Who is responsible for the professional development of teachers?

1. Who is responsible for the professional development of teachers? Teachers’ ownership of professionalism IPDA 2009 Annual conference Birmingham

3. Policy versus practice??? • Is there a dilemma? • Are there conflicting demands? Aims Policy Practice Consistency Providing conditions Putting it into practice Strategies

4. Outline • Policy debates on teacher professionalism in Europe • Perspectives on Teacher Professionalism • The role of • Governments • Teacher education institutes • Schools • Teachers

5. EU, education and the teacher

6. The open method of coordination • EU has ambitions but no authority in the area of education • How to influence national policies: OMC • Normative: Defining targets and indicators • Organizing benchmarks and rankings • Support and direction through policy papers and council conclusions • Common European Principles • Improving teacher education • Key competences for life long learning • Professional development on teachers and school leaders (Nov2009) • Focus on mutual or peer learning: sharing policy practices

8. Low achievers in reading

9. Benchmarks for teachers • ‘Develop indicators that better reflect the issues involved in improving education and training for teachers and their recruitment, and report on progress in the quality of teacher education through the biennial reports on the Education and Training 2010 programme (‘Improving the quality of TE’, EC2007) • TALIS 2009 • Engagement in CPD and in progressive forms of collaboration  higher self-efficacy and use of a wider array of methods • Addressing teachers’ attitudes, beliefs and practices can lead to considerable improvement in teaching and learning, rather through individualised support for teachers than whole-school/system-wide interventions. • 55% of the teachers: wish for more professional development (in areas like special learning needs, ICT teaching skills, student behaviour) • Where teachers paid for their own development, they tended to do more. • The greatest perceived impact of CPD activities is in teacher research and qualification programmes • High unmet needs: 42% of teachers report a lack of suitable professional development on offer.

10. Professional development of teachers and school leaders (Eur. Council, Nov2009) Need for • A clear profile for perspective teachers • Teachers that take greater responsibility in their LLL • A coherent continuum of LLL • With induction programmes for all new teachers • Sufficient needs-based CPD opportunities • Including advanced programmes and engagement in pedagogical research • Strengthened learning mobility and networks • Regular feedback on performances

11. How to get from goals to policy to practice? A topic for peer learning: Cluster Teacher & Trainers Aims • to develop a common understanding of success factors for the improvement of policy-making and the implementation of reform; • to identify and disseminate key conclusions which can be fed into policy-making and implementation at the national level and European level. Through • Peer learning activities (PLAs)

12. Structure of PLAs • 7 Thematic peer learning activities: Intensive (4 days), intensive & small scale • 8 – 10 interested countries • Policy makers, researchers & practitioners • Policy examples and reflections on general underlying policy issues • Next practices?

13. Continuous Professional Development

14. Continuous Professional Development • Lifelong learning: pre-service, induction, in-service • Focus on classroom teaching, subjects and outcomes • Active involvement: curriculum development, new strategies, research • Facilitating and promoting CPD (time/salaries) • Roles and responsibilities: ministry, schools, teachers, teacher education

15. School as Learning Communities

16. School as Learning Communities • CPD is not an isolated and individual responsibility and activity • Learning cultures within schools; role models for pupils • Learners’ autonomy, room for experiments • Communities of student teachers, beginning teachers and experienced teachers • Focus on pupils’ performances • Supported and facilitated by schools, ministry, Inspectorate, TEI

17. Relationships between Teacher Education Institutes and Schools

18. Relationships between Teacher Education Institutes and Schools • Partnerships to provide the best education for pupils: Focus on • improving methods for teaching and learning, • raising the quality of teachers, and • developing knowledge about teaching and learning through research • Partnerships as support systems: Integrated and powerful learning environment for student teachers and teachers • Intentional steering by the government giving room for local differences and variations • Focus on long term partnerships, sustainability, quality assurance • Identify benefits for schools, TEI, (student) teachers, the system • All schools or selected schools?

