The departmental handbook checklist Schemes of work - SfE

Leading and Managing a Successful Music Department
The departmental handbook checklist
Essential ingredients:
A subject policy statement that is fully reflected in everything you do
Examination performance analysis for the last 3 years
Departmental action plan linked to the school development plan
Clear explanations on how teaching and learning are monitored
(including visiting tutors)
Evidence how the subject meets National Curriculum requirements
Extra-curricular information including visiting tutors
Curriculum details – teaching groups etc
Policies linked to whole school policies
Additional information such as schemes of work, meeting minutes,
lesson observation records can be included in an annex
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Additional Policies
Schemes of work
This should be a working document, full of revisions and crossing-outs.
Inspectors become worried when they see freshly printed, untouched copies of
documents that should be used frequently and reviewed constantly.
Most music departments use a combination of their own materials and the QCA
guidance units. Inspectors will not be concerned with the order in which you
have chosen to deliver the programmes of study of the national curriculum.
They will expect to see that all aspects of the requirements are being delivered.
You may have the most creative, exciting and enjoyable curriculum in the world,
but if it does not cover the national curriculum requirements, the judgement for
leadership and management will be unsatisfactory or worse, and the judgement
for the overall provision of music will probably be one of unsatisfactory.
If you are not using the QCA schemes, you should be prepared to show that
your materials are effective and ensure the pupils achieve as well as possible.
The best schemes of work are those that combine the finest bits from the QCA
guidance with original purpose-built materials. If you rely solely on ‘Music
Matters’ as your scheme of work, you are asking for trouble!
Do not, however, throw away all the really good lesson material you used
before the national curriculum changed. Music lessons still require high quality,
practical and creative activities at their core. Many teachers just completely
revise their schemes each year and remove far too much useful material. This
is not good practice and causes a great deal of unnecessary extra work.
Schemes need to be structured in a logical way. Clear progression must be
evident so that pupils’ progress can be tracked from year 7 to year 9. It is not
acceptable for the pupils in year 9 to be doing exactly the same lessons as
those in year 7, no matter what you say about them doing it at a higher level.
Achievement is a major focus of an inspection and a judgement that inspectors
find very difficult to make. Do not make it any harder for them by treating all
pupils to the same educational diet in every year.
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Leading and Managing a Successful Music Department
Section 7: Effective Self-evaluation
There is an increased requirement for schools to be accurate in their own selfevaluation.
There has been a shift towards managerial self-evaluation. Middle
managers are expected to evaluate the successes and needs of their
departments/faculties as well as their own performance. As middle managers
assume greater responsibility for teaching and learning within their department,
they are increasingly under scrutiny from inspection teams. This principle
should be carried through to subject departments. Before any inspection, it is
good practice to evaluate your strengths and weaknesses in order to be fully
aware of how well your department is doing. Schools have to fill in a form S4
that is a detailed self-evaluation. Music departments could do the same. A
possible process for effective self-evaluation follows.
Standards and achievement
Read the previous inspection report carefully to gather information about
standards and achievement at that time. This is the main benchmark inspectors
will use to judge progress or improvement since the last inspection. Check the
judgements about standards and achievement carefully at all key stages.
Compare these to your last examination results and current standards.
Inspectors will judge standards by observation of lessons, discussion with
pupils, scrutiny of written and recorded work and participation in extra-curricular
music groups. They will judge pupils’ achievement by considering whether
standards in music are high enough, taking into account the pupils’ starting
points or capabilities, the progress they make over time and the demands made
on them. They will look closely for significant differences in achievement
between groups of pupils, such as boys and girls, pupils of different ethnic
heritage, those with English as an additional language, Traveller children, those
with special educational needs, and those pupils identified as particularly gifted
and talented.
In order to produce an effective self-evaluation of your department, you will
need to answer the following questions:
What is distinctive about your department?
Here you will need to state the most important characteristics of your
department. Keep it short and succinct, but tell the inspector what is really good
about it.
Effective Self-evaluation
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How effective is your department overall?
Give an honest self-evaluation of the performance of your subject in all areas.
