for the success of every child!finra/3rdbaltic17th/presentations... · teacher needs to be a ......

For the success of every child!

3rd Baltic Sea Conference on Reading

17th Nordic Reading Conference ,

16.08.2016, Turku

Every Teach For Bulgaria teacher needs to be a

reading teacher

www.zaednovchas.bg FinRA 3rd Baltic Sea-17th Nordic Literacy Conference August 2016

• The context in Bulgaria

• The context in the Teach For Bulgaria classrooms

• TFB first steps in developing reading literacy

• Key learnings

Outline


44th place - PISA 2009

More then 1,5 years of schooling behind the OECD average


Inequity


Key challenges


One day every child in Bulgaria will have quality education, regardless of the school he/she goes to, the town or village he/she resides in or if his/her parents have any financial means or not.

Teach for Bulgaria’s vision


‘Success’

Closing the gap

Time

Pro

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of

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self

-det

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life


Every Teach For Bulgaria Teacher needs to be

a reading teacher!*

*Inspired by Ark Academy in the UK


• Teachers were not engaged with developing literacy in their classrooms

• No signs of improvement of student’s literacy

First struggles


• 2013-2014 : Joint study with researchers from the Centre of Quality of School Education

– 9 TFB 6th grade classrooms

– 9 control classrooms

Trying to find an answer


• 222222

• No significant difference in the beginning and end of year results in both groups

• No significant difference in the student results in the TFB classrooms and the control group

Results from the study Beginning of

the year

End of the year

Number

of schools

Number of students

Average result

SD Average result

SD

TFB classrooms

9 170 509 7 508 7

Control group

9 117 510 9 510 9


• Various groups involving members of the team, teachers, alumni

• Main conclusions

– lack of shared understanding what functional reading literacy is

– no systematic approach towards functional literacy development

– TFB teachers weren’t prepared to develop reading literacy skills in their classes

Reflection


• Teacher led think tanks on reading literacy

• Goals:

– create shared understanding what we mean by functional reading literacy and how it looks in the classroom

– Set learning goals

– Research and share good practices to develop reading literacy in different subject areas

New approach


The new approach

How does the skill

actually look like ?

Why is it important?

Division into

elements Set goals

Tracking progress

Approach adaptation


Results in 2014-2015

*255 students 15 classrooms 5-7 grade


Significant improvement in results for the goal with the lowest score on Diagnostic assessment

Extracts information from tables and charts


• Higher commitment and personal responsibility to develop literacy

• Peer training

• Advocate for functional literacy in every subject area

Results - teachers


Teachers

• Literacy mentors for the new teachers

Students

• Awareness

• Ownership of learning

Stepping further


• video

One classroom example


• Teachers are learning best when:

– their expertise is valued

– engaged in a community of practice

– engaged in inquiry process

• Students learn best when they are:

– aware of the stakes

– owners of their learning

– partners of the teachers in the inquiry process

Key learnings


Thank you!

Maria Sendova

[email protected]

http://zaednovchas.bg/en

mailto:[email protected]



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