Do we know who our young carers are?

So what do good schools and colleges do to improve young carers’ experiences? 

Create a supportive environment

Identify a member of staff

Provide practical help 

• allowing them to phone home during the day to check on family members helps them to manage any concerns that might distract them from their work  
• providing uniform, books and equipment means they don’t have to worry about having the right things in school all the time  
• having a quiet place to do their homework reassures them that they won’t get into trouble if they can’t do their work at home 
• helping them to take part in cultural or sporting activities at lunchtime can boost their confidence and help them develop friendships  
• offering transport once or twice a week after extra-curricular activities means that they don’t miss out because they can’t get home afterwards 

Don’t forget educational progress and achievement 

How did we get here?

We’ve always said that inspection begins with the school’s self-evaluation report. It showed how well a school knew itself and prioritised what needed to improve. This approach worked in schools where leaders understood that reliable information in a self-evaluation report was a gateway to improvement.

Asking schools to share their written evaluation brought benefits. It encouraged schools to become more reflective, and when this was part of a wider approach to improvement, schools benefited from a reliable paper trail. It helped them to find ways to improve strategically and to keep reviewing progress.  But this reflective approach, even after decades of self-evaluation, is not common.

High stakes

Over time, the term ‘self-evaluation’ became synonymous with a written report.  Myths arose about what a good self-evaluation report was and self-evaluation became about the quality of the report. Some schools even hired ‘consultants’ to write their report so that it was ‘Estyn ready’. Such behaviours took the document further from the school’s ownership.  Reports covered all aspects of a school’s work. They were time consuming, grew in size and became a very high stakes document.

Behaviours emerged that rarely helped schools to improve, including:

• writing a report for an external audience
• evaluating everything
• placing too much emphasis on data
• being overly positive about the school’s work
• not recognising shortcomings
• proving at the expense of improving
• employing consultants to write an ‘evaluative’ report
• inspecting the quality of a school’s paperwork.

Can you prove it?

Sometimes schools felt compelled to prove every sentence in their self-evaluation report, for example by referring to data. Often, schools would seek out evidence to prove to others what they already knew. Take, for example, a whole school focus on behaviour during lesson observations with plenty of form filling, when everyone at school knew that behaviour was good…because they just knew it was. 

Proof of reasons to change or the impact of change should be visible in the everyday life and work of the school. People should know why they are doing what they do and the difference that it makes to pupils.

Why are we making this change?

Because…

• we feel it is the right thing to do and the right time to do it
• we are an inspectorate that learns – we reflect on our behaviours, systems and processes and on the difference that these make to schools and their learners
• time invested in writing reports doesn’t always represent good value in improvement yielded or the burden placed on schools
• we support the change to process-driven evaluation that is part of school and system-wide improvement 
• we piloted this approach in schools last year and it worked well
• we want to do more to support schools by enabling schools to focus on things that will make the biggest difference to learners.

What does it mean for schools?

Schools and pupil referral units that are maintained by a local authority won’t have to submit a self-evaluation report before inspection but their self-evaluation processes will still be very important. We’ll consider how well leaders know their school’s strengths, what they could do better and how well they use this knowledge to improve the school.

What doesn’t it mean for schools?

It doesn’t reduce the importance of effective evaluation processes.

It doesn’t mean that self-evaluation reports are banned. The important thing is that any information the school uses and produces supports improvement.

It doesn’t mean that the school’s improvement plan becomes the new self-evaluation report. Our aim is not for schools to move wasted time and effort from one document to another.

What will inspection look like?

Things that will stay the same during inspection:

• The common inspection framework
• The need to provide a current improvement plan
• We’ll still request the safeguarding self-evaluation report
• On-site activities.

Things that will change:

• No self-evaluation report
• No emerging questions
• The first inspection meeting will focus on discussing the school’s improvement priorities and the progress made.

