Developing teachers through performance management: applying theory to assess capacity

1. Developing teachers through performance management:applying theory to assess capacity Paper presented at the BELMAS annual conference, Wokefield Park 9th-11th July 2010 Linda Evans School of Education, University of Leeds l.evans@leeds.ac.uk

3. Roles and responsibilities(as stated in the guidance book) Teachers: • Play an active role in their own performance management and professional development including taking action as agreed at review meetings. • Where the role of reviewer has been delegated to them (sic) in accordance with the regulations, act as reviewers for other teachers. • Contribute to the annual planning and assessment of other teachers where appropriate.

4. The process • The planning and review meeting • The planning and review meeting should be a professional dialogue between the reviewer and the reviewee. Reviewees should play an active part in the meeting making sure they put forward their views about their performance and future development. • Planning for the next cycle • Objectives • Classroom observation • Other evidence • Performance criteria • Support, training and development • Recording plans

5. The reviewee’s entitlements During the performance management cycle the reviewee should: • receive written feedback on classroom observation; • receive feedback on their (sic) progress from the reviewer and the opportunity to discuss this; • be advised, at the time they arise, of any concerns and have the opportunity to discuss these with the reviewer; • advise the reviewer of any concerns they (sic) have, at the time they arise, about progress, the provision of support or training.

6. Professional standards as the yardstick ‘Performance management is the process for assessing the overall performance of a teacher or head teacher, in the context of the individual’s job description and the provisions of the STPCD, and making plans for the individual’s future development in the context of the school’s improvement plan. Professional standards provide the backdrop to discussions about performance and future development. The standards define the professional attributes, knowledge, understanding and skills for teachers at each career stage.’

7. The standards: summary The framework of professional standards for teachers defines the characteristics of teachers at each career stage. Specifically it provides professional standards for: ● the award of Qualified Teacher Status (QTS) (Q) ● teachers on the main scale (Core) (C) ● teachers on the upper pay scale (Post-Threshold Teachers) (P) ● Excellent Teachers (E) ● Advanced Skills Teachers (ASTs) (A)

8. How effective will the system be? Effectiveness in relation to: • developing teachers: • developing the teaching profession • developing individual teachers • improving schools • reducing the number of referrals the GTCE • tackling incompetence

9. Performance management for teacher development • Will the new system facilitate the process whereby teachers’ develop professionally? • How do teachers develop professionally? • What do we mean by professional development? • Professional growth • Professional learning

10. Defining professional development Professional development is the process whereby people’s professionalism and/or professionality and/or professional practice may be considered to be enhanced, with a degree of permanence that exceeds transitoriness.

11. Defining micro-level professional development Individuals’ ‘micro-level’ professional development is: the enhancement of their professionality, resulting from their acquisition, through a consciously or unconsciously applied mental internalisation process, of professional work-related knowledge and/or understanding and/or attitudes and/or skills and/or competences that, on the grounds of what is consciously or unconsciously considered to be its/their superiority, displace(s) and replace(s) previously-held professional work-related knowledge and/or understanding and/or attitudes and/or skills and/or competences.

12. How do teachers develop professionally? Clarke and Hollingsworth (2002) • ‘models of teacher professional development have not matched the complexity of the process we seek to promote’. • Clarke and Hollingsworth present an ‘interconnected model of professional growth’ which comprise four domains. • ‘What were the mechanisms whereby change in one of the … dimensions triggered change in another? • Their model identifies ‘change sequences’ and ‘growth networks’. • It nevertheless fails to identify the cognitive process whereby people develop professionally. Clarke, D. & Hollingsworth, H. (2002) Elaborating a model of teacher professional growth, Teaching and Teacher Education, 18, 947-967.

13. 2 3 4 Recognition of what is perceived as a ‘better way’ (of ‘doing’ things) Motivation to adopt perceived ‘better way’ Adoption of perceived ‘better way’ Recognition of work-related deficiency or imperfect situation Evaluation and refinement of adopted alternative Evaluation and refinement of adopted alternative 1 5 5 Recognition of new practice as an improvement 6 The professional development process in individuals (model 1)

14. 2 3 4 Recognition of work-related deficiency or imperfect situation Motivation to adopt perceived ‘better way’ (of doing things) Adoption of perceived ‘better way’ Recognition of what is perceived as a ‘better way’ Evaluation and refinement of adopted alternative Evaluation and refinement of adopted alternative 1 5 5 Recognition of new practice as an improvement 6 The professional development process (model 2) Linda Evans (2010) - work in progress

15. How effective will the new system be? • Does it incorporate the facility for teachers to recognise ‘better ways’? • This could potentially occur: • in the review meeting • through written feedback on classroom observation • Much depends on: • the reviewer • the quality of relationship between reviewer and reviewee • the interpersonal dynamic of the review process

16. How effective will the new system be? • How holistic is teacher development likely to be? • Does the system incorporate the capacity to effect the different components and dimensions of professional development?

