7.6 SCHOOLS, REVISED CURRICULUM AND INITIAL TEACHER EDUCATION IN NORTHERN IRELAND. Colette Murphy UNIT INTRODUCTION OBJECTIVES

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1 0 UNIT. INTRODUCTION SCHOOLS, REVISED CURRICULUM AND INITIAL TEACHER EDUCATION IN NORTHERN IRELAND Colette Murphy This uit brigs together aspects of the Norther Irelad (NI) educatio cotext which are most pertiet to studet teachers who are learig to teach i NI. It outlies some of the major issues which make schoolig i NI differet from elsewhere i the UK. The uit the provides a overview of the Revised Curriculum for NI, which totally chages the face of teachig from Foudatio to Key Stage. It explores some of the major aspects of the Revised Curriculum, such as thikig skills ad persoal capabilities; assessmet for learig ad learig itetios. Fially, the uit itroduces the ew teachig competece framework which articulates specific statemets of competece which teachers are expected to demostrate progressively at differet stages throughout their career. Throughout the uit, there are tasks which ecourage you to reflect o your progress throughout iitial teacher educatio (ITE) ad beyod. The importace of such reflectio (ad actig o it!) caot be over-emphasised, as you will see from the story i the fial paragraph of the uit. OBJECTIVES At the ed of this uit you should be able to: explai the essetial issues regardig schoolig i NI describe the key compoets of the Revised Curriculum for NI ad cosider how to itegrate these ito your subject teachig explai the competece framework for ITE i NI ad reflect o your level of competece. Check the requiremets for your course to see which relate to this uit.

2 THE SCHOOL, CURRICULUM AND SOCIETY NORTHERN IRELAND SCHOOLS It could be argued that most NI schools are divided by religio, academic ability ad geder. The history of NI has bee domiated by repeated attempts to maage the troubled relatioship betwee the Protestat majority ad the Catholic miority (Gallagher, 00). We are faced with a legacy which fostered the developmet of parallel school systems for Protestats ad Catholics. However, i, the first itegrated school opeed, largely due to the eergy ad commitmet of parets. There are ow about 0 itegrated schools i NI, comprisig approximately per cet of the school age populatio. Amog the rest of the schools, oly a small hadful has a mixed pupil body, ad for the majority of pupils, most of their time i school is spet i a cotext i which their peers ad teachers are co-religioists (Gallagher, 00). NI schools are also divided by a selective system of secodary educatio which, util Jue 00, required primary schools to prepare pupils for a selective trasfer test i which oly a set percetage obtaied the highest grades ad gaied etry to the academic grammar schools. There are also a relatively high proportio of sigle-sex schools. Oly a miority of schools are directly cotrolled by local authorities: all the Catholic schools, most of the itegrated schools ad all of the high status volutary (Protestat ad Catholic) grammar schools sit outside local authority cotrol (Gallagher, 00). Most secodary studet teachers study through oe of the two uiversities, both of which are mixed i terms of religio ad geder. However, most primary studet teachers study i either Stramillis Uiversity College (mostly Protestat) or St Mary s Uiversity College (mostly Catholic). Set agaist this backgroud, ITE courses for all studet teachers i NI provide studet teachers with opportuities to cosider how they, as future teachers, ca best promote recociliatio ad tolerace i post-coflict NI. Task.. CONSIDER THE IMPACT OF THE NI SCHOOL CONTEXT ON YOUR TEACHING Select oe of the key characteristics of NI schools (e.g. religio; geder; academic selectio) ad articulate ways you might adapt your teachig i the differet school cotexts. THE (REVISED) NORTHERN IRELAND CURRICULUM Backgroud The Educatio Reform Order () itroduced a Commo Curriculum for NI. A series of reviews was udertake ad chages were itroduced i ad. after which schools were give a uderstadig that there would be o further chages to the statutory curriculum for the ext five years, util 00. The Curriculum Coucil for Examiatios ad Assessmet (CCEA) udertook a curriculum moitorig programme i the school year. This programme garered teachers views o the curriculum ad held a series of cofereces to stimulate debate about the future curriculum (Curriculum Cofereces Report, ). CCEA also commissioed a major cohort study which collected the views of almost,000 pupils i schools (Harlad et al., 00). I summary, these studies suggested that pupils cosidered that the curret curriculum:

