Student Voice 2 Phase 1 Pilot

Student voice discussion

Carried out on 10th July 2008

Martin Holmes ICT teacher Sylvie Trevena SNS Consultant

Focus of discussion: – to gain feedback from Y9 students on their Functional Skills experience

All 20 students who had sat the Edexcel Level 2 ICT examination in June took part.

Discussion took part under the same broad headings as the English feedback. Some students had also fed back to English and some to Maths.

Preparation for exam (The Deep Learning Day (DLD))

Students understood that their KS3 programme had been shaped before ‘Functional Skills’ were conceived and that the DLD was designed to cover areas not normally done in KS3 in order to prepare them for the exam. They felt that they learnt a lot in one day and advocated building the Functional Skills in to the curriculum in future so that students did not have to cram so much unfamiliar ICT in to one day. It had been rushed. Threading it through KS3 would avoid the feeling of panic!

They felt that the FS exam was far easier than the practice they had done on the DLD.

DLDs were very useful and well-timed (a week before the exam) but they needed more time on the unfamiliar aspects of ICT.

It was suggested that three DLDs were a good idea but that English, Maths and ICT should be combined, any weaknesses identified and then time allocated on those weaknesses accordingly. The students also felt that it would be good to see combinations of English, Maths and ICT teachers were seen to be working together and linking the different Functional Skills.

The exam

There was a general feeling that another ten or fifteen minutes for printing would have been ideal. Printing, collating and binding took a surprising amount of time, especially in a school where this is normally avoided in favour of storing evidence electronically and assessment being done on screen.

As this group had no history of ICT tests they expected to find it more difficult than English and Maths where they have experience of testing over several years. In the event they did not find it more difficult than the other two, some felt it was somewhat easier.

The view was expressed that the contexts for the SATs questions were contrived and unrealistic and that the Functional Skills tests were all much more clearly related to real life and the world of work. They ‘made sense’. However this made some students describe them as ‘boring’ and the context unappealing to people their age. A concert would have been a more suitable context. Others pointed out that the whole idea was that it was focused on skills they would need in adult life and that level 2 was intended for 16 year olds.

Several students had been confused because the exam had not told them which software to use; others accepted that this was part of what was being tested.

There wasn’t as much theory as expected on Data Protection or security.

The letter

Students tackled the task with confidence.

They felt there was some duplication with English but that further ICT specific skills were asked for i.e. the addition of a logo and a table in the typed letter. (English had been handwritten.)

The letter required had been rather short and some found this off-putting and wondered if they were expected to pad it out creatively.

The file provided by Edexcel to start the letter from was a .txt file. When students double clicked on this the default programme for opening text files is Notepad and some had tried to construct and format their letter immediately without realising they need to open it in or copy it to Word.

The spreadsheet

Some were not clear which software to use. (Excel or Access)

Although printing with formulas showing had been shown on the DLD, a number of students had not had the chance to become familiar enough with this as it is not normally required in KS3 at the school. They reported that they did not ‘get’ the printing.

Using an ‘if’ statement is not normally required at KS3 and students had therefore struggled with the question requiring this. Y10 students would have been able to do it. This has implications for KS3 coverage or the timing of the Functional Skills exam.

Powerpoint

Students found the task straightforward.

Most struggled to print it as handouts as this is not normally required in school. Some found it on the print menu and guessed.

Database (in sample paper only)

Students met this type of activity for the first time on the DLD as this is normally KS4 work. They felt they got the idea quite quickly and that it would not be a problem with more preparation.

Post exam evaluation

In lessons teachers should connect the skills together so that you know how they are all important. They need to make it explicit.

Students need to see clearly how lessons relate to outside school life.

It was suggested that Functional Skills should be built in to Enterprise Day. This is a business related day and so it would provide a good context and make students and staff organising more aware of Functional Skills and how they were really useful in a work context.

Advice to students

There wasn’t as much theory as expected on Data Protection or security.

All the tasks are in a context and the best advice is to get in to character and really imagine it is your job to do those things. It makes you think how you would actually do them.

Advice to staff

Staff should include role play in ICT lessons too.

Even if there was more database or other Functional Skills stuff in KS3 the DLD would still be useful.

If the students need to be able to work in exam conditions and be independent in choosing software or sorting out problems for themselves then it would be useful to work in this way sometimes in lessons. Too much teacher input means they don’t get a chance to be independent.

The teacher explained to the students that as the exam had taken place in a normal ICT teaching room it was hard not to help when he saw students finding it difficult. It had been interesting to watch the struggle followed by ‘the lights going on’.

Students wanted some lessons to be a struggle followed by a post-mortem about the problems they had encountered.

Final reflections

Printing is a retrograde step compared to school practice but it was accepted that it was still a necessary part of the way ICT is used in some work settings and other aspects of real life.

The three Functional Skills should not be amalgamated in to one. You might be able to merge ICT and English, some thought, but Maths was quite different, except perhaps spreadsheets.

Separate is better than merged because if you were stronger at one thing than another you would not be affected. You could take your stronger ones at a different time to your weaker ones, or retake one you fail if they are separate.

Separate is Ok as students can easily make the links for themselves. You need to get the teachers together so that they get the separate skills linked.

Need to consider whether Y9 is the best time to sit the exam.

Need to modify KS3 scheme of work to make explicit some of the things which the Functional Skills assessment will test.