Improving the Quality of Education for All : A Handbook of Staff Development Activities [2 ed.] 9781315068756, 9781853466496

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IMPROVING THE

QuALITY

0.'

EDUCATION FOR ALL

This page intentionally left blank

IMPROVING QuALITY EDUCATION FOR ALL THE

OF

Second Edition DAVID HOPKINS

ROUTLEDGE

Routledge Taylor & Francis Group

LONDON AND NEW YORK

Prist published 1996 by David Fulton Publishers Second edition 2002 Published 2015 by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN 711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017

Routledge is an imprint qf the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business Copyright © 2002 David Hopkins and the contributors: Mel Ainscow, Dave Beddow, John Beresford, Paul Clarke, David Jackson, John Morris, Tricia Sharpe, Colette Singleton, Hilary Stokes, Ruth Watts and Mel West British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. ISBN: 978-1-85346-649-6 (pbk) All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted, in any form, or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher. Typeset by FiSH Books, London

Contents

Acknowledgements

vi

1

Introduction

5

Chapter 1

Improving the Quality of Education For All

Chapter 2

A Framework for School Improvement

18

Chapter3

Powerful Learning and Powerful Teaching

26

Chapter4

Conditions for School Development

36

ChapterS

Conditions for Classroom Development

46

Chapter 6

The Three Phases of School Improvement

57

Chapter 7

The School1mprovement Cycle

68

ChapterS

Mapping the Process of Change in Schools

79

Coda

The Journey of School Improvement

95

Appendix 1 Staff Development and Peer Coaching

100

Appendix 2 Development Planning

102

Appendix3 IQEA Presentation

105

Appendix4 Cooperative Group Work

108

AppendixS The Conditions of School Survey

118

Appendix 6 Classroom Conditions

123

Appendix 7 Student Conditions

126

Appendix 8 Gathering Data on Teaching and Learning

129

References

133

Index

136

Acknowledgements

This book was written with contributions from Mel Ainscow, Dave Beddow, John Beresford, Paul Clarke, David Jackson, John Morris, Tricia Sharpe, Colette Singleton, Hilary Stokes, Ruth Watts and Mel West.

vi

Introduction

During the past ten years or so we have been working closely with schools throughout England and Wales, as well as Hong Kong, Iceland, Puerto Rico and South Africa on a school improvement and development programme known as Improving the Quality of Education for All (IQEA). The overall aim of the approach is to strengthen the school's capacity to provide quality education for all its pupils by building upon existing good practice. In so doing, we are also producing and evaluating a model of school development, and are using the opportunity of collaboration with schools in the IQEA network to conduct a long-term investigation into the processes of school change and student achievement. We are often asked about the impact of IQEA on student outcomes. We might answer that those secondary schools with which we have been working for a number of years all show sustained percentage increases in the GCSE 'A-C' results of their students. It is their claim, not ours, that this sustained improvement is a direct consequence of being associated with the project. We would, however, claim that through the influence of IQEA all schools in the network have established 'professional learning communities' and developed the conditions to support school improvement. In addition, we have evidence to suggest that students in IQEA schools enjoy a richer learning environment following their schools' involvement in the programme. Also IQEA has established networks of 'learning schools' throughout England and Wales and elsewhere, and the approach provides an alternative to the increasingly centralised educational reform agenda. This is not to say that IQEA schools eschew national policies, but because they are clearer about the focus of their own school improvement efforts, they have become more effective consumers and interpreters of centralised reforms. Despite this, it remains a difficult question to answer. First, because IQEA has not (as yet) been subject to external evaluation: and, second, because our aim is to 'strengthen the school's capacity to provide quality education', rather than to implement specific curriculum or instructional

innovations. Having said this, as we hope will be evident throughout this book, the IQEA Network is committed to enquiry, and we are continually reviewing and trying to make sense of the project's impact on schools and their pupils. As a result, the book contains many examples of the kinds of school-specific changes that have taken place, relating both to the progress of students and the professional development of their teachers. We hope that these examples demonstrate that improving the quality of education has many facets, not all of which can be measured and translated into targets and league tables. As interest in IQEA has grown in this country and elsewhere, it has become necessary to update this overview of the IQEA programme and its methods. There are a number of other book-length treatments of the IQEA approach, but they are either too research-orientated for a general audience, such as our School Improvement in an Era of Change (Hopkins et al. 1994) and the more recent School Improvement for Real (Hopkins 2001), or designed specifically for staff development purposes, such as the IQEA handbooks cited below. In this second edition we have updated the original text, added two extended case studies and provided much more practical material on the operation of the IQEA process. In general, the first part of the book is about the 'theory' of IQEA, albeit with many examples, and the second part focuses on the 'practice' by providing materials and illustrations of 'how to do' IQEA. We begin in Chapter 1 by describing the project, its principles, the various roles that participants assume, and by providing a detailed case study of the influence of the IQEA approach in Big Wood School Nottingham. In Chapter 2 the rationale for our approach to school improvement is described, as well as a framework in which to view the IQEA strategy. Chapter 3 is concerned with the prime focus of IQEA development initiatives, teaching and learning processes in schools. A key feature of the IQEA approach is its emphasis on building strong internal conditions within the school to support specific attempts to enhance the achievement of students. In Chapter 4 the school level conditions are described, together with examples from IQEA schools of how these can be developed. Similarly, in Chapter 5 the focus is on the conditions that contribute to classroom development, again with examples drawn from the project. The purpose of Chapter 6 is to pull all of these strands together in a case study that describes the three phases of the IQEA process. In reviewing the IQEA experience in Swanwick School Derbyshire, we not only outline the process but provide many practical illustrations of how 'to do' IQEA. Chapter 7 goes deeper in terms of practical detail; here we provide examples of programme elements over a typical two-year cycle, and outlines of training sessions and other materials. In Chapter 8, with further examples from IQEA schools, we describe a series of research techniques we have developed to map the process of change in schools. We conclude with a Coda on the 'journey of school improvement' which attempts to capture the essence of the IQEA approach and its connection to the contemporary educational scene. It is inevitable that, in producing a book designed as a general intro2

Improving the Quality of Education for All

duction, we have had to draw on our previous writings on IQEA, in particular, the range of IQEA staff development handbooks. Something also needs to be said about the rather self-conscious use of the collective pronoun in this introduction. The achievement of IQEA is a collective one based on the contributions of many colleagues from schools, universities and LEAs. In an attempt to respect everyone's contribution, we initially tried to write this second edition as a collective enterprise. Unsurprisingly, given everyone's diaries and workloads, this proved impossible. In the end it proved easier for one person to coordinate the production of the second edition based on the various contributions from Mel West and Mel Ainscow, who co-authored the first edition, and John Beresford, Dave Beddow, Paul Clarke, David Jackson, John Morris, Tricia Sharpe, Colette Singleton, Geoff Southworth, Hilary Stokes and Ruth Watts. In those cases where we have based chapters or parts of chapters on previously published material, we have extensively re-written and abridged the original text to make the description and argument more accessible. The reader interested in a more detailed discussion of particular aspects of the IQEA approach is advised to consult the following sources that are referenced in the bibliography: • Chapters 1 and 2 - Further background descriptions of the IQEA project and a more detailed discussion of our strategy for school improvement are found in the bibliography (e.g. Hopkins et al. 1994; Hopkins 2001; West 1994). • Chapter 3- A more extensive discussion of teaching strategies is found in Chapter 5 of School Improvement For Real (Hopkins 2001), and in the IQEA staff development handbook Creating the Conditions for Teaching and Learning (Hopkins and Harris 2000). • Chapter 4 - The examples in this chapter are based on more detailed vignettes from IQEA schools contained in the third part of School Improvement in an Era of Change (in Hopkins et al. 1994); a fuller and more practical description of the school level conditions are found in the IQEA staff development handbook Creating the Conditions for School Improvement (Ainscow et al. 2000). • Chapter 5- A detailed version of this chapter on the 'classroom conditions' was published as an academic paper (Hopkins et al. 1998) and a more practical approach to the same ideas is to be found in the IQEA staff development handbook Creating the Conditions for Classroom Improvement (Hopkins et al. 1997). • Chapter 6 -Although other versions of the Swanwick case study have been published elsewhere (see, for example, Hopkins 2001), this chapter provides the most illuminating account of the whole IQEA process in one schooL • Chapter 7 - This chapter was prepared for this book from materials contained in the IQEA archive. The principles underpinning the design are discussed in detail in School Improvement for Real (Hopkins 2001). • Chapter 8- Detailed descriptions of the mapping techniques referred to in this chapter are found in Mapping Change in Schools (Cambridge Introduction

3

University 1994; Ainscow et al. 1995; and Hargreaves 1995). More information on the research instruments contained in this chapter can be found in the IQEA Handbook Collecting Information for School Improvement (Beresford 1998) and in A Teachers Guide to Classroom Research (Hopkins 2002). • Coda - The themes mentioned in the Coda are elaborated in many of the publications previously cited, in particular Chapter 14 of School Improvement in an Era of Change (Hopkins et al. 1994) and School Improvement for Real (Hopkins 2001). In preparing this account of the IQEA 'journey of school improvement' we are mindful of how much we have learned from our colleagues in the academy and schools. We are particularly grateful to our fellow IQEA Project team members from the 'Cambridge days': Michael Fielding, Judy Sebba and Geoff Southworth, and for the critical support and friendship of our colleagues David Hargreaves, and David Reynolds, who take our work seriously enough to subject it to rigorous scrutiny. But above all it is the schools in the IQEA network, their teachers and students who have contributed whatever is of value here. We have been privileged to share their challenges and experiences in times of great change, and we hope that in the following pages we have captured something of their spirit, their creativity, their success. David Hopkins Nottingham January 2002

4

Improving the Quality of Education for All

CHAPTER 1

Improving the Quality of Education for All

As we work with schools within the framework of a national reform agenda we are committed to an approach to educational change that focuses on student achievement and the schools' ability to cope with change. We refer to this particular approach as school improvement. We regard school improvement as a distinct approach to educational change that enhances student outcomes as well as strengthening the school's capacity for managing improvement initiatives. In this sense school improvement is about raising student achievement through focusing on the teaching-learning process and those conditions which support it. The Improving the Quality of Education for All (IQEA) school improvement programme works from an assumption that schools are most likely to strengthen their ability to provide enhanced outcomes for all pupils when they adopt ways of working that are consistent both with their own aspirations as a school community and the current reform agenda. Indeed, to an extent, the schools we are working with are using the impetus of external reform for internal purpose as they navigate the systemic changes of recent years. At the outset of IQEA, we attempted to outline our own vision of school improvement by articulating a set of principles that provided us with a philosophical and practical starting point. These principles were offered to schools as the basis for collaboration in the IQEA programme. In short, we were inviting the schools to identify and to work on their own projects and priorities, but to do so in a way which embodied a set of 'core' values about school improvement. These principles represent the expectations we have of the way IQEA schools pursue school improvement. They serve as an aide-memoire to the schools and to ourselves. The five principles of IQEA are: • School improvement is a process that focuses on enhancing the quality of students' learning. • The vision of the school should be one that embraces all members of the school community as both learners and contributors. 5

• The school will see in external pressures for change important opportunities to secure its internal priorities. • The school will seek to develop structures and create conditions which encourage collaboration and lead to the empowerment of individuals and groups. • The school will seek to promote the view that enquiry, and the monitoring and evaluation of quality, is a responsibility which all members of staff share. Though we feel that the operation of these principles can create synergy around change (together they are greater than the sum of their parts), they characterise an overall approach rather than prescribe a course of action. The intention is that they should inform the thinking and actions of teachers during school improvement efforts, and provide a touchstone for the strategies they devise and the behaviours they adopt. We underpin our school improvement work with a contract between the partners in the programme - the school and its teachers, and in some cases, the LEA or sponsoring agency, and ourselves. The contract defines the parameters of the project, and the obligations those involved owe to each other. It is intended to clarify expectations and ensure the conditions necessary for success. In particular, the contract emphasises that all staff be consulted, that a school improvement group or 'cadre' is identified to carry the work forward, that a 'critical mass' of teachers are actively involved in development work, and that sufficient time is made available for appropriate classroom and staff development activities. The detail of the contract expresses what we take to be the minimum conditions necessary for a successful partnership with the school: • The decision to participate in the programme is made as a result of consultation amongst all staff in the school. • Each school designates a minimum of four members of staff as programme coordinators (one of whom is the headteacher) who attend training and the support meetings (this group is often called the 'IQEA cadre'). • The whole school will allocate substantial staff development time to activities related to the programme. • At least half of the staff (representing a cross-section of colleagues) will take part in specified staff development activities in their own classrooms. Each participating teacher will be regularly 'released' from teaching to participate in these classroom-based aspects of the programme. • Each school will participate in the evaluation of the programme and share findings with other participants in the programme. From the beginning of IQEA we were determined that we would attempt to affect all 'levels' of the school. A major purpose of the contract is to ensure that this happens. One of the things that we have learned from research and previous work is that change will not be successful unless it impacts all levels of the school organisation. Specifically our focus is on 6

Improving the Quality of Education for All

the three levels outlined in Figure 1.1, and the ways in which these levels interrelate. The school level is to do with overall management and the establishment of policies, particularly with respect to how resources and strategies for staff development can be mobilised to support school improvement efforts. At the level of working groups the concern is with the details of and arrangements for supporting improvement activities. Finally, at the individual teacher level the focus is on developing classroom practice.

SCHOOL

TEACHERS

CADRE

WORKING GROUPS

Figure 1.1 Integrating the levels

Our feeling is that in effective schools these three levels of activity are mutually supportive. Consequently a specific aim of the IQEA programme has to be to devise and establish positive conditions at each level and to coordinate support across these levels. It is in this connection that we require the establishment of a school improvement group in each school whose task includes the integration of activities across the various levels. We often refer to these colleagues as the cadre group. They are responsible for the day-to-day running of the project in their own schools and for creating links between the principles and ideas of the IQEA approach and practical action. In many schools members of the cadre establish an extended cadre group which serves to extend involvement in the programme in a more formal way within the school. Typically, the cadre group is a cross-hierarchical team which could be as small as three or four to six in comparatively small schools, to between six and ten in large schools. Though one of these is likely to be the headteacher, it is important to establish groups that are genuinely representative of the range of perspectives and ideas available in the school- it should, ideally, then, be cross-hierarchical, cross-institutional, have a mix of ages, experience, gender, length of time at the school, and so on. Cadre group members should also not come together in any already existing group within the school, such as the senior management team or a heads of department group, so that the problem of pooled rationalisations is minimised. The cadre group is responsible for identifying the programme focus (through a consensus-building process involving the rest of the staff), and for managing efforts on a day-to-day basis within the school. External consultancy support and facilitation support them through a core training programme, through networking with cadre groups Improving the Quality of Education for All

7

from other schools, and through other agencies such as a university or the LEA. In organisational terms, the reason a cadre group is required is because of the tensions in schools caused by the conflicting demands of maintenance and development (Hopkins 2001: Chapter 7). One of the underpinning characteristics of authentic school improvement is the separation of maintenance activities from development work. Structurally, the formal roles and responsibilities, the committee structures and the decision-making processes of schools have evolved in relation to structural hierarchies designed to support efficiency, stability and functional effectiveness. Put another way, staff are appointed to roles which involve the management of structural units that tend to incorporate a standard set of functions, which often provide perpetual membership of committee structures, all of which relate predominantly to management and maintenance aspects of the school. Schools then tend to overburden this system by asking it also to take on development roles for which it was never designed. As an aside, the same structures create vertical communication systems, but virtually prevent lateral communication or lateral learning. Sadly, different organisational units within a school rarely exchange practices or learn from one another: in some schools they rarely even talk to one another! The cadre or school improvement group is essentially a temporary membership system focused specifically upon enquiry and development. This temporary membership system brings together teachers (and support staff) from a variety of departments within the school, with a range of ages or experience and from a cross-section of roles to work together in a status-free collaborative learning context. Jackson (2000) developed the model in Figure 1.2 that illustrates this separate (yet integrated) structural construct. One teacher has described it as the educational equivalent of a research and development group, and the traditional school as analogous to a company in which everyone works on the production line, without any research and development function. The result is stagnation, and that is how schools have been. The establishment of a school improvement group creates the research and development capacity, whilst retaining the existing structures required also for organisational stability and efficiency. It also unlocks staff potential often stifled within formal structures, and opens up new collaborations. This description of cadre group functioning, although based both on our original conceptualisation of the role and the experience in a number of schools, is in many ways ideotypical. Despite best efforts, in many schools, cadre group members seem unsure about how they were selected for this role, and, initially at least, unclear about what will be expected of them. Consequently, there is hesitancy in the beginning that may last weeks or even months. With hindsight, many of those involved report that during this period it is difficult to develop a sense of 'ownership' for the project, difficult to establish relationships with colleagues at the different levels in the school, difficult to resist the 'suggestions' of the headteacher - difficult, in fact, to develop the understandings and the skills to perform their leadership role. 8

Improving the Quality of Education for All

Maintenance: Permanent System

Management Structures and Processes

Shared School Senior

Permanent Structures Committees Admin/Man/Dev Maintenance Poles and hierarchies Fixed membership Bound to the rhythm of the year Identifies professional development needs Exclusive membership

Management

Values

Team and School improvement Leadership Team

Beliefs

Fluid Structures

School Improvement Group (Cadre)

Development: Temporary System

Teams and partnerships Development/Improvement Change Cross-hierarchical Fluid membership Bound by the rhythms of) development Is professionally developmental Inclusive membership

Figure 1.2 Maintenance and development: a model

However, they appear to grow in confidence quite quickly, particularly as the school's efforts and resources become focused on priorities they are addressing. Progress is not uniform- even within cadre groups - and some schools seem able to 'move' to effective operational arrangements much more quickly than others do. It also appears that the stages of development through which cadre groups move can be associated not only with 'typical' behaviours for each stage, but also with the way they view the 'task' (What is school improvement about?, What is our role in it?), and the way they conceive 'solutions' (What do we need to improve?, How should we go about improving it?). The three phases of this cycle of development are as follows (taken from West 2000):

Phase 1 Uncertainty about focus • • • • • • •

Cadre feeling its way (What is a cadre?) What is school improvement? What is the role of the cadre group? How can the cadre work best together as a group? Initial reliance on established ways of working. Initial reliance on existing structures. Initial reliance on key personnelfleaders within the cadre.

Improving the Quality of Education for All

9

• Start to collect data and share it. • Uncertainty about the theory. • Where is it all going? It's hard to make things happen. Phase 2 Clearer about focus

• Using existing structures in new ways, e.g. department meetings with single item research agendas. • New ways of working. • Greater openness within the cadre group, e.g. voice of main teacher. • Better at making meaning from data. • Beginning to shift from staff development mode to school improvement mode. • The theory makes sense. • Seeing the connections. Learning how to implement. Phase 3 Change/renewal of the cadre group

• Research and Development establishing its own rhythm - School Development Plan becomes more organic. • New structures emerge- e.g. R&D. • New roles emerge - Head of Department as facilitator of research (R&D research post). • Establishment of research culture within the school that is evidencebased, risk taking. • Involvement of students (pupils) as researchers, moving from datasource to partners in dialogue. • Collection of data, making meaning, and supporting research outcomes. • The school generates its own theory. • The implementation becomes growth. This 'summary' of how the cadre group evolves is provisional, but it does give a clear indication of how a structure for dispersed leadership that relates both to instructional leadership and authentic school improvement is established. It also illustrates how it evolves over time, gradually expanding its leadership capacity and increasing its understanding about learning - organisational learning, the learning of cadre group members and other teachers and the learning of students. So far we have summarised the expectations we have of the school's approach and commitment to improvement. There is also the issue of how best to support schools through this complex process. In practice, we coordinate the support arrangements. This has meant that we provide training for the school cadre group and representatives, make regular school visits and contribute to staff training, provide staff development materials, and monitor the implementation of each school's programme. Our current thinking and ways of working are best described by distinguishing between what we do within and outside the school. Our within school work concerns the nature of our own intervention. As is by now quite obvious, we have explicitly chosen an interventionist role, 10

Improving the Quality of Education for All

although this role varies from time to time and from place to place. On some occasions this may involve us in questioning our school-based colleagues to encourage them to 'think aloud' about their work. Often they tell us that simply having an outsider who poses questions in a supportive way and then helps to set deadlines is helpful. Having established a long-term agreement to collaborate with colleagues in a school, and then invested time in creating a working relationship with those colleagues, it is appropriate that we should be prepared to offer a critique of their proposals and actions. In this way we are seeking to balance our support with a degree of pressure that is intended to push their thinking forward. It is important to our approach that we do at times adopt a more proactive role in IQEA schools, though we do this in order to provide specific support to the IQEA cadre at particular times. It is for this reason that we often contribute to school-based staff development programmes, working in partnership with school colleagues. Sometimes this involves us in teamteaching, in order to provide demonstrations, practice and feedback related to particular staff development techniques. We may also assist in the planning and processing of significant meetings. So, for example, one of us recently helped a Headteacher and certain senior colleagues devise a plan for a key meeting of staff. This involved modelling how the meeting might be managed and then providing feedback as the Headteacher and Deputy Head practised how they would carry out their tasks during the meeting. Our outside school role focuses mainly on the training sessions we hold for the various cohorts of schools involved in the programme. There is a strong emphasis on 'reflection and enquiry' within these sessions. Reflection is an essential building block of professional competence and confidence. The training is based around the conditions we regard as necessary for successful school improvement, which are described later as well as an agreed range of teaching and learning strategies. We consisently try to model good staff development practice, to share our know ledge of the change process, and to provide time for high quality planning and consultancy in our meetings with the school improvement group. We also believe that it is appropriate to acknowledge individual teacher involvement in school improvement activities. An advantage of the school-university collaboration is the scope to accredit teachers for their school-based professional development activities through a series of academic awards. Our commitment to working with rather than on schools presents many difficulties and dilemmas. In a more traditional programme we might well have chosen to introduce to the schools an established model of development based upon previous research activities. Then, having set the initiative going, our task would have been to stand back and record the process and outcomes of the intervention. In IQEA, we have deliberately chosen to adopt a very different approach, based upon an alternative perspective as to how change can be facilitated. Rather than seeking to impose externally validated models of improvement, we are attempting to support schools in creating their own models. Our assumption is that such an approach, that builds upon the biographies and circumstances of Improving the Quality of Education for All

11

particular organisations, is much more likely to bring about and help sustain significant improvements in the quality of schooling. It follows, therefore, that we do not view school improvement as a 'quick-fix' approach to change. In attempting to work with schools in the way that we do, one is immediately confronted with the staggering complexity, and by a bewildering array of policy and strategy options. It is through such an engagement with schools that we have begun to develop the principles and the style of working that is described in this book. An illustration of this way of working is found in the following case study of Big Wood School, Nottingham.

A

C 3S 6

in point

Q A/ tt'n h a m *

Commitment to change

Big Wood School serves an area described as ‘one of serious social need’. Eight years ago Big Wood faced possible closure. Demographic trends coupled with a poor image in the community meant that the school had been steadily losing pupils and staff for several years. In January 1993 a new Headteacher was appointed with a brief to arrest the decline. A rapid period of research - interviews with staff, questionnaires to pupils/parents/ local community, and meetings with link primary school staff - produced a picture of a school that was seen as caring but which lacked rigour. Three clear aims were quickly established: • To improve the school’s image in the community. • To develop the links with primary schools. • To tackle the underachievement culture. The threat of possible closure, replaced after the first 12 months with the ‘threat’ of an Ofsted inspection, proved to be powerful factors in focusing people’s minds. A new staffing structure, clear policies, new uniform, wellstructured Code of Conduct, mentoring programmes all began to show positive effects. Pupil numbers began to rise, examination results improved and the ‘what-can-you-expect of... ’ culture was being successfully chal­ lenged. The Ofsted report was, in the main, positive, but the quality of teaching and learning emerged as a major issue. A start had been made. The school had begun to develop the capacity to accept change. However, the initiatives outlined above were, in many ways, only peripheral. It was recognised that for lasting improvement the school needed to bring about more sustainable change focused on the classroom. Adopting the IQEA approach

At the critical moment the school learnt of the IQEA school improvement programme. The project’s emphasis on teaching and learning at the heart of sustained improvement was felt to be in total accord with where Big Wood was in its particular stage of development. This approach to school improvement called for, amongst other things, 12

Improving the Quality of Education for All

ine estaDiisnment ot a bcnooi improvement üroup to act as the initial change agents. The first ‘cadre' group consisted of the Headteacher and seven volunteers - a deputy Headteacher, two Heads of Department and four class teachers. Interestingly, and purely by chance, all areas of the curriculum except one were represented. During this time, several members of the school improvement group attended a summer school on models of teaching run by the IQEAteam at the university and soon realised that the inductive model offered a possible way to address the issues facing the school. It seemed an ideal place to start, partially because it was a new approach, and therefore offered exciting possibilities, and also because it was applicable across the whole curriculum. For the school improvement group, the first stage was to learn more about the model, to practise it and to observe each other. Lessons were then videoed and, when they felt ready, a day’s INSET session was prepared for the whole staff. The model was explored inductively, videos shown and opportunities created for staff to begin to practise using the model in a safe environment, i.e. with other groups of staff. In order to encourage other people to adopt this approach, staff were clustered into small groups with a member of the cadre attached to each one to provide support and guidance. Opportunities were created for people to observe each other and some notable successes were recorded; when, for example, a member of staff, known more for his competence than his charisma, found himself surrounded by a group of eager pupils at the end of an inductive lesson wanting to continue with their work. As well as work­ ing with their support groups, staff also worked within their departments, reviewing schemes of work to see where the inductive approach might be used to greatest effect and planning lessons accordingly.

Achievements and issues by the end o f year 1

By the end of the first year the whole process was reviewed and several clear ‘messages’ emerged. • Time was an issue. • The importance of creating a regular time for the cadre group to meet. • The need for time for staff to learn new models, to prepare new mater­ ials, to observe each other and visit other schools to observe good practice. • The fact that interviews/questionnaires all required time. • The power of the pupil voice. A 14-year-old pupil's calm statement on video that ‘Copying is a waste of time because the words go from the board down your pen and onto the paper without going anywhere near your brain’ is a more arresting message that any amount of exhortation and analysis from the Headteacher on ineffective methodologies. • In the same way, showing in-house videos and persuading staff, not normally seen as the most inventive of teachers, to demonstrate effective approaches had a powerful impact, especially on the dissenting few. Improving the Quality of Education for All

13

• The value of residentials and other twilight sessions in helping to develop a real group ethos amongst the members of the cadre. • The difficulty of maintaining momentum. It was not always easy to find regular development time.

Moving into year 2

In the second year a more structured model was developed. Creating more time required a radical rethinking of the way time was currently used in the school. The problem was resolved in these ways: • The existing meeting structure was reviewed, and staff meetings, for example, were replaced by staff development time, and alternative meth­ ods were used to disseminate information. All remaining meetings, such as departmental meetings, were to devote 50 per cent of the time to development issues relating to teaching and learning. • Staff were encouraged to 'bank' some non-contact time by covering other colleagues. This time was then pooled so that all staff, either as individ­ uals or departments, were given half-day slots for development. • Members of the senior management team were to provide a percentage of the cover time each fortnight, which could be booked by staff. • Adults other than teachers were to be used to supervise exams and thus free departments. The careful positioning of INSET, twilight and staff development meant that staff were now meeting approximately every four weeks to look at develop­ ment issues focused on teaching and learning. It was also agreed, following consultation with the staff, to broaden the range of activities. It was during the second year that the real benefits of this approach to school improvement became apparent. Working in pairs and triads, the cadre used the expertise of university and LEA staff plus their own reading and research to develop their expertise in areas as diverse as the major components of a well-structured lesson, cooperative group work, whole class teaching, formative assessment and creating the learning classroom. The aim was to encourage staff to develop at their own pace, whilst providing the necessary expertise and support within a climate that encouraged risk taking.

Outcomes and benefits

As the school was preparing to enter its third year of the IQEA programme the inevitable brown envelope arrived and, whilst not totally subsuming everything else, it would be fair to say that the prospect of an imminent Ofsted inspection led to a period of consolidation rather than breaking new ground. The inspection results were better than the Head and staff had hoped for. In a term with four Newly Qualified Teachers (NQTs) having had very little time to settle in and when two members of staff were off with long­ term illness and being covered by supply staff, Ofsted deemed that

14

Improving the Quality of Education for All

‘Teaching is a strength of the school’: 97 per cent of lessons were judged satisfactory or better, 64 per cent were good or better and 28 per cent were very good or excellent. This was in sharp contrast with the picture four years earlier when only 75 per cent of lessons were judged satisfactory and less than 30 per cent were good or better. As compared with three years ago, Big Wood School is now moving forward from a position where: • Teaching and learning are acknowledged by all as fundamental and are at the heart of the development agenda. • Classrooms are more open and people are more willing to observe and be observed. • Staff are developing a language to talk about teaching and learning. • People feel part of the development process. They are involved in making it happen, and are not just the unwilling recipients. Obviously this is just part of a wider picture, but in working to improve education for all, the following comment from Ofsted encapsulates every­ thing the head and staff have been working towards: The school is successfully challenging the non-achievement culture, noted in the previous Ofsted Report, through its major focus on raising the quality of teaching. This is having a major impact on pupils’ attain­ ment and progress.

