Allyson Macdonald Kristján Ketill Stefánsson Iceland University of Education

1. Expectations of and expertise in school advisory and development services in a school district in Iceland Allyson Macdonald Kristján Ketill Stefánsson Iceland University of Education Paper presented at SERA 2006, Perth, Scotland 23rd-25th November 2006

2. The presentation • The evaluation • the context • purpose of the evaluation • methodology • some results/themes in the data • new questions • Approaches to advisory services • constraints and contributors – teacher leaders • perceptions of teacher learning – district leaders • school development professionals - standards • interagency learning • A model for further development

3. The study • Peri-urban community, rapid growth • Population about 8000 • Four preschools (480 learners, aged 2-5) • over 90% of children aged 4-5 at least 8 hours a day • Two compulsory schools (1350 learners) • 113 teachers • Light industry and services • Holistic school policy developed over two years and adopted in 2002 • Evaluation of the LEA office

4. Functions of the LEA • Local education authority • Counties responsible for school provision • Has developed a county policy (2000-2002) which is however not legally binding for individual schools • Schools required to carry out self-evaluation • Provision of specialist services • Psychologists, speech and language problems • Support for school development – advisory services • Curriculum support, school subject advisory services • Inservice education – directly and indirectly; schools also have their own money • Development projects – directly and indirectly; assistance with applications to national funds • Five full-time staff (two school-psychologists)

5. Purpose of the evaluation • To evaluate the activities of the LEA office • according to legal requirements and local policy • in terms of work distribution and human resources • mapping the overlap between administrative tasks and specialist and advisory services • To assess the views of school principals and special education teachers on the services and activities of the LEA office

6. Data collection • Participants • LEA staff, school principals, special needs teachers • Preschools (aged 2-5), compulsory schools (aged 6-15) • Mixed methods • Qualitative • face-to-face interviews with staff, transcribed • e-mail interviews, analysed with NVivo software • Quantitative • custom-designed web-based questionnaire (SPSS) • From documents, including annual reports, figures from them and work descriptions • Electronic approach at all stages • Data collection from December to March • Feedback meetings from April to June • Prototype for evaluation of other LEA offices

7. Some results

8. Political and professional themes • The growing independence of schools, encouraged by LEA policy, is reflected in attitudes and activities • Financial management more centralised than principals would like it to be • Increased specialised knowledge in schools • Demands for quality assurance and accountability • Curricular changes • Increased emphasis on meeting individual needs • Changes in secondary (post-compulsory) education affect the compulsory curriculum

9. Social and economic themes • Changes in the employment sector creating new expectations among parents • Increased demand for all-day places in preschools and after-school services in the lower yearclasses and a wider and coherent variety of activities for older children • Changes in society and in the community • School/social inclusion • Demands from parents for quality services • Direct access to schools and the LEA (e-mail) and demand for actions • The knowledge society and views on education

10. Special needs support Useful 5,0 Sufficient 4,0 Teaching advice Psychological services 3,0 2,0 1,0 Speech development Services of a lay minister Prevention measures Counselling Psychology services

11. Follow-up of individual cases LEA office 5,0 Schools 4,0 Depression Bullying 3,0 2,0 Child neglect 1,0 Well-being of the student Parent education Prevention activities Exam stress

12. General advice LEA office 5,0 Schools 4,0 Reading difficulties Mathematics difficulties 3,0 2,0 1,0 Subject-based advice Individualized learning/development General education

14. A way forward?

15. From the literature • Becoming a leader in schools • Lewthwaite (2006) • How do district leaders promote teacher learning and instructional innovation? • Spillane (2000) • Can we relate monitoring-challenge-intervention to the work of individual LEA specialists, to the LEA as a whole and to specialists in schools? • National Standards for School Improvement Professionals (2003) • Can we learn from the notion of interagency learning to the need for specialist/advisory services? • Warmington et al. (2005)

