A consideration of the opportunities and challenges for the development of a pedagogy to deliver Successful Futures including: A review of relevant research and literature which has informed your professional practice and opportunities and challenges that should be considered by practitioners/schools when developing a pedagogical approach to successful futures. This section explores both old and new pedagogical principles in relation to Donaldson’s (2005) twelve principles set out in Successful Futures. It explores and reflects upon my own personal practice and pedagogical approach as a Nursery teacher within the context of a Primary School. It considers challenges and opportunities, advantages and disadvantages faced by developing a personal pedagogy in teaching as well as exploring whole school approaches. Pedagogy has many definitions, Mortimore (1999) defined Pedagogy within teaching and learning as the activity by one person, designed to enhance the learning in another. I believe this is Pedagogy in its simplest form. Fullan & Hargreaves (2016) state that many old pedagogies developed from the industrial era have outlived their usefulness. With such substantial changes with the publication of Successful Futures, achieving this largely depends on how activities are organised, the role of the teacher and their pedagogy. Teachers use personal and professional influenced pedagogy on a daily basis. Successful futures call for teachers to develop their pedagogy, using the twelve pedagogical principles by Donaldson (2015). During the independent review of teaching in Wales, one recommendation is to develop the role of Pedagogy within the curriculum by extending professionals own high level of expertise, encouraging teachers to engage in research and commit to working with other teachers in other setting. Importance is placed on teachers being able to demonstrate the impact of their professional learning upon their own individual pedagogy. It is vital to explore the history of pedagogy and why it is so important in moving forward in the new curriculum for Wales. Fullan & Hargreaves (2016) argue that although many old pedagogies are not relevant in today’s schools, as they were designed before technology, the world wide web and were made for industrial Britain, there are also many old pedagogies before the curriculum became overly prescriptive that do have a place in today’s education. They explain that many teachers used problem based and project-based learning, encouraged interdisciplinary study that were practical and relevant. These pedagogies are still relevant if used alongside other, more updated, pedagogical principles that are in line with the 21st century school system and modern way of life. Many of these updated pedagogical principles are mentioned by Donaldson (2015) in Successful Futures. There is much discussion and debate around Successful Futures. Much of the debate comes from the publication of chapter five of Successful Futures which sets out twelve pedagogical principles, although Donaldson (2015) does ensure the recommendations do not imply an emphasis on any particular teaching approaches. Differences in the age of the pupils will influence the pedagogical practices a teacher chooses. For example, a teacher in Early Years may reference cognitive development research and their experience of the success of adult-directed play. As an early year’s practitioner, my personal pedagogy is very much aligned with the pedagogy of play. Studies and approaches by Vygotsky (1978) show that young children demonstrate an inherent capacity to play that vital to their early learning and that the role of the adult is to scaffold the play. This pedagogy differs greatly as children move throughout the school into Key Stage Two, where pedagogy focus less on play. With more organised teaching time, shared objectives with specific guidance on how to achieve. It is clear there is such a varied pedagogical approach in just two Key Stages. This may be one explanation as to why there is usually a regression of progress when learners move from Foundation Phase to Key Stage Two (Galton, 2003). Therefore, with the encouragement of the 12 pedagogical principles alongside the riddance of Key Stages with emphasis on progression rather than transition, a more ‘whole school’ approach to pedagogy may overcome the ‘dip’ that often occurs when learners reach Year 3. It is important to explore the impact of such different pedagogies that vary not only from phase to phase but from teacher to teacher on learners. Rubin (2007) found in a study that teachers whose particular pedagogical approaches that valued speech and procedure impacted the learners in a way that the learners aligned ability with speed and how quickly they could complete a task the teacher set rather than level of engagement, discussion and effort. Boaler & Greene (2000) suggests pedagogical approaches that value speed lead to anxiety in education and lack of resilience in learners. There are studies that show that considering pupil voice will generate effective pedagogy. According to Niemi et al involving students in decision making, and listening to their experiences as learners are vital in developing education. Gilljam, et al (2012) argue that school’s function better when pupils are motivated and perceive