Section 7.1: Designing Your Own Case Study
 Read
Introduction 7.1 the introduction to this section.
Activity 7.1.1: Writing Your Own Case Study
Select a project that has happened or is being developed in your last or current placement school. It would help if this project illustrated aspects of a whole school approach to school development perhaps in the context of education for sustainability (see Figure 0.1.1 and Figure 7.1.1).
 Use the numbered list of tasks in the task list below to describe, explain and critically analyse this project. You may wish to read one of the case studies in Sections 7.2-7.6 of this Unit before you start writing your case study. Please do not name the school unless you have specific permission to do so.
Record your evidence on Table 7.1.1 and try to limit your evidence to two sides of A4, printed back to back of course.
TASK LIST
1: Description of the School
- Age range and number of pupils
- Location and catchment
- Awards such as Ecoschool, Beacon status etc.
2: Aims and Outcomes of the Project
- What are the main aims and intended learning outcomes of the project?
- Is the project subject based, linked to personal and social education and/or extra-curricular?
- How does the project link into a whole school approach?
- How many pupils are involved and across which age ranges?
- Is the project mainly a curriculum, institutional practice, social, evaluative or community project?
3: The Project: Content and Development
- What are the main content areas addressed by the project?
- How does the project respond to learners’ needs? How does it respond to different learning styles?
- What competences and skills are developed through the project?
- How does the project respond to the school’s needs?
- How does the project respond to the needs of the local community?
- Does the project promote active learning?
- Does the project address equity/ethical issues?
- Are the learning experiences problem based/experiential?
- Is the approach adopted integrated across subjects i.e. holistic? Does it promote systems thinking and practices?
- Does the project create space for critical reflection?
- Does the project require pupils to act on information?
- How far does the project adopt a whole school approach?
- Is teaching on the project mainly didactic, discursive or active?
- How far does the project allow for pupil participation and/or cater for and respond to the voice of pupils?
- How far does the project address citizenship and/or sustainability issues?
- Does the project present concepts (e.g. citizenship or sustainability) as fixed or
negotiable?
- Does the project encourage multiple perspectives?
- How far does the project address the development of values?
- How far do pupils and adults involved in the project act on the knowledge, attitudes and values developed through the project?
- What resources are needed to develop the project? Were these available in the school at the start of the project?
4: Drivers
External
- Is the project linked to any external initiatives?
- Does the development of the project involve any external partners?
- What are the external reasons for getting involved in the project local government, marketing, community links, National Curriculum, national strategies or national guidelines?
- Who from outside the school influenced the school to become involved in the project?
- How far were parents and/or other members of the local community involved in the decision to develop the project?
Internal
- How does the project meet the educational philosophy of the school?
- Who within the school initiated involvement in or development of the project and for what reasons?
- Which school or community needs are addressed by the project?
5: Assessment
- How is cognitive gain assessed in the project?
- How are attitudes and attitudinal change assessed in the project?
- How are the actions of pupils resulting from the project assessed?
- Is assessment formative or summative?
6: Evaluation
- How is the quality of the project assured?
- Is project evaluation formative or summative?
- Are pupils’ teachers’ and other adults’ opinions sought about the project and valued?
- Is there evidence of any networking? How much of this is local/ national/ European/ global?
- Which models, theories or approaches to change are adopted in the project?
- What were the strengths and weaknesses of the process used to develop and implement the project?
- How do the actual outcomes relate to the intended outcomes of the project?
7: Constraints or Difficulties in Developing the Project
- What do those involved see as the main constraints or difficulties in initiating and developing the project?
- Have these constraints or difficulties been overcome if so how?
8: Benefits of the Project
- What are the main benefits of the project?
- Which of these were foreseen and which emerged during the project?
9: Future Developments
- How will the project develop in the future?
10: Additional Comments
- Any points that you would like to make about the project that are not covered in the other sections.
Activity 7.1.2: Analysing Case Studies and Whole School Approaches
Working in groups of at least six people divide the case studies in Unit 7 so that each person is studying no more that three.
For each case study identify:
The main whole school strand (see Figure 0.1.1 and column 1-5 on Table 7.1.2) of each case study has been used to classify the case study into the appropriate sub-section (7.2, 7.3, 7.4, 7.5 or 7.6).
Decide from the evidence in the case study whether this strand is operating at level 1 cognitive, level 2 attitudinal and/or level 3 active. Enter the appropriate number or numbers in the relevant column on Table 7.1.2. If you believe that all three levels are operating enter 1,2, 3 on Table 7.1.2.
Then decide whether any of the other four strands of whole school approaches apply to each case study. Enter the level or levels at which each strand is operating in the appropriate column on Table 7.1.2.
What were the internal and/or external drivers that started the initiative?
How did the school or organisation get this initiative under way?
What would you identify as the next step towards a whole school approach in each case study? What might be the best way for initiating this step?
Identify how the school has benefited from the initiative described in the case study.
Complete a group version of Table 7.1.2 and report back to the whole group on your answers to the above questions. What would be your priorities in developing a whole school approach in your school?
Complete a group version of Table 7.1.2 and report back to the whole group on your answers to the above questions. What would be your priorities in developing a whole school approach in your school?
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