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Institute of Education

Secondary PGCE (Core)

Initial Teacher Education

Transition Booklet (School 2)

2015

KEY INFORMATION – your professional mentor will share school expectations and introduce key people. This page provides you with a space to record this information.

Your name:

Placement School

Other University of Worcester trainees on placement with you

School Information and Key ColleaguesName of schoolHeadteacherNumber on roll Age rangeType of schoolNumber of teaching staff Number of Learning Support

StaffProfessional Mentor (PM)

Subject(s) taught by PM

Subject Mentor (SM) Subject(s) taught by the SMForm Tutor Tutor groupSENCoOther key staff

Person Responsible for Safeguarding – how do you report a safeguarding issue?

School Policies List here the key school policies and where they can be found.

Health and safety training information Fire evacuation and workstation assessment if applicable. How to report accidents.Those teaching practical subjects like PE, D&T and science will need to record fuller information elsewhere.

How to report sickness or absence

Department InformationHead of Department Subject(s) taught

Teaching Staff – Analysis in your subject areaName Subjects and age range taught Responsibilities

Examination specification taught in your specialist area

The Aims of the Transition Period for Placement 2

As with placement 1 it is our hope that you will be treated as a full member of staff as far as is possible, but you must remember that you are a guest in the school at this point. You arrive as a qualified graduate with expertise to offer, but you should remember that your mentors are the experts in teaching. Courtesy and tact are really important!

The purpose of the experience is to provide a transition between your first school experience and this next phase. It should gradually introduce you to your new school and move you towards independence and your ability to address all of the Teachers’ Standards. This placement provides you with the opportunity to build upon your experiences from school 1, to address your targets and take on new challenges – not least an increased timetable.

Preliminary Visit 9th January 2015At the beginning of term schools will receive your school 1 report, along with your ’Personal Information for School 2’ document completed in December. Mentors will use this information to draft a timetable and to plan their approach to mentoring.

When planning a timetable for this block placement please ask mentors to use the guidance in section 2 – pages 29-31 and section 4 – page 43 of the Partnership Guidance. Please note that you should have a gradual introduction to the 50% timetable. You should not begin teaching the full twelve periods (solo) until after half term (week beginning 23rd February) although some negotiation may be necessary to suit your needs and issues such as class rotations or assessment periods. Scientists should expect the majority of their timetable to be within their specialism until at least Easter.

After the preliminary visit in January you need to come away with a clear idea of at least some of the classes and details of what you will be expected to teach so that you can begin to plan lessons and schemes of work in university and have access to support from tutors.

Second School Placement January 22nd – June 19th 2015This experience gives you an opportunity for sustained planning, delivery and evaluation of teaching and learning in your subject area and for the assessment of pupils. It will build on earlier work, demanding more sophisticated planning, action and appraisal. In particular you will concentrate on addressing the needs of pupils of varying abilities and aptitudes and to plan schemes of work that incorporate inclusion, differentiation and progression.During the placement you will spend specified days in university to review and reflect on your experiences and to enable you to keep in touch with tutors and peers.

During this placement you must experience the pastoral aspects of the teacher’s role – so your timetable should include attachment to a form tutor group and, where appropriate, some involvement in PSHE / Citizenship work.

For some subjects it is important that you can offer a second subject. School experience is the only opportunity for you to develop your ability in a second subject and schools are therefore asked to look favourably on requests for such experience. You are likely to work collaboratively rather than independently with second subject colleagues. Overall your timetable should be approximately 50% of a normal teaching timetable.

Please note that during this period you will be in university on the following days; Friday 13th February 2015 Friday 13th March 2015 Wednesday 25th March – 27th March 2015 Tuesday 5th and Wednesday 6th May 2015

It is a good idea when planning the timetable to take into account that you will not be in school on these 7 days in February, March and May. If lessons are scheduled for these days of planned absence please work in partnership with your mentor to plan lessons ensuring that all parties know what is to be covered. This is a good training opportunity as the mentor can use the plan and then feedback to you on how the lesson went.