19. Policies on the Induction of new teachers Teacher

20. Policies on the Induction of new teachers • Induction is the period at the beginning of a teacher’s career in which beginning teachers, having completed their period of initial teacher education, first assume full professional responsibility for learners. • A effective induction programme • Bridges (and gives feedback to) initial teacher education and CPD • Provides personal support, social support, professional support and emotional support • can be a catalyst for the further development of the school as a learning community, and for increasing the school’s collective learning potential. • Requires adequate qualities and competence of all the actors (with emphasis on mentors and schoolleaders)

21. Common Themes • A well educated profession (at master’s level?) • Teachers’ Lifelong Learning • Importance of competences & standards • Support systems • Ownership, self-esteem & self-accountability (extended professionalism) • Leadership (of school leaders and teachers)

22. Common Themes • Partnerships between Education & Training and the workplace • Trust: support versus control • Policies for the whole system and long term planning • The quality of teacher educators • Steering and autonomy

23. Exciting new insights? Maybe not, but … • Collaborative learning of policymakers, researchers and practicioners, bridging polcy and practice • Input to question and improve existing policies • Peer learning on a national level? (Leadership academy in Austria)

24. I am g reat Perspectives on teacher professionalism

25. Teacher professionalism: a combined effort Schools & schoolleaders Governments TEACHER PROFESSIONALISM Teacher education Teachers

26. Teachers and schoolleaders: Conflicting spheres Schoolleader Teacher Growing autonomy Decreasing autonomy? • Conflicting spheres (Hanson, 1976): • Keep the spheres of the schoolleader and the professional seperated • …Or create equal partners and a professional debate … Demands on the professionalism of teachers!

28. Teachers and the government “The outstanding characteristic of the extended professional is a capacity for autonomous professional self-development through systematic self-study, through the study of the work of other teachers and through the testing of ideas by classroom research procedures” (Stenhouse, 1975: 144). Need for a strong teacher force? ? Government interference “When the knowledge base is organized outside the members of the profession themselves, it will not only have a negative infuence on the quality of education. It will also be the end of pretending that the teaching profession is a real profession.” (Korver, 2007).

29. What qualities do extended professionals need ? Leadership (Suleiman & Moore, Hargreaves) System thinking (Senge, Fullan) Quality awareness (Hoyle) Professional Learning Communities (Hord, Senge, Hargreaves) Classroom research (Stenhouse, Cochran-Smith & Lytle) Entrepreneurship: ‘an individual’s ability to turn ideas into action, including creativity, innovation and risk taking, as well as the ability to plan and manage projects in order to achieve objectives and to seize opportunities’ (EC, 2006) External awareness

30. Teacher professionalism: the role of … Schools & schoolleaders Governments TEACHER PROFESSIONALISM Teacher education Teachers Need for constructice alignment

31. Schools & schoolleaders Governments Government perspective TEACHER LEARNING Teacher education Teachers • The use of standards • Level of detail of standards • Ownership of standards • Steering or supporting

32. Policy makers on teacher quality:Comparing national documents Comparing • 4 European policy documents • Teachers matter (OECD) • Common principles (Eur Comm) • Improving the quality of TE (Eur Comm) • Teacher Education in Europe (ETUCE) • 9 country documents with formal teacher standards (Be/Fl, Cz, Gr, NL, No, Pol, Port, Slov, Sw, UK/Eng)

33. Outcomes 1 • Application of most documents is limited to teacher education curricula • Half of the national documents: involvement of wide variety of stakeholders • EU-level: little input from stakeholders • Impact of the stakeholders’ input? • Categories vary: • Main tasks of a teacher • The context of work • Taxonomy of knowledge (K-S-A) • 1 to 2 pages (3 countries), 5 – 8 pages (3 countries), 16 – 21 pages (2 countries)

