Personal Learning Record
School Experience
PGCE Course 2015-16
Introduction to School Experience
The aim of the School Experience phase of the PGCE is to provide a guided introduction to
teaching in a secondary school. The focus activities detailed in this Learning Record are
structured to provide a bridge between your work in university sessions and in your
placement school, and to specifically help you develop your thinking on:
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pupils’ experience of school;
teaching and learning in your subject area;
the job of being a teacher, and in particular your own role as a beginning teacher;
various social aspects of schools in UK society.
These issues directly relate to your work in the Schools and Society programme and the
Learning and Teaching programme.
The focus activities involve:
 research;
 observation;
 discussion;
 staged induction into teaching.
Some focus activities encourage you to consider the wider, whole school perspective on
teaching and learning; others are focused more upon the classroom or teaching your
subject. The purpose of all of the focus activities is to help you build your understanding of
how to work as effectively as possible with pupils as individual learners and to begin to
develop your skills as a reflective practitioner. Many of the focus activities refer you to
additional reading and resources.
Focus Activities
The focus activities in the Learning Record are divided into three sections:
Teaching and Learning
Purpose: To enable you to successfully plan and teach a sequence of lessons on a
chosen topic and to begin to form your own personal theory of teaching and
learning
These activities are all designed to help you develop your understanding of classrooms,
teaching and learning. The initial activities involve observing a small group of pupils, and
then a teacher, in different situations throughout a school day and observing lessons to
begin to understand how an effective lesson is planned and how learning might take place.
There are then a series of activities that enable you to consider different aspects of planning
lessons and your role as a teacher. Once you have settled into school you and your mentor
will identify individual lessons and sequences of lessons that you will teach over the
placement; you must teach at least one sequence of lessons. The later activities in this
section support you to develop your plans for teaching a sequence of lessons, each task
inviting you to continually improve your plans, adjusting them and adding more detail as the
activities develop your understanding.
Schools and Society
Purpose: To enable you to get to know your placement school and its community
and to begin to understand how social justice can be promoted by teachers and
schools
This set of activities is designed to support you to get to know your placement school and its
community and to explore issues and perspectives related to education for social justice. For
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these activities you will be expected to:
 read professional and research literature related to each of the topics touched upon
in this section;
 gain an understanding of your school’s policies and classroom practices;
 find out what this means for the day to day lives of pupils and teachers in your
school.
You are expected to work on this set of activities in collaboration with the other student
teachers at your School Experience school. This means much of the evidence you gather for
this part of your Learning Record will be the same and can be copied though you will need to
add personal reflections where appropriate.
Pupil Care and Guidance
Purpose: To enable you to explore how pupil care and guidance can be organised in
a school and to understand your responsibility towards the social, emotional and
intellectual well-being of children
One of the briefing sessions your coordinator will have planned for you is on the school’s
system of pastoral care and another is on child protection.
At the start of your placement you will be assigned to a form group and will work with this
group of pupils and their tutor throughout your placement. This section of your Learning
Record is designed to support you in observing and understanding the different elements of
the role of a form tutor and to reflect on your experiences of working with this group of
pupils.
Subject Focus Activities
In addition to the whole course activities you will be required to carry out subject focus
activities. These may be incorporated into this Learning Record, or be in your Subject
Handbook.
Assessment of School Experience
This Learning Record, although not formally assessed in its own right, provides the basis for
assessment of the standards you have achieved during this first term of the course. Your
completed Learning Record will be used in the following ways:
1. Evidence of progress: as evidence of the progress you have made towards meeting the
Teachers’ Standards. As you know, these are the minimum standards which you must
achieve to be successful in passing the PGCE course and qualifying as a teacher. This
Learning Record will be an important source of evidence of your achievement of
particular Standards.
2. School Experience profile: your mentor and your tutor will use the evidence in this
Learning Record when completing your profile at the end of School Experience. The
School Experience profile will inform the recommendation made to the ITE Examination
Board in December about progress to the next phase of the course. This profile will also
be used to set targets for the next phase of the course; it will also form the basis of early
discussions between you, your tutor and your mentor in your Teaching Practice school.
3. Assignments: The work you do in relation to this Learning Record will help you in
writing your assignments.
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Presentation
Your Learning Record should be available to be read by tutors, your mentor and other school
colleagues, fellow students and examiners. The Learning Record should represent a digest of
your:
 thinking;
 observations;
 personal and professional principles and theories.
It should be clearly written and chart the progress of your work over the period of your
School Experience placement. The various focus activities are included to help with this. You
may choose whether you hand write or word process your responses to the focus activities.
You are encouraged to include supplementary pages in your Learning Record as necessary.
The Learning Record does not need to be a lengthy document and some of it might be
presented in clear notes or bullet points – but it should offer evidence of the quality of your
thinking. You should expect to use your Learning Record as a basis for discussion both
during School Experience and afterwards on the course.
Make sure you read the guidance on Moodle and in the Assessment Handbook on
ethics in research and writing before starting to complete your Learning Record.
Records and Visits
Throughout School Experience, you are expected to maintain a record of:
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lessons you observe during School Experience;
lessons you teach;
written feedback you receive on your teaching.
Preparatory reading
The first two chapters of the course reader, Dillon, J. and Maguire, M. (Eds) (2011)
Becoming a Teacher: Issues in Secondary Teaching (4th edition), Maidenhead: Open
University Press, provide a useful introduction to some important issues you will need to
consider as you start your teaching career. You are therefore advised to read these two
chapters in preparation for School Experience.
Chapter 1
Dillon, J. and Maguire. M. (2011) Developing as a student teacher. In: Dillon and Maguire
(Eds) Becoming a Teacher: Issues in Secondary Teaching (4th edition), Maidenhead: Open
University Press.
Chapter 2
Winch, C (2011) On being a teacher. In: Dillon and Maguire (Eds) Becoming a Teacher:
Issues in Secondary Teaching (4th edition), Maidenhead: Open University Press.
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Organisation of School Experience
During the School Experience phase of the course, you will start by spending three days a
week in your placement school; this then increases to five days per week.
To complete the focus activities in this Learning Record, and to build up your experience of
classroom teaching, during School Experience, as a minimum, you need to be attached to:
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one teaching group within your subject at Key Stage 3;
one teaching group within your subject at Key Stage 4;
a Key Stage 3 tutor group, from year 7 if possible.
Where possible you should maintain teaching contact with at least one class throughout your
School Experience. If your school has a Post 16 centre, you will also need to observe and,
where possible, teach some post 16 classes.
During School Experience you will be supported in school by a subject mentor and by the
school coordinator. The school coordinator is responsible for managing the school-based
programme and for maintaining an oversight of the progress of student teachers.
Briefings on key issues
The school coordinator has been asked to arrange briefings for you on how the school
approaches the following key issues:
o
o
o
o
the organisation of special educational needs work within the school;
the school’s system of pastoral care;
Child Protection;
Data tracking and progress.
All of these issues will also be explored in university sessions and the meetings will enable
you to begin to develop your understanding further within the school context. You should
reflect on these meetings and also record your own observations on these topics, talking to
pupils, teachers and fellow students, when prompted to in your Learning Record. This will
provide you with a foundation to reflect on your understanding of these issues at the key
reflection point.
Mentor support
Your subject mentor will work with you to develop a subject based programme of
observations and a structured induction to teaching. It is important to remember, though,
that you must take the initiative to plan and organise your time and to complete all of
the focus activities.
Timetable of observations and activities
What follows is a list of all the focus activities and then a suggested timetable for the focus
activities and teaching commitments which make up your School Experience. Some activities
are best completed early on, others will be more easily done at a later stage and the
timetable reflects this. Your subject tutors will also provide you, and your mentor, with a
Personal Learning Record Overview which will map out all the work to be completed over
School Experience. However, these schedules may well need to be modified to fit in
with the specific routines of your school or department and you must be guided by
your mentor in school and by the school coordinator. Nonetheless, you must take the
initiative to plan and organise your time well. The checklist in this Learning Record will help
you do this.
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Focus Activities Checklist
Number
Focus activity
Page
SS1
Getting to know the school
14
SS2
Education for Social Justice: School Culture
17
SS3
Education for Social Justice: Gender
18
SS4
Education for Social Justice: Race and Ethnicity
19
SS5
Education for Social Justice: Sexuality
20
SS6
Education for Social Justice: Social class
21
TL1
The Pupils’ Day
25
TL2
The Teacher’s Day
26
TL3
Observing and Understanding Lessons
27
TL4
The Curriculum
35
TL5
The Role of Support Staff
37
TL6
Assessing and Responding to Pupils’ Work
39
TL7
Behaviour for Learning
41
TL8
Getting to Know Pupils with Special Educational Needs
(tasks over a period of three weeks)
51
PCG1
Pupil Care and Guidance
57
Key Reflection Point
65
Record sheets:
Lesson Observation Record
Teaching Record
Timetable (after half term)
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Date(s)
completed
Suggested timetable for the first three weeks of School Experience
School Experience Induction Day
Thursday 17 September 2015
Meet in School Reception at 8.30am unless advised otherwise.
Attend any whole school/departmental induction.
Complete Focus Activity SS1 1. Information about the School
School Experience Week One
Wednesday 30 September 2015
Organise attachment to:
 the KS3 class and the KS4 class for observation and for teaching
 a KS3 (Y7) tutor group
 a sixth form group (if applicable)
Agree the timetable and focus activities for the following day
Thursday 1 October 2015
Complete Focus Activity SS1 2. Getting to know the school’s catchment area
Friday 2 October 2015
Complete Focus Activity TL1: The Pupil’s Day
Agree the timetable and focus activities for the following week including lesson observations (see
Focus Activity TL2)
School Experience Week Two
Wednesday 7 October 2015 – Friday 9 October 2015
Complete Focus Activity TL2: The Teacher’s Day (including lesson observation TL3a)
Complete Focus Activity TL3a: Observing and Understanding lessons
Start work on Focus Activity TL8. Set up work with a pupil who has special educational needs and
liaise with the learning support department. Observe selected pupil in a lesson.
Begin Focus Activity TL4: The Curriculum
Start to read documentation, collect materials and organise work on the Education for Social Justice
Focus Activities SS2 - SS6
Start Focus Activity PCG1: Pupil Care and Guidance
Agree the timetable and focus activities for the following week
Work on any subject specific focus activities
School Experience Week Three
Monday 12 October 2015 – Friday 16 October 2015
Continue work on Education for Social Justice Focus Activities SS2 – SS6
Complete Focus Activity TL3b: Observing and understanding lessons
Start Focus Activity TL7: Behaviour for learning. Familiarise yourself with school and departmental
policy and practice for behaviour for learning
Continue with Focus Activity TL7: Observe two lessons for classroom management
Ensure you have taught a full lesson
Continue Focus Activity PCG1: Pupil Care and Guidance
Work on any subject specific focus activities
Agree a teaching timetable for after half term
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School Experience after half-term
After half term you will be in school for five days a week for four weeks. During this time it is
expected that you will:
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continue with your attachment to the KS3 tutor group each day. Record your
involvement with pupil care and guidance, in tutor time and in any PSHE lessons, in
the Pupil Care and Guidance Learning Record (see Focus Activity PCG1);
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continue your attachment to the KS3 and the KS4 class to: observe further lessons,
work with individual and small groups of pupils and teach sequences of lessons;

