learning-focused relationships

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© New Zealand Ministry of Education 2009 - copying restricted to use by New Zealand education sector.

Learning-focused relationships

www.minedu.govt.nz


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, self-motivated and involved citizens.

Background

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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 learning-focused 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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• 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.

The controlling relationship

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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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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.

There are deliberate ways by which you can develop a learning-focused relationship in your classroom.

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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 learning-focused relationships in your classroom, download the document:

Ideas for creating an assessment-focused relationship

from the TKI Assessment Online website.

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Student

research,

quotes

and

definition

s

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Y-Charts

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References and readings

Absolum, M. (2006). Clarity in the classroom. Auckland: Hodder Education.

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Developing a learning - focused relationship with

your students

This powerpoint is accompanied by suggestions for

creating learning-focused relationships available from

http://assessment.tki.org.nz/Assessment-in-the-classroom/Assessment-for-learning-in-practice/Learning-focused-relationships

learning-focused relationships

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