Let them make the effort to express these ideas in appropriate words without the aid of symbols, and if they succeed they will not only lay us laymen under a lasting obligation, but we venture to say, they will find themselves very much enlightened during the process. (James Clark Maxwell)
The boxes on these pages contain snapshots from schools.
| The school has a personal target-setting week. Children choose a target, and at the end of the week parents, the headteacher and the child comment and give a 1 to 5 self assessment grade. Children need to provide evidence and are encouraged to be honest about whether they have done well. Next, they come up with their own target. ‘It’s about teaching the children not to be being happy with less than the best.’ |
| The senior management team continually look at the progress of individual children. There are target-setting meetings with teachers for a half-day each in September when they discuss all pupils and where they are. This is updated in January. The headteacher monitors children’s progress monthly. Support is targeted to all children with individual needs, including able children. |
Improvement and accountability can be effectively interwoven. (Michael Fullan)
Support us, encourage us, listen to us. (S4 pupil)
Key features
Dimension 2: Focuses on outcomes and maximises success for all learners
Education has four main outcomes for children and young people. It aims to help them to become:
To achieve these, schools need very effective planning which builds on previous success and takes a learner’s perspective. It also needs to carefully maintain its success in achieving the intended outcomes and to reflect and repeat on its successes.
All the children learn how to make an impression and be confident in the real world. I demand the best and I always get it. If you don’t, you are doing the child a disservice. (headteacher)
Success breeds success and builds up self-confidence in both learners and staff. (headteacher)
The school is positive about the impact of the Assessment is for Learning (AifL) programme in bringing about a focus on skills and targets. ‘We adapted planning to make learning outcomes clear, the "we are learning to" (WALT) approach helped us to make more accurate assessments, the "what am I looking for" (WILF) approach focused us on progression in 5-14 skills. We used religious and moral education, music, drama and mathematics to begin with. Now we are involving children in negotiating their own targets.’ In writing, AifL has given the teaching a sharper focus. The children are now clearer about where they aim to be as a result of having more clearly defined criteria, and teachers now make more criterion-focused formative and summative evaluations. |
The depute headteacher has developed a self-evaluation grid for teachers for ‘sharing learning intentions’. The management team also measure impact through sampling pupils’ jotters and looking at writing in relation to quality and organisation and the children’s motivation and enthusiasm. This has raised their awareness of where they are currently and what they have to aim for. |
The main ‘wow’ factor is the children, we do it for them. We share their joy in their achievements. (support staff)
Planning the outcomes of learning
Curriculum planning for the whole school that successfully achieves the outcomes of A Curriculum for Excellence; collaborative planning, which takes account of pupils’ and parents’ views; selecting achievable outcomes; building on previous successes; taking a learner’s perspective; agreeing and using targets for learning; choosing outcomes to meet individual needs.
A school is good to the extent that… |
A school is excellent to the extent that… |
Curriculum planning is informed by national and local advice. |
Curriculum planning takes full account of the principles identified in A Curriculum for Excellence. It is based firmly on a clear identification of the needs of all young people and is designed to address and meet these needs, result in successful learning, and develop pupils’ confidence, skills and ability to contribute. |
Staff plan future outcomes after considering what has already been covered, and inform learners of what comes next in the programmes being studied, in as much detail as is appropriate for their stage of development. |
Staff plan future outcomes, both curricular and relating to personal development, after reflecting on children’s previous learning. They involve young people, parents and other partners in planning future learning. |
Staff use general targets to guide learners’ expectations of what they are going to learn. |
Staff agree targets with learners, depending on their age and stage of development. These targets set clear expectations. |
Teachers explain the aims of lessons and activities. Explanations usually focus on content and coverage. |
Learners have a detailed awareness of the skills they will learn through engaging in the planned activities, and the kind and quality of work required to meet the aims which have been outlined. Staff work alongside learners as role models, encouraging them to develop a positive attitude to learning. |
When staff are clear about targets and objectives, teaching is more focused and children are more involved in their learning. (class teacher) |
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Assessing the outcomes of learning
Interactive questioning focused on outcomes; sharing of both outcomes and the basis of teachers’ judgements with learners; use of a wide range of evidence in deciding next steps in learning; timely feedback geared to improving learning.
