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NewsletterA c h i e v i n g E x c e l l e n c e T o g e t h e r

www.csc jes .org.uk

February 2017 – Issue 24

CENTRAL SOUTH WALES CHALLENGE

HER CANOL DE CYMRU

In This Issue...Improving Outcomes p4Enriching Pupil Experiences p5Lead Creative Schools p6Professional Learning Hubs p6Research Practice Partnerships p8Teach First Participant Insights p10 Research Corner p12Research in the Self-Improving School System p16Welsh Language Charter p17Modern Foreign Languages p19Assessment for Learning p22Growth Mindset p22

Curriculum for Wales - Our Journey Towards a Transformational Curriculum

Andrea May, Strategic Lead for Learning and Teaching at Central South ConsortiumAs a region, our progress towards the realisation of the ‘transformational curriculum’ has most certainly begun!

Your response to the mantra #creatingtheclimateforchange

has been overwhelmingly positive.

For this edition, I borrow the words of the inspirational Martin Luther King to help us along our journey:

‘You don’t have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step’. This is our message to schools!

Our Pioneer Network have been extremely busy, continuing the work on developing the curriculum, with a range of expert input. Work has started to refine the ‘What matters’ statements and to consider the progression steps. The Professional Learning Pioneers have received further expert input from Professor Mick Waters and Professor Mark Priestly, supporting them in their next task of

For more information on the Central South Consortium or if you would like to contribute to this newsletter, contact us at:

communications@cscjes.org.uk or telephone 01443 827500.

Sign up here to keep up to date with the latest news and updates

from the region in our weekly school bulletin, see our

CSC blog and follow us on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram

and LinkedIn.

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identifying the professional learning needs of the workforce. This is not an easy job and it will require all professionals to take responsibility for their own learning and development. Why not join them in their research by reading ‘Understanding by Design’ by Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe. The book provides a useful insight into planning for ‘Big Ideas’ and the notion of ‘Backward Design’.

Many schools across the region took their first steps in the Autumn term with centrally held engagement sessions which were well attended: for some this was their next step! The New Year has started with the mobilisation of Partner schools, engaging in sessions led by Pioneer schools. These sessions have again been well attended and greeted with positivity, allowing schools to both start and continue on their own journey. In these sessions, schools have received:

• key messages;

• an outline of where you can find support;

• activities to support you in your own school;

• support for inquiry; and

• direction with completing the ‘readiness tool’.

All of these materials are also available on the Cronfa Knowledge Bank.

We have ensured that our teams who are available to support you are also fully involved in #creatingtheclimateforchange. This includes your challenge adviser and the core strategic team.

Richard Carbis, our lead for Welsh, has been busy with his blogs, highlighting the importance of Welsh language and culture. This plays a central role in the reform process; and one that we cannot afford to ignore, as there is much work to do! The Successful Futures review and the Welsh Government 2050 action plan provide the direction of travel for schools. The new Professional Standards for Teachers and Leaders set the out the challenge for the profession and the two #siarteriaith characters ‘Sbarc a Seren have been proactive within the region! Bethan Davies, our Welsh Language Charter Officer, provides us with more information in this edition. Improving my use of Welsh is a personal target; I had a great teacher and now I am receiving encouragement and support from the central team, teachers and the Headteachers I am working with to improve my confidence. Diolch yn fawr iawn! The one year sabbatical scheme is there to support practitioners. Is this something you would consider?

The School Improvement Groups are thriving as they continue to work on their chosen focus as well as utilising the network to engage in the creating the climate for change work with the Pioneer school. Many are now moving their focus to the new curriculum, working collaboratively to address improvement areas they feel most appropriate to their settings. Our Hub schools continue to support through offering professional learning opportunities, free of charge, across the region. Outcomes from some of these sessions and the work of SIGs are included in this edition.

This is an exciting time for education in Wales. As a region, we are well placed to embrace ‘Curriculum for Wales’ and we will continue to work with schools as we take each step on the staircase as it appears. We welcome your feedback to support us in identifying the region’s needs; your school’s needs and your needs. Completion of the ‘readiness tool’ will help us identify these, as well as recognising practice worthy of sharing across the region. There is a growing movement on Twitter to mobilise the profession in Wales to share their practice. Why not join and engage in these discussions and follow us @CSC_LT.

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Please get in touch with our Curriculum for Wales team at Central South Consortium for help and support.

Debbie Lewis Senior Lead for

Teaching and Learning Debbie.Lewis@cscjes.org.uk

Andrea May Strategic Adviser for

Teaching and Learning Andrea.May@cscjes.org.uk

Richard George Strategic Adviser for Curriculum Support

Richard.George@cscjes.org.uk

These newsletters are now being organised using the 7 effective PILLARS that you will have noticed in the readiness tool.

• Pedagogy

• Innovating Learning Experiences

• Leading Collaborative Professional Learning

• Language and Culture

• Assessment

• Relationships and Wellbeing

• Standards This will hopefully support you in your preparations, as they will give a really good flavour of what schools across the region are doing.

Our next steps will be to remain focused on professional learning, leadership and pedagogy; it is these areas where we suggest your energies need to lie as we #createtheclimateforchange.

As a profession, we have the power to change lives; with this, we have a responsibility to ensure that young people across the region have access to the best possible education. Together we will achieve this.

The journey of a thousand miles has begun; but remember...

‘You don’t have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step’.

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Securing Improved Outcomes for All

Jan Berry, Deputy Headteacher at Cantonian High School, Cardiff Cantonian High School was put into the category of ‘in need of significant improvement’ in February 2015 and was removed from the formal category in June 2017.