3 SCHOOLS, CURRICULUM, TEACHER EDUCATION IN N IRELAND 0 lacked balace ad breadth should be more relevat ad ejoyable The studies suggested that teachers felt that there was: too much emphasis o cotet too little emphasis o emotioal, social, cultural ad moral developmet. I additio to these studies, other iflueces icluded studies o thikig skills ad eurosciece, iformatio ad commuicatios techology (ICT) iitiatives, Europea treds ad advice from the busiess ad employmet sector. Takig these cocers ito cosideratio, CCEA set about desigig the revised NI Curriculum for phased implemetatio startig September 00. OVERVIEW OF THE REVISED NI CURRICULUM The Revised NI Curriculum (CCEA, 00) aims to empower youg people to achieve their potetial ad to make iformed ad resposible decisios throughout their lives as a idividual, a cotributor to society ad a cotributor to the ecoomy ad the eviromet. This is to be achieved by itroducig Learig for Life ad Work (LLW) at the top level which at Key Stage (KS) ad KS comprises Persoal Developmet, Home Ecoomics, Local ad Global Citizeship ad Employability (see Figure..). CURRICULUM AIM CURRICULUM OBJECTIVES FOR LEARNING FOR LIFE AND WORK THROUGH KEY ELEMENTS INFUSING CROSS-CURRICULAR SKILLS THINKING SKILLS AND PERSONAL CAPABILITIES ACROSS LEARNING FOR LIFE AND WORK PROMOTING/ENCOURAGING LEARNING EXPERIENCES ASSESSMENT FOR LEARNING ATTITUDES AND DISPOSITIONS The Norther Irelad Curriculum aims to empower youg people to achieve their potetial ad to make iformed ad resposible decisios throughout their lives to develop the youg perso as a idividual PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT THE ARTS buildig a more ope relatioship betwee learer ad teacher persoal uderstadig mutual uderstadig persoal health moral character spiritual awareess COMMUNICATION to develop the youg perso as a cotributor to society HOME ECONOMICS citizeship cultural uderstadig media awareess ethical awareess USING MATHEMATICS LOCAL AND GLOBAL CITIZENSHIP to develop the youg perso as a cotributor to the ecoomy ad eviromet EMPLOYABILITY employability ecoomic awareess educatio for sustaiable developmet USING ICT Maagig Iformatio Thikig, Problem Solvig, Decisio Makig Beig Creative Workig with Others Self Maagemet ENGLISH (IRISH i Irish Medium Schools) with Media Educatio clear learig itetios shared with pupils ENVIRONMENT AND SOCIETY shared egotiated success criteria idividual target settig MATHEMATICS with Fiacial Capability takig risks for learig MODERN LANGUAGES advice o what to improve ad how to improve it PHYSICAL EDUCATION peer ad self assessmet SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY celebrate success agaist agreed success criteria RELIGIOUS EDUCATION ivestigatig ad problem solvig liked to other curriculum areas relevat ad ejoyable media-rich Skills itegrated active ad hads o offers choice challegig ad egagig supportive eviromet culturally diversive positive reiforcemet varied to suit learig style o-goig reflectio equiry based persoal resposibility self-belief optimism pragmatism curiosity cocer for others commuity spirit peer ad self evaluatio of learig commitmet determiatio resourcefuless opeess to ew ideas flexibility tolerace itegrity moral courage respect Figure.. CCEA s Big Picture of the Curriculum at Key Stage (available at: icurriculum.org.uk/docs/key_stage_/big-picture-ks.pdf) 00 CCEA from The Key Stage Curriculum Support ad Implemetatio Box.

