Effective Professional Learning?

1. Effective Professional Learning? An inquiry into the impact of introducing ‘collaborative training interventions’ into a professional learning program for teachers in their second year of teaching Kate Thirlwall – Cherwell School – kthirlwall@cherwell.oxon.sch.uk Supervisor: Trevor Mutton

2. Context and Rationale • Given that almost four out of ten teachers leave the profession within a year of qualifying (2015), the retention of new teachers is an urgent priority for education, school leaders and teacher trainers. • Through investigating the needs of teachers in their second year of the profession, I hoped to shed some light on how best to sustain teacher commitment, motivation and resilience in this crucial transition year. • As Burn et al. note (2010), the NQT induction year has had considerable time, research and policy attention directed towards it whereas research into post-NQT induction teacher learning is currently very limited.

3. Effective professional learning?

4. INSET Performance Management Training Coaching Mentoring Professional Development Professional Learning

6. Research questions • What is the impact of using ‘collaborative’ training interventions on professional learning in the second year of teaching? • What do second year teachers’ view as the most effective learning resources in their second year of teaching?

7. Within my own school context, we developed the Year 2 Professional Learning Programme in 2015 as a pilot scheme where teachers in their second year were given one period per fortnight free time in lieu of fortnightly after school professional learning sessions; which we could call ‘NQT+1 induction time’. • In the fortnightly sessions, teachers went through an action research cycle to explore common areas of difficulty in their practice, seeking to make small tweaks to improve their teaching; with guidance from the course facilitators (both experienced practitioners). • This year, for the Research and Development Project, I introduced a collaborative element to the existing programme whereby the 2016-17 cohort of teachers were asked to peer-observe and peer-coach each other twice during the year on a specific element of their practice and to reflect on the impact this had on their learning and development.

8. Year 2 Professional Learning Programme – Collaborative innovation 2016-17 Identify a problem or challenge in your practice which you’d like to work on during your NQT+1 year Experiment with making tweaks to your practice to work on the problem across the year in discussion with colleagues and using relevant educational research Invite a colleague to observe you teaching and working on this problem and arrange to get feedback (do this twice) Review your experience of the observation in an interview (along with the other learning experiences on this course)

9. Methodology • Qualitative methods were selected for this research project as the sample size was very small and the aim was to produce a detailed case study of a small number of teachers. I wanted to be able to use the date inductively and not have a prescriptive framework when analysing the interview transcripts. • Teachers within the 2016-17 cohort were initially asked to respond to a brainstorm activity whereby they were asked to write words which they most immediately associated with a number of professional learning terms. • At the end of the observation period, teachers within the 2016-17 cohort participated in a semi-structured interview asking them about the impact of the collaborative observations, other collaborative elements on the programme and what they used as resources and opportunities to support their learning as teachers in their NQT and NQT+1 year. Other questions included personal learning style, how they would adapt the existing programme for next year’s teachers and potential limitations for the programme for them as learners. • The interviews were anonymously transcribed and full analysis of these is currently being completed. 5 participants out of 6 on the programme this year took part in the interviews; with the final sixth participant choosing to opt out due to workload demands.

10. Initial Findings • Initial analysis confirms the highly personalised nature of support needed for individual practitioners in order for them to perceive a learning resource or opportunity as useful. The impact of collaboration observations was universally perceived as an interesting enterprise; but participants were much more varied in their responses as to whether this had profoundly impacted their own practice. • Resources which second year teachers found useful varied highly depending on the individual, contextual factors such as their perceived support network within their own departments, their previous experiences of learning, their personal motivation and career goals as well as their own definitions of usefulness (immediate relevance versus learning and development over time) and perceived resilience within their job role and level of need to collaborate with colleagues.  

11. What is useful learning? Is learning a process or a product for you? How confident are you as a teacher? What is the culture of support in your faculty? What are your career goals? How aware are you of your strengths and areas for development? Do you believe you’re a fully formed teacher? Do you embrace constructive criticism of your practice?

12. With regards to ongoing and preferred methods of support, participants valued the following resources most highly: • Regular observation from a perceived expert or experienced teacher - four out of five participants missed the regular observation of the NQT year • The opportunity to observe experienced practitioners within their own subject or outside their faculty on a more general area of expertise • Practical rather than theoretically grounded advice and guidance • Flexible training tailored to personal needs as opposed to regularly calendared group meetings

13. Additional benefits of existing collaborations within the programme included: • Reassurance that you are not alone in experiencing difficulties and sharing this in a safe space with peers • Intellectual space to reflect and think about teaching practice • The opportunity to see teaching outside your own department • Revisiting SMART strategies to facilitate positive workload management

14. Limitations to learning in the second year included: • Timetable pressures influencing attitudes to learning on the year 2 programme • Timing of professional learning sessions - increasing stress as perceived as eating into planning time • High workload - survival teaching leaving limited time for reflection • Lack of clarity around how to prioritise what to improve • Learning dispositions Logistical Systemic Attitudinal

15. Quantifiable impact of their learning – visible results - link to performance management - perhaps higher accountability A safe space for emotional collaboration Low-stakes, expert guidance on teaching practice from an NQT+1 mentor Revision of how to approach and manage workload effectively (avoiding burnout) A space for reflection with a variety of colleagues at different levels – peers + more experienced practitioners Focused, directive feedback from more experienced practitioners Diagnosis of key areas of improvement within their practice which is tracked so they can see their progress

16. Next steps – Term 6... • We have 3 hours worth of sessions this term. I would like to offer 2 of these flexibly so please could you select 2 from the list below to do this term: • A coaching observation from one of  us on your tweak to get some formative feedback • A coaching observation focused on an area of your practice with which you’d like some help (BFL, motivation post-Year 9 options, sixth form teaching, questioning, vulnerable learners) • A 1:1 tutorial on an area of your practice that you’d like to discuss (anything goes here!) • An observation of someone in your faculty or elsewhere in the school on an area you want to learn more about

17. Future model? 1 How to set meaningful targets to improve Coaching observation PM Observation 1 2 Are you working hard or working SMART? 3 What advice do previous NQT+1s have? Coaching observation 4 PM Observation 2 What ideas can we use from educational research? 5 Coaching observation PM Observation 3 6 Final Tutorial – focus for NQT+2

18. Supportive strand Term 1 – how to set meaningful targets to develop your practice Term 2 – SMART working strategies – are you working hard or working SMART? Term 3 – previous NQT+1 sharing good practice and Q&A Term 4 – Ideas from research and how to use these to address low-level disruption and increase motivation Term 5 – no meeting (exam term) Term 6 – tutorial refocusing targets for next year

19. Key References • Cordingley, P. (2015) The contribution of research to teachers’ professional learning and development (Oxford Review of Education, 41:2, 234-252) • Bell, B. & Gilbert (1996) Teacher development: a model from science education (London, Falmer Press) • Fraser et al (2007) Teachers’ continuing professional development: contested concepts, understandings and models (Journal of In-Service Education Vol. 33, No. 2, June 2007, pp 153-169) • Timperley, H. et al (2007) Teacher professional learning and development: Best Evidence Synthesis Iteration (BES) Wellington: Ministry of Education • Bandura, A. (1977) Self-efficacy: Toward a unifying theory of behavioural change. (Psychological Review, 84, 191-215)

20. Acknowledgement of work If you would like to use or implement any of the findings from this study, please reference Kate Thirlwall, The Cherwell School.