KS3 Music

Recognising impact

The programme focuses on improving teaching and learning in music classrooms in order to improve pupils’ learning and skills and therefore their attainment. The units seek to support this aim and enable teachers to structure their professional development around improving teaching and learning.

A particular challenge is to recognise the impact of this focus on standards of attainment. The level descriptors are designed to be used for summative assessment purposes at the end of the key stage and for this reason they are too broad and inappropriate for the purpose of identifying specific improvements in teaching and learning outcomes. This area is less problematic when it is considered by reference to the achievements of pupils expressed in terms of learning outcomes – understanding, skills, knowledge, attainment and attitudes.

Ofsted’s 2002 report Continuing professional development for teachers in schools (HMI 410) indicated that ‘in order to ensure that CPD brings about the improvements intended and that value for money is obtained, more attention needs to be given to … defining the intended effects of professional development in the classroom’.

At the start of each unit there is a section on recognising impact. This section is intended to help music teachers and subject leaders discern the impact their development focus has had and the next stage this might lead to. It is intended that this analysis will bring about a sustainable change in a teacher’s practice and improved outcomes for pupils in music.

It is also intended that the impact statements will support the processes of:

• agreeing a focus for development;
• selecting appropriate units;
• reviewing progress;
• recognising impact on pupil outcomes;
• establishing an ongoing agenda that seeks and shapes further self-improvement;
• making direct links with improvements in standards of attainment in music.

The following model can be used to structure the approach to recognising impact.

The music programme materials consist of a series of six units designed to develop particular areas of a teacher’s practice, leading to improvements in what their pupils are able to do in KS3 music classrooms. The impact statements outline the gains expected from working through the entire unit. These statements have a dual purpose.

Firstly, they provide a means of targeting development needs with a clear emphasis on the intended and expected gains as a result. The statements provide a manifesto and a focus for the unit.

Secondly, the impact statements may be used formatively or retrospectively to evaluate the impact brought about as a result of focusing on a unit. They will help teachers to review observable changes in their teaching, and what pupils are able to do having worked on a range of strategies from the unit over a period of time.

The statements are not intended as a monitoring or inspection tool and are provided to help focus on the changes it is hoped the pilot will bring about and to clarify expected outcomes. The statements are best used in a range of contexts to sustain all stages of a planning, implementation and evaluation cycle, as shown in the diagram below.

Review

Plan

Evaluate and provide evidence of impact What difference has this made to: * Teaching? * Pupils’ learning? Has the new practice been generally adopted? What additional changes do we need to make to bring about further improvement?

Improve the quality of auditing leading to a clear evidence base from which to form judgements How effective is our practice? What changes, in terms of outcomes and actions, would we wish to see? Help understand the nature of a unit, especially its intended gains What would this unit help us to develop? Add precision to the action planning process with a particular focus on intended outcomes How will our teaching change? What will be the changes in what pupils know, understand and can do? How will we know whether we have succeeded?