Initial weeks (22nd January – half term)However well you have performed in placement one you will have to establish your authority with new pupils and make new relationships with staff. You therefore need a period of transition. For this purpose you have some transition tasks (detailed in this booklet) to complete in the early stages of the placement. The focus of the mentoring at this stage will be on checking that your basic skills of planning and classroom management are being successfully demonstrated. New schools present new challenges and you will need some time to adjust. It may be that some classes will be taken on at a slightly later date than others.

Main Teaching Experience After half term you should be aiming to teach the full 50% timetable having had a transition period, however, this should be negotiated on an individual basis. It is in this phase that you demonstrate that you can meet the Teachers’ Standards.

It is particularly valuable for you to continue to observe and work collaboratively with mentors at this stage, but with a clearly defined set of objectives. It is useful to use the eight questions that ask you to observe from the viewpoint of the learner. Your greater experience will hopefully enable you to make more sense of what you see and do, and to appreciate the involvement in joint planning and teaching with an established professional.

You may want to focus the fine tuning of particular skills or try an innovative approach to a topic and may ask mentors to provide feedback on your performance using evidence of pupils’ learning. Possible topics to explore in this way may be: - questioning skills, explaining skills, group work, differentiation, active learning techniques, independent learning, e- learning, formative assessment especially target setting, vocational teaching and field work/learning outside the classroom.

There is a periodic review point during week commencing 16th March 2015. Periodic reviews should be emailed to tutors during this week. A second school report is due on 20th March 2015

At Easter you will send a research project proposal to your subject tutor (see Assessment Guidance for details). Once approved by your subject tutor you can begin to work on your research project although remember that you must not collect any data until you have had ethical approval. You should also be researching teaching and learning and looking for quality work to use as evidence in your final portfolio commentary (see Assessment Guidance for further details).

You will maintain a 50% timetable throughout placement two. For some subjects this may be problematic so schools should be looking to provide enrichment activities for you, for example; participating in a school trip; one to one support with SEND pupils or gifted and talented pupils; transition activities planned with feeder schools; organising activities for an activity day/week.

There is a periodic review point during week commencing 18th May 2015. Periodic reviews should be emailed to tutors during this week. The final school report is due on 12th June 2015

Pre-and-post Phase ExperienceDuring the course it is useful to engage with the age ranges immediately before and after the ones that you are training to teach. This means that all trainees should have experience of primary provision (in particular at Key Stage 2)*, and Key Stage 5 (sixth form).

This experience could be achieved in a number of ways: During university subject and professional studies sessions Wider reading Exploring the data secondary schools have, for example, on incoming pupils or

predictive data for sixth form. Discussions in the secondary school with teachers and other professionals, especially

those dealing with transition arrangements Observing practice in these phases.

*Please note; Economics/Business Studies and Psychology trainees are not expected to visit a primary school but should be working with Key Stage 3 pupils.

In terms of the primary phase, trainees are required to undertake a school visit during the course to fulfil the following aims and specific requirements.

Aims: Understand the similarities and differences in pedagogy and pastoral aspects of

teaching in secondary and primary schools Understand the teaching of early reading and systematic synthetic phonics Understand appropriate teaching strategies used to teach early mathematics Appreciate liaison arrangements and the transition needs of pupils (from primary to

secondary) - this would be best achieved in a feeder school

Requirements: A visit of between 1 and 3 days at a primary school during the main placement. This

could be at different schools; and for trainees in ‘high’ schools, the visit may be to a middle school (in particular, years 5&6 at Key Stage 2)

This visit should be arranged by the professional mentor at the main placement school

Observe at least two different classes, and, if possible, your own subject being taught. It is acceptable and encouraged, after observation, that you do a little teaching if the ‘host’ teacher is agreeable?

The form entitled “Primary Experience” (see Blackboard (uni docs)) should be completed by you. This will form part of your portfolio. This should also be shared with the primary school, as a matter of courtesy.

Post-16 ExperienceThose trainees who are following an 11-18 or 14-19 route will be expected to teach post-16 groups. This should be arranged as part of your timetable. There are a few occasions where a trainee on an 11-18 route has been placed in two 11-16 schools. In these instances the university will organise a short third placement and mentors should complete the ‘Sixth Form Experience Form’ (see Blackboard (uni docs)). This is supplementary to the final school report if you do your sixth form placement away from your main school placement. You must track your experience of teaching post 16 classes on the ‘School Attendance Record’ (apart from economics/business studies and psychology trainees) If you are taking the 11-18 route this experience should be for a minimum of 20 hours. Please talk to your tutor if this is an issue.

