Joined Up Learning and Teaching Oldham Primary Heads Conference Friday, 9th March 2007

1. Joined Up Learning and TeachingOldham Primary Heads Conference Friday, 9th March 2007

2. Overview of Workshop 9:15 – 9:20 Welcome 9:20 – 10:45 Joined up Teaching and Learning 10:45 – 11:15 Coffee 11:15 – 12:30 Jigsaw Activity 12:30 – 13:30 Lunch 13:30 – 14:30 Classroom Planning and Staff Development and Whole School Design 14:40 – 15:00 Plenary - Discussion

5. Moral Purpose of Schooling

6. System Leadership: A Proposition ‘System leaders’ care about and work for the success of other schools as well as their own. They measure their success in terms of improving student learning and increasing achievement, and strive to both raise the bar and narrow the gap(s). Crucially they are willing to shoulder system leadership roles in the belief that in order to change the larger system you have to engage with it in a meaningful way.’

7. System leaders share five striking characteristics, they: measure their success in terms of improving student learning and strive to both raise the bar and narrow the gap(s). are fundamentally committed to the improvement of teaching and learning. develop their schools as personal and professional learning communities. strive for equity and inclusion through acting on context and culture. understand that in order to change the larger system you have to engage with it in a meaningful way.

8. The Leadership Purpose Improvement, then, is change with direction, sustained over time, that moves entire systems, raising the average level of quality and performance while at the same time decreasing the variation among units, and engaging people in analysis and understanding of why some actions seem to work and others don’t. Leadership is the guidance and direction of instructional [teaching] improvement. This is a deliberately de-romanticised, focussed and instrumental definition. Richard F Elmore – Building a New Structure for School Leadership (2004:57)

10. Traditional Teaching The area of the curriculum that I want to focus upon is the formal curriculum, because it is this curriculum that provides the basic structure for the others. What does a teacher need to be a good subject teacher? One clearly inadequate view is represented by this diagram. Some of us have had the good fortune to be inspired by and learn a great deal from people who were experts in their discipline and who had very little pedagogical knowledge, but intuitively knew how to make their discipline come alive. But we have probably come across many more who obviously did know their discipline but could not communicate it. We have little trouble rejecting this as a satisfactory model for effective teaching. The area of the curriculum that I want to focus upon is the formal curriculum, because it is this curriculum that provides the basic structure for the others. What does a teacher need to be a good subject teacher? One clearly inadequate view is represented by this diagram. Some of us have had the good fortune to be inspired by and learn a great deal from people who were experts in their discipline and who had very little pedagogical knowledge, but intuitively knew how to make their discipline come alive. But we have probably come across many more who obviously did know their discipline but could not communicate it. We have little trouble rejecting this as a satisfactory model for effective teaching.

11. General Teaching Knowledge A second proposition, and one which is quite prevalent, is that to be an effective teacher, all one needs is generalized pedagogical knowledge that can be applied to different subject areas. After all, the content that we teach in schools is not particularly difficult: what matters is that we know how to communicate it. This view is represented in this diagram. Unfortunately this is an incorrect view. Such teachers, without a deep understanding of the structure of the discipline, are not going to be able to give students the conceptual foundations they need in order to move to higher levels of understanding and thinking within that discipline. I have seen the outcomes of what happens when teachers have inadequate knowledge of their discipline many times, particularly in primary school mathematics teaching. Their students can often do routine problems, but fall apart in dealing with problems requiring a solid conceptual understanding of the mathematics. A second proposition, and one which is quite prevalent, is that to be an effective teacher, all one needs is generalized pedagogical knowledge that can be applied to different subject areas. After all, the content that we teach in schools is not particularly difficult: what matters is that we know how to communicate it. This view is represented in this diagram. Unfortunately this is an incorrect view. Such teachers, without a deep understanding of the structure of the discipline, are not going to be able to give students the conceptual foundations they need in order to move to higher levels of understanding and thinking within that discipline. I have seen the outcomes of what happens when teachers have inadequate knowledge of their discipline many times, particularly in primary school mathematics teaching. Their students can often do routine problems, but fall apart in dealing with problems requiring a solid conceptual understanding of the mathematics.

12. Disconnected Knowledge There is a third proposition that is also wrong, namely that teachers need both a good knowledge of the discipline and generalized pedagogical knowledge. This is, after all, what three years at university and one year in a diploma of education course typically provides. This proposition may be represented as shown here. The trouble with many teachers who have both good knowledge of their discipline and good generalized pedagogical knowledge is that they have not interrelated the two to develop sound and systematized pedagogical content knowledge.There is a third proposition that is also wrong, namely that teachers need both a good knowledge of the discipline and generalized pedagogical knowledge. This is, after all, what three years at university and one year in a diploma of education course typically provides. This proposition may be represented as shown here. The trouble with many teachers who have both good knowledge of their discipline and good generalized pedagogical knowledge is that they have not interrelated the two to develop sound and systematized pedagogical content knowledge.

