Archive for Featured

The uncomfortable truth about Curriculum for Excellence

05/01/2012 cfe, change, Featured, reflection, secondment 8 comments

The problems facing Curriculum for Excellence have finally been identified. Carole Ford demonstrated them clearly in her recent article in the TESS.

If you know me your jaw may well now be on the floor. What? Fearghal agrees with Carole Ford’s piece!?! No, rest assured, I haven’t done a U-turn. No, I don’t agree with her points at all, but I think she unintentionally demonstrated why CfE is struggling to gain traction in so many parts of the country. Obviously there are many issues such as support, time, funding etc.; but perhaps the greatest barrier is the support for school leaders in understanding the change, which then impacts on their ability to lead the changes in their schools.

There are many points in her piece which I disagree with, but I’ll pick out a small sample to illustrate my point. In reference to literacy and numeracy she says:

pupils who fail to develop appropriate levels of literacy and numeracy skill in primary school rarely make good this deficit later in the educational process. The CfE solution to this is not, as one might expect, to focus attention on the primary years of schooling but to place responsibility for both onto secondary teachers. Thus we have physics teachers teaching literacy and French teachers teaching numeracy

I find this statement to be shockingly inaccurate for two reasons. Firstly, CfE is continuing to place a strong focus on literacy, numeracy (& health and well being) in the primary stages as well as secondary. And secondly, secondary teachers should not be ‘teaching literacy’ in place of their subject specialisms – but rather using their subject areas as contexts to develop these skills where appropriate. Throughout the broad general education the intention is to improve young people’s literacy and numeracy levels – this is not the sole domain of primary teachers, as any secondary teacher will tell you (bemoan)! Whilst there may well be a number of secondary schools around the country which are requiring their staff to be ‘teaching numeracy’ in place of their subject area, I would argue that this is not the fault of CfE, but of the school leaders who have misinterpreted the documentation.

She goes onto use a similar argument regarding interdisciplinary learning:

interdisciplinary learning, advocated by CfE, is a whole bone of contention in its own right. Why is taking a teacher out of his comfort zone a good thing? Do you wish to be treated by a doctor who is operating out of his comfort zone? The logic of interdisciplinary learning is that I will make better progress in German if the teacher is not fluent in German but pretty good at French or Spanish. In the language of Homer Simpson, “D’oh!”

It’s surprising that an article which criticises the lack of evidence presented to support CfE only itself contains a quote by Homer Simpson, but anyway, interdisciplinary learning. I personally don’t believe that interdisciplinary learning is the holy grail one might think it is if you listen to certain people, but I still think the quotation above misses the point. Interdisciplinary learning is not supposed to be about French teachers teaching German. It’s supposed to be about providing young people with opportunities to see their learning in a more joined up way and be beginning to make connections between the artificial barriers we’ve created between the subjects. This is a skill which I always say marks out the top candidates in Biology, and it is one which is becoming increasingly relevant in today’s world.

Once again, there may well be many teachers out there having to teach a subject outside their comfort zone under the banner of interdisciplinary learning and CfE, but I think Carole Ford is inadvertently highlighting an issue with her colleagues – not Curriculum for Excellence. Don’t get me wrong, I think there are many barriers facing the implementation of CfE, but not all of them lie with the policy documents or the national agencies – as demonstrated by this article.

A framework for learning & teaching

22/10/2011 cfe, change, Featured, learning cycle, reflection 2 comments

The current trend of giving a document a title which doesn’t match its contents is not new. Building the Curriculum 3 is guilty of this too, a ‘framework for learning and teaching’ it is not. As far back as April 2009, I’ve shared on this blog how I used my interpretation of this document to try to develop a pedagogy which would meet its aims and principles. Arriving at this interpretation was not easy, and I’m sure others have arrived at different ones. The subsequent implementation of this interpretation has not been straightforward either. It’s quite difficult to develop and change something as complex as your approaches to learning and teaching in relative isolation. All of which leaves me with little surprise that many practicing teachers across Scotland are still at a bit of a loss as to what Curriculum for Excellence is supposed to mean for them and their learners beyond the content in the Experiences and Outcomes and the infamous changes in approach to assessment.

