Computer Science Leader Reflection Guide: KS3-4

DISCIPLINARY LITERACY AND ITS ROLE IN IMPROVING STUDENTS’ LITERACY SKILLS

What is disciplinary literacy?

The Improving Literacy in Secondary Schools Guidance report (EEF, 2019) refers to disciplinary literacy as ‘an approach to improving literacy across the curriculum’, recognising that ‘literacy skills are both general and subject specific, emphasising the value of supporting teachers of every subject to teach students how to read, write and communicate effectively’. The report states that as young people progress through their secondary education, ‘there is a growing need to ensure that students are trained to access the academic language and conventions of different subjects’. This is what disciplinary literacy aims to do – to support students in developing the subtle but important differences in reading and writing in subject-specific ways. 

The reason the EEF has placed disciplinary literacy as the number 1 recommendation for improving literacy within secondary schools is that focusing on how students can get better at reading, writing and oracy within each subject area will then ultimately lead to students who have improved global literacy skills. This, in turn, will improve their performance within the subject at the same time. The PiXL Disciplinary Literacy package is designed to help schools think about and reflect on disciplinary literacy provision in their settings, as well as to consider some practical measures that will help facilitate this success. 

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Updates: Meeting digital and technology standards in schools and colleges

Cybersecurity standards for schools and colleges

The cyber security standards have been updated to address tasks that should be completed by both the senior leadership team (SLT) and IT support. Cyber security is not something that IT teams can carry out alone, it is a shared responsibility between multiple roles and teams.

The new cyber security standards contain the same key information that the previous cyber security standards held, but the format of this has changed to make them more accessible to staff without cyber expertise.

The previous cyber security standards have been mapped to the new ones below, so that you can see where the previous information now lies.

1. 'Conduct a cyber risk assessment annually and review every term'. This new standard addresses:

- elements of the previous standard titled ‘Your business continuity and disaster recovery plan should include a regularly tested contingency plan in response to a cyber attack’ 
- the importance of risk assessments; helping users understand where they are now and where they need to go next to improve their cyber security

2. 'Create and implement a cyber awareness plan for students and staff'. This standard addresses:

- the previous standard titled 'Train all staff with access to school IT networks in the basics of cyber security'
- the importance of students and staff understanding the risk of cyber security as your first line of defence against cyber incidents and attacks - this includes both training students and staff, as well as developing and implementing an acceptable use policy

3. 'Secure digital technology and data with anti-malware and a firewall'. This standard addresses the previous standards titled:

- 'Protect all devices on every network with a properly configured boundary or software firewall'
- 'Network devices should be known and recorded with their security features enabled, correctly configured and kept up-to-date '
- 'You should use anti-malware software to protect all devices in the network, including cloud-based networks' 
- 'An administrator should check the security of all applications downloaded onto a network' 

4. 'Control and secure user accounts and access privileges'. This new standard addresses the previous standards titled:

- 'Accounts should only have the access they require to perform their role and should be authenticated to access data and service'
- 'You should protect accounts with access to personal or sensitive operational data and functions by multi-factor authentication'

This standard covers password security, multi-factor authentication and account management.

5. 'License digital technology and keep it up to date'. This new standard addresses the previous standard titled:

- 'All devices and software must be licensed for use and should be patched with the latest security updates'

6. 'Develop and implement a plan to backup your data and review this every year'. This new standard addresses: 

- the previous standard titled 'You should have at least 3 backup copies of important data, on at least 2 separate devices, at least 1 must be offsite'
- the need to analyse what your current backup plan looks like
- the need to plan and action how to backup and restore your data

7. 'Report cyber attacks'. This new standard addresses:

-  the previous standard titled 'Serious cyber attacks should be reported'
- reporting a cyber attack both internally within your school or college and to external bodies

In addition to the above changes, the DfE have also removed the below standards and have explained why.

'Your business continuity and disaster recovery plan should include a regularly tested contingency plan in response to a cyber attack'. 

- This has been removed as it is now addressed in the DfE’s new digital leadership and governance standards under the title ‘Include digital technology within disaster recovery and business continuity plans’. It is also referenced throughout the new standards. 