4 THE SCHOOL, CURRICULUM AND SOCIETY Table.. Areas of Learig i the Revised Curriculum Area of Learig The Arts Laguage ad Literacy with Media Educatio Mathematics ad Numeracy Eviromet ad Society Moder Laguages Physical Educatio Sciece ad Techology Religious Educatio Subject Strads Art ad Desig, Drama ad Music Eglish or Irish i Irish Medium Schools Mathematics; Fiacial Capability History ad Geography Frech, Spaish, Germa, Italia, Russia, Irish, etc PE Sciece, Techology ad Desig RE Learig for Life ad Work is a ew learig area desiged to directly address the curriculum objectives. The statemets of miimum requiremet for all other subjects are articulated uder the curriculum objectives ad make referece to the key elemets which iclude moral character; media awareess ad educatio for sustaiable developmet (see Figure..). The key elemets ca act as a focus for Coected Learig betwee areas of learig. The Cross-Curricular Skills are commuicatio, usig mathematics ad usig ICT. Schools are required to assess ad report aually o pupils progressio i the cross-curricular skills. I additio, there is a strog emphasis across the curriculum o developig pupils Thikig Skills ad Persoal Capabilities (TSPC) which iclude maagig iformatio, workig with others, thikig, problem-solvig ad decisio-makig, self-maagemet ad beig creative. I the Revised NI Curriculum, traditioal subjects are arraged ito Areas of Learig, as show i Table... Each subject strad i the Revised Curriculum is set out i terms of how it cotributes to the objectives of the Revised Curriculum. The statutory curriculum for each subject strad is set out as statemets of miimum requiremet ad makes referece to key elemets of the curriculum such as mutual uderstadig, ethical awareess ad educatio for sustaiable developmet. The statemets of miimum requiremet are the compulsory elemets of the curriculum i terms of kowledge ad uderstadig, curriculum objectives, key elemets ad learig outcomes which must be taught. Aside from these statemets, teachers ca choose the cotet they feel best suits their teachig cotext. The Revised Curriculum promotes learig experieces which are, amogst other thigs, relevat ad ejoyable, liked to other curriculum areas, active ad hads o, equiry based, culturally diverse ad varied to suit pupils learig styles. Implemetatio of the Revised Curriculum was phased ito schools over a three-year period from September 00. THINKING SKILLS AND PERSONAL CAPABILITIES (TSPC) The Thikig Skills ad Persoal Capabilities (TSPC) framework (developed by Professor Carol McGuiess from Quee s Uiversity ad Dr Lye Biachi from Sheffield Hallam Uiversity) itegrates differet types of thikig skills with persoal ad iter-persoal skills ad dispositios. The framework was largely based o fidigs from the Activatig Childre s Thikig Skills (ACTS) programme, that the creatio of a dispositio to be a good thiker ca have as much ifluece o

5 SCHOOLS, CURRICULUM, TEACHER EDUCATION IN N IRELAND 0 Askig Accessig Recordig Itegratig Beig collaborative Beig sesitive to others Beig fair ad resposible Searchig for meaig Deepeig uderstadig Copig with challeges Evaluatig stregths & weakesses Settig goals & targets Metorig & regulatig self Imagiig Geeratig Ivetig Takig risks for learig Figure.. Thikig Skills ad Persoal Capabilities (TSPC) framework (adapted from the origial graphic, available at: PMB from The Thikig Skills ad Persoal Capabilities Framework, the developmet of good thikig as the acquisitio of specific skills ad strategies (McGuiess, : ). The framework is summarised i Figure... The TSPC framework (see Figure..) ca provide a heuristic to assist teachers i plaig ad i assessig pupils progress (Cousis, 00). It affords a commo laguage across the curriculum ad should be delivered i ad through the areas of learig. A example of a thikig skills activity is provided i Table... Now complete Task...

6 THE SCHOOL, CURRICULUM AND SOCIETY Task.. THE ODD ONE OUT ACTIVITY O your ow, idetify the similarities ad differeces betwee the well-kow faces. The select the odd oe out. Share ad explai your choice to a parter. As a pair, share ad explai your choice to aother pair. Table.. Examples of debriefig questios How did you arrage the objects? What assumptios did you make, ad why? Tell me more about... What do you mea by... How did your ideas chage over time? How did your group operate? How did you resolve disagreemets? If you did it agai, what would you do differetly? The odd oe out task (Task..) ad the debriefig questios i Table.. show that there ca be more tha oe credible aswer ad more tha oe way to reach a aswer. They also show that it ca be helpful to struggle whe thikig about a problem. Remember that i these activities, it is the dialogue which is more importat tha the aswers. Tasks.. ad.. ask you to pla a thikig skills activity for your subject. Task.. PLAN A THINKING SKILLS ACTIVITY Create a odd oe out activity for your subject.

