the research problem

Research Proposal X7826 [PR960]

The Scottish Experience of Learning Rounds.

•

Understanding the means by which Learning Rounds as a collaborative

activity can influence teacher professional learning.

The system of classroom observation known as Learning Rounds is a form of

collaborative continuous professional development (CPD) which is gaining

popularity in schools in Scotland. The system emerged after a visit by Richard

Elmore to Scotland as part of the Government – funded Thought-Leaders’

Programme, 2005-2008 during which he described the process of CPD for

teachers through professional learning networks, known as instructional rounds

networks in the US. This process was honed and adapted, and through the

leadership and facilitation of the National CPD team, with the support of the

Scottish Government, it evolved into Learning Rounds in Scotland.

As the Learning Rounds Toolkit ( 2010) explains:

Learning Rounds is a new kind of collaborative professional learning. It

involves teams of staff observing and learning about and from teaching

practice across the school. Observers create a base of evidence describing

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what they have seen. There are no evaluative comments or value-laden

points. The team then discusses how they, their school or authority will use

the data to bring about improvement for learners.

This evidence-based process leads to a continuous development of practice

at personal, school and authority level. Staff learn together and both those

observed and those observing develop and deepen their understanding of

how to improve learning. The process creates descriptive evidence that can

generate effective change across a school or authority.

Although certain conditions must be in place and protocols followed in

Learning Rounds, the process is essentially a straightforward one, and the

claims made by it are bold. Through this process it is claimed that collegial

practice will develop and that Learning Rounds…”can deliver high quality,

sustainable improvements in the learning experiences of pupils in a range of

contexts.” (Learning Rounds Toolkit 2010).

This study will aim to investigate these claims and evaluate the ways in which

Learning Rounds influence and impact upon teachers’ professional learning.

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The Policy Context

An increasingly sharper focus on teachers’ continuous professional development

(CPD) activities has come about over recent years, especially since The McCrone

Agreement; A Teaching Profession for the 21st Century (TP21). The TP21 agreement

may well be mostly associated with a significant salary increase along with a

simplified career and salary structure, and formalisation of entitlement to non-class

contact time across all sectors. However, one strand of the McCrone Agreement

(Scottish Executive Education Department, 2001) also addressed issues under the

heading ‘professional development’. This included the recognition of CPD as a

professional entitlement, with 35 hours of CPD per annum built into teachers’

contracts, and the expectation that every teacher would maintain a professional

development portfolio (Fraser, et al., 2007). The notion of CPD as an entitlement,

and part of the teachers’ contractual obligation was a new concept, and heralded a

new era whereby unlike in previous times, where CPD did not feature as part of the

contractual arrangements of teaching, the entitlement to, or reponsibility for CPD,

became part of the teachers’ role. Since the introduction of this CPD entitlement,

there is anecodotal evidence to suggest a move away from a limited

understanding of CPD as set pieces (Donaldson 2011) or limited to courses

teachers attend, towards a deeper understanding of enhanced professionalism.

There is still a continued need, however, to encourage deeper understanding of

complexities of CPD amongst the profession, the range of opportunities which can

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be defined by this term, and the impact of CPD activities on the learning

experiences of students.

Presently, in 2011 these arrangements are due to be re-examined under the Review

of Teacher Employment in Scotland Committee, led by Professor Gerry McCormac.

Its call for evidence suggests that ideas and understandings of professionalism and

CPD, the value of the 35 hour entitlement, as well as more administrative concerns

will be scrutinised as part of this review.

