Below you will find a series of firsthand accounts describing how Critical Skills has helped organisations overcome a variety of challenges. You may like to take a look through the case studies one at a time (click for case 1) or pick one that is relevant to you from the list below of issues that have been tackled.
If you have your own story you wish to tell then please let us know by contacting Marie Matty on her email address at the bottom of the page.
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Case 1 - Trinity Academy (Edinburgh)
Increases the speed of learning and improves grades
By Juliet Presly (Principal Teacher of History and Modern Studies)
Having been inspired, re-energised and enthused by Critical Skills Level 1 training I returned to school to begin to conquer the world. I had long believed that some subjects (including standard grade history and modern studies) were content heavy but were "padded" out for two years in the middle school. If there was a way to develop skills and deliver content, I really believed the course could be delivered in one year. The extra time saved could be used to enrich and deepen learning and prepare for the more demanding (and time poor) higher courses in the senior school.
The answer was the Critical Skills Programme. I embarked on a "fast track" pilot with an S3 class of 20 pupils. My Senior Management Team allowed me to trial this idea with one class and if successful could be rolled out further. My aim was to deliver standard grade modern studies in S3 and we could start the higher course in S4. I built and maintained community, delivered and debriefed challenges - we made a White House gift shop, we created movie pitches, we wrote books, we made board games and we got through a two-year course in one year. I also taught exam skills required to pass the summative test at the end of the year - often through challenges too. Compelling evidence to support the fact that formative and summative assessment can happily co-exist. Motivation and enjoyment were apparent throughout the year and I felt fairly confident that things would work out (and faintly terrified that they might not). At this stage I didn't have enough experience of the model to know if it would be totally successful in this way. It was. All 20 pupils passed their exam with passes at credit level (all achieved a grade one or two). Senior Management were convinced and we rolled the model out further. We now put almost all pupils through standard grade in one year using CSP strategies and tools. S4 is now used to further develop skills for higher in S5 and the course is also delivered through collaborative group work and challenges. Results continue to improve. This evidence perhaps goes a long way to show that investment in building community and working collaboratively is time well invested - and in fact time saved.
Juliet Presly (Principal Teacher of History and Modern Studies)
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Case 2 - East Ayrshire
Wows the inspectors
Gives everyone an opportunity and the motivation to learn
By Gillian Sullivan
I teach a primary 6/7 class in a Primary School in East Ayrshire and I attended Critical Skills Training in April 2008. At the end of the first day of training, I got a phone call from my Head Teacher to notify me that HMIe would be arriving soon. I had just 3 weeks to get some of the Critical Skills tools and techniques implemented in my classroom! Fortunately, I had a head start - having been an East Ayrshire probationer teacher a few years ago, I had already been introduced to some of the tools and had tried out a few of them, including full value contracts, community builders, working collaboratively, carousels and even a couple of group challenges - I just didn't know they were called ‘Critical
Skills'. For the HMIe visit, and with my training fresh in my mind, I made sure that I had planned a couple of group challenges, a carousel or two, some brainstorming, check-ins and a couple of community builders throughout the week. Of course the Inspectors never arrive in your classroom when you want them to and by Wednesday afternoon, they had visited me 3 times and hadn't seen one lesson using Critical Skills. I wasn't expecting them to return a fourth time. However, I hadn't reckoned on the enthusiasm of the children. The Lead Inspector had taken some of my P7 pupils for interviews and had, unknown to me, gone around the displays in the classroom and asked them about their learning experiences. The pupils enthused about the various Critical Skills that they had experienced and told the Inspector that they had been disappointed that she hadn't observed any of them. They were so motivated by their group challenges, that they invited her back to the classroom on Thursday afternoon to observe the presentation of their products and the debrief process. She was taken aback by this but agreed to return to the class the next day. When she arrived the children presented to her, with great enthusiasm, what they had been doing. We then went through the debrief process during which the children told me what I could do ‘even better if' the next time. She was impressed! Children suggesting to the teacher how she could do her job better next time - wow!
The oral feedback I received from the Lead Inspector of the HMIe team that evening was fantastic. She agreed that this was the way forward in teaching. In the written report, there were a few comments on the positive impact of Critical Skills including:
"Key strengt
h: motivated pupils at the upper stages who were eager participants in their learning".
"Those in P6/P7 were highly motivated and worked well together on group challenges".
"At P6/P7 pupils developed effective collaborative and organizational skills through their planning, designing and making of their Pentecost Banner".
If you have an inspection looming, then I would encourage you to use as many Critical Skills tools as you can. In my experience, HMIe Inspectors love Critical Skills!
Gillian Sullivan (East Ayrshire)
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Case 3 - Kingsmead Technology College (Staffordshire)
Escaping the rut of a 10,000 questions a day
Enjoying teaching with enthusiasm and creativity
Watching students develop autonomous learning
By Hayley Pallatina (Curriculum Leader of Learning to Learn)
Since starting teaching in 1999, I thought I had things cracked; I knew how to teach Shakespeare and subjunctive clauses and my classroom was like a Broadway stage with me as the star performer every day, so when the Headteacher asked if I'd like to go on a 3 day course about Critical Skills I wasn't remotely interested. Then the "3 day" part of the conversation hit me like a thunderbolt and I enthusiastically agreed - 3 days without bottom set year 11 and my horrible mixed ability group in year 8; where do I sign? I remember the first day of the course vividly. As I entered the room, a far too bubbly lady thrust a piece of card in my hand and asked me to design a badge with my name on it. Initial thoughts: what in the Blue Peter is going on? It was clear I had unwittingly joined some strange cult. Where was the exit? By 10.30 I wanted to cry. Who were all these bright, enthusiastic individuals - these bright enthusiastic teachers! Why weren't they scanning the pages of the TES every Friday, desperate for an escape route? Come back bottom set year 11; all is forgiven! And then something strange happened. It was about 3.18 that first day, after hearing countless success stories and plastered in glue and feathers that I really began to listen. My bottom set year 11 would soon be leaving me for the big wide world. What were my students actually learning apart from to rely on me? What skills did I want my students to leave school with? Something had to change. If I carried on teaching the way I was teaching, I would continue to get the results I was getting. The following Monday, I got to school early and became an expert in furniture removal. I ripped up my lesson plan for "Tess of the D'Urbervilles" and designed a skills based challenge lesson. Yes, it is true, most of my colleagues thought I'd finally lost it and hit the bottle, but I persevered. And something strange began to happen; not immediately and not in a matter of days, but slowly and certainly the way my students learned in my classroom changed. It was no longer all about me. It was all about them and their learning. It was no longer all my responsibility; it was theirs. I stopped getting the compulsory 10,000 inane questions a day and instead, the students tried to find the answer for themselves first.
To say that Critical Skills changed my life is perhaps going a bit far, but to say it changed my teaching life is certainly true. For the first time since my NQT year, I actually enjoyed going to work, but more than that, and the best thing by far, is that my students thrived.
Hayley Pallatina (Curriculum Leader of Learning to Learn, Kingmead Technology College, Hednesford, Staffordshire)
Case 4 - Nunthorpe School
Helping implement radical change and turn around an organisation
Improving standards across the whole curriculum
By Rachel Smith (Deputy Head Teacher)
During the academic year of 2006-2007, our Senior Leadership Team (SLT) identified through student questionnaires, parental feedback, staff feedback and lesson observations that we had some "ethos" issues in parts of the school. In summary it was felt that mutual respect was all too often missing in many interactions and dealings within school and that this was a definite area of development for us.
After extensive discussions and considerable research, we decided to implement a profound, root and branch improvement across our pastoral and CGS systems through creating a Vertical Tutoring (VT) system and a House re-structure w.e.f. September 2007. As this was to be one of the single most radical changes the school had experienced in recent history, it was decided that this opportunity for wholesale change should be maximised by introducing a new philosophy for learning and relationship building. As a member of our SLT, as well as an experienced CSP co-ordinator, I suggested that CSP might provide the tools for change that we so clearly needed.