that decisions are fairly made. This is backed up by Sellman (2009) who states that by involving pupils in decision-making there is a positive impact on learning and teaching. It could be argued that pedagogical approaches that simply focuses on the transmission of knowledge with lack of pupil has a negative effect on learning (Norman, 1992). This is an example of a bad old pedagogical approach, as Fullan & Hargreaves (2016) suggests. Pedagogical approaches that place more importance on questioning, metacognition and higher order thinking skills are shown have a positive impact on learning. Morgan & Saxton encourage the use of Blooms Taxonomy in effective pedagogies that focus on this approach, using a combination of higher and lower order questions being the most effective method to generate successful learning, student attitude and performance. Assessment for Learning (AfL) is one of Donaldson’s twelve pedagogical approaches, therefore, it is vital to explore the impact this has on our learners. Assessment for Learning places emphasis on feedback strategies that allow pupils opportunities to extend their learning (Black & Wiliam, 1998) says evaluative feedback allows children to reflect on their learning through reviewing their work, and their peers, going on to explain how Assessment for Learning strategies offer encouragement and promotes effort, especially when coupled with suggestions and strategies to assist the learner to move forward in their learning (Dweck, 2000). This research lends itself to reviewing my own pedagogical approach to teaching. As stated previously, my personal pedagogy aligns with the pedagogy of play. My main goal for children to develop social skills through my role of modelling, giving children the autonomy to choose activities based on their interests, incorporating academic skills through topic-based activities. Izumi-Taylor et al (2010) state that unstructured play involves children initiating play and having many choices as well as a long play period. Weisberg et al (2013) argue that free play contains activities are fun, voluntary, flexible, involve active engagement, have no extrinsic goals and involve active engagement of the child. I am an advocate for this pedagogical approach as I believe it fosters many attributes in our learners that coincide with the four core purposes, such as resilience, confidence and creativity. However, there is risk that learners may choose to repeat the same task repeatedly which leads to lack of learning and development of skills. The tasks need to be set with an element of challenge to encourage development. Staff questioning and encouragement for learners to use metacognitive skills are vital to the development of learning. There is a suggestion that a bad curriculum well taught is better for students than a good curriculum badly taught, put simply, pedagogy trumps curriculum. Therefore, Donaldson’s inclusion of chapter 5 in successful futures is vital to ensuring the success of the New Curriculum. Whelan (2009) agrees stating quality and pedagogy of teacher. This is backed up with PISA data that suggests variance in performance within schools is widespread in almost all systems, in-school variation, or variance between teachers, is much greater (McGaw, 2008). Therefore, it is valid to argue that these variances would not be so great if teachers’ pedagogical approaches were similar. A teacher’s pedagogical approach varies greatly from teacher to teacher as practitioners draw on a range of theories and personal experience to build their own pedagogy. Teachers having different pedagogical approaches can be a positive. Alexander (2004) argues, it is important for young people to experience a range of approaches as it enables them to become more resilient, competent and self-motivated learners. There is criticism of Donaldson’s pedagogical principles such as Price (2018) argument that the statements are poorly defined, weak on pupils knowledge and development of skills. Going on to state that there is risk pupils knowledge will depend upon individual teachers rather than curriculum content. On the other hand, Morgan (2019) argues that relying on teachers to make professional decisions equates to trust of our professionals, without trust there is a lack of confidence of our teachers. Donaldson appreciates that over many years the curriculum has been highly prescriptive, allowing for less teacher autonomy and more accountability mechanisms. This has left teacher underdeveloped and creatively restricted. The challenge of implementing successful futures and developing teacher pedagogy will be in encouraging professionals to research, develop pedagogy and apply the role purposefully. Although both arguments, for and against whole school consistent approaches to pedagogy are valid and have merit, Donaldson draws on both by outlining twelve pedagogical principles in Successful Futures. Although some are broad statements, these principles can be read as Donaldson’s non-negotiables to achieve effective teaching and learning, whilst clearly stating they are recommendations not specific teaching approaches as this varies from context to context. School Visit To inform my professional practice and pedagogy, I visited another school, out of locality, with the aim of gaining insight of how other schools