Tuesday, 2 September 2014

Induction

Off to a Flying Start - Induction

“It’s the most wonderful time of the year!” Or that’s what that old Staples ‘back to school’ ad used to tell us at the end of the summer holiday period.   Whether it’s your favourite time of the year or not, Induction is a crucial time both for the college and for our learners.   It’s a time that sets the tone for the whole year, a time to make a good impression to our brand new students, and a time to lay the foundations for a smoother and easier year for staff too.
So, what do we focus on?  Well, I would suggest that five broad questions are particularly useful at this time of year.  Consider:

What do we need to find out about our new students?
In order for them to learn as well as they can, and in order for us to be able to help them to learn effectively whilst they are with us, what do we need to know about them?  How might we get this information from them during Induction activities within our sessions?

What expectations do we want to communicate to our students?
It is important that our students are aware of our high expectations. It may also be worth discussing and agreeing some class rules but also, very importantly, suggested sanctions for when these rules are broken.   It might be interesting to see what kinds of sanctions your students suggest for those who break the agreed class code of conduct!

What do our students need to know about the college and their chosen course? 
And how do we give them this information in an engaging way?
There are things that we need to tell our students really very swiftly such as what to do during a fire alarm, how to log onto the college IT systems, where the library is, how and when they’ll be assessed on their course, vital course-specific information around health and safety, etc, etc.   With so much information being directed at them, our new learners may start to feel a little jaded and so it also becomes vital that we consider HOW we are giving them this information.  Could they be engaged in finding the information out and then creating a wall-display or presentation for the rest of the group?  Might a ‘treasure hunt’ be a fun way to explore their new environment (maybe taking some selfies along the way!)? Could ex-students be used to impart any relevant information or to answer any questions? 

How can we make our new students feel integrated and welcome?

The thing that many new learners express the most anxiety about is whether they’ll ‘fit in’ and whether they’ll make new friends.  Icebreakers galore will help this tricky transition period and should help your learners to start to feel at home in no time.  I challenge you to create a new one, perhaps using paper chains, old newspapers, or dried pasta and plasticine.  

Friday, 25 July 2014

Professional Learning Communities - The What, How and Why

Following achievement of a teaching qualification, many teachers fail to prioritise their lifelong and continuous learning (Hustler et al, 2003). As it stands, the Institute for Learning (IFL, 2012) require FE teachers to undertake a mere 30 hours pro rata CPD and in Scotland, the General Teaching Council (GTC, 2013) require primary and secondary teachers to undertake a minimum of 35 hours. In England however, there is no prescribed quantity for primary and secondary teachers. Conversely, teachers in Singapore are entitled to 100 hours CPD per year, in addition to a budget of approximately £200-£350 per year to spend on their professional activities (OECD, 2011). This difference in CPD allowance correlates with the World Education Rankings (2009), whereby Singapore has above average Reading, Maths and Science scores, compared to the UK, who fair average in all three areas (OECD, 2009 cited in Sheppard 2010).

Those teachers that prioritise their CPD often find the training uninspiring due to a ‘one-size fits all approach’ that usually have unattractive financial costs (Hustler, et al, 2003). Darling-Hammond and Richardson (2009) and Scales (2011) support this notion with the suggestion that a new paradigm of professional development is needed in order to reject the ineffective ‘drive-by’ workshops that are commonplace in education, led by ‘experts’ from outside of the classroom telling teachers what to think and do. 

So what do I suggest?
Professional Learning Community (PLC) is a conceptual model focussing on the collaboration of a team sharing the same vision values and goals, working towards continuous improvement (Defour et al, 2009). Mullen (2009, p. 18) defines PLC as 'a model of school organization designed to foster collaboration and learning among school personnel and to harness this organizational learning to enhance the learning of all students'.

PLC’s are grounded in the assumptions that knowledge is best understood through critical reflection with others who share similar experiences and that increasing this knowledge will improve practice and enhance learning (Vesico et al, 2008).
                                                               "No man is an Island"

Current PLC literature indicates that if utilised effectively they can have a significant positive impact on teaching and learning (Cordingley et al, 2003; Bolam et al, 2005; Stoll et al, 2006; Parry, 2007). Cordingley et al (2003) found in their review that substantial improvements in teaching and learning are developed through collaborative CPD. The benefits to teachers included: greater confidence in taking risks, enhanced knowledge and practice and developed enthusiasm for collaborative learning, which benefited students learning. In addition to this, Stoll et al (2006) suggest that by developing PLC’s, there is considerable promise for building sustainable improvement across an institute. 


Here it is worth noting McMillan and Chavis’ (1986) work who state that there are four key factors that defines a sense of community in order for it to be effective: “(1) membership, (2) influence, (3) fulfilment of individuals needs and (4) shared events and emotional connections”. Newmann et al (1996) extend these factors with five essential characteristics of their own, including: shared values, a clear focus, reflective dialogue, making teaching public and finally collaboration. Both models appear to have collaboration and shared vision grounded within them. 