The Big Wood story is not unique. It represents the achievements of many schools throughout this country who are managing to make a significant difference to the education of their students, despite the challenging circumstances facing them. What is interesting about the Big Wood experience, however, is the way in which they went about the school improvement process. Although each school's context is individual and in some senses unique, what we see in the Big Wood example is an approach that is relatively systematic and strategic and that can be replicated elsewhere. Each element is briefly described here with more specific detail found later in the book: • The school set itself a clear and unifying focus for its improvement work. The direct emphasis on the standard of student attainment and learning became a linchpin for all the school's development work and it was used to marry together all the various initiatives that the school was engaged in. The school's development plan usually provides the focus for such work, within which a Raising Attainment Plan will have been specifically prepared for the purpose based upon an analysis of the school's improvement needs. • In common with many other schools, Big Wood collected data on its performance as a precursor to initiating an improvement strategy. What was different in this case was that the data collected related not Improving the Quality of Education for All

15

•

•

•

•

16

only to examination results and the type of information contained on PANDA forms, but also focused on the quality and range of teaching and learning and an analysis of the internal conditions or capacity of the school. This latter information provided a clear indication of not only how well the school was performing but an indication of what needed to be done. At an early stage a school improvement group was identified. This group of six members of staff represented a cross-section of views, experience and seniority in the school. It was not an existing group but was specifically established to carry forward the school's development agenda. The school improvement group (SIG), or cadre as it is sometimes called, unlike other groups or committees in the school, is solely concerned with school improvement and staff development. Put another way, they became the school's 'development capacity'. The SIG subsequently received specific training in the classroom practices most crucial to achieving the school's developmental goals. The focus of this training was on the teaching strategies most appropriate to the learning needs of the students in the school. These workshop sessions contain a variety of activities including presentations, demonstrations, practice and feedback. In addition, time is found during the school week for classroom observation, coaching and support. Besides training in teaching strategies the cadre also learnt how to plan and provide staff development; and conduct school-based research on school improvement. Initially this training is often provided by an external agency, in this case a university, but once networks have been established, much of this support comes from other schools and one's own school. Although the initial focus is on the preparation of the cadre group, very soon the improvement activity goes round the whole school. The range of staff development activities involved is considerable and is likely to include: • Whole staff inservice days on teaching and learning and school improvement planning as well as 'curriculum tours' to share the work done in departments or working groups. • Inter-departmental meetings to discuss teaching strategies. • Workshops run inside the school on teaching strategies by cadre group members and external support. • Partnership teaching and peer coaching. • The design and execution of collaborative enquiry activities, which are, by their nature, knowledge-generating. • When all these types of staff development are in place, schools find that their cultures become increasingly collaborative and a professional learning community within the school is well on its way to being established. • The whole school emphasis is vital, because without it consistency of practice and high expectations are unlikely to be achieved. The move towards involving the whole school and the community is complex, demanding and daunting. It requires the careful planning of Improving the Quality of Education for All

the curriculum and teaching developments, the organisation of staff development, sustaining momentum across the school and evaluating progress and success. The change process must be transformed from a project probably restricted to a few into a whole school improvement initiative, and that eventually becomes a way of working that is natural and fits with the school's aspirations and the rhythms of the school year. The IQEA approach to school improvement therefore stands in contrast to the conventional wisdom of educational change in schools facing challenging circumstances. In many cases, schools in such situations are encouraged to adopt strategies such as: individual learning packages; mentoring by adults other than teachers; target setting; the use of ICT; flexible approaches to pupil grouping; support for behaviour management; inducements for teachers, and so on. There is, of course, nothing wrong with any of these strategies per se. It is, however, unlikely that any of these or similar strategies will prove effective unless they are part of a 'whole school' response to the challenging circumstances faced by such schools. To be effective, these individual initiatives have to be linked together in a whole school improvement strategy designed to address the learning needs of students in a particular school. Consistency and high expectations are the lubricants for such integrated and whole school strategies. Some thought also needs to be given to how the school organises itself to become what is commonly being called 'a professional learning community'. This would involve teachers not just planning together, but also observing each other and gathering formative data on the impact of the various strategies on student learning. School improvement in challenging situations is not about choosing from an a la carte menu. The experience of schools like Big Wood is that the individual programme elements combine to create a comprehensive strategy that is both systemic and purposeful.

Improving the Quality of Education tor All

17

CHAPTER2

A Framework for School Improvement

There is an excellent Gary Larson cartoon whose main character is undergoing a Jekyll and Hyde transformation. As someone knocks on the door the creature shouts 'Hang on- I'm changing'. This cartoon illustrates the point that not all change will be for the best! Currently in the UK, the educational agenda is being dominated by a concern to make sense of and implement the radical reform agenda of the last decade. This quest to regain stability, however, is being conducted against a background of continuing change, as expectations for student achievement rise beyond the capacity of the system to deliver. For the schools themselves, it is becoming increasingly apparent that change and improvement are not necessarily synonymous. Although it is true that external pressure is often the cause, or at least the impetus, for most educational change, this is not to imply that such changes are always desirable. Indeed in our opinion, some externally imposed change should be resisted, or at least adapted to meet the school's own purpose. The single most important criterion for the introduction of any change into a school should be its potential for positive impact on student learning. If there is little prospect of a change having such an impact, then implementation needs to be questioned, rather than simply 'added on'. What we do know from experience, as well as the research on student achievement and on school effectiveness, is that the greatest impact on student progress is achieved by those innovations or adaptations of practice that intervene in, or modify, the learning process. Changes in curriculum, teaching methods, grouping practices, and assessment procedures have the greatest potential impact on the performance of students, and so provide a key focus for school improvement efforts. Unfortunately the implementation of those changes that positively affect the learning of students is very difficult to achieve. This is because, as Michael Pullan (200 1) has pointed out, educational changes that directly impact on the learning of students usually involve teachers in not only adopting new or additional teaching materials, but also in: 18

• Acquiring new knowledge. • Adopting new behaviours (e.g. modifying teaching styles). • And, sometimes in modifying their beliefs or values. This, as Fullan (2001: 32) also reminds us, implies that real change, 'whether desired or not, represents a serious personal and collective experience characterised by ambivalence and uncertainty' for the individual involved. There are a number of implications for implementation that stem from this for example (adapted from Fullan 1985): • • • •

Change takes place over time. Change initially involves anxiety and uncertainty. The learning of new skills is incremental and developmental; and that Technical and psychological support is crucial.

It is exactly because change is a process whereby individuals need to 'alter

their ways of thinking and doing' that most changes fail to progress beyond early implementation. It is this phenomenon that Fullan (2001) has graphically referred to as 'the implementation dip'. The 'implementation dip' incorporates that constellation of factors which creates the sense of anxiety and those feelings of incompetence so often associated with relearning and meaningful change. This is the phase of dissonance, of 'internal turbulence', that is as predictable as it is at the same time uncomfortable. Many research studies have found that without a period of destabilisation successful, long-lasting change is unlikely to occur. The implication for school improvement is that conditions need to be created within the school that ensure that individuals are supported through this inevitable but difficult and challenging process. This is why we have found that within the IQEA programme school improvement works best when a clear and practical focus for development is linked to simultaneous work on the internal conditions within the school. Conditions are the internal features of the school, the 'arrangements' that enable it to get work done. Without an equal focus on conditions, even development priorities that directly affect classroom practice quickly become marginalised. Examples of the conditions that support school improvement are: collaborative planning, staff development, enquiry and reflection, and the involvement of students. Experience on the IQEA programme suggests that work on these conditions results in the creation of opportunities for teachers to feel more powerful and confident about change. (We describe the conditions for both school and classroom development in Chapters 4 and 5, respectively.) We have made two points so far: the first that it is changes in classroom practice that most directly affect student learning; the second is that to overcome the dissonance associated with meaningful change, conditions within the school need to be created to support the innovative and developmental work of teachers. What is of central importance to the argument here, however, is that if we are to take improvement in pupil outcomes seriously, then work on the internal conditions of the school has to complement development priorities related to classroom practice, all within of course the context of the national reform agenda. A Framework for School Improvement

19

The challenge of change in schools is, however, compounded in educational systems subject to high levels of centralised change. This is because there is often an assumption, on the part of policy-makers and the public, that there is a one-to-one relationship between policy and practice. However, we know from research and experience that policy cannot mandate what matters: it is implementation at the local and school level that dominates outcomes. One of the great fallacies of educational change, therefore, is that policy directives, from any level, have a direct impact on student achievement. At best policy can set a direction for change and provide a set of parameters within which implementation can occur. In the pursuit of changes that enhance the achievement of students we have identified three main influences - classroom practice, the internal conditions of the school and the policy context. When all three elements are pulling in the same direction, then school improvement has much more chance of success. We have attempted to express this idea in Figure 2.1 by representing the three main contributors to the enhancement of student progress - national reform (represented in the figure by the National Curriculum, Ofsted inspections, Local Management of Schools (LMS), and the establishing of governing bodies), internal school conditions (in this instance collaborative planning, staff development, enquiry and reflection, and the involvement of students), and modifications to classroom practice (e.g. teaching, assessment and curriculum or schemes of work) - as a series of concentric rings. All three need to support one another if student achievement is to be enhanced. When all the circles are pulling in the same direction, then the aspirations of school improvement have much more chance of success. All need to exist in a reciprocal relationship if student achievement is to be enhanced. Unfortunately many teachers and schools feel that change comes from the 'outside-in'; that their role is to implement externally imposed initiatives over which they have little control. A more productive approach to school improvement is to start from the centre of the circle and move outwards. Those schools that appear to be more successful than most at managing school improvement begin with student learning goals. It is as if they ask, 'What changes in student performance do we wish to see this year?' Having decided on these, they then discuss what teaching strategies will be most effective at bringing this about, and identify the modifications required to the organisation of the school to support these developments. Of course, one can talk about development in such broad terms, but given the current concerns about 'overload' in our change-rich environment, such a general and unfocused agenda is unrealistic. Decisions need to be made about what changes need to be implemented and how they are to be selected. This is a profound question, and one that reflects what is perhaps the most crucial challenge facing schools today: how to strike an appropriate balance between change and stability. How on the one hand to preserve what is already admirable or valued in the school, and on the other, how to respond positively to innovation and the challenge of change.

20

Improving the Quality of Education for All

National Curriculum

Ofsted

Collaborative Planning

Enquiry

Teaching

Curriculum

Student Learning, Progress and Attainment Development Staff Development

Key Stage 3 Strategy

Involvement

Local Management of Schools

Figure 2.1 The 'circles' of school improvement

Bearing this conundrum in mind we have already underlined the distinction which can be drawn between a school's development and maintenance activities (see Hargreaves and Hopkins 1991; West and Ainscow 1991). Maintenance refers to the school carrying out its day-today activities, the fulfilling of its statutory obligations, and to supporting teaching and learning within the context of the National Curriculum, all to the best of its ability. Development, by contrast, refers to that amount of resource, time and energy the school reserves from the total it has available, for carrying forward those aims, aspirations and activities that 'add value' to what it already does. It is through its development activities that a school continues to make progress in times of change. The effective use of those resources devoted to development obviously implies a high level of prioritisation. Many schools use development planning as a means of managing change: indeed, development planning itself is commonly regarded as an important preliminary to school improvement. Working through the planning cycle, however, is likely to involve A Framework for School Improvement

21

the school in generating a number of 'priorities' for action, often too many to work on. This means that decisions about 'priorities' must be made moving from the separate, perhaps even conflicting priorities of individuals or groups, to a systematically compiled set of priorities which reflect the overall needs of a whole school community. Previously, we have suggested that two principles should guide this process of choice amongst priorities (Hargreaves and Hopkins 1991: 42): • Manageability- How much can we realistically hope to achieve? • Coherence- Is there a sequence which will ease implementation? More recently (Hopkins et al. 1994) we have noted that a third principle can help to guide schools through what is often a difficult series of choices: • Consonance - The extent to which internally identified priorities coincide or overlap with external pressures for reform. We believe that there is empirical evidence to suggest that those schools which understand consonance, and therefore see externally generated change efforts as providing opportunities, as well as (or instead of) problems, are better able to respond to external demands. It is through such an understanding of how to approach planning that schools begin to see the potential in adapting external change to internal purpose. It is on this basis that we developed the 'Framework for School Improvement' that informs our work with schools in IQEA. The framework (see Figure 2.2) provides the setting for a series of assumptions upon which our generic approach to school improvement is based. There are essentially two major components to the framework- the 'capacity building dimension', and the 'strategic dimension'. The 'capacity building dimension' has already been alluded to in relation to the conditions for school improvement. It is sustained work on the conditions for development that enhance the school's capacity for managing change. It is imperative, as we have already noted, that the conditions be simultaneously worked on with the school's chosen priority for development. As a consequence of our work on IQEA, we have identified 'conditions' operating at both the school and classroom levels. As already noted, these two sets of conditions are described in detail in Chapters 4 and 5. In essence, the 'strategic dimension' reflects the ability of the school to plan sensibly for development efforts. The process is depicted by the verticallinks in the diagram, between: • priorities, • strategy, and • outcomes. This provides schools with a practical focus for the development efforts. Their experience of school development planning coupled with the demands of inspection have helped them to understand the need for priorities and priority setting. Within IQEA, the school's 'priorities' are normally 22

Improving the Quality of Education for All

Priorities for School Improvement

Culture

of

School Improvement Strategy

Conditions for School Improvement

the

Conditions for Classroom Improvement

School

Outcomes in terms of student learning and achievement and staff development Figure 2.2 A framework for school improvement

some aspect of curriculum, assessment or classroom process which the school has identified from the many changes that confront it. In this sense, the choice represents the school's interpretation of the current reform agenda. Although the balance of activities varies from school to school, we find that more successful schools set priorities for development that: • • • • •

are few in number- trying to do too much is counter-productive; are central to the mission of the school; relate to national reform requirements; link to teaching and learning; lead to specific outcomes for students and staff.

The school improvement strategy is then the deliberate actions or sequence of actions taken by a school staff to implement identified curriculum or organisational priorities. The strategy will need to be more or less powerful depending on the relative 'strength' of factors that might militate against this particular development. We have also found that when circumstances exist that are less supportive of change, it is necessary to concentrate much more in the initial stages on creating the internal conditions within the school which facilitate development. Work on the priorities is limited until the conditions are in place. As we noted earlier, we work from an assumption that such school improvement efforts will result in enhanced outcomes for students and staff. 'Outcomes' in IQEA are defined broadly, and obviously will vary A Framework tor Schoo! Improvement

23

according to the focus of improvement effort. For students, 'outcomes' could relate to the enhancement of critical thinking, learning capacity, self-esteem and so on, as well as improved examination or test results. For staff they could, for example, include increased collegiality, better opportunities for professional learning or increased responsibility. Most schools quite reasonably regard the sequence that we have just described as the logical way to plan their school improvement activities, and in many ways it is. Some schools however, and those that appear to be more successful than most at managing school improvement, begin at the other end of the sequence - with student learning goals. Having decided these, they then devise a strategy for bringing them about. Often we have noted that they also translate them into priorities within the development plan which have explicit links to external changes or opportunities. The final element in the framework is school culture. A key assumption is that school improvement strategies can lead to cultural change in schools through modifications to their 'internal conditions'. It is this cultural change that supports the development of teaching/learning processes that lead to enhanced outcomes for students. We have observed that schools in the programme have found that working on the conditions often creates additional pressure to restructure. The need to restructure is not attributed to the project itself - there are many internal and external forces for reform. But it does seem that schools which engage in long-term, systematic improvement efforts become more sharply aware of current structural problems. As a result of our work with IQEA schools, a number of propositions about the link between school improvement and school restructuring are offered (see Table 2.1). As outlined above, the evidence from the IQEA experience suggests that a systematic programme for school improvement does have a role to play in the restructuring of schools in England and Wales. Further, systematic school improvement effort may well induce the school to look critically at structural issues both earlier and in less abstract terms than would otherwise be the case. It is in these ways that the most successful schools pursue their improvement efforts. Whilst focusing on the learning needs of students in the context of systemic and environmental demands, they also recognise that school structures must both reflect these demands as well as offer a suitable vehicle for the future development of the school. In this sense the structure of the school provides the skeleton which supports cultural growth, rather than the framework which constrains it. What is particularly significant about the school improvement strategy intuitively adopted at Big Wood School as seen in the previous chapter, and the school improvement framework as described in this chapter, is that they both focus directly not only on improving student behaviour, learning and attainment, but also pay attention to teacher and school development. There is now a significant amount of evidence to suggest that a school improvement strategy is more likely to advance achievement for all students if it addresses not only the learning of individual teachers, but also other dimensions of the organisational capacity of the school. This 24

Improving the Quality of Education for All

Table 2.1 Some tentative propositions about the role of school improvement in restructuring Proposition One Schools which engage in systematic school improvement efforts are more likely to ground restructuring in the reality of the organisations they are, and less likely to seek organisational'blue-prints' from elsewhere. Proposition Two Schools which engage in systematic school improvement efforts are more likely to seek clear links between the goals of the school, the roles of senior staff, and the grouping of activities within the school. Proposition Three Schools which engage in systematic school improvement efforts are more likely to restructure in a way which spreads decision-making further through the school hierarchy, making wider use of delegation and empowerment. Proposition Four Schools which engage in systematic school improvement efforts are more likely to link the status of individual jobs with the accountabilities of the jobholder. Proposition Five Schools which engage in systematic school improvement efforts are more likely to create new structures and procedures with a bias towards action, rather than planning. Proposition Six Schools which engage in systematic school improvement efforts are more likely to see restructuring as a process which needs to support parallel changes in teacher behaviour.

is now often referred to as school capacity. Without an emphasis on capacity a school will be unable to 'transform' itself or sustain continuous improvement efforts that result in student attainment. In the following chapter we begin to focus the discussion of school improvement stages onto the range of teaching approaches that can enhance the learning and achievement of students, and the strategies which are needed to exploit a cultural predisposition towards improvement. It is these that most often provide the focus for development efforts in IQEA schools.

A Framework for School Improvement

25

CHAPTER3

Powerful Learning and Powerful Teaching

Powerful learning does not occur by accident. It is usually the product of an effective learning situation created by a skilful teacher. Such learning and teaching engagements are commonplace in schools that have an ethos characterised by high expectations, collaboration and innovativeness. These schools, powerful schools, are designed and organised to support powerful teaching and learning. For, as Bruce Joyce and Beverley Showers (1991: 10) note: Effective learners draw information, ideas, and wisdom from their teachers and use learning resources effectively. Thus a major role in teaching is to create powerful learners. The same principle applies to schools. Outstanding schools teach their students ways of learning. Thus, teaching becomes more effective as the students progress through those schools because, year by year, the students have been taught to be stronger learners. It is for these reasons that we take a prime focus on teaching and learning

in IQEA. But we also realise that powerful learning and powerful teaching occur most often in powerful schools. This underscores the school improvement approach adopted by IQEA, that focuses on the learning of students and those conditions within the school that support it. In this chapter we discuss how teaching and teacher development contribute to the learning of students. In Chapters 4 and 5 we describe those school and classroom conditions that, in our experience, offer the best environment for powerful learning and teaching. The reasons that we place such an emphasis on teaching are threefold. First, teaching is the skill that makes teachers and schools unique, that sets us as educators apart from other professions - we exist to promote learning. Second, in a situation where the content of curricula are being increasingly controlled by central authorities, there is still the opportunity for teachers to be creative in their use of teaching strategies. Third, of all the variables under our control, teaching approach has the most demonstrable impact upon student learning. Indeed, of all the school 26

effectiveness characteristics, it is those that relate to teaching that find the most support in empirical studies. A major goal for school improvement, therefore, is to help teachers to become professionally flexible so that they can select, from a repertoire of possibilities, that teaching approach most suited to a particular content area and their students' ages, interests and aptitudes. We must, of course, continually bear in mind that scores in examinations and on tests are not the only student outcomes that are of interest. But some teaching approaches, appropriately applied, can influence a range of outcomes in both the cognitive and affective domains. In this sense we are searching for approaches that are effective in achieving high academic standards whilst, at the same time, enhancing the students' range of learning skills as well as contributing to aspects of personal and social development. We also believe that evidence from research on teaching can help teachers become more creative in their search for increased effectiveness. One of the characteristics of successful schools seems to be that teachers talk about teaching. To assist in this they can tum to the literature and resources on teaching, to help focus these discussions and enable them to become more specific and informed. But such research and the attendant strategies should not be regarded as panaceas to be followed slavishly. Research knowledge and the various specifications of teaching can have many limitations, especially if they are adopted uncritically. In terms of school improvement, such knowledge only becomes useful when it is subjected to the discipline of practice, which involves the exercise of the teacher's professional judgement. For, as Lawrence Stenhouse (1975: 142) remarked in a slightly different context, such proposals are not to be regarded 'as an unqualified recommendation, but rather as a provisional specification claiming no more than to be worth putting to the test of practice. Such proposals claim to be intelligent rather than correct'. Despite this reservation, in our experience teachers, in what are generally considered to be successful schools, do take individual and collective responsibility for teaching strategies. They also seem willing to base their teaching on the best knowledge of practice available; but they then take those ideas and strategies and critically reflect on them through practice in their own and each other's classrooms, before adoption. The research on classroom effectiveness is burgeoning (see Creemers 1994). Despite this there is a reasonable degree of consensus, for example, about the features of effective teaching (see Table 3.1). To provide an introduction to the vast research evidence about effectiveness in teaching we have chosen to adopt an organising format based upon different perspectives. Our knowledge of the available literature suggests the existence of three broad ways of looking at classroom practice (see, for example, Hopkins 2001: Chapter 5). These are as follows: • Skills-based approach - This approach views teaching as a complex but nevertheless technical task that can be broken down in order to examine individual elements. Powerful Learning and Powerful Teaching

27

Table 3.1 Features of effective teaching (quoted in Hopkins eta/. 1994: 53)

A useful synthesis of the findings of this research on effective teaching is provided by Porter and Brophy (1988). They suggest that this provides a picture of effective teachers as semi-autonomous professionals who: • are clear about their instructional goals • are knowledgeable about their content and the strategies for teaching it • communicate to their students what is expected of them - and why • make expert use of existing teaching materials to devote more time to practices that enrich and clarify the content • are knowledgeable about their students, adapting teaching to their needs and anticipating misconceptions in their existing knowledge • teach students 'meta-cognitive strategies' and give them opportunities to master them • address higher- as well as lower-level cognitive objectives • monitor students' understanding by offering regular appropriate feedback • integrate their teaching with that in other subject areas • accept responsibility for student outcomes • are thoughtful and reflective about their practice.

• Models-based approach - Here approaches to teaching are defined in terms of distinct models, including operational specifications of what these involve. • Intuitive/empirical approach - Looked at from this perspective, teaching is seen as being a highly creative activity involving the use of repertoires of responses gained through experience and refined in response to new situations.

Teaching skills

28

There is an extensive research literature on teaching effects. This suggests inter alia that consistently high levels of correlation are achieved between student achievement scores and some classroom processes (see Brophy and Good 1986; Walberg 1990). This is complex territory. One general conclusion, however, stands out: 'The most consistently replicated findings link achievement to the quantity and pacing of instruction' (Brophy and Good 1986: 360). It is naive to assume that the amount of time spent teaching is in itself a sufficient condition for student achievement. The literature on teaching effects is replete with the cues and tactics necessary for effective teaching (for an example see Table 3.2). From this perspective, a teacher promotes student learning by being active in planning and organising his or her teaching, explaining to students what they are to learn, arranging occasions for guided practice, monitoring progress, providing feedback, and otherwise helping students understand and accomplish work. The description in Table 3.2 of 'active teaching' provides a good example of what may be meant by 'whole class teaching'. Improving the Quality of Education for All

Table 3.2 Active teaching

Doyle (1987: 95) provides a useful summary of how a teacher can promote student learning by being active in planning and organising his or her teaching. This description of 'active teaching' provides a good example of what we understand as 'whole class teaching'. Classroom studies of teaching effects have generally supported a direct and structured approach to instruction. That is, students usually achieve more when a teacher: • emphasises academic goals, makes them explicit, and expects students to be able to master the curriculum; • carefully organises and sequences curriculum experiences; • clearly explains and illustrates what students are to learn; • frequently asks direct and specific questions to monitor students' progress and check their understanding; • provides students with ample opportunity to practise, gives prompts and feedback to ensure success, corrects mistakes, and allows students to practise a skill until it is over-learned or automatic; • reviews regularly and holds students accountable for work.

This is an important concept in these days of increasing class sizes and of the refusal by some policy-makers to accept that teacher-pupil ratios may need to be decreased if significant increase in pupil outcomes are to be generated. Of course this raises issues about classroom management since teachers will need to be very skilled in organising if they are to use these 'active' or 'whole class' approaches successfully. (Useful sources of appropriate reading matter include Good and Brophy (1987) and Kyriacou (1986, 1991).)

Models of teaching

There is a strong body of research to suggest that student achievement can be further enhanced by the consistent and strategic use of specific teaching models. There are many models of teaching designed to bring about particular kinds of learning to help students become more effective. Powerful teachers have at their disposal a repertoire of strategies that they can use at different times, with different students, with different curriculum content to achieve a range of learning outcomes. There is no implication that one model is better than another. It is just that one may be more appropriate than another at a particular point in time given the learning outcomes desired. Models of teaching can also be argued to offer models of learning. As teachers help students to acquire information, ideas, skills, values, ways of thinking, and means of expressing themselves, they are also teaching them how to learn. In fact, the most important long-term outcome of teaching

Powerful Learning and Powerful Teaching

29

may be the students' increased capacity to learn more easily and effectively in the future, both because of the knowledge and skills they have acquired, and because they have mastered learning processes themselves. Thus how teaching is conducted will have a large impact on students' abilities to educate themselves. Successful teachers are not simply charismatic, persuasive, and expert presenters. Rather, they transfer cognitive and social skills to their students and teach them how to make productive use of these in future learning contexts. A good if somewhat dated example of a 'model of teaching' is given by the Schools' Council's Humanities Curriculum Project (HCP). Lawrence Stenhouse (1975), who also developed the concept of the 'teacher researcher', directed this curriculum project, where discussion was the main mode of enquiry and the teacher acted as a neutral chairperson. This 'teaching model' placed new kinds of demands on both teachers and pupils as seen in Table 3.3. Table 3.3 Teaching through discussion

New skills tor most teachers: • Discussion rather than instruction. • Teacher as neutral chairperson. • Teacher talk reduced to about 15 per cent. • Teacher handling material from different disciplines. • New modes of assessment. New skills tor most pupils: • Discussion not argument or debate. • Listening to, and talking to, each other, not just the teacher. • Taking initiatives in contributing - not being cued by the teacher. (quoted in Rudduck 1984: 57)

The important point about this, and other teaching models, is that it is specific rather than prescriptive. Stenhouse and his colleagues encouraged teachers to experiment with the specificity rather than be bound by the prescription. When teachers adopt this experimental approach to their teaching they are taking on an educational idea, cast in the form of a curriculum proposal, and testing it out within their classrooms. It is in this sense that we advocate the use of 'teaching models' as a strategy for school improvement. The most extensive work on models of teaching has been carried out by Bruce Joyce and his colleagues (e.g. Joyce and Weil 1996). The 'Models of Teaching' approach has been adapted for teachers in British schools (see Models of Learning - Tools for Teaching, Joyce et al. 2002) and Creating the Conditions for Teaching and Learning, Hopkins and Harris 2000. Joyce suggests four 'families' of teaching models as follows. 30

Improving the Quality of Education for All

The Information-processing, for example: • The advanced organiser model which is designed to increase the student's ability to absorb information and organise it. • Mnemonics assists students to acquire large amounts of information that would traditionally have been taught by rote. • The inductive model is concerned with the development of classification skills, hypothesis building and conceptual understanding. • Scientific inquiry is concerned with the teaching and learning of the 'research system' of academic disciplines such as science or history.

The Social family, for example: • Teaching through discussion refers to a teaching specification for curricula that are controversial and resource rich. • Cooperative learning approaches help students study and learn together in ways that result in significantly enhanced achievement and social behaviour.

The Personal family, for example: • Synectics and non-directive teaching strategies that increase student creativity and enhance self-concept as well as positively effecting student achievement.

The Behavioural family, for example: • Direct teaching which is particularly effective in ensuring high levels of mastery for all students when teaching basic skills.

When these models and strategies are combined, they have even greater potential for improving student learning. This is the core of effective teaching, and it is unfortunate that the 'models of teaching' approach has as yet had relatively little exposure in the UK.

