FEX2162 Chap.6 The Five-Stage Problem-Solving Approach
The Five-Stage Problem-Solving Approach
The heaviest task
The third task takes one lesson that a supervisor observed and asks you to use a problem-solving approach, drawing on video and other evidence, to judge how well your planning, teaching, assessment and follow-up worked, including how you catered for pupils' diverse needs. The assessment form weights it at thirty per cent and states that it carries double the weighting of the other tasks.
The suggested length is 700 words in English, the largest share of the total, and the task guide maps it to six FEILOs.
Five stages
The task guide sets out five stages as guiding questions. Identify a problem in your teaching or pupils' learning and its causes, including the assessment that revealed them.
Consider possible solutions through research, review, reflection or consultation, naming the theories, models or methods behind them. Choose a feasible solution with a rationale. Plan and implement it, observing how far it solved the problem and for whom.
Review the whole process, considering better solutions and how the process improved your competence.
Learning the method on everyday problems
Session four teaches the stages first on ordinary problems before applying them to teaching, and its worksheet asks you to tag each stage as planning, teaching or assessment.
It suggests three sources of evidence for the first stage: your own observation, comments from others, and pupils' work. The task guide's longer list includes lesson plans, supervision forms, worksheets, video clips with quoted time stamps, photographs of pupil work and samples of how you integrated digital technology.
What the descriptor rewards
The Task 3 descriptor begins with the problem statement.
The top band asks for a well-defined statement listing major relevant contextual factors; lower bands accept less detail and fewer factors, and the bottom band records a failure to identify a problem or list factors.
The rest of the top band covers command of subject content, very effective use of pedagogical content knowledge and of digital technologies, effective and innovative approaches for pupils with diverse needs, varied assessment of the solution, and specific suggestions for improvement.
Filming your lessons
The outline expects you to film some lessons, especially assessed ones, as a resource for this task, using the University's consent form to obtain the school's approval, and to speak to your portfolio tutor if consent cannot be obtained.
What this chapter covers
- 01
Why the lesson reflection carries double weight
- 02
Identify a problem and its causes
- 03
Consider possible solutions and their sources
- 04
Choose a feasible solution with a rationale
- 05
Plan, implement and observe the effect
- 06
Review the process and look ahead
- 07
Problem statements and contextual factors
- 08
Video, pupil work and supervision forms as evidence
Worked example · free
Write a stage-one problem statement with contextual factors
- 2State the gap between the objective and what pupils did.
- 2Name a cause and the evidence for it.
- 2List contextual factors that shaped the problem.
Key terms
- Problem Statement
- A precise description of the gap between a lesson's objective and what pupils achieved, with its relevant contextual factors.
- Contextual Factor
- A feature of the class, setting or lesson, such as size, timing or prior knowledge, that shaped a teaching problem.
- Pedagogical Content Knowledge
- Knowledge of how particular subject content is taught and learned, including where pupils typically go wrong.
- Supervised Lesson
- A lesson observed by a University supervisor during the placement; the third task evaluates one of these.
- Formative Assessment
- Assessment during learning that tells the teacher and pupils what to adjust, such as questioning or exit slips.
- Teaching-Learning Cycle
- The outline's sequence of planning and materials design, teaching with formative assessment, evaluation, and planning again.
The Five-Stage Problem-Solving Approach FAQ
How much is the lesson reflection worth?
The assessment form weights it at thirty per cent and states that it carries double the weighting of the other written tasks. It also reaches six of the ten FEILOs, so it deserves evidence collected from your first supervised lesson rather than reconstructed at the end.
Must the solution have worked?
No. The fourth and fifth stages ask which aspects of the problem you solved and which not, and why. An honest account of partial success, with specific suggestions for next time, meets the descriptor better than a claim of complete success without evidence.
What if the school does not allow filming?
The outline says to use the University's consent form to seek the school's approval, and to talk to your portfolio tutor if consent cannot be obtained. Other evidence, such as pupil work, supervision forms and your notes, can still carry the reflection.
Assessment move
After every supervised lesson, spend ten minutes writing the stage-one statement while the lesson is fresh: objective, what pupils did, a suspected cause and the contextual factors. Choose the lesson for the task only after two supervisions, picking the one where you changed something afterwards and kept evidence of both the problem and the effect.
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