves to diagrams.

3)      Notemaking is usually written, rather than drawn, but a combination of the two elements can make the whole process stronger.

4)      Learners are often trained into specific systems that suit the adult, rather than child mind.

5)      Notemaking becomes a written resource, rather than oral, so can be referred to again.

Solutions? Food for thought.

1)      Work on plain paper books, with lines underneath if necessary.

2)      Use the 2 page approach to writing to allow capture notes on left hand page.

3)      Show and allow storyboarding approach alongside written notes.

4)      Learners to take notes during teacher input, especially juniors, to practice the skills.

5)      Learners to undertake note making activities as home activity; summarise some learning as revision notes?

The above approach would simply embed notemaking into everyday practice, rather than something within specific lessons. The habits of notemaking would then become more embedded, more efficient and provide a stronger base for future learning.

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Writing process; tweak your books

15/10/2014

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Where a school is looking to improve the writing skills of the children, this post is offered as a holistic approach which focuses on the writing process, with editing and improvement at the core. It would be worth considering whether all writing, that seeks to be developed as a quality outcome, at Primary level, should all be in the same books, so that writing, in whatever subject is seen as such and thereby maintains quality throughout. Children do not always equate writing in other subjects as equal. If copies are needed for topic books, they are easily made. 

Towards structure in writing (a two-page approach)

The principles of a two-page approach to writing can be relatively simply put.

• The first page of an exercise book is left blank potentially to act as an ongoing contents list.

• If blank paper exercise books are used, differentially supportive writing frames can be created to be used underneath as writing guidelines.

• If writing targets are on a fold out sheet pasted to the front or back of the exercise book, so that they can be opened out while writing occurs, the whole constitutes a working document. Targets can be extracted for each task and an ongoing development commentary recorded.

• Subsequent two page spreads are the basis for the development of further writing with clear, ongoing developmental targets. Each is a project in its own right.

The left hand page is designated as a planning and ideas gathering page, with children encouraged to draft all their thoughts connected with the writing purpose.

Ideas can be explored through a variety of considered approaches
• Brainstorming
• Ideas webs
• Mind mapping
• Lists
• Useful phrases
• Story frames
• Structured pictures or storyboarding
• Story lines or timelines
• Difficult or interesting words
• Etc

Many of these will be used intermittently to suit specific purposes.
Some lend themselves to further exploration with regard to story structure, especially with ideas such as sentences and paragraphs.

Scaffolds for writing allow development of these concepts on the left hand page.

Examples might incude:-


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Storyboarding can also be used as talk prompts for younger children
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Writing planner
Story title or writing theme e.g. science task, based on order and organisation of ideas.
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Any of these ideas can be incorporated into the left hand ideas page and can be replicated on the right hand page as appropriate for first drafts, although older children will be encouraged to use the blank sheet and to be organised in their approach.

The left hand page can also be useful for teacher intervention:-
Adding conversation notes or feedback

Supporting spelling development

Drafting and editing are essential elements of this process, with children taking more responsibility for this aspect of their writing production.

All the above are capable of being developed within Powerpoint activities, with ICT skills embedded also.

The right hand page becomes the first draft page, with the potential for development and second drafting on a separate blank sheet of paper, which is then placed over the left hand page, to ensure that the child has a clear view of what is being copied and developed.

This draft can then be glued along the left hand edge and stuck over the first draft, developing a clear developmental story of progress.



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SEND 2014; possible class teacher Crib sheet.

14/10/2014

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teaching Standards 2012; aide memoire

14/10/2014

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When the teaching standards 2012 were published in the summer of 2012, a training session at Winchester University started the process of finding descriptors which would support student progress. This had to start from describing their current status. I went away with an idea and developed the dartboard, which is now used as a basis for discussion as well as for observations and self assessment. The modifying factor for student teachers is the descriptor, “potential to become”.

From 2013, minimum has been renamed needing improvement, as all students should be at least good. Click on the image to enlarge.

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Teaching and Learning; a process diagram

14/10/2014

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It can be worth having a visual image of the teaching and learning process, to be able to explore where personal strengths lie and the areas that might need a little tweaking.

Linked to the Teaching Standards 2012, it also highlights personal development areas.

Offered as an aide memoire.

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Educating humanely

14/10/2014

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We are all a part of this human race and, as such have a need to understand and engage with a broad range of personalities, some of whom we will strike up a relationship. Schools are a microcosm of their local culture, bringing together a diverse group whose need is to function as a group for the time they are together. Personal skill in interpreting the needs of others may not be fully developed, so misinterpretation can lead to conflict, the resolution of which can be time consuming, draining and distracting. We can see this weekly while the Educating The East End series plays out its minor dramas.

What we also see is the way in which the adults are involved, at different points, seeking to make sense of the developing situations, trying to head off problems, but also reacting when things happen. The staff, at all levels, react with substantial humanity, offering support and guidance as well as pointing out the errors in thinking and the means of resolution. The difference between resolution and escalation can be a very fine line.

There will be some who will be viewing these dramas and criticising the apparent lack of some kind of action, the kind which dominated much of my own education, which was before corporal punishment was banned. I can remember staff who exercised these powers in a cavalier manner and will never forget the PE teacher (50 years on) who gave one stroke of the slipper for each item of clothing that was unnamed, including underwear and ties. The fact that my mother had walked out on us a couple of weeks earlier did not provide a mitigating circumstance. Some teachers preferred the twist of the sideburn, while others were expert in chalk or board rubber throwing. They were not the “good old days” and the mantras that it “will hurt me more than you” or “it’s for your own good”, do not do it for me.

Having survived that regime, largely due to transfer to a more humane environment, my personal preference is to see the teacher and headteacher role as walking alongside or slightly ahead of the children for whom I was responsible, with the potential to fall back and pick up stragglers. Everyone makes mistakes in life, some face significant personal tragedy; it is likely that every individual will need support at some stage. No-one is perfect. Inclusive schools create “ safety nets” through which children cannot fall too far or too fast and are then supported to get back on track

To be part of humanity, there is a need to develop an Inclusive society, within the school if it is not entirely possible on a broader scale.
Modelling what humanity is, would seem to be the headline feature of every staff member in any school.
That modelling may be an essential aspect of a child’s development.
Humanity is an aspect of school ethos.

An inclusive school is likely to have many of these attributes:-

  • An open, honest and humane approach to the needs of the whole school community.
  • Very self-aware, through review, quality assurance and good knowledge of school data.
  • Actively seeks maximum success for each and every learner.
  • Focuses on the pursuit of excellence in teaching and learning.
  • Is very well ordered and organised at different levels, with a clearly stated development agenda.
  • Has an enthusiastic, supportive staff progressing the learning agenda.
  • Motivated pupils.
  • Very good relationships, between colleagues, with parents and among the children.
  • Parents, Governors and outside agencies able to provide broader support, but also appropriate challenge.
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Marking; keep it simple

14/10/2014

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Make the learning journey explicit for each child, and seeking to make the job of marking more specific to individual needs.
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Your lesson has a lesson objective or WALT, outlining the generality of the lesson, with a "so that", in some cases, to clarify the learning journey.

The task has Success Criteria or the WILF, essentially the mark scheme for the piece of work, which may have been exemplified with a WAGOLL, "What a good one looks like".

So marking can take place against the structural needs as defined. In fact, this aspect of marking could be simply ticked, by the child in one colour as having been achieved and by the teacher in another colour to validate.

However, there is also a personal dimension. In a mixed ability class, there will still be variation in outcome, determined by the innate and developing ability of the learners.  I'd hazard a guess that these targets or goals are more likely to be literacy based, although there will be identified gaps in knowledge that might also be highlighted.

Can you remember the personal targets for each child, especially if you have thirty children in a class and maybe, in a secondary school you take a dozen different classes in a week.?

If you set targets, where are they?
On a display or interactive board?
Inside or on the outside cover of an exercise book?
On a card in the middle of the table?

Are they easily available to support  in-passing conversations within a lesson?
How often do they get reviewed- half termly/termly?
If a child has three specific learning targets for a half term, they may then have eighteen targets over a year. Does this support dynamic progress?

Importantly, where are they when you want to mark the books?

Solution?

  • Put personalised targets on a fold out slip, at the edge of the exercise book, so that during the lesson, the child and the teacher can be aware of the specific targets.
  • This can prompt conversations specific to that child, support the learner’s self-evaluations and also support teacher oral and written feedback, as the slips can be folded out during marking.
  • Targets can be achieved , then become non-negotiable in future work, with new ones added.
  • This approach also supports record keeping, as the slip forms an on-going record of achievement.

Discussion with schools where this idea has been promoted shows that the subtle change described has a significant additional impact on teacher-child conversation, centred on learning.

It’s always pleasing to have positive feedback.

Try it. It costs nothing and might just tweak learning.

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Readability. Can they read what they are given?

13/10/2014

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All teachers are teachers of reading.
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Teachers give texts or textbooks to learners on a daily basis. How often are the texts checked for readability before being shared? Is readability even considered beforehand?

In essence, readability is simply the ease with which the text can be read. There  have been a number of studies over the past hundred or so years, some academic, others pragmatic, such as those associated with the 1920’s depression adult education programme, while a few have been organised by the military.

