An Roinn Oideachais agus Eolaíochta

 

Department of Education and Science

 

 

Subject Inspection of English

REPORT

 

Presentation De La Salle College

Bagenalstown, Co Carlow

Roll number: 61150N

 

 Date of inspection: 1 December 2006

Date of issue of report: 21 June 2007

 

 

 

Subject inspection report

Subject provision and whole school support

Planning and preparation

Teaching and learning

Assessment

Summary of main findings and recommendations

 

 

 

Report on the Quality of Learning and Teaching in English

 

Subject inspection report

 

This report has been written following a subject inspection in Presentation De La Salle College, Bagenalstown. It presents the findings of an evaluation of the quality of teaching and learning in English and makes recommendations for the further development of the teaching of this subject in the school. The evaluation was conducted over two days during which the inspector visited classrooms and observed teaching and learning. The inspector interacted with students and teachers, examined students’ work, and had discussions with the teachers. The inspector reviewed school planning documentation and teachers’ written preparation. Following the evaluation visit, the inspector provided oral feedback on the outcomes of the evaluation to the principal and subject teachers.

 

 

Subject provision and whole school support

 

First-year and Transition Year (TY) class groups have four class periods of English each week. This is satisfactory provision. All other year groups have five class periods a week, which is good provision. A more even distribution of lesson periods over the course of the week is desirable in some cases. For example, two of the TY and two of the sixth-year English lesson periods are timetabled on one day, but not for a double period. Ideally students should have daily contact with English to allow for regular reinforcement of developed skills. Concurrency of English lessons is facilitated on the timetable from second year to sixth year to allow for students to change levels. Concurrency is also well used in TY, as the two TY teachers of English rotate the teaching of modules of the English programme.

 

All English teachers in the school are fully qualified to teach English to the highest level. Good practice was observed in that English teachers rotate the teaching of higher and ordinary level on an annual basis.

 

Students are placed in mixed-ability classes in first year. English teachers are commended for continuing with mixed-ability into second year. Students are then set in third year into two higher-level and one ordinary-level class groups. The majority of students in the school do TY and these students are placed in mixed-ability class groups, as is appropriate, in this year. In fifth and sixth year, students are banded into two higher-level class groups and one ordinary-level class group. All students in the school who wish to attempt higher level are given the opportunity to do so and teachers encourage students to strive for their highest achievable level. This very good practice yields good results for English and is commended.

 

All English teachers have their own base classrooms. In most of these rooms teachers had displays relevant to the subject on the walls. These included pictures of writers, key words pertaining to English and project work. It was reported that teachers have access to audio-visual equipment including television and DVD which is important as film is part of the Leaving Certificate course. Some overhead projectors were also available. Teachers generally store their own resources and share these freely with colleagues on request. Resources, such as teaching suggestions for students with special educational needs (SEN), are stored within the English planning folder. It is recommended that English teachers make an inventory of existing resources and develop a centrally accessible area for shared resources, such as DVDs, in future planning.

 

One English classroom is also the school library. This means that access to the library has to be arranged and movement of English classes from the library organised if other teachers wish to use it. It is therefore recommended that, if possible, the library be used for its purpose as a library only, which can be accessed by all students and subject areas. There is a computer room in the school. This room also doubles up as a classroom which again impedes access to it. Although the school has broadband, it was reported that this is not successful and that there is limited access to good Information and Communication Technology (ICT) facilities in the school. Nevertheless, individual teachers do use ICT for material to download for class use. It is recommended that the school should plan for the enhancement of ICT facilities over time.

 

English teachers take students to see a Shakespearean play most years. A college musical was also produced by the school this year. In addition, modules on film studies and on public speaking complement the English TY programme. This is commended.

 

Planning and preparation

 

There was evidence of good planning and a high level of collaboration between English teachers. Formal planning meetings are provided two to three times each year and teachers also regularly meet informally. There has been a long culture of collaborative planning in the school and English teachers have a history of cooperating for the betterment of their students. One English teacher acts as coordinator of the subject. Consideration should be given to rotating this position among all English teachers on an annual basis so that all teachers share the responsibility of coordinating planning for the subject. Minutes of all formal meetings are recorded and a report on the work of the department is forwarded to management at the end of each year. This is commendable practice.

 

Very good progress has been made in developing a long-term plan for English. This plan contains a mission statement for the subject in which the aim is “that each student would achieve their full potential in English through the creation of a positive classroom environment that promotes discussion and analysis of different opinions”. The plan also includes aims and objectives for teaching English, subject content and a list of teaching methodologies. English teachers have developed the junior cycle plan and now aim to work on the senior cycle plan. The junior cycle plan includes learning outcomes for each year group to achieve, which is good practice as it ensures that an incremental approach to learning takes place. Common examinations have been introduced for first-year and second-year students, and teachers share responsibility for the setting of these papers.

