In this course you will develop a practical understanding of modern assessment theory and look at strategies for promoting and assessing higher order thinking skills in your students. We will focus on two assessment formats: multiple choice, and performance-based items, and consider the purpose and design of rubrics. We will look in depth at the advantages, disadvantages, tricks, and pitfalls of these different styles, emphasising the interrelationship between learning and assessment.
Professor Jim Tognolini and Dr Sofia Kesidou from the University of Sydney’s Centre for Educational Measurement and Assessment lead an interactive and content-driven professional learning day. Completing this course will consolidate your expertise in helping your students develop analytical, evaluative, and creative skills.
This course is NESA Accredited. Please expand the ‘Accreditation’ bar for further details.
Online via Zoom
Tuesday, 25 July 2023
Prof Jim Tognolini
Professor Jim Tognolini is Director of The Centre for Educational Measurement and Assessment (CEMA) which is situated within the University of Sydney School of Education and Social Work. The work of the Centre is focused on the broad areas of teaching, research, consulting and professional learning for teachers.
The Centre is currently providing consultancy support to a number of schools. These projects include developing a methodology for measuring creativity; measuring 21st Century Skills; developing school-wide practice in formative assessment. We have a number of experts in the field: most notably, Professor Jim Tognolini, who in addition to conducting research offers practical and school-focused support.
Dr Sofia Kesidou
Sofia Kesidou is an executive leader and academic researcher with close to 30-years’ experience in international educational assessment, curriculum and research.
Sofia has taught courses in assessment to undergraduate and graduate students, and has conducted numerous professional-development sessions related to standards-based curriculum and assessment as well as assessment and data literacy internationally.
Completing Modern Assessment Theory and Assessment Strategies for Higher Order Thinking: K-12 will contribute 5 hours of NSW Education Standards Authority (NESA) Accredited PD in the priority area of Delivery and Assessment of NSW Curriculum/EYLF addressing standard descriptors 5.1.2 from the Australian Professional Standards for Teachers towards maintaining Proficient Teacher Accreditation in NSW.
The CPL’s Secondary English Conference team is back in 2023 with a focus on the new 7-10 English syllabus.
Professor Jackie Manuel will deliver a keynote address on why English matters and how the new syllabus is an opportunity to renew and reassert the importance of the subject of English.
Other conference sessions will include an overview of the new 7-10 English syllabus and insights into programming.
Sessions on syllabus text requirements and texts to inspire student interest and engagement will provide many ideas.
Our classroom practitioners will share how they intend to plan and program while showcasing teaching and learning relevant to the new syllabus through specific classroom snapshots.
We will end the day with a Q and A panel providing an opportunity for all participants to pose questions about the implementation of the new 7-10 English syllabus.
Session 1
Keynote: Professor Jackie Manuel will present an historical perspective on the vision, values and development of junior secondary English in NSW. Her presentation will identify what has endured and what has changed in our subject over the past 110 years. The presentation will highlight the empowering influence of historical knowledge on our critical role as English teachers.
Head Teacher insights to programming the new 7-10 English syllabus Steve Henry and Rosemary Henzell
Realities of the current context
Where are we right now?
Where do we want to go?
Why do we want to go there?
Deb McPherson and Jane Sherlock:
An overview of the key features of the syllabus
Examine opportunities for text selection and faculty audit
Session 2
Focus on Stage 4
Head Teacher insights from Steve Henry and Rosemary Henzell
Explore how two schools showcase Stage 4 teaching and learning relevant to the new syllabus through specific classroom snapshots
Text requirements and selection for Stage 4
Deb McPherson and Jane Sherlock
Exploring the new requirements of the syllabus
Showcasing Stage 4 texts and ideas to inspire student interest and engagement with the new syllabus
Session 3
Focus on Stage 5
Head Teacher insights from Steve Henry and Rosemary Henzell
Explore how two schools showcase Stage 5 teaching and learning relevant to the new syllabus through specific classroom snapshots
Text requirements and selection for Stage 5
Deb McPherson and Jane Sherlock
Exploring the new requirements of the syllabus
Showcasing Stage 5 texts and ideas to inspire student interest and engagement with the new syllabus
Q&A with panel
Registrants have the opportunity to post questions about the implementation of the new 7-10 English syllabus
Surry Hills
Friday 16 June
Federation House
23-33 Mary St, Surry Hills, NSW 2010
$250 for the day
Completing Secondary English Conference – Vision, Values and Inspiration: Getting Ready for the New 7-10 English Syllabus will contribute 5 hours of NSW Education Standards Authority (NESA) Accredited PD in the priority area of Delivery and Assessment of NSW Curriculum/EYLF addressing Standard Descriptor 2.2.2 from the Australian Professional Standards for Teachers towards maintaining Proficient Teacher Accreditation in NSW.
Helen McMahon, Michelle Gleeson, Andrea Gavrielatos & Trystan Loades consider one of the most important topics for all teachers … classroom management. Helen, in the introduction, returns to a topic that she wrote about in the 2015 edition of the JPL. Michelle and Andrea then give us the primary school perspective and Trystan discusses the high school context . . .
Introduction
Teaching is complex, no more so than when it comes to the management of student behaviour. Effective teaching can only occur when the behaviour of students is successfully dealt with at a whole school and individual class level. High standards of behaviour are essential in creating a productive and positive learning environment, as well as a safe and respectful school.
A high standard of behaviour should be expected of all students and applied throughout the school each day by everyone. From the outset it is important to understand a fundamental principle: while the public education system accepts all students, we do not accept all behaviours.
The student profile of many of our schools is becoming ever more complex and, therefore, teachers require increasingly sophisticated sets of skills to deal with behaviour in their own classes. However, it is important to understand that the management of student behaviour is also a collective responsibility, across the whole school by all staff, and in serious cases with systemic Department of Education support.
As all schools are required to develop a behaviour management plan, it is essential that this is developed collaboratively, and closely adhered to by all staff, in order to develop consistent approaches to unacceptable conduct.
Individual teachers, particularly for those who are beginning their teaching career, will usually need additional advice, support, and professional learning opportunities to acquire the range of skills that allow them to gain confidence and become professionally autonomous. Any professional learning should cover areas such as:
why engaging teaching strategies can be the basis for minimising unacceptable behaviour
how to manage persistent disruptive and challenging behaviours
strategies that could be used to de-escalate conflict situations
the need to engage parents and caregivers early and in a positive manner
the support that will be available from colleagues and executive teachers.
The NSW Department of Education’s Student Behaviour Policy (2022) states, “All students and staff have the right to be treated fairly and with dignity in an environment free from intimidation, harassment, victimisation, discrimination and continued disruption.” To ensure that schools are safe, productive, and stable learning environments it is essential that this fundamental policy position is embedded in the school culture and reinforced daily.
Classroom management – school contexts
During the liveliness and excitement of a bustling school day, there are many things out of our control. One of the things that we, as teachers, can control is how we set up our day and our classroom to ensure that we set our students (and ourselves) up for success.
The way classroom management looks in each classroom is ultimately up to the teacher. And whether or not you are working in a school which sets clear systems, expectations and routines, there are practices for your classroom that can make the day flow in a more positive direction.
Before we launch into the what and the how, let’s start with the why. On top of knowing our content and how to structure a lesson, classroom management directly affects the conditions for student learning and effective teaching. When the learning space is organised … students’ academic skills and competencies, as well as their social and emotional development are supported and enhanced (Kratochwill, DeRoos, Blair, 2009). This aligns with the Professional Knowledge and Professional Practice domains of the Australian Professional Standards for Teachers (NESA 2018), specifically that teachers ‘Create and maintain supportive and safe learning environments’ and ‘Know students and how they learn’. The intersection of these two standards with regards to classroom management highlights that not only do our considerations about how we arrange the learning space matter, but this, combined with a deep understanding about our students’ individual characteristics and needs, can be affected and supported by that very learning environment. What are the things we need to factor in for our students before they’ve set foot through the door for our lesson or for the day? How can we suitably reflect on our lesson plan to anticipate how we might deal with behaviours that become too excitable? How can a teacher pre-empt and identify strategies to ensure all students are engaged safely and successfully in classroom activities?
Across both primary and secondary settings, there are universal elements to classroom management. that link back to the Standards. that can help us reflect on how we best set our students up for success in their learning. Let’s take a look at a day in the life of a primary school teacher and a learning period for a high school teacher, and, in doing so, share some strategies which you can add to your toolbox to support you…
A Day in the Life of Primary School – through the lens of classroom management
Starting the day
Classroom management begins well before the front gates open for students and families. This time is quite possibly the most important part of the day with regards to effective classroom management.
A good habit to develop each day when you arrive at your classroom is to map out the day plan in a visual timetable, either written or with visual aids, displayed at the front of the room. This practice is an example of how to utilise Universal Design for Learning as seen in the Universal Design for Learning planning tool (2021). This framework is most beneficial for students with additional needs, however it reduces the fear of the unknown and can be beneficial for all students. Taking a moment to walk through what’s happening, on any given day, can also help you to anticipate the flow of what’s planned and review what you’ll need for the lessons for the day. Using the morning routine to locate and organise resources needed for your lessons will assist in those teaching moments to maintain your students’ focus and minimise opportunities for behaviours to unravel. Being proactive in having what you will need at the ready, or mentally noting what you need to prepare during the session break and considering how and where resources are accessed during the learning is an important aspect of classroom management related to the routines you establish and maintain in your classroom.
Setting the tone of your learning environment
How you then organise your classroom with resources and routines inherently sets the tone of the learning environment. Giving attention and consideration to how the classroom helps to develop a culture of learning and structure is something which can often be forgotten. Setting up the learning space in a way which is conducive to teaching and learning is paramount.
It is helpful to ask questions such as ‘can students and teachers move around the room with ease?, ‘is there enough room to walk?’, ‘is the floor clear of resources?’, ‘are resources clearly labelled and packed in the appropriate place?’, ‘where will students sit for group discussions or brainstorming or modelled lessons?’, ‘what kind of noise levels are acceptable and at what times?’.