13. Pedagogical Content Knowledge For teaching the formal curriculum what we need is pedagogical content knowledge. Pedagogical content knowledge is different from knowledge of general teaching methods. Expert teachers know the structure of their disciplines, and this knowledge provides them with cognitive roadmaps that guide the assignments they give students, the assessments they use to gauge students’ progress, and the questions they ask in the give and take of classroom life. In short, their knowledge of the discipline and of pedagogy interact. (p.155) Expert teachers have a firm understanding of their respective disciplines, knowledge of the conceptual barriers that students face in learning about the discipline, and knowledge of effective strategies for working with students. Teachers’ knowledge of their disciplines provides a cognitive roadmap to guide their assignments to students, to gauge student progress, and to support the questions students ask. The teachers focus on understanding rather than memorization and routine procedures to follow, and they engage students in activities that help students reflect on their own learning and understanding. (p.188) For teaching the formal curriculum what we need is pedagogical content knowledge. Pedagogical content knowledge is different from knowledge of general teaching methods. Expert teachers know the structure of their disciplines, and this knowledge provides them with cognitive roadmaps that guide the assignments they give students, the assessments they use to gauge students’ progress, and the questions they ask in the give and take of classroom life. In short, their knowledge of the discipline and of pedagogy interact. (p.155) Expert teachers have a firm understanding of their respective disciplines, knowledge of the conceptual barriers that students face in learning about the discipline, and knowledge of effective strategies for working with students. Teachers’ knowledge of their disciplines provides a cognitive roadmap to guide their assignments to students, to gauge student progress, and to support the questions students ask. The teachers focus on understanding rather than memorization and routine procedures to follow, and they engage students in activities that help students reflect on their own learning and understanding. (p.188)

14. Capacity to Learn Principles of learning Effort is a more important determinant of achievement than ability Given the right time and support, almost all can become proficient learners Principles of teaching High expectations and challenging targets should be set for all While the standards should remain constant, time and support should be varied according to individual student need

15. Constructing Knowledge Principle of Learning Knowledge is a constructive process: learners actively make meaning and construct ideas and the connections between them Principle of teaching Students should be encouraged to be active learners and problem-solvers What we call ‘constructivism’ - the view that learners learn by constructing new knowledge as opposed to absorbing it or being filled with new knowledge like pouring water into a jug, is not new. But practice often proceeds as though we were in denial of what is evidently true. I plead guilt myself to countless violations.What we call ‘constructivism’ - the view that learners learn by constructing new knowledge as opposed to absorbing it or being filled with new knowledge like pouring water into a jug, is not new. But practice often proceeds as though we were in denial of what is evidently true. I plead guilt myself to countless violations.

16. So … We teach not to produce little living libraries on a subject, but rather to get students to think mathematically for themselves, to consider matters as an historian does, to take part in the process of knowledge-getting. Knowing is a process not a product.Adapted from: Jerome Bruner, Toward a Theory of Instruction (1966)

18. I wrote (with Bruce Joyce) some time ago that: Learning experiences are composed of content, process and social climate. As teachers we create for and with our children opportunities to explore and build important areas of knowledge, develop powerful tools for learning, and live in humanizing social conditions.

19. Personalised Learning is … An educational approach that focuses on every individual achieving their potential and enhancing their learning skills About designing teaching, curriculum and the school organisation to address the needs of the student both individually and collectively A system that is more accessible, open to customisation and involves the learner in their own learning A learning offer to all children that extends beyond the school context into the local community and beyond Customising the curriculum offer so that it balances breadth with personal relevance, and unifies the curriculum offer across sectors and age groupings. Its foundations are the curriculum subjects that fire students’ imagination and provide the basis for enquiry. Deep learning and teaching that builds on the learner’s experience, knowledge and multiple intelligences, and develops their confidence and competence. These strategies provide the focus for the teacher’s professional development, especially the use of ICT as a way to enhance creativity, extend learning opportunities and accommodate differing paces of learning. Assessment for learning engages pupils fully in their learning through shared objectives and feedback, the use of individual learning profiles and self directed learning projects, whilst enhancing their social skills. The focus on standards of achievement and learning provides the basis for unifying provision beyond the classroom and school to embrace the role of the family and community. Organising the school for personalised learning stresses the importance of leadership, enhances the role of the learning mentor and involves establishing a system of transferable learning profiles and credits. Networks and collaboration are an important enabler for personalised learning, both in providing choice and developing professional learning communities with access to a range of teaching strategies. They also enable the use of disciplined innovation, as a means for harnessing diversity to generate excellent outcomes under widely varying circumstances.Customising the curriculum offer so that it balances breadth with personal relevance, and unifies the curriculum offer across sectors and age groupings. Its foundations are the curriculum subjects that fire students’ imagination and provide the basis for enquiry. Deep learning and teaching that builds on the learner’s experience, knowledge and multiple intelligences, and develops their confidence and competence. These strategies provide the focus for the teacher’s professional development, especially the use of ICT as a way to enhance creativity, extend learning opportunities and accommodate differing paces of learning. Assessment for learning engages pupils fully in their learning through shared objectives and feedback, the use of individual learning profiles and self directed learning projects, whilst enhancing their social skills. The focus on standards of achievement and learning provides the basis for unifying provision beyond the classroom and school to embrace the role of the family and community. Organising the school for personalised learning stresses the importance of leadership, enhances the role of the learning mentor and involves establishing a system of transferable learning profiles and credits. Networks and collaboration are an important enabler for personalised learning, both in providing choice and developing professional learning communities with access to a range of teaching strategies. They also enable the use of disciplined innovation, as a means for harnessing diversity to generate excellent outcomes under widely varying circumstances.

