Tag Archive for change

The business end of CfE

08/03/2012 cfe, change 11 comments

For Scotland’s Secondary Schools, we’re now reaching the business end of the implementation of Curriculum for Excellence. By this I mean that we’re about to begin the process of implementing the new National Qualifications – I don’t for one second think we’ve yet got anywhere close to actually implementing the curriculum as a whole, that will take some time yet. However, as we reach this difficult moment of significant change there is a natural apprehension which seems to be leading to ever increasing confusion.

Given the current level of coverage of CfE in the press, any Scottish teacher is likely to be asked their thoughts on all of this, and I am no different in this regard. Where I do feel particularly fortunate, is the opportunity I had on an 18 months secondment to have the reasons for this change clearly and repeatedly explained to me through challenging and engaging discussions – if only this opportunity could have been made available to more. As such, I am very much in favour of the changes and more than comfortable with the direction of travel. If you watch the news or read the papers, you would think that I must be completely unique in this regard, I know for a fact I am not, however I would accept that we seem currently to be in the minority. So then, I thought I should try to outline some of my own thoughts on all of this on here…

Why do we need Curriculum for Excellence at all? Why do we need to change?

There’s a strange contradiction around CfE. On the one hand it is often described as “transformational change”, and yet on the other you’ll often hear teachers state “it’s what we do already”. So if it’s not a change, why all the fuss? As far as I’m concerned, little of CfE is new. Everything in the documents was already happening either in pockets of the country, or in pockets of time throughout the country. Or, as in the case of formative assessment, occurring throughout the country most of the time, but superficially.

CfE is about refocusing the entirety of the school curriculum onto a common purpose and striving to take these pockets of good practice and make them universal. It raises the bar and says that the quality of learning and teaching must be improved across the country, at all stages, and at all times. It takes widely accepted pedagogies such as formative assessment and active learning and builds them into Government policy. Sure, there have been flaws in the implementation of this change, but that doesn’t for one second diminish the need for, or the nature of, the change in the first place.

Why do we need to change the National Qualifications?

The Scottish Qualifications had got themselves into a bit of a guddle. We still have the now dated looking Standard Grades sitting alongside a suite of National Qualifications which don’t quite articulate. On top of that, if we’re changing/improving our view of learning, teaching and assessment surely it makes sense to update the Qualifications also? Otherwise, if we were ultimately leading to the same destination as before, the chances of us being able to make the desired changes would be reduced. Again, as always with these things, this could probably have been done better – but I think that the SQA have done a pretty stirling job under the circumstances.

Why should National 4 have no national exam?

This one’s an obvious one to me. One of our current equivalent courses to National 4, Intermediate 1,  is very much a skills based course. The unit content is very applied and the whole course could be approached from a “skills for work” type perspective. However, 100% of the grade for the course is determined by a traditional examination paper in a hall, in silence. Whilst this approach to assessment might be appealing to many teachers (who all successfully navigated the academic world and therefore view it favourably), the media (likewise) and many parents (either likewise, or if not, we spend so much time telling them that exams are all that matter that they believe us) but it’s simply not a valid form of assessment for this course.

Now, obviously, any variation from this form of assessment is going to bring issues of reliability – but these need to be dealt with in their own right. We can’t set about solving issues of reliability by making assessments invalid for the forms of learning we’re hoping to achieve. That’s not to say that tests can’t form part of the course assessment, but they do not need to form it all and they do not need to be set nationally. This more local approach to assessment frees up learners and teachers to take a more flexible approach to the learning.

I will finish this one by pointing out that I am (hopefully) about to receive an MEd (SCQF level 11) and I haven’t sat one exam, and all of the assessment has been internal. Even worse, there isn’t even an SQA equivalent to tell the University what they should be assessing! I simply do not understand why we cant take a more valid approach to assessment at SCQF level 4 if we can achieve it at level 11!

Why should schools be changing from 2+2+2 to 3+3?