Much work has been undertaken in conjunction with the LA and other partners to support and secure improved outcomes for all. These include a formal partnership with neighbouring school The Bishop of Llandaff and work undertaken with an education consultant to improve standards. Headteacher, Diane Gill, was appointed in 2016 and has successfully led the school to improved standards, year on year across all key stages. In all measures, the school now sits in at least the top 50% of similar schools.

In order to achieve this success, there has been significant investment in professional development opportunities for all staff. INSET and follow up training has focused on Allison and Tharby’s core principles of challenge, explanation, modelling, practice, feedback and questioning. We are striving to establish an ethos of excellence and growth. Developing a consistent approach to behaviour management and learning and teaching through improved rules and routines was our priority – we developed our ‘Non-Negotiables’.

Significant work has been undertaken on ‘planning’ to raise the bar and ensure appropriate scaffolding, thus implementing stretch and challenge for all learners – not just the more able. A key development has been to make the learning journey far more explicit. Lessons are now developed around one challenging learning objective, with the use of success criteria and mini reviews to check progress and support pupils in their understanding and knowledge of how to move forward. WELL Walls (What Excellence Looks Like) provide opportunities for both teachers and pupils to model excellent work. We endorse a growth mindset culture to support a positive learning environment. We praise effort rather than attainment (but try not to over praise). We are creating an environment in which mistakes are welcomed e.g. ‘My Favourite Mistake’. Pupils are encouraged to try hard and accept challenges, and be willing to take risks. We have focused on improving teacher and pupil feedback using positive specific and helpful advice to enable pupils to be clear about the learning gap and how to close that gap. We have planned ‘DIRT’ time (Directed Improvement Reflection Time) to allow pupils to act on feedback. We are actively developing a culture of questioning that encourages pupils to think deeply – planning for the ‘Big Questions’; we are currently trialling a range of strategies to support improved questioning.

We are constantly sharing good pedagogical practice through:• Weekly Learning and Teaching Briefings• Senior and Middle Leader Learning Walks• Breakfast Teach Meets• Teacher Learning Groups – led by Lead Practitioners• Termly focused Whole School Learning and Teaching Reviews and Book Scrutinies• Teacher Coaching Programmes

For more information on how the school has improved outcomes for pupils, please contact jberry@cardiff.gov.uk.

PILLARS:

Pedagogy

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Enriching Pupil Experiences

Roger Hardy, Headteacher at St Illtyd Primary, Llantwit Major Volunteers, local college students, all pupils mixed from Y3-6, ‘off timetable’ topics, Four Purpose coverage – these are all covered on a Wednesday afternoon at St Illtyd Primary in Llantwit Major.

The school has been doing Enrichment for many years and it is part of the school culture which creates a huge sense of community and is often the highlight of the week for pupils and teachers alike.

Each year, new themes are chosen based on current events or an area of special interest to a teacher. This year the themes have included:

• Tasty Maths - the excellent combination of maths and food together;

• Green Fingers - developing and maintaining the school grounds, entering the town ‘In Bloom’ contest and growing veg;

• St Illtyd Productions – combining our SIG17 project has helped us to make film documentaries about our town – available to view on our YouTube channel;

• Wonderful Wales – celebrating everything from the geography to sport of Wales;

• Ooh La La! – learning a new language using the hidden skills of our teachers and involving parents;

• Terrible Tudors - a bit of horrible history.

All pupils in the Juniors are put into six groups with Years 3-6 all mixed up. Each theme is repeated every half term for a new group of pupils.

The skills gained in these sessions are varied and wide and not least provide excellent opportunities for social skills, confidence and self-esteem as all children work together.

Since September 2017, after receiving funding from the CSC to explore Enrichment and Experiences, the planning has been aligned to the Four Purposes and new assessment opportunities explored.

The Enrichment afternoons are providing the ‘blueprint’ for how we see Successful Futures developing in our school.

If you would be interested in seeing how Enrichment works in our school, taking examples of planning and assessment then we are hoping to offer some open afternoons. Please get in touch with me on stilltydps@valeofglamorgan.gov.uk for further details.

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Lead Creative Schools Update

Dan Allen, Regional Officer at Arts Council of WalesIt was a very busy, but very rewarding, Autumn Term for the Lead Creative Schools Scheme team working in Central South. Throughout September, we trained 135 teachers from 54 schools across the region to prepare them for their Creative Learning projects. To cope with the demand for artists who can work under the Lead Creative Schools Scheme pedagogy, we trained an additional 60 Creative Practitioners from a range of practices including yoga, film makers, outdoor circus and stage design. Visits to our Round 2 schools, during the delivery of their second Creative Learning project, was another focus during the Autumn Term. As always, it has been a rich experience to have the opportunity to speak with learners, teachers and creative practitioners engaging in the Lead Creative Schools Scheme. Highlights for the team have included staff from Ysgol Iolo Morganwg training staff from Ysgol Dewi Sant in preparation for their joint project and Year 1 learners and teachers from Gwaunmeisgyn Primary School fully engaged with a session that developed oracy skills.

During the Spring Term, we look forward to visiting our Round 3 schools who will be implementing their first Creative Learning project. Creative Learning projects in our secondary schools include: KS3 MAT pupils at Cardiff West Community High School developing a radio station to extend their oracy and pupil voice (their broadcasts can be found here); Year 7 pupils at Maesteg School developing their numeracy and oracy through the creation of rockets with a designer, drama practitioner and film maker; teachers and learners at Bryntirion Comprehensive School exploring how can the creation and performative use of objects and artefacts have an impact on the oracy skills of Year 8 pupils and their engagement in learning.

