Transcript Exploring Assessment for Learning

Learning-focused
relationships
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Background
At the heart of assessment for learning is the idea,
supported by evidence, that students who truly understand
and are involved in their learning have accelerated rates of
achievement.
In order for students to have this participation in their
learning, a genuine learning-focused relationship must exist
in the classroom.
Creating a learning-focused relationship aligns with the intent
of the New Zealand curriculum, to create competent, selfmotivated and involved citizens.
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Challenge
All teachers and leaders would like to think they have
learning-focused relationships with their students or staff.
Part of the challenge for teachers and leaders is to review
whether what they think characterises their classroom
matches how the students experience it.
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You can use this presentation to:
• update, review and/or reflect on the learning focus in
your classrooms and school
• use as a resource for exploring professional
development in creating learning-focused relationships
• clarify the purpose and value of establishing learningfocused relationships
• identify strategies that improve the quality of learning
relationships
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What is a learning- focused relationship?
• A relationship which has its primary focus on learning
• A relationship which is based on mutual respect, and an
expectation that students can and should have
ownership of their learning if the teacher shows them
how
• A relationship in which teachers and students have a
shared language around learning. Transparency means
there is no guessing for students
• A relationship in which there is shared understanding of
teacher role and student role in learning and the
opportunity to negotiate this
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Why is it so important?
Students who experience a learning-focused
classroom:
• are active in their learning
• are motivated in their learning
• seek descriptive feedback
• can test and reflect on their learning
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Michael Absolum: Clarity in the Classroom (2006)
‘Learning-focused relationships are about using
the considerable potential in the relationship
between teacher and student to maximise the
student’s engagement with learning; about
enabling the student to play a meaningful role in
deciding what to learn and how to learn it; and
about enabling the student to become a
confident, resilient, active, self-regulating
learner.’
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What gets focused on, flourishes
We want learning to flourish.
It will not flourish if the teacher focuses primarily on:
• Controlling students
• Caring for students
• Providing tasks and activities designed only to hook
the students in, tasks they enjoy but do not
necessarily learn from
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• Have a look at these ways of operating in the
classroom on the following three slides:
controlling, caring and providing activities
• All are essential for the effective operation of a
classroom but, when allowed to dominate, are not
conducive to creating students who are in control of
their learning.
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The controlling relationship
• Focused on compliance
• Behaviour is a central theme
• Reward systems around behaviour are
prominent
• Often ‘guessing what is in the teachers head’
• A lot of messages are given about what’s
important, and they’re not necessarily ‘bad’,
but learning and self regulation of learning
may not be a part of them.
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The caring relationship
• Focused on feelings, self esteem
• Makes concessions for students’ background,
socio-economic status, etc.
• Feeling good and being liked are central
themes
• It is important to address affective issues for
students to be able to learn, but they should
be addressed in the context of the bigger
picture of learning.
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The activity-focused relationship
• Focus on ‘doing’
• Central messages about quantity, working
hard, getting finished
• Focus on finding activities that will engage
the students
• Students can learn, but by accident rather
than by design – the scattergun approach.
The intended learning from the activities is
often unclear, to teacher and students.
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What do your students think?
How do you know what sort of relationship you’ve got in
your classroom?
Try asking your students. Or have someone else ask them.
– What does your teacher say about learning? What messages are
given? (For example, it’s okay to make mistakes.)
– What messages do you get at assembly?
– Who decides what you’re going to learn each day?
– Do you have a chance to make decisions about your learning?
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Reflection on relationships
Reflect on the relationship between you and
your students
• What are the main messages I have
communicated to my students?
• How have I developed these messages with
my students?
• What impact has this had on my students?
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A culturally responsive pedagogy of relations
Adapted from Te Kotahitanga
Teachers should:
• care for students as culturally located individuals
• have high expectations of the learning for students
• manage their classrooms so as to promote learning
• engage in a range of learning interactions with students or
help students to engage with others in these ways
• know a range of strategies that can facilitate learning
• promote, monitor and reflect upon learning outcomes that
in turn lead to improvements in student achievement and
share this knowledge with the students.
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There are deliberate ways by which you can develop
a learning-focused relationship in your classroom.
The following ideas are catalysts for both teachers
and students:
•to think about what it means to be a learner
•to think about the different roles they have
within the learning process.
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• Brainstorm ‘what is learning?’ and ‘what does
it mean to be a learner?’
This can be a class or group activity.
• Read together what the dictionary and
thesaurus have to say about learning.
Write down and display the definition and the
synonyms for learning.
• Write individual definitions of what learning means.
Combine into a class definition, to be displayed.
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Discuss and display on a chart:
• What learning might look like, sound like
and feel like
• Any issues or concerns about partnership and student
engagement; for example, working together as a team.
• What might get in the way of your students’ learning?
What are their fears about learning? How might they
overcome their fears, and help others overcome their
fears.
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To enhance the learning partnership
• Insist on an atmosphere of trust and challenge in the
classroom in which students are not afraid or
embarrassed to be confused or ‘wrong’. Ask the
students to monitor this.
• Consider ways for students to help plan units of
work, and to plan assessments.
• Ask the students to help design the seating plan in
the room. Ask them to decide which would be the
best place for them to sit to enhance their learning.
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For many more ideas on establishing learningfocused relationships in your classroom,
download the document:
Ideas for creating an assessment-focused relationship
from the TKI Assessment Online website.
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References and readings
Absolum, M. (2006). Clarity in the classroom. Auckland: Hodder
Education.
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