Conversations around Successful Teaching:

2. Conversations around Successful Teaching: Leading Educational Achievement Through Dialogue L.E.A.D. Project 2010 • Background and Purpose • Methodology • 9 Schools • 54 Hours of Semi-structured interviews - purposive sampling • 447 teachers surveyed on a likert scale across the 9 schools

3. Glass Jar – Gwen Harwood A child one summer's evening soakeda glass jar in the reeling sunhoping to keep, when day was doneand all the sun's disciples cloakedin dream and darkness from his passion fled,this host, this pulse of light beside his bed.Wrapped in a scarf his monstrance stoodready to bless, to exorcisemonsters that whispering would risenightly from the intricate woodthat ringed his bed, to light with total powerthe holy commonplace of field and flower.

4. Key Findings • Role of the leadership team • Role of teachers and their teaching • Counselling • Culture, Relationships and Community • Students • Parents • No one simple quick fix

5. KEY FINDINGS: ROLE OF THE PRINCIPAL AND LEADERSHIP TEAM • Principal is “Crucial in setting a vision about where you can go with your students” • Principal is “Pivotal” in the eyes of parents and strongly confirmed by teaching staff • Principals and Deputies cannot underestimate their personal influence • Principals and Deputies were: • Immersed in the data on student performance Elmore (2004) describes this as “routine accountability & tight instructional focus” • Leaders spoke of being student focused as opposed to results focused

6. ROLE OF THE LEADERSHIP TEAM • There was a very strong team focus, acknowledgement of the work of Deputies and Heads of Learning • Cultural alignment between leadership team, middle management and teaching staff • These schools developed a culture where academic success is strongly recognised and affirmed with teaching and learning central (and the focus of the Principal). It is so easy to be “pulled away”. Head teachers rather than managers. (4.31 on Likert scale)

7. ROLE OF THE LEADERSHIP TEAM • Would not entertain complacency – demanded excellence and personal best as one Principal commented “ok is not ok or good enough” “Success breeds success” • Outward looking in terms of benchmarking. They did not scorn comparison rather they welcomed it. • Strong emphasis on professional development of staff. • Persistent presence of Deputies • Palpable and infectious pride in their schools.

8. The Role Of Teachers And Their Teaching • “The teacher is everything; the teacher can make or break a child.” • A subtle dual quality to the role of the teacher, the person who creates and invites the ‘relationship’ with their students and the ‘master teacher’ comfortable and confident in their craft. • Capacity to create the relationship within the subject • Availability and approachability

9. The Role Of Teachers And Their Teaching • “They invite you to ask questions, it is nice to be encouraged.” • “They related really well to you, I could feel relaxed around them, I could ask them questions and not feel like an idiot.” • “You actually liked the teachers; you hated the thought of disappointing them.”

10. The Role Of Teachers And Their Teaching Following key attributes were ascribed to the most effective teachers: • Deep content knowledge (4.68 on likert scale) • Enthusiasm and passion (4.69 on likert scale) • Made the subject relevant and meaningful • Specific, clear advice • Balanced pedagogy • Better teachers were highly organised

11. The Role Of Teachers And Their Teaching

12. The Role Of Teachers And Their Teaching • A scaffolded curriculum with clear scope and sequence and emphasis on skills that build to an end point (the TEE). • Developed meta-cognitive strategies and study skills in the context of their discipline • Orderly, focused, purposeful classrooms as a precondition for successful teaching • Approachability and availability – work ethic and generosity of spirit

13. Counselling • Quality counselling - highly significant influence on student achievement (4.6 on likert scale) • Crucial role of Deputy Principals, Heads of Learning, and careers counsellors. • Use of data both external and internal to inform counselling • Clear policies on pre-requisites based on historical performance • Giving students a voice (surveys).

14. Counselling • The social and emotional well being of students • Importance of having an ‘end point’ a place to go, it relieves a great deal of anxiety and enhances performance. (Breadth of curriculum offerings). • An acknowledgement also that stress and anxiety can be an enormous inhibiter of success and students are increasingly presenting with high levels of anxiety. • Capacity to support this phenomenon

15. Culture, relationships and community • The central influence of the culture of the schools was profound, the presence of authenticrelationships and the resultant sense of community • “God is calling people into relationship today … students need to feel loved by their teachers and by other school staff, just as his disciples felt loved by Jesus” Bishop’s Mandate

16. Culture, Relationships and community • Where there is strong relationship there is community and we cannot underplay its significance • Heritage of Catholic schools – charism of hospitality and the development of a welcoming place • “They (students) will always study and do well when they feel they belong” • That sense of belonging was derived from significant relationships significant others in their lives

17. Culture, Relationships and community • “Mrs _ was a mentor for me, she would always say, you will do good things in your life’’ • Students spoke strongly about teachers who had faith in them, someone “who believed in me.” • Teachers spoke passionately about the more affective nature of their work ‘we are not just about the attainment of results we are about developing the person.’