A reminder about observing other lessons Observing entails listening, watching, asking questions and interacting with people. These are important skills in themselves and it will be good for you to continue to develop these skills in school 2. Making observations in a place like a school is not always easy; there is so much happening that it is sometimes difficult to pick out salient points unless you have a clear focus.

Having a clear focus for your observations is important and the eight questions below are designed to help with that. Your transition experience is not governed by these questions alone. Sometimes you will be observing teachers and at other times you will be observing pupils – during the course you will come to understand that it is the observation of the pupils that provides the key information about the success of a lesson.

When observing lessons comment on the questions below and use the text in the Meeting the Teachers’ Standards booklet (spring/summer) to analyse the learning.

How well does the structure of the lesson, as evident in both planning and teaching, promote learning?

Are pupils sufficiently challenged and engaged given their prior skills, knowledge and understanding?

Do pupils understand what they are being asked to do in every stage of the lesson? Do pupils have opportunities and means to indicate their understanding (or lack) of the

concepts being introduced? Do pupils improve their understanding as a result of detailed and accurate feedback on

their learning? Are pupils who are having difficulty supported to help them understand? How well is the pupils’ subject knowledge developed in terms of knowledge, skills and

understanding? Is the management of the pupils’ behaviour effective to ensure that they make progress

in a safe and secure environment?

It is wise to select a specific focus that will help you to improve your practice. As a matter of courtesy you should explain to your mentors the focus of any observation; teachers are usually happy to discuss the issues addressed, and their comments will add to your observation notes. In completing any observations you must remember that written comments are open documents. Be discreet in your comments and show respect for the school’s staff, pupils and procedures.

What to do with this bookletComplete the sections below and add this to your portfolio (folder 1, section A).

Task 3a – The School Profile – complete this early in JanuaryIntroduction

During the PGCE course you will go to at least two contrasting schools. To demonstrate this we would like you to do a similar analysis exercise to the one completed in school 1 for induction task 1b. On initial inspection your schools may look similar but a closer analysis will demonstrate key differences.

The source of the data will be:1. The School Data Dashboard – http://dashboard.ofsted.gov.uk

Ofsted explains the dashboard as: the School Data Dashboard provides a snapshot of school performance at Key Stages 1, 2 and 4. The dashboard can be used by school governors and by members of the public to check the performance of the school in which they are interested.

The School Data Dashboard complements the Ofsted school inspection report by providing an analysis of school performance over a three-year period. Data can be filtered by key stage or by topic and gives the following information:

Expected progress Attainment Attendance Narrowing the gap between disadvantaged and other pupils

Users are asked to refer to the guidance document for additional information on the measures contained in the reports. (Ofsted website http://dashboard.ofsted.gov.uk – accessed June 2013)

2. The school’s latest Ofsted report – http://www.ofsted.gov.uk/schools

3. Discussions with mentors and other staff.If you are in an independent school it is not possible to complete all these tasks. Ask your mentors for other data including the http://www.isi.net/schoolinspections/ report.

Recommended readingHaydon,G The School Curriculum Unit7.2 (p468-479)in Capel, S, Leask, M, and Turner T (eds)(2013) Learning to Teach in the Secondary School A companion to school experience 6th edn, Abingdon, Routledge

Links to the Professional Studies and Whole School Issues Reading Pack 2014--15See session 2 – Becoming a secondary school teacher and session and session

http://www.isi.net/schoolinspections/

Task 3a – The School ProfileThis task might provide evidence towards [parts of] Teachers’ Standards:TS3b,TS2d, TS5b, TS5c, TS7c.What to do?Look at data available on the Ofsted dashboard, from the latest school Ofsted report and from talking with mentors. If your school has recently converted to an academy and does not have data on the Dashboard or an Ofsted report, use data from the school before it converted.School dashboard dataCompare the school with “similar schools” and “all schools” using the following indicators and then, in discussions with your mentors, answer the key questions below.Exam results

Your school Similar schools (quintile)

All schools (quintile)

OverallEnglishMathsScience

According to the Dashboard how well are pupils doing in exams? (attainment)

ProgressYour school Similar Schools

(quintile)All Schools (quintile)

EnglishMaths

According to the Dashboard are pupils making progress?

