Ian McCrackenLRC Manager

Govan High SchoolGlasgow.

It’s all about skills!

Connections between Information Literacy Skills

and wider skills

Starting Points:-

1) Noticing different teachers’ expectations from pupils

2) Observed that there was little or no focus on skills– but that skills underpinned much work expected

3) Result – frustration all round!

Identification & Assimilation- 1

1) Started thinking about the skills needed to identify and use keywords:-

- Analytical ability- Flexibility- Good vocabulary- Ability to make connections

Identification & Assimilation-2

-Looked at everything I could from school subjects, onlinereports etc to see if any of these skills mentioned – nothing!

BUT

– teachers/reports still expected pupils to have these skills (and many others!)

Identification & Assimilation-3

Began to formulate questions such as: – has anyone thought through the process, and the skills needed at each stage?

-Does each department think someone else does this?

-Even if departments do any kind of useful work, is itgiven the same name and done the same way

– in other words, pupils may not know they’re beingasked to do the same kind of task.

Assumptions and expectations

Identified common assumptions- most were based on a lack of analytical skills on the pupils’ side, and a lack of checking for skills on the teachers’ – but no starting points established

Behaviour Support

– started talking to newly appointed Behaviour Support teacher, who was very interested in the issues regarding how pupil behaviour could be adversely affected by these problems

“Good bad examples”!!

From Theory to Practice:-

1) “Homework” Club – with lots of tasks to encourage keyword acquisition –Guinness World records- also linked to subjects

( e g alphabetical/dictionary skills)

2) Senior Helpers – got pupils together who had been helping

- Created list of LRC skills

Senior Helpers – compiled list of skills

Theory into Practice – “The Big PictureAt the same time as this work was going on in the LRC, the school

was looking at becoming “skills-based”. The “ground rules” that Philip Graham and I had developed from an Information Literacy starting point became very important.

These were:-1) The notion of a Common Skills Vocabulary2) The notion that skills did not just happen – pupils had to know what

they were and be involved3) “Skills behind the skills” – what skills are involved in the process as

opposed to the task4) The idea that skills were not just classroom based but happened

everywhere that a learning activity was taking place5) The importance of consistency and connections – a “Skills System”,

not just skills on their own.6) Skills matching – the concept that once you had determined a

defined list of skills, this could be the “fixed point” that everything else could be matched to

71 Future Skills – identified & matched to

all •Standard Grades, •local and national business requirements, • Skills for Scotland Strategy,

all

•curricular and extra-curricular work, • 100 careers,

And of course to a Curriculum for Excellence

– in principle and in detail.

A Curriculum for Excellence

and

Future SkillsPlease consult your handout

LINKS BETWEEN

MENU

Lin Smith MCLIPSchool Librarian

The Ecclesbourne SchoolWirksworth Road

DuffieldBelper

DerbyshireDE 56 4 GS

 email LSmith@ecclesbourne.derbyshire.sch.uk

An independently developed alternative approach using some similar concepts

To help pupils with this area of learning we need to…

– Name and identify the skills required

– Understand that information skills have to be explicitly taught

– Use the same terminology in different subjects so that skills can be seen as transferable

– Emphasize that the process is as important as the end

result

Furthermore….

Pupils should be able to…– communicate well in a range of ways– understand how they learn and learn from

their mistakes– to learn independently and with others– know about big ideas and events that shape

our world– enjoy learning and are motivated to achieve

the best they can now and in the future.

Recent Developments

1) In the school – several successful Future Skills symposia

2) Information Literacy – matching Future Skills to all information-literacy related outcomes

3) Identifying the most often used information literacy skills, based on the above

Sample – I’m happy to send full set to anyone who wants a closer look

Tallying the Skills

The ten most used Future Skills in e-lit analysis of cfe Outcomes:- (in ascending order)

43 Image modelling Connector48 Reaching conclusions Decider53 Setting information out Communicator53= Big picture connections Connector59 Adapting communication Communicator63 Discovering Originator66 Processing information Connector75 Gathering facts Connector78 ICT E-Lit Communicator82 Analytical skills Connector

The LEAST used Future Skills in e-lit analysis of cfe Outcomes:-

Co-operation ContributorCreating word pictures CommunicatorDecision-making DeciderImagination OriginatorCounting skills SorterPushing boundaries DoerFlexibility SorterIndependent expression OriginatorEmpathetic skills CommunicatorTeam skills ContributorNeurological connections SorterNote taking Communicator

Ian McCrackenLRC ManagerGovan High SchoolGlasgow.

IMcCracken@govanhigh.glasgow.sch.uk

0141-582-0090