A range of academics have developed formulae which can be applied to a text to gauge the reading level. These include Rudolf Flesch, whose formula was adapted in 1975, so becoming Flesch-Kincaid, Dale-Chall, Gunning, Fry, McLaughlin. The outcomes vary slightly, but all are a guide.

As a simple guide, National curriculum reading levels can equate to reading ages (adapt as needed to circumstance):-

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The consequences of selecting the wrong text material are obvious. It’s another case of Goldilocks; Too easy, no challenge; just right and the right support, and progress occurs; too much and frustration sets in, therefore limited accessibility.

For many years teachers have been aware of three levels of reading fluency: independent, instructional and frustration.

They depend on the proportion of words the child finds difficult – either not being able to read them at all or saying another word which means something different.

Independent

Child reading without adult/peer support and only experiencing difficulty with 1 word in 100 (does not know word or substitutes an inappropriate word]

Instructional

Child reading with adult/peer support and experiencing difficulty with 5 words in 100.

Frustration

Child experiencing difficulty with 10 words in 100. Comprehension is known to be below 50% at this undesirable level.

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Piaget’s notion of equilibration has resonance in discussing readability, in its consideration of new information related to current knowledge. Equilibration takes place through a process of adaption, that is, assimilation of new information to existing cognitive structures and the accommodation of that information through the formation of new cognitive structures. For example, learners who already have the cognitive structures necessary to solve percentage problems in mathematics will have some of the structures necessary to solve time-rate-distance problems, but they will need to modify their existing structures to accommodate the newly acquired information to solve the new type of problem. Thus, learners adapt and develop by assimilating and accommodating new information into existing cognitive structures.

Teaching is sometimes based on assumption, eg, “they are year x therefore they should be able to read y”.  Assumption can be a dangerous place for decisions, as the wrong assumption can create tensions in the classroom, insecurity and low level disruption, requiring intervention. Where this intervention is marginally inappropriate, linked to task completion, this can exacerbate the problem.

Teachers of subjects other than English may complain that they don’t understand such things as readability, but it is often the technical vocabulary of subjects that raise the readability level beyond comprehension. Comprehension in these subjects can be interpreted as the ability to link ideas so that the learner can “see” the abstractions through metaphor/analogy.  It is in these subjects where it would appear to be even more important to check the readability of texts before use, even in on-line text.

Five finger test:-

The concept of bookmatcb is vital to efforts to teach reading and

further develop children’s reading abilities.

Children themselves can assess the degree of match between the difficulty

of a book and their reading competence by applying the Five finger test:

1 They choose a page at random.

2 They put a finger on each word that they do not know.

3 If they run out of fingers (on one hand) before the bottom of the page

then it is likely that the book is too difficult for them.

This is not an argument for “dumbing down”. Hard words are part and parcel of learning. It should be an active part of every subject teacher’s role to ensure that the essential vocabulary is explored and explained to enable learners to accommodate them and use them appropriately. It is important to avoid what is often called “barking at print”, where a child can read the words accurately, but has no clue as to the meaning.

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Jerome Bruner’s scaffolding theory links with Vygotsky’s development work and the idea of the “knowledgeable other”. Scaffolding theory is an approach to education in which an emphasis is placed on what type of material a student can learn, often with regard to what material he or she may require assistance with learning. This is closely related to the concept of the “zone of proximal development,” which is the idea that there is some material students can learn on their own, material that is simply too complex for them to learn based on their current knowledge, and material between these two that they can learn with assistance. Scaffolding theory deals with this middle zone, and proposes that teachers help students learn this material and then remove their assistance once the learning is complete.

Many of the ideas behind scaffolding theory and the zone of proximal development come from the research and concepts proposed by Lev Vygotsky, a Russian psychologist. The zone of proximal development establishes several layers of information with regard to a student. At the centre of this is the student himself or herself and the information that he or she already understands. Outside of this is the first layer, which is the information the student can learn without help; next is the layer of information a student can learn with assistance from a teacher; and beyond this is information that is too complex for the student’s current level of understanding or education.

Collaborative/paired reading can help to overcome elements of this problem, with problem words identified and discussed within the pair and then the class, perhaps leading to a personal rereading of the text before use.

Readability and font size receive much discussion on-line, especially with regard to blogging and readability. The same principle applies to digital text material, especially where the font size can be adapted to marginally lower the reading difficulty.

Paper colour background can cause issues, especially for children with dyslexia, where, for some, pastel cream or light blue will improve the readability.

Readability of texts can make or break a lesson. It is a fundamental part of the preparation of each lesson to ensure that text material is suited to the purpose. Technology allows quick and easy adjustment to text and photocopying makes multiple copies very quick to accomplish.

How-to guide. A very readable guide can be accessed through http://www.snip-newsletter.co.uk/pdfs/downloads/readability_briefing.pdf

There is an interesting discussion paper by Niace (2009) on readability which can be read at http://shop.niace.org.uk/media/catalog/product/R/e/Readability.pdf

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Education purpose?

13/10/2014

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My definition; Making sense of the world around you and developing a wide range of skills through which to interact with the world; communication, counting, measuring, sorting, ordering and organising among many, with communication being key.

Education in many ways is too complex to simplify, as for each individual there will be such a wide range of variables which will support or hinder their ability to interact with the world. Education starts from birth. The hand you are dealt supplies both your nature and the environment within which you will grow up. Using your senses, your interaction with your surroundings and people will support exploration and discovery. You start learning about “stuff” and will be given the names of things. “Stuff” will be pointed out to you. It is an adult instinct to point out something that might be of interest. “Look at the cows, train, cars, etc.” This is extended by reference to colour and place.

By the age of four, you will, if you are lucky, have mastered walking and talking, learned how to make friends and take turns, possibly cope with disappointment. You’ll have gone to different places of interest and will have started to deepen some of those interests, maybe dinosaurs or animals and plants, sport or other activity. You’ve learned to manipulate things and make things happen, to model and craft, complete puzzles.

By four, you are pretty big, at least bigger than three and you know some “stuff” and can do some things. What you can do may have been extended through group interplay at a pre-school setting. If you are lucky, you feel good about yourself too, so can cope with change and you have begun to react to requests from an adult to so things that you may not want to at that moment. But, you and your peers are all different. Some are good at some things, while others struggle.

And then at four, or thereabouts, you start school, which, by definition, is about education, but can become a more limited experience which could be called schooling, because there is a difference between education and schooling. Education, in my humble opinion, is broader. Schooling selects aspects of the wide world which constitute the essential parts and calls this a curriculum. The curriculum can become the be-all and end-all of learning, instead of a starting point for broader learning. It has the potential to be enriching or limiting, depending on the interpretation by the teachers and the school culture. It can vary from engaging learners at their own level to delivery of content, regardless of ability. The latter approach can leave some learners adrift, which, if not spotted can create a gap in learning from which a future problem develops.

Education in school should be creating the scaffolding for a retrieval system within which current and subsequent learning can be incorporated, because learning outside school should be encouraged and continue with further experiences and exploration.

Making sense of experience is the essence of learning, whether formal or informal. The ability to reflect on new information, to synthesise this into useful material and to store it for future retrieval is essential to future success. The need to think should be embedded in the challenge of the tasks with which learners are asked to engage. The quality of thinking can be explored through careful questioning, developing a conversation within which feedback and guidance provide enhancement or a resetting of the direction of thought. Having a mental framework of this process supports adult engagement, because having a group of thirty learners creates thirty individual needs.

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Education, aka learning, is a lifelong activity. It starts off as broad and narrows to interest. It can be seen as a constant refining or redefining of what is known and understood capacity to accept new information.

  • To reframe this within the known, then to use and apply appropriately to subsequent challenge is the hallmark of a well-educated person.
  • To understand the world in its complexity, including the people, and your place within society, would constitute a holistic education.
  • To develop specific interest and talents is just human; we are all good at some things and some have greater skills than we have.
Acknowledging and celebrating human endeavour and achievement provides possible future goals and aspirations, because, when it comes down to it, none of us know what we will be good at until opportunity arises to try something for the first time.

Education can be a matter of opportunity and the skill to seize the possibility, with the potential to try and fail or succeed, but always learning, often about ourselves and others.

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Marking

13/10/2014

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Marking- continuing the dialogue, or the utility and futility of marking to support learning.

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(The Goldilocks approach; how to try to get marking effort “just right”.)

  • The first rule of mark club- Marking is an essential part of the continuing learning dialogue between the teacher and the learner.
  • The second rule of mark club- It can be continuous and formative, or at discrete points and summative. Either way, it is part of a supportive, developmental process.
  • The third rule of mark club- all marking must promote further learning. If it doesn’t have follow-up and impact, it may not be worth it….
Read on, or skim; there are ideas which might focus marking effort at the end.

There is the classic view of marking; teacher teaches, child produces, teacher marks, right or wrong, end of story. However, there will be few classrooms where the first three elements do not apply to a greater or lesser extent, although the time taken for each will be determined by the age and ability of the children.

The marking of a child’s work supports a number of aspects of practice.

  • The work has value, so the teacher will spend time with it.
  • How much of what has been taught has been retained and reused. (Did they “get it”?)
  • The teacher gains insights into a child’s current abilities and needs. (Where next?)
  • Are “they” doing “well enough”? (Quality assurance)
  • It shows a broader audience the quality of interaction between learner and teacher. (Accountability)
If one perceives the interactions within a learning and teaching situation as an overt or covert dialogue between learners and teacher, marking can be seen as a continuation of that dialogue.

It is worth, for me at least, unpicking some of the strands of the conversation.

  • What’s the lesson about? Why are we doing this? (The context for the learning.)
  • What am I supposed to be doing? (What’s the activity?)
  • What’s the challenge? What is expected of me? What’s “enough”, what’s “good” for me?
  • How much time have we got?
  • Where’s this going next? (Homework, additional or integrated?)
The teacher controls the structure of learning in the vast majority of schools. Schemes of work determined nationally or locally create the outline structures of the year, so the journey is likely to be clearly mapped. It is important for children, and their teachers, to know where they are going, or they might get lost or diverted. This is one level of conversation, setting the scene and then exploring in detail, to come up with a, more or less, coherent narrative within the learner. The dialogue is likely to be oral and overt through questioning and seeking to give appropriate responses to support the needs of each learner. Questions and responses are likely to be personalised to need.

Knowing what is expected is a significant driver for a learner. Insecurity or just not knowing can lead to off task behaviours which incur some comment from the teacher. Most teachers check whether their pupils understand, but the initial response might mask underlying needs. Clarity in challenge, wording and working practices, are essential, preferably differentiated to the needs of specific groups of children. Inappropriate expectation can lead to boredom for some and frustration for others. Checking how the learning is going is a particular aspect of the teacher role. It can also be the most rewarding, particularly if the intervention is reflective. Oral feedback and guidance are an essential element at this stage. It is probably worth considering, especially with younger learners, the adult recording the essence of the conversation and advice given in some form as an aide memoire within the working document. A form of continuous marking.

Expectation can be guided by a child’s understanding of their current capabilities and their need to make progress. The statement of progress and the steps to be taken need to be clearly articulated. At a personalised level, articulated in a form where the expectation is permitted to be an active constituent of classroom practice, this allows self-reflection and a clear focus for marking from the teacher. If this is in the form of a personal list/ladder of challenge, it can be incorporated into practice, discussion and provide the focus for marking.

Homework can create additional marking need, but, if the activity is considered within the learning dynamics of the topic, does not necessarily need to do so.

Consider as home activity:-

  • Draft from notes taken in a lesson, to be brought back as first draft, for editing in class.
  • Summarise what has been learned into three key pieces of information. Boxed, it becomes a form of revision note.
  • “Drawing and colouring” to save class time for discussion.
  • Personal research which adds to the lesson.
  • Reading a piece of text before the lesson.
None of the above needs detailed marking, as they are part of continuous effort. It might be possible to grade effort on a simple scale. Who did the activity and who didn’t.

Simplifying marking

Did they get it?

If learners are asked at a specific point in the lesson to highlight where they have incorporated specific facts, a skim read should be sufficient to confirm this.

If learners have discrete personal targets, which may be skills-based, highlighting the achievement of a target allows a skim read to confirm. Focusing on these targets also allows the teacher to highlight any aspect not picked up by the learner. Learning-focused dialogue enhanced.

Where learners are asked to write an extended piece, consider marking the first hundred words, counted by the learner and the end point marked. Deep mark that section, with a skim read of the rest.

It is a useful shorthand to use WWW, what worked well, to provide focused feedback on positive points. This could be added to with two stars. Accentuate the positive. Feel-good is always more positive that feel-bad.

Where next?

The outcomes from the above are likely to drive this area. What specifically needs to be gone over again and in what depth? Written guidance is only valuable if the learners have the skills to read and act on what has been written. Addressing issues arising may need a succeeding lesson, differentiated to the outcomes of the previous one. A note to this effect can become the teacher comment. It is possible in this regard to suggest further reading, research or reflection. Differentiated input allows for careful selection of language and information presentation to support the learner need.

EBI, or even better if, is a shorthand means to add a point for development, or alternate with a wish to go with stars. It is important not to labour the development points, especially if positives have been hard to find.

Diagnostic marking

Some individuals require a considerable amount of help with learning. Undertaking diagnostic marking allows the teacher to fully understand the nature and the degree of need, which in turn supports decisions about expectation, support and guidance within planning. The outcomes of diagnostic marking might facilitate conversations with colleagues, such as the SENCo, as descriptors can suggest patterns of need.

The quality of marking is a clear demonstration of the value the teacher places on learner efforts. Too little and the learner can lack guidance. Too much can demotivate. It is a case of getting the marking “just right” for each learner.

Moral; get the learner to guide the marking effort towards their own needs, where they are able to do so.

And make time to follow up effectively.

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Learning from Experience

13/10/2014

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Feel it, talk it, think it, explore it and then think again. Then talk some more. Talk supports all aspects of learning.

Within current education practice,are we able to give all children the start they really deserve to begin to understand the complexity of the world around them? Do we live in a society where adults have the experience base from which to be able to visualise and the articulacy to discuss what may really happen in the future? Do we have an engaged population, or one where the world around them is just part of life’s wallpaper? Are some future scenarios only understandable to an enlightened few? What does this mean for discussion and decision making by the current generation for those that come after us?

The  issue of how we learn has taxed many generations of educationalists. A hundred years ago, Dewey coined the idea of visualisation as a key to learning. If one considers this idea, at its core is the idea that we need mental images that can then be manipulated to develop deeper thinking, more abstract thoughts. The ideas of Piaget were often simplified to the notion of concrete and abstract thinkers. This idea does fit with Dewey’s, in that the concrete stage is concerned with experiencing for oneself, at any age, playing with materials, artefacts, tools and seeking to understand some attributes. Gardner’s concept of multiple intelligences also has some resonance, in that any individual may have personal preferences in the means of exploration or of understanding. It is the act of personal engagement which allows the experience to be internalised, to be available for recall and redistilling with subsequent experiences, which may enhance or challenge what is “known”.

Over time, experiences will build together, with each relating to earlier ones, comparison being a key skill in processing information. To start with the premise that something similar has been seen before leads to early  which has, at its base, the notion of similarity and difference. How do we learn that dogs are similar and yet different, but that collectively they are still all dogs? Simply by attributing the key elements of similarity of the species, four legs, furry coat, a head at one end, a tail at the other, and a barking sound. The differences of size and fur colour come with expanded experience, often accompanied by new names for each new breed.

Gradually internalised pictures begin to develop which can be drawn to mind when the naming word is given, so to talk of a dog will create an image of such a creature. However, will it cause the same image to be called to mind in everyone, or will some think of a terrier while others recall a Great Dane?

The simplest response to a stimulus is to describe what has been experienced, often as a single naming word. Articulacy and names of objects are vital first steps in seeking to understand anything new, especially if the thoughts are shared with others who are able to respond appropriately and to share their own insights, so we have the beginnings of discussion and collaboration in learning. Therefore the key to this approach is communication of reactions to experience, employing any appropriate form of language and a variety of associated skills.

We tend to make huge assumptions about ourselves and others, often indulge in communication limited to the superficial for fear of causing any offence by having seen things differently. Communication, discussion and reflection, often  thinking aloud, are the bedrock of understanding. Are these skills valued by society as a whole? What proportion of the population falls at the first hurdle, by not engaging with the world of experiences around them?

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Diagrammatic representation of learning through experience

A reflective approach to experience can be developed with questions arising that are worthy of further consideration. Exploration, experimentation including measurement and evaluation further enrich the memory bank. The learner can begin to test hypotheses, checking things for themselves. By sharing thoughts within as wide an audience as possible, these can be further refined through feedback, clarification and reorganisation to a point where the learner can be more secure in their beliefs. This accords with both Vygotsky’s and Bruner’s thinking, on language and the impact of informed outsiders reflecting back within discussion.

Life is lived for everyone as a sequence of experiences, time-bounded, and often constrained by geography. Each experience is absorbed in different ways by different people, depending on an individual’s sensory acuity, and possibly by the preferred means of accommodation of incoming information. Sight, touch, hearing, taste, smell all play a significant part in absorption of each experience. How can we know the impact of the experience on the receiver,
without them having a well developed articulacy and the active participation of the listener?

So what is the effect on school learning? How many children come to school lacking in experiences which were once able to be taken for granted, such as visiting the beach or lake, a wood or just knowing what is happening in the garden? How many of them play with toys that demand a high level of engagement, alone and with others, not just through a screen? Do they come to school with a set of visual images which are available to help them in their learning? Without these picture clues, if abstraction and imagination derives from the base of experience, how can children understand a story set in a specific setting, or think of a variety of characters if they have nothing on which to base their imaginings?

The best teachers are good storytellers, engaging with their audience, knowing their script so well that it can be adjusted to the needs of the participants. Engagement means a common understanding, shared experiences and the knowledge that each values the other. High levels of articulacy will be evident, suited to the children’s needs. The listeners will have the skills of attending and thinking alongside the teacher, sharing the common idea and might from time to time interrupt to clarify points or to embellish the telling with their own experiences. In a climate where all experiences are valued, there is a collective growing with everyone benefitting from each other’s lives.

