Reclaiming our profession:Getting teachers betterRobert CoeNorthern Rocks 2014 Saturday, 7th June Leeds

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Getting teachers better

What does ‘better’ look like? How do we get better? How will we know if we have?

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What does ‘better’ look like?

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If you want to be a better teacher,

Do you know what aspect of your practice you should work to improve?

Do you know what you should do to improve it?

Can you actually do this? How will you know if it has improved?

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(‘should’ = ‘most likely to lead to benefit’)

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Danielson Frameworkhttp://danielsongroup.org/framework/

1. Planning and preparationa. Demonstrating Knowledge of Content

and Pedagogyb. Demonstrating Knowledge of Studentsc. Setting Instructional Outcomesd. Demonstrating Knowledge of

Resourcese. Designing Coherent Instructionf. Designing Student Assessments

2. Classroom environmenta. Creating an Environment of Respect

and Rapportb. Establishing a Culture for Learningc. Managing Classroom Proceduresd. Managing Student Behaviore. Organizing Physical Space

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3. Instructiona. Communicating with Studentsb. Using Questioning and Discussion

Techniquesc. Engaging Students in Learningd. Using Assessment in Instructione. Demonstrating Flexibility and

Responsiveness

4. Professional responsibilitiesa. Reflecting on Teachingb. Maintaining Accurate Recordsc. Communicating with Familiesd. Participating in the Professional

Communitye. Growing and Developing Professionallyf. Showing Professionalism

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Teacher Professional Standardsshould

Be based on best evidence about pedagogy, teacher effectiveness, learning theory

Reflect diversity of teacher needs (one size doesn’t fit all)

Include protocols for demonstrating when they are met that are– Clear and operationalisable– Consistent across different raters, schools, etc– Demonstrably predictive of valued pupil outcomes

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What we want teachers to learn (good pedagogy) may depend on …Different career stages

– Initial– Developing– Expert

Different teaching/leadership roles– Class teacher– Subject leader– Senior leadership

Different teaching aims– Cognitive/intellectual– Affective/emotional– Social– Behavioural

Different subjects– A level history– Early reading– Adult vocational numeracy

Different phases– Early years– Primary– Secondary– FE

Different contexts– Social mix– Attainment levels

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Evidence-based standards for effective teaching? Evidence about relationships between teacher

skills, knowledge & behaviours and ‘effectiveness’ Evidence about what can be changed (and how) Based on ‘best’ theories of

– Pupil learning– Pedagogy & teaching effectiveness– Behaviour change (individual, institutional, systemic)

Most important: does focusing on these things lead to improvement?

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Impact vs cost

Cost per pupil

Effec

t Size

(mon

ths g

ain)

£00

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£1000

Meta-cognitive

Peer tutoringEarly Years1-1 tuitionHomework

(Secondary)

Mentoring

Summer schools After

school

AspirationsPerformance pay

Teaching assistants

Smaller classes

Ability grouping

Most promising for raising attainment

May be worth it

Small effects /

high cost

Feedback

Phonics

Homework (Primary)

CollaborativeSmall gp

tuition Parental involvement

Individualised learning

ICT

Behaviour

Social

www.educationendowmentfoundation.org.uk/toolkit

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Knowledge of research

A. A one-to-one numeracy intervention (two 15-minute sessions per week, delivered by teaching assistants) for Year 2-6 pupils who are struggling with numeracy (outcome: maths)

B. Nine weekly one-hour sessions where Y7 pupils below L4 read and discuss an age-appropriate book, with tools and resources to encourage reading for pleasure (outcome: reading)

C. A four-week summer school programme (between Y6 & 7) for pupils who had been predicted to achieve KS2 below Level 4b in English, focussed on poetry and writing (outcome: writing).

D. Y6 & 7 teachers trained to deliver a programme to help low attaining pupils plan, monitor and evaluate their writing using memorable experiences, eg trips and visitors (outcome: writing).

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Put these in order of effectiveness:

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Learning theory

In what ways does understanding depend on knowledge? In what ways does knowledge depend on understanding?

