Evaluation of the Key Stage 2 Language Learning Pathfinders

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evaluating the children at the end of modules of work, rather than ongoing … assessment atthe time. (headteacher)One teacher mentioned an assessment sheet produced by the Pathfinder, which gives avery good guide up to level 4 in Speaking, Listening, Reading and Writing, but no record ofmarks was kept. There were difficulties for peripatetic teachers. For example, one visitingteacher who taught 19 classes found it difficult to know all the pupils’ names; she could giveinformation regarding bandings of ability but she would need assistance from the classteacher for names in recording assessment levels later.In schools where there was no quantitative measure of attainment, the qualitative evidencewas often extensive, from performance in assemblies to realisation that some less confidentchildren had ‘come out of their shells’ (headteacher). Assessment was seen more to be aquestion of monitoring by checking out how pupils had retained knowledge from previouslessons by the general recapitulation questions at the beginning of each lesson.Where there had been little emphasis (if any) on assessment, headteachers thought thatevidence could be extracted from the planning, the French books and the comments on thereports to indicate progress but nothing more formal. In many schools reading and writingwere minimal. ‘I’ve never marked anything!’ (outreach teacher). Sometimes a prize wasgiven, for example, when someone designed a poster. In response to a question aboutevidence of what the pupils could do now after two years in the Pathfinder which they couldnot do before, one teacher admitted she had nothing.85
Case study: exemplar of a well developed assessment system and recordingIn one school the co-ordinator kept records of assessment for all the pupils and the pupils allhad individual portfolios with their own work. A school portfolio contained pupils’ selfevaluation sheets which listed items with columns: ‘I can’, ‘I can with help’, ‘I’ve forgotten’and evidence of pupils’ work at different levels. There was clear progression of what Year 6had achieved this year compared to last year’s Year 6. In this school assessment beginsorally in lower KS1 and assessment is written into the new units through the activities. ‘Notbeing a language specialist this is really helpful. It’s useful to know when to assess andwhat to assess’ (primary teacher). An exciting development was planned for the future:‘When they leave in Year 6 they will do a final piece of writing. We now have the facilitythrough ICT, well we will have, to have the possibility to interview them and record this onMP3 and up-load this onto the secondary school’s website to see what stage each pupil isat. We’re just waiting for the local authority to give parental consent for this, because of childprotection issues, but we will be able to access this in the summer. We have goodrelationships with the high school.’ (primary teacher)Although informal assessment was conducted in some schools, there was no evidence ofmarking.‘We don’t actually keep any statutory sort of assessments; it’s just conversation here andthere; we don’t actually put any kind of pressure or measure on their … [work]… it is[informal monitoring], very much so, yes. […] it can only be orally and via observation.There’s actually no formal written assessment. We may at the end of the year perhaps add acomment about how they tackled learning French and their approach to it.’ (primary teacher)In some cases, even where assessment opportunities were provided in schemes of work orwhere language awards were used, pupils on the whole did not report that theirwork/performance was ‘marked’ in any way other than general encouragement to the classas a whole. In all schools in one Pathfinder, pupils were unanimous and immediate in theirchorused reactions ‘no!’ about whether they received feedback about how they were gettingon. Upon reflection, pupils in one school thought they were getting better, because morewas being expected of them. They swapped books when little tests were marked and theteacher kept a record of the scores. Pupils felt they did not really know how they were86
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RESEARCHEvaluation of the Key Stage
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Contents1. Executive summary 32. In
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practice and factors that might imp
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of the experience. Individual feedb
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• The analysis revealed the need
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• Are pupils with SEN and gifted
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Both respondent characteristics and
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Interviews were recorded and a 25%
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2.2. Advantages and disadvantages o
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2.2.2. Languages Delivery by the Pr
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2.2.4. Languages Delivery through a
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Analysing these models, conditions
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• Schools should be encouraged to
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however, instances of schools where
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3.1.3.4. Time allocated to language
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‘French would not be taught now a
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• beneficial for the subject’s
Page 35 and 36: Many teachers remained very depende
Page 37 and 38: Table 2: Integration and Communicat
Page 39 and 40: ‘We’ve written a letter and dra
Page 41 and 42: ‘it makes you realise that if acc
Page 43 and 44: Table 5: Languages and Learning - Q
Page 45 and 46: 3.1.5. Pupils - Learning and Attitu
Page 47 and 48: • useful for travelling abroad -
Page 49 and 50: • ‘Comments at the end to help
Page 51 and 52: ‘At times they find it difficult
Page 53 and 54: teacher who knew our level.’ In t
Page 55 and 56: In most Pathfinders, however, there
Page 57 and 58: 3.2.2. Recommendations• Primary t
Page 59 and 60: Effective staffing is essential to
Page 61 and 62: Martin and Mitchell 1993). In anoth
Page 63 and 64: Nineteen respondents had specialise
Page 65 and 66: As revealed in questionnaire 1, in
Page 67 and 68: However, some teachers were pleasan
Page 69 and 70: However, there were frequent instan
Page 71 and 72: • team-teaching on the ground•
Page 73 and 74: involved external bodies in the del
Page 75 and 76: Generally, there was a sense that s
Page 77 and 78: • Methods of recording progressio
Page 79 and 80: However, there were challenges in a
Page 81 and 82: In one Pathfinder one school cluste
Page 83 and 84: One example of assessment included
Page 85: trying to evaluate, prior to each u
Page 89 and 90: In some Pathfinder schools effectiv
Page 91 and 92: ‘Only a very small number (6/7) g
Page 93 and 94: • transfer of more sensitive info
Page 95 and 96: ‘…I know the Year 7 teachers we
Page 97 and 98: 3.4.5. Links to KS3 Framework/Natio
Page 99 and 100: situation was especially difficult
Page 101 and 102: 3.5. Sustainability and Replicabili
Page 103 and 104: develop ‘effective and replicable
Page 105 and 106: 3.5.4. Leadership and managementThe
Page 107 and 108: on one aspect of delivery. This was
Page 109 and 110: 3.5.5. Staff and staff expertiseIn
Page 111 and 112: ‘Usually it is impromptu: 10 or 1
Page 113 and 114: ‘The reason why I have decided to
Page 115 and 116: c) there is obvious progression fro
Page 117 and 118: to be constrained. Methodologies ge
Page 119 and 120: Time spent on the project was gathe
Page 121 and 122: Estimating development costs of res
Page 123 and 124: There were significant differences
Page 125 and 126: on staff costs, with the impact on
Page 127 and 128: 5. CONCLUSIONSOverall, this evaluat
Page 129 and 130: 5.2. Teacher Competence• Primary
Page 131 and 132: o for training secondary teachers i
Page 133 and 134: ReferencesBell, E with Cox, K. (199
Page 135 and 136: Case Study 2Case study 2 is a compa
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channelled through this school. At
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Case Study 5This LA is a large auth
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Case Study 7Case study 7 is a joint
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