Ian Clifford – British Council Burma

1. Beyond the polarisation of learner-centred and teacher-centred pedagogy • Ian Clifford – British Council Burma

2. Outline • Child-centred and teacher-centred approaches – history and definitions • Evidence on CCA and ‘direct instruction’ in Western contexts • The challenge of implementing CCA in southern contexts • Failure of CCA in Myanmar • The English for Education College Trainers (EfECT) project • Towards a more balanced approach

3. “Learner-centred approaches” - 1 • Learner-centred education (LCE) / Student-centred approach / Child-centred approach (CCA) • History of CCA • Locke (1632-1704) – liberal education • Rousseau (1712-1778) centrality of learner, teachers intervene minimally in “natural development of children” • Pestalozzi (1746-1827) • Froebel (1782-1852) kindergarten

4. “Learner-centred approaches” - 2 • Competency (Bernstein) • “Terms such as ‘constructivism’ or ‘student-centred’ … obscure rather than clarify … details of practices … not given … assumptions already known.” Westbrook et al, 2013 • Approaches associated with minimal instruction (discovery / problem-based / inquiry / experiential learning)

5. LCE, CCA = Constructivism? - 1 ? What is learning?

6. LCE, CCA = Constructivism? - 2 • Piaget (1896-1980) – Cognitive constructivism • Vygotsky (1896-1934) – social constructivism • Learners construct knowledge – linking new knowledge to existing knowledge • But constructivism is a theory of learning and knowledge acquisition, not a theory of teaching

7. “Teacher-centred” approaches • Negative connotations: • Hierarchical, • authoritarian, • transmission, • memorisation • rote learning • Performance (Bernstein) • Banking education (Freire)

8. Direct Instruction 1 • interactive whole class teaching • Teacher being actively engaged in bringing the content of the lesson to the whole class (Muijs and Reynolds, 2011)

9. Direct instruction - 2 • 7 steps - Adams and Engelmann (1996) • Focus activity (‘the hook’) • Stating the objective and providing the rationale • Presenting content and modelling • Checking for understanding; • Guided practice • Independent practice • Closure

10. A word on EFL teaching • The British Council often styles its best practice EFL teaching as “learner-centred” • … and it’s difficult to teach a language without peer-to-peer communicative practice • However, EFL teaching is often very teacher-directed and quite closely follows the stages of “direct instruction”

11. Some evidence - 1 • Rosenshine (1979) – stronger pupil gains when teachers spend more time actively teaching the whole class • Missouri Mathematics Effectiveness Study teachers given training around in direct instruction – more pupil gains in standardised tests (Good and Grouws, 1979) • ORACLE project - teachers labelled ‘class enquirers’ spent four times longer using whole-class interactive teaching than ‘individual monitors’ and generated the greatest gains in maths and language (Croll, 1996; Galton and Croll, 1980) • Junior School Project – 50 primary schools – significant positive relationship time spent communicating with the whole class and achievement (Mortimore et al, 1988)

12. Evidence - 2 • John Hattie (2009) • 500 meta-analyses of 300,000 studies direct instruction effect size of 0.59 • ‘teacher as activator’ approaches significantly more effective than ‘teacher as facilitator’ approaches

13. “There is no large-scale empirical research which shows that child-centered, activity-based learning is superior to direct instruction in the teaching of basic skills… all the large-scale studies show direct instruction is superior” (Freedman, Society for Advancing Educational Research, SAER, 1993, p. 22).

14. … and not just tests of basic skills • Follow-through project • 70,000 pupils from 180 schools – largest education study in the West ever • Direct instruction approaches showed better performance better in basic skills but also cognitive and affective skills Gautier, Dembele2004

15. “Why discovery learning does not work”- Kirschner et al, 2006 • Two assumptions • Because disciplines are based on discovery students should learn through discovery • Because students actively construct knowledge teachers should give minimal instruction