Give an example of a common misunderstanding of a key concept you have taught. How might you address it?

How can teachers make it most likely that students will remember what they have learnt?

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How do we get better?

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Broader argument Teacher quality is what matters We need to focus on teacher learning Teachers learn just like other people

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– Get good information about where they are at– Give good feedback

Cultural changes are required to – Help teachers learn from each other– Give teachers ownership of their learning

– Be clear what you want them to learn

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Five Strategies of Formative Assessment(Wiliam 2011 Embedded formative assessment)

Clarifying, sharing and understanding learning intentions and success criteria

Engineering effective classroom discussions, activities and learning tasks that elicit evidence of learning

Providing feedback that moves learners forward Activating learners as instructional resources for each

other Activating learners as the owners of their own

learning

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Clarifying, sharing and understanding learning intentions and success criteria

Attempts to describe these are either– Too broad to be well-defined – Too narrow to capture real learning

Must be operationalised with – Examples of behaviours that do / do not exemplify– Specific “tasks that elicit evidence of learning”

Therefore need to assess teacher learning– Does not imply evaluation/ranking/consequences

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How do we get students to learn hard things?

Eg Place value Persuasive

writing Music

composition Balancing

chemical equations

• Explain what they should do• Demonstrate it• Get them to do it (with

gradually reducing support)• Provide feedback • Get them to practise until it is

secure• Assess their skill/

understanding

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How do we get teachers to learn hard things?

Eg Using formative

assessment Assertive

discipline How to teach

algebra

• Explain what they should do

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Intense: at least 30 contact hours, preferably 50+ Sustained: over at least two terms Content focused: on teachers’ knowledge of

subject content & how students learn it Active: opportunities to try it out & discuss Supported: external feedback and networks to

improve and sustain Evidence based: promotes strategies supported

by robust evaluation evidence

What CPD helps learners?

Do you do this?

How will we know if we have?

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Why monitor teaching quality? Strong evidence of (potential) benefit from

– Performance feedback (Coe, 2002)– Target setting (Locke & Latham, 2006)– Intelligent accountability (Wiliam 2010)

Individual teachers matter most Everyone can improve Teachers stop improving after 3-5 years Judging real quality/effectiveness is very hard

– Multidimensional– Not easily visible– Confounded

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Monitoring the quality of teaching Progress in assessments

– Quality of assessment matters (cem.org/blog)– Regular, high quality assessment across curriculum (InCAS, INSIGHT)

Classroom observation– Much harder than you think! (cem.org/blog)– Multiple observations/ers, trained and QA’d

Student ratings– Extremely valuable, if done properly (http://

www.cem.org/latest/student-evaluation-of-teaching-can-it-raise-attainment-in-secondary-schools)

Other– Parent ratings feedback– Student work scrutiny– Colleague perceptions (360)– Self assessment– Pedagogical content knowledge

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Teacher Assessment How do you know that it has captured

understanding of key concepts?– vs ‘check-list’ (eg ‘;’=L5, 3 tenses=L7)

How do you know standards are comparable?– Across teachers, schools, subjects– Is progress good?

How have you resolved tensions from teacher judgments being used to judge teachers?

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School ‘improvement’ often isn’t School would have improved anyway

– Volunteers/enthusiasts improve: misattributed to intervention– Chance variation (esp. if start low)

Poor outcome measures– Perceptions of those who worked hard at it– No robust assessment of pupil learning

Poor evaluation designs– Weak evaluations more likely to show positive results – Improved intake mistaken for impact of intervention

Selective reporting– Dredging for anything positive (within a study)– Only success is publicised

(Coe, 2009, 2013)

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Clear, well defined, replicable intervention

Good assessment of appropriate outcomes

Well-matched comparison group

EEF DIY

Evaluatio

n Guide

Key elements of good evaluation

What could

you evaluate?

Summary …

1. Teacher ‘quality’ needs to be evidence-based

2. Focus on characteristics that help us improve

3. Teachers learn the same way as other people

4. Monitoring and evaluation are important, but hard

Robert.Coe@cem.dur.ac.uk

www.cem.org

@ProfCoe