17. professional development behavioural development attitudinal development intellectual development processual change perceptual change epistemological change procedural change evaluative change rationalistic change productive change motivational change comprehensive change analytical change competential change

18. How effective will the new system be? • How holistic is teacher development likely to be? • Does the system incorporate the capacity to effect the different components and dimensions of professional development? • This depends upon the professional standards • width of coverage

19. professionalism behavioural component attitudinal component intellectual component processual dimension perceptual dimension epistemological dimension procedural dimension evaluative dimension rationalistic dimension productive dimension motivational dimension comprehensive dimension analytical dimension competential dimension

20. The ‘balance’ of the standards • Across all 5 levels of standards the attitudinal component is the least represented. • The behavioural component is the most represented. • the most represented dimensions are: • Competential • Processual • Productive • Comprehensive • In the professional standards framework there is a neglect of consideration of the motivational component. • What will be the likely impact of performance management on teachers’ morale, job satisfaction and motivation?

22. Teacher morale, job satisfaction & motivation: influential factors • Herzberg’s 5 motivation factors: • achievement • recognition • advancement • responsibility • the work itself • Evans conflates these to one: • achievement • Steers et al.: • achievement

23. Performance management and achievement • Potentially much scope for fostering a sense of achievement as the standards are attained and ‘ticked off’ • However, there are many mediating factors: • teachers’ values • teachers’ current priorities • teachers’ perceptions of the performance management system • and how it is effected in their schools/colleges • credibility of the reviewer

24. Proximity theory • ‘The ideal theory is a theory of the operation of a basic force’ (Jasso, 1998) • By this reasoning, as a basic theory, proximity theory would be described as a theory of human motivation in the work context. • In the more specific context to which I apply it in this paper, it becomes a motivational theory of teachers’ practice. • It stems from the axiom of comparison: • a wide class of phenomena, including happiness, self-esteem, and the sense of distributive justice, may be understood as the product of a comparison process • In proximity theory the phenomenon in question is, fundamentally, the conception of oneself-at-work, or professional self-conception. • The comparison element is the comparison between the ‘actual’ and the ‘ideal’, as subjectively perceived.

25. Will performance management motivate teachers to develop? • Development must be consistent with the teacher’s values and priorities: • must be perceived as taking her/him nearer to her/his current ideal job • Proximity to their ideal job (ideals) is the unconsciously applied basis upon which teachers will decide whether something constitutes a ‘better way’. • School leaders’ key development skill: • aligning teachers’ perceptions of a ‘better way’ with the school’s development plan

26. behavioural development attitudinal development intellectual development processual change perceptual change epistemological change procedural change evaluative change rationalistic change productive change motivational change comprehensive change analytical change competential change professional development

27. behavioural development processual change procedural change productive change competential change professional development Behavioural development is: the process whereby people’s professional behaviour or performance are modified with the result that their professionalism, professionality or professional practice may be considered to be enhanced, with a degree of permanence that exceeds transitoriness. Processual change is about change in relation to the processes that constitute people’s practice – how they ‘do’ or ‘go about’ things. Procedural change relates to changes to procedures within practice. Productive change refers to change to people’s output: to how much they achieve, produce or ‘do’. Competential change involves the increase or enhancement of skills and competences.

28. behavioural development attitudinal development intellectual development processual change perceptual change epistemological change procedural change evaluative change rationalistic change productive change motivational change comprehensive change analytical change competential change professional development

29. attitudinal development perceptual change evaluative change motivational change professional development Attitudinal development is: the process whereby people’s work-related attitudes are modified with the result that their professionalism, professionality or professional practice may be considered to be enhanced, with a degree of permanence that exceeds transitoriness. Perceptual change refers to change in relation to people’s perceptions, viewpoints, beliefs and mindsets. Evaluative change is about changes to people’s professional- or practice-related values, including the minutiae of what they consider important: i.e. what they value. Motivational change refers to changes to people’s motivation and levels of job satisfaction and morale.

30. behavioural development attitudinal development intellectual development processual change perceptual change epistemological change procedural change evaluative change rationalistic change productive change motivational change comprehensive change analytical change competential change professional development

31. intellectual development epistemological change rationalistic change comprehensive change analytical change professional development Intellectual development is: the process whereby people’s professional-related knowledge, understanding or reflective or comprehensive capacity or competence are modified with the result that their professionalism, professionality or professional practice may be considered to be enhanced, with a degree of permanence that exceeds transitoriness. Epistemological change is change in relation to the bases of what people know or understand and to their knowledge structures. Rationalistic change is about change relating to the extent of and the nature of the reasoning that people apply to their practice. Comprehensive change involves the enhancement or increase of people’s knowledge and understanding. Analytical change refers to change to the degree or nature of the analyticism that people apply to their working lives.