Ideas as simple as group structures and seating arrangements can promote positive behaviours and academic outcomes (Wannarka & Ruhl, 2008). There is evidence to support the idea that ‘if students are working on individual assignments, they should be seated in an arrangement that makes interacting with peers inconvenient…for example, in rows students are not directly facing each other’. Conversely, ‘when the desired behaviour is interactive… seating arrangements that facilitate interactions by proximity and position, such as clustered desks or semi-circles, should be utilised’ (Wannarka & Ruhl, 2008). Strategically planning these structures prior to the day beginning can have a positive influence on student engagement and behaviour.
Involving your students to establish a set of expectations supports a shared understanding of what is valued in the learning environment for everyone to be able to engage in learning. It can also assist students to regulate collaboratively the classroom behaviour. What is important to one group can be vastly different to another, so this process is a crucial component to classroom management and is most successful when students have agency in determining the conditions for learning as well as the positive rewards and negative consequences that go along with these. Along with collaboratively setting up, and explicit teaching of, class expectations, each teacher will have a different system of organisation with regards to student jobs, and overall set up. It is important to be strategic in deciding which student will be responsible for each job depending on their social, emotional and academic needs. Guiding questions such as the following are helpful to ask yourself when selecting students for each job: Do any students require regular breaks? Does a particular student require a peer to assist them in executing the job? Will the students be able to refocus upon completion of the job?
As with any element of classroom management, it is crucial to model and guide students in how to successfully perform each task before expecting them to complete it independently.
Relationships sit at the heart of effective classroom management and a simple yet effective way to connect with your students, and to set the tone of the day of learning, is to greet students personally as they enter the classroom. Positioning yourself at your door, monitoring both students as they unpack and those that are settling into the room allows you to:
start the day with a positive connection with your students,
remind students of classroom expectations through specific praise of preferred behaviours, in turn supporting the transition into the formal learning space, and
gauge the moods and mindsets your students have before the learning begins.
This, in turn, offers a “low-cost, high-yield” proactive strategy that complements the organisational elements to setting up the learning environment (Cook, et. al 2018). Coupled with your proactive measures of setting up your resources, being proactive with your students’ behaviour, and starting every day with a positive and personal acknowledgement of each student in your class, has been shown to promote higher levels of academic engagement. It also minimises, even prevents, the occurrence of problem behaviours that disrupt learning. Additionally, being perceptive to the emotional wellbeing of your students, not only as they start the day but throughout the day, and particularly following transitions, can assist you in managing behaviours through pre-corrections, further modelling or revision, or tuning in to students’ needs to support them to re-engage or regulate their behaviour.
Positive reinforcement extends the tone of the learning environment and can take varied forms without always being a tangible reward although, at times, the extrinsic motivator can help. Acknowledging and reinforcing the behaviours you expect supports students with direct feedback on what is valued, but is only effective when the reinforcement is genuine, clear, and explicit about the behaviour and given in a timely manner (i.e., straight after the target behaviour). If there are established positive reinforcement procedures in your school, it is critical that these are integrated into your own systems. Such integration, however, does not preclude the use of your own additional strategies, if required, which can be as simple as non-verbal cues and verbal praise, a positive phone call to parents, to tangible reward tokens or activity rewards. Knowing the individual preferences of your students will also inform the approach that you take for encouraging positive behaviour in your classroom. Most students will respond to the universal support and expectations for behaviours (be they the whole school or your class systems) but some students may require an individualised approach with targeted and specific behaviour goals that have positive consequences negotiated with the student and their parents or carers.
“Be the calmest person in the room”
And while giving attention to the routines and structures of our classroom allows us to exert some control in pre-empting behaviours, the only thing we can control is ourselves and to be the calmest person in the room. The key to effective routines and structures lies in modelling and explicit teaching but this begins with our own behaviours. Students are more likely to replicate calm energy if they have been shown this. The importance of being responsive over reactive, having and modelling empathy, and above all else being consistent, sits hand in hand with the positive, safe and supported learning environment that is conducive to the success of our students.
Transitions and breaks
When it comes to managing your expectations around behaviours at any point in the school day, it’s often safer to never assume your students will know how to behave. Establishing expectations not only with regards to the use of resources and interactions for group or independent work, but also around transitions requires explicit teaching through modelling. For example, if your students are expected to enter and exit the classroom quietly and in two straight lines or move from sitting on the floor to their desks, then preparing them from the outset with clear expectations and demonstrations is required, even for simple tasks such as these. Show your students what the transition looks like, sounds like and feels like so that they can experience that through practise, revising as often as needed.
While classroom management is often viewed as enacted within the four walls of the classroom, practices such as active supervision apply in the playground and have similar effect and impact in managing behaviour. The proverbial ‘eyes in the back of your head’ comes to mind. The effects of scanning, movement and proximity on supporting positive behaviour in any school setting will influence behaviour. It is important to remember that our job is to teach and that every moment is a teaching moment, whether we are in the classroom or elsewhere. Teach and praise what you want to see more of and celebrate the steps along the journey.
Managing the end of the day
The bookends of the day largely dictate the overall organisation of your classroom, and where much attention is given to setting up the day, the end of the day is equally important. Similar to the setup, pre-empting issues and being proactive is key at the end of the day – knowing that your students are going to start feeling tired and fatigued, consider what could go wrong with the planned group activity, or art lesson, and make adjustments to your plan where necessary. If you think they require some time to regulate, complete a calming ‘brain break’. If it seems as though they are lacking energy, complete an energising activity. (Although ‘brain breaks’ can be done at any time throughout the day, the end of the day is often when they are utilised most regularly).
Allow yourself plenty of time for packing up, giving yourself at least 10 minutes at the end of the day to finish calmly and smoothly with an activity before students are dismissed such as read a story/poem, play a game, silent reading or journaling, guided drawing, practise gratitude, dance or sing. The activity could be a routine one or be different every day, this is up to you and your class. Just as the expectation stands for entering the classroom, be consistent with clear expectations for how students leave the classroom when the bell rings. Think about how many students will you dismiss at once- will they be the same students at tables/desks or the students who are packed up and quiet? Supporting a positive and calm end to the day will not only support your students in finishing the day on a good note but is also good for our own wellbeing to avoid ending the day in frantic chaos.
When you need support…
With the increase of students with additional needs enrolled in public schools, over the course of a career, teachers will likely be met with students who challenge and provoke our thinking. Sometimes, when redirection and all proactive, positive systems have been exhausted or when the safety of a child, a class, or staff members is at risk, different strategies are required.
Whether or not an individual behaviour plan is required, at times, it is critical to utilise expert and experienced staff, including senior executives, for support.
Some things to remember, if and when faced with more complex, challenging and escalating behaviours, are:
remain calm – think about your tone of voice, body language, what you are saying, how you are moving, where you are positioned,
explain why the specific behaviour is unacceptable – Is it unsafe? Is it disturbing the learning of others? Is it respectful?
don’t buy into any secondary behaviours which may arise,
give short and direct instructions – it is helpful to use the student’s name first and then the clear, explicit direction,
follow through,
call for assistance.
Remember, once any incident is dealt with, it is important to move on and start fresh.
Students come to school to learn and they all have a right to do so in our vibrant and diverse public education system. With clear and visible expectations and routines which are reiterated and retaught consistently through a calm and predictable teacher, you set yourself and your class up for success (Dix, 2017).
Consistency
For many students, their school, and in particular their classroom, is the place where they feel most at ease, at baseline and where they can truly be themselves. Their teacher is a constant and when we act and react predictably to all situations, it makes our students feel safe. Safety allows students to remain calm, display positive behaviours and in turn, engage in learning. ‘Visible consistency with visible kindness allows exceptional behaviour to flourish’ (Dix, 2017).
A High School Context
Teaching is a highly complex activity, which, depending on which research you read, requires a teacher to make as many as 1500 decisions a day.
As stated earlier, teachers have a core responsibility to ‘Create and maintain supportive and safe learning environments’ Australian Professional Standards for Teachers (2018). Our students also have a core responsibility to ensure that they are contributing to a positive learning environment. As Helen McMahon stated in our introduction: while public education accepts all students, we do not accept all behaviours.
High schools are busy places, in which movement and transitions are an integral part of every school day. The effective management of student behaviour is critical to ensuring that our practice and pedagogy impacts positively on the learning of our students. Without it, learning cannot take place.
Three ways in which teachers can impact on student behaviour are through: routines and structures, controlling the learning environment and engagement.
Routines and Structure
As high school teachers, we are always receiving students who are arriving from another context, be it roll call, recess, lunch or the previous lesson. Our class may be arriving as a group who were together in the previous lesson or be a group coming together for the first time that day. This poses significant challenges for a teacher who needs to ensure that the start to their lesson is both orderly and purposeful.
Paul Dix, author of When the adults change, everything changes (2017)states, “Your students might claim that they prefer to lead lives of wild and crazy chaos. In reality, it is your routines, and your relentless repetition of them, that makes the students feel safe enough to learn.”.
Managing the Start of Lessons – Explicitly teaching clear and consistent routines throughout the structure of your lesson has many benefits for you and your students. Meet students in the same way every lesson, if they line up, do it the same way every time. Greet every student, building a connection before entering the classroom. Ensure that the first contact is proactive, positive and within your control. If you search YouTube, you will find videos of teachers sharing elaborate handshake routines which are individual to each student. This would not be something we could all do, but a personal verbal greeting to all students is something we can all achieve, it could be asking about the lesson they have just left or simply a personalised greeting. These interactions also help teachers, before entry to the classroom, to pick up on issues students are arriving with.
Feeling Safe – Consistent routines and structures provide students a connection to, and a feeling of safety in, our classrooms. For students, the idea that ‘I know what to expect’ allows space for engagement in initial instructions and explicit teaching. For students who have experienced trauma and those who have additional learning needs this is critical to building a sense of trust and safety as a learner.