Intuitive/Empirical There is another perspective on what characterises quality teaching, that is

related to the teachers' artistry. For example, the teacher 'who made a difference' is a common topic of conversation following one's admission that 'I am a teacher'. To many educators a prime indicator of the 'effective' school is one in which a high proportion of pupils 'have a good or "vital" relationship with one or more teachers'. The ability to generate and sustain this good or vital relationship is a fundamentally important aspect of teaching quality. As Lou Rubin (1985) comments in his book Artistry in Teaching: There is a striking quality to fine classrooms. Students are caught up in learning; excitement abounds; and playfulness and seriousness blend easily because the purposes are clear, the goals sensible, and an unmistakable feeling of well-being prevails. Artist teachers achieve these qualities by knowing both their subject matter and their students; by guiding the learning with deft control - a

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control that itself is born out of perception, intuition, and creative impulse. Other examples of 'teacher artistry' are found in the recently completed OECD comparative study of policies aimed at improving teacher quality (Hopkins and Stem 1996). The key characteristics of high-quality teachers highlighted by the study were: commitment, love of children, mastery of subject didactics and multiple models of teaching, the ability to collaborate with other teachers, and a capacity for reflection. Although it is convenient to group teachers' desired capacities and behaviours into categories, these attributes all interact in practice. For example, one French teacher elegantly defined teacher quality as 'savoir, savoir-faire, et savoiretre'; this is translatable perhaps as 'knowledge, knowing how to do, and knowing how to be'. One way in which teachers can be helped to think about their own artistry is by reading accounts of how other teachers work and their impact upon students. Fortunately, there is an extensive range of such accounts available, some written by researchers as a result of their observations in classrooms, and others written by teachers themselves. For example, indepth studies of particular primary school classrooms are provided by Armstrong (1980) and Rowland (1984), whilst Hargreaves' (1982) observations of life in the classrooms of comprehensive schools is very evocative, as is Woods' (1980) account of why pupils choose to behave differently with different teachers. In encouraging teachers to think about their own ways of working, it may be helpful to provide some format for structuring this process. Ainscow and Tweddle (1988) provide a framework that has been found to be useful as teachers seek to review their practice. Their advice owes much to Schon's (1983) notion of 'reflective practice', and they focus on the question, 'How can all pupils be helped to succeed in the classroom?' Their suggested focus is those areas of decision-making over which teachers have a significant influence. Broadly speaking, these areas are as follows: • Are objectives being achieved? • Are tasks and activities being completed? • Do classroom arrangements make effective use of available resources? Also, since unintended outcomes are seen as being very important, a further question is added: • What else is happening? The intention is that these four questions should provide an overall agenda within which teachers can reflect upon the encounters in which they are engaged, and the difficulties they face. In this respect the feedback from students is seen as an important source of understanding as to how classroom conditions can be improved. This review of research about powerful teaching has indicated how different perspectives on teaching can be used to inform the development 32

Improving the Quality of Education for All

of practice. This is important because the issue of teacher development is at the heart of school improvement efforts. We use the term 'teacher development' deliberately, as opposed to the more familiar 'in-service training'. This is part of an attempt to conceptualise an approach to the improvement of practice that is analogous to the one we recommend in connection with the learning of children. Just as successful classrooms provide conditions that support and encourage all children's learning, so a successful approach to teacher development must address contextual matters to create the conditions that facilitate the learning of adults. The research evidence that is available on the effectiveness of teacher development initiatives is far from encouraging. Despite all the effort and resources that have been utilised, the impact of such programmes in terms of improvements in teaching and better learning outcomes for pupils is rather disappointing (Pullan 2001; Joyce and Showers 1988). What is the explanation for this sad state of affairs? What is the nature of the mistakes that have been made? Table 3.4 Reasons for the failure of in-service education (Fullan 2001: 316) • One-shot workshops are widespread but are ineffective. • Topics are frequently selected by people other than those for whom the in-service is provided. • Follow-up support for ideas and practices introduced during in-service programmes occurs in only a very small minority of cases. • Follow-up evaluation occurs infrequently. • In-service programmes rarely address the individual needs and concerns of participants. • The majority of programmes involve teachers from many different schools and/or school districts, but there is no recognition of the differential impact of positive and negative factors within the system to which they must return . • There is a profound lack of any conceptual basis in the planning and implementation of in-service programmes that would ensure their effectiveness.

As a result of his review of available research evidence, Pullan (200 1: 316) provides a summary of the reasons for the failure of in-service education, as seen in Table 3.4. His analysis presents a picture of in-service initiatives that are poorly conceptualised, insensitive to the concerns of individual participants and, perhaps critically, make little effort to help participants relate their learning experiences to their usual workplace conditions. Recognising the strength of these arguments, successful schools build infrastructures for teacher development within their day-to-day arrangements. Such infrastructures involve portions of the school week being devoted to staff development activities such as curriculum development and implementation, discussion of teaching approaches, regular observation sessions, and on-site coaching. Integral to these activities is a commitment to reviewing one's performance as a prelude to development. Powerful Learning and Powerful Teaching

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Bruce Joyce and Beverly Showers' (1995) work on staff development, in particular their peer coaching strategy, has in recent years transformed thinking about staff development. Joyce and Showers identified a number of key training components which when used in combination have much greater power than when they are used alone (Table 3.5). Table 3.5 Joyce and Showers' key training components (Joyce and Showers 1995: 68-69) The major components of training are: • • • •

presentation of theory or description of skill or strategy; modelling or demonstration of skills or models of teaching; practice in simulated and classroom settings; structured and open-ended feedback (provision of information about performance) • coaching for application (hands-on, in-classroom assistance with the transfer of skills and strategies to the classroom).

Joyce (1992) has also distinguished between the two key elements in staff development activities - the workshop and the workplace. The workshop (the traditional INSET course) is where we gain understanding, see demonstrations of the teaching strategy we may wish to acquire, and have the opportunity to practise them in a non-threatening environment. If, however, we wish to transfer those skills that the workshop has introduced us to back into the workplace - the classroom and school - then merely attending the workshop is insufficient. The research evidence is very clear that skill acquisition and the ability to transfer vertically to a range of situations requires 'on-the-job-support'. This implies changes to the workplace and the way in which we organise staff development in our schools. In particular this means the opportunity for immediate and sustained practice, collaboration and peer coaching, and studying development and implementation. We cannot achieve these changes in the workplace without, in most cases, drastic alterations in the ways in which we organise our schools. Successful schools pay careful attention to their workplace conditions, and seek creative solutions to the problems of time and timing which beset on-the-job training. In the rhetoric surrounding the professional development of teachers we frequently hear that 'there is little school development without teacher development'. We are finding in our current work however that sustained teacher development is difficult to achieve without reference to a whole school context. This points to the corollary, that 'there is little teacher development without school development'. Within IQEA the connection between teacher and school development is being deliberately made with reflective classroom practice explicitly being linked to whole school development. Many of the schools involved are focusing innovative efforts simultaneously on teacher and school development within the context of a clear and well-articulated improvement strategy. 34

Improving the Quality of Education for All

As stated earlier, we encourage IQEA schools to diagnose their internal conditions in relation to their chosen change before they begin developmental work. They can then begin to build these modifications to the school's internal conditions into the strategies they are going to use for implementation. It is to a discussion of the conditions at both the school and classroom levels that we tum in the following two chapters, since our experience is that though specific ideas about teaching and learning processes are important, without an appropriate environment for experimentation they wither.

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CHAPTER4

Conditions for School Development

As a consequence of our work on IQEA we have begun to associate a number of 'conditions' within the school with its capacity for sustained development. Taken together these conditions result in the creation of opportunities for teachers to feel more powerful and confident about their work. This is particularly important because, as we have already noted, difficulties often occur for both individual teachers and the school when development work begins. Teachers, for example, may be faced with acquiring new teaching skills or with mastering new curriculum material. The school, as a consequence, may be forced into new ways of working that are incompatible with existing organisational structures. It is therefore often necessary to work on some aspect of the internal conditions within the school at the same time as achieving the curriculum, or other priorities the school has set itself. These 'lists' of the conditions which most influence development are based on our experience of working with IQEA schools. They represent our best estimate of what the important factors are at present, rather than a definitive typology (for a detailed discussion see Ainscow et al. 2000 and Hopkins et al. 1994). Nevertheless we believe that there is both research-based and practical evidence to support the importance of these conditions, which are: • A commitment to staff development. • Practical efforts to involve staff, students and the community in school policies and decisions. • 'Transformational' leadership approaches. • Effective coordination strategies. • Serious attention to the potential benefits of enquiry and reflection. • A commitment to collaborative planning activity. The following accounts of school improvement efforts in IQEA schools illustrate how priorities lead to development strategies which operate both on the conditions and on the culture of the school. These accounts are organised around the conditions for a number of reasons. First, these condi36

tions identify those key areas where management arrangements influence the school's capacity to engage in improvement activities. Second, experience tells us that in many cases it is necessary to start by focusing on one or more of these conditions before any substantive improvement effort is possible. Third, although it is the school's priorities which drive improvement, rather than, for example, 'doing staff development', we expect each school to have its own unique priorities, and are reluctant to suggest that any particular 'priorities' will be appropriate for the development of all schools. Nevertheless, we hope that the link between priority and condition can be discerned by the reader in what follows.

Staff development

Throughout our work with IQEA schools, we have been keen to promote a systematic and integrated approach to staff development, establishing that the professional learning of teachers is central to our notion of school improvement, and that the classroom is as important a centre for teacher development as any other. We could quote many examples of schools that have used staff development as a central strategy for supporting teachers as they have attempted to engage in improvement activities. All of them work from an assumption that attention to teacher learning is likely to have direct spin-offs in terms of pupil learning. And they all demonstrate the pay-off of investment of time and resources in teacher development (for a summary of our approach to staff development that could be used as a handout, see Appendix 1). One excellent example is provided by an Infants School in a London Borough. There, over a two-year period, deliberate attempts had been made to tie staff development into the development of the school. In this case there was a concern about how to find time to observe children in the classroom for the purposes of new assessment requirements. To address this concern, a staff development day was organised, led by an external consultant who took the staff through a series of problem-solving processes focusing on how the arrangement of one classroom could be altered to facilitate this observation requirement. Gradually the teachers 'rearranged' functions and resources in order to make this one classroom a more autonomous (for children) environment, thus freeing teacher time. Subsequently a similar activity was carried out in other classrooms. Subsequent observation suggests that the strategy has had a significant impact. Specific changes in teaching styles are evident in all classrooms; there is clear evidence of increased pupil autonomy, even with very young pupils; and the quality of dialogue about teaching and learning amongst the staff is very striking to the outsider. Indeed it does seem that the strategy adopted has brought about a significant change in the 'culture' of the school as well as solving the assessment problem. These comments from the Headteacher and Deputy give a real sense of the evolution of their work over the two year period: Children were gradually being encouraged to help and think for themselves. Simple systems for handling equipment and resources were

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introduced throughout the school with slight variations according to the experiences of the children. So into another year we go. We are learning all the time. The children are becoming more independent in the way they use the classroom and their time. Now, we will focus our observations on what the children are doing rather than how. What are they learning? How much are they learning? Are they learning what was intended they learn? Such comments demonstrate that staff development can both enhance the level of practice in the school, and as we saw in the previous chapter, strengthen the school as an organisation.

Involvement

In the research literature on effective schools there is strong evidence that success is associated with a sense of identification and involvement that extends beyond the teaching staff. This involves the pupils, parents and, indeed, other members of the local community. It does seem that those schools that are able to create positive relationships with their wider community can create a supportive climate for learning. Pupil involvement seems to be a particularly important factor. The research suggests that this occurs at an organisational level, by involving pupils in decision-making and by encouraging them to take responsibility for day-to-day routines. At the classroom level this occurs when pupils are encouraged to take responsibility for their own learning and, through involvement, to learn organisational, planning, discussion, decisionmaking and leadership skills. In the IQEA programme we have observed how a number of schools have used the power of pupil involvement to support their development activities. A particularly good example of this approach comes from a secondary school in outer London where a cross-curricular group was established on 'open learning'. It had two aims: the organisation of a 'Flexible Learning Week', and the development of a Learning Resources Centre (LRC). The existing school library was entirely book based, located at the back of the school and used mainly by the English Department. It was felt that this represented poor use of library resources across the curriculum as a whole. Consequently, it was decided to move its site to the more central location (being vacated by the sixth-form). Besides extending the range of resources in the LRC, the group realised that if they were to succeed in raising the quality of education offered at the school, they had to do more than simply create this area with its resources. Therefore they began a programme of staff development aimed at enabling and encouraging staff to widen their range of teaching approaches in ways that involved pupils. The coordinator of the group commented: Throughout the project we have tried to involve students. As their role developed they have taken on a variety of tasks:

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Improving the Quality of Education for All

1. Monitors of the classroom impact of the project- Year 9 pupils were asked to complete a questionnaire in order to detect a shift in pupils' perceptions of how they learned. Almost all noticed a change in the ways in which they had worked. 2. Motivators - Staff were encouraged by the response of pupils. Transcripts of the pupils' conversations with the IQEA team were made available to staff and governors: positive pupils' comments had far more effect than we could have made. 3. Resources for staff development - Pupils at work in the LRC were videoed and this was used to sharpen our classroom observation skills. Students were used as 'witnesses' as part of a whole staff training day. 4. Practical helpers - Students were invited to apply for the posts of Resource Assistants to help with the day-to-day running of the Learning Resources Centre. A pupil chairs the regular meetings on LRC issues. In all these ways the involvement of students strengthened the quality of learning while boosting the confidence and understanding of teachers.

Leadership

Within IQEA we have deliberately set out to promote discussion about leadership style within participating schools, and to help staff from different levels in the school to share perceptions of how leadership operates. Such discussions have identified a number of key aspects of the leadership role. The first underlines the responsibility of school leaders in establishing a clear 'vision' for teaching and learning in the school. The methods through which the vision is developed seem to be as important as the vision.itself in generating staff commitment. The second relates to the way individual knowledge, skills and experience are harnessed, and the extent to which the school is able to transcend traditional notions of hierarchy or role in bringing together the 'best team for the job'. A third aspect is the way leadership is used in group or team meetings. Leader behaviour is obviously an important determinant of group effectiveness, but a strong commitment to the quality of relationships within the group can sometimes lead to over-cohesiveness, with a corresponding decline in the quality of critical thinking which individuals bring to the group. Fourthly, we have been keen to explore with participating schools the opportunities for 'spreading' the leadership function throughout the staff group. In the following account, the Headteacher of a C of E Junior School in an outer London Borough underlines the importance of relationship building - the mutual trust which is needed for genuine empowerment to occur hinges on the quality of the relationship between head and staff- and also shows how trust builds once relationships are right. The leadership pattern established in the school was of the 'pyramid' type: head then deputy head then senior management and so on. What we discovered was that there were a few 'powerful' members of staff

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(not necessarily members of the senior management team) with the majority seeing themselves as powerless. It seemed that the people with posts of responsibility had been given

little opportunity to develop their own expertise or to learn the management skills needed for the post. They also had not been given the opportunity to decide on resources in their own areas. I believe that everyone in a team has something to offer. Sometimes we need to listen to experience, sometimes to the person with expertise, sometimes to the person with vision and sometimes to the person who feels they're going under because they don't know what they're supposed to do.

We soon identified the fact that although we were increasing the 'power' of the majority we had taken away some of the power of a minority. I believe that this must have caused distrust and uncertainty for those teachers. However, all of these influences were happening below the surface. There was still not trust to speak openly. The belief that a team committed to working together with the same aim has more to offer than an individual wielding power is a very basic belief. It is also very uncomfortable at times because the team can propose some things that the head does not totally agree with and yet the style of management means that we 'try it'. This headteacher is describing an attempt to move away from a transactional approach to leadership into a more 'transformational' and empowering style. Of course, it can cause friction, even confusion, in the short term. But it helps to move the school away from a view of leadership as vested in the headteacher, towards one where 'leadership' is made available throughout the management structure and at all levels in the school community.

Coordination

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We have identified the school's capacity to coordinate the action of teachers behind agreed policies or goals as an important factor in promoting change. In our work with IQEA schools we have pursued a number of strategies which, we have found, improve the quality of coordinators. At the core of such strategies are communication systems and procedures, and the ways in which groups can be created and sustained to coordinate improved effort across a range of levels or departments. Of particular importance are specific strategies for ensuring that all staff are kept informed about development priorities and activities, as this is information vital to informed self-direction. Of course, establishing a cooperative way of working is not easy, not least because it is necessary to do so in ways that do not seem to reduce the freedom of individual teachers, who are quick to defend their need of autonomy in the classroom, to respond to each pupil and to regard each situation as unique. What is needed, therefore, is a well coordinated, cooperative style of working that gives individual teachers the confidence to Improving the Quality of Education for All

improvise in a search for the most appropriate responses to the situations they meet. This is an issue which embraces the coordination of development work too. As we have already seen, IQEA schools identify a school improvement or 'cadre' group to take responsibility for the day-to-day activities of the project in the school. In the following account, the Deputy Head of a Secondary School in a London Borough reflects upon the way he has carried out his coordination role within the cadre, and on what it taught him:

What I did:

In general: 1. To act as a link person between senior management and IQEA and to facilitate similar linking between IQEA and the staff in general. 2. To provide for direct access to the management structure of the school for the project (e.g. for resourcing, meeting times). 3. To lead the cadre group and to provide with the other members, initial frameworks for both the management of IQEA and the issues to be focused upon. 4. To help facilitate amendments to the school management and development structure which would enable the school's planning process to be more effective.

What /learned from my involvement:

1. There is a need to work with a supportive team who get on with each other personally as well as professionally. 2. Staff scepticism can be overcome but only through involvement and trying to present as much professional integrity as possible. This means taking time to communicate and interact with staff, informally as well as formally. 3. The need for long-term planning was reinforced, especially where different groups of staff are concerned. 4. The need is to communicate fully with everyone involved. One cannot rely on assumptions or perceptions being shared implicitly. 5. It is important to the project to have the support of senior staff, both in a personal and structural sense. This underlines that coordination is about getting groups of teachers, often groups with different values and goals, to collaborate for the good of all. It also reminds us that coordinating is as much about relationships as it is about systems, and for the need to take a whole school perspective on development work.

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Enquiry and Reflection

We have observed that those schools which recognise that enquiry and reflection are important processes in school improvement find it easier to sustain improvement effort around established priorities, and are better placed to monitor the extent to which policies actually deliver the intended outcomes for pupils, even in these times of enormous change. Consequently, we have, in our work with IQEA schools, stressed the need to review the current use made of and to consider the opportunities for improved future use of school generated data. Of course, in adopting this focus, we have been aware that it is sensible to try to work with questions that need to be answered, with methods that are feasible and neither intrude on nor disrupt the school's patterns of activity. The data must serve the purposes of the school, not vice-versa. Within these parameters we have urged participating schools to adopt a systematic approach to information collection, analysis and interpretation, particularly where information about the impact, rather than the implementation, of improvement programmes is wanted. The following account demonstrates how powerful a force for improvement school-based enquiry can be, underlining the sense of empowerment teachers feel when actively involved and able to influence the shape of events. It also illustrates the importance of a school-wide strategy for review and development. The 'answers' the teachers carne up with were their own, grounded in their own enquiry and interpretation processes - but the impetus to engage in enquiry stemmed from a school-level commitment to quality review. One area of concern arising from the review was the poor performance of basic mathematical skills by pupils in the lower school. Two senior teachers from the cadre group describe how the rnaths team responded to this challenge: A baseline test was administered to all Year 7 and 8 pupils to establish a measurable starting point that would be used in the evaluation.

• The team carne together and discussed what evidence they would expect to see to ensure that the basic level of confidence and competency had increased. Good practice was shared in terms of strategies staff had used in the past which could now be formalised and used across the whole team. • Individual staff set individual targets related to the team targets together with the evidence they would bring to a final review meeting when the team would assess the extent to which the team target had been met. A range of strategies were devised:

• Staff generated specific work sheets to target pupils, groups of pupils, classes who from the test had been diagnosed as having a weakness in certain areas. • Specific lessons were planned on aspects of nurneracy skills that would be used across the curriculum.

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All pupils were tested: • There had been an 18 per cent increase overall, one class went up 37 per cent. • The review meeting took place - at this individual staff members publicly reviewed their targets and the extent to which they had been realised.

Why it was successful.· • The vision statements were generated by all the staff and made them feel they were all moving in the same direction. It gave cohesion to the work of their team. • From the outset staff had a very clear idea of what was expected in respect of the given area. • The focus is students' learning, so that the quality improvement focuses on the classroom and curriculum delivery. • Staff reflect on their own practice and select their own targets in relation to the team target set - the motivation comes from the staff member themselves. This example reminds us that often it is necessary to seek internal changes despite the external pressures for change. Important opportunities come not where and when we could plan for them, but must be seized on whenever they present themselves. Enquiry helps us to spot them - reflection guides us towards appropriate action.

Collaborative Planning

We have suggested that the school's improvement plans need to be clearly linked to the school's vision for the future. Indeed, the notion of priorities for planning arise from the vision, and where there is a lack of congruence between the school's long-term goals and a particular initiative it is hard to build commitment amongst staff. One of the most effective ways of tying together school and individual goals is through widespread involvement in the planning process. In some ways, involvement in planning activity is more important than producing plans - it is through collective planning that goals emerge, differences can be resolved and a basis for action created. The 'plan' is really a by-product from this activity, and will almost always need to be revised, often several times. The benefits of the planning activity, however, will often outlast the currency of the plan (for a summary of our approach to development planning that could be used as a handout, see Appendix 2). In the account that follows, the Deputy Head of a Primary School describes how this approach to planning is reflected in her school, and the benefits she feels have accrued. We are a large Primary School with 24 staff. The use of staff groups has developed as an effective way of enabling staff to focus on planning and be engaged in the development of specific curriculum areas while maintaining their involvement in the development of the whole curriculum and whole school issues.

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There are three parallel, mixed ability classes in each Year Group. Each Year Team of teachers is released for one half day towards the end of the summer term so that they can make an overall plan of work for the coming year. Our school curriculum framework outlines the content for their plans. At the end of each term they are also released to make detailed plans for the coming term. One hour per week is included in the time budget for Year Team meetings. This enables them to refine and adjust their plans as well as to discuss any problems. The strength of the Year Team is in mutual support and inspiration. The time spent on planning is valued as enabling the more efficient use of time and resources during the term. It is also seen as helping to raise the standard of work produced in the classroom. All staff are involved in producing the School Development Plan. The curriculum groups and subject coordinators produce their own plans for the coming year. Whole school issues can be raised by any member of staff. All staff discuss all aspects of the development plan. We regard this as essential if all staff are going to be committed to implementing the plan. After the whole staff discussion, the plans are discussed by the Senior Management Team and the Middle Management Team so that the advantages and disadvantages of each element can be discussed and prioritised. This format is not static but developing. Each year refinements or changes are made, either in response to staff requests or in anticipation of future needs. Our aim is to improve the quality of the education for our children. In order to achieve this we need all of our staff working together to provide a stimulating and cohesive curriculum with a happy and structured environment. This account demonstrates that widespread involvement in the creation of the development plan is a key to both quality and commitment. It also shows us that linking planning to action is every bit as important as knowing how to plan - it is the results of the exercise when viewed in the classroom which will determine the future commitment of staff.

Creating the Conditions for School Improvement: Some propositions

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As we have worked with the project schools on the building of 'capacity' in these areas we have begun to observe a number of factors influencing how particular conditions can best contribute to a 'moving school' ethos. As a consequence, we have begun to develop a series of propositions about the relationship between the way a school approaches a particular condition and the impact of that condition on the school's capacity for improvement. These propositions inevitably need further refinement and testing; but we believe that they hold the key to the establishing of a school culture which can meaningfully empower all teachers within the school community. The propositions are summarised in Table 4.1. Improving the Quality of Education for All

Table 4.1 Creating the conditions for school improvement: some propositions (from Hopkins and West 1994: 192-3)

Proposition One Schools will not improve unless teachers, individually and collectively, develop. Whilst teachers can often develop their practice on an individual basis, if the whole school is to develop then there need to be many staff development opportunities for teachers to learn together. Proposition Two Successful schools seem to have ways of working that encourage feelings of involvement from a number of stake-holder groups, especially students. Proposition Three Schools that are successful at development establish a clear vision for themselves and regard leadership as a function to which many staff contribute, rather than a set of responsibilities vested in a single individual. Proposition Four The coordination of activities is an important way of keeping people involved, particularly when changes of policy are being introduced. Communication within the school is an important aspect of coordination, as are the informal interactions that arise between teachers. Proposition Five We have observed that those schools which recognise that enquiry and reflection are important processes in school improvement find it easier to gain clarity and establish shared meanings around identified development priorities, and are better placed to monitor the extent to which policies actually deliver the intended outcomes for pupils. Proposition Six Our experience alongside that of colleagues in IQEA schools suggests that through the process of planning for development the school is able to link its educational aspirations to identifiable priorities, sequence those priorities over time, and maintain a focus on classroom practice.

These six conditions and the related propositions were the initial focus of our work with the IQEA project schools. But, in line with contemporary school effects research, we too were finding that it was necessary to address the conditions within the classroom as well as those at the level of the school, if school improvement strategies were to fully impact on student achievement. We therefore elaborated a set of classroom conditions that enable teachers to facilitate the learning of all students. In the following chapter we outline those classroom conditions that we feel are necessary for a sustainable school improvement strategy.

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CHAPTERS

Conditions for Classroom Development

The IQEA framework for school improvement is based on our experience that effective change strategies focus not only on the implementation of school-selected policies or chosen initiatives, but also on creating the conditions within schools that can sustain the teaching-learning process. As our work has progressed we have found it necessary to establish certain conditions within the classroom alongside those at the level of the school, if school improvement strategies are to fully impact on student achievement. We have elaborated such a set of classroom conditions designed to assist teachers in facilitating the learning of all students. In this chapter we describe those classroom conditions which we have found necessary for sustainable school improvement. We see these conditions grouping around six headings, as follows: • Authentic relationships -The quality, openness and congruence of relationships existing in the classroom. • Rules and boundaries - The pattern of expectations set by the teacher and school of student performance and behaviour within the classroom. • Planning, resources and preparation -The access of teachers to a range of pertinent teaching materials and the ability to plan and differentiate these materials for a range of students. • Teacher's repertoire- The range of teaching styles and models internalised and available to a teacher dependent on student, context, curriculum and desired outcome. • Pedagogic partnerships - The ability of teachers to form professional relationships within and outside the classroom that focus on the study and improvement of practice. • Reflection on teaching- The capacity of the individual teacher to reflect on his or her own practice, and to put to the test of practice, specifications of teaching from other sources. In the rest of the chapter we describe the conditions in more detail and provide examples of how these classroom conditions have been addressed in practice within IQEA 'research' schools. These accounts are necessarily

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brief, but we believe they convey something of the spirit of the classroomfocused improvement activities which have been taking place within the project.

Authentic Relationships

The notion that the relationships between pupil and teacher is at the centre of the learning process is by no means new. Richard Peters (1974), for example, called for close personal relationships with individual learners, advocating 'receptiveness and outgoingness' towards each as individual human beings. The psychologist Carl Rogers in his Freedom to Learn (1983) identified some conditions that facilitate 'learning to be free' such as 'a trust in the human organism', 'realness in the teacher', 'unconditional acceptance' and 'empathy'. This is not simply a philosophic proposition emerging from a belief in equity in regard to the relative rights and obligations of teachers and learners. It is a theme which continually appears in writings on effective classrooms. Gray (in Gray and Wilcox 1995), for example, includes as one of his three 'Sheffield Performance Indicators', the opportunity for a student to establish a 'vital' relationship with an adult whilst in school. Brandes and Ginnis describe the essence of this high quality relationship which teachers create within their classrooms as 'unconditional positive regard' (1990: 30): The most enabling quality that one person can display to another is unconditional positive regard, a phrase which describes the clear, nonpossessive, non-manipulative attitude which seeks the growth and empowerment of the other ... neither submissive nor subordinate, nor superior, but aligned with the students in following their endeavours and achieving the goals of the school. Within IQEA schools there have been extended programmes of classroom observation which suggest similar emphasis needs to be given to the teacher-pupil relationship. In our own work, we have referred to this as the need to establish authentic relationships within the classroom. By this we mean establishing the classroom as a safe and secure learning environment in which pupils can expect acceptance, respect and even warmth from their teachers, without having to earn these - they are intrinsic rights which are extended to pupils because they are there. But beyond this, of course, the security and the mutual trust within the relationship will mean that the teacher is able to make demands on the pupils, because there is also support. As might be expected, the extent to which this condition is established varies between schools, between classes within the same school, between teachers and even with the same teacher when paired with different teaching groups. Nevertheless, there has been a general acceptance that the schools and the teachers should attempt to extend the authenticity of relationships to as many teacher-pupil groups as possible, and several initiatives have been targeted at the development of classroom relationships. The following example is drawn from an 11-18 secondary school.

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This particular secondary school identified the quality of teaching and learning as the main priority within its current Development Plan. Supported by the IQEA cadre group within the school, each department was invited to select its own classroom focus for development. Two departments (Technology and Science) decided to look at the quality of pupil/teacher interactions within their subject area. Both departments selected Year 9 as the target for enquiry, and after discussion within the departments it was agreed that both would look at pupilteacher interaction using an observation schedule derived from the work of Marzano et al. (1992). The schedule was designed to investigate the extent to which teacher comments and behaviours contributed to the quality of classroom climate and relationships. Specifically teacher actions which: • • • •

increased pupils' sense of acceptance increased pupils' sense of comfort and order helped pupils to see the value of tasks and activities helped pupils understand what was expected of them in terms of tasks and activities

were logged, using a schedule which identified 20 different teacher actions/behaviours. The observations were carried out by a member of the IQEA team. There was slight variation between the two subject areas, but in both cases approximately two-thirds of teacher behaviours related to administrative or disciplinary matters, and only one-third to behaviours which were likely to create greater authenticity in the relationships between teacher and pupil. This 'balance' may of course be typical, certainly it compares with other studies which have looked at positive and negative feedback to pupils. But the investigations were not carried out in order to see whether practice was satisfactory or not, but to establish what practice was. Now there is a baseline against which changes can be measured, as the two departments embark upon a range of measures aimed at increasing the quality of pupil-teacher interactions over time. There is also a clearer appreciation of the need to work at the development of appropriate classroom relationships, rather than assuming that this is something which teachers can establish intuitively.

Rules and Boundaries

48

The link between pupil behaviour and the quality of pupil achievement is well established. The school effectiveness research points to order, academic outcomes, and high expectations as features often associated with successful schools. The school improvement literature makes similar connections - stressing the orderliness and security of the learning environment, behaviour policies, and, again, expectations. It is apparent from our own observations of practice that where teachers act in concert, demonstrating similar ranges of approaches and behaviours, Improving the Quality of Education for All

these patterns are learned quickly by students, who then recognise them as 'cues'. Nowhere is this more evident than in the expectations of student behaviour. Consistent adherence to an announced code is an important determinant of student response. Where rules are clearly set out and faithfully followed, students learn very quickly to function within the boundaries these establish. We propose a much broader conceptualisation than the phrase 'rules and boundaries' seems to mean to many teachers. In the sense that we are using the term, the implication is more to do with the capacity for inducing a positive orientation towards learning. This involves a far more complex nexus of activities than simply the mechanistic application of 'rules'. It involves teachers in a series of informal strategies that create a framework of expectations to which students respond. By way of example, one IQEA school (a 14-19 Upper School) had been concerned for some time about the standards of pupil behaviour around the school. This growing unease was further increased by a 'ghost inspection' by the LEA, using the Ofsted framework and criteria. The report from this exercise suggested that in some subjects/classrooms pupil behaviour had deteriorated to the point where it was interfering with the quality of learning and, in some cases, inhibiting the range of teaching approaches being used. One consequence of this was the identification of classroom behaviour management as a major school improvement focus, and a task group was established to carry forward the school's thinking and develop a strategy. A behaviour management policy and code of behaviour emerged from this task group's deliberations. These had wide-ranging implications for the reward and discipline systems in the school. However, one aspect of the action plan can be separated out. The school describes this as the 'Lesson Template' shown in Table 5.1. As can be seen, the template is simply a check-list of 'do's' and 'don'ts' for teachers - nothing on the list is at all profound or intellectually complex. But its value lies in the fact that is has been drawn up, that all members of staff have knowledge of it, that it directly addresses both the behaviours which were causing distractions, and the sources of those behaviours (as they emerged from the task group's investigations). Consequently, the template offers the possibility of concerted, collective action across the school which confronts the behaviour problem and offers each teacher the reassurance of not having to act alone. Of course, the following of the template by teachers will not of itself resolve the difficulties which led the school to focus on this issue, but as a part of a wider revision of the school's discipline and reward policies, it has a role to play. Even if a secure classroom environment does not in itself actively promote school improvement, at a minimum it seems to be a prerequisite for the application of other improvement strategies.

Conditions for School Development

49

Table 5.1 Lesson template 1. Pre-lesson:

(a) Lesson plans must be prepared referring to aims and objectives, timings and Attainment Targets and levels. (b) Resources must be prepared and be appropriate to need. (c) The room layout must be considered in relation to objectives. (d) The subject matter must be understood. (e) Liaison with support staff, if appropriate, should occur. 2. Entrance:

(a) Students should come in quietly, sit down, remove coats and bags. (b) Attention must be secured (registration is one way of doing this). 3. Beginning:

In outlining the lesson make clear: (a) Its objectives and purposes (b) Its content- as related to previous lesson(s). (c) Its timing and pace in terms of tasks set. (d) The assessment strategies to be used. 4. Implementation:

Teachers should demonstrate the following key features: (a) Teaching should be purposeful - planning and objectives should be clear and time should not be wasted. (b) Teaching should create and sustain interest -content should be introduced with skill and imagination. - pupils' interest should be maintained using a range of strategies.

Planning, Resources and Preparation

50

There is much research evidence to suggest that effective learning takes place when lessons are structured and well prepared. Consideration of factors which impinge upon teaching and learning is an important element of planning. There is a growing conviction that the opinions of pupils are key factors in the planning and organisation of what goes on in classrooms. Pupil characteristics and levels of pupil knowledge are important both for what is taught and how it is to be. For example, knowledge of pupils' age and class background may give useful clues in assessing individual responses to teacher questions. Knowledge of pupils' abilities enables teachers to pitch expectations, praise and encouragement at appropriate levels for different children. The organisation of resources within the classroom also needs to be addressed; be they material resources, or human resources like learning support. The grouping of pupils for a particular purpose, and hence the classroom topography, is also important. The setting of homework, as an extension of classroom learning, correlates to effective learning outcomes. In terms of preparation, lesson objectives need to be clearly stated so Improving the Quality of Education for All

that pupils can more fully participate in their learning. Learning experiences must be both sequenced and progressive, with an accurate match between tasks and pupil abilities. Lessons should contain an element of ongoing pupil support, with feedback, and corrective instruction provided for pupils. This supportive process should contain an element of data collection by the teacher relating to pupils. The optimisation of pupil time on task is also an important consideration in teachers' lesson planning. To illustrate some of these points, we draw on the example of an English Department in an IQEA school which chose as its focus for development the use of differentiation in catering for different learning styles and differing abilities of pupils. The Department eventually produced a document on differentiation that could be used to inform the planning of all new schemes of work as well as the adaptation of existing ones. The completed document defined differentiation, and presented a series of strategies which could be used in the classroom to achieve it. The document stressed the importance of: • diagnostic assessment of where pupils were in terms of their learning; • personalised as well as group targets, which should be negotiated with pupils; • the provision of a range of opportunities for learning; • thoughtful grouping of pupils; • planned teacher interventions; • adapted materials; • a variety of sources of feedback for pupils. The document was used in the English Department to review and evaluate both the teaching methods used and the suitability of the content of its various schemes of work in catering for different abilities and learning styles. Because there were sections in the document which were relevant to all teachers, various Departments within the school used it as a starting point for discussion and refinement of their own schemes. The document was also widely networked across IQEA schools.

The Teacher's Repertoire

As we saw earlier, it is now clearly established that the range of teaching strategies and models employed by the teacher positively influences the quality of learning outcomes. However, it is also clear that in practice certain teaching styles have come to be associated with particular subjects. This is most evident in the secondary sector, where single subject teaching is the norm, but there are also many primary schools where a change in learning opportunity is most often associated with a change in subject content. This matching of teaching approach to subject can inhibit the range of learning outcomes facilitated by the teacher, and in effect, disenfranchise those pupils whose 'learning styles' do not coincide with the dominant teaching approach. As we have seen in Chapter 3, powerful learning does not occur by accident. It is usually the result of an effective learning situation created by a

Conditions for School Development

51

skilful teacher. The conscious linking of teaching to learning (irrespective, to some extent, of curriculum content) is the focus of this condition. Within IQEA schools we have been able to look at the preferred learning styles of some groups of pupils. These studies reveal both that within any teaching group preferred learning styles vary between students and, that for any one student, preferred learning styles vary according to the subject content. Genuine entitlement therefore requires that there is a range of teaching approaches in use in each subject of the curriculum, and not merely a change in method between, for example, maths and physical education. Preliminary findings suggested that where the teacher employs a range of specific teaching strategies and models more students demonstrate high levels of involvement in and commitment to the goals of the lesson. This proposition was tested in one school, which had adopted teaching strategies as its development focus for a two-year period. The school was keen to involve all curriculum areas in the scrutiny of current teaching approaches and to encourage each curriculum group to experiment with at least one new approach, which could be monitored and evaluated. This experimentation took place in the context of a wider enquiry into the range of learning opportunities currently on offer, a review of existing approaches and expertise amongst the staff group, and an enquiry into the pupils' views on and responses to the variety of teaching approaches they encountered within the school. In all, nine curriculum groupings responded to the invitation to participate, though inevitably some made better progress than others, particularly with regard to the development of teaching strategies. Nevertheless, a range of 'new' approaches were experimented with: Creative Arts, for example, decided to look at the possibilities of synectics; Modem Languages to adopt target language teaching within key curriculum 'pockets'; and Physical Education to explore the potential of video equipment in the development of pupils' performance skills. The initial review of teaching approaches certainly led to an increased commitment to develop both the variety of strategies available to teachers and the teachers' understanding of the factors to consider when selecting a particular approach.

Pedagogic Partnerships

52

Teacher development takes place most effectively in a school where there is a culture of collaboration. Working with a colleague not only dispels feelings of professional isolation, but also assists in enhancing practice. Our research in South Wales following exemplary staff development experiences suggests that teachers are better able to implement new ideas within the context of supportive collegial relationships. This feeling of being part of a professional group within the school is therefore an important classroom condition which enables teachers to function effectively and continue to improve their teaching. The recognition that teachers develop most effectively as part of a Improving the Quality of Education for All

professional team, dedicated to the improvement of teaching and learning, has led to an international clarion call for the reculturing of schools along collaborative lines. Joyce and Showers (in Hopkins 2002) for example, summarised the 'best knowledge' we have on staff development like this: • The use of the integrated theory-demonstration-practice-feedback training programme to ensure skill development. • The use of considerable amounts of practice in simulated conditions to ensure fluid control of the new skills. • The employment of regular on-site coaching to facilitate vertical transfer of teaching skills. • The preparation of teachers who can provide one another with the necessary coaching. This condition of 'pedagogic partnerships' focuses on the opportunity for teachers to talk about teaching. This is illustrated by the Acting Head of a small rural IQEA Primary School, who wanted to introduce the process of whole school evaluation to her staff of six teachers. She started by asking each of them to fill in during the summer vacation a self-evaluation questionnaire, which would identify areas of expertise as well as ones in which staff would welcome help, guidance and support. Staff reported their responses verbally at the first staff meeting of the autumn term. Using the findings from questionnaires the Head negotiated with her staff a number of possible areas of enquiry, and suggested three pairings to pursue them. Following the observations, each partner produced a separate report of their observations, which were presented to a staff meeting. The findings threw up some surprises: the teachers of Years 3 and 4, for example, had no idea that they asked so many questions in the course of a lesson. Even where there were few surprises, teachers felt that the practice that had been reviewed was now based upon hard evidence rather than their own hunches. One teacher said that she was now more confident in justifying to parents the nature of the reading material she provided in the classroom. The findings also gave rise to staff discussions about effective classroom practice, which subsequently became the whole school focus for the following spring term. But what matters most is that this group of teachers have started to share with one another and to discuss the events which happen in their classrooms. This has a positive effect on their relationships, the culture of the school, and the importance given to issues of pedagogy. It is these outcomes which form the enabling conditions for improvement.

Reflection on Teaching

There is a long tradition of classroom-based action research providing data for the processes of reflection and evaluation of teaching. This research can be undertaken by skilled colleagues or external consultants, or indeed by what has been termed 'reflection-in-action', where the teacher's own observations and inferences based upon those observations are utilised. Although teachers work alone, the processes of reflection, research and

Conditions for School Development

53

evaluation are most effective in school improvement where they involve some group activity. Because these processes are grounded in the teacher's own 'craft-knowledge', the findings are likely to be viewed as less theoretical, more practical and more applicable to similar classroom contexts within the school. As the focus within the IQEA project schools has shifted away from how the school is managed to a more explicit focus on classroom practice, we have seen that many teachers have taken what has become the habit of enquiry with them. Consequently there appears to be a much more selfconscious and open commitment to enquire into and reflect on classroom processes and outcomes. We see this as a natural counterpart to the school level enquiry processes which have already been established. We also see evidence that this is a most powerful classroom 'condition', one which interacts with and enhances the impact of other key classroom conditions. Thus teachers who are self-critical of their own practice as a matter of routine appear, in IQEA schools at least, to be those teachers who have the most extensively developed repertoires, and also seem to be the teachers who are most aware of the many things that are happening in the classroom at any one time. One IQEA school has over the past year been researching the quality of learning opportunities and outcomes. This exercise was planned in three phases. In the first phase, teachers in the participating subject departments (eight in all) formed 'Research Groups'. These research groups then planned classroom level enquiries focusing on the quality of learning. Though each department selected its own points of focus, in each case there was a commitment to pursue this focus within a range of classrooms, and to pool the outcomes at a departmental level. This sharing of experiences and reflections on the quality of learning itself raised a number of issues about teaching approach and classroom organisation, and there was a commitment to identify and to replicate the best practices across the department. In the second phase, departmental research groups exchanged experiences and findings, with a view to identifying issues of whole school interest and areas for whole school development. In the final phase these were followed up and a deliberate strategy to disseminate practice (supported where necessary by appropriate training) implemented. Much emerged from this collaborative exercise in classroom level enquiry. The Technology department, for example, looked at how colleagues used homework within the context of their teaching, and also at the response of pupils to the way homework was used. This revealed significant differences in practice between teachers. Perhaps the most interesting enquiry was carried out by the Humanities research group, where some staff had been looking into the significance of room layout and seating arrangements for learning. Other departments looked at pupil response to different teaching approaches, pupils' own learning behaviours and processes, teacher planning and delivery. Each department research group felt that it had produced something of value for their colleagues which could benefit the pupils in that department. Many groups identified issues that needed 54

Improving the Quality of Education for All

further enquiry or had wider implications. But there was a clear sense of empowerment amongst those who were involved. It seems that if the confidence to take a critical and self-criticallook at classroom practice can be established, then classroom level enquiry and reflection can do much to increase the quality of learning.

Linking Classroom and School Conditions

As is by now obvious, a major focus of the IQEA programme is on the internal conditions of the school. We are also committed to using our work to contribute to an emerging theory of school development. One issue here is the relationship between the school level and the classroom level conditions. Because we know from experience that the two operate in parallel, it is tempting to push this coincidence too far in order to get a correspondence between school and classroom level conditions. But perhaps some speculation is permissible. It could be more than a compulsive striving for conceptual tidiness and clarity which leads us to see the possibility for establishing a core set of conditions with their attendant classroom and school implications as seen in Table 5.2. Table 5.2 The enabling conditions for school improvement

School level condition

Enabling condition

Classroom level condition

Teacher's workplace

Staff development

Teacher's repertoire

School and its community

Involvement

Authentic relationships

Transformational leadership

Leadership

Pedagogic partnerships

Working across the levels

Coordination

Rules and boundaries

Utilising school level data

Enquiry and reflection

Reflection on teaching

Planning for development and maintenance

Collaborative planning

Planning, resources and preparation

However, we are not inclined to risk our already over-extended theorising by such premature speculations on the basis of the evidence we have so far. But the purpose behind this quest for a solid conceptual base is an important one. We are concerned to establish a basis for school improvement that is rooted firmly in high quality research and the best of current practice, and this demands conceptual clarity. This will lead us to develop propositions - on classroom conditions similar to those on the school level conditions quoted earlier. Such further theorising will enable us to Conditions for School Development

55

continue to flesh out our conceptual, methodological and strategic understanding of school improvement. This is our continuing aim - to not only improve the quality of education for all our pupils, but to know how we do it, and through knowing to refine our practice. The following chapter provides an example of this endeavour. In it we reflect on the experience of one school that we have worked with, to identify three phases of school improvement.

56

Improving the Quality of Education for All

CHAPTER6

The Three Phases of School Improvement

The three-phase school improvement process has at its core an unrelenting focus on learning and attainment. Given this central focus, the school improvement strategy encompasses both classroom practice, particularly the expansion of teacher's teaching repertoire, and the building of capacity at the school level, especially the redesign of staff development. Whilst this is not a 'quick-fix' approach, many of the activities involved will bring short- as well as medium-term gains. The three phases are: • Phase One - Establishing the Process • Phase Two - Going Whole School • Phase Three - Sustaining Momentum In this chapter we illustrate the three phases by reference to the school improvement work at Swanwick Hall School, Derbyshire.

Phase OneEstablishing the Process

As IQEA is not a short-term approach, it is important that careful deliberation is given to the decision to embark on this way of working. Preparing for the project involves generating commitment, planning and gathering data on the school level conditions. Although it is important to move into action as soon as is practicable, it is vital that the cadre group is fully established and au fait with management of change and teaching/learning strategies, and has carefully planned the whole school improvement strategy. This phase involves:

• Commitment to the school improvement approach - It is particularly important that the leadership of the school is committed to the approach as they will need to make decisions about allocation of resources and the deployment of time. They will also need to be confident that the approach is consistent with the aspirations of the school and the values of most staff. • Selection of school improvement group or cadre - The selection of

57

•

•

•

•

58

the cadre group is crucial. They will be the drivers of school improvement over the next few years and their status and importance in the school will grow considerably over time. As shown in Appendix 3, the school improvement group will become the 'delivery system' for the school's development activity. It is essential that they reflect a cross-section of the school and have the respect of the rest of the staff. Enquiring into the strengths and weaknesses of the school - Any school improvement strategy must reflect the specific context of the school. This means that as much data as possible on the school context, student attainment and learning, and the teaching approaches of staff must be gathered to help design the school improvement strategy. This includes information about examination results as well as diagnoses of the school's capacity. Appendix 5-8 contains examples of approaches to gathering information on the conditions of the school's management arrangements, the learning styles of students and the teaching styles of staff. Designing the whole school programme - This approach to school improvement is not just another initiative or project. It is a way of carrying forward in a more systematic and strategic way the priorities that a school has already set for itself. Consequently, there needs to be a clear link between these school improvement activities and the school's development plan. In addition, involvement in the programme should be used to integrate as many as possible of the other initiatives facing the school by using teaching and learning strategies as the common factor and point of reference. Appendix 1 includes key points on action planning. Seeking partners - At the start of such a school improvement initiative support from an external agency (e.g. university, LEA or commercial provider) is usually necessary. This kind of approach may be new to the school and advice and encouragement are therefore helpful. Also the school will need access, at least initially, to knowledge related to planning, teaching strategies and staff development. The school will quickly develop its own expertise and confidence, but the 'pressure and support' provided by an external partner will always be valuable. Seeding the whole school approach - Inevitably in the early stages of the work, the energy will be coming from the senior management team and the cadre group. It is therefore essential that the whole staff is kept informed about developments and that expectations for their involvement in the near future are carefully nurtured. The emphasis should be that this is not just another initiative, but a more effective and collegial way of working.

Improving the Quality of Education for All

Swanwick Hall School is an 11-18 comprehensive school in ‘ex-coal mining’ Derbyshire with almost 1100 pupils. The catchment area is mixed, which makes it a true comprehensive, but there is a skew to the less able. The school has always been a caring institution and many parents were more concerned that their children were happy at school than they were about external examinations. The increasing emphasis on attainment was slow to arrive in the area, and 6 years ago the percentage of 5+ A-C grades was only 23 per cent. A new Headteacher changed this, and results improved by working with parents on numerous initiatives such as increased homework, and by pupil mentoring, changing school aspirations through assemblies, etc. However, there was a major problem associated with the drive for improvement. Staff, and particularly heads of department, felt that change was being imposed on them from above, be it by senior management team (SMT), LEA or national government. There was a resentment that lots of hoops had to be jumped through and a feeling that the main job - work in classrooms - was relegated to a low priority. The SMT had just decided that it was essential to give the ownership for change back to teachers, and particularly heads of departments. It was then that they heard about IQEA and the emphasis on ‘teaching and learning at the heart of sustained school improvement’. The SMT also understood that initially IQEA involved estab­ lishing a common culture for change and a temporary group of volunteers - a cadre - to spearhead the change. IQEA seemed to address the school’s needs at exactly the right time and the school joined the East Midlands IQEA network in summer 1997. The SMT realised that to be successful they had to get the enthusiasm and commitment of the heads of faculty (HoFs). This was a relatively easy task as they were delighted to know that classroom practice was to be established as the school’s main priority. Very soon they were spearhead­ ing our development because they were doing the following: • talking as a group about their priorities for classroom-based school improvement; • hearing experts reinforce their view that school improvement must be focused on teachers in classrooms, i.e. if we don't concentrate on class­ rooms there will be no long-term improvement; • collecting some evidence from pupils about their perceptions of learning, e.g. what do you enjoy?, what challenges you?, etc. • being accountable because school improvement has to be internally driven; • encouraging members of their department to volunteer for the cadre; • giving staff development time to establish new ideas within the depart­ ments, including planning and sharing lessons; • being clear about the idea that the programme would advantage their work but was not another initiative they were forced to lead. By June 1997 a school improvement group had been established. Five of the cadre members were given one ‘IQEA period’ per week, and it was made The Three Phases of School Improvement

59

clear that the group was a task group and not a permanent structure. It was essential to have some team-building time; this involved practising new models of teaching among themselves before going public with the staff. This involved videoing, laughing, modifying, etc. The group was quickly given a high profile, by focusing on a clear task - in our case organising a school inservice day on inductive teaching, the first new classroom-based model we chose to learn. The cadre group also systematically gathered information about student performance, teaching and learning styles, and the school’s ‘internal conditions’ in order to help them plan their work. After extensive discussion, the IQEA group decided that the focus for the first year of whole school development should be on the ‘inductive’ model of teaching. The main reasons for this decision were: • the model was applicable to all departments; • no one understood it previously so all staff were learning together and sharing ideas across departments; • the different phases catered for different styles of teaching, including indi­ vidual and group work, so there was variety in the lessons; • the six phases made it quite a complex model, which required under­ standing, so the staff had something to talk about. Comments like ‘Phases 1-4 are fine but then I struggle with phases 5 & 6. Any ideas?’ were often heard in the staffroom; • the latter phases involved higher order thinking skills, which were under­ developed in school; • though the data sets for inductive teaching often required considerable time in planning, it could be used from year to year, once it existed. This meant that building the teaching model into schemes of work was not too difficult.

This example from Swanwick Hall School reflects the early flow of school improvement activity. This flow of activity is illustrated in Figure 6.1.

Pre-conditions

Commitment to School Improvement General consensus on values Understanding of key principles

School Level

Shared values A mandate from staff Leadership potential Identification of change agents Willingness to make structural changes Capacity for improvement

Unifying Focus

Improvement Theme —

Means

School Improvement Strategy

An enquiry into Teaching and Learning

Figure 6.1 Preparing for school improvement

60

Improving the Quality of Education for All

As seen in Figure 6.1, during this early phase strategies need to involve a clear and direct focus on a limited number of basic curriculum and organisational issues, in order to build the confidence and competence to continue. These include: • provision of early, intensive outside support; • surveying staff and student opinion; gathering and disaggregating data on student achievement; • a focus on managing learning behaviour, not on behaviour management; • intensive work on re-skilling teams of teachers in a limited but specific repertoire of teaching/learning styles; • progressive restructuring to generate new opportunities for leadership, collaboration and planning.

Phase TwoGoing Whole School

This cycle of activity usually lasts between two and three terms. During this phase the focus is upon specific teaching and learning issues and on building the capacity within the school to support this way of working. These strategies usually involve a certain level of external support and comprise:

• innovations in teaching and learning that are new to most staff and are informed and supported by external knowledge and support; and • the sharing of and building on good practice within the school. It begins and ends with a whole staff day. In the first, the curriculum and teaching focus and learning teams will be established. In the second, the staff will share with each other on a curriculum tour around the school the progress they have made. The activities in this phase are:

• The initial whole school INSET Day( s) - This is the point at which the school improvement programme formally goes 'whole school'. It therefore needs to be carefully managed and include a lot of 'hands on' and practical activities. Colleagues, especially those who may be cynical, need to see the implications for their own teaching. The day should end with a clear understanding of the next steps and implications for individual action. • Establishing the curriculum and teaching focus - This may have already been decided before the initial whole school INSET day. If so, the opportunity needs to be taken to clarify its implications and applications to individual members of staff's own curriculum areas and classroom practice. It is also important to stress that, unlike most other initiatives, this one focuses directly on the core purpose of schooling teaching and learning. • Establishing the learning teams - Different schools choose different ways of organising the staff into 'learning teams'. Usually this, at least in the beginning, is departmentally based, but there are real advantages in cross-departmental groupings. There need to be two types of 'learning team': The Three Phases of School Improvement

61

• curriculum grouping where teachers work together on planning schemes of work and integrating teaching strategies into the curriculum content; • peer coaching or 'buddy' groups where staff in groups of two or three observe each other, provide support, and act as critical friends.

• The initial cycle of enquiry - This is the implementation phase of the work when the new or amended schemes of work are taught and the peer coaching groups support each other and monitor and reflect on the impact on student learning and the development of classroom practice. Most schools aim to go through at least one cycle of such activity each half-term. • Sharing initial success and impact on student learning on the curriculum tour- this is a whole school INSET day where staff share the fruits of the work during the previous term or two. At the start of the day staff departmental groups set up a display in their area of schemes of work, videos and student work. They then form into cross-departmental groups and begin the tour around the school. At each display the member of staff from that group explains to others the work that they have done. Sometimes students are involved in the tour also. The 'curriculum tour' is an efficient and exciting way to share developmental work and always engenders a great deal of enthusiasm. The second phase of the school improvement work at Swanwick Hall School began with the whole staff inservice day. The day focused on induc­ tive teaching, being the first new classroom-based model the staff were to enquire into. The INSET included videos of the group teaching and examples of pupils' work. It was much more powerful because teachers delivered it who had never talked to the whole staff before, rather than experts from outside. At the end of the day, departments worked together planning lessons using inductive teaching. The SMT and staff realised that to establish new teaching models there had to be staff development time to do the following: • understand the model and plan lessons; • share the experience with several staff which might be via joint teaching or observation; • evaluate the lessons and build the successful ones into schemes of work for subsequent years; • share ideas across departments. This was done by: • publishing lists of what has been planned/delivered; • going round the table at heads of faculty meetings so every HoF contributed; • ‘curriculum tours’ where every department put on a short display of teaching at subsequent inservice days. This has involved several inservice days or half-days on teaching and learn­ ing each year. After each one an IQEA group member collects a return from each department so they know exactly what has been planned and when the teaching is likely to take place. 62

Improving the Quality of Education for All

The process of school improvement moves forward by keeping a regular interchange between the permanent structures of the school, i.e. Heads of Faculty and department teams and the development structures of the school as embodied by the IQEA (and other) groups. The IQEA group realised that they had to keep the HoFs constantly in touch if they were expecting them to deliver certain aspects of the programme in their depart­ ments. They knew they are accountable for their departments and that many IQEA developments would be published. Certain departments have gained enormously by having a member of the IQEA group who has become an agent for change within the department. This was effective, whether or not the IQEA member was the department leader or just a member of the team. The flow of activity during this phase of the process is illustrated in Figure 6.2.

WHOLE SCHOOL DEVELOPMENT PRIORITY An Enquiry into Teaching and Learning

Stage

!