Children, as engaged learners, can develop an articulacy that enables them access to a wide range of experiences, whatever form the experience takes. Articulacy and the ability to think for oneself are the forerunners of success at school and beyond. The current challenge is to engage children in their learning, to show them how they learn and to allow them the time, space and resources to develop into the best learners that they can become, within and without the formalised settings of classrooms. We currently have a range of structures within which we have to work, but each of these stands or falls with our ability to ensure that  children are active participants in the process. It is down to teachers to lead from experience.

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What do you mean, unsatisfactory?

13/10/2014

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Having written a series of posts looking at all the positive ways in which schools are approaching teaching and learning, I thought I’d have a little fun considering a different approach.
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A quick guide to how not to teach

Don’t bother to get to know your children. Those tracking sheets from the last teacher or from their last school? Put them to one side. You’ll look at them when you’ve got to know the child(ren) for yourself. Anyway, your motto is keep it simple. This information will only confuse you and distract you from the job of getting across the maximum information in the shortest time.

Don’t bother with the little details that the children bring into school. Not feeling well after a bad night’s sleep? Hamster, family member died? They’ve got a problem with being bullied? They’ve come to school to learn. Not your job to molly coddle them. That can be someone else’s job.

Planning? You know where you are going. Why do you need to write it down in such detail? Anyway, with the work is based on a textbook, that’s the plan isn’t it?

Differentiation? Planning for and anticipating different needs? You’ll see when the time comes. Probably good for the soul to tell them what you think about them.

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Don’t bother with images, artefacts, concrete apparatus and all that hocus pocus called VAK and Brain Gym. Makes life easier, just tell them what they need to know. Don’t want them fiddling with stuff and distracting themselves. Talk in a lesson? Yes, their job is to listen. It’s not your problem if they aren’t listening.

Actually, the class next door is a lesson ahead; maybe borrow the plans and the worksheets? That’ll save a lot of time, no need to reinvent the wheel after all.

What’s with assessment for learning? Thinking about their learning during the lesson? Surely that’s a distraction. They have a job to do, so make them get on with it. Why interrupt them with a series of questions? You’ll soon find out what they know when they hand in their work.

Marking? Take in the books at the end of the lesson, count the pages of work done and judge how much they’ve done in the time available. After all, it’s quantity of work done that counts and you’ve got to have a lot in their books. Tick the books, so it’s clear that they’ve been opened.

Testing is great. They are quiet for an hour while they try to answer your questions. They are easily marked and then the class can be put in order. It’s good for them to know where they are in the class. They can all aspire to be first and work even harder. In fact, it’s your job to keep telling them to work harder.

Don’t worry about parents! They just get in the way. If in doubt spend a lot of time “in meetings”; that way you’ll have a reasonable excuse and demonstrate that you are “someone special”, so they really should be pleased you are their child’s teacher.

Reports? Just tell it like it really is. Why be soft? If you’re hard now they’ll learn resilience.

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An inspector calls? What do you mean, unsatisfactory? Look, you just don’t know what good is…
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Process and Product can = quality

13/10/2014

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The system is that there is no system. That doesn’t mean we don’t have process. Apple is a very disciplined company, and we have great processes. But that’s not what it’s about. Process makes you more efficient.
Steve Jobs
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On a visit the Winchester Discovery Centre, took time to have a look at the Grayson Perry Walthamstow Tapestry which was on display. It made me revisit the idea of the learning process, as Grayson Perry’s approach, although derived from the broader skills of others, is essentially a unique insight into his own thinking. In a similar way, other artists take the essence of their learning and explore ways to interpret the world differently. Take, as examples, Monet, Picasso, Barbara Hepworth, all of whom grew through the tradition of their craft and moved their understandings further. If it wasn’t for inventors such as Sinclair, Jobs and Dyson, certain things that we take for granted now would not have seen the light of day.Do we want thinkers or automata? Developing a child as a learner is a process, which it is hoped will be a life-long experience, not a self-contained experience limited to schooling.

I am writing.

I am writing a sentence.

That is simple enough, but, once written, the sentence can be reviewed and upgraded, so although I might sit back and feel it is a job well done, the revision might take a little longer, as I reflect on the different parts of the sentence and add elements, alter some and remove others. Hopefully the new sentence will then have greater impact.

I am in the process of writing a sentence and, when I have finished, I will have a product, which I can share with others for interest and comment.

I am sitting in front of my laptop, amusing myself by writing alternative forms of a sentence, to consider the process of writing, but also to demonstrate that process is developmental and the outcome is merely the end product of the crafting.

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As they read the current draft the reader/audience has to decide whether they like the style and content of the sentences. Blogging as a form of writing is a direct connection with a reader, who may feel inclined to respond, especially where that response is encouraged by the site.

The process of writing, specifically, is discussed in another post, where a two page approach to exercise book use is encouraged to focus on the process and the potential for improvement at all stages. NB This is a free resource- just needs a tweak in exercise book use, valuing every stage of the writing process.

Process is closely linked with project management, whether the formalised use, as in building a house, or in the informal day to day application of order and organisation in making something happen, eg doing the shopping, where a list is made, the best shop chosen, the act of selecting the goods, before returning home to sort and put away the shopping in the appropriate place for later retrieval. The shopping being accomplished is the end product. Of course, projects used to be the bread and butter of the Primary classroom, with English, maths and other cross-curricular opportunities created. They can still be seen in high quality design and technology and art classes, where outcomes are reviewed before recreation. It also happens within English lessons where sessions are devoted to DIRT, dedicated improvement and response time.

Every aspect of the process of learning, whether project, theme or single subject, is controlled by the teacher. The subject matter, the task, the place, the time available and the resource choice are more often decided beforehand.

Where the product is the main focus, the process can be short-circuited, with a recipe style approach to the process.

This approach can limit children in their learning, by removing from them the ability to think through the process, so by default, the teacher and the task become barriers to learning. I encounter examples of this during observation of students on school experience, where their personal or professional insecurities mean that they seek to control every aspect of the lesson process for every child. Recipes ‘r us and photocopied sheets have a field day.

The first example was a science lesson, seeking to allow year five children to explore fair testing in science with a light theme. Because the student had specified step by step the process to be followed, the children could not demonstrate abilities beyond National Curriculum level 4, as they were not enabled to be independent in selecting materials and developing their own approach to the testing.

The second example was an investigation in maths, where the step by step approach limited how the children could seek to explore and experiment with an idea, decide their working method and forecast the possible outcomes.

Of course, process and product cannot exist without purpose, which may be the embedded within the product. However, there is a difference between a factory production line, where a quality defined product has to be the end point and the process of learning how to do something.

Schools are learning places, not factory lines.

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Sometimes the know-how becomes show-how, especially in an area where something is being manipulated and requires a safety warning, for example, learning how to use a saw or other tools.

The show-how in mathematics will need to encompass physical manipulation of concrete apparatus or some other visual clues, such as modelled drawings to develop the internal visualisation and memory from which the learner can repeat the activity.

Memorisation may well be the point of the learning, leading to facts to be remembered. Children need to develop the skills of memorisation and visualisation, such as mnemonics, again an aspect of show-how.

We talk in terms of a thought process, not a thought product, but there can be a product of thought. So the act of thinking is a process, not an end in itself. The challenge to think around a problem, to analyse and make a judgement about how to proceed, to order and organise a coherent plan of action, to carry out the action with record keeping embedded, then to review and evaluate the process and the outcome, suggesting areas for re-assessment, are higher order thinking skills leading to potentially different outcomes . To give a group of children a “recipe” to be followed is a lower order set of skills, following instructions, leading to thirty exact copies. The former approach leads to questions such as “How do I….?” rather than “I can’t…..” These two responses suggest, in the first example, the need for a skill as identified by the independent learner, while the second can suggest a block and dependence.

Within these areas, are teachers and supporting adults the barriers to learning? It is very arguable that they may become so, often inadvertently, by designing inappropriate tasks, that cover all the children, in so doing potentially limiting a number of learners and over-challenging others. The implications for classroom practice can be great, particularly in resource terms, cost, access and use. The first can be limited by the use of recycled materials, or no cost collections, such as newspapers, boxes and so on. Storage and access need to be overcome. Thirty children all needing the same materials at the same time will cause chaos, unless there is clear organisation for use and return. Resources across the curriculum need to be in the classroom, easily accessible and available to be selected by children in their need to solve a problem.

Support staff, often concerned that the children for whom they are responsible have to fulfil the task as set by the teacher can become actively involved, in the more extreme cases actually taking over from the child to finish the activity. This can be the case in an art activity, especially activities such as cards for a special occasion. Why can’t Teaching Assistants be deployed with groups to allow independent tasks to be undertaken with an overseer as observer?

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Editing and improvement are an integral part of the problem-solving, process-based approach to learning. Children need to learn that the end point form an activity is capable of assessment and qualitative judgements, to learn from errors and to make good in a subsequent opportunities.

Children’s self-assessment can include the identification of skills that need to be further refined, some physical, some organisational, some technical. Mental reordering is a natural aspect of learning. We come across new facts all the time and simply reorder to accommodate the new, sometimes after thought and reflection and some heartache as long held views are challenged. By comparison with other outcomes, they can build their own conceptualisation of the qualities needed, so that these embedded understandings support their next efforts.