16. Becoming a teacher leader • Constraints and contributors • professional trajectory • risk and protective factors • attributes and processes, also time-dependent • intrinsic and extrinsic factors • personal attributes, microsystem, mesosystem, exosystem, macrosystem • interplay between systems • Development is a joint function of the person and the environment • Personal dispositions of commitment and interest • Proximal conditions – collegial and professional support and expectations within the microsystem • Key concepts: individual, systems, development Lewthwaite (2006)

17. District leaders’ perceptions of teacher learning • New/reform policies, changes in content and pedagogy, leaders as change agents, learning theories • Study of 40 teacher leaders in nine school districts, part of a larger study on reform • 34 leaders (85%) – quasi-behaviorist approach – outside expertise, transmission, control of funds, teaching practice not addressed • five leaders (12,5%) - situated approach – teachers play an active role in their own learning, work with teachers’ identities • one leader (2,5%) – quasi-cognitive approach – individual rather social or group process, reconstruction of own knowledge • Individual agency and social structure • Structural arrangements constrain transformation of thinking • Trust – teachers hide deficiencies from leaders • Motivation for teacher learning and change - cynicism • Work of teacher leaders fragmented – wide variety of responsibilities and may compete with each other • Key concepts – structures, trust, learning Spillane (2000)

18. National Standards for School Improvement Professionals • Standards • – reflect an approach to working with schools and teachers • – also reflect economic constraints • Key concepts – information, reflection, action, management, expertise Department for Education and Skills 02/2003DIES/0130/2003. http://www.standards.dfes.gov.uk/la/pdf/NSSIPS-Final.pdf?version=1

19. Interagency/professional learning I • Developmental work research (DWR) – joined-up learning • DWR based on third generation activity theory (AT) which focuses on interacting activity systems • Expansive learning • Bateson (1972) – three levels of learning – conditioning, acquisition, questioning • Co-configuration • Victor and Boynton (1998) – distributed expertise • Five AT principles (key concepts) • system is the unit of analysis, multi-voicedness of systems, historicity, central role of contradictions/tensions within systems • possibility of expansive transformation(reconceptualisation of object and motive) TLRP LIW project (see for example Warmington et al., 2005)

20. Interagency/professional learning II • Boundary-crossing • Engestrom – expertise developed with professionals collaborate horizontally (cf. vertical model of professional development) – transferring and creation of knowledge – horizontal learning • Boundary zones • Used in practitioner workshops in which the negotiation of new professional (support and advisory) services can emerge – ‘free from prearranged routines and patterns’ • Literature review • Tensions between strategic and operational practice and ambivalent attitues to distributed expertise • Intervention • Short-term, analysing services, redefining the object, looking at tools, rules and division of labour TLRP LIW project (see for example Warmington et al., 2005)

21. CHALLENGING Setting standards/ benchmarks Accountability and taking responsibility Working with underperformers INTERVENTION Professional leadership Preparation of needed interventions Keeping up with official policy Taking the initiative in self-evaluation MONITORING Using information and data about performance Evaluating effects CHALLENGING Setting standards/ benchmarks Accountability and taking responsibility Working with underperformers SCHOOL MANAGEMENT AND CONTROL SPECIALIST/ ESSENTIAL SERVICES ADVISORY SERVICES SCHOOL DEVELOPMENT School management School development

22. MONITORING Using information and data about performand Evaluating effects CHALLENGING Setting standards/ benchmarks Accountability and taking responsibility Working with underperformers DWR and joined-up learning SCHOOL MANAGEMENT SPECIALIST/ ESSENTIAL SERVICES Schools LEA

23. CHALLENGING Setting standards/ benchmarks Accountability and taking responsibility Working with underperformers INTERVENTION Professional leadership Preparation of needed interventions Keeping up with official policy Taking the initiative in self-evaluation DWR and joined-up learning ADVISORY SERVICES SCHOOL DEVELOPMENT Schools LEA

24. A way forward...... • Clarify the issues – expectations and expertise • Learn from the research literature • individual, systems, development • structures, trust, learning • information, reflection, action • management, expertise • multi-voicedness of systems, historicity • contradictions/tensions within systems • developmental work research (DWR) – joined-up learning • Set up structures for professional learning • about specialist/essential services • about advisory/developmental services