Our Lady’s High School Profiling – from Broad General Education into the
Senior Phase
Our Lady’s High (OLHS) is a co-educational Catholic secondary school in
Motherwell, North Lanarkshire educating approximately 750 pupils.
The school has a mixed catchment including two areas of deprivation. It also caters
for many immigrant families with a variety of language needs.
The school recently benefited from an excellent HMIe report which highlighted
outstanding ethos, especially the partnership between staff and students, the range
of opportunities available for young people, and the quality of the young people
themselves.
In 2010 the school introduced “Tutor Time” to meet the entitlement from BTC3.
“All children and young people should have frequent and regular opportunities to
discuss their learning with an adult who knows them well”.
Pupils in all year groups were allocated to a tutor group consisting of a maximum of
twenty pupils with a member of teaching staff assigned to each group. Tutor groups
are timetabled to meet for thirty minutes daily; in this time they undertake PSHE
tasks including study skills, discussion of topical issues and profiling. This also
provides an opportunity for assemblies and meetings and daily prayer. Ideally, tutor
teachers remain with their assigned class as the class progresses from S1 – S6
therefore getting to know the young people well and supporting their understanding
of their learning through learning conversations.
Within each and every class, from the beginning of the year up until
the final exam, I became familiar with a tracking and monitoring
process where at least every month, I would receive a one on one
chat with every teacher of my chosen subjects where upon we would
discuss (and I emphasise discuss) my current progress and
achievements and look at how well I was on track to achieve my
goals. Based on these discussions, we then negotiated possible
targets to achieve, not necessarily in the final exam but perhaps for
the next month or so, leading to a constant process of reviewing
targets and performance. Within classes I very quickly felt happy in
what I was doing and constantly had the state of mind where I could
build upon my targets and knew that help was everywhere around
me should I have needed it. Tutor Time also played a huge part in
ensuring I was not caught at a loose end. Frequently, as a class we
would look at different methods of study, preparing for exams,
realising our inner strengths, and even making time for reflection on
future steps.
(S6 pupil comment)
S1 – S3 Profiling
Profiling was launched in 2012 by forming a committee comprising two DHTs with a
responsibility for Broad General Education, one Principal Teacher (Pastoral) and one
Principal Teacher (ICT) and the Library Resource Centre Manager.
North Lanarkshire Council invited schools to an information afternoon which
introduced e – profiling through Glow. This meeting introduced a series of electronic
templates using Glow blogs which had been developed by the council’s working
party. At this time North Lanarkshire also offered assistance with training staff and
setting up e – profiles for the first time.
The committee in OLHS agreed to try these templates and accepted the assistance
of the council.
In order to maintain continuity from primary, it was decided to establish e – profiles
for pupils from S1 - S3. However, S3 was the first cohort to be given the opportunity
to create a printed profile at the end of their Broad General Education phase and so
time and resources were concentrated here initially. With assistance from Glow
trainers and members of the committee, S3 pupils established their e – profiles over
an afternoon.
It was deemed important to the longer term development of the profiling
process, that pupils in all three year groups adopted the same operational
methodology even although only S3 learners would be creating profiles at that
point. Committee members planned a programme of staff induction and
training which built upon previous Glow instruction. It was decided to focus
this training on S1 – S3 tutor teachers rather than the whole staff. The
programme for e – profiling was established through the tutor calendar with
each class having timetabled sessions every four weeks. During this first
term tutor teachers had the opportunity to meet with the P.T. Pupil Support /
PSHE and the committee also met on a regular basis. Tutor teachers were
able to use their regular meeting time with the P.T. Pupil Support / PSHE to
raise concerns, ask for assistance and share good practice.
Reflection
It was clear early in the process that a few issues had arisen.
