welcome leading reflective practice in schools

1. Welcome 10th June 2009 Clandeboye Lodge Hotel

3. �Reflective Practice as a Pathway to Professional Understanding� Mr Eddie McArdle Registrar GTCNI

5. Structure ? �well sort of� Polemic Musings Anecdotes Meandering & Random Thoughts

6. Initial Thoughts

7. Martha Nussbaum, Love�s Knowledge. New York:O.U.P. 1998 � In its determination to see only what can enter into utilitarian calculations, the economic mind is blind: blind to the �� separateness of its people, to their inner depths, their hopes and loves and fears, blind to what it is like to live a human life and try to endow it with meaning�

8. Cautionary Note 1. � In our rush to reform education, we have forgotten a simple truth: reform will never be achieved by renewing appropriations, restricting schools, rewriting curricula and revising texts if we continue to � dishearten the human resource called the teacher on whom so much depends�� Palmer P. J �The Courage to Teach�

9. Cautionary Note 2.

10. �Men at some times are masters of their fates. The fault dear Brutus, is not in our stars, but in ourselves, that we are underlings.�

11. Initial Thoughts 2 or D�j� vu all over again

12. Our Work in Context

14. Preparing to Teach in Secondary Schools Edited: Brooks V. Abbot I.& Bills L. OUP 2004 Multidimensionality: Many people / personalities Simultaneity: question-listen-motivate-assess Immediacy: momentum- pace-no downtime for reflection Unpredictability: unexpected events- serendipity Publicness: fishbowl syndrome History: classes socialise into �norms�.

15. Teaching:A Complex Interaction �� a public recognition that effective learning involves, essentially an �interactive chemistry� between learner and teacher, which depends on process as much as content and is an expression of personal values and perceptions as much as competences and knowledge.� Day, C. �Teachers in the twenty-first century: time to renew the vision.� Teachers and Training: Theory and Practice, 6, 1, pp 101-115. 2000.

16. � We Teach Who We Are� Parker J Palmer The Courage to Teach Jossey-Bass 1998

18. An Activist Profession �Should this be- a subversive profession?�

19. Our Collective Responsibility To be�.�active agents in the production of a new pedagogic discourse, rather than merely the consumers of the professional knowledge produced by academics and educational researchers.� (Edwards & Brunton)

20. Staff Development Excluding RTU Courses {an obvious and self evident truth}

21. For too many teachers�.staff development is a demeaning mind-numbing experience as they passively �sit and get�. That staff development is often (prescriptive) in nature�.and evaluated by �happiness scales�. Sparks 2004

22. �Tragically, however, many come with a convincing feeling that what is inside them is not valid because it is �only personal� to them. Somewhere along the line, many have learnt to seek the �expert� outside but deny that there may be a potential �expert within�.� Dadds 1997

23. Moral Visionary Profession ��making teaching into a moral, visionary profession once more where teachers know and care about their world as well as and as part of their work. It means teachers recapturing their status and dignity as some of society�s leading intellectuals, and not being the mere technicians, instruments and deliverers of other people�s agendas���.. Those who focus only on teaching techniques and curriculum standards and who do not also engage teachers in the greater social and moral questions of their time, promote a diminished view of teaching and teacher professionalism that has no place in a sophisticated knowledge society.� Hargreaves A. Teaching in the Knowledge Society2003

25. Reflective & Activist Professional 1. concerned with the purposes and consequences of education, as well as what might be called technical proficiency; prepared to experiment with the unfamiliar and learn from their experiences; have an approach characterised by open-mindedness and wholeheartedness;

26. Reflective & Activist Professional 2. committed to professional dialogue in school and beyond; have working patterns characterised by a process of action, evaluation and revision; and assume, as life-long learners, responsibility for their ongoing professional development

27. Professional Knowledge Rhona Sharpe � Professional knowledge is no longer viewed as just consisting of a standardised, explicit and fixed knowledge base. It is now seen as knowledge which exists in use, is ethical in its use and is changed by experience. The distinctive nature of professional knowledge lies in the interplay between its construction and use. When teachers use their knowledge, use changes what that knowledge is.�

28. Standards? Exemplifications of Competences

29. Competences The Council takes the view that the notion of competences goes well beyond the simple acquisition of skills and that, although curricular knowledge and pedagogical skills are important, teaching is both an intellectual and practical activity with important emotional and creative dimensions. Essentially, teachers, while reflecting on and evaluating their professional context, use acquired professional judgement to select the most appropriate options from a repertoire of teaching strategies, and in the process of teaching refine and add to their professional knowledge.

30. Hayes,D. Opportunities and Obstacles in the Competencey-Based Training of Primary Teachers in England. Harvard Educational Review Vol 69 Number 1 1999 If competence (standard) statements are used as a basis for informed discussion and reflection upon classroom practice between tutors, students, and classroom teachers, they will fulfil an important function. If they are used mechanically within an inflexible assessment regime framework, it is likely that the preparation of teachers�. will become miserably rigid, unsympathetic towards the realities and rigors of classroom life, and at worst, an impediment to creative and innovative teaching.

