Download Professional Learning Communities

Report on introducing School based professional
development to support the implementation of the
New National Curricula
Pedagogical Institute
Cyprus
June 2012
Professor Tony Townsend
Chair of Public Service, Educational
Leadership and Management
School of Education,
University of Glasgow
Our meeting today
• An overview of the report
• Understanding change management
• Putting the recommendations into practice with some
examples and the roles of the Ministry, the Pedagogical
Institute, Inspectors and School Leaders
• Discussion on next steps
Part 1: An Overview of the report
Strategies for Implementing and Supporting the new Curriculum
This report suggests two main strategies for implementing
the new curriculum into Cypriot schools. The first is to
develop a school self-evaluation approach to curriculum
improvement and the second is to establish a series of
professional learning communities, for inspectors (at the
national level), for school leaders (at the regional level) and
for teachers (at the school level).
School Self-evaluation Approach to School Improvement
Essentially the school self-evaluation approach can be considered
as responding to a number of questions:
• What does our school do well?
• How do we know how well we are doing?
• What would we like to see our school achieving in 3 – 5 years?
• What are the things we need to work on in order to build the
bridge from question 1 to question 3?
Professional Learning Communities
Stoll et al (2006) define a Professional Learning Community in
the following way
• A professional learning community is an inclusive group of
people, motivated by a shared learning vision, who support
and work with each other, finding ways, inside and outside
their immediate community, to enquire on their practice and
together learn new and better approaches that will enhance
all pupils’ learning.
Final Recommendations
• RECOMMENDATION 1: Development of indicators
for student success associated with the curriculum
areas together with the identified competencies.
• RECOMMENDATION 2: Establish a national
resource base
• RECOMMENDATION 3: Establish an ongoing
process of school curriculum planning, self-evaluation
and inspection.
• RECOMMENDATION 4: Support the development
of national, regional and local professional learning
communities.
Understanding Change
Management
Change management: moving from good intentions to good results
• Many organizations are increasingly
exposing their employees to change, but
they are not teaching their leaders and
teams how to effectively manage the
"people" side of change. We all have
good intentions for managing change
well, but sometimes our results fall short.
What is change management?

The process, tools and techniques to
manage the people-side of change to
achieve the required outcome(s)
Managing change: people
“8. My organization is good at managing the “people” side of change initiatives.”
36%
40%
30%
20%
24%
20%
10%
10%
8%
2%
0%
Stongly
Disagree
Disagree
Almost 1/2 disagree
Neutral
Agree
Strongly
Agree
Don't Know
& N/A
Key points to consider
Key point 1: We have to realize that effective change management is more than just a
few pieces of communication
Key point 2: We have to realize that we (the “changers”) may be “living” in the future
state, while everyone else (“the changees”) is living in the present
Key point 3: Effective change management MUST be focused on helping individuals
change
Key point 4: Individual change is a process
Key point 5: We need to select and use the tools available to us
Key point 6: We need the right people involved and engaged in the right ways
Key point 7: Begin with end in mind. Measure the “right” things for this change, at the
organizational level and the individual level
Current State
• Staff (including school leaders and
administrators!) generally prefer the current state,
because that is where they work now
Current
State
Transition
State
Future
State
“better the devil you know is better than the devil you don’t”
Future State
• The future state is unknown to the staff; will it be
better, or worse?
• This is where the new curriculum
teams “live”
Current
State
Transition
State
Future
State
Transition State
• The transition state creates stress and anxiety
Current
State
Transition
State
Future
State
Successful change addresses both the technical and the people side
The New curriculum is
designed, developed
and delivered effectively
(Technical side)
Project management
Current
Transition
Change management
+
Future
The new curriculum is
embraced, adopted and
utilized effectively
(People side)
= CHANGE SUCCESS
Individual PEOPLE change, NOT organizations
Individual change management is the Centerpiece of success
The secret to successful change lies beyond the visible and busy
activities that surround change. Successful change, at its core, is rooted
in something much simpler:
How to facilitate change with one
person.
