Teaching and Learning Research Programme Andrew Pollard Institute of Education, University of London, UK Graduate School of Education, University of Bristol,

Teaching and Learning Research Programme

Andrew PollardInstitute of Education, University of London, UK

Graduate School of Education, University of Bristol, UK

Improving Teaching and Learning

ELTDP Symposium, Kuching, 20th February, 2013


1. Contemporary challenges?

2. International evidence

3. Professionalism for the future

4. TLRP

5. Making sense through principles

6. Making sense through conceptual tools

7. Looking to the future?





4. TLRP





Contemporary challenges? Key aimsEducation plays a central role in any country’s pursuit of economic growth and national development.

In today’s global economy, a nation’s success depends fundamentally on the knowledge, skills and competencies of its people. It is no surprise that nations with higher education levels tend to enjoy greater economic prosperity.

Education is also fundamental to nation building and unity. It provides individuals with the opportunity to improve their lives, become successful members of the community and active contributors to national development.

Through interacting with individuals from a range of socio-economic, religious and ethnic backgrounds – and learning to understand, accept and embrace differences – a shared set of experiences and aspirations for Malaysia’s future can be built.

(Malaysia Education Blueprint, 2013-2025, preliminary report)


Contemporary challenges? Present resultsThe results from PISA 2009+ were discouraging, with Malaysia ranking in the bottom third of 74 participating countries, below the international and OECD average.

Almost 60% of the 15-year-old Malaysian students failed to meet the minimum proficiency level in Mathematics, while 44% and 43% did not meet the minimum proficiency levels in Reading and Science respectively.

A difference of 38 points on the PISA scale is equivalent to one year of schooling. A comparison of scores shows that 15-year-olds in Singapore, South Korea, Hong Kong, and Shanghai are performing as though they have had 3 or more years of schooling than 15-year-olds in Malaysia.



Contemporary challenges? New ambitions

Historically, the Malaysian education system, like others around the world, has emphasised the development of strong content knowledge in subjects such as science, mathematics, and language.

There is increasing global recognition that it is no longer enough for a student to leave school with the 3 Rs.

The emphasis is no longer just on the importance of knowledge, but

also on developing higher order thinking skills.



Contemporary challenges? Equitable outcomesAn equally important objective for the system is to ensure that student outcomes are equitable. Unfortunately, to date, the outcomes have been uneven.

States with a higher proportion of rural schools, like Sabah and Sarawak, on average, perform poorer than states with less rural schools.

The gender gap is significant and increasing. Girls consistently outperform girls at every level – with females comprising approximately 70% of the cohort at university level.

The largest equity gaps remain socio-economic in origin. The evidence consistently demonstrates that students from poor families are less likely to perform as well as students from middle-income or high-income homes.



Contemporary challenges? National identityWith many public and private schooling options at the primary and secondary levels, the Malaysian education system provides an unparalleled degree of choice for parents.

Concern has grown over the increasing ethnic homogenisation of schools, and the reduced opportunities for interaction with individuals from wide a range of backgrounds that homogenisation may lead to.

These interactions are important as they help individuals develop a shared set of experiences and aspirations for Malaysia’s future, through which a common national identity and unity are forged.



Contemporary challenges? Investment returnMalaysia’s consistently high levels of expenditure on education have resulted in almost universal access to primary education and significant improvements in access to secondary education. However, there remains room for improvement on the dimensions of quality, equity, and unity.

Malaysia’s performance lags behind other countries that have similar or lower levels of expenditure per student, such as Thailand, Chile, and Armenia. This suggests that the system may not be allocating funds towards the factors that have the highest impact on student outcomes, such as the training and continuous up-skilling of teachers.



Aspirations for Malaysian education by 2020

• Access – 100% enrolment across all levels

• Quality – top third in PISA, TIMMS, etc

• Equity – 50% reduction in achievement gaps

• Unity – shared values, embracing diversity

• Efficiency – maximising outcomes within budget



Contemporary challenges? ImplementationShift 1: Provide equal access to quality education of an international standard

Shift 2: Ensure every child is proficient in Bahasa Malaysia and English Language

Shift 4: Transform teaching into the profession of choice

Shift 5: Ensure high-performing leaders in every school






4. TLRP





Teachers Matter

Research on student learning demonstrates:

1.that most variation is attributable to differences in student abilities and attitudes, and family and community background.