have developed their pedagogy during the implementation of Successful Futures. Context School B is located in a City. There are currently 699 pupils on roll aged from 3 to 11 years old. Of these pupils, 78 attend part-time in the nursery. The school has 21 classes with an additional two part-time nursery classes. There are 22 full-time and 10 part-time teachers. Many pupils are white, British and come from homes where the main language is English. A very few pupils speak Welsh at home. Around 10% of pupils are eligible for free school meals. Pedagogy The approach School B uses in a whole-school approach to pedagogy. School B uses an approach it calls the ‘thinking’ approach. There is emphasis on thinking being central and explicit, with teachers and pupils developing common thinking language. On my learning walk through the school it was clear there was consistency throughout the whole school. All teachers using the same strategies. Every class had DeBono’s ‘Six Thinking Hats’ in clear view and by asking pupils questions about the hats, it was clear they had a very good understanding of the purpose of each hat and explained how it helps them in their learning. Each class also used ‘Habits of Mind’. The school had developed ‘Mr Men’ character to explain each Habit of Mind. These encourage pupils use metacognitive skills in every area of learning. It develops problem solving skills, provides opportunities for pupils to deepen their knowledge and allows them to transfer these skills across all areas of learning as well as every day life. The whole school approach to pedagogy worked well at School B, pupils and parents were aware of strategies used and consistency was clear. From relevant studies and research, of older and more up to date pedagogies, visiting other settings, engaging in professional discussions with other professionals my personal pedagogy is developing and changing. My personal pedagogy that reflected the pedagogy play has come into question. Overall, it is important to look to both old and new pedagogical principles and approaches. Evaluating the impact each one has on our learners, the relevance of each principle in relation to modern way of life and our expectations for learners after they leave education. Donaldson’s (2015) aim of Successful Futures is to foster lifelong learning in our pupils. This goes back to the four core purposes of the New Curriculum. Every question we as professionals may have in developing our pedagogy, whether it may be personally or as part of a whole school approach, must keep the four core purposes at the forefront, always asking how we will achieve them. Pedagogy focuses on the ‘how’ of teaching, not the ‘what’. Although I do believe content and transference of knowledge does have a place in education, teaching our students to be resilient, collaborative, confident and most of all lovers of education is the end goal when deciding on a pedagogical approach that is right for one as a practitioner or as a school.   A detailed strategic plan, that can be delivered to SMT, for the implementation of Successful Futures in your setting based on an initial SWOT analysis. Purpose The purpose of the strategic plan and SWOT analysis is to review and evaluate the progress of the implementation of Successful Futures at my setting (School A). Allowing appropriate targets, goals and actions to be set in order to continue the journey of implementation of the New Curriculum, before becoming a statutory requirement in 2022. School structure School A is situated in a semi-rural area and has strong links within its local area and community. There are 246 full-time pupils on roll, aged between 3 and 11 years. There are 7 classes and 2 part-time Nursery classes. Fifty-two pupils attend the nursery class in the morning or the afternoon. Nearly all pupils are of white British origin, and English is the first language for nearly all pupils. Around 20% of pupils are eligible for free school meals, which is similar to the national average. The school indicates that about 28% of pupils have additional learning needs. This is higher than the national average. There are a few pupils with a statement of special educational needs/ additional learning needs.   SWOT analysis Strengths Weaknesses -Changes have been implemented with the way in which teachers plan lessons around the four core purposes. -Teams of staff have been set up in line with the six areas of learning experiences, the teams attended the workshop of their AOLE, dissected the progression steps and what matters statements and fed back to staff in meetings. -Immersion days have been set up at the beginning of each topic. -The four core purposes have been introduced and explained to pupils. Pupils are encouraged to make links with the purposes and their learning. -Classroom environments have been adapted to encourage independent learning and appropriate challenge. -A member of staff has taken on the role as New Curriculum lead to attend courses, keep up to date with changes and progress, feeding back to staff at meetings. -Time has been given to staff to research and develop professionally. -Criw Cymraeg set up and Bronze Award achieved -Lack of Teachers knowledge of Welsh language to use it at appropriate levels. -Although the four core purposes have been introduced to the