Rochford Review

&

Alignment to Quality of Provision

For learners with SEND

Diane Rochford OBE

Rochford Review - Background and timeline

• Asked to chair a review of assessment July 2015

• Original group formed September 2015

• First meeting September 2015

• Interim requirements published December 2015

• Extended time given to 12 April 2016 to consider P scales

• Draft ready 12 April 2016

• Final report published October 2016

Publication Activities

● October 2016 – Rochford Review – the final report

● March ‘17 - Primary SEND assessment

● September ‘17 – Interim Pre Key Stage Standards

● September ‘17 – Rochford Review Recommendations

● May 2018 - Pre Key Stage Standards for 2018/19 for both Key Stage 1 and Key

Stage 2

● Jan ‘18 – Engagement Pilot 1 – Completed July 18

● October 18 Meeting with Minister to discuss next steps.

● January - July ’19 - Engagement Pilot 2

● July ‘19 – Meeting with Minister to discuss next steps

● September 2019 – December ‘19 – Preparation for publication of Engagement.

Challenges in removing P scales

• Adjusting to new arrangements following 20 years of P scales – entrenched in policy and

practice.

• Culture shift of new assessment freedoms – setting targets for individual pupils and

relying on different information to demonstrate progress (e.g. to Ofsted), DfE requiring

less data

• Difficulty setting expectations between key stages

• Loss of ‘common language’ of assessment between schools

• Uncertainty about different commercial products that may try to fill the gaps (just as when

national curriculum levels were removed)

-- Systemic shift in school thinking on Quality First Curriculum

Government Consultation response to the Rochford

Review agreed so that:

● P Scales: no longer fit for purpose - therefore the requirement to assess

pupils using P scales has been removed from P4 upwards from the 2018-19

academic year.

● Interim pre-key stage standards have been made permanent and extended to

cover all pupils engaged in subject specific learning to take place from 2018-

19 academic year.

● Engagement Model will replace assessment for those pupils at P1-P4 from

the academic year 2020- 2021

Rochford Recommendations were to build strands of

expertise and leadership

Empowering school culture, autonomy and pedagogy

Assessment linked to Pedagogy

Learning journey:

Moving focus and understanding

--looking at a different form

of assessment that is linked

to curriculum and pedagogy.

This is only for those pupils

who are our most profound and

complex learners.

Nick Gibb, School Standards Minister said:

● This is a significant milestone in our drive to make sure every child-even those with the

most complex needs-receives the highest standard of education and care.

● We have already introduced EHC plans that are tailored to children. This new approach

to assessment will make sure that individual focused approach is replicated in the

classroom.

● Around 7,000 pupils in primary schools have such complex needs that it would be

inappropriate to measure their attainment in school according to national curriculum

tests.

● The in-depth review, led by Diane Rochford, concluded that P scales did not best serve

these pupils and recommended an assessment approach that instead focuses on

engagement. This was backed by the findings of a pilot that the DfE ran earlier this

year.

● An expert group, led by Diane Rochford, will now refine the approach based on the

findings of the pilot, ready for it to be introduced in all state-funded schools which have

pupils not in subject specific study from 2020.

Rochford Review principles of assessment for pupils not engaged in

subject-specific learning

Statutory assessment should focus on cognition and learning, against the Aspects of

Engagement identified by the CLDD research project, to ensure that these pupils are developing the right concepts and

skills to progress on to subject-specific learning assessed by the pre-key stage standards, if and when they are ready.

The Aspects of Engagement provide a common language and an observational framework for

assessing these learners for the first time, to monitor various ways and to what degree a pupil demonstrates attention,

interest and involvement in new and consolidated learning

Schools should be free to assess pupils against the Aspects of Engagement in a way that best

reflects the needs of the individual pupil and the curriculum that they follow. The needs of this group of pupils

are such that their progression is not always linear, and it is therefore inappropriate to prescribe milestones that should

have been met by a particular age, or to limit assessment information to any specific type outlined in a prescribed model.

Assessment against the Aspects of Engagement should not undermine provision in the other

areas, especially those set out in the SEND Code of Practice, all of which play a crucial role in promoting independence

and quality of life.

The Details:▪ From the two pilot findings report this year - 2019, advice has been

presented to Ministers on whether the Aspects of Engagement should become

the statutory summative assessment at the end of key stages 1 and 2 from

Sept.2020-2021.

▪ Assuming that we do proceed with the report recommendations -- Aspects of

Engagement, we would need to amend legislation in early 2020 to remove

references to P scales

▪ The pilot has shown that we would need to focus on how better we can support

schools to implement the changes, which are both cultural and systemic.