It is for this reason that I think the introduction of the learning cycle model and learn2learn at my school is being so positively received. This actual framework for learning and teaching is filling the vacuum left by the Curriculum for Excellence documents by providing teachers with something concrete to build learning experiences around. The implementation of the model is also being supported by those who’ve helped develop it – and crucially – use it day in day out. I’ve already begun to demonstrate how this approach relates to the literature and my experience of using it so far suggests that it has a positive impact on learning (in its broadest sense). I’m also finding that this model is in no way restrictive and actually provides vast potential for development of practice – but in a focused way.

I think all of this provides us with lessons on how to move forward. It’s not, as some would argue, that all secondary teachers are resistant to change. It’s that they need clear guidance and support to make change. In an ideal world we’d all be able to develop our own practice collaboratively based on literature and evidence, within very broad guidance – but this is just simply not realistic. Can Scotland now learn from past mistakes and develop the guidance which will actually impact on classroom practice and the crucial support to make it happen? I hope so, but I have my doubts.

A Healthy Heart

10/08/2011 active learning, cfe, change, Featured, learning cycle, MEd, science No comments

Following from my previous post, I’ve been preparing the lessons for the class I’m going to using the learning cycle with – one of my S3 Intermediate 1 Biology classes.

We’ll be learning about the heart when we return after the summer break, and so I’ve been trying to use the learning cycle to plan the lessons, and then producing a powerpoint to accompany this. It’s been surprisingly tough going – mainly due to the amount of time it takes. I am also finding it fun though. It’s liberating to plan without such a focus on the textbook and I’m looking forward to seeing how the lessons go next week…

Firstly the planning…
http://fkelly.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/Healthy-Heart-Lesson-Plans.pdf

And here’s the powerpoint…
http://fkelly.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/HealthyHeart.pdf

And some other associated files…

How can planning learning experiences using an accelerated learning cycle lead to more engaged learners?

01/08/2011 cfe, change, Featured, learning communities, learning cycle, MEd No comments

The latest installment of my MEd involved me writing up the group preparation for a collaborative professional enquiry which will be carried out next term. As I moved school however at Easter, I also changed my enquiry from the proposal stage to bring it in line with developments already taking place at my new school. As I’d previously posted the rationale from my proposal, I thought I should post my new rationale. This is a slightly edited version from my assignment [which has not yet been marked - fingers crossed!]

How can planning learning experiences using an accelerated learning cycle lead to more engaged learners?
• How can planning learning experiences using an accelerated learning cycle change the learners’ understanding of the role of the teacher in learning?
• How can planning learning experiences using an accelerated learning cycle change the learners’ understanding of the role of themselves in learning?
• How can planning learning experiences using an accelerated learning cycle lead to learners becoming more engaged in their learning?

What is an ‘Accelerated Learning Cycle’?
There are many iterations of both learning cycles and accelerated learning programs (Kolb 1984, Meier 2000, McCarthy & McCarthy 2006, Heron 2009). The accelerated learning cycle we refer to has its roots in Smith (1996) where he outlines seven stages to effective learning plus a further pre-stage as follows:


Accelerated Learning Cycle from Smith (1996, p.11)

We are using a modified version of this cycle and have incorporated these stages into our lesson planning. We have used the term ‘Discuss Learning Outcomes’ instead of ‘Describe the outcomes’ to encourage a higher level of involvement of learners in the process than is implied by the Smith’s wording. In addition, we have found in practice that the ‘Big Picture’ stage can be incorporated into ‘Connect the Learning’ or ‘Discuss Learning Outcomes’. Teachers planning lessons using these stages is what we mean by ‘planning learning experiences using an accelerated learning cycle’ in this enquiry.