Dept. A (Inductive Teaching)

Dept C (Inductive Teaching)

'Curriculum Tour’

Stage II

Stage III

Dept. B (Inductive Teaching)

Group Work

Memory

Synectics

WHOLE SCHOOL WORKING TOWARDS REPERTOIRE OF TEACHING AND LEARNING STRATEGIES

Figure 6.2 Flow of activity of whole school

Developmental activities at this stage include: • The use of whole school training days to focus on practical teaching and learning strategies. • The allocation of dedicated time for school improvement activities. • The organising of staff into critical friendship groups. • Monitoring progress through a focus on student learning. • Generating an on-going dialogue about values across staff and with key groupings such as heads of faculty. The Three Phases of Schoo! Improvement

63

Phase Three Sustaining Momentum

It is in this phase that the capacity for change at school and classroom level becomes more secure. Learning teams become an established way of working and there is an expansion of the range of teaching strategies used throughout the curriculum. This activity includes: • Establishing further cycles of enquiry - Following the first curriculum tour most groups of staff will wish to enquire into other teaching models that may be more specific or relevant to their curriculum areas, or may address certain student learning needs. It is important to encourage such an approach to differentiation. • Building teacher learning into the process - A crucial aspect of the whole process is that the school improvement approach becomes a 'way of life' within the school. In particular, that it becomes a vehicle for teacher learning and development. The embedding of planning time, observation, and the opportunity for critical friendship groupings to meet, provide the essential infrastructure for continuous improvement. • Sharpening the focus on student learning - The commitment to teacher learning becomes more sharply focused when the assessment of student learning is built into the process. This is important in its own right, as the monitoring of student learning helps make formative changes to the improvement process. It also clarifies the often intuitive link between teaching and learning. Systematically listening to the student voice and involving them in development activities contributes to the building of a genuinely learning school. • Finding ways of sharing success and building networks - Motivation and professional pride are best enhanced by learning from other teachers and from sharing good practice success. An important way of doing this is through the establishing of networks within and between schools. Networks are more than just opportunities to share 'good practice'; they are characterised by a commitment to quality, rigour, and a focus on outcomes. They are also an effective means of supporting innovation in times of change. In education, networks promote the dissemination of good practice, enhance the professional development of teachers, support capacity building in schools, and assist in the process of restructuring and re-culturing the school. • Reflecting on the culture of the school and department - The point has already been made that this approach to school improvement is not another project but more a way of working. As such, it needs building into the fabric of the school, its structures and culture, and the ways in which teachers work together and think about their own development. This involves the following:

• new understandings about learning and the management of change; • more flexible and creative use of space, time, communication structures and people; • widespread use of collaborative ways of working; and • the redefinition and adaptation of ideas through the use of evidence. When these ways of working are internalised, then not only will student attainment rise but also the school will establish itself as an effective learning organisation. 64

Improving the Quality of Education for All

In their second year of purposeful school improvement Swanwick Hall School concentrated on: • consolidating inductive teaching into schemes of work; • introducing work on mnemonics (which was very successful for a few staff) and cooperative group work. As a result it is now accepted amongst pupils that staff will regularly group them and move them to suit the specific learning styles of the lesson in question. By the third year, the cadre (membership had changed somewhat by then because other staff were interested in joining) felt that school improvement was more in-built into the fabric of the school, which was exciting but more difficult to manage and to monitor for effectiveness. In the third year school improvement work moved forward on several fronts: 1. Consolidation of the models from years 1 and 2. 2. An INSET for all staff to discuss their own preferred learning styles, which reinforced the need for variety in the classroom. 3. Some departments worked to include a range of higher order thinking skills and building them into schemes of work. 4. Members of the IQEA group experimented with other models so that they could run workshops for staff later in the year e.g. synectics, concept attainment, STAD (i.e. team games). 5. A group of staff began working on questioning techniques, which they piloted with two Year 7 groups. 6. The IQEA group established links with the school's behaviour task group to help staff to train the pupils in listening skills. Plans for next year involve: • researching the effectiveness of what has been achieved so far; data are being collected from staff and pupils about progress and perceptions; • pupil involvement, especially in decision-making; • more observation of each other's lessons. But there is only so much time in a school year and the cadre group has learnt that May to December is the best time for ‘development’. After that there is only time for consolidation amidst parents’ evenings, reports, budget worries and examination preparation. However, as IQEA has developed, the group claims to have learnt the following retrospectively: • That school improvement is not about a dependency culture but about the school doing something for itself, which it wants to do. They have had a lot of help from university staff but, in the end, it is up to the staff. ‘We feel like colleagues with them, not just learners.' • That development has to be built into the school’s structure; for example, there are now teaching and learning meetings as part of the cycle of directed time meetings after school. • That staff development has changed to cover a wider variety of school activities which were never done before, e.g. cancelling an ordinary staff The Three Phases of School Improvement

65

• • • • • •

briefing to watch a colleague teaching on video, co-teaching, regular directed time meetings, talking to staff in other schools and at confer­ ences. That schools need to be learning communities, i.e. pupils and staff are learning together. That it is essential to share ideas across the curriculum; departments have things to learn from each other. That staff have become better at risking new ideas and talking about them to pupils in the classroom. That new models of teaching and learning may be hard work but if pupils respond well and are interested, they are easier and more fun to teach. That, despite the hard work, staff have had a huge boost through shar­ ing ideas with other schools. Although it cannot be proved that the continued improvement in both A-Cs and A-Gs is directly attributable to IQEA, it is clear that the depart­ ments that have substantially changed their modes of teaching now have GCSE grades which are well above the average for the school.

Figure 6.3 illustrates the range of activities that contribute to a capacity for learning within a school. It reflects the school improvement journeys of Big Wood and Swanwick Hall Schools who began their work facing 'challenging circumstances'. It also represents an attempt to capture how schools establish a 'learning focus' and how a number of the elements of school improvement come together in practice. It begins from two assumptions. The first is that all students have the potential for learning that is not fully exploited. The second is that the students' learning capability refers to their ability to access that potential through increasing their range of learning skills. This potential is best realised and learning capability enhanced through the range of teaching and learning models that the teacher uses with the students. The teaching and learning strategies are not 'free-floating', but embedded in the schemes of work and curriculum content that teachers use to structure the learning in their lessons. These schemes of work also have the potential to be shared between schools and be available for wider dissemination. Finally, this way of working assumes a whole school dimension through the staff development infrastructure the school has established, the emphasis on high expectations, and the careful attention to consistency of teaching and the discussion of pedagogy that pervades the cultures of these schools.

66

Improving the Quality of Education for All

Learning potential of all students

Repertoire of learning skills

Models of learning - tools for teaching

Embedded in curriculum context and schemes of work

Whole school emphasis on high expectations and pedagogic consistency

Sharing schemes of work and curriculum across and between schools, clusters, LEAs and nationally

Figure 6.3 School improvement journeys

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67

CHAPTER 7

The School Improvement Cycle

This chapter describes in more detail the development activities in a 'typical' first year of the school improvement cycle. In the first year, much of the project shape has tended to be provided through external events, jointly planned and run by the central IQEA team with a consortium of 5-7 schools. However, these will not be effective unless account is taken of the school conditions which interface with these external interventions and appropriate school-based action is undertaken. Figure 7.1 overleaf shows the interplay between external inputs and action at school and classroom levels. The externally delivered sequence has been designed to do the following: • raise awareness through a short evening session with Heads and prospective cadre group members. This includes a presentation on the approach and, if possible, a contribution from a school which has already been involved in an IQEA project for at least one year. A selection of slides in Appendix 3 illustrates the information generally covered; • kick-start the process with a residential on teaching and learning strategies for cadre groups; • hold a twilight session to look at cadre group working in more depth, with some thoughts on moving whole school; • offer new ideas through a second residential, possibly with an emphasis on a selected teaching approach. This is at a point when the school focus has become clearer; • extend participation through a twilight for expanded cadre groups. This is likely to be on a variety of approaches with some reinforcement; • celebrate achievement through a consortium event. School-based activity has three strands: • Data is gathered to enable diagnosis of the strengths and weaknesses of the school. Further research can also be undertaken to help sharpen the preferred focus. This is explored in Chapter 8. • Buy-in of middle managers must be secured or there can be little sustainable development.

68

ffi

The School Improvement Cycle

Sept-Oct

N o v-D ee

Identify cadre group Research through Management Conditions survey

Xm as

H a lt-T e rm

Classroom focus

Identify cadre group focus(es) for the work Planning Awareness-raising across the school, e.g. newsletter

School focus

'

Easier

Mar/April Residential for cadre groups: • Share progress Consolidation • Action planning

Feb-April

Apri 1-May

Halt-Term

Moving whole school, e.g. voluntary sessions about teaching and learning Cadre group coaching Monitoring and data gathering to assess impact

June Conference' to celebrate and present: Case studies Outcomes

June-U uly

Whole school INSET Plan any structural changes Collection of data. etc. and production of case study Self-review and preparation f celebration event

Extended cadre group trial approaches Review/evaluation

IQEA Researcher to visit to help develop 'timeline/case' study and support selfevaluation

May Twilight for extended cadre groups: Refresher Share progress

Cadre group continue to experiment and gain confidence and experience Research, e.g. into teaching styles and student learning preferences

Individual school visits by IQEA Researcher to follow up Management Conditions data Professional support/input

Jan/ Feb Twilight for cadre groups: « New inputs Action planning

IQEA team focus

Jan-F eb

Trialling of approaches Development through peer / cadre observation, coaching and feedback

November/December Residential to bring together cadre groups: Outline of approach Teaching strategies Action planning

HaH-Term

Figure 7.1 Example timeline showing the interplay of staff development-related activities

Planning Meeting to discuss: Annual programme Cadre group Roles

June/July

Summer

• Cadre groups trial approaches in their own classrooms with peer support, and begin to deliver INSET for colleagues and encourage experimentation. .

At a school level, our experience shows that this will begin to influence and change the structure of staff development and the nature and place of dialogue about teaching and learning.

Staff Development Events

All the externally delivered events have the same broad aims: • to maintain a focus on the IQEA framework for school improvement and its key elements of enhancing teaching and learning in classrooms and building capacity; • to refresh participants on pedagogy and introduce some new strategies for teaching and learning; • to renew professional confidence and interest; • to help to build research capability so that schools can identify their own strengths, weaknesses and growth points; • to build a professional learning community in one's own school and across schools. As seen in Figure 7.1, the events comprise both residential conferences and twilight sessions. One dilemma for the IQEA central project team is trying to choose topics that will be relevant at a given time for the various school groups. Planning meetings are designed to help us take soundings of the current issues in schools. In addition, we have received feedback that the overall style adopted at these events, that of framing the various activities within a series of questions that schools are invited to explore, is helpful in enabling participants to construct their own working agendas. This stimulus for thinking is encouraged by the fact that teachers attend the sessions with colleagues from their own school. They can debrief the experience together and have a common point of reference. They also have the opportunity to share plans with other schools in the consortium and this tends to expand ambitions. Residential events

These are generally spread over two days and this format, although more expensive, has proved its value in terms of sharpened teacher focus and increased commitment and energy. The details of two example programmes can be seen in Figure 7.2. In outline, the first evening is spent together with each school seated around its own table. Contributions are shared between a presenter who frames the issues that the residential seeks to progress and school practitioners, either invited from outside or from within participating schools, similar to the case study of Big Wood and Swanwick Hall described earlier, and of Chilwell used in this chapter. 70

Improving the Quality of Education for All

In the first residential, for example, key presentation points cover the process described in earlier chapters of this book under headings such as: • the purposes of IQEA; • a framework for school improvement, working outwards from a central focus on student learning and attainment; • six steps to school improvement; • three phases of IQEA; • an illustrative case study. Discussions are interleaved through the use of 'buzz' conversations at school tables with feedback. Schools are encouraged to consider their own context through the Culture Game, as described in Chapter 8, and also the wider context within which they operate. The second day consists of: • inputs in the form of workshops, mostly delivered by colleagues from schools. These are fairly short and at best are designed to model the teaching and learning approaches being introduced; • substantial cadre group planning. This is particularly important at early stages of the project as cadre groups may have minimal time together once back at school.

IQ EA

IQEA

Purposes

Purposes To introduce cadre groups to a wider range of teaching and learning strategies, particularly inductive teaching To provide a refresher - and an extension - of some of the methods covered last December in order to support application in the classroom To share progress and how this will be measured and to firm up on next stage plans

Improving the Quality of Education for All

To introduce cadre groups to the IQEA approach and revisit classroom level methods To begin building the consortium IQEA network Friday 5.00

Welcome

5.10

IQEA in practice: The Big Wood School Story IQEA and cadre group working IQEA in practice: Swanwick Hall School

Improving the Quality of Education for All

Friday

6.15

IQEA in practice: A wider perspective

6.45

The Culture Game and School discussion

5.00

Welcome and introduction

5.30

Progress checks and success criteria Each school is invited to present work in progress (10-15 minseach) Discussion of key points raised

Saturday

Saturday

9.00 am

The inductive teaching model

9.30

Implementation workshops showing application of the model in three curriculum areas: 1. History 2. Design and Technology 3. English

10.30

Coffee

11.00

Reprise and extension of approaches introduced in Residential 1: 1. Cooperative group work 2. Teaching for thinking and learning 3. Questioning and thinking

9.00

Introduction to the day Teaching and learning

9.30

Workshop 1: All to be covered by each school team Creating the Learning Classroom Teaching for Thinking Cooperative Group Work

10.30

Coffee/tea

11.00

Workshop 2: All to be covered by each school team As above

12.00

Using management conditions data

12.15

School level planning

12.00

School planning and feedback on plans

1.00

Conclusions and next steps

1.15

Conclusions

Figure 7.2 Example programmes for Residentials 1 and 2

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71

One example workshop at both residentials above is Cooperative Group Work. This session begins with considering the principles of Cooperative Group Work: • Positive interdependence- when all members of a group feel connected to each other in the accomplishment of a common goal. All individuals must succeed for the group to succeed. • Individual accountability - holding every member of the group responsible to demonstrate the accomplishment of the learning. • Face to face interaction- when group members are close in close proximity to each other and enter into a dialogue with each other in ways that promote continued progress. • Processing - when group members assess their collaborative efforts and target improvements. • Social skills- human interaction skills that enable groups to function effectively (e.g. taking turns, encouraging, listening, giving help, clarifying, checking understanding, probing). Such skills enhance communication, trust, leadership, decision-making, and conflict management. Practical aspects cover a selection of the following Cooperative Learning Structures: • • • • • • • • • •

Buddy Buzz Numbered Heads Two to Fours Envoys Listening Triads Critical Friends Rainbow Groups Jigsaw Student Teams Achievement Divisions (STAD) Group Investigation

More detail and materials on this as an example can be found in Appendix 4. 1

Twilights

Twilight sessions tend to concentrate more on helping cadre groups build on their own learning. The example shown in Figure 7.3 followed about two months after the first residential. • Workshop 1 was run by the IQEA Research Officer and built on some of the work he had already undertaken in schools using instruments on Learning Styles. • Workshop 2 was run by a cadre group member from one of the participating schools that had had a good deal of experience of classroom observation for monitoring and development purposes. 1

72

This material was put together by Dave Beddow, Swanwick Hall School.

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IQ E A

Im proving the Quality o f E ducation for All

Purposes •

To further develop the skills of the cadre group To enhance cadre group confidence and provide ideas to begin begin to start working with other colleagues

4.00 pm

Refreshments

4.45

Cadre working: Introduction

5.15

Workshops: 1.

Collection and use of data (students’ and staff views) to improve understanding and establish baselines

2.

Working with peers: Observation and feedback

3.

6.30

Working with staff: Extending the work of of the cadre to involve other staff members

Conclusions and looking ahead

Figure 7.3 Example twilight programme

• Workshop 3 was run by a Headteacher from a more experienced IQEA school, which was in year 2-3 of the improvement cycle. End-of-year celebration

At the end of the year, schools deserve an opportunity to share their achievements and celebrate their success. The format adopted for this is similar to the 'curriculum tour' described in Chapter 6 but scaled up for schools. The idea is that, together in one venue, each school puts on a display that might include visuals, example materials and/or a video. A circus arrangement operates with a number of the cadre group staying with their presentation to talk about it with visitors and the rest touring round other schools' displays. This both offers recognition to each cadre group for their hard work and is a vehicle to exchange ideas.

School-based Development

However powerful, these events have little impact unless they are incorporated into a school-based, school improvement plan. Making a start and identifying priorities is a critical piece in the cycle. It is the role of the cadre group to initiate, shape and support school development through the identification of a 'bold goal' and the design and implementation of appropriate activities.

The School Improvement Cycle

73

The case studies, which follow describe Chilwell Comprehensive SchooF in Nottingham. They focus on two events: • The whole school launch, held one term after the first residential. This followed a cadre group introduction to IQEA at a weekend conference; • A training day for all staff on two teaching methods. This followed cadre group training on a range of approaches and an audit of teaching strategies by the IQEA Researcher. These show the importance of a strategy for whole school involvement if a step change is to be achieved.

Whole school launch

Some of the schools with which we have worked have run whole school events near the beginning of the project. These have either been short awareness-raising sessions, perhaps as part of a staff training day, or, as below, something more substantive, designed to support early action. The project was presented to the whole staff at a training day at the university at the beginning of the autumn term. This launch was seen as a key event in the development of the school. That it was held away from the school gave it, for one teacher, ‘an importance that might otherwise have been missing’. Another characterised the mood of the launch as ‘a feeling of a new direction in teaching’. A third remembered it as ‘a signifi­ cant change in thinking to concentrate on teaching and learning styles in a constructive and whole school way'. For a member of the cadre group, 'it got us thinking and identifying what we were going to do’. Part of the presentation on the day was a report on the Management and Classroom Conditions Surveys that had been administered to staff at the end of the summer term. These surveys provide opportunities for teaching and non-teaching staff to comment on the frequency of certain behaviours in the school relating to its management and to teaching and learning in the classroom. At Chilwell, senior managers appeared to be happy with plan­ ning and coordination processes in the school, and felt that staff were given sufficient opportunity to take initiatives in developing the school. They shared teachers’ reservations about the limited involvement of other members of the school community, like students, in the running of the school, as well as the comparatively low status given to staff development. In the classroom, senior managers and teachers felt that relations with students in the school were good, helped partly by a clear and well-regu­ lated behaviour policy. Senior managers were, however, concerned by data that questioned elements of teacher planning and the limited range of teaching strategies used, and shared with teachers some disquiet over the degree of mutual observation and data collection and analysis in the school. The small number of support staff surveyed seemed highly discon­ tented with most aspects of school and classroom life. 2

74

Chilwell School case study was written by John Beresford, IQEA Research Officer.

Improving the Quality of Education for All

Staff training day

Between the external and any internal training events, cadre groups trial approaches in their own classrooms, with peer support. They may also begin to attach interested staff through, for example, voluntary sessions on Talking about Teaching'. The following extract describes the point at which Chilwell staff felt suffi­ ciently confident to train their colleagues, with contributions from another, more experienced IQEA school. In the summer term the cadre organised a training day for staff on coop­ erative group work and inductive teaching. Part of the presentation was by teachers from Swanwick Hall School, near Alfreton. The day was well received, and indeed was memorable for a number of teachers. One saw it as a ‘key point’ in the school's development. Another described it as ‘one of the most useful INSET days'. The teachers from Swanwick were described as ‘inspiring...enthusiastic’ and having ‘more credence for staff than academics’. It had been important for one member of staff that it was ‘a session led by teachers actually delivering and using the teaching styles’. A host of teachers testified that the sessions had encouraged them to try out the strategies for themselves. A History teacher reported that she ‘could immediately identify areas within my subject which would fit with the new learning styles’. Another used inductive teaching techniques to introduce a range of projects in Design and Technology. One noted that the ‘materials and ideas on offer were easy to adapt to our own subjects’, and another had vowed tp make her own lessons more interactive. The implications of the day were clear for one member of staff: ‘strategies to empower pupils - this is the right direction for us'. For another, the day provided some insight into IQEA: ‘I began to see a clearer picture of what this initiative was all about’. Following this, INSET planning time was given to departments to develop and trial a teaching and learning style of their choice. Running alongside this a 3-part lesson structure was encouraged and lesson observations were established to monitor the impact of the IQEA strategy.

Patterns of Development

Taken together - the externally delivered events with the school-based development - the sequential process adds up to a powerful change agency geared towards school improvement. The timeline 3 in Figure 7.4 shows how this was experienced at Chilwell School. As we have shown through this and earlier chapters, the IQEA strategy seeks to combine systematic training activities which focus on the key conditions for school improvement with a deliberate attack on an agreed development priority. Of course, many schools do not have any difficulty 3

Produced by Bally Bains, cadre member at Chilwell School.

The School Improvement Cycle

75

---1

0)

• TLF training

• October 2000 Curriculum Tour 2 • TLF group introduce diagrams from memory Teaching and Learning technique • OFSTED Inspection Mr P Orr (November 2000)

• May 1999 Advisory and Inspection Services (AIS) - School Improvement Inspection 1 (Mr B Maydew Link Inspector) • Summer tern - SMT lesson observations and a standardised lesson format introduced • Departmental reviews introduced • Cadre group training and supporting each other in the classroom • IQEA focus and long-term planning shared with all staff on the first day of the academic year • November 1999 - Curriculum Tour 1 • March 2000 Staff INSET - introduction to Synectics, Concept attainment and Assessment • March 2000 Coordinator’s presentation to Governors’ school development committee •June 2000 Middle Managers Training •June/July 2000 Advisory and Inspection Services (AIS) - School Improvement Inspection 2 (Mr B. Maydew Link Inspector) • Chilwell invited to take part in the National Literacy and Numeracy pilot project • September 2000 Advisory and Inspection Services (AIS) - School Improvement Inspection 2 (Mr B. Maydew Link Inspector) report is produced and fed back to the staff

• March 1999 Staff INSET - introduction to Cooperative group work and Inductive teaching models

•January 1999 New School (cadre group) Coordinator - B Bains • February 1999 Coordinator and Headteacher establish a way forward - linking the IQEA project to the school development plan

• Summer 1998 Chilwell joins IQEA initiative (MFL, D&T, SMT (Science), Library, English) - link coordinator Professor Hopkins • Autumn term 1998 school launch of IQEA

Figure 7.4 Timeline of progress

Note: The BOLD items are the events selected by Chilwell School staff for their timeline evaluation. See Chapter 8 for more information on this method.

2000-2001

1999-2000

1998-1999

1997-1998

53

50.7

50.0

39.8

40.6

1996-1997

39.6

20

GCSE A-C grades

41.6

• OFSTED Inspection Mr PS Jones (November 1995)

• Mrs Robson appointed as Headteacher of Chilwell

Key points on the road to school improvement

1995-1996

1994-1995

1988-1990

Year

they can generate their own priorities and make sensible and helpful links between these priorities and the conditions within the schools that need to be developed. Our aim is to help schools make a start on their journey and we have observed that there is a general pattern which might help schools diagnose the conditions which can be most readily addressed. Figure 7.5 illustrates this pattern. On it, we characterise three possible start points for schools. Type 1 schools are those where the internal conditions of management arrangements are relatively weak. In schools like these it is difficult to develop by focusing on classrooms - rather, it is necessary to look at how management arrangements can be put in place which facilitate sustained attention on the school's priorities. In these circumstances, the way the school is being managed and the goals it is pursuing need to be linked, and management practice developed so that it is not inhibiting progress, and can actually promote it. Type 3 schools are at a rather different starting point. In such schools, classroom arrangements can be tackled immediately - indeed, it is classroom practice which needs to be linked to the school's priority as it is unlikely that improvement can be made unless this area is further developed. It is unlikely that the school can be 'managed' to higher levels of achievement. Type 2 schools can link to either set of arrangements.

INTERNAL CONDITIONS

TEACHING AND LEARNING

Type 1

Type 2

Type 3

Figure 7.5 Development focus and school type

Our speculation is that different improvement strategies are needed in schools which exhibit different levels of success. The approach (in the short term) most likely to lead to improvement in schools which are experiencing difficulties will be one which ties action on management arrangements into the identification of development priorities. Similarly, in already successful schools, it is likely to be the further development of classroom practice which needs to be linked into improvement priorities. One last point on 'short term'. We feel that the thinking behind Figure 7.5 offers a reasonable description of how the point of focus may vary across schools at any point in time. However, we also feel that over the The Schoo/ Improvement Cycle

77

longer term schools are unlikely to remain stable, as, say, Type 1 or Type 3 communities. Rather, schools tend to develop (at least move) over a series of cycles, each building on the previous one. Over time, therefore, we anticipate that the Type 1 school which addresses its management arrangements may well be a Type 2 or Type 3 school in the next cycle. In turn, attention to classroom arrangements will lead to new expectations of management and thus a school, in a third of fourth cycle, may return to the Type 1 position again. The process of school improvement is therefore a cyclical one, requiring attention to different arrangements at different times, alongside the pursuit of new and, we hope, increasingly ambitious priorities.

78

Improving the Quality of Education for All

CHAPTERS

Mapping the Process of Change in Schools

From the outset, the IQEA project was conceived of as a research and development project committed both to supporting and understanding the process of change and development in schools. The nature of our research and development work within the IQEA project is inevitably iterative. We engage in research and theory building by reviewing the knowledge base, gathering data, reflecting on outcomes, formulating hypotheses, testing them out, and refining them - all in collaboration with schools in the network. An early result of our commitment to understanding the dynamics of school change led to the realisation that school change efforts that fail to focus on the internal conditions of schools and its management arrangements, as well as on the primary target of curriculum and pedagogic change, are soon marginalised. Consequently, in our current research work we are attempting to trace the patterns of interaction that characterise the 'moving school' (Rosenholtz 1989). By mapping the process of change, particularly in IQEA schools, we feel that we are beginning to shed some light on such issues as how to set about change, the social complexity of the change process and how to work with staff to expand their repertoire of teaching and learning strategies. During this programme of research and development into school improvement, we have also come to recognise that traditional research methods such as interviews, questionnaires and observations are sometimes too cumbersome and time-consuming in disclosing the intricacies of the change process. Moreover many teachers are 'over-researched' by these standard techniques and in consequence are sometimes reluctant to find time for yet another interview or questionnaire. There is room for new, more user-friendly yet penetrating techniques for investigating and measuring the complex processes and relationships involved in school change. We have therefore developed a range of techniques for mapping the process of change in schools. (A comprehensive description, with advice on administration, of the techniques is found in the manual produced as a result of the research Mapping Change in Schools: The Cambridge Manual of Research Techniques Cambridge University 1994). 79

We have also produced guidance and instrumentation to research classroom practice (Beresford 1998, Hopkins 2002). Taken together, these research techniques capture the perspectives of those involved in the change process in schools and classrooms, but do so in a way that is more efficient for the researcher, more interesting for the subject and more penetrating in terms of the quality of data than has been possible in the most commonly used techniques in this field- the interview and the questionnaire. In this chapter we briefly describe the mapping techniques; then provide examples of the use of three of them in IQEA schools; and then show an approach to mapping teaching strategies.

The Mapping Techniques

The six techniques in the series cluster around two key elements in the change process: the individual teacher and the school as an institution (for further detail, see Cambridge University 1994; Ainscow et al. 1995). Despite the proliferation of externally mandated changes, the success of many change initiatives remains attributable to the commitment of individual teachers. Certainly the impact of any change on student outcomes is heavily affected by behaviour in the classroom. At the same time, it is claimed that the school as a whole, especially its climate or ethos, makes an important contribution to development and change. Three of the techniques focus on the individual teacher and tap data at that level. The other three focus on the school as an institution. Data from both levels are essential if the interaction between individual and institution in processes of change is to be better understood. In this sense, the six techniques have a clear conceptual rationale which, it is hoped, will help in the generation of research data leading to the refinement of relevant theory. Technique 1: The timeline of change

The aim of this technique is to record how individuals within a school perceive their experience of a particular change over a period of time. To stimulate individuals in recollecting their involvement within what occurred, a timeline diagram is prepared which includes a small number of key events associated with the change. This is presented to the respondents who are invited to annotate it, noting additional events that seem significant to them. They then comment about the levels of involvement they felt during the period of time represented. These annotated timelines are collated and analysed in preparation for a semi-structured interview with a sample of respondents. Data from these interviews are then collected to provide a composite historical perspective on the change. This provides a good starting point and framework for using the other techniques. Technique 2: The experience of change

The purpose of this technique is to gather information about the feelings of individuals towards a specific change in their school. It involves an 80

Improving the Quality of Education for All

activity during which the respondent is encouraged to explore their feelings about a recent change or major event. The respondent is presented with a set of words printed on individual cards and asked to sort them into a series of piles with respect to their feelings about this change. The words used have been selected as relevant to the process of change and have been consistently rated as positive or negative. In addition, respondents are given the freedom to discard certain words that seem to be irrelevant and to add words of their own. The feelings that are seen as being most significant by a respondent form the basis of a more detailed, in-depth discussion. This allows the individual to give their own account of their choice of words. The technique lends itself to use in conjunction with technique 1, The Timeline of Change.

Technique 3: The initiation of change

This technique taps into teachers' feelings about change and their sense of commitment to and control over it. It differs from the previous two techniques in that it is concerned with change in general rather than a specific change. The technique also maps the contrast between teachers' commitment to, and control over, changes initiated within and outside of the school. Two sets of five quotations from teachers for both internal and external change are presented in a random order, and participants mark the one that most closely accords with their own views. There is also an opportunity for teachers to add a comment of their own. The responses are easy to quantify, and can be rapidly and graphically fed back to groups of staff. The contrast between control and commitment is often vivid, as is the difference between school as opposed to government-initiated change. Feedback can lead to intense debate about teachers' attitudes towards internal as opposed to external change, and about the nature of commitment and control, a relationship which is rarely discussed in schools. Technique 4: The culture of the school

The purpose of this technique is to generate data on teachers' perceptions of the culture of their school, the direction in which the culture is moving, and their ideal culture. The technique is presented in the form of a board game, with four 'players'. A square board, in the form of an 8 X 8 grid with differently coloured comers, is laid on the table. Each player is given a set of four cards, each in a different colour to match the comers on the board. On each card is a description by a teacher of a school culture. Players have a personal copy of the grid and mark a square where their own school's culture is located. From this point an arrow is inserted to indicate the direction in which the school is moving. Another mark is placed where players would like the school culture to be. The four players then share their individual responses. Using the board on the table, they discuss the issues with a view to reaching a group consensus on the three required responses. Mapping the Process of Change in Schools

81

Technique 5: The structures of the school

The purpose of this technique is to generate data on some of the basic social structures underlying school cultures. Five structures are posited: political (the distribution of power, status and resources); micro political (the manoeuvrings of interest groups and alliances); maintenance (routines and procedures to ensure orderliness and continuity); development (new structures to accomplish innovation and change); and service (relationships with clients). These five structures are grouped under two ideal typical school cultures, called 'traditional' and 'collegial'. Participants are presented with two teacher-written multi-dimensional cameos describing each type of structure, one of a strongly traditional and one of a strongly collegial school. Teachers locate their school on a scale between the two and then are given an opportunity to describe or comment in writing on their own situation. Finally, teachers suggest an ideal position for their school. By collating the individual responses, a map of the school's perceived cultures, actual and ideal, is obtained.

