Subject Inspection of Social, Personal and Health Education REPORT. Saint Mary s College Galway Roll number: 62980N

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1 An Roinn Oideachais agus Scileanna Department of Education and Skills Subject Inspection of Social, Personal and Health Education REPORT Saint Mary s College Galway Roll number: 62980N Date of inspection: 24 October 2012

2 REPORT ON THE QUALITY OF LEARNING AND TEACHING IN SOCIAL, PERSONAL AND HEALTH EDUCATION (SPHE) INFORMATION ON THE INSPECTION Dates of inspection 23 and 24 October 2012 Inspection activities undertaken Review of relevant documents Discussion with principal and teachers Interaction with students Observation of teaching and learning during six class periods Examination of students work Feedback to principal and teachers MAIN FINDINGS The quality of teaching and learning was good in the majority of lessons observed. Best practice was observed when a variety of active learning strategies and stimulating resources was used effectively by the teacher concerned. A supportive classroom atmosphere, characterised by positive student-teacher rapport, was evident in all lessons observed. A range of student-support structures provides a cohesive network of supports for students. The school has had no engagement with the SPHE support service in recent years and consequentially teachers consider themselves inadequately equipped to deliver all aspects of the SPHE curriculum. There is a need to further develop subject planning and assessment in SPHE and to review associated policies. MAIN RECOMMENDATIONS The assessment of SPHE should be further explored and common approaches should be developed and implemented. In order to ensure the successful implementation of the SPHE programme, all teachers of SPHE and Relationships and Sexuality Education (RSE) should undertake an appropriate level of subject-specific continuing professional development (CPD). The school s draft RSE policy should be reviewed and expanded and the full RSE programme should be delivered. Subject planning for SPHE should be further developed. 2

3 INTRODUCTION Saint Mary s College is a long-established voluntary secondary school for boys with a current enrolment of 419 students. A broad range of socio-economic and cultural backgrounds is represented in the student body. The school offers a two year senior cycle, with all students going into a Leaving Certificate programme immediately after completing the Junior Certificate examination. TEACHING AND LEARNING The quality of teaching and learning was good in the majority of lessons observed, with evidence that some areas were in need of improvement. These areas concerned, in particular, the provision of suitable methodologies and modes of assessment to support student learning in SPHE. The good practice of sharing the learning outcomes with students at the beginning of lessons was observed; however, to consolidate students learning, these should routinely be returned to towards the end of lessons. The teaching and learning strategies used varied from those of a traditional teacher-led style to those incorporating a wide range of active learning methodologies and resources. In addition to the use of handouts and the board, some teachers incorporated strategies such as pair work, group work, brainstorming, video, photographs, poetry and student reflection into the lessons. Methodologies were most successful when students were provided with opportunities for active and experiential learning and where the teacher adopted a facilitative teaching style. Experiential learning with its four required phases of experiencing, processing, generalising and applying, needed greater application in some cases. There was some good use of questioning strategies to test students knowledge, to elicit information from students, and to challenge them to reflect on the lesson topic. There was evidence of positive relationships and a good rapport between students and their teachers. Effective use was made of encouragement and student affirmation and students contributions were warmly welcomed. Classroom management in general was good and there were some examples of very good management of students learning activities. There is scope for the enhancement of the physical learning environment of some classrooms through displays of students work and of SPHE-related materials. Information and communication technology (ICT) was used in all lessons, predominantly as a presentation tool. Overall, the potential of ICT to deliver SPHE is underutilised. A perusal of students work indicated quite an amount of variation in terms of the progress of work, both within and across year groups. Best practice was observed when students maintained a record of their work. Common approaches in this regard should be agreed and teachers should consider the further use of records of students work as an assessment tool. 3

4 As part of a whole-school approach, the SPHE team should develop a consistent approach towards promoting literacy skills to include the development of strategies for the use of keywords and the promotion of correct spelling. The teachers should explore and further develop the area of assessment and reflection in SPHE. Teachers should agree and implement a range of approaches for the assessment of students learning on a module-by-module basis. SUBJECT PROVISION AND WHOLE SCHOOL SUPPORT An integrated system of supports for students has been established with the collaboration of, for example, the care team, the tutors, the year heads, the SPHE team, the guidance counsellor, and the chaplain. SPHE is timetabled for all junior cycle students. However, not all aspects of Relationships and Sexuality Education (RSE) are currently planned for delivery. School management should ensure that the SPHE programme including RSE is fully implemented in line with Circulars M11/03 and 37/10. The school s draft RSE policy should be reviewed and expanded collaboratively. The ongoing review of policies in the following areas: RSE, SPHE, substance use, antibullying and healthy eating should include consultation with the whole-school community as an integral part. It was reported that almost all aspects of the RSE programme at senior cycle are currently delivered in the context of Religious Education (RE). However, in the absence of an agreed curricular plan to underpin the implementation of this programme, its impact on student wellbeing is not clear. This should be addressed urgently. In recent years there has been a lack of continuity in the deployment of teachers to SPHE, meaning that class groups often experience a different teacher when they return in September. Currently, five teachers are involved in the teaching of SPHE with some having more than one class group for SPHE. The majority of teachers of SPHE also teach Physical Education (PE) to the class group concerned and this is positive in terms of building up a rapport with students. Good timetabling provision supports teachers in making effective links between SPHE and PE. In the context of management s desire to work towards developing a core team of SPHE teachers, it is recommended that a systematic and incremental CPD plan be implemented to meet the specific needs of teachers of SPHE. As a minimum, all SPHE teachers should avail of the two-day introductory SPHE training provided by the SPHE support service. Thereafter more specialised CPD should be availed of on a phased basis. RSE training and training for the co-ordination of SPHE as well as seminars for senior management should be availed of over time. A record of CPD needs and of training undertaken should be maintained. The practice of withdrawing a very small number of students from SPHE lessons to attend learning support should be reviewed. 4

5 PLANNING AND PREPARATION Subject planning for SPHE is predominately informal and relies on the goodwill of the teachers involved. This makes consistent implementation of the SPHE programme challenging. Discrete time for SPHE planning meetings should be provided for during staff planning days and records of such meetings should be maintained. Subject planning for SPHE is currently underdeveloped. At the time of the evaluation outline content lists including timeframes for delivery had been developed. These should be further developed to include more specific information with regard to the learning outcomes to be attained; the corresponding methodologies and resources and agreed assessment modes. Plans should also include a review section for comments on the achievement of the learning outcomes to facilitate regular review and inform future planning. There was evidence of good preparation for almost all lessons. However all teachers should maintain ongoing records of work completed to aid continuity. As a guide to the delivery of SPHE, teachers should consult the Department s SPHE Guidelines for Teachers. As part of the planning process, teachers should formalise the sharing of professional expertise in terms of subject knowledge, methodologies for experiential learning and assessment of SPHE. There was some evidence of ongoing self-evaluation in relation to SPHE, mainly from informal reviews among the teachers. In order to promote greater self-evaluation, provision should be made for more formal review of SPHE provision, to include the views of students, teachers and parents. The draft findings and recommendations arising out of this evaluation were discussed with the principal and subject teachers at the conclusion of the evaluation. The board of management was given an opportunity to comment in writing on the findings and recommendations of the report; a response was not received from the board. Published September