NPQSL Cycle 3 Practice Activities: Leading Teaching
Practice Activities
Select three of the following nine activities to submit to your leadership coach.
Choose activities based on your areas of interest and the results of the initial needs analysis undertaken at the start of the course.
Teaching
Activity 1: Curriculum planning with middle leaders
Read page 32 of the Great Teaching Toolkit (4.1 Structuring) and Sections 1 (How students understand new ideas) and 2 (How students learn new information) of Deans for Impact’s (2015) The Science of Learning, paying attention to the guidance on structuring learning and the use of scaffolds.
Having read the guidance on structuring learning, draft planning guidance or a planning template to support middle leaders with their planning.
Meet with middle leaders to support their planning of a sequence of learning.
The plan should indicate:
the foundational knowledge required for pupils to learn the new information
how scaffolding will be introduced and removed as pupils achieve success
opportunities for practice
how content will be revisited over time
how the content links with learning in other areas and what comes next Submission
Write a 100-word (maximum) summary of your actions and learning from this task and submit to your leadership coach.
Resources
Coe, R., Rauch, C. J., Kime, S., & Singleton, D. (2019). Great teaching toolkit: Evidence review. Evidence Based Education.
Deans for Impact (2015) The science of learning
Activity 2: Sharing examples of effective classroom practice
In her practice piece on effective explanations and modelling, Chris Burns explained how she worked with senior leaders to share effective modelling in primary maths and develop a bank of lesson recordings to demonstrate effective classroom practice.
Meet with a senior colleague to identify examples of effective modelling and explanations in your school.
How could you signpost the effective practice and contextualise the examples?
Identify the resources and support needed to increase the sharing of effective modelling explanations in your school or area of responsibility.
What action is needed to support the sharing of examples of effective classroom practice and increase their accessibility to staff?
Draft a plan to share the explanations and modelling you have identified as effective.
Submission
Write a 100-word (maximum) summary of your learning from this task and submit to your leadership coach for feedback.
Resource
Practice piece: Chris Burns, headteacher, Gilded Hollins Community School
Activity 3: Ensuring teachers stimulate pupil thinking and understanding
In her practice piece about ensuring teaching stimulates thinking and understanding, Nikki Harris explains how whole-school scaffolds and tools like knowledge organisers, guidance, visual scaffolds and vocabulary mats support effective teaching practices in her school.
How are effective classroom practices like collaborative or paired work, class discussions and questioning promoted and scaffolded in your school?
Meet with middle leaders to identify and share effective tools for supporting:
high-quality classroom discussion
effective questioning
group or paired work
What tools or resources have middle leaders found effective in their subject or area of responsibility?
How could these tools be adapted for use in other subject areas or stages?
Work with middle leaders to plan refinements to one of the tools or resources.
Submission
Write a 100-word (maximum) summary of your learning from this task and submit to your leadership coach.
Resource
Practice piece: Nikki Harris, headteacher, Newfold Community Primary School
Curriculum and assessment
Activity 4: Curriculum design and implementation
In his practice piece on the subject of curriculum design and implementation, Imran explained how he ensured subject and department heads took a leading role in curriculum planning to promote sustained, critical and rigorous curriculum improvement. Leaders adjusted the school meeting schedule and reduced the number of assessment reports to provide more time for curriculum planning and refinement.
Look at the planning arrangements and meeting schedule for your area of responsibility and make a note of the amount of time set aside for curriculum planning and improvement.
Review documentation relating to at least two of your school’s planning meetings, for example, curriculum plans or minutes from meetings. You may find it helpful to discuss this with a senior colleague.
Is there evidence of sufficient time set aside for creative curriculum development and planning?
Do arrangements allow for collaborative planning?
How do subject leads, senior and middle leaders contribute to the process?
How do arrangements ensure planning is informed by the science of learning and subject expertise?
How much time is allotted for review and refinement?
How are teachers and middle leaders supported to evaluate the impact of the planned curriculum on pupil outcomes (for example, provision of data or tools to aid reflection)?
In the light of your analysis, draft a plan to refine the curriculum planning process and protect curriculum development time in the interests of sustained, critical and rigorous curriculum improvement.
Submission
Write a 100-word (maximum) summary of your learning from this activity and submit to your leadership coach.
Resource
Practice piece: Imran Hamidon, senior assistant headteacher, The Green School for Girls
Activity 5: The reading framework
Read the DfE guidance on developing literacy in The Reading Framework: Teaching the Foundations of Literacy and the summary of recommendations from the EEF Improving Literacy report most relevant to your context. If your school includes more than one stage, just select one of the reports.
In the practice pieces on the subject of developing literacy, Nicola Vicary explains how she adapted her school’s approach in order to meet the framework requirements, and Simon Hanse discusses the scholarship approach adopted in his department to develop the use of technical and subject-specific vocabulary.
