“The key factor in judging teaching and the use of assessment is their impact on pupils’ learning.”
(The quality of teaching and the use of assessment to support learning -
Briefing for section 5 inspectors)
Amidst the speculation of what changes will be made to the new Ofsted inspection schedule, it’s probably fair to say that teaching and learning are still the core business of schools and as such will be a prime focus. After all, the clues are there in the consultation document. Robust and honest self evaluation is vital for any organisation to understand where it needs to improve and what it’s doing well. That’s obvious, the difficulty is in asking ourselves the right questions to make sure we have an accurate picture.
If you’re worrying about self evaluation, this is the first in a series of posts aimed at helping you to respond more fully to the questions currently used by inspectors to evaluate teaching and learning. (Actually, it’s still the first even if you’re not worrying.)
The emboldened questions below are taken from the supplementary guidance given to inspectors for judging the quality of teaching and learning. (current May 2011) When self-evaluating, you need to be the inspector, be the pupil and be the parent when evaluating your practice.
These should be the questions you’re asking too. The questions and notes in italics are intended to help you to identify how you might dig deeper into finding not only the answer, but how you can identify the evidence.
What are different groups and individual pupils actually learning as opposed to doing?
- What are they supposed to be learning? – what’s in the planning?
- Is it clear from the planning that what they’re learning will be moving on from the last thing they were taught?
- Is the activity actually helping them to learn or is it just a nice/busy activity?
Notice, this talks about groups and individuals, so, are there different activities for different pupils if needed?
Can you see how an activity is appropriate for a child’s/group’s need?
Are pupils consolidating previous skills/knowledge or learning something new?
- Watch out for compliance. Just because pupils are getting on with a task or answering questions and succeeding, it doesn’t mean they’re learning.
- If they’re learning something new, is it appropriate and how do you know that they’re learning?
- If they’re consolidating previous skills/knowledge, how is it being consolidated? Is it being practised or applied in a different context? Is that being made explicit to the pupils?
- Repetition of previous work isn’t enough!
Can all pupils make the links between previous/new learning?
- Do all pupils know how what they’re learning links to what they already know, not just in the one subject area, but between subject areas?
- How does the teacher encourage and help them to make these links?
(The more links they make, the more they’ll remember!)
Can pupils talk about what they are learning, as opposed to simply describing what they are doing?
- How are pupils routinely encouraged to talk about their learning?
- What questions do teaching staff ask them to see if they do have a clue about what they’re learning?
- How is talking about their learning modelled to show them how to do it?
E.g. Saying “I’m learning about adjectives.” is not the same as “I’m learning how to use the best adjectives to make my writing more interesting and exciting.”
….but be careful…a regurgitation of the learning objective that’s written on the board is a dead giveaway and is often followed up by “…and can you tell me in your own words what that means?”
Questions for the next post…..
Do they consistently produce work of a good standard?
Are pupils working independently? Are they self-reliant – do they make the most of the choices they are given or do they find it difficult to make choices? To what extent do pupils take responsibility for their own learning?
How well do pupils collaborate with others? Do they ask questions, of each other, of the teacher or other adults, about what they are learning?
Are pupils creative? Do they show initiative?
How well do pupils follow routines/expectations?
Read the second post in this trilogy…