What do we mean by ‘Learner Engagement’?
A lack of pupil engagement is an issue which I have identified in my own practice, but is also an issue which has been highlighted nationally (HMIe 2009, p.48) and by others in my school. Harris (2010) classifies two types of student engagement: engagement in schooling and engagement in learning. She argues that much of the literature on student engagement, such as the 2003 OECD report (Willms 2003), focuses on behavioural engagement. She goes on to point out that if we are interested in improvements in student learning we should be focusing instead on cognitive engagement. As a result of her work with secondary teachers Harris (2010) has a developed a continuum of engagement which I have summarised in the table below:


Continuum of Learner Engagement adapted from Harris (2010)

This continuum demonstrates the potential relationship between learners becoming more autonomous and their engagement in learning. We discussed this continuum and agreed that this articulated what we mean by “Learner Engagement” for the purposes of this enquiry. Our aim is to change our practice to support learners to move up this continuum towards “owning learning”.

What will be different?
Changing a planning proforma does not necessarily lead to changes in the learning experiences; we therefore discussed the changes we expect to see in lessons which are planned in this way. The primary change to most lessons will involve the provision of explicit opportunities to consolidate, demonstrate and review learning. Through discussions as a collaborative group it is clear that we currently tend to focus too heavily on inputting new information and too often halt the learning process at this point. Whilst we may occasionally provide an activity to practice what has just been covered, we tend not to do so consistently nor to a sufficiently challenging degree to allow us to really gauge progression. We seem to be particularly guilty at failing to protect the time to review learning and encourage learners to reflect on how, as well as what, they have learnt. This has a tendency to result in learners becoming passive participants in the learning process, detached from the ‘how’ and ‘why’ of the learning which is taking place (Black et. al. 2006, p.124). Taking an accelerated learning cycle approach to lessons changes this as teachers take a learning, as opposed to a content, view of planning lessons and therefore ensure that time is taken to demonstrate and review learning.

How does our intervention relate to literature and policy?
Smith (1996) uses a collection of disparate educational theories to support his accelerated learning cycle, some of which have since fallen out of favour. Despite this, the approaches he outlines have relevance today and are supported by contemporary literature. There are two areas of literature which are particularly relevant to Smith’s learning cycle; Assessment for Learning and Learning How To Learn.

The accelerated learning cycle has Assessment for Learning (AfL) at its core. AfL has recently been revisited by Black & Wiliam (2009) in an attempt to develop a framework to help define the practices which this term encompasses. This paper provides a comprehensive analysis of the literature through which they determine the following five key strategies:


Black & Wiliam (2009)

These strategies overlap significantly with the stages of the accelerated learning cycle by placing an emphasis on the importance of discussing learning outcomes, including activities which allow learners to demonstrate their understanding and by ensuring opportunities for learners to reflect on learning. The potential impact of strategies which provide learning feedback loops are highlighted by Petty (2009) in his review of the meta-analyses of John Hattie and Robert Marzano. Although such meta-analyses need to be treated with a degree of caution, it is significant that both found feedback to have one of the largest effect sizes in terms of learning outcomes (p.87). Once again, Petty’s representation of the most effective learning process, based on evidence, bears a similarity to the stages identified in the accelerated learning cycle (p.86) and helps clarify the crucial role which feedback plays in the process.

A related, and increasingly overlapping, aspect of literature which is also relevant to the accelerated learning cycle is sometimes known as Learning How To Learn (LHTL) but can also be referred to as Learn to Learn (L2L). Although our school is implementing a parallel specific L2L programme in S1 and S2 from next session, we will use the term LHTL as defined by Black et. al. (2006). This term is more appropriate for this enquiry as we are not evaluating the impact of implementing a L2L programme, but determining whether increasing the opportunities for demonstrating understanding and reflecting on learning in lessons can have an impact on pupils’ perceptions and understanding of themselves as learners, and ultimately on engagement. James & McCormick (2009) outline a relationship between AfL and LHTL in a way which has particular relevance to this enquiry:


Relationship between AfL, LHTL and Learning Autonomy
from James & McCormick (2009)

Throughout our meetings my colleagues have repeatedly shared their concern that their pupils’ perceptions of themselves as learners, and their perceptions of the teacher’s role in the learning process, has, to a certain degree, led them to become disengaged as learners. The diagram above demonstrates the relationship between Assessment for Learning as an integral component of Learning How To Learn, and ultimately learner autonomy. We feel that by changing the pupils’ perceptions, we will increase their engagement on Harris’ (2010) scale by allowing them to see the purpose and, in the long-term, become owners of their learning.

