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This Months Newsletter
The Estyn annual report
The Estyn annual report
This link will take you to the Early Insights section of the Estyn website, where you can find Estyn's early insights for the different areas they inspect.
Below I have broken down the findings where they relate to Digital.
No comments regarding digital
What needs to improve...
Teaching and Learning
A minority of schools provide suitable opportunities for pupils to apply their literacy, numeracy and digital skills independently in meaningful contexts. Too often schools have not developed their understanding of progression well enough and pupils do not apply their skills at a high enough level.
What does this mean?
Schools need to offer more opportunities in the classroom for learners to choose which digital apps to use in their work.
When learners are using technology to complete their work the level of digital skills being applied is lacking development from previous exposure to the applications.
What schools can do?
Allow learners the opportunity to choose how to explain their understanding of what has been covered in class, this can be done by setting parameters of what learners are expected to demonstrate in their work; this can be a success criterion for the topic.
Schools can identify steps of progression for the digital applications that they use in the classroom, this can be shared with the learners when they are asked to create their work, factoring in the level of digital skills expected as well as the criteria set for the subject they are working in.
The support we have for you...
Schools can assess the opportunities they are providing their learners by tracking their DCF coverage, this will allow schools to assess the work being done in different year groups and look at the level at which learners use their digital skills.
In terms of progression, schools can look at in which year groups they start to use different apps and what features of those apps they are expected to develop in preparation for the next year to move on.
Example
Example
Learners are creating a piece of work about St. David, task is to create a piece of work which:
Explain who St David was and why he is important to Wales
Include two or more key events linked to St David
Explain how St David is remembered in Wales today
Include reference to where information was sourced
Organise your information in a logical manner
Include the relevant vocabulary
NB. If recording audio remember to write a script of what you are going to say
Where possible
include transitions and animations
consider font type, size and colour
What needs to improve...
Teaching and Learning
In general, schools do not develop pupils’ literacy, numeracy and digital skills progressively across the curriculum effectively enough.
Leading and improving
In a majority of schools, leaders do not have a sufficiently strategic approach to developing pupils’ literacy, numeracy and digital skills across the curriculum.
What does this mean?
Digital skills are not being developed year-on-year progressively, there may also be a disparity in the level of work being produced by different subjects/AoLEs.
What schools can do?
Ensure all subject/AoLE teachers are aware of the digital applications which the school makes use of, and understand the steps of progression in the use of each app. Schools can develop consistency across subjects in each year group to ensure when creating work all subjects are expecting the same level of digital skills being used.
The support we have for you...
In terms of progression, schools can look at in which year groups they start to use different apps and what features of those apps they are expected to develop in preparation for the next year to move on.
Example
Example
Learners could create presentations to demonstrate their understanding of what has been covered in different classes.
Presentations could be created on several different platforms including PowerPoint/Google Slides/Adobe Express/Canva
Year 7
Learners need to include transitions between slides, animations to text/images and hyperlinks where applicable
Year 8
Learners need to think about the content added to the slide, considering their use of font, text size and contrast.
Year 9
Learners can tailor their presentations for different audiences, considering their vocabulary choice and tone in their presenting
What's going well...
Teaching and Learning
In a few schools, curriculum planning and the high quality of teaching result in pupils making extremely strong progress in developing their skills. In a very few special schools, pupils’ creative, physical, and digital skills are strong.
What does this mean?
Although Estyn refers to digital skills as being strong, this is in a very few, less than 10%. This suggests that there is a need to ensure that the strong digital skills being referenced in special schools increase in consistency.
What schools can do?
As this is from the Early Insights report, we will wait until the full report is out to hopefully identify those elements which are strong, and look to support schools in replicating these skills.
What needs to improve...
Teaching and Learning
Overall, the development of skills across the curriculum is too inconsistent. This is particularly evident in the progressive development of pupils’ ICT skills.
What does this mean?
Digital skills are not being developed year-on-year progressively.
What schools can do?
Schools can develop consistency across subjects in each year group to ensure when creating work all subjects are expecting the same level of digital skills being used.
The support we have for you...
In terms of progression, schools can look at in which year groups they start to use different apps and what features of those apps they are expected to develop in preparation for the next year to move on.
Example
Example
Learners could create presentations to demonstrate their understanding of what has been covered in different classes.
Presentations could be created on several different platforms including PowerPoint/Google Slides/Adobe Express/Canva
Year 7
Learners need to include transitions between slides, animations to text/images and hyperlinks where applicable
Year 8
Learners need to think about the content added to the slide, considering their use of font, text size and contrast.
Year 9
Learners can tailor their presentations for different audiences, considering their vocabulary choice and tone in their presenting
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