A number of Lead Creative School Scheme case studies have been published on the Creative Learning Zone on Hwb. Projects from Sully Primary School and Thornhill Primary School can be viewed here.

For more information on the work of the Lead Creative Schools in the Central South region, please contact dan.allen@arts.wales

Professional Learning Hubs Our Professional Learning hubs continue their work with the region's practitioners. Since the last edition, the team have visited:

Programmes:

• Cardinal Newman- Middle Leadership in a time of Change

• Cowbridge Comprehensive- Exploring pedagogy; preparing for change

• Heronsbridge- Developing a toolkit for Assessment for Learning for pupils with ALN

• RCT West- Middle Leaders

• Bishop Hedley- Action Research

PILLARS:

Innovating Learning

Experiences

PILLARS:

Leading Collaborative Professional

Learning

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School visits:

• Stanwell Comprehensive

• Mary Immaculate Comprehensive School

• Bro Morgannwg

• Ferndale School

• Bishop Hedley

• Y Pant School

Here's some feedback from some of our programmes:

Heronsbridge- Developing a Toolkit for Assessment for Learning for Pupils with ALN

‘Practitioners are able to consider their pedagogical knowledge as well as to reflect on their own practice, making use of the learning ascertained through the group/paired discussion evident in the programme, as well as from the experienced knowledge of the facilitators. The programme shares a range of AfL opportunities and relevant resources effectively through work carried out by practitioners in their home schools in intersessional tasks. On talking with participants, they found this useful as it has allowed them to explore the practice specific to their own unique context and then bring this back to the group for the collaborative advantage of a high level of specialist ALN provision’.

Cowbridge Comprehensive (in partnership with Llansannor Primary School)- Exploring Pedagogy; Preparing for Change

‘The programme was well -structured, considering key aspects of Successful Futures in session 1, alongside approaches used by the two schools. As Cowbridge are a Pioneer school, practitioners found the knowledge and experiences shared of benefit. Within the session observed, the Hub school made great use of the most recent National Pioneer network training, using input from Mick Waters to frame aspects of the session. This was effective in challenging the practitioners to think and consider their current views about school structures, curriculum structures and pedagogy. The activities allowed for individual reflection, as well as collaborative discussion, sharing of experiences and school journeys. This was very worthwhile, with practitioners demonstrating high-level thoughts throughout. As the content of both sessions was focused around the key elements of curriculum reform, most notably the pedagogical principles, the professional standards and Schools as a Learning Organisation, practitioners were able to gain up to date learning within these areas.’

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Our Research Practice Partnership (RPP) hubs have also been busy negotiating their focus with their chosen HEI. Here Joseph Kuck from Y Pant School, reflects on the process to date:

Embracing Change Through a Desire Not to Sleepwalk!

Joseph Kuck, Assistant Headteacher at Y Pant School"What lies behind us and what lies ahead of us are tiny matters compared to what lives within us." - Henry David ThoreauThe journey towards success in any school is one which considers, painfully sometimes, measurable outcomes. It is the world we live in. We have all danced the dance many, many times and know the rise and fall of the beat. The comparison between the liberating, wonderful art of teaching and the deathly, creativity-sapping realm of data should be noted here.

The changes afoot in the world of education are ones of which we have seldom seen before and are rarely likely to see again. As a former

Head of English and current Assistant Head teacher at Y Pant High School, I have witnessed pedagogy festooned with specification mutations and national directives regarding literacy and numeracy. However, Successful Futures is a different beast. Yet one I absolutely believe can be tamed.

Working as a Pioneer School, Y Pant was invited to join a newly created Research Practice Partnerships (RPP) Hub. The RPP was conceived by the Consortium to be a platform for schools to work with universities to become research-engaged and ultimately to expedite the aim that schools will be “exemplifying the characteristics of effective learning organisations." I am a firm believer of the “In a nutshell” theory. Therefore, in my mind this newly established Hub operated along the lines of work with bright people and you will learn something that will help the pupils

Cardinal Newman - Middle Leadership in a time of Change

'The facilitator has skilfully adapted the work to meet the intended outcomes whilst targeting the area of needs of the practitioners and their school. The programme has been made bespoke through the facilitator's knowledge of the practitioners from session one and through liaison with the headteacher from the practitioner's school.

The programme addresses the new professional teaching standards well and during the session gave appropriate time to consider these and how the inquiry that would be undertaken could achieve supporting several aspects within the five standards……. As Cardinal Newman are a Professional Learning Pioneer School, the practitioners were able to benefit from the learning experiences of this role and gain a good understanding of how they could be used to support dialogue in learning and teaching. On talking with participants, they found this useful, as they were not completely familiar with the new standards.'

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you teach.

In my school, as I am sure in yours, we have engaged with Action Research. Whether that has been explicitly through specific teachers’ Masters’ endeavours or perhaps less so through internal strategy/focus groups. The findings generated by this engagement has been of varied quality.

The intentions of the RPP Hub is not only to embolden and strengthen the action research practices we are currently undertaking, but to strike to the heart of the demands of the new curriculum in Wales. That is, using collaboration with professional learning communities to strengthen our understanding of what makes the boat go faster.

I am currently working with Cardiff Metropolitan University to engage in detailed research and inquiry around able learners. What motivates them? What are their barriers? Are the issues relating to underachieving, able boys attitudinal? Do wellbeing issues hinder the development of very able girls? I hope to exploit their academic resources and work with them to develop within myself and other teachers at Y Pant career-long development based on research and effective collaboration. The findings from this collaboration will then be shared amongst the Consortium and hopefully nationally.

