School development planning for curriculum and assessment
Majella O’Shea

School development planning and the curriculum
All students to experience………..
…….quality education
…….appropriate to their needs
…….changing world
…….enhancing student learning
(SDP Curriculum planning)
…….
Education system of highest quality for learners …….
…….Innovative and creative environment for all learners
(NCCA, Strategic plan 2006–2008)

 The student experience
– Failure
– Non-participation
– Non-engagement
 Evidence that the quality of teaching matters
 Evidence that it matters more for students with special needs and with English as an additional language
 Public accountability for public services
 Knowledge society/ahead of the curve
 Inclusion
– The discourse of the problematic

 The stretch factor in Irish education
 The normative power of policy
 Tradition and nostalgia
 Complex educational structures, complex policy context
 What learning is valued?
 “Dumbing down”

Review
Research and theory
Curriculum
Representative committees development
Evaluations
Consultation
The developers
The public
Influencers
Resources
Professional development
Need for change – is there a crisis?
Time for planning
Classroom environment
Assessment
Skills/attitude of teacher
Pedagogy
Students
Agreed syllabuses/ curriculum
Curr. Planning schools
Teaching & learning
Exp. Of the students
Barriers to real learning in the classroom?
How can they be overcome?

 The formal curriculum
– Advice, policy, syllabuses
 Guidelines
– Subject guidelines
– Special needs
– Inclusion
– Intercultural
 Further support
– Supporting teachers in planning for and creating the learning experience

Examples
Subject
Supporting teachers in planning for and creating a rich learning experience
Guidelines
Advice
Policy
Syllabuses
Curriculum and assessment Intercultural
Report card templates
Special needs
Tools
Sharing
ACTION website

www.ncca.ie

What’s coming down the tracks?

 Inclusion
 Assessment for Learning
 Key Skills
 Pedagogy
 Relationships

 Greater ability range
 Special needs
– general
– specific
 English as an additional language

 the most complex and technical aspect of the teaching craft
 neglected in teacher preparation?
 seen as static – getting the level/pitch right
 Dynamic, demanding and sophisticated

 The question of place
 The question of pace
 The question of range
 The question of choice
 The question of additional support
One of the biggest challenges… is to teach differentiation strategies……

Who may be used to learning in the middle
Who may be used to ‘hiding’
Who may be used to an easy pace
Who may ‘passenger’
Who may not have talked about learning
Who may want the answers, not the questions

 achievement gaps
 concerns for teacher quality
 collapse of public education
 Disaffected student groups
OR…
 International praise for achievement standards
 Students with strong commitments to schooling
 High quality teaching force

What the wisest and best parent wants for his own child, that must the community want for all its children. Any other ideal for our schools is narrow and unlovely; acted upon, it destroys our democracy.
John Dewey. 1899, p.5.

 SEN – guidelines and possible new award at Level 2 on
NFQ
 Intercultural guidelines
 Curriculum framework for students in detention centres
 JCSP programme statement and review of profiling

 Case Study Research
 Schools dealing with the ‘inclusion challenge’
 To move beyond anecdote
 To capture what schools are doing
– Beyond normative policy to practice
– The ‘costs’….
 To tender this autumn

 School-based work is complete
 Dissemination of strategies
– With support services
– ACTION
 Assessment in Primary Schools: Guidelines for
Teachers
 info@ncca

Senior Cycle
– phase one syllabuses
– short course on enterprise
– transition units
– flexible programmes of study
Key Skills
After 30 years of teaching, they pushed me to innovate and to really look at what it was like to learn in my class….

Subjects to be reviewed
Mathematics
Applied
Mathematics
Languages
New subjects Short courses
Social and
Political
Education
Physical
Education
Enterprise
Education
Other developments
Social, Personal and Health
Education
Technology –
Art and
Music
PE framework
Biology
Chemistry
Physics
Psychology

 Classes are more enjoyable for everyone
 Group work needs to be planned
 Students like well-planned group work
 Relationships in the classroom are better
 Longer class periods are needed
 Students are reluctant to change at first, but are glad when they do.