From ADKAR: a model for change by Jeff Hiatt
The five building blocks of successful individual change
Awareness
Desire
Knowledge
Ability
Reinforcement
A
D
K
A
R
of the need for change
to participate and support the change
on how to change
to implement required skills and behaviours
to sustain the change
ADKAR is the (relatively) easy-to-remember acronym
ADKAR
– Awareness of the need for change (why).
– Desire to support and participate in the change
(our choice).
– Knowledge about how to change (the learning
process).
– Ability to implement the change (turning
knowledge into action).
– Reinforcement to sustain the change
(celebrating success).
Some Key Change Management Tools
Communications
Plan
Training
Readiness / Resistance Mgt.
Coaching
These channels enable
Effective change management
Mapping the tools to the personal change elements (ADKAR)
Communications
These channels
enable project
team to facilitate
organization
through phases of
ADKAR.
Plan
Training
Readiness / Resistance Mgt.
Coaching
Awareness
Desire
Knowledge
Ability
Reinforcement
Change management requires a system of ‘doers’
Executives and
senior managers
Middle managers
and supervisors
Each ‘gear’ plays a
specific role based on
how they are related
to change
Change
management
resource/team
Project
team
Project
support
functions
Measuring Outcomes: the Organisational perspective

Outcome:

Did the new curriculum
deliver the intended results?
Organisational
Current
Transition
Future
• Process:


Was the new curriculum
delivered on time and on
budget?
Were milestones met along the
way?
Organisational
Current
Transition
Future
Measuring Outcomes: the Individual perspective

Outcome:


Individual
Are teachers doing their work
the “new way” that was required
by the new curriculum?
Current

How well did teachers make the
transition?
How well did we** support that
transition?
Future
Individual
Process:

Transition
Current
Transition
A D K A R
Future
Implementing the
recommendations
Final Recommendations
• RECOMMENDATION 1: Development of indicators
for student success associated with the curriculum
areas together with the identified competencies.
• RECOMMENDATION 2: Establish a national
resource base
• RECOMMENDATION 3: Establish an ongoing
process of school curriculum planning, self-evaluation
and inspection.
• RECOMMENDATION 4: Support the development
of national, regional and local professional learning
communities.
Roles for various groups
RECOMMENDATION 1: Development of indicators for
student success associated with the curriculum areas together
with the identified competencies.
Ministry
• Support a
national
workshop to
identify major
objectives and
priorities of the
Cypriot school
system.
Pedagogical
Institute
Inspectors
Head Teachers
• Conduct the
national workshop
inviting
representatives of
all stakeholder
groups in education
with the objective
of identifying a
specific list of
national indicators.
• Participate in
workshop and
nominate
appropriate
representatives from
stakeholder groups.
• Identify possible
student parent and
community
representatives to
participate in the
national workshop.
RECOMMENDATION 1: Development of indicators for student success
Proposal:
• National workshop funded by the Ministry and conducted by
the Pedagogical Institute
Objectives:
• A series of goals associated with school and student success will have
been identified and prioritised.
• A series of behavioural indicators associated with these goals will have
been identified.
• A series of generic activities that will encourage this behaviour will have
been identified.
• Strategies for identifying specific activities for the various curriculum
areas, for each of the behaviours, will have been developed.
• A strategy for reporting student progress on each indicator will be
identified.
Three main pillars of the New Curriculum
Students should:
• Acquire an adequate (sufficient) and coherent
(consistent) body of knowledge from all
disciplines.
• Develop attitudes and attributes that characterize a
democratic citizen
• Develop high levels of “key competences”, abilities
and skills required for the society of the 21st
century for the development of creative human
being
Key Competences in the New Curriculum
a) Creativity
b) Critical thinking and reflective management knowledge
c) Theoretical thinking and ability to convert theory into
practice
d) Abilities and skills of analysis and design
e) Willingness and ability for teamwork and information
exchange
f) Ability to problem solve, to develop and search options
and develop the capacity to identify alternative theories
g) Excellence in testing and prudent use of information and
communication technologies
h) Empathy and interpersonal skills and communication.