The first part of this project was to meet with Professor Gary Beauchamp, Professor of Education at Cardiff Met, to outline what we wanted to achieve. It was heartening to have a professional discussion about educational drivers and inhibitors and I look forward to working with him in the future. My school is becoming a learning organisation, and myself and the leadership team are embracing it. The next steps will be to determine pupil samples, teacher selection and days in which Cardiff Met will visit Y Pant to work with us.

If you were planning a trip to a place you had never visited before, you would look online and make a note of hotel prices, local cuisine, places to visit, where to avoid going. TripAdvisor exploits this desire to know the unknown. We are entering, to a large degree, the unknown with the new curriculum.

Today’s learners are entering a world that our current curriculum does not fully prepare them for. We would not sleepwalk into a holiday booking, so it is imperative that as a profession, we do not sleepwalk into curriculum changes.

If what lives within us is a desire to improve the lives and chances of the young people in front of us, then we could be about to embark on the holiday of a lifetime.

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Participant Insights 2017

Huw Rees, Ysgol Gyfun Gymraeg Llangynwyd (Science)During the first year of the Teach First program in Wales, not only do we work to evidence the QTS standards which apply to all trainee teachers across Wales, but we are also encouraged to combat problems we experience in our classrooms by experimenting with new tools and techniques based on educational research. I am currently placed in Ysgol Gyfun Gymraeg Llangynwyd, teaching Maths and Science through the medium of Welsh and at present I am investigating the impact that better use of IT, specifically Google Classrooms, can have on student feedback and independent learning.

The school’s new staff learning communities have a research focus on improving our feedback to students and the following experience instantly came to mind as a possible avenue for exploration.

Before Christmas I set my first Google Classrooms assignment to my top set Year 10 Physics class. Instead of doing a practical experiment the students investigated convection currents using a simulator and submitted their explanation of the concept through Google Classrooms as a Google Document. Whilst I was marking this work, it occurred to me the ease and speed at which I could make comments and suggestions or even drop in a link to extended reading for MAT pupils. I realised that this streamlines the process of providing feedback by removing delays between students completing and handing in homework and between finishing marking the work and returning it to the students.

Considering Hattie’s (2009) work on Visual Learning which suggests that good feedback should be given as soon as possible, this could have a big impact in improving the quality of feedback. I believe it also has other benefits, turning feedback into more of a conversation where the student is empowered to respond to feedback with either improved work (which due to being digital is easily edited and updated) or to ask further questions if they don’t understand. This is currently a school priority for improvement. It should also be recognised that this is a completely private conversation which may encourage less confident pupils to raise a concern that they would not be comfortable raising in front of the class.

This conversation can help pupils bridge a realistic gap between current and desired knowledge, whilst also encouraging students to take increasing responsibility over their independent learning. Additionally, by setting independent reading and comprehension tasks on upcoming topics we can maximise the learning opportunities, pre and post lesson, helping to underpin revision.

I have this week received the first of four homework tasks I will set through Google Classrooms to the class and the outlook is currently positive with a high completion rate. I hope with a discussion in class about my intended outcomes and my rationale for undertaking this trial the students notice the value in it for them and I will achieve a buy-in to the project. I look forward to seeing an outcome in their desire to respond to feedback and improve their work.

References: Hattie, J.A., (2009). Visible learning: A synthesis of 800+ meta-analyses on achievement. Abingdon: Routledge.

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Participant Insights 2017 Dean Millar, Cardiff West High School (Mathematics)Over the last 12 weeks, ten of my Year 9 students at Cardiff West Community High School have been trying their hand at codebreaking as part of the University of Southampton’s National Cipher Challenge. The competition, which is in its fifteenth year, challenged the students to unearth the secrets of a lost legion in Roman Britain by decoding secret messages sent between a group of fictional, enterprising teenagers. With (minimal) coaching from me, their class teacher and 2017 Teach First participant, these students have exceeded all expectations, fully immersing themselves in historical and mathematical aspects of the competition.

Cardiff’s newest secondary school has been working hard, along with its creative partners, over the last five months, to provide opportunities for its students to showcase their creativity. This competition has been no different. Ten of the school’s more able and talented Year 9 students have been working hard to apply the mathematics that they have been learning in the classroom to a field with great importance in the modern world. Whilst the competition may be cloaked in historical intrigue, the problem-solving skills, resilience and specialist knowledge that these students have been using will help equip them with the skills and knowledge needed to become part of twenty-first-century Britain’s digital economy. It is no surprise, then, that many of the previous participants and winners of this competition have gone on to participate in the UK National Cyber Security Challenge and later join the UK’s security services.

Spurred on by having been joint first until the latter stages of the competition, this group of Year 9s are now looking for their next challenge. Although the competition has ended, these students have begun to think of their mathematics education in a different light, buoyed by their success against schools from much more affluent contexts around the UK. These students have now committed to starting the Higher Tier GCSE syllabus early, giving up an hour after school each week to ensure they get the best chance at achieving their ambitions. Later in the year, I hope to enter them in the UKMT’s Intermediate Mathematical Challenge, and once again do battle to show that students from Ely are a mathematical force to be reckoned with.

Nonetheless, the allure of codebreaking has not completely disappeared. These would-be cryptanalysts hope, in the Summer Term, to visit Bletchley Park, the birthplace of modern codebreaking and the site of World War II’s best-kept secret: the cracking of the Enigma machine. Between now and then, I will be looking for ways to fund their trip, so that I can build on the momentum this challenge has created and inspire these learners to pursue careers in STEM fields in the future.

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Research Corner: Why Your Survey Probably Doesn't Say What You Think It Does

Glen Gilchrist, Strategic Adviser for Science and Mathematics at Central South Consortium Many schools use them to make judgements over pupil, parent and sometimes staff perceptions - questionnaires. Regardless of the motivation behind asking questions, at some point shortly thereafter, surveys will be subject to some form of data analysis and conclusions will be drawn, practices changed and possibly interventions put into place.

