The document discusses the critical role of teachers in student achievement, emphasizing that effective teaching methods significantly impact exam success more than school resources or management systems. It advocates for the '20-80 rule,' where focusing on key effective teaching strategies can yield substantial improvements in student performance. Strategies suggested include interactive teaching, thorough exam preparation, and fostering independent learning, stressing the importance of teachers understanding curriculum demands and employing effective assessment techniques.

1. Context - teachers don’t make a difference they make the difference Context - effective teaching methods needed for high-stakes exams Challenge – applying the “20 – 80 rule “

2. What has the greatest impact on student attainment - the teacher or the school?

3. Teachers don’t make a difference they make the difference.... Consequently as teacher’s we’re constantly pushed for time Therefore as Petty (2006) argues teachers need to adopt the “20 – 80 rule”

4. Twenty per cent of what we do makes 80 per cent of the difference, so don’t work harder. Instead concentrate on the factors which make a tangible difference (Petty, 2004)

5. Utilising the 3 Es Effective, efficient and efficacious teaching for high-stakes exams

6. In 2004 Ayres et al published results about the performance of teachers who over a 6 year period regularly achieved exam results which were in the top 1% nationally and their students did worse in other subjects Ayres concluded teacher effects are substantively greater than school effects as did....

7. Reynolds et al who found the variation between teachers in a school dwarfs variation between schools by a factor of 3 - 4 times Other reviews conclude that teaching quality in comparable schools has 3- 4 times the effect on student achievement than resources, management systems, or the aims or policies of the school

8. Northedge (2003) argues exam success comes from effective teaching But how do we as teachers, achieve exam success?

9. Strictly limiting your teaching to the required curriculum? Focusing strictly on what is needed for the exam? Spoon-feeding students to save time and effort? Providing more detailed hand-outs? Reducing whole class discussions? Doing intensive practice exam papers/questions just before exams?

10. Not being overtly exam driven and being confident enough of going beyond or at a tangent to the curriculum Appreciating the epistemology of your subject Having a contagious passion for your subject Regard class time as a precious resource for teacher/student interaction Make extensive use of whole-class question and answer lessons (Socratic teaching) Create high octane lessons.....continued

11. Create lessons structured around graduated challenge Banning spoon-feeding and rarely giving out hand-outs Teach in a non-threatening, democratic atmosphere where whole class discussions were common Teach exam techniques and exam preparation as part of the learning process Know exactly what exam boards want rather than what they think they want

12. “ We have done past questions but not actually mock papers. Is this is this the same thing?” “ I have done a mock paper in (blank) subject but they never explained how to answer the questions like they do in (blank) subject” “ We’ve done mock papers but that was 10 days’ ago and I still don’t know what my mark is”

13. “ I haven’t done any mocks in (blank) subject and the exam is next week” “ We’ve not finished the course and the exam is soon and I’ve not seen a past paper yet”

14. With reduced contact time from September these issues could become more critical So what can be done? Some departments are already meeting the challenge innovatively......

15. “ .....students have all been doing ‘exam style questions’ as starters ‘unknowingly’ since September! It’s the drip, drip, drip effect to success” “ We give exam questions as each small part of the course is completed, even as early as September” “ This year we deliberately set out to teach independent learning skills to the extent the kids taught themselves a whole section on their own so we could teach exam techniques and do more mock papers”

16. Northedge (2003) argued full scale mock exams were vital for exam success As were the use of exam board marking schemes for marking mock papers Along with sufficient time being dedicated to the completion of as many past papers as possible Plus adequate time afforded to teach students how to access exam questions with the necessary confidence and clarity

17. provide unequivocal evidence of student progress from mock-result data precipitates self-motivation and future time orientation eliminates the sense of fatalism which can restrict attainment of some students By teacherscpd.wordpress.com