In all aspects of learning, the teacher holds the key to success. Reducing learning to the mechanics and simplicities of memorisation will not, in itself create learners. The application of what is learned in practical, problem solving situations allows the learner to hone skills, to identify areas for further practice and to be proud of the end product, after review and evaluation and a willingness to engage again with the problem if needed.

Homework can enable this approach to become more of a reality, if the teacher uses home time as the place for ideas development, early drafting and collecting ideas together, so that more informed discussion about the process details can take place in the classroom, such as consideration of materials collected, review of drafts and discussion of improvements. Put the quality discussion into the classroom.

Becoming a great teacher is a process. Taking taught elements, putting them into place through your own understanding, engaging with the process and evaluating the outcomes is the means by which teachers get progressively better. There is a growing number of virtuosi teachers, having been successful in their careers though a process often of trial and error, which they may not evidence, who wish to capitalise on their success by capturing their wisdom in a book and sharing the recipe of success. It is often the case that the acolyte cannot match the master because they have not gone through the thought processes leading up to the mastery, so they short circuit the process in the search for the ultimate product, reducing the impact in their own classrooms. Where teaching is poor, it is often the result of a poor copyist, reliant on the efforts of others, so becoming a stereotype, incapable of responding to the lesson that is not going where intended, but unable to change through lack of insight.

Do we want the product of education to be thinking beings or programmed automata?

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everything is assessment…

13/10/2014

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Don’t mention assessment…. but everything is assessment…

One single word can cause a significant amount of controversy. Assessment has been a bread and butter notion ever since education began, with simple judgements at one end, eg y is better than x, through to the fine tuning of marking schemes to provide specific grades in an exam across a large cohort. Assessment has been used to identify personal capability, but also to rank order a group. To that end, “assessment” can seem to serve too many masters. The situation can be exacerbated by rhetoric implying “secondary school readiness” or scales of 1-10 (deciles).

While for some, assessment will mean an examination, for others it will involve fine judgements.

A teacher stating that “x cannot read” can appear correct if x is compared with y who is off the scale, but the statement might mask the fact that x can read up to a specific level, but needs to make rapid progress in order to catch up. In this scenario, I would expect an in-house expert to be able to describe x’s current skill set and to identify the necessary steps to be taken to address the issue. If not, the advice of an attached specialist teacher  or educational psychologist should be sought.

Similarly a child spelling “girl” as “gurl” might be marked wrong by one teacher, while another might look at the attempt and identify the correct first and last letters, with the confusion or teaching point in the centre of the word.

An educational psychologist assessment of a child is likely to be very detailed in specific areas to diagnose the specific needs of an individual child.

Two children assessed at the same level on the basis of a test score may have significantly different needs when it comes to describing their personal learning targets.

The quality of in-lesson assessment depends on the teacher understanding and ability across a wide range of embedded skills. Teaching is a complex craft as well as being scientific in approach. Strategic and diagnostic thinking about the learning needs of the children are as important as specific subject knowledge.

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Analysis- knowing the children in detail, based on prior attainment outcomes and colleague judgements, understanding individual needs and barriers to learning, developing a sense of direction in learning for groups and individuals. Assessment of Learning, or the start point for Assessment for Learning.

Planning- Developing plans over time which embed the contexts and the direction of travel, but also clarity in challenge and learner expectations which will prompt appropriate and timely intervention. The former is relatively easy, learning chunked end to end, while the latter embeds the three dimensional aspects of learning, with potentially thirty different needs to be addressed; secondary teachers might have 200+ students to see in a week. Differentiation by expectation or Assessment for Learning.

Classroom practice- Understanding the children in the class will ensure adaptation of activity expectation, language use, explanation, exploration of ideas, questioning, interactions, interventions and oral and written feedback. Differentiation by task adaptation or Assessment for Learning.

Review- evaluation based on expectation. If the children exceeded expectation, there is evidence for more rapid movement, if on line, to continue with plans, but if not reaching expectations, there will be a need to consider remedying the situation for security before further forward movement. This can be a scenario within a class lesson, so requiring a different approach to the beginning of the next lesson. Differentiation by outcome or Assessment of Learning.

Decisions can sometimes be adjusted through moderation activities, where judgements are compared with others and a consensus reached, as a form of quality assurance.

Record- Teachers keep detailed records of the outcomes of learning, from the personal portfolios of the earl years to complex mark sheets. They should support decision making by teachers.

Formative or ongoing daily judgements are supported by having a frame of reference against which to make the judgements. Making these expectations national ensures that consistent judgements are made in each school, avoiding the issue of being “good for this school”, but in comparison achieving poorly against comparative peers.

Levels, level descriptors and derivatives like Assessing Pupil Progress (APP) have been the benchmarks over the past twenty six years. That they became cumbersome and bureaucratic in use in some schools cannot be denied. However, they did serve a purpose in embedding a national expectation to which schools aspired and which improved learning for children, often by comparison with exemplars from other schools. Arbitrary decisions to remove these might imply permission to do something else, but, in the absence of a tried and tested alternative, teachers and authorities have been left either clinging to the levels lifeboat, or casting adrift and seeing where the tides take them.

Describing progress in a subject is an essential element in assessing and describing learner progress. Level descriptors to a large extent did this, in my opinion and experience within schools. As a result, any alternative scheme will have to describe subject progress. If that progress is then graded into difficulty, there will be a system similar to levels. The new National Curriculum, to my mind, embeds the levelness expectations within year group expectations. So, instead of working at a particular level with clear criteria, a child might be described as working at year z level, but presumably only if they are assessed as achieving 100% of what is described in the year specification? However, the complication will be describing children not achieving at that level; will we talk of proportions eg 65% at year 4 level, as within, above or below year expectations? Will we see children, eg in a year 4 class, some working at year2, some at year 3, some at 4 and others at 5 or 6? Some will say that that is what currently happens, with a wide range of level outcomes in a mixed ability class. In Maths and English this may be possible, but other curricular areas in the new NC are quite specific to the year group.

An “assessment mind-set” supports the fine tuning of expectation, through differential challenge in tasks, the quality of teacher-child interaction, diagnosis, questioning, explanation, adaptation to need, then judgement based on the outcomes and subsequent planning for learning.

Having come this far over the past twenty six years and having created quite sophisticated assessment tools, it seems perverse to lose skills which fine tune learning and teaching and possibly to return to a more activity-led approach, where assessment might be completion of tasks, rather than the quality of learning.

It’s a matter of judgement.

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Goal setting and motivation

13/10/2014

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  “Keep right on to the end of the road…”
  “It’s a long way to Tipperary…”

Teaching is like walking along together, sometimes ahead, sometimes beside and sometimes behind, all the while encouraging strugglers. A good teacher/leader does this, having a chat with each, according to need.

The mantra should be “no-one left behind”, while seeking to ensure that the quicker ones get a good run out and don’t get frustrated and switch off or stop trying.

I am grateful to @oldandrewuk for prompting me to spend the morning reflecting on the idea of goal setting. There was a discussion about the nature of goal setting that suggested that goals have absolute qualities, therefore could be set as a standard.

As in much of life, the idea of goals is a slightly slippery beast, perhaps except in a game like football, where getting the ball in the net is counted as a goal. Of course, the build up to the goal could be simple or complex. It might be the aim of the game, but many games end up as equal, 0-0, 1-1 etc, where each team cancels the other, in a game of strategy. So the same applies to other games like chess, where some games end as stalemate.

I might aim for something, but life, in all its delights can just get in the way and mean that original plans have to be adjusted. That’s happened a number of times throughout my life, often quit dramatically, meaning that longer term plans had to be adjusted to the new reality.

I’m currently reading a book, given to me for my birthday, “The Hairy Hikers”, by a chap called David Le Vay, who tells the story of his trip along the Grande Randonee (GR10) from Hendaye, along the Pyrenees to Banyuls sur Mer. It’s a diary in reality, with each day presented as a single chapter. The two friends, in middle age, decide to set themselves a significant challenge, as a means of taking stock and time out. So they had a goal. In case you are wondering how significant the goal is, the GR10 statistics are (thanks to Trildino)

  1. Length of trail 866 km, 538 miles
  2. Length in days 58 days
  3. Start of trail Hendaye
  4. End of trail Banyuls-sur-Mer
  5. Traildino grading SW, Strenuous walk, mountain trail
  6. Hut tour grading T2, Mountain walk
Now, to someone for whom a challenge might between fifteen and twenty miles of reasonable ground, the thought of 58 days of walking is worrying. In fact David and Rob did the trail in 53 days, which did include a number of rest days, so they walked quickly. Despite having a goal, there were occasional setbacks, due to incorrect sign or map reading, meaning detours, or incapacity, real or imagined concerns, so the whole was a series of mini-goals, reassessed daily, which were seen as achievable with the bigger goal of completing the journey.

Education can be seen as a series of goals. There is the overview aspirational goal, within which there will be set realistic personal goals. Some learners will need step by step guidance and support, whereas others quite quickly develop the skills of running ahead. The latter group may need some staging agreements; do this and then this if you finish, while I catch up with you and reset the goals.

While walking allows reference to landmarks, eg walk as far as the rock and wait, stop at the post box, the language of educational milestones can appear at times to be obscure, but they need to be known and mutually understood in order to prompt progress.

