In Helsingborg, the learning platform itslearning is used for the digital teaching, and the extended reports service is also used. The municipality and itslearning adapt the reports together, so that the reports can show what needs to be seen. The information is displayed in several different views that provide analysis based on different criteria that the schools have developed.
Here you can read more about this collaboration and a concrete example from the Olympic School.
Olympic School uses extended reports in itslearning to monitor student results and as a compass for the school's quality development.
Olympiaskolan is an upper secondary school in Helsingborg with about 350 pupils. They have the introduction program, including language introduction for newly arrived pupils, the vocational preparation program for children and leisure time and the study preparation program for social sciences and humanities. For a fairly small school, they have a varied range of programs and the student group at the school is described as heterogeneous.
The school management at Olympia School lacked a more in-depth and continuous follow-up of students during the school year. They had the experience of often coming in too late with supportive measures for those students who were at risk of not achieving passing grades. It was important for the school management to get information about the students early on, especially about students with learning challenges, so that the management could have a basis for the decisions that needed to be made about interventions to help the students and achieve their goals.
Student-centred business development
At the end of each month, teachers fill in assessments, in itslearning, for the achievement of objectives for each student. This way, data is collected for each student and for each class. This data is clearly visualized in a traffic light model, where results are highlighted in green, yellow and red in relation to student achievement. The teachers analyze the results for their classes in an interdisciplinary team. There are two main objectives. The teams identify early on where there are challenges and where extra resources and adaptations need to be provided. At the same time, colleagues have an opportunity to discuss and learn from each other. They document the various accommodations they have decided to make for students and use the traffic light model to analyze their impact.
"It gives us a very concrete picture of what we should do, what works in some other group, what is it that I can learn from it. Even though we have different subjects, we work towards common goals. It has helped us in the process and we have developed our common understanding of pedagogy."
Ulf Månsson, teacher, Olympia School.
The assessments are also visible to the students, so they can see their own progress, and it invites an open collaboration between teacher and student in the learning process. New since the start of school in 2022 is that the student health team is also involved in the development work. Once a month, they go into the extended reports and make their analysis of them, and how they can come in and support the students. They then talk to the teams, teachers and pupils about how they can work together to achieve as much as possible.
"Above all, I think what is crucial for this to succeed is that the teachers feel that the process is simple, that it doesn't take much time, that they don't have to sit for several hours per class. It's quite quick and you get a good overview in an easily accessible way. This is the key to the fact that we have gained acceptance for the way of working in the college."
Ulf Månsson, teacher, Olympia School.
Quality development
Olympia School's approach is to have student-centered operational development and student-centered leadership. To achieve this, students need to be involved and have insight into their everyday school life. Using the extended reports in itslearning facilitates a common basis for collaboration, based on a shared understanding of student development, progression and achievement. The traffic light model can inform and guide the discussion on what the school needs to develop and improve.
"The tailor-made extended reports are a very important tool for the development of our business. When you are developing something, you need to know how it is going and this is a clear way of addressing the issue and capturing challenges. It provides a basis for common understanding that can be leveraged. It's not just for the individual student, but it's a tool for development at a school-wide level, so it's actually great. Undoubtedly the most powerful tool we have to drive development."
Andreas Eriksson, Deputy Principal, Olympia School