City of Edinburgh Council
Review of the broad general education ( BGE ) in secondary schools 2014 .
Briefing note
Rationale
The main purpose of the review is evaluating and further developing the BGE so that the curriculum is evolving to better meet the range of learners’ needs so all are benefiting from their entitlements. The BGE should promote citizenship, independence, responsibility, partnership, collaboration, and employability. It should provide a range of opportunities to extend and apply learning as well as to develop skills, including higher order thinking skills in order that attainment and achievement outcomes for young people continue to improve .*
* Curriculum for Excellence: National expectations : Self evaluation resource.
QI 5.1: the curriculum and QI 5.9: Improvement through self evaluation.
http://www.educationscotland.gov.uk/Images/CfESelfEvaluationResourceQIs5_1and5_9_tcm4-813827.pdf
BGE reviews will be informed by the relevant evidence from the school’s self evaluation of 5.1.
Findings from the reviews will identify key strengths, aspects for development and agree next steps so that outcomes for learners continue to improve.
In addition, BGE reviews in individual establishments will inform wider impact studies of BGE in CEC schools and future reviews through joint practice. This will support the identification of strategic and operational priorities at school and city level to further improve outcomes for young people.
Review Team 2014
· There will be 3 Quality Improvement Officers ( QIO ), 2 secondary , 1 primary , and an associate reviewer eg HT, DHT who has been nominated and would be agreed by 14th February by their neighbourhood management group ( NMG ) .
· A member (/ members) of the school’s SLT will be part of the shared classroom experience on the day of the review visit .
· In the initial reviews (May 2014),one of the QIOs will act as Managing Reviewer. The school QIO will also be on the review team .
Timescale and sample size: 4 secondary reviews will take place May 2014.
Planning process and timeline
January 2014: QIO meeting with HT / & key staff to discuss 5.1 return
February 14 2014: School’s 5.1 return to QIO and stored in CEC establishment records
March 6th 2014 : QIO Sector team meeting discuss returns which will help to inform the selection of the sample schools .
March 10 2014: BGE review sample schools informed.
March 20 2014: QIO team scoping meeting 1 informed by 5.1 returns for samples schools
April 2014: The managing reviewer (QIO ) will visit nominated HT to undertake scoping meeting 2 re planning and preparation for the review visit.
May 2014 : One day review visit which will involve all members of the review team.
A member (/ members) of the school’s SLT will also be involved in the shared classroom experience on the day of the review visit.
Evidence Gathering for the BGE Review
Review team
The review team should have access to the following information centrally before the visit:
· 5.1 return , curriculum map
· CfE levels
· SQIP
What should the school do / provide in advance of the visit?
(For example some or all of the following as appropriate)
· Prepare for self evaluation discussion ( * guidance noted at the end of this page )
· Make arrangements for shared classroom experience and focus groups
· Relevant information on career long professional learning
· BGE curriculum plan / structure and samples of courses and programmes, evidence of embedding of literacy , numeracy , health and well being, ICT and higher order thinking skills
· Learner journeys / learner progression pathways
· Sample of learners’ evidence across the 4 contexts of learning
· Evidence of profiling , tracking and reporting
· Evidence of transition
· Other evidence as appropriate
· Examples of innovative practice
Within this pack you will find
• Outline of programme of visit
• Shared classroom experience (Appendix 1 )
• Focus group questions for staff ,young people , parents and partners .(Appendix 2 taken from CEC toolkit )
• School feedback sheet (Appendix 3)
* Suggestions for self evaluation discussion :
The self evaluation discussion should be based on the rationale for the BGE reviews noted at the beginning of this paper as well as consideration of the key questions from CfE briefing paper 1 page 4.
CfE briefing paper1 Broad general education in secondary schools
http://www.educationscotland.gov.uk/resources/c/genericresource_tcm4720104.asp?strReferringChannel=thecurriculum&strReferringPageID=tcm:4-715583-64&class=l3+d148554
· What is it about your school context that has impacted on the development of the broad general education for your young people ?
· How is your curriculum evolving to better meet the range of your learners’ needs so all are benefiting from their entitlements and attainment and achievement outcomes for your young people continue to improve?
· In what ways does the BGE in your school promote citizenship, independence, responsibility, partnership, collaboration and employability?
· How can you demonstrate the range of opportunities for your young people to extend and apply learning as well as to develop skills, including literacy, numeracy , HWB , ICT and higher order thinking skills?
Programme of visit - to be finalised with HT
8.30 – 9.00 / Review Team meeting. Reading documentation.9.00 – 9.30 / Self evaluation discussion based on the rationale for the BGE reviews noted at the beginning of this paper and summarised below *.