However, (and I'll make a big statement here): Most surveys on student voice, parent opinions and other perceptions are processed incorrectly, and conclusions are based on poorly understood statistical principles.

Likert ScalesRegardless of your prior knowledge of Likert scales, you will have used them - they are (probably) the most frequently used tool on questionnaire surveys. At their heart, they are a question or statement against which the respondent indicates their feeling. For example:

Most questionnaires will have a Likert scale - they are easy to create and the respondents tend to find them easy to complete. But they are constantly misused.

3 Reasons why your survey probably doesn't say what you think it does

1 - Number of responses

People tend to hold the mindset that they want to avoid being seen as holding extreme views. Within statistics, this is called central tendency bias (Ref #1). Survey responses are biased toward the central, less extreme ends of the scale. Surveys with an ODD number of possible responses have a convenient "fence" that can be sat on, and studies show that in many cases, people choose to comfortably sit on said fence. The solution in most cases is to always use an EVEN number of choices, forcing the respondent to "take a view". In the case above, removing the "neutral" option will produce data that is more insightful to our students opinion over the past 12 months of science.

2 - Too "granular"

Giving the responder the option to choose a category is not the same as how we need to report the data. Take this question on the amount of practical work in science:

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Initially 8 levels of response are offered - an EVEN number of choices (good). But how meaningful is reporting such granular data? Condensing into the statement that "90% of respondents felt that they undertook practical activities at least once per week, with 50% stating that practical science took place every lesson" - is far more useful than graphing the granular data. Yes, we've lost resolution and analytical detail - but we've gained more insight into what's happening.

3 - Means don't mean anything (The biggie and most overlooked - I bet you do it too)

The biggest mistake in handling Likert data is in computing a mean value for respondent data - and then drawing a conclusion from such data manipulation.

Likert data is ordinal, not numeric. In the example above, the "scale" is a perception scale moving from "Every lesson" to "Never". Where the trouble starts is when we conveniently "code" the responses in a numeric manner as follows:

The moment we link the perception values to a numerical scale we are asking for trouble. The column headings are descriptive labels, divorced from any numerical meaning or value. A response of Strongly Agree (4) does not imply that this "agreement" is 4 times stronger than the Strongly Disagree (1) option. But yet we are drawn into that thought process as the (now) numerical data can be manipulated in some algebraic manner.

To illustrate further:

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The same questionnaire, but with colours instead of numbers. Now we would never consider calculating an average for the first question, as we would be required to manipulate Red, Yellow, Blue and Green - because we can see that they are different things and the idea of average makes no sense.

To amplify, to calculate the mean, we are drawn into thinking about weighted averages:

In the first row, the weighted average is given by: (1 x 13) + (2 x 12) + (3 x 3) + (4 x 22) = 134 / 50 = 2.68 - somewhere between 2 (Disagree) and 3 (Agree)

Now, the mid point of the scale would be 2.5 - below which we are in the "Disagree" territory and above which we are in the "Agree" territory.

So we construct a form of words like: "The average score of 2.68 indicates slight agreement with the statement "I preferred science in KS3". Total rubbish in this case.

In this case, 25 learners came down on the "Disagree" side and 25 learners on the "Agree" side - a 50/50 split. A better commentary would be "Learners were equally divided over science at KS3, with 50% of the claiming to have enjoyed science more at KS3, and 50% holding the contrary position. However, it is noted that whilst those learners who disagreed with the statement were equally divided between "Disagree" and "Strongly Disagree", those agreeing with the statement were far more polarised with 22 claiming to "Strongly Agree" and only 3 to "Agree". It could be concluded that those learners who did prefer science at KS3 hold that belief stronger than those that did not. More work is needed with these constituents to understand their depth of feeling over KS3 science. As you can see, far more nuanced than (incorrectly) calculating an average. Going back to our colour coded example:

Just how do I now calculate the mean value for the first question: (red x 13) + (yellow x 12) + (blue x 3) + (green x 22) = ???? / 50

In calculating mean values, we've totally forgotten that these Likert scales are a totally arbitrary ordinal scale - they are not numbers at all, but labels which can not be manipulated.

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Alternatives to the average?Calculate and compare the modal value

For the first question about KS3, by simple observation we can inspect the most common response - 22 learners, so 22/50 = 44% of learners strongly agreed with the statement "I preferred science in KS3".

To compare boys vs girls and support statements such as "there is a difference between the boy and girl responses" and that "boys preferred KS3 and girls didn't", we could compare the modes for boys vs that for girls and talk about percentage points difference. However, to make conclusions with conviction, we need a non-parametric test (in this case the Mann‐Whitney U-test Ref #2) specifically designed to manipulate and comment on differences between ordinal data.

Conclusions What does this mean for us mere mortal teachers?

Firstly, we need to acknowledge that there is far far more to designing a questionnaire than just asking the questions - as (a) we will probably find that we're not asking what we think we are and (b) depending on what / how we ask it, we might not be able to draw the conclusions we think we can. Remember "central tendency bias."

Secondly, presenting more granular data does not make the results "better" - less really is more in this case.

And finally....

Never, never, ever average Likert scale data. It doesn't make sense.

References1: http://blog.surveymethods.com/introduction-to-central-tendency-bias/

2: http://yatani.jp/teaching/doku.php?id=hcistats:mannwhitney

For more information on this research topic, please get in touch on glen.gilchrist@cscjes.org.uk.