learners, Key Stage 2 pupils have understood it better than Foundation Phase pupils, who are getting confused with the vocabulary and struggle to make links between the purposes and their work. -Lack of metacognition and growth mindset strategies. -Lack of understanding of the 12 pedagogical principles Opportunities Threats -More opportunities for cross-curricular links and flexibility of the structure of the day. -Opportunity to introduce Metacognitive and growth mindset strategies. -To continue to move towards using e-portfolios for assessment opportunities. -To develop a way in which younger pupils can understand and engage with the four core purposes. -To make our own individual curriculum that is purposeful and engaging for our learners. -By including pupil voice in planning of lessons, skills and topics staff are reminded to ensure a range and depth of skills are covered appropriately and purposefully throughout the year. -Uncertainty of how to structure the school day may lead to staff continuing to do what has always been done.   Strategic Plan to be delivered to the Senior Management Team Priority: To effectively prepare teaching staff, trainee teachers, support staff, governors and learners for the move towards the New Curriculum for Wales. Progress to date: The school began the implementation process by undertaking a self-evaluation, linked to the goals and priorities of the school development plan. The deputy head teacher was appointed to become the new curriculum lead for the school. This entails attending forums, workshops and meetings, keeping up to date with the draft, changes and timeline. The new curriculum lead regularly feeds back to all members of staff with key messages at staff meetings, emails and less formal professional discussions. Senior leaders developed a plan for staff professional development. The senior management team place great importance on planning for change. Staff have been provided with focused time to engage in research to prepare for the new curriculum. Regular learning conversations between staff, for example during planned curriculum development time on teacher release days, have enabled staff to engage in action research. The school had made links with other schools out of the locality to share good practise and look at how other schools have implemented the new curriculum in their setting. Where are we now? How did we get here? Planning has been aligned to the four core purposes Changes to the way in which teachers plan lessons have been made. No longer are teachers planning sessions alone, pupils voice and parent voice have an influence on activities and lessons, with teachers ensuring skills are met appropriately in a way in which the learners can engage with. Staff use the four core purposes to help plan curriculum content that suits the needs of pupils. Immersion days have been set up at the beginning of each topic. The immersion days provide a variety of creative and stimulating activities, introducing pupils to the next topic, pupils are given the opportunity to mind map activities for future learning using the six AOLE’s. Pupils are given time to reflect and think about the experiences their new topic could provide. They decide what they would like to learn more about and what skills they would like to develop during the theme. Parents and guardians are also given the opportunity to discuss the mind maps with pupils, adding their thoughts and ideas to the mind map to inform teachers planning. Progress has been made towards establishing the 6 Areas of Learning Experiences (AOLE’s) Teams of teaching staff and support staff have been set up, to ensure each teacher has a responsibility to one of the six areas of learning experiences (AOLE’s). The teams attended the workshop of their specific AOLE, dissecting the progression steps and what matters statements, relaying back to staff in meetings. Four Core purposes embedded in all aspects of teaching and learning The four core purposes have been introduced and explained to pupils. They were introduced using four emoji’s, one for each purpose. E.g. Smiling emoji to represent ambitious capable learner etc. The emoji’s are displayed in every classroom and staff encourage pupils to make links with the purposes and their learning. Staff given opportunities to develop professionally The first research project given to staff was to look at purposeful classroom environments that reflect the four core purposes underpinning the six AOLE’s, whilst stimulating pupils learning, encouraging them to become independent learners with an appropriate degree of challenge. Staff then used their research, learning walks and visits to other school and learning conversations with one another to develop their classroom environment one area at a time. Regular learning walks by staff are completed throughout the school to share good practice and ensure a degree of consistency is clear from Nursery through to Year 6. Key aims and objectives Rationale and action How will we know it has been successful? Ensuring all pupils have a sound understanding of the four core purposes and can make links with the purposes and learning Although the four core purposes have been introduced to all learners, Key Stage 2 pupils have understood it better than Foundation Phase pupils and are independently able