Case studies

Improving pupil motivation and engagement

The school is fairly challenging, and a focus for foundation subjects strand development was to consider strategies which would motivate and engage pupils. The Head of Faculty is well established at the school but several other members of the faculty were new to the school in the last academic year and include two NQTs.

The foundation subjects strand of the Key Stage 3 Strategy was seen as an opportunity to review teaching styles, support new colleagues, and consider the QCA scheme of work for Key Stage 3 history. The school had done some work on teaching and learning (INSET from an independent provider), but the staff had not had time to embed this knowledge into day-to-day practice. Prior to involvement in the foundation subjects pilot, opportunities for subject specific staff development had been limited.

Audit, planning and development

The subject audit revealed some lack of pupil motivation and engagement, particularly from boys and lower attaining groups.The Head of Faculty and the foundation subjects consultant carried out a series of lesson observations following the audit in order to:

• Establish strengths and weaknesses of practice across the faculty in such areas as lesson structure, challenge and expectations of pupils by teachers.
• Establish what consistency there was in those areas.

At the next department meeting, the HOF and foundation subjects consultant gave general feedback on the positive aspects of teaching observed. The department then went on to identify areas for development, which would be tackled via the foundation subjects strand. These were lesson structure (especially starters and plenaries), and the use of thinking skills strategies in order to vary teaching styles and promote focused group work.

Subsequent department work focused on planning, with one member of staff taking responsibility for developing starter activities (and feeding back at department meetings) and another being responsible for developing thinking skills materials. The whole department collaborated on teaching and evaluating the activities. This collaborative planning was important because it allowed people to share expertise but also gave everybody a stake in what we eventually produced. Materials were developed across Years 7, 8 and 9, and coincided with department short term planning from the QCA scheme of work.

Agendas for department meetings now contain an item on teaching and learning, and the sharing of good practice has become commonplace. The department is working towards developing a teaching and learning policy.