Managing the End of Lessons – Our role in supporting smooth transitions is particularly important at the end of lessons. It allows for reflection on the learning which has taken place and provides support to our colleagues who will be receiving our students during the next teaching period. It also directly impacts on the safety of students and staff as they move to the next location of their day. Having a consistent routine at the end of lessons is as important as at the start of each lesson. Developing a suite of strategies such as exit tickets, routines around packing up and preparing to leave the room are vital and the important thing is to, as Paul Dix said, be relentless in your repetition of them.
Controlling the Learning Environment
Taking control of your classroom is a vital component of being a successful teacher. There is no one way to do this, and every teacher is different, however, being passive is not an option.
The NSW Department of Education’s Classroom management: Creating and maintaining positive learning environments (CESE 2020) cites research which says:
Put simply, classroom management and student learning are inextricably linked; students cannot learn or reach their potential in environments which have negative and chaotic classroom climates, lack structure and support, or offer few opportunities for active participation (Hepburn & Beamish 2019, p. 82), and students report wanting teachers who can effectively manage the classroom learning environment (see Woolfolk Hoy & Weinstein 2006, p.183; Egeberg & McConney 2018)
Layout – Assert your control of the classroom environment through the arrangement of furniture. Set up the space before students arrive whenever you can. If there are materials to distribute to allow learning activities to begin, have them on desks before students arrive. This saves time and removes opportunities for disruption.
Managing Behaviour -Exercise power to gain power and, therefore, control of the environment. Gain compliance through small instructions which are easy to follow, such as completing a simple task of collecting or getting out equipment or setting up a page in a workbook can settle a class and establish your authority in the classroom. Taking ownership of behaviour management is critical in establishing your authority. You should always know how to get support from colleagues and your Head Teacher but resolving issues yourself will always pay off in the long run. It is important to note that knowing when an issue needs to be escalated is also critical.
Seating Plans – A well-considered seating plan allows students to know where to be and for you to control where individuals are in your learning space. Some students may have specific positions described in their Individual Learning Plans (ILPs). A seating plan can allow you to establish effective group work as a supportive structure in your classroom.
Non-Verbal Communication – The use of non-verbal communication is a core skill we all need to develop; it can allow us to intervene early and get behaviour back on track without drawing attention to a student or their behaviour. This can be as subtle as eye contact at the right moment, a hand movement to suggest calming or even a smile and a nod.
Positioning – Where you place yourself at key times such as student arrival, roll marking, giving instructions, asking questions will impact on each activity’s effectiveness. Your ability to move around the room while maintaining a scanning view allows you to keep on top behaviour and levels of student engagement. Some teachers use a specific position in the classroom to manage student behaviour which is separate to positions they use for explicit teaching. Used consistently, this can even become an example of non-verbal communication as students learn to associate it with an intervention by the teacher.
Pace – Your control of the pace of your teaching and the learning in your classroom is also a key strategy in developing an orderly and effective classroom. Research has shown that a slow pace of instruction can cause significant behaviour problems. The right pace in a lesson will positively impact on student engagement and progress in learning.
Engagement
Any teacher, who has become involved in a struggle of attrition with an individual or a class around behaviour, knows that it is a negative cycle, which needs to be broken. The way to break it is always through positive engagement in learning.
Explicit Teaching – Students’ knowledge of what they are learning, and why they are learning it, impacts on their engagement. Building their ‘field’ of knowledge around a topic or specific activity adds richness and promotes genuine understanding and interest.
Modelling – Modelling an activity for a class, or group within a class, draws students into a task and provides the opportunity for a teacher to build credibility with students. A teacher sharing skills is a way for students to see that their teacher is an expert from whom they can learn.
Questioning – A skilled teacher will use a wide range of questioning techniques to develop students’ ideas, to check on understanding, to draw individuals into the learning process and to inform their own decision making on where to take the lesson next. Questions allow a teacher to take a class deeper into a topic and promote students’ skills of justifying and explaining their reasoning. Simple techniques like ‘no hands up’ or ‘think, pair and share’ place structure and enhance the teachers control of order in a classroom. The use of closed questions to check recall and open questions to promote deeper thinking and analysis will be appropriate at various times within a class’s learning. Click here for the link to the Department of Education’s section on Questioning
Participation – Designing learning activities or tasks which require active participation is fundamental to building student engagement.
When teachers require that students participate in lessons, rather than sit as passive listeners, they increase the odds that these students will become caught up in the flow of the activity and not drift off into misbehaviour (Heward, 2003).
This idea is explored in detail by Geoff Munns’ JPL article from 2021. He said,
“We talked about students being ‘in-task’ (positively involved in their learning) as opposed to being ‘on-task’ (just complying with teacher instructions).”
No matter which stage you are teaching, being prepared, and having as much organisation in place as possible will enable any teacher to deal with the unexpected. As stated earlier a teacher will make as many as 1500 decisions in any normal school day, each one may be critical to a student’s learning or the management of their behaviour. Teaching really is rocket science.
Cook, C, Fiat, A, Larson, M, Daikos, C, Slemrod, T, Holland, E, Thayer, A & Renshaw, T (2018). ‘Positive greetings at the door: Evaluation of a low-cost, high-yield proactive classroom management strategy’, Journal of Positive Behavior Interventions, vol. 20, no. 3.
Dix, P. (2017). When the adults change, everything changes: seismic shifts in school behaviour. (1st ed.). Independent Thinking Press.
Egeberg, H & McConney, A (2018) What do students believe about effective classroom management? A mixed – methods investigation in Western Australian high schools. Springer International Publishing
Hepburn, L & Beamish, W (2019) Towards Implementation of Evidence Based Practices for Classroom Management in Australia: A review of research Australian Journal of Teacher Education
Heward, W.L. (2003) Ten Faulty Notions about Teaching and Learning That Hinder the Effectiveness of Special Education. The Journal of Special Education
Wannarka, R., & Ruhl, K. (2008). Seating arrangements that promote positive academic and behavioural outcomes: a review of empirical research. Support for Learning, 23(2), 89–93. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9604.2008.00375.x
Woolfolk Hoy, A., & Weinstein, C. S. (2006). Student and Teacher Perspectives on Classroom Management.
In C. M. Evertson, & C. S. Weinstein (Eds.), Handbook of Classroom Management. Research, Practice, and Contemporary Issues (pp. 181-219). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Helen McMahon is an experienced secondary History and English teacher. For much of her career she taught in the south-west region of Sydney. Helen held the position of Deputy Principal at Bankstown Girls High School before being appointed as Principal to Leumeah High School. Following her retirement as principal she returned to the classroom, teaching English at Keira High School.
Helen is the author of a popular article on behaviour management published in the very first edition of the JPL which is still available. The article was based on beginning teacher professional development courses she delivered on behalf of the Federation.
Andrea Gavrielatos began teaching in 2015 at Bardia Public School in Sydney’s South West.
She has worked in mainstream and special education settings. Prior to her current role she worked as a relieving Assistant Principal in an SSP which caters for students with Emotional Disturbances, Behaviour Disorders and Intellectual Disabilities.
Andrea is currently an Assistant Principal at a large Primary School in the Canterbury-Bankstown area. She has worked in infants and primary.
Throughout her career, Andrea has supported early career teachers to establish planning/programming routines and classroom management strategies as presenter at various conferences and courses.
Michelle Gleeson began teaching in 2005 as a primary teacher and is currently acting Deputy Principal at a large primary school on Sydney’s Northern Beaches.
Throughout her career, Michelle has been involved in advising early career teachers on accreditation processes and supporting beginning teachers to establish planning/programming routines and classroom management strategies as presenter at various conferences and workshops for the CPL and NSWTF.
She worked as a Professional Learning Officer at the NSW Institute of Teachers (now known as NESA) and advised teachers and school executive on designing and implementing effective processes to support the learning and development of all staff, using the framework of the Teaching Standards.
Trystan Loades has been a high school teacher for 26 years. He has held classroom teacher and executive roles in both NSW schools and schools in the UK, where he was a Faculty Head Teacher for 6 years. He is currently a Deputy Principal at Keira High School in Wollongong.
In recent years Trystan has worked closely with the University of Wollongong Master of Teaching program. He collaborated in the writing and delivery of professional learning for teachers supervising Professional Experience.
He currently leads new staff induction and support for beginning teachers at his school.
The focus of this three-day course presented by Kathy Rushton and Joanne Rossbridge is supporting participants to identify the language demands of texts commonly read and written in the secondary school and recognising the features of their students’ writing.
We will focus on the teaching of writing as the context in which grammar is taught to support meaning and we will outline those grammatical features which best support teachers to make an impact on students who are writing extended responses.
Our aim is not to focus on the basics, but we will briefly review or address grammar for those who may be addressing it explicitly for the first time. This will support participants to identify and address their students’ needs as they analyse their written work. We will provide practical examples of strategies for engaging students in writing and supporting students to write effectively.
Day 1 – Friday 11 August 2023
Day 2 – Friday 25 August 2023
Day 3 – Friday 15 September 2023
Federation House
23-33 Mary St, Surry Hills, NSW 2010
Day 1
Talking and Listening – What’s the difference?(Grammatical intricacy and lexical density)
Reading – What’s going on? (The verbal group)
Overview of sessions.
Discussion of Assessment tasks.
Introduction of field, tenor and mode:
Mode continuum.
Types of verbs and aspects of verbal groups identified and discussed.
The importance of teacher identification of verbal groups for exploring clause patterns in texts students are both reading and writing.
Whole group trials and share strategies for supporting students to explore verbal groups
Day 2
Theme(Marked)
Reading – Who and What?(The noun group)
Writing – Where? When? How? (Adverbials and Theme)
Aspects of the extended noun group explained as well as the use of noun groups in developing lexically dense texts.
Analysis of texts suitable for all stages. Discussion at clause and group levels building on knowledge of the verb group to introduce the concept of marked theme of clause realised as an adverbial phrase of time, place or manner.
Analysis of texts and strategies for teaching adverbial phrases and their use in thematic position across the stages of texts.
Sharing of scaffolds.
