Subject leaders may wish to run planning sessions with their departments using the case studies to illustrate the principles and process of reviewing and revising schemes of work and then arrange for teams of teachers to work collaboratively on writing and rewriting plans in the light of departmental priorities.
In
conjunction with this, department members can access these online materials independently
so that they can familiarise themselves with the site and the planning tool and
deepen their understanding of how the renewed Framework for secondary English
supports planning for progression.
The
examples of planning featured in the case studies address and exemplify some important
elements of curriculum design but are not to be regarded as models in
themselves. They are from a variety of different contexts and have evolved from
existing good practice via a review process.
Working
with their department colleagues, teachers should, in a similar way, share
their own current planning format or formats, review their effectiveness, for
example by using annotations or sticky notes, and revise their formats where
necessary in the light of this review, either independently or led by the
subject leader.
The planning tool itself simply enables you to work with your own
planning formats, but these may well need to be adapted from current
plans in order to incorporate some valuable new features in the light
of developments such as the Framework, APP, functional skills and the key
concepts in the revised programmes of study.
The
principles
of good planning should guide what
you choose to do as a department. There will be no ‘one size fits all'
recommendation within the Framework guidance, but a common approach or shared
view within the department of how plans might look will provide consistency and
transferability across classes and support new staff joining the department. It
is likely, for example, that the long-term plan will be a shared document that
is common to all colleagues as a route map to guide you through strategically.
Medium- and short-term plans may well share common features and formats, but
provided the department shares the principles of knowing what the focus for
learning is, what the progression is, what the sequence is, and what the
learning outcomes are, there is no absolute necessity for plans to be
identical, since they will need to be tailored and adapted to meet the needs of
specific classes and groups so that individuals can achieve two levels of
progress in each key stage.
In autumn 2008, further exemplification will be added along with case studies of effective planning using the renewed Framework. There will also be ideas for teaching activities and further links to a wide range of resources, including links between subjects.
A number
of existing National Strategies materials for English make reference to the Framework for teaching English: Years 7, 8
and 9 (2001). These include transition and bridging units. These materials
will be revised to reflect the changes in the Framework for secondary English,
and objectives will be updated so that these materials can continue to be used
in schools.
A number
of existing National Strategies resources and case studies exemplify a range of
approaches to cross-curricular work, for example work in functional skills,
Leading in Learning (LiL) Study Plus and
ICT across the curriculum (ICTAC) may assist you in planning.
Consider too any local examples that could be
drawn on in your school or local authority. Colleagues with experience of
embedding into the school curriculum may be able to provide you with local case
studies and could be asked to deliver a short presentation on their experiences
at training.
The
important part of the process is for departments to reflect on the quality and
effectiveness of their current planning in the light of the revised programmes
of study and the Framework for secondary English, and then to identify immediate
and longer-term priorities and an appropriate timescale. In addition to the Planning reflection sheet for subject
leaders (54.5 KB), the following prompts might
also be of use.
-
How should we phase our introduction of these changes as a department?
(Think about the context of your department development plan and school
improvement plan in providing a time line, milestones, etc. for this process.)
-
What will my role be in this, and how can I manage this?
-
What are the biggest opportunities and challenges for me as an
individual and us as a department in implementing these changes?
-
What support will I/we need?
A number of related questions may
assist you in this process; some of these may be more relevant for the subject
leader, but all will be of interest and worth consideration.
-
Is it feasible to bring members of different departments together for
some of the generic training on changes to the curriculum and for follow-up
cross-curricular planning?
-
What is my (or the department's) level of familiarity with, or
experience to date, of using APP? What kind of support will be needed?
-
What is my (or the department's) level of experience in relation
to planning units of work? How can our department best be organised in order to
plan work? How could smaller teams, for example, assist with collaborative
planning which will support all department members in their continuing
professional development and in contributing to the overall effectiveness of
the department?
Drawing on expertise from outside
is also a useful way forward. You might like to consider these possibilities:
-
Discuss the sorts of issues I am concerned about with my line manager.
-
Ask what sort of support they can make available for me in terms of time
and/or resources.
-
Find out what my colleagues in other departments in the school are
doing.
-
Ascertain what sort of support is available from my local authority.
-
Investigate whether there are any local networks I can call upon for
advice, guidance or sharing of ideas.
-
Medium-term planning should
indicate potential for personalisation to meet the needs of different groups of
pupils. Short-term planning should have the needs of the particular pupils you
are teaching – their language skills and needs, prior attainment and current
targets – at its heart. Assessment for learning suggests approaches to
classroom teaching that help to ensure that provision is effectively matched to
pupils' needs on a day-to-day basis.
-
Wave 2 and Wave 3 interventions
can then also be planned to support those pupils who are not making sufficient
progress in lessons. The English progression maps are a valuable resource to
guide teachers, teaching assistants and also parents, carers and mentors
towards the appropriate programmes and strategies that will support particular
pupils to make better progress.
