School Self-Evaluation, Junior Cycle Reformand the National Literacy and Numeracy Strategy
This article first appeared in the March 2013 issue of InFocus, a newsletter published by the Joint Managerial Body/Association of Management of Catholic Secondary Schools (JMB/AMCSS)
Since July 2011, three important documents have arrived in schools: the National Literacy and Numeracy Strategy (Literacy and Numeracy for Learning and Life), School Self-Evaluation Guidelines for Post-primary Schools, and A Framework for Junior Cycle. While this could appear as three disparate initiatives, in fact all three are closely related and work together.
Let’s look at how these initiatives work together. School self-evaluation enables schools to examine their own practice within their own context and to identify their strengths and the areas for development and improvement. Getting teaching and learning right is the key to all of this, and so the Guidelines for School Self-Evaluation ask schools to focus on teaching and learning, including literacy and numeracy. Good self-evaluation will mean that teachers will look honestly and critically at their own work and the learning that their students are achieving, and they will share this information with their school community. Most important of all, they will plan actions to improve. The School Improvement Plans that they draw up – for Literacy, Numeracy and one other area in the first four-year phase of self-evaluation will fulfil the requirements of the Literacy and Numeracy Strategy. For example, a school’s School Improvement Plan for Literacy will be one of the first outcomes from the Self-Evaluation process. And of course, implementing the improvement plan is the most important step of all.
A Framework for Junior Cycle launched in October 2012, sets out a radical vision for the sort of educational experience that students should have in lower secondary education. It accepts the need for fundamental changes in our approach to curriculum and assessment to ensure that students’ needs are at the core of teaching and learning.
The framework describes the learning at the core of junior cycle in terms of twenty-four statements. These statements describe what students should know, understand, value and be able to do at the end of junior cycle. Linking fully with the Literacy and Numeracy Strategy, the framework highlights the importance of developing eight key skills, including literacy and numeracy, which are crucial for learners to access the curriculum and for their future life chances.
Implementing the sort of teaching, learning and assessment that is envisaged in the new Junior Cycle implies significant changes, not only to what we teach but also to how we teach and assess students’ learning. It sees assessment as having a much greater role within the learning activity (rather than coming solely at the end). Given these changes, it will be absolutely necessary for teachers to examine how they are teaching, to share practice with each other, and cooperate closely as they assess students’ learning.
School self-evaluation (SSE) is ideally suited to evaluating current junior cycle practices and tomanaging the changes in the curriculum and in teaching, learning and assessment that are envisaged at junior cycle. In fact, schools are considering the inclusion of an aspect of Junior Cycle change, as well as literacy and numeracy, as the three areas that they will examine within school self-evaluation. Using the 6-step SSE process, schools will gather and analyse evidence and draw conclusions which will enable them to report on current practice at junior cycle. They can then develop and implement a plan to improve students’ learning experiences and teachers’ approaches to teaching and assessment, aligned with the junior cycle framework and the timeline for the phased implementation of subjects.
As schools prepare to introduce reforms envisaged in the Framework for Junior Cycle they should take a whole-school approach to gathering evidence about their current curriculum provision, including the time given to each subject, teaching approaches and students’ learning experiences (including approaches to developing skills across subjects) as well as assessment practices in the various subject departments. Collecting and considering the views of students, parents and teachers about the suitability of the curriculum to the needs of students will also be important. A range of tools is available in the SSE Guidelines to ensure that all relevant voices are included.Schools will also need to review their available resources and facilities, including the skills and expertise of staff, and the requirements outlined in the Framework for Junior Cycle in terms of the principles, learning statements and key skills, including literacy and numeracy.
The statements of learning, the eight key skills and the assessment approaches outlined in the Framework for Junior Cycle and in the subject specifications (as syllabuses will now be called) will assist schools when analysing current curriculum provision, learning experiences and assessment practices. Evaluation criteria for sub-themes such as students’ engagement in learning, learning to learn, teaching approaches and assessment outlined in the SSE Guidelineswill be valuable when analysing current teaching, learning and assessment practices. By benchmarking current practice in these core areas of work against the SSE criteria and the junior cycle expectations, schools will be able to draw conclusions about what will remain the same and what they need to change across subject departments. They will also be in a position to make judgements about professional development needs across subject departments.
As with the school self-evaluation reports on literacy and numeracy, a short self-evaluation report on elements of Junior Cycle reform will enable schools to keep a record of their findings while at the same time keeping parents and other relevant members of the school community informed. The report will identify the elements of current provision that are already aligned with junior cycle requirements while outlining the important aspects of practice that need to be changed, developed or improved.
Devising a school improvement plan, will provide schools with the opportunity to put in place a timeframe aligned to the scheduled phased implementation of subjects in the Framework for Junior Cycle. This plan might include the subjects they will offer and how subject choices will be organised; the short courses and learning experiences they will offer; how key skills will be developed; and how the school will meet the required time allocations for each subject and short course. It will also enable schools to set targets and to outline the strategies to be used across subject departments to ensure that changes and improvements in teaching, learning and assessment, which place students’ needs at the core of classroom practice, are implemented.
So, school self-evaluation should be regarded as an important support to school improvement and the implementation of curriculum change. Good self-evaluation will give schools a clear plan for implementing the changes needed to ensure that students achieve the learning outcomes that will be clearly set out in subject and short course specifications at junior cycle.
March 2013