16 minute read
Setting the scene for Pymble people: reviewing our professional learning and development program
Kerryl Howarth Director of Professional Learning
INTRODUCTION
In 2022, Pymble is engaging in a process of revising and rebuilding its professional learning and development systems, as the College embarks on a year of creativity in this area, following interruptions caused by the pandemic. Before rebooting systems and practices which worked in 2019, it is important to determine if they still feel like the ‘right fit’, as the College comes to fully understand how teaching and learning, and the nature of work, have altered over the past two years. Working online for extended periods has created a wealth of new knowledge surrounding where and how learning can best occur for staff, as well as for students. As the College and professional organisations, such as the New South Wales Education Standards Authority (NESA), emerge from restrictions which limited teacher access to formal professional learning, there is a great opportunity to be creative and develop a revitalised system that takes advantage of new understandings and current research into professional learning and development.
An essential first step will be to examine and redefine the purpose of professional learning and development at Pymble. “All organizations start with WHY, but only the great ones keep their WHY clear year after year” (Sinek, 2011). Simon Sinek encourages organisations to consider the why of their practice. He argues that it is in building a collective understanding of the “why” that we galvanise teams to a common purpose, through the co-construction of common understanding leading to the development of shared values and beliefs. Connecting us to the “why” creates a sense of belonging and psychological safety and is part of what inspires stakeholders to get on board and take action.
Effective professional learning and development can be defined as structured professional learning that results in change in teacher practice that lead to improvements in student learning outcomes (Darling-Hammond, et al., 2017). Psychological safety, belonging and relational trust are three crucial conditions for the establishment of a collaborative, personalised and impact-informed learning culture. This form of professional learning:
• Is content focused; focusing on discipline or curriculum specific strategies and pedagogy.
• Engages participants in active learning; teachers spend time working with strategies that use authentic artefacts which will provide contextualised learning that is embedded in the daily work of teachers.
• Supports collaboration; creates time and space for teachers to collaborate in job-embedded contexts which lead to the formation of collaborative communities with a culture of collective efficacy.
• Is deeply and personally rooted in teacher self-efficacy, “a belief in one’s capability to organise and execute the courses of action require to produce given attainments” (Bandura 1997, p.3).
• Provides coaching and expert support with a focus on personalisation for teacher need, and the sharing of expertise about content and evidence-based practices.
• Provides structured opportunities for feedback and reflection around growth over time and next steps.
• Is of sustained duration, giving teachers time and space to learn effectively, practice, implement, and reflect upon new strategies that facilitate changes in their practice.
As we take the time to review, rebuild and reimagine our professional learning and development processes and systems, it is important that we take the time to join those great organisations and ask ourselves the fundamental question; what is our ‘why’ for professional learning? In his seminal work, Visible Learning, John Hattie (2008) identified teachers, after the students themselves, as the most important adaptable in school variables that can have an impact on student learning outcomes. The work of McKinsey (2007) and Coe et al. (2014) draw clear connections between the effectiveness of teacher practice and student learning outcomes. The evidence is clear that students placed with highly effective teachers have increased school success. Therefore, systems and practices that successfully scaffold and develop effective teacher practice, when implemented well, can lead directly to improved student learning outcomes.
PROFESSIONAL LEARNING FOR COMPLEX TIMES
The importance of developing effective teacher practice is heightened by the climate and context within which the College operates in 2022. The task of preparing our students for success in a world with increasingly complex social, economic and political contexts requires teachers to go beyond the development of knowledge and skills in the traditional disciplines, to incorporate the development of character and competencies that are required for success in an increasingly volatile and uncertain future (Kali, 2010). If the College is to remain true to its vision to prepare students to change the world, then it has the responsibility to prioritise teacher professional learning and development to ensure teachers have the tools to prepare students for their future, not our past (Schleicher, 2018). Essentially, the knowledge, pedagogy and andragogy (adult learning) that the College chooses as its foci for development will have a significant influence on the ability of staff to deliver on this promise.
Hattie (2018) revised his research to identify teacher collective efficacy as the single greatest in-school variable which impacts student learning outcomes. Collective efficacy is seen as the number one factor effecting student
achievement, with an effect size of 1.57, making it strongly correlated with student achievement. This is supported by the work of Jenni Donahoo, John Hattie and Rachel Eells (2021, p. 43) who show that the beliefs teachers hold about their collective ability to positively impact student learning are ‘strongly and positively associated with student achievement across subject areas and in multiple locations’.
