Contents The assessment consultation and international comparison National public consultations (including phonics) What do we want from curriculum and.

Contents

• The assessment consultation and international comparison

• National public consultations (including phonics)

• What do we want from curriculum and assessment?

The Consultation

“Schools improve most when teachers have the autonomy to decide how best to teach their pupils, while being properly held to account for their pupils’ education8. The most effective education systems around the world are those that have high levels of autonomy along with clear and robust accountability. All schools are accountable to parents, governors, Ofsted and, via the statutory assessment framework, to government.” (S. 6.1)

PISA in focus 9 (OECD, 2011)“At the country level, the greater the number of schools that have the responsibility to define and elaborate their curricula and assessments, the better the performance of the entire school system, even after accounting for national income. School systems that grant schools greater discretion in deciding student-assessment policies, the courses offered, the content of those courses, and the textbooks used are also those systems that show higher reading scores overall. This association is observed even though having the responsibility to design curricula is not always related to better performance for an individual school.”

1. Caveats: PISA data from 2009; data from secondary students not EY or Pri; Reading tests only

2. Autonomy over C&A = better student performance

3. Posting achievement data publically is +ve correlated with autonomy over “resource allocation” not with autonomy over C&A

4. Resource allocation = “selecting teachers for hire; dismissing teachers; establishing teachers’ starting salaries; determining teachers’ salary increases; formulating the school budget; and deciding on budget allocations within the school.”

5. Autonomy over C&A is not what government is proposing

OECD Reviews of Evaluation and Assessment in Education Synergies for Better Learning

AN INTERNATIONAL PERSPECTIVE ON EVALUATION AND ASSESSMENT (OECD, 2013)

• Take a holistic approach• Align evaluation and assessment with

educational goals• Focus on improving classroom practices• Avoid distortions• Put students at the centre• Build capacity at all levels• Manage local needs• Design successfully, build consensus

Phonics Testing

• “Schools will continue to administer the phonics screening check at the end of year 1. School-level results will continue to be included in RAISEOnline (and therefore available for the school and Ofsted), but will not be included in published performance tables.” (S 4.5)

Public Consultations?

The Consultation:

“Do you agree that this screening check should be focused on phonic decoding?

Yes: 28% No: 66% Not Sure: 6%:”

The Response - Nick Gibb:

“The focus on phonic decoding 28% of respondents agreed the check should focus on decoding using phonics. 20% [sic] respondents argued that children learn to read using a variety of strategies, including using visual and context cues, and the check should take into account these alternative strategies.”

“Taking into account the consultation responses, findings from the pre-trialling and the academic evidence, we propose to continue to develop the phonics screening check.” (op cit., p.6 emphasis added)

Public Consultation?

• http://ioelondonblog.wordpress.com/2013/09/20/what-are-consultations-for/

Q Topic Rn Majority View

Overall Respondents' views Government's Response

1 General comments on NC aims

2,469 901 36% Negative Curriculum aims are too focused on knowledge

we were not convinced that the aims should be changed

2 In favour of no subject aims

3,638 1,616 44% Negative (effectively)

It should be teachers' role to define curriculum subject aims

The national curriculum provides pupils with an introduction to the essential knowledge that they need to be educated citizens …

3 Content of subjects - English

3,682 Numbers and %s not

given

Unclear due to absence of numbers

English attracted more comment than other subjects. Discrete Speaking & Listening strand called for.

[people] said there was an overemphasis on phonics, punctuation, spelling and grammar (numbers and %s not given for responses to this)

a new section on spoken language skills and included further content on the importance of vocabulary development

No comment or action on Spelling Punctuation and Grammar

Content of subjects - History

3,682 Numbers and %s not

given

Negative Respondents raised a range of issues which included a concern that teaching history chronologically would not allow teachers to revisit certain periods or consolidate learning effectively.

we have slimmed down the new programmes of study

Q Topic Rn Majority View Overall Respondents' views Government's Response

4 Content level of challenge

3,308 1,276 39% ("Not sure" also 39%)

Negative, and not sure

would not prepare pupils for the challenges of the 21st Century.

the programmes of study were likely to be too ambitious … result in superficial learning

No specific response to this question

5 Wording of attainment targets

1,432 739 52% Negative respondents viewed the wording of the attainment targets as unclear and confusing.

A number of respondents highlighted the interplay between curriculum and assessment

Our new national curriculum provides a more direct relationship between what pupils are taught and what is assessed. It creates genuine opportunities for greater school autonomy …

6 Progression in PoS

3,314 2,018 61% Negative raised issues in relation to the knowledge-based approach taken in the draft programmes of study

Response not specific to points raised by respondents

Q Topic Rn Majority View Overall Respondents' views Government's Response

7 Change subject to computing

2,687 1,019 38% Positive change of subject name was necessary in order to move away from the ‘bad reputation’ of ICT, to rebrand and improve the status of the subject

On 3 May 2013 we confirmed our decision to change the subject of ICT to computing in order to reinvigorate the subject and provide an ambitious and inspirational curriculum which is relevant to pupils’ experience in the 21st century.

8 Higher standards

3,367 2,106 63% Negative could not find evidence of higher standards as the documents were too broad and that it was not possible to compare the current and proposed curricula.