'You must conduct a Data Protection Impact Assessment (DPIA) by statute for personal data you hold as required by General Data Protection Regulation'. This has been removed because:

- this is included in the existing 'servers and storage' and 'cloud solution' standards
- DPIA is now mentioned throughout the new cyber security standards

'Network devices should be known and recorded with their security enabled, correctly configured and kept up-to-date'. 

- The important content from this is now within the relevant sections in the new standards.

Creating a Culture: How school leaders can optimise behaviour

School leaders are well placed to drive substantive, widespread school improvement in England. The range of responsibilities are as broad as the measures by which they are held accountable. Even in the most difficult of circumstances, I have seen headteachers who have transformed the life chances for hundreds or thousands of young people. 

A student’s experience in school remains one of the most insightful indicators of later life success in any one of a number of metrics. For many it is the best chance they will ever have to flourish. How they conduct themselves at school is crucial to that experience. Helping them develop good behaviour is therefore one of the most important tasks a school faces.  

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AQA plans for digital GCSE exams from 2026

Exam board says digital exams could reduce teacher workload in the longer term

17th October 2023, 12:01am

Jasmine Norden

AQA has set out its first steps towards digital exams, with GCSEs potentially moving online from 2026.

The exam board has proposed that the reading and listening components of GCSE Italian and Polish should be the first to be sat digitally - with digital mocks from 2025, followed by exams from 2026 if regulators approve the plan.

AQA then hopes students will be able to sit digital exams for a major subject by 2030.

It is not the first exam board to run digital exams: Pearson Edexcel ran a trial for the English language iGCSE last year in a big step for the rollout of digital exams.

Pearson reported the pilot was a success. Feedback from school leaders was that there had been some software problems, but the concept was popular with students.

Today, AQA has put forward the case for digital exams in a report drawing from a poll of parents, Sendcos and students, as well as pilot findings.

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Norm bleed

Today’s big idea is the last of this series, in which we explore how the norms of different groups influence each other…By Peps Mccrea  Norms are powerful. But the norms we amplify aren't the only norms that influence behaviour and learning in our classroom (or school). Let's talk about norm bleed: Norms are the unwritten rules of conduct that shape the behaviour and learning of a group. However, multiple groups exist within, and around, any school. And the similarities (or differences) in the norms of these groups all have an influence on each other. When the norms of adjacent groups are congruent, those norms will amplify each other. They will have a stronger effect in each context. Conversely, when the norms of adjacent groups are dissimilar, they will attenuate each other. Their effect in each context will be weaker. This is norm bleed. And it’s going on in schools all the time, whether we like it or not. For example, when a student moves between teachers within a school, and in each of those contexts they experience the same routine around how they enter the classroom or participate in a whole-class discussion or engage in practice, they will feel considerably compelled to conform in each situation. “One dog barks at something, and a hundred bark at the bark.”   Chinese proverb We can harness the power of norm bleed in schools by: Pursuing consensus around the value of teacher consistency for students. At our school, we work hard to give pupils a familiar experience between classrooms because it helps them learn. Getting together to tease out those key norms that we feel should be experienced by students across multiple contexts. In every classroom, we champion the asking of questions, periods of silent study, etc. Where possible, capturing and codifying these norms in a form that can be shared with new staff and the wider community. Our school charter lays out the behaviours and attitudes we are working together to promote. This last point is important, because norms don’t just bleed between classrooms, but between schools and families and other local contexts. The more we can work with parents and community groups to align around key norms, the greater their overall effect will be. For even more nuance on the role of norms, see Theory and practice of social norms interventions: eight common pitfalls, by Cislaghi & Heise. How consistent are the norms between classrooms in your school? What are the key norms you think should be shared across all situations? If such conversations are not already alive, how might you kickstart them? Summary • The norms of interacting groups influence each other. • Where these norms are similar, they will amplify each other. Where they are not, they will attenuate each other. • This 'norm bleed' not only happens between classrooms, but across schools and families.