Meet with your literacy leader or a senior colleague with an interest in literacy development to discuss the implications of the reading framework and EEF recommendations for your school or area of responsibility.
Investigate the school’s approach to literacy development, for example, by reviewing policies, planning documents, resources, observation records, book looks and talking to staff and pupils.
What evidence is there that current practice at the school meets the requirements of the reading framework?
What are the areas for development?
Draft a plan to further investigate the issue and potential actions for improvement.
Submission
Write a 200-word (maximum) summary of your learning from this activity and submit to your leadership coach for feedback.
Resources
DfE (2021) The reading framework: teaching the foundations of literacy
EEF (2018) Improving literacy in secondary schools
EEF (2020) Improving literacy in KS1
EEF (2021) Improving literacy in KS2
Activity 6: Managing the assessment workload
Read the DfE (2016) guidance on eliminating unnecessary workload around marking and the EEF’s (2016) report, A Marked Improvement, paying attention to their findings relating to the effective use of assessment and feedback without creating unnecessary workload.
Review your school assessment policy with reference to the research.
How does the assessment and feedback policy promote and support effective marking practices?
How is the policy implemented in practice? (You may wish to meet with teachers or observe their practice to get a clear picture of the policy in action and its impact on pupil progress.)
Having reviewed the policy and its implementation, how could the policy be refined to better promote effective practice?
What action is required to help teachers implement the policy and reduce unnecessary workload while maintaining high standards?
Submission
Write a 250-word (maximum) summary of your response and submit to your leadership coach.
Resources
DfE (2016) Eliminating unnecessary workload around marking EEF (2016) A marked improvement
Additional and special education needs and disabilities
Activity 7: Meeting statutory requirements
Read pages 15 to 20 of the DfE (2014) guidance on supporting SEN in schools, which explains the graduated approach, education and health care plans (EHCPs) and reasonable adjustments for an inclusive environment.
Make a note of any questions that arise as you read the document.
Read your school’s SEND policy.
Meet with your SENCo or a colleague with an interest in SEND in your school to discuss the implementation of a graduated approach, EHCPs and reasonable adjustments in the school.
How does the school SEND policy address the requirements and recommendations?
How are staff supported to meet the requirements? How could this be improved further?
Identify two examples of the effective implementation of the policy. Why was this effective?
What further action is required to ensure staff are able to meet their statutory requirements (for example, refining the policy, systems and processes, providing additional training or expertise)?
Work with your SENCo or colleague to make recommendations for refinement and share your findings with senior leaders.
Submission
Write a 200-word (maximum) summary of your learning from this task and submit to your leadership coach.
Resource
DfE (2014) SEND: guide for schools and alternative provision settings
Activity 8: Reviewing SEND provision in the classroom
Read pages 10 to 19 of the EEF’s (2017) Special Educational Needs in Mainstream Schools and download EEF (2022), Every Teacher as a Teacher of SEND.
Arrange to observe a colleague who is teaching one or more pupils with SEND, making sure you also provide them with this reading in preparation for the observation.
Using the EEF (2022) document to structure your observation, observe your colleague in their classroom, then ask them to answer the reflective questions in the document. Focus on sections 1 to 3:
Explicit instruction
Cognitive and meta-cognitive strategies
Scaffolding
Ask your colleague to feed back on the usefulness and relevance of the questions for reflecting on their practice and identifying elements they would like to develop further.
Submission
Submit a 200-word summary of your learning from this activity to your leadership coach.
Resources
EEF (2017) Special educational needs in mainstream schools
EEF (2022) Every teacher as a teacher of SEND
Activity 9: Maintaining high expectations
In her practice piece on the subject of effective grouping, Tina Harvey explains how she maintained high expectations for all pupils by ensuring they had access to high-quality teaching through the flexible use of different grouping strategies informed by the pupil’s context, age, ability, task and EHCP targets. Tina believes that strategies should be adopted in the interest of the pupils, in line with the school’s vision and values.
Read pages 82 to 84 of McLeskey et al.’s High-Leverage Practices in Special Education, which explains a variety of grouping strategies for different purposes.
What grouping strategies are employed in your school?
How were they selected?
How do the strategies align with school values?
How do leaders ensure that grouping strategies maintain high expectations for all and do not limit access to a rich curriculum?
Having read the guidance on high-leverage practices, how could you ensure teachers adopted effective grouping strategies in your school or area of responsibility?
Submission
Submit a 100-word summary of your response to your leadership coach.
Resources
Practice piece: Tina Harvey, executive headteacher, Perseid School
McLeskey, J., Barringer, M-D., Billingsley, B., Brownell, M., Jackson, D., Kennedy, M., Lewis, T., Maheady, L., Rodriguez, J., Scheeler, M. C., Win, J., & Ziegler, D. (2017). High-leverage practices in special education. Arlington, VA: Council for Exceptional Children and CEEDER Center.