plan to teach a minimum of 20 full lessons;
o
there should be a gradual increase in your teaching commitments so that by
the end of the placement you have taught sequences of lessons with the
classes you are working with;
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complete any outstanding focus activities;
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complete focus activities follow-up tasks;
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carry out any additional research for your Education for Social Justice discussion;
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continue to work with a pupil who has special educational needs (see Focus Activity
TL8);
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attend all sessions set up by the school coordinator;
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ensure that you have covered everything in the Learning Record.
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Schools and Society
Purpose: To enable you to get to know your placement
school and its community and to begin to understand how
social justice can be promoted by teachers and schools
This section of your Personal Learning Record should be
worked on collaboratively if you are placed with other
University of Nottingham trainee teachers
Links
Coordinator briefings
University sessions
Assessment
Data tracking and progress
Schools and Society sessions
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Further professional
development
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Schools and Community
Marketplace
Education for Social Justice
Discussions
Key Reflection Point
Record of Professional
Development
Professional development tutorials
2 and 3
Targets for Teaching Practice
Introduction
We believe that our trainee teachers should be committed to working in a variety of schools
within diverse communities and that your practice should be underpinned by a sense of
responsibility towards the social, emotional and intellectual well-being of all children. This
section helps you to explore the relationship between schools and their communities and
consider some of the factors that might impact on a pupil’s success at school to enable you
to develop strategies to promote social justice through both your teaching and by engaging
more broadly with the life of a school and its wider community.
Before commencing work on the focus activities there is some preparatory work that you
must undertake. This is linked to the introductory work you will have done in university as
you started the Schools and Society programme.
The first focus activity supports you to get to know your school and the community it serves
and should be completed during your induction day and early days of School Experience.
There are then five themes to explore which enable you to consider whole school issues and
the ‘bigger picture’ of becoming a teacher. For each theme you must:
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read the core reading and discuss this as a group;
decide how to carry out the core activity;
reflect on the activity and other experiences related to the theme and agree how this
influences your understanding of your school and its community;
ensure you have a copy of all your work in this section of your Personal Learning
Record and add any additional personal reflections.
Education for Social Justice discussions
In your Schools and Society group in October you will be split in to five groups each working
in more depth on one of these themes. In December, each sub-group will facilitate a
discussion on their theme, drawing on readings and resources available on the Schools and
Society area of Moodle, and your own ideas and experiences. As an individual you will need
to do additional work on your theme (in and out of school) which you will plan with this
group.
Schools and Community Marketplace
In December, along with peers in your Schools and Society group who are from the same SE
school, you will set up a mini-display on one table top showing what you have learnt about
your school’s community from your work on the PLR and from colleagues. We will organise a
‘market place’ so that at times you stay by your display to explain things to your peers and
at other times you wander to look at other peoples’ displays (including your Teaching
Practice school). All the work that you have done in this section will support you to prepare
for this activity.
Working together you should plan for the marketplace and gather information and resources
for your displays. On the day of the marketplace you will set up a display in your Schools
and Society room. This means if there is a large group of students placed in your school you
might have several displays in different rooms. You can plan as one group of students but
will need to ensure you have multiple copies of any resources you wish to use and everyone
in the group is confident talking about the school and its community.
You can find further details about the discussions and the marketplace in your Assessment
Handbook and from your Schools and Society tutor.
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Introduction to Social Justice
Social Justice Starting Point
In advance of the introductory university session for Schools and Society you were asked to
complete a questionnaire about social justice. This will be useful to refer back to as you
complete the focus activities and a copy of your responses should be included in this section
of your Personal Learning Record.
National Data
In order to help you with these activities you should investigate the resources found on this
website:
https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/399005/SF
R06_2015_Text.pdf
Core Reading
Read the following chapters and discuss your thoughts with your peers.
Jones, O. (2012) The strange case of Shannon Matthews. In Jones, O. (2012) Chavs. The
demonization of the working class, London: Verso Books
Dorling, D (2011) Introduction. In Injustice why social inequality persists, Bristol: Policy
Press
Dorling, D (2011) Elitism is efficient: new educational divisions. In Injustice why social
inequality persists, Bristol: Policy Press
(available in the Schools and Society section on Moodle)
Reflection point
Draw on the notes made as you engaged in the core readings and compare these with
your initial responses to the questionnaire. Do the readings raise any questions for you to
consider further?
Summarise your thoughts and draw out some key issues for discussion.
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Focus Activity SS1
Getting to know the school: developing an
understanding of the school, teaching and
classrooms
What to do in school
You will visit this focus activity three times over School Experience.
1. On your School Experience Induction Day collect information and read relevant
documentation about your school and complete the form Information about the school.
2. When you return to your school for your first week of School Experience familiarise
yourself with your school’s catchment area and begin to build a knowledge and
understanding of the wider community in which your school is situated. We think you are
likely to be a better teacher if you know more about the people you teach and the place you
teach in. Schools cannot be divorced from the communities they serve; you will be a more
sensitive, responsive and effective teacher if you take time to understand your school's
community.
Procedure
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First identify the geographical catchment area for the school. A good place to start
will be to read the school prospectus, the school’s most recent Ofsted report and to
look at the school’s website.

Find out what you can about the history of the school and how the catchment area
was originally defined.
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Look up your school on Google maps.
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Once you have identified the catchment area, mark the area on a copy of a local
map.
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Find out which are the main primary schools attended by pupils at your school and
collect as much information as you can about the different schools.
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If possible talk to Y7 pupils who attended different primary schools. Find out about:
the area the pupils live in; their impressions about the transition from primary to
secondary education; their views on what makes a good teacher and a good lesson.

Finally walk or drive around the catchment area, noting any local amenities e.g.
community centres, primary schools, leisure facilities, local libraries. It might be
helpful if you can do this with an experienced member of staff.
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Reflection point
Using the information gathered above write a brief paragraph summarising what you have
learned about the school and the community it serves. Comment on your first impressions
of the school’s catchment area reflecting on any disparity between housing and amenities
in the different areas and the impact this is likely to have on pupils’ attainment in school.
You may find it useful to revisit the guidance in the Assessment Handbook on ethics in
research and writing before writing this paragraph.
The following two chapters from the course reader, Dillon, J. and Maguire, M. (Eds)
(2011) Becoming a Teacher: Issues in Secondary Teaching (4th edition), Maidenhead:
Open University Press, provide useful perspectives to support you in beginning to
understand your school and its community:
Chapter 11
Maguire, M., Dillon, J. and Manning, A. (2011) Education, schools and cities. In: Dillon
and Maguire (Eds) Becoming a Teacher: Issues in Secondary Teaching (4th edition),
Maidenhead: Open University Press.
Chapter 20
Driscoll, J. (2011) Children’s views on school and schooling. In: Dillon and Maguire (Eds)
Becoming a Teacher: Issues in Secondary Teaching (4th edition), Maidenhead: Open
University Press.
Read these chapters and add any thoughts or questions the chapters raise to your
reflections.
3. To be completed after the briefing session on Data tracking and progress.
Reflect on the session. How does the school use data to:
 assign pupils to groups;
 predict pupil attainment;
 track pupil progress;
 compare school progress with other schools;
 track the progress of different groups of learners?
Talk to your mentor and form tutor about how they use data to help them to get to know
pupils better. Are there different approaches in different subjects?
Identify a small group of Year 10 or 11 pupils who will be willing to work with you. Look at
the data the school have collected on the pupils since they were in Year 7 and make brief
notes on the trends you identify. Devise no more than five questions to ask the pupils about
their progress in school and their aspirations for the future.
With the support of their form tutor(s), choose a tutor period when it would be convenient to
have a discussion with the students as a group, using the questions you devised. Try to get
all students to talk.
Reflection point
Write a brief paragraph outlining what you understand about the potential use of pupil
data. Reflect on the varying perceptions of the different people to whom you talked.
Consider the use of data critically. What issues do you/colleagues see in the use of data?
To what extent might the use of data affect teachers’ judgement of their pupils?
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Information about the school
School name:
……………………………………………………………………………………………
School address:
……………………………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………………………
School telephone number:
……………………………………………………………………………………………
Fax/email:
……………………………………………………………………………………………
Headteacher:
……………………………………………………………………………………………
School Coordinator:
……………………………………………………………………………………………
Mentor:
……………………………………………………………………………………………
Department staff:
……………………………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………………………
Names of other student
teachers:
……………………………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………………………
The following documentation has been obtained and read:
Relevant sections of Staff Handbook
Departmental Handbook
Relevant health and safety information
Recent OFSTED report
School website
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Focus Activity SS2
School Culture
Core Reading
As part of your School Experience you will need to think about issues of school culture and
how this is shaped by the nature of the schools you are working in, how they have evolved
and continue to develop. In order to help you do this you should read the following:

Prosser, J. (ed.) (1999) School Culture. London: Paul Chapman. [Introduction, pages
xi-xii; Chapter 1] – a brief extract and chapter, taken from the start of an edited
book that goes on to include a wide range of perspectives on school culture research.
(available in the Schools and Society section in Moodle)
In the first extract, the start of the Introduction to the book, Prosser presents his own
experiences of school as a pupil, teacher and parent as manifestations of school culture. In
arguing for a cultural perspective on schools he also raises the difficulty of attempting to
define what we mean by school culture, and makes the distinction between seeing this
holistically or as a system of subcultures. In Chapter 1, he considers these issues further.
Although the overall context of the book might seem to be firmly within an organizational,
school management approach, this chapter will be useful in helping you to see how
important it is to recognize that people can mean different things by the term school culture.
You should focus particularly on the four 'meanings of school culture' that Prosser identifies
within contemporary research (p7): 'wider culture', generic culture', 'unique culture' and
'perceived culture'.

Sailes, J. (2008) School culture audits: making a difference in school improvement
plans, Improving Schools 11(1), 74–82 (available in the Schools and Society section
in Moodle).
Although exploring school culture in an American context, the ideas explored are very
relevant to current UK approaches to education.
Core Activity
This focus activity starts the process of examining school cultures through an initial focus on
the buildings and spaces and the pupils’ perspectives on their schools. Before embarking on
the focus activity please talk carefully with the coordinator about the way you approach
photographing spaces and talking to pupils.
Collect the school prospectus and look at the school's website. Analyse the images of
buildings and different spaces. What has been selected and what hasn’t? What overall
impression is created? If possible you should also take some photographs of other sights
from around the school for use in discussion with the pupils. These might include
classrooms, corridors, recreational spaces, dining halls, etc.
Identify a group of pupils to interview. It is probably easiest to work with pupils from the
tutor group you, or a peer, are attached to. Talk to pupils about school buildings and spaces:
 ask groups of pupils to comment on the photographs and prospectus;
 ask a pair of pupils to give you a tour of the school, from their perspective;
 ask pupils to draw an annotated map of their school – in pairs - make notes or record
talk;
 talk to pupils about ‘the school they'd like’
Reflection point
Draw on the notes made as you engaged in the core readings and completed the activities
to consider school culture and its impact on pupils. Finally, having read these extracts, do
you agree with Prosser that 'studies of school culture would be better served by avoiding
reliance on definitions and by placing greater emphasis on clarifying its meaning within
the context of use' (p9)? How should this inform your work for this Schools and Society
strand?
Summarise your findings and draw out some key issues for discussion.
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Focus Activity SS3
Gender
Core Reading
As part of your School Experience you will need to think about how gender impacts in
school. Start by reading the following article:

Younger, Warrington, et al (2005) Raising Boys' Achievement. DfES: London. (available
in the Schools and Society section in Moodle)
This continues the debate which has been high profile since the 1990s. The main findings
explore strategies for intervention which are pedagogic (classroom-based), individual,
organisational (whole school) and socio-cultural. You might consider what the impact of
interventions is in the study schools? How do these affect girls and boys?
Investigate the gender and achievement resources in the National Archives website:
http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20110202093118/http://nationalstrategies.stand
ards.dcsf.gov.uk/search/inclusion/results/nav:46260
Core Activity
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Consider differences between girls’ and boys’ behaviour and attitudes in the classes you
know best. Are there general points you can make about gender differences in these
classrooms? Do particular strategies or approaches seem to work well in motivating or
supporting boys or girls?
Notice the language used in classrooms between pupils and in informal/social areas of
school and the staff room. Are you aware of language which uses gender as an offensive
term? Are there general points you can make about girls’, boys’ and male and female
teachers’ use of language?
Find out as much as you can about school and department policy and practice for
teaching the curriculum. This should be at both the formal and the informal level. For
example, there may be written policies, or an analysis of test and examination results by
gender. There might be informal guidelines or advice on improving the behaviour,
attitudes or expectations of boys or girls.
Find out as much as you can about whether the school considers gender in the teaching
or assessment of your subject. Is there evidence of gender bias in the planning or
teaching of the curriculum?
Read your school’s Equal Opportunities policy. Many have active Equal Opportunities
working groups or committees. Some have a member of staff with special responsibility
for the oversight of Equal Opportunities issues in the school. Find out (and note down)
the systems and policies that operate in your school.
Reflection point
Draw on the notes made as you engaged in the core readings and completed the activities
to consider differences between girls’ and boys’ behaviour and attitudes in general and in
your subject. Are there general points you can make about gender differences? Do
particular strategies or approaches seem to work well in motivating or supporting boys or
girls? How is your school working to ensure that ALL pupils achieve their potential?
Summarise your findings and draw out some key issues for discussion.
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Focus Activity SS4
Race and Ethnicity
Core Reading
Our partnership schools have differing proportions of Black and minority ethnic pupils on roll.
Some schools are made up of predominantly or entirely white, native English speakers,
whereas others are more diverse. However, the issues of race and ethnicity are relevant for
all schools and pupils.
Read the report of
Swann, S and Law, I (2010) Ethnic Differences in Education in England: Survey Report,
EDUMIGROM (Ethnic Differences in Education and Diverging Prospects for Urban Youth in an
Enlarged Europe)
and the following paper
Tomlinson, S. (2005), Race, ethnicity and education under New Labour, Oxford Review of
Education, Vol. 31 (1), pp. 153-171 [both available in the Schools and Society section in
Moodle].
Core Activity







Familiarise yourself as far as you can with the cultural, ethnic and religious mix within
your school’s population, and the policies and values that the school supports.
Is the relative performance of different ethnic groups analysed, and if so, how is this
data used?
Find out and note down the main languages spoken across the school, if any pupils are
entitled to extra support because English is not their first language and what this support
is. Are different teaching strategies adopted in your subject to include pupils who do not
yet speak English fluently?
Notice the language used in classrooms and the playground between pupils and in
informal/social areas of school and the staff room. Are you aware of language which uses
reference to race as an offensive term?
Read what your school’s Equal Opportunities policy has to say about race, ethnicity and
equal opportunities. Behaviour policies often give guidance on dealing with racism. What
does your school mean when they make reference to ethnicity or race and how are
mixed race or dual heritage children considered in policies or practice? How are pupils
identified?
Find out to what extent departmental policy and practice in your subject area relates to
the whole school ethnicity policy and whether the school considers cultural relevance in
the teaching of the curriculum. Is a commitment to raising knowledge about cultural
diversity obvious? If so, how? Do teaching and learning resources reflect this? Are there
different strategies for supporting pupils from different backgrounds?
Is there evidence of positive approaches to ethnic diversity and anti-racism in the
broader life of the school? For example, in display material, in assemblies, in the
recognition of different cultural and religious practices at different times of the year, in
extra-curricular activities, etc.
Reflection point
Draw on the notes made as you engaged in the core readings and completed the activities
to consider how the broader life of the school approaches cultural difference and antiracism. How does your school work to support children from culturally different
backgrounds so they can grow and learn in a safe and supportive environment? How is
your school working to ensure that ALL pupils achieve their potential? How does your
school challenge discriminatory language and attitudes?
Summarise your findings and draw out some key issues for discussion.
19
Focus Activity SS5
Sexuality
Core Reading
In your experience would you consider that lesbian, gay or bisexual pupils in today's schools
experience intolerance to their sexuality from pupils or teachers? Start to consider and
reflect on this question by reading the following articles:


Rivers, I. (2000) 'Social exclusion, absenteeism and sexual minority youth'. Support for
Learning, Vol. 15 (1), pp.13-18 [both available in Moodle].
DfES (2004) Stand up for us – Challenging Homophobia in Schools [both available in the
Schools and Society section in Moodle]
Core Activity

Notice the language used in classrooms between pupils and in informal/social areas of
school and the staff room. Are you aware of language which deals with sexuality? Are
there general points you can make about girls’, boys’ and male and female teachers’ use
of language?

Find out if LGBT issues are raised in PSHE in your school.

