TWENTY FIRST CENTURY SCIENCE TRAINING PACK 2 B MANAGEMENT

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Twenty First Century Science

TWENTY FIRST CENTURY SCIENCE TRAINING PACK 2

B Management of Twenty First Century Science courses: Introduction for subject leaders

This section contains documents covering a wide range of issues for subject leaders.

Some will assist with department organisation. Others can help ensure that the school provides critical resources and support so that the department is able to get the courses up and running successfully. And some address internal departmental matters critical to maintaining high morale until teachers are familiar with the courses, adapt them and so feel fully in control once again.

Contents

B1 Leading a department

B2 Communicating with your SLT

B3 Ppt: Draft presentation to Senior Managers and Governors

B4 What are you going to need – time, training, publications, etc?

B5 Different courses for different students

B6a and B6b Curriculum model – parallel, alternating or series?
(B6b is supplied as a separate document)

B7 Planning a timetable

B8 Making a year plan

B9 Project partners and whom to contact for what

TWENTY FIRST CENTURY SCIENCE TRAINING PACK 2

B1 Leading a department

A basic checklist for subject leaders

What needs to be done	Done? Yes/no	Resource available
Ensure that the SLT understands the aims of each of the C21 GCSE courses and how different combinations can meet the needs of different students. Help them appreciate the significant and ongoing support needed to make them work.		Items B3, B5 and B6 in this Pack.
Develop (or modify) a timeline with high-lighted tasks, key dates, and so on. Allocate tasks to staff in pairs, and set up a method of monitoring the completion of tasks.		B8 ‘Making a year plan’, or National Strategy (NS) sheet 12.2
Ensure teachers use the OUP module maps, understand links between modules and between courses, and accept the content limits shown.
Ensure there is a sharing of good practice, on a regular basis, to celebrate successes.
Use departmental meetings to do the following: • Ensure teachers understand why Ideas about Science (IaS) play a major part in GCSE Science.		such as items in this pack, and NS ped pack
• Clarify the required knowledge associated with IaS and develop ‘stepping stones’ for student progression in these ideas.
• Clarify what learning skills students need and develop as ‘stepping stones’ for progression in these skills.
• Discuss how the Workbooks are to be used and what students need to record in class. What students write in GCSE Science is likely to be different from what they write in the other science courses.
• Audit issues which have arisen during the GCSE Science course 2006/07 and identify solutions.
Identify and prioritise staff training needs (internal/external). Pairing of teachers can help consolidate learning and follow-on application of new insights. It also provides insurance against expertise being lost to the department should one teacher leave. Don’t forget to include technicians and teaching assistants.		English, Humanities and RE departments may help science staff develop new teaching approaches. This pack and NS materials can support the development of discussion etc.
Ensure consistency of teaching quality across all teaching staff		Consider a coaching model. See the National Strategy coaching CD.
Identify and draw on the strengths of the department and individual staff. Consider how responsibilities for running different C21 courses can be shared across the department, and how this might affect job descriptions.
Use RAISEonline (Reporting and Analysis for Improvement through School self-Evaluation) to monitor the progress of each student. A database will help you communicate exam entries to the school Exams Officer (each assessment component must be separately entered).
Join a cluster group (or set one up). Participating in a cluster group is likely to have more benefits than costs. Costs: time commitment; may give and not receive initially; who will lead it? Planning, preparation and assessment time (to collate possible agenda items for cluster meetings and to disseminate outcomes). Benefits: support; sharing good practice, training and resources; forum for problem-solving; confidence-building and professional development; synergy (whole is greater than sum of people participating); could engage other science teachers and not rely on the subject leader.

Going deeper – staff morale

High staff morale is one of the most valuable assets in a Science Department. Lots of things contribute to it, and it may have been taken for granted with previous GCSE courses.

With your whole Department facing new teaching territory at KS4, while under its usual operational pressures throughout the rest of the school, safeguarding morale and building a sense of collective endeavour is essential.

It is likely to take several years before the department settles into and feels confident with these courses. The table below identifies issues that might contribute to good morale through the introductory years.

Tasks for subject leaders

Discuss each of the issues suggested below… and how it might be addressed. Add your own issues to the list.

