Foundation of Education

Key unit competence: Make a variety of pedagogical documents properly

Introductory Activity

1. Have a visit to the nearest pre-primary & primary school and collect

information about pedagogical documents:

   a) what are they?

   b) How often they are filled in and how (observe some sample)?

   c) What is their importance?

   d) What is the link between them?

   e) Why are they important?

2. After the school visit, consolidate the information collected and share with your classmates.

1.1. Introduction to pedagogical documents

Activity 1.1

1. Based on information collected, who are the users of pedagogical documents?

2. What are the documents that you are already able to prepare and use from year one?

There is a number of pedagogical documents a professional teacher in Rwanda

should have in class and use adequately. Many of them are prepared by the

teacher based on documents that are designed at national level. The main

documents are: Copies of subject syllabi, scheme of work, lesson plan, class

diary, attendance register, Assessment notebook for homework, test, exams and marking scheme and marks record.

 Some of these documents such as lesson and syllabi were taught and used from year one during micro-teaching

sessions. This textbook will therefore be limited to the remaining documents.

Pedagogical documents are used by the teacher for long- and short-term

planning, implementation and evaluation of the teaching and learning process.

They meant to make teaching and learning more organised and effective.

These documents are also used by educational supervisors at different level

ranging from the school up to the national level, to monitor the implementation of the curriculum.

Application Activity 1.1

Based on information collected, explain how pedagogical documents

are important for both teachers and educational supervisors.

1.2. Scheme of work

1.2.1. Definition and importance of scheme of work

Activity 1.2.1

Read the scheme of work given by the tutor and discuss the importance

of scheme of work for the teacher.

Definition

A scheme of work is a plan of action which enables a teacher to organise

teaching activities ahead of time. It is summarizes forecast of work which the

teacher considers adequate and appropriate for the class, to cover in a given

period. The scheme of work organises the learning content in a timely manner

according to the school calendar and based on the subject syllabus/curriculum.

It determines the content and competences to be covered in a week, a month, a term or a year.

Importance of the scheme of work

A well-prepared scheme of work among other things:

   - Gives an overview of the course content for a specific period such as week, a term, or a year.

  - Indicates period or time when each unit and lesson will be taught

  - Provides a logical sequencing of units and related competences on one hand and lessons within a unit on the other 

    hand.

  - Help the teacher to identify ahead of time the required teaching and learning resources (material and human).

   This help to think and plan for their provision.

  - Suggests key teaching methods and techniques be planned.

  - Indicates time when end unit assessment and exams will take place

  - Suggests assessment techniques and procedures

1.2.2. Format of a scheme of work for primary level

Activity 1.2.2

Read the scheme of work given by the tutor and identify components of

a scheme of work and the content of each component.

Source: Adapted from REB (2015): Teacher training manual: Rooll out of the Competence-Based Curriculum

The above format is for primary and for one term. Here below are explanations

of the different elements of the format:

• Identification: Academic year, school name, teacher’s name, class/ classes and combinations, term, subject, 

   number of periods allocated to the subject per week.
• Column of dates: using the school calendar, the teacher puts dates of working days week per week. 

    Example: From 5/08 up to 9/08/2019.
• Column of unit title: From the syllabus
• Column of lesson title: the lesson title can be copied from the syllabus or the teacher’s guide or formulated 

 by the teacher based on the content and the learning objectives from the syllabus. 

A lesson is a learning unit that can be taught in one period or more. Lessons result
from the sequencing of the unit content.
• Column of learning objectives: the learning objectives can be copied and pasted from the syllabus 

 or the Teacher’s Guide or reformulated for more coherence with the content. 

Objectives must be specific, measurable, achievable and corresponding to a lesson.
• At the end of each unit, this column contains the key unit competence which serves as reference for end unit assessment.
• Column of Teaching methods & techniques: The teacher think about the best teaching methods and techniques. 

Some techniques/methods that require extra financial resources, administrative requirements such as field visit, need to be planned and budgeted for. At the end of each unit, this column contains also the assessment techniques/
procedures to be used during the end unit assessment.

