raising your game in your subject area geoff barton head, king edward vi school, suffolk download...

Raising Your Game in Your Subject Area

Geoff BartonHead, King Edward VI School, Suffolk

Download today’s presentations free @ www.geoffbarton.co.uk/teacher_resources (Presentation 49)

Approach:

RHETORIC

REALITY

5 PROVOCATIONS

The Things that Great Subject Leaders Always Do

Despite the Changing Landscape

RHETORIC

The core purpose of the subject leader

Subject leaders provide professional leadership and management for a subject to secure high quality teaching, effective use of resources and improved standards of learning and achievement for all pupils.

Key outcomes of subject leadership:

•Pupils – Sustained improvement , know purpose of activities, are enthusiastic•Teachers – Have enthusiasm, shared aims/policies, plan/teach appropriately•Parents – Informed of child’s achievements, targets and how to support•Head teachers – Understand needs of subject, make informed decisions•Other adults – Are informed and able to play a supporting role

Professional knowledge and understandingSubject leaders will know/understand …

•Subject links with whole school priorities•Statutory requirements for the subject (including assessment)•Characteristics of high quality teaching in the subject•Up to date evidence from research and inspections about the subject•How to use data / other assessment information to set standards•How to develop cross curricular aspects eg ICT, literacy, PSHE, Citizenship

Skills and attributes:

•Lead and manage people to work to common goals•Solve problems and make decisions•Make points clearly and understand views of others•Plan time effectively and organise self

Key areas of subject leadership

1. Strategic direction and development of the subject2. Analyse relevant information to inform policy, plans, practice3. Involve staff in establishing plans for the development of subject4. Monitor progress made against plans and expectations5. Teaching and learning6. Ensure curriculum coverage, continuity and progression7. Ensure teachers are clear about objectives and share these with pupils8. Guide staff on teaching approaches9. Ensure information on pupil achievement is used to secure good progress10. Set expectations for and evaluate pupil achievement and quality of teaching11. Use evaluations to improve teaching12. Establish partnership with parents / links with community13. Leading and managing staff14. Establish constructive working relationships (with colleagues, pupils)15. Appraise staff as in school policy16. Audit staff training needs and lead/arrange training17. Work with SENCO to match work to pupils’ needs18. Efficient and effective deployment of staff and resources19. Advise head teacher on staff/resource needs/deployment20. Ensure efficient and effective use of resources21. Create a safe, effective and stimulating learning environment

Recent research has found that:

•Middle leaders have a vital role in sustaining and developing all pupils’ learning experiences and achievements and raising standards for all

•Senior leader teams need and expect all middle leaders to be engaged in whole-school developments

•The most effective schools have leadership that stretches beyond the senior team and includes various levels of leadership within the school

Ofsted has said of subject areas where practice is effective:

•there is a systematic approach to the monitoring of teaching and learning and of progress in implementing action plans

•departments evaluate regularly and pupil progress data is routinely analysed

•there are clear lines of accountability and the structures for performancemanagement are known, understood and implemented

•senior leaders support departments with planning, training and observation

•analysis of pupils’ performance has improved and targets are set for individual pupils, validated against previous results

•underperformance is tackled promptly and rigorously.

Ofsted

Main Findings:

1 Middle leaders (subject leaders, middle managers, heads of department, curriculum co-ordinators) play a crucial role in developing and maintaining the nature and quality of the pupils’ learning experience, but the ways in which they do this are strongly influenced by the circumstances in which they work.

2.There is a very strong rhetoric of collegiality in how middle leaders describe the culture of their departments or responsibility areas, and the ways they try to discharge their responsibilities. However, this is sometimes more aspired to than real, and it may sometimes be a substitute term for professional autonomy.

3.•Middle leaders tend to show great resistance to the idea of monitoring the quality of their colleagues’ work, especially by observing them in the classroom. •Observation is seen as a challenge to professional norms of equality and privacy, and sometimes as an abrogation of trust. •Subject leaders who managed to introduce some sort of classroom observation procedure did so as a collaborative learning activity for the entire department rather than as a management activity for the subject leader.

4.•Subject leaders’ authority comes not from their position but their competence as teachers and their subject knowledge. •Some primary subject co-ordinators doubted if they had sufficient subject knowledge, which made it difficult for them to monitor colleagues’ work. •However, high professional competence did not appear to carry with it the perceived right to advise other teachers on practice.

5.Subject knowledge provides an important part of professional identity for both subject leaders and their colleagues. This can make the subject department a major barrier to large-scale change.

6.Senior staff expect middle leaders to become involved in the wider whole-school context, but many are reluctant to do so, preferring to see themselves as departmental advocates. This is exacerbated by the tendency of secondary schools, in particular, to operate within hierarchical structures, which also act as a constraint on the degree to which subject leaders can act collegially.

The core purpose of the subject leader

Subject leaders provide professional leadership and management for a subject to secure high quality teaching, effective use of resources and improved standards of learning and achievement for all pupils.

RHETORIC

REALITY

5 PROVOCATIONS

1 Schools are becoming immune to school improvement

Beacon Schools Training Schools Coasting Schools

London Challenge National Challenge National Strategies

Leading Edge Consultants School improvement partners

Super Heads Consultant Heads Executive Heads

Gaining Ground Leading Light Schools Trust Schools

2 More of the same = more of the same

3 There’s no cavalry

4 Harold Wilson was right

5 To a worm in horseradish the world tastes of horseradish

5 Words1 Image

Visible

Optimistic

Hungry

Resilient

1 image

Raising Your Game in Your Subject Area

Developing Effective Teaching

& Learning

An Evaluation Culture

Developing a self-evaluation culture

Whole-school culture:

Some opening assumptions

Michael Fullan:

“20 years in teaching is … 1 year, repeated 20 times”

• Good teaching is a set of learnable skills, not a God-given gift• Performance management is about performance• We should encourage experimentation and occasional disasters• We should be intolerant of mediocrity• A genuine evaluation culture builds improvement• Real change comes from within

1. Map out the essential skills of teaching / tutoring /

behaviour management are for your own context

2. Build everything else around them

3. Use evaluation to monitor impact

4. Use self-evaluation for teachers to reflect on their own

improvement

Carol FitzGibbon (Durham):

Get data into school life, without necessarily doing anything with it

THREE GURUS

John MacBeath (Cambridge):

“We should measure what we value, not value what we can measure”

THREE GURUS

David Reynolds (Exeter):

“Within-school variation”:

Aim to be a ‘high-reliability’ organisation …

Such complex social organizations as air traffic control towers continuously run the risk of disastrous and obviously unacceptable failure.

The public would heavily discount several thousand consecutive days of efficiently monitoring and controlling the very crowded skies over Chicago or London if two jumbo jets were to collide over either city.

Through fog, snow, computer-system failures, and nearby tornadoes, in spite of thousands of flights per day in busy skies, such a collision has never happened above any city, a remarkable level of performance reliability …

… By contrast, in the U.S., one of the most highly educated nations on earth, within any group of 100 students beginning first grade in a particular year, approximately 16 will not have obtained either their high school diploma or a General Education Development certificate 12-13 years later.

In Britain, just under half of all 16-year-old pupils will not have the benchmark of 5 or more high grade public examination passes in the national system. Obviously, many nations have even lower levels of educational performance.