Workshop activity: Part 1 Identifying goals
• Step 1: Identify 5 curricular/academic goals, 5 attitudes,
values or skills and 2 other outcomes that you would want
every student to achieve by the time they leave school.
Identifying Goals
Step 1: Individual Goals
Curriculum/Academic Goals (Individual List)
C1
C2
C3
C4
C5
Values/Skills/Attitudes
V1
V2
V3
V4
V5
Other Goals
O1
O2
Workshop activity: Part 1 Identifying goals
• Step 1: Identify 5 curricular/academic goals, 5 attitudes,
values or skills and 2 other outcomes that you would want
every student to achieve by the time they leave school.
• Step 2: Small groups (5-6) discuss the individual goals and
come up with an agreed list of 5 curricular/academic goals, 5
attitudes, values or skills and 2 other outcomes for the group
Identifying Goals
Step 1: Individual Goals
Curriculum/Academic Goals (Individual List)
C1
C2
C3
C4
C5
Values/Skills/Attitudes
V1
V2
V3
V4
V5
Other Goals
O1
O2
Workshop activity: Part 1 Identifying goals
• Step 1: Identify 5 curricular/academic goals, 5 attitudes,
values or skills and 2 other outcomes that you would want
every student to achieve by the time they leave school.
• Step 2: Small groups (5-6) discuss the individual goals and
come up with an agreed list of 5 curricular/academic goals, 5
attitudes, values or skills and 2 other outcomes for the group
• Step 3: The lists are consolidated into a single list so that all
goals identified are listed but none are duplicated.
Workshop activity: Part 2 Prioritising goals
• Step 1: Individuals indicate the level of importance (on a 5
point scale) of the complete list of curricular/academic goals,
attitudes, values or skills and other outcomes that they would
want every student to achieve by the time they leave school.
Scoring Priorities
• Extremely important – Schools must do this
4 POINTS
• Really important – Schools should ensure resources are found to do this
3 POINTS
• Important - Schools should do this when resources become available
2 POINTS
• Valuable – Schools could consider this when the more important things
are done
1 POINT
• Unimportant – This is not something that the Schools should be worried
about
0 POINTS
Workshop activity: Part 2 Prioritising goals
• Step 1: Individuals indicate the level of importance (on a 5
point scale) of the complete list of curricular/academic goals,
attitudes, values or skills and other outcomes that they would
want every student to achieve by the time they leave school.
• Step 2: Small groups (5-6) discuss their priorities and are
asked to come up with a group priority list, with rules to make
sure that all goals cannot be identified as equally important.
Rules from Group Priorities
1. The number of points to be allocated will be 2 times the
number of items.
2. The group must allocate all, but no more than their points
budget in total.
3. At least one item in each group (so one curricular, one
values and one other) must be given four points – the
maximum score.
4. Four points can be allocated to as many items as the budget
will allow.
5. Items can be given zero points.
6. The group must come to agreement on the allocation of
points to each
Workshop activity: Part 2 Prioritising goals
• Step 1: Individuals indicate the level of importance (on a 5
point scale) of the complete list of curricular/academic goals,
attitudes, values or skills and other outcomes that they would
want every student to achieve by the time they leave school.
• Step 2: Small groups (5-6) discuss their priorities and are
asked to come up with a group priority list, with rules to make
sure that all goals cannot be identified as equally important.
• Step 3: The groups results are documented publicly and a
final decision of agreed set of goals are identified. These form
the list that will be used to create the national priorities.
Further workshop activities
1.
2.
3.
4.
Identify a series of behaviours that demonstrate successful achievement of
the goals identified (eg How do we know when someone is literate? How
do we know when someone is co-operative?) Some can be associated with
what we would expect by the end of the primary school years and others
by the end of the secondary school years.
Consider some activities that might be used to enable students to
demonstrate these behaviours for all of the curriculum areas of the new
curriculum.
Develop a mechanism for enabling teachers to identify and report student
capabilities in these areas.
Develop and publish on the Ministry website some of the activities that
teachers might use for this purpose.
