building capacity for leading curriculum change: a collaborative approach heidi bush acsa biennial...
TRANSCRIPT
Building Capacity for Leading Curriculum Change:
A collaborative approach
Heidi Bush ACSA Biennial Conference Sydney 2011
© 2011 Google
THE CONTEXT
SUPPORTING SCHOOLS IN THE IMPLEMENTATION OF
THE AUSTRALIAN CURRICULUM
• What will schools need for successful implementation of the AC?
• How can schools with diverse needs and contexts be supported effectively?
• How can consistent support be provided to schools across a wide geographic area?
Successful implementation of the AC– Knowledge, understanding and skills for effective use of
a new curriculum– Enhanced pedagogy
Capacity building– Principals as primary leaders of learning– APs as leaders of learning and change agents– Teachers as best practice educators
Second order change– new learning– transformation– sustained
THE AIMS OF OUR APPROACH
CONSULTING PRINCIPALS
2009 • Principals asked to name the support they required
for successful implementation of the AC.• Planning and assessment identified as a common
focus.• A focus on “how” rather than “what” as we
transitioned between curricula.• Transfers across all learning areas – not just a
learning area focus.• What was needed to achieve success with planning
and assessment from a new curriculum?
BUILDING SUCCESS
SOCIAL CAPITAL
BUILDING CAPACITY
LEAN PLANS NO
ISLANDS
BEING ASSERTIVE
ACKNOWLEDGE THE DIP LEARN
THROUGH ACTION
MEASURE SUCCESS
TROUBLESHOOT
A TRI-LEVEL APPROACH
• Important to have everyone “on the same page”.
• The same process and PL was delivered with Principals, Assistant Principals and teachers.– Purposeful Planning and Authentic Assessment
BUILDING CAPACITY
A TRI-LEVEL APPROACH
2010 “Purposeful Planning and Authentic
Assessment” • Three full day PL sessions with APs.• Four full day Principals’ Meeting with half
the day devoted to PL.• Process driven in schools by APs with
Education Officer support. BUILDING CAPACITY
A TRI-LEVEL APPROACH
Starting with existing beliefs and understanding
Highly effective and purposeful planning is evident when …
Authentic assessment is …
BUILDING CAPACITY
BEING ASSERTIVE
A TRI-LEVEL APPROACH
Starting with existing beliefs and understanding
• Planning process vs. recording planning• Not looking at planning templates
BUILDING CAPACITY
BEING ASSERTIVE
STARTING WITH THE END IN MINDESTABLISH THE GOAL
What do we want to achieve in planning and assessment?
THE VISIONWhat will mission accomplished look like?
VISION AND REALITYWhat are the gaps?
TAKING ACTIONHow do we close the gaps?
TROUBLESHOOTING GUIDESPlanning for adjustments.P
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OUR “END IN MIND”OUR GOAL FOR PLANNING AND ASSESSMENT
We are collaboratively planning and assessing from the Australian Curriculum and Good News For Living so that students are able to successfully and actively engage in learning experiences that suit individual needs, levels of understanding and preferred ways of learning.
The key elements of the planning are
• Backward design
• Concept based
• Inquiry focus
• Articulated knowledge, understanding, skills and attitudes/values
Students are assessed prior to, during and following learning experiences and given constructive feedback to enable them to demonstrate the full extent of their understanding and apply learned knowledge and skills in varied situations, particularly real world contexts.
Assessment will be used to inform our ongoing teaching practice in order for students to reach their full potential.
OUR GOAL FOR PLANNING AND ASSESSMENT
We are collaboratively planning and assessing from the Australian Curriculum and Good News For Living so that students are able to successfully and actively engage in learning experiences that suit individual needs, levels of understanding and preferred ways of learning.
The key elements of the planning are
• Backward design
• Concept based
• Inquiry focus
• Articulated knowledge, understanding, skills and attitudes/values
Students are assessed prior to, during and following learning experiences and given constructive feedback to enable them to demonstrate the full extent of their understanding and apply learned knowledge and skills in varied situations, particularly real world contexts.