• Column of resources (material and/or human) that will be needed to achieve the learning objective.

 This will help the teacher and the school

Head Teacher to plan for their provision. This column contains also the key references to be used during lesson planning. References include

books, handouts, worksheets, journals, reports, etc. It is necessary for the teacher to indicate the books, their authors and relevant pages to facilitate the lesson planning.

• Column of “number of periods”: in this column, the teacher puts the number of periods allocated to each lesson and unit.

Column of remarks: remarks in the scheme of work should be made immediately after the lesson delivery. (date when taught). The teacher is supposed to indicate whether what was planned for the period has been covered, whether there was over planning or failure of lesson and reasons for either case, etc. Remarks suggested are meant to help the teacher in his future planning.

Remarks such as “excellent” “done; “OK”, “well done”, “satisfactory” or “taught might not be very useful to the teacher. Such remarks as “the lesson was not very well done because of inadequate teaching aids” or “pupils were able to apply concept learnt in solving problems as evident from supervised practice” etc. are appropriate. After the remarks, it is necessary to write the date when this lesson was taught.

Application Activity 1.2.2

Based on the format, identify the required documents to elaborate the scheme of work

1.2.3. Making a scheme of work for primary level

Activity 1.2.3

1. Analyze a completed scheme of work and assess whether this is well completed. Suggest corrections if necessary.

2. What do you think would be the steps for planning a scheme of work?

Step 1: Units distribution per term

Based on the school calendar, the subject syllabus and the number of periods

allocated to the subject per week, the teacher:

    -Determines the number of available periods in a school year for each;

    -Makes a distribution of units for each term.

Example: For a school year of 39 weeks, a subject of 1 period per week which

has 9 units in total, the unit distribution would be as follows:

Step 2: Unit planning

Using the syllabus, the teacher proceeds to the following unit by unit:

a) Identifying unit title and related allocated number of periods

b) Identifying the key unit competence

c) Identifying and arranging lessons in a logical manner

- Arrange lessons in a sequence / order in which they will be taught, from the simplest to the most complex.

- A lesson is a set of inseparable content which can help learners to acquire

a certain competence. It can be taught in one or more periods.

d) Set out learning objectives for each lesson

- The teacher avoids to always directly copy them from the syllabus. He/

she should adapt those objectives from the syllabus;

- An element of Attitudes and values should always appear.

e) Identifying teaching and learning resources as well as relevant references for each lesson within the unit;

f) Identifying teaching and learning methods/techniques as well as assessment procedures within the unit;

g) Allocate periods to each lesson and the end unit assessment.

Step 3: Filling in the above identified/elaborated information in the scheme of work template.

Application Activity 1.2.3

1) Using the primary syllabus, based on the above guidelines, make a scheme of work and share with your classmate.

2) To implement the comprehensive assessment, REB designed the content distributions for all subjects to be followed by all schools.

Choose a sample of the content distribution from REB website, compare with the scheme of work and answer the following questions:

a) What is the difference between the scheme of work and the content distribution?

b) Do you think that these content distributions can replace the scheme work? Explain.

1.2.4. Format of scheme of work for pre-primary (ECLPE option)

Application Activity 1.2.4

Compare and contrast pre-primary scheme of work from primary scheme of work template.

a) Introduction

Usually, a scheme of work is planned by a teacher at school level. Exception was for pre-primary to support teachers making a theme-based scheme of work.

It was challenging for teachers to organize the learning around one theme without a common plan countrywide. 

The elaborated scheme of work will help teachers in the weekly thematic planning.

The scheme of work was elaborated based on thirty-nine weeks (39) as planned in competence-based curriculum.