Issue		Yes / No
Do all staff appreciate …	why the KS4 PoS has changed? (GCSE Double Award Science failed to engage and benefit many students)
	the distinctive rationale for each of the different C21 courses? (scientific literacy v pre-professional training)
	how the assessment model for each course follows from its purpose?
	that the OUP schemes of work and activities provide a starting point, but schools are expected to tailor these to suit their students?
Are there for each of the C21 courses …	clearly allocated responsibilities for their organisation and support?
	copies of all the OCR specifications kept in the department, easily available to teaching staff?
	reasonable teaching times for each module, clearly shown on the year plan? reviews of progress built into the year plan so that any problems are identified early and dealt with?
Is the department able to …	take advantage of external training opportunities, provided by OCR, the C21 project team, and others?
	organise internal training sessions, using staff who have attended external courses, and/or resources available from the C21 project team?
	learn from modelling of good practice (by a leading teacher, AST or LA Consultant)?
Is there time for …	staff to get together regularly and discuss the teaching of C21 courses?
	teaching and technician staff to work together to establish apparatus requirements of the new courses?
	technicians to prepare apparatus and storage for new experiments?
	all teaching staff to share their new teaching experiences with colleagues?
Are there particular staff who …	are keen on the introduction of C21 but are not actively involved in introducing it?
	are challenged by teaching approaches required for GCSE Science and might prefer teaching only GCSE Additional Science or GCSE Additional Applied Science?
	are negative about the introduction of C21 and upsetting others in the Department? If so, what can be done about them?
Are there particular questions …	about aspects of C21 courses which you cannot currently answer? If so, where might you get answers to these questions? (See B9 ‘C21 partners: who does what’

TWENTY FIRST CENTURY SCIENCE TRAINING PACK 2

B2 Communicating with your Senior Leadership Team (SLT)

Principles of engagement

No single intervention with your Senior Leadership Team (SLT) or Senior Management Team (SMT) will be sufficient, however successful it seems at the time. You need a sustained campaign, talking up the new science courses, conveying the significant opportunities for students offered by the new courses, as well as the challenges which they present for science staff. Remember that it is important to always be part of the solution and not just the problem. If you highlight an issue arising from the new courses, always follow this with a suggested solution.

1 Keep it positive (don’t moan!)

Emphasise the opportunities that the new courses offer – you need to keep ‘selling’ the courses. This will provide essential context for any discussion of problems and proposed solutions (often involving extra resources, mainly time but possibly also money – see B3 ‘What are you going to need?’). And it will keep the tone of discussion positive.

2 Seize every opportunity to promote the new courses

In the 5 minutes in the corridor with SLT, tell them something positive about how it’s going.

Whole staff briefing – students are doing this doing today – X is coming in to do this.

Take the initiative:
Invite your SLT link to watch a forthcoming lesson, or part-lesson: ‘We’ve been trying this. What are you doing next Tuesday period 3?’ Make sure s/he sees students doing something good e.g. making a presentation.

Invite your departmental link Governor to see a lesson, or part-lesson.

Mount displays of students’ science work. Make use of display in public areas – not just the science corridor (how often does the Headteacher visit the science corridor?)

Student voice – make sure you share the positive feedback with SLT.

Use every possible channel to communicate what is happening in the new science courses: school newsletter, School Council, PTA, Departmental meeting minutes (an important audience for these is the SLT).

Make the most of meeting with SLT line manager – emphasise the positive, keep it simple and limited to a few key points!

3 Opportunities offered by the new courses

Choice – the chance to match science course to students’ aptitudes and future pathways.

Personalising learning – matching learning to needs of students.

Relevance – increasing motivation.

Matching assessment to students’ strengths.

Preparation for real life – making sense of science in everyday life, supporting student decision-making and responsibility.

Redresses elitist bias of previous GCSE Double Award Science course, valuing Applied Science pathways.

Supports the development of cross-curricular skills (literacy, communication) and higher level thinking skills (interpretation, evaluation, argument).

4 Understand the Senior Management Team viewpoint

Make yourself familiar with the School Development Plan, and the priorities contained within it. You need to demonstrate how the new GCSE sciences link to the development plan.

Speak their language: if your SLT/SMT do not have a science background, arguments based around science terminology will probably not work! Focus on how science can help address some of the high profile headaches uppermost on the SLT agenda.

• Student behaviour

• Every Child Matters (ECM)

• Independent learning

• Healthy Schools

• Literacy across the curriculum – debating skills

• ICT

• Assessment for learning

• Inclusion: flexibility of Entry level/ GCSE Science

• Student voice: students can make a choice of topic for their GCSE Science case study and their GCSE Additional Applied Science work-related report.

5 Making a presentation to the SLT or Governors

Offer to do a short presentation to the SLT or Governors – these are important groups.

5a Think about the presentation

The SLT may be expecting a straight ‘talk’ – just like what they remember from their own school science experience! Here are some alternatives to a PowerPoint presentation.

• Video: 2 minutes from a good lesson, or students talking about science

• Take in some contemporary science stimulus materials

• Model a short activity from a lesson – get the audience to do an activity – taken from a real lesson – the more active the better.

Remember that your audience are non-specialists, so an everyday example that illustrates a principle might be more effective than something heavily based on scientific knowledge. Beware of exposing your audience’s lack of scientific knowledge.

If the alternatives are not feasible and a presentation is what is called for, a short exemplar Powerpoint (see B3) is provided along with some notes about what points to make with each slide. Places where you can add local data or examples are flagged up on blank slides

5b General tips

Keep it simple.

Avoid detail – that’s your job.

Stress the opportunities.

Show what has been successful, using a range of available evidence (be scientific) e.g module test/internal assessments results showing impact, results of student voice survey, example of really good piece of coursework or classwork.

Emphasise the links to Every Child Matters and Citizenship

6 Requesting support

Take the opportunity to say what you/the department needs to make the most of the opportunities – not a long shopping list – be realistic but aspirational.

7 In summary

Very few things are impossible. It’s a question of priorities: your mission is to get science to (or near to) the top of the list of school priorities. You can achieve this by getting the SLT to a position where they trust you and your department to deliver the outcomes that both the students and the SLT need.

TWENTY FIRST CENTURY SCIENCE TRAINING PACK 2

B3 Draft presentation to Senior Managers and Governors

Powerpoint presentation

Download this presentation from www.21stcenturyscience.org

TWENTY FIRST CENTURY SCIENCE TRAINING PACK 2

B4 What are you going to need to run C21 courses?

There are all sorts of different matters to consider under this heading: support from the Senior Leadership team, staff preparation and training (which needs time and money), apparatus and consumables, and books and ICT resources.

Understanding the different courses

GCSE Science introduces Ideas about Science (How Science Works) and Science Explanations. These concepts extend beyond aspects of scientific enquiry that have featured in conventional KS4 science courses for many years. Teachers need to help students develop learning, research and presentation skills, which are internally assessed.

GCSE Additional Applied Science likewise makes different demands on teachers from teaching GCSE Double Award Science. Teachers need to understand the rationale behind applied science courses, and some different approaches to learning and assessment.

GCSE Additional Science is concept-led, and is the course which most resembles GCSE Double Award Science. Even so, there are changes in emphasis (such as analysing motion in terms of momentum rather than F = ma in module P4 ‘Explaining motion) and content (such as module B6 ‘Brain and mind’ which introduces models for learning and memory).

GCSE Biology, GCSE Chemistry and GCSE Physics build on modules from GCSE Science and GCSE Additional Science. In each subject there is an extension module which may contain some material unfamiliar to the teacher.

See also unit B5 ‘Different courses for different students’.

Your SLT (SMT) should understand the ongoing implications for all staff taking on a variety of new courses.

Training

Teaching new courses always presents challenges for teachers and technicians. Teachers may temporarily find themselves outside their ‘comfort zone’. It is important that both teachers and technicians fairly quickly develop new knowledge and skills, and maintain their confidence.

There are a variety of routes to training.

External courses for teachers:
• OCR offers one-day INSET courses with a focus on assessment.
• The C21 project team offers summer two-day residential courses.
• Consultants or regional Science Learning Centres may also offer courses.

External courses for technicians:
• The C21 project team offers one-day INSET courses giving insight into the practical aspects of the Applied Science modules.
• Your LA consultant or regional Science Learning Centre also offer courses.

Internal courses for teachers and/or technicians:
• Training materials from the C21 project team can be used to devise local courses that address areas of concern.

You and your SLT need to enable staff to attend external courses, training opportunities with your local schools cluster, or training events within your own school.

Preparation and review time

When working in unfamiliar territory, both teachers and technicians are likely to take longer than usual to prepare for lessons. After each lesson they will need time to review the experience and learn from it, perhaps being ready to do something different at the next occasion. They also need time to meet, exchange views, and plan together.

A school SLT can too easily assume that none of this is happening, provided lessons apparently run smoothly and student performance is on track. Teachers and technicians are likely to feel stressed if no additional time is created, and may become resentful.

You and your SLT need to allocate sufficient time for individual members of the department to prepare adequately for the C21 science courses. Try to devote regular departmental meeting time to discussing the running of C21 science courses.

Apparatus and consumables

Advance planning sheets, available on the website www.21stcenturyscience.org, indicate unusual items of apparatus and consumables. Use these advance planning sheets to plan ahead, ordering any new apparatus well before it is needed in class. Think carefully about what is essential and what is optional. There is no need to equip the department fully in a single step.

Publications

OUP offers a wide range of publications. It is useful to purchase a few of each of these and look closely at what they offer.

