Giving pupils the green light! Improving outcomes for all pupils through independent learning

Andy Mellor, Head teacher of St Nicholas C of E primary school, Blackpool, looks at Implementing and developing a knowledge based curriculum.

As we returned to school and undertook the latest exciting chapter on our journey into pupil focused independent learning, I was left wondering why more schools aren’t engaging with this agenda.

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      string(381) "... work on the teacher as ‘activator’ picks up ‘mastery learning’ andchallenging goals. He talks about the art of teaching being to balance the need forsurface knowledge with deep processing of this knowledge. Both are essential, butcrucially, ‘You can’t do the deep stuff until you know the shallow stuff’.7 ..."
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      string(6004) "cyclical process ofthe lesson, intervention or unit, in order to adjust teaching to needs.At the decision levelTwo key points to guide processes seem to be emerging:■ Learning needs to be visible to teachers and pupils – Hattie’s work on VisibleLearning is crucial to understanding the power and impact of this.■ We need to have a readily accessible way of identifying ‘surface understanding’ and‘deep learning’, ideally wider than the taught criteria.Making the leap to deeper learningWhat is emerging at impact level? The most significant implication, noted in ourdiscussions, is the frequency with which we are returning to the following sources forguidance, learning from the past to guide our development work.The significance and importance of the work of John Hattie, making learning visible,is being revisited. Hattie’s work guides us to ensure planning considers not only priorand intended achievement, but also learning dispositions. If we are to enable pupils tobecome self-aware as learners, we need to plan for and support the development ofthese and to create ‘growth’ mindsets – points relevant to both the guidance from theCommission on Assessment without Levels and current Ofsted expectations (see alsothe work of Carol Dweck and Shirley Clarke).Hattie’s work on the teacher as ‘activator’ picks up ‘mastery learning’ andchallenging goals. He talks about the art of teaching being to balance the need forsurface knowledge with deep processing of this knowledge. Both are essential, butcrucially, ‘You can’t do the deep stuff until you know the shallow stuff’.7 As one assessmentadviser said to me recently, ’I had forgotten how relevant and powerful this is’.We are revisiting the need for learning objectives and success criteria to use‘active’ verbs, in order to make learning intentions visible for assessment by teacherand pupil. How do you assess, for example, the curriculum requirement ‘to be awareof…’? Combining active verbs with a developing understanding of ‘mastery’, leadersand teachers have referenced tables such as the one below, drawn from the NationalCollege for Teaching and Leadership report ‘Beyond Levels’8, connecting Bloom’smetacognition and active verbs.The knowledgedimension1Remember2Understand3Apply4Analyse5Evaluate6CreateA. Factualknowledgelist summarise classify order rank combineB. Conceptualknowledgedescribe interpret experiment explain access planC. Proceduralknowledgetabulate predict calculate differentiate conclude composeD. Metacognitiveknowledgeappropriateuseexecute construct achieve action actualiseTable 1: From the NCTL report, ‘Beyond levels’, adapted from the work of David R. Krathwohl945Vol 7.3School Leadership Todaywww.teachingtimes.comLeadershipSkillsAssessmentHowever, while Bloom’s Taxonomy has proven an accessible and useful planning tool,which many teachers and pupils have become adept at using to structure questions,leaders and teachers are asking if we use it in a way that is too restrictive. In a taughtsession, is use of such a matrix sufficiently accessible to support the flow across ‘surface’to ‘deep’ learning for the breadth of teaching, learning and assessment?Hattie’s Visible Learning Labs are also asking questions about Bloom’s; they havebeen exploring the Structure of Observed Learning Outcomes (SOLO), created byBiggs and Collis. Is this a more accessible, easily applied tool, which supports planningand assessment across ‘surface’ to ‘mastery’? Using a simple structure, SOLO describesa progression of increasing complexity in learning to reach ‘deep’ understanding.Figure 2 has been a useful focus for discussion because it connects active verbs withprogression in a way that makes progression in understanding and learning visible toboth teachers and pupils, assisting our understanding of mastery.Figure 2 (Image: John Biggs)Both Hattie and Pam Hook have noted a high degree of consistency between teachersand pupils using SOLO to make judgements about achieved learning and next steps.10The progression from ‘quantified’ knowledge to connecting and using knowledgeindependently and purposefully in familiar and new contexts is easily understoodand instantly accessible. It is guiding planning, questioning, feedback and pupil self-awareness of their learning.If SOLO gives us a means by which to identify and respond to personalisedprogression in learning, how do we structure a taught session to include such a rangeof differentiation where we need to provide both support and independence? Onceagain, we are returning to past wisdom. The work of Belle Wallace, Thinking Actively ina Social Context (TASC), is a powerful resource. Revisiting the TASC Framework, we havebeen able to see how it connects to and supports many of the points discussed above.The TASC Framework:■ requires collaborative learning, supporting mixed ability classes and/or groups, anda culture committed to the development of ‘growth mindsets’;■ employs a simple structure that connects learning skills and questions to promotemetacognition and self-awareness as a learner;■ can be aligned with Bloom’s and supports use of SOLO; sohttp://www.johnbiggs.com.au/academic/solo-taxonomy/46Vol 7.3School Leadership Todaywww.teachingtimes.comLeadershipSkillsAssessment ■ provides for focused independent application of learning, requiring and prompting‘deep’ learning/mastery.The TASC wheel (Image © Belle Wallace, used here with permission)In Table 2, I have summarised developing thoughts, indicating how using"
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Leadership

Is your assessment fit for purpose?