Creating a self-evaluation culture:

Tools for school evaluation:

• Student performance data - results, targets, etc

• Staff, parent, governor feedback

• Ethos data

• Questionnaires and focus groups

• Faculty reviews - inc observation sheets

• Self-evaluation

Staff Evaluations …

1 (low/poor)

2 3 4 (high/good)

1 How would you rate the performance of our computer system?

2 How helpful has the ICT Support

Team been? È 2 2

3 How well have we managed cover?

È 2 0

4 How would you rate student behaviour?

5 How visible has the leadership team been?

6 How would you rate Geoff Barton’s leadership?

YES NO 7 Has a member of the leadership team

visited your tutor group? Í 60

86 40 14

8 Has a member of the leadership team

visited one of your lessons? Í 47

59 53 41

9 Are expectations on uniform clear? 93 91

10 Are our expectations about behaviour clear?

11 Do you find Monday staff briefings useful?

12 Do you find the Barton Bulletin useful?

13 Do you find the weekly bulletin useful?

14 Do you feel well informed about

things that are happening in school? Í 84

98 16 2

15 Do you attend too many meetings? 32 68 16 Do meetings help you to do your job better?

17 Are curriculum team meetings useful?

18 Are tutor team meetings useful? 97 3 19 Are support staff briefings useful? 100 0 20 Should we stop selling all unhealthy food and drink?

21 Next year should tutor time be … Shorter? 54

The same? 40

Longer? 6

22 Do you like the sandwiches provided for parents’ evenings?

23 Do you find assemblies interesting? 81 19

1 (low/poor)

2 3 4 (high/good)

1 How would you rate the performance of our computer system?

2 How helpful has the ICT Support

Team been? È 2 2

3 How well have we managed cover?

È 2 0

4 How would you rate student behaviour?

5 How visible has the leadership team been?

6 How would you rate Geoff Barton’s leadership?

YES NO 7 Has a member of the leadership team

visited your tutor group? Í 60

86 40 14

8 Has a member of the leadership team

visited one of your lessons? Í 47

59 53 41

9 Are expectations on uniform clear? 93 91

11 Do you find Monday staff briefings useful?

12 Do you find the Barton Bulletin useful?

13 Do you find the weekly bulletin useful?

14 Do you feel well informed about

things that are happening in school? Í 84

98 16 2

15 Do you attend too many meetings? 32 68 16 Do meetings help you to do your job better?

17 Are curriculum team meetings useful?

18 Are tutor team meetings useful? 97 3 19 Are support staff briefings useful? 100 0 20 Should we stop selling all unhealthy food and drink?

21 Next year should tutor time be … Shorter? 54

The same? 40

Longer? 6

22 Do you like the sandwiches provided for parents’ evenings?

23 Do you find assemblies interesting? 81 19

TUTOR GROUP: Do all students have coats off?

q Yes q No

Are students wearing proper school sweatshirt/polo shirt?

q Yes q No

Are all students wearing shoes (ie no trainers except with doctors’ notes)?

q Yes q No

Is jewellery acceptable (ie no facial piercings, no bracelets, only thin metal necklaces)?

q Yes q No

Is the tutor …

Talking to students? Signing planners? Taking the register? Doing admin? Other?

Routine monitoring …

Tutor group spot-check

Week beginning 17 / 1 / 5 24 tutor groups were visited

Heads of Year have individual results

YES Do all students have coats off? 79% Are they wearing correct school sweatshirt/polo shirt?

Are they wearing shoes (not trainers)? 100% Is jewellery acceptable? 88% Is the ethos positive and purposeful? 88%

Cover work set on appropriate form Cover work left in staffroom tray Work was clear to follow for you …and for students? Necessary materials were available Lesson objective set Work seemed appropriate Any comments (eg student behaviour / display / clarity of instructions, etc):

