Making sense of target setting! Setting SMART Targets

What are we going to do? Define what ‘SMART’ targets are Explore some examples of SMART targets to improve our ability to set them with students Analyse some assessments from the ILP and come up with some SMART targets of our own

What’s SMART? Good targets need to be:

Why? If set targets are not SMART, there’s no way to tell if they’ve been successful or not

An example “I want more money.” Have I succeeded if I find 1p in the street? What if I find 50p? How would I know?

Another example “I want to lose weight.” Have I succeeded if I lose 2 grams? Have I succeeded if I lose a kilogram? What if it takes me 5 years to do it? Am I still successful?

What does SMART mean? Let’s look at what each letter stands for....

S is for Specific “Specific” means that you have to say what you want to do, very clearly.

Specific Targets.. “I want to lose weight” is NOT specific. “I want to lose 4 kilos” is specific.

M is for Measurable Measurable targets tell you exactly what you need to do to succeed. “I want to be able to run 800 metres faster” is not measurable. How much faster do I want to be able to go?

A Measurable Target “I want to run 800 metres in 2.5 minutes” is measurable. If I run 800 metres in 4 minutes, I know I haven’t succeeded yet!

A is for Achievable. “I’m going to earn £3,000 by next week” is probably NOT achievable – unless your job is robbing banks! Neither is: “I am going to run 800 metres in 2 seconds.”

An Achievable Target An achievable target has to be something you can do. “I am going to read for 10 minutes every day this week” is probably achievable for most people.

R is for Relevant What I’m going to do needs to help me to get what I want. If I want to get fit, finding out about famous footballers won’t help.

A Relevant Target It would be more useful to do some football practice every day!

T is for Timed If I don’t know how much time I have, I don’t know when to take action. How hard do I have to train? When does my work have to be completed?

A Timed Target “I want to be able to run 800 metres in 2.5 minutes by August 5th, this year” is a timed target. Now I can arrange a training routine.

So remember... Targets must be: Specific Measurable Achievable Relevant Timed

Some examples making targets SMART: Get a better grade in English Join in more in class Improve my spelling Achieve a C in all my assignments in English by Christmas Put my hand up at least five times in every ICT lesson by Christmas Practice/test key vocabulary in Sport with my friends/family each weekend until Christmas

Some examples making targets SMART: Behave better in Functional skills Do better Be more involved To have two praise comments in Maths by Christmas Hand my homework in on time each week for the rest of the term Go to one club each week with a friend until Christmas

Your task Read the background information and suggested strategies on the hand-outs (this is what you will see on the ILP) See if you can come up with three SMART targets based on this information

TM – “Encourage TM to proofread his work to check spelling and punctuation” Read back each piece of my written work before I hand it in for the rest of the term.

CN – “Struggles with reading and may need support from an LSA with this” I will go to the library and take out a reading book by September 25 th. I will read for ten minutes every night until November 1st.

GA – “Support GA to structure his ideas and written work by encouraging planning using mind-maps.” I will download the ‘my study bar’ application onto my P drive by October 1 st. I will learn to use the mind-mapping tool by practising three times a week by October 15 th.

Any questions?