« Previous | Contents | Next »
Listen
PERSONAL LEARNING PLAN PROGRAMME: 2002-2004
EVALUATION REPORT
1 BACKGROUND
Personal Learning Plans are important in matching individual and learning needs to strategies for individual development and programmes of learning. They embody concepts of self-evaluation, self-assessment, cooperative planning, target-setting and monitoring. Their overall aims are to support increased achievement and maximise personal development.
Personal Learning Plans (PLPs) featured strongly in Scottish education policy towards the end of the 20 th century generally and particularly in the New Community School (NCS) development programme, beginning in 1999. The intention was for universal provision by the end of the NCS pilot period. The national evaluation of the NCS pilot programme (Institute of Education, University of London, 2001-2003) found that, while the development and use of PLPs had increased during the NCS programme, substantial numbers of schools still perceived considerable difficulty. Case studies showed that PLP development sometimes took place as an extra activity outwith the classroom, not as an integral part of the classroom experience.
This evaluation report describes work carried out in a two-year project launched by the Scottish Executive Education Department (SEED) in 2002. Two groups of schools have been investigating the content and management of PLPs. This development work latterly included piloting a model of PLP based on cross-cutting skills derived from the 5-14 Guidelines. A review of policy development over the years preceding the PLP initiative provides a helpful context and frame of reference for the evaluation.
1.1 The National Review of Assessment
The background of Personal Learning Plan programmes, launched by SEED in 2002 and supported by Learning and Teaching Scotland, is detailed in the Executive's report, Assessment Development Programme - Assessment is for Learning: Programme Update, August 2003. This document describes key stages and events in the development of the Assessment is for Learning programme and these are summarised below, with particular emphasis on features that relate to elements of personal learning planning.
December 1999 | HMI publish a review of existing assessment arrangements in pre-school, primary, S1 and S2, concluding that improvement is needed to: - provide reliable, continuous information about young people's progress and achievement, particularly at points of transfer or choice
- provide assessment procedures for pre-school, primary schools and the early secondary years that are well linked, although not necessarily identical
- make realistic demands on teachers, pupils and administrative staff.. (AifL Programme Update - August 2003)
|
December 2000 | Main messages drawn from a national consultation exercise emphasise: - support for change
- building on existing practice
- support for Curriculum and Assessment in Scotland: Assessment 5-14 (1991)
- the principal use of assessment should be to support learning, with primacy given to teachers' professional judgement
- assessment for statistical and monitoring purposes is of secondary importance
- a consistent and common framework for reporting should be developed
- arrangements for tracking progress and achievement should be improved, particularly at points of transition and choice
- national assessment should focus on a reduced curriculum of key areas including literacy and numeracy. Support was noted for assessment in science and core skills such as ICT
- any effective system needed to be manageable and 'not over-burdensome on pupils or teachers' (AifL Programme Update - August 2003 page 3)
- staff development would be necessary
- improvements were needed for the national testing strategy concerning validity, reliability and extended banks of tests; and moderation.
There was also support in the report for greater emphasis on formative assessment as 'most likely to raise attainment….an integral part of learning and teaching…(this) involves pupils in monitoring their own learning, knowing what is to be learned and what is expected of them, and thinking about what needs to be done to improve learning and how to go about it, and in knowing when to seek further help and from whom.'
(AifL Programme Update - August 2003, page 4) |
September 2001 | The Education Minister's announcement stressed improvement towards a more effective assessment system with emphasis on: - nurturing the link between assessment, learning and attainment
- involving young people in understanding the process of learning and its review
- increasing teachers' skill in the accurate tracking of learning and progress
- engaging young people, teachers and parents in purposeful dialogue about learning needs and progress
- using assessment to identify barriers to learning and needs, as early as possible
- reliable assessment data for the evaluation and improvement of provision at all levels in education.
|
Within an overall programme known as Assessment is for Learning, ten projects were set up to begin to realise these goals. The first related to improving the processes of formative assessment in Scottish schools; the others to narrower areas, such as reporting to parents. Projects 2 and 3 of the Assessment is for Learning programme relate to personal learning plans.