Day 3
Sentence structure
The third voice in your classroom – Using quality texts.(Nominalisation)
Identifying the role of nominalisation and active and passive voice in quality texts and how they are used to develop theme across the stages of texts.
Identifying strategies for developing writing through a joint construction.
Sharing of notes for a joint construction.
Kathy Rushton
Kathy Rushton is interested in the development of language and literacy especially in disadvantaged communities. She has worked as a classroom teacher and literacy consultant and provides professional learning for teachers in the areas of language and literacy development. Her current research projects include a study of multilingual pre-service teachers and the impact that teacher professional learning has on the development of a creative pedagogical stance which supports translanguaging and student identity and wellbeing.
Joanne Rossbridge
Joanne Rossbridge is an independent language and literacy consultant working in both primary and secondary schools and with teachers across Australia. She has worked as a classroom teacher and literacy consultant with the DET (NSW). Her expertise and much of her experience is in working with students from diverse linguistic and cultural backgrounds. Joanne is particularly interested in student and teacher talk and how talk about language can assist the development of language and literacy.
Secondary teachers especially teachers of all subjects requiring extended response writing such as HSIE, English, PDHPE and Science.
$600 for three days
Three whole-day workshops with participants actively engaged in each session and undertaking pre-course and in-between course readings.
If you wish to apply to attend a single day of this three-day course, please email us at cpl@nswtf.org.au
We will focus on oral language development as the basis for developing literacy through the cyclical use of a range of strategies. This will be achieved through consideration of how students need to make meaning in curriculum contexts with a particular emphasis on developing knowledge about language, particularly grammar and vocabulary.
The focus of this three day course presented by Kathy Rushton and Joanne Rossbridge is to develop understandings and strategies for participants who support EAL/D students in both small groups and mainstream classrooms.
Practical strategies will be provided to foster the use of English Language (L2) while encouraging students to use all the linguistic resources that they bring to school, including the use of their first language (L1). Consideration will be given to the wellbeing framework and supporting students in an inclusive environment which honours and confirms their identity, language, and culture.
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Surry Hills (3 Days, March – June)
Day 1 – Friday 26 May 2023
Day 2 – Friday 23 June 2023
Day 3 – Friday 21 July 2023
Federation House
23-33 Mary St, Surry Hills, NSW 2010
Surry Hills (3 Days, November – December)
Day 1 – Friday 3 November 2023
Day 2 – Friday 17 November 2023
Day 3 – Friday 1 December 2023
Federation House
23-33 Mary St, Surry Hills, NSW 2010
Day 1 – Speaking and Listening
Principles of second language learning
Lexical density and grammatical intricacy: The relationship between grammar and vocabulary development
The Mode Continuum
Elaborated and restricted codes and the relationship between L1 and L2
Strategies for developing oral language through planning and the cyclical use of range of activities, e.g. communicative activities, group work, drama, rhymes, chants, poems. Link back to the mode continuum.
Select a picture book and, based on today’s session, prepare strategies. Explanation of task for Session 2.
Day 2 – Reading
Introduction of Field, Tenor and Mode.
Before, during and after reading and in preparation for writing with a focus on: – field building activities to acknowledge and build on cultural knowledge (before) – intonation, pronunciation, punctuation and spelling (during) – inferential comprehension (after)
Strategies for categorising vocabulary and working with language features
Share strategies for selected picture book with a small group
Explanation of task for Session 3.
Day 3 – Writing
The teaching and learning cycle
Identifying strategies for developing writing through a joint construction.
Strategies for supporting written like text, eg Readers Theatre, Dictogloss, Running dictation, Advance /Detail
Making links to the community through writing for a purpose
Prepare notes for the joint construction of a Literary Recount and an Exposition using selected text.
Joanne Rossbridge
Joanne Rossbridge is an independent language and literacy consultant working in both primary and secondary schools and with teachers across Australia. She has worked as a classroom teacher and literacy consultant with the DET (NSW). Her expertise and much of her experience is in working with students from diverse linguistic and cultural backgrounds. Joanne is particularly interested in student and teacher talk and how talk about language can assist the development of language and literacy.
Kathy Rushton
Kathy Rushton is interested in the development of language and literacy especially in disadvantaged communities. She has worked as a classroom teacher and literacy consultant and provides professional learning for teachers in the areas of language and literacy development. Her current research projects include a study of multilingual pre-service teachers and the impact that teacher professional learning has on the development of a creative pedagogical stance which supports translanguaging and student identity and wellbeing.
Day 1
Completing Tell Me Your Story: Supporting EAL/D Students from K-8 (Speaking and Listening) will contribute 5 hours of NSW Education Standards Authority (NESA) Accredited PD in the priority area of Delivery and Assessment of NSW Curriculum/EYLF addressing standard descriptors 1.3.2, 2.5.2 & 3.3.2 from the Australian Professional Standards for Teachers towards maintaining Proficient Teacher Accreditation in NSW.
Day 2
Completing Tell Me Your Story: Supporting EAL/D Students from K-8 (Reading) will contribute 5 hours of NSW Education Standards Authority (NESA) Accredited PD in the priority area of Delivery and Assessment of NSW Curriculum/EYLF addressing standard descriptors 1.3.2, 2.5.2, 3.3.2 from the Australian Professional Standards for Teachers towards maintaining Proficient Teacher Accreditation in NSW.
Day 3
Completing Tell Me Your Story: Supporting EAL/D Students from K-8 (Writing) will contribute 5 hours of NSW Education Standards Authority (NESA) Accredited PD in the priority area of Delivery and Assessment of NSW Curriculum/EYLF addressing standard descriptors 1.3.2, 2.5.2, 3.3.2 from the Australian Professional Standards for Teachers towards maintaining Proficient Teacher Accreditation in NSW.
Primary and Secondary teachers who support EAL/D students in both small groups and mainstream classrooms.
$600 for 3 days
Three whole day workshops with participants actively engaged in each session and undertaking reading and assignments between sessions.
The NSW Teachers Federation Conference Centre is a registered COVID safe business, and all courses are run in compliance with the Federation’s COVID safety plan.
JPL Articles
Critical Literacy in English and History: Stages 3 & 4
The CPL and The University of Sydney’s Centre for Educational Measurement and Assessment (CEMA) have entered into a collaborative partnership to deliver professional learning Literacy modules for all K-12 teachers.
About the Assessment Literacy modules
The six modules include video presentations by Professor Jim Tognolini, downloadable PDF files, formative self-assessment, reflective questions, recommended short readings, and collaborative webinar opportunities.
Each module will take you between four and six hours to complete and achieve the requisite PD hours towards maintenance of accreditation.
You will be able to: develop an understanding that assessment involves professional judgement based upon an image formed by the collection of information and is used to locate student performance on a developmental continuum; contextualise the role of assessment in teaching, and know, understand and use assessment related terms and strategies including reliability, validity, assessment for learning, assessment of learning, performance standards, and normreferenced assessment. Modules also include a specific consideration of the standards referenced system used in NSW, predicated on a measurement model.
Module 1 – Modern assessment theory including standards referencing
Module 2 – Constructing selected response and short-answer items including Higher Order Thinking Skill (HOTS) items
Module 3 – Constructing extended response and performance tasks, and writing analytic and holistic rubrics
Module 4 – Evaluating the function and classroom assessment tasks and tests
Module 5 – Examining the impact of feedback on learning
Module 6 – Exploring the role of moderation and reporting in classroom assessment
A leading expert in educational assessment has designed the modules
You can start the fully-online modules when convenient and complete them at your own pace
Each module is competitively priced
Each module is accredited
Modules address Standard Descriptors in Proficient Teacher Standard 5: Assess, provide feedback and report on student learning (5.1.2, 5.2.2, 5.3.2, 5.4.2, 5.5.2)
The University of Sydney has approved the modules for articulation to postgraduate award courses. Details are available on the Centre for Educational Measurement and Assessment’s website
Please click here for further details on Assessment and Data Literacy. Data Literacy modules will be available at a later date.
$300 for each module.
Federation financial members are eligible to receive a 10% discount on each module.
On confirmation of your financial membership with the NSW Teachers Federation, you will be sent further details on how to register for the modules.
All Teachers K-12
These modules are delivered online and can be completed at your own pace.
What does assessment practice look like in your school?
Is there an agreed understanding across the school community of the meaning and purpose of evidence, assessment theory and practice, feedback, and evaluation? How does your school implement a common approach to assessment?
Professor Jim Tognolini from the University of Sydney’s Centre for Educational Measurement and Assessment (CEMA) will lead an interactive and content-driven professional learning experience that will unpack the definitions and purpose of data, evidence, assessment, feedback and evaluation. We will explore the importance of teacher voice in assessment and how to lead a collaborative approach to assessment practice across the school community.
Over two days, this course will focus on the role of teachers and school leaders in supporting colleagues to evaluate the effectiveness of their approach to assessment.
Participants will have an opportunity to consider how to successfully lead a shift in school-wide assessment practice through a collective approach within their own school context.
This course is NESA Accredited. Please expand the ‘Accreditation’ bar for further details.
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Face to Face
Day 1 – Wednesday, 3 May 2023
Day 2 – Wednesday, 17 May 2023
Online via Zoom
Day 1 – Wednesday, 18 October 2023
Day 2 – Wednesday, 1 November 2023
Prof Jim Tognolini
Professor Jim Tognolini is Director of The Centre for Educational Measurement and Assessment (CEMA) which is situated within the University of Sydney School of Education and Social Work. The work of the Centre is focused on the broad areas of teaching, research, consulting and professional learning for teachers.
The Centre is currently providing consultancy support to a number of schools. These projects include developing a methodology for measuring creativity; measuring 21st Century Skills; developing school-wide practice in formative assessment. We have a number of experts in the field: most notably, Professor Jim Tognolini, who in addition to conducting research offers practical and school-focused support.
Completing Leading Assessment Practice in Schools: K-12 will contribute 10 hours of NSW Education Standards Authority (NESA) Accredited PD in the priority area of Delivery and Assessment of NSW Curriculum/EYLF addressing standard descriptors 5.1.3, 5.2.3, 5.4.3 from the Australian Professional Standards for Teachers towards maintaining Proficient Teacher or Highly Accomplished Accreditation in NSW.