20. Three ways of thinking about Teaching

21. Teaching Skills Content coverage Time allocated to instruction Engaged time – ‘time on task’ Consistent success Active teaching Structuring information Effective questioning

22. Teaching Relationships Expectation effects on student achievement are likely to occur both directly through opportunity to learn (differences in the amount and nature of exposure to content and opportunities to engage in various types of academic activities) and indirectly through differential treatment that is likely to affect students' self-concepts, attributional inferences, or motivation. Good, T.L. and Brophy, J.E. (1994) Looking In Classrooms (2nd ed)

23. Teaching Models Our toolbox is the models of teaching, actually models for learning, that simultaneously define the nature of the content, the learning strategies, and the arrangements for social interaction that create the learning contexts of our students. For example, in powerful classrooms students learn models for:

24. Whole Class Teaching Model - Syntax Phase One: Review Phase Two: Presenting Information Phase Three: Involving students in discussion Phase Four: Engaging students in learning activities Phase Five: Summary and review

25. Cooperative Group Work Teaching Model - Syntax Positive interdependence Individual Accountability Face-to-face interaction Social skills Processing

26. Cooperative Group Work Teaching Model - Examples Numbered Heads Jigsaw Twos to fours or snowballing Rainbow groups Envoys Listening triads Critical Friends

27. Inductive Teaching Model - Syntax Phase One: Identify the domain Phase Two: Collect, present and enumerate data Phase Three: Examine data Phase Four: Form concepts by classifying Phase Five: Generate and test hypotheses Phase Six: Consolidate and transfer

28. The Key Question What teaching strategies do I and my colleagues have in our repertoires to respond to the student diversity that walks through our classroom doors?

29. joineduplearningandteaching The most successful curricular and teaching patterns induce students to construct knowledge - to inquire into subject areas intensively.

30. Powerful Learning … Is the ability of learners to respond successfully to the tasks they are set, as well as the task they set themselves In particular, to: Integrate prior and new knowledge Acquire and use a range of learning skills Solve problems individually and in groups Think carefully about their successes and failures Accept that learning involves uncertainty and difficulty All this has been termed “meta-cognition” – it is the learners’ ability to take control over their own learning processes.

31. The Common Curriculum of L2L Thinking skills Learning styles Gardner’s multiple intelligences Goleman’s emotional intelligence How the brain works and brain gym Study skills Guy Claxton’s ‘4Rs’ (resilience, recoursefullness, reflectiveness, and reciprocity) Mindmapping

32. The Dialectic between Curriculum, Learning and Teaching

33. Joineduplearningandteaching The most successful teaching patterns induce students to construct knowledge - to inquire into subject areas intensively There are many teaching approaches that can impact powerfully on learning – it’s all about fitness for purpose

35. Joineduplearningandteaching The most successful teaching patterns induce students to construct knowledge - to inquire into subject areas intensively There are many teaching approaches that can impact powerfully on learning – it’s all about fitness for purpose Importantly, the most effective models of teaching are also models of learning – they increase the intellectual capacity of every student

36. Relationship between Model of Teaching and Learning Skills

37. Joineduplearningandteaching The most successful teaching patterns induce students to construct knowledge - to inquire into subject areas intensively There are many teaching approaches that can impact powerfully on learning – it’s all about fitness for purpose Importantly, the most effective models of teaching are also models of learning – they increase the intellectual capacity of every student The application of specific models of curriculum and teaching can greatly reduce the effects of gender, socio-economic status and linguistic background as factors in student learning

39. Joineduplearningandteaching There are many teaching approaches that can impact powerfully on learning – it’s all about fitness for purpose The most successful teaching patterns induce students to construct knowledge - to inquire into subject areas intensively Importantly, the most effective models of teaching are also models of learning – they increase the intellectual capacity of every student The application of specific models of curriculum and teaching can greatly reduce the effects of gender, socio-economic status and linguistic background as factors in student learning. Teaching strategies should also be adapted to individual need through Assessment for Learning.