Recent Scottish Government policies have focused significantly on changing pedagogy, assessment and curriculum in order to raise achievement through increased learner involvement and engagement in learning (Scottish Government 2008, p.27; Learning & Teaching Scotland 2009, p.13; Scottish Government 2010, p.19; Learning & Teaching Scotland 2010, p.4). These policy changes have been subsequently transferred into local policy, for example the intended impact of aspects of our Local Authority’s Curriculum for Excellence implementation plan include “pupils will be more actively involved in their learning and will make links between their learning” and “learners will be actively involved in assessing their progress” (East Lothian Council, 2011).

What is Collaborative Professional Enquiry?
The concept of teachers co-constructing knowledge of practice is developing prominence in both policy and literature. A recent report on teacher education in Scotland highlighted the “significant potential for greater collaboration in supporting inquiry-based improvement” (Donaldson 2010, p.70), however the potential contribution of these approaches to professional development in general, and Curriculum for Excellence in particular, had already been highlighted by the Curriculum for Excellence Management Board the previous year (Scottish Government 2009, p.15).

Hargreaves (2003) also argues for the need for teachers to work together, but further suggests that this work “consistently focuses on improving teaching and learning, and uses evidence and data as a basis for informing classroom improvement efforts” (p.134). This way of working is very much in line with the definitions provided for collaborative professional enquiry provided by others (Jackson & Street 2005, p.10; Watkins 2005, p.191; Drew et. al. 2008, p.53). Collaborative professional enquiry promotes practitioner research as both an effective tool for improving teaching and a key aspect of professional learning (Loughran, 2010), but also builds on this to encompass a Vygotskyan view of teacher learning (Warford, 2010).

We discussed the concept of collaborative enquiry as a group in the first of our meetings and agreed that the phases outlined by Temperley & McGrane (2005, p.73) provide a useful sequence to guide our enquiry.

References

Black, P., McCormick, R., James, M. and Pedder, D. (2006) Learning How to Learn and Assessment for Learning: a theoretical enquiry. Research Papers in Education, 21 (2) pp.119-132

Black, P. & Wiliam, D. (2009) Developing the theory of formative assessment. Educational Assessment, Evaluation and Accountability, 21 pp. 5–31

Donaldson, G. (2011) Teaching Scotland’s Future: Report of a review of teacher education in Scotland. Edinburgh, Scottish Government

Drew, V., Fox, A. and McBride, M. (2008) Collaborating to improve learning and teaching. In: Reeves, J. & Fox, A. ed. Practice-Based Learning. Edinburgh, Dunedin Academic Press, pp. 52-66

East Lothian Council (2011) Curriculum for Excellence in East Lothian Planning Ahead 2011/12. http://edubuzz.org/blogs/curriculumforexcellence/files/2009/09/CfE-in-East-Lothian-Planning-Ahead-2011-12-A3.doc [accessed 30 June 2011]

Hargreaves, A. (2003) Teaching in the Knowledge Society: Education in the age of insecurity. Maidenhead, Open University Press

Harris, L. (2010) Secondary teachers’ conceptions of student engagement: Engagement in learning or in schooling? Teaching and Teacher Education, 27 (2) pp.376-386

Heron, J. (2009) Life cycles and learning cycles. In: Illeris, K. ed. Contemporary Theories of Learning. Abingdon, Routledge, pp.129-146

HM Inspectorate of Education (2009) Improving Scottish Education 2005-2008. www.hmie.gov.uk/documents/publication/ise09.pdf [accessed 4 July 2011]

Jackson, D. and Street, H. (2005) What Does ‘Collaborative Enquiry’ Look Like? In: Street, H. & Temperley, J. ed. Improving Schools Through Collaborative Enquiry. London, Continuum, pp. 41-70