Name TG Cover clean*

H-S-A signed

All dates completed

Parent signed last 3 weeks

Tutor signed Last 3 weeks

Letter / hwk boxes used

Homework consistently written in

Comments on homework

No of commendati

ons Liam Askew 9WD No Yes Yes Yes No Occasionally Yes English - none for 4

weeks Bio – none for 5

weeks Tech – none for 4

67 – but lots without stickers

Leon Brown 9WD No Yes Yes Yes Yes Occasionally Yes Maths – none for 6 weeks

66 - ditto

Simon Crack No Yes No Yes Yes Rarely No Bio – none since November

Hums erratic

Planners

Book sampling…

Name Year / Set

Teacher Cover clean Y N

Homework evident

Homework marked

Presentation G F P

Types of writing General comments

Kate Elsom HISTORY

• Thinking • Notes • Extended

Clearly sequenced, challenging, high-level; exemplary feedback –

positive, precise, personal

Thomas Robotham HISTORY

• Thinking • Notes • Extended

V different ability of student – but same strong

expectations; tangible progress in student’s

work; supportive, positive marking

Chesney Ward? GEOGRAPHY

• Notes • Exercises

Good positive feedback; evidence of regular

marking; good range of writing

Scott Simpson GEOGRAPHY

consistently

• Notes • Exercises • Some extended

Clear and well-used overall; good to note some

extend worrk; marking appears to end in late Sept

Focus groups run by Governors…

What is it like to be a tutor here?

Good bits of the job: Frustrations: Good Year Teams

Good communication with Year Team

Trainees are helpful

Role will be strengthened by learning plans / target-setting days

Lack of time

Amount of admin

Always dealing with the same students

What is it like to be a tutor here?

What impact do you have on students and how do you know?

•Informal feedback from students – eg a disruptive student who admitted privately that he wants to do well

•Seeing decreasing number of referral slips

•Can feel a sense of progress

How would we improve?

•Year 12 mentoring can be inconsistent – role of mentors not always clear – but principle of them is good

•Small minority – importance of planners not recognised by students/parents

What are the key ingredients in an effective tutor?

•Know and care about students in their tutor groups•See monitoring and target-setting as a core part of their job•Understand the need to work with students on skills beyond the classroom – emotions, motivation, social skills, courtesy, how to speak appropriately in difficult circumstances•Are well organised and manage time well•Listen actively•Pay attention to small details – courtesy, thanks, etc•Treat poor behaviour as simply a choice and good behaviour as a characteristic•Apologise when they do something wrong or inappropriate•Catch students being good far more than they catch them getting it wrong•Have genuine interest in students’ lives and experiences

Heads of Year …

1 Do you feel supported in your work within the Faculty?

very mostly not very not at all

2 Do you feel supported in your work within the school as a whole?

3 Do you feel that there is a clear vision within the Faculty?

4 Do you feel involved in the development of the Faculty?

5 What currently impedes your work? 6 What should be the Faculty’s main priority over the coming year?

Faculty reviews

Always Usually Sometimes Never 1. My teaching approaches and planning have taken account of the presence of TAs

2. The work of TAs has encouraged student independence in my classroom

3. TAs working in my classes have ensured that students remained engaged throughout the lesson

4. TAs have been encouraged to offer feedback to me about classroom arrangements

5. I know and have taken account of the curriculum strengths of TAs

6. TAs have been involved in the planning of specific lessons

7. I have hade the opportunity to meet outside the classroom with TAs who work in my classroom

8. TAs have contributed positively to the management of the class

9. I have been pleased with the work of TAs in my class

10. I am aware of the special needs of the student(s) who have been supported by TAs

Student Evaluations …

1 Do you enjoy being at school?

2 Do you feel proud of being at this school?

3 Do you think behaviour here is good?

5 Are our expectations about uniform clear?

6 Do you feel you are treated with respect?

7 Do we give enough praise and encouragement?

Never Rarely Mostly Always 13 25 53 9

Never Rarely Mostly Always 10 18 67 5

Yes No 69 31

Yes No 86 14

Yes No 78 22

Yes No 65 35

Yes No 49 51

Yes No 74 26

Student …

1 What grade did you get in English? ®English Literature? ®

2 Think of all the subjects you studied last year. Circle one of the numbers below to show where you would place English in a rank order of the subjects you studied

1 (high) 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 (low) 3 Without naming teachers, please name ONE thing you liked most about English lessons 4 Without naming teachers, please name ONE thing you liked least about them 5 Looking back, how did you feel about your usual group for English for …

(a) getting on with other people? (liked it a lot) 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 (liked it a little)

(b) learning effectively?

