Collective Teacher Efficacy

What is it about?

Amazing things happen when a school staff shares the belief that they are able to achieve collective goals and overcome challenges to impact student achievement.

Teacher efficacy—”teachers’ confidence in their ability to promote students’ learning” (Hoy, 2000)

Six Enabling Conditions

School characteristics associated with CTE, documented in the research, helped in identifying six enabling conditions for collective efficacy to flourish (Donohoo, 2017). While enabling conditions do not cause things to happen, they increase the likelihood that things will turn out as expected.

  1. Advanced Teacher Influence

Advanced teacher influence is defined by the degree to which teachers are provided opportunities to participate in important school-wide decisions.

  1. Goal Consensus

Reaching consensus on goals not only increases collective efficacy, it also has a direct and measurable impact on student achievement (Robinson, Hohepa, & Lloyd, 2009)

  1. Teachers’ Knowledge About One Another’s Work

Teachers gain confidence in their peers’ ability to impact student learning when they have more intimate knowledge about each other’s practice.

  1. Cohesive Staff

Cohesion is defined as the degree to which teachers agree with each other on fundamental educational issues.

  1. Responsiveness of Leadership

Responsive leaders show concern and respect for their staff and protect teachers from issues that detract from their teaching time and focus.

  1. Effective Systems of Intervention

Effective systems of intervention help in ensuring that all students are successful.

Further Reading:

Q and A Teaching Special

Thanks for the recommendation Di and Meredith.  Worth a watch:

Episode 33 – 08/10/2018

8 October 2018
Panellists: Eddie Woo, Internet sensation Maths teacher; Pasi Sahlberg, Finnish educator, author and scholar; Cindy Berwick, Indigenous education advocate and former teacher; Gabbie Stroud, Author, blogger and former teacher; and Jennifer Buckingham, CIS Education researcher.

http://www.abc.net.au/tv/qanda/vodcast.htm

Bonus question:

 

 

What can we learn from the Finnish Education system

I am not necessarily a fan of elements of our current system despite the fact that I continue to implement those elements that in the Finnish system have proven to be ineffective.  Having done a lot of reading about this system recently and over the years there are a number of things we can learn from their system.  However, not necessarily easy to implement because of other systems that impact on education including our social and political climate along with other education systems including the private system, early education, high school, tafe and university.

I thought I would take this opportunity to share some findings for you to think about from their system and perhaps how we might try to implement those things at Payne Road or even in any State School in Queensland.

First of all let’s address the myths about their system:

Some key points from my reading:

  • Collaborative Teaching
  • Special Education programs

https://youtu.be/HsdFi8zMrYI

  • Teaching the whole child
  • No diagnostic assessment
  • Longer breaks and less teaching time
  • Less homework
  • Concentrate on small data – (more in line with the feedback work)
  • Equity rather than equality
  • Multiple intelligences a consideration
  • Project based learning
  • Ongoing professional development and peer coaching
  • Schools choose their curriculum
  • Wellbeing a focus

Other resources:

https://thetyee.ca/Culture/2017/08/29/Teach-Like-Finland/

My Finnish Education Lessons on YouTube

Collective Teacher Efficacy

I want you take a moment and think about all the students in your class.  If you need to go in and have a look at the class dashboard at https://oslp.eq.edu.au/OSLP.MVC/Dashboard in OneSchool.

Do you believe that you can make a difference to all those children, overcome their challenges and impact positively on their achievement.  Be honest…are you concerned that external factors, e.g. disability diagnosis, time constraints, parent support or student attitude, will prevent some children from ever achieving.  It is human nature to perceive or attribute various causes when considering factors that contribute to their success and/or failure.  What we want to do is promote (and that is not really the word I am looking for) teacher efficacy.  The belief that you can make a difference.

When teachers attribute students’ successes and failures to internal factors rather than external factors, they in turn, believe their actions impact student achievement.

The next step is collective teacher efficacy:

Amazing things happen when a school staff shares the belief that they are able to achieve collective goals and overcome challenges to impact student achievement.

It is a bit difficult to develop a PD program that suddenly develops collective teacher efficacy.  It is not as simple as here is a recipe go and do it.  We are investigating the IMPACT teams as a way we can work together to look at student work and share strategies for success.

The Research

Why are we doing it?

 

STEAM – Project based learning

Students work on a project over an extended period of time – from a week up to a semester – that engages them in solving a real-world problem or answering a complex question. They demonstrate their knowledge and skills by developing a public product or presentation for a real audience.

As a result, students develop deep content knowledge as well as critical thinking, creativity, and communication skills in the context of doing an authentic, meaningful project. Project Based Learning unleashes a contagious, creative energy among students and teachers.

Resources:

https://globaldigitalcitizen.org/36-stem-project-based-learning-activities

http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational_leadership/sept10/vol68/num01/Seven_Essentials_for_Project-Based_Learning.aspx

STEAM Made Simple – Primary

Bright Sparks – Using Design Thinking to Solve Problems – Years 5 & 6

 

 

The Future of Schooling

We do lots of planning around the “what” we are going to teach and even the “why” with respect to improving the impact on student learning.  One area that we have yet to address is with respect to the future needs of children.  The impact may not be felt the greatest in primary schools but we need to at least consider the impact at our level.  Lots of Gonski conversation lately and a common theme centres around personalised learning.  I wanted to share a couple of videos about some work in parts of the world to at least get you thinking.  Often when you look at videos on future school you often just seem the same old industrial age model but with lots of new toys.  I think the challenge will be what the work in classes will look like.  I know a few of you dabble with some websites like readingtheory.org that offer a personalised pathway to reading comprehension.  Have a look at some of the AltSchool work from the States to see this in action for these schools.  Teams of educators and software engineers working together to develop personalised curriculum.

http://www.lobethalps.sa.edu.au/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/All4One_Complete_March13_V2_web.pdf

How can we make this plan work for us to move towards the future:

https://payneroadss.eq.edu.au/Supportandresources/Formsanddocuments/Documents/MasterPlan_AVision.pdf

Leading Impact Teams

Teacher teams are a school’s greatest resource…

Excellent teams make excellent schools!