31. Dimensions of Development 1 greater complexity in teaching e.g. in handling mixed-ability classes, reluctant learners, classes marked by significant diversity, or inter-disciplinary work; the deployment of a wider range of teaching strategies; the ability to adduce evidence of one�s effectiveness; basing teaching on a wider range of evidence, reading and research;

32. Dimensions of Development 2 extending impact beyond the classroom- fuller participation in the life of the school; the capacity to exercise autonomy, to innovate, to improvise; and a pronounced capacity for self-criticism and self-improvement; the ability to impact on colleagues through mentoring and coaching, modelling good practice, contributing to the literature on teaching and learning and the public discussion of professional issues, leading staff development, all based on the capacity to theorise about policy and practice

33. Final Ruminations Is there such a word?

34. Professionals exhibit but also inspire confidence! We trust in their: Competence Commitment Conduct Judgement All Underpinned by Competence Document

35. � Teachers with high self-esteem know how to value both themselves and others��... This basic sense of self-worth is internalised, deeply imbedded, so it is not easily susceptible to any gross distortion by life events, however calamitous�� Day et al 1998 Equally such teachers are better placed to resist the pressures of the �old guard�, the blandishments of political �short-termists� and the stresses of the paradox that is teaching.

36. Competences as a BULWARK YOUR TASK IS TO: Define the Mission Reinforce the Vision Bolster self confidence Build Communities of Practice Initiate & sustain the �conversation� BE LEADERS

37. Price of Failure � �do their job, nothing more nothing less, aided in this by codified rules, timetables and lesson plans. The restrictiveness of their (assigned) texts and regulations serves them to adhere to their minimalist assiduity�.the sacred fire which once lit their work gradually dies to a smoulder.� Hamon & Rotman

38. Finally Finally

39. The �Hargreaves Agenda Andy Don�t be �Too busy rescuing drowning people to look to see what�s causing them to fall in.� David Remember � A society of sheep breeds a government of wolves�

40. �Men at some times are masters of their fates. The fault dear Brutus, is not in our stars, but in ourselves, that we are underlings.� All we need to do is be quiescent and we too can be underlings.

41. GTCNI www.gtcni.org.uk

44. Emerging Consensus on School Improvement Twin Pillars for Transformation �Quality of a schooling system cannot exceed Quality of its Teachers� (McKinsey)

45. School Leadership Matters (OECD) Empirically validated Indirect impact Greatest where learning needs are greatest

46. The Challenge Redesigning/repurposing Leadership - Instruction centred - Learner centred

47. The Case For School Effectiveness Research The Fatal Flaw They assume that the major determinants of the quality of pupils curriculum and pedagogical experiences are systems, rather than teachers� (Elliott)

48. �The quality of education depends on the quality of teachers� deliberations and judgement in classrooms� (Elliott) �To be effective, school improvement efforts must be directed towards what happens inside classrooms� (Hill)

49. Easier said than done �Substantial changes in pedagogy and in the way teachers work together on instructional matters is stubbornly elusive� (Fullan) �The hardest core to crack � is the learning core � changes in instructional practices and in the culture of teaching towards greater collaborative partnerships� (Fullan) �The priority for school improvement at the level of management is how to encourage a process of deliberative reflection on the part of teachers at the classroom level� (Elliott)

50. Strategies for learning-centred leadership

51. Personalising Learning Learning how to learn Assessment for learning Teaching and Learning Strategies Curriculum Choice Mentoring, Coaching and Support

52. Move Learning to top of the agenda - Governors� Meetings - SMT - Staff Meetings - Middle Leaders Forums Reframing INSET Focus and Use of PRSD

53. Effective Use of DATA - Achievement Gap(s) - Internal Variability �Quantum improvements in student learning can be achieved if the performance of students in all classes is brought up to the level of students in those classes in which students make the greatest progress� (Hill) �When school leaders seriously address within school variation it can make a significant difference� (Munby)

54. �Systematic data collation, analysis and USE � can lead to the improvement of education as has no other educational innovation of the last century� (McLean)

55. Build a Culture of Collaboration rooted in reflective practice amongst teachers �The Capacity of the staff working collectively to learn, defines the limit to which the school can support ambitious reform. Therefore school leaders must adopt collective learning as a central role� (NCSL)

56. Handling education and change: Coping Limited to managing the school and responding only to directions from higher sources Diffusion �Christmas Tree Schools� Goal Focused Selecting a few key goals, establishing priorities and ignoring other pressures

57. Reflective Practice: The Leadership Challenge ��discover and provide the conditions under which peoples learning curves go off the chart� Barth (2001)

58. What does it look like? A group of people who take an active, reflective, collaborative learning oriented and growth promoting approach towards the mysteries, problems and perplexities of teaching and learning. It will not happen by accident!

59. Organizational Learning Frame Are there regular opportunities to examine and reflect on classroom practice and student learning together? Do we engage in dialogue about program and practice across departments and grades? Is there a common understanding about what counts as progress across grades and subjects? From the students perspective, is there some consistency in expectations about their learning experience across grades and departments? Do we evaluate?

60. Do we gather and share data about the student�s learning experience? Are there opportunities to read about, examine and share �best practices�? Are there opportunities to network with others about classroom practice and procedures? Do we try to learn from our students about how we are doing as a school? How can we learn this better? What methods and processes could we use? Is our relationship with parents a learning relationship (where we learn from them, as well as them from us). How do we do this? How can we do it better? Hargreaves, Shaw and Fink (1997)

62. �Research Lesson Studies as an approach to Reflective Practice� Dr Debbie Galanouli QUB and Dr Aidan Hamill

63. Workshop 1 1200 � 1245 Workshop 2 1345 � 1430

66. Mr Stanley Goudie Chief Inspector DE