7 SCHOOLS, CURRICULUM, TEACHER EDUCATION IN N IRELAND 0 ASSESSMENT FOR LEARNING IN THE REVISED CURRICULUM Assessmet for Learig (AfL) is ecouraged by the Revised Curriculum ad icludes buildig a more ope relatioship betwee learer ad teacher, clear learig itetios shared with pupils, peer ad self assessmet, peer ad self evaluatio of learig ad idividual target settig. It is ot, however, statutory: While the Revised Curriculum does ot require you to itegrate AfL practices ito your classrooms, we strogly recommed the use of AfL as best practice. The itroductio ad regular use of AfL i the classroom ca help you to fulfil other statutory compoets of the Revised Curriculum (like Thikig Skills ad Persoal Capabilities... I additio, AfL offers sigificat advatages for pupils. (CCEA, 00) The Assessmet Reform Group (00) defied assessmet for learig (AfL) as the process of seekig ad iterpretig evidece for use by learers ad their teachers to decide where the learers are i their learig, where they eed to go ext, ad how best to get them there (p. ). I the Revised NI Curriculum, the compoets of AfL are: Task.. PREPARE A LESSON INVOLVING THINKING SKILLS Idetify a thikig skill to be itroduced/practised/assessed i the lesso. Decide what thikig vocabulary is eeded durig the lesso. Desig tasks to itroduce/practise/assess the chose skill create a cogitive coflict to geerate studet iterest. Idetify idicators that show your pupils are usig the thikig skill both for you ad for the pupils to be aware of. Cosider the challeges that the pupils might face how ca they be overcome? Cosider the ideas the pupils may geerate how ca you stretch them further? Be prepared for their thikig to be differet or eve better tha yours! Prepare your debrief questios focus o the thikig skill. effective plaig (school ad classroom level) sharig learig itetios agreeig success criteria effective questioig costructive feedback studet self reflectio icludig peer ad self assessmet. Effective plaig icludes settig learig itetios, which describe what the pupils should kow, uderstad or be able to do by the ed of the lesso (or series of lessos). Learig itetios should be shared with the pupils ad should thus be writte i pupilfriedly laguage. It is best to start small, separatig the learig itetio from the activity

8 THE SCHOOL, CURRICULUM AND SOCIETY istructios. You should discuss why pupils are learig what you ited to teach with them. Look for their views ad try to reach a shared itetio. Aother aspect of learig itetios is to iclude success criteria, so that pupils ca be aware of how well they are doig durig the lesso. The success criteria could summarise the key steps i order to fulfil the learig itetio. Providig costructive feedback is also key for AfL. Perhaps the best way to thik about costructive feedback is by carryig out Task... Task.. ASSESSING CONSTRUCTIVE FEEDBACK Rate the followig feedback statemets as 0, where = o-costructive ad 0 = highly costructive: Feedback statemet Your ratig (-0) Tell me more. What do they look like? How do they move? Gold star Explai why you thik this How do you thik he felt? Agry that people did ot trust him Aoyed with himself for lyig i the past Beautiful, eat work Well doe!! Say how you thik this made him feel Develop these ideas further Describe the expressio o his face 0 Good, but ot as good as your brother s How do you thik Darryl felt about ot beig believed? Do you thik he might have regretted aythig he d doe? You must try harder First place i class Try oe of these or oe of your ow istead of bad: ferocious, terrifyig, evil A lovely story You re oe of the best 0/0 He showed me he was a good fried whe... (fiish this setece) Very good start. Cout how may times you have used the word said. What other words could you have used? 0 What did you see o your boat trip? Fish, birds, people?