Goal setting allows the teacher to assess where each learner is in relation to the goal and to reset the goals realistically so that the learner can perceive the need and seek to address it.

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Like having a clear map, or sets of maps to undertake the different stages along a trail, educational progression needs a set of marker posts, which can be used to judge how far and how fast the learners are progressing. These for 26 years were called levels, alongside the National Curriculum (NC). The current NC has no levels, with schools having to devise a system to suit.

For many this will be based on the Programme of Study for each year group, so will be described in yearness stages. A child will be emerging into the stage, achieving as expected, or exceeding expectation. It is not yet clear to me how these will be graded, up to 30%=emerging, 31-79%=expected, 80%+=exceeding? Except that unless a child gets 100% can the ever be exceeding the requirements of the year?

Unlike the walkers along the GR10, children may not have the opportunity to go a little faster, especially if the teacher is slightly risk averse and keeps the group together “just to be safe”.

Whatever we end up with “beyond levels” will inevitably describe the step by step progress being made by learners. Whether these are presented as ladders, or maps, they will essentially mark the staging posts which can be used to challenge the learners and to judge whether they have achieved.

What’s the real risk in a classroom? Children can’t fall off an exercise book. They can, however, fall out of love with learning, if it is slow, tedious and frankly boring. A little like David and Rob on the GR10, when the walking got tough.

 
We don’t want learners to give up on learning.

It is their walk, after all, and they need to learn to do that independently.

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Parachute teachers, or patient gardeners?

13/10/2014

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An article in the Guardian newspaper 13.10.14 suggested that there was a plan for squads of specially selected teachers and senior staff will be employed to be parachuted into failing schools, with some 500 being identified in this critical category. The article is here.
  
Apart from appearing to be a headline grabbing statement, with very few people being in a position to verify if it happens or if it actually works, it also relies on a substantial available workforce of sufficient calibre available and willing to travel anywhere at short notice and to have instant impact in a culture which may lack the capacity, at that moment, to be improved.

There are many reasons why schools may not thrive.

  • They are a product of their local culture. The collective culture can be a strong force for positive or negative messages. Where they are negative, the school has to work extra hard, usually with already stretched resources, to get ahead of the issues and to build capacity into the students which then gets recognised as a good and, though celebration, becomes the new norm, enabling progress to continue.

  • It’s hard to attract the best teachers/staff. This may be an apocryphal truism, as there are very many, very good teachers working in tough schools, to the advantage of the children. However, it is tough and, at times draining, so some teachers can reach burn-out quicker. Where the collective teacher spirit is high, this can counter many aspects of fast turn-over, so capacity building in the work force as a whole is essential.

  • Buildings and environment need significant improvement. It is tough to teach and to learn in poor environments, with building and resource issues, simple.

  • Leadership. Although there may have been a clear vision at the start of the journey, this can get deflected by a range of factors, teacher availability, turnover of staff, budget limitations and the number of high level distractions from available development time. Vision is lost if the high turnover of staff means that it has to be restated regularly. The school narrative is jerky, two steps forward and one back, with the one back often being demotivating. Budget limitations can mean that you don’t get ahead of the problem, through staff retention or quality of environment.

Vision, coupled with a welcoming, well-resourced environment, stability in staffing and within a supportive local culture, at least is fertile soil for development.

Like any good gardener, soil quality is an essential start point. While there may be a few weeds that need to be sorted, just taking a flame-thrower, or using a mass herbicide to do the weeding can seem excessive, with both often requiring a period after to allow the soil to repair. Tending the garden, applying fertilizer appropriately, focussing on soil structure, watching the developing plants with care, rather than just allowing the strongest to thrive at the expense of others, ensures the best possible crop.

Parachutists/ action women and men, are likely to offer some quick fixes, before moving on. Gardeners are there for the longer period.  

 
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Quality; a work in progress

13/10/2014

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Like everyone else, this is, and I am, a work in progress. Discussions inevitably come back to the same points, how to define and achieve the maximum progress for each child within learning.
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Do we know what it looks like? Thanks to Pete Jones (@Pekabelo) for developing the idea of quality in an excellent post describing his and his school’s attempts to describe quality to learners, http://deeplearning.edublogs.org/2014/03/02/a-manifesto-for-excellence-work-in-progress/#.UxRX4BRFDIV   but also for a link to a very interesting article, using the ideas of Berger. http://www.edutopia.org/blog/deeper-learning-student-work-ron-berger

I particularly like the idea that learning is “a work in progress”, with the implication of try and retry/draft and redraft; consider the French verb essayer-to try.

Ever since I started teaching there’s been a debate about quality or quantity. This arose mainly from consideration of the amount of writing that children were doing; it appeared to be most lessons and every subject apart from in Maths, where the concern was the number of “sums” they were doing. The latter often depended on the approach of the school-decided scheme to be followed.

An associated debate can be seen in the process or product discussions that regularly arise, which can morph into knowledge vs skills, or progressive vs traditional.

Teaching is probably best done in an ordered and organised way, to ensure that information/knowledge is imparted in ways that ensure that it is available to the learner in timely fashion to ensure that they have the skills and knowledge to engage with their ongoing learning challenges. In the same way, as an adult learner, if I don’t know something, for example in a practical area like plumbing, it’s better to look at the You Tube tutorial, or read the manual, before undertaking the task. To be taught does not necessitate an actual teacher being present though. Auto-didacts do it themselves, with varying degrees of success, but, like all teaching and learning, that is the case.

Learning is much messier to quantify and is only really made visible in situations where the learner has to apply what has been learned to produce a defined outcome. Fixing a light or fitting a radiator both have very clear outcomes, work/not work. Learning outcomes in school are usually less clear cut. Children have different start points, different cultural backgrounds and family support or guidance, retain information differently. As a result, outcomes will vary. Therefore, it is important for children to reflect on their own performance in order to provide quality personal challenge.

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Personal benchmarks can be established with each piece of completed work. A benchmark allows a return to a prior position to reflect on the journey and the progress made. Constantly establishing what is “good for me”, with articulated improvement statements, allows consideration of the next steps. Reflecting on the journey enables the learner to become a personal driver within the process.

In order to take part in this, learners have to be inducted into the language of improvement. This will be a combination of process/capability statements (skills) and defined learning contexts, which provide the knowledge base. The defined learning contexts and the essential learning processes are inevitably the provided curriculum, determined by adults. Both of these can provide exemplars of what quality outcomes would looks like and the means to achieve.

Capability is in the descriptor of the learner. Judged against the process, it is possible to determine where a learner is on a journey. If judgement, personal or teacher, is constantly against a model of perfection, a lack of perceived capability can become debilitating. It is not uncommon for a child to say that they can’t do something. This can mean “I can’t do this as well as I know you would like me to, so I’m not going to try and fail”. In the past, such a situation has allowed teachers and parents to volunteer comments which have been demeaning and unsupportive of learning in any form. A pass/fail mentality does not support sustained progress.

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So, if a child is to be introduced to the language of self-improvement, this needs to be a common language, supporting dialogue, not an imposed language of teacher judgement. It should concentrate on build-up commentary, rather than over-focus on negatives and should be based in a clear knowledge of the learner, so that it is personal, not generic.

There is an imperative to replace level based commentary within the next incarnation of the National Curriculum. Will learners suddenly start to produce exceptional work, just because the curriculum has changed? Will four year olds, on entry to school, be enabled to read and write Shakespeare, or are they likely to go through the same phases as every other generation starting school? Will changing the curriculum embed the expectation that every child will start in Reception at the same stage and make the same progress throughout the next seven years? Yet, that could be a reading of the year-based curriculum expectations, with judgement outcomes of above expectation, in line with year expectation, below expectation. Each of these statements is likely to have an element of subjectivity.

Equally though, unless process has been clearly established, the yearness element could emphasise knowledge, at the expense of process, so could provide a limitation to a rise in quality while “mastery” by all is sought. Could the “above expectation” children be handicapped by waiting for the others to catch up, or “below expectation” be further labelled, by teachers and fellow pupils as a result of a need to wait? I have the image of a group of learner out for a walk/journey with the teacher. The keen ones keep up, and some might go ahead, but with oversight and might then have to wait for the stragglers, with associated comments about being “slowcoaches” etc.

Perhaps a way forward is to use what we know now to establish benchmarks, or exemplars in order to balance our future judgements. Currently, using levels, a year two child is expected to achieve 2b, year 4=3b, year 6=4b (defined by David Laws as Secondary ready level). There will be clear examples from children achieving these and higher levels. They could provide a benchmark portfolio of outcomes, to support future expectations. This would ensure that future standards are in line with previous expectations, but also support future learning from examples, rather than reliance on teacher words.

A case of show how developing know how.

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Good, good for you or good enough? We are entering a new phase where these questions will come to the fore.

Good is likely to be an aspirational level of achievement and might, for example, in art, be exemplified by work of an established artist, or in English by reference to the writing of an author, both as models. Equally, it could be based on the work of a learner, or the composite efforts of class modelling, where the teacher wants to use a more accessible model.