Technique 6: The conditions of school

This technique consists of a scale for measuring a school's internal management conditions and potential for innovation. The 24 items are grouped under six headings which represent the key conditions necessary for school improvement. These six conditions comprise the various aspects of a school's development structure. The literature suggests that these conditions are the main determinants of a school's capacity for managing and supporting change. The scale can be used as a diagnostic instrument for identifying weaknesses in the school's development structure, as a means of measuring a school's progress in creating and modifying its development structure over time, and for comparing the 'change capacity' of different schools. The scale is easy to administer and analyse. It is also amenable to further analysis by subgroup. The technique also complements and could cross-validate other techniques in the manual. When used as part of a school improvement strategy it gives staff a more sophisticated language with which to discuss and plan school development.

The Timeline of Change

82

Technique 1: The Timeline of Change provides a means for encouraging individual teachers to articulate and explore their own perceptions and reactions to change within the school. The primary school that provides this example has approximately 400 pupils aged between 4 and 11 and is situated on the eastern edge of London. The timeline was drawn up by the head teacher in conjunction with senior managers of the school who identified key dates. Timelines were then distributed to staff with an invitation to comment upon and add to key dates. Having collected the completed timelines the IQEA researcher then Improving the Quality of Education for All

highlighted 'points of interest' and subsequently interviewed some (nine) staff individually, focusing on those points of interest, seeking clarification and amplification. On occasions the interviews also involved the researcher presenting conflicting views of other staff. Data from the interviews and the timelines were then collated and a feedback report for the school was prepared. Space precludes all but a cursory description of the analysis of the timelines. Suffice it to say that following her appointment the new Headteacher immediately began to overhaul the planning and assessment procedures in the school. This change was followed by a number of others, both internally and externally initiated. An idea of the nature and pace of change in the school can be gauged by looking at the 'Timeline' produced by the Head and modified by staff that was used as the basis of the interviews (Figure 8.1). The use of the timeline in this school had a number of implications for school development, which are briefly considered.

THE TIMELINE OF CHANGE

TIMELINE TABLE_________________ name EVENTS

return to DATES

Sumner Tern '91 Summer Tern '91 Summer Terra 91 Team and AlMUOUl Planning Term'91 Weekly Autumn Planning Term'91 Autumn Term 91 Social Development Spring PtanVernor I Term '92 Spring Term 92 Auenmem Spring Term 92 SAT. Summer Term '92 Social Development Summer Plan Vernon I Term 92 Summer Terra '92

by i DID ANYTHING SEEM StGNlHCAi TO YOU ABOIT THESE EVENTS

THE TIMELINE OF CHANGE

TIM ELINE TA BLE. name

return to

EVENTS

DATES

Special Needs

Autumn Term 92 Autumn Term 92 Autumn Term '92 Spring Term '93 Spring Term 93 Spring Term ’93 Summer Term 93 Summer Term'93 Summer Term'93 Autumn Term ‘93 Autunn Term'93 Autunn Term 93

Refurbishment

Supply for

Development

Dray Classroom

An Focus Uniform

by

DID ANYTHING SEEM SIGN1H TO YOU ABOIT THESE EVENT

THE TIMELINE OF CHANGE

TIM ELINE TABLE. name EVENTS

return to DATES

by DID ANYTHING SEEM SIGNIFICANT TO YOU ABOUT THESE EVENTS

Spring Term '94

Spring

Assessment Planning Reading Focus

Term *94 Spring Tenn'94 Summer T h m ‘94 Stum er T ens’94 Summer Tern 94 Autumn Tenn'94 Amumn Tenn‘94 Autumn Term 94

NOW

Figure 8.1 Timeline of change for an outer London primary school

First it emphasised the fact that the involvement of a school in the process of change generated internal turbulence. Although some staff may be committed to the need for change, and may accept the principles underlying the change, other teachers may well experience a sense of unease and disquiet. In this school the turbulence manifested itself in criticism of Mapping the Process of Change in Schools

83

the detail of the change, in particular the covert adaptation of practices felt to have been put in place by senior management, in complaints about lack of time and resources to implement change, and in staff departures. Second, the timeline highlighted the role of leadership in the school. In primary schools it is often the headteacher and deputy headteacher who form the engine of change. Change under purposeful leadership seems to engender a sense of the school working as a team, which was confirmed by the timeline interview and feedback process. However, timeline feedback also indicated that there were widely held minority views that were compromising this teamwork. Third, the timeline is constructed with considerable input from the school's senior management. It therefore prompts them to view activities or events in the school development process as a quasi-rational sequence. The candid written comments of staff, and often more candid verbal comments during the interview, enable senior management to evaluate and reflect on the effectiveness of the initiatives for change within the school. In this school there was sometimes a lack of clarity about the significance of developments for some teachers and a confusion over the order of events. It also became apparent that there was a time lag between the launch of an initiative and its integration into classroom practice. Different teachers and different units within the school implemented changes at different times. This led senior management to review systems of communication within the school and look at the issue of coordination. Fourth, the timeline process allowed staff to articulate their own needs as well as their perceptions of the needs of the school. This benefited both individual teachers and senior management. The benefits to staff as individuals came not just through the opportunity to express a particular point of view, but in the reassurance many staff felt when what they took to be marginal views turned out to be more widely held. The benefits to senior management came through its increased awareness of individual staff needs which provided useful pointers to possibilities for future development and change. Planning and resourcing were thus better informed and staff development needs more clearly understood from an individual and an institutional standpoint.

The Culture of School

84

The literature on educational change makes frequent reference to the 'culture' of the school as a major determinant of the success or failure of change initiatives. Despite this increasing interest in the role played by 'culture' in school development, little is available to help the particular school to describe and to understand its own cultural context. Technique 4 - 'The Culture of School' - was developed as a response to this gap, and seeks to provide a mechanism through which the individual school can explore the perceptions of teachers (or indeed pupils) about cultural arrangements. The theoretical model underpinning the technique has been set out in detail by David H. Hargreaves (1995). In this example the 'culture of school' technique was conducted with a Improving the Quality of Education for All

staff group from an Upper School (14-19-year-old students): 28 members of staff took part, about two-thirds of the total staff group. Working in seven groups of four, those taking part included representatives of all levels of seniority and experience within the school. The school was relatively new to the IQEA project, and for many this was the first time they had been involved in a substantive activity as part of the project. The purpose of this technique is to generate data on teachers' perceptions of the culture of their school, the direction in which the culture is 'moving', and their 'ideal' culture. The technique was administered in the way that has already been described i.e. presented in the form of a board game, with four 'players'. The participants felt that the exercise had been useful in a number of ways, both in terms of clarifying their own thinking and in providing a vehicle for discussion with colleagues about an aspect of school life which all agreed to be important but many found somewhat intangible. As can be seen in Figure 8.2 five of the seven groups perceived the school as currently operating with the 'Welfarist' quadrant of the grid (i.e. the sixteen squares forming that quarter of the grid). Of the others one fell within the 'Hothouse' quadrant, but was on the 'Welfarist' boundary. One group placed the school squarely in the 'Survivalist' quadrant, and clearly perceived the school culture as very much more fragmented than their colleagues. There was a similar level of overall agreement about the direction in which the school was currently moving. The 'ideal' cultures identified by groups all fell within the 'Hothouse' quadrant. W ELFARIST YELLOW

BLUE SURVIVALIST

HOTHOUSE GREEN

PINK FORMAL

KEY P re s e n t p o s itio n W h e re it is g o in g - in w h ic h d ire c tio n W h e re it w o u ld like to b e id ea lly

Figure 8.2 Culture map of a Cambridgeshire Upper School Mapping the Process of Change in Schools

85

The overall impression created by these data, however, was one of fairly broad agreement. Most staff felt that the school was currently a supportive and caring community. There was also a strong feeling that the school was already moving away from these values into a more pressured period with expectations and demands increasing. However, this analysis also raised a number of issues which senior management felt would need to be addressed if the school was to move forward. The consensus that the school was a 'caring' community was reassuring but raised questions about the levels of demand/expectation teachers placed on pupils. This data was viewed alongside the results of a survey of parental perceptions of the school, which had indicated that the school was seen as 'a friendly and caring (school) which believes social development is as important as academic development.' It was also set alongside an interview programme with staff on the 'Timeline' method (Technique 1). Taken together these instruments indicated a general feeling that the school could shift towards a more achievement-oriented focus. Further discussion suggested that whether such a shift could be managed would depend upon middle managers within the school, as the attitude of the head of department was a major determinant of teacher expectations. This became part of the Development Plan for the school which was designed to develop a climate of higher expectations by: • establishing clearer routines and consistent discipline procedures for pupils; • increasing expectations of pupil behaviour; • building on the already strong sense of community through specific whole school initiatives; • developing a more positive role for middle managers; • focusing on teaching and learning processes. Senior management felt that the exercise had been useful in that it provided a 'snapshot' of staff perceptions which, put alongside other data, helped to highlight the direction in which the school needed to move. It was also felt that it would be helpful to carry out the exercise with a sample of students (a students' version of the technique is available and this was subsequently done) to find out how far their perceptions of the kind of school they were in matched with staff. The school hope to repeat this exercise at the end of the year to see what movement, if any, there has been in staff perceptions as a result of the measures adopted.

Using the Conditions of School Rating Scale 86

The Conditions of School Rating Scale consists of 24 behaviours related to the six management conditions, and requires the school's management, teachers and support staff to comment upon their frequency (see Appendix 5). The purpose of this exercise is to do the following: • provide a broad-brush profile of the school's capacity to improve; Improving the Quality of Education for All

• provide schools with data to inform school-wide debate about their capacity to improve; • provide baseline and interim data through which schools can measure the improvement of their conditions. The data are presented as Likert scores. This involves scoring each 'rarely' response as 1, 'sometimes' as 2, 'often' as 3 and 'nearly always' as 4. This new total is then divided by the number of respondents to each statement. Scores of 1.0-2.0 suggest that behaviours occur comparatively rarely, scores of 2.1-2.9 that they occur occasionally, and scores of over 3 that they occur as a matter of course. The table format provided is intended to enable schools to note at a glance differences in response to individual statements by different categories of employee. Also provided are block graphs showing scores for each individual behaviour for the teachers in each school. A dark block indicates the national norm for teachers' scores. Having administered the conditions scale to over 200 schools over a period of six years, we can make the following generalisations about the data we have collected: • Senior managers have a 'rosier' view of the management conditions in their school than other categories of staff. That is, they feel that behaviours generally occur more often than the teachers and support staff in their schools. This is unsurprising, given that they spend a large part of the school day managing. • Teachers are more critical of the management conditions than support staff, whose views are closer to those of managers. • The 'involvement' condition is consistently the one with the lowest responses. Our hope is that the use of the conditions scale will generate a debate within schools and LEAs about some of the discrepancies, contrasts and issues thrown up in the analysis. An example of how the 'management conditions' can be used is provided by the experience of the Nottinghamshire cohorts of IQEA schools. The LEA coordinator convenes a short meeting, with 'School Improvement Group' leaders, to review the outcomes of the survey in each school. The purpose of the dialogue is to ensure that the use of outcomes have influenced in-school discussions about the aims and priorities for development and the objectives for their implementation, a bold goal and three small steps. Reflections on these dialogues show that often a clarity of purpose still needs to be reached, because bold goals lack boldness and small steps are not small enough to be practical and therefore, effective. Such discussions rarely take longer than 45 minutes. 'Eyeballing' the data, looking for the 'big' messages, using the key indicators below 2.6 make the discussions meaningful. They frequently focus upon a school's need for staff to talk more about pupils' learning and the quality and range of teaching methods being used, the failure to listen sufficiently to the views of pupils and sometimes parents. The need to improve the quality of communications is the underlying issue, which is reflected in the need to Mapping the Process of Change in Schools

87

develop the skills of middle managers. Excitingly, in the IQEA project for Nottinghamshire's Special Schools and Pupil Referral Units (PRUs), ideas about the development of the planned programme, such as advocacy and optimal learning strategies, emerged from discussions of the same management conditions.

Using the Classroom Conditions Rating Scale

The Classroom Conditions Rating Scale also consists of 24 behaviours related to the six classroom conditions, and requires the school's management and teachers to comment upon their frequency (see Appendix 6). Support staff have proved reluctant to respond to a number of the statements in the scale, so administration to them is optional. The purpose of this exercise is to do the following: • provide a broad-brush profile of the school's capacity to improve classroom practice; • to provide schools with data to inform school-wide debate about their capacity to improve classroom practice; • to provide baseline and interim data through which schools can measure the improvement of their classroom conditions. The data are presented as Likert scores. These are calculated in the same way as for the Management Conditions. The survey has been administered in about 50 secondary schools, and we feel we can make the following tentative generalisations: • the scores of management and teachers are close, although teachers generally score each behaviour more highly than management; • schools feel they are 'good at' developing authentic relationships and establishing boundaries and expectations; • they feel they are less good at setting up pedagogic partnerships and collecting class-based data.

Using the Student Conditions Rating Scale

The Student Conditions Rating Scale consists of 24 behaviours related to the six conditions, and requires a sample of the student body to comment upon their frequency (see Appendix 7). The purpose of this exercise is to do the following: • provide a broad-brush profile of the student body's capacity to improve their learning; • provide schools with data to inform school-wide debate about their capacity to improve classroom practice; • provide data so that schools can compare student and staff responses. The survey is scored in the same way as the other two sets of conditions. The survey has been administered to about 8000 students, and we feel we can make the following tentative generalisations:

88

Improving the Quality of Education for All

• students tend to score highly for those behaviours they feel are within their own control, for example, behaviour and attendance; • students at the Year 7 and sixth form extremes of the school student spectrum tend to score more highly for most behaviours than the rest of the school; • there is a 'trough' which starts in Year 8 and ends for girls at the end of Year 10 and for boys at the end of Year 11; • girls in all year-groups are generally happier and more committed to school than boys.

Mapping Teaching Strategies

The fundamental importance in school improvement of teachers developing models of teaching and learning for use in their classrooms has given rise to a need for schools to collect baseline data relating to the range of teaching strategies. Within IQEA we have developed a mapping technique based upon the work of David Kolb, Michael Fielding and John Beresford (for further detail and a handout on this technique, see Appendix 8). The information derived from this technique has provided schools with a snapshot of teaching in their classrooms, some indication of which particular types of teaching models they need to introduce, and comparative data if they choose to use the technique again once these models have been applied across the curriculum. Some background information to the observation instrument used is provided below. Kolb's (1984) Experiential Learning effectively reconceptualises Piaget's work on developmental learning in the light of subsequent neurological research findings. What Piaget regarded as four sequential phases of learning (sensory-motor, representational, concrete operational and formal operational) are re-defined by Kolb into four distinct and authentic learning styles, with no implicit hierarchical structure. These four learning styles are represented as quadrants in a grid where the two dimensions of perceiving and processing information have been juxtaposed (see Figure 8.3). Kolb gives useful descriptors of each learning style, which is summarised in Figure 8.4. He further illuminates the four approaches by applying each to the playing of pool. We have found, in relating Kolb's work to English audiences that the less culture- and gender-specific example of learning how to use a computer has been more apposite. Someone with an accommodative learning style will sit at the keyboard and try out different methods, in a hit-and-miss way, of achieving the same end. They will listen to advice from others, but will trust their own intuition at least as much as the information derived from others. Divergent learners will want to watch others working on a computer, and will want to discuss their experience with them before trying a variety of alternative approaches themselves. Assimilative learners will also want to watch and listen, but will make their own notes and design their own method of working, which they will then test out. Convergent learners will consult the manual, and approach learning how to use the computer in a logical way, on their own.

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LEARNING STYLES

SENSING I FEELING Concrete Experiences

Accommodators

Divergers

WATCHING

DOING Testing implications of concepts in new situations

Con vergers

Observation and Reflections

Assimilators

THINKING

Formation of abstract concepts and generalisations Figure 8.3 Kolb's four learning styles (adapted from Fielding 1994)

A lesson which caters predominantly for accommodative learners, would typically allow children to experiment with various materials with minimum intervention from the teacher. Similarly, a predominantly divergent lesson would require the teacher to facilitate group discussion. Both these types of lesson cater primarily for social learning. In a predominantly assimilative lesson students might listen while the teacher talks on a topic at the front of the class. In a convergent-type lesson students work alone applying acquired skills to practical activities, for example, solving mathematical problems. Both of the latter two lessons generally involve students working alone, and a high degree of didactic teaching. 90

Improving the Quality of Education for All

Conventional intelligence tests Problems with single correct answer Assimilating disparate observations into integrated explanation

Problem-solving Decision-making Practical application of ideas Inductive reasoning Creation of theoretical models

Abstract conceptualisation Active experimentation

Abstract conceptualisation Reflective observation

Assimilative

S>

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Figure 8.4 Characteristics of Kolb's four learning styles (adapted from Kolb 1984: 77-8)

Generation of alternative ideas and implications

Convergent

Imaginative ability Awareness of meaning and values

Logically sound and precise theories Re-examines facts if they don't fit

Adaptation by observation rather than action Viewing concrete situations from many perspectives Hypothetical-deductive reasoning Focus on specific problems

Controlled expression of emotion Preference of technical tasks to interpersonal issues Concern with ideas, abstract concepts Less concerned with people

Intuitive Trial-and-error approach Reliance upon others for information At ease with people Sometimes impatient, pushy Interested in people Imaginative Feeling-oriented

Adaptation to changing, immediate circumstances Scepticism of theory

Opportunity seeking Risk taking Action

Concrete experience Reflective observation

Learner characteristics

Organisation of knowledge

Best learning situations

Divergent

Doing things Carrying out plans, tasks Getting involved in new experiences

Greatest strengths

Concrete experience Active experimentation

Dominant learning orientations

Accommodative

Learning style

P>

91

Most people learn using a mixture of these approaches. However, Kolb's typology recognises the integrity of each learning style as a way of accessing and processing information. He argues that an individual's approach to a learning situation will be strongly oriented to one of these approaches. The research literature suggests that the range of teaching strategies and learning opportunities operational within the school context needs to adapt to each of these learning styles so that students are not excluded from the learning process. Fielding has usefully identified a range of classroom activities and strategies associated with each of the four learning styles (see Fielding 1994). We have produced an observation schedule that can be used to record the incidence of these various activities in a lesson. The schedule has been reproduced elsewhere (Beresford 1998), and appears in Appendix 8. The most striking feature of this list is the unevenness of the numbers of strategies identified with each learning style. There are, for example, only six accommodative strategies identified, compared to 14 convergent ones. While Fielding does not explain this imbalance, the list does reflect the difficulty in articulating a range of strategies associated with each learning style that could be recognised by practising teachers. More important than this, however, is the use to which the list can be put in order to compare directly the strategies used by different teachers across different schools in different Key Stages. The following extract from a report prepared for five inner-city secondary schools (A-E) illustrates the range of the technique. • A variety of teaching strategies was observed in all schools. However, there appears to be some dependence overall upon assimilative and convergent (teacher-directed/didactic) strategies. In other schools where this technique has been employed, the split between social/discovery/ independent learning (accommodative and divergent) and teacherdirected/didactic learning has been in the region of 20/80. The split is wider in each of the five schools. • Schools A, Band C have slightly more active learning (accommodative and convergent) than passive (divergent and assimilative). School E has slightly more passive than active. • Clear goals were expressed in most of the lessons observed in the schools. Teachers also frequently used the lecture mode. Students worked alone at some stage in nearly every lesson. • There were few standard patterns of delivery of specific subjects across the five schools. Design and Technology had a strong active learning element in most of the lessons observed. The few French lessons observed tended to be taught didactically, the few Creative Arts lessons through social learning. Some Science lessons had strong elements of social and passive learning. Maths tended to be taught didactically, yet there was an example in one school of the use of social learning to present the subject. • There was also little pattern across the schools on the delivery of the curriculum to specific year groups. In School A, for example, the highest incidence of social learning was in Year 11, whereas in School B it was in Year 7. 92

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Kolb's work suggests that subjects that rely heavily upon particular methods of dissemination risk not reaching a proportion of students who, for various reasons, do not respond to these methods. Teachers often favour didactic teaching because they feel they are more in control of the pace and content of students' learning, that there is less disruptive, off-task behaviour in such lessons and that they find it easier to assess students' progress in such lessons. All these arguments may have some validity, but there seems to be sufficient good practice across the schools to suggest that such problems are not insuperable. As well as good practice in wholeclass teaching, there was also good practice in lessons where teachers set up independent learning situations. There is plenty of research to prove that students are motivated and engaged by more social forms of learning like group work, and that group work is a powerful learning method. School E's review of student learning preferences confirmed this view. Social learning did not appear to take place as a matter of routine in many of the departments where lessons were observed. By extending the teaching repertoire of staff and the learning repertoire of students, the schools are not only likely to 'reach' more students, but may make learning a more enjoyable experience for staff and students alike.

Strategic Implications

The use of these techniques gave us the opportunity to explore not only their methodological potential and their usefulness as a means of generating theory, but also their value as staff development activities within the school improvement intervention programme. We were particularly interested in the scope the techniques offered for the generation and feedback of data to the project schools. Three forms of feedback seemed particularly useful. First, because the techniques are amenable to rapid analysis and presentation, virtually immediate feedback can be given in some cases. When used with teachers as part of a training day or staff meeting it was possible to give aggregate responses to the whole staff during the same session. This feedback often aroused great interest and animated discussion, and was seen as a valuable source of data to the school cadre group. The second method of feedback used was to talk through the results generated with the senior staff of the school involved. Our approach was to present the data in a sequential and descriptive way, and then on the basis of this to encourage discussion and interpretation of the results from the senior staff. This proved at times to be a delicate process. Occasionally our ethic of confidentiality was challenged, and we were often encouraged to be judgmental rather than descriptive, and to offer our own interpretations. However, our experience is that if the senior staff are prompted to make sense of the messages the data contain, this can provoke some very useful, if sometimes difficult discussion. The third approach to giving feedback involved deliberate use of the data as part of the school improvement process itself, within a school. The

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experience we have had convinces us that the data emerging from the techniques have enormous potential, particularly as collectively it focuses on the school, the classroom process, and also has the capacity to tap into pupil views and experiences. To summarise, when taken together these techniques can provide a map of the process of change in classrooms and schools. They can be used individually to investigate particular aspects of change processes or in combination for a more comprehensive analysis. The techniques can also be used to map changes in the school's conditions over time, and to make comparisons between schools. As such these techniques serve the needs of those who, in a variety of ways, wish to facilitate the process of change and improvement in schools and their classrooms.

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CODA

The Journey of School Improvement

We have often used the metaphor of 'the journey' to describe our work in the project, in an attempt to emphasise the non-prescriptive and extended nature of our collaboration. But this image serves as an important reminder for us too. It characterises the twin ideas of purpose and uncertainty that pervade school improvement efforts; purpose, because our work is underpinned by a set of principles and values that we have articulated in earlier chapters; uncertainty, because the dynamic nature of learning, of schools, of educational processes and environments means that we are all subject to unforeseen and sometimes unforeseeable forces which can blow us off course, causing detours and delays. But though we may lose sight of the signposts, we are guided by the principles, and by the shared understandings we have established with our partner schools. But what does this journey of school improvement look like in practice? Although there are many routes to success, we have noted some patterns and trends that we believe can apply to other schools and other systems, that can help them chart their own way forward. Many of these we have described in the case studies and examples contained in previous chapters, especially Chapter 6. In this conclusion to the book we would like to highlight three more which serve to affirm our earlier comments, and open up new lines of inquiry. The first is to re-affirm that one of the characteristics of successful schools is that teachers talk to each other about teaching. School improvement strategies should therefore help teachers create a discourse about, and language for, teaching. On the basis of the IQEA experience, we suggest that within the context of development work this is best achieved through: • teachers discussing with each other the nature of teaching strategies and their application to classroom practice and schemes of work; • establishing specifications or guidelines for the chosen teaching strategies; • agreeing on standards used to assess student progress as a result of employing a range of teaching methods; 95

• mutual observation and partnership teaching in the classroom. We are aware that the general approach to school improvement described in this book accords with Bruce Joyce's analysis of the characteristics of effective large-scale school improvement initiatives (Joyce et al. 1993: 72), in so far as these initiatives tend to do the following: • focus on specific outcomes which can be related to student learning, rather than succumbing to external pressure to identify non-specific goals such as 'improve exam results'; • draw on theory, research into practice and teachers' own experiences in formulating strategies, so that the rationale for the required changes is established in the minds of those expected to bring them about; • recognise the importance of staff development, since it is unlikely that developments in student learning will occur without developments in teachers' practice; • provide for monitoring the impact of policy on practice early and regularly, rather than rely on 'post-hoc' evaluations. There are three respects in which these characteristics are particularly relevant to the themes of this book. First, they underline the need to ensure that work that is focused on the priority for development (the first two points) integrates with work that is taking place on the school conditions (the second two points). As we have argued, this marriage is a vital component of sustainable improvement efforts. It is in this way, as Judith Warren Little once remarked, that 'teachers teach each other the practice of teaching'. The second point that we would wish to draw out in this concluding section is to highlight the crucial importance of the link between school improvement strategies and the culture of the school. That change is disruptive, even on the evidence of the school's experiences related in this book, is self-evident. This is the phase of 'internal turbulence' referred to earlier. Indeed our own, and many other, research studies have found that without a period of destabilisation, successful, long-lasting change is unlikely to occur (Clarke 2000, Hopkins 2001). However, many of the schools that we have been working with seem to have survived this period of destabilisation by either intuitively or consciously adapting their internal conditions in response to the new situations created by the demands of the agreed change or 'priority'. We suggest that this sequence is intuitive and then conscious because we are finding that teachers often demonstrate an emotional response to change before they begin to construct a deliberate strategic approach. Asking simple questions such as 'What does this change mean to me?' and 'What does this change mean to us as a school community?' are often sufficient to begin to make sense of the demands of change. Throughout our work with schools engaged in the journey of improvement, the expression of a clear moral purpose for education has underpinned the selection of priority, and guided the dialogue of teaching. We encourage project schools to take stock of their internal conditions in relation to their chosen change before they begin developmental work. Then they can begin to build modifications to conditions into the strategies 96

Improving the Quality of Education for All

they are going to use, and be more aware as a result of their reflection of the possibility of new avenues of growth. When this is done, we begin to see changes that develop the culture of the school. For example, classroom observation of teachers by colleagues becomes more common in many schools as a result of improvement efforts. When this happens, the teachers involved usually begin to talk more about teaching, and collaborative work outside of the particular project increases, as management structures are adapted to support the work. When taken together, these changes in attitudes, practices and structures create a more supportive environment within the school for managing change and learning about how to learn. The school's 'change capacity' is thus increased and the groundwork is laid for future change efforts. What might be described as a 'virtuous circle of change' begins to be established. Schools that have been through similar 'change cycles' still experience the impact of internal turbulence the second time around. However, they demonstrate greater tolerance of turbulence because they have a shared priority and purpose, they have learnt to talk about the experience of change and they understand that both balance and imbalance are part of the developmental process. One can describe what is happening here in terms of a sequence of activities and relationships. P stands for the priority the school sets itself, S the chosen strategy for change, the brackets the period of destabilisation, Co those internal conditions that are modified in order to ameliorate the destabilisation, and Cu the resulting change in culture.

