Transcript No Slide Title

Leading Learning Through
Professional Learning Communities
Dr Louise Stoll
Immediate Past President
International Congress for School
Effectiveness and Improvement (ICSEI)
Visiting Professor
Institute of Education
University of London
[email protected]
Presentation
Ministry of Education, Toronto, Ontario
June 5 2006
Outline
Why are professional learning
communities important right now?
What are they and what difference
do they make?
How can you lead learning through
professional learning communities?
Why are professional learning
communities important and
what difference do they
make?
Futures
Possible futures - things which could
happen, although many are unlikely
Probable futures - things which probably
will happen, unless something is done to
turn events around
Preferable futures - things you prefer to
have happen/you want to plan to happen
Beare (2001)
The four pillars of learning
Learning to know
Learning to do
Learning to live together
Learning to be
UNESCO (1996)
A key change force
‘Child power’: children with increasingly less
regard for school as it lags behind the society it
serves
Papert (1996)
In a fast changing world, if you
can’t learn, unlearn and relearn,
you’re lost. Sustainable and
continuous learning is a given of the
twenty-first century.
If it’s not about learning, what
should it be about?
Stoll, Fink and Earl (2003)
Five Core Values constituting
‘the fundamentals of a proactive and
responsible approach to professionalism’
Learning
Participation
Collaboration
Cooperation
Activism
Sachs (1999)
Capacity
. . . is a complex blend of motivation
skill, positive learning, organisational
conditions and culture, and
infrastructure of support. Put
together, it gives individuals, groups
and, ultimately whole school
communities the power to get
involved in and sustain learning.
Stoll, Stobart et al (2003)
What are professional
learning communities and
what difference do they
make?
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.
Stoll et al (2006)
An effective professional learning
community has an impact on:
 students’ learning process and progress,
attitudes, attendance

individual teachers’ and other
staff’s practice, morale, recruitment and
retention

leadership capacity for learning across the
whole school

a school’s capacity to engage successfully in
networks and partnerships beyond the school
How do you lead
learning through
learning communities?
Three ways leaders handle pressures
of education and change
Coping
Limit selves to managing school
and respond only to directives
from higher sources
Diffusion Aware of new trends and
indiscriminately set goals “Christmas tree schools”
(Bryk et al, 1998)
Goal-focused Select a few reasonable goals,
establish priorities, and ignore or
manage other pressures
Tye (2000)
Capacity building

