What is the Secondary National Strategy?

NB. The Secondary National Strategy began life as the KS3 Strategy and has already evolved into a more general strategy relevant to both KS3 and KS4 and building on the Primary National Strategy.

The Secondary National Strategy is a government initiative that aims to:

• raise standards
• engage and motivate students
• support and develop high quality teaching

Why is it needed?

Recent OFSTED reports highlight a number of recurrent issues and the strategy has been developed to address these.

Its purpose is to help teachers become more effective in order that students improve in how and what they learn. It does this by illuminating best practice in generic aspects of teaching and learning and offering subject specific guidance and materials.

The Strategy provides secondary and middle schools with an opportunity to build on the successes of the National Literacy and Numeracy Strategies in primary schools. It is based on four important principles:

• Expectations: establishing high expectations for all students and setting challenging targets for them to achieve
• Progression: strengthening the transition from Key Stage 2 to Key Stage 3 and ensuring progression in teaching and learning across Key Stage 3
• Engagement: promoting approaches to teaching and learning that engage and motivate students and demand their active participation
• Transformation: strengthening teaching and learning through a programme of professional development and practical support.

As a result of the successes of the Literacy and Numeracy Strategies in primary schools, students will increasingly arrive at secondary schools with higher levels of attainment. Consequently, secondary teachers will need to raise their expectations of what students can achieve between ages 11 and 16. The Strategy is NOT a D&T initiative, but does provide the following which can be used in support of the D&T curriculum:

• key strategies for managing and improving learning
• a basis for motivating students and helping them to reflect on their own learning
• help in making judgements about standards of students' achievements
• ways to evaluate teaching and learning and to set priorities for sustainable improvement by:
  • identifying targets for improvement
  • developing and leading strategies to achieve these targets
  • quality assuring the curriculum

The Strategy provides a positive whole school opportunity with which to address some of these issues. Its principles address teaching and learning by:

• focusing the teaching by planning to objectives and ensuring that students understand them
• setting expectations and teaching to them to improve students' levels of attainment
• using questioning, explaining, modelling in teaching to make concepts explicit
• using starters, plenaries and a clear lesson structure
• providing tasks in which students construct knowledge and develop understanding and skills through problem solving, investigation and enquiry
• using stimulating activities and materials
• using collaborative tasks and discussion for learning to promote well-paced lessons with high levels of interaction
• supporting students' application and independent learning by using prompts, frames, scaffolds and targeted intervention
• teaching students to reflect on what and how they learn and set targets for future lessons

Key points about the Strategy

• it was introduced in September 2002
• its purpose is to raise standards by supporting and developing high quality teaching and learning
• it helps teachers become more effective so that students can improve what and how they learn
• there are 5 strands: English, mathematics, science, information and communications technology (ICT), and the Foundation Subjects which include D&T
• to be successful in schools it requires good leadership and management
• information and downloads @ www.standards.dfes.gov.uk/keystage3
• worth checking out also the ICT targets and guidance
• in trials the greatest success has been where targets for action are tightly focused on areas determined by the audit and link in to departmental development plans
• there is whole school training with access to LEA consultants
• the idea is to develop good practice over time, by well thought through long, medium and short-term subject planning
• effective monitoring and evaluation is essential

Main aims of the Strategy

• set high expectations and give every learner confidence they can succeed
• establish what learners already know and build on it
• structure and pace the learning experience to make it challenging and enjoyable
• inspire learning through passion for the subject
• make individuals active partners in their learning
• develop learning skills and personal qualitiesImproving teaching and learning
• promote inclusion and tackling under-performance
• strengthen the whole curriculum
• support school leadership

Development and dissemination dates

Key dates in relation to the introduction and implementation of the Strategy can be found on DATA's website, which is regularly updated. During 2005/6 the Strategy will take on a whole school approach to supporting the professional development of teachers, giving schools the opportunity to opt for support in one of four whole school initiatives:

• Assessment for learning (AfL) D&T development materials in objective-led lessons, oral and written feedback, peer and self-assessment and curricular target-setting
• ICT across the curriculum (ICTAC) Guidance on using and developing students' ICT capability to enhance teaching and learning in D&T
• Literacy and learning (LaL) Guidance on using and developing students' literacy skills to support and improve learning in D&T
• Leading in learning (LiL) Guidance on teaching the national Curriculum thinking skills through D&T with exemplification
  

Teaching and learning in secondary schools

Teaching and learning in secondary schools (TLSS) is a generic support which offers CPD in the form of study guides.
These are aimed at small groups of teachers who wish to work collaboratively to develop aspects of their practice. 20 study guides provide support focusing on:

• Designing lessons
• Teaching repertoire
• Creating effective learners
• Creating conditions for learning

The Foundation Subjects consultants will take on the dissemination of these materials across all subjects at KS3 and KS4.

The D&T Framework

Following evaluation of the Strategy Foundation Subjects strand, it was felt that some of the generic Strategy issues would benefit from explicit subject specific exemplification. So, DATA was commissioned by the DfES to contribute to the Design and Technology Framework materials. These were piloted in 2003-04 and are now available for wider dissemination. OFSTED has identified the teaching of designing skills as an area of weakness within design and technology. Consequently, the development of the D&T Framework materials provided an opportunity to:

• address how the 'sub-skills' of designing could be taught and to improve the teaching of designing
• increase expectations and challenges in teaching
• define progression through the yearly objectives in key skills and concepts to facilitate planning, teaching and assessment
• improve the quality of teaching in design and technology by providing examples of effective teaching approaches, drawn from the training
• materials for foundation subjects, that include questioning, modelling and structuring lessons.

It is expected that there will be full implementation of the D&T Framework objectives by September 2006 and that these will be incorporated into the design and technology department, informing long, medium and short term planning. Whilst generally referred to as the D&T Framework materials, the correct title for these resources is National Strategy FS: D&T Programme.

The aim is not for departments necessarily to spend more time teaching designing skills, but to ensure that sufficient time is allocated to it and that this time is used efficiently and effectively. Although the pilot does not specifically address making skills, all the Framework materials do continually stress that the subject has always been, and continues to be, about both designing and making. The Framework is based on the 'Importance of D&T' statement in the National Curriculum document which aims to help young people to:

• participate in technological society
• learn to think, intervene creatively
• improve the quality of their lives and others
• develop autonomous and creative problem solver
• be able to work on their own & in teams
• identify needs/wants/opportunities and develop ideas for making products, systems
• combine practical skills with understanding of aesthetics, social, environment, industry
• evaluate present and past design and technology
• become discriminating and informed users of products
• become innovators

The D&T Framework sets out teaching objectives for five designing sub-skills. It also provides useful guidance on planning and managing design and technology at Key Stage 3. This includes consideration of curriculum organisation and will be particularly helpful to subject leaders and senior management teams undertaking curriculum review. The D&T Framework materials are designed to be used flexibly by departments on training days or in after-school sessions, specifically to help departments to:

• understand the Framework and how it can be used to inform long, medium and short term planning
• develop strategies for teaching designing skills
• address related needs identified by the departmental review, e.g. transition issues, creativity, questioning, starters and plenaries etc.

Further information

DfES 0350/2002 Training Materials for the Foundation Subjects DATA
DfES National Strategy Framework for teaching D&T (2004) or Foundation Subjects: D&T Programme
DfES KS3 National Strategy: ICT across the curriculum (2004)
KS3 National Strategy website - http://www.standards.dfes.gov.uk/keystage3
DATA website: http://www.data.org.uk/secondary
DATA CD-ROM, 2003, 'Supporting the National KS3 Strategy: You can run, but you can't hide'
DfES Pedagogy & Practice: Teaching and learning in Secondary Schools, 2005 - www.standards.dfes.gov.uk
FoodForum Designing Activities and PowerPoint Resources - resources in PowerPoint form that support the development of the sub-skills of designing in food contexts

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