How does your school challenge homophobic language even with those children who may
not understand the meaning?

How does your school tackle homophobic bullying?

How is any repeated absence from school or specific lessons followed up in your school?

The high incidence of contemplated and attempted self-harming and/or suicide amongst
sexual minority youth is highlighted by Rivers. Do you see teachers and others working
to foster what Rivers classes as ‘an ethos of care and co-operation’ to enable students to
have equality of opportunity?
Reflection point
Draw on the notes made as you engaged in the core readings and completed the activities
to consider how your school works to support emerging sexuality in young people so they
can be themselves and grow and learn in a safe and supportive environment. How is your
school working to ensure that ALL pupils achieve their potential?
Summarise your findings and draw out some key issues for discussion.
20
Focus Activity SS6
Social Class
Core Reading
During School Experience, you will be asked to consider the ways in which pupils’ social class
and local community impact upon the level of their educational achievement and the quality
of their learning. As a starting point, please read the following:
 Thomson, P. (2002) ‘Vicky and Thanh’, Schooling the Rustbelt Kids. London:
Trentham. [available in the Schools and Society section in Moodle].
Pat Thomson is Professor of Education here at the University of Nottingham. In the
opening chapter of her book, Schooling the Rustbelt Kids, she lists the respective
contents of the ‘virtual schoolbags’ of Vicky and Thanh. Although it is set in the
context of Australian education, it raises issues which are equally relevant to
schooling in England.

The report Unseen children: access and achievement 20 years on available here:
http://www.ofsted.gov.uk/resources/unseen-children-access-and-achievement-20years
This report reviews the pattern of disadvantage and educational success across
England.
Core Activity





Find out about two contrasting pupils from your SE school (they might be in your tutor
group or a class) and try to list some of the contents of their ‘virtual schoolbags’.
Record the content of your own ‘virtual schoolbag’ to compare your own personal
advantages and cultural capital.
Thomson says that “neighbourhood schools reflect the class composition of their
location” (p.11). Reflect on your tour of the neighbourhood of your SE school (SS1) and
make notes about ways in which you think the nature of the local community might
impact within the school setting.
Type your school’s postcode into the Neighbourhood Statistics website,
http://www.neighbourhood.statistics.gov.uk/dissemination, and note down any statistical
information which either supports or contradicts your impressions of the local
community. N.B. this URL may change, but was correct at the time of publication of the
PLR.
On p.17 of ‘Vicky and Thanh’, Thomson says that, while policymakers and some
academic researchers tend to categorise teacher-talk about the everyday difficulties of
focussing relentlessly on learning as “deficit, patronising and an avoidance tactic”, such
teacher-talk could equally well be regarded as an effort “to understand and articulate
how it is that complex social, cultural, economic and political matters come together and
are embodied in children’s lives…”. Bearing this distinction in mind, interview at least one
teacher about the relationship between the local community and academic achievement
in your SE school. Then try to evaluate this teacher’s views in the light of Thomson’s
comments.
Reflection point
Draw on the notes made as you engaged in the core readings and completed the activities
to consider what you have learnt about your school and its community and your own
views about social class and education.
Summarise your findings and draw out some key issues for discussion.
21
22
Teaching and Learning
Purpose: To enable you to successfully plan and teach a
sequence of lessons on a chosen topic and to begin to form
your own personal theory of teaching and learning
This section of your Personal Learning Record should be
worked on individually
Links
Coordinator briefings
University sessions
Assessment
Further professional
development

The organisation of special
educational needs work within the
school
 Data tracking and progress
Teaching and Learning sessions
Learning and Teaching Module
Assessment – Developing a personal
theory of teaching and learning
 Key Reflection Point
 Record of Professional
Development
 Professional development tutorials
2 and 3
 Targets for Teaching Practice
Each activity focuses on specific elements of teaching and these will all be
considered in university sessions. Your university tutors will talk to you about how
the tasks fit with sessions: sometimes a university session might introduce a topic
and a task then allows you to explore it further in school; other times you will be
asked to bring your task findings to a session and this will be used to start
discussions about a topic.
23
Introduction
We believe our student teachers should be committed to critical engagement with the goals
of education and be able to make informed and thoughtful judgements about what is
educationally worthwhile. These judgements are informed by your evolving philosophy of
education, which is shaped and re-shaped by research, debate and your own intellectual
curiosity. The development of such a philosophy is underpinned by a scholarly understanding
of the relationship between educational theory and practice, and informed by a continual
process of professional inquiry and personal reflection.
This section supports you to explore pupils, teachers, lessons and classrooms in order to
develop an understanding of how to plan, and teach, effective sequences of lessons.
In the early days of School Experience you will observe pupils and teachers and begin to
consider the different elements of a lesson. Once you have settled into school you and your
mentor will identify individual lessons and sequences of lessons that you will teach over the
placement; you must teach at least one sequence of lessons. From Activity TL4 onwards we
would like you to gradually develop your plans for teaching a sequence of lessons as you
complete the remainder of this section. After each task you are asked to return to your plans
for sequences of lessons and adapt them in light of the learning from the focus activity
before finally teaching a sequence of lessons. Of course this process should also impact on
the planning of individual lessons.
From Activity TL4 onwards, unless your subject tutors have given you further guidance,
there is no prescribed order to completing the tasks so you will need to negotiate with your
mentor how to fit them in to your timetable.
Each activity focuses on specific elements of teaching and these will all be considered in
university sessions. Your subject tutors will talk to you about how the tasks fit with sessions:
sometimes a university session might introduce a topic and a task then allows you to explore
it further in school; other times you will be asked to bring your task findings to a session and
this will be used to start discussions about a topic.
For some tasks there are observation schedules for you to complete but for others you need
to decide for yourself how you are going to record observations, thoughts and ideas. The
best approach to completing observations is to think in advance about what you want to find
out and how it will best suit you to record your work ~ for example, is it best to write in
prose, recording ideas sequentially or would a chart or mind map work better for you?
For Focus Activity TL3b we recommend that you co-observe a lesson with your mentor or an
experienced colleague from school. This approach to observation is very powerful and if you
are able to do this with some of the other activities in this section this would be highly
recommended.
This section of your Learning Record will hugely inform your understanding of teaching and
learning in your subject and thus will support and inform your Learning Teaching Module
Assessment – Developing a personal theory of teaching and learning. You can find further
details of this assessment in your Assessment Handbook and through your subject tutors.
24
Focus Activity TL1
The Pupils’ Day: pupil pursuit
Spend a school day carrying out a pupil pursuit. This approach provides an insight into the
curriculum from the pupils’ point of view.
What to do:

in consultation with your mentor/coordinator, arrange to spend a day following a
group of pupils;

follow your chosen pupils for all of their lessons during the session you have chosen.
Include registration and any tutor time, and try to see a range of subjects across the
curriculum;

for each lesson make a note of:
o
the content and structure of the lesson;
o
who they sit with and where they sit;
o
whether the pupils have the correct equipment for the lesson;
o
the number and type of activities actually completed;
o
how successful the pupils were in completing the task;
o
anything else they did other than the tasks set;
o
how they respond to the teacher;
o
how they interact with other pupils;
o
what you can deduce about the pupils’ attitude and commitment to the
lesson;
o
what you can deduce about pupils’ learning in the lesson;
o
any other relevant information.
Reflection Point
Using the information collected, write briefly about how the school day might seem from
the point of view of this group of learners, making sure you address the following points:

how you will use this information to inform your own lesson planning;

what factors need to be considered if lessons are to take account of children’s
needs.
Recommended follow-up activity
Repeat this activity towards the end of your placement, reflect on how the school
experience placement has developed your understanding of learners and how a teacher
knows a pupil has progressed.
25
Focus Activity TL2
The Teacher’s Day
Before carrying out this task spend a short while thinking about what you are expecting a
typical teacher’s day to look like and note down your ideas.
Spend a day with your mentor, or another teacher in your subject department, attending and
observing all of the lessons s/he teaches in that time, and noting what activities s/he is
engaged in.
What to do:

consult your mentor about which teacher you should work with for the day;

follow the teacher for all of his/her lessons during the day. Include registration, and
take note of how the teacher spends breaks and lunchtimes and time before and after
school;

throughout the observation period, note the activities in which the teacher is engaged,
in order to show the variety and extent of the teacher’s work:
o
o
o
make a list of all the activities. You may find the following prompts helpful:
teaching, discussing, meeting pupils, preparing resources, checking apparatus or
equipment, supervision, lesson planning, marking;
estimate the time spent on each type of activity;
ask what further school work will be done during the evening and add those
activities to your list;

for one of the lessons you observe complete Focus Activity TL3a;

discuss your notes with the teacher.
Reflection Point
Make brief notes on your impressions of the teacher’s day and how this compares with
your expectations.
List any useful points that you can take from this analysis about how to make the best
use of your time in school.
Once you have completed the reflection point read:
Maguire, M., Dillon, J. and Mahony, P. (2011) Reforming Teachers and their work. In:
Dillon and Maguire (Eds) Becoming a Teacher: Issues in Secondary Teaching (4th edition),
Maidenhead: Open University Press.
Add any thoughts or questions the chapter raises to your reflections.
26
Focus Activity TL3
Observing and understanding lessons
Observing lessons will form an important part of your learning during School Experience and
support you to understand how to plan a sequence of lessons.
There are two stages to this activity, initially focusing on what you observe people doing in a
lesson and then considering all the different components of a lesson to begin to understand
what is happening and how learning is taking place.
TL3a
During one of the lessons you observe during the Teacher’s Day activity, focus specifically on
the range of teacher and pupil activities in the lesson.
What to do:

for one lesson, use the table below to keep a record of teacher and pupil activities. For
each block of time, note what the teacher is doing, and – importantly – what the pupils
are doing;

ask the class teacher to talk to you about how they planned the lesson to enable the
activities to take place;

after the lesson, make notes on what you learnt from this lesson about lesson planning.
Observation Schedule 1: Teacher and Pupil Activities
Class:
No. pupils:
Topic:
Time
Teacher activity
Pupil activity
27
Observation Schedule 1: Teaching and Learning Activities continued
Class:
No. pupils:
Topic:
Time
Teacher activity
Pupil activity
28
Reflection Point
 Consider the activities you observed. Which activities did you particularly like? Why?
 What do you think the pupils learnt by doing each activity?
 Use this task to begin to compile a list of teacher and pupil activities that you might
use in the future.
29
TL3b
The aim of this focus activity is to help you understand what makes an effective lesson, what
lesson planning in your subject entails, and to give you the chance to appreciate the
importance of well organised, detailed and high quality lesson plans. You are provided with a
structured lesson observation schedule with some prompts to help you focus your
observation; you are advised to look at this schedule before you undertake the focus
activity.
The ideal approach to this task is for the observation to be carried out alongside an
experienced colleague who can support you to make sense of what you see, spot
things you might not have noticed and share your reflections.
What to do:

consult your mentor about which lesson you should observe for this focus activity
and who will co-observe with you;

before the lesson you are to observe: talk to the teacher for a few minutes about the
context of the lesson and the learning objectives for the pupils; explain the nature of
your focus activity and complete the relevant section of the observation schedule;

use the lesson observation schedule provided to record your observations. A prompt
sheet is given with the schedule to help you focus your observations;

use the lesson plan pro forma provided by your subject tutors to re-create a plan for
the lesson you observed. Include what you think the aims and learning objectives
and outcomes for the lesson were;

discuss your inferred lesson plan with the teacher you observed.
Reflection Point
Write notes in answer to these questions to complete your record of this focus activity;

what is the relationship between your inferred plan and the teacher’s plan for the
lesson?

how, in general, might an experienced teacher's plans and evaluations be
different from those of a beginning teacher?

Which aspects of a lesson do you think are hardest to plan for? Why?
Recommended follow-up activity
Choose one of the lessons you are going to teach and ask your mentor to observe you
using the same observation schedule. With your mentor, compare their observation
notes with your lesson plan. Use this to discuss your lesson plan and identify strategies
to develop your approach to planning lessons.
30
Observation Schedule: Understanding what makes an effective lesson (prompts)
Information about the lesson gathered in advance:
Aims of the lesson:
Talk to the teacher in advance of the lesson about: the context of the lesson; where it fits
into the Scheme of Work for the class; the learning objectives for the pupils; any other
relevant information.
What are the teacher’s aims for the lesson? How are these made
clear to pupils? At what stages of the lesson do the aims become
clear?
Lesson structure:
Focus on how the teacher organises the lesson and
at the way the lesson develops. How does this
lesson fit into other lessons? Is it following on from
previous lessons or starting a new topic?
Organisation of stages of the lesson
and transitions:
How does the teacher organise each
stage of the lesson?
Is there an obvious start to the lesson? How does it
begin?
When and how is equipment given out
and collected in? How are pupils
grouped?
Are there distinct elements to the lesson? What are
they? How does the teacher connect them together?
How does the teacher move from one
activity to another?
How does the lesson end? Is there a summing up,
review or looking forward? How long is given for
packing up?
What are the pupils expected to do at
different stages of the lesson? How
does the teacher make this clear?
Teacher and pupil interactions:
How do the teacher and pupils interact? Is this always the
same? How do pupils interact with each other?
Questions:
What questions does the teacher ask pupils?
Can you identify different types of questions?
How does the teacher choose pupils to answer questions?
What does the teacher do with pupils’ answers?
Assessing pupils’ learning:
Pupil actions, roles and learning:
In what ways does the teacher assess or evaluate
pupil progress?
Identify the different roles the teacher takes and the
strategies and activities they use, for example:
Identify the variety of activities and roles the
pupils are expected to undertake in the lesson
for example:
What do you think the pupils have learnt in
the lesson? Why do you think this?
instructing; describing; explaining; questioning;
showing; demonstrating; challenging, investigating,
role-playing, discussing, etc.
Listening; questioning; asking; telling; reading;
writing; discussing; investigating; imagining;
conjecturing.
Consider the different purposes behind a strategy the
teacher adopts, for example: developing fluency;
building understanding; consolidating learning.
How do the pupils know what is expected of
them? Do they seem more comfortable in
some situations than others?
Decide why you think the teacher has chosen to
adopt a particular approach. Raise questions to ask
the teacher later.
What do you think the pupils are learning
in each situation?
Teacher roles and strategies:
Managing behaviour:
How does the teacher foster a good and safe
learning environment?
How does the teacher pre-empt potential
disturbances?
How does the teacher react to situations that might
affect the learning of pupils?
Differentiation:
Do all the pupils do the same work?
How are individual pupils challenged or supported?
32
Observation Schedule: Understanding what makes an effective lesson
Information about the lesson gathered in advance:
Aims of the lesson:
Lesson structure:
Differentiation:
Organisation of stages of the lesson and
transitions:
Questions:
Teacher roles and strategies:
Teacher and pupil interactions:
Pupil actions, roles and learning:
Assessing pupils’ learning:
Managing behaviour:
33
34
Focus Activity TL4
The Curriculum: Planning with the National
Curriculum
This focus activity will enable you to develop an understanding of the curriculum in your
subject area.
As part of the task you will identify the topic(s) that you are going to teach later in
the placement and, for each topic, begin to develop a plan for a sequence of
lessons. The remaining activities within the Teaching and Learning section of your
Personal Learning Record, along with subject tasks and guidance, will all ask you
to return to and develop these plans further until you are eventually ready to teach
the lessons.
What to do:

look back over any session notes and materials on the National Curriculum and national
guidance on the teaching of your subject.

check that you have a secure understanding of the following points, making notes as
necessary:





the National Curriculum requirements for your subject, including where applicable
those for Key Stages 1 and 2;
the terminology associated with the National Curriculum;
ideas of progression within the National Curriculum;
departmental schemes of work for years 7 to 9. Relate these to National
Curriculum requirements. Note any cross curricular themes and skills that are
included;
the relevant GCSE specification(s) for your subject.

In discussion with your mentor, identify any topics that you are going to teach to a class
before the end of School Experience that will run over a sequence of lessons.

Find your chosen topic(s) in the National Curriculum. Track the topic through each Key
Stage (starting with KS2) and explore how concepts are developed.

Note down any areas of subject knowledge, skills or understanding you think you will
need to work on if you are to teach pupils to GCSE level. Draw on the audit of subject
knowledge that you have already completed. (Examples might be: a content area you
have never studied, use of ICT related to a particular purpose, or a concept you do not
feel you understand securely enough to teach to others).

Consider the knowledge, skills and understanding relating to your chosen topic(s) – are
there any areas of your own knowledge that you need to revise or study in preparation
for teaching it?

Survey the department’s resources: books, worksheets, DVDs, software and equipment.
Look at the library stock for your subject and the available ICT resources. How often is
ICT used? Is the use of ICT embedded in the teaching of your subject?

Identify any resources that you like that might be useful for teaching your chosen
topic(s).

Find out how the reprographics system works, and make sure that you get to know the
support staff who work in your area.

Read: Black, P (2011) Ideology, evidence and the raising of standards. In: Dillon and
Maguire (Eds) Becoming a Teacher: Issues in Secondary Teaching (4th edition),
Maidenhead: Open University Press.
35
Reflection Point
Reconsider your own strengths and areas for development in relation to teaching the 1116 curriculum. Use these notes to set targets to ensure that your subject knowledge is
secure in relation to Key Stage 3 and 4 curriculum requirements. When you are confident
with your subject knowledge for teaching up to GCSE, start identifying areas for subject
knowledge development for teaching your subject at A level.
Reflection Point
Make a note of resources that you think are particularly useful or take an
interesting/creative approach to the teaching of your subject.
Are there resources which will challenge the most academically able pupils? Are there
resources which are suitable for pupils with learning difficulties?
Developing a sequence of lessons
Draft a conceptual plan for any topics you have identified with your mentor that you are
going to teach over a sequence of lessons. On your plan show:





what you want pupils to learn;
where your topic fits into the National Curriculum – what comes before and after it;
what other areas of your subject the topic links to;
what you know about the topic and what you are not sure about;
any initial ideas you have about how you might teach the topic.
Share this with your mentor.
From this point on you are going to gradually develop your plans for teaching a
sequence of lessons through:



building on your plan(s) after each of the remaining Teaching and Learning
focus activities;
following subject guidance on how to develop your plan(s);
sharing your plan(s) with your mentor, class teacher, tutor and peers to
discuss its development.
This might all focus on one sequence of lessons that you are teaching having completed
all the tasks in this section and, in this case, you will be gradually building up your plan
adding to it after each task. Alternatively you might apply the learning from each task to
the plan for a sequence of lessons that you are working on at that point in the placement.
36
Focus Activity TL5
The Role of Support Staff
An important part of your work as a teacher will be to ‘develop effective professional
relationships with colleagues, knowing how and when to draw on advice and specialist
support’ and to ‘deploy support staff effectively’ (Teachers’ Standards, Part One, 8). In this
focus activity you are asked to explore the role of the support staff who work in the school.
What to do:

consult your mentor/coordinator about the best way of undertaking this task;

identify any whole school or department approaches to the work of support staff,
both in and out of the classroom;

arrange to observe a teaching assistant, or another member of staff working in
classroom support, for one or two lessons;

find out why support is provided and which pupil(s) it is aiming to have an impact on;

use the table on the next page to keep a record of your observation:


identify how the person relates to, and works with, the teacher and pupils.

