Www.educationscotland.gov.uk. Transforming lives through learning Scottish Association of Teachers of Physical Education 1st Annual National Conference

www.educationscotland.gov.uk

Transforming lives through learning

Scottish Association of Teachers of Physical Education

1st Annual National Conference

Tulliallan Police College

November 2013


Aims of the workshop

(1) Findings from school inspections

(2) Ongoing challenges


Inspection Findings


What determines the outcomes ?

‘The cumulative effect of genetics, pre-natal life and post-natal environmental factors – especially love, skilled parenting, cognitive stimulation and social role modelling, in a positive society – most of which is strongly set in motion before age 5’


Early years(1)

“Early identification and prompt intervention are essential. Responding to each young person as an individual, maintaining high expectations and providing relevant, challenging and enjoyable learning experiences can all contribute to sustaining early gains”


Early years (2)

• Activities based on play, fun, exploration, success, including in the outdoors

• Build on children’s love of activity

• Fine and gross motor skills

• Early screening


Early intervention

‘High quality pre-school can help to reduce disadvantage and can raise early language, pre-reading and maths skills – with the most deprived children displaying the greatest gains’.


Primary


2 hours / 2 periods of physical education each week………..

Session 2011/12•Primary Schools – 70% - from 142 inspections.•Secondary Schools – 90% - from 40 inspections.•Special Schools – 54% - from 26 inspections.

Session 2012/13•Primary Schools – 80% - from 100 inspections.•Secondary Schools – 88% - from 26 inspections.•Special Schools – 93% - from 15 inspections.


2 hours / 2 periods 2008/09

• Primary – 42%

• Secondary - 49%

• Special - 14%


Inspection findings primary(1)Increasing numbers of schools now meeting the national

recommendations of 2 hours each week.Physical education continues to be a very popular subject with

almost all childrenNon-specialist teachers in primary lack confidence in gymnastics and

danceContinuing concern over the quality of experience when visiting

specialist is not involved. Often lack of progressive learning experiences

Often staff, parents, headteachers and children are unclear about the rationale for learning in physical education

Curricular links with secondary schools require to be strengthened in almost all schools


Findings from primary (2)Too often poor contexts for learning are planned which fail to sufficiently

motivate children

A number of schools encourage involvement of sports coaches, sports development staff, fitness professionals and active schools workers in the delivery of physical education but the rationale for the involvement is often poorly thought out, if addressed at all and the lack of planning is often a barrier to quality learning.

There is a lack of tracking and monitoring of children progress in physical education within primary and as a result children are often unclear abut how well they are doing and what their next steps should be.

Too much of a focus solely on physical activity to the detriment of high quality learning.


Findings from primary (3)In some primary schools the move to two hours each week means, three

periods across the week with two or sometimes three staff involved. This brings challenges in terms of programme planning, evaluation, communication and consultation and can result in a fragmented and disjointed experience for learners.

There is little if any quality assurance of the learner’s physical education experience in the majority of primary schools.

Too much teaching time is taken up with overly long warm-ups which add little to the overall learning of young people, particularly in primary schools and in many cases this is learning time that is not well used.

There is scope for much greater moderation of children’s experience, learning and progress within primary schools and across the primary-secondary transition boundary

High quality career long professional learning opportunities in physical education are in short supply and where they do exist tend to be activity or sport specific rather than primarily focussed on learning.


Teacher learner communities• Contradict teacher isolation

• Re -professionalise teaching by valuing teacher expertise.

• De-privatise teaching so that teacher's strengths and struggles become known

• Offer a steady source of support for those who are struggling

• Grow expertise by providing a regular, space, time and structure for systematic reflection on practice

• Facilitate sharing of untapped expertise residing in individual teachers

• Build the collective knowledge and skill base.


Findings from secondary inspections(1)Increasing number of schools meeting the national recommendation of

2 periods per week

Increasing number of schools with a continuing element in S5 and S6 – in support of young people’s HWB – although the picture is widely variable

More opportunities for personalisation and choice – opportunities to specialise beyond the 2 periods.

Greater variety of pathways.

Some schools with 3 ppw for all with 1ppw allocated to fitness

Continues to be a gradual move away from a focus solely on the technical aspects of performance towards a more concepts based approach


Findings from secondary inspections (2)Increasing place of dance within young people's physical education

experience and an increasing number of schools including dance options in both core and certificated programmes – although again the picture is widely variable

Some contexts for learning are poorly chosen for example dodgeball which are not providing a quality experience for all

Sports leadership inputs by pupils to primary programmes needs to be viewed as an addition and not part of the primary physical education programme.

