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A small enquiry could be based on asking one question about a photograph, taking just one lesson. Also, with younger children one small question directly related to their own experience will be more relevant and interesting to them. They will be pleased to have found a research base and you may be able to achieve something which would not have been possible without their input of time. Local education authorities also have research interests. Find out who else may be interested within the LEA. If you are willing to become involved in researching the work, funds could be available.
How can we really help people in places affected by famine? These are some of the many value-laden questions which geography can help us to answer. Part of your role as geography coordinator is to create a curriculum in which learning is meaningful and helps children develop as human beings. Skip to content Search for: Interdisciplinary Research and Interdisciplinarity, a favourite buzzword of college and directors, has been appropriated to explain such a lot of educational goals that it's almost meaningless. Identity, Power and by Alan Bleakley PDF The aim of clinical schooling is to learn sufferers by way of enhancing the paintings of medical professionals.
International Perspectives on Computer-Assisted PDF As technological innovation keeps to impact language pedagogy, there's an expanding call for for info, exemplars, research and tips. Published by admin View all posts by admin. I looked down at the list of endless documents on my laptop that I had used over the last 20 years to monitor subjects.
Book scrutiny, pupil questionnaires, assessment systems, lesson observation, learning walks, the list goes on. Why were we reinventing the wheel all the time? Would it not be better to have one document that would evaluate a subject, taking into account current priorities and flexible to our unique setting? I decided to draw upon my past experience so that subject leaders had a resource that would give them a starting point.
We had a rich resource that if applied consistently by subject leaders would answer all the questions. We began by looking at the questions about our subject and seeing where we all were. Some examples from the Guide include: A staff meeting established a collective approach to finding the answers, not just for your own subject but to help other people as well.
The first task established our baseline, which was variable across subjects, with a common theme: The aspect that gave our staff the most concern was being able to judge attainment and progress in their subject. We established that the current tick-sheet systems were of little use in terms of judging attainment with any honesty or true rigour, and that they were not necessarily informing future learning.
We adopted an Assessment Review system, with the Guide providing advice and process on this. Each subject leader started with either year 2 or year 6 and designed a task that could be assessed against level criteria from the national curriculum. The subject leader then spent a whole afternoon with a mixed ability group of six pupils explaining the task, observing and questioning the children to establish their standards.
A member of the leadership team was also there to support the process and help form judgements. This information was then used as a benchmark for others from that year group and gave evidence of standards at the end of each key stage.
We have noticed that the more often this is done and with varying year groups that our evidence-base has grown considerably, having initially only had headline data for years 2 and 6. A particular strength of this form of assessment, which is very similar to the early years approach, is that it provides you with a rich bank of information in a short period of time, informing future action plans. Personally, I discovered that I had a few misconceptions, one of which was that ICT skills were outstanding at Perdiswell. When we carried out the Assessment Review it became obvious that children were highly skilled in using Microsoft Office, but that their independent research skills were limited to using the first site identified by the search engine.
Subsequently, in the majority of cases our pupils were using Wikipedia to gather facts! After feedback to staff, delivered by the ICT leader, this was built into teaching plans and subsequent evaluation shows a growing awareness among the pupils of how to research effectively.
The impact of this particular exercise was that staff knew the standards, strengths and areas of development for their subject and were able to talk about how they had established this information. Pupils were actively encouraged to talk about the subject, attitudes were established and I had headline data for the self-evaluation form.
The cost of cover was a small price to pay to get such a clear and accurate picture. Other activities within the Subject Leader Guide have allowed staff to gather the following information about their subject: Rome was not built in a day and the philosophy of the Subject Leader Guide is that it takes time to monitor accurately and effectively.
There are some quick exercises that provide data but we found that taking our time and going in-depth was far more revealing.
Teachers felt supported as they had a consistent framework to follow and the ownership to take things further, just as they would in a lesson that suddenly "took another direction". The comprehensive nature of the document means that it replaced other monitoring and was not another add-on for staff. The design of the Guide is geared towards evaluation being centred on what is important for your unique school. It is not appropriate to simply print-off any of the proformas as each school is unique and has different priorities — I encouraged staff to access the Guide on our computer system and edit it before they carried out the exercise.
If you give to find, a present ebook Coordinating the Curriculum in the Smaller Primary School (Subject Leaders Handbooks) evidence will visit so you can. The definition of the role of subject leader by the Teacher Training Agency (TTA. A small number of schools are [sic] employing staff to teach particular the coordination and leadership of subjects within the primary school. .. Well, we get the booklet, and what I tend to do is read the booklet during half.
At the end of the Guide, I included an overview proforma for each area of the Ofsted evaluation schedule. This is designed for the subject leader to use all the gathered information to form succinct points that can be reported to the leadership team or any external inspectors. That way headteachers and senior leaders get the main headlines and do not have to sift through a plethora of paper. The evidence sits with the subject leader and in our experience Ofsted did a quick check that we all knew the main areas for development and that what the subject leader said was echoed by the leadership team.
The Subject Leader Guide has made my own and my staff's lives easier.
We are a self-evaluating school that manages our time more effectively and can see the wood for the trees. We have a real handle on what works best for our children and the areas that more teaching time can be used for in order to prepare our pupils for high school. Staff have shown enthusiasm and a real aptitude to solve these issues, as they have true ownership of their subject and are given the time to focus on the true priorities.
This material is protected by MA Education Limited copyright. See Terms and Conditions. Please view our Terms and Conditions before leaving a comment. Home Best Practice Article. Headteacher John Tilley discusses the introduction of defined principles and approaches for subject leadership in his school, including a Subject Leader Guide Perdiswell is a two-form entry primary school situated close to Worcester city centre and serving a wide range of social catchment areas.
The rest of the questions I looked down at the list of endless documents on my laptop that I had used over the last 20 years to monitor subjects. What are the pupil standards in your subject? How do you know? What are the strengths and areas for development in your subject? Are there any underachieving groups in your subject?