This one’s particularly contentious just now. The reason 3+3 appeals to me is that it has the potential to allow us to treat our learners as people rather than cohorts. We currently have a situation whereby everyone churns through the two-year middle school in all subjects, which is a legacy of Standard Grade, whether its appropriate for them or not. I would like to reach a point where students are choosing courses at appropriate levels and for appropriate time-periods based on their own needs. I believe that the 3+3 model has a better chance of allowing for this. I’m also in favour of reducing the time we spend jumping through SQA hoops from four years to three in the Secondary school. Whilst the new National Qualifications should be more in line with CfE than the current qualifications, they’re still going to be national examinations for the large part. The more time we’re free to focus on and develop learning for its own sake the better I say. Let’s spend as little time capturing and certifying this learning as possible.

Why has all this proved to be so difficult?

Change is difficult. We’re creatures of habit. Things haven’t been helped by some of the approaches to implementation – but it was always going to be an uphill battle. Everyone was on board when it was just the four capacities, but as soon as it came to having to make real changes to the day-to-day, it became a lot tougher. What’s difficult just now is trying to work out who has the genuinely thought through grievances and who is just shouting no because they don’t like change. I think we should be very careful not to lump these groups together as both are in many ways understandable and predictable.

For many, the problem with the National Qualifications lies with the speed of their implementation. But this only applies if you’re sticking with 2+2+2. For these schools, which have chosen to ignore the national guidance, they are finding themselves in the awkward position of starting these qualifications before they have finished being developed in August of this year. But they knew this when they made their decision regarding the curricular model. For schools moving towards a 3+3 model, they will not begin teaching these qualifications until August 2013 – which is inline with the implementation timeline.

In my own opinion (for what it’s worth), there should be no more delays. I don’t believe the last one achieved anything…we’re creating a curriculum, which while still obviously flawed (they always will be), is an improvement on what has come before. Let’s get on with it for the benefit of our learners.

#LearnMeet

22/10/2011 cfe, change 2 comments

Following my post this morning, I got an interesting reply on twitter from Don Ledingham;

@ We are thinking about setting up an event for staff to develop such a framework for EL Any ideas how we can give teachers ownership?
22/10/2011 9:18 am via Twitter for iPadReplyRetweetFavorite
@donjled
Don Ledingham

I was, of course, very intrigued and replied as follows;

@ Wow. A cracking question can I give it some thought? We should also ask how we can give learners ownership too? Event for them 1st?
22/10/2011 9:20 am via TweetDeckReplyRetweetFavorite
@fkelly
Fearghal Kelly

This has since snowballed on twitter and has now evolved into #LearnMeet, which is beginning to look something like this;

My Idea for 1st #LearnMeet is a central Edinburgh venue, for senior pupils (S6) to give their ideas and opinions. Held after school hours.
22/10/2011 7:17 pm via Twitter for iPhoneReplyRetweetFavorite
@rjnicolson
Ruairidh Nicolson

I’m struggling to say what I think on all this, especially in 140 characters – so I thought I’d try a wee blog post instead…I’d like to start by saying I have nothing against the suggested format for a LearnMeet proposed above by Ruairidh - it could be great and I’d be encouraging our Seniors along. However, I think this is disjointed from the original discussion.

I really like Don’s idea, and I think it’s important that pupils and parents have opportunities to input into this framework…but this needs to be done as part of the system. Schools and Local Authorities need to continue to increase the opportunities for a wider range of stakeholders to formally input into the direction of learning and teaching in schools – but this needs to be taken seriously and carried out properly. If the students and parents consulted are to feel as though their opinion really matters, they need to be giving it in an appropriate context…which can of course be augmented by social media, but not entirely reliant on it. And if those who will be developing the framework are to take this input seriously, they need to be confident in the mechanism by which it was acquired…i.e. not in a fringe, twilight event with a small selection of our learners.

