Subject Inspection Report

This report has been written following a subject inspection in St. Peter’s Community School, Passage West. It presents the findings of an evaluation of the quality of teaching and learning in History and makes recommendations for the further development of the teaching of this subject in the school. The evaluation was conducted over one day, during which the inspector visited classrooms and observed teaching and learning. The inspector interacted with students and with the teachers, examined students’ work, and had discussions with the teachers. The inspector reviewed school planning documentation and the teachers’ written preparation. Following the evaluation visit, the inspector provided oral feedback on the outcomes of the evaluation to the principal, separately by request, and to the subject teachers. The board of management was given an opportunity to comment in writing on the findings and recommendations of the report, and the response of the board will be found in the appendix of this report.

Subject provision and whole school support

St. Peter’s Community School offers History to every year group at the school, with the subject being a core one for all first-year students. It is, however, very much in the minority of community schools which make History optional after first-year. An explanation offered for this has centred on a shortage of qualified staff in the area at the time of the school’s foundation in 1988, despite one of the original schools in the two-school amalgamation being a voluntary secondary school in which History was compulsory, as it is in voluntary secondary schools nationally. The school is not in contravention of the Rules and Programmes for Secondary Schools as they currently stand, and has made the argument in that it is a relatively small school seeking to offer a wide curriculum to its students. It has decided to make Science a core subject to Junior Certificate, citing the importance of science-based industry in the catchment area, the fact that there are three senior cycle science subjects at the school and general government policy on promoting the sciences. From the perspective of History, it is important to stress that students who opt out of History in any school after first year will not have studied the events, peoples and movements which have shaped the past four hundred years of Irish or world history. Given the school’s own stated commitment to equipping its students to thrive and contribute to an ever-changing world, the non-core nature of History to Junior Certificate remains deserving of considered review as part of the school’s ongoing planning process. Many schools have managed to retain both Science and History as core junior subjects and this recommendation for review is made without seeking to diminish the import of any subject.

In turning to the provision for History within the school, apart from the optional nature of the subject from this early point, the school is certainly commended in allowing students an open choice in relation to whether they wish to continue with History or not, both to Junior Certificate and Leaving Certificate. It is also encouraging that a significant number of students elect to continue with the subject anyway to Junior Certificate, with the allocation of four periods per week to the second-year class and both third-year history classes being more than helpful in offsetting the low timetable allocation of two periods in first-year. While the provision for second-year and third-year History consistently as double periods is not ideal, it certainly affords enough time for teachers to get the course covered. What has been pointed out, however, is that in this year’s timetable, both the second-year history class and one of the two third-year classes have their double periods on consecutive days. This ought to be avoided if at all possible in future timetabling as it means that there is effectively a gap of six school days between the last history class students have in one week and their first class the following week. Management is thanked for its recognition that this bunching is undesirable and felt that this situation may well be an anomaly in the current year only. The allocation of five periods per week to Leaving Certificate history classes is satisfactory, with the predominance of double lessons not being found to be a major problem for teachers concerned.

It is good to see that History, along with all other senior cycle subjects, is offered to Transition Year (TY) students. That students are asked to make subject choices in relation to likely Leaving Certificate subjects before the TY experience is a matter of debatable value, in that the chances of students making more informed choices following an extra year of maturity and a broad TY educational experience cannot be availed of. On the positive side, the school declares a willingness to facilitate students wishing to change subjects at the end of TY, which compensates for the early decision-making to some degree. From the perspective of History, there appears to be something of an anomaly in TY timetabling at present. Each potential Leaving Certificate subject which a student selects in TY has an allocation of at least three periods a week on the timetable, with the exception of History which has one period now and in previous times had no distinct space on the timetable at all. This has been explained by virtue of there being a two-period allocation of European Studies on the TY timetable. The syllabus being followed in European Studies, which is in the school’s 2006-7 TY programme, certainly has elements of History in it but is, as it should be, substantially more focused on broader European political, cultural, geographical and sociological issues. The single period per week allocated to History and taught by a history teacher is not really adequate time for the specific discipline concerned and could easily lead to a perception, which is not intended by the school, that History is of marginal importance vis à vis other subjects, given that likely Leaving Certificate subjects are selected prior to TY. A review of this situation, ideally with the retention of European Studies for all students as part of their broader TY experience and the placing of History on timetable parity with all other option subjects, is recommended for next year’s programme. There is no reason why cross-curricular and other recommended TY approaches cannot be maintained in this proposal.

Regardless of previous recommendations, the school is commended highly for its commitment to offering and timetabling History as a Leaving Certificate subject every year. In some instances, given that the pool of students having studied the subject to Junior Certificate has already been reduced since first year, the number of students has been small but timetable provision has always been made. The strength of the Leaving Certificate Vocational Programme (LCVP) at the school has been cited as a further factor militating against uptake of History, as it is nationally, but the school is at least commended for not timetabling the compulsory link modules of the LCVP across from History classes. That students are afforded a completely open choice of Leaving Certificate subjects before any option bands are drawn up is also very fair. In terms of general resourcing of History, budgeting operates on a needs basis and the openness of management to reasonable resource requests has been very evident. A major initiative which is just about to bear fruit is the plan to provide a laptop computer between every two teachers, with a suite of ten data projectors to complement these. Given that the school already has both Broadband internet access and networked classrooms, this initiative has really exciting possibilities for the future direction of History, and of all subjects at the school, and is highly commended. Some strategies for making optimum use of this equipment in History will be discussed shortly.

Planning and preparation

The fact that there are just three teachers of History at the school has proved no barrier to good departmental planning. It is very good to see a designated head of History, the holding of up to four formal planning meetings a year and the presence of very clear outlines of work for each year group, including TY and for the Higher Diploma in Education student-teacher in first-year History. The department is also commended on its store of subject resources, including books, periodicals and video/DVD materials. Furthermore, it is noted that two and sometimes all three of the subject teachers have attended the in-service training for the revised Leaving Certificate syllabus in History, provided by the History In-service Team (HIST). The active involvement of the department head in the meetings and training programme-delivery of the Cork branch of the History Teachers Association of Ireland (HTAI) are important supports to subject planning within the school. Departmental planning has also included considerable linkages being formed with the Cork City Library, particularly in relation to the sourcing of materials for senior research studies, with all senior history class groups being taken by teachers to the library headquarters for structured research work there. This is highly commended. Individual planning by teachers has also been found to be satisfactory, with considerable amounts of handouts and notes having been presented. More significantly, all teaching observed was found to cover material fully relevant to the departmental syllabuses in History and at an appropriate pace. It was particularly good to see the use being made of some of the excellent supports provided by HIST.

In terms of suggestions for future collaborative planning, the intended augmentation of the school’s information and communication technology (ICT) equipment through the aforementioned laptop computers and data projectors is ideally suited to History. Some departmental planning time could usefully be spent on discussion of optimum use of such equipment, with a deal of expertise already evident within the department itself. The possibility of pooling the myriad visual and documentary resources available in periodicals into a DVD for use in classes as appropriate is well worth considering, perhaps as an ongoing, year-long project. Similarly, the resources available on the internet which can be utilised are almost endless, with the school’s ICT infrastructure ready to be tapped into with the anticipated new equipment. Given the visual nature of much historical study, whether in junior or senior cycle, discussion by the History team around teaching and learning, sharing successful and unsuccessful practice with each other, may also help identify ways in which the team can make use of the available technology to enhance and facilitate classroom work. Teachers are well aware of what is available for Leaving Certificate teaching and learning through the HIST website alone (www.hist.ie) and, should increased focus on History become a reality in TY, the ideas available in the History menu on www.transitionyear.ie should also prove worth investigating.

