realising the potential of professional learning and enquiry in fe dr bronwen maxwell

Realising the potential of professional learning and enquiry in FE

Dr Bronwen Maxwell

Realising the potential of professional learning and enquiry in FE

Learning in the FE workplace

Effective CPD/ CPD in FE

Professional enquiry as PL

What needs to happen

A bit of background and an apology!

1. Learning in the FE workplace

FE context for learning

Considerable variation between work places in the extent to which they support learning

Some evidence that workplace conditions inhibit the learning and development of FE teachers at all stages of their careers

Major changes within FE• structural and

governance reforms• reduced teaching

staff• funding constraints

Evidence-base

• Literature reviews– in-service FE and Skills trainee teachers work-based learning

research (Maxwell, 2014)– mentoring in FE (Duckworth and Maxwell, 2015)– CPD of FE teachers (Hobson, Maxwell et al., 2015)

• Empirical– longitudinal study of the development of in-service trainee -

surveys and 6 trainee case studies (Maxwell, 2010 and 2010b) – mentoring in FE (England) - national survey and 40 stakeholder

interviews (Hobson, Maxwell et al., 2015)– knowledge resources trainees draw on in their everyday

practices - interview study (Maxwell, 2010)

Conceptualising FE teacher workplace learning

knowledge is fluid and subject to continual reconstruction

learning is contextually situated

learning occurs through social interactions

through participation individuals:

'shape and transform both themselves and the ...

environments within which they work' (Lee et al., 2004:9)

'Emerging paradigm of learning' (Hager, 2004)

Relational interdependence (Billett, 2008)

Affordances for learning

i.e. the opportunities a workplace offers for participation in activities and interactions

How individuals choose to

participate in the affordances for

learning

Findings: individual factors

Prior experiences as a learner, vocational experiences and identity, life experiences.• 'So they’re kind of experienced teachers, but I feel that I’ve got

more industry experience so they can’t really tell me how to teach.'

Orientation to career, position and status in the workplace.

Ambivalence towards theory.

Findings: individual factors

Allying to the 'FE story' -accepting there is little their organisation can do to support them.

• ‘Interviewees spoke of how there was very little their colleges could do to improve matters due to the daily pressures to put teachers in front of students, inadequate funding to recruit extra teachers, and the general problems faced by their managers’ (Lucas and Unwin 2009, 429)

Felt obligation to be a productive worker rather than trainee.

Focus on paperwork rather than pedagogy

Two crucial workplace affordances for learning

SupportFormal support • variable quality• limited availability beyond

ITE and targeted on weak performance

• judgemental

Informal support• evidence of supportive

informal relationships• access issue for some

Experience of teaching

• interaction with learners • experimentation/'trial and

error'• (limited) use of reflection

and theoretical toolsBUT:Many trainees only have a limited range of teaching experiences

Workplace characteristics that influence possibilities for workplace learning

College and departmental/ team culture

•

Organisational strategies, processes and structures

Allocation and structuring of work

Realising the potential of trainees' workplace learning

What does an effective workplace learning for environment trainee teachers look like?

• SEE TABLE 1

How can such an environment be created?

• SEE TABLE 2

2. Effective CPD / CPD in FE

Effective professional learning: evidence from international reviews

Lasting change requires substantial professional development

Relevance matters

No single type of activity -or combination- is universally effective or crucial – but it is crucial that there is a logical thread between components.

Opportunities for peer support are important but there is no consensus about effective models of collaboration

Sets out deliberately to develop teachers' meta-cognitive control ....as part of the day job!

(Cordingley, Higgins and Greany et al., 2015)


Give time to engage in longer term programmes and address workload issues

Encourage staff to focus strategically and meaningfully on particular areas of learning and practice over time

Design PD that allows for frequent meaningful engagement and interaction with others


So leaders need to:


To focus on aspirations for students and how they learn/ progress in response to their own learning

Their individual starting points to be recognised

To explore their existing theories, beliefs and practices, and to challenge these


Participants need :

FE teacher professional learning

Variation in extent to which teachers are willing and able to acknowledge and discuss their PD needs.

• I can remember really struggling here actually when I first started with a learner having a really, really difficult time... and thinking “I’m supposed to be good at this. I’d better not say,” and really having a really miserable time of it

• If [it is] a grade 3 college there is often limited support and then staff are out. There is a harshness in the sector that may make teachers less willing to be open.

Willingness to discuss needs was influenced by organisational culture, potential for developing trusting relationships, teacher dispositions and therole and dispositions of those providing support.

(Hobson, Maxwell and Stevens et al. 2015)

FE teacher professional learning

• Continuing pattern of a mix of positive and negative experiences of PLD.

(Hobson, Maxwell and Stevens et al. 2015)

Positive experiences Negative experiences

Approachable colleagues - responsive to requests for support.

Lack of a thorough induction programme.

Opportunities to collaborate and network.

Lack of subject-specific support.*

Support to attend external courses. Not supported to attend courses.

Lack of explicit discussion about pedagogy in organisation.

Senior leadership teams preoccupied with assessing performance’, at the expense of a genuine concern for and investment in teachers' PLD.

3. Collaborative professional enquiry as CPD

Methodology

• Research alongside a national project – 66 teaching school alliances (TSAs) in undertaking collaborative cross-

school R&D projects over two years

• National support programme designed using Harris and Jones's (2011; 2012) 'Connecting Professional Learning' model of collaborative R&D.– facilitative approach– three phases : implementation, innovation and impact phase– professional learning conceptualised as personal enquiry with the end-

point of improving outcomes for pupils (Harris and Jones, 2012). – TSAs were not required to adopt the model.

• Concurrent mixed methods design -dominant qualitative approach– survey of all participants and five case studies (purposive sample)

Key findings: Collaborative R&D

There was notable variation in approaches to collaboration - which impacted on affordances for learning.

Only some teachers engaged with the enquiry.

Variation in the use of evidence and research robustness

Engagement in the process of repeated cycles of innovation and enquiry lead to positive teacher outcomes.

(Maxwell and Greany et al., 2015)

BUT:

Key findings: Collaborative R&D

Few examples of effective knowledge mobilisation

• 'It’s the dissemination of the R&D that is the big problem … giving people the opportunity to share that and people having the time to read it or interact with it in some meaningful way is quite difficult.'

• people who are involved and committed are hooked in through the R&D bit; then when it spreads out,..[others] hear it and say that’s a good idea but they don’t do it in the same way that embeds it as deeply in their psyche or in their pedagogy.'

Necessary contextual conditions included: cultures of collaboration; enabling school policies and processes; committed, skilled leaders; infrastructures to sustain collaborative R&D; and HEI support.

Maxwell and Greany et al., 2015

So what do these findings tell us?

A way forward?Integrated model of PL

R&D and CPD are reciprocally integrated and

mutually supporting.

AND Colleges work to enhance learning cultures and create the conditions

for effective PL.

Emerging evidenceStrong resonances between characteristics of

R&D and evidence on CPD.

BUT significant challenges to implementing R&D.

4. Realising the potential of professional learning and enquiry in FE

Some difficult questions!

• What would a professional learning culture look like in your context?

• What would need to happen for it to be developed/enhanced?

• How will you engage all staff meaningfully?

• How can professional enquiry and other forms of professional learning be effectively integrated?

• How can we collectively develop the research base on professional learning and enquiry in FE?

Keep in touch!

Bronwen Maxwell : Sheffield Institute of Education,Centre for Education and Inclusion [email protected]://www.shu.ac.uk/research/ceir/

mailto:[email protected]

realising the potential of professional learning and enquiry in fe dr bronwen maxwell

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