P>

S>

{{}} Co> Co>

Cu Cu

In real life, of course, the development process may not be (is not!) as linear as this formula suggests, but this way of describing the process of development resonates with the experiences of many of those with whom we talk and work. And we have found it a useful way of conceptualising what is going on when whole schools develop. It should be remembered, however, that the process of cultural change is not a 'one off' as may be implied by the notation, but evolves and unfolds over time. Often many such sequences have to be gone through before a radically different culture emerges in a school. We consider school culture as something that is constantly emerging through such an iterative process. School is fashioned by our interventions, but in tum the culture and ethos of the school modify and fashion what we do into a new understanding. By paying attention to both the detail and the dynamic of our interventions, we deepen both the impact and the dialogue of improvement. Many of the head teachers we have interviewed and work with seem to recognise the wisdom of such an approach to the management of change. They may well agree with Schein (1985: 2) when he wrote that, 'the only thing of real importance that leaders do is to create and manage culture'. These head teachers realise that the impact of successful change falls on the culture of the school, for it is the culture that sustains the changes in teaching and learning that consequently enhance the achievement of Coda/The Journey of Schoo/ Improvement

97

students. It is not that they necessarily begin the development process by asking 'What cultural changes are required?' and then, 'What priorities, strategies, and changes in conditions can bring this about?' Yet, in our experience, outstanding head teachers do manipulate priorities, strategies and conditions in order to affect school culture, for they know that ultimately this is the only way of maintaining improvements in the quality of educational outcomes and experience for all pupils. The third point that we wish to raise concerns the involvement of pupils in the process of improvement and it represents a rich vein of inquiry and development. We have already reaffirmed the importance that we place on work focused on the priority for development that integrates closely with work on the school conditions. We have also emphasised the central importance of changing school culture so that it focuses on conditions that support learning as both an emotional and an intellectual pursuit. Underpinning these observations is the belief that when we engage in school improvement work we demonstrate agency. We find that the actions of people within school can and will make a difference to what happens there. However, this acknowledgement of the reality of power does not stop at the level of the teacher. Instead, as we are learning, it pervades the entire community of the school. It is therefore essential that attention be given in a real sense to the way that the pupil contributes to the school improvement journey. IQEA schools that take the pupil voice seriously find themselves confronting many of the same challenges that we have shown through the case studies in this book, but they encounter them from new perspectives and, as they listen to what the pupils are saying they can gain significant new insights. As a result, we are able to deepen and widen our understanding of the eight points outlined earlier in this coda. Let us extend the dialogue to include the pupil voice, and pupil choice in the nature and design of their own learning. Let students be increasingly engaged in the evaluation of teaching strategies, let them develop with teachers the guidelines to support teaching strategies, let them support the teacher as a co-researcher into the meaning of learning in their own developmental journeys. A final comment on the metaphor of the journey that we have been using when talking about the progress of development over time. It is a helpful image, implying as it does a dynamic view of development and change. But if change is a journey, then where does it lead? One of the problems that we associate with previous approaches to school improvement is that they have taken a short-term view of change. In many cases this has meant focusing on the implementation of a single issue or a given curriculum development. As we have pointed out, we now live in a 'change-rich' environment, where multiple policy initiatives and innovation overload can easily oppress schools. In order to cope with change of this magnitude and complexity, we need to adopt and nurture a long-term perspective. We need to focus on the management of change in general, we need to initiate and sustain an open and honest dialogue of change with those people who are centrally affected by it within the community of the school. Our focus, then, is on the creation of effective and flexible 98

Improving the Quality of Education for All

structures and on the empowering of individuals; this is school improvement with a moral purpose as it manages the process with integrity rather than dwells on the implementation of specific, but usually minor, changes. This is why we have chosen to journey with our schools rather than to search for 'solutions' to specific and immediate problems. Inevitably, this account of our travels with the moving school is both reflective and unfinished, because these journeys are still incomplete. It is good though, from time to time, to remind ourselves where we started from, and how far we have travelled. This is what we have attempted to do in this book, but we still hope, in company with our project schools, to journey on.

Coda/The Journey of School Improvement

99

APPENDIX 1

Staff Development and Peer Coaching 1

Bruce Joyce and Beverly Showers' work on staff development, in particular their peer coaching strategy has in recent years transformed our thinking on staff development. Joyce and Showers identified a number of key training components which, when used in combination, have much greater power than when used alone. The major components of training are: presentation of theory or description of skill or strategy; modelling or demonstration of skills or models of teaching; practice in simulated and classroom settings; structured and open-ended feedback (provision of information about performance); and • coaching for application (hands-on, in-classroom assistance with the transfer of skills and strategies to the classroom). • • • •

Based on this analysis, Joyce and Showers summarised the 'best knowledge' we have on staff development thus: • the use of the integrated theory-demonstration-practice feedback training programme to ensure skill development; • the use of considerable amounts of practice in simulated conditions to ensure fluid control of the new skills; • the employment of regular on-site coaching to facilitate vertical transfer; and • the preparation of teachers who can provide one another with the needed coaching. This research has significantly influenced staff development in IQEA schools. The range of staff development activities involved in school improvement approaches therefore is likely to include:

' This Appendix is based on the following sources - Joyce and Showers (1995); Joyce et at. (1999), Chapter 9, Hopkins (2001), Chapter 9.

100

• whole staff inservice days on teaching and learning and school improvement planning as well as 'curriculum tours' to share the work done in departments or working groups; • inter-departmental meetings to discuss teaching strategies; • workshops run inside the school on teaching strategies by cadre group members and external support; • partnership teaching and peer coaching; • the design and execution of collaborative enquiry activities, which are, by their nature, knowledge-generating. In addition, cadre group members are involved in: • out-of-school training sessions on capacity building and teaching and learning; • the pursuit of their own knowledge in support of their role - leadership, the management and implementation of change, the design of professional development activities, etc.; • planning meetings in school; • consultancy to school working groups; • observation and in-classroom support; • study visits to other schools within the network. This is a wide range of staff development activity and represents a fairly sophisticated infrastructure for sustained professional development. A key element is the provision of in-classroom support or term 'peer coaching'. It is the facilitation of peer coaching that enables teachers to extend their repertoire of teaching skills and to transfer them from different classroom settings to others. During the implementation of this approach during our IQEA school improvement programme refinements have been made in the use of peer coaching to support student learning. When the refinements noted below are incorporated into a school improvement design, peer coaching can virtually assure 'transfer of training' for everyone: • Peer coaching teams of two or three are much more effective than larger groups. • These groups are ,more effective when the entire staff is engaged in school improvement. • Peer coaching works better when Heads and Deputies participate in training and practice. • The effects are greater when formative study of student learning is embedded in the process.

Appendix 1

101

APPENDIX2

Development Planning

Action Planning

1

In any action plan for student attainment the classroom should be the main focus for improvement. The priorities for development must also be rooted in evidence of pupils' progress and attainment. Targeted action can then concern: • specific improvements in pupil outcomes; • changes in teaching practices; • any modifications needed to school-wide provision and management arrangements to support developments in the classroom. The elements above are also, of course, central to the DtEE Guidance on Raising Attainment Planning. An action plan for student achievement needs therefore to include the following, whatever the format: • specific targets related to pupils' learning, progress and achievement that are clear and unambiguous; • teaching and learning strategy designed to meet the targets; • evidence to be gathered to judge the success in achieving the targets set; • modifications to management arrangements to enable targets to be met; • tasks to be done to achieve the targets set and who is responsible for doing them; • time it will take; • how much it will cost in terms of the budget, staff time, staff development and other resources; • responsibility for monitoring the implementation of the plan; • evaluating its impact over time.

1

102

This Appendix is based on the following sources: Hargreaves and Hopkins (1991), Chapters 8-9; Hopkins and MacGilchrist (1998).

Success Criteria, Progress and Success Checks

Targets should specify the criteria by which success in reaching the target can be judged, both by team members and by others. These success criteria are a form of school-generated performance indicator which do the following: • give clarity about the target: what exactly are you trying to achieve? • point to the standard expected by the team; • provide advance warning of the evidence needed to judge successful implementation; • give an indication of the timescale involved. The success criteria are a means of evaluating the outcomes of the plan, as well as providing benchmarks for development. It is important that they specify the minimum acceptable standard, though the team will usually have aspirations to an outcome much higher than this. At least once a term progress should be formally checked for each task against the success criteria associated with the target. A progress check can be defined as an act of evaluation in the course of implementation. It is a response to the question: How are we doing so far? Many progress checks are intuitive, a 'feel' for whether things are going well or badly. This is a natural part of monitoring one's activities: it becomes more systematic if these intuitive reactions are shared within the team, and evidence is produced to support them. Regular progress checks involve: • giving somebody in the team responsibility for ensuring that the progress checks take place; • reviewing progress at team meetings, especially when taking the next step forward or making decisions about future directions; • deciding what will count as evidence of progress in relation to the success criteria; • finding quick methods of collecting evidence from different sources; • recording the evidence and conclusions for later use. Success checks take place at the end of the developmental work on a target. The team decides how successful the implementation of the target or priority as a whole has been. Checking success need not be complex or time-consuming. It will consist largely in collating, and then drawing a conclusion about, the earlier progress checks. Teachers already, as part of their everyday activities, monitor and evaluate their own actions as well as the behaviour and work of pupils. If teachers did not rely upon their intuitive professional judgement, they would not be able to cope with the complexities of their work. Where teachers are not entirely confident about their intuitive judgement, or the issue is of considerable importance or significance, they make a considered professional judgement, which requires some action to check the intuitive judgement. A considered professional judgement is reached through reflection and further investigation. Using intuitive and considered professional judgements is a routine part of being a teacher. Both are a natural and inherent part not only of evaluating progress for evaluation but more generally as a key feature of the school improvement process.

Appendix 2

103

There are circumstances when teachers need to complement even a refined professional judgement with additional evidence. Such occasions are when others need to be persuaded of the validity of teachers' judgements, or when there are benefits to all if teachers' judgements are backed by independent evidence. Collecting complementary evidence is usually more time-consuming than making professional judgements, so it requires careful thought. This type of evidence is often regarded as more formal approaches to evaluation: • observations (e.g. mutual observation during teacher appraisal); • views and opinions (e.g. short questionnaire to colleagues, students or parents); • written materials (e.g. a 'book look' of students' work); • statistical information (e.g. trends in student attendance rates); • more formal research (e.g. by a colleague on a 'masters' course). To summarise, the formative evaluation of development planning is supported through the identification of success criteria and the use of regular progress and success checks. Although these frameworks are important in underpinning a process of evaluation process, it is the enhancing of the professional judgements of teachers that sustains and adds value to the process.

104

Improving the Quality of Education tor All

APPENDIX 3

IQEA Presentation These are the slides available at an IQEA presentation.

10FA

Appendix 3 ‘Improving the Quality of Education for A ll’ A Presentation at a First IQEA Residential David Hopkins

Proftxtor o j Education V n ivtn tiy o f Nottingham Chair o f the Itic titrr City P artntnhtp Board Governing Council National College fo r School Isa d en h ip

10FA lv tA

What has IQEA Achieved?

• IQEA has established professional learning communities' in virtually all associated schools and in so doing has developed the conditions' to support school improvement. • IQEA has created networks of learning schools' throughout England and Wales and in other countries. • IQEA has according to participating Heads contributed to the sustained rise in GCSE scores in their schools and the learning repertoire of their students • IQEA has provided an alternative national approach to school improvement and has helped focus the debate on school reform on teaching and learning and the conditions that support them. • IQEA has contributed to the development of national (KS3) and international policies (OECD).

IQEA

National Curriculam

OFSTED Enquery

Planning

Stall Development National Literacy Strategy

Involvement Local Management of schools

IQEA

Overview

• What has IQEA Achieved ? • A Framework for School Improvement • Six Steps to School Improvement • The Three Phases of IQEA • IQEA in Practice • The Role of the Cadre Group • Powerful Learning and Teaching • Moral Purpose of Teaching

IQEA The Purpose of IQEA The purpose of the IQEA model of school Improvement is to enhance the learning and achievement of students through developing the school’s capacity to manage continuous improvement, as well as supporting a particular area of teaching and learning. The focus is upon both school level factors (e.g. leadership, planning, professional development) and classroom level factors (teaching, learning and student feedback). These two areas of activity are united through a process of enquiry.

IQEA

powerfUi Schools

• a commitment to staff development and the creation of powerful learning communities • practical efforts to ensure the involvement of staff, students and the community • ‘instructional' leadership approaches • effective co-ordination strategies • attention to the potential benefits of enquiry and reflection • a commitment to collaborative planning

105

IO C A Iv L A

^ 'X StePs to School improvement

top v

IQEA

• The school sets itself a clear and unifying focus for its im provem ent work. • Collect data on performance as a precursor to initiating an im provem ent strategy • A t an early stage identify a school im provement group. • The SIG subsequently receive specific training in the classroom practices m ost crucial to achieving the school's developmental goals. • The whole school emphasis is vital to ensure consistency o f practice and high expectations • The range o f staff development activities nvotved includes: • Workshops run inside the school on teaching strategies by Cadre: W hole staff inservice days and ‘c urriculum tours': Inter departm ental meetings to discuss teaching strategies: Partnership teaching and peer coaching.__________________________

Phase One - Establishing the Process Phase T w o - Going Whole School Phase Three - Sustaining Momentum

K

IQEA

IQEA in Practice A Case Study

IQEA

Powerful Learning and Teaching

IQEA

The Role of the SIG

1QtA

Why Focus on Teaching?

• A Think-tank • A Learning group - Learning from each other - Learning about the school - Learning from the knowledge base - Learning about leading School Improvement • A Planning team - An Action team - to makes things happen - to mobilise others - to undertake enquiry activity • A Reflective group - to interpret and make meaning from data • A group that Shares and Communicates with others • A Change Agent group - to support the whole staff to improve the school • A group that w ill inevitably make policy recommendations or suggestions for structural changes • An im plementation Group • A group that embraces, too. the Professional Development needs of their work for themselves and others

• •

•

•

106

The Phases o f IOEA

The quality of teaching has a direct impact on student achievement and learning. Teaching strategies provide the common denominator' between external policy initiatives, between curriculum areas, and between phases of schooling. The enquiry into teaching and learning and the specifications of ‘models of teaching' provide the focus for developing a discourse about teaching and learning. The enquiry into teaching refocuses the profession on the reasons why they came into teaching in the first place.

Improving the Quality of Education for All

IQf i

IQEA CURRICULUM

Research on Curriculum and Teaching

• There are a number of well-developed models o f teaching and curriculum that generate substantially higher levels ot student learning than does normative practice. • The most effective curricular leaching patterns induce students to construct knowledge - to inquire into subject areas intensively. The result is to ncrease student capacity to learn and work smarter. • Importantly, the most effective models o t teaching are also models of learning that increase the ntellectual capacity o f a ll students. • These models achieve their power through the thorough integration ot instructional strategy w ithn curriculum content TEACHING

IQFi

COGNITION/SKILLS

Powerful Teaching

Three Ways of Thinking AboutTeaching Teaching Skills

Teaching Models

• • • • • •

Reflection

Teaching

Relationship

Models o f Learning - Tools for Teaching 1\L A

Learning Potential o f all Students

I

Repertoire o f Learning Skills Models o f Learning ^ Tools fo r Teaching

I

Embedded in Curriculum Context and Schemes o f Work ,

I

.

,

Whole School Emphasis on High Expectations and Pedagogic Consistency

1

Sharing Schemes o f Work and Curriculum Across and Between Schools. Clusters. LEAs and Nationally

Appendix 3

I0 [:.

Models Of Learning Tools For Teaching

Our toolbox is the models o f teaching, actually models for learning, that sim ultaneously define the nature o f the content, the le arnng strategies, and the arrangements for social interaction that create the learning contexts o f our students. For example, in powerful classrooms students learn models for: Extracting information and ideas from lectures and presentations M em orising inform ation Building hypotheses and theories Attaining concepts and how to invent them Using metaphors to think creatively Working effectively with others to initiate and carry out co-operative tasks

IQEA

THE MORAL PURPOSE OF TEACHING

To love, to serve, to empower and to learn - when these tour aspects of moral purpose are seen as central ends of education, and when they underpin not just what students do but what teachers and parents do as well, then relationships between schools and the world beyond have real moral depth to them. Take these moral purposes away and the edifice ot educational change collapses into faddism and opportunism. (Hargreaves and FuUan 1998)

107

APPENDIX 4

Cooperative Group Work

These are extracts from a workbook prepared by staff at Swanwick Hall School, Derbyshire.

Cooperative Group Work

IQEA

Swanwick Hall

This booklet contains information on: • • • • • • • • • • •

Why use cooperative group work?; Ground rules for group work; Ways of organising groups quickly; Strategies for cooperative group work; Explanation of 'Jigsaw'; 5 principles underpinning cooperative group work.; Explanation of 'STAD'; Explanation of 'Remember This!'; Group investigation; Managing feedback; What next?

Swan wick Hall School Tel: 01773 602106 email: swanwickhallschool@ btintemet.com web: www.swanwickhall.derbyshire.sch.uk

108

Why Use Cooperative Group Work?

Establishing Ground Rules for Effective Cooperative Group Work

When well planned, cooperative group work quickens and deepens learning and develops a wide range of cognitive abilities. In particular: • the model develops higher order thinking skills (e.g. the capacity to form and reform concepts); • it develops the capacity to memorise, hold and recall information; • the model creates a context for learning that supports both able and less able students alike; • the model encourages positive feelings among members, reduces loneliness and alienation, builds relationships and provides affirmative views of other people.

The following are the ground rules suggested to be given to students engaged in cooperative group work:

Group work rules ok! Suggested ground rules for cooperation: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9.

Cooperative Group Work

Appendix 4

It is the work that matters, not who you are working with Don't interrupt anybody Listen to everybody Praise other people in the group Be responsible for what you do and say Respect each other's opinions Be willing to compromise to include others' opinions No unpleasant remarks or bad behaviour Stick to the rules!

How we can organise groups quickly

• Names on desks when students enter the classroom or room-plan stuck up on window. • Place homework on seat before students enter (they sit where they find their homework). • Allow students to choose their own groups or tell them to get into groups with different restrictions (e.g. with anyone or groups of four, but they must consist of two boys and two girls where possible). • Give tables/chairs colours- place a coloured sticker on each students as they enter the room - pupils match colours to seats/tables. • Ask students to get into groups of seven (if there are 28 in the class) and number themselves 1-7. All number ls go together, number 2s, etc. This is good for splitting friendship groups. 109

• Clockwork- pupils rotate in small numbers clockwise and anti-clockwise, one table right or left, or follow a route you choose. • Jigsaws- cut pictures or shapes up (e.g. animals on card). Pupils have to match up the shapes - and this will make up a group. Each shape or card can have the task written on the back, so once pupils have a matching shape, they can get straight on with the task. • Characters and themes - you can group students according to the theme you are teaching (e.g. poems by particular writers, poems with the same theme, members of pop groups, historical characters, countries, sports personalities, tools or materials.) • Pairs - Cut up class lists, shuffle names and hand out randomly or Inventors and inventions First and second names Sum and answer Polygon and shape name Number and name of number Beginning and ends of words Groups of two and three are much easier to manage cooperatively. It is best to only use groups of five or more if you are absolutely clear that you need them to be large for a particular purpose.

Strategies for Cooperative Group Work

Brainstorming

A large group, or even the whole class, will contribute ideas or thoughts or words, off the top of their heads, related to a particular subject or problem. All contributions are listed without comment, and then the students use their lists to select tasks or topics for further work. Smaller groups, even pairs, can gather ideas in this way.

Two to fours

Students work together in pairs on a problem of some sort. They then join together with another pair to explain what they have achieved and to compare this with the work of the other pair. This provides an opportunity to express understanding and to respond to the views of others.

Listening triads

This strategy encourages students, in groups of three, to take on the roles of talker, questioner, or recorder. The talker explains or comments on an issue or activity. The questioner prompts and seeks clarification. The recorder makes notes, and at the end of the (brief) time, gives a report of the conversation. Next time the roles are changed. 110

Improving the Quality of Education for All

Jigsaw

Stages for Jigsaw Groups

1. Teacher sets up the content of the enquiry, i.e. engages the pupils' minds in an enquiry to be 'solved'. 2. Teacher puts pupils into equal-sized groups if possible - called the HOME groups. Teacher gives each group an identical brief with each group member having different jobs/roles. The pupils discuss the enquiry and allocate jobs/roles for a short time (5 minutes?). Each pupil needs to be clear what their job involves. 3. The home groups divide- all pupils now join those who have identical jobs - the EXPERT groups. Pupils have to gather information/form opinions, etc. The information is usually provided by the teacher or texts. This could take some time, according to the tasks set. 4. Pupils reassemble in the HOME groups and, armed with different information, collate their ideas to do the following: • solve the enquiry; • debate the issue. 5. Overall feedback to the whole class may not be necessary. If it is, many forms of feedback can be used e.g.: • go round the groups asking people with different roles to report back in each group (i.e. the groups have no choice about who is their reporter); • 'quick' posters displayed around the room and the class go round to compare; • whole class discussion in a circle; • individual writing up about the whole group topic, etc.

Rainbow groups

Another way of ensuring that students work alongside a range of others is to give each student in a group a number or a colour. When the original group has finished its work, all the students of the same number or colour form new goups to compare what they have achieved. STAD

('Student Teams Achievement Divisions') See description on pages 112-13. There are a number of principles which underpin cooperative group work: • Positive interdependence - the group depends on all its members to get its task done. All have a role to fulfil and a task to achieve. • Individual accountability - all members have a responsibility to work for, and with, the group and have to account for what they do. • Face-to-face interaction - students must discuss with others in the group in order to promote progress.

Appendix4

111

• Social skills - human interaction skills that enable groups to function effectively (e.g.: taking turns, encouraging, listening, giving help, clarifying, checking, understanding). Such skills enhance communication, trust, leadership, decision-making and conflict management. • Reflection -when group members are encouraged to think about what they have done and understand the process of their learning.

The STAD approach to cooperative group work

Stage 1 Pre-test This was done in the last 10 minutes of the lesson before the project started. A quick brainstorming session took place and then the pre-test questions were read out to the class. Some of the questions were openended to give students the opportunity to demonstrate more in-depth knowledge. They need to answer on a single sheet of paper as you need to shuffle the pieces of paper around later! A homework task was set involving researching a small area of the topic so that this could be the focus for discussion at the beginning of next lesson.

Stage 2 Teacher presentation (1 lesson) The students are given a brief overview of what they are going to study in this topic and how they will be approaching the work in teams. I found the team spirit was a big motivating factor for them and stressed several times the need to work together to gain the biggest improvement. The teacher presentation was done through pictures and audio examples and pupils had to record relevant information. Much of it was done through ‘question and answer’ work, building on their existing knowledge.

Stage 3 Team study (1 lesson) Prior to this lesson the students need to have been sorted into their mixed ability groups. After marking the pre-test I sorted their sheets into ranked order wifh the highest score on top. The scores are then transferred onto the chart (see separate sheet). Once the groups are compiled you can then work out their average score, which is their team score. It is import­ ant that they know this team score and record it somewhere. I decided not to tell them their individual score at this stage to avoid creating a hierar­ chy within the team. The teams are then posted on the classroom door so that pupils know where to sit when they come in. Each of the teams was given a particular area of the topic to study and reminded of the principle of working together to improve their team score at the end. Various materials were provided for them to look at and ques­ tions were given to help them organise their thoughts. 112

Improving the Quality of Education for All

Fifteen minutes from the end of the lesson the teams were asked to prepare a short talk to give to the rest of the class about the particular area they had studied.

Stage 4 Pupil presentation (with post-test 1 lesson) Pupils begin the lesson by sitting in their team groups again. They have a few minutes to organise themselves and recap on what they are going to present to the rest of the class. I gave them a guideline of a minimum of facts about their particular area. Team members then give themselves a different number between 1 and 4 to determine who is going to do the talking. The teacher then rolls a dice to select the speaker. The rest of the groups are reminded that they need to listen carefully to the presentations as they will be completing the post-test at the end of the lesson where they need to improve their team score. Bonus points are available for clear and concise presentations.

Stage 5 Post-test This can be done in the last 10 minutes of the lesson. Questions to be read out verbally, with students encouraged to include as much informa­ tion as they can.

Stage 6 Team recognition Once the post-test has been marked, team averages can be calculated. Awards were given to the most improved group and individual (in most cases the individual doesn’t come from the best groupl).

Appendix 4

113

Split class into groups of 4 (each pupil numbered 1-4)

Remember This! Deduction from picture

Each group has 3 sheets of plain paper+pencil+rubber.

Teacher has diagram/picture/map which the pupils are to learn (you may need 2 copies).

All pupils - number 1s -come to the front to the teacher where they see the picture for 10 seconds. Run back to groups and start to draw what they have seen. (1 minute)

The same procedure is followed for number 2 pupils. After each pair, the teacher builds in time in which groups are forced to consider the priorities for the next member of the group to look out for.

Allow 8 runs. Then allow some time for groups to improve their pictures.

Teacher puts the original picture on display (perhaps on OHP). Pupils can self-assess their pictures in comparison.

IQEA Swanwick Hall

114

Improving the Quality of Education for All

Group Investigation

This is the loosest form of cooperative group activity. In summary it has the following phases: Phase 1 Phase 2 Phase 3

Phase 4 Phase 5 Phase 6

The students begin by being confronted with a problem or puzzling situation. (This can be presented verbally, be an actual experience, be presented by the teacher, etc.). The students explore their reactions to this problem (what stances they take, what are their feelings, what they perceive, etc.). The students (with some teacher direction) define what the problem involves and organise themselves for study (they define the problem, start to consider possible assignments, etc.). Independent and group study. The students analyse their progress and their results. They look back and evaluate the process they have been through. They assess their results in the light of their original purposes. The phases are repeated either because there is further confrontation over the original problem or a new problem has arisen out of the findings, etc.

For this activity, puzzlement must be genuine. The teacher's role is a supportive one (helping students formulate a plan, helping with management of groups, helping students organise themselves to get information, etc.). The teacher has to respond to the students' needs in this method and it therefore requires a lot of flexibility. The school needs to provide adequate resources (easy access for information gathering, possibility of using the community, etc.) if this method is to work well.

Useful reading on cooperative group work: Creating the Conditions for Teaching and Learning David Hopkins and Alma Harris with Colette Singleton and Ruth Watts (David Fulton Publishers ISBN 1-85346-689-1)

Managing Feedback

Stage voice is useful in all feedback. Numbered heads

• This technique tries to ensure that everyone in the group is responsible, has to take a full part and may be called upon to report back to the whole class. Appendix 4

115

• 3 is the most useful number in a group. (It is suggested that with 4+, some group members will be able to opt out.) • All group members are recorders. Any member may be asked to report back. • Each member is given a number (ls, 2s, 3s). As the activity develops any number in the group could be asked to report back (often on what the other two group members have suggested). In this way all students should get a fair share of the 'air time'. In addition the fact that any number, 2 (for example), can be asked to respond should help to prevent some students 'sleeping' whilst others are talking. 'Numbered heads' can be used for a wide variety of units requiring cooperative work (inductive work for example).

Envoys

The envoy technique has a member or members of a group moving to another group to share/receive products of group work without the need for a formal presentation. Envoys can collect information from the groups they visit in order to take this back to their original groups.

Gallery

Flipcharts, wall displays, posters displayed with blu-tack round the room. Students browse and record information in individual workbooks, etc. Presentations

Assigned roles can help to make these more effective. Also some equipment like OHTs/'Powerpoint', etc. can make presentations more successful.

116

Improving the Quality of Education for All

1. Within departments/subject areas/key stage groups, etc. fill in the form below. Afterwards discuss the implications of the findings.

What Next?

Existing practice of using cooperative activities Strategy

Often

Sometimes

Rarely

Regularly re-organise groups Brainstorming Twos to fours Rainbow groups Envoys Listening triads Jigsaw STAD Group investigation Remember this! Numbered heads Others

2. Consider a recent lesson where cooperative group work was included. Estimate its effectiveness against the five principles underpinning cooperative group work (i.e. positive interdependence; individual accountability; face-to-face interaction; social development; reflection). In the light of your analysis, what changes could be made to the lesson to develop the cooperative activity? 3. Consider where group work might be effectively implemented in your schemes of work. Identify a unit(s) of work that would benefit from the introduction of appropriate cooperative strategies. Appendix4

117

APPENDIX5

The Conditions of School Survey

Using the Conditions of School Rating Scale1

The purpose of the rating scale

The Conditions of School Rating Scale consists of 24 behaviours related to the six conditions, and requires the school's management, teachers and support staff to comment upon their frequency. The purpose of this exercise is to do the following: • provide a broad-brush profile of the school's capacity to improve; • provide schools with data to inform school-wide debate about their capacity to improve; • provide baseline and interim data through which schools can measure the improvement of their conditions.

The administration of the scale

The scale is simple to administer. It asks staff to tick boxes attached to each statement according to whether they perceive that the particular behaviour occurs 'rarely', 'sometimes', 'often' or 'nearly always'. Whoever is administering the scale should stress that staff indicate whether they are managers, teachers or support staff. Responses are intended to be anonymous. This causes no problems where large numbers of staff are involved, but where there are small numbers, for example, in Infants' schools, the administration needs to be handled with sensitivity. The scale is best administered when the various groups are meeting, for example, at a whole staff meeting. The scale takes a maximum of 20 minutes to complete: the advantage of administering it when staff are together is that the return of all the scripts is guaranteed, and whoever is administering the scale does not waste valuable time in 'chasing up' recalcitrant staff members. If it is not possible to use a meeting in this way, then a clear deadline and specific 'posting place' should be specified. 1

118

This Appendix is based on the following sources: Cambridge University (1994); Ainscow et al. (2000).

IQEA has built up a national database of school responses. There are also IQEA surveys relating to the classroom conditions for school improvement, and to students' views of conditions for learning in their schools.

Appendix 5

119

THE MANAGEMENT CONDITIONS OF SCHOOL

RATING SCALE Attached is a series of 24 statements about your school. We would like to know how far these statements match your own perception of the school, in other words, your personal view of it. There are no 'right' answers, we are seeking your opinion. Please indicate in the boxes provided which statements reflect your personal view.