Final Recommendations
• RECOMMENDATION 1: Development of indicators
for student success associated with the curriculum
areas together with the identified competencies.
• RECOMMENDATION 2: Establish a national
resource base
• RECOMMENDATION 3: Establish an ongoing
process of school curriculum planning, self-evaluation
and inspection.
• RECOMMENDATION 4: Support the development
of national, regional and local professional learning
communities.
Roles for various groups
RECOMMENDATION 2: Establish a national resource base
Ministry
Pedagogical
Institute
Inspectors
Head Teachers
• Develop a
dedicated
website related to
the
implementation
of the curriculum
on the Ministry
website
• Conduct and
publish research to
support the
introduction
• Develop online
training and
support materials
for teachers to use
• Identify activities
and processes at
school level that
could become
models for best
practice
• Encourage
teachers to use the
resource base to
support their
teaching of the
new curriculum
The current website
http://www.moec.gov.cy/dde/anaptyxi_veltiosi_scholeiou/index.html
Action areas:
· Leadership-Vision
· Organisation-school management
· Organization-class management
· Self evaluation
· Planning – Action plans
· Climate – culture
· Quality of the teaching and learning
· Changes – innovations
· Professional development of the personnel
· New National curricula
· New Time Schedules
· School for all the kids
RECOMMENDATION 2: Establish a national resource base
An Example:
Early years development framework, Victoria
http://www.education.vic.gov.au/earlylearning/eyldf/default.htm
Outcomes
• Outcome 1: Children have a strong sense of identity
• Outcome 2: Children are connected with and contribute to
their world
• Outcome 3: Children have a strong sense of wellbeing
• Outcome 4: Children are confident and involved learners
• Outcome 5: Children are effective communicators
Research papers
•
•
•
•
•
Practice Principle One: Family-Centred Practice
Practice Principle Two: Partnerships with Professionals
Practice Principle Three: High Expectations for Every Child
Practice Principle Four: Equity and Diversity
Practice Principle Five: Respectful Relationships and Responsive
Engagement
• Practice Principle Six: Integrated Teaching and Learning Approaches
• Practice Principle Seven: Assessment for Learning and Development
• Practice Principle Eight: Reflective Practice
Professional Learning opportunities
• Module 1 - An Introduction to the Victorian Framework and
Reflective Practice
• Module 2 - An Introduction to Collaborative Practice
• Module 3 - An Introduction to Effective Practice
• Module 4 - Assessment for Learning and Development: The
Early Years Planning Cycle
These are offered as professional development and also are
contained online for those that cannot attend in person.
Reading about Improving professional practice
• Practice Guide One: Family-centred Practice
• Practice Guide Three: High Expectations for Every Child
• Practice Guide Five: Respectful Relationships and Responsive
Engagement
• Practice Guide Eight: Reflective Practice
Four more to be published in 2012
Conference opportunities
http://www.earlychildhoodvictoria.org.au/Page.asp?_=Conferences
The key themes of the 2012 conference
include: understanding learning styles, talking
to learn, learning frameworks and learning
environments.
Final Recommendations
• RECOMMENDATION 1: Development of indicators
for student success associated with the curriculum
areas together with the identified competencies.
• RECOMMENDATION 2: Establish a national
resource base
• RECOMMENDATION 3: Establish an ongoing
process of school curriculum planning, self-evaluation
and inspection.
• RECOMMENDATION 4: Support the development
of national, regional and local professional learning
communities.
Roles for various groups
RECOMMENDATION 3: Establish an ongoing process of
school curriculum planning, self-evaluation and inspection.
Ministry
Pedagogical
Institute
• Establish a
policy of school
self-evaluation
and external
inspection.
Provide
resources for a
national pilot
study and
training program.
• Work with the
Ministry to
establish a national
training program
and research
activity to support
the implementation
of school selfevaluation.
Inspectors
• Undertake
training in
inspecting school
progress using a
school selfevaluation model.
