Quality Assuring Departmental Processes
Dave Appleby January 2012
Departmental Quality Assurance dashboards will look like this.
The Output Measures are:
Ø Relative A*-C: The A*-C percentage pass rate compared to National Average for the subject.
Ø Relative APS: The Average Point Score per student compared to the Naional Average Point Score for that subject.
Ø Value Added: Each student’s point score compared with the FFT ‘B’ prediction; averaged across all students for the subject.
Ø RPI: The Residual Performance Indicator from RAISEOnline.
There are thus two ‘absolute’ indicators comparing our students with national averages and two ‘relative’ indicators comparing our pupils with their own prior achievements.
The input measures are based on the self assessment of the subject leader triangulated against assessments by the line manager of the subject and (where possible) another teacher teaching that subject.
The process of assessing against these input measures should have a number of benefits:
Ø It will inform the teachers about the new standards expected by Ofsted for an outstanding department, enabling benchmarking.
Ø It focuses QA on those things which we can actually change.
Ø It may in itself provide a focus for school improvement if, for example, Homework is the only measure judged Good when all the others are thought to be Outstanding.
Ø It will highlight where there is a significant discrepancy between the different judgements. This is likely to be the catalyst for deeper scrutiny.
Ø It will enable SLT to identify in which departments there is good practice.
Ø It may help explain why students achieve better in some departments than others.
| Input Measures | Outstanding | Good | Satisfactory | Inadequate |
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Evidence can be gathered from Lesson Plans and Schemes of Work
“In schools where teaching is outstanding …. the sequence of lessons and activities is well planned, and teachers use a good range of resources.”[1]
One of the messages hammered home by Ofsted time and again is that teachers must “set challenging tasks, based on systematic, accurate assessment of pupils’ prior skills, knowledge and understanding.”[2] During weaker teaching "insufficient attention is given to the balance and appropriateness of activities and tasks expected of students during lessons. This approach does not support students’ specific learning needs."[3]
An Outstanding lesson plan will show differentiated tasks and activities for different groups of pupils (eg High Prior Achievement Pupils, Median PAP, Lower PAP). A ‘main task and extension’ plan would not normally achieve Outstanding.
Lessons should also be planned from the perspectives of what pupils do, what pupils learn, and how pupils learn, rather from the perspective of what teachers do. Ofsted suggest that in weak schools “the evaluation of teaching is often over-generous, and places too little emphasis on exploring what pupils are actually learning .... focusing rather on the activity of the teacher."[4]
Schemes of work must support teachers so that they can plan lessons which enable teachers to set differentiated tasks of appropriate challenge to the different achievement groups within their class.
Schemes of work might also suggest a range of teaching and learning strategies.
It may be difficult to see exactly how a subject leader can affect what happens in lessons. Nevertheless, this is a key input indicator.
Evidence might be gathered from lesson observations eg during performance management, focus weeks and learning walks.
The following aspects might be evaluated to measure interaction within lessons.
Interaction and dialogue
“Where teaching is outstanding …. the interaction between the teacher and the pupils is positive but challenging ..... teachers take care to build up pupils’ confidence and encourage them to take on new challenges”
One of the key features of interaction and dialogue is rapport. A key skill is questioning.
Challenge
Current thinking as to what constitutes an appropriate level of challenge is based on Vygotsky’s Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD)[5]. The level of demand should be greater than the pupil’s current level so the pupil is stretched and challenged and makes progress but not so far outside their comfort zone that they give up in despair. ‘Appropriate Challenge’ implies differentiated tasks and activities and therefore requires that a teacher knows the learning characteristics of their pupils.
Ofsted characterise insufficiently challenging activities as those that “occupy pupils" and are "not well matched to the needs of the pupils and often based on procedural and descriptive work" including "an emphasis on low level tasks" and including "an over-use of worksheets and an over-reliance on a narrow range of textbooks"[6]
Observers often use the pace of a lesson as a proxy indicator for challenge. Ofsted suggest that in an outstanding lesson "the pace of learning is well-judged and there is no wasted time in lessons … such as copying out the objectives for the lesson, completing exercises without sufficient reason, or simply spending too long on one activity." [7]
Pupil Engagement
An approximate way of estimating pupil engagement is to look around the class and count how many pupils are paying attention or are on task. Alternatively you could use a description of outstanding pupil engagement such as:
Ø "There are good opportunities for pupils to make choices, ask questions, find answers, collaborate, listen, discuss, and debate and present their work to their peers so that others can comment....”[8] Ø Pupils have “excellent, enthusiastic attitudes to learning.”[9] Ø “All the students are involved in the lesson and all contribute in some form.”[10]
Behaviour may be measured during lesson observations. Evidence may also be drawn from departmental Behaviour for Learning policies and procedures.
