Improving Teaching and Learning
February 2014
For further information:
Estyn (2012) Supporting more able and talented students in
secondary schools [Online] Availiable from: http://www.estyn.gov.uk/
english/docViewer/249303.6/supporting-more-able-and-talentedpupils-in-secondary-schools-june-2012/ [Accessed 20 February 2014]
Gershon, M (2013) How to Stretch and Challenge your Students.
TES. 18 June 2013
George, D (1992) The Challenge of the Able Child. David
Foulton Publishers: London
Sutherland and Stack (date unknown) Guidelines for
addressing the needs of highly able pupils [Online] Available from:
http://www.educationscotland.gov.uk/publications/s/publication_
tcm4623165.asp [Accessed 20 February 2014]
Evolving practice
to support more
able students
Raising the achievement of every student
to their potential
The Power of Six by Bodmin College [see the staff room area in
Moodle]
Gifted and Talented Provision at Bodmin College Available from
http://www.bodmincollege.co.uk/students/gifted-and-talented/
Contact:
Ian Crews
Vice Principal
ci@bodmincollege.co.uk
Martin Dixon
Vice Principal
dm@bodmincollege.co.uk
A teaching and learning resource by staff at Bodmin College
What is a ‘more able’ student?
How many we have got?
What do we do to plan for more able students?
How can we evolve our current practice for the
more able students in our teaching groups?
This booklet summarises high quality practice and
new ideas for supporting more able students across
Bodmin College. It is designed as a resource to
support staff in their planning and delivery of inclass teaching and learning.
Stretching and Challenging
Reasoning: When pupils share their opinion with you, or with a
partner during discussion, push them to explain what underpins that
opinion. Do not let unsupported assertions escape without asking
“Why?”, “What reasons do you have for thinking that?”. You can
even train your pupils to start asking these questions of each other.
Products: Plan your lessons so that pupils are building up to creating
some kind of product – an essay, perhaps, or an extended piece of
drama or a presentation. This will imbue your lessons with purpose
and show them that you believe they can create significant pieces
of work.
Success criteria: Make sure that every pupil knows what the success
criteria are for each major piece of work you ask them to do,
and that it is possible for everybody to attain them. In a positive
classroom, pupils will be more likely to push themselves to excel.
Gershon (2013)
More able students are identified on the SIMS database through
the Raise Attainment Band KS2 Import column. Approximately 30%
of our students are of high ability and although this varies between
years groups, their progress and attainment can become affected
by teachers who plan to teach ‘to the middle’. By doing this, more
able students lack the stretch and challenge required to help them
achieve; instead some of these students can be tempted to coast
through their education.
Although Ofsted state that, ‘It is unrealistic...for inspectors to necessarily
expect that all work in all lessons is always matched to the specific
needs of each individual’ we recognise that we need to provide
challenges for more able students so that they can learn at the same
rate as our middle and lower ability students. By teaching to the top
and supporting to the bottom we can ensure that all students in a
class can make good progress, whether mixed ability or organised
by setting.
“
“
1
What does the school need to do to
improve further? Improve the progress of
more-able students
Bodmin College Ofsted Inspection, 2014
6
New Strategies: What we could do?
Strategies suggested by staff include:
• Teach to the top and support through middle and lower abilities.
• Give extension tasks to more able students that specifically target
analytical skills.
• Use more focused DIRT to enhance the rates of progress.
• Further develop the use of literacy to enhance reading for
understanding, speaking and listening and writing in a more
analytical way.
• Ensure that learning objectives are tiered through Bloom’s and
that they achieve levels for more able students.
• Use differing structures in the classroom to encourage talk
between different groups of students. This will encourage more
able students to think more about their audience for the points
they wish to make.
• Use more debating and discussion with the more able groups in
a class.
• Set more challenging work to
challenge more able students,
even if the work is not directly
linked to the course criteria.
g
• Begin with ‘some’ when all/
ed seatin
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• Audit more able provision
on
lity
ability c
within each key stage, unit of
gher abi
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ouped to
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• Place more able students
iffering
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w
or
.
on departmental agenda at
students
regular intervals.
• Build higher order thinking skills
into every lesson.
• Give cognisance to metacognition and metalearning promotion
through KS3 and KS4.
• Provide additional departmental training in areas that more able
students will need to access.
5
Some current practice at Bodmin
College that works well
• Higher order questioning is directed at more able students.
• There is a raised expectation of outcomes.
• More able students are encouraged to assist TAs as subject matter
experts.
• Subject specialists (more able students) lead on certain topics with
other students.
• Regular conversations are held with more able students at an
aspirational level.
• Levelled feedback using level descriptors is provided for all abilities.
• The level of language engagement is targeted to more able
students using differentiated verb and sentence structure.
• Extension sheets and tasks are given to more able students.
• Critical thinking skills are explicitly taught.
• The department works on the
assumption that more able
students will continue to A
level, from Year Seven.
• From
Year
Seven,
the
department focuses on all
students making four and five
levels of progress.
• GCSE themes are embedded
early in KS3.
• Explicit teaching is given
about the success criteria
for the highest grades and is
linked to specific activities.
Exemplar work from
students and staff
is shared with higher
ability students. This
sets high expectations
and aspirations.
2
ort for
p
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R
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Scho
ahl
Roald D
aged 16
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‘The bo
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David B
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‘[Higher ability students] are those who are functioning at the upper
end of that particular key stage or one key stage ahead and whose
abilities are so well developed of their peer group that a school has
to provide additional learning experiences which develop, enhance
and extend their abilities.
David George (1992)
ty in
such dispari
Why is there
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Ofsted 2013
‘Gifted and talented children have special needs and special problems, though not all. They also have special, sometimes immense, talent to give
to society. We owe it to them to help cultivate their abilities and society to help prepare tomorrow’s leaders and talent. More able children are the
most precious natural resource in the world and one cannot be allowed to be squandered. Survival and achievements of the human species owe
much to one characteristic - a capacity for creative problem solving. This ability to find answers to problems remains a vital one. A major objective of
more able education is to recognise and foster this ability. Unfortunately, the pursuit of this, and related objectives, is often plagued with confusion,
misconception, doubtful assumptions, exaggerated claims and a lack of communication.’
David George (1992)
How to provide challenge
1. Identifying the student’s next steps and creating
cognitive dissonance.
2. Injecting elements of novelty and variety into the
learning experience.
3. Encouraging metacognition.
4. Offering opportunities for independence and self
direction.
5. Encouraging risk taking,
6. Providing opportunities to work with like-minded
peers.
Sutherland and Stack (Accessed 2014)
3
School Rep
ort for
Ludwig va
n Beethove
n
‘As a com
poser, he
is
hopeless’
Schools should:
• Provide enriched opportunities and
appropriately
challenging
provision
across the curriculum for more able and
talented pupils to achieve the highest
standards.
• Ensure that more able and talented
pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds
receive specific support to overcome
barriers to their learning.
Estyn (2012)
4