Case Study: Gowerton School
Stage 4 - Getting started
Embedded Files
How I reviewed progress
How I reviewed progress
Repeated Staff Questionnaire
Repeated Staff Questionnaire
In order to review progress of staff's confidence and abilities to teach various digital elements within their subject area, I sent the same questionnaire back out to the staff at the start of each academic year. I am then able to determine where progress is being made and what areas I still need to develop resources or hold training sessions for. Each year that I have completed this I have seen a massive increase in staff confidence and this is also a great way to assess any new members of staff each year so that they don't get forgotten.
Evaluate progress through another book review etc, see the progress in books/online
Evaluate progress through another book review etc, see the progress in books/online
We decided to assess skills in at least one book review every year as this would allow me to check on the progress of the pupils work throughout the curriculum at different stages in the year and from one year to another. It was also lovely to see the development of skills, I was able to make an increased number of comments and record more evidence of skills being used both online and unplugged as time progressed. During the second work review that was completed, it was clear that we needed to start to address 'progression' of the skill (which I describe in further detail down), I was able to make this a target for the new year in my action plan.
Pupil voice
Pupil voice
Pupil voice is extremely important. If the pupils are unaware WHY and HOW they are learning, then the likelihood of them developing the ability to transfer skills across the curriculum will be far more challenging. I decided that I would speak to pupils each year and ask them their thoughts on where they have used digital skills across the curriculum and question if they thought it had benefited them. We completed this in 2 ways, firstly through a work scrutiny where I talked to a group of pupils one on one where they were able to show me their work. Secondly, through a questionnaire that was sent to all pupils.
Some of the questions we used were:
Would you say you use ICT in a range of subject across the school? (Not just Computer Studies)
How do you think technology helps you learn?
What subjects have you created a spreadsheet in and explain what is was about?
Do you know how to improve (progress) your presentation skills in an application like PowerPoint?
Do you reference your work in all subjects in you copy something from the internet?
This has been a really good experience as I can see from the pupils perspective how and what they are achieving across all subjects. This allows me to also know if there are gaps or weaknesses in basic digital skills that the ICT department need to address or if I need to do a whole school training on certain skills.
Here you can see that the majority of pupils in my school do believe that technology helps them to learn. Therefore, we need to be encouraging this across the school.
Here is also a snippet of the responses for where they have used a certain skills across the school. This then allows me to look deeper into what they have done in those subject areas and if what subjects are not being mentioned and why.
Quality of the skills
Quality of the skills
After completing various work reviews, it was starting to become clear that certain skills were not progressing through the year groups. E.g. A presentation created by a pupil in year 7 often used the same skills as a pupil in year 9.
As the staff are getting more confident with delivering the digital skills and embedding them in their schemes of work, it then needs to develop. I needed to start talking about how the skills themselves progress. Whilst it is important that staff are delivering elements of the DCF in their subject, staff now needed to consider what stage of progression learners are at and also how they could progress to the next level.
To make this easier for staff, I developed some resources to show them how the pupils can progress in certain skill areas. I delivered these in an INSET session and had excellent feedback from staff. They said that it made it clear for them as well as the pupils how they can progress the skill. Here is an example of one of the various skills demonstrated, staff also liked that they could copy this slide into their resources and display it on their board for the pupils to use while working. It allows challenge and the ability for the pupils to assess their own and each others work.
Action Plan updates
Action Plan updates
Every year the action plan is reviewed. I evidence the areas that have been completed and date them and then make new targets for the school year ahead. This is done every year and has been an effective way to make sure that the schools goals for the DCF are on track and continually progressing. Anything that has not been completed is also carried forward to the following year with reasons why it could not be achieved addressed.
Updates addressed
Updates addressed
Part of the review process means looking at any changes or developments that need to be considered in the new year. These can include:
Action plan targets and goals for the new year
Updating staff on developments in INSET sessions
Gathering the training requirements from the review questionnaire and organising training sessions
DCF strand updates - when the new curriculum was created, the DCF was updated into progression steps and some of the strands were amended.
Developing new ideas e.g. creating a Skills Team, so that Literacy, Numeracy and DCF work together.
Updating tracking sheets with new evidence from staff or work reviews
Updating tracking sheets with the new progression steps
Incorporating the lower ability classes (e.g. nuture groups)
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