Transcript From Evidence to Great Teaching Robert Coe, Durham University ASCL Annual Conference, 20 March 2015

From Evidence to
Great Teaching
Robert Coe, Durham University
ASCL Annual Conference, 20 March 2015
eef toolkit
improving
What
makes
education
great teaching
∂
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The argument
 Successful implementation of evidencebased strategies requires deep
understanding of the evidence
 For most people this ∂requires learning
 Even if you do ‘what works’ it may not work:
always evaluate
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Evidence
Can’t we just bolt it on?
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True or false?
1. Reducing class size is one of the most
effective ways to increase learning [evidence]
2. Differentiation and ‘personalised learning’
resources maximise learning [evidence]
3. Generous praise encourages
learners and
∂
helps them persist with hard tasks [evidence]
4. Technology supports learning by engaging
and motivating learners [evidence]
5. The best way to raise attainment is to
enhance motivation and interest [evidence]
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Effect Size (months gain)
Impact vs cost
www.educationendowmentfoundation.org.uk/toolkit
Most promising for
raising attainment
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May be
worth it
Feedback
Meta-cognitive
Peer tutoring
Homework
(Secondary)
Collaborative
Early Years
1-1 tuition
∂
Behaviour
Small gp
Phonics
Parental
tuition
involvement
ICT
Social
Individualised Summer
schools
learning
Mentoring Teaching
Homework
assistants
(Primary)
Performance
Aspirations
0
Ability
grouping
pay
£0
Cost per pupil
Smaller
classes
After
school
£1000
Small
effects /
high cost
Poor Proxies for Learning
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Students are busy: lots of work is done (especially
written work)
Students are engaged, interested, motivated
Students are getting attention: feedback,
explanations
Classroom is ordered, calm, under control
∂
Curriculum has been ‘covered’
(ie presented to
students in some form)
(At least some) students have supplied correct
answers, even if they
–
–
–
–
Have not really understood them
Could not reproduce them independently
Will have forgotten it by next week (tomorrow?)
Already knew how to do this anyway
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A better proxy for learning?
Learning
happens when
∂
people have to
think hard
What makes
great teaching?
(According to the evidence)
∂
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Dimensions of great teaching
1. (Pedagogical) content knowledge (PCK)
2. Quality of instruction
3. Classroom management / behaviour / control
∂
4. Classroom climate / relationships / expectations
5. Beliefs (theory) about subject, learning & teaching
6. Wider professional elements: collegiality, PD,
stakeholder relationships
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1. We do that already (don’t we?)
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Reviewing previous learning
Setting high expectations
Using higher-order questions
Giving feedback to learners
∂
Having deep subject knowledge
Understanding student misconceptions
Managing time and resources
Building relationships of trust and challenge
Dealing with disruption
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2. Do we always do that?
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Challenging students to identify the reason why an
activity is taking place in the lesson
Asking a large number of questions and checking
the responses of all students
Raising different types of questions (i.e., process
and product) at appropriate
∂ difficulty level
Giving time for students to respond to questions
Spacing-out study or practice on a given topic, with
gaps in between for forgetting
Making students take tests or generate answers,
even before they have been taught the material
Engaging students in weekly and monthly review
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∂
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3. We don’t do that (hopefully)
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Use praise lavishly
Allow learners to discover
key ideas for themselves
Group learners by ability
Encourage re-reading and highlighting to memorise
∂
key ideas
Address issues of confidence and low aspirations
before you try to teach content
Present information to learners in their preferred
learning style
Ensure learners are always active, rather than
listening passively, if you want them to remember
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If we know what it looks
like, can we just do it?
Improving Teaching
 Teacher quality is what matters
 We need to focus on teacher learning
 Teachers learn just∂ like other people
– Be clear what you want them to learn
– Get good information about where
they are at
– Give good feedback
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Just a check-list of techniques?
 No! Great teaching involves
– selecting, integrating, orchestrating, adapting,
monitoring, responding, etc,
 and depends on
∂
– context, history, personalities, relationships, etc,
 But without the skills, a teacher’s choices are
more limited
 Developing these skills & techniques takes
dedicated, extended practice, with feedback
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What CPD benefits students?