James, M and McCormick, R. (2009) Teachers learning how to learn. Teaching and Teacher Education, 25 pp.973–982

Kolb, D.A. (1984) Experiential learning: experience as the source of learning and development. New Jersey, Prentice Hall

Learning and Teaching Scotland (2009) Building the Curriculum 4: Skills for learning, skills for life and skills for work. www.ltscotland.org.uk/Images/BtC4_Skills_tcm4-569141.pdf [accessed 30 June 2011]

Learning and Teaching Scotland (2010) A Summary of Building the Curriculum 5: A framework for assessment. www.ltscotland.org.uk/Images/btc5_tcm4-605259.pdf [accessed 30 June 2011]

Loughran, J. (2010) What Expert Teachers Do: Enhancing professional knowledge for classroom practice. Abingdon, Routledge

McCarthy, B. and McCarthy, D. (2006) Teaching around the 4MAT cycle: designing instruction for diverse learners with diverse learning styles. London, Sage Publications

Meier, D. (2000) The Accelerated Learning Handbook. New York, McGraw-Hill

Petty, G. (2009) Evidence-Based Teaching. 2nd ed. Cheltenham, Nelson Thornes

Scottish Government (2008) Building the Curriculum 3: A framework for learning and teaching. www.ltscotland.org.uk/Images/building_the_curriculum_3_jms3_tcm4-489454.pdf [accessed 30 June 2011]

Scottish Government (2009) Towards a Professional Development Strategy for Curriculum for Excellence: Management board discussion paper.
www.ltscotland.org.uk/Images/ProfessionalDevStrategy_tcm4-565591.pdf [accessed 12 July 2011]

Scottish Government (2010) Building the Curriculum 5: A framework for assessment. www.ltscotland.org.uk/Images/BtC5_assess_tcm4-582215.pdf [accessed 30 June 2011]

Smith, A. (1996) Accelerated Learning in the Classroom. Stafford, Network Educational Press

Temperley, J. and McGrane, J. (2005) Enquiry in action. In: Street, H. & Temperley, J. ed. Improving Schools Through Collaborative Enquiry. London, Continuum, pp. 72-103

Warford, M.K. (2010) The zone of proximal teacher development. Teaching and Teacher Education, 27 (22) pp.252-258

Watkins, C. (2005) Classrooms as Learning Communities. Abingdon, Routledge

Willms, J. D. (2003) Student Engagement at School: A Sense of Belonging and Participation, Results from PISA 2000. www.oecd.org/dataoecd/42/35/33689437.pdf [accessed 30 June 2011]

Striving for Excellence

24/06/2011 change, Featured, reflection, science 2 comments

Cramlington Learning FestivalI’m just in the door from my first visit to the Cramlington Learning Festival, and my head’s still swirling. Although this was my second visit to the school, it was still mightily impressive.

There are so many things to be impressed and inspired from today, that it’s hard to know what to reflect on and what I’ll do as a result. I attended five sessions today – the two keynotes and three workshops – all of which were quite different.

We started off the day with Alistair Smith, a long time friend of the school. We received a free copy of his new book in our conference pack and he spoke mainly around the ideas which have arisen from his discussions with leaders of successful schools which have formed the basis of ‘High Performers’. He talked a lot about the fabulous work of Carol Dweck and introduced quite a few new concepts to me, but unfortunately he had to speed through some of the more unfamiliar stuff. At least I can check it out in the book!

The second keynote was from David Price. He was both very entertaining and inspiring talking a lot about the idea of schools as learning commons. I definitely need to check out his blog!

As inspiring as these keynotes were, the really good stuff was the workshops. My first was with Darren Mead, who it was great to finally meet. He shared how they’re embedding both enquiry and project based learning into their year 7 & 8 science curriculum. I then heard how the key stage 4 science team have been developing a new GCSE science module from scratch based on a combination of backwards design and pathway approaches to curriculum development. My final workshop was on how CPD is led at Cramlington.

