REC Day 2014 Workshop 9 Using data for improvement in Religious Education

Learning Intention: To investigate ways of collecting and analysing data to improve student learning in Religious Education.

Background: Our schools were looking for ways to gather data to inform our School Improvement Plans – our strategic and annual goals. Our work with Auckland University (Linda Bendrikson, etc) highlighted the importance of having baseline data in order to set accurate targets. This is often problematic in Religious Education. At present, the only data available is the Year 6 Discipleship responses. We wanted to enhance that data to get a better picture by broadening our scope to include a larger section of the school. This led to the idea of utilising a survey to see what our children knew to inform our teaching. Both schools used different ways to conduct the surveys.

Start with where you would like to end up. Formulate questions which are open and will provide valid responses. Analyse the data in a team – look for trends and patterns. Go back to your teaching program. Set targets linked to your SIP. Set a re-assessment date. USING SURVEYS TO GATHER DATA FOR RELIGIOUS EDUCATION

CREATING QUESTIONS St Kevin’s Annual Goal To improve student and teacher understanding of scripture and how it relates to discipleship What is a disciple? What do disciples do? Do you know any disciples? Plus questions from the Religious Literacy Test (from the Sydney Diocese)

St John’s Annual Goal Build student understanding about connections between our Catholic beliefs, KidsMatter and Positive Behaviour for Learning. Build student and community understanding of the link between our faith and Aboriginal spirituality (minor) Which of our RESPECTFUL/RESPONSIBLE/SAFE expected behaviours do you think Jesus would be most interested in seeing St John's children display? Can you name our school values? Do you think we can learn about how to behave from Bible stories? Have you done anything in class or on the playground at St John’s to help you learn about Aboriginal ways of living? CREATING QUESTIONS

CONDUCTING THE SURVEY

WHAT IS A DISCIPLE? Try to follow life like Jesus. A disciple is Gods followers Helps Jesus do what he can't do. Jesus helpful friends. Gives peace and love and More to the world. Someone that tries to be like Jesuas A person who believes in god A disciple is a person that follows Jesus Does what God tells them to do. It is your best friend A person who acts like Jesus I think a disciple is someone who follows in the footsteps and worships/believes in Jesus/God and his teachings. (37) Someone who believes in Jesus/God. (5) Someone who spreads the good news. (4) A disciple is a follower of a religious leader in what they do (4) I think a disciple is a person that follows Jesus' teachings. They help to promote and get the message out to others in the world. They commit themselves to the work of Jesus' and his teachings. A servant leader of Jesus. Teach others about Jesus A disciple is a gospel Someone who will go to church often

WHAT DO DISCIPLES DO? Help Jesus Follow Jesus (in His footsteps) (Act like Jesus) They preach about Jesus Respect others Cheer other up They forgive They help and love people (Help others) They tell the stories of Jesus (The Good News) Share the Good News by being like Jesus Give everything up for the poor and old Disciples care more about giving than receiving They don’t show off or exclude (Inclusive and loving) They are nice people They do nice things. (They care for others) They are loving people Help people who are sick from faraway country's (Help those in need) Make mistakes but generally do good things. They share Jesus’ love. They don’t pretend and they don’t lie.

Matthew (37) Luke (36) John (40) Mark (25) Peter (24) James (5) Judas (3) Simon (3) My family (2) Friends (2) David (2) Andrew Any ordinary person that wants to help people in any way they can. Bartholomew Beena Everyone Everyone in the world is. Joseph Mary My teacher My whole family is disciples Paul Philip St James St John St Peter St Thomas DO YOU KNOW ANY DISCIPLES?

PRESENTING DATA TO STAFF The survey results can be used to SET targets OR to validate existing targets.

TARGET: By the end of % of children (Years 2-6) can link our named expected behaviours to scripture. Year 2-6 participated in the RE Survey by the end of Term 2. – Making links between our Catholic beliefs and PBL – Making links between our Catholic beliefs and school values – Making links between our Catholic beliefs and Aboriginal Spirituality ANNUAL GOAL : BUILD STUDENT UNDERSTANDING ABOUT CONNECTIONS BETWEEN OUR CATHOLIC BELIEFS, KIDSMATTER AND POSITIVE BEHAVIOUR FOR LEARNING.

Look at RE Survey results in pairs Record pluses, minuses and any interesting facts/ideas/comments to come out of the data – What does it show about what the children know? – How does it impact on our teaching? We will share back big ideas as a group ANALYSING THE SURVEY RESULTS

We can link back to the work we have done with the PBL matrix and scripture passages We can see there is a disconnect between the children and knowledge of our school values – what does this mean for our classroom practice? The Religion Scope and Sequence has at least one Religion module with an Aboriginal focus. We are planning that children will participate in different Aboriginal experiences across each grade or stage from K-6. Other ideas or comments? WHAT IMPACT DOES IT HAVE ON OUR TEACHING?

TARGET: By the end of 2014, 80% of all students will be able to articulate how scripture applies to their daily lives Year 3-6 participated in the in Term 2 and will complete the survey again in Term 4. – Has the creative use of scripture with PBL been effective? – Has there been a change in students perceptions of disciples in the world today? – Are they able to articulate specific scripture which is applicable to their lives? ANNUAL GOAL : TO IMPROVE STUDENT AND TEACHERS UNDERSTANDING OF SCRIPTURE AND HOW THIS RELATES TO DISCIPLESHIP

WHAT DO OUR STUDENTS KNOW ABOUT DISCIPLESHIP?

Task: Review what our students know about discipleship? Identify 5 key things we would like them to know?

WHERE TO NEXT?

HOW DOES MY PERSONAL DISCIPLESHIP LOOK LIKE IN MY LIFE, IN THE CLASSROOM, IN THE PLAYGROUND? HOW ARE WE SEEKING AND WORKING WITH THE MARGINALISED IN OUR CLASSES, OUR SCHOOL AND OUR PARISH? DISCIPLESHIP CHALLENGES, PBL, MISSION MODULES, PRAYER

Positives Gathers powerful data Easy to use Surveys can be duplicated There are some excellent analysis tools which can be used (Pro Version only) A variety of question designs. Negatives Information is not automatically transferred to a spreadsheet (free version) Limited analysis tools (free version) Quite expensive if you go with one of the paid plans

Positives Free Exports results directly to a spreadsheet Easy analysis Full range of tools available Negatives Limited number of question designs. Only accessible from a Google account (This has now been rectified) Limited analysis tools

Handouts – “How to…” for Survey Monkey and Google Forms Any questions? Contact