School

Please indicate your present post:

Support Staff Teacher Management Team

120

Improving the Quality of Education for All

I ENQUIRY/REFLECTION

1.1

In this school we talk about the quality of our teaching. RARELY

1.2

PLANNING

I

SOMETIMES

l

OFTEN

I

OFTEN

I NEARLY ALWAYS

I

SOMETIMES

I NEARLY ALWAYS

I

SOMETIMES

I

OFTEN

I NEARLY ALWAYS

I

SOMETIMES

I

OFTEN

I NEARLY ALWAYS

l

SOMETIMES

l

OFTEN

I NEARLY ALWAYS

l

SOMETIMES

l

OFTEN

INEARLY ALWAYS

II

I

SOMETIMES

l

OFTEN

I NEARLY ALWAYS

I

SOMETIMES

l

OFTEN

I NEARLY ALWAYS

Governors and staff work together to decide future directions for the school. RARELY

I

SOMETIMES

I

OFTEN

INEARLY ALWAYS

We make effective use of outside support agencies (e.g. advisers and lecturers) in our development work. RARELY

Appendix 5

I NEARLY ALWAYS

This school takes parents' views into consideration when changes are made to the curriculum. RARELY

3.4

OFTEN

In this school we ask students for their views before we make major changes. RARELY

3.3

I

In the school we review and modify our plans.

INVOLVEMENT

3.2

SOMETIMES

Everyone is fully aware of the school's development priorities.

RARELY

3.1

I

In our school the process of planning is regarded as being more important than the written plan.

RARELY

2.4

I NEARLY ALWAYS

Our long-term aims are reflected in the school's plans.

RARELY

2.3

OFTEN

II

RARELY

2.2

I

The school takes care over issues of confidentiality. RARELY

2.1

SOMETIMES

Teachers make time to review their classroom practice. RARELY

1.4

I

As a school we review the progress of changes we introduce. RARELY

1.3

II

I

SOMETIMES

I

OFTEN

I NEARLY ALWAYS 121

I STAFF DEVELOPMENT 4.1

Professional learning is valued in this school. RARELY

4.2

I I I

COORDINATION

I LEADERSHIP

I NEARLY ALWAYS

SOMETIMES

OFTEN

I

I NEARLY ALWAYS

II

I

SOMETIMES

OFTEN

l

I

OFTEN

I NEARLY ALWAYS

I

OFTEN

I

NEARLY ALWAYS

I

SOMETIMES

I

SOMETIMES

I NEARLY ALWAYS

I

SOMETIMES

I

OFTEN

I NEARLY ALWAYS

I

I

SOMETIMES

I

OFTEN

I NEARLY ALWAYS

I

SOMETIMES

I

OFTEN

I NEARLY ALWAYS

I

SOMETIMES

I

OFTEN

I NEARLY ALWAYS

Staff are given opportunities to take on leadership roles. RARELY

122

OFTEN

I

Senior management take a lead over development priorities. RARELY

6.4

SOMETIMES

Senior staff delegate difficult and challenging tasks. RARELY

6.3

I NEARLY ALWAYS

Staff in the school have a clear vision of where we are going. RARELY

6.2

OFTEN

I

We share experiences about the improvement of classroom practice. RARELY

6.1

SOMETIMES

Staff are kept informed about key decisions. RARELY

5.4

NEARLY ALWAYS

We get tasks done by working in teams. RARELY

5.3

I

Staff taking on coordinating roles are skilful in working with colleagues. RARELY

5.2

OFTEN

I

The school's organisation provides time for staff development. RARELY

5.1

SOMETIMES

In this school the focus of staff development is on the classroom. RARELY

4.4

I

In devising school policies emphasis is placed on professional development. RARELY

4.3

I

I

SOMETIMES

I

OFTEN

l

NEARLY ALWAYS

Improving the Quality of Education tor All

APPENDIX6

Classroom Conditions

RATING SCALE Attached is a series of 24 statements about your classroom. We would like to know how far these statements match your own perception of the classroom, in other words, your personal view of it. There are no 'right' answers, we are seeking your opinion. Please indicate in the boxes provided which statements reflect your personal view. School Please indicate your present post: Teacher Management Team

123

AUTHENTIC RELATIONSHIPS 1.1

Teachers demonstrate positive regard for all pupils. RARELY

1.2

SOMETIMES

I

SOMETIMES

I

SOMETIMES

I

SOMETIMES

I BOUNDARIES AND EXPECTATIONS I

I

I

I

I

PLANNING FOR TEACHING

l

OFTEN

SOMETIMES

I

OFTEN

SOMETIMES

I

OFTEN

SOMETIMES

I

OFTEN

SOMETIMES

I

OFTEN

I

NEARLY ALWAYS

l

NEARLY ALWAYS

I

NEARLY ALWAYS

I

NEARLY ALWAYS

j

NEARLY ALWAYS

I

I

NEARLY ALWAYS

II SOMETIMES

l

OFTEN

I

SOMETIMES

l

OFTEN

I

SOMETIMES

l

OFTEN

l

OFTEN

Teachers use homework to reinforce and extend learning. RARELY

124

NEARLY ALWAYS

1

NEARLY ALWAYS

1

NEARLY ALWAYS

Teachers employ strategies that enable pupils to find meaning in lesson activities. RARELY

3.4

OFTEN

1

Teachers adjust classroom arrangements in response to pupil feedback during lessons. RARELY

3.3

I

Teachers build variety into lesson plans. RARELY

3.2

OFTEN

Teachers show consistency, without inflexibility, in responding to pupils and events. RARELY

3.1

l

Teachers use active management strategies to create and maintain an appropriate classroom environment. RARELY

2.4

NEARLY ALWAYS

Teachers promote a system of rewards and sanctions that emphasises expectations and promotes pupil self-esteem and self-discipline. RARELY

2.3

1

Teachers establish clear boundaries to, and expectations of, pupil behaviour. RARELY

2.2

OFTEN

Teachers make their classrooms places where pupils can safely experiment with behaviours involving choice, risk taking and personal responsibility. RARELY

2.1

I

Teachers understand and show that communication with pupils involves listening as much as speaking. RARELY

1.4

I

Teachers conduct their relationships in the classroom in ways that demonstrate consistency and fairness and build trust. RARELY

1.3

II

I

SOMETIMES

l l

NEARLY ALWAYS

NEARLY ALWAYS

Improving the Quality of Education for All

TEACHING REPERTOIRE 4.1

Teachers demonstrate a range of classroom management skills in their lessons. RARELY

4.2

SOMETIMES

I

OFTEN

I

NEARLY ALWAYS

I

SOMETIMES

I

OFTEN

I

NEARLY ALWAYS

Teachers trial and refine new teaching models as part of their own professional development. RARELY

4.4

I

Teachers employ various teaching strategies or models within their lessons. RARELY

4.3

II

I

SOMETIMES

OFTEN

I

NEARLY ALWAYS

I

OFTEN

I

NEARLY ALWAYS

I

OFTEN

I

Teachers reflect on their classroom practice. RARELY

I

SOMETIMES

I

SOMETIMES

II I PEDAGOGIC PARTNERSHIPS 5.1 Teachers discuss with each other the nature of teaching strategies and their application to classroom practice and schemes of work. RARELY

5.2

I

SOMETIMES

I

OFTEN

I

NEARLY ALWAYS

Teachers agree on standards used to assess student progress as a result of employing a range of teaching methods. RARELY

5.4

NEARLY ALWAYS

Teachers establish specifications or guidelines for new teaching strategies. RARELY

5.3

I

I

SOMETIMES

I

OFTEN

I

NEARLY ALWAYS

Teachers engage in mutual observation and partnership teaching during lessons. RARELY

I

SOMETIMES

I

OFTEN

I NEARLY ALWAYS

II I REFLECTION ON TEACHING 6.1 Teachers use systematically collected classroom-based data in their decisionmaking. RARELY

6.2

OFTEN

I

NEARLY ALWAYS

I

SOMETIMES

I

OFTEN

l

NEARLY ALWAYS

I

SOMETIMES

I

OFTEN

I

NEARLY ALWAYS

Teachers establish clear ground rules for the collection, control and use of school-based data. RARELY

Appendix 6

I

Teachers are widely involved in the process of data collection. RARELY

6.4

SOMETIMES

Teachers employ effective strategies for reviewing progress and the impact of classroom innovation on pupil progress. RARELY

6.3

I

I

SOMETIMES

I

OFTEN

I

NEARLY ALWAYS

125

APPENDIX 7

Student Conditions

RATING SCALE Attached is a series of 24 statements about your school. We would like to know how far these statements match your own perception of the school, in other words, your personal view of it. There are no 'right' answers, we are seeking your opinion. Please indicate in the boxes provided which statements reflect your personal view.

Do not put your name. BOY I GIRL (circle correct gender). I AM IN YEAR _ _

SCHOOL:

126

SELF-ASSESSMENT

1.1

At some time during the day I think about what I've learnt. RARELY

1.2

I I I

INDEPENDENT LEARNING

II AFFINITY TO TEACHERS

I

OFTEN

I NEARLY ALWAYS

SOMETIMES

I

OFTEN

I NEARLY ALWAYS

II

I

SOMETIMES

I

OFTEN

I NEARLY ALWAYS

I

SOMETIMES

I

OFTEN

I NEARLY ALWAYS

I

SOMETIMES

I

OFTEN

I NEARLY ALWAYS

I

SOMETIMES

I

OFTEN

I NEARLY ALWAYS

OFTEN

I NEARLY ALWAYS

II

I

SOMETIMES

I

I

SOMETIMES

I

OFTEN

I NEARLY ALWAYS

I

SOMETIMES

I

OFTEN

I NEARLY ALWAYS

We discuss with teachers what work we should do. RARELY

Appendix 7

SOMETIMES

Teachers in this school are helpful. RARELY

3.4

I NEARLY ALWAYS

Teachers in this school make us want to work. RARELY

3.3

OFTEN

I get on well with teachers in this school. RARELY

3.2

I

I use books at home or in libraries to do research. RARELY

3.1

SOMETIMES

We do group work in lessons. RARELY

2.4

I NEARLY ALWAYS

We do problem-solving in lessons. RARELY

2.3

OFTEN

I can find the classroom books and equipment I need for lessons. RARELY

2.2

I

I ask teachers how I can improve my work. RARELY

2.1

SOMETIMES

I take care about what I write in any report to my parents. RARELY

1.4

I

I know how well I'm doing in school. RARELY

1.3

II

I

SOMETIMES

I

OFTEN

I NEARLY ALWAYS

127

LEARNING REPERTOIRE

4.1

Lessons in this school are varied, and don't follow a pattern. RARELY

4.2

SOMETIMES

I

SOMETIMES

I

SOMETIMES

I SOMETIMES ORIENTATION TO LEARNING II 5.1

I

SOMETIMES

I

SOMETIMES

I

SOMETIMES

I SOMETIMES ADJUSTMENT TO SCHOOL II

OFTEN

I NEARLY ALWAYS

I

OFTEN

I NEARLY ALWAYS

I

OFTEN

I NEARLY ALWAYS

OFTEN

I NEARLY ALWAYS

OFTEN

I NEARLY ALWAYS

OFTEN

I NEARLY ALWAYS

I I

I

SOMETIMES

I

I

SOMETIMES

OFTEN

I NEARLY ALWAYS

I

OFTEN

I NEARLY ALWAYS

I

OFTEN

I NEARLY ALWAYS

I

I

SOMETIMES

My behaviour in school is good. RARELY

128

I

My weekly attendance at school is good. RARELY

6.4

I NEARLY ALWAYS

I can see the sense of having school rules. RARELY

6.3

OFTEN

Teachers in this school are firm but fair. RARELY

6.2

I

Hard work is rewarded in this school. RARELY

6.1

I NEARLY ALWAYS

I put lots of effort into my homework. RARELY

5.4

OFTEN

I work hard in school. RARELY

5.3

I

I look forward to lessons. RARELY

5.2

I NEARLY ALWAYS

We are taught new ways of working, for example how to work well in groups. RARELY

II

OFTEN

I

Lessons in this school are interesting. RARELY

4.4

I

I cope with the different teaching styles that teachers use. RARELY

4.3

II

I

SOMETIMES

Improving the Quality of Education for All

APPENDIX 8

Gathering Data on Teaching and Learning 1

The IQEA School Improvement Project, based at the School of Education at the University of Nottingham, has considerable experience of mapping teaching and learning styles across a range of secondary schools, using an observation schedule based upon the work of Kolb. Choosing one particular model on which to base the mapping process has its own particular advantages: There is no one theory or model which fully describes learning differences or offers a panacea for teachers. Working with one of the models can help teachers to recognise powerfully the extent of the differences in the way that people learn and the fact that there is no single best way to teach. They can provide teachers with a powerful tool to help them examine and develop their practice. (Scottish Consultative Council on the Curriculum (1996) Teaching for Effective Learning, Dundee: Scottish CCC) Within IQEA, we have identified a range of classroom activities and strategies associated with each of the four learning styles, and produced an observation schedule which could be used to record the incidence of these various activities in a lesson. A copy of the schedule is reproduced here on p. 131. The list can be used to compare directly the strategies used by different teachers of different subjects across different schools in different Key Stages. Each activity is coded according to the learning style for which it caters. As each activity occurs in the lesson, its incidence is noted. At the end of the period of observation the different number of strategies and learning activities employed by the teacher is totted up and recorded, in the boxes provided, against the appropriate learning style. Hence the lesson can be said to have a particular profile corresponding to the combination of numbers in the boxes. These can be converted into percentages of the total ' This is a condensed version of a 1999 article by John Beresford, 'Matching Teaching to Learning', which appeared in The Curriculum Journal.

129

number of strategies and activities used. The process can be repeated for lessons in the various subjects taught in a school, and a profile can be calculated for these subject areas and, indeed, for the whole curriculum. A questionnaire is also issued to students in the school which relates to each of the teaching strategies listed in the observation schedule (see p. 132). Students are asked whether they like, dislike or don't mind the particular strategy. The results can then be compared with the results from the classroom observations. In most of the schools where we have used this technique the amount of convergent and assimilative (didactic) teaching outweighs accommodative and divergent (social) learning by 4 to 1. Students generally state a preference for more social learning, with a proportion nearer 3:2. Schools have responded by creating more opportunities for social learning across the curriculum, for example, by a greater use of cooperative group work, and by introducing models of learning which address all four of Kolb's identified learning styles, for example, inductive teaching.

130

Improving the Quality of Education for All

Observation schedule of teaching strategies, based on Kolb's four learning styles Date:

Lesson:

Teaching Strategies Accuracy stressed Accurate recall Action Planning Brainstorming Case study Choice of activities Classwork Clear goals expressed Comprehension Data collection Demonstrations Discussion Group interaction Group work organised Gut feelings asked for Hand-outs Investigations Lecture Mistakes allowed Note-taking Open-ended questions asked Paired work Planning of work by pupils Practising skills Problem-solving Reflection on experience Relevance of work explained Reporting back methods varied Role play Scientific experiments Simulations used Specialisms tapped Testing Thoroughness stressed Variety of approaches Video Working alone Worksheets Ac

D

c

As

Appendix 8

c

Incidence

As As D As

c

As

c c

As As D D Ac Ac As D As Ac

c

D D

c c c

D

c

Ac D

c

Ac As

c c

Ac As C,As

c

131

Student questionnaire Please tick which box best fits your feelings about the use of these activities. Description of activity

Don't Don't Like like mind

One where accuracy is important One where I'm asked to recall information accurately One where the teacher involves me and the class in the planning of our work One where we are asked to brainstorm ideas and facts One where we look at case studies and other real-life examples One where we are given a choice of activities to learn the same thing One where we are taught as a class, and all do the same work One where the teacher makes the goals of the lesson clear One where we have to interpret information given to us One where we have to collect information and data ourselves One where the teacher demonstrates something One where we have a group or class discussion One where we can work things out in groups One where the teacher organises groupwork One where the teacher asks us for our feelings about something One where the teacher gives us information on printed sheets One where we have to undertake investigations One where the teacher gives us information through teaching in front of the class One where I'm allowed to make mistakes One where I take notes One where lots of different answers are possible One where I work in pairs One where I plan my own work One where we practise skills One where we have to solve a problem One where I'm asked to think about my experiences One where the reason I'm doing something is clear to me One where we can report back our findings in different ways One where we have role play One where we do experiments One where we have to deal with simulated, real-life situations One where I can use my particular skills One where we are being tested One where I have to be thorough and careful in my work One where the teacher uses different teaching methods One where we have a video One where I work alone One where worksheets are given out I am in Year ...

I am male I female (ring correct one) Thank you for taking time to fill in this questionnaire.

132

Improving the Quality of Education for All

References

Ainscow, M., Beresford, J., Harris, A., Hopkins, D., Southworth, G. and West, M. (2000) Creating the Conditions for School Improvement. Second edition. London: David Fulton Publishers. Ainscow, M., Hargreaves, D. H. and Hopkins, D. (1995) 'Mapping the process of change in schools', Evaluation and Research in Education, 9(2), 75-90. Ainscow, M. and Tweddle, D. (1988) Encouraging Classroom Success. London: David Fulton Publishers. Armstrong, M. (1980) Closely Observed Children. London: Writers and Readers. Beresford, J. (1998) Collecting Information for School Improvement. London: David Fulton Publishers. Beresford, J. (1999) 'Matching teaching to learning', Curriculum Journal, 10(3), 321-44. Brandes, D. and Ginnis, P. (1990) The Student-centred School: Ideas for Practical Visionaries. Oxford: Blackwell. Brophy, J. and Good, T. (1986) 'Teacher behaviour and student achievement', in Wittrock, M. (ed.) Handbook of Research on Teaching. Third edition. New York: Macmillan. Cambridge University (1994) Mapping Change in Schools: The Cambridge Manual of Research Techniques. Cambridge: University of Cambridge Institute of Education. Clarke, P. (2000) Learning Schools, Learning Systems. London: Continuum International Publishing Group. Creemers, B. (1994) The Effective Classroom. London: Cassell. Doyle, W. (1987) 'Research on teaching effects as a resource for improving instruction', in Wideen, M. and Andrews, I. (eds) Staff Development for School Improvement. Lewes: Palmer Press. Fielding, M. (1994) 'Valuing difference in teachers and learners: building on Kolb's learning styles to develop a language of teaching and learning', Curriculum Journal, 5(3), 393-417. 133

Pullan, M. (1985) 'Change processes and strategies at the local level', The Elementary School Journal, 85(3), 391--421. Pullan, M. (2001) The New Meaning of Educational Change. London: Cassell. Good, T. and Brophy, J. (1987) Looking in Classrooms. New York: Harper and Row. Gray, J. and Wilcox, B. (1995) Good School, Bad School: Evaluating Peiformance and Encouraging Improvement. Milton Keynes: Open University Press. Hargreaves, D. H. (1982) The Challenge for the Comprehensive School. London: Routledge. Hargreaves, D. H. (1995) 'School culture, school effectiveness and school improvement', School Effectiveness and School Improvement, 6(1), 23--46. Hargreaves, D. H. and Hopkins, D. (1991) The Empowered School. London: Cassell. Hopkins, D. (2001) School Improvement for Real. London: Routledge Palmer. Hopkins, D. (2002) A Teacher's Guide to Classroom Research. Third edition. Buckingham: Open University Press. Hopkins, D., Ainscow, M. and West, M. (1994) School Improvement in an Era of Change. London: Cassell. Hopkins, D. and Harris, A. (2000) Creating the Conditions for Teaching and Learning. London: David Fulton Publishers. Hopkins, D. and MacGilchrist, B. (1998) 'Development planning for pupil achievement', School Leadership and Management, 18(3), 409-24. Hopkins, D. and Stem, D. (1996) 'Quality teachers, quality schools', Teaching and Teacher Education, 12(5), 501-17. Hopkins, D. and West, M. (1994) 'Teacher development and school improvement', in Walling, D. (ed.) Teachers as Learners. Bloomington, IND: PDK. Hopkins, D., West, M., Ainscow, M., Harris, A. and Beresford, J. (1997) Creating the Classroom Conditions for School Improvement. London: David Fulton Publishers. Hopkins, D., West, M. and Beresford, J. (1998) 'Creating the conditions for classroom and teacher development', Teachers and Teaching: Theory and Practice 4(1), 115--41. Jackson, D. (2000) 'The school improvement journey: perspectives on leadership', School Leadership and Management, 20(1), 61-78. Joyce, B. (1992) 'Cooperative learning and staff development: teaching the method with the method', Cooperative Learning, 12(2), 10-13. Joyce, B., Calhoun, E. and Hopkins, D. (1999) The New Structure of School Improvement. Buckingham: Open University Press. Joyce, B., Calhoun, E. and Hopkins, D. (2002) Models of Learning-Tools for Teaching. Buckingham: Open University Press. Joyce, B. and Showers, B. (1991) Information-Processing Models of Teaching. Aptos, CA: Booksend Laboratories. Joyce, B. and Showers, B. ([1988] 1995) Student Achievement through 134

Improving the Quality of Education for All

Staff Development. New York: Longman. Joyce, B. and Weil, M. (1996) Models of Teaching. Fifth edition. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall. Joyce, B., Wolf, J. and Calhoun, E. (1993) The Self-Renewing School. Alexandria, VA: ASCD. Kolb, D. A. (1984) Experiential Learning. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall. Kyriacou, C. (1986) Effective Teaching in Schools. Oxford: Blackwell. Kyriacou, C. (1991) Essential Teaching Skills. Oxford: Blackwell. Marzano, R. J., Arredondo, D. E., Brandt, R. S., Pickering, D. J., Blackburn, G. J. and Moffett, C. A. (1992) Dimensions of Learning. Teacher's Manual. Aurora: ASCD/McREL. Peters, R. S. (1974) Psychology and Ethical Development. London: George Allen and Unwin. Porter, A. and Brophy, J. (1988) 'Synthesis of research on good teaching', Educational Leadership, 48(8), 74-85. Rogers, C. (1983) Freedom to Learn. Second edition. Columbus, OH: Merrill. Rosenholtz, S. (1989) Teachers' Workplace: The Social Organization of Schools. New York: Longman. Rowland, S. (1984) The Enquiring Classroom. Lewes: Palmer Press. Rubin, L. (1985) Artistry in Teaching. New York: Random House. Rudduck, J. (1984) 'Introducing innovation to pupils', in Hopkins, D. and Wideen, M. (eds) Alternative Perspectives on School Improvement. Lewes: Palmer Press. Schein, E. (1985) Organizational Culture and Leadership: A Dynamic View. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. Schon, D. (1983) The Reflective Practitioner. New York: Basic Books. Scottish Consultative Council on the Curriculum (1996) Teaching for Effective Learning. Dundee: Scottish CCC. Stenhouse, L. (1975) An Introduction to Curriculum Research and Development. London: Heinemann Educational Books. Walberg, H. (1990) 'Productive teaching and instruction: assessing the knowledge base', Phi Delta Kappan, 71(6), 470-8. West, M. (1994) 'Re-thinking school management and structure', paper presented at the American Educational Research Association Annual Meeting, New Orleans. April. West, M. (2000) 'Supporting school improvement: observations on the inside, reflections from the outside', School Leadership and Management, 20(1), 43-60. West, M. and Ainscow, M. (1991) Managing School Development. London: David Fulton Publishers. Woods, P. (1980) Pupil Strategies: Explorations in the Sociology of the School. London: Croom Helm.

References

135

Index

Note: bold figures

= main entries; italic figures =illustrations

achievement(s) 13, 20, 102 action planning 102 action research 53 active teaching 29 adjustment to school 128 advanced organiser model 31 agency 98 anxiety 19 Artistry in Teaching (Rubin) 31 attainment 15, 57 behaviour management 48-50 behavioural family model 31 board game 81, 85 boundaries, 48-50 124 brainstorming 110 buddy groups 62 cadre groups 6-10, 16, 41, 57-8, 101 capacity for change 22, 25, 57, 97 case studies 37, 38, 39, 41, 43-4, 48,53 Big Wood School, Nottingham 12-17 Chilwell Comprehensive School, Nottingham 74-6 Swanwick Hall School, Derbyshire 59-61, 62-3, 65-6, 108, 114 change 18-20, 96 capacity for 22, 25, 57, 97 commitment to 12 mapping the process 79-94 timeline 80 136

change management 98 Chilwell Comprehensive School, Nottingham 74-6 classroom activities 130 classroom conditions 46-56, 55-6 rating scale 88, 123-5 classroom management 29 classroom practice 15, 57, 77 coherence 22 collaborative planning 43-4, 52 collegial relationships 52-3, 58 commitment 12, 57 conditions see classroom conditions, school conditions, student conditions consonance 22 contract 6 cooperative activities 117 cooperative group work 108-17 principles 111-12 cooperative learning 31 coordination 40-2 core values see Improving the Quality of Education for All (IQEA): principles critical friends 62 criticism 83-4 cues 49 culture see school culture culture map 85 curriculum tour 62, 73 data gathering 15, 68, 119, 129-32 demands 47 destabilisation 96

development work 8, 9, 15, 73-5 patterns of 75-8 planning 60, 102---4 didactic teaching 31, 93, 130 differentiation 51 discussion 30, 31 effective learners 26 effective teaching 27-8 empowerment 6, 39, 42, 55 enquiry 6, 42-3, 62, 64, 121 envoys 116 evaluation 1, 6 expectations 86, 124 external agencies 58 family models 31 feedback 93, 115-16 focus 9-10, 15, 61 framework 18-25, 23 Freedom to Learn (Rogers) 47 gallery 116 group investigation 115 group work 108-17 head teachers 98 improvement initiatives 96 Improving the Quality of Education for All (IQEA) 1---4 bibliography 3 networks 1-2, 4, 64 presentation slides 105-7 principles 5-6 independent learning 127 inductive model 31, 60, 62 information processing models 31 in-service education 33 INSET 34, 61, 62 intervention 10 intuitive/empirical approach 28, 31-5, 103 jigsaw groups Ill 'journey' metaphor 67, 95-9 key training components 34, 100 Kolb, David 89, 92, 130, 131 language for teaching and learning 15,95 leadership 8, 10, 39-40, 84, 97 Index

rating scale 122 learning 15, 57, 64, 128 learning communities 1, 17 learning goals 20, 24 learning potential 66 learning schools 1, 66 learning styles 52, 89-91, 129-31 learning teams 61, 64 lesson planning 50 lesson template 49, 50 levels of the school 6-7 Likert scores, 87, 88 listening triads 11 0 maintenance activities 8, 9, 21 manageability 22 management conditions 87-8 managers 68 mapping change 79-94 mapping techniques 80-2, 89-93 maths review 42-3 minority views 84 models of teaching 29-31 models-based approach 28 monitoring 6 national database 119 networks 1-2, 4, 64 numbered heads 115 observations 37, 48, 97, 131 outcomes 23---4, 54 ownership 8 pedagogic partnerships 52-3, 58, 95, 125 peer coaching 34, 62, I 00---4 personal family model 31 planning 21, 43-4, 50, 70, 102-4, 121, 124 power 39---40 powerful schools 26 preparation 50-1, 60 presentations 105-7, 116 priorities 6, 22-3, 73, 77 professional judgement 103---4 progress checks 103 progress timeline 76 pupil involvement 38-9, 98, 121 questionnaire 132 pupil-teacher interactions 48 quality of learning 5-17, 54 137

quality review (maths) 42-3 questionnaire 132 rainbow groups 111 Raising Attainment Planning (DtEE)

102

rating scales 86-8, 118-19, 120,

121, 122, 123-8

reflective practice 11, 27, 34, 42-3,

53-5

rating scale 121, 125 relationship building 39, 47-8,

52-3, 124, 127 research groups 54 residential events 70-2 resources 50 rules 48-50

schemes of work 66 school conditions 19, 36-45, 55-6,

82 rating scale 86-8, 118-19, 120, 126-8 school culture 24, 64, 81, 84-6, 97 School Development Plan 44 school improvement 5 circles/layers of 20, 21 the cycle 68-78 the journey 95-9 phases of 57-67 preparing for 60 propositions for 44-5 school improvement group (SIG) see cadre groups Schools' Council Humanities Curriculum Project (HCP) 30 scientific enquiry model 31 self-assessment 127 SIG (school improvement group) see cadre groups skills-based approach 27 slides 105-7 social family models 31 social learning 90, 93, 129 STAD (Student Teams Achievement Divisions) 111-13 staff development 2, 3, 16, 33, 37-8 activities timeline 69

138

events 70--3 and peer coaching 100-4 rating scale 122 Swanwick Hall School 62 staff training day 7 5 Stenhouse, Lawrence 30 strategic dimension 22-3 structural issues 24-5, 82 student conditions rating scale 88-9 Student Teams Achievement Divisions (STAD) 111-13 success checks 103 success criteria 103 success factors 43 support 1, 11, 19, 47, 97 Swanwick Hall School, Derbyshire

59-61,62-3,65-7,108,114

synectics 31

teacher behaviours 48 teacher development 33, 64 teacher researchers 30 teachers, high-quality, key characteristics 32 teaching 15, 26-8 models of 29-31 teaching effects 28 teaching repertoire 51-2, 125 teaching skills 28-9 teaching strategies 16, 27, 52,

89-93, 130, 131

teamwork 40--1, 61 timelines 69, 75, 76, 80, 82--4 transfer of skills 34, 101 trust 39, 40 twilight sessions 72-3 two to fours 110 uncertainty 9-10, 19 unconditional positive regard 47 vision 39 whole-class teaching 29 whole-school approach 16-17, 34,

58,61-3,74

workplace conditions 34 workshops 34

Improving the Quality of Education for All