University College Plymouth St Mark & St John

Literacy Assessment

All applicants will be asked to take a literacy ‘test’ at interview.  This is in order to assess their command of written Standard English and reading.  Command of spoken Standard English is assessed during the interview.

For the literacy assessment at interview:

• Applicants are asked to read a short article from a national newspaper on an educational topic and respond to this in writing
• Applicants are given a pupil’s written response and asked to identify any errors in spelling, punctuation and grammar

Areas focused upon in interview

Professional Attributes
This includes high expectations and commitment to realising and raising pupil potential; professional behaviour; facility for collaboration, reflection and innovation.

Professional Knowledge and Understanding
This includes subject knowledge as defined with your degree/academic qualification, but also the curriculum context of the subject – i.e. what and how it is taught in schools.

Professional skills in relation to teaching and learning
This includes your reflections from your own observation/experience of teaching/learning.  All applicants are expected to have had some experience/observation in a secondary school.

You will be assessed upon the following elements:

Subject knowledge per se - The essential knowledge and understanding needed in order to teach a subject effectively
Pedagogy: subject theory and practice - An understanding of the teaching skills and strategies needed to teach all pupils effectively
Pupils' development - An understanding of how learning is linked to pupils' development and their social, religious, etnic, cultural and linguistic backgrounds and contexts
Attitudes - Positive attitudes to pupils' learning that underpin subject knowledge, skills and understanding
(For more information, go to www.tda.gov.uk )

Recommended preparation for interview

In order to prepare for the interview, all applicants for ICT are asked to:

1. Read the KS3 and KS4 National Curriculum for ICT. This is available at http://curriculum.qcda.gov.uk/key-stages-3-and-4/index.aspx 
2. Create a portfolio containing at least three artifacts that you have created using ICT and which are similar to ICT National Curriculum requirements. (eg a spreadsheet, a database, a Flash animation, a poster or a website). Your portfolio may be on paper or may be electronic. If it is electronic it should be accessible over the web or on a USB memory stick. It should be viewable on a computer running Windows XP with Internet Explorer and Office 2007.
3. Write a short report (one page of A4) which explains how each of the artifacts in your portfolio meets a National Curriculum requirement. You should also attempt to justify the level of attainment that is evidenced by each artifact. (You will need to refer to the “Attainment target” section of the ICT National Curriculum for level descriptions.

As part of the interview applicants are required to complete a short ICT test on spreadsheets (Excel 2007) and databases (Access 2007). You are advised to familiarize yourself with these versions of Excel and Access before coming for interview.