The new Ofsted framework and the specific requirements for communication skills across the school (the problem with the ‘L’ word) Jo Merrion

Achievement (from the new Evaluation Schedule) the extent to which pupils develop a range of skills well, including communication, reading and writing … and how well they apply these across the curriculum the standards attained by pupils by the time they leave the school, including their standards in reading, writing…

The quality of teaching (from the new Evaluation Schedule) how well teaching enables pupils to develop skills in reading, writing, communication… the extent to which well judged and effective teaching strategies successfully engage pupils in their learning the extent to which teachers’ questioning and use of discussion promote learning

Corandic is an emurient grof with many fribs. It granks from corite, an olg which cargs like lange. Corite grinkes several other tanances, which garkers excarp by glarking the corite and starping it in tranker-clarped strobs. The tarances starp a chark which is expargated with worters, branking a slorp. This slorp is garped through several other corusces, finally frasting a pragety, blickant crankle: coranda. Coranda is a cargurt, grinkling corandic and borigen. The corandic is nacerated from the borigen by means of locacity. Thus garkers finally thrap a glick, bracht, glupous grapant, corandic, which granks with many starps. 1. What is corandic? 2. What does corandic grank from? 3. How do garkers excarp the tarances from the corite? 4. What does the slorp finally frast? 5. What is coranda?

Achievement Outstanding/good They develop and apply a wide range of skills to great effect/well including reading, writing, [and] communication skills … across the curriculum that will ensure they are exceptionally well/well prepared for the next stage in their education, training or employment. Satisfactory Pupils generally learn well in most subjects, with no major weaknesses. As a result, they are acquiring the knowledge, understanding and skills, including those in reading, writing, [and] communication … that will ensure they are prepared adequately for the next stage.

The quality of teaching Have a close look at the quality of teaching grade descriptors and underline the key sentences or phrases that apply to communication, reading and writing skills. Discussion on tables: Which ones are they and what are their implications for your school/academy?

The quality of teaching ‘ Teachers systematically and effectively check pupils’ understanding throughout lessons, anticipating where they may need to intervene and doing so with notable impact on the quality of learning.’ How do we check understanding effectively? Through talking and writing.

Leadership and management (good) ‘Key leaders and managers model good practice and demonstrably work to monitor, improve and support teaching, encouraging the enthusiasm of staff and channelling their efforts and skills to good effect.’ Discussion on tables: Where, currently, is your outstanding/good practice in literacy teaching outside of English? What does it look like? How are you going to ensure all teachers become effective teachers of communication, reading and writing? An example from an Ofsted inspection: who is responsible?

From ‘Guidance and training for inspectors’ ( Referring to the new ‘Teaching Standards’ document): ‘all teachers should demonstrate an understanding of and take responsibility for promoting high standards of literacy and the correct use of standard English, whatever the teacher’s specialist subject (Part 1,point 3)’ literacy is a very important element within the English curriculum but the two are not wholly the same. English extend[s] far more widely than the acquisition of literacy skills. (A negative example of confusion about literacy- copying)

It is clear that literacy … across the secondary curriculum will once again have enhanced status as part of the drive to raise literacy standards for all pupils, but particularly for those for whom literacy levels are below those expected for their age. The most effective schools often have a whole- school marking policy which emphasises the importance of literacy and is applied consistently.

Around the school, an attractive and well-stocked library is often an indicator of effective support for pupils’ wider reading and information retrieval skills. Secondary schools sometimes set aside time in tutor periods for individual reading [but …]

From ‘Guidance and training for inspectors’ How to plan your inspection: Selecting inspection trails – using data Tracking and meeting pupils and groups of pupils Observing lessons and reviewing literacy across the curriculum Reviewing pupils’ work and scrutinising teachers’ marking Narrowing the gap?

‘What’s in it for me?’ Discussion on tables: What are the barriers that stop individual teachers from becoming effective teachers of literacy/communication? i.e. speaking and listening reading writing thinking

A collection of comments ‘What’s the point?’ ‘It’s not my job.’ ‘That what the English department should be doing.’ ‘I’ve got too much Geography/Chemistry/Business to cover and no time to teach literacy.’ ‘It’s getting them to know the facts that’s important.’ ‘They should be able to spell that/ explain that by now.’ ‘I wouldn’t know where to start teaching punctuation.’ ‘I’m rubbish at spelling myself.’ ‘What’s a complex sentence?’ ‘What do you mean by ‘modelling writing’?’

And how do we overcome these? Initial discussion on tables

‘Moving English forward’ (Ofsted report out soon): emphasises the importance of headteachers and senior leaders in providing the context for effective provision for literacy across the school. Successful strategies include: appointing a coordinator with a clear role and status using staff working groups and expertise developing whole-school policies and a specific literacy action plan encouraging teachers across different subjects to lead on literacy in their areas monitoring outcomes in literacy and evaluating the effectiveness of actions and provision.

