Contact: John Clarke, Deputy County Education Officer, County Office
Tel 01962 846459 email [email protected] or

Alan Rawlings, Senior Inspector/Adviser (Secondary), County Office

Tel 01962 846917 email [email protected]

1 Summary

1.1 This report describes outcomes from the fourth year of support for departments in secondary schools carried out by subject inspector/advisers, as part of the Education Development Plan (EDP). It supports Aim 1 of the Corporate Strategy (Maximising life opportunities) by reporting on matters likely to impact upon an improvement in the quality of life for Hampshire people.

2 Background

2.1 This work is an established strand of support for subject departments in secondary schools. It originated as a project to support weaker departments in otherwise successful schools but now has a wider brief of targeted support at Key Stage 4 across all schools. The selection of schools is based primarily, but not exclusively, on subject residual data. A subject residual is a statistic that compares the attainment of a group of pupils at GCSE with their performance in all subjects taken in that particular set of GCSE examinations. A residual figure of +0.5, for example, would indicate that overall, pupils had achieved a half a grade higher in that subject compared with the other subjects that they took.

2.2 From an analysis of subject residuals for 2000, a total of 35 out of 71 schools and 48 departments were identified for inspector/adviser support in 2000/2001. This large number of schools is not an indication of the schools that cause concern. It simply illustrates the point that even in effective schools there are sometimes pockets of practice where targeted support could secure improvement. In fact, just under a fifth of the departments that were supported at the time were in schools that were judged to be amongst the most effective in the LEA.

3 Support

3.1 Activities were planned to focus on the nature of the weakness and this was explored with the school beforehand so that an appropriate programme of support could be agreed. Examples of the range of support activities that were undertaken include:

· improving the theoretical component of a practical GCSE course in order to help embed underpinning knowledge;

· changing the predominant teaching style to one that was more motivating for pupils;

· creating a better balance between language and literature work in English;

· moderation activities to sharpen teachers' understanding of assessment criteria linked to GCSE grades.

3.2 Inspector/advisers carried out lesson observations, discussions, training and coaching as appropriate and as agreed with the school. Outcomes were judged against GCSE results in 2003 and specifically the subject residuals. This was not always possible where residuals were unavailable or incomplete as in religious education and information and communication technology, for example.

4 Outcomes

4.1 In the projects where there were measurable data available at the beginning and end of the programme, there was an increase in subject residuals in 74% of cases. This is slightly lower than the success rate of 80% last year. In only three of the subject programmes - history, physical education and music - were there improvements in all of the departments that were supported. Once again, in many of the programmes where no improvement was noted, either changes in staff or staff shortages were contributory factors. This is because these programmes involved a number of interactions with a department over a period of time and the staff discontinuity prevented much of the advice becoming embedded in the practice.

4.2 The average improvement, taking increases and decreases together, was 0.32 (about a third of a grade at GCSE). This is the same as in the previous year's programme of support. Whilst the success rate for this cycle of support is lower than the figure of 87% in 1999/2000, the overall programme still represents an effective use of resources.

5 Lessons learned

5.1 All secondary schools have now been provided with a short guidance document on how to get the most out of consultant support. This was derived from work in previous years and a summary of the document was reported to Schools' Monitoring Panel last year.

5.2 Since the start of the department development programme, the Key
Stage 3 Strategy has been introduced nationally and is now an integral part of school improvement activities in LEA schools. This work has underlined the central role of the school leadership team in managing such projects effectively and supporting staff in the intervening periods between the support activities. There remains work to do in ensuring that all schools fully understand and act on this evidence.

Recommendations

1 That the report be noted.

Section 100D Local Government Act 1972 - Background Documents

The following documents disclose facts or matters on which this report, or an important part of it, is based and has been relied upon to a material extent in the preparation of this report.

NB The list excludes:

1 Published works

2 Documents which disclosed exempt or confidential information as defined in the Act