Teaching & Learning Policy

TEACHING POLICY

Teachers need to use a wide range of teaching skills, in order to achieve the learning objectives.

Planning

• The full term’s work should be planned in advance. Each class teacher should have a teaching schedule and lessons plans for the term. The heads of sections meet with their teachers to discuss their plans.
  A meeting of all the heads and teachers is held at the beginning of each term to plan for the term ahead.
• Planning should show the continuity, progress and timing to ensure a good pace of work is achieved.

Assessment

• Students should know what is expected of them and why
• Students should also be taught to evaluate their own work and learning
• Progress should be monitored throughout the term by means of Weekly assignments, should be used as a major source to inform end of year reports.
• Termly and yearly assessments should be based on the students understanding of the subjects and not on last minute ‘swotting’.
  Student can also be tested at the end of each topic which will assist teachers to identify weak points in their classes.
• Teachers are required to keep a running record of the progress of each child within their classes.

Organisation

• Class organising duties must be established by the teachers.
• It is essential that the register is completed at the beginning of each lesson.

Teaching Aims

Investigation Skills

• Students should be taught to be analytical in their approach.
• Students should be taught to draw conclusions-open ended tasks should be regularly given
• They should be taught to question information-subjectivity
• Activities / projects to be given where students can select and gather their own information

Questioning Skills

• Use challenging questions orally, through activities, writings, diagrams……
• Listen carefully to responses
• Never use putdowns
• Speak to the students in an appropriate manner
• Set rules for answering questions-maintain discipline
• Probe the child’s understanding
• Give opportunities for discussion and an equal opportunity for expressing views especially from the less forthcoming student

Exposition

• Use step by step explanations
• Keep the explanations short and clear (‘Khayrul qalaam qalla wa dalla’-Prophet (pbuh))
• Check back by questioning the students
• Ask initial questions to find the starting point which will meet the needs of all the students
• Use vocabulary which the students will understand and if required introduce new vocabulary with explanations and examples
• Bear in mind attention span of the age group, breaking up long discussions with tasks
• Where possible use visual aids and other stimuli to maintain attention
• Always recap at the end of the lesson Discussion
• Use class discussions to clarify and extend understanding
• Encourage use of correct vocabulary in discussions
• Teach students how to listen, consider and then use the information in their own statements

Relationships

Teacher/Student

Teachers should:

• Respect students, including being polite and civil
• Take time to know each child
• Speak to the students in an appropriate manner taking into account the circumstances and age-group
• Treat students equally
• Be positive in outlook and give realistic praise
• Take time to talk and listen to individuals
• Be aware of the students’ background and circumstances
• Teach particularly akhlaq by example

Student to student

Students need to be taught to build good relationships and to be sensitive to the emotional and physical needs of others.

Teacher/Parent

Teachers should:

• Take time to talk and listen to parents.
• Keep parents informed about the abilities and needs of the students.

LEARNING POLICY

What do we want students to be doing and what do we want to witness in each classroom?

Learning Experience

Investigation

Students should:

• Be able to use their previous learning to make generalisations and apply it to new situations
• Be able to understand and draw sensible conclusions. e.g. the morals from a story in QConcepts, QTimeline…
• Raise questions in their mind
• Make informed estimates of what they think the answer to a problem/question will be and use this to assess whether an answer to a question is according to the sharia’. e.g. in shakiyyatus salaa the students should be able to deduce the solution through their understanding rather than cramming of the chart.

Communication and planning

Students should:

• Learn important facts, details, and terminology
• Interpret information presented in a variety of forms
• Keep a diary of what has been learnt with the queries or further reading
• Decide what information is needed to find a solution for the task in hand and devise strat egies for finding it
• Use a variety of resources to gather information, and evaluate its accuracy, relevance and subjectivity
• Plan weekly assignments, projects, course work, etc.

Personal

Students should:

• Enjoy learning
• In a discussion or debate be able to listen to the views expressed by others, consider their merit, and be able to respond
• Accept defeat and be prepared to persevere and try different avenues to come to a solution
• Accept success without emphasising the failure of others
• Recognise their own strengths and be prepared to use them
• Recognise their limitations and try to improve upon them
• Persevere to the conclusion of a task
• Be aware of the required targets for their specific age group.
• Ensure homework is handed in on time.
• Students should adhere to the appropriate Islamic dress code

Learning Environment

What features of the classroom environment produce the best learning experiences?

Resources

• Students should be taught to respect, care for and keep tidy all areas of the School especially their own classroom.
  They should have an awareness of the responsibility to maintain the area around.
• Encourage students to access information from reliable websites.
• Arrangement of furniture in the rooms must be done prior to Saturday-maybe a rota arranged between teachers in the same section
• IT resources are a necessary tool and needs to be accessible to all students.

Displays

• The classrooms and corridors should be enlivened by good quality displays.
• Displays should be neat and maintained as such. They should interact with the viewer by mixing the media displayed. E.g., writing, as well as pictures and photographs which are clearly labelled and explained.
• Displays need to be changed regularly to keep the work current. The aim should be to change them termly.
• Work displayed should be that which is of good quality from individual children, not always the best from the class.
• Teachers should aim to display work from every child in the class at some time.
• Students should have the responsibility for displaying work at some time during the year

Relationships

• Students’ responses should always be valued to enable them to feel secure enough to make mistakes
• Expectations of how they should behave should be explained and used consistently
• The expectation that the classroom is primarily a place of learning should be made clear to them
• Teachers should always respect students, expect respect from them, expect them to respect others (and reprimand them when this is not the case) and teach students to respect each other. Each child should feel a valued member of class, institution and the
  community.

Praise, rewards and sanctions

• Praise is essential to a good learning environment
• Institution and class awards should be made available to all students in relation to their own ability
• Institution and class sanctions should be made explicit to the students and exercised consistently and fairly. Reflecting the Community
• The QSchool classrooms and the work that goes on inside them should reflect a balanced view of the community. The picture should reflect ‘ISLAM’