to make links between the purpose and the learning. Unlike many Foundation Phase learners who are confused with the vocabulary of the four core purposes. After visiting other schools outside of the locality and looking at how they have successfully implemented the four core purposes to their learners, I believe the next step is to make them recognizable to all learners. For example, one school introduced animated characters that the learners had developed in class, the learners made short stories for each character e.g. Ambitious Alice who set goals for herself, asks plenty of questions, loves researching etc. Each character and the purpose they represented were introduced every week for four weeks with learners getting to know the purposes well. The learners are encouraged to “be like ambitious Alice” during lessons so links are made and understood by all learners in the school. I feel that this encouraged all pupils to be part of the journey of curriculum change for their school and learners were more aware of the purposes and took pride in making links to their work. Action: Establish child friendly characters with stories/descriptions. Introduce to all learners making links with their learning. Both KS2 pupils and Foundation Phase pupils to be able to explain what the four core purposes mean. All pupils to be able to identify/name the four core purposes. Students to be able to make links between their learning and its purpose. Ensure a sound understanding of the pedagogical principles and creativity with a focus on metacognition and Growth Mindset Successful Futures notes that pedagogy is central to the New Curriculum, that good teaching and learning supports social and emotional development and is integral to achieving the four purposes of the curriculum all of which metacognition and growth mindset strategies support. School does not use metacognition or growth mindset strategies as part of daily teaching and learning. I feel that using strategies would foster more resilient and independent attitudes towards learning and nurture lifelong learning in our pupils. Strategies to implement could include the Learning Pit and The Power of Yet. Both of these strategies can encourage learners to accept mistakes are part of the learning process, that learning is different for everyone and can instill a sense of determination in our pupils which mirror our school ethos of building brighter futures. Action: Every class to introduce the Learning Pit and The Power of Yet Teachers to view informational videos explaining the strategies https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3IMUAOhuO78 https://www.ted.com/talks/carol_dweck_the_power_of_believing_that_you_can_improve?language=en Baseline questionnaire on Pupils attitudes towards Growth Mindset to be completed before introducing strategies and again after a full term of implementation. Welsh to be imbedded in everyday language Under the New Curriculum, Welsh will no longer be classed as a second language in English-medium schools, it is important to imbed Welsh as part of everyday language and conversations, not exclusively during Welsh lessons. School has made progress in embedding Welsh language by setting up a Criw Cymraeg and achieving the Cymraeg Campus Bronze award, however, more work is to be done. Action: Training for the Silver Award needs to be completed and staff need to attend training to up skill their Welsh language skills and knowledge. Staff audit on Welsh language skills to be completed at the beginning on term and again at the end. Staff attend training if necessary Welsh coordinator and criw cymraeg to begin targets for Silver award for Cymraeg Campus. Restructuring the school day Since moving towards the new curriculum, subjects being more cross curricular, there has been some uncertainty of how to structure the school day which may lead to staff continuing to do what has always been done, teaching isolated subjects without making strong connections within topics. Action: Research, visits to other schools, Key Stage 2 teachers taking to Foundation Phase and observing Foundation Phase lessons may be beneficial as Foundation Phase ethos lends itself to the new curriculum and after talking to Foundation Phase staff they feel more confident in making links between subjects than Key Stage 2 staff do. More evidence of cross curricular lessons being taught Twelve pedagogical principles that underpin the new curriculum Teachers need the skills to teach the new curriculum well. Chapter 5 of ‘Successful Futures’ describes in detail 12 Pedagogical Principles that underpin the new curriculum. Action: Survey teachers, check how confident they are with each principle. Dissect each principle in staff meetings to ensure staff are well informed. Overcoming potential barriers: Six key aims and objectives have been set out after reviewing the SWOT analysis. Alongside the rationale and action for every aim and success criteria, it is also worth being aware of potential barriers and risks to implementing these actions. • Implementing metacognitive and growth mindset strategies There is an abundance of metacognitive and growth mindset strategies available. This may lead to an inconsistent approach across the whole school. Implementation may be more successful if one teacher or a triad of teachers