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access to the e – profile on Glow including passwords and network speed
lack of understanding from pupils of how to reflect
timetabled tutor session too short for work required
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further staff training required
The committee addressed these issues in the following ways:
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Two PowerPoint presentations were designed: the first was for pupil use
which allowed them to troubleshoot and take personal responsibility for their
own e - profile; the second was for staff to allow them to manage access to
pupil e –profiles. It was envisaged that pupils would use the former set of
instructions (which were made available on the pupil shared area) before
seeking staff intervention. There was a strong message about learner
ownership of and responsibility for the profiling process.
Written materials in the form of starter papers were constructed and issued to
teachers. These included tools for pupils to use to complete their e – profile
e.g. one paper contained stem starters for pupils to use to promote reflection
in their written statements.
Members of the committee provided a rolling programme of support by visiting
tutor classes that were in the process of constructing e – profiles.
Until network speeds and other ICT issues outwith our control were improved,
e – profiles were completed by using a template on Word. This provided
much quicker access to the profile using more familiar software and helped
address the amount of time available in tutor sessions.
Moving Towards Senior Profiling
Since the launch of e – profiling in the school, the school has moved to a 33 period
week, there has been a move to the new qualifications and our wider achievement
portfolio has expanded greatly. With these changes in mind, it is the school’s
intention to expand e – profiling to all year groups. However, it has been decided to
adapt our methodology, providing updated materials to all pupils which will allow
them to reflect on a more regular basis across the curriculum. It is hoped that this will
support young people in both understanding and reflecting on their learning.
At the moment the plan is to construct booklets specific to each year group which will
allow pupils to record and reflect on their learning over the year. The booklets will
mirror issues relevant to each stage e.g. transition, personalisation and choice, wider
achievement. At regular points on the tutor calendar pupils will transfer relevant
information to their e – profile. This will, again, support learner ownership of and
responsibility for the profiling process.
In addition it is intended that S1 e – profiling becomes integral to S1 / S6 buddying
programme with senior pupils assisting younger pupils from the start.
The school has also recognised the value of e – profiles as a mechanism for parents
and carers to engage with their child’s learning experiences and therefore plans to
consider the role of the e – profile in reporting to parents for all year groups.
The individual pastoral interviews with each young person are opportunities for
learning conversations which are also able to take advantage of pupil’s own
reflections on their journey through school. The hope is that progression will be
more visible to pupils, staff and parents.
Given the development of profiling experience that has already taken place in the
junior phase, it is hoped that the component skills involved can be adjusted and
expanded to suit the demands of the senior phase. Ideally, young people and their
teachers will recognise how elements such as target setting, C.V. building,
applications to further and higher education etc. fit into the profiling process.
Pupil e – profiles will also be configured to document the engagement young people
have throughout their time in school with partnership agencies such as Skills
Development Scotland, Scottish Qualifications Authority, National Health Service
etc.
The school enjoys a strong partnership with Skills Development Scotland. It has
been involved in piloting a number of initiatives for the website ‘My World of Work’.
There are now established links between the items contained in the toolkit and
aspects of the e – profiling process. The My WOW resources also support the
personalisation and choice programmes as well as all of the wider achievement
courses. There is SDS input to tutor classes, National Progression Award Enterprise
and Employability, Leadership, Personal Development and Volunteering. These
sessions provide alternative methods for young people to gather evidence in support
of the qualification as well as allowing learning to be accessed in an alternative way.
Many pupils enjoy this type of working and this in turn helps to combat barriers to
learning for some. Senior phase pupils will also use SDS resources and links to
enhance their tutor experience. Next session it is planned to have four dedicated
tutor days where pupils will follow a planned programme of work designed to support
their profiling journey. SDS resources will be a large feature of this programme. The
pilot of the SDS Ambassador Project will also be used to promote and enhance the
usage and awareness of My WOW in school and our surrounding community.
By continuing to promote e – profiling from S1 into the senior phase it is hoped that
our young people will be equipped for a world beyond school which is increasingly
demanding reflective practitioners.
Authored by Lyn Zambonini, P.T. Pupil Support / PSHE, and Jennifer Macfadyen,
Library Resource Centre Manager.