9 SCHOOLS, CURRICULUM, TEACHER EDUCATION IN N IRELAND 0 AfL is a key aspect of the traiig for teachers relatig to implemetatio of the Revised NI Curriculum. Whilst the documetatio suggests that AfL is ot a statutory elemet, teachers ad studet teachers are strogly advised to use it i their teachig. INITIAL TEACHER EDUCATION IN NORTHERN IRELAND I NI, the oly routes ito secodary level school teachig are the traditioal Bachelor of Educatio (BEd) ad Postgraduate Certificate i Educatio (PGCE) programmes. All full time PGCE programmes are offered oly at Master s (M) level i NI, with the cosequece that all etrats must hold a Hoours degree or its equivalet. PGCE pupils are examied oly at M-level; the advatage of this is that they ear M-level credit which ca be cashed i for module exemptio i future M-level courses. Professioal competece The professioal competeces to be developed by teachers at all levels of their careers have recetly bee reviewed ad published by the Geeral Teachig Coucil i NI (GTCNI, 00) i a booklet etitled Teachig: The Reflective Professio. I this documet, the GTCNI suggests that it has cosistetly rejected ay attempt to adopt a reductioist approach to professioal developmet (p. ) ad that the adoptio of a competece based system allows for the coceptualisatio of professioal developmet as orgaic, ad to a extet evolutioary, reflectig a sythesis of research, experieces gaied ad expertise shared i commuities of practice (p.). To some, this may seem paradoxical, as the very fact of articulatig geeric competeces could be cosidered as reductioist. The GTCNI argues that it has bee coscious that the teacher competeces must be cosidered holistically ad ot treated as a series of discrete etities, divested of values or a sese of missio ad professioal idetity (p.). The GTCNI uderstadig of a teacher is as a educator ad moral aget who is: kowledgeable, skilful, reflective... ad cocered with the purposes ad cosequeces of educatio, as well as... techical proficiecy; be prepared to experimet with the ufamiliar ad lear from their experieces; have a approach characterised by ope-midedess ad wholeheartedess; be committed to professioal dialogue i collaboratio with colleagues, i school ad beyod; have workig patters characterised by a process of actio, evaluatio ad revisio; ad... assume, as life-log learers, resposibility for their ogoig professioal developmet. (GTCNI, 00, p. ). The reflective ad activist practitioer The GTCNI cocept of a reflective ad activist practitioer sees the teacher as a moral aget ad a iformed, kowledgeable practitioer. This ca be illustrated by the diagram i Figure... The illustratio i Figure.. suggests that each of the four areas of values ad attitudes, missio ad purpose, sese of professioal autoomy, ad kowledge ad competece cotributes towards the developmet of the reflective ad activist teacher i a dyamic iteractio which serves to reproduce the reflective ad activist compoets as each area develops.

10 THE SCHOOL, CURRICULUM AND SOCIETY Values ad Attributes Missio ad Purpose Reflective ad Activist Teacher Sese of Professioal Autoomy Kowledge ad Competece Figure.. The cocept of the reflective ad activist practitioer (redraw from the competece booklet (GTCNI, p. 0) I seekig to make more explicit the attributes, skills ad kowledge that teachers as professioals should possess ad exemplify, the GTCNI set out ew competece statemets, uder three broad headigs. These are: Professioal Values ad Practice Professioal Kowledge ad Uderstadig Professioal Skills ad Applicatio: Plaig ad Leadig Teachig ad Learig Assessmet. Competece statemets The ew competece statemets are predicated upo the otio that the achievemet of competece is a developmetal process which, of ecessity, trasceds early teacher educatio ad cotiues throughout a teacher s career (GTCNI, 00: ). They therefore effectively uderpi all phases of early teacher educatio ad professioal developmet. The achievemet of competece depeds o: the ature ad level of the teacher s experiece ad their persoal effectiveess the work-based cotext the roles teachers experiece ad the developmet opportuities arisig from such experieces. 0

