From Curriculum Planning to Timetabling

- Generating timetables based on curriculum proposals for a 24-class

secondary school

More examples are available in 334 Website

http://www.emb.gov.hk/index.aspx?langno=1&nodeid=5522

What questions are asked first in NSS Curriculum Planning

• Which subjects are to be offered?• How to offer?

– Taster year – students study 4X in S4?– 3X or 2X in S5 & S6?– Applied Learning (ApL)?– Collaboration with other schools? – Flexible grouping?– No. of group for each subject?– No. of lessons for the subject?– How the additional resources like CEG, TPPG, SSCG can be used

effectively?– …

How can these questions be answered?

• Survey on student interest and inclination in S3• Reference to available human resources – matchin

g teachers’ expertise with students’ demand to decide on the subjects offered and the number of groups of each subject

• Reference to other available resources / opportunities – school facilities, ApL courses available

Overview of NSS Curriculum Plan for the 24-Class Secondary School

• Class Structure 444 444• Timetable structure:

– 40 minutes / period– 8 periods / day– 6 days / cycle

• Progression of Study: 4X in S4; 2-3X (including Applied Learning) for S5-6

• No of elective subjects planned to offer: 11• Elective subjects planned to offer:

– Bio, Chem, Phy, Econ, Geog, Hist, Chi Hist, BAFS, ICT, VA, Science (Combined)

• Ways to cater for learner diversity:– Science (Combined) in place of 2 science subjects in S5-6– Applied Learning in S5-6

Curriculum Structure (S4)Subjects offered No. of periods % of Time allocation

English 8 16.7%

56.3%Chinese 7 14.6%

Mathematics 7 14.6%

L.S. 5 10.4%

Electives* 4 (x4) 33.3%

OLE# 5 10.4%

Total 48 100%

#More other learning experiences (OLE) like community service, career-related experiences, moral and civic education, physical and aesthetic experiences are provided to students after school or in post-examination school days, etc. In the present case, at least 2 periods are reserved for PE. 3 other periods are marked as OLE in the timetable shown later.

Curriculum Structure (S5-6)Subjects offered No. of periods % of Time allocation

English 8 16.7%

56.3%Chinese 7 14.6%

Mathematics 7 14.6%

L.S. 5 10.4%

Electives** 5 (x3) 31.2%

OLE# 6 12.5%

Total 48 100%

Groups of Elective Subjects offered in S4

Notes on how to put the subjects into different groups:• Popular subjects offered in more than 1 group (e.g. Econ, ICT)• Mutually exclusive minority subjects put in the same group (None in t

his case)• Popular subject combinations put in different groups (e.g. More studen

ts opt for Chem+Bio, Hist+Geog)• Symmetrical groups as far as possible (Maximise use of school resour

ces)

Group 1 Phy Chem Econ Geog C. Hist

Group 2 Phy Chem VA Geog ICT

Group 3 Bio Hist Econ BAFS ICT

Group 4 Bio Hist Econ C.Hist ICT

Groups of Elective Subjects offered in S4

Facts:• 172 possible subject combinations• Students can experience the learning and teaching of subjects from dif

ferent KLAs• On average, each group made up of only 32 students (= 40x4/5) – addr

essing the issue of workload to a certain extent

Group 1 Phy Chem Econ Geog C. Hist

Group 2 Phy Chem VA Geog ICT

Group 3 Bio Hist Econ BAFS ICT

Group 4 Bio Hist Econ C.Hist ICT

Groups of Elective Subjects offered in S5

Notes on packing of subjects:• From 160 students with 4X to 160 students with 2-3X, therefore ample room for packing• Interactive approach needed in deciding how to pack subjects (i.e. students interest + students’ performa

nce in S4) – appropriate student guidance needed• So long as number of subjects in a group > number of classes, most groups will be operating in a numbe

r less than 40 (In fact, with some subjects that are less resource-bound accommodating more students e.g. 35, the others can be taught in even smaller groups)

• So long as there are enough teachers, may expand the number of subjects in a group to cater for more different subject combinations (e.g. Chi Hist in Group 3) – giving more choices

• Similarly, BAFS is split into 2 groups to cater for the Accounting Module and the Management Module

Group 1 Phy Science (Combined

)

Econ Geog C. Hist

Group 2 Phy Chem VA Geog ICT

Group 3 Bio Hist Econ BAFS1BAFS2

ICT C. Hist

Groups of Elective Subjects offered in S5

Facts:• 108 possible subject combinations

Group 1 Phy Science (Combined

)

Econ Geog C. Hist

Group 2 Phy Chem VA Geog ICT

Group 3 Bio Hist Econ BAFS1BAFS2

ICT C. Hist

But how does the proposed curriculum structure fit into a timetable for the whole school?

Will it work?

Other requirements in Timetabling

• No planned lesson unscheduled• 1 Chinese Language lesson scheduled on each school day• 1 English Language lesson scheduled on each school day• 1 Mathematics lesson scheduled on each school day• No multiple periods (e.g. double period or triple period)

across break such as recess or lunch• No PE lessons scheduled just after the lunch time• Teachers with no more than 6 periods on each school day• All lessons scheduled in the special rooms required• All non-PE OLE lessons scheduled after lunch

To give you a feel that this is a genuine case … Curriculum and timetabling requirements for S1-2 as follows:

Subjects offered No. of periods Single period Double period

English 10 4 3

Chinese 8 4 2

Mathematics 7 5 1

Life Education 3 1 1

C. History 2 2 0

E.P.A. 1 1 0

Geography 2 2 0

History 2 2 0

P.E. 2 0 1

Visual Arts 2 0 1

Music 2 2 0

PTH 1 1 0

I.S. 5 3 1

Computer Literacy 1 1 0

Total 48

Similarly, curriculum and timetabling requirements for S3 as follows:

Subjects offered No. of periods Single period Double period

English 10 4 3

Chinese 8 4 2

Mathematics 7 5 1

Life Education 3 1 1

C. History 2 2 0

E.P.A. 1 1 0

Geography 2 2 0

History 2 2 0

P.E. 2 0 1

Visual Arts 2 0 1

Music 1 1 0

PTH 1 1 0

Physics 2 0 1

Chemistry 2 0 1

Biology 2 0 1

Computer Literacy 1 1 0

Total 48

Samples of Timetablegenerated by WebSAMS

version 1.21 (Build 02032006) We will continue to upgrade WebSAMS or develop other tools for schools to perform timetabling – further trial runs and your su

pport needed

OLE for Other Learning Experiences

Reading to Learn

Requirements Degree of meeting the requirements

No planned lesson unscheduled 100%

At least 1 Chinese Language scheduled on each school day

100% for S1 to S358% for S4 to S6 (5 classes with 1 school day without Chinese)

At least 1 English Language lesson scheduled on each school day

100% for S1 to S383.3% for S4 to S6 (2 classes with 1 school day without English)

At least 1 Mathematics lesson scheduled on each school day

100% for S1 to S3.75% for S4 to S6 (3 classes with 1 school day without Mathematics)

No multiple periods (e.g. double period or triple period) across break such as recess or lunch

100%

No PE lessons just after the lunch time 100%

Teacher with no more than 6 periods on each school day

84%8 teachers with 7 periods on the same day

All lessons scheduled in the special rooms required

100%

All non-PE OLE lessons scheduled after lunch 100%

How about the teacher workload?

Teacher with no more than 6 periods on each school day

84%8 teachers with 7

periods on the same day

• On average, each teacher will be teaching about 30 periods per cycle (as shown in a table on flexible grouping later). The actual workload depends on how flexible grouping is employed to address specific needs identified by the school and the school management can use the additional resources like CEG, SSCG, etc flexibly to address the needs. In the present case, the school deploys more resources to improve students’ English standard and on learning and teaching of LS.

This teacher is teaching 30 periods per cycle (48 periods).

More about Flexible Grouping

Flexible Grouping

• Provide a better learning environment to students

• Adjust the size of a group according to actual needs (Sometimes larger than the class size; sometimes smaller)

Different Ways to Implement Flexible Grouping

• Several elective subjects put together in groups to allow for different subject combinations

• For core subjects like Chinese, English and Mathematics, several classes come and mix together to form smaller groups for small-class teaching (e.g. 4 classes becoming 5 groups, or just the 2 weaker classes becoming 3 groups)

• Likewise, small-class teaching may be applied to only some of the lessons in the timetable (e.g. for oral practices)

• Biweekly mass lecture for Liberal Studies to introduce background concepts

• ...

Different Ways to Implement Flexible Grouping

• 4 classes 5 groupse.g. Having Chinese Language periods at the same time, all 4 classes will merge and become 5 groups

• Every 2 classes 3 groups, therefore 4 classes 6 groups e.g. Having English Language periods at the same time, 4A & 4B will merge and become 3 groups. It will be easier to arrange the timetable.

4A 4B 4C 4D

4A 4B 4C 4D

Different Ways to Implement Flexible Grouping

• Only 2 periods out of 6 periods splitse.g. Oral lessons in Languages, IES in Liberal Studies Day I Day II Day III Day IV Day V Day VI

(1)

(2)

(3) LS

Teacher A

(4) LS

Teacher A

(5) LS

Teacher A

(6) LS

Teacher A

(7) LS (IES)

Teachers A & B

(8) LS (IES)

Teachers A & B

(9)

Different Ways to Implement Flexible Grouping

• Offers 5 or 6 elective subjects in each elective group (Conduct survey to get initial picture of students’ choices)

In S4, students study 4 elective subjects Grouping of elective subjects:

In S5 & S6, students study 2-3 elective subjects

e.g.

Group 1 Phy Chem Econ Geog C HistGroup 2 Phy Chem VA Geog ICTGroup 3 Bio Hist Econ BAFS ICTGroup 4 Bio Hist Econ C Hist ICT

Group 1 Phy Sci (combined) Econ Geog C Hist

Group 2 Phy Chem VA Geog ICT

Group 3 Bio Hist Econ BAFS ICT C Hist

Estimation of Teaching Load with Flexible Groupinge.g.

• With appropriate use of flexible grouping, some of the issues associated with class-size for SBA are automatically solved– No more 40 students per class for science practicals

– Smaller groups for oral practices or speaking exercises

• Other strategies to address student workload in administering SBA– Staggered arrangement in accordance with the timeline for submitt

ing scores and reports provided by HKEAA

– Maintaining a central database on how and when SBA is to be conducted for each subject for each class

– Encouraging the use of SBA results to replace some of the mid-term test or exam results (formalising the importance of diversified modes of assessment and whole-person development)

Early Planning

• To test the different scenarios • To build up an initial working model for fine

adjustment in the future• To develop prototypes for discussion, consensus

building, identifying gaps in preparation (e.g. room conversion), etc

• To convert some of the uncertainties into certainties (after knowing some of the feasibilities)

• To ease teachers anxiety

Ways Ahead

• A project on how timetabling in NSS can be performed using alternative methods

• Trial runs of different methods and tools using more school data (schools with different settings and proposed curricula)

• Workshop on using WebSAMS to perform timetabling

• Enhancement of WebSAMS if appropriate

Thank You !!