Improving attainment by community engagement in the learning process POSITIVE LEARNING EXPERIENCES DURING THE TALLINN-NORFOLK PARTNERSHIP Tallinna Haridusamet 2015 PUBLICATION: Improving attainment by community engagement in the learning process PROJECT: Comenius Regio – ICE COMPILED BY: Berit Tomlinson ja Jaana Loorents CONTRIBUTORS: Adrian Tebbutt (AT Education), Sonia Walker (Dereham Neatherd High School), Chris Smith and Lucy Burbridge (Thetford Academy), Jayne Marshall (Whitefriars Primary School) Natalia Kislaja, Niina Sidorenko, Susanne Adoson, Olga Gortšakova, Elvi Vaarmann, Erika Jalakas, Anneli Ilomets Veevo, Jana Otsatalu, Tatjana Pereskokova, Jana Bahur, Niina Birina, Merili Murakas, Kairi Jakobson, Triinu Pääsik, Gea Tammiksaar, Marko Rööpson PUBLISHER: Tallinna Haridusamet 2015 LAYOUT: OÜ Neoart COVER PHOTO: Adrian Tebbutt (Norfolk), gives a class at Kalamaja Põhikool 33 Contents Project overview 4 The experience of Assessment for Learning in Kalamaja Põhikool 7 The experience of Assessment for Learning in Tallinna Õismäe Vene Lütseum 11 The experience of Assessment for Learning in Tallinna Rahumäe Põhikool 13 The experience of Whitefriars Church of England Primary Academy 16 The experience of the Thetford Academy 18 The experience of Dereham Neatherd High School in Parental Engagement 20 The experiences and comments of the Association of Tallinn Headmasters 23 Summary 24 Teachers from Norfolk attending a 4 training session in Tallinn. Project overview – objectives and participants From August 2013, the Tallinn Education Department par- ticipated in the Comenius Regio project “Improving attainment by community engagement in the learning process - ICE”. he objectives of the project were can be used effectively between different to improve the assessment of subjects, how it is integrated and how the Tknowledge and skills of school lead- students have acquired the skill to analyse ers, teachers and students through the themselves and their work. development of Assessment for Learning In the course of the project the aim of the (AFL), through the active involvement of Norfolk schools was to acquire sufficient communities in the process of learning and experience to enhance cooperation with through the positive experience of learning parents and increase community involve- through the partnership between Tallinn, ment. Partner school teachers had the Estonia and the County of Norfolk, England. opportunity to observe a variety of school Tallinn’s central objective was for the part- events in Tallinn with parent and commu- ner schools to draw on the experience of nity involvement. Norfolk and, in the course of the project, for The project participants included the Tallinn the partner schools to evaluate Assessment Education Department, Kalamaja Põhikool, for Learning in such cases. The project ena- Tallinna Rahumäe Põhikool, Tallinna Õismäe bled teachers and heads of Tallinn schools Vene Lütseum, Norfolk County Govern- to observe and experience how Norfolk ment, MTÜ Tallinna Koolijuhtide Ühendus teachers’ daily work is used in the evaluation (Tallinn School Heads Association), Norfolk of Assessment for Learning options, how it County, Whitefriars Primary School, 55 Dereham Neatherd High School, Thetford is an understanding of ways of reaching Academy and the non-profit organisation, objectives and the application of various the SAW Trust. types of reasonable methods to achieve With regard to the total content and the these objectives. If there is excessive nature of the assessment taken by Assess- work it is often difficult to focus on the ment for Learning, Adrian Tebbutt, project goal, while simultaneously using the most manager for Norfolk and educational efficient tools. Within the framework of advisor, states that formative assessment the project, meetings, visits to schools, Training session for Tallinn school teachers at Rahumäe Primary School. 6 lesson observations, and training sessions During the seminar, the following presen- took place in both Tallinn and Norfolk. tations were given: Project courses took place on two occa- Katrin Poom-Valickis, PhD, University sions in Tallinn at Rahumäe Primary School of Tallinn on the topic of “Learning and (07.11.2013 and 24.05.2014), and, during Teaching in a Changing World” two study visits to England, in Norfolk Luule Niinesalu, the Head of Peetri (01.02.2014 and 15.-19.10.2014). Adrian Kindergarten-Primary School on the topic Tebbutt was the course leader for the of “Johannes Käis and Peeter’s School” training sessions, where the focus was on Kalamaja Põhikool’s teacher Berit Tom- various themes which support the effec- linson on the topic of “Formative Assess- tive evaluation of Assessment for Learning. ment of Kalamaja Primary School” The following themes were addressed: Tallinna Rahumäe Põhikool’s teacher learning and teaching, giving students posi- Kesti Pära on the topic of “Parental tive feedback, preparing tasks efficiently, Engagement in Rahumäe Primary using different methods and implementing School” (and feedback on) the teaching methods. Tallinna Õismäe Vene Lütseum’s students The training was divided into two parts, Dina Tanaga and Aleksandr Gurin; presenting practical tips and demonstrat- A report from Norfolk teachers on their ing examples of the external evaluation of success in involving parents. Assessment for Learning systems. In February 2015, a seminar on Assess- The following reports present an overview ment for Learning took place at Tallinna of the collective experiences of the Õpetajate Maja (the Tallinn Teachers’ Assessment for Learning by the partner House). schools and the involvement of the parents. Teachers from Norfolk getting acquainted with Kalamaja Primary School. 