Good enough? There are baseline expectations being articulated which perpetuate the notion of good enough. The idea that year six will be Secondary ready if they achieve a 4b equivalent, or that learners needed to achieve a grade C in GCSE exams. It’s possible to argue that these are attainable to a greater or lesser degree if capability judgements are made. However, if outcomes are subject to norm referencing, limiting the number who pass, supposedly to avoid “grade inflation”, there will always be a cohort of children judged not to be “good enough”.

Good for you. Personal progress from a known start point, has been a hallmark of the National Curriculum since 1987, with two levels of progress anticipated within each key stage. Although for some this was easily achieved or at least possible, there have always been some children for whom that expectation was significantly challenging, and for a small proportion, not really appropriate, given their range of needs. As far as I am aware these children-types still exist.

Children like to know that they can do things and thrive on positivity, even positive encouragement. This can be through appropriate oral or written feedback, the best of which encourages a dialogue, with the child and parents as knowledgeable partners. It is really important that a child and parents can “see” their way forward. Without this, they are likely to remain stuck, as is the case with all learners.

Define learning steps. It’s interesting to me, as someone who lived through the introduction of the National Curriculum in 1987 and saw the impact of using level descriptors in improving expectations across all subjects, to read regular vilification of the system. I have a worry that they became unwieldy more as a result of their use for internal and external data and accountability.

Progress within a subject needs to be described in some form that allows the learning dialogue between teacher and learner to be productive. If levels/levelness statements are not to be the vehicle, an alternative progress ladder will need to be established. This will be essential to support teachers learning the craft and establishing their internalised systems of expectation which allow learning conversations to be a part of intuitive interactions as exemplified by experienced, high grade teachers.

Each subject needs to determine the essential steps, so that each has parity in progression. Art should develop at the same rate as maths and English. These steps are likely now to be articulated within the year group statements, but need to be articulated separately, to establish essential spines, which will cross year boundaries, which will be important for continued support of those children who are deemed to be above or below year group expectation.

What if the learners are above or below expectation? This is likely to be the biggest question for schools, as there will be children in these categories. Setting and streaming can cause issues of organisation. Will we return to “waves” of intervention, or will we see stage not age teaching? But then, what happens to those in year2 and 6 who are significantly above and capable of year 3 or 7 study? What of those at transfer 2/3 and 6/7 who are not yet secondary ready?

These, as yet, seem to be unvoiced questions as we move into a new assessment system.

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Assessing capability

13/10/2014

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Capability, the power or ability to do something; the extent of someone’s or something’s ability.

Ability; possession of the means or skill to do something; talent, skill, or proficiency in a particular area.

There is a positive feeling to the idea that “I can do this” and being able to apply those skills or the embedded knowledge within a practical situation. I would be concerned at any learner expressing the view that they couldn’t do something. This view is often a result of an external view having had a negative impact. Young learners, by their nature, are growing and developing. There’s always something that they cannot do; if these are regularly identified, is it any wonder that some learners carry a negative self-image?

As an adult, I am often acutely aware of my limitations, but have the capacity to address some shortfalls. I am aware that there is a significant group of excellent bloggers, with both knowledge and articulacy which I can envy. I can aspire to these models. Sometimes I will decide to use the skills of a more competent person to achieve something, eg household electrics.

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Another Twitter chat, which I joined inadvertently, via a kind comment by @BeyondLevels, who suggested to others that I might have some insights into describing and tracking children’s learning progress, allowed me to think again about issues for assessment of learning over the coming period. I am worried about the potential for a “babies and bathwater” approach, as the DfE issued a directive that levels were no more, but that schools should have their own systems to support judgements.

I had written a post building on some excellent work by Pete Jones with a view to understanding and establishing expectations of quality. It is really important for children to have examples that offer insights into what the expectations are within a task, in order to be able to visualise what they need to be able to do.

I have marked university level submissions and had a very clear mark scheme against which to make judgements. There was some “wriggle room” within each criterion against which to give a mark. The total became the decider of the pass level. My late first wife and my deputy head acted as a KS2 English SATs marker one year and had very clear mark guidance against which to judge. There was still embedded “wriggle room” that allowed a more subjective view to be scored. At the end of these processes the mark, level or grade is appended to a piece of work. If level or grade 4 is higher than level 1, there should be very clear evidence and a description possible of the differences between them. In other words, a level 4 learner can do more than a level 1 learner and the journey from 1 to 4 can be described.

As a head, levelness descriptors were changed into can do statements, which allowed a descriptor to be built of what a level x learner looked like, which supported general decision making and guidance. In several posts, I have articulated the need for a school exemplar portfolio approach to support learner and teacher judgements and to exemplify the journey that needs to be taken. This was a feature of my school, supporting moderation of learning, as well as providing guidance to new teachers.

For example, a level one child is likely to show; that they are enthusiastic for writing and are gaining confidence; can use phrases and simple statements to convey ideas; can make some choices about appropriate vocabulary; can compile lists, charts and is beginning to organise writing; can spell conventionally spelt words, especially CVC and common words spelt correctly; can write letters clearly shaped and correctly orientated; can use full stops and capital letters.

Whereas a level four child might show that they; can write extensive pieces of non-narrative writing; can use simple and complex sentences, organised into paragraphs; can achieve standard spelling and accurate punctuation most of the time; can draft, redraft, revise and proof read independently or in collaboration with other pupils; can use paragraphs correctly, consistently and accurately; can be more discriminating about using a range of punctuation; can structures lengthy narrative logically; can depict atmosphere, character and setting.

A Frame of Reference is essential to FORmative assessment judgements, which for an inexperienced teacher is an important stage of personal development, adding to the sum of their understanding of child learning development. If you know what you are looking for, you might just see it.

The announcement of the removal of levels has the potential for chaos as it potentially removes a frame of reference for progress judgements. The situation is likely to be different if comparing Primary and Secondary outlooks, the former being multi-subject generalists, the latter more likely to be specialists in one or two subjects.

Where Secondary education retains an end of school exam which has a graded structure, this could provide a frame from which to extrapolate the developmental routes for different groups.

For Primary, the route may be more challenging, in that there are two key stage breaks from Reception to year 6. Growing criteria from the Early Years Foundation Stage outcomes is a feasible option, but the route is likely to describe the stages currently being described through the NC level descriptors, which, for the journey to level 5 is clearly articulated. Many schools will retain something akin to the current situation, in order to be able to describe individual progress, especially within Maths and English. Holding to a progress descriptor also provides a developmental staging for other subjects, essential for a generalist, to ensure appropriate match and challenge of tasks.

The danger of not having a frame of reference against which children can be judged across all schools is that there will be a whole array of assessment approaches, unique to each school, possibly bought in from an external provider.

At transfer, receiving secondary schools will need to understand the many different approaches being used, in order to understand the children transferring in. It is not yet clear what will happen to the Primary end of Key Stage assessment and how it will describe outcomes.

Alternatively, in some transitions, we will see outcomes from KS2 being ignored, with Secondary schools retesting to establish baselines from which progress in the school will be measured, as many now do.

Journeying is a well-used metaphor within education and can be very useful. Each year is a 39 week journey through a series of learning contexts, often linked into thematic studies or topics, as single or linked subjects. Within each of these topics, each child will be on a personal journey, from their current baseline to a future point. There must be an aspiration of this point to facilitate subsequent phases of learning, but this can never be expected, as some may not make the requisite steps.

Personal journeys need to be described, articulated appropriately to children, exemplified and modelled. This clear focus for learner and teacher will support in class interventions in learning, formative oral and written feedback and summative judgements. Whether the latter is essential for a learner is very debatable, but it can support data analysis.

Putting the expectations in front of learners keeps them, other adults and the teacher in touch with their current targets. Learning should not be a secret journey.

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Hopscotch or mountaineering metaphors. Personal Everests. Playing with ideas, in a Twitter conversation allows some tangential thinking to emerge. In seeking to avoid the linearity of many learning judgements, I proposed two possible metaphors, learning as hopscotch, or mountaineering. The former was an attempt to articulate the fact that learning is often slightly haphazard, rather than linear, and can involve a lot of jumping around for some children to make sense of their learning.

The latter, which I like very much as a clearer metaphor, I have often used as a start point, allowing the embedding of challenge, preparation of resources and guidance, potential risk and a role for the teacher as the guide and mentor to determine whether the child has to go back, stay still for a while or can go on, with some able to have a go at free climbing. The point of free climbing is likely to vary with the age and the nature of the challenge. If they can “fall off”, there must be available some kind of safety net.

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Climbing anecdote

When my son was four, we were on holiday in France and visited the river in the gorge of Jumilhac le Grand to picnic. There was a rock face which we all enjoyed clambering up, with a slightly more challenging route close by. Being a very agile child, it didn’t take long before he started venturing towards the challenging face. It wasn’t a problem to let him climb to a point where he could be lifted down, but one day he went a little higher and faster, just out of reach. If I had shouted at him, panic might have caused him to fall, so I had to follow, with the intention of catching up. It is often harder descending than ascending a rock face, as it is had to see clear hand and foot holds, so, as he had gone one third of the way up, it was better, in my opinion, to keep going, this time will me climbing around him. My nerves were shredded by the time we reached the top, but the look of elation on my son’s face was amazing. He/we could have fallen, but that didn’t cause him any concern. It was the thrill of the challenge and the pleasure of achievement which he was seeking.