When teachers believe in the power of the collective to make a difference for students, student learning outcomes are increased. Belief on its own, however, is not enough. Teachers’ work needs to be fed by evidence of impact (Donohoo, Hattie and Eells, 2021). In a self- perpetuating cycle, the more teachers working collectively can see the positive impact of their endeavours to improve student learning, the greater their belief will be that they can continue to make a difference in the future.
STUDENT-CENTRED LEARNING DESIGN
Keeping students at the centre is naturally the primary purpose for professional learning and development at Pymble. However, any system must also serve the learning needs of our staff. Pymble, and most importantly, the students, benefit from the richness of expertise and diversity of experience which our staff bring to the College. Alongside the moral imperative to grow the capacity of staff to positively impact the learning outcomes of students, the College also has the responsibility to provide a rich, diverse and differentiated system of professional learning and development that fulfils and sustains career progression across multiple and diverse pathways. There is a clear connection between teacher job satisfaction, teacher wellbeing and student performance (Ortan, Simut and Simut, 2021). Teachers who have high self-efficacy, and who believe they have access to strong career growth and progression, are more likely to deliver high student learning outcomes. Professional learning and development opportunities which allow teachers to grow their practice and pedagogy in a way that delivers positive education outcomes for students, increases their self-efficacy, which in turn, increases teachers’ sense of job satisfaction and wellbeing. Effective collaboration with colleagues, where teachers have agency over collegial grouping, increases job satisfaction, as shared practice and experience works to build self-efficacy at a faster pace. Additionally, high levels of teacher satisfaction is demonstrated by those who have access to career pathways and progression, as well as opportunities to engage in professional learning that grows their career potential.
OUR ‘WHY?’
To answer Simon Sinek, our ‘why?’ is ultimately twofold. Firstly, to develop the skills and expertise of our staff to provide individually and collectively for the best possible student learning outcomes. Secondly, to nurture and develop the careers of our staff, as a key to job satisfaction and wellbeing (Sinek, 2011). After establishing the clarity of why, Sinek (2011) directs us to develop the discipline of the how. Thus, the question unfurls: how is the College ensuring that we fulfil the twofold purposes of professional learning and development?
In 2012, Fullan and Hargreaves wrote about harnessing the power of professional capital to grow the capacity of teachers and schools to make a difference for students. Fullan and Hargreaves introduce three types of capital:
• Human Capital: The talent, ability and skill of the staff within a school. In particular, human capital refers to the subject knowledge, understanding of pedagogy, and teachers’ ability to combine these effectively in the classroom for high impact.
• Social Capital: The multiple ways in which teachers and leaders within a school collaborate to make a difference to student learning in a collegial and supportive culture.
• Decisional Capital: The capability of teachers and leaders to draw on their knowledge and expertise, alongside the knowledge and expertise of their colleagues, to collectively and individually make effective decisions that positively impact student learning. Essentially, this is the ability to put Human Capital and Social
Capital to good use.
In re-imagining the professional learning and development processes and systems at Pymble, it is important to ensure that staff are provided with opportunities to develop and hone their knowledge and expertise. This occurs through processes that nurture personal professional growth over time that are matched to experience and career stage. Additionally, systems and processes will need to prioritise time and space for collaboration around student learning, planning and pedagogy. Embedding structures that facilitate teachers’ learning with and from each other will encourage a culture of self and collective efficacy by increasing the decisional capital of the team.
Everything you say and everything you do has to prove what you believe. A WHY is just a belief. That’s all it is. HOWs are the actions you take to realize that belief. And WHATs are the results of those actions (Sinek, 2011).
Alongside creating a shared understanding of the underlying principles of the professional learning and development culture sits the need to take actions which nurture multiple pathways and processes that honour and respect the varying career stages and talents of our staff. The Pymble 2022 Professional Learning Survey for Academic Staff highlighted three key pathways and focus areas for teachers in their professional development. These were:
• Leadership development pathway for career leaders in Education
• Cross-curriculum learning for best practice in program development
• Professional Learning based on research into cross-school concepts, such as “cultures of thinking” and
First Nations perspectives, for enhancing teaching delivery and practice in the classroom. Many teachers were equally interested in the style of professional learning opportunities, preferring learning that was collaborative, ongoing and personalised to their needs.