For each course and teaching group, think carefully whether and how you might use the following: textbook, iPack, teacher & technician pack, eBook, Workbook, Revision Guide.

Before approaching your SMT, you need to check what discounts will be available through the school’s OUP representative.

TWENTY FIRST CENTURY SCIENCE TRAINING PACK 2

B5 Different courses for different students

Twenty First Century Science offers a range of different courses to suit schools’ and students’ needs and interests.

Unless students study for all three separate science GCSEs, they must do either Entry Level or GCSE Science to meet the statutory Programme of Study. All students in pilot schools studied GCSE Science (then called Core Science), and the majority have also taken an additional science course at GCSE level – see below.

From 2006, all students do either Entry Level or GCSE Science, and may also take GCSE Additional Science, GCSE Additional Applied Science, or one or more of the Separate Sciences.

Option choices need to be considered carefully. For each student, the decision is likely to depend partly on career intentions and partly on the type of study which best motivates the individual.

GCSE Science

Central to the GCSE Science course is an understanding of the major Science Explanations and of the key Ideas about Science (how science works). These are what we want students to take with them from the course and carry with them into their adult lives, whether or not they use science in their work.

In the GCSE Science course we teach these two strands of scientific literacy through a series of thematic modules, each based on a topic of relevance and interest to young people.

In order to respond to scientific information presented in the media and everyday situations, it is also important to understand how this information is obtained, how reliable it is, what its limitations are, and how it is used. The GCSE Science course explores these aspects of science so as to prepare young people to deal with issues such as childhood vaccinations, air quality, and mobile phone safety as they arise.

Future scientists will also benefit from this study of how science works.

GCSE Additional Applied Science

This techniques-led course meets the needs of students who wish to develop their understanding through authentic, work-related contexts. The course focuses on procedural and technical knowledge underpinning the work of practitioners of science, and gives students insight into contexts that students are likely to encounter in their personal and/or working lives.

This Applied Science course is broadly similar in approach to GCSE Double Award Applied Science courses; however, it is half the size and with more flexibility in choice of topics. Science departments can offer any three modules from the six available; these do not need to be balanced across the three sciences. This choice of modules will affect the possibilities of progression to sciences at advanced level. Half the marks in Additional Applied Science come from internally assessed skills, enabling students to engage in extended research and problem-solving tasks.

The Applied Science course provides a ladder of progression to high achievement. Students across a full range of abilities will find the steps rewarding to climb because of their authenticity.

GCSE Additional Science

This is a concepts-led course to meet the needs of students seeking a deeper understanding of basic scientific ideas. The topics in this course complement those in the GCSE Science course, so providing a balanced preparation for further study in any branch of science. The course is broadly similar in approach to the previous Double Award courses, so may be taught by teachers who prefer to continue with this style of teaching. Typically it would be the choice for students who wish to become professional scientists, doctors, ophthalmologists and so on.

Separate Sciences

GCSE Biology, GCSE Chemistry, and GCSE Physics build on modules from GCSE Science and GCSE Additional Science and extend it with a further, larger module. These courses may suit students who enjoy understanding scientific concepts, are able to learn science at an accelerated pace, and are able to work independently.

The further science modules have the same principle as the other courses, that is, they each have their own distinct purpose and flavour, and are not simply ‘more of the same’. Each subject uses contemporary contexts to explore new concepts, and to encourage students to draw together some of the ideas they have already developed.

Entry Level

The Entry Level course meets the needs of students at KS4 for whom GCSE-level courses are not realistic or appropriate. It can also support the teaching of lower-attaining candidates in GCSE classes.

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B6a Teaching courses in series or parallel

It is possible to run the various C21 courses in the following ways.

In series

That is, GCSE Science in Year 10 and an Additional Science in Year 11.

In parallel

That is, starting both GCSE Science and an Additional Science in Year 10 and running them both over two years. The Alternating model is a variant on this.

In 2006/07 many schools taught just GCSE Science in Year 10. There are obviously reasons for choosing to begin just one new course this year.

However, doing GCSE Science and GCSE Additional Science ‘in parallel’ (or ‘alternating’) in Years 10 and 11 may lead to a more varied and better balanced science programme for students than doing the two GCSEs ‘in series’. Schools teaching modules of the Additional Science courses in parallel (or alternating) with GCSE Science may be better able to engage students who are intending to do both GCSEs.

Separate Sciences: to cater adequately for these it is likely that the parallel or alternating model will be better.

Curriculum models

For a fuller discussion of the advantages and disadvantages of the series and parallel models, with a sample of the alternating approach (a variant on the parallel model), see the separate document B6b Teaching courses in series or parallel.