(Learning) objective? Success criteria?

LO Climb a mountain. SC 1) able to follow step by step guidance; 2) roped to a leader, 3) roped, but leading yourself, 4) free climbing.

Long, cyclic professional discussions occur with LO/SC or WALT/WILF at the core. Teachers and schools should choose what works for them, as long as there is clear purpose articulated and the learners know, at least what they are doing, where they are going and why they are doing it.

I’d want learners to be able to articulate their personal understanding of the task and what they were trying to achieve.

In order to become partners in their own learning project, children need some sort of scaffold. They cannot be experts in learning and child development. That is the teacher role, along with holding onto the general direction of travel. Showing and sharing the journey allows learners to be aware of what progress looks like and the steps that they need to take in order to make it a reality.

If they know where they are going, they don’t need to ask “Are we there yet?” and they might become life-long learners.

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So, show them the point, show them the journey, give them an idea of what it might look like as a finished product, then offer the chance to undertake the journey, engage, question and guide with care, then evaluate and celebrate the outcomes, deciding what could have been improved (WWW-what worked well) and what still needs to be achieved (EBI-even better if).

By doing this, more active learners are enabled to become part of the process and can self-generate learning, moving the teacher subtly to a coaching role. This level of independence also allows the teacher to focus on those pupils who need greater scaffolded support.

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Assess or examine

13/10/2014

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Evolution/revolution; Babies/bathwater?

The principle goal of education in (the) schools should be creating men and women who are capable of doing new things, not simply repeating what other generations have done. Jean Piaget

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Premised on the principle that every child always has and always will matter, If I was SoS for Education at this point, I would want to lead the development of a system within which all learners could develop the skills, knowledge and attributes that would support them in their future learning or working lives, secure in their ability, but also in their self-esteem and their willingness to keep learning.  In other words, moving towards an inclusive, challenging and rigorous system of assessment summarised as know-how with show-how. I would want school systems that encourage resilient effort, making errors and learning from them, setting personal and well as having external challenges, making children see that they are responsible for their learning outcomes.

In the long run, we shape our lives, and we shape ourselves. The process never ends until we die. And the choices we make are ultimately our own responsibility. Eleanor Roosevelt

In every classroom there is likely to be a group of children who feel inferior to their classmates, with some actively articulating their difficulty in learning. I can’t…. draw, dance, remember, calculate…I’m not as good as…..  Life is full of pitfalls and the ability to face these is often the real test. Schools should be places where learners can seek solutions with active guidance and support as needed. Is failing as good for the soul as some would make out? Or, on learning situations, should areas for development be the mantra?

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Pass/fail; win/lose; good/bad; yes/no; success/failure; can/can’t.

If we allow regular, polarised usage of such words to colour and determine education, what is the subsequent impact on the learning journeys of young people?

Without some goals and some efforts to reach it, no man can live. John Dewey

In another post, I have argued that assessment is the underpinning of teacher thinking, from planning to classroom action, followed by evaluation.

Michael Gove spoke at the Institute of Education Festival of Education on 17th November 2012 and appeared to suggest that assessment was simply examination and that external examinations were the only valid exams otherwise “it’s only play”. It’s probably making assessment gurus like Dylan William redden and despair.

In 1988 at the inception of the National Curriculum, the incumbent Secretary of State, Kenneth Baker, was advised by the Task Group on Assessment and Testing, TGAT, which was charged with refining the processes within which the whole programme would be assessed. This group made a number of statements which are worthy of continued reflection.
Extracts:-

We re-emphasise our recommendation in paragraph 162 on the inclusion of national assessment results in a broader Record of Achievement for each pupil. The assessed aspects of the national curriculum are but part of the whole curriculum, and the Records of Achievement should offer a fuller picture.

A further practical point is that because teachers’ own assessments have an important part to play, attention must be given to developing the methods and skills that teachers will need to make these assessments. The externally-prescribed national assessment tests and tasks will not be adequate to assess pupils’ achievement of all of the attainment targets. It is only through teachers’ appraisal, over an extended period, of pupils’ progress in the curriculum, which is defined by these targets, that comprehensive evidence can be created.

We should stress that this single system across the age range means that many of the early assumptions about age-related attainment targets no longer apply in those terms. Initially, the norms now expected for particular ages will be used in helping to identify criteria appropriate for the system of ten levels; but once devised, the system will rest on the levels and criteria alone, through which different pupils may progress at different paces.

Assessment is a significant tool in a teacher skills toolkit, making on-going judgements that underpin classroom practice. This will be through observation or discussion and oral feedback during a lesson or perhaps written commentary afterwards. Occasionally there may be a test to check what has been remembered. Assessment contributes to teacher decision-making at every stage, as it is based on evidence that forms the developing opinion. These and other elements are formative assessments.

Class, year group, end of module, half term, term examinations are not uncommon, as schools look to validate the outcomes of the teaching over the timescale and to summarise the pupil’s attainment at a particular point in time, known as summative assessment.

One big question is assessment against what? Most schools will use tools which have at their base the levels of the National Curriculum, which have been in place since the 1988 Education Reform Act enshrined it into law. Levelness was designed around a series of criteria or capabilities, against which children’s performance could be assessed, guiding teachers to look for evidence against capability statements. Reporting to parents was often as levels, although in many cases, this was also coupled with statements outlining what has been achieved. Levelness applied across years 1-9, supporting transition and transfer, as long as the receiving teacher and/or context accepted the judgements of the preceding class teacher or school. At GCSE, there are still criteria statements against which teachers make judgements, with attached grades.
Secondary Schools still have GCSE criteria against which to develop competency statements. Primaries are currently finding the process more difficult, as far as conversations suggest when visiting schools.

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Although it might be argued by some that external examinations are the only valid test of ability, it potentially does a disservice to teacher judgement, as they seek to prepare their pupils for the test. The situation is further clouded by the use of “pass” and “fail” as shorthand judgements by commentators after national test results are announced.  The notion of pass or fail is based on a decision to arbitrarily attribute greater credence to a particular grade. At Key Stage 2, this was level 4. At GCSE this was grade C. This means that any child achieving level 3 or less, or grade D or less is seen as a failure. The impact of the use of these epithets is likely to be demotivation and demoralisation, as well as demonization of the school for allowing them to fail. It is possible to argue that the emotive use of pass and fail and the subsequent commentary has supported schools to seek to address the borderline students, as they contribute to the overall result.

Is there an alternative to the external exam as the only validation of a child’s ability at the end of a period of schooling? Inevitably there are other models, but these seem to have been bypassed to moves back to the terminal exam. Why does that sound so sinister? Is it because it could terminate a child’s progress through the system, based on performance on one day to summarise a learning career?

Portfolio approaches can be seen in educational contexts from Early Years through to National Vocational Qualifications taken by adults, where the participant or the adult in EYFS keeps a record of achievements to show developing capabilities. In both of these examples, the system is subject to moderation, by an accredited assessor. Pupils in schools could develop a portfolio of unaided work, marked and moderated within the school, validated by an external reviewer. Developmental feedback can be given to address any shortcomings for subsequent review.

Music grading is a series of levelled progressive preparations for external examinations. The process and expectations are clear to all participants. There is an opportunity to gain either a merit or distinction grade beyond the simple pass/fail borderline. This system is based on a learner’s ability, not on their age, so a prodigy could succeed at an early age.

Sport is one area where a participant’s ability is tested regularly. Bars are raised, timings achieved, throws and jumps measured.

Levelness within the current National Curriculum could be seen in the context of either of the above examples and, where used effectively, the levels provided clear criteria for progress and assessment against known targets. Learners know where they have to focus and appreciate the commentary for development.

There have to be checks and balances in any system and being put to the test is an essential life skill, in terms of safety and independent skill, eg driving test, or possibly the ability to perform certain functions, eg professional exams. In each of these examples, there are criteria for skills, knowledge and personal attributes which can be assessed.

Prescription, based on every child knowing success.

  • Develop one system of grading or levels within which children will progress throughout their school career.
  • Know the start point for every individual.
  • Describe the learning journey of each child, in terms of criteria. (WILF)
  • Devise a series of engaging, challenging, rigorous contexts within which the pupils will learn. National frameworks or syllabi?
  • Offer opportunities for children to produce work of appropriate challenge. (WILF)
  • Assess, feedback, advise progress. (WILF)
  • Prepare for test. (WILF)
  • Levelness based testing/moderation to validate teacher assessment and support subsequent learning.
  • Before giving up any specific subject, there should be an assessment of “exit” ability, ensuring credit for every subject.
  • Credit should be given to a child’s achievements in school, so that they leave with some documentation detailing their capabilities. Record of Achievement?
  • Final assessment. There is no getting away from some final validation of what a pupil can achieve unaided, so there is always likely to be a need for an exit exam. This should purely be on the basis of capability, so should be criterion referenced.
  • Requirements for progression to further study or training should be set by the receiving institution, so that it is clear to aspirant apprentices, “A” level or university students what is expected.
Education is what remains after one has forgotten what one has learned in school. Albert Einstein

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    Chris Chivers

    Long career in education, classroom and leadership; always a learner.
    University tutor and education consultant; Teaching and Learning, Inclusion and parent partnership.
    Francophile, gardener, sometime bodhran player.

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