Whilst all of these workshops were on relatively different subjects, I’m thinking there was a common feature which really impresses. They keep trying things out, based on evidence and reflection, in a relentless pursuit of excellence. This is a school who I think has had straight outstanding inspections from OFSTED on the last three occasions, and yet they’re not convinced they’ve got it right. In fact, for every couple of examples they give of what’s working well, there seems to be another example of an improvement they’ve got in the pipeline. They seem to actually fully embody journey to excellence in a way I’ve never encountered before.

If there’s anything which inspires me most about Cramlington, it is their seemingly endless desire to improve to provide the best possible outcomes for the young people in their care.

The risk paradox

10/06/2011 cfe, change, Featured, learning cycle, reflection, science 7 comments

We changed our timetable this week and have made start on 2011/12, which means I got to meet my new classes and get going on their new courses. This is such a crucial time. Somehow, you’ve got to find the balance between setting the right tone with your new classes and the inevitable wind down towards the end of term. Two of my classes are making a start on their Intermediate 1 Biology courses and I’ve been fighting the strong urge to play it safe. I’ve decided to take what feels like a risky strategy, but why do I think it’s risky…?

To give a bit of context, this course kicks off by learning about the nature of health in terms of physical, mental & social health and then moves onto considering how physiological measurements of health can be taken. In the past, I wouldn’t have given too much thought on how to approach this…draw the health triangle…complete a worksheet on staying healthy…draw a table of methods of taking physiological measurements…and so on. My assumption had been that I would employ similar methods this time around, but I really didn’t want to. This was not the tone I wanted to set with my new classes and felt that if I started in this rather predictable manner, then I would struggle to ever break out of this in the future. Despite this strong desire, I was worried about taking a riskier approach. What if it didn’t work? What if the behaviour was awful?

The strange thing is, my old method wasn’t terribly successful. The pupils tended to find the content quite boring and would soon start playing up. Even worse, they wouldn’t be able to remember any of this particularly well in a few months time. So why on earth would I consider this approach to be the safe one? Is it because it resulted in a relatively quiet classroom with me in control? Or perhaps because it generated jotters filled with notes? Or maybe I just feel it’s what everyone, including the pupils, expect of me? It’s surprising how hard it is to break out of these drivers!

Anyway, despite this strange internal pressure, I managed to resist. I kicked off with some circle time to discuss how we should approach learning as a class. I followed this with a group challenge to draw the health triangle based on short 10 second individual opportunities to view one copy of it at the front. We then made a video of the whole class acting out the health triangle which we watched next lesson before designing posters for doctors’ surgeries to promote all three aspects of health. My plan for the next lessons was to break the groups up into expert teams to research and present on each of the four physiological measurements they need to know, but one of the pupils in one of the classes has suggested we make health promotion adverts instead so we’re going to do that first…

And the result? The pupils’ behaviour has been outstanding – they’ve been much more engaged and motivated so far than I would’ve anticipated from my old approaches – and more importantly, they’re really learning it. But why would I doubt that? All my experience and reading in the last few years emphatically point to these sorts of strategies being significantly more successful, but for some reason when faced with the reality of 40 new S3 pupils it still takes a bit of a leap of faith to take what feels like a risk, but really isn’t at all.

Getting to know the E’s and O’s

20/05/2011 assessment, cfe, change, Featured, learning cycle One comment

I know, I know. The experiences and outcomes have been around for ages now. Surely we’re long past getting to know them? In my experience however, this simply isn’t the case. Many of us seem to have taken something from them first time through, but now that we’re approaching the blunt end of assessment and reporting we’re beginning to wonder if we got them right.

Through our work with Myra Young, we’re being encouraged to take another look at the experiences and outcomes – this time starting with the purpose. This can often lead to a quite different approach to planning. Rather than looking at the experiences and outcomes and jumping straight to the activities we’d carry out, we think first about what the purposes of the outcomes are in terms of learning, how this could be evidenced and what the success criteria are.

On our inservice days next week at my new school, we’re lucky enough to be receiving CPD from teachers at Cramlington Learning Village with a view to planning our lessons using the accelerated learning cycle. But first I’m going to suggest that we need to ensure we understand the curriculum before jumping into detailed collaborative planning of lessons based on the learning cycle.