 The school year is divided into three terms and each term has thirteen (13) weeks even though the reality shows that the

school calendar does not necessarily have thirteen weeks per term. This is why it is strongly recommended that teachers make required adjustments to the official school calendar

b) Structure of Pre-primary scheme of work (Isaranganyamasomo ryo mu mashuri y’inshuke , 2018)

The scheme of work elaborated by REB is designed per learning area as follows:

•  Discovery of the world
•  Numeracy
•  Ikinyarwanda
•  English
•  Creative Arts and culture
• Physical development and Health

The structure of the scheme of work of a learning area is organized per grade,

per term and per week as follows:

• Each learning area is organized per grade level: Grade 1, 2, and 3.
• Each grade shows the content, competences to be covered per term
• Each term is broken down into weekly thematic planning.

c) Format of a theme-based scheme

The format below applies for learning areas whose content is mainly generated from the theme. 

These are: Kinyarwanda, English and creative arts and culture.

The thematic planning is mandatory for these learning areas. All themes are from Discovery of the world. 

The thematic learning should always start by discovery of the world for children to explore using their senses. 

In so doing, their will create and express their feelings (songs, poems, drawings,..) about what they know.

d) Format of scheme of work for Discovery of the world, Numeracy, and Physical development and health

The scheme of work of Discovery of the world, Numeracy, and Physical development and health is not necessarily thematic. The thematic planning will be done by teachers themselves where possible, when making the weekly

thematic planning. In fact, for some learning areas other approaches can be better than the thematic one, 

to develop expected competences. For example:

in Numeracy, for children to classify objects based on a given criterion, they need many objects of different 

kind instead of being limited on objects that are related to the weekly theme.

Example of format of scheme of work for term two and three

f) Explanation on the formats of the scheme of work

•  The two first weeks of term one, are planned for induction related activities and diagnostic assessment for screening children abilities. It is expected that children may start pre-primary not only in grade one but also in grade two and three.
• The first week of term two and three is planned for revision of contents learnt in previous term(s).
• The mid-term week is reserved for making a progress report to assess the child’s progress and take appropriate strategies in line with continuous assessment principles.
• The two last weeks of each term are reserved for making an end term report which shows a child’s progress.
• The remaining weeks of term are planned for teaching and learning activities
•  There is one theme in the same week for all learning areas where thematic planning applies.

NOTE: All themes have been drawn-from discovery of the world, but teaching based on those themes does not mean teach discovery of the world. Teachers should take the theme as a way of developing competences in different learning

areas.

Application Activity 1.2.4

Using the pre-primary scheme of work, choose one week from any grade and check if all learning areas turn around the same theme in the same week. What do you conclude?

1.2.5. Making a thematic weekly planning for pre-primary

Activity 1.2.5

Read and analyse the thematic web diagram and the weekly plan

from the REB training module (Imfashanyigisho y’amahugurwa

ku nteganyanyigisho y’uburezi bw’inshuke, 2016). Based on your

prerequisites from Pre-primary Teaching Methods and Practice (TMP)

in year one and Foundations of Education in year one about thematic

approach, answers the following questions:

1) What are the required documents to make a thematic web diagram?

2) What is the importance of the web diagram in making the weekly plan?

3) What are the key parts of the weekly plan?

4) What are the required documents to make a weekly plan?

Steps for making a thematic planning using the pre-primary scheme of work

Pre-primary teachers to prepare a weekly thematic planning using the scheme of work. 

Here below are steps to go through:

Step 1: Making a thematic web planning

Using the syllabus, the scheme of work, considering the grade, term and week

number, the teacher proceeds as follows:

Example: Week X

•  Identify the weekly theme for week x from the scheme of work
•  For each learning area, identify the content and learning objectives planed for week x, in a given grade and term
• Make a thematic web planning to have an overview on what will be taught around the theme of the week.

Examples of a thematic web planning

Example 2

Step 2: Making a thematic weekly plan using the format

The weekly plan is elaborated in order to put the termly plan into practice.