K-12 teachers and school leaders who support and work with teacher colleagues to build capacity through collaboration.
$400 for 2 days
Face to face (3 and 17 May 2023) and online via Zoom (18 October and 1 November 2022).
Rayanne Shakra and Jim Tognolini give clear and comprehensive advice to teachers on how to use modern definitions of assessment to better assess their students’ Higher Order Thinking Skills.
Defining Higher Order Thinking Skills (HOTS) is no easy task. Research nearly forty years ago noted that “Defining thinking skills, reasoning, critical thought and problem solving is troublesome to both social scientists and practitioners. Troublesome is a polite word; the area is a conceptual swamp” (Cuban, 1984, p. 676). Four decades onwards not much has changed definition-wise, to clean-up the ‘conceptual swamp’. However, modern definitions of assessment have emerged that are useful in guiding teachers to better assess HOTS for students in any school year.
To produce evidence on how students think, teachers need to develop assessments that enable the students to demonstrate what it is they know, can do and value. For the purposes of this paper the focus will be on cognitive abilities and the following definition of assessment will be used. Assessment involves teachers making informed judgements based upon an image formed by the collection of information about student performance (Tognolini & Stanley, 2007). This image is used to monitor student growth (progress) through an area of learning or domain of knowledge. The higher levels of growth are differentiated by students having to demonstrate that they can do something with the knowledge that they have gained e.g., they can solve problems, think critically, evaluate the effectiveness of different strategies for solving problems.
Thinking is an internal process. Teachers cannot see this internal process, so they must depend on cognitive models and tools that can be used to categorise levels of learning. These models use verbs to describe the complexity of the thought processes students should demonstrate. Blooms’ revised taxonomy (Anderson & Krathwohl, 2001) is one of these models.
This taxonomy is a powerful tool for teachers because it provides a way for teachers to differentiate between different levels of cognitive depth. It categorises learning into the following three domains: psychomotor, cognitive and affective. The cognitive domain. This domain involves six major categories to which students’ skills and abilities are listed from the simplest thinking behaviour, also known as the Lower Order Thinking Skills (LOTS), to the most complex, known as the Higher Order Thinking Skills (HOTS). The taxonomy lists the skills in hierarchal order from the LOTS to the HOTS, as in Figure 1. These skills include the mental processes of remembering, understanding, applying, analysing, evaluating, and creating.
Figure 1Bloom’s Revised Taxonomy
The logic behind this hierarchy is that before students can understand a concept they must remember it; to apply a concept they must first understand it; to evaluate a process they must have analysed it; and to create an accurate conclusion, students must have completed a thorough evaluation. Students’ thinking progresses from the LOTS to the HOTS. While the skills are presented in hierarchical form, the way students’ skills are developed does not necessarily have to be linear, that is, the skills may overlap onto each other (Krathwohl, 2002).
The thought processes are usually linked to the verbs associated with the thinking level that teachers are aiming to teach or assess. The mention of the verb here is not the actual word denoting the verb, it is the thought process or action behind the meaning of the verb. If teachers want to assess critical thinking, they should not look at a question beginning with ‘criticise’, rather the focus should be on how the student is going to solve the task that is being set. That is, when the students have produced the evidence from answering the task, does their evidence indicate a higher level of cognitive functioning? It isn’t the verb but the manifestation of the response to what is requested in the task that indicates whether the students have demonstrated higher order thinking in this circumstance.
Learning, by its nature, is developmental. Teachers act as facilitators in assisting the students to grow in knowledge, skill and understanding through the teaching of subject content. As students gain more content knowledge, and can use this knowledge to demonstrate growth, then teachers are required to provide tasks that are cognitively more demanding, to tap into the higher order thinking of their students. The cognitive level needed to solve these tasks is generally referred to as the depth of knowledge associated with the task (Webb, 1997). Cognitively demanding tasks require the students to think and use the knowledge that they have gained to solve both real life problems and even conceptually abstract problems.
HOTS are not only fostered and assessed in both mainstream primary and secondary students of diverse racial and socio-economic backgrounds, but also for students in special education classes. In fact, students in years 9-12 enrolled in special education classes, and who were given cognitively challenging tasks, outperformed students without disabilities at the same year level and who were given tasks that were less challenging (King, Schroeder, and Chawszczewski, 2001). Teachers need to deliberately provide their students with tasks that academically challenge and engage them. Often teachers think that their classroom assessments incorporate higher order thinking however, most do not (Care, Kim, Vista & Anderson, 2018: Hoogland & Tout, 2018; McMillan, 2001; McMillan, Myran, & Workman, 2002). Teachers are teaching HOTS through many new pedagogical methods such as inquiry learning or Project-Based Learning, but are not assessing for these skills (Anderson, 2002).
Assessment is integral to teaching and learning (Baird, Andrich, Hopfenbeck, & Stobart, 2017). The success of HOTS development is determined by the alignment between learning outcomes to be achieved, as stated in curriculum documents, and the implemented assessments (Fitzpatrick & Schulz, 2015). The importance of teachers knowing the targeted HOTS they are teaching and assessing means that teachers need to actively engage in developing appropriate assessments and to use both formative and summative assessments together. Formative assessments provide timely, regular feedback that informs instruction as students learn increasingly complex tasks. Summative assessments are necessary to determine if standards have been met or if students can perform tasks that involve HOTS.
Devising HOTS tasks that can lead to the production of valued outcomes and can be recognised through intuitive understanding is quite burdensome. Teachers need to formulate HOTS tasks that require reasoned thinking on behalf of the students, and this is far from simple.
Therefore, it is important when planning for lessons to know where to incorporate HOTS in teaching sessions (Collins, 2014). Without prior planning, the tasks that teachers might end up requesting spontaneously may not lead to their students’ demonstrating HOTS.
Not every difficult task immediately measures HOTS. In fact, difficulty is not the same as cognitive depth. The difficulty of a task is usually determined by how many students can get the task correct. If very few students get it correct, it is a hard task for the group of students. If everyone gets it right, it is an easy task for the students.
This does not necessarily align with the cognitive depth of the task, nor the level of higher order thinking required to solve the task. Cognitive depth refers to the thought process, knowledge and skill required to solve the task. Hence planning beforehand, specifically for assessing HOTS, is key.
Professional Development and HOTS
For lasting changes to occur in education, it is imperative that teachers recognise necessary changes in learner expectations as well as the purpose of teaching: teaching students to think (Retna & Ng, 2016). In addition to the cognitive thinking models that teachers can utilise, they can also look at research that documents practices that encourage students to develop and practise higher quality thinking.
Professional development courses are a key factor in reviving teachers’ understandings and methods of implementing higher order thinking skills in our classrooms. Professional development courses should be structured in a way to provide teachers with a better understanding of what higher order thinking skills are. These courses also help teachers to conceptualise how the three categories of transfer, critical thinking, and problem solving are coherently interrelated in their instructional strategies.
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Appendix A – Tips for writing HOTS tasks
The following are some tips for teachers to think about when they are writing HOTS tasks for their students:
First, teachers should focus the load of the item on the problem to solve rather than on the content.
Second, items that require students to predict the outcome of a situation are more suited for HOTS than simply labelling or listing.
Third, give them examples and ask for the principle, or theory, they illustrate.
Fourth, design items that permit multiple interpretations or solutions.
Fifth, the skill required to respond to the item is what determines the relative difficulty, not the verb used.
Sixth, make sure that the item is written in a way that makes it very clear to the students as to what is required of them in their responses.
Appendix B – Examples of tasks that promotes HOTS in students and assess their cognitive depth
The following are some examples of assessment tasks that help to both promote higher order thinking skills and assess their current cognitive depth:
Example 1:
Suggest a method, other than a vaccine, that scientists might develop to keep us safe from COVID. Then provide a short persuasive paragraph arguing why people should support this method.
This task can be given to students in any year. It is authentic and taps into the students’ creative thinking skills. Suggesting a new method other than the current ones available assumes students will formulate or create a new method. The persuasive text assumes that students will argue and provide an evaluative judgement of why their method should be accepted widely by the public.
To answer this the students will have to compile information together in ways that they have not yet been explosed to and combine content elements to propose new solutions. The answer to this question can be done collaboratively between the students and in conjunction with the teacher. This collaboration will spark higher order thinking because the students will acknowledge that the teacher does not know the answer and will work to devise one together.
Example 2:
The following is taken from NAPLAN year 3 Numeracy
This question presents the students with an unfamiliar scenario where they must extrapolate a mathematical pattern and apply it by making connections to more than one set of information. The students have to rotate the rectangle and make the connection of how the shapes within it will also vary and change their location.
Example 3:
The following is taken from NAPLAN year 5 Reading
Students are required to make connections between the meanings presented and the text. They also need to infer the meaning of each of the answer choices according to their comprehension of the text to be capable of providing a prediction of which answer best resembles the phrase in the question.
Anderson, P. (2002). Assessment and development of executive function (EF) during childhood. Child neuropsychology, 8(2), 71-82.
Anderson, L. W., Krathwohl, D. R. (Eds.). (2001).A taxonomy for learning, teaching and assessing: A revision of Bloom’s taxonomy of educational objectives: Complete edition. New York, NY: Longman.
Baird, J. A., Andrich, D., Hopfenbeck, T. N., & Stobart, G. (2017). Assessment and learning: Fields apart?. Assessment in education: Principles, policy & practice, 24(3), 317-350.
Bloom, B.S. (1956). Taxonomy of educational objectives. Vol. 1: Cognitive domain. New York: McKay, 20 (24), p.1.
Brookhart, S.M. (2010). How to assess higher-order thinking skills in your classroom. ASCD.
Care, E., Kim, H., Vista, A., & Anderson, K. (2018). Education system alignment for 21st century Skills: Focus on assessment. Center for Universal Education at The Brookings Institution.
Collins, R. (2014). Skills for the 21st century: teaching higher-order thinking. Curriculum & leadership journal, 12(14).