18. Culture, Relationships and community • Connection between the affective domain of teaching and student achievement • “The students know you care about them and when they know that, they will work for you.” • “Interest in the kids is as important as interest in the subject.” • “Boys here feel they belong, that engages them as a human person, and it inspires them.”

19. Culture, Relationships and community Broader aspects of culture: • Staff : “kids see the rapport between staff and it flows on to teacher student relationships” • Overall culture : “this school has been built on the 3 C’s, communication, collaboration and consultation; it is part of the fabric. Staff have a sense that they have input to change and are listened to.” • Strong focus on teaching and learning and extraordinary commitment of teaching staff. • “We are constantly in conversations around learning”

20. Culture, Relationships and community • School culture supportive of academic success (mean score of 4.54 Likert scale survey) 447 teachers. • Development of Learning Communities • Quality Catholic Schools • - Vision for Learning • -Learning Environment • -Teaching Practices • -Evaluation and Planning • -Student Achievement

21. Students • Significant micro-culture influencing achievement ignored at our peril – described as “pervasive” by one parent. • Evidence of a supportive and encouraging climate in peer to peer relationships • Peer study groups significant influence • Acceptable to achieve academically, almost unacceptable not to! Healthy competition. • Student validation of findings regarding teaching, culture and a climate of care.

22. Parents “Good staff and engaged parents is a recipe for success” • Students spoke of parents who were supportive, encouraging and patient • Parents saw their role as ‘filling in the gaps.’ • Parents saw education as the traditional aspirational medium it has always been, ‘a way out.’ • Parents very concerned with feedback and communication and variance between teachers

23. Parents • Power of parent school partnership. “Teachers were prepared to talk to our parents. You felt the parents and teachers worked together for you.” Student. • Parents confirmed commentary around culture. “It is a warm welcoming community, it is a school with a great ambience.” “It is about community here, everyone does care about everyone, the pastoral is the strength, it is as if they are saying, ‘íf you come we can help.’

24. Comparisons with other studies Dinham,S. (2008) How to Get Your School Moving and Improving (HSC 32 secondary schools NSW) Factors contributing to success: • School background (culture) • Subject faculty • Teacher’s personal qualities • Teacher’s relationships with students • Teacher’s professional development • Teaching resources ,attention to planning and strategies

25. Dinham,S. (2008) Effective Leaders • External awareness and engagement • Innovation and action • High level of interpersonal skills, focused on relationships • Vision, expectation and a culture of success • Focus on professional development of their staff • Focus on attaining student engagement and support • Focus on student learning and teaching

26. Zbar et al (2009) 7 Primary 2 Secondary • Strong leadership that is shared • High levels of expectation and teacher efficacy • Ensuring an orderly learning environment • A focus on what matters most • Building teaching and leadership expertise • Structure teaching to ensure all students succeed • Use data to drive improvement • A culture of sharing and responsibility • Tailored initiatives to drive the school • Engendering pride in the school

27. Offsted Report (2009) Excelling against the odds 20 Outstanding Primary schools • They provide affection, stability and purposeful structured experiences • They build and rebuild children’s belief in themselves • They teach what matters and how to learn for themselves • They listen to their pupils value their views and act on them • They build bridges with parents and communities • They have high aspirations and expectations

28. No one simple fix • No simple recipe or list • Factors affecting student achievement are complex and multi layered • Having said that, the research has found that across all 9 schools there was an ‘alignment’ a connectedness or interconnectedness between effective teachers and their leadership, between effective teachers and their school culture, mission purpose and community.

29. No one simple fix • There was a connectedness between the teachers and their subjects • There was a connectedness between teachers and their students • No school need be defined by their context • A Relentless attention to the things that matter produces results

30. Where to from here? • Continue to listen to each other • Learn from each other • Act on what the data tells us, what we instinctively know, what our peers tell us, our teachers, our students, our parents tell us and what the literature confirms. • Never be defined by context defy it • Never succumb to complacency • Constantly celebratestrengths (or count your blessings) • Name and acclaim!

31. teachers who spend their days as patient witnesses,Who bend their time to singing the holiness of it all,Who wake quite early and don their vocationsWillingly like a thorny endlessly tumultuous prayer,Those are the thirty this poem turned out to be about. Brian Doyle – “The Thirty” in Thirsty for the Joy

32. Good People • Pope Benedict expresses what I am trying to say far more poetically. “Life is like a voyage on the sea of history, sometimes dark and stormy, a voyage in which we watch for the stars to indicate the way. The true stars of our life are people who live good lives. They are lights of hope. Certainly Jesus is the true Light, the sun, but to reach Him we also need lights close by, people who shine with his light and so guide us along the way.”