2.that “teacher quality” is the single most important school variable influencing student achievement.

(OECD, 2005)


The quality of an education system cannot exceed the quality of its teachers.

The only way to improve outcomes is to improve instruction.

(McKinsey & Company, 2007)


Some influential international researchBransford, J. (Ed.) (1999) How People Learn. Brain, Mind, Experience and School.

Washington DC: National Academy Press.

Hayes, D., Mills, M., Christie, P. and Linguard, R. (2006) Teachers and Schooling Making a Difference. Sydney: Allen & Unwin.

James, M. and Pollard. A. (2006) Improving Teaching and Learning in Schools. London: TLRP.

Levin, B. (2008) How to Change 5000 Schools. Cambridge Mass.: Harvard

Eduction Press.

Hattie, J. (2009) Visible Learning. A Synthesis of Meta-Analyses Relating to Achievement. London: Routledge.

OECD (2011) The Nature of Learning. Using Research to Inspire Practice. Paris: OECD.

Sahlberg, P. (2012) Finnish Lessons: What the World Can Learn from Educational Change in Finland? Boston: Teachers’ College Press.


OECD (2011) The Nature of Learning.

Modern societies and economies have experienced a profound transformation from reliance on an industrial to a knowledge base.

Global drivers increasingly bring to the fore what some call “21st century competences”. The quantity and quality of learning thus become central, with the accompanying concern that traditional educational approaches are insufficient.

Similar factors help to explain the strong focus on measuring learning outcomes (including the Programme for International Student Assessment, PISA) over the past couple of decades, which in turn generates still greater attention on learning.

To move beyond the diagnosis of achievement levels and shortcomings to desirable change then needs a deeper understanding of how people learn most effectively.


OECD (2011) The Nature of Learning

Learners are recognised as core participants. Active engagement in developing understanding of their own activity as learners is encouraged.

The learning environment is founded on the social nature of learning and actively encourages well-organised co-operative learning.

Learning professionals are highly attuned to learner motivation and the key role of emotions in achievement.

There is acutely sensitivity to individual differences among learners, including their prior knowledge.

There is clarity of expectations and consistent assessment strategies, including strong emphasis on formative feedback to support learning.

“Connectedness” is promoted across areas of knowledge and subjects as well as to the community and the wider world.





4. TLRP





What is professionalism for the future?

The essence of professionalism is the exercise of skills, knowledge and judgement for the public good.

But teacher expertise is poorly understood.


• ‘Pedagogy’ is the practice of teaching framed and informed by a shared and structured body of knowledge and combined with moral purpose.

• By progressively acquiring such knowledge and mastering pedagogical expertise – through initial formation, continuing development and reflective experience – teachers are entitled to be treated as professionals.

• Teachers should scrutinise and evaluate their practice to make rationally defensible professional judgements beyond pragmatic constraints and/or ideological concerns.


‘Routine’ Vs ‘reflective’ action


Problem

Collect evidence

Analyse & evaluate

Reflect

Dilemmas

Issue

Judgement

Evidence


Three judgements• What aspects to investigate and why?

• What evidence to collect and how?

• How should the findings be analysed, interpreted and applied?


How is evidence to be collected?

• Analyse (and improve) routine evidence on pupil learning outcomes

• Develop specific methods to provide evidence on particular issues

• Use occasional, but explicit, enquires as reflective learning experiences

• Work collaboratively with colleagues if possible

STUDYING – LOOKING- LISTENING- ASKING (C3)


Problem

Collect evidence

Analyse & evaluate

Reflect

Dilemmas

Issue

Judgement

Evidence and interpretation

How are findings to be interpreted?





4. TLRP





•£43m, 100+ investments, 700+ researchers projects up to £1.5m each, often with large teams

• All sectors of education (pre-school to elderly learners)

• UK-wide (England, Wales, Scotland, N. Ireland)

• Directors’ and Office Teams, with developed organisational infrastructures

• Capacity building for researchers and research users

Main features of TLRP 2000-12


‘to lead to significant improvements in outcomes for learners ...

