Jacques and Hyland make an interesting statement about professionalism on page 203 of Professional Studies: Primary and Early Years, 3rd Ed. (Learning Matters, 2007). Citing a report by Hay/Mcber (2000), they refer to three identified factors which can be observed and measured as influencing teacher expertise. Which of the following were identified?

a) Teaching skills, professional characteristics and classroom climate.
b) Listening skills, professional characteristics and teaching climate.
c) Classroom climate, teaching skills and personal characteristics.

Answer a, b or c:

A lesson plan should normally refer to learning objectives. Is it necessary always to include reference to assessment opportunities in a lesson plan?

Yes
No

Is it good practice to brief Teaching Assistants (paraprofessionals working in the classroom) before teaching sessions?

Yes
No

Lesson plans often have the following sections, among others: evaluation and learning objectives. From the list below, choose ONE other section that is usually relevant to include in a lesson plan.

a) Use of ICT.
b) Reference to design and technology.
c) Detailed reference to the long-term plan.

Answer a, b or c:

Lesson evaluations better assist future planning if the evaluations make reference to the lesson's learning objectives.

True
False

Three levels of curriculum planning are usually required for school-level planning. Is this true?

Yes
No

Is planning for play considered important in the Foundation Stage?

Yes
No

Formative assessment provides data that informs future learning, and summative assessment provides evidence of achievement at a key point. Ipsative assessment, on the other hand, might be used to…?

Choose one statement from the list below:

a) Encourage children to compare their performance to that of their peers.
b) Encourage children to set goals for their peers.
c) Encourage children to set their own goals.

Answer a, b or c:

Evidence for teacher assessment may be gathered through samples of children's work, photographs OR photocopies of work. Are tape recordings acceptable evidence for assessment purposes?

Yes
No

The purpose of testing children at the end of each key stage is exclusively for educational purposes.

What is wrong with this statement? Choose one reason from the list below.

a) The tests are also used to hold a school accountable to parents for their child's progress.
b) Tests are used exclusively to inform OFSTED.
c) Tests are used for educational and accountability purposes.
d) None of the above.

Answer a, b, c or d:

Baseline Assessment used to be applied to all children starting school. What assessment system has recently replaced it?

Baseline Profile
Foundation Stage Profile

Teachers should keep records of children's progress, and they have a statutory duty to write a termly report to parents.

True
False

Criterion-referenced assessment references children's work against the performance of other children in a group.

True
False

Teachers are not allowed to restrain a child physically under any circumstances.

True
False

The National Curriculum applies to all independent schools in England and Wales.

True
False

Under the Health and Safety at Work Regulations, is it advisory or mandatory for a school to carry out a Risk Assessment before a school visit? Choose one of the two statements below.

It is mandatory.
It is advisory.

Head teachers have sole responsibility for Health and Safety in schools.

True
False

Does the category 'maintained school' include 'community schools'? That is, are community schools funded by the state?

Yes
No

Is it a condition of employment that teachers attend staff meetings?

Yes
No

Are head teachers subject to performance management regulations as well as class teachers?

Yes
No

Is the school starting age in Northern Ireland the same as that in England?

Yes
No

Is it considered part of the professional duties of a qualified teacher to review programmes of work periodically?

Yes
No

The three principles for inclusion in the National Curriculum are: setting suitable learning challenges, responding to diverse learning needs, and overcoming barriers to teaching.

True
False

The National Curriculum focuses on six key cross-curricular skills. Two of them are the application of numbers and working with others. Is 'improving learning performance' one of the other key skills?

Yes
No

The National Curriculum requires teachers to teach thinking skills. Do 'simple logic skills' form part of this requirement?

Yes
No

The primary National Curriculum requires teachers to teach BOTH language and ICT across the curriculum. Does geography have to be taught across the curriculum?

Yes
No

Does the National Curriculum documentation on inclusion give guidance on the issue of teaching English as an Additional Language?

Yes
No

The National Curriculum gives guidance on Health and Safety in some subjects, but not others. Is art and design one of the subjects for which guidance is given?

Yes
No

The Race Relations Act 1976 still applies to children under the National Curriculum.

True
False

One of the four main purposes of the National Curriculum (NC) is to establish '... an entitlement to … a number of areas of learning'. Does the NC also include 'the promotion of corporate understanding' as a main purpose?

Yes
No

The National Curriculum section on inclusion contains information in sub-section C for overcoming potential barriers to learning and assessment for individuals and groups of children. The main focus groups to which this information refers are: children with disabilities, children with Special Educational Needs and children who are learning English as an Additional Language (EAL). Does sub-section C also refer to travellers' children as a main focus group?

Yes
No

One way of avoiding gender stereotyping in the classroom when asking the children to line up might be to do one of the following:

Ask boys to line up separately from girls.
Ask children to line up according to eye colour.

The National Curriculum applies to all schools without exception in England, Wales and Scotland.

True
False

Key Stage 2 extends from Year 2 to Year 5.

True
False

In the National Curriculum, Attainment Targets for each subject are sub-divided into level descriptions.

True
False

According to the National Curriculum document, the expected range of attainment for most 11-year-old children (at the end of Key Stage 2) is between levels 3 and 6.

True
False

Managing classroom behaviour: two children have an altercation over a book in your classroom. One of them hits the other. All the other children in your class notice and stop work. There are no other teachers or classroom assistants in the classroom. What do you do next?

Choose one statement from the list below.

a) Quietly, but firmly, instruct BOTH children to stop.
b) Quietly, but firmly, instruct the aggressor to stop.
c) Ignore it and hope that the incident will resolve itself.

Answer a, b or c:

The phrase 'Spiritual, Moral, Social and Cultural' development (SMSC) is often misunderstood. Is spiritual development the same as religious development?

Yes
No

Teachers spend a good deal of time asking questions. But do you know the difference between 'closed' and 'open' questions? Mark the 'closed' question in the list below.

Choose one question from the list below.

a) 'Tell me how you managed to do that.'
b) 'Is that correct?'
c) 'Why is that plant green and the other plant yellow?'
d) 'How did you manage to work that problem out?'

Answer a, b, c or d:

In organising classroom teaching and learning, is there such a thing as an optimum group size?

Yes
No
It depends on the activity selected

Potter (chapter 6) in Jacques and Hyland (2007) Professional Studies: Primary and Early Years, third edition (Learning Matters) summarises Vygotsky's 'Zone of Proximal Development' (ZPD) succinctly: 'The ZPD is the gap between what the child can do independently and what might be achieved through the support of an interested adult.' Does this mean that teachers (or adults) have to increase the amount of support given when children are close to mastering a new technique or task?

Yes
No

Cognitivist learning theory holds that the child is an 'active processor of information'. (Potter in Jacques and Hyland (2007) Professional Studies: Primary and Early Years, third edition, page 80, Learning Matters). Would Skinner agree that children actively process information?

Yes
No

Is a school allowed to insist that girls wear skirts?

Yes
No
There is no correct answer

How would you deal with a child who complained to you that he or she had been racially abused? Would you:

a) report the allegation to the deputy or head teacher?
b) do nothing?
c) attempt to deal with the problem yourself?

Answer a, b or c:

Let us assume you have a child in your class who is understandably embarrassed about their eczema. The child expresses a wish to do PE, but does not want to wear school regulation PE uniform because the eczema shows. What do you do about it?

Choose one of the following options:

a) Insist the child wears regulation PE uniform.
b) Stop the child from taking PE lessons.
c) Discuss the issue with the head teacher and, with the head teacher's permission, the parent.

Answer a, b or c: