Transcript Slide 1
TEACHER EDUCATION AND TEACHER DEVELOPMENT
IN A CONTEXT OF CHANGE
Serbia
November 2012
Professor Graham Donaldson CB
University of Glasgow
Propositions
Relentless drive to improve educational quality will continue
The twenty-first century learner is different
The twenty-first century teacher has to be different
We need new ways of approaching career-long learning
That requires a sophisticated concept of leadership
School improvement starts and ends in the classroom
Relentless Drive for
Educational
Improvement
School education is one of the most important and contested policy
areas for governments across the world.
Evidence of relative performance internationally has become a key
driver of policy.
Human capital in the form of a highly educated population is seen
as a key determinant of social justice and economic success.
The pace and character of social, economic and technological
change has profound implications for how we conceive education in the
future.
States and individuals need high levels of education for future economic,
social and personal wellbeing
Innovation is integral to educational quality - create the future not
recreate the past
Models of governance and change need to be dynamic and promote
alignment
↓
RE-EXAMINE APPROACH TO AND RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN
TEACHING / LEADERSHIP / CURRICULUM / ACCOUNTABILITY
Successful 21st Century
Learners
Deep knowledge
Strong core skills
Can change, adapt, transfer skills
Skills to access information, as well as retain it
Persistent, resilient, able to manage impulse
Have learned how to learn and want to learn
Strong interpersonal/ intrapersonal skills
Responsible, global citizens
Secure in their values
What do we mean by
‘quality’?
Qualifications?
Destinations?
Basics?
Wellbeing?
Capacity to learn?
Desire to learn?
Educated Person?
Lessons from
High-Performing Systems
Clarity of purpose – values and curriculum
High expectations of achievement
Enabling all young people to achieve their potential
Emphasis on early learning
High quality teachers
Culture of professional learning
High quality leadership at all levels
Outward looking – open to but not beguiled by innovation
Intelligent accountability
Reflective and self-evaluative
Fall and Rise of Teacher Agency?
Early focus on expansion of provision – more =
better/strong teacher agency
1960s - Alphabet soup curriculum reform
Standards movement - measurement mania
School effectiveness
Curriculum specification
Professional conspiracies – competition & inspection
Teachers Matter - “It’s the teacher, stupid”
?????????
It’s the teachers stupid!
• Overall, the research results indicate that raising
teacher quality is vital for improving student
achievement, and is perhaps the policy direction
most likely to lead to substantial gains in school
performance
• Students of the most effective teachers have
learning gains four times greater than the
learning gains of the least effective teachers (
Sanders and Rivers 1996)
Moving from being taught by an average
teacher to one of high quality leads to an
improvement which is roughly equivalent to
the effect on learning of reducing class size
by 10 students (Rivkin et al 2001)
Differences among teachers explain up to
23% of the variation in student test score
performance that is potentially open to
policy influence (Rockoff 2004)
Teachers Matter
The quality of an education system cannot
exceed the quality of its teachers
(McKinsey & Co 2007)
Teachers Matter but…
“For commitment to flourish and for teachers to be
resilient and effective, they need a strong and
enduring sense of efficacy…They need to work in
schools in which leadership is supportive, clear,
strong and passionately committed to maintaining the
quality of their commitment.”
Day et al ‘Teachers Matter’ OUP 2007 quoted in
Hargreaves & Fullan ‘Professional Capital’ Routledge
2012
Teachers and change
85 percent are resistant to change what works for
them; ten percent are willing to change to be more
efficient; and five percent are willing to try new
innovations. Hence the moves to use accountability,
government pressure, compulsion and the stick rarely
change the conceptions or lens of teachers.
