JDMcDsblog

Obver the summer I am putting some extracts from some earlier PG assignments on the blog, just out of interest, to compare what I regarded as important then with what’s happening now.

Here’s part of an earlier assignment I did in 2001, examining the role of ICT

“Effective management of teaching and learning reflect the current pedagogical paradigm; that pupils should be taught to think, and take responsibility for their own learning, precisely the thing that they do not appear to do very well, according to numerous HMI reports. Valerie Wilson, writing for SCRE stated that;

If cognition (thinking) is to be improved, then it is argued that teachers must make the learners’ thinking processes explicit by employing methods which intervene directly on the ‘thinking processes’. Part of this involves making learners aware of themselves as thinkers and how they process/create knowledge by ‘learning how to learn’
It is worth reflecting on the recent (2001) developments that have focused on the need to improve curriculum flexibility and extend the learning process in S1/S2. The revised National Guidelines on 5 to14 provide a framework for considering how progression and continuity might be implemented at the 10-14 “interface”. Setting out exemplars of what pupils at different levels should be able to do, these guidelines aim to “promote the teaching of a broad, coherent and balanced curriculum that offers all pupils continuity and progression as they move through school”. Behind these developments is the desire to raise attainment and improve the quality of learning.
Practical illustrations about what schools can do with the 10-14 curriculum can be found in the recent document, “Flexibility in the School Curriculum; Emerging practice”. Arguing for more curriculum flexibility, this collaborative paper by LT Scotland and HMIE cites evidence from ten secondary schools around the country of innovations in the curriculum. For example, in one school, the whole cohort of pupils is starting Standard Grade in SII, while in another, all first and second year pupils will be presented at Intermediate I or II core skills in ITC.
This is hardly new: articles in “TESS” and elsewhere over the past few years have consistently described remedies for the widely accepted poor pace of learning in SI and II.
The priority for the national assessments is firmly on the process of formative assessment, which will be developed through the Assessment for Learning Programme. This programme seeks to build a “streamlined and coherent system of assessment. (which) will ensure that parents, teachers….have the feedback they need on pupils’ learning and development needs”.The Programme, administerred by LT Scotland, is being trialled by several school-based projects, each looking at a particular facet of assessment, learning or reporting. It is encouraging to note that SCIS schools are included in funding to participate in such projects.

Formative assessment is seen as an effective way of encouraging learning, by focusing on assessment as the bridge between teaching and learning. Black and Willam make the essential point that marking pupils’ work should “cause thinking to take place”. They say,

A clearly productive way to start implementing a classroom-focused policy would be to improve formative assessment. [To do so, we need to] concentrate on several essential elements, namely the quality of teacher-pupil interaction, the stimulus and help for pupils to take active responsibility for their own learning, the particular help needed to move pupils out of ‘low-attainment’ trap, and the development of habits needed by all to become capable of life-long learning.”

Many educationalists believe schools should encourage the process of “metacognition”, that explicit awareness of thinking itself as an activity that can be taught and developed. Numerous textbooks and websites offer units of study based on “thinking skills”. In geography, for example, the work of David Leat and his “thinking mysteries” has been widely recognized, while Cognitive Advancement through Science Education (CASE) has been adopted in many schools as a way of moving pupils from “concrete” to “formal” ways of thinking.
Lipman believes that children are natural philosophers who constantly ask questions. Thus a programme is underway to introduce ‘Philosophy for Children’ to eight to eleven year olds in every primary school in Clackmannanshire, while East Ayrshire intends to introduce the Activating Children’s Thinking Skills (ACTS) programme, a method of teaching thinking skills, first developed in Northern Ireland.”

All this is allied to school improvement and effectiveness. School effectiveness is strongly focused on student outcomes and the characteristics of schools and classrooms that are associated with these outcomes whereas school improvement is mainly concerned about changing the quality of teachers and schools.”