In formulating it, consideration should be given to the continuity of life of the

children, because we generally spend our daily life on a weekly basis. Here

below is the format for the thematic weekly plan. It is done based on the daily

schedule to include all daily learning activities

Thematic weekly Planning format

School’s Name: ________________________Teacher’s Name: _________________________

Using the syllabus, the scheme of work, the pre-primary daily schedule and the

thematic web planning (made in step 1) for the week the teacher is planning for

and any other useful resource, he/she fills in the weekly plan format as follows:

•  Write the key learning area from the thematic web planning for each types of activity in the daily schedule
•  Identify other learning areas that can be integrated. Example: Being in the key learning area of literacy (Kinyarwanda), a story can develop numeracy skills depending on its content. In this case Numeracy will be in the column of other learning areas. This is appropriate for preprimary, there is no clear cut between learning area.
•  Set out the learning objective having in mind the key unit competence
• Identify the teacher’s and related learning activities
•  Create a list of teaching and learning resources that you will need for the week. When creating your list, write down the resources that are available in the classroom, those that are to be collected, made, purchased, etc.

Application Activity 1.2.5

    1) Using the pre-primary scheme of work, choose one week from a grade and term of your choice and make a thematic 

       web diagram.

    2) From the thematic web diagram you came up with, make a weekly plan according to the format.

1.2.6. Daily plan for pre-primary

Activity 1.2.6

Read and analyse the weekly and related daily plans from the REB training module (Imfashanyigisho y’amahugurwa ku nteganyanyigisho y’uburezi bw’inshuke, 2016). Answer the following question:

What is your conclusion about making a daily plan based on the weekly plan?

Format of a daily schedule

Date: …………. Weekly theme:…………………………………………

Source: Adapted from REB (2016): Imfashanyigisho y’amahugurwa ku

nteganyanyigisho y’uburezi bw’inshuke

Application Activity 1.2.6

Choose one day from the weekly plan you made and make a daily

schedule of activities.

1.3. Other pedagogical documents

Activity 1.3

1) List down other documents that you have been shown by the teachers when you were at the demonstration school for

observation.

2) Based on information collected from the model school, explain the importance and how to fill in the following documents:

    a) Class diary

    b) Attendance register

    c) Marks records

a) Class diary

The class diary is a daily planning tool. It is completed every day before lessons

except the last column of observation which is filled in after each lesson. 

The teacher uses the school timetable and the lesson plans for all lessons for the day.

 The format of the class diary provide space for the following:

Date

•  Time: From which time to which time the lesson is going to take place.
• Subject: This refers to the subject name (eg: English, Mathematics,…)
• Matter: Put the unit title
• Lesson: Lesson title of the day (from the lesson plan).
• Application: Put the assessment technique that will help to evaluate whether the learning objective was achieved.
• Observations: this column is completed immediately after the lesson and contains evaluation remarks related to the effectiveness of teaching and learning techniques and resources. Comments such as “Done”, “Very good”, “OK”, are not appropriate. It is very important to explain the reasons of success or failure such as the lesson was not well done because of inadequate teaching aids or the teaching strategies were adequate.

b) Attendance/ Call register

On daily basis, the teacher keeps a record of pupils’ attendances and absences. 

He/she calculates the total number of attendances every day and their percentage at the end of the month.

 The teacher must inform regularly the school authorities, especially the school Head teacher of unjustifiable

class absences. This tool helps teachers to ensure pupils’ follow up on their attendances. 

The teacher must be in touch with parents and be informed about reasons of absence to ensure the pupils’ learning process.

c) Learners progress records/ Marks records

The learners’ progress records show the learners’ achievements in every piece of work that is assessed (homework, test, exams.). They are designed to show the progress each learner is making in every subject. 

The records may be numerical or descriptive notes explaining the progress of the learner.

d) Evaluation book and marking scheme

This a notebook or a file in which a teacher writes papers of homework, tests,

exams and related marking scheme.

Application Activity 1.3

   1) Using lesson plans you have prepared for micro-teaching in year one, complete a template of class diary.

   2) Using a completed page of attendance register provided by your tutor, calculate the average of class attendance 

      at the end of a month.

   3) Explain why it is important to keep students ‘marks record.

End Unit Assessment

During the supervision, you have been requested by the Head teacher to submit all pedagogical documents.

  a) Outline any two reasons why the Head Teacher needs to check all pedagogical documents?

  b) What documents do you think the supervisor will focus on? Justify your answer with at least two arguments.

  c) Choose any two pedagogical documents from the ones studied in this unit and complete them.