Priorities
 Syllabus rebalancing
 Inclusion
 Assessment for learning
 Implications of ESRI research findings on curriculum, assessment, school organisation and planning
 Implications of senior cycle developments


 Art, Craft, Design
 English
 Environmental and Social Studies
 Geography
 History
 Home Economics
 Music
 Business Studies*
 Gaeilge*
 Mathematics*
* Now part of a broader review and revision process

 Final drafts of rebalanced syllabuses developed
 Progressed through NCCA structures late 2007
 Issued to the Department of Education and Science
 Information material for schools on the adjustments
 NCCA website to provide updates

 900 students in 12 schools
 Longitudinal study focused on students’ experience of junior cycle
 First and second year reports published
 Third year report and summary to be published in
October 2007
 Informing policy and practice in junior cycle

 Some students experience ongoing transition difficulties
 Curriculum discontinuity a feature
 Students respond well to varied teaching and learning approaches
 Importance of positive teacher-student interaction and informal school atmosphere
 Suitability of curriculum for a significant minority of students is questioned

 Characteristic ‘dip’ in academic performance and behaviour
 Students become more negative about school generally
 Negative effects of streaming intensifies
 Gender and social class differences become more marked
 Emergence of a ‘disengaged group’
 Teaching and learning becomes more focused on Junior
Certificate

(preliminary)
 Students say they learn best when
– positive classroom interaction
– teacher explains well
– interactive, varied teaching methodologies
 Focus on J Cert exams leads to more traditional form of teaching
 Negative effect of streaming more pronounced
– disadvantaged schools in study group all streamed!
 Strong influence of gender and social class on achievement
 School expectation also significantly determines achievement
 Significant number of students taking grinds

10=A; 9=B; 8=C; 7=D averaged across all subjects taken
5
4
3
8
7
6
2
1
0
Mixed ability Higher stream
Middle stream
Lower stream

Number of Higher Level Subjects Taken by School
(second lowest reading quintile)
9
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
0
Lang St Barrack
St
Dixon St Hay St Dawes
Point
Dawson
St
Park St Belmore Wattle St Fig Lane
St
Working-class Mixed Middleclass

Implications of senior cycle developments
 stronger role for key skills in junior cycle curriculum
 pressure to ‘scale back’ junior cert exams
 need to harmonise junior and leaving cert courses
 potential impact of a different school culture at senior cycle on junior cycle
 increased demand for educational guidance

Developments in mathematics (1)
 Increased emphasis on contexts and applications
 Focus on higher-order mathematical skills
 Proposal for phased development (both JC and LC)
– 5 syllabus ‘strands’ identified
– Initial involvement of approximately 24 schools
– All maths teachers in each participating school to adopt new syllabus materials for each strand/phase
– Class resource materials and teacher guidelines provided
– Professional support for teachers re changed emphasis and approaches in mathematics teaching and learning
– Developments supported by changes in relevant examination questions

Developments in mathematics (2)
 Bridging framework to link primary and post-primary mathematics
 Common mathematics course in first year
 Need for collaboration between maths teachers
– consistency in approach used
– sharing of ideas and experiences
– school-based support as well as ‘inservice’ occasions
– issues around choice of course levels
– availability and use of ICT resources in maths
– allocation of teachers to classes/levels
 Promotion of greater uptake of HL maths, especially in
Junior Certificate

Developments in mathematics (3)
 Information on Project Maths to all schools – Nov 07
 Invitation to schools to participate in initial implementation phase(s)
 Participating schools identified early in 2008
 Preparation meetings for participating schools in
Spring 2008
 Syllabus and resource materials for initial phase(s) ready by May 2008
 Implementation in participating schools from Sept.
2008
 Roll-out to all schools beginning in Sept. 2009