Election reflections.

Politics is about issues and attitudes.  This last few weeks I feel we have lost focus on this and it has become about winning, losing and arithmetic. There are some interesting things being discussed now in the Labour Party as they consider their leader and the Green Party certainly ran their campaign based on a world view. But for too long politics seems to have been focussed on the game, rather than the rules.
In my experience students engage with issues, want to hear different points of view and commonly have strong opinions of their own. This supports research published in TES here which reveals that teenagers really care about politics. In my classroom since September this interest has arisen almost every week. On the Friday after the election, Year 11 students who were in the midst of final preparations of exams arrived in the room excitedly telling me 'he's resigned', 'it's totally different now' and 'I can't believe it, none of us wanted him'. Evidence from social media also suggests that young people, in particular teenagers, have really engaged with the election, and feel frustrated that they can't vote. A recent example from my classroom include Year 10 who were considering the death penalty. The issue was then what is the purpose of punishment and therefore prison. Students were fiercely engaged, so much so that we had to push back the next lesson to allow more time for debate.
Similarly Year 11 have been assessing support and opposition for the establishment of the NHS as they revise for GCSE History. The issue was then should the government or individuals be responsible for insuring against sickness as well as the role of private finance.  It provoked much discussion again, this time about Labour policies and student perceptions of the health service and their understanding of the views of the two main parties.
There are dozens of further examples I could share but clearly young people in education are engaged in politics. Whether our representatives continue to focus on playing a game and just attempting to win votes rather than engage in debate can in part, I believe, be directly affected by our classrooms focussing on issues that matter. As the dust settles on the election and we return to the clichéd priorities of 'reducing the deficit' and 'hard working families' I, for one, will continue to give opportunities for young people to engage with important issues and attitudes.

Assessment at Key Stage Three

Like teachers and leaders in many schools, I am trying to find a way through the freedom offered by the abolition of National Curriculum levels. With nearly a whole school year gone, and no obvious, high quality solutions available I decided to have a go myself (albeit with a plenty of ideas from Twitter). The purpose of this blog is really to share the initial drafts I have in order to help others organise their assessment at KS3. I am of course also keen for readers to leave a comment with their thoughts so that what is used in September in my school and others is the best that it can be.
My aims for the scheme of assessment are;
1. To ensure students know how they can improve their work.
2. To differentiate between students' performance across a variety of skills to support with 1.
3. To allow school leaders and academic tutors to analyse data about performance to support with intervention.
4. For parents to understand and be able to act on feedback in reports and data snapshots.
5. To prepare students for the demands of GCSE.


The plan below is for History at Key Stage 3, but I believe the concept could be applied to any subject. Very simply, I have divided the subject into its component skills (linked very closely to assessment objectives of exam courses) and then summarised each at four different levels of competence. Each assessment (an exam style paragraph, a project etc) would then be marked against only the relevant criteria.
I have begun to trial this idea, most recently with a timed answer by Year 9. The question to which they responded was 'Which clip is the best representation of Dunkirk?' so provided feedback and recorded their current level of competence only in relation to 'Knowledge of the past' and 'Evaluate sources.' After more trialling, I will write again with my findings and thoughts but in the meantime I would welcome any thoughts in return on the process so far and the situation in other schools.

Objectives	Level of Attainment
	STANDARD	ADVANCED	SKILLED	EXPERT
DEMONSTRATE KNOWLEDGE OF THE PAST	1-2 Several accurate details are included.	3-5 Use of own words to narrate key issues.	6-8 Examples are used in support of responses.	9-10 Precise and detailed information is deployed effectively.
ANALYSE HISTORICAL EVENTSAND PERIODS	1-2 Reasons / effects are identified or mentioned.	3-5 Explanation of more than one key issue. Evidence of connecting information together.	6-8 Development of several ideas each of which is organised and focussed..	9-10 Links and connections within and between ideas are clear and coherent.
EVALUATE SOURCES AND INTERPRETATIONS	1-2 Brief outline of one view of the issue is presented.	3-5 Clear understanding shown of more than one opinion / representation of the issue.	6-8 Explanation of the reasons for and/or merits of an interpretation / representation.	9-10 A clear argument is developed about the value, taking into account several criteria and contextual knowledge.
COMMUNICATE EFFECTIVELY	1 There are common errors but these do not hinder meaning.	2 There are a limited number of errors.	3 Few / no errors and use of subject specific terms enhances the response.	4 Student responds with sophistication and flair.