To achieve Outstanding Ofsted expect that:
Ø “Pupils show very high levels of engagement, courtesy, collaboration and cooperation” and they are “highly adept at managing their own behaviour in the classroom … supported by systematic, consistently applied approaches to behaviour management.”[11]
Evidence to make a judgement about your department’s ability to achieve assessment for learning and effective feedback could come from shared departmental mark schemes, from pupil exemplar work (including display material), or by sampling pupil books to see how and how often pupil books are marked.
Assessment has two key features:
Ø It must inform the teacher about what the students have learnt in time for the teacher to modify the learning experience. Ofsted believe that outstanding assessment “clearly identifies pupils’ starting points and understanding, checks progress, establishes what has been learnt and can inform the next steps in learning" rather than assuming that "because one pupil has answered a question successfully, the rest of the class is ready to move on."[12] This requires effective questioning techniques in class; a formalised version is sometimes called Just In Time Teaching (JITT). [13] “Effective assessment within lessons enables pupils to demonstrate their understanding and ensures that teachers can adapt in ‘real-time’" the "direction or pace of learning within a lesson and for particular individuals"[14] Ø It must inform the student so that they understand what they need to do to improve. This is feedback. Research summarised by the Sutton Trust[15] found that ‘Effective Feedback’ progressed pupils more than any other factor. Experts suggest that it is best when rationed so that it becomes meaningful. Limit "the amount of feedback so it is actually used"[16]; three comments per essay is the optimum, because if “everything seems to count, everything matters a little but little matters a lot"[17].
Three key features of feedback: "the student must know: what good performance is .... how current performance relates to good performance .... how to act to close the gap"[18].
Some researchers advocate hiding grades because students pay more attention to marks and ignore feedback. [19] "Effective learning can be hampered by assessment tasks that focus student attention on grades and marks or reproductive thinking."[20]
Most people believe that feedback should start with the positive and suggest how it can be improved.
Feedback also needs to be in time to affect future performance!
To achieve Outstanding Ofsted expect that “appropriate and regular homework contributes very well to pupils’ learning.”[21]
Thornburg’s primitive pedagogies model[22] of learning suggests that for deep learning to occur a concept must be learned in each of four ways: the campfire (rather like a classroom with a teacher at the front), the watering hole (a collaborative discussion), the hunting party (where the pupil experimentally tries out what has been taught) and the cave (independent, solitary learning). In the school situation, homework is often the only opportunity for cave learning. Homework reinforces what has been taught and enables a pupil to internalise learning.
Independent learning, which may be exemplified by some forms of homework, is one of the Big Four ideas.
Do the resources available to teachers enable all relevant groups of pupils including boys and girls, all ethnic groups, pupils of the range of academic abilities (including G&T) and prior achievements, EAL pupils, LAC pupils, FSM pupils, LGBT pupils, pupils from low ethnic backgrounds and any other minority groups to:
- Access learning,
- Overcome barriers to learning,
- Close the gap?
Ofsted would mark down lessons that displayed "an over-use of worksheets and an over-reliance on a narrow range of textbooks".[23]
Does the department make creative use of ICT? Pupils should be able to present work as documents, slideshows, images, animations, audio and video recordings. Pupils might make use of blogs for reflective learning and wikis for collaborative learning. Outstanding pupil work might be published on web pages or as e-books. Pupils might deepen their understanding of concepts using interactive animations and explore ideas using spreadsheets and dedicated modelling software.
Departments use a varied range of pupil support strategies including revision classes, homework clubs, coursework schedules, learning guides, and peer mentoring etc.
These strategies are effective.
Further work
It may be appropriate to add a table recording present performance (on A*-C, APS, VA etc) of the present cohort so that we can track expected achievement rather than always looking at past data.
[16] Nicol & MacFarlane-Dick 2006 Formative assessment and self-regulated learning: A model and seven principles of good feedback practice Studies in higher Education 31(2):199-218; p209
[17] Hounsell et al 2007 Balancing assessment of and assessment for learning Scottish enhancement themes: Guides to integrative assessment 2 & 3 Gloucester QAA p1
[18] Nicol & Macfarlane-Dick 2006 Formative assessment and self-regulated learning: A model and seven principles of good feedback practice Studies in higher Education 31(2):199-218; p201
[19] Nicol & MacFarlane-Dick 2006 Formative assessment and self-regulated learning: A model and seven principles of good feedback practice Studies in higher Education 31(2):199-218; p206
[20] Boud 2010 Assessment 2020: Seven propositions for assessment reform in higher education Sydney Australian Learning & Teaching Council
[22] Thornburg D 2004 Campfires in Cyberspace: Primordial metaphors for learning in the 21st Century International Journal of Instructional Technology and Distance Learning 1:10 available at http://itdl.org/journal/oct_04/invited01.htm accessed 24th October 2010
