About Maximising Potential - How does it work?

What does it involve?

Following this programme of curriculum development can involve:

• working as a team: modern languages (ML) and support for learning (SfL) teachers working together, if possible
• focusing on a particular pupil, group of pupils, or class
• sharing ML/SfL perspectives on what it is that is making learning difficult for some pupils, or why others are underachieving
• sharing ML/SfL ideas about how to reduce the barriers and how to engage/re-engage those pupils in their learning
• collaborating in implementing those ideas with the target group
• systematically planning, recording and evaluating the developments
• disseminating good practice within the department, the school, and perhaps beyond.

How does it work?

Teachers embarking on the programme are asked to identify a target class or group that they teach whose progress is causing concern and observe the pupils carefully, preferably along with a member of the Support for Learning team.

Then together they probe the real nature of the pupils’ language learning experiences and difficulties, and identify what needs to change.

The programme provides support for managing those changes, with the ultimate aim of providing a more successful and enjoyable experience for the pupils. In each school, therefore, the project will be different. Each ML/SfL team will determine its own priorities, aims and desired outcomes, and how it will work towards them.

By focusing efforts on a group that is giving cause for concern, both difficulties and improvements will be easier to see and to evaluate.

Each unit of the programme consists of points for reflection followed by tasks designed to prompt development activity. Task sheets for auditing current practice and planning developments are provided. They can be viewed on-screen and/or downloaded.

How departments and individual teachers use the materials will depend, amongst other things, on:

• where they are in terms of implementing inclusive practice
• how much departmental time has been set aside for curriculum development of this nature
• the support they succeed in obtaining from senior management

The programme has been designed to be followed sequentially. The principles outlined in Units 1 and 2 need to be understood and applied if the measures suggested in the subsequent units are to be fully effective. Units 3 to 6 can be used to support developments undertaken in the course of work on the Core Units, or as additional units to consider once intensive work on the Core Units has been completed.

Modern language departments are advised to treat the two Core Units as part of their improvement programme and to request a formal partnership with one or more members of the Support for Learning department. The ML/SfL team will then work together through the points for reflection and tasks of the two Core Units. Tasks involve planning, implementation, evaluation and ongoing review. In most cases this process will take up one whole session. Thereafter, as new strategies are embedded, reflected upon and further developed, although SfL input is always desirable, less intensive input should be needed.

For more on the role of support staff, see Guidance for school managers.