I think I would frame this process as updating East Lothian’s Teaching & Learning Policy, which as far as I know hasn’t been touched since 2007. I would certainly be wanting to involve as many pupils, parents and staff as possible in the process through a combination of physical face-to-face groups and online engagement with a clear outcome/framework produced as a result…

Educational Values

22/08/2011 cfe, change, MEd, reflection No comments

I wrote recently about the strange feelings I went through when changing practice in a way that shouldn’t have been strange at all, and I’m still mulling this one over. I’m beginning to come to the conclusion that it is all to do with our educational values as teachers and the status quo bias.

I’ve just started reading a book that has been sat on my bookshelf for ages – Nudge. In it the authors introduced me to the concept of ‘status quo bias‘:

The status quo bias is a cognitive bias for the status quo; in other words, people tend not to change an established behavior unless the incentive to change is compelling.

That is certainly something I recognise in my own practice, and I’m sure I’m not alone. So, what gives us this compelling incentive to change? This can obviously be many things…to save us time?…financial?…better results…?…better behaviour? But even then, sometimes these rewards simply aren’t enough to change our deeply ingrained practice as teachers. Which is where our educational values and beliefs step in. We will only make these perceived big leaps if we have a clear understanding of our educational values and a desire to bring our practice in line with these. You’ll see therefore why I like the following quote so much from James & McCormick (2009):

The tensions and dilemmas that teachers face and their struggles to bring their practice in line with their educational values, whilst coping with pressures from outside, were a strong feature of their learning in the classroom. Some appeared content with ‘going through the motions’ of trying out new practices but a small proportion (about 20%) ‘took them to heart’ and, with a strong sense of their own agency, tested and developed these ideas in their own classrooms in creative ways. The challenge for us was to find out what kinds of support within and beyond schools would allow the twenty per cent to grow to nearer one hundred per cent.

This, in many ways, is what my first module of the Chartered Teacher programme was all about way back in the first half of 2008…and I’m only really getting it properly now. This is why we need to stop rushing around looking for new ideas which we’ll never really embed properly, but take the time to examine our educational values and then develop our practice accordingly. Although it can feel like a waste of time in our ever busier lives, it’s crucial.

It’s the only thing that actually really works.

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

Professional Development and Professional Learning

07/05/2011 cfe, learning communities, MEd, Reading 2 comments

I was at Uni this afternoon for the final session of my penultimate MEd module – and the last CTeach module for a while!

At one point we were having a particularly interesting conversation so I thought I’d put up a wee tweet:


Discussing the difference between professional development and professional learning #MEd #CTeach
07/05/2011 2:18 pm via Twitter for iPhoneReplyRetweetFavorite
@fkelly
Fearghal Kelly

Which generated an interesting reply…


@ I thought about that for 5mins and tied my brain in a knot.Must be cyclical relationship no?Hope you will blog your answer later :)
07/05/2011 2:28 pm via TweetDeckReplyRetweetFavorite
@dotcoe
Dorothy Coe

Unfortunately I don’t have time to do a full blog post, but I couldn’t ignore such a request!

We were discussing this in the context of leading our collaborative professional enquiry and the need to try to encourage our colleagues not to view participation as a passive CPD opportunity, but rather an opportunity for them to actively develop their own learning. Loughran’s (2010) definitions were really useful to explain a possible difference in the two phrases:

Professional Development has typically been understood as the more traditional approach to in-service that teachers often experience when they are asked to implement a new curriculum or some other policy initiative. In many cases, the waves of change that regularly flow over the profession generally involve some form of up-skilling in relation to the new things that we are expected to do or to deliver. Therefore, traditional professional development is often linked to the implementation of some form of educational change by doing something to teachers, that is, telling us about the change and expecting it to then be carried out. In this way mandated changes are presented, we are trained in those changes in terms of technical requirements (sometimes as simple as re-labeling existing curriculum and practice) and then we are expected to implement those changes. It is a top-down approach and it functions in a similar way throughout the education system whether it be in the form of policy initiatives from the central education bureaucracy or at local school level from the principal’s office.