This has been evident in the literature whereby Graham (2007) found a positive correlation between PLC activities and teacher improvement in a first-year middle school and central to this improvement was same-subject, same-grade teacher teams. These findings are corroborated by Parry (2007), who investigated teacher effectiveness through structured collaboration in professional learning communities within a middle school. It was found that professional learning activities comprising of the same subject, teacher teams and grade had the potential to achieve significant improvements in teacher effectiveness. As can be seen, both of the articles above were successful based on collaboration and a shared vision (same subject). 


Parry (2007) also notes that the extent of the effectiveness was dependent upon leadership and the nature of the conversations within the learning communities. In light of this, in creating a learning community, one must ensure that those involved have some ownership and autonomy to promote engagement. Prescribing strategies to teachers inevitably removes the autonomy of those undertaking CPD. Conversely, too much ownership may result in a lack of focus and power struggles between individuals in the formation of the community.

Wiliam (2007) asserts that teachers need to engage with colleagues in a teacher learning community (TLC) for at least two years in order to see improvements in student learning. He also believes that the format of TLC’s is sustainable due to working independent from school management. It could be inferred from this that PLC’s should not have its agenda too tightly focused, firstly to allow for organic growth and secondly to ensure independence. 

So there we have it, all the evidence suggests that a PLC model has the potential to be a highly effective and engaging CPD tool. Though the impact is difficult to measure, the feedback I have received through using them in my role has been extremely positive, with a culture shift of willingness to share and participate in CPD. Below is a simple framework that I have used and though it does not use the research suggestions exactly, I tried to keep it as grounded in the research as possible.

  • Provide a series of focus areas that have arisen as development needs from observations, Ofsted etc...
  • Allow members to choose a PLC group with a focus that they wish to develop - no more than 6 members per group.
  • Provide a framework to allow the PLC to create a shared vision with action plans.
  • Schedule regular opportunities for teachers to meet (currently twice per term) and reflect over the academic year.
  • Encourage peer-to-peer observations to provide evidence of impact.

Demonstrating Learner Progress

In order to effectively demonstrate progress in lessons, here are 3 top tips that you may wish to follow:

Tip 1

1. Set clear, challenging learning outcomes/intentions.

Why?

Research by John Hattie has indicated that setting clear learning intentions has an effect-size of 0.56. In essence, this results in approximately a one grade improvement in learning. 

How?

Now setting learning intentions can be approached in a variety of ways. There is the traditional all, most and some will be able to..., the SOLO taxonomy graded approach which moves all learners through a series of levels from shallow to deep learning. You may also just have a series of questions that you wish the learners to answer, better still, get learners to individually set their own goals. How you choose to set them is up to you. I suggest that whatever approach you adopt, that you make them clear to all learners (this doesn't mean just telling them at the start and not referring to them until the end) and of course, challenging. You know your learners, stretch them all.


Tip 2
2. Provide learning opportunities for learners (common sense bit)

Why?

erm, no real need to explain this bit.

How?

This is the important bit. In order to learn, there will be a need for some tutor input and a fair amount of active learning. We are not just ensuring that learners learn the content, but we also need to focus on the wider skills development (communication, organisation etc) so need to provide the opportunities for learners to develop these.


Tip 3

3. Assess the learners during the session to aid future learning (Assessment FOR learning)

Why?

How will you know if they get it? Assessment for learning can take the form of many means. Used well, it allows the teacher to know if learners are progressing as expected. If they are not progressing, then perhaps revisit the learning intentions and tweak. That is if they find it both hard or easy.

How?

Research suggests that handing the ownership of assessment over to the learners can be more beneficial than solely relying on yourself to do it all. 

Teacher Questioning can be a brilliant tool - if used well! The research shows that it only has an effect-size of 0.41, which highlights to me that it often isn't done successfully. Try not to give away the answer to your question too quickly. Allow learners to consider their responses, bounce the question around the room and get as many to respond as possible before clarifying the correct answer. See the video below for more top tips. 

Peer assessment is really useful as whilst a learner is assessing their peer, they acquire a greater understanding of the criteria and feedback is often better received than from a teacher.

Self Assessment has an whopping effect-size of 1.41. This is nearly a three grade improvement. I would recommend where possible trying to use this. 


Using all AfL methods in combination with one another will arguably provide you with a more rounded picture of progress and so consider how you intend to assess in your lessons. This will be dependent on the learners and the content.

Recording learner progress is a useful reflection activity for both yourself and learners. This can be done in a variety of ways. For a couple of ideas for this, see the following blog posts: RoDS and Learning Continuum.