After discussions with the Critical Skills Management Team I negotiated a programme that would facilitate having all staff within the school trained over a 12 month period. The format was 3 full days in September 2007; 2 full days in January 2008; and a final day in September 2008. This model broadly followed the national training model of 3 days part A and 3 days part B. The team of trainers were briefed on the school's specific need and focus - Ethos and school culture.
By introducing CSP at the same time as VT we embraced an opportunity to radically change the culture of our school; this we have managed to do. We have fundamentally altered the way our school feels for staff and students alike. How has our school changed?
- School discipline procedures are built upon a foundation of "Full Value Contracts" (FVC) within all lessons - including pastoral and CGS sessions.
- 11-16 Student planners have an FVC outlined in them.
- Vertical tutor groups are based upon "Home Teams" with students from all 11-16 year groups working together on projects, challenges and quizzes - often supervised and led by Sixth Form students.
- Challenges are used regularly to engage students within tutorial time, thus releasing the staff to undertake 1-2-1 conversations with students.
- The use of carefully designed challenges has raised inter-house competition and House identity to a healthy level within the school. Students are proud to "Belong" to a House.
- Our staff regularly use "Circle time" to check in with students and to monitor standards within the school in a less threatening way.
- The use of community builders within tutor time is extensive; they have improved student and staff attitude to tutorial time and have enabled the building of positive relationships within the tutor groups.
- There are distinctive House areas with a very real physical identity.
- Damage to student lockers since Houses took physical ownership of areas of the school has reduced dramatically.
How do we know things have really improved?
We currently have an HMI/OFSTED inspector working with our SLT on our school wide self evaluation improvement. The same inspector first worked with us back in the Autumn of 2006 when we had a "traditional" pastoral system based upon year groups. In our first area inspection of one of our 5 houses this term, the inspector's findings were hugely positive with the overall judgement of the House to be ‘Good with Outstanding features' - those features being leadership and care and support. Specific reference was made to "Secondary staff engaging with circle time very effectively - most unusual in a secondary setting - and very high quality", "relationships within tutor lessons were very positive", "the [pastoral] curriculum is a strength" (predominantly based upon CSP challenges). "Student responsibility is a strength" - itself an area of significant weakness for us 3 years ago.
CSP is not confined to the pastoral system as all staff were trained and therefore we are seeing CSP across the school in curriculum areas.
- All staff use "Quality Audience" to achieve focus from the students.
- CSP challenges are used for all KS3 Science homework tasks.
- Independent learning is developing across the school with students teaching each other after undertaking the process of a CSP Scenario Challenge.
- AfL is improving as students become more confident in self and peer assessment.
- Tools like the Carousel, Fox Tool, Brainstorming, Huddle/sweep, thumb tool and many more are now common place within curriculum lessons.
- Teachers are giving process feedback as well as product feedback by utilising tools like the "post-it note" feedback and checklists.
To continue our CSP journey I offer twilight sessions for further development of CSP skills to all staff at regular times through the year and all of SLT and our middle leaders undertake "Learning Walks" where we are giving specific feedback to Curriculum Directors and Pastoral Directors on the evidence for CSP as we walk and visit lessons.
I am wholly convinced that the changes we are experiencing in our school are rooted strongly within the CSP training and ethos the staff have received.
Rachel Smith (Deputy Head Teacher, Nunthorpe Secondary School)
Case 5 - Modern Languages (Torfaen, Wales)
Aiding the teaching of topics normally restricted to older ages
Enthusing children so they want to work through their breaks
Advancing the learning of foreign languages
By Marie Mumford (Torfaen, Wales)
As part of a national pilot project in Wales schools we were invited to bid to be involved in introducing a modern foreign language into Key Stage 2. At Fairwater High School Torfaen we were one of only 18 secondary schools whose bid was accepted and we currently teach French in our four junior feeder schools. Some of the teachers in the junior schools have been trained in Level 1 Critical Skills so we all work together to put in as many challenges as we can into our work and the photos you see are children busy at a challenge on learning parts of the body in French.......they loved it! Once they had completed their work they did a presentation and their work is now proudly on display around the schools. We aim to teach as much of the topics as we can through Critical Skills and all of the schools love inviting their inspectors in to visit our French lessons and they are always delighted especially when the children don't want to go to break but want to complete the challenges!
