Leadership for Learning

Leadership for Learning Helen Timperley Professor Education Faculty of Education The University of Auckland

FIVE DIMENSIONS OF EFFECTIVE LEADERSHIP Derived from Quantitative Studies Linking Leadership with Student Outcomes (Robinson et al., 2009)

The Process of Professional Development For far too many teachers, staff development is a demeaning, mind numbing experience as they passively “sit and get” [and] evaluate it by “happiness scales”. As one observer put it, “I hope I die during a PD session because the transition between life and death would be so subtle’. (adapted from Sparks, 2004).

And the impact … Hurricane winds sweep across the sea tossing up twenty foot waves … while on the ocean floor (of the classroom) there is an unruffled calm. (Cuban)

Focus on Valued Student Outcomes Worthwhile content Integration of knowledge and skills Assessment for professional inquiry Multiple opportunities to learn and apply Approaches responsive to learning processes Opportunities to process new learning with others Knowledgeable expertise Active leadership Maintaining momentum Timperley, H. (2008) Teacher Professional Learning and Development. International Academy of Education. International Bureau of Education. Paris: UNESCO

The Application: Professional Development Project in Literacy Over 300 primary schools in New Zealand Writing: Average gains 2.5 to 3.2 expected rate over two years Lowest 20% 5-6 times expected rate Reading: Average gains 1.5 to 1.9 expected rate over two years Lowest 20% 3 times expected rate Continued for at least three years after project finished

How to achieve it • Bringing together • Personal, interpersonal and organisational capabilities • Consistent with how people learn • Through focused inquiry and building knowledge throughout the system using tools that convey important messages and conversations with professionals within the system.

“How People Learn” (Bransford et al., 2000) Engage preconceptions about students and how best to teach them; Develop a deep foundation of factual knowledge organised into conceptual frameworks Encourages a self-regulatory approach so teachers can take control of their own learning

Teacher inquiry and knowledge-building cycle to promote valued student outcomes What knowledge and skills do our students need? What knowledge and skills do we as teachers need? What has been the impact of our changed actions? Deepen professional knowledge and refine skills Engage students in new learning experiences

Identifying Students Knowledge and Skills: • Where do we want them to be? • What do the students already know? • What do the students need to learn and do? • How do we build on what they know?

Within the LPDP Project • Students assessed using curriculum-based assessment • Facilitated interpretation of how to score it and what the results mean with teachers and leaders - at the same time as…

Finding Out about Teachers’ Knowledge and Practice • How we have contributed to existing student outcomes? • What do we already know that we can use to promote improved outcomes for students? • What do we need to learn and do to promote these outcomes? • What sources of evidence / knowledge can we utilise?

Within the LPDP Project With expert facilitators, the leaders and teachers: • Relate student data to programme emphases; • Respond to a scenario of (mostly ineffective) practice and discuss results; • Discuss strengths and weaknesses of practice from classroom observations.

Deepen Professional Knowledge and Refine Skills Important considerations: • Consider research findings about different approaches • Integrate knowledge, skills and theory • Curriculum, assessment, pedagogy • Focus on the teaching / learning links; • Discuss existing ideas about students, assessment, curriculum and how to teach it

Within the LPDP Project • Students are the “touchstone” throughout; • Build knowledge of theory and practice in ways that are consistent with how people learn • All conversations engage teachers’ beliefs about how the world works; • Develop a deep foundation of literacy knowledge and how to teach it • Self-regulatory learning approach through learning goals and monitoring progress.

Promoting change in teachers’ beliefs and assumptions

Judging Impact • What evidence is there of change in classroom teaching and learning? • What evidence is there that any changes made promote our students’ learning and well-being? • What reasons lie behind improvement or lack of it? • Means the ongoing use of evidence on a daily, weekly, term by term and annual basis • Using a range of assessment tools

What it means and doesn’t mean (the focus) What it means What it doesn’t mean Start with a new idea about teaching Have separate courses on the three areas Just focus on the practice (or the theory) Students are talked about separately from teaching • Start with student outcomes • Integrate assessment, curriculum and how to teach it • Integrate theory (why) and practice • Always talk about teaching in terms of its impact on students; • Always talk about students in terms of how to teach them more effectively

What it means and doesn’t mean (the process) What it means What is doesn’t mean Going to one-off workshops and forgetting it all the next day Approaches based on the “one size fits all” principle Teachers are expected to understand immediately and get it right • Teachers need multiple opportunities to learn and apply new knowledge • Approaches are responsive to teachers’ learning needs • Those who work with teaches have expertise and understand them as learners

Beliefs, knowledge and Skills of School Leaders • Teachers cannot do it alone • To lead effectively, leaders must know enough themselves to: • Work through the inquiry and knowledge building cycles with their teachers to improve the outcomes you are your community value for students

What knowledge and skills do our students need? What knowledge and skills do we as teachers need? What has been the impact of our changed actions? How can we as leaders promote the learning of our teachers to bridge the gap for our students? Deepen professional knowledge, engage students in new learning experiences

All leaders of learning have a class • Who is your class? • Who is the class of those in the schools you are working with?

Small schools Principal Teachers

Principal Senior managers Curriculum leaders Teachers Larger schools

A more collegial structure

Task in groups • Identify your class (as a leader) • Draw a diagram of layers of classes for members of your class • Include informal as well as formal leaders • Think about some major challenges you are likely to face in working with your class

Within the LPDP • Effective leaders • Learned to work with their teachers using evidence of student learning and teaching practice • Developed necessary pedagogical content knowledge • Learned to have challenging conversations • Recognise their need to learn in order to teach others • Less effective leaders • Focused on structures and processes to promote others’ learning

Leader inquiry and knowledge-building cycle to promote valued teaching and student outcomes What knowledge and skills does “my class” already have and need? What knowledge and skills do I as leader need? What has been the impact of my changed actions on “my class”? Deepen facilitator knowledge and refine leadership skills Engage “my class” in new learning experiences

Leadership for Learning