take the professional lead to develop the strategies with a pedagogical approach. This would entail attending courses, participating in professional research and visiting other schools in order to make an informed decision on which strategies will have the biggest impact for our learners. Implementing the choses strategy as a whole school approach, both Early Years and Key Stage Two to ensure continuity and consistency. • Re-structuring the school day to enable cross-curricular links Without research on how to structure the school day in a purposeful way, there is a risk that the day may become too flexible and unstructured. Not only do classes need to share communal space such as the halls and outdoor areas, but there are also limited technological resources available that need to be shared fairly amongst the classes, this may be a potential barrier for flexibility, therefore, a rota may need to be put in place to ensure potential conflicts of space and resources are avoided. Another potential risk involves many of our pupils, particularly students with additional learning needs, thrive when there is routine and structure in their school life. Therefore, experimenting too freely risks unsettling these learners. More research, visits to pioneer schools and discussion with teachers in other settings can help us make a whole school decision and approach to the restructure of the day. Keeping learners informed and updated prior to structural changes can ease the transition for these learners. • Using pupil voice to plan themes and topics that learners will engage with Whilst the New Curriculum allows for more teacher autonomy with what content is taught, it is vital that there is a range of depth and coverage of skills being taught. The risk with more options of topics and themes is that a topic may be repeated multiple times during a learner’s school career. The impact of pupil engagement and enjoyment may suffer if this occurs. In order to avoid this, teachers need to be engaging in ongoing conversations about topics chosen, whilst there may be an element of overlapping, teachers must ensure the depth of skills deepen throughout pupil’s progression through the school. Using tools such as the cornerstones tracking could help ensure the skills are taught, as well as INCERTS on SIMS. Teachers need to ensure all data and an up to date record of skills taught are passed on as the learners move throughout the school in the class file with other relevant information. Documenting progress of action steps Senior Management Team (SMT) to evaluate progress on a half-termly basis. Strategic plan to be formally reviewed and targets updated in Autumn Term 2020.   The construction of an A3 poster intended to engage your colleagues in a dialogue about Successful Futures. Include a rationale and critical evaluation of your work. After completing a SWOT analysis on my setting (School A’s) implementation of Successful futures, one weakness in particular stood out to me as it had not been addressed in school previously. School A does not currently teach any metacognitve strategies, I believe this would be of great benefit to our learners and help our our-going journey of the implementation of the New Curriculum. The lack of metacognition and growth mindset strategies which work towards achieving the four core purposes through pedagogy is a large element of the New Curriculum. Metacognition and Growth Mindset have strong links to several of Donaldson’s twelve pedagogical principles including assessment for learning, collaboration, social and emotional development and encouraging learners to take responsibility of their own learning. Therefore, I decided to focus my poster on this, as I believe it to be the most beneficial for both staff and pupils in moving forward on our journey of implementing the New Curriculum for Wales in our setting. More research was required from myself to gain knowledge and insight into successful strategies to be able to implement Metacognition and Growth Mindset in my setting. I began looking into what metacognition is defined as. Metacognition is defined by Price-Mitchell (2015) as students gaining awareness of their own mental states by beginning to answer important questions through refection. I believe metacognition needs to be promoted within my setting as Scardamalia et al (1984) suggests that metacognitive practices increase students’ abilities to transfer or adapt their learning to new contexts and by gaining a level of awareness. Giving learners the ability to think about the tasks and contexts of different learning situations and themselves as learners in these different contexts. Pintrich (2002) places importance of the presence of metacognitive skills in schools by suggesting that students who are aware of the different kinds of strategies for learning, thinking, and problem solving will be more likely to use them effectively in daily learning. I linked metacognition with Growth Mindset for the purpose of my poster as I feel the two concepts are interlinked. Both metacognition and growth mindset foster resilience, understanding of how one learns and critical thinking in pupils. Although Growth Mindset is not a new concept, first mentioned in education over thirty years ago, I believe that it has such strong links to the aims of Successful