AHDS Annual Conference 2014 'Teaching Scotland's Future: Whate you need to know and do. Workshop bt Graeme Young, HT at St Bartholomews Primary School and Susan Hannah, Scottish Government

1. Graeme Young
Susan Hannah
ADHS Event 6.11.14

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0
100
200
300
400
500
600
Most
Deprived
2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Least
Deprived
Average Tariff Score
SIMD Decile
Average Tariff Score of School leavers, 2007/08 to 2011/12
2007/08
2008/09
2009/10
2010/11
2011/12

3. Ambition Statement
“Scotland should be the best place to learn. We
want each child to enjoy an education that
encourages them to be the best they can be
and provides them with a full passport to
future opportunity”

4. To achieve this shared ambition we need:
• Improved educational outcomes for all learners
Consistently over an agreed period, promoting greater depth and
breadth of attainment and achievement and improving the educational
outcomes of all our children and young people.
• Equity in educational outcomes
Consistently over an agreed period, to make progress in eroding the
deeply embedded correlation found in the majority of Scottish schools
between a child’s relative point of social deprivation/affluence and their
educational attainment.
• Higher public confidence in education through continuous
improvement of Scotland’s education system.

5. From good to great: building equity and
success in Scottish education
• Early years
• Teaching Scotland’s Future
• Curriculum for Excellence
• Literacy and numeracy hubs
• Evidence and data - Insight
• Engaging with families and communities
• Self-Improving Schools Partnership Programme

6. Aims for this work
• Focus on those things which evidence shows will
make the biggest difference to children and young
people.
• Need to be challenging. Not achievable by hard
work alone.
• Signal a shift in the way that activity is delivered.
• “Responsibilities for all” - Unlocking the Curriculum

7. Our Vision: Scotland should be the best place to go to school. We want each child to enjoy an
education that encourages them to be the most successful they can be and provides them with a full
passport to future opportunity
To raise education
attainment for all
and reduce
inequity
School learning environment
which supports the
individual needs of all
children
Positive physical, mental,
cognitive health and
emotional development for
all children and young
people
Culture for change and improvement
Positive aspirations of children &
young people
Supportive home school partnerships
Encouraging home learning environment
Raising Attainment For All (8 years to 18 years)
Theory of actions that
will enable children and
young people to achieve
Transformational Leadership
High quality learning and teaching
High Quality, Skilled Workforce
Individual Support for children
Universal Support for learning
Sharing of information
Parents, carers, families
engaged with their child’s
learning and involved in
supporting their learning and
development
Developed parental skills &
strategies to support learning
Partnerships between Schools, FE,
training, HE & Employers
Engaged community enterprises /
community assets / third sector
Communities engaged in
supporting opportunities for
learning and development of
children and young people
Co-produced planning/decision
making
Improved teamwork,
communication and
collaboration
QI team discussions
Enhanced coaching skills
Coaching /mentoring
interventions
Pedagogy techniques
Study support skills for
parents
Availability & access to
services
Nurture groups
Increased engagement
with partner agencies
Improved communication
between school and
home
Transition
communication
Improved planning
Understanding of local
context of achievement
gap

8. Stretch Aim 1
“To ensure that 85% of children within each
school cluster have successfully experienced
and achieved CfE Second Level Literacy,
Numeracy and Health and Wellbeing
outcomes in preparation for Secondary School
by 2016”
The 2012 survey of literacy showed that 82% of children in P7 from areas of most
deprivation were performing well or very well in reading; and the 2013 survey of
numeracy showed 53% of children in P7 from similar circumstances were
performing well or very well.

9. Stretch Aim 2
“To ensure that 85% of children within each
school cluster have successfully experienced
and achieved CfE Third Level Literacy,
Numeracy and Health and Wellbeing
outcomes in preparation for Senior Phase by
2019”
The 2012 survey of literacy (reading, writing, listening and talking) showed that 73% of
children in S2 from these areas were performing well or very well at the expected
level in all these aspects; and the 2013 survey of numeracy showed 25% of children
in S2 from areas of most deprivation were performing well or very well.