Next steps

We’ll:

• keep an eye on these changes and ask schools and inspectors for feedback
• keep you informed about further developments
• use any lessons learnt to help shape the next cycle of inspections
• continue to work with partners to develop the National Evaluation and Improvement Resource.

School councils became law in 2005, as result of a Welsh Government decision to embed the principles from the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC).

Every child has the right to express their views, feelings and wishes in all matters affecting them, and to have their views considered and taken seriously.” (Article 12) 

Pupil participation

Of course, there’s more to effective pupil participation than having a school council. In many schools, pupils act as mentors or ‘buddies’ to their peers. The Welsh Government has developed the Children and Young People’s Participation standards to identify the key issues that all workers should be aware of when working with children and young people in Wales.

• Information – which is easy for children and young people to understand
• It’s your choice – enough information and time to make good choices
• No discrimination – every child and young person has the same chance to participate
• Respect – your opinion will be taken seriously
• You get something out of it – you will enjoy the experience
• Feedback – you will find out what difference your views have made
• Improving how we work – adults will ask you how they can improve how they work for the future

What are the challenges?

Just having a school council doesn’t magically result in effective levels of pupil participation. A 2002 report by the National Foundation for Educational Research found that only two-fifths of children thought school councils were an effective way of listening to their ideas.

Numerous articles and reports, for example Having a Say at School,  a 2010 report produced by Edinburgh University, have identified the most common pitfalls that can be obstacles to effective pupil participation. These include:

• the council being dominated by adults: teachers setting the agenda and controlling the discussion
• discussion only focusing on aspects such as the canteen and the toilets, as this article explains
• the council having no budget or any say over spending
• only a very small number of learners being involved
• the council not being able to communicate effectively with the rest of the student body
• the pupils and staff involved having little or no training to undertake their role.

How to make it work

Earlier this year, School Councils UK published a summary of research carried out for the Children’s Commissioner in schools with excellent student voice practice. We also published our own report in 2016: Pupil participation: a best practice guide.

Key factors that can encourage effective pupil participation include:

• Vision and ethos: make it a central part of the school’s vision and have a clear strategy for promoting participation and for building good relationships.
• Inclusion: make it clear that everyone should be involved.
• Breadth: ensure that there’s a wide range of opportunities for pupils to participate, not just those on the school council.
• Making it real: help pupils to learn that they don’t always get what they want, but make sure they feel that their voice is heard in real-life decisions that affect their lives.
• Focus on learning: never forget that toilets and canteens can have a significant impact on pupils’ wellbeing, but they should also have a say in what and how they learn.
• Resources: ensure that staff and pupils have the time, resources and training to allow them to develop the necessary skills and knowledge.
• Communication: make sure everyone in the school community knows what’s happening.

Effective pupil participation in action

Getting right this aspect of your school’s work is a challenge, but it becomes even more difficult the larger your school is.

A good example can be seen at the federation between two Carmarthenshire schools, Bryngwyn School and Ysgol Glan-y-Môr. The two schools are six miles apart and have around 1,500 pupils on roll between them. In the schools’ 2017 inspection, we identified that ‘pupils make an exceptionally strong contribution to influencing aspects of school life’.

As well as the school council, the schools developed a range of other opportunities for pupils to participate in school life, such as a pupil-led teaching and learning forum, a Pastoral Council, a Community Council, Curriculum Councils for each AOLE and a strong house system.  Here, they talk about why this work is important:

As a school, we always strive to include pupils/learners at every available opportunity.  Our ethos and culture is based on this philosophy of involvement.  This is the key to ensuring that we stop doing things in school that don’t have a positive impact on our learners, but to continue doing things that are genuinely appreciated by our pupils.

What is digital competence?

It’s a concept that describes technology-related skills (Lomami et al 2011). In Successful Futures, Professor Graham Donaldson highlighted the importance of our pupils developing their digital skills in order for them to adapt to the ever-changing technological world:

Full participation in modern society and the workplace already demands increasingly high levels of digital competence and that process can only continue into a future that we cannot imagine.