34. Outcomes 2 • Main headings for teacher quality vary considerably • Most common: • Ped-did competence – effective teaching • Co-operation/partnership • Reflection and CPD • Unique in EU documents: • International co-operation • Co-operation with other schools • Professional autonomy • Working with knowledge

35. The government perspective • A shared language is missing! On a national and on a European level • One standard versus room for diversity? • Schools and their local contexts and needs are different. • Teachers are different. Quality indicators for teachers should reflect the collaborative nature of teaching (ATEE, 2006). • Do government policies strengthen or hinder the (extended) professionalism of teachers (constructive alignment)? • The need for the professional involvement of and ownership by teachers. (ATEE, 2006). • The pitfall to take over responsibilities that teachers should take care of. • Instruments for control or for development? • Involvement of teachers in the policy debate? (McKinsey, PISA, OECD scenarios,. …)

36. Individual professionalism Trust Control ? Collective professionalism Schools & schoolleaders Governments School perspective TEACHER LEARNING Teacher education Teachers • Do schools create the conditions for a strong and professional teacher force, fostering, ownership, leadership and entrepreneurship of teachers? • In their structures and conditions • In their human resource policies • …

37. Schools & schoolleaders Governments Teacher perspective TEACHER LEARNING Teacher education Teachers “a distinction between those who talk and those who are talked about …” • Teachers’ views on teacher standards • Willing and prepared? • Accountability?

38. Teachers’ views on teacher quality • Comenius Project Identifying Teacher Quality • Development of reflectiontools focussing on the concept of teacher quality • Questionnaire during the pilots: ‘What do you identify as the 10 most essential teacher qualities?’ • 402 responents ( 343 teachers & student teachers), 8 countries (Cz, Gr, NL, Pol, Por, Slov., Sw, UK/Eng)

40. Overlaps & differences

41. Emphasis on categories

43. Conclusions • Strong emphasis on personal qualities (fair/honest, patient, creative, understanding, open, empathetic, humorous, consequent) • More conceptual consensus exists on the knowledge category

44. Willing and prepared • Are teachers willing and prepared to take the responsibility? • Schoolcultures are dominated by laissez-faire • Teachers hardly address each other? • If teachers won’t do it, others will …! • Professional development connected to professional accountability! • “a right and a responsibility!”

45. Schools & schoolleaders Governments Teacher education perspective TEACHER LEARNING Teacher education Teachers • Do we emphasize extended professionalism in the curricula in TE? • Do we emphasize personal qualities in the curricula in TE? • What about professionalism of teacher educators (being role models)?

46. And IPDA??? • Policy makers and civil servants? • School leaders • ‘Return of the teacher’? While the debate is dominated by ‘educational experts’. Where are teachers in IPDA???

47. References • ATEE (2006). The quality of teachers. Recommendations on the development of indicators to identify teacher quality. Brussels, ATEE. • European Commission Cluster Teachers and Trainers. Reports from PLAs: http://ec.europa.eu/education/school-education/doc836_en.htm • European Council (2009) Council conclusions on the professional development of teachers and school leaders. http://www.consilium.europa.eu/uedocs/cms_data/docs/pressdata/en/educ/111471.pdf • Identifying Teacher Quality: Comenius project on the development of reflection tools: www.teacherqualitytoolbox.eu • OECD (2009). Teaching and Learning International Survey TALIS. www.oecd.org/talis. • Snoek, M. (2009). Policy development in teacher education through peer learning of policy makers.  Paper presented at the International Conference on Teacher Education and Development Udaipur , India 23-25 February 2009. http://www.kenniscentrumonderwijsopvoeding.hva.nl/content/kenniscentrum/lereneninnoveren/documenten/India-paper-Snoek.doc • Snoek, M. et al. (2009). European Confusion on teacher quality:How do formal documents in European Member states identify teacher quality? Draft paper presented at the ATEE conference Mallorca, 2009.

48. Marco Snoek Reader at the Hogeschool van Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences Institute of Education M.Snoek@hva.nl