... at all ages and stages in all sectors and contexts of education and training, including informal learning settings, throughout the United Kingdom’.

TLRP’s overarching aim:

2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011

Phase I

Phase II

Scottish extensions

Phase III

TLRP PROJECTS

Welsh extensions

Northern Irish extensions

Associated projects

WP in HE

TEL

Research training fellows

Early Years EducationPrimary Education

Secondary EducationAcross School Phases

Further & post 16 education

Higher Education

Workplace EducationProfessional Learning

Lifelong Learning


Curriculum and domain knowledge

Interaction and pedagogy information technology

Assessment and learning

Political, economic and cultural contextsInformal and formal learning contexts

Learners and learning through the lifecourse

Teachers, teaching and training

Learning outcomesEducational issues

International comparisons

TLRP THEMES





4. TLRP






•affirms a holistic approach to teaching and learning or pedagogy

•represents cumulative evidence and experience

•supports contextualised judgement by teachers, tutors, practitioners and policy-makers

Why ‘evidence-informed principles’?

1. EQUIPS LEARNERS FOR LIFE IN ITS BROADEST SENSE

Effective teaching and learning ....


SOME TLRP EVIDENCE

• Broad conception of ‘outcomes’ to include, for instance, engagement with learning (Ainscow), learning how to learn (James).

• Learner identities studied longitudinally, related positively to self-confidence, resilience and outcomes but demonstrated significant processes of social differentiation (Pollard, Biesta).

• Promotion of thinking skills (McGuinness) shown to have a positive relationship with attainment and effort, although the effect needed time to build and was not uniform across all learner groups.

• Most projects show the importance of developing learning awareness, explicit learning practices, positive learning dispositions, and learning autonomy (Nunes, McGuinness, James, Blatchford, Hughes).

2. ENGAGES WITH VALUED FORMS OF KNOWLEDGE

3. RECOGNISES THE IMPORTANCE OF PRIOR EXPERIENCE AND LEARNING



SOME TLRP EVIDENCE

• In numeracy, understanding of rational numbers (proportion and ratio) is important but difficult for primary pupils to master. Relatively small teaching sequences can boost achievement (Nunes & Howe).

• In literacy, spelling improved through explicit teaching about rules of morphology (units of meaning) (Nunes). Bilingualism, when embedded, enriched teaching and learning in FE (Martin-Jones).

• Teacher review of assumptions about prior knowledge and experience of certain groups of children often led to improvements (Ainscow - inclusive practice; Hughes - home-school knowledge exchange; Plowman - ICT in early years; EPPE - pre-school settings).

4. REQUIRES THE TEACHER TO SCAFFOLD LEARNING

5. NEEDS ASSESSMENT TO BE CONGRUENT WITH LEARNING



SOME TLRP EVIDENCE

• Projects showed the importance of the way teachers plan and structure activities during lessons, negotiate goals, support classroom dialogue and provide feedback.

• Teacher roles in scaffolding learning with ICT were crucial (Plowman; Sutherland). Use of ICT can produce gains in achievement (Bevan), but only with effective mediation (Kennewell).

• Testing that focuses on factual recall often overestimates students’ understanding of key concepts (Millar).

• Assessment for learning in the classroom is most effective when supported by whole-school collaboration and leadership (James)

6. PROMOTES THE ACTIVE ENGAGEMENT OF THE LEARNER

7. FOSTERS BOTH INDIVIDUAL AND SOCIAL PROCESSES AS OUTCOMES

8. RECOGNISES THE SIGNIFICANCE OF INFORMAL LEARNING


SOME TLRP EVIDENCE

• Group work projects (Blatchford & Christie) show the benefits of efforts to improve the quality of group work and children’s mastery of cooperation and collaboration. Pupils made significant academic gains (effect sizes up to 0.6) which were seen across schools in different social contexts.

• Consulting pupils enhances self esteem and agency and improves learning opportunities (Rudduck, Leitch). However some pupils have more communications competence and are ‘heard’ more than others.

• Young people draw on school experience, and develop it at home, and bring home experience into school e.g. computer expertise (Sutherland).

