What does Quality Geography look like as a leader?

Alan Parkinson

SGQM / CoE Moderator

Deadline for applications for 2016

June A year to prepare…

How can it help you match the leadership traits already featured in the workshop?

GA Quality Marks

• Introduced as part of the ‘Action Plan for Geography’ (2006-11)

• Secondary Quality Mark has a pass, and latterly a Centre of Excellence

• Primary Quality Mark has three self-selecting levels: Bronze, Silver and Gold

• Bronze = quality department, Silver = quality across the school, Gold = quality shared with the wider community and local networks

Moderated by a team each year

• Primary Quality Marks – a sample of schools is visited to compare portfolio and ask further questions to confirm judgements

• Schools sometimes find they are given a grade higher or lower than the one they opted for

• Bronze is an achievement, and many schools also resubmit and move up over time as it gives them confidence to go further

• Have moderated for last 4 years

SGQM

• Moderation team meets – worked on team since awards started

• Paired moderation and then re-moderate if we are unsure on judgement

• Moderated since the start of the award

• King’s Ely gained SGQM in 2013 and CoE in 2014

2014

• Global Learning Centre of Excellence scheme was made available as part of the Global Learning Programme.

• What follows is extracted from a new support section on SGQM which will be on the GA website shortly…

Leading the department

• Form for the application has a number of sections, which need evidencing. Choose evidence wisely as not every section needs to have evidence provided…

Why do the Quality Mark ?

• Think through your reasons for applying… something you’ve already done – what do you want to get out of it…

- Individually / personally

- For the department

- For the school?

- For the students?

- For the wider community

Departmental Self Evaluation

• This may be in addition to the requirements from SLT, or could replace some aspects of departmental monitoring and quality assurance.

• A process which staff should go through over a period of up to a year – not a quick thing…

Using pupils as evidence

• Pupil voice part of the process – an essential part…

• Let them know they are part of raising the Quality of geography teaching and learning within the department, and raising the profile of the department within (and beyond) the school.

• Google Form to canvas opinions and ideas

Audit - honesty

• Targeting areas for improvement – the fact that you’ve opted to go for SGQM shows you are serious about this…

“Every teacher needs to improve, not because they are not good enough, but

because they can be even better.”

Dylan Wiliam

Submission Checklist

16 pieces of evidence

3 pieces of student work

1 Scheme of Work with some suggested lessons

1 Quality Lesson – which is hopefully representative of other lessons

D: Leadership and management in Geography

This section asks for evidence showing the impact of good leadership on the geography in your school. A good leader has the ability to:• develop a clear vision and strong sense of

purpose for geography, which leads to improvements in outcomes for learners and is based on shared values and evaluation of evidence of current practice and outcomes.

• mobilise, enable and support others to share the vision and develop and follow through on strategies to raise standards in geography.

St Ivo School Geography Department – SGQM Application – Supporting Evidence

Ev12-D1a – Department Handbook

The Department Handbook has been included as it is the best evidence for demonstrating the clear departmental vision and sense of purpose we have for Geography. It includes policies, development plans as well as curriculum plans and resource information (e.g.

DVD lists) – ‘a one-stop’ support shop for members of the department.

Departmental SEF Curriculum Planning and Schemes of Work

Department Development / Action Plan Department Policies – e.g. Assessment, Recording, Reporting

D1a: The department has a clear shared vision. Leadership in geography is informed by a high level of subject expertise.

When producing the department vision we considered not only our own personal views as staff, but also those of subject bodies. We then thought about how we might implement the vision via our schemes of work and activities, and this is where we incorporated the views of students (indirectly, through verbal and formal feedback).

EVIDENCE: D1c – The department is responsive to innovation within the school and the geography education community and makes effective use of links with other agencies and the wider community in order to inform and enhance the geography curriculum.

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Left and far right: Examples of newspaper clippings to promote Brightstowegeography in the local community and provide insight of geography-related activities for prospective students (and their parents).

Bottom-right: Examples of GA-inspired activities regarding the legacy of the London Olympics (based on the Teaching Geography) special issue and Olympics-themed pages on the GA website.Above: Active global citizenship using Skype to contact the Head of Oasis USA. A Q&A session was held for student to research human trafficking.Top-left: Part of room set out for ‘Geography Showcase’ whereby parents are invited in to see the students’ best work from throughout the year.

EVIDENCE: D1d – There are effective liaison activities with other departments within the school and local primary and/or feeder schools, ensuring a coherent curriculum experience during transition and beyond.

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Left: Example of cross-curricular initiative which I lead on in an attempt to improve spelling and literacy. In conjunction with the English, drama and Modern Foreign Languages departments, a literature review was conducted in order to ascertain effective strategies for improving spelling. Active research was subsequently undertaken with our classes across these departments in an attempt to test prospective methods for learning spellings/key vocabulary. The findings from this project were presented in a research poster (and presented to the staff body) and used to inform the Brightstowe teaching and learning policy. Please see enclosed CD for full-sized version of the research poster.Above: Brightstowe News screen-shot of ’transition evening’ in humanities whereby students from feeder primary schools are able to sample taster lessons and meet the staff, so as to streamline the move to Brightstowe from our local primary schools.

St Ivo School Geography Department – SGQM Application – Supporting Evidence

Ev13-D1c – Work with the wider education community and other agencies

Becoming involved with the Prince’s Teaching Institute Geography Schools Programme has enabled us to gain access to a plethora of good practice through their ‘own-line’ staffroom and face to face meetings at school programme days. This is helping to enhance our own geography curriculum whilst

being able to give something back – evidenced here is a document produced by Rob Chambers to share with Geography teachers at the Schools Programme residential in July 2013

More details of our action plan for our work for

the Prince’s Teaching

Institute mark are evidenced in

our Centre of Excellence bid.

We work with a wide range of partners as evidenced by this sample page from our Collaborative Working Document .

EVIDENCE 13a (D1c)

MMU Request for PGCE students to

observe lessons in a ‘flagship Geography

Department’.

This document is updated termly to

provide evidence of our work with other

organisations for SLT.

Deep Learning Activity Week 2013 ‘The Great

British Challenge ‘ – every form in the school was involved in producing a

huge GB map, decorating form rooms and

representing a British city in the procession. The

Geography Department played a big role in the

organisation.

In 2014, the theme for the event is ‘Countries of the

Commonwealth’.

Examples of displays from the whole-

school procession, demonstrating geographical

activities and the development of

locational knowledge across the school.