And professional learning…

Professional learning operates in a different way. Professional learning assumes that we have some commitment to the change(s) – that the change might be driven, or developed and refined, by us. In essence, professional learning works on the bases that change is a result of work with, and/or by, teachers. Further to this, professional learning also carries an expectation that we are able to bring our expert judgement to bear on how change might best be implemented in our own context and practice. Therefore, professional learning is more about the learning that occurs through the process and how that learning is then able to be applied in our practice. Involvement in professional learning is therefore more likely to be voluntary, and the subsequent learning is personal and appropriately shaped and directed by each of us as individuals.

What do you think Dorothy?

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?

Writing critically

20/03/2011 Featured, MEd, reflection One comment

As always on my MEd, we’re being encouraged to both think, and also write, critically. We spent a lot of time on this on our previous module and I feel that I’m making progress with this, but I’m nowhere near being confident as yet – as demonstrated by yesterday afternoon…

There are two primary aspects to the work I am doing towards completing my MEd. One is surrounding evaluating the impact of involving pupils in planning learning in terms of their engagement in lessons. On this side I feel I have made significant progress in my ability to write. My ideas are getting to the point where they are informed by research and I even manage to do so critically occasionally.

Yesterday we were focusing on the other side of the work, which addresses working collaboratively. When writing about working with others I find that I am still some way short of where I’d like to be. To try to simplify the steps I need to take to make my writing more sophisticated I’ve devised a three part scale:

  1. Appending references: This is what a lot of my writing on collaboration is like at present. This involves writing what you’ve done or are planning to do, and then dropping in a reference which is vaguely related at the end.
  2. Literature informed: I have managed to do this occassionally. This is where I start with the reference and use this to plan and explain what it is I’m doing rather than tagging it on afterwards.
  3. Critically informed: I’ve not made it here yet. I imagine this is where you start as above but you don’t simply then follow on to explaining the positive link between the literature and your actions. You include a critique of the literature, outlining the limitations and explain why you’re still using this to inform your work – perhaps bringing in further literature to support your point.

I’m not sure if this is correct or not, but I think if I can move my writing up this scale then I’m likely to be more successful. It then dawned on me however, that this is not actually about the writing. It’s about the doing. The real point is to actually do the reading critically before planning what to do with others and then evaluate the outcomes against this reading. If I can embody this approach, then the writing will naturally fall into place. This is what I’ve begun to do with the other side of the work, and I need to bring this into the more intuitive aspect of the enquiry also – collaborating with others…

Cramlington

17/03/2011 active learning, cfe, change, secondment 19 comments

Ok, so I’ve got some news.

As you’ll probably be aware, I am currently seconded from my post as a Biology Teacher to work as a CfE Development Officer for East Lothian Council. Well, this secondment was coming to an end and I decided that I would like to take on a new challenge and move to a new school. So I applied for a teaching post at Preston Lodge High School and was successful!

There’s more. I then applied for the Acting PT post in the same department and was successful once again…so I’ll be moving on to this new role in the relatively near future!

An exciting aspect of this move is that my new school are beginning the process of working with Cramlington Learning Village to implement a Learn to Learn programme at Preston Lodge. As a result of this involvement, I was lucky enough to spend the day at Cramlington yesterday. What an impressive place.

About twelve years ago, the staff at Cramlington were inspired to implement an accelerated learning cycle into their planning, and therefore their lessons. Gradually over time, this process has led them to develop their current teaching and learning model. This in turn has resulted in them changing the layout of their classrooms, the length of their periods, the structure of their week, the design of their buildings, the names of their buildings, the names of the courses students study, the school bell, how they plan, how they teach…and ultimately how students learn.

The school itself is mind blowing – including a botanic gardensesque biome, recording studios, phenomenal science labs, amazing VLE – but the really impressive outcome of their journey is the young people themselves. We had a number of opportunities to discuss with a range of young people – primarily year 7s – and their confidence, maturity, understanding and engagement was evidence enough for me that their approach works.

There are exciting, and challenging, times ahead – and Cramlington has provided inspiration enough for the journey to begin…

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