Futures and the twelve pedagogical principles that it is more relevant now than ever. The benefits of teaching growth mindset strategies in the classroom are clear as Dweck (2015) suggests that many students have a tendency to give up when they encounter failure and hardship in studies because they believe that it means they are not good enough. This is what is referred to as a fixed mindset. Growth mindset, however, focuses on the learners knowing they are capable of overcoming the challenges of learning new skills in all areas of learning. This reflects Vygotsky’s (1978) concept of the Zone of Proximal Development, the distance between the actual developmental level determined by independent and the level of potential development as determined through problem solving under adult guidance or in collaboration with more capable peers. During a visit to another school I noticed every classroom had a display called ‘The Learning Pit’, the learners told me how they enjoyed using the Learning Pit, they felt it encouraged them to ‘keep going’ when they felt stuck in their learning and that peers helped one other to ‘get out of the pit’. After more research I found that The Learning Pit is a growth mind set strategy developed by James Nottingham. Nottingham (2007) stated The Learning Pit was designed to help students think and talk about their learning. He goes on to compare it to a child-friendly representation of Vygotsky’s (1978) zone of proximal development. I decided to include this strategy in the poster as I believe if implemented well it could successfully improve standards and pupils attitudes towards learning in my setting. Details of the poster are as relevant as the aesthetics. My aim was for the poster to answer three questions in particular. What is metacognition and growth mindset? Why is it important? How do we implement it? I Answer these questions in the text. Cousins (2018) suggests providing the information in a clear and concise manner. Research suggests avoiding large paragraphs of text, breaking up large blocks of text into short readable statements. I used bullet points to achieve this. After decided on a focus and details of the poster, researching Metacognition and Growth Mindset deeper, my next step was to decide on the most impactful poster structure and features to encourage staff to engage in a dialogue about pedagogy and Successful Futures. Soegaard (2019) explains that research explains how brains make sense of new information, emphasising the importance of setting out posters, web design and any informational works with a specific arrangement. Soegaard (2019) states that people tend to approach new information from top to bottom and left to right. Therefore, I made the decision to lay the poster out in this order. I displayed the title clearly at the top, a brief introduction in the top left corner and the next steps to conclude the poster at the bottom right. Everson (2016) discusses the importance of font and font size on a A3 poster, stating font size should be large enough to be legible from at least a meter away, suggesting 16-18pt for text and 24-46pt for titles. Everson (2016) also discusses choosing no more than 2-3 fonts, different enough to be distinguishable but also create a unified design as to engage the reader but not to cause confusion. I chose calibri and comic sans as they are easy to read, avoiding script fonts as Everson (2016) suggests this can cause the reader to squint and strain eyes, resulting in the reader quickly losing interest in the content. My aim of the poster is for the reader to want to deepen their understanding, carry out further research and engage in professional dialogue about the content, therefore it is vital I avoid font that causes them to lose interest or that is too difficult to read. Cousins (2018) spoke about graphics enhancing a poster, but not too many as to confuse the reader. I added some simple graphics and an illustration of the four core purposes as this illustration is one that is familiar to staff, making it clear that metacognition and growth mindset support the new Curriculum. I decided to use complementary colours rather than bright colours after looking at a range of research. Although some studies suggested bright, bold colours to catch the reader’s attention, other research suggested that academic posters colours should not distract from the content, therefore I decided on using cooler, calmer colours. After completing the poster, on critical reflection, I could have included more diagrams to make key messages clearer on first glance. There is an abundance of information in the text on the poster that on reflection could have been more successfully achieved through images and diagrams. However, I believe the structure of the poster is successful, I clearly set out a starting point and a point of conclusion or next steps as a call for action. I linked the purpose of the poster to the New Curriculum for Wales as all staff are familiar with the four core purposes. I feel the best way to explain the metacognitive and growth mindset strategies is through videos, I did not include links or QR codes on my poster, on reflection, I could have included these to make the poster more interactive and this could have persuaded staff to engage in a deeper professional conversation.