▪ This will need to consider:

what centrally-developed training materials would be useful

what role might other teaching schools and networks play?

Support activities for schools

There will be:

● Engagement Model Guidance for maintained schools, academies, free

schools and local authorities.

● Examples of case studies.

● Video support.

● Funding to role out training for schools from January 2020.

Quality First Curriculum

Quality First Curriculum:

Outcome of the Rochford Review

on

pedagogy

The Engagement Model is the perfect fit for Ofsted’s new education inspection framework.

Particularly in supporting schools to identify, assess and meet needs of pupils who are not engaged in subject-specific

study. This includes assessing whether pupils’ outcomes are improving as a result of the different or additional provision

being made for them cognition and learning physical health and development social, emotional and mental health.

The Engagement Model helps schools to develop and adapt the curriculum so that it is coherently sequenced to all

pupils’ needs, starting points and aspirations for the future. It also helps schools to involve parents, carers and other

professionals and specialist services in deciding how best to support pupils who are not engaged in subject-specific

study.

As detailed in paragraph 309 of Ofsted’s school inspection handbook, Ofsted inspectors will gather and evaluate

evidence about:

● Whether leaders are ambitious for ALL pupils with SEND. how well leaders identify, assess and meet the needs of

pupils with SEND and how well they develop and adapt the curriculum so that it is coherently sequenced

● How well leaders include pupils with SEND in all aspects of school life. How well the school assesses learning and

development of pupils with SEND, and whether pupils’ outcomes are improving as a result of the different or

additional provision being made for them, including outcomes in communication and interaction; cognition and

learning; physical health and development; and social, emotional and mental health.

● How well pupils with SEND are prepared for their next steps in education, employment and training, and their adult

lives, including further/higher education and employment, independent living, participating in society and being as

healthy as possible in adult life.

Engagement and curriculum frameworks

Curriculum needs to

● Provide a wide range of opportunities for

the student to engage in the acquisition of

a new skill or concept in one of the 4 areas

of need.

● To support us to refine our pedagogical

approaches and curriculum matter.

● Ensure that learner disposition is observed

and evaluated – via a process not a fixed

assessment point.

For pupils not yet engaged in

subject-specific leaning, the

Government accepts that

statutory assessment should

focus primarily on cognition

and learning.

It is not about differentiation, it is fundamentally different

What is the purpose of curriculum - SEND

Tyler Model

● Determine the school’s purposes

(and objectives)

● Identify educational experiences

related to purpose

● Organise the experiences

● Evaluate the purposes

All SEND learners with different levels of cognition (0 - 25) are

entitled to a meaningful curriculum pathway and destination

Through all settings:

Mainstream classes and specialist settings:

Palliative/Hospital and Home

Resource Provisions

Attached Units

Residential

Colleges

And all types of need including:

PMLD

SLD

Medical

SEMH

ASD

Multi-sensory impairment

Despite factors affecting context and

organisation / structure including:

Local Authority/funding and admissions

Health-CCG

Social Care

Quality of expertise

Respite providers

Supported Living

Multi-academy trusts.

Learning for Life – For ALL settings:

Providing skills for life outside of the school

campus.

Provision that is either specialist teacher led or

with specialist teacher input.

Senior Leadership is focussed on the

development of all aspects of SEND need

whether with or without EHC Plans.

Capacity to innovate in SEND - Curriculum,

Assessment and Accreditation/Qualifications.

Personalisation not differentiation

Code of Practice SEND 2014

Duty to Cooperate - MDT approach

Developing the curriculum framework – SEND

Intent - Implementation – Impact (2019)As a minimum, a curriculum should provide a basis for planning a course, studying it

empirically and considering the grounds of its justification. It should offer:

● 1. Principle for the selection of content – what is to be learned and taught

● 2. Principles for the development of a teaching strategy – how it is to be learned and taught.

● 3. Principles for the making of decisions about sequence. (could be applied to progression)

● 4. Principles on which to diagnose the strengths and weaknesses of individual students and

differentiate the general principles 1, 2 and 3 above, to meet individual cases.

Stenhouse 1975

Are today's questions about curriculum or quality of teaching?

Is it about permission to move away from the National Curriculum Subjects

Framework?

Is it concerns about how to report on learning and progression outside National

Curriculum subjects?

Understanding of need?

Translation of outcomes from EHC Plans and SEN Support Plans to target setting

and planning for learning?

Do curriculum interventions work?

