DEVELOPING ACADEMIC LITERACY AT MULBERRYAims of the day:

1. To reflect on the language and literacy demands of each subject in light of national reforms at KS4 and KS5

2. To explore and experiment with practical strategies to improve academic literacy

3. To recognise commonalities in literacy and to embrace subject specific requirements

4. To continue to develop the skills of subject scholars and the Mulberry Graduate

OVERVIEW OF THE DAYTimings Event

9.00-9.30 Setting the context:• National reforms: what it means for

Mulberry• Academic Literacy – the core principles of

Fetch Me a Pen • Subject scholars: writing like an expert in

your field

9.30-9.45 Base Teams Explained

9.45-10.45 Workshop 1

10.45-11.00 Break

11.00-12.00 Workshop 2

12.00-12.30 Base team discussion and reflectionsNext steps

12.30-1.30 Lunch

1.30-3.30 Faculty/Department curriculum development time

GCSE REFORMS: WHAT WE KNOW More demanding and fulfilling subject

content than now Provide better progression to KS5 or

employment Accessible, with good teaching, to the same

proportion of students as currently sit GCSEs More rigorous assessment

Terminal assessments Mainly untiered Exams as the default method of assessment Exams only in the summer apart from English language and

maths, where there will also be exams in November for students who were at least 16 on the preceding 31st August.

1-9 grading – pass rate will be set higher

“there must be an increase in demand at the level of what is widely considered to be a pass to reflect that of high-performing jurisdictions” (Ofqual March 2014)

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/gcse-changes-a-summary/summary-of-changes-to-gcses-from-2015

GCSE REFORMS – WHAT WE KNOW2015 (current Yr10)

2016 (current Yr9) 2017 (current Yr8)

English Language:•100% terminal exam•Untiered•20% SPaG•Speaking skills awarded separately

English Literature:•100% terminal exam•Untiered•5% SPaG

Maths:100% terminal examTiered (H: 4-9; F:1-5)0% SPaG

Subject Tiered Non-exam assessment

Art and design No 100%

Biology Yes None3

Chemistry Yes None3

Citizenship studies No None4

Combined science Yes None

Computer science No 20%

Dance No 60%5

Drama No 60%6

Food preparation and nutrition No 50%

French Yes 25%

Geography No1 None3

History No None3

Music No 60%7

Physical education No 40%4

Physics Yes None3

Religious studies No None

Spanish Yes 25%

Subject Proposed tiering

Proposed non-exam assessment

Business Not tiered

None3

Design and technology

Not tiered

50%4

Economics Not tiered

None

Film studies Not tiered

30%8

Media studies

Not tiered

30%4

Psychology Not tiered

None

Sociology Not tiered

None

Statistics Tiered None3

A LEVEL REFORMS: WHAT WE KNOW

A levels will assess knowledge, skills and understanding needed by students planning to progress to undergraduate study

AS and A levels will be internationally comparable

More synoptic and develop deeper understanding

In most cases, HEI representatives have contributed to subject content

More rigorous assessment Terminal assessments Exams as the default method of assessment;

however amount of non-examined assessment will vary. At AS and A level there seems to be more recognition of the validity of other forms of assessment

Exams only in the summer AS and A level decoupled

AS/A LEVEL REFORMS – WHAT WE KNOW

2015 (current Yr12) 2016 (current Yr11) 2017 (current Yr9)

English LanguageEnglish LiteraturePhysicsChemistryBiologyHistoryPsychologyArt and designSociologyBusinessEconomicsComputing

GeographyDanceMathsFurther MathsMFLMusicPE

???

Subjects in red indicate GCSE and AS/A level reform happening in same year

THE MULBERRY GRADUATE:

What will be key learning milestones for KS3 and KS4?

How will you know pupils are making progress?

What will internal assessment need to look like?

Yr7

Yr8

Yr9

Yr10

Yr11

Yr13Yr12

Graduate!

A year ago we discussed ….

The importance of PLCs

NATIONAL REFORM: IMPLICATIONS FOR TEACHING AND LEARNING

What are the challenges and opportunities presented by:

1. Terminal assessments2. Exams as the preferred method of

assessment3. Untiered assessments4. More demanding and fulfilling subject

content5. More demanding literacy

requirements

How will we need to tweak classroom practice?

A year ago we discussed ….

Accessible, with good teaching, to the same proportion of students as currently sit GCSEs

MORE DEMANDING LITERACY REQUIREMENTS: THE CHALLENGES Students write the same way they speak Students need to be critically engaged when

writing an argument Students need to be able to articulate much

more complex subject knowledge in exam conditions

Students struggle to understand and interpret complex questions

Formulaic writing for exams will no longer work Teachers are not confident to teach writing and

grammar Contextualised questions with unfamiliar

contexts unnerve students

A year ago you said….

Year 7 Year 8 Year 9 Year 10

Year 11

Year 12

Year 13

cc

Beyond Mulber

ry

CORE PRINCIPLES:Academic literacy serves two functions:

1. A form of communication (assessment)

2. It is a learning tool: if you are able to articulate your learning in writing, you are consolidating and deepening your understanding

With time, confidence and the opportunity to experiment, all pupils can learn to develop subject-specific academic literacy

We need to develop our own skills-set and confidence to do this!

Rothery’s teaching and learning cycle

Based on M.A.K. Halliday’s Systemic Functional Linguistics

Base teams – the learning model for the day

12

3

4

5

6

Base team

• Evenly distribute attendance at workshops (x2)

• Share learning

• Discuss next steps

EMBEDDING ACADEMIC LITERACY:

Select an appropriate milestone:

Review and revise your current curriculum plan/scheme of learning:

1. What type of writer does a Mulberry student need to be by the end of this milestone in order to be a successful Mulberry Graduate/subject scholar?

2. What is the current reality for Mulberry students in your subject

3. Audit your curriculum plan and schemes of learning to identify opportunities to build in and experiment with strategies you have explored today

REMEMBER:

one-off lessons do not work. Academic literacy has to be integrated and developed over time. There are no quick fixes!

Academic literacy has two functions: It is a means to an end (assessment) It is a learning tool: if you are able to articulate your learning

in writing, you are consolidating your understanding

“Fetch Me a Pen, I need to think” (attributed to Voltaire)

“Develop deep knowledge and understanding … time to embed … progressively and constantly demand more”

(Outstanding quality of teaching descriptor: Ofsted Sept 2015)

www.fetchmeapen.org

Thinking about structure – E09

Moving from talk to writing – E01

Formality and Register – E02

The Language of Analysis – E03

Genres of writing – E05

Reading strategies: deciphering texts E04