(liked it a lot) 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 (liked it a little)

Attitudes to learning

Of all the ways the teacher gets you to learn about things which do you enjoy the most?

• Activities – not writing, nothing intimidating. More discussion, needs to be variety (maths now = all from books)

• Biology = copy from board – don’t even read it • VA Ki in French to analyse own learning • If teachers drone on = some of us don’t have the attention span • Unfairness about time given to complete coursework ie some = meet deadlines. Others = 3 months

late so have extra 3 months to work on it • Too many tests in short space of time • Would help if dif ferent subject teachers could talk to each other so we do not get all coursework

assignments at the same time. Of all the ways the teacher gets you to learn about things, which do you enjoy least?

• Vague questions that you don’t know what it means • I think we should be setted for English because it could be more challenging too long on one piece

of work would be helpful, disruptive people were in difficult group • Humanities – go round and round in circles because don’t have specialist teachers. Spend time

trying to manage behaviour

Student perception interviews Year 9 4 girls 4 boys Sets: 1 4 2 3 1 3 2 Rank order: 8 7 3 3 9 3 10 3 What do you like about MFL lessons? What activities do you enjoy? Why?

• Fun, li ke ICT interactive whiteboard, playing games, practical and group work What activities do you not enjoy? Why? What do you find difficult? What would help?

• Tests – some are useful and some are not • Practical lessons are good • Don’t li ke teachers constantly talking in French. I get behind and de-motivated • Don’t li ke having to speak in front of the class – feel under pressure and worried • Panic when asked to speak and don’t know how

How do you learn best? What helps you learn in other lessons?

• Objectives are sometimes set – but doesn’t make any diff erence • I li ke to have some group work and some formal writing • Reinforcing the talking with writing rather than just talking and then moving on and talking

some more • Group work • Games • When behaviour is good. Behaviour is good in languages

How do you feel during MFL lessons? What makes you feel this way?

- Bored – 1 student - Interested – 1 student - Enjoy – 1 student - Tired – 1 student - Don’t know – 4 students

Consensus from interviews - languages is “ok” but not a subject which students would wish to choose to take further. Group consensus that about 30% of the lessons are enjoyable. Most students preferred languages in the Middle School – more practical, games, etc

Enthusiasm of teacherFunGood class controlNo disruptive studentsPractical activitiesTeacher interested in the subjectSitting with a friendClear instructions and expectations

What for you is the most important ingredient in a good lesson?

Talk less and let us get on with workTeaching us techniques for learning and revisingPractice papersExplain things clearlyAcknowledge different kinds of learnersPraise usBasic ideas about how to do thingsProviding lunchtime sessionsTeach me in a way that I understand

What do teachers do that helps you to learn well?

Longer breaksMore tripsDon’t give coursework at the end of termTougher line on disruptive studentsMore guidance with courseworkStop giving detentions for trivial reasonsSmarter uniformRegular teacher evaluations by studentsClone Mr GreenBe more relaxed about uniform and jewellery New headteacherHotline to support students who are strugglingShorter lessonsBus to NewmarketLonger lessonsFewer questionnaires!Don’t have such high expectations of students

What one thing would you do to improve this school?

1: Think of people in music, media, sport, politics. Who do you see as positive role-models?

Michael Jordan; Johnny Wilkinson; Richard Branson; Marcus Trescothick; Gary Lineker; David Beckham; Paul Merton; Tiger Woods; Slash; Thierry Henry; Bob Geldof; Rolling Stones

2: Think of teachers who motivate you most successfully. What do they do?

Mr G - funny; tells us what we need to know; knows his stuff

Mr W - teaches well; encouraging; takes no rubbish from anyone

Mr W - honest; encourages everyone, not just the best

Mr P - energetic; makes lessons active

Mrs C - lively; fun

Mrs W - explains clearly; not patronising.

3: How could we encourage you to take on leadership responsibilities around school?