AttendanceAttendance rates for the past three years (%)Comparison with other schools (quintile)

How good is attendance and how does it compare with the National level?

OfstedLook at the latest Ofsted report for your school.

Date of last inspection

Overall EffectivenessJudgement Grade

Previous inspectionLatest inspection

Achievement of pupilsQuality of teachingBehaviour and safety of pupilsLeadership and managementSixth form provision (if applicable)

Identify key strengths of the school and areas for improvement.

Describe the profile of the school in terms of its social, cultural, linguistic, religious, and ethnic mix. What is the relationship between this profile and the number of pupils receiving free school meals? Is there necessarily a relationship?

In discussion with mentors and other staff, explain how the profile above impacts on the work of the school. What are the school's particular challenges and opportunities? How is diversity valued in the school as a whole, in the classroom, and in the pastoral system?

List five ways in which your school 1 and school 2 placements contrast. For example are the Ofsted ratings different?

Complete this before the session on ‘Using Assessment Data’ on February 13th 2015Task 3b– The Pupil PremiumIntroduction

What is the pupil premium?The government believes that the pupil premium, which is additional to main school funding, is the best way to address the current underlying inequalities between children eligible for free school meals (FSM) and their peers by ensuring that funding to tackle disadvantage reaches the pupils who need it most. The pupil premium was introduced in April 2011 and is allocated to schools to work with pupils who have been registered for free school meals at any point in the last six years (known as ‘Ever 6 FSM’). Schools also receive funding for children who have been looked after continuously for more than six months, and children of service personnel.

Up to £50 million of the pupil premium was available to fund a Summer School Programme for disadvantaged pupils to support their transition to secondary schools in September 2013.

How schools deploy their pupil premium funding is up to them and it is being used in a variety of ways in different schools. The government believes that head teachers and school leaders should decide how to use the pupil premium, and they are held accountable for the decisions they make through:

the performance tables which show the performance of disadvantaged pupils compared with their peers

the Ofsted inspection framework, under which inspectors focus on the attainment of pupil groups, and in particular those who attract the pupil premium

the reports for parents that schools have to publish onlineHow schools present the information in their online statement is a matter for each school. There is certain information that must be in the report: the school’s pupil premium allocation in respect of the current academic year; details of how it is intended that the allocation will be spent; details of how the previous academic year’s allocation was spent, and the impact of this expenditure on the educational attainment of those pupils at the school, in respect of whom grant funding was allocated.

If you are working in an independent school look at the pupil premium data from school 1.

Links to the Professional Studies and Whole School Issues Reading Pack 2014--15See sections on raising aspirations and removing barriers to learning and using assessment data.

Task 3b – Pupil PremiumThis task might provide evidence towards [parts of] Teachers’ Standards:Ts5b, Ts5b, TS1bWhat to do? Using the school website - how does your placement school use the pupil premium grant?

Find out how much money your school is allocated using the toolkit. http://educationendowmentfoundation.org.uk/toolkit/

In discussion with the data manager or member of staff responsible for data find out the following:What percentage of each year group are pupil premium students?

Using last year’s GCSE results- compare the 5A*-C% including English and Maths for the pupil premium students with the 5A*-C% including English and Maths for non-pupil premium students. The difference between these figures is known as ‘the gap’. Comment on how your school is ‘closing the gap’.

Task 3c – Promoting Fundamental British Values as part of SMSC in schools

Introduction All maintained schools must meet the requirements set out in section 78 of the Education Act 2002 and promote the spiritual, moral, social and cultural (SMSC) development of their pupils. Through ensuring pupils’ SMSC development, schools can also demonstrate they are actively promoting fundamental British values.

Meeting requirements for collective worship, establishing a strong school ethos supported by effective relationships throughout the school, and providing relevant activities beyond the classroom are all ways of ensuring pupils’ SMSC development. Pupils must be encouraged to regard people of all faiths, races and cultures with respect and tolerance.