• Home/school knowledge exchange activities impact positively on outcomes (Hughes). But this impact is mediated by social class, gender and attainment factors so there is need for sensitivity.

9. DEPENDS ON TEACHER LEARNING

10. DEMANDS CONSISTENT POLICY FRAMEWORKS WITH SUPPORT FOR TEACHING AND LEARNING AS THEIR PRIMARY FOCUS



SOME TLRP EVIDENCE

• Levels of professional commitment and resilience are crucial to teaching quality and learner outcomes (Day).

• Through reflective inquiry with colleagues, teachers develop knowledge and beliefs about learning - as well as skills (James, Dudley).

• Visits from teachers in other schools, or from other departments/classrooms are valued for questioning assumptions (Ainscow). When senior management support innovation, it becomes more sustainable (Hughes).

• Consistency between national, local, school and classroom policy in teaching and learning is not always apparent.

• If policy was more congruent with pedagogic principles and supportive of contexualised teacher judgement, then school and teacher effectiveness could be improved.


Enhancing learning outcomes?

TLRP’s evidence-informed principles are intended as a contribution to a scientific foundation for policy and practice

The emphasis needs to be on the quality of contextualised professional judgement


Problem

Collect evidence

Analyse & evaluate

Reflect

Dilemmas

Issue

Judgement

Evidence

Understanding of enduring educational principles






4. TLRP





What do we talk about?

Curriculum Pedagogy Assessment

So, what happens if we compare and contrast the concepts used to discuss curriculum, pedagogy and assessment?


Concepts in HMI’s The Curriculum from 5 to 16 (1985)•Breadth•Balance•Relevance•Differentiation•Progression•Continuity


So, a key contention:

Maybe …. that pedagogic concepts can be organised in terms of their function (the work that they do) and that, by making this logic explicit, we could create a more robust and sustainable conceptual framework for the professional expertise of teaching?


CURRICULUM PEDAGOGY ASSESSMENT

Aims

Contexts

Processes

Outcomes

Concepts are to do with:

1. Societal aims To what vision of ‘education’ does the provision aspire? 2. Elements of learning What knowledge, concepts, skills and values are to be learned in formal education? 3. Community context Is the educational experience valued and endorsed by civil society?

4. Institutional context Does the school promote a common vision to extend educational experiences and inspire learners? 5. Process for social needs Does the educational experience build on social relationships, cultural understandings and learner identities?

6. Process for emotional needs Does the educational experience take due account of learner views, feelings and characteristics? 7. Process for cognitive needs Does the educational experience match learners’ cognitive needs and provide appropriate challenge? 8. Developmental outcomes Does the educational experience lead to development in knowledge, concepts, skills and values? 9. Cumulative outcomes Does the educational experience equip learners for adult and working life and for an unknown future?


Curricular concepts

Pedagogic concepts

Assessmentconcepts

1. Society’s educational goals Breadth Principle Alignment

2. Elements of learning Balance Repertoire Validity

3. Community context Connection Warrant Dependability

4. Institutional context Coherence Culture Expectation

5. Processes for learners’ social needs

Personalisation Relationships Inclusion

6. Process for learners’ emotional needs

Relevance Engagement Authenticity

7. Processes for learners’ cognitive needs

Differentiation Dialogue Feed-back

8. Outcomes for continuous improvement in learning

Progression Reflection Development

9. Outcomes for certification and the lifecourse

Effectiveness Empowerment Consequence


Professionalism and Pedagogy: a contemporary opportunity

TLRP with GTCE, 2010

www.tlrp.org

www.reflectiveteaching.co.uk


Problem

Collect evidence

Analyse & evaluate

Reflect

Dilemmas

Issue

Judgement

Evidence

Understanding through a conceptual framework and language for discussion






4. TLRP





Raising standards and opportunities

Teacher professionalism and reflective practice

Evidence-informed principles and conceptual understanding


The most effective teachers:

• Recognise the complexity of teaching and learning

• Never stop learning themselves

• Enjoy teaching

• Are supported in open learning professional communities





4. TLRP






A valid educational rationale based on evidence-informed

principles?(p8)

Documents

Teaching and Learning Research Programme Andrew Pollard Institute of Education, University of London, UK Graduate School of Education, University of Bristol,