16. “Why discovery learning does not work”- Kirschner et al, 2006

17. Long-term memory “Why discovery learning does not work”- Kirschner et al, 2006 Working memory

18. Long-term memory “Why discovery learning does not work”- Kirschner et al, 2006 Working memory

19. Problem-serving approaches – can lead to working memory overload – this inhibits storage into long-term memory • Kirschner et al • “research evidence broadly favours direct instruction rather than discovery learning” • - Coe et al, 2014, • Sutton Trust, “What makes great teaching” • Long-term memory Working memory

20. Failure to implement LCE in south - 1 Schweisfurth, 2011: • “Review of 72 studies exploring the issues and problems of implementing LCE programmes in particular settings” • “the history of the implementation of LCE in different contexts is riddled with stories of failures grand and small.” • Four broad explanations:

21. Failure to implement LCE in south - 2 • Problems with the nature of reform and its implementation: Expectations of education reform are too high and the speed of expected change too rapid. Often education reform is expected to address a wide range of other issues from democratisation to elitism - Schweisfurth, 2011

22. Failure to implement LCE in south - 3 2. Barriers of material and human resources: Practical, material and resource constraints- infrastructure, class size, teaching materials and teacher capacity. - Schweisfurth, 2011

23. Failure to implement LCE in south - 4 3. Interactions of divergent cultures – “high power distance”, “collectivist” cultures (Hofstede). Roles of teachers and students – teachers expected to be in control – students expected to be obedient. - Schweisfurth, 2011

24. Failure to implement LCE in south - 5 4. Questions of power and agency – lack joined up reform of curriculum, infrastructure, teacher education and particularly, examination and assessment systems - Schweisfurth, 2011

25. The failure of CCA in Myanmar • 2007-2014 - JICA – Strengthening CCA (SCCA) project – “little positive change” • 2006-2014 UNICEF – Child-friendly schools / Quality Basic Education – “limited impact”

26. Learner-centred vs. teacher-centred? • Need to reject polarisation: learner-centred vs. teacher-centred (Barrett, 2007), • Need to build on and broaden repertoire of traditional whole class teaching (Hardman et al, 2012) • The bestSouthern teachers use “both student- and teacher-centred practices … integrating newer pedagogies with more traditional ones… performance model … informed by a competence model”. (Westbrook et al, 2013)

27. English for Education College Trainers (EfECT) • Signing of MoU between British Council and Myanmar MoE • Followed state visit by president Thein Sein to UK • £4.5 million project – DFID and British Council • 46 expatriate trainers in 24 Myanmar training institutions • 1,500 – 2,000 teacher educator beneficiaries • 1 year improving English, 1 year improving teaching methodology

28. Myanmar Pedagogy • Transmission model • Recipe knowledge for recall • Closed questioning • Teacher feedback rare • Pupils have limited opportunity to ask questions or offer opinions • Limited development of critical thinking • School buildings lack investment • Classrooms hot, crowded and noisy - Hardman et al, UNICEF, 2010

29. EfECT Needs Analysis Structured observations of teacher educators • rote learning, drilling, chanting, reading aloud, memorisation • choral response to questions • lack of confidence in using a range of methodologies • Little evidence of staging, or checking understanding

30. Reasons for not using child-centred approaches • Time • The exam system • Class sizes • Classroom layout • Student attitude and motivation • Lack of training • Perception of other teachers

31. EfECT approach to methodology • 6 months – interactive whole-class teaching • 6 months - peer-to-peer learning, creativity, critical thinking • Course aimed at A2 CEF level • Structured lesson observations at year start, mid-point and end • Using observation instrument focussed on small incremental changes

32. Approach to methodology year First 6 months Direct instruction focus Introductory module Effective direct instruction / whole class teaching Questioning skills Classroom management Second 6 months ‘Learner centred’ focus Effective interactive teaching Planning and preparation Assessment Critical thinking

33. Changes … • Planning – clear learning outcomes and logical, coherent staging. • Assessment – learning outcomes assessed throughout the lesson • Questioning – engaging, checking, responding, wait time. • Interactive classroom management and feedback • Resources – effective, motivating adaptation • Reflective practice – strengths and areas for improvement

34. Minimum Standards for LCE(Schweisfurth, 2013)