Cuban, L. (1984). Policy and research dilemmas in the teaching of reasoning: Unplanned designs. Review of Educational Research, 54(4), 655-681.
FitzPatrick, B., & Schulz, H. (2015). Do curriculum outcomes and assessment activities in science encourage higher order thinking?.Canadian Journal of Science, Mathematics and Technology Education, 15(2), 136-154.
Hoogland, K., & Tout, D. (2018).Computer-based assessment of mathematics into the twenty-first century: pressures and tensions. ZDM, 50(4), 675-686.
King, M. B., Schroeder, J., & Chawszczewski, D. (2001). Authentic assessment and student performance in inclusive schools. Research Institute on Secondary Education Reform (RISER) for Youth with disabilities brief. https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED467479
Krathwohl, D.R., 2002. A revision of Bloom’s taxonomy: An overview. Theory into practice, 41(4), pp.212-218.
Lewis, A. and Smith, D., 1993. Defining higher order thinking. Theory into practice, 32(3), pp.131-137.
McMillan, J. H. (2001). Secondary teachers’ classroom assessment and grading practices. Educational Measurement: Issues and Practice, 20(1), 20-32.
McMillan, J. H., Myran, S., & Workman, D. (2002). Elementary teachers’ classroom assessment and grading practices. The Journal of Educational Research, 95(4), 203-213.
Retna, K. S., & Ng, P. T. (2016). The application of learning organization to enhance learning in Singapore schools.Management in Education, 30(1), 10-18.
Tognolini, J., & Stanley, G. (2007). Standards-based assessment: a tool and means to the development of human capital and capacity building in education.Australian Journal of Education, 51(2), 129-145.
Webb, N.L., 1997. Determining alignment of expectations and assessments in mathematics and science education. Nise Brief, 1(2), p.n2.
Prof Jim Tognolini
Professor Jim Tognolini is Director of The Centre for Educational Measurement and Assessment (CEMA) which is situated within the University of Sydney School of Education and Social Work. The work of the Centre is focused on the broad areas of teaching, research, consulting and professional learning for teachers.
The Centre is currently providing consultancy support to a number of schools. These projects include developing a methodology for measuring creativity; measuring 21st Century Skills; developing school-wide practice in formative assessment. We have a number of experts in the field: most notably, Professor Jim Tognolini, who in addition to conducting research offers practical and school-focused support.
Rayanne Shakra
Rayanne Shakra is a NESA sponsored scholarship doctoral student at the Centre for Educational Measurement and Assessment CEMA) and a sessional academic at The University of Sydney.
Jowen Hillyer and Rosemary Henzell give some practical advice on how to teach Reading to Write and Module C the Craft of Writing of HSC English Advanced and Standard syllabuses . . .
When we first encountered Module C there was a bit of confusion and in some cases trepidation. We found that reactions went a few ways:
Hooray I get to work on the intricacies of refining writing with my kids!
Oh great, a whole MODULE on writing with my kids (who barely pick up a pen)
So, we annotate and look mainly at language techniques, right?
If it’s not a close study then what is it?
Really the answer lay somewhere in between and was often context dependant. Due to Covid blocking our initial Centre for Professional Learning (CPL) conference plans, we had a whole year to actually apply what we presented. Despite our very different contexts, we decided to trial a uniform approach in both our schools to see if it would be effective.
From there we presented some approaches that worked.
Ultimately the philosophy behind both Read to Write and Craft of Writing did not change between courses or context:
Stay still, dive deep
READ TO WRITE
Some early approaches to this module, which worked brilliantly in many contexts, did not work for us. Many teachers created exciting units with a focus area and worked with texts centred on that concept- such as ‘Dystopian texts’ or ‘voices of protest’. While this helped us to tie things together in our minds it did not always work for students. Sometimes students saw the texts and the concept before they understood the module and their focus was diverted. Ultimately the module is not about a concept but about: incremental skill building, testing those skills and then expanding on them.
It was better to strip it back to the pure tools of writing where form is the focus. Asking students to consider the purpose of form was one of the most powerful things we uncovered.
In Read to Write we introduce students to “the writer’s toolbox/toolkit”- Vocabulary & grammar, elements of style, elements of composition and the often neglected one- fine tuning and refining.
The last tool was very important because, although it appears in our syllabus documents, the temptation for students to say ‘one and done’ is great. This module offers a chance at a retraining of PROCESS.
We devised a few steps to keep us on track too:
Read
Discuss
Zoom in
Create
The secret to success was to not skip any steps. It is so tempting last period Friday with a recalcitrant group to not bother discussing and just annotate and write silently but we tried that too and it led to incomplete writing and running out of things to say. Skipping steps means skipping process and that is what this module is training students for – the process and particulars of writing. It is called Read to Write so that the focus is on the students wide reading- a springboard into having something to say.
Kicking off reading to write
To begin the unit, we would start with letters to themselves on their last day of year 12- it acts as goal setting, introduces you to them and allows you to have a good idea of where they are at with discursive writing
Then we follow the process. An example might be Roald Dahl’s Lamb to the Slaughter:
We read aloud, this helps students to hear the craft of the text and to understand performative aspects of text (as well as simply enjoying being read to)
Discuss – this is not random ‘around the room with someone holding court’ It must be a guided discussion. Using the 4Cs routine was our chosen thinking organiser – often in group work .
Zoom in on the text using different lenses go over it once for vocabulary and grammar, then for elements of style, then elements of composition
Create Now that they understand how the text works and how they think and feel about it, they create a text which springboards from it- it could be an alternate version, a different context or even just an element of style or composition which was important in creating meaning in that text.
Table 1. The 4Cs Routine (Harvard Graduate School of Education, Project Zero)
Our reflections
Students enjoyed it more- there is safety in structure. It gave us an opportunity to purposefully choose texts to dive into and model excellent examples of discursive and persuasive texts. Students reported seeing the practicality behind English, reading long form fiction for the first time in years and most importantly about why we read and write.
CRAFT OF WRITING – THE EVOLUTION FROM READ TO WRITE
In Read to Write students engage with other’s writing to build their own.
In Craft of Writing students focus on their own authorship.
In Read to Write they are building a bicycle with an instruction manual (complete with scaffolded training wheels sometimes).
In Craft of Writing, they ride the bike.
In Read to Write we filled the toolkit.
In Craft of Writing, we build things- not well at first sometimes but practice is key with little bits of writing regularly.
In Module C the texts, on the prescriptions list, do not contribute to the pattern of study so it is a good opportunity to expose students to textual forms they are not as strong in or need development in. Not only does it assist with their crafting, but it helps strengthen the Paper 1 Section 1 muscle too.
Alongside the texts that teachers choose, students should be encouraged to read widely and in the 30 mandated hours for this course there can still be lots of other modelled texts to explore, alongside the prescribed ones selected.
Regardless of the course (Advanced or Standard), most Module C texts are hybrids.
The process doesn’t change much from Read to Write in the way we approach texts. This is not a close study and extreme annotation is not the aim of the game.
The steps are:
Read & think- what emotions/idea does it raise, why did the author write this?
Zoom in- with a layers routine (think of the text like a dish on MasterChef- look at the whole story, break it apart and look at the elements, look how it fits together so we understand the whole, evaluate).
Springboard from layers- look at FORM, DYNAMICS, THEMES/IDEAS
Create
Reflect- This is a structured activity. – we are not defending our work but making direct connections between our own writing and the techniques chosen from the texts we have read. You are composer and critic in Module C.
Table 2. Layers routine1 (Harvard Graduate School of Education, Project Zero)
Table 2. Layers routine 2 (Harvard Graduate School of Education, Project Zero)
Ultimately, both Read to Write, and The Craft of Writing are about skill development through creative exploration. Students and teachers will find in these modules a space to explore great writing from all genres, times and places. Most importantly it is a space to work with students as they discover the power and versatility of language.
Jowen Hillyer is currently Head Teacher of English, HSIE and languages at Aurora College, the Department of Education’s first selective virtual school for rural and remote students (7-10) and remote students in Stage 6.
Jowen has been a teacher, head teacher and teacher educator for 26 years, with experience in both rural and disadvantaged public schools, as well as 3 years as an Associate Lecturer at The University of Sydney.
In her current role Jowen leads a large, diverse faculty situated all over the state in new approaches, innovation, and student engagement. Her research interests are centred on project-based learning, boy’s writing in the middle years and mentoring programs for beginning English teachers.
Jowen has also contributed to the Journal of Professional Learning and recently has had a peer reviewed article published on post pandemic teaching in the Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy.
Rosemary Henzell
Rosemary Henzell is an English and Drama Teacher at Willoughby Girls High School. Rosemary has a keen interest in project-based learning ranging from individual creative writing projects to building a whole-grade website exploring the modern relevance of Shakespeare.
As a senior member of her school’s Professional Learning Team, she is helping lead the school-wide implementation of Costa’s Habits of Mind, and Project Zero’s Cultures of Thinking Project.
Rosemary has also contributed to the Journal of Professional Learning and the Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy.