estimate the time spent on different types of activity, e.g. one to one support,
small group support, marking work, comments to the whole class, supporting the
management of classroom activity;

decide what impact you think the support is having on pupils and why you think
this;

discuss your notes with the person you observed and the class teacher.
Talk to the member of staff about their role in school. Ask them what factors have
the biggest impact on their ability to successfully carry out their role.
Reflection point
At the end of the focus activity make brief notes on the differing roles of support staff and
other professionals in the school. Make a list of points you will need to bear in mind when
planning and teaching a lesson to make sure that support staff can work effectively with
pupils.
Recommended follow-up activity
For one of your lessons talk to your mentor about how to plan for the work of a teaching
assistant within the lesson. Decide how to communicate with the teaching assistant
before, during and after the lesson. After the lesson discuss your approach with the
teaching assistant and identify what else you could do in the future to make sure that
support staff effectively support pupils’ learning.
If you do not teach a lesson with a teaching assistant then ask your mentor or class
teacher to act in a supporting role for the lesson.
Developing a sequence of lessons
Will you have any support staff working with you when you teach the sequence of lessons
you are currently developing? Add ideas to your plan about how you will plan their work
so it has the greatest impact on pupil learning.
Discuss your plan with your mentor.
37
Observation Schedule: Support Staff Activity
Class :
No. pupils:
Topic:
Time
Teacher activity and
role
Support staff activity
and role
38
Perceived impact on
pupil(s) and why
Focus Activity TL6
Assessing and Responding to Pupils’ Work
The aim of this focus activity is to help you to think clearly about pupils' written work. You
need to think about what makes a good task, how you can judge what the work
demonstrates about a pupil's learning, and how your marking can best help the pupil.
What to do:

read the school policy on assessment, recording and reporting. Make brief notes on
what you consider to be the key points;

read and discuss with your mentor the departmental policy on assessment and
marking;

ask to see a sample of the written work from a class that you are going to teach. You
will need the work of 5 or 6 pupils across the ability range. Consider one task in
particular - preferably one which has already been marked. Look carefully at the
pupils' work and make notes on the following points:

what was the purpose of the task? Can you identify the skills, knowledge and
understanding that the task has developed?

whether the task was appropriate for all pupils, and whether (and in what ways) it
was modified to allow all pupils to tackle it;

how the work has been marked - the conventions (ticks, underlining, etc) used,
whether all mistakes were corrected, the nature of the comments, any marks or
grades given, targets for improvement;

does the pupils' work reveal any common misconceptions or errors that the pupils
are making?

is there any evidence from later work that the pupils have taken note of the
marking and learned from it?

has the marker considered the literacy skills of the pupils in their marking and
comments?

discuss your observations with your mentor and note any points of interest. Ask your
mentor to help you consider what evidence you have that all pupils did learn from the
task, and whether or not the task achieved its purpose.

Discuss with your mentor and teachers in your department the differences between
assessing and responding to KS3, KS4 and KS5 work.
Reflection Point
Read: Harrison, C (2011) Making assessment work in the classroom. In: Dillon, J. and
Maguire, M. (Eds) Becoming a Teacher: Issues in Secondary Teaching (4th edition),
Maidenhead: Open University Press.
After reading the chapter and reviewing your notes for this activity, identify at least three
key aspects of assessing pupils’ work that you want to focus on for the remainder of the
practice.
39
Developing a sequence of lessons
Add ideas to the plan you are currently working on about what written work you will set
pupils throughout the teaching of the topic that you will then mark.
 What is the purpose of the task(s) you are planning to set?
 How are you going to mark work?
 How will you know what pupils have learnt?
 How are you going to enable the pupils to respond to your marking?
Discuss your plan with your mentor.
This task feeds into the Assessment for Learning lecture and subject session at the
university in December and you should come to this session prepared to discuss
this task and your reflections.
40
Focus Activity TL7
Behaviour for Learning
This focus activity builds on the behaviour for learning lecture and subject session at
the university in October, and gives you the opportunity to start to analyse how
experienced teachers manage classrooms, and to start to identify strategies that you
will wish to use in your teaching. Completion of this activity should support the
construction of your Behaviour for Learning plan.
What to do:

Obtain a copy of the school’s statements about its expectations and rules - for
example, the Code of Conduct for pupils and the Behaviour and Discipline
policy. Read and make brief notes.

Read and discuss any departmental procedures relating to praise and rewards,
sanctions, what to do in case of difficulty, safety rules and health and safety
procedures. How are you going to ensure that you implement these
procedures? Write a list of key points that you will need to consider when
planning lessons.

Arrange with your mentor to observe at least two lessons involving different
teachers. The teachers do not have to be from your subject department and
you should try to observe different types of lessons (e.g. try to observe a
practical lesson). Once you have identified the lessons:

use the observation schedule on the next page to explore the
approaches to classroom management and behaviour for learning of
the different teachers. A prompt sheet is given with the schedule to
help you focus your observations;

after completing both observations, note down the similarities and
differences in the management styles you have observed.
 Create a mind map that considers:




factors that affect the behaviour of pupils;
approaches teachers take to classroom management and behaviour for
learning;
the commonalities and differences between teachers’ approaches;
ideas you wish to try out in your own teaching.
Over the remainder of School Experience, add to the mind map and review the
strategies you wish to adopt in your own teaching.

Read through the Class Management Checklist, which is organised into classroom
management strategies you might use at various points before, during and after a
lesson.

Ask your mentor or another teacher to use it as an observation checklist for one of
the lessons you teach. After the lesson, allow a few minutes for you and the observer
to complete the list. Aim to be as objective as possible about your own performance.
Compare your perceptions of the management and control aspects of the lesson.

Note down on your mind map any points that you have learned or things you want to
work on.

Read Burke, J. (2011) Call out the troops: classrooms, discipline and authority. In:
Dillon and Maguire (Eds) Becoming a Teacher: Issues in Secondary Teaching (4th
edition), Maidenhead: Open University Press.
41
Developing a sequence of lessons
Add ideas to the plan you are currently working on about how you intend to manage
behaviour in your lessons, and provide a safe learning environment for the pupils,
considering the different factors you have identified whilst completing this task.
Discuss your plan with your mentor.
Reflection Point
After reviewing your notes for this activity, evaluate your progress in behaviour
management during School Experience. Identify two targets to carry forward to the early
stages of Teaching Practice.
42
Observation schedule: Classroom management and behaviour for learning (prompts)
Information about the class, the lesson and the teacher’s philosophy on behaviour
management gathered in advance:
Who is the teacher? What year group and ability are the class? How many pupils are in the class?
Plan two or three questions that you would like to ask the teacher in advance of the lesson about
their approach to behaviour for learning and their beliefs about classroom cultures and
environments.
Classroom rules, conventions and
routines
Identify the key rules and routines
the teacher applies throughout their
lesson, e.g.

no talking whilst teacher is
talking;

late comers must explain
before going to place;

permission is needed to leave
seat;

pupils must bring a pen and
pencil;

no shouting out allowed;

pupils must put hands up to
answer a question.
What praise, reward and sanction
systems are in place and how does
the teacher apply them?
Managing noise levels
What noise does the teacher allow at
different points of the lesson?
When and how does the teacher
react to different noise levels?
Body language and non-verbal
communication
Notice the different ways in which the
teacher uses their body to
communicate something without
speaking:

How do they use their hands?

When do they stand? Sit?

How do they use their eyes?