Practical ways forward Auditing current provision and practice through: Analysis of data Literacy learning walks Lesson observations Pupil perception interviews Work scrutinies (on the move and in the actual context) In depth pupil interviews on reading Sampling writing for progression Staff perception interviews (including the librarian and TAs) Evaluation of intervention strategies with pupils with low literacy levels Examination of SEN provision. THE SELF EVALUATION TOOLKIT and offers.

Planning for intervention; do you remember…? Wave One (classroom), Two (small group) and Three (one-to-one) interventions: Literacy Progress Units The Reading Challenge and the Writing Challenge Catch Up Reading Catch Up Literacy One to one

Wave one Identification by departments of : the communication needs of their subject at exam level students’ barriers to success at different grades/levels evaluation of their current practice in helping students overcome these barriers (the content of SOWs, the opportunities there and also the teaching strategies they use adjustment of their schemes and strategies peer coaching in the classroom AND ‘what else can we do to help them improve their communication skills so we can all benefit?’

What works? senior leaders all convey their commitment to improvement in literacy. It’s identified as a high priority. a whole school task group is formed to drive improvements forward (a rep from each department) task group develops a literacy policy identifies training needs and organises CPD time made available (variety of offers) improvements monitored and evaluated effectively what’s working celebrated what’s not working addressed; strategies adapted

A national example

A case study from a Suffolk School

Reading: developing active strategies. Back to Corandic and the story of Milton’s daughters… What do we do instead? Use DARTS activities (see sheet) How many of these have you seen in action in your school? Used effectively? CPD implications? One of the strengths of DARTS activities is they promote talk about reading.

Reading

Reading: building a reading culture. Spend 5 minutes reading the ‘Building a reading culture’ the Ofsted national example (from the advice and guidance to inspectors document) Where are you as a school in relation to this example? What actions are you going to put in place on your return?

Teaching writing: practical strategies that work Teachers must be aware of the writing demands in their subjects… So what are the challenges?

The ‘6 mark questions’ Have a look in your packs at some examples of these GCSE questions – taken from the Foundation paper….. How do we support our reluctant writers and weaker students to do well in these questions?

The 10 steps for teaching writing 1.Establish clear aims 2.Provide examples 3.Explore the features of the text 4.Define the conventions 5.Demonstrate how it is written 6.Compose together 7.Scaffold the first attempt 8.Develop independent writing 9.Draw out the key learning 10.Review

Developing the quality of pupil talk is the best way to develop the quality of their writing…..

Talk comes before writing Talk at word level Talk at sentence level Talk at text level Talk at extended writing level

Talk at word level Students must have the key words and their definitions and they must be given frequent opportunities to interact with these key words and use them in their own talk before using them in their writing. Suggest teachers make their own glossaries for each topic and give them out to students at the start of the topic.

Talk at sentence level Give them thinking time when asking questions…. Insist on complete sentences in their responses.. Give them time to rehearse their answers in pairs before taking responses. Insist they use subject vocabulary correctly.

Talk at text level Listen carefully, draw as I speak. (no writing allowed…..yet) Now get into groups of 3, and allocate yourselves a number 1 to 3 in each group

Talk at text level Now number 1s explain your drawings to number 2s. Number 3s check whether they have missed out any key points from the text on cells Number 2s explain your drawings to number 1s. Again number 3s check for anything missed and give advice at the end.

Heads together As a group of 3 rehearse an answer to this 6 mark question about cells. How are different sorts of cells adapted to do different jobs? Your answer must include the names of at least two different cell types, the job that they do and how they are adapted to do it.

Top Tips for writing Tip 1: Identify the writing demands (text types) required in your subject Tip 2: Identify what makes a good piece of writing for that text type (e.g mark schemes from exam boards). Tip 3: Provide good models for writing (ideally teachers write these themselves). This really helps them to get to grips with the challenges the students will face and how best to support them. Tip 4: Follow the 10 steps for teaching writing (from the National Strategies). Students will then have a good idea of the structure required for their writing. Tip 5: Use word level, sentence level and text level and extended writing activities (see the Herts. materials for examples in science). Tip 6: Give the students lots of opportunities to talk about the subject content before they write. E.g., play articulate/taboo for learning and using key subject vocabulary confidently or think pair share to rehearse explanations. Tip 7: Provide examples of writing that vary in quality and ask the students to mark them using specific criteria. Get them to identify what needs to be added to get full marks. Tip 8: Practise writing in pairs. Swap and peer assess. Tip 9: Start early. Not in KS4 these strategies should build on their writing from KS2. Tip 10: “Talk before writing.”