Things you will need to know and find out about

Long term planning

A framework should be produced that would reflect the school’s policy and all the staff needs. However, time is a main constraint for all forms of planning and so it is recommended that you make good use of any available time you have. Planning would include considering the following:

• The school’s aims, objectives and policies; • The revised subject orders – religious education and other curriculum provision determined by the school; • A realistic assessment of time available for teaching; • The school’s approach to managing the curriculum; • Staff experience and expertise; • Subject knowledge and familiarity with the revised subject orders; • How children learn the characteristics of the key stages; • The needs, abilities, interests and achievements of the child; • The school’s resources and accommodation and; • The teaching opportunities provided by the locality. (SCAA, 1995, p27 as cited in Wintle and Harrision, 1999, p.81)

Medium-term Planning

Throughout the process of this planning phase you will focus on the link between the long and short term planning. The main learning objectives can be identified in the National Curriculum. In addition, the resources (human and physical), any parental involvement and any links between subjects also need to be highlighted.

Short-term Planning

At this stage of planning it all comes down to the individual teacher. The learning objectives in the weekly planning must adhere to the content in the National Curriculum particularly where ICT capability is encouraged to be taught. By using a structure that identifies their teaching style and learning objectives teachers will be able to have the opportunity to ascertain how well or not students are performing. An approach like this provides a school-wide systematic method in addition to demonstrating to the heads of departments and senior members of staff just what the teachers’ intentions are.

In relation to your planning, there will be various questions that you and the school will need to know and answer. The following is a list of questions which Crawford (2013, p. 280) discusses when auditing the ICT use throughout the school.

For each different group of students in each year: • How is ICT assessed? • Are logs, profiles, eportfolios, coursework, controlled assessment or written examinations used in assessment? • Are these on the VLE (UK only), on the network or on paper? • For what purpose does assessment take place? Is it formative or summative? • In which subjects is ICT assessed by which teachers? • Are the requirements for I/GCSE (UK only)and other external assessments met?