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  • Support for early career teachers
  • UCL
  • Year 2: Second half-term: inquiry into developing quality pedagogy and making productive use of assessment (part 2)

    • Learning Intentions and Introduction

    Session Elements

    • action planning
    • analyse artefacts
    • discuss with pupil
    • self-assessment

    Learning Intentions for this session

    The focus of your inquiry for Module 8 is on an element of the Early Career Framework (ECF) from Standards 4, 5 or 6. You might have chosen a focus which combines different elements of these standards.

    By reading Case Study A, you can recap that:

    • Teacher expectations can affect pupil outcomes; setting goals that challenge and stretch pupils is essential. - Paired and group activities can increase pupil success, but to work together effectively pupils need guidance, support and practice.
    • How pupils are grouped is also important; care should be taken to monitor the impact of groupings on pupil attainment, behaviour and motivation.

    And remind yourself how to:

    • Use intentional and consistent language that promotes challenge and aspiration.
    • Create a culture of respect and trust in the classroom that supports all pupils to succeed (e.g. by modelling the types of courteous behaviour expected of pupils).

    By reading Case Study B, you can remind yourself how to:

    • Draw conclusions about what pupils have learned by looking at patterns of performance over a number of assessments (e.g. appreciating that assessments draw inferences about learning from performance).
    • Provide sufficient opportunity for pupils to consolidate and practise applying new knowledge and skills.

    By reading Case Study C, you can remind yourself how to:

    • Reduce the opportunity cost of marking by using codes and verbal feedback.
    • Give whole-class feedback so they know what they need to do to improve and have the time to do it.

    By reading Case Study D, you can remind yourself how to:

    • Include a range of types of questions in class discussions to extend and challenge pupils.
    • Provide appropriate wait time between question and response where more developed responses are required. - Prompt pupils to elaborate when responding to questioning to check that a correct answer stems from secure understanding.

    Introduction

    For several weeks now you have been using the ECF to guide developments to your practice; you have been implementing alterations to your normal practice and formed this into a Module 8 evaluative inquiry question. You may have introduced an adjustment – e.g. because you felt your pupils were ready for a different challenge, or because you wanted to expand the focus of your inquiry. Last week, your mentor observed you and gave you feedback which adds to your evidence base.

    This week, you have some time to collate your evidence to this point. What are you learning about the way you are teaching now – and the impact this has on your pupils? Can you make a tentative claim for what you know so far?

    A note on evidence and workload

    Schools are already data-rich environments. Practitioner inquiries first of all make use of what we call here ‘naturally occurring’ evidence. They are in the pupils’ work – and your assessment of it. They are in the words and reactions of the pupils – and what you have heard or seen of this. When we refer to evidence-collection, in the main we mean: look at what the pupils have done, and listen to what they are saying. A practitioner inquiry invites you to be more systematic about how you do this looking and listening, so you might deliberately ask a few questions of a few pupils for five minutes at the start of breaktime, or you might share lunch with a colleague and quiz them about how they approach a problem in their own class.

    Next week, you have another mentor meeting. It will be the mid-point review of your inquiry, when you will revisit the audit you conducted at the start of Module 8.