Margaret Vos introduces the new Stage 6 History syllabuses which are implemented for Year 11 in 2018… The new NSW Stage 6 History Syllabuses were endorsed in 2016. 2017 is a planning year with implementation for Year 11 in 2018 and Year 12 in 2019. These syllabuses aim to provide students with opportunities to further develop high order, core historical skills, knowledge and understanding which will assist them in the next stage of their lives.Whilst the syllabuses include some content, including skills and concepts, aligned with the Australian Curriculum they retain a uniquely NSW structure and useful parallels with the previous Stage 6 History syllabuses in terms of structure and content.Due to the online nature of the syllabus documents, teachers are encouraged to download and review each section, including the aim and rationale before moving to the course content.Initial information regarding assessment has been published by the NSW Education Standards Authority (NESA). The most significant change is the approach to the formal school-based assessment program for Year 11 and Year 12. Examination specifications are expected to be available in Term 3, 2017.Similarities between the Ancient History Stage 6 and the Modern History Stage 6 SyllabusesIntegrated historical skills and conceptsThis new approach enables teachers to plan for deeper analysis of the topics.The outcomesTeachers should carefully consider the outcomes in both Ancient History and Modern History. They are now organised into two categories: Knowledge and Understanding, and Skills. There are specific objectives attached to each category.Duplication and overlapThe important limitation to a teacher’s choice is the restriction that existed in the previous syllabus regarding topic choice in Year 11; Case studies must not overlap with or duplicate significantly any topic attempted in the Year 12 Ancient History, Modern History or History Extension courses. Structural organisationThere is some structural similarity between the Year 11 Courses in both Ancient History and Modern History which may be helpful.This also makes it easier for students to recognise that the two courses are similar in structure and in the amount of work involved. Teachers who transition from the teaching of Modern History to Ancient History (or vice versa) will find some commonality in the Year 11 Courses.Indicative hours in Year 11The breakdown of the 120 indicative hours into hours for each topic is also now identical in the two courses. Previously only the Modern History Year 11 Course had specified indicative hours for the Preliminary Course.Flexibility for teachers in the Year 11 coursesThe content of each case study and option is further developed within both syllabuses. This includes a list of possible examples that could be used to illustrate aspects of the content. The list of examples and content is not proscriptive. Teachers may develop their own examples and make choices about the sequence and emphasis of their teaching of the content. The Historical InvestigationThis important part of the previous syllabus has been retained in the Year 11 Course in both Ancient History and Modern History. This topic is also a crucial background and skill development for students who wish to go on to History Extension. The investigation provides all students with choice and opportunity to carry out the work as historians in areas of their own interest (either as an individual researcher or as part of a group investigation). It allows teachers to give their students a real choice about the topics they wish to study.Ancient HistoryThe Year 11 courseThe major changes in the new Ancient History Stage 6 Syllabus occur in Year 11. The breakdown of the specified indicative hours for each topic is below:Ancient HistoryYear 11 Course120 Indicative HoursIndicativeHoursInvestigating Ancient HistoryThe Nature of Ancient HistoryCase StudiesEach case study should be a minimum of 10 indicative hours.60Features of Ancient Societies40Historical Investigation20Investigating Ancient HistoryThis is the major section of the Year 11 Course (50% of the indicative hours).The Nature of Ancient HistoryWhat has changed?There are now six distinct areas and students must investigate at least ONE of the following options:The Investigation of Ancient Sites and SourcesHistorical Authentication and ReliabilityThe Representation of the Ancient PastPreservation, Conservation and/or Reconstruction of Ancient SitesCultural Heritage and The Role of MuseumsThe Treatment and Display of Human RemainsHow can this section be taught?A teacher can approach this section in various ways:Teach one of the options;Teach more than one option;Create an integrated study incorporating elements of two or more of the six areas.Case StudiesWhat has changed?TWO Case studies must now be completed – ONE from List A (Egypt, Greece, Rome, Celtic Europe) and ONE from List B (the Near East, Asia, the Americas, Australia).The two case studies do not need to be of equal length. The only requirement is that “Each case study should be a minimum of 10 indicative hours.” Old Kingdom Egypt is now a Case Study option as it is no longer in the Year 12 Course. Similarly, Mycenae is one of the possible topics as it too no longer exists in the Year 12 Course. Ancient China in the Qin and Han Dynasties may no longer be taught in the Year 11 Course as this topic is now in the Year 12 Course. Some exciting new topics are included below:Ancient AustraliaThe Shang DynastyTeotihuacanPalmyra and the Silk RoadFeatures of Ancient SocietiesWhat is the structure?This section is a new way of approaching the study of Ancient Societies. A list of both Ancient Societies and Key Features is provided. Students study at least TWO ancient societies through an investigation of EITHER a different key feature for each society OR one key feature across the societies selected. How can this section be taught?The emphasis is on the interpretation of historical sources. The structure of this section allows for flexibility in a teacher’s choice of topics which could allow for a study of the interaction of TWO distinct societies. Another approach could involve ONE study of two or more societies.Students investigate a key feature of the society or societies chosen. A list of possible studies is provided but is not proscriptive. The addition of India and China may encourage a more thorough focus on Asian history.School-based assessment requirementsTeachers should refer to the NESA Assessment and Reporting in Ancient History Stage 6 document http://syllabus.bostes.nsw.edu.au/assets/global/files/assessment-and-reporting-in-ancient-history-stage-6.pdf . Teachers are encouraged to refer to the relevant NESA documents for updates. Some features for the new syllabus include:The Year 11 formal school-based assessment program is to reflect the following requirements:three assessment tasksthe minimum weighting for an individual task is 20%the maximum weighting for an individual task is 40%one task may be a formal written examinationone task must be an Historical Investigation with a weighting of 20–30%.The Year 12 courseThe structure – What is the same? What is different?The structure of each of the four topics is slightly different. Each topic has two sections – Survey (a maximum of 3 hours) and Focus of Study (a minimum of 27 hours). It is important to note that there is still a requirement that students study from at least TWO geographical areas. The list has been expanded to include China. The indicative hours are listed below:Ancient HitoryYear 12 course120 Indicative HoursIndicativeHoursCore Study – Cities of Vesuvius – Pompeii and Herculaneum30Ancient Societies30Personalities in their Times30Historical Periods30The Core Study – Cities of Vesuvius – Pompeii and HerculaneumContent – what is the same and what is different?The Core’s Content Focus (which replaces the Principal Focus of the previous syllabus) has been expanded to include a statement that: “Students will develop and apply their knowledge and skills to understand and use different types of sources and relevant issues”.This is significant as this further clarifies the historiographical aspect of the core.There are three new terms specified to clarify the focus of the content relating to local political life (decuriones, magistrates, Comitium).Ancient SocietiesAlthough rearranged, the content for each Ancient Society will be familiar to teachers who have taught the previous syllabus and teachers will be able to use their resources to teach this topic. One new topic has been included: Society in China during the Han Dynasty 206 BC – AD 220.Personalities in their TimesWithin this section a new sub-topic exists – a close analysis of a source or type of source. This includes a study of the value of the source as well as an evaluation of the source in the context of other available sources (including the problems of evidence). This explicit addition is important. For, although teachers would have used sources when previously doing this topic, it is a reminder that there is an important historiographical aspect of this topic. One new topic has been included: China – Qin Shihuangdi.Historical PeriodThe new Survey looks at the chronological and geographical context as well as the key powers in the region and the nature of contact with other societies. This is to be completed in a maximum of 3 hours. One new option is included: Imperial China – the Qin and Han 247 – 87 BC. This was previously in Ancient Societies in the old Preliminary Course. School-based assessment requirementsTeachers should refer to the NESA Assessment and Reporting in Ancient History Stage 6 document for updates. The Year 12 formal school-based assessment program includes:a maximum of four assessment tasksthe minimum weighting for an individual task is 10%the maximum weighting for an individual task is 40%one task may be a formal written examination with a maximum weighting of 30%one task must be an Historical Analysis with a weighting of 20–30%.Information about the Historical Analysis in Ancient HistoryThe Historical Analysis provides students with the opportunity to focus on an historical question, issue or controversy of interest, and to develop a reasoned argument, supported by evidence. It may occur in or across any of the topics selected for study.The Historical Analysis may be presented in written, oral or multimodal form, and must:be completed individuallybe a maximum of 1200 words, 6 minutes duration or equivalent in multimodal formaddress relevant syllabus outcomesrelate to a topic or topics studied in the Ancient History Stage 6 Syllabus.Modern HistoryThe Year 11 courseThere are substantial changes to this course. The indicative hours are listed below:Modern HistoryYear 11 Course120 Indicative HoursIndicativeHoursInvestigating Modern HistoryThe Nature of Modern HistoryCase StudiesEach case study should be a minimum of 10 indicative hours.60Historical Investigation20The Shaping of the Modern World40Investigating Modern HistoryHow is this new section structured?Investigating Modern History is the major part of the Year 11 Course (50% of the indicative hours). This has been designed as an introduction to Modern History and its skills, historical concepts, relevant methods and issues. The topic has two distinct sections.The Nature of Modern HistoryWhat is its content?There are five distinct areas listed and students must investigate at least ONE of the following:1. The investigation of historic sites and sources2. The contestability of the past3. The construction of modern histories4. History and memory5. The representation and commemoration of the pastHow can this section be taught?A teacher can approach this section in various ways:Teach one of the options;Teach more than one option;Create an integrated study incorporating elements of two or more of the five areas.Case StudiesWhat has changed?Teachers can create their own case studies; old favourite topics can still be taught (except for those topics that now are part of the Year 12 Course). Some of the previous case studies are now part of the Year 12 Course. If these topics are not attempted in the Year 12 course teachers have the flexibility to develop their own case studies, including:The Civil Rights Movement in the USA in the 1950s and 1960s;Aung San Suu Kyi and the pro-democracy movement in Burma;The Chinese Government and Tiananmen Square.New Case StudiesThe new case studies are listed in the table below. There is a requirement that “each case study should be a minimum of 10 indicative hours.” They do not need to be of equal length. Teachers will continue to teach a case study from List A and List B. Some new and modified case studies include:The American Civil WarThis topic will be familiar to those teachers who have been teaching Modern History for a long time.Making Change: Day of Mourning to MaboWomen’s MovementsA much more comprehensive and interesting topic than the previous Emmeline Pankhurst and the Suffragette Movement.The Rise of the Environment MovementThe Changing Nature of Anglo – Irish RelationsThis topic was moved from the old Year 12 course.The