It is expected that pupils should understand that while different people may hold different views about what is ‘right’ and ‘wrong’, all people living in England are subject to its law. The school’s ethos and teaching, which schools should make parents aware of, should support the rule of English civil and criminal law and schools should not teach anything that undermines it. If schools teach about religious law, particular care should be taken to explore the relationship between state and religious law. Pupils should be made aware of the difference between the law of the land and religious law.

Fundamental British values Schools should promote the fundamental British values of democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty, and mutual respect and tolerance of those with different faiths and beliefs. This can help schools to demonstrate how they are meeting the requirements of section 78 of the Education Act 2002, in their provision of SMSC.

Actively promoting the values means challenging opinions or behaviours in school that are contrary to fundamental British values. Attempts to promote systems that undermine fundamental British values would be completely at odds with schools’ duty to provide SMSC. The Teachers’ Standards expect teachers to uphold public trust in the profession and maintain high standards of ethics and behaviour, within and outside school. This includes not undermining fundamental British values.

Through their provision of SMSC, schools should: • enable students to develop their self-knowledge, self-esteem and self-confidence; • enable students to distinguish right from wrong and to respect the civil and criminal

law of England;• encourage students to accept responsibility for their behaviour, show initiative, and

to understand how they can contribute positively to the lives of those living and working in the locality of the school and to society more widely;

• enable students to acquire a broad general knowledge of and respect for public institutions and services in England;

• further tolerance and harmony between different cultural traditions by enabling students to acquire an appreciation of and respect for their own and other cultures;

• encourage respect for other people; and

• encourage respect for democracy and support for participation in the democratic processes, including respect for the basis on which the law is made and applied in England.

The list below describes the understanding and knowledge expected of pupils as a result of schools promoting fundamental British values.

• an understanding of how citizens can influence decision-making through the democratic process;

• an appreciation that living under the rule of law protects individual citizens and is essential for their wellbeing and safety;

• an understanding that there is a separation of power between the executive and the judiciary, and that while some public bodies such as the police and the army can be held to account through Parliament, others such as the courts maintain independence;

• an understanding that the freedom to choose and hold other faiths and beliefs is protected in law;

• an acceptance that other people having different faiths or beliefs to oneself (or having none) should be accepted and tolerated, and should not be the cause of prejudicial or discriminatory behaviour; and

• an understanding of the importance of identifying and combatting discrimination.

It is not necessary for schools or individuals to ‘promote’ teachings, beliefs or opinions that conflict with their own, but nor is it acceptable for schools to promote discrimination against people or groups on the basis of their belief, opinion or background.

Examples of actions that a school can take The following is not designed to be exhaustive, but provides a list of different actions that schools can take, such as:

• include in suitable parts of the curriculum, as appropriate for the age of pupils, material on the strengths, advantages and disadvantages of democracy, and how democracy and the law works in Britain, in contrast to other forms of government in other countries;

• ensure that all pupils within the school have a voice that is listened to, and demonstrate how democracy works by actively promoting democratic processes such as a school council whose members are voted for by the pupils;

• use opportunities such as general or local elections to hold mock elections to promote fundamental British values and provide pupils with the opportunity to learn how to argue and defend points of view;

• use teaching resources from a wide variety of sources to help pupils understand a range of faiths, and

• consider the role of extra-curricular activity, including any run directly by pupils, in promoting fundamental British values.

Accountability As part of a section 5 inspection, Ofsted inspectors must consider pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural (SMSC) development when forming a judgement of a school. However this advice should not be read as guidance for inspection purposes. Ofsted publish their inspection framework and handbook, which set out how schools are assessed in relation to pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development. Schools should refer to Ofsted’s documents to understand what inspectors look for in assessing this.

Source: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/380595/SMSC_Guidance_Maintained_Schools.pdf

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/380595/SMSC_Guidance_Maintained_Schools.pdf

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/380595/SMSC_Guidance_Maintained_Schools.pdf

Task 3c Promoting fundamental British values as part of SMSC in your schoolThis task might provide evidence towards [parts of] Teachers’ Standards:Part 2 of the StandardsWhat to do?Read the Ofsted Guidance above and compile a summary list of the actions that a school can take to promote fundamental British values as part of SMSC.

In discussion with your mentors provide examples of how fundamental British values are promoted as part of SMSC in your school

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