This can be illustrated with one of our science experiences and outcomes. Whilst in the past this might have led to us planning a series of lessons covering all the various organs of the systems we feel we need to ‘cover’, a fresh look at the purpose of the learning outlined in the curriculum brings a different emphasis and therefore quite different lessons.

We often complain the experiences and outcomes are vague and complex (which they are…but do we really want a version of the National Curriculum instead?) but if they are how can we expect to be fully familiar with them already? As difficult as it is to accept from the perspective of development work (which is going to get worse when the new NQs start arriving), the reality is that our understanding of the curriculum is going to evolve over time and I’m doing my best to try to keep my mind open to that…

Cross-posted on pedagoo.org

Sometimes, it’s the little things

27/04/2011 active learning, cfe, change, Featured 3 comments

Cross-Posted on pedagoo.org

I’m just back in the classroom this week – phew, I’d forgotten how much of a rollercoaster teaching is! You strap yourself in and off you go…good fun though!

One of the things though which has really struck me this week so far is how much I’ve changed as a teacher in the last couple of years – but if you were observing me you might not even notice. For example, when planning for some of the lessons this week I was looking through some of the supporting PowerPoints on the server and while the were perfectly fine, I just had to make a couple of changes. Rather than starting with titles and learning intentions, I added striking relevant images to the start to get the discussion going, their brains whirring and make them inquisitive. And where there was a diagram, I tried when possible to add a picture or a video to give the slide more relevance and interest.

There’s other examples as well. When meeting each of my classes, I haven’t started by reading out the rules and telling them the consequences of their actions and so on. I’ve started by telling them a little about me, finding a little about them and carrying out an activity which required them to work in groups to share their thoughts on how they learn, what they’ve learnt, why they want to do well, why science is relevant and how they should behave and then getting them to summarise the responses – some which are fantastic.

One of my classes is revising for an exam and so with 20 minutes remaining in a lesson I told them to open their textbook to the contents page, find the topic which they found the hardest and go to that chapter. I then told them to look at the questions in the chapter and not to do any which they knew the answer to, skip those and do the ones which they had no clue about. This threw quite a few of them, but I simply explained that they were there to learn and to do so they needed to search out the things they can’t do – not the things they can do already. I’ll be honest and admit I made this up on the spot – I’ve never taken this approach to revision before.

All of these examples are tiny. I’m almost embarrassed to be writing them up and publishing them on the web as so many of you probably to do all of this and more every day. What I am proud of, and the reason I can bring myself to publishing this, is that to me these are much more than simple ‘techniques’. These are the manifestation of much of the reading I have been undertaking into learning and I am therefore convinced that the consistent application of approaches such of these, and more, will lead to better learning experiences for the pupils in my classes.

So much of Curriculum for Excellence is being undermined by the perceived expectation that lessons need to appear radically different. I disagree with this assessment of the change. For me, lessons can appear to have changed only a little to the untrained eye, but should be increasingly planned with a sound educational rationale in mind. That will take time however.

Medicine and agriculture are now both ‘evidence based’, and it is time for education to follow their example. It is no shame to follow them; it is easier to work out how a liver works or how a plant grows than how a person learns. But we do know a great deal about how people learn now, and we need to change our practice accordingly. Geoff Petty, Evidence Based Teaching

#CfEfuture part 2

14/04/2011 cfe, change, Featured 5 comments

So, I’ve been mulling over lots and lots of ideas. I think whatever we do needs to be practised based and reach out. I think it needs to focus on supporting, encouraging and sharing innovative and effective approaches to education. And finally, I think it needs to be a bit different to what’s gone before.

How about we start with a collaborative blog…something like ‘educationfuturesscotland’? This could include guest posts, video content of practice and practitioners, links to literature and other suggested avenues of support. The collaborative blog would also have a twitter and facebook presence.

If successful, in the medium to longer term educationfuturesscotland could actually try to develop more physical support in the form of conferences/seminars/learning communities…?