29 Mar 2016

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      string(5804) "Why Action Research?We are experiencing a time of unprecedented pressure on school: greater accountability, a narrowing of the curriculum through more prescriptive assessment, a flood of directives and additional budget pressures. It  threatens to overwhelm the profession and lead to a fragmented and fragile system in which we are inclined to cling to what we know or seek simple answers to ever more complex questions.Paradoxically, there has never been a more important time for teachers to take control of the teaching and learning debate, to acknowledge the challenges we face educating children for the 21st century and to recognise our capacity to lead on innovation and improvement.  It is not only essential it is also a moral imperative. We must remain vital and energised by our potential and aim to develop as organisations rich with interpretation. No matter how comfortable it feels, we must not seek equilibrium. 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Leadership

Leading a school research community

20 Jun 2017

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Folder: Leadership Briefings Issue 3.07 (31)"
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      string(6076) "ResourceASSESSMENT FOR LEARNING STRATEGYOriginal DocumentAssessment for Learning Strategy. This DCSF strategy document outlines how schools can make use of the resources available to them. The document is a joint project between DCSF, the National Strategies and QCA, with the Chartered Institute of Educational Assessors and forms a significant part of the Government’s commitment to developing personalised learning and to improving rates of progression at Key Stages 2 and 3, as well as older and younger pupils.KeywordsAssessment, learning, schools. Key Stage 2, Key Stage 3SummaryOver the next three years, the government aims to support schools in developing their assessment of pupils to enhance learning and improve the rate at which pupil’s progress.The Assessment for Learning Strategy builds on the full range of good practice already established through Assessing Pupils’ Progress (APP) and the developments in the Making Good Progress pilot. 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Leadership

Assessment for Learning Strategy

29 May 2008

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      string(6130) "embed a memory all underpin learning. The notion that rehearsal alone will therefore ensure that knowledge and skills are embedded in the long-term memory is also an over-simplification, as it would support, for example, rote learning and drills, which are shallow learning and do not build the ability to apply learning. Engagement with the learning involves a more meaningful analysis and the use of that learning in different ways leads to better recall. For example, by giving words a meaning, linking them with previous knowledge or applying them in different contexts. It is clear, however, that if we overload the short-term or working memory with items that are not relevant to what is being learned, we are likely to see less learning. If nothing has changed in long-term memory, then nothing has been learned and nothing can be recalled or applied. It is the process of actively using or rehearsing and retrieving information that enables learning to be stored effectively in the long-term memory. Additionally, students’ motivation and the degree to which they understand the relevance of their learning are likely to embed that learning in the memory.Key point 1: We need to pace the learning to match the learners and not impose an arbitrary time scale by which something must be learned.Key point 2: We need to ensure that we refine the content of the curriculum to avoid overloading students’ working memories so core learning is not lost in extraneous information.Key point 3: We need to maximise the retention in their long-term memories of key information through active engagement and practice. Another model of memory stems from Robert and Elizabeth Bjork’s (Bjork & Bjork, 1992) work on learning and forgetting. They define the storage strength and retrieval strength of a memory to explain why we remember some things better than others. Storage strength is how well something is learned. Retrieval strength is how accessible it is. The levels are: low storage strength (not committed to long-term memory), high storage strength (committed to long-term memory), high retrieval strength (highly accessible) and low retrieval strength (difficult to access). Retrieval is essential to the process of learning because using memory shapes memory – it is a memory modifier. So, by requiring students to retrieve information on a regular (and spaced) basis, we actually make that learning more accessible in the future. The process of retrieving will require us to re-examine and apply that learning and thus improves the learning itself. While it would seem desirable to have high retrieval strength and high storage strength, the converse is true because the higher the retrieval strength the smaller the storage strength, and as retrieval strength declines the storage strength increases. So, to increase storage strength we have to allow for a degree of forgetting and work harder to retrieve the information. Of course, there is an optimum time gap – too long and the learning may be very difficult to retrieve.Key point 4: Low stakes testing, including multiple choice tests, quizzes and exemplifying, all require students to retrieve and reprocess learning, leading to deeper learning.Key point 5: After a period of learning, allowing an interval before setting a task or a test which requires the learner to retrieve that learning will increase the storage strength of that learning – this is called spacing.In developing learning, we need to ensure that new learning is stored in the long-term memory through active and deep learning opportunities which require students to process the learning in some way and which make links with prior learning. Bjork and Bjork’s work suggests that harder work improves learning because it slows learning down – the challenge of understanding something difficult requires more conscious effort and once understood is more likely to be retained. Conversely, easy work can boost quick retrieval but is less likely to be stored in the long-term memory. Additionally, the extent to which new learning links to previous learning and other knowledge, such as our understanding of the wider world or its interconnectedness, will increase the storage strength.Asian students working in the library.Key point 6: Creating learning tasks that are difficult and require students to actively contribute to the learning will improve the storage strength. Key point 7: Making links with prior learning and real-life contexts will enable the learning to sit within an existing framework and be more likely to stick.How does Mastery Learning align with these theories of memory?The key elements of Mastery Learning are where:Teachers believe that virtually all and at least 80% of students can learn all important academic knowledge to a level of excellence.Teachers set a high level of challenge and the classroom environment encourages and generates a positive attitude to learning.Learning is class-paced rather than unit-paced, based on a cycle of teaching, active learning, formative testing, feedback and alternative learning strategies, retesting, feedback and correctives, followed by a summative test after a period of time.The first two strands create a context and a positive climate for learning, ensuring that students are confident and receptive – we will look at these in more detail later in this article. How does the Mastery Learning approach support the key strands identified by research as essential to secure deep learning?Key Point 1: Pace – The principle of Mastery Learning is"
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Assessment

Mastery Learning is Where it's At

9 May 2018