The Action Group associated with the Assessment is for Learning policy was charged with overseeing three aims, the first of which is highly relevant to the evaluation of the PLP programme:
'to develop one unified system of recording and reporting, the personal learning plan (PLP), which would bring together the current PLP, Progress File, transition records and Individualised Education Programmes (IEPs).' (AifL Programme Update - August 2003, p. 5)
1.2 New Community Schools
Largely concurrent with Scottish Office review and planning related to assessment, the New Community School (NCS) programme, launched in 1998 (SOEID, 1998), included a requirement for schools to develop personal learning plans:
They (PLPs) will reflect the following key features:
- An assessment of children soon after entry into education, forming the starting point of the plan;
- A programme of development agreed with and to be supported by parents, including targets for attainment which will be regularly reviewed and updated to ensure that it remains relevant to the pupil's needs throughout his or her time at school;
- The involvement of the pupil, with an increasing responsibility for their own learning as they get older; and
- An outline of the responsibilities of the school, the parent and the pupil.
(Scottish Office Education and Industry Department, 1998)
Initially this request had related to the 170, or so, schools involved in the NCS Phase 1 Pilot (1999-2002) but the Executive's intention was that eventually all Scottish schools should adopt this approach. In September 2000, the Department produced a document of guidance for personal learning plans (SEED, 2000) (Appendix A). This document describes a framework for implementation under the following headings:
- Objectives and Benefits
- General Characteristics
- Essential Criteria
- Process
- Timescale
The main aspects can be summarised as follows:
- the empowerment of pupils through the encouragement of self-evaluation of strengths and weaknesses; and the negotiation of personal learning targets as part of an agreed curriculum programme
- support for transition from stage to stage and class to class
- the improvement of attainment, with the starting point for each PLP resulting from assessment on entry into education; and the plan's recognition of achievement and needs in relation to targets
- ensuring that new learning builds on prior learning and broader personal or learning needs
- the achievement of partnerships amongst all those involved in children's learning and development, with a corresponding explanation of responsibilities
- more accurate decision-making about resourcing
- Improvement of the health and wellbeing of young people (through improved information, decision-making, self-esteem and personal responsibility) whether as an aspect of individual action plans or as part of a general health education programme
- the incorporation of information technology in the realisation of the plan, appropriate for use by pupils
- guarantees of confidentiality and access only to appropriate people
- a process which includes, for all partners, the sharing of objectives; the outlining of responsibilities and the crucial role of the teacher
- emphasis 'that adequate time is made available in completion of PLPs, and one option may be to allocate time during the Personal and Social Development part of the curriculum.' (SEED Framework Document, 2000)
- timescales which fit appropriately to the school year and the structure of the curriculum; PLPs can fulfil an important role in the process of reporting to parents
- rationalisation and coordination with other planning and reporting documents, such as the Progress File, Records of Needs, Individualised Education Plans and Care Plans.
1.3 The Personal Learning Plan Projects
In Spring 2002, 32 schools across Scotland undertook to become part of development work related to personal learning plans. Seventeen of these were members of Project 2 - the Development and Use of Personal Learning Plans. Fifteen were members of Project 3 - the Management of Personal Learning plans. Projects 2 and 3 were supported by separate development officers, seconded to Learning and Teaching Scotland from a secondary and primary school respectively. These projects were to cover pre-school to S3 stages.
Participating schools were charged with devising personal learning plans to fit their own contexts. Schools were invited to a number of national conferences, some of which related to formative assessment generally; others of which specifically concerned personal learning plans.
Their work continued over school session 2002-2003, supported by the LTS Development Officers and a number of academic consultants from Scottish Higher Institutions. Case studies of implementation were submitted to LTS from participating schools in Spring 2003. In this evaluation report, work over session 2002-2003 is known as phase 1.
Subsequently, in September 2003, ten of the original 32 schools took part in a second phase of the programme to pilot a model of personal learning plan based on ' Skills for Living.' This approach was developed 'in response to concerns from schools that PLPs would be unwieldy and difficult to manage.'
The ' Skills for Living' or 'Cross Cutting Skills' model was drawn from analysis of the 5-14 Guidelines to 'form the basis of a manageable 'spine' of curriculum outcomes for PLPs that all teachers could report against.' (AifL Programme Update - August 2003 page 9)
The groundwork in terms of mapping these skills as they cut across the curriculum was done by a consultant to SEED and the models of PLP based on this were distributed to the participating schools in September 2003 ( Appendix C). This development within the PLP programme is known as phase 2 for the purposes of this evaluation study.
« Previous | Contents | Next »