1. MFL Teaching Excellence Project
Why?
Improve KS4 writing skills through the introduction of learning ladders
Our GCSE writing marks are inconsistent – often marked lower than examiners than by teachers
To improve the quality of writing all round by making pupils more aware of what gains them better marks
I was inspired by the workshop on learning ladders by one of our primary partners last summer
HOW?
Read the examiners reports in French, German and Spanish in detail
Recorded concrete examples of what they mean exactly by giving an opinion and justifying it? What do they mean by complex structures?
Searched the internet for good examples of learning ladders.
Worked with colleague to come up with some ideas that would really help pupils : how to structure the learning ladder and what resources would support this. Made the resources and put into action with German class when they started to prepare for their first writing assessment.

2. Implications for the Department
What have I learned?
About pupils’ learning: -
Some pupils really appreciate this kind of resource, meticulously referring to the learning ladder, ticking off each detail as they work. These pupils work improved the most.
Others find it dull, superfluous and prefer to write freely, but then they do check afterwards (with encouragement), but with with no systematic approach.
Either way, the learning ladder made pupils more aware of how they structure their work and of how to gain better grades. In general, writing assessment pieces were more coherent, less littered with errors than in the past
About my practice:-
I have learned that the examiners have very specific things in mind, that are referred to quite vaguely in the mark scheme and I have perhaps undervalued the examiners’ reports in teaching me how to teach (for the exam)in the past.
Such resources need to be well integrated and regularly referred to by the teacher or they get lost amongst all the other hand-outs and reference sheets -less is more!
I will better integrate these ladders into my KS4 teaching I hope that they will have even more impact next year.
Improvements in pupils’ writing grades since introducing learning ladder:-
Girl A (pp): E – C
Girl B : C+- B+
Boy C: B- A
Girl D: A – A*
I will share the learning ladders and resources that go with them, so the whole department can use them. They will need to be reproduced in Spanish and French. This will change with the new GCSE, but the model could be used and adapted for the new GCSE, but also for KS3. I think it will make a difference. I’m not sure how useful these versions would be for other departments, but perhaps a generic writing ladder could help with pupils’ literacy across all departments.
Implications for the Department