10. “To ensure that 95% of young people within
each school cluster go on to positive
participation destinations on leaving school by
2018”
Stretch Aim 3

11. Aim 4 - Leadership
“To provide the leadership for improvement,
both nationally and locally, across the Raising
Attainment for All Programme”

12. Local Authorities
• Aberdeen, Angus, Dundee, Fife
• Stirling & Clackmannanshire,
North Lanarkshire, South Lanarkshire
• Renfrewshire, North Ayrshire, East Ayrshire
• Borders, Dumfries & Galloway

13. Schools
Groupings of Secondary Schools and associated
clusters of primaries
Rural and Urban
Varying levels and proportions of depravation
All Share - All Learn
regional and national collaboration

14. Launch event news report

15. The six questions to be asked of EVERY change programme…
1
Aim
Is there an agreed
aim that is
understood by
everyone in the
system?
2
Correct changes
Are we using our full
knowledge to identify
the right changes &
prioritising those that
are likely to have the
biggest impact on our
aim?
3
Clear change
method
Does everyone know
and understand the
method(s) we will
use to improve?
4
Measurement
Can we measure and
report progress on
our improvement
aim?
5
Capacity and
capability
Are people and other
resources deployed
and being developed
in the best way to
enable improvement?
6
Spread plan
Have we set out our
plans for innovating,
testing,
implementing and
sharing new learning
to spread the
improvement
everywhere?

16. Our change theory
A clear and stretch goal
A method
Predictive, iterative testing

17. The Typical Approach…
Conference Room
DESIGN DESIGN DESIGN DESIGN APPROVE
Real World
IMPLEMENT

18. Quality Improvement Approach
DESIGN
TEST &
MODIFY
TEST &
MODIFY
APPROVE
IF NECESSARY
Conference Room
Real World
TEST &
MODIFY
START TO
IMPLEMENT

19. Use the Model for Improvement to
test and implement changes

20. Model for Improvement
Act on the plan - Testing

21. Aim Statement:
What? How much? By When?

22. Model for Improvement
MovingA tcot on the plan - Testing
action –
testing change
ideas with
PDSA cycles

23. Why test changes….?
Increase the belief that
the change will result in
improvements in your setting
To learn how to adapt the
change to conditions in
your setting
Minimise resistance when
spreading the change throughout the
organisation
Evaluate the costs and
“side-effects” of changes

24. Users inform
process design…….
……Testing allows local
design of the process

25. Cycles of Tests Build Confidence
A P
S D
D S
A P
S D
A P
D S
A P
A P
D S
A P
D S
A P
S D
Proposals,
theories,
hunches,
intuition
Changes that
will result in
improvement
Learning
from data

26. Keeping a record
What is the aim of this test?
Identify who when where?
What preparation do you need to do?
What’s your prediction for this test?
(based on your current knowledge)
What information will you collect?(data)
Keep it short, simple but information rich

27. St Bartholomew’s Primary
School
Small changes… BIG
impact!

28. WHAT DO WE
AIM TO ACHIEVE
THROUGH OUR
CURRENT TEST?
By June 2014, all Primary 7 pupils
‘causing concern’ in writing will meet
90% of the marking criteria at their level

29. • Appropriate structure for coaching
sessions.
• Manageable way of recording coaching
session discussions.
• Sustainable timescale for weekly
coaching sessions.
Weekly coaching
session for pupils
‘causing concern’.
• Child-friendly writing criteria for self-assessment.
• Criteria for coach to measure progress
at set milestones.
Clear criteria for
assessing writing
and measuring
progress.
• Class teacher familiar with criteria being
used.
• Manageable procedures for passing on
outcome of weekly coaching session to
class teacher.
• Time and support provided by class
teacher to ensure weekly coaching
sessions are built upon in class.
Support of Class
Teacher in helping
pupils address
weekly
targets/strategies.
Parental
engagement
By June 2014,
All Primary 7
pupils
‘causing
concern’ in
writing
will meet
90% of the
marking
criteria
at their level.
PRIMARY DRIVERS SECONDARY DRIVERS
• Support for parents/carers in
understanding the approach to weekly
coaching.
• Regular feedback on the progress of
their child.