•Give everyone in Year 11 someone to look after in Year 9

•Give us more responsibility

•Get us teaching younger students - eg how to play the guitar

•Better rewards policy

•Extra privileges

•Give us more say

•Rewards - eg non-uniform

•Let us run clubs.

4: Put these in rank order: •Lessons

•Breaks / lunchtimes

•Extra-curricular activities

•Weekends

100% like weekends best

79% like lessons least (98% in bottom two)

50:50 split between breaks / extra-curricular

Parent Evaluations …

Strongly agree

Agree Disagree Strongly disagree

Don’t know

1 My child likes school 43 50% - 7% - 2 My child is making good progress

57% 36% 7% - -

3 Students behave well 23% 57% 14% - 7% 4 My child is not bullied or harassed at school

22% 64% - 6% 6%

5 Teaching is good 29% 64% - - 7% 6 I am kept well informed about how my child is getting on

23% 50% 27% - -

7 I feel comfortable about approaching the school with questions or a problem or complaint

23% 57% 20% - -

8 Staff expect my child to work hard and do his or her best

50% 50% - - -

9 The school is led and managed well

50% 43% - - 7%

10 Staff treat my child fairly 23% 69% - - 8% 11 The school seeks the views of parents and takes account of their suggestions and concerns

7% 67% 13% 13%

PARENTS’ E VENING FEEDBACK We would welcome your feedback about this evening. Please hand this slip to

students at the Reception desk in the Foundation Room 1 I have found the evening:

o very informative o mostly informative o slightly informative o not informative 2 The organisation was

o excellent o good o fair o poor 3 Two key messages were given by

o all teachers o most teachers o few teachers o no teachers Any other comments?:

QUESTION TIME

1. So how high are standards in your subject? How do you know?

2. How do students on FSM do compared to their counterparts?3. If I asked a Year 10 student her target-grade, would she

know it?4. Does a teacher in your subject know what a good or

outstanding lesson looks like, and how to move from one to the other?

5. How good is your leadership?BONUS:

Would you be happy for your child to be taught in the class of everyone in your team?

Thinking and planning time

1. Which bits of self-evaluation are you currently doing well (eg is there an established self-evaluation culture across your team)?

2. What could you do more of (eg is self-evaluation for accountability rather than improvement)?

3. What 3 things should you and your team do next (and how will you make them happen)?

The essential skills of good teachers

Knowing what good teaching and good learning look like

Reading Writing Speaking & listening Use layout and language to make texts accessible –

eg white space, typographical features,

summaries, bullets, short paragraphs

Be clear and explicit about the conventions

of the writing you expect from students – eg audience, purpose,

layout, key words and phrases, level of

formality

Using a variety of groupings for structured

talk – pairs, same-sex, friendship, triads, ability

groups

Using a range of strategies to support students’

reading – eg reading aloud, key words and glossaries,

word banks, display, paired reading, talking about texts

before answering

Providing assessment criteria and models of appropriate text types

Setting objectives for talk and providing language

models – eg level of formality, key words and

phrases

Spelling – marking no more than 3-5 key

spellings per work, writing the correct spelling in the

margin with the error identified; students putting these into spelling pages in

the middle of exercise books; using starters /

word games / mnemonics / display / rules / words

within words to support students’ spelling

Using shared composition to show students how to write

Providing alternatives to traditional Q&A

approaches – eg open questions, thinking time, big questions, no-hands, paired consultation time,

dealing with answers, prompts, answer starters

Essential

Literacy

The essential skills of good teachers

Describe the lesson: focus on learning

Strengths and weaknesses

Ofsted grade?

Steps to success ..

1. Be intolerant of mediocrity

2. Start with the end in mind: how will you know how well you’re doing

3. Don’t underestimate the power of ‘tin-opener’ evaluation drip-fed constantly

4. The job is to improve teaching & learning

5. Children matter more than baked beans

Developing Effective Teaching

& Learning

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