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Linking the Learning 3-15 (670 KB PDF) - Angus Council PDF

30 Pages·2008·0.65 MB·English
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Building a Curriculum for Excellence “Celebrate, don’t censor or curtail the connections that are effortlessly effected by the young mind.” (Howard Gardner) 3-15 Linking the Learning Education INTRODUCTION Curriculum for Excellence places young people at the centre of the curriculum and clearly outlines the importance of developing the active engagement of all learners in the learning and teaching process. As schools work towards improving learning experiences and developing achievement opportunities for all pupils, it is vitally important to ensure that the twenty first century curriculum promotes deep and secure learning throughout a pupil’s school career. Recent local and national publications have encouraged schools to consider the curriculum they offer and focus on improving approaches to pedagogy. The introduction of Co-operative Learning in Angus has been enhanced by advice and guidance contained in “Building a Curriculum for Excellence – Active Learning 3-15” which fully endorses the positive aspects of developing active approaches to learning through play in the early years and reflection on interactive teaching and lesson structure for adults working with older pupils. This focus on pedagogy, coupled with the recent launch of the draft outcomes and experiences for all eight areas of Curriculum for Excellence, has meant that schools now need to consider how they plan to ensure learning is challenging and enjoyable, with opportunities provided to engage and motivate all learners and enable them to develop creativity and resilience. A broad range of experiences needs to be provided which will involve schools reflecting on the curriculum they currently offer and ascertaining if pupils are given sufficient opportunities to learn in a variety of contexts. Depth of learning and coherence are also a major focus and this involves drawing different strands of learning together through extended activities across the curriculum. This is fully recognised in the Progress and Proposals paper (LTS 2006) which clearly states that: “The curriculum is more than curriculum areas and subjects; it is the totality of experiences which are planned for children and young people through their education – a canvas upon which their learning experiences are formed.” The promotion of a broad range of contexts for learning and interdisciplinary working is the main focus of this paper. Schools need to begin to reflect on how they connect both knowledge and skills across subject areas to promote deep and meaningful learning for all pupils. Some primary schools have sound experience of planning for learning through contextualised approaches and linking knowledge and skills across subject areas. This is fully recognised in the recent report “Making effective use of curriculum flexibility in primary schools” (HMIE 2007). However, it must be noted that many schools still adhere too rigidly to inflexible programmes of study and commercial schemes and the potential for creative and innovative approaches to curriculum delivery is not being fully appreciated or developed. Secondary schools do offer pupils some opportunities for interdisciplinary projects but many of these tend to be on a “one off” basis and more attention needs to be paid to how these deepen understanding within subject areas and make learning more meaningful and 1 enjoyable for all pupils. The nature of the new curricular outcomes and experiences will demand closer working between departments in secondary schools and a renewed focus on developing contextualised approaches to planning for learning in our primary schools to enable pupils to make connections and develop the skills and capacities required for life. Section 1 considers essential learning across the curriculum through literacy and numeracy. Section 2 focuses on developing contextualised approaches to planning for learning 3-15 and the implications of developing interdisciplinary projects. Appendix 1 summarises key research papers for those interested in undertaking further reading. Throughout this paper key questions are posed to encourage schools to reflect on their current practice and plan for improvements. 2 SECTION 1 – ESSENTIAL LEARNING ACROSS THE CURRICULUM One of the main aims of Curriculum for Excellence is to embed learning and teaching in literacy and numeracy in all subject areas. All teachers in all subject areas have a responsibility to teach literacy and numeracy. The importance given to ensuring all pupils have a strong base of literacy and numeracy skills cannot be underestimated and this has recently been reinforced with the decision to introduce new national, compulsory qualifications for all pupils in these areas in S4. The development of literacy skills is critical in all subject areas and, although developing numeracy may seem more relevant in some areas than others, the expectation is that all teachers have a part to play in supporting literacy and numeracy development. What is required within schools is shared agreement on the approaches to be taken to achieve this and awareness amongst staff of how pupils benefit from links being made across the curriculum. It is very clear that this is a long term development for the whole school. Successful development requires senior management support and involvement and it is crucial that any action plans developed must have SMART targets which are sustainable. In all Angus secondary schools the principal teachers of Mathematics and English have been allocated responsibility for the development of numeracy and literacy respectively across the curriculum. In primary schools this is the responsibility of a nominated member of staff. What steps have you taken to How will you ensure REFLECT evaluate where effective your school is at AND implementation of in planning for key action points over DISCUSS literacy and the course of the numeracy across year and how will the curriculum? these be monitored? 3 NUMERACY ACROSS THE CURRICULUM “All teachers have responsibility for promoting the development of numeracy. With an increased emphasis upon numeracy for all young people, teachers will need to plan to revisit and consolidate numeracy skills throughout schooling.” Building the Curriculum 1 Numeracy can be defined as the application of mathematical ideas to everyday life. Good numeracy skills are important for learning across all curricular areas and are essential for life after school. Numeracy is much more than the routine facility with basic mathematical ideas and techniques and being numerate requires a blend of mathematical, contextual and strategic know-how. Mathematical know-how involves pupils knowing, understanding and using the mathematical ideas which are a typical part of the Maths curriculum. Contextual know-how involves an understanding of what mathematical terms mean in context and which interpretations make sense. Strategic know-how involves pupils in routine or complex problem solving and this can involve them: • finding strategies to get going when stuck • selecting key information • organising information in a range of models • using a range of