Our French topics seem to fit in really well with Critical Skills and other highlights include a French breakfast and French café which we put together as part of a Transition project which then led on to a fashion challenge and a visit abroad including an international airport challenge. We all really enjoy our lessons and are always busy and on task! Last year we were invited to speak at the Welsh conference about our Critical Skills and French work and enjoyed doing a challenge with the delegates there.
Hopefully this will give you some ideas for including MFL in your work in both the comprehensives and the junior schools; it certainly works well here! If I can help in any way please get in touch through Marie Matty using the email at the bottom of the page.
Marie Mumford (Torfaen, Wales)
Case 6 - Ambergate Primary School
Improving all aspects of school life
Allowing all teachers to communicate using a common language
Making teaching and learning fun
By Caroline Webster (Ambergate Primary School)
We first embarked on the Critical Skills adventure just about 3 years ago, but now it feels like (and looks like and sounds like) a way of life! The governors asked me to undertake a full evaluation of the impact Critical Skills has had on our school in this time. We invited in LA inspectors, we asked the children and parents. We invited in headteachers from local schools and even Pippa and Jo came along to have a look at us. All these people said the same thing: that Critical Skills is working very well at Ambergate Primary School. The governors are delighted! I discovered that it has impacted on every aspect of school life in some positive way. The aspect that we are most pleased about is the positive impact on the children. They said that it makes learning more fun and it helps them to learn better because they are "doing it themselves" and people get along together". The staff are a wonderful team. We have a common language to share our understanding of teaching and learning using Critical Skills. The school community share the ideal. And we all have a great deal of fun!
Caroline Webster (Ambergate Primary School)
Case 7 - P5 Class, West End Primary School, Elgin
Enabling surprising entrepreneurial ideas in pupils
Creating lifelong learners
By Leanne Kilian (West End Primary School, Elgin)
Whenever the P.5 teachers at West End Primary School in Elgin are a bit slow in coming up with a new challenge, the pupils initiate projects themselves. This happened recently again, after their teacher returned from visiting another school in their area to establish a formal inter-school link with an international focus. The idea was for pupils to initiate contact with pen-pal letters, which would then lead onto a school visit during which they would take a whole school assembly. The postage and fee for the bus (£75) to take them there and back would have been covered by their school.
The pupils immediately came up with ideas to fundraise and pay for this ‘extra trip' themselves. As they could not find one idea suitable for everyone to participate in, they suggested forming groups with likeminded entrepreneurs and began to plan enthusiastically by chunking their challenge and brainstorming ideas. Task roles followed naturally according to skills best suited. ‘Action Plans' were drawn up. Marketing included leaflets, posters, class visits and entries on the school's day sheet.
Some ‘businesses' required start up money and received £1 upon producing a detailed costing plan.
Projects ranged from dog walking, gardening, crafts and home baking. The total raised came to £237.66. This self initiated class challenge lasted 2 weeks and included many cross curricular areas.
The pupils are now planning the content of the link assembly which will include information about their international pen pals in their South African link school, socio-economic background, feeding initiatives, the school and class libraries they have helped to establish and a performance of a traditional African song with drums.
The ethos of ownership, ‘we can have a go', ‘we are not scared to make mistakes' and ‘everyone has a voice' allowed the pupils to work in collaborate teams where several Critical Skills such as effective communication, creative thinking, problem solving, leadership and critical thinking were all used and developed. CSP has become a natural way of learning for these students and is equipping them as strong confident and curious lifelong learners.
Leanne Kilian and her P5 Class (West End Primary School, Elgin)