What are the barriers to delivering a quality curriculum

Curriculum PersonalisationCode of Practice

Ensuring that curriculum offer links to four

core domains

1. Communication

2. Cognition and Learning

3. Physical

Development/Sensory/Medical

4. SEMH

Curriculum linked to quality of teaching and learning

How do we evaluate the elements of teaching

and learning that underpin implementation

of effective curriculum frameworks.

Features of pedagogy

Pace of learning

Environment

Independence

Engagement or Skills

Trans Disciplinary Approach to learners needs

Clarity about Learner Needs/Learner Characteristics

Needs and learning characteristics identified

EHC/SEN Support Plans and other information

Baseline - information about learning - barriers and motivators

Levels of Communication related to cognition

Multi-Disciplinary Team information

Review Action Plan - co production with family and young person

Plan for personalisation within curriculum pathway - domains Communication, Cognition,

Physical/Sensory and Social Emotional.

Engagement and Independence indicators used periodically across curriculum pathway

Multi-Disciplinary Teams

Capture Evidence and Assess

MAPP - Baseline, Assessment and Evaluation

Evidence for Learning - Evidence of learning - MAPP, Engagement or Independence Indicators and

Tags - filter assessment evidence to curriculum domains and links to National Curriculum

Curriculum content: motivation fun and enrichmentDoes the curriculum in your school offer breadth and depth of experience, fun, risk and memorable moments?

Is it sufficiently motivating and meaningful for active engagement in learning? Time-filling /Task-focused activity versus sequencing and contextualisation of skills?

Real life experiences and widening participation with the real world?

Does it meaningfully prepare students to access opportunities after they have left school (age appropriate)?

Is the curriculum powered by experiential learning and engaged fully with culture, creativity and leisure (arts and musicality)?

What is the quality of lived experience (how rich is my interaction with the world)?

How does the curriculum support inclusion which enables equality

of access? School has developed Preparation for Adulthood

Qualifications which meet the profile of their pupils and ensures

ENTITLEMENT and rigorous challenge

High quality and accredited opportunities for vocational learning in

school and off site

Accreditation linked to engagement curriculum for all learners

including the most profound

Key principles

Equality of Access

High quality teaching and learning

The school has in place an effective assessment process with a

developed approach through a quality assured accreditation

system

Dr. Catherine Carroll IoE

(UCL)

Ensuring effective and purposeful Curriculum

through school Self Evaluation

A key focus of the new Ofsted framework will be school leadership of the curriculum:

● Whole school leadership – vision and pedagogy

● Safeguarding (statistically vulnerable group)

● Environment - Health and Safety

● Developing leadership structures around key curriculum areas

● Developing high quality teaching and learning - delivery and dialogue (evaluative)

● Focussed - CPD for all staff

● Systematic organisational frameworks that deliver personalisation and outcomes in the context of

the school (not necessarily attainment)

● How outcomes are accounted for and reported on (feedback and evaluation - not necessarily all

data)

Life Skills – vocational experiences and qualifications/accreditation

(14 – 19 - opportunity to plan from Yr 9 transition review)

● Active citizens

● Participation

● Planning for learning off site

● Opportunities to experience a broader

culture

● Apprenticeship

● Residential experiences

● Work experience/voluntary work

● Enterprise

● Independence

View of the young person and their advocate

or family.

Linked to EHC and SEN Support Plan and

planning for next steps during person centred

review process.

Multidisciplinary approach to commissioning.

Timely assessment

Readiness for next challenge.

Learning for life (the rest of your life)

Curriculum is….

● The total learning experience provided by a school (Kelly)

● A purposeful curriculum should be agreed within the school community in line

with its vision and purpose

● Curriculum has many meanings ..schools should engage fully in thinking

about the purpose and content

● The curriculum defines Why, What, When, Where, How and with Whom to

learn (Braslovsky)

Schools should take up their given permissions to innovate and develop

excellence in their own meaningful curriculum

Curriculum Pathways

SEND School Development and Self Evaluation

School Development Plan

● Whole school leadership

● Safeguarding (statistically vulnerable group)

● Environment - Health and Safety

● Developing leadership structures

● Developing high quality teaching and learning (not covered by ITT)

● CPD and CPD for support staff

● Points of comparison with others

● Systematic organisation framework that delivers personalisation and outcomes (not necessarily attainment)

● How outcomes are accounted for and reported on (feedback and evaluation - not necessarily all data)

Inclusion the dilemma

Is Social Inclusion without robust educational inclusion sufficient?

Do we understand Equality of Access

Are children and young people with SEND included at the cost of educational provision

Inclusion at its worst can be said to be a form of direct discrimination arising from a disability

Ultimately

It is not about differentiation, it is fundamentally different

Thank you

Diane Rochford OBE

Consultative Head Teacher