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The Role of Research in the Self-Improving School System

Kelly Walters, Teacher at Romilly Primary School and Researcher at Central South Consortium

After teaching for a number of years, the thought of walking into a classroom still gives me butterflies in my stomach, what will today bring? Which way will the children take the learning? Will we have eureka moments?

I have always been one of those people that wants to know more, one of those teachers that keeps up to date with educational research and someone who pushes herself to become better. Having completed small-scale action research projects in my school, the role came up to be part of the Research and Evaluation team at Central South Consortium (CSC), seconded from my current role 2 days a week. This got me intrigued, I could still teach whilst exploring my love of research.

The initial part of my new role was to work with the team here at CSC to implement and analyse the first annual survey. Its focus was to evaluate the work that goes on within the region, this is a longitudinal analysis of pupils and staff within the five local authorities, and we sampled 20% of schools across CSC, ensuring a broad and balanced sample. The staff survey includes sections on the co-ordination and leadership of collaborative working, overall engagement in collaborative working, and assessment of school level leadership capacity and development needs. The pupil survey considers children’s experience of, and satisfaction with, their learning in classrooms and involvement in schools.

The second part of my role involves working with the strategic teams to measure the impact of their work, collecting evidence, analysing data, conducting interviews and focus groups to name just a few. Getting to work with the teams here has provided me with invaluable experience on the processes behind school improvement, as well as meeting many new and interesting people along the way.

With the strategic aim of creating a more school-led and self-improving system, giving teachers opportunities like this are vital to schools becoming learning communities. I feel that my own classroom and teaching has changed dramatically not only with the fact that I am learning new and exciting ways of teaching through my engagement with research but also through the fact that the children are accessing research and using this for their learning. The children in my class are actively involved in action-research projects alongside me; for example, they are reflecting and evaluating how their learning habits have changed due to the implementation of Kagan’s structures. On a school level, it has given me the opportunity to support colleagues with their own action research projects, share my findings within my own school and implement changes that have influenced the whole school.

Teaching is my passion, it has been since the age of 10; I always knew what I wanted to do. I never saw myself in a role where I can play my part in having an effect on schools across the region, and a role where I am working alongside strategic advisers to continuously evaluate the improvement of interventions, collaborative working and highlighting examples of good practice.

To find out more about the work of the research team at Central South, please get in touch with me on kelly.walters@cscjes.org.uk.

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Welsh Language Charter: The First Term

Bethan Davies, Welsh Language Charter Officer at Central South Consortium In September, after stepping out of the classroom after 13 years of teaching, I began my new role. The last term was an incredibly busy one but full of great experiences, not only for me but for all Welsh medium pupils across the region.

Aled Hopton, Ysgol Dolau, has given much praise to the Charter by saying that it has “given a structure, data and way forward for us, and all staff are pulling together to ensure we nurture a brand new generation of citizens who respect and enjoy being bilingual.”

With the publication of the ‘Welsh in Education’ document at the end of 2017, the role of the Language Charter is emphasised in the Welsh Government plan to reach a million Welsh speakers by 2050. As schools work towards the objectives of the Language Charter, it is hoped that they will nurture “confident young Welsh speakers who are able to use the language in various contexts and who have a robust understanding of Wales, its literature and history.”

The success of the Language Charter is evident across the Consortium’s schools and this is pleasing to see. Progress in the region’s language web data reflects this success. Siân Roberts, Ysgol Berllan Deg, has said that her pupils “are enjoying and starting to appreciate the value of the Welsh language outside the classroom.”

A number of Language Charter events have been held over the last 4 months. A disco was arranged for pupils in the Gartholwg cluster in the Muni in Pontypridd in order to target Welsh music. It was lovely to see the children dancing to their favourite songs. Llangynwyd family schools came together to launch the Language Charter. What a lovely day for the whole family! We were fortunate to have the Consortium’s cameras there when Ysgol Llyn y Forwyn launched the Charter. Petra Davies, the headteacher, emphasised that implementing the Language Charter “has had an incredibly positive impact on our pupils and the school’s wider community. The children are prouder than ever of their heritage and want to share their language skills with everyone!”

At the beginning of December, a room full of practitioners came together for an afternoon’s training. I was very fortunate to be able to invite Kate Spencer, Ysgol Evan James; Elin Williams, Ysgol Llanhari a Siân Young, Ysgol Bro Eirwg to present in order to share their experiences and good practice. I am pleased to announce that 9 schools achieved the Language Charter bronze award last term. Congratulations! The team of verifiers has enjoyed visiting schools to see all the hard work undertaken. I would like to wish good luck to schools being verified in the near future.

Sbarc a Seren, the Language Charter’s official characters have been incredibly busy visiting schools throughout the term. Pupils, and a large number of teachers, have enjoyed meeting with our language heroes! Sbarc and Seren are looking forward to visiting a number of other schools over the coming term.

Looking ahead, I am currently busy arranging an awards ceremony in February in Tŷ Dysgu where we will be welcoming

PILLARS:

Language and Culture

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the Assembly's Welsh Language Minister, Eluned Morgan. I’m looking forward to celebrating the pupils’ efforts and hard work. I hope that all schools in the region will have won the bronze award and I am keen to work with a number of schools as they aim towards achieving the silver award. It has been a privilege during the last term to see the enthusiasm of schools, staff and pupils towards to the Language Charter and the Welsh language.

Since Christmas, the Welsh Language Charter has continued to go from strength to strength; another 19 schools have succeeded in achieving the bronze award. We now have 28 bronze schools in the region!

