Public expectation for higher standards and accountability will always be a driving force in education. From the stance that this is a perfectly acceptable expectation as it is every child's right to a great education, then this is a good thing. However from the political machinations that this expectation will evolve, it is more a negative impact.
"for every increment of performance I require of you, I have a responsibility to provide you with the additional capacity to produce that performance"
Elmore, 2004
Or ' doing the work with learning how to improve the work'
Key questions
What kinds of PLD create the biggest shift in teacher practice?
what type of learning organisation and teacher culture supports this shared and sustained focus on improvement?
Leadership of teacher learning
Promoting and participating in teacher learning has a huge impact (0.84) - by this leadership it is meant that it is beyond just resourcing and organising systems for pld.
Why is this such a big impact?
Symbolic importance-
- Leaders are modelling student focused dialogue- by which I mean the leaders are happy to give up their time in order to discuss and focus on learners as a top priority in the school. Because of this modeled attitude teachers feel that giving extra is a natural part and are willing to give more
- Professional dialogue highlights leaders understanding of the concepts, vocabulary and pedagogical development of teacher practice and needs contextualised to learners in their class
- having the above gives leaders first hand feeling for the challenges, conditions and capabilities that surround the complex world of teaching and learning for their teachers. This experience means that leaders can setup systems and learning spaces to ensure that the teachers can access PLD that meets their needs, in order to address the needs of their learners.
Extent to which teachers identified leader as a friend did not have an impact on how successful this leadership dimension was:)
Teacher Learning as a collective endeavor
This is the village to raise a child concept and in our team it is a prevalent form of teacher learning. However this collective endeavor to be learners to support our learners, needs certain parameters to succeed:
- all need to have student achievement at the center
- all need to have a growth ( not deficit) mindset about practice
- all need to be able to honestly dialogue their own abilities and needs
Teacher learning as a collective endeavor build instructional programme coherence. By which is meant that as teachers we dialogue about our teaching, how we teach, what we teach, what is and isn't effective and by doing so we raise a shared understanding of our teaching and learning. This allows us to be able to give and receive feedback from colleagues centered on our shared vision of what is successful practice.
This Professional Learning Community ( PLC) concept for a collective endeavor means that as teachers we all share responsibility for our learners and all other learners in the school...including our learner colleagues.
If we as teachers know that we can access support and expertise from our colleagues and value this as a support then we are more likely to be open about our needs as learners ourselves.
Community Engagement L@S from Cheryl Doig
Creating a climate for improvement
Non-negotiable we agree on that underpin things we agree are very important for us as an SLT to have as a goal
How resolute am I as a leader to creating expectations for continuous improvement in practice?
Do I keep a focus on continuous improvement for learners? ( not sticking with compliance)
Do I provide time, space, dispensation for innovation and support risk taking?
Engaging Teachers' theory of Action
To get change we as an SLT need to engage our theory of action with the teachers theory of action about changes that need to happen based on data. To engage our ideals with our teachers ideals then we need to have strong relational trust and then we need to surface the thinking of ourselves and our teachers around the change we can see that needs to happen . This requires us as an slt to ask questions that are always based on the data- So what are you going to do to change this? What else do you think you could do?
By doing this we are creating a shared vision for what we believe and then we can agree to try something as a way to create change in our practice that is based on evidence
Creating a climate for improvement
Non-negotiable we agree on that underpin things we agree are very important for us as an SLT to have as a goal
How resolute am I as a leader to creating expectations for continuous improvement in practice?
Do I keep a focus on continuous improvement for learners? ( not sticking with compliance)
Do I provide time, space, dispensation for innovation and support risk taking?
Engaging Teachers' theory of Action
To get change we as an SLT need to engage our theory of action with the teachers theory of action about changes that need to happen based on data. To engage our ideals with our teachers ideals then we need to have strong relational trust and then we need to surface the thinking of ourselves and our teachers around the change we can see that needs to happen . This requires us as an slt to ask questions that are always based on the data- So what are you going to do to change this? What else do you think you could do?
By doing this we are creating a shared vision for what we believe and then we can agree to try something as a way to create change in our practice that is based on evidence
