How to Engage with Insight

How to Engage with Insight

“Detailed monitoring, recording and tracking of progress takes place at all levels to ensure progress against shared high expectations of attainment and achievement. Consistent approaches to monitoring, recording and tracking achievement across key aspects of learning ensure that appropriate progress is being made by all learners. Staff intervene promptly and effectively if the progress of individuals is not maintained.”

[Journey to Excellence – Learning and Teaching – Improvement Guides – Monitoring, recording and tracking success, Education Scotland]

Senior Phase and Insight

Insight is the Senior Phase benchmarking tool that allows schools and local authorities to reflect on performance as part of their processes to improve through self-evaluation. The analysis of Insight data and the evaluation of the Senior Phase in secondary schools support the key principles of Curriculum for Excellence and the national priority to raise attainment for all.

The vision of the Raising Attainment for All programme highlights the aspiration to “close the gap” between the attainment and achievement levels of those from varying levels of deprivation:

“Scotland should be the best place to learn. We want each child to enjoy an education that encourages them to be the best they can be and provides them with a full passport to future opportunity”

[Raising Attainment for All, Scottish Government (June 2014)]

All practitioners have a responsibility to support this aspiration and Insight provides an important tool to analyse the performance and outcomes of our young people along with other tracking and monitoring information.

The CfE Implementation Plan for 2015-16, highlights“Using data to support improvement” as a key priority. Planned national support from the Scottish Government includes:

“Further development of Insight support materials (e.g. additional user guides, templates, case studies) to assist data interpretation by schools and provide a platform for improvement dialogue.”

[CfE Implementation Plan 2015-16, Education Scotland (May, 2015)]

Schools are data rich; analysis of this data, alongside professional judgements to review learners’ progress, supports schools and local authorities to identify strengths and areas for improvement.

The analysis of Insight data should be part of a planned self-evaluationprocess and implemented in a manageable and proportionate way, taking cognisance of the recommendations outlined in the Curriculum for Excellence Working Group On Tackling Bureaucracy Follow Up Report (Scottish Government, March 2015).

Education Scotland support the improvement agenda in schools and local authorities by providing reflective questions to support professional dialogue in schools:

Curriculum for Excellence National Expectations: Self-Evaluation resource

Roles and Responsibilities

Self-evaluation processes engage a range of practitioners and partners:

Self-evaluation happens at different levels within a school, both in the Broad General Education and in the Senior Phase. Tracking and monitoring in the Senior Phase through the analysis of Insight data is effective in providing the basis for professional dialogue with a range of staff at all levels:

• Local Authority Officers
• Senior Leadership/Management Teams
• Middle Leadership/ManagementTeams: Faculty Principal Teachers and Pupil Support/Pastoral Principal Teachers
• Classroom Leaders

These roles are underpinned by the national professional standards of the General Teaching Council Scotland (GTCS):

• Standards for Registration (GTCS, December 2012)
• Standard for Career-Long Professional Learning (GTCS, December 2012)
• Standards for Leadership and Management (GTCS, December 2012)

The table below outlines examples of the roles and responsibilities for self-evaluation:

• Analyse data as part of faculty arrangements for self-evaluation and improvement planning
• Analyse the performance of young people from different socio economic backgrounds
• Analyse data to monitor and evaluate the impact of improvement plan priorities in order to improve outcomes for learners within the classroom and the faculty
• Evaluate the contribution made to literacy and numeracy levels and wider achievement awards
• Evaluate how class cohort performance compares to the context of the faculty, other faculties in the school or in the faculties of other schools such as a learning partner school
• Identify critical strengths and areas for improvement (for example, the impact of teaching methodologies, offering particular courses in the Senior Phase)

• Use the Insight support resources to gain an appreciation of the national performance measures
• Collate attainment data for your own classes in preparation for faculty attainment review discussions
• Contribute to local discussions on how to raise attainment following consideration of Insight data

• Analyse data as part of school arrangements for self-evaluation and improvement planning to critically evaluate faculty performance in SCQF accredited awards
• Analyse data to monitor and evaluate the impact of improvement plan priorities and assign resources accordingly to best meet the needs of all learners (in both BGE and Senior Phase)
• Analyse the attainment profile of learners within a faculty (for example, as appropriate to the context of the school, the attainment of the lowest achieving 20%, gender groups, the achievement of LAC pupils, the achievement of young people requiring additional support needs, closing the gap between attainment and deprivation levels)
• Identify critical strengths and areas for improvement (for example, areas of strong performance compared with weaker areas)
• Evaluate the faculty contribution to literacy and numeracy and wider achievement awards
• Use data to support young people into appropriate pathways to positive and sustained destinations.
• Engage all practitioners in self-evaluation and lead faculty discussions on attainment and achievement, including how this both contributes towards and compares to the whole school, local authority and national data.

• Extract relevant data for your faculty in September each year, using the Insight support resources to assist with the process of self-evaluation and improvement planning
• Lead faculty analysis of Insight with all practitioners in the faculty, evaluating faculty performance in SCQF accredited courses in comparison to virtual comparator, local authority and national data

• Provide strategic leadership for self-evaluation and improvement planning within the school
• Analyse data as part of school arrangements for self-evaluation and improvement planning to critically evaluatewhole school performance in SCQF accredited awards
• Analyse the attainment profile of learners within the whole school (for example, as appropriate to the context of the school, the attainment of the lowest achieving 20%, gender groups, the achievement of LAC pupils, the achievement of young people requiring additional support needs, closing the gap between attainment and deprivation levels)
• Identify critical strengths and areas for improvement (for example, areas of strong performance compared with weaker areas)
• Use the analysis of data to monitor and evaluate the impact of the curriculum in both BGE and the Senior Phase
• Provide a narrative of school improvement in meeting national performance measures based on Insight data
• Reports findings to key stakeholders

• Ensure all staff have an understanding of Insight and the role it can play in effective self-evaluation and improvement planning
• Establish programmes for professional learning to ensure all teachers can use Insight effectively
• Ensure all practitioners are aware of their contribution to school performance in meeting national performance measures
• Build a culture of collective responsibility within the school for analysing attainment and achievement and responding to emerging performance trends
• Use analysis of Insight data to identify requirements for professional learning
• Model a commitment to career long professional learning by maintaining an awareness of future iterations of Insight as the tool continues to develop
• Establish appropriate methods of sharing analysis of Insight data with different stakeholders (teachers, parents/carers, partners, local community)
• Ensure emergent improvement planning processes take account of Insight analysis and evaluation

• Provide strategic leadership for self-evaluation and improvement planning in all schools
• Analyse data as part of local authority arrangements for self-evaluation and improvement planning to critically evaluatelocal authority and school performance in SCQF accredited awards
• Analyse the attainment profile of learners within the local authority(for example, as appropriate to the context of the school, the attainment of the lowest achieving 20%, gender groups, the achievement of LAC pupils, the achievement of young people requiring additional support needs, closing the gap between attainment and deprivation levels)
• Identify critical strengths and areas for improvement (for example, areas of strong performance compared with weaker areas)
• Reports findings to key stakeholders

• Ensure engagement with Insight data in all schools to inform self-evaluation and improvement planning
• Ensure programmes for professional learning support teachers to use Insight effectively
• Ensure all practitioners are aware of their contribution tothe school and local authorityin meeting national performance measures
• Use analysis of Insight data to identify requirements for professional learning
• Establish appropriate methods of sharing analysis of Insight data with different stakeholders (teachers, parents/carers, partners, local community)

Thesupport resources in the Insight website help section provide starting points for taking forward a coherent and planned self-evaluation process in the Senior Phase and Broad and General Education.