|
Background to the Research
- In the early 1990's there
was a range of school improvement projects in Belfast under the auspices
of MBW. These, however, tended to concentrate on particular issues
or aspects of school effectiveness, such as discipline or literacy
rather than addressing all of a school's improvement needs in a coherent
way. Such an approach operated with encouraging degrees of success
during the 1980s in the '11-16 Programme of Curriculum Review and
Development' and the 'Primary Guidelines' Initiatives: these were
whole-school development programmes which targeted advice, support
and additional financial resources on participating schools throughout
NI. In the light of these curricular initiatives, and with a recognition
of the complexity of the issues involved in improving pupil performance
and the need to bring about higher standards, the then DENI decided
in 1994 to work with clusters of schools, to seek to effect improvements
in the performance of pupils and ultimately their employability, as
they moved through primary and on into secondary schools.
- In May 1994 a pilot initiative,
known as the MBW RSSI, was launched; it included four secondary schools
and ten of their main feeder primary schools. These schools were invited
to participate in a three-year programme of self-improvement, during
which they would focus on improving specific aspects of their provision
within a whole-school context. Additional resources and support were
made available to assist with the project.
- In January 1995, building
on the experience of MBW pilot, the RSSI was launched on a NI-wide
basis, and a further 30 secondary schools, together with 62 of their
main feeder primary schools, were invited to participate. Only four
schools, three primary and one secondary, did not take up the invitation
and 29 secondary schools and 59 primary schools, along with two infant
schools, accepted.
Research Approach
- This report is based on evidence drawn
from 88 focused inspections, 39 follow-up inspections and 140 structured
visits carried out by the Inspectorate between 1995 and December 1998;
the final sample of 22 inspections completed between September and
December 1998 was selected to reflect the spread of progress across
each Phase (as judged by the Inspectorate, the ELBs and the CCMSs
and the proportion of schools discontinued within each Phase.
- It also draws upon self-evaluation reports
provided by the participating schools, by the ELBs and CCMs and discussions
throughout the period of the Initiative with Officers from the ELBs
and CCMSs.
Main Findings
- The main findings of the Initiative fall
into three broad areas:
- Improvements in the quality of provision
and in the achievements of the pupils.
- The establishment of ways of working to
effect improvement.
- Issues which require continuing or new
attention by those involved in management or in the support of
schools or teachers.
Improvements in the Quality of Provision
and in the Achievement of the Pupils
- In all schools, including the 39 continuing
into the School Support Programme in September 1998 and remaining
in need of intensive support, there is evidence of some improvement
in all or most of the following:
- The commitment to school improvement by
the majority of the staff.
- Participation in in-service training.
- An ethos which promotes the personal and
social development of the pupils.
- The learning environment and the resources
available.
- Links with parents.
- Careers provision and links with local
employers (secondary only).
- More awareness of the need to integrate
information and communication technology (ICT), with subject teaching.
- Increased breadth in the pupils' learning.
- Approaches and practice in assessment,
and the recording and reporting of the pupils' achievements.
- Interpretation of the pupils' performance
in public examinations, standardised tests and the end of key
stage assessment.
- The quality of management - including financial
management.
- A few schools improved very little and
still need very intensive and, probably, different support to that
already given.
- At a secondary level, the General Certificate
of Secondary Education (GCSE) results of the participating schools
show that virtually all schools have made some improvement on their
previous performance.
- At a primary level there is, as yet, no
sufficiently reliable information that enables children's progress
to be assessed over time, and to enable the performance of different
schools to be compared in a quantitative and measurable way. The end
of key stage results will, however, be available in time and provide
an added source of date for SSP schools.
The establishment of ways of working
which effect improvement.
- The RSSI model has been effective in helping
the schools to take increased responsibility for evaluating the quality
of their own provision and for their own improvement.
- In their evaluations, the vast majority
of the participating schools, the ELBs and CCMS acknowledged that:
- The inspection process helped schools to
reflect on and assess their priorities and then to bid for the
resources and specialist support necessary to effect improvement.
- Ongoing monitoring and evaluation (by the
school itself with the support of Curriculum Advisory and Support
Service and/or CCMS, and by the Inspectorate) became less of an
event and more of an integral part of the school's developing
quality assurance procedures.
- The RSSI required schools to focus on whole-school
issues and therefore, to address the coherence of and consistency
in the pupils' experiences. At the beginning of the Initiative there
were, in almost every school, vast discrepancies in the quality and
standards of work from class to class; further, the main areas identified
for improvement were evident across the curriculum in the quality
of the teaching and in the pupils' learning in such areas as their
interpretation and use of information, and in their ability to explain
their understanding of what they were learning.
- The RSSI school monitoring and evaluation
of their own provision and their subsequent development planning were
generally poor in the early days of the Initiative.
Issues which require attention by all
of those involved in the management of, or support for, schools and
teachers.
- The quality of leadership in all schools
- including the need for Boards of Governors to strengthen both their
support for principals and the accountability they require of them.
- In about three-quarters of the secondary
schools and in one-third of primary schools, special needs provision
remains a concern.
- There is a general lack of awareness of
effective strategies that can be used to improve the standards of
the performance of pupils who are underachievers or low achievers.
- There are important weaknesses in the
day-to-day assessment of children's work that need to be addressed.
The majority of teachers check the pupils' work for completeness and
accuracy but there is much less evidence of pupils receiving guidance
to help them improve their work.
- Comparative statistical data and management
tools are not being used well enough by most of the RSSI schools which
have access to them, to help determine whether the quality of what
they provide is good enough.
- Multiple deprivation is too readily equated
with low ability. In schools located in areas of multiple deprivation,
there is a need for teachers with high levels of expertise and commitment,
and with appropriately high expectations for young people.
- The findings from RSSI and, in particular,
the high incidence of low achievement in many of the schools, have
major implications for teacher education and in-service development
at all levels.
|