77 This shows students giving feedback on an acquired topic. The stu- dents were asked to indicate their understanding of the topic by using coloured pencils – red (I did not understand the topic), green (I understood the topic well) and yellow (I understood the topic partially, so I need further expla- nation.) The experience of Assessment for Learning in Kalamaja Põhikool he Assessment for Learning (AFL) fident way. However, the most important project had been implemented in part concerning students’ self-analysis TKalamaja Primary School prior to and giving them feedback did not dawn on this project, but it had not been widely teachers then. used in the school until the Comenius ICE project started a year and a half ago. The What has changed for now? only enthusiasts were the teachers of Year Participation in this project for 1.5 years 1 who wrote comments on the school has helped us to realise the advantages reports instead of using the numerical of AFL. Due to the cooperation between marking system twice a year. Norfolk county schools and local Tallinn An AFL teacher training course held a schools, we have come to understand the few years ago did not result in any serious nature of AFL and the methods used to change in assessing students. It rather gave achieve our aim in learning results. Dur- ideas about observing and giving positive ing the previous school year, we received feedback to students by emphasising information on how AFL is conducted in it even more. As a result, the teachers Norfolk county schools, England. Together started to write feedback in a more con- with our project team, we developed AFL Adrian Tebbutt, an education con- 8 sultant at Norfolk, criteria and communicated them to our gives a class at colleagues. Commencing with this school Kalamaja Primary School. year, the idea of AFL became popular, and by the end of the second term, we were ready to implement it. As a result, at the beginning of the third term, the teachers started to apply AFL.Yet only 13 teachers (mostly class teachers) of the school’s 31 teachers were open-minded about under- taking the AFL method.The following table contains the subjects and forms where AFL was implemented. Subjects and forms: Art Forms 2 and 4 Science Forms 2 and 3 Mathematics Form 8 Biology Form 8 Estonian and literature Forms 8 and 9 English Forms 3 and 4 Special needs support Forms 5 and 8 Health education Form 4 The following assessment system was agreed on in Kalamaja Primary School: In addition to giving marks, a comment was added to the e-school report (an online marking system) on the positive and nega- tive aspects of the student’s performance. The feedback was about five sentences in length. Instead of inserting numerical marks, letters A (if a student passed the test) the school year) on all the subjects. This and MA (for a student who did not pass) system is only used in Year 1. were used. Additionally, feedback on the student’s performance was added in about Overview of the positive and five sentences. negative experiences of Kalamaja Instead of giving marks or using letters A/ Primary School’s teachers MA, the feedback is delivered to students The most commonly used version among twice a year (by Christmas and the end of the three assessment methods was the 99 first one, where a comment was inserted the elementary school teachers noticed in addition to a numerical mark. The AFL and experienced positive feedback both was employed by eight teachers in Years from the students as well as the parents. 1-6 and by five teachers in years 7-9. Surprisingly, the teachers of Years 4-9 The teachers had various opinions on this described parents as being indifferent method. Some of the experiences and towards the new assessment system. All comments coincided despite the differ- teachers agreed on the increase in the ence in students’ age. It can be said that workload and the unclear positive result. 10 The teachers of Years 7-9 did not Our experience can be interpreted notice any positive change in edu- in the following way: cational achievement. However, the The change in the assessment system elementary school teachers noticed a was carried out during a short period positive change. of time (10 weeks). Writing comments and giving feedback The teachers who implemented the were more naturally accepted at AFL believe that the experience would elementary school level.