Consistency before challenge

 

Routines can be hard to establish. We can increase our chances of success by focusing on being consistent before ramping up the level of challenge. Let's break it down:

As we've explored in previous Snacks, classroom (& school) routines have a range of benefits, but there are several reasons why we're prone to giving up before they've had a chance to bear fruit:

To begin with, routines require additional attention and effort. Initially, we lack fluency and so they can feel awkward. During this time, our students will also lack familiarity and fluency.

One strategy to increase the likelihood that our routine survives this vulnerable phase is to focus on consistency before challenge. Consistency refers to the regularity of our execution of the routine. Challenge refers to how ambitious we are with the mechanics of the routine itself.

Trying to maximise both to begin with can quickly lead to cognitive overload, but over time, consistency will actually reduce cognitive load (because the more we run a routine the more automated it becomes), enabling us to focus on other things (challenge).

"If you want to master a habit, the key is to start with repetition, not perfection."   James Clear

What does consistency before challenge look like? A few examples from beyond and within school:

To establish an exercise habit, focus on just showing up to the gym to begin with. Hold back on pushing yourself physically until showing up becomes easy. To establish an effective reading habit (for yourself or your students), get folks reading on a regular basis before starting to tackle more challenging texts. To establish a strong classroom entry routine, initially focus on being at the door, before pushing yourself to embed high quality interactions with students.

Caveat → Of course, you may well be able to achieve both aspects straight away. In that case, great. But if things begin to go awry, restart with consistency as your anchor.

Bonus → It's fine not to show up every once in a while, but the moment you do so twice in a row, you're establishing a new habit (of not doing it).

For an evidence informed framework around establishing routines, see Better teacher habits for better student learning, by Fletcher-Wood.

Think about a routine or habit that you've failed to embed (I have many). If you were to try again, but focussed on just showing up to start with, might things turn out different?

Summary • Trying to be both consistent and ambitious in the early stages of a routine can overload cognitive capacity. • For a greater chance of success, we should focus on just showing up before ramping up the challenge. • It's okay to not show up occasionally, but if we do this more than once, we're basically establishing a new habit.

The valley of potential

 

By Peps Mccrea Routines can be powerful tools for learning. However, they take time and effort to establish, and typically come with an initial dip in performance. During this phase, it can be tempting to give up. Let's break it down: At their best, routines can: Increase time and attention for learning Reduce the behaviour management burden Increase student motivation, confidence, and safety Free up of teacher cognitive capacity to monitor learning and be more responsive However, these benefits only emerge when routines become automated. The amount of time it takes for a routine to automate depends on its complexity and how frequently we run it. Simple routines can take 20 repetitions. More complex sequences can take up to 200. It can be weeks or months before a teaching routine becomes automatic. "Habits appear to make no difference until you cross a critical threshold."   James Clear During this automation phase, several things happen: We have to invest additional attention and effort to support the change, especially in contrast to our existing habit stack. Initially, we lack skill in new techniques, and so they can often feel clumsy and unnatural. A new approach for us also usually means a new experience for our students, with an associated lack of familiarity and fluency. When combined, these things can lead to a feeling (and quite possibly a reality) of reduced performance. During this phase, routines can feel like a waste of effort. And we can be tempted to give up. (especially if we are a new teacher or find ourselves in a stressful situation) However, this effort is not being wasted. It is merely being stored  If you play the long game and stick with it, you will eventually reach a tipping point (automation) where the benefits will begin to outweigh the investment. From then on, your routine will pay back handsomely. You'll have crossed what James Clear calls the 'Valley of Potential', and you'll be unleashing all that stored effort. But to get there, you'll need to ready yourself for a period of increased effort, discomfort, and reduced performance. You'll need to manage your own expectations. Caveat → Automating a rubbish routine is never going to deliver value for learning. It's also important to know when to give up. Just make sure you've given your routine a chance to shine before you bin it. For more on the automation process, see Making health habitual: the psychology of ‘habit-formation’, by Gardner et al. So, the next time you find yourself trying to establish a new routine or habit, check your expectations and hold the line—the wins are there for the taking. Summary • Routines can support learning but their benefits are only realised once things have been automated. • During the automation phase, routines often feel effortful, unnatural, and unfamiliar. • If we don't manage our expectation, we risk giving up prematurely.