 

Transition Year class groups study English on a modular basis. Planning documentation was available for one of these modules. There is a need to document the full TY programme for English. In addition, as TY students study a module on film, it is suggested that they study a novel as opposed to another film in their English modules. English teachers are reminded that the content of the TY programme should not be Leaving Certificate based, but that where there is Leaving Certificate content it should be taught in a significantly different way.

 

Teachers work closely to agree the texts they teach for all year groups. This practice is to be commended as it involves close collaboration and discussion of texts. Ultimately it ensures that students can change levels, if they so wish, in the knowledge that the class they will move to will also have covered the same texts. Therefore, texts are chosen on the basis of student interest and on the basis of suitability for all levels, especially at senior cycle.

 

A novel is taught to all first-year class groups, which is commendable practice. So too is the opportunity for students to read other novels that some first-year classes have on a weekly basis. However, the novel studied by first years has also been studied by many students in primary school. It is therefore recommended that a different first-year novel be taught after researching what novels are studied by all feeder primary schools. Second-year and third-year ordinary-level students study a novel, a play and a range of short stories, all of which are entirely suitable for the student cohort. Higher-level students also study a Shakespearean drama in third year. The fact that students are given exposure to a range of texts in junior cycle is commended.

 

Ordinary-level students have, in the past, been taught two films for Leaving Certificate. This is not permitted by the English syllabus. Three texts of a comparative nature, only one of which can be a film, are required for study at both higher and ordinary level. It is strongly recommended that the choice of texts be reviewed immediately with this in mind.

 

Students with language support needs are identified by the feeder primary schools and by parents. It was reported that there are four students in receipt of language support. These students are withdrawn from Irish in a small class grouping. Students in receipt of learning support in first and second year are withdrawn in small groups from an option subject. It was reported that English teachers liaise with literacy/language support teachers during their formal subject planning meetings, and that they also have informal meetings. There was evidence that the SEN team has distributed resources to English teachers on teaching students with SEN. This is good practice. Improvements in students’ literacy development are ascertained by standard reading tests, class tests and observation.

 

Two teachers had developed very good individual plans which were presented during the inspection. These plans also focused on learning outcomes for each year group, linked with lesson content, which is excellent practice. In addition, the focus on developing student confidence, outlined in one plan, is commended. These plans contained an outline of the year’s work with their individual class groups, and resources in use with their classes.

 

Teaching and learning

 

Teachers were well prepared for their classes and had the necessary resources ready for their lessons. Resources included the board, overhead projector and handouts. In addition, some teachers had accessed or developed very good notes for teaching aspects of their course.

 

All lessons opened with roll call. In some cases the purpose of the lesson was explicitly stated from the outset so that students were immediately aware of what they would be doing. This is very good practice. In addition, at the end of one lesson, the students had to note what they had learned and what they had found difficult in their lesson, which is a very good strategy for consolidating learning and for clarifying future teaching needs.

 

One higher-level, two ordinary-level and three mixed-ability classes were observed during the inspection. Most teachers have developed very good strategies for catering for the range of student abilities in their classrooms. These included giving opportunities to students for self-directed learning, asking individual questions to ensure that all students were included in their lessons and giving individual attention where necessary. Best practice was observed when students were directly involved in their lessons through being given opportunities to share opinions and discuss topics. There were, however, some instances when the teacher was inclined to impose their opinion as opposed to inviting students’ reactions to the topic being taught, which led to a lack of discussion. Pair work and group work are strategies that may succeed in such instances. Students should be set a specific task together for a short while and then be given the opportunity to feed back to the entire class group.

 

Good practice was observed when teachers sought to get students interested in the topic being studied by asking them about their experiences of similar topics. Links were created between texts so that students were made aware of related themes and could see continuity with previous learning. Lessons were often well structured with a very good break-up of tasks so that students did not have the opportunity to become bored or restless.  Best practice was seen when teachers read a poem, for example, and then looked for students’ responses to the poem. Some teachers were skilled at drawing out students’ responses by asking very good questions, which were open- ended in nature, to get discussion going. By such skilful questioning, students were encouraged to think more deeply about what they were studying and to look for evidence to back up their opinions. When teaching novels, the teacher often read the text in an engaging and entertaining way and broke away from reading at relevant times to ensure students were on task by asking questions. Students were totally engaged in their learning in these instances and there was often very good discussion generated. In these ways lessons were well structured and there was a clear progression in learning.

 

Questioning was the main strategy used to involve students in their lessons. In many lessons questioning was appropriate and the teachers ensured that all students were on task by asking individual questions of students. This is a better strategy than only asking students with their hands up, as seen in some lessons, as it will avoid the same students dominating. Good practice was seen when there was a range of questions asked from lower to higher order, so that all abilities in the classrooms were covered.