How do you know?
Explain the methods you have used to evaluate your department’s performance
in all its work.
What are its notable strengths?
Make a concise list of all the real strengths. This can be classroom or extracurricular.
Remember that the focus of the inspection is on what goes on in the
classroom. You may have the best school band in the country but if you are not
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Leading and Managing a Successful Music Department
How well are pupils cared for, guided and supported?
Explain any particular features of pastoral care your department excels in or
struggles with. Mention extra-curricular activities.
How well does the school work in partnership with parents, other schools
and the community?
List any surveys or questionnaires you may have carried out. Mention parental
support for extra-curricular events and the level of support given by pupils.
How effective is the leadership and management of the department?
You are talking about all aspects here, not just yourself. This includes your line
management as well as your own duties.
Explain the strengths and the areas for improvement. Give detailed information
about how you monitor teaching of your department, including the visiting tutors.
Which aspects of managing the performance of the department work best,
and why?
Make reference to any examination analysis undertaken, and in particular the
monitoring of teaching.
What are the most significant aids or barriers to raising achievement?
State clearly what really makes your department successful. Resist the
temptation to mention lack of resources unless you can prove the negative
impact of this.
Head of department self-evaluation checklist
Do I constantly challenge poor and ineffective teaching?
Is ‘Teaching and Learning’ the focus of departmental meetings and
discussions?
Do I understand what constitutes a poor, satisfactory, good, very good
or excellent lesson?
Are members of the music department clear regarding the definition of
a poor, satisfactory, good, very good or excellent lesson? How do I
know?
Do departmental staff implement changes to their teaching based on
feedback from the head of department and other staff? How do I know?
As a head of department, am I happy to receive feedback (positive or
negative) on lessons which departmental staff have observed?
Do staff within the department understand that teaching and especially
pupil learning are our top priorities?
Am I prepared to critically examine a colleague’s lesson and give
honest and direct feedback?
Have I helped the department to build a system for the sharing of good
practice and ideas?
Effective Self-evaluation
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Leading and Managing a Successful Music Department
Section 9: During the inspection
The week of the inspection passes very quickly. Because music is an option
subject at KS4, it usually gets a significantly reduced coverage by the
inspectors compared to the core subjects of English, maths and science. In
most inspections, there are only 2 days allocated to the inspection of music.
The music inspector may only be in school for two days and focus entirely on
music in that time or they might be inspecting another subject or aspect in
addition to music and be in the school for the duration of the whole inspection.
The spirit of the current inspection framework encourages a more holistic
approach to the inspection process, so most lead inspectors keep as many of
their colleagues in school for as long as possible.
Make sure that you have prepared your lesson plans and have your
documentation ready for inspection. Think through the lessons for the week and
check that you have arranged all the necessary resources. Remind the
instrumental teachers that they are likely to be observed and check that they
have adequate documentation. Make sure that you have told your other subject
colleagues that the instrumental tuition is an important part of your provision
and that they must allow pupils to attend lessons during the inspection week or
it will not look good for the whole school.
Lesson observation
Inspectors have to spend approximately 60% of their time gaining first hand
evidence. This can be discussion with pupils, scrutiny of work and of course
through lesson observation.
The main source of evidence is lesson observation. Inspectors will focus on
classes not teachers. This means there is often an unequal distribution of
observations during an inspection. Music departments tend to have the most
observed teachers of all subjects. This is because traditionally music
departments are quite small with a surprisingly high number having only one
teacher in the department.
Inspectors focus on the end of key stage classes. It is here where they have to
make their judgements about standards. Inspectors are more likely to see year
9 classes than year 8. In key stage 4 they will try to focus on year 11 rather than
10 and in the sixth form year 13 is the one they target.
During a lesson observation, inspectors are required to make judgements on
the following areas:
• Standards – this is compared to the national picture
• Achievement – this is based on how well the pupils are doing compared
with their prior knowledge and attainment
• Teaching – the impact on learning of everything the teacher does
throughout the lesson
• Learning – how well the pupils actually acquire new skills, understanding
and knowledge during the lesson
During the Inspection
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