A focus on quality teaching in Priority School communities

1. A focus on quality teaching in Priority School communities NSW Department of Education and Training Priority Schools Programs

2. Achieving educational justice Working with students from low SES backgrounds means refusing to accept limits on students’ potential on the basis of ‘background’ factors such as income or race; it means believing that schools and teachers can make a difference to the educational achievements of all students. (NSW DET 1999) NSW Department of Education and Training Priority Schools Programs

3. Teachers make the difference! Overwhelmingly the research indicates that, of the factors that schools can control, quality teaching is the greatest single factor in students’ achievement and that, in fact, quality teaching makes the difference. (Rowe 2002) NSW Department of Education and Training Priority Schools Programs

4. Teachers make the difference The connection between quality teaching and improved student outcomes has been highlighted in the meta-evaluation of the Priority Action Schools (PAS) program. Schools that made behaviour management strategies a key focus of their PASP initiatives were generally not as successful as they hoped in achieving improvements in student learning outcomes. Indeed, schools that employed versions of productive pedagogies appeared to have greater improvements in classroom and school behaviour as well as greater improvements in student learning outcomes – almost certainly because they focused on improving student engagement in learning, with the effect that fewer students were disruptive. Knowing Makes the Difference: Learnings from the NSW Priority Action Schools Program, DET 2004 NSW Department of Education and Training Priority Schools Programs

5. Quality teaching in NSW Research conducted by Newmann and associates (1996) in Wisconsin, USA, found that authentic pedagogy improved students’ learning outcomes regardless of race, ethnicity or socio-economic status. The following graphs demonstrate that authentic pedagogy can reduce the inequalities between students from high and low socio-economic status communities. NSW Department of Education and Training Priority Schools Programs

6. Quality teaching in NSW NSW Department of Education and Training Priority Schools Programs

7. Quality teaching in NSW NSW Department of Education and Training Priority Schools Programs

8. Quality teaching in NSW The NSW Quality teaching model is based on a sound understanding of how teaching and school improvement can promote improved student learning outcomes. The model refocuses the attention of teachers on teaching and learning processes as the single most important determinant in reducing the achievement gap in Priority Schools. NSW Department of Education and Training Priority Schools Programs

9. Where to from here? There must be a relentless focus on learning in Priority Schools. The whole school community should strive toward continuous improvement. Teaching and learning programs must demonstrate high intellectual quality, in supportive learning environments and be significant to the learner. The poorest children in the country cannot be educationally disadvantaged until someone, through some consecrated practice, educationally disadvantages them. (Freebody 1995) NSW Department of Education and Training Priority Schools Programs