Review Team and senior members of school team
9.40 – 11.45 / 8, 1/2 learning episodes of SCE across the 4 contexts of the curriculum for review team who will be working in pairs. The focus will be on breadth challenge and application of learning to validate theme 3 of 5.1.and aspects of learning described in Appendix 1 .
Review Team in 2 pairs. (A member of the school’s SLT will be involved in the shared classroom experience on the day of the review visit .)
11.45 – 12.30 / 1 focus group of young people (Appendix 2 questions)
1 Review Team member plus member of the school team
1 focus group of staff (Appendix 2 questions)
1 Review Team member plus Associate Reviewer
1 focus group of parents / partners (questions informed by appendix 2 )
1 Review Team member
12.30 – 1.15 / Team meeting / reading documentation/lunch
Review Team
1.20 – 3.30 / Collation of feedback to the school based on evidence covered. (Appendix 3 )
Review Team
3.30 – 4.00 / Feedback to SMT
Review Team Leader and other members of the team
Date / School / Class
CEC Broad General Education Review 2014 :Shared classroom experience.
Informed by relevant CfE briefing papers , in particular Briefing paper 7 which describes learning during the BGE and how it progresses into the senior phase
http://www.educationscotland.gov.uk/Images/CFEbriefing7_tcm4-744859.pdf)
Context for learning ( ethos and life of the school as a community; curriculum areas and subjects; interdisciplinary learning; and opportunities for personal achievement. )
Strengths/Good Practice / Areas for Development
Appendix 2: Examples of focus questions for learners ( key questions in bold )
Group Questions for Learners
1. In what ways are you challenged to think about and take your learning further and that expectations of your attainment and achievement are high?
2. Can you give examples of learning that you have found very relevant and why ?
3. What variety is there in your learning over the course of a lesson, day, or a week?
4. How well does the balance of whole-class direct teaching, questioning and discussion, group work, thinking time and other approaches meet your learning needs?
5. How well do the teaching approaches encourage you to take responsibility for organising your learning with others, work collaboratively in groups and teams, and give presentations to / share learning with your peers?
6. Can you give examples of when you have choices in what and how you have been learning?
7. How well do your learning experiences build on your prior learning eg primary 7 , previous lesson / topic and how do you know how much progress you are making?
8. How do people at home know how much progress you are making?
9. Can you give examples of what learning you have gained from your last lesson?
10. In what ways have you used learning from one subject to another and how often does this happen?
11. What interdisciplinary learning opportunities have you experienced eg ...In what ways did this help your learning?
12. How much opportunity do you have to apply your literacy, numeracy and health and wellbeing skills across your learning experiences?
13. What opportunities do you have to learn and achieve in the life and work of the school as well as in subjects and interdisciplinary learning? Can you give an example of what learning you gained?
14. What do you want more of / less of in your learning experiences at this school?
Examples of focus questions for staff
1. In what ways have learners’ experiences, attainment and achievement improved through your planning of courses and programmes as part of the Broad General Education?
2. What opportunities have you had to collaborate across schools to improve transitions and sharing of expertise?
3. In what ways has your planning for breadth, challenge and application improved progression in learning for young people?
4. How does personalisation and choice feature in the broad general education at S1 to S3?
5. How does specialisation appear at the fourth curriculum level?
6. How is progression from broad general education into the senior phase supported?
7. What has been the impact of planning, tracking, recording and reporting practices for young people?
8. In what ways are you evaluating the quality of broad general education? What has improved for young people a result of this evaluation?
9. How involved are learners in the planning of their learning across the broad general education and senior phase??How have these improved outcomes for young people?
10. What has been the impact of interdisciplinary learning for young people? How could this be improved?
Examples of focus questions for parents and partners
1. Can you give us some examples of what and how ( your ) young people have been learning as part of their broad general education ?
2. How do you know how much progress ( your ) young people are making and how is this shared with you ?
3. What have been the benefits of the broad general education for (your) young people?
4. Are there any concerns re the broad general education that you would like to discuss eg pace of learning , choices , making progress towards qualifications ?
Appendix 3 : BGE Review :School Feedback
· How is your BGE curriculum evolving to better meet the range of your learners’ needs so all are benefiting from their entitlements and attainment and achievement outcomes for your young people continue to improve?· In what ways does the BGE in your school promote citizenship, independence, responsibility, partnership, collaboration and employability?
· How can you demonstrate the range of opportunities for your young people to extend and apply learning as well as to develop skills, including literacy , numeracy , HWB , ICT and higher order thinking skills?
Agreed next steps (SLT and review team)
By Whom / By WhenSigned: Date: