Critical Skills : An Overview.

2. Critical Skills : An Overview.

3. Why Critical Skills at Challenge ? • Low levels of attainment on entry • Students were not good learners • Students found it difficult to work collaboratively • Large number of boys compared to girls. • Consistent whole school approach to learning and teaching • Support for whole school approaches to support literacy ICT and development of independant learners

4. What are the benefits of critical skills?

5. The 4 broad principles • Experiential learning • Collaborative learning • Standards driven learning • Problem based learning

6. The 9 key characteristics Students • frequently work in teams • Actively solve meaningful problems • Publicly exhibit their learning • Reflect on what they are learning and doing • Apply quality criteria to their work • Take responsibility for and ownership of their learning and the classroom community

7. The 9 key characteristics Teachers • mediate , coach and support the learning process • Targeted learning results guided culture, curriculum and assessment • Plan work which is interconnected

8. Skills and Dispositions • Problem solving Life long learners • Decision making Self direction • Critical thinking Quality workers • Creative thinking Integrity • Communication Collaborators • Organisation Community membership • Management Curiosity • Leadership Ethical character

9. Setting Up A Challenge • Children “check in” to set the atmosphere in the classroom. • Challenge issued and time given to read and understand. • Challenge is “chunked” to make clear that pupils understand what is asked of them. • Aspects of quality may be negotiated.

10. TeacherPupilActivitiesActivities • Design an appropriate activity and assessment tool to test knowledge and skills. • As the challenge begins ensure understanding of purpose and content. • Guide group to negotiate aspects of quality. • Provide resources. • Read, breakdown, question, suggest, discuss what the challenge means. • Offer ideas about quality requirements for certain aspects of the final product

11. TeacherPupilActivitiesActivities • Encourage and help pupils set roles. • Circulate, help where necessary. • Make written observations of the processes underway. • Collect evidence of the process pupils go through and the skills they exhibit along the way. • Ascribe roles to various members of team – facilitator, scribe, time keeper, resource manager. • Share tasks out according to skills. • Agree check-in time.

12. What is the teachers/ LSA role while pupils are working? • Encourage verbally and in writing – leave post it notes pointing out positive behaviours. Record pupil activities for debrief. • Assess – observe and record evidence for areas of assessment i.e. problem solving or collaboration. • Modify behaviours – redirect off task pupils to the team goal and their part in it. Point out positive behaviours of others

13. Critical Skills from the learning perspective! • Motivates pupils • Learning is set in real life scenarios. • Enables assessment of skills other than subject based ones. • Develops pupil confidence. • Values pupils creative work quantitatively. Unlocking Potential through Teamwork

14. What is the time commitment to qualify in Critical Skills? Level 1 Divided into: Institute A Institute B 3 Days 3Days These need to be 6 months apart. Level 2 One institute 3 Days 1 year after completion of level1.

15. What do Level 1 and 2 comprise? • Level 1 • Community building • Writing a challenge • Identifying preferred learning styles • Embedding roles. • Level 2 • assessment rubrics and linking challenges: Delegates are set “challenges” during all 3 institutes to get first hand experience of the processes being taught.

16. 2002 -2003 • Challenge College, Parkside and Laisterdyke will be licenced providers of CS in Bradford • Institute Leader development programme • @ Challenge • 45 Staff at Level 1 • 22 Teachers at Level 2

17. Other key factors in our planning • Departmental Objectives benchmark base line performance • Centralised CS Resources • CS based Working Group • Rigorous monitoring of short, medium and long term planning • Deputy Head of School with strategic T&L leadership role • Professional Development Library • Collaborative working with Laisterdyke and Parkside • Use of CS model in whole staff consultation and planning

18. Feedback from Delegates: Learning about critical skills is a double edged sword . when I was first trained. I wanted to tear up all my schemes and start again. I now plan Challenges for every year group for every half term. The best part of the programme for me is when they tell me what they have learned. To hear them talk to watch them debate, to read their presentations and to listen to them assessing others students work. Heather Scott Critical Skills provides the language and structure to deliver the content and make it more interesting for pupils.R.Smith It provided a structure to good practice from the past Tony Carlyle Critical Skills has given me a deeper insight into the processes involved in student learning. T. Hashmi Its hard work running challenges but it is really rewarding when students cooperate and work on the task together. Paul Tasker

19. Critical Skills @ Challenge College