All of this work would be grassroots led and not-for-profit, with this quote from Kenny’s fantastic blog post in our minds…

When belts are tightening, grades and numbers, for some reason, become more important. We teachers are asked to justify what we do even more than ever. So, keep your nose clean, your head down, don’t rock the boat. No chance. Shout from the rooftops. If Curriculum for Excellence is to mean anything then it should allow us to provide our students with meaningful learning experiences.

What do you think? Are you up for it?

#CfEfuture

13/04/2011 cfe, change, Featured No comments

I awoke yesterday morning to an interesting tweet from David Cameron (the real one):


Huge interest in Curriculum for Excellence, Donaldson Review, self-evaluation in Scotland everywhere I am working – except maybe in Scotland
12/04/2011 7:44 am via webReplyRetweetFavorite
@realdcameron
David Cameron

This kickstarted a long running discussion about Curriculum for Excellence with lots of different folk throughout most of yesterday. I think it’s maybe the most tweets I’ve ever posted in one day. Much of the discussion was driven by a desire for CfE to work and a concern that it might not. Some examples of the sorts of comments being made include:


@ Do we have to have EVERYTHING presented to us in the right way? CfE is a tool that’s as good or as bad as those who use it.
12/04/2011 8:12 am via webReplyRetweetFavorite
@CreativeSTAR
Juliet Robertson


@ I think ‘we’ have failed dismally to explain CfE simply and convincingly.
12/04/2011 8:26 am via Mobile WebReplyRetweetFavorite
@gbrown057
Gordon Brown



#CfE is a shift in curriculum, pedagogy & assessment towards providing teachers and learners the flexibility and autonomy required to learn.
12/04/2011 2:26 pm via webReplyRetweetFavorite
@fkelly
Fearghal Kelly

It was quite a vibrant debate and towards the evening we started to think about what we might do next, which led to the new hashtag #CfEfuture


@ said “#CfE Where is there a forum for more permanent discussion/action/debate & that moves things on?” #CfEfuture
12/04/2011 10:20 pm via webReplyRetweetFavorite
@fkelly
Fearghal Kelly

This then led on to even more discussion and debate regarding possible next steps which we’re nowhere near resolving.

Ultimately, there seems to be a general feeling amongst many that whilst CfE has the potential to be great, there are still a great many teachers out there who would appreciate more, and different, support with it in practice. There are also others who are still skeptical of CfE, and others again who are resistant. This view appears to be held by many on twitter, however it is not this which convinces or drives me. Throughout my time on Secondment I had the opportunity to meet with many teachers across East Lothian. It’s true that a great many of them are making significant progress with implementing CfE, however there are very very few who are truly confident. Lots of them do want and need more support – and they appreciate engagement with depth. Our recent work with Myra Young demonstrated this in abundance. The vast majority of the teachers involved in the Assessment & Moderation Circles appreciated taking part in a challenging but supportive collaborative process which asked a lot of them.

So what, if anything, could we be doing for ourselves as teachers to provide more of this sort of support? Should we be trying to develop more online learning communities? Would a TEDxCfE be of any use? Or a CfE version of purpos/ed? Whilst these might be appealing, do they simply add to the ‘echo chamber’?


@ Absolutely. There was talk of a blogging echo chamber a while back. I fear we’re in a CfE echo chamber as well. #CfEfuture
12/04/2011 10:43 pm via TweetDeckReplyRetweetFavorite
@nwinton
Neil Winton

Even if these events don’t go much beyond connecting and supporting the converted, is it our place to aim for much more than this? Don’t we have National agencies and Local Authorities for this? Or is this a cop out? Ideally, what I would like to see is a version of the Innovation Unit in Scotland to support and foster innovation in the system – but this is perhaps a bit ambitious for a group of loosely connected teachers who mainly know each other online?!?!?

Perhaps we should be going for something in between? A series of open seminars across the country, supported with an online presence. A national #CfEfuture unseminar series…? But how would this support a deep collaboration? And where are pupils and parents in this? I’m not sure…

What do you think?

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