BERA Conference September 2004 School Improvement Symposium Networked Learning Communities

1. BERA Conference September 2004School Improvement SymposiumNetworked Learning Communities Chair: David Jackson, Strategic Director, Networked Learning Group, National College for School Leadership (NCSL) Discussant: Philippa Cordingley, Director, CUREE

2. What do Networked Learning Communities (NLCs) look like in Practice? Chris Kubiak, Networked Learning Group, NCSL Stephen Case, Networked Learning Group, NCSL BERA School Improvement Symposium 2004

3. Introduction to NLCs • Response to ‘outside-in’ school improvement initiatives • Disseminates good practice • Enhances the professional development of teachers • Enquiry-based school improvement • Develops local, context-specific practices and solutions • Sustained and inclusive opportunities for school-to-school collaboration

4. NLC Programme overview • 137 networks • 1535 schools • Mean 447 pupils • Mean 24 FTE teachers (13 Primary, 56 Secondary) • Mean NLC size = 11 schools (fewest = 6, largest = 37)

5. Number of Schools per NLC

6. North South 26% Midlands 40% 34% Regional Distribution of NLCs

7. Urban-Rural Distribution

8. Numbers of Networks Crossing LEA Boundaries

9. Pre-Existing form of the Network before entering NLC: at programme level

10. Phase of NLC

11. Numbers of Networks that have Schools involved in DfES National Initiatives

12. Type of School – % Distribution

13. Free School Meal Entitlement

14. GCSE A*: 2000 - 2003

15. The Annual Review • Qualitative reporting templates • Traffic lights • Achievements • Red lights and new starts • Quantitative secondary data analysis • Pre-existing status • Phase of education • Network size

16. Mixed Models • Research question more important than method • Quantitative / deductive and Qualitative / inductive • Stages of data collection, analysis and inference • Adds complexity to design • More accurately reflects research cycle

17. Annual Review Process

18. Results • Phase (achievements, priorities) • Level of programme (within school, S2S, network-wide, N2N) • Learning activities (research, INSET, communication, collaboration) • Network building (strategic, structural, meetings, resourcing) • Who (pupils, teachers, heads, leaders, facilitators, LSAs, family)

19. Network Stated Focus for Learning

20. Curriculum Context with Associated Learning Goals

21. The Research Programme • Pragmatic, fit-for-purpose research strategy • Multi-method, team approach • Quantitative – meets needs of policy makers and funders • Qualitative – insights/understandings into complex processes • Understanding ‘what works’ in networked learning • Impact on different types of NLC • Utilise practitioner innovation and ownership of programme

22. Facilitating Leadership Development for Learning Networks Michelle Anderson, Networked Learning Group, NCSL Niki Thomas, Bosham Primary School, Seconded Headteacher Researcher BERA School Improvement Symposium 2004

23. Facilitating leadership for learning networks “Everyone has a role to facilitate the network” (Co-leader)

24. Network Leader’s Perspectives on the growth of Networked Learning Communities Chris Kubiak, Networked Learning Group, NCSL Joan Bertram,Folville Junior School, Headteacher Researcher BERA School Improvement Symposium 2004

25. A network-o-gramme

26. Vibing out the NLC

27. A more metaphorical network-o-gramme

28. Network growth as the growth of social capital • Structural: networks of teachers • Cultural: trust, norms of mutual obligation • Cognitive: shared understandings and vocabulary

29. An architecture for the growth of social capital

30. Enabling network growth

31. NLCs as governed entities:(but ultimately ungovernable?)

32. Activity profiles differ at different phases of the network lifecycle Emerging Early days Established

33. Collaborative Enquiry in Networked Learning Communities Jane McGregor, Darren Homes, Julie Temperley BERA School Improvement Symposium 2004

34. Publicly available knowledge from theory and research The knowledge that we bring to the table New knowledge created by collaborative practice Collaborative enquiry interacts with three fields of knowledge

35. Networked Learning Strategies Planned by Networks

36. Frequency of New Activities reported in Year 1 Annual Review 04 (Cohort 1a only)

37. Collaborative Enquiry in NLCs • Collaborative enquiry is designed to involve a group of school or network members, collaborating and investigating together in order to learn more about an aspect of the school/community/network environment in order to enhance the learning and experience of young people. It is intended to move beyond the people undertaking the enquiry to involve the wider community within and between schools. Collaborative enquiry contributes to adult learning in context. (Jackson et al., Forthcoming)

38. Characteristics of collaborative enquiry • taking the current school context as the starting point • problematising the day to day work ( not making assumptions about what is going on, but questioning what is taken for granted) • building out from what has gone before and what is already known • engaging in a process of investigation that is rigorous and disciplined in relation to purpose • ensuring that data gathering and analysis are understood by all involved to be an essential part of the process • the process of knowledge creation • representing findings in such a way that they can be accessed by other teachers.

39. Typical enquiry activities (Kubiak et al., In preparation)

40. Pupil Involvement in NLC enquiry • pupil perception questionnaires and surveys • feedback on teaching and learning • pupil intervisitations and ‘learning walks’ • pupils as co-researchers • Students as Researchers

41. Some future possibilities for ‘networked’ enquiry. • Iterative research between groups of researchers within a network • Enhanced capacity for long term development of enquiry in schools • Moving from projects to a culture of enquiry • A national network of practitioners able to support enquiry