Hattie ‘Visible Learning ’ 2009 Routledge
And much teacher
knowledge is
Tacit
Intuitive
Situation bound
Chance
Wikman (Teacher Education Policy in Europe
2010)
We need teachers who have high-levels of expertise – subject, pedagogy and theory
have secure values – personal and professional accountability
for the wellbeing of all young people
take prime responsibility for their own development
but also see themselves as and act as part of a team
see professional learning as an integral part of educational
change
engage in well-planned and well-researched innovation
are outward-looking and seek partnerships
AND
See themselves as having these values and capacities
AND
Are seen by others to have these values and capacities
How do we do it?
Select and develop high quality people
A continuum of teacher learning –
framework of standards
intellectual integrity
relevant
reflective
collegiate
research aware
Relentless focus on impact on young people’s learning.
Teacher Standards should capture characteristics of high quality teacher
establish a common language of quality
provide a key reference point for teacher education – pre
and post qualification
act as an incentive for career-long professional growth
provide a basis for evaluating progress
look credible to an experienced teacher
contribute to embedding innovation
help align policy and practice
If “the quality of education cannot exceed the quality
of its teachers” then the prime task for leadership is
to build the capacity of and maximise the impact of
those teachers, individually and collectively.
Leadership
Distributed – attitude not roles/not followership
Clear moral purpose/vision – social justice
Relentless pursuit of high quality
Respect for evidence
Continuous learning – lead learner
Communication/empathy
Outward looking
Capacity building
Policy frameworks for teacher evaluation
Most countries (16/21) have policy frameworks for teacher
evaluation in place
Completion of probation: 11/21
Performance management: 13/21
Registration: 6/21
Reward schemes: 3/21
Where teacher evaluation is not regulated nationally, it may still
occur informally at the local or school level
Forthcoming OECD Review 2012
Reference standards
All but two countries that have policy frameworks for teacher
evaluation also have central standards to guide evaluation
For the completion of probation, most countries use central
standards, sometimes complemented by description of duties /
code of conduct
For performance management purposes, the use of school level
rules, regulations or development plans as reference points for
teacher evaluation is also common
For registration, central standards or particular registration
standards; graduate profile in one country
Forthcoming OECD Review
Standards in Netherlands
Standards of professional competence
Dutch law defines 7 standards of professional competence
for Dutch teachers:
- pedagogically competent (safe learning environment)
- competent in terms of subject matter (contents and
didactics)
- competent in interpersonal relations
- organizationally competent
- competent in teamwork
- competent in cooperation with school environment
(parents)
- competent in reflection and development
Netherlands – Two categories of Skills
Basic skills:
The teacher clearly explains the subject matter
The teacher creates a task- oriented learning
environment
Pupils are actively involved in the classroom activities
Complex skills
The teacher:
tailors the lessons to various needs
tailors the assignments to various needs
tailors the available time to various needs
monitors the progress of pupils systematically
Netherlands
Rick Steur SICI 2012
Central concept:
The professional space for the teachers
The use of professional space by the teachers
Summary of current policy context
in Scotland
Curriculum for
Excellence:
what and how
children will
learn
National
partnership to
improve
teacher
professionalism
Establishing
conditions to
enable
teachers to
teach more
effectively
Supporting and
Accountability:
inspection
and
challenging
review
Improvement
Scottish Teacher Reform Programme
‘Teaching Scotland’s Future’ (Donaldson 2010)
Entry qualifications
New degrees – practicum reconceptualised
Continuum of professional learning – Standards
Professional review
Masters level profession
University engagement
Leadership college
Aligned policy
Strong partnership approach
ATEPIE PROJECT
Addressing the key issue – teacher capacity
Reference framework for teacher standards
Partnership across the region
Drawing on best international practice
Attention to dissemination
Inclusive development process
Big Messages for Policy
Build on the past but do not be imprisoned by tradition
Gearing and traction – focus on what matters
If it’s not happening in the classroom, it’s not
happening (Elmore)
Teaching capacity – professional standards
School culture of aspiration, initiative, enquiry and
impact on learning
Leadership focus on people and culture
Policy alignment