 Promotes ‘great teaching’
– PCK, assessment, learning, high expectations,
collective responsibility
– Focuses on student outcomes
 Supported by
– External input: challenge and expertise
∂
– Peer networks: communities
of practice
– School leaders must actively lead
 Builds teacher understanding and skills
– Challenges and engages teachers
– Integrates theory and active skills practice
– Enough learning time (monthly for min 6 months:
30hrs+)
Timperley et al 2007
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When ‘what works’
doesn’t work
The case for evaluation
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Why monitor teaching quality?
 Good evidence of (potential) benefit from
– Performance feedback (Coe, 2002)
– Target setting (Locke & Latham, 2006)
– Accountability (Coe & Sahlgren, 2014)
 Individual teachers matter most
 Teachers typically stop∂improving after 3-5
years
 Everyone can improve
 Assessment is an essential part of learning
(including teacher learning)
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Methods of identifying effectiveness
 classroom observations by peers, principals or
external evaluators
 ‘value-added’ models (assessing gains in
student achievement)
∂
 student ratings
 principal (or headteacher) judgement
 teacher self-reports
 analysis of classroom artefacts and teacher
portfolios
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Do we know a good lesson when
we see one?
∂
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Lesson Observation
1. Two teachers observe the same lesson, one
rates it ‘Inadequate’. What is the probability
the other will agree?
a) 10%
b) 40%
c) 60%
∂
d) 80%
2. An observer judges a lesson ‘Outstanding’.
What is the probability that pupils are really
making sustained, outstanding progress?
a) 5%
b) 30%
c) 50%
d) 70%
www.cem.org/blog
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Beware these traps
 Overconfidence about knowledge of what is
effective
 Focus on teaching rather than learning
 Thinking that we are ∂doing it already
 Overconfidence in assessments (even if
formative) of teaching quality
 Thinking that if we assess teaching we must
attach consequences to that (cf ‘assessment
for learning’)
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Problems with assessment criteria
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If you know what it means, you know what it means
(eg from KS1 Performance Descriptors)
– capital letters for some names of people, places and days of
the week (below)
– capital letters for some proper nouns and for the personal
pronoun ‘I’ (towards)
– capital letters for almost all proper nouns (at)
∂
– correctly punctuated (mastery)
Teaching by numbers (from KS2 2014 guidance)
– a range of openings, e.g. adverbials (some time later, as we
ran, once we had arrived...), subject reference (they, the
boys, our gang...), speech.
– Some variety in subordinating connectives, e.g. because, if,
which
– use of modals to express prediction, possibility, permission,
e.g. should, might, could.
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Bias in Teacher Assessment
(vs standardised tests)
 Systematic bias against
– Pupils with SEN, EAL & FSM
– Pupils with challenging behaviour
∂
 Reinforcing stereotypes
– Eg boys perceived to be better at maths
– ethnic minority / subject combinations
 Pupil/teacher interaction
– Bias against pupils whose personality is different
from the teacher’s
‘Improvement’ often isn’t
 School/college would have improved anyway
– Volunteers/enthusiasts improve: misattributed to intervention
– Chance variation (esp. if start low)
 Poor outcome measures
– Perceptions of those who worked hard at it
– No robust assessment of pupil
∂ learning
 Poor evaluation designs
– Weak evaluations more likely to show positive results
– Improved intake mistaken for impact of intervention
 Selective reporting
– Dredging for anything positive (within a study)
– Only success is publicised
(Coe, 2009, 2013)
Key elements of good evaluation
 Clear, well
defined, replicable
intervention
∂
 Good assessment
of appropriate
outcomes
 Well-matched
comparison group
Simple, huh?
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“After 30 years of doing such work, I have
concluded that classroom teaching…is
perhaps the most complex, most
challenging, and most demanding, subtle,
nuanced, and frightening activity that our
species has ever invented…The only time
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a physician could possibly encounter a
situation of comparable complexity would
be in the emergency room of a hospital
during or after a natural disaster.”
Lee Shulman, The Wisdom of Practice
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