Jim Knight (2018) introduces the idea of developing a deep professional learning and development culture, in which teachers are engaged in evidence-based and research-informed professional learning, with success measured by impact on student learning. The key hallmarks of such a culture include coaching, collaboration, co-construction and relational trust. Students are brought to the centre through the inclusion of student voice data as well as student-centred goals.
Less like Surface Level Professional Learning
Teacher-focused goals
Relationship-focused: Prioritises maintaining friendly relationships over challenging conversations in relation to teacher practice
Minor adaptations to practice with no significant or major changes
Superficial reflection and evidencing of change which ends at a set point in time
Prioritises voice of the teacher More Like Deep Professional Learning
Student-focused goals
Improvement-focused: Pivots off robust, evidence-based conversations around teacher practice
Changes assumptions to existing practice. May challenge existing beliefs and values and lead to significant difference for students
Reflective, ongoing, collaborative and evidence-based process that continues until goals are met
The voices of the collective are heard – students, teachers, colleagues etc
Table 1: Principles of Deep Professional Learning and Development (adapted from Knight, 2018)
The College has responsibility for onboarding staff in structures and processes which facilitate deep professional learning and development as a conduit for growing their capacity in meaningful, career-fulfilling ways that cycle back to impact on student learning outcomes. Some of those changes can be embedded into the architecture of the organisation and could include:
• Reimagining meetings and communications, to minimise time spent on administration and event organisation, to maximise time on collaboration and co-construction of key understandings, joint projects and action research
• Ring fencing time for College-wide, collaborative professional learning on staff-only days
• Creating formal coaching relationships, where goals are co-constructed and supported through meaningful, evidencebased conversations around teacher practice.
Others could be formulated into a ‘toolkit’ of actions from which teachers and teams can choose to differentiate their actions according to the needs and goals of the individual, group and/or project. Matching the chosen action to its purpose gives teachers and teams agency to engage in actions that will best support their initial learning, as well as providing structures which scaffold implementation, reflection, and the measurement of impact on student learning. It should also encourage greater creativity and collective efficacy as teachers and teams work in collaboration to design their professional learning journey.
Some of the routines of practice which could be included in the professional learning and development toolkit are outlined in the table below:
Tool
Professional Learning Courses
Tertiary Study/ Long Term Course
Action Research/ Teacher Inquiry
Teacher Inquiry Groups Actions
• Teacher learning from internal and external experts • Online or in person • One-off course or learning over a more extended period, with the opportunity to trial new ideas • Seed new ideas around key concepts such as pedagogy, curriculum and wellbeing
• Teacher learning from experts in specialised fields and applying the learning in an ongoing manner • Indepth learning in specialised fields over extended periods of time
• Teachers conduct research into a question or problem of practice connected to student needs • Teachers follow a cycle of Planning, Action,
Analysis and Conclusion • To build personal or group understanding around effective teaching and learning practices and develop impactful implementation over time
• Small groups of teachers conduct research into a common area of interest connected to identified areas of student need • Teachers structure their learning around an inquiry cycle, measuring their success against impact on student learning outcomes • To build common understanding around effective teaching and learning practices and develop impactful implementation over time, with multiple teachers
Purpose
Tool
Instructional Coaching
Co-Teaching Cycle
Teaching Sprints
Lesson Observations Focus on students
Lesson Observations Focus on teacher Actions
• Adapting the coaching style to match the situation for the intended outcome, e.g. – Facilitative: Coaches encourage teachers to share their ideas openly – Directive: Coach transfers specialised knowledge to the teacher – Dialogical: Coach shares strategies and options for improvements provisionally and helps teachers describe precisely both what it is they want to achieve and how to get there
• A teaching partnership works together to co-plan, co-teach, co-assess and co-reflect on a lesson or series of lessons
• There are three distinct phases:
Prepare, Sprint and Review – Prepare: Teams engage in rich dialogue about their practice and consider relevant research to identify a precise strategy to improve – Sprint: Intentionally practise target strategy over a period of 2 to 4 weeks, adjusting as you go – Review: Engage in explicit review involving the analysis of impact evidence and consideration of how to transfer new pedagogical knowledge and skills into future practice
• Observe teacher identified student or group of students • Understand the impact of a targeted teaching strategy or learning engagement on specific students • Gain feedback on current reality and/or progress to date
• Observe teacher identified element of practice or lesson segment • Understand effectiveness of a teacher identified teaching strategy • Gain feedback on current reality and/or progress to date
Purpose
• Supporting teachers to become the best version of themselves and being committed to continuous and measurable improvement
• Collaboratively practice applying and evaluating the impact of a targeted teaching strategy or lesson structure
• To improve teacher practice in highly specific areas of student learning, in focused, manageable chunks of time
CONCLUDING THOUGHTS
As Pymble engages in the process of revising and rebuilding its professional learning and development practices following the interruptions brought about by COVID-19, the concepts that underpin the idea of professional capital will provide a strong foundation. Systems and processes that grow and nurture the expertise of our staff, while providing them with formal and informal collaborative opportunities to engage in rich, evidence-based conversations about impact on student learning, should lead to an enhanced ability to make the best educational decisions for the students.