Leading Impact Teams taps into the scheduled team planning time every school already has, and re-purposes it in a model that provides the processes needed to build teacher expertise and increase student learning.

The model combines two existing practices, formative assessment and collaborative inquiry, and promotes a school culture in which teachers and students are partners in learning.

Teams will learn how to:

  • Build a culture of efficacy

  • Take collective action using high yield strategies

  • Maximize peer and self-assessment strategies

  • Clarify learning goals and success criteria

  • Leverage progressions

  • Utilize evidence-based feedback

A problem of practice…

Amazing things happen when a school staff shares the belief that they are able to achieve collective goals and overcome challenges to impact student achievement.

I shared this quote about the merits of collaborative teacher efficacy on our student free day as a definition of this term and also to share what I believe is the way forward when we look to impact successfully on student learning.

And here lies the problem…do we all recognise what the challenge is?

Are we prepared to face the challenge?  Are we prepared to change what we do? Work differently?  Work together?  And rely on ourselves for the answer?

I think we would all agree that we face a range of challenges in schools and in society (that often get forced on schools to fix)…Like you (I hope) I

So let me throw this problem of practice out there…

This is not an exhaustive list of influencing factors…I could go on…the system…the curriculum…funding/resources…leadership…etc etc

I developed PLCs (Professional Learning Communities) to address pressing needs at Payne Road but I also developed them because the answers can’t always come from me or from a policy maker somewhere or from some external team.  We are our best resource…we have an opportunity to think outside the box, work differently and look beyond tradition and the way we have always worked.  I don’t exaggerate when I state that our profession is at risk of becoming obsolete and I have seen our respect in society diminish over the course of my career.

I don’t have the answers…but I challenge you all to try.

I wanted to share an article with you:

Teachers Teaching Teachers: A Sustainable and Inexpensive Professional Development Program to Improve Instruction

Abstract

School districts face tremendous budget challenges and, as a result, professional development has been “trimmed” from many school budgets. (Habegger & Hodanbosi, 2011). School administrators responsible for planning professional development face a daunting task and often focus on PowerPoints, district mandated training, one-shot presentations, and workshops that are delivered by expensive experts. These types of activities lack teacher collaboration, time for sharing of ideas and opportunity for reflection and analysis (Torff & Byrnes, 2011, Coggins, Zuckerman & Mckelvey, 2010).

Now it is a dissertation…and long…and I am not expecting you to read it all…some of it my touch a chord with you…perhaps start with the preface.

I want you to consider this challenge or problem of practice when you are working in PLCs this year.  There will be no one magic wand but a collective approach and the willingness to take risks will begin to address some of our concerns.

Think also about what you already have access to…our technology has evolved and we have access to a range of resources.  And some of these have been with us for a while…we need to explore how we can use some of these differently…I can tell you from personal experience…trial and error has been a far better teacher than any professional development that I have ever attended.

STEM and creativity

A couple of us signed up for the online course for STEM so we will have access to resources.

Blue The Film: Inquiry – Years 1 & 2

Our Vision

Be the leader in real world learning.

 

Our Mission

Upskill educators to become designers of exceptional learning for all young Australians.

Our Values

  • We value REAL WORLD LEARNING because education should embrace every opportunity to be authentic. Real world learning helps young people connect and contribute to an ever-changing world.
  • We value EMPATHY because education should assist us to consider how our decisions impact on other people, our planet and our future. Empathy supports young people to build self-awareness and compassion through the understanding of different perspectives.
  • We value CURIOSITY because education should drive the impulse to learn. Curiosity stimulates our interest and our desire to actively seek answers. Curiosity makes learning meaningful and opens up new possibilities.
  • We value CREATIVITY because education should provide opportunities for young people to use their hands, minds and hearts. Creativity supports young people to become problem finders and solvers, innovators, entrepreneurs and leaders. Creativity allows us to design the future and imagine ways to combine old with new.
  • We value COLLABORATION because we often learn better, and achieve more, when working together. Collaboration helps young people develop interpersonal and communication skills, while fostering a sense of belonging and self-worth. Collaboration builds shared responsibility and teamwork skills within diverse groups.
  •  We value the LOVE OF LEARNING because education should bring joy, connection, fulfillment, fun, satisfaction and a wow factor. The love of learning is the driver behind purposeful and lifelong learning.

 

What We Do

We create units of work and learning activities that can be downloaded from the Cool Australia website and taken straight into the classroom. The learning activities are year level specific, from Early Learning to Year 12. All are linked to Australian Curriculum standards and the Early Years Learning Framework outcomes.

We provide an online Digital Library to support learning and teaching. It contains videos, images, infographics, research and news articles.

We deliver online professional development to help educators build their confidence and skills. Sometimes we also provide keynote addresses at conferences across the country.

We coordinate Enviroweek – a year of action, a week of celebration.