What different facial
expressions do you notice?
How do pupils react?
Organisation of space/time/equipment
Notice the ways in which the teacher organises:

the use of equipment;

the amount of time given to an aspect of the lesson;

the classroom and movement around the room.
Start/end of lesson
Notice what the teacher does:

before the pupils arrive;

as they arrive;

as the lesson gets started;

in the final stages of the lesson;

as the pupils are leaving;

after they have left.
Use of voice
Notice the changes to the teacher’s
voice. What effect does it have on
pupils?
Managing transitions
How does the teacher manage a change in the lesson?
For example:

from the teacher talking to the whole class to
the pupils working independently;

as the pupils are finishing independent work
and the teacher prepares to bring them back
together as a class;

as the lesson comes to an end.
Pupil-teacher, teacher-pupil and pupil-pupil communication and relationships
How does the teacher address the pupils? As a class? As individuals?
How do pupils address the teacher?
How do the pupils address each other?
What forms of communication are acceptable/not acceptable?
Can you describe the relationships between teacher and pupils and pupils and pupils?
43
Attitude to learning
Note down things you observe that you believe
demonstrate the pupils’ attitudes to learning.
Do you notice the teacher nurturing particular
attitudes to learning? How do they do this?
Anticipation of problems
Try to spot moments where problems might occur and
how the teacher anticipates this and prevents a situation
arising.
Resolving conflict
If a pupil’s behaviour is inappropriate
or a situation occurs, note down how
the incident develops and is resolved.
Classroom culture
How would you describe the culture of this teacher’s classroom with
these pupils?
Do you notice this teacher promoting or encouraging any particular
behaviours and attitudes?
44
Observation schedule: Classroom management and behaviour for learning
Information about the class, the lesson and the teacher’s philosophy on behaviour management gathered in
advance:
Classroom rules,
conventions and routines
Body language and non-verbal
communication
Organisation of space/time/equipment
Use of voice
Start/end of lesson
Attitude to learning
Anticipation of problems
Resolving conflict
Managing noise levels
Pupil-teacher, teacher-pupil and pupil-pupil communication and
relationships
Managing transitions
Classroom culture
45
46
Observation schedule: Classroom management and behaviour for learning
Information about the class, the lesson and the teacher’s philosophy on behaviour management
gathered in advance:
Classroom rules,
conventions and
routines
Body language and non-verbal
communication
Use of voice
Attitude to learning
Anticipation of problems
Organisation of
space/time/equipment
Start/end of lesson
Resolving conflict
Managing transitions
Managing noise levels
Pupil-teacher, teacher-pupil and pupil-pupil communication and relationships
Classroom culture
47
48
Focus Activity TL7
CLASS MANAGEMENT CHECKLIST
DATE:
CLASS:
Action
Student
Teacher

Before the lesson did you…?

Prepare your lesson thoroughly, ensuring it
had a clear structure

Ensure there was a variety of activity

Check level of work was appropriate to age
group

Have extra work available for able pupils
and those with special needs

If appropriate, practise class experiments,
demonstrations, explanations

If appropriate, book apparatus/equipment
well in advance, giving a written list of what
was required

Plan the distribution and return of
equipment/resources

Prepare furniture and resources in the room
before pupils arrived (if possible)

Arrive at the room before your pupils

Check how many items of
equipment/resources you had at the start
At the start of the lesson did you…?

Control entry of pupils into the room

Get attention before you started speaking

Start the lesson crisply, clearly and
definitely

Deal with distractions, e.g. latecomers,
quickly and efficiently
49
TIME:
Observer

Any Comments
Action
Student
Teacher

During the lesson did you…?











Know and use pupils' names
Give clear instructions
Look at your pupils when speaking to them
and scan the class
Avoid turning your back on the class
Walk around and not just teach from the
front
Organise transitions between activities
carefully
Get feedback frequently by asking questions
Spread questions around the class and
make sure pupils were involved
Use praise and encouragement to
sustain/increase motivation
Show yourself to be a helper and facilitator
to your pupils
Insist on safe procedures
If a problem arose did you…?





Act quickly
Avoid a full-scale confrontation which you
could not win
Focus on the act not the person
Clarify and insist on your standards
Act firmly and consistently in giving
punishments
At the end of the lesson did you…?




Allow pupils time to pack up and clear away
before the bell
Count back items of equipment
Look round before dismissing the class to
ensure the room was tidy
Ensure the class was quiet and orderly
before dismissal
After your lesson did you…?


Analyse in lesson notes any mistakes made
Identify (preferably after discussion) points
for improvement
50
Observer

Any Comments
Focus Activity TL8:
Getting to know pupils with Special Educational
Needs
Part of your professional development as a teacher is developing your knowledge and
understanding of strategies which can be used to support pupils with different special
educational needs. These activities are designed to enable you to begin to understand:



The range of ‘data’ you can gather on pupils with special educational needs
The relationship between classroom teachers, school-wide systems and wider
professionals in supporting pupils with special educational needs
The importance of understanding the pupil as an individual when planning for any
needs s/he may have.
Your school coordinator will organise a briefing session on the organisation of
special educational needs work within the school. This session will support the
work you do on this activity.
You will visit this focus activity three times over School Experience. Ideally, this
will take place over three weeks (these do not need to be consecutive).
Week one
1) Read the school policy on SEN and the Code of Practice.
2) Find out: who the school’s SENCO (special needs coordinator) is, how many pupils carry
statements of special needs and how many are on the special needs register.
3) Ask to see an example of an Individual Education Plan (IEP). How does your department
make use of pupils’ IEPs?
4) You will already have completed Focus Activity TL5, the role of support staff in school, so
you know that teaching assistants (TAs) can make a significant contribution to the pupils’
learning in your lessons. It is important that you continue to develop a clear
understanding of the role of the TA in lessons and also that you develop strategies to
enable you to work effectively with TAs.
5) Identify a pupil with SEN who you can observe in at least one lesson this week and later
work with on an individual support basis in class. Discuss this with the SENCO and/or
your mentor. If possible this should be a pupil within a class that you will later be
teaching.
6) Try to find out and note down the following information on this pupil:
Before the lesson(s):
 What are this pupil’s special educational needs?
 What do teachers perceive to be this pupil’s strengths and weaknesses (consult a
range of teachers if you can – form tutor, subject teacher, teacher from another
subject)
 What adaptations are made to classroom work for this pupil? What support is
provided in terms of adult support, access to resources, consideration of the level of
the work, assessment processes/feedback during the lesson?
During the lesson(s):
 How well does this pupil respond to specific teaching approaches in your subject?
 How often does the pupil seek help from other pupils/the teacher?
 How well does this pupil relate to others in the group?
 What role does a teaching assistant play in supporting this pupil during the lesson?
51
After the lesson(s):
 Try to find time to talk to the pupil about his/her work: which aspects do they enjoy
in your subject? Which aspects do they not enjoy?
 Try to talk to the teacher about the lesson: how do they cater for the needs of the
pupil? Do they receive any support in meeting the specific needs of the pupil? What is
the departmental policy for working with pupils with Special Educational Needs?
Week two
In this week you need to individually support the pupil in at least one whole lesson.
Before the lesson(s):
Discuss with the class teacher the topics they are teaching this week and the personalised
targets for the pupil. In lessons you will be supporting the pupil to meet these targets, so
you will need to think about how you intend to do this.
After the lesson(s):
Record briefly how the teaching and learning went, how the pupil responded, signs of
learning and progress and any changes that you made to support the learning.
Week three
In this week you need to teach at least one whole lesson with the class that the pupil is in.
Before the lesson(s):
Discuss with the class teacher the topic you are teaching and decide on the personalised
targets you will set for the pupil.
You may find it helpful to complete the checklist within the personalised learning task at:
http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20111218081624/http://tda.gov.uk/teacher/dev
eloping-career/sen-and-disability/sen-training-resources/one-year-itt-programmes/personallearning-task.aspx
After the lesson(s):
Record briefly how the teaching and learning went, how the pupil responded, signs of
learning and progress and any changes that you made to support the pupil’s learning.
Developing a sequence of lessons
Identify any pupils with special educational needs that are in the class you will be
teaching. Adapt your plan in the light of your learning from this activity.
Discuss your plan with your mentor.
52
Reflection Point
Reflect on your experiences working with this individual pupil and continue to think about
the factors that need to be considered if lessons are to take account of all pupils’ needs.
Reflect on the briefing your coordinator arranged for you on meeting pupils’ special
educational needs.
Further develop your understanding of this key issue by attending the Inclusive Schools
lecture series. You will also find a number of chapters in the course reader useful. Chapter
18, Aiming for inclusion: removing barriers and building bridges by Chris Abbot is a good
place to start.
Add any additional thoughts or questions to your reflections.
This task feeds into the Inclusion and SEN Day at the university in December and
you should come to this session prepared to discuss this task and your reflections.
53
54
Pupil Care and
Guidance
Purpose: To enable you to explore how pupil care and
guidance can be organised in a school and to understand
your responsibility towards the social, emotional and
intellectual well-being of children
This section of your Personal Learning Record should be
worked on individually
Links
Coordinator briefings
University sessions
Assessment
Further professional
development

The school’s system of pastoral
care
 Child protection
Schools and Society sessions
 Schools and Community
Marketplace
 Education for Social Justice
Discussions
 Key Reflection Point
 Record of Professional
Development
 Professional development tutorials
2 and 3
 Targets for Teaching Practice
55
Introduction
We believe that our trainee teachers should be committed to working in a variety of schools
within diverse communities and that you serve as role models for the young people you
teach. We also believe that your practice should be underpinned by a sense of responsibility
towards the social, emotional and intellectual well-being of all children. This is itself manifest
in your passion for teaching and your desire to support your students in developing the
qualities, skills and dispositions necessary in a fast-changing world. Of course these
principles should underpin the teaching of your subject, but we also believe you need to
consider them in relation to your wider role as a teacher.
Developing an understanding of the role of the form tutor is an important aspect of your
learning to be a teacher. This section of your Personal Learning Record focuses not only on
the role of the form tutor, but also on how student care and guidance is organised in your
school.
Through reflecting on briefing sessions organised by your coordinator and working closely
with the form group that you are allocated to, you should gradually complete this section
over the duration of School Experience.
Your work on this section of your Learning Record will support your understanding of your
school and its community and the issues that might impact on some pupils’ experiences of
school and learning, thus informing the Schools and Community Marketplace and the
Education for Social Justice discussions.
56
Focus Activity PCG1
Pupil care and guidance
Before you start work on this activity you should read: Jones J (2011) Beyond the subject
curriculum: the form tutor’s role. In: Dillon, J. and Maguire, M. (Eds) Becoming a Teacher:
Issues in Secondary Teaching (4th edition), Maidenhead: Open University Press.
Your school coordinator will organise briefing sessions on:
o
the school’s system of pastoral care;
o
child protection.
These sessions will support the work you do in this section.
What to do:

reflect on the briefing sessions, and other discussions with staff, and explore how
student care and guidance are organised in the school. How are tutor groupings
decided? What is the role in pastoral care of the individual teacher as a form tutor?
How does the school support children and families?