Alongside this, the entirety of teacher education in Scotland has recently been

reviewed and reported on in the form of the Teaching Scotland’s Future report,

authored by Graham Donaldson (2011), formerly of HMIE. This report looked

extensively at the continuum of teacher education, including both pre-service and

in-service stages And with an eye on building capacity among teachers and

improving the learning of the young people of Scotland (Donaldson; 2011), a wide-

ranging set of 50 recommendations has been offered, most of which are

underpinned by the theme of career-long teacher capacity building. Interestingly, all

of the reports’ recommendations have been accepted by the Scottish Government,

in whole, in part or in principle. Specific reference to Learning Rounds in the

context of “hub schools” (Donaldson: 2011, pg112) as sites of partnership

collaborations involving teachers, researchers, teacher educators and students,

suggests that the Learning Rounds model has potential to influence the thinking

around possible implementation of some of these recommendations.

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Additionally, Learning Rounds in the context of Donaldson’s recommendation 33,

which states that CPD activities should be shifting from set-piece events to more

local, team based approaches, which centre around self evaluation and professional

collaboration (Donaldson, 2011), appear to assume a certain significance. When

pitched alongside ever-tightening financial constraints which are presently throttling

school expenditure on CPD, a practice such as this could neatly be seen to fufill a

development need for teachers, whilst also responding to current policy imperatives,

as above. The issues to be explored in the course of this study intend to shed

some light on what the value of these activities would be in terms of teacher

professional development, and the convergence of these reports provides a timely

backdrop for this or any examination of teacher CPD or professional learning

experience currently taking place.

Key Issues and the research problem

A closer examination of collaborative CPD; what the literature says; practitioner

understanding of collaborative CPD and the conditions necessary for it to occur.

In recent years, it would appear that the term collaborative practice has become

part of the everyday lexicon of educators in Scotland, and possibly beyond. In

addition, professional learning communities or practitioner networks are becoming

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increasingly common across the teaching profession to the extent that …you can’t

turn around in a school ….. with any kind of improvement agenda without bumping

into some kind of network. Some are effective, but some are merely repackaged

dysfunctional meetings which fail because they are disconnected from instructional

improvement (City et al, 2009).

This raises questions of the quality and effectiveness of such practice, and also,

what actually happens inside these communities? Under the rubric of managing

change and teacher capacity, Fullan (2007) makes an argument for learning

communities advancing and supporting the process of personal development in a

social context, and pitches this development against the opposing concept of

isolationism. This is not an unqualified argument, however. While explaining how the

process of creating and nurturing purposeful learning communities is capable of a

reculturing of the profession (Fullan, 2007), Fullan also draws on McLaughlin &

Talbert, 2001 (in Fullan, 2007) and highlights the dangers of collaborative activities

and communities which reinforce bad or ineffective practice. This is an issue that

needs to be considered in relation to Learning Rounds.

Referring to what teachers actually achieve or do as a result of participation in

groups such as these has been described as being locked inside a “black box”

(Little, in Nelson and Slavit; 2007). A detailed analysis of the dynamics at work

inside professional learning communities was undertaken by Nelson and Slavit

(2007). The actual study examined five PLCs working through a collaborative inquiry

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process which, similar to Learning Rounds, has the focus on teachers and their

learning as the agents of change, and the process itself as the innovation rather

than an end to be achieved. Their conclusions resonate with much of what is

claimed by Learning Rounds, while also highlighting some potential challenges this

model faces. Through observing the process of participation in these communities

of inquiry, the authors identified values-based trusting and respectful professional

relationships as crucial to progress, and saw that…..

most of these teachers had little experience with looking closely at student work

or other forms of classroom data…. We saw them struggle to make explicit their

tacit beliefs about teaching and learning; to co-construct a vision for high-quality

mathematics or science teaching, to recognize gaps between the vision and the

reality of any given classroom and to critically examine the impacts on student

learning (Nelson and Slavit, p37, 2007).

Although this suggests that aspects of Learning Rounds do seem to correspond to

the theoretical framework established in this study, it also raises issues around

necessary underlying conditions and challenges encountered in collaborative CPD.

In more recent studies (such as Kennedy, 2011) the characteristics of collaborative

and individual forms of CPD have been investigated and analysed through a series

of theoretical lenses and frameworks which cast an interesting light on the subject.