TWENTY FIRST CENTURY SCIENCE TRAINING PACK 2

B7 Planning a timetable for
Twenty First Century Science courses

Decide what courses you wish to offer next academic year. Consider phasing them in over a few years while building up experience. For more on this see http://www.21stcenturyscience.org/

Take account of whole school issues, and identify where school events impinge on subject teaching time.

Staffing/timetable issues

Which courses are teachers confident in /prepared to teach?
Which courses will you implement in 2007?
Will teams of specific teachers be needed?
Will groups be rotated between teachers?
How will science be timetabled? All classes together, half year groups.
How many teaching groups will there be?
When will teachers share good practice?

Notes: The Senior Management Team or Leadership Team and school timetabler need to understand the following.

There are staffing issues involved in concurrently running several different KS4 science courses.

There is an advantage of offering GCSE Science and GCSE Additional Science and/or Additional Applied Science in parallel. A few teachers can specialise in the Additional courses if these suit their attitudes and teaching style better. GCSE Additional Science is similar to the Double Award Science qualification previously available. Most teachers adapt quickly to teaching GCSE Additional Applied Science because of the amount of practical work done, and the positive feedback from students.

GCSE Additional Applied Science has a large amount of practical work and students are likely to need a lot of support. Therefore it is advisable to limit class size to 25 (ideally 20).

Blocking the science timetable can facilitate more flexible staffing of GCSE classes.

It is useful to have a minimum of two teachers for each course. They can provide mutual support, consolidate learning and follow-on application of new insights. It also provides insurance against expertise being lost to the department should one teacher leave.

TWENTY FIRST CENTURY SCIENCE TRAINING PACK 2

B8 Making a Year Plan

Here are matters to consider when planning for the next year: one-off events in the first table, then major events during the school year for each of years 10 and 11. Fill in the column on the right.

Factor /event	Date(s)
Mock examinations (whole school + timing for C21)
Parents’ evening
Work experience
Whole school events
Exam sittings (for each course)	See grid below

Year 10

Half term	Key dates	Teaching plan
Autumn 1 ___weeks	October: entries to OCR for January exams; check examiner reports from June session.
Autumn 2 ___weeks
Year 10 Spring 1 ___weeks	Jan: exam session: GCSE Science Units 1 and 2 only Feb: entries to OCR for June exams.
Spring 2 ___weeks	April: check examiner reports from January session.
Summer 1 ___weeks	15 May: MS1s to OCR moderator for GCSE Science coursework if entering this session.
Summer 2 ___weeks	June: exam session. GCSE Science all Units GCSE Additional Science Units 1 and 2 GCSE Additional Applied Science Units 1–6 GCSE Biology, GCSE Chemistry, GCSE Physics Unit 1 only

Year 11

Session	Key dates	Teaching plan
Autumn 1 ___weeks	October: entries to OCR for January exams; check examiner reports from June session.
Autumn 2 ___weeks
Spring 1 ___weeks	Jan: exam session: GCSE Science and GCSE Additional Science Units 1 and 2 and 3 GCSE Additional Applied Science Units 1- 6 GCSE Biology, GCSE Chemistry, GCSE Physics Units 1 and 2 Feb: entries to OCR for June exams.
Year 11 Spring 2 ___weeks	April: check examiner reports from January session.
Summer 1 ___weeks	15th May: MS1s to OCR moderator for all courses.
Summer 2 ___weeks	June: exam session. All courses All assessment Units available (includes internally assessed skills)

TWENTY FIRST CENTURY SCIENCE TRAINING PACK 2

B9 C21 Partners: who does what

The Twenty First Century Science courses are produced and run by a partnership of different organisations with different interests.

It is inevitable that schools have to approach the different parties about different matters.

Schools

The most important members of the partnership are the schools running the courses, the students and their teachers.

Awarding Body

OCR the awarding body is responsible for the specifications, coursework, assessment and exams. Only they have authority to answer questions about these matters. See the OCR website http://www.gcse-science.com/

Publisher

OUP publish and market the course materials – textbooks and ICT resources. See the OUP website http://www.twentyfirstcenturyscience.org/

Project team

The project team are based at the University of York Science Education Group and the Nuffield Curriculum Centre in London. They created the courses and now provide some user support.

See the C21 project team website http://www.21stcenturyscience.org/. This website is a good place to start if you are looking for information because it acts as a gateway site to other partners, as well as having useful material. Also look out for newsletters.

Twenty First Century Science Training pack 2

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C21 GCSE SCIENCE CASE STUDY GUIDANCE MAY 2007 TWENTY
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