British In India and BurmaIncludes aspects of The Indian Mutiny 1857 (from previous syllabus).The Making of Modern South Africa 1890 – 1910This topic will serve as background to Apartheid in South Africa 1960 -1994 (an option in the new Year 12 topic – Change in The Modern World).How can this section be programmed?TWO case studies.ONE case study and ONE of the teacher’s own.TWO case studies of the teacher’s own.Where teachers develop their own case studies they need to use the framework provided in the syllabus.The Shaping of the Modern WorldThe purpose of this section is for students to examine a key historical development through the study of different types of sources. Students can develop an understanding of modernity.This topic provides for the study of topics from the late 17th Century and the 18th Century.What is the structure of this topic?Students study at least ONE of the following key historical periods:World War I (which retains some elements of the former Year 12 Core from the previous syllabus as well as new elements)The EnlightenmentThe French RevolutionThe Age of ImperialismThe Industrial AgeThe End of EmpireHow can this section be taught?For this section, there are 40 indicative hours. A substantial part of the Year 11 Course should be spent on this topic. Teachers can, therefore, develop detailed and innovative studies. Only ONE topic is required to be taught. However, it is possible to create an option that integrates aspects of more than one of the topics listed. For example, an option could be developed that looked at the forces that existed in the late 17th Century and the 18th Century (such as industrialisation, imperialism, revolution and the Enlightenment) and trace the legacy of, and impact of, these forces on the modern world.School-based assessment requirementsTeachers should refer to the NESA Assessment and Reporting in Modern History Stage 6 document and other relevant NESA documents for updates http://syllabus.bostes.nsw.edu.au/assets/global/files/assessment-and-reporting-in-modern-history-stage-6.pdf . Some features for the new syllabus include:The Year 11 formal school-based assessment program is to reflect the following requirements:three assessment tasksthe minimum weighting for an individual task is 20%the maximum weighting for an individual task is 40%one task may be a formal written examinationone task must be an Historical Investigation with a weighting of 20–30%.The Year 12 courseThere is a new requirement that at least ONE non-European / Western topic is studied in the Year 12 Modern History Course. These non-European / Western topics are clearly listed in the syllabus. As seen from the Course Structure and Requirements below, there are substantial changes to the Year 12 Course.Modern HistoryYear 12 Course120 Indicative HoursIndicative HoursCore Study – Power and Authority in the ModernWorld 1919-194630National Studies30Peace and Conflict30Change in the Modern World30 Core Study – Power and Authority in the Modern World 1919–1946The new Core provides a broader international focus within which Germany is situated and this may provide contextual background for subsequent topics such as Conflict in the Pacific and The Changing World Order.What are the challenges?This Core study will be new for some who have not previously taught Germany. The fact that Germany was always such a popular choice, however, means that there is a huge range of existing resources.What is the content?The Core Focus states that “students will develop and apply their knowledge and skills to understand and use different types of sources and relevant historiographical issues.” Thus, the historiographical nature of this core is emphasised.SurveyThis gives an overview of the peace treaties which ended World War One and is a maximum of 3 hours, 10% of the indicative hours for the Core.Focus of study includes three sections:The rise of dictatorships after World War IThe concept of and the nature of power and authority in the period of 1919–1946 is examined, including a study of the rise of fascist, totalitarian and militarist movements after World War I. This investigation into the growth in dictatorships in Europe (with the central focus on the events in Germany) in the period between the World Wars considers why such regimes became popular.The Nazi regime to 1939The nature of Nazi ideology and the role of individuals in the Nazi state are studied. The consequences of the emergence of totalitarianism and militarism within Germany as well as opposition to the regime are also investigated.The search for peace and security in the worldThe Core concludes with a look at the international consequences. An overview of the ambitions of Germany and Japan are studied as is the role of the League of Nations and the United Nations.National StudiesWhat is changed?It is essential that teachers check to see if the dates for their chosen National Study have changed. China, Japan, Russia and the Soviet Union and the USA are completely unchanged. One new topic exists: Iran 1945–1989. This includes a Survey (maximum of 3 indicative hours) of Iran from 1945 to 1953 and a Focus of Study (including The Rule of the Shah; The Revolution and Iran under Khomeini).Three of the countries to be studied are the same but require a study of a different chronological period. These include India 1942–1984, Indonesia 1945–2005 and Australia 1918–1949.Peace and ConflictConflict in the Gulf 1980–2011 is an exciting new study.Change in the Modern WorldThis is a new topic in the Year 12 Modern History course. Students are to investigate key features in the history of ONE of six topics. Some new case studies draw upon some content from previous Preliminary course studies, including:New OptionsThe Nuclear Age 1945–2011The Changing World Order 1945–2011From Previous SyllabusApartheid in South Africa 1960–1994 (previous National Study)Civil Rights in the USA 1945–1968 (previous Preliminary course)Pro-democracy movement in Burma 1945–2010 (previous Preliminary course)The Cultural Revolution to Tiananmen Square 1966–1989 (previous Preliminary course)School-based assessment requirementsTeachers should refer to the NESA Assessment and Reporting in Modern History Stage 6 document for updates. The Year 12 formal school-based assessment program includes:a maximum of four assessment tasksthe minimum weighting for an individual task is 10%the maximum weighting for an individual task is 40%one task may be a formal written examination with a maximum weighting of 30%one task must be an Historical Analysis with a weighting of 20–30%.Information about the Historical Analysis in Modern HistoryThe Historical Analysis provides students with the opportunity to focus on an historical question, issue or controversy of interest, and to develop a reasoned argument, supported by evidence. It may occur in or across any of the topics selected for study.The Historical Analysis may be presented in written, oral or multimodal form, and must:be completed individuallybe a maximum of 1200 words, 6 minutes duration or equivalent in multimodal formaddress relevant syllabus outcomesrelate to a topic or topics studied in the Modern History Stage 6 Syllabus.History ExtensionThe course outlineThere has been a reduction in indicative hours for the History Project (from 24 to 20) and a subsequent increase in the hours (a minimum of 40) for the topic Constructing History. History ExtensionYear 12 Course60 HoursIndicativeHoursConstructing HistoryKey QuestionsCase Studies40(minimum)History Project20(maximum)Constructing HistoryThis is the largest topic with two distinct parts: the Key Questions and the Case Studies.Key QuestionsThere are now four Key Questions:Who are historians? This question still allows for a study of those historians who have created history over time. The deletion of ‘the’ from the previous question (Who are the historians?) considerably widens the possibility for debate about who should be considered as an historianWhat are the purposes of history? ‘The aims’ has been removed from this question.How has history been constructed, recorded and presented over time? An additional word ‘presented’ has been added to this question.Why have approaches to history changed over time?What is different?The other previous question “What are the historical debates in the case study?” is to “be integrated within each case study”.“The Readings” – reference to ‘The Readings’ has been removed from the new syllabus. However, where appropriate, extracts from this document can still be used as a resource. If used judiciously, and not studied in its entirety, selected readings may be of value.Case StudiesWhat has changed about the content?There is a reduction in the content to better reflect the requirements of 1 unit subjects. The areas of historiographical debate in every case study have been reduced from five to three. A summary of key topic changes is listed below:AncientNewAthenian DemocracyCollapse of the Western Roman EmpireModifiedThe Origins of Christianity retains substantial elements of the previous case study – The Historicity of Jesus Christ.Cleopatra VII (Formerly a topic in the Ancient History course)Medieval and Early ModernNew1. Witch Hunt and Witch TrialsModernModifiedNapoleonWestern Imperialism in the 19th CenturyAppeasementJohn Fitzgerald KennedyA British Prime Minister: Winston Churchill OR Margaret ThatcherAsiaNewGenghis KhanThe Opium WarsPartition of India; although new to History Extension, it was one key feature of the previous Modern History National Study – India: 1919-1947. It will also complement the new National Study – India: 1942–1984 in the Year 12 Modern History course.AustraliaNewRepresentations of ANZACAn Australian Prime Minister: Robert Menzies OR Gough WhitlamModifiedThe Frontier in Australia is a previous Case StudyThe Arrival of the British in Australia. Although the content is very much the same there has been a change in terminology. The use of the term ‘frontier’ instead of ‘the arrival of the British’ allows for a broader study of the Aboriginal response to British intrusion in Australia.History ProjectThe essay length is the same and must not exceed 2500 words. The bibliography is still required and an evaluation of three sources. This must not exceed 600 words in total. The Project is still to be marked internally and it is recommended to arrange for some collaborative/team marking of this Project (either amongst History teachers in one school or across schools).What has changed?There have been some slight but significant changes to Part II Documenting the ProjectProposalAn extra dot point has been added to the instructions. It explicitly mentions that a proposal should include a focus question.SynopsisNo longer required.Process LogThe content of this section has been expanded to include:Explanation of the topic choice – this reflects the intention of the former synopsis;Draft responses – this will ensure that the work follows the principle of good scholarship (including the lack of plagiarism);Teacher Feedback – so teachers can continue to monitor the Project and give genuine feedback at various stages in the process. This can be achieved by viewing and commenting on the drafts as well as checking the use of sources.CertificationThere is not further information available at present. The syllabus refers to the HSC All My Own Work Program.School-based assessment requirementsTeachers should refer to the NESA Assessment and Reporting in History Extension Stage 6 document for updates http://syllabus.bostes.nsw.edu.au/assets/global/files/assessment-and-reporting-in-history-extension-stage-6.pdf .The Year 12 formal school-based assessment program includes:three assessment tasksone task may be a formal written examination with a weighting of 30%one task must be the History Project – Historical Process (proposal, process log, annotated sources) with a weighting of 30%one task must be the History Project – Essay with a weighting of 40%.There are now two Life Skills coursesThere is now an authentic, stand-alone course for both Ancient History and Modern History Life Skills students. In the old HSIE Life Skills Syllabus, the study of Ancient History and Modern History were together with other subjects. For each subject, students will study the same topics as their peers.In implementing each of the new syllabuses for Stage 6 History, the importance of collaboration of History teachers between schools and within faculties will be essential. Professional learning opportunities such as those conducted by the Centre for Professional Learning will also be useful in supporting these processes. For more information visit: http://cpl.asn.au/Margaret Vos has 36 years’ experience as a high school History teacher in NSW Public Schools. In that time, she has regularly taught Ancient History, Modern History and History Extension. Margaret co – wrote Ancient Quest (a junior History textbook) and has been involved in the professional development of teachers (including helping teachers introduce History Extension as a subject in their schools). Margaret has also contributed to curriculum development processes throughout her career.