That’s why it’s essential that education in Wales prepares our children and young people to meet the digital demands that their future lives may bring.

In July 2018, we published a thematic review investigating methods that schools were using to prepare for the implementation of the DCF and highlighting examples of where successful practice exists. We also shared the common features of schools that have already made good progress in planning for the digital competence framework.

What do inspections tell us?

As a school inspector, I’m fortunate to be able to talk with schools and young people about how they are developing their digital competence skills. I always find it refreshing to hear pupils of all ages discussing their digital work and to see how quickly they are able to apply their skills and use a range of digital resources and software.

The development of pupils’ ICT skills continues to be a priority area for many schools and pupils’ ICT skills are not as well developed as those for literacy and numeracy. Even so, there are examples where schools from all sectors are giving pupils great opportunities to apply and improve their digital skills. In these cases, the impact on pupils is positive and helps to increase pupils’ confidence when they are using different digital tools.

What is working well?

During inspections and thematic visits, we have identified the best approaches to implementing the DCF in schools and looked at how these have improved pupils’ digital skills. In this section I’ll explore common approaches with a particular focus on leadership and provision.

In general, the best schools have strong leadership. Leaders manage change effectively and have a clear vision for the implementation of the DCF. They include their team in developing this vision and translate this into whole-school planning with a core focus on improving the quality of teaching. A common theme across schools with effective practice is the appointment of a strong digital leader. These leaders are able to drive and monitor the provision for digital skills across the school and swiftly take any action required.   

High quality professional learning is a key to the success of implementing the DCF. When schools are successful in improving digital skills, staff are well supported and professional learning activity allows them to address their own learning needs and those of pupils.

How are schools implementing the DCF?

There are many common aspects that have supported schools successfully to implement the DCF and improve pupils’ digital skills:

• The gathering of useful evidence by schools through their self-evaluation processes, used well to plan for improvement
• Effective digital leaders
• Strong auditing of staff and pupils’ strengths and areas for development with the DCF, including the network structures within their schools
• A good range of bespoke and tailored professional learning opportunities based on the needs of individual staff and groups
• Raising awareness of the importance of digital skills with the school community
• Strong curriculum mapping of high quality opportunities for pupils to develop and apply their skills

Challenges school face

When securing change and improvement, it is likely that we will face barriers and challenges along the way. There are many common challenges that schools face:

• Leaders have difficulty developing and sharing a vision that includes working with other schools to support improvement
• Connectivity issues are experienced in school
• Developing digital skills is not planned for or evaluated robustly enough
• Digital leaders are not clear enough of expectations of their roles
• Curriculum mapping does not identify sufficient opportunities for the development of digital skills
• Professional learning is not used effectively to develop teachers’ skills and knowledge

Questions to consider

Our report, Preparing for the Digital Competence Framework, has some helpful questions to consider if you are currently developing digital competence as a priority (pages 19–20).

An example from a recent inspection…

In our thematic report we identified a number of case studies that you could use and adapt to suit your setting. Here are is an example of how a school recently inspected has developed the DCF:

Ysgol Bryn Tawe (Swansea)

Ysgol Bryn Tawe’s leadership team have a clear focus on the development of digital skills and technology across their school. They are working towards implementing the DCF by developing strong relationships with their cluster schools and running joint professional learning that successfully improved all staff’s knowledge and confidence. A particular feature is the way they have mapped opportunities for pupils to apply their digital skills and allowed digital leaders to identify gaps and areas for development effectively. Leaders and staff have reacted positively and quickly to address the areas identified, which have led to improved quality of provision and standards of pupils’ digital skills.

References

Ilomäki, L., Kantosalo, A., & Lakkala, M. (2011). What is digital competence? In Linked portal. Brussels: European Schoolnet.

Donaldson, G. (2015). Successful Futures, Independent Review of Curriculum and Assessment Arrangements in Wales: Crown Copyright.