Kennedy (2011) found collaborative CPD was shown to have much more impact on

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teaching and learning than individualised forms of CPD, and was also shown to

encourage teacher commitment and ownership of CPD. This study highlights a need

for a common understanding of collaborative CPD which takes into account its role,

purpose, value and shape (Kennedy 2011), but that the formal/informal dichotomy

also has an influence on teacher understanding and opinions of CPD.

Kennedy (2011) also points out that even with teacher understanding of these

issues, and with enabling factors in place, there is a systemic bias towards

individualised, more formal types of CPD which is underpinned by both policy and

standard-based frameworks, and which is at odds with the current vogue-ish

emphasis on collaborative practice, as mentioned above. This frames the Learning

Rounds model in an interesting, and possibly unique space: here is a practice which

does respond to elements of current policy imperatives, and which is both formal

(i.e systematic and planned; can possibly be linked to school improvement) and

collaborative. Does this model then which as demonstrated, relates to the broad

literature on the subject of collaborative practice in CPD, offer us a valid, theory –

based and workable way forward within this domain?

Key questions

In order to address this problem, this study will seek to answer questions relating

to the strategic issue of understanding the means by which Learning Rounds as

a collaborative activity can influence teacher professional learning. The key

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questions to be addressed will draw on the existing literature, documentation

and practitioner testimony.

1.What is the nature of collaborative CPD?

This key question will serve to attempt to arrive at an understanding of how

practitioners relate to and understand the nature of collaborative CPD. There is

also a need to examine what exactly the benefits of collaborative CPD are, and

understand if these benefits relate only to teachers as individuals or are there

collective benefits to be derived? If so what might they be and how are they

evidenced? And crucially, it will be necessary to understand they ways in which

any benefits evidenced relate to teacher practice.

Barriers to collaborative CPD and also to the implementation of Learning Rounds

will need to be examined, as will the nature, interaction and overlap between

Learning Rounds, collaborative CPD and any reported benefits to practitioner

professional learning.

2. What are Learning Rounds and how have they been understood and implemented?

A worm’s eye view of what Learning Rounds actually are, what they look like in

practice and how they have been understood and implemented by practitioners

in schools will be necessary to frame the study. An analysis of the resources

and processes involved in Learning Rounds and how they relate to existing,

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relevant research will underpin this. Any pre-requisite underlying conditions will

be identified and explained and the study will seek to locate the practice within

the current policy context. Potential barriers to implementation and inhibiting

factors will also be explored.

3. What outcomes would serve as indicators of success in Learning Rounds?

If the question as to whether Learning Rounds offer a valid, workable model of

collaborative CPD is to be posed, some further questions on the model’s perceived

value in practice must also be asked. The factors which enable and inhibit

successful learning rounds in theory and in practice will be examined as will the

exact nature of participants’ professional learning that may take place. The value

attributed to their learning as related to the process will also be examined and

empirical evidence related to these themes will be gathered. As a CPD activity, an

appraisal of the impact on student learning as an ultimate success indicator will

also be required.

Research methodology

Learning Rounds is a bounded system which is school- based and a specific,

complex, functioning thing (Stake, 1995).These characteristics invite an emphasis on

holistic treatment of phenomena (Stake, 1995) which is an appropriate approach to

a research problem such as this. Learning Rounds therefore lend themselves neatly

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to case-study research, and the problem posed invited a detailed analysis of a

complex, bounded and functioning system. This study will work within a qualitative

design, with an inductive orientation as a multiple intrinsic case study.

Multiple sites of research into Learning Rounds have been identified. One is a local

authority who could be seen as early adopters of the model, and another is a local

authority which is new to the practice but is keen to try it out. A multiple case

study approach will give a broader view of the process from both inexperienced and

veteran perspectives. Within each of these authorities one school will be identified

where the research will take place. Local authority co-ordinating staff will be

regarded as key informants in this process and will be interviewed. Participants at

school level will be identified on a voluntary - sampling basis. The number of

practitioners typically taking part in a Learning Round is 6. This number includes

the facilitator. It is envisaged that within each site of research, a maximum of two

examples of the process in action will be analysed.