Teaching and learning

In all classes, a good work ethic obtained among students from the beginning. Teachers commenced work in pleasant but purposeful fashion and introduced the topics for study without significant delay. It was good to observe that natural, conversational style used by all teachers with their students, with little touches like affirming a class for being good to do homework or engaging in short chats about extra-curricular activity being very useful in setting the appropriate tone for subsequent interaction. Seating arrangements and sightlines to the board were satisfactory in the main, with the suggestion being offered that having students sit relatively close together when there was not a large number present in a class was seen to assist in developing discussion more readily than having them spread across a number of rows. Even where larger numbers obtained, or where class was held in a room with bench seating, it was good to see that there was no physical obstacle to a teacher seeking to engage with or monitor students in their work. In some rooms, very good subject-relevant posters were on display, while the deployment of a laptop computer and data projector was a particularly useful teaching aid seen on occasion.

In introducing and developing lesson content, some very good use was made by teachers of topical and student-relevant material. Events such as the recent announcement of the closure of a factory, and department store produce linked to child labour, were very carefully introduced to help students understand historical parallels. Similarly, it was good to see checks made in relation to novels students had studied in English or the awareness of what toll roads were in order to develop other historical issues. On occasion, it has been suggested that a little too many of such parallels might have been drawn and that central historical material needed a little more emphasis. However, in general the idea seen in some lessons, namely that of encouraging student understanding and engagement via linking historical issues to current or student-relevant ones, made very good sense.

Teaching strategies, in a number of instances, made very good use of support materials. The textbook was dipped into occasionally for visual or verbal stimuli but was never over-indulged in or merely read aloud. A simple, but effective example of textbook usage saw students during a double lesson given a ten-minute task which required them to extract material and form their own questions from the textbook. Wall charts were a valuable visual support seen in one lesson, although very difficult to organise as a rule in the absence of a base history room. Even without recourse to additional supports, very solid use was made of the board elsewhere, allowing for the gradual development of key events in a semi-structured fashion. This can be very helpful to students seeking to identify patterns or even the ‘paragraph-equivalents’ which might form part of an examination answer and is commended. The use of the board to facilitate simple maps or diagrams has also been recommended as a means of visual clarification or reinforcement on one or two occasions.

Some superb visual supports were employed by means of a data projector in another lesson, reinforcing the value of the previously-mentioned school commitment to ICT enhancement. Short summary points, document extracts, photographs and maps were all seamlessly integrated into lesson development through ICT and clearly aided student learning considerably. Sets of information cards which students were asked to sort and discuss in groups with a view to identifying the most relevant aspects of a topic for study were further excellent supports seen deployed, highlighting the value of some HIST materials in the process, and allowing considerable student engagement is their own learning via group work. Whether using this method or more regular board work, the focus of senior teachers on helping students to consider how to structure their thoughts and eventually written answers is highly commended.

Some excellent questioning was engaged in, with students being strongly urged to examine pictorial and diagrammatic materials and documents with an investigative eye. The idea of getting students to compose questions in pairs to be put to other students was another good ploy, as being able to compose a question is a reasonably reliable guide to being able to answer the question as well. Some recommendations have been made in relation to pushing students a little more with questions. A slightly greater emphasis on higher-order questions with senior students has been recommended on occasion, with the possibility of using student responses to develop discussion being also worthy of consideration at times, especially if it can be shaped around how to answer potential written questions. This was done excellently when source materials were employed to stimulate such discussion. It was good to hear students told on another occasion ‘You tell me instead of me telling you’ and this is certainly an emphasis worth maintaining and developing when practicable.

Some recommendations have been made around encouraging student retention, as all history classes at the school are essentially of mixed ability. There is no doubt that the clarity of explanation seen in all lessons and the efforts to make material relevant to students were vital in this regard. A somewhat stronger emphasis on using the board, or handouts as an alternative, to reinforce visually key terms, concepts and stages of development is recommended, in tandem with the encouragement of note-making by students. The designation of portions of students’ copybooks for class notes, or perhaps for a history ‘dictionary’ of the key or new terms which arise as they cover the course in junior cycle would be good strategies to employ in assisting retention. The use of extracts from the relevant pages of the Leaving Certificate syllabus as a guide to students on what their key learning targets should be is also worthy of extension for all topics.