creating and maintaining
necessary conditions, culture
and structures

facilitating learning and
skill-oriented experiences
and opportunities

ensuring interrelationships and
synergy
Stoll and Bolam (2005)
Growing a
learning
culture
Ensuring
supportive
structures
Being
inclusive and
empowering
Professional
learning
community
Developing
networks,
parterships
and
connections Promoting
enquiry
mindedness
and
innovation
Nurturing
trust and
collaboration
Designing
deep learning
experiences
Louise Stoll (2005)
Questions
What are the first things that catch your eye
when you enter your school? What
messages do they give out?
If you were an anthropologist and you had
to pick three artifacts that represented your
school, what would they be and what do
they represent?
From Stoll, Bolam, McMahon, Thomas, Wallace,
Greenwood and Hawkey (2006)
High
C
H
A
L
L
E
N
G
E
S
Arousal
Flow
Anxiety
Worry
Control
Relaxation
Apathy
Boredom
Low
High
SKILLS
Csikszentmihalyi (1990)
Promoting an Inclusive PLC
Every teacher and nursery officer is a key worker for a
number of children
Every teacher and nursery officer coordinates a curriculum
area
All staff take turns to take notes at meetings
Teachers and support staff are mentors to pupils
Teacher and support staff set learning targets together for
individual pupils
Collaboration sheets help articulate joint work of teachers
and support staff
Support staff train teachers at PD days
Support staff plan curriculum with teachers
Bolam et al (2005)
Distributed leadership
. . . incorporates the activities of
multiple groups of individuals in a
school who work at guiding and
mobilizing staff in the instructional
change process
Spillane et al (2001)
Distributed leadership is collective
responsibility in action
Stoll (2006)
Emotions, trust and respect
It’s essential to have professional trust, respect,
consideration, openness, and to unpick the
words. It’s not ‘touchy feely’. Then you can
inject the challenge to keep the setting moving
forward.
. . . the underpinning . . . one of the key
elements.
. . . There are going to be certain things where
you think ‘I wish I’d done that’. But you learn
from it and at the end of the day, if you have the
respect of the other staff, which we have, we all
learn from each other.
Bolam et al (2006)
The decisive factor is almost
exclusively the “horizontal” trust of
staff among themselves and the
“vertical” trust between management
and staff. Without horizontal trust,
there can be no transfer of
knowledge; without vertical trust, no
willingness to take risks.
Sprenger (2004)
Teachers’ Learning: seven r’s
Rehearsing and Refining
Practising
Trial and error
Researching
Action research
Relating
Reflecting
Dialogue
Reflection in and on action
Peer observation
Becoming assessment literate Mentoring and coaching
Meta-learning
Co-operative group learning
Collaborative planning
Reading
Networking
Study groups
Book clubs
Riskin
Internet
g new strategies
Trying
Seeing pupils as partners in
‘Riting
the learning
Journal writing/diaries
process
Updated from Stoll, Fink and Earl (2003)
Portfolios
Specific features of collaborative
continuing professional development
that might be linked to benefits
External expertise
Observation
Peer support
Teacher ownership
Building on teachers' existing knowledge
Cordingley, Bell, Rundell and Evans (2003)
Deep Learning Questions
Which activities are most powerful in helping to
deepen staff learning and develop their practice?
How do you vary professional learning strategies for
different needs and purposes?
In what ways are you trying to ‘spread’ and extend
the development of deep learning activities?
To what extent are paraprofessional staff and school
council members involved in learning activities?
What are your sources of external support and
expertise to promote deep learning?
Adapted from Stoll, Bolam, McMahon, Thomas, Wallace,
Greenwood and Hawkey (2006)
‘A place of questioning
where you must ask the
question and the answer
questions you’.
Stoll et al (2006)
Leadership in a
Data-Rich World
Develop an Inquiry Habit of Mind
Become Data Literate
Create a Culture of Inquiry
Earl and Katz (2006)
Staff survey
Statements
A %agree
% uncertain
B % important % less imp.
%disagree
% unimportant
There is a shared
whole-school vision of
where the school is going
A
B
37
90
40
8
23
2
High levels of trust and
A
respect exist in this school B
32
93
34
7
34
0
There is effective
communication between
SLT and staff
A
B
40
88
37
8
23
4
Teachers observe each
other teach and give each
Other feedback
A
B
15
41
46
27
39
32
Teachers routinely collect, A
analyse and use data and B
evidence to inform their
practice
27
37
58
36
15
27
From McCall et al (2001)
What helps you to learn in school?
Clear learning objectives and explanations
I like to be clear what I am learning
93% agree
My teachers explain things clearly
63% all/most
Group work
I enjoy working in groups
91% agree
Making learning active and enjoyable
I am really interested in my schoolwork
61% agree
My teachers make learning fun
34% all/most
2164 Year 8 students – Evaluation of Key Stage 3 (Middle Years) Strategy Pilot
in England – Stoll, Stobart et al (2003)
Connecting
learning
communities
District and
national
International
NLCs
NLCs
Interagency
LCs
Local
communities
Within school
PLC
as
LCs
Districts as Policy
PLCs
makers
Wider
community
as
LC
as LCs
Louise Stoll (2005)
Key features of learning networks
Focus
and
purpose
Collaboration
ProfessAccountability
ional
knowledge
creation
and
sharing
Leadership
Relationships
Enquiry
Deep and
sustained
changes
in
practices
and
structures
in schools
Impact
on pupil
learning
and
engagement
and
success
Building
capacity
and
support
Earl and Katz (2005)
Key reasons when networks have a positive impact
on improving teaching, learning and attainment
Specific focus – networks structured around
clearly defined (and narrow) aims
Collaboration – to achieve network breadth and
principal means to achieve in-depth transfer
Ownership of network’s goals and processes –
important for sustaining collaborative activities.
Continuing professional development – principal
means of effecting transfer of knowledge and
practice within networks
CUREE (2006)
Learning Walk
Formulate key question
Introduction & discussion
Lesson observations and presentations
Plenary
Written and verbal feedback
Evaluation
Prudhoe School, adapted from NCSL
Learning from international visits
. . . an understanding of culture and what it was
possible for this to mean in schools. I feel I . . .have
talked glibly about school culture and then
wondered why, within wider communities, our
values and culture have felt isolated. The
integration and respect given to Maori rituals and
culture and the valuing of parents as part of the
process was enlightening and “real”.
English headteacher after visiting New Zealand
Stoll (2005)
Bridging social capital – inclusive
Bonding social capital – exclusive
Gittel and Vidal (1998)
To bridge social capital
requires that we transcend
our social and political and
professional identities to
connect with people unlike
ourselves.
Putnam (2000)
Three types of conversation
Instructional conversation – usually seen in
classroom. Acquiring skill, guidance, knowledge
external to ourselves
Learning conversation – closer to conversation
where mutual growth is end result. Relationship
and task get equal attention
Community conversation – vehicle for people to
express and share diverse views, negotiate and
reaffirm directions and vision and develop social
capital
West-Burnham and Otero (2005)
Structural conditions that support
professional learning community
Time to meet and talk
Use of space
Resources
Communication mechanisms
School development/improvement plans
Professional development coordination
and planning
Staff deployment and hiring policies
Structure Questions
How do you find time and space for
colleagues to reflect, engage in
dialogue, observe other colleagues,
network with other staff and generally
deepen their practice?
How do you make regular time for
your own reflection and
development?
Chinese Bamboo
When you plant it nothing happens
in the first year, nor in the second
year or the third or the fourth years.
You don’t even see a single green
shoot. And yet, in the fifth year, in
a space of just six weeks, the
bamboo will grow 9 feet high. The
question is, did it grow 9 feet in
six weeks or in five years?
Dick (1992)
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.
Bolam et al (2005)
PDFs can be
downloaded from:
http://www.standards.dfes
.gov.uk/innovationunit/collaboration/212752
3/?version=1