The methods used to gather evidence in this study will be mixed and will include:

1. Observations of Learning Rounds in practice. Non–participative observations

will be carried out in order to address question 2 above. Key elements of

the Learning Rounds process lend themselves to observations, namely the

initial planning discussion prior to the Learning Round observation, and the

post- (Learning Round) observation discussion. The research observations will

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be recorded and transcribed where appropriate. Emerging themes will be

coded and collated for further analysis.

2. Semi- structured interviews. Interviews will be carried out with key informants

i.e local authority staff, school-based learning round facilitators, and key

members of the national CPD team. A sample of the estimated 24

participating school-based practitioners will also be interviewed. A small

sample of learners in the non - experienced local authority school will also

be interviewed to seek their views on any impact Learning Rounds may have

had on their learning experience. The interviews will be carried out on a one

to one basis and will be semi-structured in order to allow for the

emergence of themes or ideas which may not have been anticipated. The

interviews will seek to drill into practitioner understandings of the nature of

collaborative CPD and provide the data to address the issues raised in

question one. The interviews will again be recorded and transcribed. A

thematic analysis of the interviews will be carried out.

3. Relevant document analysis. Any evaluative reports which have been written

and key documentation such as “The Learning Rounds Toolkit” will be

critically analysed. Evaluative reports will relate only to the participating local

authority which has had previous experience of Learning Rounds.

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Potential limitations

There are some considerable limitations to this study. Learning Rounds operate

on a system of voluntary participation, and this may have some influence on

participants disposition towards the process, since as volunteers they will be

more likely to have a positive disposition rather than a negative one, which

could create bias. As a practitioner working in the domain of CPD I must also

take account of my own epistemological perspective which will inevitably have

some sort of bearing on what is produced. The proximity of the study to my

area of work is also something to be considered as an influencing factor. Lastly,

my own relative inexperience as a researcher means that I do not have a full

understanding of the scale or the scope of the task ahead, which could also

have implications for the study.

Dissemination

These findings will form the basis of a report which will be made publically

available via the National CPD team or its successor. It is hoped that the report

will be useful to practitioners interested in engaging with the Learning Rounds

process. It will be shared in the national Learning Rounds online community on

Glow, the national intranet for education in Scotland. As a collegiately active

online practitioner, I will also publish the report on my personal blog. Local

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authorities, schools and participating practitioners and learners will be

anonymised in the report.

Bibliography

City, Elizabeth A, Elmore, Richard F, Fiarman, Sarah E and Teitel, Lee. (2009).

Instructional Rounds in Education: A Network Approach to Improving Teaching

and Learning. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.

Donaldson, G. (2011). Teaching Scotland's Future: A Review of Teacher Education in

Scotland. Edinburgh: The Scottish Government.

Fraser, Christine , Kennedy, Aileen , Reid, Lesley and Mckinney, Stephen(2007).

Teachers' continuing professional development: contested concepts,

understandings and models. Professional Development in Education, 153-169.

Fullan, M. (2007). The New Meaning of Educational Change. New York: Teachers'

College Press.

Loraine Blaxter, Christina Hughes, Malcolm Tight. (2010). How to Research Forth

Edition. Maidenhead, UK: Open University Press.

National CPD Team. (2010). Learning Rounds Toolkit. Retrieved January 9/01/11,

2011, from National CPD Team Blog:

http://www.ltscotland.org.uk/cpdfind/searchcpd/oppdetails.asp?inst=5349

Nelson, Tamara Holmlund and Slavit, David. (2007). Collaborative inquiry among

science and mathematics teachers in the USA: professional learning

experiences through cross-grade, cross-discipline dialogue. Professional

Development in Education, 23-39.

Stake, R. E. (1995). The Art of Case Study Research. Thousand Oaks: Sage

Publications Inc.