 

Challenging student behaviour and indiscipline were observed in one instance. In this case the same students tended to dominate the lesson by inappropriate interventions which were designed to undermine the lesson. This naturally led to some frustration among the better-behaved students and to a lack of general learning. Careful planning of lesson content and structure is necessary to ensure that students do not have the opportunity to engage in such behaviour and students need to be kept very busy by regular changing of tasks. In addition, the students must be confronted and disciplined in the classroom rather than being told to be quiet. Content of lessons and teaching methodologies should also be adjusted to ensure that the needs of all students are catered for. In this context, a renewed focus on the skills necessary for teaching mixed ability could be beneficial to all. Therefore, it is recommended that inservice on mixed-ability teaching be sought and delivered to the staff. Teachers are reminded that mixed-ability teaching is not about ‘teaching to the middle’ but about catering for the needs of the various learners in the classroom, including those with SEN. In general, where there was a good student-teacher relationship, learning was taking place in a structured environment.

 

Good practice was observed in the use of intervention exercises so that students learned more than one aspect of their course at the one time. Such exercises included students writing a letter from the point of view of a poet, or writing the diary entries of characters from a novel. There was one instance observed in junior cycle of the thematic approach to learning. In this instance, students studied poems, stories and reading comprehension around certain themes, for example ‘old age’. Various writing exercises were linked to this theme also. This is good practice and is in keeping with the spirit of the syllabus at junior cycle. An emphasis on the personal response of students was noted in many lessons, and this is commended. In addition, there were some good examples of the integration of language and literature; for instance, by using extracts from the studied novel to point out features of good writing. Students should be encouraged to use a dictionary in class and to this end a dictionary should feature on students’ booklists, or class sets of dictionaries for each classroom could be purchased.

 

As already stated, some classrooms were decorated with key word posters, including explanations of technical aspects of English such as alliteration and metaphor. Students benefit from a print-rich environment and opportunities to display students’ own work should also be exploited.

 

Good solid work was covered in most lessons and where students were actively engaged in their lessons there was evidence of learning. Examination results reflect a good uptake of higher level at both junior and senior cycle and indicate that students achieve very well in their chosen level.

 

Assessment

 

Examination classes sit informal house examinations in December or else are continuously assessed. They also sit formal ‘mock’ examinations in February. Non-examination classes sit formal examinations in December and the summer. Transition Year students are continuously assessed. Some teachers include an overall assessment mark in their end-of-term result for students. The good practice of first-year and second-year class groups having common examinations is commended. Parents receive reports on the basis of these results. There is an annual parent-teacher meeting held for each year group in the school. In those teachers’ diaries observed, there was evidence of good profiling of students, both of attendance and informal test and exercise results.

 

The quality and maintenance of students’ written work varied. Hardback copies are used by some class groups for homework exercises. These were generally well maintained. Many teachers had prepared resources in the form of handouts for students. Some teachers insist that students’ notes and work are stored in soft back folders. This is good practice as it gives students a sense of pride in their work and means that all resources can be kept together. It is recommended that all teachers adopt this policy.

 

There was evidence that students’ work is corrected on a regular basis. Constructive written feedback on areas where students need to improve was also given in many cases. This is good practice as it allows students to identify common errors. It is recommended that all teachers adopt this policy of formative assessment when correcting homework. In addition, it is recommended that the discrete criteria for assessment be introduced to senior cycle students so that they see clearly where they will gain and lose marks.

 

It was reported that some students in classes of lower ability in particular are poor at doing homework. Teachers indicated that in order to avoid having conflict with these students they do not give homework to these class groups but instead give plenty of written work in class. While it is important that students do some written work in class, the importance of homework cannot be underestimated as learning must be reinforced at home. In addition, students need opportunities to do longer pieces of writing which cannot be done within class time. While there may be members of any class group who are reluctant to do homework there are also those who will do it. Those students who do not cooperate in this are losing out on valuable learning by not being assigned homework. It is therefore recommended that English teachers develop a homework policy in the context of an overarching school homework policy that should be developed by the whole staff. It is recommended that this English homework policy include appropriate amounts and types of homework for each year group on a weekly basis. In addition, English teachers should consider allocating some marks in end-of-term tests for submission of homework and maintenance of copies and folders. In relation to the overall homework policy of the school, appropriate sanctions should be noted for not handing up homework.

 

Summary of main findings and recommendations

 

The following are the main strengths identified in the evaluation:

 

 

As a means of building on these strengths and to address areas for development, the following key recommendations are made:

 

 

Post-evaluation meetings were held with the teachers of English and with the principal at the conclusion of the evaluation when the draft findings and recommendations of the evaluation were presented and discussed.