We have considered these views carefully, while maintaining our commitment to producing a slimmed-down national curriculum that focuses on essential knowledge in each subject area and embodies high expectations for all pupils.

9 Protected characteristics

1,571 562 36% Negative respondents felt that the proposals may impact negatively on pupils with English as an additional language. Reasons included the ‘British’ nature of the curriculum, particularly in history, and the emphasis on grammar and spelling in the English programmes of study.

No further information, in relation to this point, in impact assessment document either

“Take Care Mr Baker!”

The need for reform is now urgent. All the evidence shows this - international comparisons, the reports of HMIs and, most recently, the depressing figures on adult illiteracy ... The opinion polls also clearly show its popularity with the people who count - the parents. That applies, above all, to the national curriculum which is the bedrock of our reform proposals.

Kenneth Baker MP: Debate on the second reading of the ERA, 1 December 1987 (in Haviland, 1988)

Pre-1988

Much more significant, however, are the inroads being made on the principle of the separation of powers ... A very significant transfer of powers is being made from local elected authorities to the Secretary of State ... To argue, as it might be argued, that ministerial responsibility will provide all the safeguards necessary to expose the unreasonable use of the new powers by the present or any future Secretary of State is to fly in the face of reality. Modern governments are adept at using ministerial responsibility to conceal rather than expose.

Professor Patrick McAuslan LSE

Pre-1988

There has been recognition in recent years that traditional subjects alone are not an adequate vehicle for conveying the knowledge, concepts, skills and attitudes required by pupils ... New subjects and themes have entered the curriculum ... There appears to be no place for them ... The national curriculum allows little room for pupil choice ...

School Curriculum and Development Committee

What do we want?

• Genuine control of the curriculum

• Creativity in the curriculum

• Young people who are motivated and inspired

• Choice over the curriculum: entitlement not necessarily the same as national uniformity

Assessment Consultation

“The new national curriculum creates genuine opportunities for greater school autonomy over curriculum and assessment, and will focus teaching on the core content rather than on a set of level descriptions. Prescribing a single detailed approach to assessment does not fit with the curriculum freedoms we are giving schools.” (S 3.3)

Creativity in the Curriculum

Ratios of occurrence (per thousand words) of creativity in national curriculum texts in the countries of Europe (Cachia, et al. 2010)

0.00

0.20

0.40

0.60

0.80

1.00

1.20

1.40

1.60

1.80

2.00

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Belg

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- G

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an s

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mu

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Belg

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- F

land

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Belg

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- W

allo

nia

Bulg

aria

Cze

ch R

ep

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Ge

rma

ny

- B

ava

ria

Ge

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ny

- L

ow

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Sa

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y

Ge

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ny

- S

axo

ny

De

nm

ark

Est

on

ia

Gre

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Spa

in -

And

alu

cía

Spa

in -

Ext

rem

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Spa

in -

Mad

rid

Spa

in -

natio

na

l le

vel

Fin

lan

d

Fra

nce

Hu

ng

ary

Irela

nd

Italy

Lith

ua

nia

Luxe

mbo

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Latv

ia

Ma

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The

Ne

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and

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Pola

nd

Port

uga

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Ro

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Sw

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Slo

venia

Slo

vaki

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Un

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ing

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m -

Eng

land

Un

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do

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No

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Un

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Sco

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Un

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Wa

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Creativity EU-27

Creativity in the Curriculum

• The national curriculum provides pupils with an introduction to the essential knowledge that they need to be educated citizens. It introduces pupils to the best that has been thought and said; and helps engender an appreciation of human creativity and achievement. (Department for Education, 2013, p. 5 emphasis added)

Creativity in the Curriculum

• Defense of the inclusion of two lengthy statutory appendices of spelling, vocabulary, grammar and punctuation content which must be taught:

“This is not intended to constrain or restrict teachers’ creativity, but simply to provide the structure on which they can construct exciting lessons.” (p. 15)

Creativity in the Curriculum• Only occurrence of creativity in the statutory section of the English

requirements (and the third occurrence overall in the national curriculum text):

“Composition. Pupils should be taught to: draft and write by:in narratives, creating settings, characters and plot” (op cit. p. 38 – grammar as in original; emphasis added)

• Fourth occurrence of creativity in the statutory requirements is on page 88: “Mathematics is a creative and highly inter-connected discipline that has been developed over centuries, providing the solution to some of history’s most intriguing problems.”

• Creativity does not appear at all in the mathematics statutory requirements after that.

• There is a slightly greater number of occurrences in the subjects of Art and Design and music but in general creativity has a much reduced emphasis.

Inspiring Young PeopleSarah: I think all the universities are really good, you can really understand them,

I don't think there's anything…Andrew: I don't think you can improve them, I think they're perfect. Not bad, not

good, they're brilliant.Harriet: The only thing that would be better for me is if it was all day, like all day

Friday, that would be better for me.DW: What happens Friday afternoon?Harriet: We have to go back to work.

William: Like Michael was saying, it's like learning things and you learn a lot and you have great fun while you're doing it, so you never say oh we've got to do this or that, it's like oh yes! we've got to do this or that, and it's really good.

Oliver: Yes, you get a choice of what your main priorities are they choose what you want, so if you're really desperate for it you'll have it at the time and if you've had your first choice then at the first thing you get your second or your third choice and then you get your first choice again, so it varies.

The voices of young people

Choice is fundamental