A school is good to the extent that… |
A school is excellent to the extent that… |
Assessment of young people’s learning involves interactions between learners and teachers. It is based on questions which focus on key learning aims. |
Assessment involves planned and high quality interactions with young people and is based on thoughtful and probing questions derived from the learning outcomes achieved to date. It invites pupils to think. |
Young people know that their success will be based on achieving the outcomes of the course or programme. |
Young people are clear about the kind and quality of work required to achieve success in the agreed outcomes. |
Teachers provide regular written feedback on learners’ work, and have some discussion with them about the strengths of their work, their learning needs and their ways of learning. |
Individual learners seek and receive timely feedback about the quality of their work. They actively engage in discussion with teachers about the strengths of their work, the steps they can take to improve it, their individual ways of learning and other approaches they might use. |
Children assess their own work and are aware of their main strengths and weaknesses. They work with their peers and offer them helpful comments on progress. |
Teachers enable children to develop the skills to evaluate their own and each other’s work against clear criteria. Learners have a very clear awareness of their own learning needs, how well they are progressing towards learning targets, the links with previous learning and any action they need to take to improve their work and inform their next steps. |
Telling us what we have to do, and why, at the beginning of a lesson makes it easier and I work quicker and better. (secondary pupil) |
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Reflecting on and recording success based on outcomes
Tracking and recording progress followed by prompt intervention; learners’ ongoing records; children’s awareness of their progress in learning; reflection by teams on how to maximise learning; comparing achieved success with planned success to improve future learning; sharing standards.
A school is good to the extent that… |
A school is excellent to the extent that… |
Tracking of progress takes place at class and individual levels. |
Detailed tracking of progress takes place at all levels to ensure progress against shared high expectations. Staff intervene promptly if the progress of individuals is not maintained. |
Young people keep personal records of their attainment levels and broader achievements. |
Young people keep ongoing records of their progress so that they can track their pace of progress, recognise their success in achieving learning outcomes and assess the effectiveness of their own learning. |
Pupils and staff use evidence from day-to-day learning activities in deciding next steps in learning. |
Pupils and staff plan for, collect and use a wide range of evidence from learning activities in deciding next steps in learning and in identifying who can best help. |
Summative assessment is well planned and designed to assess the key learning aims of a block of work or course. |
Teachers use well-founded summative assessment information to evaluate learning and teaching and help them to improve their practice. |
Departmental and stage teams engage in reflection with partner professionals at other stages and in other establishments and agencies to ensure that standards are shared and discussed. |
Teams engage in reflection with their partners to agree standards, evaluate approaches to learning and ensure that all partners can maximise their contributions and take action to improve learning where necessary. |
Staff use benchmarking to help improve learning. This involves analysing data on whole school attainment levels, using nationally and locally available data. |
Benchmarking for improving learning involves analysing data on the achievement of outcomes compared with expectations, using data from groups and schools working in similar contexts. Staff and teams reflect on it and take action to set the highest expectations and improve the learning of all pupils. |
They recognise good work and if you’re having problems, they try and help you. (S4 pupil) |
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Reporting on success in achieving outcomes
Information to parents about their children’s progress to date and how to support their future learning; public reporting.
A school is good to the extent that… |
A school is excellent to the extent that… |
Parents receive reports identifying their children’s strengths, development needs, next steps in learning and overall levels of attainment. |
Staff are successful in helping parents to understand and contribute to discussions about their children’s progress, next steps in learning and the learning approaches which are most appropriate for their individual needs. These discussions involve staff and the children themselves. Staff are good at helping parents to understand the role they can play in supporting and improving their children’s learning. Following these discussions, parents take active steps to contribute to their children’s education. |
It demonstrates accountability for the success of its pupils by reporting appropriately at school level. |
It demonstrates accountability for the success of its pupils by reporting appropriately to the parent body and the community about the performance of groups, as well as at the level of the whole school. It contributes to the wider reporting of the success of schools in the local area in relation to pupils’ attainment levels, broader achievements and current and future participation rates in education, employment and training post-school. |
Teachers talk to you about your work so that you know what to do to get better. (P7 pupil) |
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