Our Welsh in Education Officers, Myfanwy Neal and Ceryl Stephens, have been busy visiting schools to run bronze award workshops. As a result of their training, a large number of pupils have greater confidence in playing Welsh yard games with their peers. In addition, dinner ladies from some schools have received training to use simple Welsh vocabulary and sentences at lunchtime. Linda, a dinner lady from Ysgol Evan James, is a great example of the success of school support staff in learning Welsh.

I was very fortunate to attend Ysgol Hamadryad's launch ceremony with the Welsh Language Commissioner, Meri Huws, awarding the school's 4 Welsh Language Commissioners. The pupils dressed up as their favourite Welsh heroes in celebration of the day. There were loads of different costumes, from Owain Glyndwr to Blodeuwedd, from Ben Dant to Rapsgaliwn. I had shivers (and a little tear) listening to 3 to 6 year old children singing the Welsh national anthem at the top of their voices as the ceremony came to a close. What a wonderful morning!

I am sure that with the success of the Language Charter in the Consortium’s Welsh medium schools that we will be very close to hitting the Welsh Government target of 1 million Welsh speakers by 2050.

For more information and support on implementing the Welsh Language Charter in your school, please get in touch on Bethan.Davies2@cscsjes.org.uk

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Modern Foreign Languages in Central South Amy Walters-Bresner, MFL Lead for Central South Consortium and Head of Languages at Bryn Hafren Comprehensive School

Global Futures was launched in 2015 by the Welsh Government in light of the worrying decrease in pupil numbers opting to study a modern foreign language (MFL) at key stage 4 and key stage 5. The three strategic aims of Global Futures and the regional needs of the heads of department for MFL in CSC have driven the professional development offer this year for MFL within the CSC region.

The MFL professional offer of enquiry lead programmes (ELPs) has been a mixture of input sessions by recognised experts within a specific field and focused action research by teachers attending these programmes. The CSC Learning Community on the HWB network houses all of these research outcomes and resources in order to share good practice throughout at both a region and then at a regional consortium level.

• The use of digital technologies within the MFL classroom

• Multilingualism and triple literacy

• GCSE new specification – French, Spanish and German

• A Level new specification – French, Spanish and German

• Teaching of MFL in Key Stage 2

Building on the action research from these ELPs and linked with the three strategic aims of Global Futures, and in order to capture the great variety of teaching and learning projects across the region that have been undertaken during the last academic year, the following case studies and accompanying resources have also been uploaded on to HWB to be shared across the CSC region.

• Bryn Hafren, Porth and Tonyrefail hosted Spanish teachers for 2 weeks respectively last summer term. This has been an excellent opportunity for pupils to gain first hand language experiences from native speakers and the schools have enjoyed welcoming these Spanish teachers.

• MFL Curriculum Hubs, Treorchy and Y Pant have developed schemes of learning and resources in the teaching of MFL in key stage 2. These are blocks of 6 teaching weeks that can be used in year 5 and/or 6 in French. In 2017-18, Y Pant will be developing the same set of teaching resources for Spanish.

• In addition to this, four CSC schools, Bishop of Llandaff, Cardiff High, Pontypridd High and West Federation, have been developing action research in learning and teaching linked to one of the strategic aims in Global Futures. These schools have led on digital technologies and the development of a toolkit to up-skill both teachers and pupils with key strategies for translation from and to the assessed language.

Building on further on Global Futures in 2017-18, there are teaching and learning research projects underway in 2 primary schools. This is a really exciting opportunity to develop further the teaching of MFL in key stage 2. The schools are Llansannor Primary School and Pontygwaith

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Primary School. Llansannor are developing a whole school approach to the teaching of languages from Nursery to Year 6. The school in fact is aiming to become a trilingual school and this initiative will be launched to parents, pupils and stakeholders on 2nd March 2018. Kirsty Williams will attend this launch and showcase event, while Pontygwaith are developing a transition MFL project with Ferndale Comprehensive and Porth Comprehensive.

CSC have produced a video of the launch event in Pontygwaith. This has been

communicated across the CSC region.

CSC have also been working with the Confucius Institute and Bryn Hafren Comprehensive in developing a Mandarin teaching and learning project of 6 sessions focusing on Chinese culture and traditions through fun and interactive sessions. This project will now be offered to all schools across the CSC region both primary and secondary. Sully Primary are also working with the Confucius Institute and hosting a China week full of exciting sessions such as Chinese cooking and Tai Chi. Sully have also received fully funding from the British Council for a Chinese assistant. As a consequence, Sully Primary is working closely with Stanwell Comprehensive on a Mandarin Transition Project in 2017-18.

There are 6 innovative projects for MFL in place across the region. These innovative projects are linked to one of the 3 strategic aims as outlined in the Global Futures Plan. 7 schools were successful in their application and planning for the project is taking place in the Spring Term.

Our first regional meeting took place on Friday 10th November in Tŷ Dysgu. Dr Russel Griggs who is Head Executive of Research in Trinity Saint David delivered a very informative session on Action Research in MFL linked to the new Teaching Standards. It has been very fortunate to book Dr Griggs as his session really did provide key support for any Action Research that MFL CSC teachers may be planning or are undertaking within their department/school. Lead schools also outlined the CPD workshop sessions that they will be delivering within the region and discussions took place outlining the applications to join the CSC MFL GCSE Development Group 2017-18. The focus of this group will be on producing high quality teaching and learning resources to support CSC MFL teachers with the new GCSE examination specifications and themes.