once you have been allocated to a tutor and tutor group, discuss the role with the
tutor and observe how the tutor works with the tutor group;

agree with the tutor opportunities for you to support and lead sessions and draw up a
timetable of weekly pastoral activities for your tutor group;

complete the general information table included on the record sheet for this focus
activity;

use the Pastoral Care and Guidance Observation Schedule to record your
observations of tutor time and the role of the tutor over the course of School
Experience (you are not expected to complete the schedule in one go but to
continuously add to it over your time with the form);

arrange a convenient time to talk with the Head of Year/House about what his/her
role involves;

keep a record of all pastoral activities you undertake in your Teaching Record: pupil
care and guidance.
Reflection Point
Summarise your thoughts on the key contributions a form tutor makes to a pupil’s
experience of school. What would you identify as being the key areas for development for
you as you start Teaching Practice next term?
57
Pupil care and guidance: general information about tutor group
Tutor group: _______________ Name of tutor: ____________________________
No. in tutor group: ___________ Girls: _____________ Boys: _______________
Tutor room: __________________________________________________________
Registration times: ____________________________________________________
Activities during registration time: ________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________
Timetabled tutor periods/PSHE lessons: ____________________________________
____________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________
Other information (include what you have found out about the teacher’s beliefs about being
a form tutor and what this role entails):
58
Observation schedule: Pupil Care and Guidance (prompts)
Class:
Teacher:
Administration and organisation

How does the tutor start tutor time
sessions?

How does the tutor deal with
administrative matters?

What is the procedure for routinely
monitoring diaries?

How does the tutor encourage student
involvement in whole school
activities?

How do tutor time sessions end?

What strategies and approaches
employed by the tutor are particularly
successful?
Supporting individuals

How are pupils with special
educational needs given extra
support?

How are pupils that are having
difficulties in school or at home
supported?
Number of pupils:
Activities

What sort of activities are planned into
each week’s tutor sessions?

Do pupils see tutorial time as a time
when they can choose what to do?

How does the tutor persuade all pupils to
participate in the activities?

Which activities are particularly
successful?
Communication and relationships

What does the tutor do to interact positively with pupils?

How does the tutor manage to take an interest in individuals
while overseeing the whole class?

How does the tutor show pupils that s/he knows about the
progress they are making in their learning?

Are other adults assigned to the tutor group and what roles do
they play?

How do the pupils communicate with each other?
Anticipation of problems

How does the tutor identify and pre-empt potential
problems with members of the tutor groups?
Behaviour

How does the tutor show that s/he has
high expectations of the pupils?

How does the tutor encourage pupils to
be responsible for their own behaviour?

How does the tutor manage behaviour in
a non-confrontational way?

How does the tutor promote good
behaviour during the rest of the day?
Group culture and identity

How does the tutor promote and encourage a tutor group identity?

Can you describe the culture of the tutor group?

How does the tutor group fit into the whole school culture?

What do pupils gain from being in the tutor group?
Pupil voice, identity and self esteem

List the ways the tutor praises pupils.

How does the tutor encourage pupils to be responsible for
their own learning and progress?

How does the tutor support pupils to have their voices heard
and their views included? Within the group? Within the school?
Within the community? Within wider circles?
Resolving problems

Where problems arise within the tutor group how does the tutor
resolve them?

Where problems arise with a member of the group in other areas
of the school, what is the role of the tutor? How are problems
resolved?
59
60
Observation schedule: Pupil Care and Guidance
Class:
Administration and organisation
Supporting individuals
Teacher:
Number of pupils:
Activities
Pupil-teacher, teacher-pupil and pupil-pupil
communication and relationships
Anticipation of problems
Behaviour
Pupil voice, identity and self esteem
Resolving problems
Group culture
61
62
Key Reflection Point
Purpose: To enable you to reflect on your learning over the
term and prepare for the next phase of the course
This section of your Personal Learning Record should be
worked on individually
Links
University sessions
Assessment
Transition sessions in December and
January
Peer Review of Personal Learning Record
– School Experience
Record of Professional Development:
Evaluation of Professional Development
School Experience which informs School
Assessment Meeting 1 and the
completion of School Experience Profile
This section will also inform your preparation for your Professional
Development Tutorial 3 in December and the setting of targets for
Teaching Practice.
63
Introduction
You now have the opportunity to reflect on your learning over the first term of the PGCE
course, and it should be completed as you approach the end of School Experience. You are
asked to note your responses to a series of questions relating to:


your developing understanding of teaching and learning;
your developing understanding of issues around education for social justice.
Your responses will contribute to:



your completion of your first Evaluation of Professional Development as part of the
Professional Development Tutorial process. This will inform discussions you will have
with your mentor at the end of School Experience and the completion of your School
Experience Profile, and with your tutor when you review your progress in
Professional Development Tutorial 3;
discussions in university sessions in the transition period between School Experience
and Teaching Practice;
the Education for Social Justice discussions that take place in December.
Critical incidents
‘……critical incidents are created. Incidents happen, but critical incidents are produced by the
way we look at a situation: a critical incident is an interpretation of the significance of an
event…’ (Tripp, 1993: 8).
‘The vast majority of critical incidents, however, are not at all dramatic or obvious: they are
mostly straightforward accounts of very commonplace events that occur in routine
professional practice which are critical in the rather different sense that that are indicative of
underlying trends, motives and structures. These incidents appear to be ‘typical’ rather than
‘critical’ at first sight, but are rendered critical through analysis’ (Tripp, 1993: 24-25)
Tripp, D. (1993) Critical incidents in teaching. London: Routledge.
If in the process of reflecting, you identify a ‘critical incident’ i.e. something which
appears significant, consider:


Why you regard it as critical
Focus on key points to help you identify how you could improve your practice.
Consider for example:
o
o
o
o
o
o
the learning environment;
behaviour for learning;
subject knowledge;
subject knowledge for teaching;
assessment for learning;
issues around diversity and education for social justice.
64
What have you learned since the start of the PGCE course about:
teaching in general?
yourself as a teacher?
teaching your subject?
pupils?
pupils’ learning in your subject?
65
What have you learned since the start of the PGCE course about:
the promotion of social justice through teaching?
the importance of engaging more broadly with the life of a school and its wider community?
Reflect on your personal views on the five strands relating to education for social
justice that we have asked you to explore this term.
Has anything about your views surprised you?
Have your views changed in any way? If so, why?
What would you like to know more about in relation to promoting social justice?
66
Records and Visits
67
LESSON OBSERVATION RECORD – This is useful to complete to audit the range of lessons you are observing and make
decisions about how to make best use of your observation time.
Date
Class
Subject
Teachers observed
68
Focus of observations
LESSON OBSERVATION RECORD
Date
Class
Subject
Teachers observed
69
Focus of observations
Teaching Record – this must be completed as a record of your teaching.
Lesson/Element
of lesson taught
Class
Date
Time
Comment
Indicate whether lesson observed and
insert any written feedback in the
Learning Record
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
70
Teaching Record
Lesson/Element
of lesson taught
Class
Date
Time
Comment
Indicate whether lesson observed and
insert any written feedback in the
Learning Record
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
71
Teaching Record – Pastoral Care and Guidance
Lesson/Element
of lesson taught
Date
Time
Comment
Indicate whether lesson observed and insert
any written feedback in the Learning Record
72
Your Timetable (after half term)
Student Teacher’s Name…………………….…… School……………………….………….
Period and Time
MONDAY
TUESDAY
WEDNESDAY
THURSDAY
FRIDAY
Student Teacher’s Name…………………….…… School……………………….………….
Period and Time
MONDAY
TUESDAY
73
WEDNESDAY
THURSDAY
FRIDAY
Personal Learning Record - School Experience 2015/2016
Peer Assessment Form
Student's Name:
Date:
Subject:
School Experience School:
Completed
Comments
Focus Activities
SS1 Getting to know the
school
SS2 Education for Social
Justice: School Culture
SS3 Education for Social
Justice: Gender
SS4 Education for Social
Justice: Race and
Ethnicity
SS5 Education for Social
Justice: Sexuality
SS6 Education for Social
Justice: Social class
TL1 The Pupil's Day
TL2 The Teacher's Day
TL3 Observing and
Understanding Lessons
74
Completed
Comments
Completed
Comments
Focus Activities
TL4 The Curriculum
TL5 The Role of Support
Staff
TL6 Assessing and
Responding to Pupils’
Work
TL7 Behaviour for
Learning
TL8 Getting to know
pupils with Special
Educational Needs
PCG1 Pupil Care and
Guidance
Key Reflection Point
Records and Visits
Lesson Observation
Record
Lesson Observation
Learning Record
Teaching Record
Teaching Record –
Pastoral Care and
Guidance
Timetable (after half
term)
Signature of Peer Assessor: ………………………………………………………………. Date: …………………………………..
Signature of Tutor: ………………………………………………………….…………………. Date: …………………………………..
75