Professional Development for Teachers

Professor Stephen Dinham OAM Chair of Teacher Education and Director of Learning and Teaching Melbourne Graduate School of Education

WHAT ARE WE HERE FOR?

the focus of every school, every educational system and every education department or faculty of education [should be] student learning and achievement. Dinham, 2008: 1).

Its the Teacher

... the most important factor affecting student learning is the teacher. ... The immediate and clear implication of this finding is that seemingly more can be done to improve education by improving the effectiveness of teachers than by any other single factor. Wright, S.; Horn, S. & Sanders, W. (1997). 'Teacher and Classroom Context Effects on Student Achievement: Implications for Teacher Evaluation', Journal of Personnel Evaluation in Education, 11, pp. 57-67.

*Dinham (2008) ACER Press

http://shop.acer.edu.au/acer-shop/product/A4066BK

Four Fundamentals of Student Success (Dinham, 2008)*

QUALITY TEACHING

FOCUS ON THE STUDENT (Learner, Person)

LEADERSHIP

PROFESSIONAL LEARNING

Professional Learning

Student Learning is heavily dependent on teacher learning

 an age of evidence

teacher professional learning needs to be built upon an evidential foundation of what works in teaching, not fad, fantasy, idealism, ideology or rhetoric. Dinham, Stephen, (2008) Innovative and effective professional learning for student accomplishment, Curriculum Corporation conference, Melbourne, 19 June, 2008.

Leadership for Teacher Learning

Although teachers have an undeniably large influence on student results, they are able to maximise that influence only when they are supported by school and system leaders who give them the time, the professional learning opportunities, and the respect that are essential for effective feedback to support instruction. (Reeves, 2010)

Leadership for Teacher Learning

leadership is the big enabler in successful schools. You can have good teaching without having a good school, but you cant have a good school without good leadership professional learning is the lever that helps leaders create the conditions in which teachers can teach effectively and students can learn. (Dinham, 2010)

Types of Teacher Learning

Traditional Formal pre-service ad hoc, on the job Professional associations Informal self-directed Formal in-service Formal postgraduate study

Types of Teacher Learning Alternative Approaches Action research Action learning Formal mentoring Professional standards/certification (mandatory, voluntary) Professional learning modules Learning communities Communities of practice

Trends in Teacher Learning

From To
Centralised System responsibility Off the shelf Generalised Off site, apart Input Passive External expert Individual learning Theory based Transactional Changing things Learning by seeing, hearing Using research Broad focus Decentralised Individual, collective responsibility Tailored Contextualised On site, embedded Outcomes Interactive External partner Community learning Problem based Relational Changing people Action learning Doing research Student/learning focus

Schools as Learning Communities

When all the definitions were pieced together the school as a learning community was perceived as a place where life-long learning takes place for all stakeholders for their own continuous growth and development, teachers act as exemplary learners, students are prepared adequately for the future, and mistakes become agents for further learning and improvement. Furthermore, it is a place where collaboration and mutual support is nurtured, clear shared visions for the future are built, and the physical environment contributes to learning. (Voulalas & Sharpe, 2005)

The Learning Community: What did we find? What works?

Case Studies:
1. 2. 3. 4. HSC Teaching Success AESOP Australian Government Quality Teaching Program NSW Quality Teaching Awards None of these projects was about learning communities per se, but each shed light on the dynamics of the phenomenon.

The Case Studies: How Does a Learning Community Develop and Sustain Itself?

The Learning Communities examined in the case studies were developed and sustained through:
A. B. C. D. E. F. Focus on Teaching and Learning Individual and Collective Belief and Support Problem Solving Internal Expectations and Accountability Leadership and Outside Influence Overall Dynamics

A. Focus on Teaching and Learning

1. Learning communities have a focus on learning and a

desire to learn about learning; there is use of pedagogic terminology, models and theory, coupled with a conscious effort to de-prioritise administration and management and re-prioritise learning within the group.

2. Members of learning communities see themselves and

their students as going somewhere, with learning being an on-going process; learning becomes contagious, with others catching the bug.

 Focus on Teaching and Learning

3. Within the group there is recognition that it is necessary

to change the way people think if there is to be change in how they act, and thus learning, reflection and questioning are important. Members of the group are concerned with establishing and maintaining upward, continuous cycles of improvement; they are not satisfied with the status quo.

4.

B. Individual and Collective Belief and Support

5. Group members possess and demonstrate belief and

respect for their profession and discipline; they believe in, even love their area and communicate this to others. Members of the group pay attention to social maintenance, trying to make their school, department, or faculty a good place (MacBeath, 2006); members care for each other and their students as people and social and professional relationships are important.

6.

C. Problem Solving

7. There is an emphasis on problem or issue

based learning and recognition of what is important, with dialogue around identified issues and potential solutions.

8. Experimentation, risk taking and innovation in

teaching and learning are encouraged and are a feature of learning communities; there is questioning rather than acceptance of constraints.

 Problem Solving

9. Teaching and learning are context and person specific, 10.

with efforts to contextualise and modify as necessary externally derived solutions or approaches. There is on-going reflection on and evaluation of existing and new measures within the learning community, coupled with data-informed decision making.

D. Internal Expectations and Accountability

11. The group creates a climate of high expectations and 12. 13.
professionalism which members rise to, not wanting to let anyone down, not least students. Members of the group empower each other to take the lead in learning, in turn enhancing individual and group leadership capacity and effectiveness. Accountability is to the group, more than to externally imposed accountability measures; group accountability and self-accountability are powerful influences on the learning communitys ethos, and action.

E. Leadership and Outside Influence

14. Leadership outside and within the group is important in 15.

stimulating and facilitating the learning community. While learning communities can develop without stimulus or action from above or outside, assistance, guidance, resources and encouragement from others within and in some cases outside the organisation can facilitate the learning process.

F. Overall Dynamics

16. Overall, what seems to work most effectively is a

combination of external understanding, advice, assistance and recognition, coupled with a focus on internal issues, with teacher and group learning to address these through empowerment and with internal action and accountability. Time, place, space and language are important elements in creating a learning community.

17.

Implications and Conclusions

Learning communities can support teachers professional

learning and improve student achievement.

However, learning communities cannot be mandated,

built or maintained in a technical, mechanistic sense.

Rather, these need to be encouraged, nourished and

sustained in the manner of an organic system.

Implications and Conclusions

Some organisations and groups suffer from learning

disabilities. These need to be assessed/diagnosed in the same way we would with a student and suitable interventions adopted.

Educational leaders need to ensure that teaching and

learning are central concerns of the educational organisation and that nothing is allowed to obstruct or distort this central focus.

Implications and Conclusions

There is a challenge for educational leaders to deal with

situations where learning has atrophied. McBeath has noted (2006: 19):
It is hard for teachers to shed an outer skin which has calcified over many years in the classroom where dialogue is a rare commodity no matter how hard teachers strive for it, and in which instruction is the norm.

Building a learning community is not about fixing

teachers.

Finally, the studies showed

Dialogue and innovation around quality teaching and

learning have emerged and re-invigorated jaded teachers who are now active participants in learning communities.

Latent leadership potential has emerged and in turn

facilitated further change and improvement in the groups concerned.

It is never too late to nourish the learning community.

The Essential Messages

Quality teaching matters Leadership is the big enabler Professional Learning is essential The best classrooms, departments, schools, and even
systems have a central focus on students as learners and people

Educational systems, leaders and teachers need to plan,

proceed, assess, evaluate and modify as necessary ON THE BASIS OF EVIDENCE.

Data is not just about compliance it is about improvement Vision is important but it must rest on evidence.

 Copyright The University of Melbourne 2009