problem solving strategies in a systematic way. SKILLS KNOWLEDGE T hey need a They need to fluent use of use mathematical What does th is mean for mathematics to knowledge make sense of your p upils? and skills something new u sed within a – to learn. context They need to use maths sensibly and critically knowing what it can and can’t do in order to be able to judge the appropriateness of its use. THINKING 4 How do you ensure all teachers in all subject areas take responsibility for ensuring pupils develop skills in all three of the above areas? One of the challenges facing schools in developing approaches to numeracy across the curriculum is identifying the actual responsibility of individual departments in teaching numeracy and developing a consistent approach for pupils. Angus Council Mathematics Subject Network group are currently working towards providing advice and guidance for schools in this area. They are drawing upon a model used by Stromness Academy, Orkney Islands Council in their Numeracy across the Curriculum Project 2006. (www.Ltscotland.org.uk/numeracy/sharingpractice/nationalprojects/20052006/orkney/asp) This involved the development of a guide for teachers of all subjects as to how numeracy topics should be approached. This was a positive attempt to avoid unnecessary confusion and difficulties for pupils. In addition to the aforementioned guide, the Stromness team also identified prior mathematical knowledge expected by all departments in a secondary school and identified when it was taught by the Maths department. This approach has been very worthwhile in that it has increased staff awareness of whether the Mathematical skills pupils need in different subject areas have been taught. The main drawback to this approach is that it appears to leave full responsibility for teaching the numeracy/mathematical skills required in other subject areas within the maths department itself. Our aim in Angus is to ensure that all staff are aware of the responsibility they have for developing numeracy skills within their subject area as well as revisiting and consolidating numeracy skills within a context. What can you do at How confident are whole school and REFELCT staff about departmental level teaching and AND to identify the consolidating numeracy skills that numeracy skills? DISCUSS need taught in different subjects? What are the implications of this shared responsibility for tracking individual pupil progress? 5 WHAT DOES THIS SHARED RESPONSIBILITY LOOK LIKE IN PRACTICE? It is vital that effective communication takes place within school and time must be made for this to happen. Within the context of the Mathematics and Numeracy draft outcomes: • Pupils need to LEARN the structures, patterns, concepts, ideas and techniques within the Maths and Numeracy outcomes and experiences • Pupils need to APPLY their learning to other situations and contexts Within other curricular areas: • Teachers need to USE different learning contexts or integrated settings as arenas for explicitly teaching mathematical ideas and techniques • Pupils need to DEAL with the mathematical demands inherent in performing tasks, handling information, designing and making things or learning ideas Examples of developing Numeracy in other curricular areas Curricular Area Numeracy Development English Language • Use of mathematics vocabulary and technical terms • Reading and interpreting problems to identify mathematical content • Explain, argue and present conclusions to other Science • Classifying • Counting • Measuring 6 • Estimating • Recording in tables or graphs and plot, interpret and predict from graphs • Order numbers including decimals • Calculate simple percentages, • Use negative numbers • Make decisions on the most appropriate methods of recording information Expressive Arts / Technologies / Health • Measurement is needed in all and Wellbeing these areas • Patterns (Music) • Spatial ideas and construction (Technologies, Art and Design) • Properties of shape including symmetry (Physical Education and Dance) • Multiplication and ratio (Design enlargement, reduction) • Measurement and estimation of quantities in cooking activities • Time and costings working with recipes • Problem solving using ICT – collecting and classifying data • Using data handling software • Producing graphs and tables • Interpreting graphs and tables and explaining results 7 • Measurement of height, distance and time (PE) • Counting, time, movement, position and direction (PE) Social Studies / Religious and Moral • Collecting data by counting and Education measuring • Study of maps and co-ordinates • Angles • Direction and position • Scale • Ratio • Time and calendars • Timelines and number lines The key for schools to make the most of all these opportunities is to identify the mathematical possibilities across the curriculum at the planning stage. Teachers of all subjects need to make links between their subjects and numeracy explicit by talking about links frequently in their lessons. HOW WELL ARE YOU DOING WITH THIS? WHAT ARE YOUR NEXT STEPS? 8 LITERACY ACROSS THE CURRICULUM The importance of literacy cannot be underestimated nor undervalued. It is crucial that all teachers have an understanding of the importance of literacy skills in the learning process. Literacy and learning are inextricably linked because good literacy skills contribute to learning and poor literacy skills present a tangible barrier to learning. The main challenge facing our schools is to ensure that literacy skills are taught systematically and consistently across subject areas with regular opportunities provided for pupils to consolidate their literacy skills by using them purposefully in order to learn. In Angus, a range of advice and guidance to support school based CPD around improvements in Literacy have been developed in recent years. These include: • Reading for Excellence (3-15) which enables teachers of all subject areas to increase their knowledge of and skills in teaching reading through the development of higher order reading skills. • Listening and Talking which enhances the quality of interactive learning and teaching of Listening and Talking in Groups (L.T.i.G) across all curricular areas. This includes a highly effective teaching tool in the form of a rubric detailing key stages of progression for pupils aged 3-15. • Writer’s Craft Support Pack which promotes integrated approaches to teaching writing through group discussion of the writer’s craft. • Moving Images Education which develops integrated approaches to literacy through the use of digital media with a focus on skills of analysis and creativity. Which literacy skills are What steps have you REFLECT the main barriers to taken to evaluate the learning and teaching at AND use of the above each stage of the resources in your DISCUSS school? school / department? What impact have Identify the strengths these had on and needs in literacy developing teachers’ teaching across the confidence in school – what key actions teaching literacy derive from this audit? skills? 9

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term development for the whole school. Successful development techniques within the Maths and Numeracy outcomes and experiences. • Pupils need to
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