30. Why coaching?
Formative assessment, of which effective feedback is a key feature,
has been a major focus in Scottish schools for a number of years,
primarily as a result of the work of Paul Black and Dylan William in the
late nineties.
Research on formative assessment over the past
decade tells us that quality, focused feedback has
a very high impact (potentially +9 months
advantage over the course of a school year for an
‘average’ pupil) for little, if any, financial
investment.*
Learning Support for individual children and small groups of pupils
requires a major investment of both money and personnel. Current
financial constraints are making it increasingly difficult for schools to
offer this type of additional teaching input to pupils. Alternative
solutions need to be found.
* Source: The A-Z of School Improvement (Brighouse & Woods, 2013)

31. The idea for coaching arose from a
simple question:
If quality feedback
within the classroom
setting has such a
major impact on
pupils’ progress, what
would be the impact
of a weekly one-to-one
coaching session
(focusing on feedback
and target-setting)
on the progress of an
individual pupil?
Definitely worth investigating!

32. Baseline
assessment of
extended piece of
writing prior to
embarking on
coaching
(January 2014):
Rhys achieved 7
targets out of
a possible 14

33. Format
of
weekly
coaching
session

34. Each week,
Rhys reviews
and traffic
lights his
targets

35. What did the
data indicate
after the first
four weeks of
one-to-one
coaching?

36. Rhys’s self-assessment over the
initial four coaching sessions
4
2 2
8
11
0 0
9
8
6
3 3
12
10
8
6
4
2
0
10.01.14 16.01.14 24.01.14 31.01.14 RED AMBER GREEN

37. Length of Coaching Sessions with Rhys
Time in minutes
28
13
12
13
10.01.14 16.01.14 24.01.14 31.01.14

38. Some comments from Rhys
I feel more confident.
I’m not struggling with my writing so much in class
and I don’t need to ask for so much help.
My work used to scare me. Now it doesn’t worry
me so much.
I like focusing on just one target each week.
I like going down to Mr Young’s office for my
coaching.
Traffic lighting my targets makes me feel I’m
improving.
I’m finding my coaching sessions more helpful than
the learning support I get. I think it’s making a
bigger difference to my classwork.
I’m even starting to help others in the class with
their work.

39. Assessment of
extended piece
of writing,
March 2014:
Rhys achieved
13 targets out of
a possible 14
(92%)

40. • The school’s two Principal Teachers
have been trained in the coaching
technique.
• Coaching has been extended to
Primary 4 pupils across the cluster
identified as ‘causing concern’ in
writing.
• Systems are now in place to track
attainment and measure the
progress of all pupils across the
school to ensure coaching is targeted
at those pupils who need it most
and safeguard any pupils from
slipping through the net:

43. 16
14
12
10
8
6
4
2
0
WRITING: PRIMARY 5
Expected Zone Above Below
Boys Girls

44. Small
changes…
BIG impact!

46. St Bartholomew’s film

47. Themes identified for local focus
• Parental Involvement/positive relationships
• Literacy
• Numeracy
• High quality teaching/skills
• Study skills/home learning
• Nurturing
• Resilience and emotional wellbeing

48. Next Steps
IA local support to build improvement skills and
enable improvement activity to start
Regional Events
Nov 25th (Falkirk) Nov 27th (Dundee)
Dec 2nd (Ayrshire) Dec 4th (Peebles)
National Event - All LAs and teams
March 16th & 17th - SECC Glasgow

49. Thank you