A small number of schools still have difficulty in encouraging full participation

Increasing use of ICT to enrich learning and provide more detailed and personalised feedback to young people about their performance


Findings from secondary inspections(3)

• Increasing variety of SQA units and courses

Most offering sports leadership courses• Increasingly more than one certificated course or

accredited pathway in senior phase.

Concerns about narrowing of options in NQs.• Concern about learning for NQs dropping into S3 for all.

Need to focus on the around 70% who choose not to study certificated courses.

• Need to hold to the principles of BGE, S1 to S3 as sacrosanct.


Findings from secondary inspections(4)

• Tracking and monitoring progress.• Planning with breadth, challenge and

application in mind.• Moderation.• Assessment.• Overcoming bureaucracy.• Curricular links with primary – need

strengthened.


Strategies - formative assessment

Where the learner is going

Where the learner is How to get there

TeacherClarify and share learning intentions

Engineering effective discussions, tasks and

activities that elicit evidence of learning

Providing feedback that moves learners

forward

PeerUnderstand and share learning

intentions

Activating students as learning

resources for one another

LearnerUnderstand

learning intentionsActivating students as owners

of their own learning

Dylan Wiliam


Assessment during

learning

Taking a close lookat individual progress…

Assessment of key

milestones in learning

Progress and achievement

Holistic assessment judgements

Holistic assessment judgements


Special

Programmes vary in line with nature of school population and young people’s needs.

Tend to be more individualised, tailored/bespoke curricula, more outdoor education / learning.

Strong focus on accreditation and achievements ASDAN, Access 3, Duke of Edinburgh, HWB, SQA units and awards.

Scottish Disability Sport


Physical education continues to be a very popular and positive experience for young people across Scotland

In almost all cases, relationships between teachers and learners are universally positive

Most schools are working well with the experiences and outcomes within new programmes of learning – including aspects which are the responsibility of all

Need for a greater focus on the POCDIDL has yet to become a key aspect of young people’s experience in and

through physical education Continuing issues around consistency, quality, questioning, planning of

tasks.Still continues to be a very good uptake into certificated courses at all levels

and stages from S4 to S6NQs – a number of issues beginning to emerge and other trends

continue.‘

Summary


Better Movers and Thinkers

Ongoing challenges


Perceptions


Closing the gap•Disadvantage starts in the womb.•Multiplicity of factors accelerates lower performance.•The link deprivation and attainment persists over time - but it is not inevitable.•Individual schools and interventions DO make a difference.


Beware the snake oil?

BRAIN GYM – is only one example of an increasingly common phenomenon that is affecting schools – the adoption of ‘sciencey’ sounding terms to justify complicated practices with little or no evidence to support them.


Curriculum for Excellence – Physical Education

1. Environment for learning – experiential and relevant.

2. Approaches to learning and teaching – meaningful and provide for active engagement.

3. The way learning is organised – problem based and involves peers .


Higher quality questioning

The telling and asking dance - Is it adult centred ? – (mostly telling) or young person centred ? (mostly asking) - Our agenda pushing or their agenda pulling.

To improve performance:

Motivate – ask what motivates, interests and supports their endeavours

Goals / Aims - discussed and agreed

Feedback - draw out young person’s experience – when giving be specific and descriptive.

Learning – from self-discovery – from self awareness – creative experimentation.

Listening – attentively and empathetically.

Questions – effective – intended to generate awareness and responsibility in the hearts and minds of young people.


Deep learning• Looking for meaning – focussing on the central

concepts needed to solve the problem – interacting actively, distinguishing argument and evidence – making connections between different aspects – relating new and previous knowledge - linking course content to real life.

• Making meaning – e.g. I understand the relationships behind this sequence

• Working with meaning – e.g. I understand and can use the processes that enabled us to plan well for that task

• All lead to transformative learning


•Creating pathways of progress for every child• Creating pathways of progress for every child


Evaluating Impact

How will you know if young people’s performance, skills, capacities, attributes and health and wellbeing are actually improving as a result of your efforts?


Reflective questions…

• To what extent do you ask young people in your class/ establishment for their views on their learning?

• How involved are young people in planning aspects of their learning and development?

• How do young people know how well they are doing?

• What opportunities do they have to plan for their own improvement?


Points of reflection:

• What is our intent?• Whose agenda are we on – theirs or ours?• Can we discover their wishes before sharing ours?• How do we find an acceptable way forward for them and

us?• Are we initiating their greater self-awareness through our

questions?• Are we promoting the young person’s choice to take

responsibility?

Documents

Www.educationscotland.gov.uk. Transforming lives through learning Scottish Association of Teachers of Physical Education 1st Annual National Conference