Head Teachers
• Identify a
leadership team
that will undertake
the training for
school selfevaluation and
support all school
staff to learn these
methods
RECOMMENDATION 3: Establish an ongoing process of self-evaluation and inspection
A Framework for continuous improvement
The Scottish Model
Supporting Schools to Improve
Journey to Excellence website
http://www.ltscotland.org.uk/journeytoexcellence/index.asp
Curriculum for Excellence
Curriculum for Excellence
http://www.ltscotland.org.uk/curriculumforexcellence/index.asp
The road map to improvement
The Journey to Excellence Guide contains:
Part 1: Aiming for Excellence
• describes the concept of excellence
• discusses the nature of the learning process and what we mean by
successful learning
• outlines ten dimensions of excellent schools and early education centres.
Part 2: Exploring Excellence
• describes the key features of each of the ten dimensions of excellence in
more detail
• provides examples and illustrations in a variety of forms
• indicates some of the ways in which excellent practice differs from practice
which is good
• suggests the direction schools need to travel to transform their practice
from good to excellent.
The road map to improvement
The Journey to Excellence Guide contains:
Part 3: How good are we now?
•
provides the next version of How good is our school?, a quality framework made
up of quality indicators and performance measures to help you work out where you
are now and think through your next steps in continuous improvement.
Part 4: Planning for Excellence
•
•
•
provides advice about how you and your partners can go about selecting the most
appropriate dimensions for improvement
recommends ways of planning for your journey to excellence
suggests how you can check your progress.
Part 5: Journeys to Excellence
•
•
•
provides real examples of excellent practice in schools and early
education centres, in audio-visual format
presents the voices of children, young people, staff, parents and partners describing
the stage their school has reached on the journey to excellence, the route it has
taken and where they are going next.
The Slovenian Model
Slovenian School self-evaluation training model
DEFINING SCHOOL
PRIORITIES AND
GOALS IN TERMS
OF STUDENTS’
ACHIEVEMNTS
DATA-BASED
IMPROVEMENT
PLANNING AND
DECISION MAKING
STUDENTS’
ACHIEVEMNTS
FOCUS
LEADERSHIP
WHOLE SCHOOL
APPROACH
SCHOOL/
EVALUATION
CULTURE
REFLECTION AND
REPORTING
SCHOOL
IMPROVEMENT
PLANNING
IMPLEMEMNTING
AND MONITORING
IMPROVEMENT
Train the trainers
National School for Leadership in Education
(NSLE)
School self-evaluation team (SET) – 84 schools
7 days
training
(headteacher + 2 or 3 teachers) – 255 participants
7 intermediate
activities
School staff – over 3900 participants
… whole school approach … leadership (SET) …
from theory to practice … school/evaluation culture
7 days of training for Schools
• Setting priorities and goals (learning, teaching, student
achievement)
• Improvement and self-evaluation planning
• Improvement monitoring (data)
• The role of leadership, self-evaluation stakeholders
• Analysis and reflection as the foundation for selfevaluation
• Reporting and long-term improvement and selfevaluation planning
• A model of self-evaluation at school level
Training for establishing a self-evaluation culture
Each of the 7 days of training includes:
• Direct contact hours or a workshop, organised for headteachers by the Leadership School, and by self-evaluation
teams for entire teaching staff
• Interim activities in schools, such as:
– Professional discussions taking place within the entire teaching staff
or in teacher groups (organised eg. according to subjects, age groups,
triads)
– Individual interim activities taking place at the level of individual
participants
External Evaluation of School’s reportsTraining for
External evaluation training
Day 1: Introduction, external evaluators' knowledge and skills
Day 2: Self-evaluation and external evaluation
Day 3: Evaluating the quality of self-evaluation – data gathering
Day 4: Communication and feedback, reporting
Day 5: External evaluation and inspection
Day 6: Preparing for external evaluation
Day 7: Introductory meeting of external evaluators and schools to
be evaluated … conducting external evaluations in schools
Day 8: Evaluation of external evaluations (evaluators and schools'
representatives)
School’s evaluation of the SSE and External evaluation process
Why is such an approach to external evaluation good?