The annual free CSC year 9 pupil-up take event took place again this year in Cardiff City Stadium on the 4th and 5th December 2017. There were workshops in French, Spanish, German, Italian and Mandarin along with sessions from

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Routes into Languages, Tim Penn and the British Council. There was also a tour of the City Stadium for teachers and pupils. Schools were allocated 15 places on a first come first served basis. 420 pupils attended the event over the 2 days. Teacher evaluations rated the event as ‘excellent’ in having a positive impact on pupils’ attitude towards leaning a language at GCSE. Pupils, on average, increased their potential in taking a language by 2 or 3 marks by 65% in a before and after snapshot questionnaire.

For the first time, we held a key stage 2 event to celebrate language learning taking place

February 8th. The event followed the successful format of the pupil take-up events for year 9 in Cardiff City Stadium in December.

The MFL Curriculum Hubs, Y Pant Comprehensive School and Treorchy Comprehensive School, continue to offer free action enquiry MFL CPD workshops this academic year. These programmes have been developed in response to regional needs highlighted by HoDs. These workshops were well attended last year and the feedback was extremely positive.

• AS and A Level Workshop – French and Spanish

• Responding to Successful Futures: MFL in Key Stage 2

• Developing Skills and Resources within the new French Language GCSE

• How to Challenge, Support and Engage MFL Learners Workshop

8 schools in the CSC region are taking part in the MFL Mentoring Programme provided by Cardiff University aimed at specifically raising pupils' aspiration in studying a language post key stage 3 in 2017-18. The rationale for the schools being selected is based on ensuring a variety of demographics and Welsh medium schools are also involved. Schools with particularly low up-take or no up-take in KS4 are also targeted.

Involvement in this project was very positively received by schools in 2016-17 as they felt that this was a very tangible and high profile project that supported pupil up-take and it did help to raise the MFL department’s profile with both pupils and parents. Feedback has been extremely positive and both teachers and pupils have enjoyed being part of the programme. If you would like further information on any of the projects mentioned here or support for MFL in your school, please get in touch with me on AWalters@bhcs@valelearning.com

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Assessment for Learning

Moira Kellaway, Headteacher at Ysgol y Wern As part of SIG 27, two teachers from Ysgol y Wern were selected to participate in Shirley Clarke’s Action Research Project in 2017. The project involved three full training days as well as research work carried out in the classroom between these training days. Teachers trialled new formative assessment strategies in their classrooms, evaluated their impact on teaching and learning before deciding whether they would implement these new strategies as part of a whole school policy.

Lesson Starts

Effective lesson starts is a priority in our SIP this year in order to further enhance our practice in Formative Assessment. Our main aim as a school is that all lesson starts across the school capture the pupils’ interest and reveal prior understanding. The starting point often begins with a question or activity that will engage the pupils in thinking and discussion. At the beginning of the year the two teachers held a whole school INSET session on lesson starts that they had trialled in class. During this session, clips on lesson starts (from Shirley Clarke’s video platform) were also shown. Following the INSET, teachers filmed their own practice using some of these starts in their lessons. A pedagogy workshop was then held, where teachers watched each other’s clips and were given time to reflect on their teaching and report back on the impact on the learning. Starter questions are now carefully planned as they have been proven to be worthwhile in engaging pupils, furthering their thinking as well as revealing current understanding.

For more information on this project, please get in touch on mkellaway@cardiff.gov.uk

The Growth Mindset Journey

Sarah Morgan, Headteacher at West Park Primary, Porthcawl At West Park Primary, in the academic year of 2016-17, we began our journey to 'grow'. Following integral and systematic monitoring, which involved listening to learners and discussion with all staff, we had noted that our children were, in general, not willing to have a go and try new things. We wanted to find out more.

One of our teachers was involved in the Achievement For All programme and she went on a fact finding mission to discover whether mindset had an impact on learning. Through personal research, many of our teachers were already familiar with the work of Carol Dweck and interested to find out ways in which we could build Growth Mindset into our curriculum. To ensure our instincts concerning the mindset of our children were correct and to support changes we wanted to make, we gathered some data. This was initially qualitative in the form of a questionnaire for

PILLARS:

Assessment

PILLARS:

Relationships and

Wellbeing

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pupils and staff so that we could discover whether they had a Fixed Mindset or a Growth Mindset. The data showed that confidence and attitudes to learning were key areas for improvement.

Most teachers, as successful learners, showed they had a growth mindset. At West Park we always work in teams and a team was created with the sole purpose to produce an action plan which would promote a whole school approach to Growth Mindset.

The team felt that our Key Stage 2 pupils could cope with more theory behind the concept of mindset but the Foundation Phase children would need more concrete learning experiences to explain this tricky concept. A whole school assembly in September introduced Growth Mindset to the pupils and hall and class displays visualised the terminology for the pupils.

Foundation Phase classes were introduced to the characters of Grey/Give-Up Gecko, who has a fixed mindset and says “This will do!” and “I can’t!” and Colourful Chameleon who has changed his mindset by saying, “I can keep on trying!” and “ Mistakes help me to learn and improve!” We emphasized to the children that we can change our mindset. The Growth Mindset also linked to our school motto of “Work Hard to Persevere and Succeed”.

In Key Stage 2, all pupils began to “Take A Challenge and Make A Change” and were encouraged to listen to facts about famous people who had overcome adversity in their lives and hence were excellent examples of Growth Mindset, eg. Simon Weston.

It is evident from our moderation teams that the children are using a shared language of Growth Mindset in class and we hope to encourage parents through our Spring open afternoons by modelling this language for them to use at home also.

We are proud of our whole school approach and can’t wait to measure the impact with another questionnaire in the Summer Term when we plan to extend our Growth Mindset to encompass theories in how praise given for effort can be beneficial to maintain sustained drive and love of learning for all children.

If you would like to find out more about our Growth Mindset project, please get in touch

with me on head.westpark@bridgend.gov.uk