Differentiation is key if we are to continue to develop the rich diversity of skills, expertise and experience that our staff contribute to the College. Enabling teachers to exercise agency over choice of learning focus, learning style and collaborative partnerships allows them the space to personalise their learning and development to meet their individual needs. While the College will provide the framework for organisational consistency and coherence, that framework should be have the flexibility to provide for teacher choice, voice and ownership of learning.
Furthermore, providing for the career progression of our staff is vital to maintaining their wellbeing and job satisfaction. Wherever possible, design features must allow for the nonlinear paths that our teachers take in their careers. Supporting this development, be it in the classroom, in leadership or through other means, will have a direct impact on the outcomes for our students. Ultimately, engaging in professional learning and development practices which keep students at the centre, should facilitate a two-fold impact on the College. As the self and collective efficacy of the staff grows, there should be a direct impact on student learning outcomes. Additionally, having nurtured and cared for the career journeys entrusted to its care, Pymble teachers and most importantly, students, should reap the benefits of an increasingly skilled and satisfied academic team.
On the horizon for College staff is an introduction to Pymble People. This is a framework of professional learning and development processes which aims to place learning at the centre of professional life as we educate girls and young women to be influential and compassionate leaders, within and beyond the College. Built on the idea of growing professional capital and underpinned by the concepts of teacher agency, collective efficacy, and career progression, it is hoped that this framework will support our staff to learn together to reach our aspirations and inspire educational excellence.
References
Bandura, A. (1997). Self-efficacy: The exercise of control. New York: Macmillan.
Coe, R., Aloisi, C., Higgins, S., & Major, L. (2014). What makes great teaching? Review of the underpinning research. https://www. suttontrust.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/ What-makes-great-teaching-FINAL-4.11.14-1.pdf. Darling-Hammond, L., Hyler, M. E., & Gardner, M. (2017). Effective teacher professional development. Palo Alto, CA: Learning Policy Institute.
Donohoo J., Hattie J., & Eells, R. The power of collective efficacy. (2021, June 2) ASCD. https://www.ascd.org/el/articles/the-powerof-collective-efficacy Hargreaves, A., & Fullan, M. (2012). Professional capital: Transforming teaching in every school. New York: Teachers College Press. Hattie, J. (2008). Visible Learning. Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge. Hattie, J. A. C., & Zierer, K. (2018). Ten Mindframes for Visible Learning: Teaching for Success. Routledge. Kali, E. (2010). Leading in a VUCA environment: V is for volatility. Harvard Business Review. Retrieved from https://hbr.org/2010/11/ leading-in-a-vuca-environment. Knight, J. (2018). The impact cycle: What instructional coaches should do to foster powerful improvements in teaching. United States: Corwin.
McKinsey (2007). How the world’s bestperforming school systems come out on top. https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/ education/our-insights/how-the-worlds-bestperforming-school-systems-come-out-on-top Ortan, F., Simut, C., & Simut, R. (2021). Self-efficacy, job satisfaction and teacher well-being in the K-12 educational system. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. Vol 3;18(23):12763. https://www.mdpi.com/16604601/18/23/12763.
Schleicher, A. (2018, November 12). Educating students for their future, not our past. Teacher Magazine. https://www.teachermagazine. com/au_en/articles/educating-students-fortheir-future-not-our-past. Sinek, S. (2011). Start with why: How great leaders inspire everyone to take action. New York: Portfolio.