Assessment will be used to inform our ongoing teaching practice in order for students to reach their full potential.
Schools worked through the process to develop their own goal.
LEAN PLANS
STARTING WITH THE END IN MIND
• Shared goal.• Clarity of purpose.• Backward design.• Knowing what we want to achieve so the
best structures, processes and support can be put in place to accomplish this.
• Language and expectations that are accessible for all – classroom teachers and school leaders.
LEAN PLANS
A REGIONAL FOCUS: Purposeful Planning & Authentic Assessment
• A shared focus across all schools.• Consistent language and PL.• A focus on HOW rather than WHAT.• A network of support across schools and
among educators.• Shared focus with contextualised
implementation.• A shared process for learning and leading
learning.• “Knowing our people” and working together.
SOCIAL CAPITAL
FOCUSED PL
• 2010 Teacher Network Meetings(4) – exploring the Shaping Papers
• Shared process – jigsaw.• Emerging issues identified for future
PL.– Inquiry – Concept-based teaching learning– Inclusion / Differentiation– Teaching for Understanding– Assessment– Planning– Reporting – Digital Technologies– The Kindergarten Program and EYLF
NO ISLANDS
BEING ASSERTIVE
FOCUSED PL
NO ISLANDS
BEING ASSERTIVE
FOCUSED PL
• Emerging issues were discussed at a Principals’ Meeting.
• The second regional focus became collaborative planning.
NO ISLANDS
BEING ASSERTIVE
FOCUSED PL2011
• “Regional Curriculum Meetings for School Leaders”– 10 full day meetings every 3 weeks
• Focus – the PL required to achieve the 2010 regional goal.– focus and structure determined by principals– direction and content of the PL was provided (“you don’t know what you
don’t know”)– follow up at Principals’ Meetings– action planning and accountability
• Ongoing Support– Education Officer– Regional Director– school visits– working with teachers and leadership teams– school-based PL– Curriculum Mapping
NO ISLANDS
BEING ASSERTIVE
LIVING THE GOAL: PURPOSEFUL PLANNING AND AUTHENTIC ASSESSMENT IN ACTION
STAGES OF PROFESSIONAL LEARNINGStage 1: Backward Design
Stage 2: DifferentiationStage 3: AssessmentStage 4: Feedback
Stage 5: Concept-Based Curriculum Stage 6: Inquiry
LIVING THE GOAL: PURPOSEFUL PLANNING AND AUTHENTIC ASSESSMENT IN ACTION
STAGES OF PROFESSIONAL LEARNINGStage 1: Backward Design
Stage 2: DifferentiationStage 3: AssessmentStage 4: Feedback
Stage 5: Concept-Based Curriculum Stage 6: Inquiry
FOCUSED PL 2011
The AC was used as a “vehicle” for the
learning
The AC was used as a “vehicle” for the
learning
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FOCUSED PL 2011
PACED LEARNING
• No “coverage” in the PL– Learning paced according to the learners,
not pre-determined.– Time to apply and embed.– Challenges acknowledge and addressed.
ACKNOWLEDGE THE DIP
APPLYING THE LEARNING
• Learning cannot happen through words alone.
• PL at each Regional Curriculum Meeting for School Leaders included application of learning.– Using the AC to plan– Planning collaboratively– Facilitating planning in teams
• School leaders felt better prepared and competent when participating in teachers’ collaborative planning meetings in their own schools.
• Beyond beliefs to behaviours – LIVE THE BELIEF.
LEARN THROUGH ACTION
MEASURING SUCCESS
• The goal.• Success criteria – the goal in practice (“mission
accomplished”)• Rubrics.• A combination of school leaders describing success
criteria and examples provided (“You don’t know what you don’t know”).
MEASURE SUCCESS
COLLABORATIVE PLANNING
1
Teachers meet regularly to discuss and share ideas for future learning sequences and inquiries. Teachers are open and willing to both share their own planning and accept ideas from others. Examples of resources used in the past or known quality resources are shared with the planning team. Teachers may leave the planning meeting with copies of planning and resources that have been offered and shared by others in the team and all members of the team are clear about the topics to be covered and the time frame for covering these.