Assessment

Several good assessment methods have been noted during the course of this inspection. The previously mentioned oral investigation of sources and pair-work on composing questions were effective ways of gauging students’ understanding in classroom settings. Some good drawing tasks, including a map-sketching exercise, were assigned as homework to junior students. These are commended as they are variations on the customary written format of questions and allow for assessment of students’ knowledge in alternative ways. The use of the significant relevant statement (SRS) principle in marking some long-answer junior homework has been recommended, as a means of guiding students in how to write good history and one which shouldn’t take too much time to effect. Much of the correction work done by teachers in senior classes employed a mix of summative, marking-scheme based assessment along with some very thorough formative, comment-based assessment of long answers. Such work is very time-consuming for teachers but is richly applauded for the significant individual support it offers to students. Very good, structured guidance for students writing reports on their research studies has also been noted.

Across the school, assessment practices see house examinations held at Christmas and in summer, with reports sent home after each. Parent-teacher meetings are generally held for all year groups in January. The school also traditionally endorses the holding of class tests after completion of topics, as well as occasional quizzes and, of course, the assignment of written homework on a regular basis.

Summary of main findings and recommendations

The following are the main strengths identified in the evaluation:

The possibility for students of studying History in all year groups at the school is commended, with open subject choices for Leaving Certificate and the timetable provision made even when class groups have been small being applauded.
The planned augmentation of ICT equipment for regular classroom usage is an exciting opportunity for the teaching and learning of History.
Overall time allocation to History for both Junior Certificate and Leaving Certificate is satisfactory.
Very good collaborative and individual planning obtains in History at the school.
Departmental links with HIST in-service training, the Cork HTAI and the City Library are applauded, as is management’s facilitation of such contacts.
Very purposeful classroom interaction, coupled with an emphasis on clear explanations and drawing historical parallels for students were features of the good teaching observed.
The in-class deployment of both ICT and of supports generated by the HIST team are particularly highly commended.
The emphasis placed upon thorough teacher correction of students’ essay-style answers is very supportive of optimum achievement and is applauded.

As a means of building on these strengths and to address areas for development, the following key recommendations are made:

The non-core nature of History after first year is at odds with practice in the vast majority of community schools and is recommended for review.
The current bunching of double periods in consecutive days for two of the junior history class groups should be avoided in future timetabling.
The allocation of the same number of periods to History as are allocated to other potential Leaving Certificate options in Transition Year is recommended.
Future departmental planning meetings ought to consider teaching and learning issues as much as possible, particularly with a view to making optimum use of the coming ICT resources.
Recommendations have been made around improving student retention, board use, maintaining a focus on core learning targets and using some SRS marking on junior students’ homework, but within the context of very good teaching and learning observed overall.

Post-evaluation meetings were held with the teachers of History and with the principal at the conclusion of the evaluation when the draft findings and recommendations of the evaluation were presented and discussed.

Appendix

School Response to the Report

Submitted by the Board of Management

Inspection Report School Response Form

Area 1 Observations on the content of the inspection report

The Board welcomes in general terms this positive Inspection Report particularly in relation to the teaching of History in St. Peter’s. It notes many “features of the good teaching observed” fully relevant to Department syllabuses in History including the pace of teaching, good work ethic among students, pleasant and purposeful teaching styles, very good use of topical and student relevant material, some superb visual supports, some excellent questioning, thorough corrections of students essay style answers, considerable amounts of handouts and notes, very good resource access for senior research studies and the exciting opportunities for the teaching of History presented by new ICT developments and resources available in St. Peter’s. The Board also welcomes the recognition given to the good planning by the teachers in the History Department and the fact that History is offered and timetabled for every year group in the school.

The Board is satisfied that the curriculum on offer in St. Peter’s between core and option subjects serves the best interests of pupils. In particular, the Board supports the retention of Science as a core subject in junior cycle to keep open access to a wide range of careers for pupils. Having examined the matter the Board is satisfied that to alter option arrangements by adding an additional subject to the core would limit the range of subject options available to pupils because of the medium sized nature of the school.

Area 2 Follow-up actions planned or undertaken since the completion of the inspection activity to implement the findings and recommendations of the inspection.

Current plans for September 2007 are in place to ensure that History has the full complement of time in Transition Year by making separate arrangements for European Studies with which it was linked in the past.