Preparing new teachers for Curriculum for Excellence

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(No Transcript)
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Preparing new teachers for Curriculum for
Excellence The journey through the Senior Phase
curriculum, qualifications and assessment Ronnie
Summers, Head of Qualifications Development
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• Overview
• Historical context and reasons for change
• Senior Phase entitlements and qualifications
• Learning not occurring in a straight line
• Better gradient of learning and progress
• Landscape of assessment and teaching
• Developing teacher competence and skills
• SQA Understanding Standards

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Education Scotland website The 3-18 curriculum
is a forward looking, coherent curriculum that
provides Scotland's children and young people
with the knowledge, skills and attributes needed
for life in the 21st century. The development
process has involved unparalleled engagement with
teachers and practitioners. It has built upon the
existing good practice across all sectors of
Scottish education and . recognises the
professionalism of teachers.
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Improving Scottish Education (2009) The key to
developing capacities, raising standards and
meeting the needs of all learners lies of course
in consistent, high quality learning and
teaching. The current profile of attainment
within and across the different sectors of
education remains uneven. In particular, many
young people are not making the progress they
should..
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• What needed to change
• Over-crowding of curriculum
• Need for enjoyment wonder and magic
• Articulation and smoother progression
• Academic and vocational balance
• Focus on skills application rather than knowledge
  cramming
• Personalisation and choice
• Need for greater professional freedom
• Challenge that assessment was perverting learning

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• New National Qualifications
• Build on strengths of current qualifications
• Maintain current high standards and credibility
• Better alignment of learning assessment
• Broader range of qualifications
• Maximise progression opportunities

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Reminders.

• Qualifications contribute to
• 4 capacities
• Successful learners, confident individuals,
  responsible citizens, effective contributors
• Skills for Learning, Life and Work
• Developing Young Workforce
• Raising attainment and closing the gap
• Improving life chances

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BTC3 a senior phase which

• provides opportunities to obtain qualifications
• continues to develop the four capacities
• develops skills for learning, skills for life and
  skills for work (including career planning
  skills).
• has a continuous focus on literacy, numeracy and
  health and wellbeing
• has personal support
• supports moving into positive and sustained
  destinations beyond school.

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Progression, not separation

• Skills and knowledge in CFE outcomes and
  experiences a sound basis for outcomes and
  assessment standards in senior phase
• P7 and S3 profiles important part of
  self-reflection and awareness of achievements
  pupils take their skills, knowledge and aptitude
  forward
• 7 year CFE development programme marked by
  continuous evaluation at the end of each year
  teachers must seek continuity for learners

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BTC5 diagram
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Process of developing new qualifications

• CFE Management Board
• SQAs18 design principles
• Involvement of stakeholders CARGS and QDTS and
  Subject Working Groups, Higher Education,
  Education Scotland
• IROCCG and EROCCG
• Draft documents out to consultation

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Do you climb a Munro in one go?
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Rising spiral of difficulty for course award N1
to Advanced Higher

• Very much changed from the single terminal
  examination of the past!
• N1to N3 pass 3 units
• N4 pass 3 units plus added value unit applying
  knowledge and skills from units
• N5 to AH pass 3 units plus added value
  coursework and usually examination paper/s
  against the clock

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• What is assessment?
• In SQA qualifications, assessment is defined as
  the process of evaluating how effectively
  learning is occurring.
• It is the process of generating and collecting
  evidence of a learners attainment of knowledge
  and skills, and judging that evidence against
  defined standards for formal certification
• Guide to Assessment (2014)

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Assessment in the new qualifications

• Course assessment assesses breadth, challenge,
  application of skills, knowledge and
  understanding (added value) and provides the
  basis for grading A-D.
• Units allow candidates to build confidence, are
  stepping stone markers of progress
• Pupils need to work consistently over the year,
  not cram at the end
• Importance of formative assessment and AIFL

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They Learn
I Teach
SQA assesses
Does the curriculum happen to children or with
them? Personalisation and choice/
relevance? Teacher as leader/ autocrat or
facilitator?
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A - Subject Knowledge and skills
B Teacher and lecturer pedagogy
C - Qualifications
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Principles of assessment
Valid Reliable Practicable Fair and
inclusive Open and flexible Relevant Credible Co
herent These should not be an add-on when
developing courses, but integral to them.
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Purposes of assessment
Evaluative Formative Summative Monitoring Guidan
ce Qualification/Certification Selection
Do we tend to over-focus on summative?
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Unit assessment tasks - variation

• Assignments Case Studies
• Essays Evidence accumulation
• Matching Multiple Choice
• Objective response Oral responses
• Practical work Performance
• Projects Presentations
• Portfolios Selected response
• Short answer questions

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Assessing added value
For Course assessment and the assessment of the
National 4 Added Value Units, there are seven
agreed assessment methods which gives greater
consistency to assessment approaches. Assignment
Case Study Practical Activity Performance Portfo
lio Project Question Paper/Test of Knowledge
and Understanding
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Teacher roles..
PGDE students have deep subject knowledge but
limited pedagogical knowledge Need to respond to
childrens social and emotional
needs Collaboration with colleagues
departmentally and corporately Know SQA
qualifications for your subject how levels make
different and progressive demands
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GTCS Standard for Career-Long Professional
Learning
The key areas of career-long professional
learning are (i) Pedagogy, learning and subject
knowledge (ii) Curriculum and assessment
(iii) Enquiry and research (iv) Educational
contexts and current debates in policy, education
and practice (v) Sustaining and developing
professional learning (vi) Learning for
sustainability
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Understanding Standards and QA

• Events for authority subject nominees
• Events for subject staff November February
• Think of verification as educational MOT
• Round 1 units up to Higher published
• Round 2 coursework and N4 Added Value unit
• Internal verification toolkit, not mandatory

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General support for staff

• Website reorganised some time back each
  subject area structured the same
• SQA Secure password from SQA co-ordinator but
  has terms and conditions attached
• Assessment Support materials (Packs 1-3,
  coursework)
• Understanding Standards materials used at events
• Centre-produced Prior Verified Materials
• Sign up for monthly newsletter

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Closing comments

• Committed and well- qualified teaching staff BUT
• Do all colleagues and prospective teachers model
  the 4 capacities we seek in our young people?
• Importance of reflection, adjustment of practice
  and innovation in senior phase but also S1-3 and
  in liaison with primary colleagues (P5-S3 a
  faultline?)
• Knowing where pupils are and helping them
  achieve their potential no child left behind
• Hope that these thoughts will prepare you for the
  contributions of other colleagues later today

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• The real voyage of discovery consists not in
  seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes.
• Marcel Proust