2
Teachers meet regularly to plan future learning opportunities and share ideas and resources. Teachers use the curriculum documents and together, share teaching approaches, strategies and activities that have been successful in the past when teaching the content for the year level. As teachers share and discuss ideas, these are recorded by a member of the planning team for distribution to other members of the team. Teachers collaboratively agree on topics to be addressed in order to cover the curriculum content and teachers leave the meeting with a clear long term plan for the areas to be covered and when these will be covered in the classroom, as well as a bank of shared ideas and resources for teaching the agreed topics.
3
Teachers meet regularly to plan learning opportunities for students and discuss student progress. Teachers agree at the beginning of each meeting, the curriculum area/s to be planned and refer to the curriculum documents for these areas during the planning process. Teachers use the curriculum as a starting point for planning and discuss ways of addressing the content and standards and how this may be taught. A member of the team records ideas and planning for later distribution to the team. Teachers work together to plan the focus for a learning sequence, the topic and the activities that will be completed and the order in which they will be sequenced to maximise learning. Teachers agree on the time frame to complete the planned learning sequence in order to cover the curriculum content for the year level. Teachers share additional resources that may be of assistance to other members of the team when implementing the planned learning sequence.
4
Teachers meet regularly to plan the conceptual focus, generative topics, essential questions, expected knowledge, skills, understanding and evidence of this learning. Teachers have an extensive knowledge of curriculum documents for all year levels and plan the above based on these. Teachers discuss the varied nature of the learners they are planning for and enable flexibility in planning of learning sequences to enable individual teachers to plan specifically for readiness, interests and learning profiles of their students and the time needed for learning. Each planning meeting has an agreed to agenda and outcome to be achieved that has been determined prior to the planning meeting. Each meeting begins by discussing previous planning and the learning this has achieved and any misconceptions or issues that may need to be addressed in future planning. Teachers value and respect the input, views and varied levels of experience and expertise within the team and meeting norms are agreed to and revisited at each meeting. Teachers come to planning meetings knowing the agenda and curriculum areas to be planned and bring with them the required curriculum documents. Teachers work together to plan the conceptual focus, generative topics, essential questions, expected knowledge, skills, understanding and evidence of this learning.
TROUBLESHOOTING
• Troubleshooting guides.• Troubleshooting began at the goal-setting
stage.• Potential “speed bumps” identified and
planned for.• Ongoing discussion and troubleshooting of
emerging issues and challenges within schools.
TROUBLESHOOT
THE RESULTS OF THIS APPROACH
• Enhanced capacity among school leaders, particularly APs – confidence to lead and contribute to meetings.
• Consistent PL for teachers and school leaders.• Principals actively and visibly being part of PL alongside
teachers.• Shared knowledge, language and processes for future
networking and collaboration between schools.• Enhanced use of regional office support.• Open discussion and airing of our values and beliefs about
teaching and learning and how these apply in practice. • Enhanced understanding and attitude to the new
curriculum. (“I thought History was going to be really boring to teach but I’m really excited about this.”)
FROM OUR EDUCATORS
• “We’ve looked at the Shaping Papers so I thought, ‘we’ve done this’ but after today I got so much more out of them and we’ll do more of this again back at school.” (a principal)
• “I don’t think we can keep using our text books now after discussing purposeful planning and authentic assessment.” (an assistant principal)
• “This is really exciting. I can’t wait to get into the classroom and do this.” (a classroom teacher)
PRE-EMPTING POST-CONFERENCE
FATIGUE!Take a moment to reflect:
• What do you remember from the session?• Has anything in this workshop connected with
you?• Was anything of particular interest?• How does this sit with your current practice,
thoughts or context?• Is there anything you’re still wondering? Any
questions?
Every collaboration helps you grow
Brian Eno
References
Fullan, M. (2009). Motion Leadership. Moorabin, Victoria: Hawker Brownlow Education.
The National Academy for Academic Leadership. Leadership and Institutional Change. Retrieved September 23, 2011 from http://www.thenationalacademy.org/ready/change.html