• External evaluation is first and foremost a positive experience
• It is not an inspection
• Evaluators' visit brings positive tensions (not fear!),
preparation and a more in-depth reflection about selfevaluation and quality as such
• It is not control, it is not academic/science level … it is
practice, it is exchange of practitioner knowledge and
experience
• Two evaluators per school are enough, the protocol and
everything else (meetings, materials, communication,
reporting…) is well organized
School’s evaluation of the SSE and External evaluation process
Why is such an approach to external evaluation good?
• External evaluation is focused on self-evaluation process, report and
quality of teaching and learning – that is good/necessary because
other areas are covered by other reviews (eg. inspection)
• It can be of a big help to headteacher (if one wants that)
• It is good for school image
• School gets a critical/constructive, positive and professional
feedback with regards to it's improvement goals, activities,
monitoring, self-evaluation as a part of school policy (not just a
project) etc
• Helps in making sense of self-evaluation for school staff
• Focused only on self-evaluation, teaching and learning processes
Strengths of self-evaluation (Brejc and Savarin 2011)
• Accustoms teachers to systematic monitoring and
evaluation of their own performance (3.5)
• Focuses quality endeavours to teaching and learning
(3.5)
• Directs school activities to priorities (3.5)
• Enables all teachers to actively and participatory
contribute to school improvement (3.5)
• Encourages systematic approach to ongoing school
activities (3.4)
Final Recommendations
• RECOMMENDATION 1: Development of indicators
for student success associated with the curriculum
areas together with the identified competencies.
• RECOMMENDATION 2: Establish a national
resource base
• RECOMMENDATION 3: Establish an ongoing
process of school curriculum planning, self-evaluation
and inspection.
• RECOMMENDATION 4: Support the development
of national, regional and local professional learning
communities.
Roles for various groups
RECOMMENDATION 4: Support the development of national,
regional and local professional learning communities.
Ministry
Pedagogical
Institute
Inspectors
• Provide
resources on the
new curriculum
website that will
help people
understand and
develop
professional
learning
communities
• Provide facilities
and support for
inspectors to form a
national PLC of
inspectors to enable
them to meet
regularly and
discuss issues of
school
improvement.
• Establish one or
more PLCs in their
local regions to
bring together Head
Teachers and other
school leaders to
discuss issues
associated with the
new curriculum and
school improvement
Head Teachers
• Provide the time
and resources for
teachers to form
and develop PLCs
associated with
improving student
learning in either
subject areas or
grade levels.
RECOMMENDATION 4: Support the development of
Recommendation 4: Develop national, regional and local PLCs
professional learning communities
• An effective professional learning
community has the capacity to promote and
sustain the learning of all professionals in
the school community with the collective
purpose of enhancing pupil learning.
(Stoll, et al, 2006)
Professional Learning Communities in Cyprus
National Level
• Inspectors create a professional learning community
where national objectives and policies can be discussed
and debated
Regional Level
• Inspectors support the development of professional
learning communities for Head Teachers in a particular
region
Local Level
• Head Teachers support the development of learning
communities in their schools
Professional Learning Communities Research Project UK
• Project website: www.eplc.info
• Project report available: www.dfes.gov.uk/research
Bolam et al (2005)
Source Materials for Professional Learning Communities
• What is a professional learning community? A summary
• User guide: getting started and thinking about your journey
• Creating and sustaining an effective professional learning
community
• Setting professional learning communities in an international
context
• Broadening the learning community: key messages
• Exploring the idea of professional learning communities
• Investigating the culture of your professional learning community
Source Materials for Professional Learning Communities
• Comparing your preferred future and the current situation in your
professional learning community
• Deciding where you are as a professional learning community
• Planning your professional learning community
• Developing your professional learning community
• Bringing about change: Starting out, developing and sustaining
• Reflecting on the progress of your professional learning
community
• Assessing the impact of your professional learning community
If you would like more details contact
ProfessorTony Townsend:
School of Education
University of Glasgow
Phone: +44(0)141 330 4434
Fax:
+44(0)141 330 5451
email: [email protected]