Monday, October 20, 2008
A snapshot of how PbyP is used in schools.
We have planned a series of email questionnaires to be sent to schools using PbyP who have kindly agreed to share their practice and ideas with others. The first questionnaire has been sent to participating schools and results are in.
The PbyP skills ladders designed to meet requirements of the Personal, Learning and Thinking Skills were launched in May 2008. As a result we had a doubling in the number of schools buying and using PbyP. We asked a selection of schools that had recently purchased PbyP to use with their learners how they were planning to use it.
How will PbyP fit into the school curriculum and timetable?
Schools are using PbyP in a range of ways. Most schools have chosen to use PbyP in a designated time to teach thinking skills or enrich the existing curriculum. The most common designated time was Tutor Periods of 1-3 hours per week. Several schools are using the PLTS skills ladders across all lessons, making PbyP profile available to add evidence to in all subjects. A minority of schools were using the PLTS PbyP ladders as part of an intervention programme for specific learners.
How do you plan to provide ICT access to those who need it?
All the schools were making ICT available in a variety of ways and times for learners to work on their PbyP profile. The majority of schools made ICT rooms available at lunchtimes and after school for learners to go on PbyP as well as having timetabled time in ICT rooms for PbyP work. A high number of schools, but not all had 1; 1 access to computers. It was a common set up for schools to have a small number of Handheld devices available in each classroom which worked well because not all students wanted to upload evidence to PbyP at the same time. The most consistent pattern was for schools to offer ICT access in a range of ways and times of day and for students to organise when they wished to use the ICT available to access and use their PbyP profile. In most schools a learner may choose to work on their PLTS evidence outside of lessons in lunchtime or after school and at another time ask to use a PDA to submit a piece of work in a lesson.
Which learners will be using PbyP?
The majority of schools were using PbyP with a specific group, most often one year group. This is likely to be because the PLTS are a new requirement for year 7 and diploma students initially. A large number of schools were also using the PbyP skills ladders with a selected group such as gifted and talented or other SEN. A minority of schools were using PbyP across the whole school community.
How will your school recognise success by learners on the PbyP skills ladders?
The responses showed an interesting range of plans of how to praise students who did well in PbyP. Letters home to parents when a child reached a certain level of skill and/or when they were given a good rating as an assessor were used by a vast majority of schools. A high number also gave out certificates to those who did well. Other high profile praise such as formal congratulations by senior management was used in a majority of schools. Some schools have also incorporated a learner’s success with their PbyP Profile into reports home to parents.
We will publish results of our second questionnaire in our November newsletter.
If you are interested in taking part in the PbyP Best Practice questionnaires or in being a case-study school for PbyP, please contact Anna Hazeldine.