11 SCHOOLS, CURRICULUM, TEACHER EDUCATION IN N IRELAND 0 The full descriptio of the competece statemets is articulated, with exemplars for the iitial, iductio, early professioal developmet ad cotiuig professioal developmet (CPD) stages of a teacher s career o pp. of the competece booklet (GTCNI, 00). The summary outlies of the statemets are set out o pp.. Full details are available o the website ( Each of the competeces is articulated progressively for the differet stages i a teacher s career from ITE to cotiuig professioal developmet. They progress i terms of complexity ad sophisticatio but each assumes that teachers relate theory to practice at all career stages. Now complete Task... Task.. REFLECT ON YOUR CURRENT LEVEL OF COMPETENCE Cosider the statemets of competece for your course. Rak them i groups represetig your self-perceptio of how well you demostrate each (a) durig your ITE course ad (b) durig your first year of teachig. Code of values ad professioal practice The code of values ad professioal practice idicated i the first competece statemet is cosidered as eloquet testimoy to the professio s commitmet to excellece i ad for all (GTCNI, 00: ). This code seeks to set out clearly the core values uderpiig professioal practice; ecourage attitudes ad coduct commesurate with the core values of the professio; provide a framework for evaluatig both policies ad practice; ad ehace the status of the professio i the eyes of the public (GTCNI, 00: ). The core values of the professio are: trust, hoesty, commitmet, respect, fairess, equality, itegrity, tolerace ad service. These values are to be exemplified i their work ad i their relatioships with others; recogisig, i particular, the uique ad privileged relatioship that exists betwee teachers ad their pupils (GTCNI, 00: ). Teachers will at all times be coscious of their resposibilities to others (learers, colleagues ad the professio). The competeces articulate the way that it is evisioed that teachers will progress through their careers. Durig the PGCE course i NI, studet teachers complete a formative profile report after their first exteded school placemet, i which they self-assess their progress agaist the competeces. This documet is discussed with a tutor ad cosesus is reached i terms of stregths ad targets o which studet teachers will cocetrate durig the secod exteded placemet. Followig this, studet teachers complete a career etry profile report. This report idicates the directio for support durig iductio ad is give to the employer resposible for mappig the course of iductio ad early professioal developmet for the begiig teacher. New teachers follow a process of iductio durig their first year of teachig, durig which they are observed ad supported i the productio ad implemetatio of a persoalised actio pla. There follows two further years of early professioal developmet, i which teachers complete portfolios of whole school issues, such as disciplie, pastoral care or ICT use i the school. Havig completed this stage, teachers the embark o CPD i their chose directio, be that towards school maagemet or towards expert teacher status.

12 THE SCHOOL, CURRICULUM AND SOCIETY SUMMARY AND KEY POINTS The itetio of this uit is to raise your awareess of some of the key characteristics of NI schools ad to the major developmets which have occurred i relatio to curriculum ad assessmet i schools. It also provides a discussio of professioal competece, particularly i relatio to studet teachers, which icludes cosideratio of the essece of becomig a reflective ad activist teacher. You are ecouraged to start the process of reflectio o practice at this early stage i your career ad to retur ad repeat some of the tasks as you become more experieced. If classroom experiece aloe makes a idividual a good teacher, the those who have taught the logest would all be the best teachers. This is ot the case. Much research shows that the oly way to become a better teacher is to reflect o practice, idetify areas for developmet ad address these areas. Gettig feedback from your pupils is a excellet way of doig this. I ed this uit o a salutary ote: a colleague had a discussio with two pupils i his class followig a physics lesso which had ot goe well. Oe of the pupils said that this teacher had outlied a problem for them to solve ad had goe through some examples fie. The, istead of lettig the pupils get o with their work i peace, the teacher walked aroud the classroom ad distracted everybody... the pupil was so ervous of the teacher comig to stad over him, he could t do the work ad switched off. The teacher, meawhile, had bee coviced that walkig aroud ad supportig his pupils was the best way to teach... The secod pupil agreed with the first ad the teacher, who had twety years experiece i the classroom bega to doubt all that he thought was right ad checked with the pupils the best way to teach them. He cocluded that it is ofte our pupils who are i the best positio to help us teach them! Check which requiremets for your course you have addressed through this uit. FURTHER READING Assessmet Reform Group (00) Assessmet for Learig Framework. Available olie at: / -schools/dowloads/altprovisioatks-appedix-h.pdf. Curriculum Coucil for Examiatios ad Assessmet (CCEA) (00) The Revised Curriculum, available olie at: This site provides comprehesive curriculum ad associated guidace. Geeral Teachig Coucil i NI (GTCNI) (00) Teachig: the Reflective Professio, Belfast: GTCNI. Available olie at: %00.pdf. The GTCNI site is oe with which you should become familiar as they provide cosiderable guidace for teachers i Norther Irelad.