40. Assessment for Learning The Given A detailed map of a given curriculum with precise knowledge of how best to teach to the learning objectives in regular classroom settings. What Else is Needed A set of formative assessment tools for each lesson Formative assessment that is not time-consuming Using the assessment information on each student to design and deliver differentiated instruction A built-in means of systematically improving the effectiveness of classroom instruction If classroom instruction could be thus organised, then for the first time, teaching would follow the student.

41. Discussion Agree a definition of ‘Model of Learning’ Are you clear as to the role of the teacher in this approach? Can these models extend the learning of all students?

42. COFFEE!

43. Jigsaw

44. LUNCH!

46. Classroom Diagnostic and discussion of key issues

47. Joined up learning and teaching… in Schools Make space and time for ‘deep learning’ and teacher enquiry Use the research on learning and teaching to impact on student achievement Studying classroom practice increases the focus on student learning Invest in school-based processes for improving teacher’s pedagogical content knowledge By working in small groups the whole school staff can become a nurturing unit This takes me to my concluding thought. I believe we are living in exciting times in education. There is national and international interest in levering improved student outcomes through a massive effort to understand learning and improve teaching. Just before I was about to write this paragraph I happened to pick up the May 28 issue of Education Week which reported that the “…National Science Foundation in the USA is planning a 10-year effort to underwrite research to unlock the secrets of how people learn and how to put those lessons into practice.” They plan to spend $20m in the first two years to get things underway. This will, of course, be a top down process, but I see many signs of bottom-up interest in understanding learning and improving teaching among ordinary teachers in schools everywhere I travel. When there is both a top-down and a bottom-up interest of this magnitude, then big things are likely to happen. I feel both excited and optimistic about what cognitive scientists, neurologists and educational researchers are going to find out over the next few years, but equally by what staff in schools working with university colleagues in the disciplines are going to create in terms of a new kind of pedagogical content knowledge that has the capacity to transform teaching and learning. This takes me to my concluding thought. I believe we are living in exciting times in education. There is national and international interest in levering improved student outcomes through a massive effort to understand learning and improve teaching. Just before I was about to write this paragraph I happened to pick up the May 28 issue of Education Week which reported that the “…National Science Foundation in the USA is planning a 10-year effort to underwrite research to unlock the secrets of how people learn and how to put those lessons into practice.” They plan to spend $20m in the first two years to get things underway. This will, of course, be a top down process, but I see many signs of bottom-up interest in understanding learning and improving teaching among ordinary teachers in schools everywhere I travel. When there is both a top-down and a bottom-up interest of this magnitude, then big things are likely to happen. I feel both excited and optimistic about what cognitive scientists, neurologists and educational researchers are going to find out over the next few years, but equally by what staff in schools working with university colleagues in the disciplines are going to create in terms of a new kind of pedagogical content knowledge that has the capacity to transform teaching and learning.

48. Structuring Staff Development Workshop Understanding of Key Ideas and Principles Modelling and Demonstration Practice in Non-threatening Situations Workplace Immediate and Sustained Practice Collaboration and Peer Reflection and Action Research

49. Devise a programme around these core values: Every school can improve Improvement is assessed in terms of enhanced pupil outcomes Every individual in the school has a contribution to make Start from where the school is, but set high goals Model good practice with precision Raise expectations of what is possible.

50. A Three Phase Strategy for School Improvement Phase One: Establishing the Process Phase Two: Going Whole School Phase Three: Sustaining Momentum

51. Phase One: Establishing the Process Commitment to the School Improvement Approach Selection of School Improvement Group or Cadre Enquiring into the Strengths and Weaknesses of the School Designing the Whole School Programme Seeking Partners and Seeding the Whole School Approach

52. Preparing for School Improvement

53. Phase Two: Going Whole School The Initial Whole School INSET Day(s) Establishing the Curriculum and Teaching Focus Establishing the Learning Teams: Curriculum groupings Peer coaching or ‘buddy’ groups The Initial Cycle of Enquiry Sharing Initial Success on the Curriculum Tour

54. Curriculum Tour

55. Phase Three: Sustaining Momentum Establishing Further Cycles of Enquiry Building Teacher Learning into the Process Sharpening the Focus on Student Learning Finding Ways of Sharing Success and Building Networks Reflecting on the Culture of the School and Department

57. How effective is your own school’s approach to improvement?

58. PLENARY

59. The Logic of School Improvement