Developing great teaching

Wednesday 29th April 2015

Meridian School

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1.
Focus
on feedback
FINDING
YOUR PAL
Working
together to
improveteaching
social mobility
2.
Define
great
3. Develop teacher learning

Teacher Development: The State of Play

The most common
form of CPD across
OECD countries, as
reported by 89% of
teachers is

Children already know

___% of what their
teachers teach

Courses
and
workshops

40%

Observations
of teacher
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YOUR
PAL

performance, when
compared with student
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outcomes, are correct
Working together to improve
mobility
___% social
of the time.
___% of teachers
across OECD countries
participate in
collaborative learning

35%

Teachers talk
for ___% of a
lesson

60%

75%

___% of pupils
time is spent
pretending to
listen

80%

Developing great teaching

1. Focus on feedback
2. Define great teaching
3. Develop teacher learning

Feedback

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Working together to improve social mobility

Teachers were asked: What would improve the quality of

teaching and pupil learning?

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Working together to improve social mobility

Feedback to students: Top Tips

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Working together to improve social mobility

What are you already doing?

What could you start doing?

Two useful models

Sports programmes

Developing great teaching

1. Focus on feedback
2. Define great teaching
3. Develop teacher learning

What makes great teaching?

Lavish praise

Content knowledge

Encouraging re-reading
and highlighting to
memorise key ideas

Grouping learners by
ability

Classroom

Quality of instruction

management
Is there greater variation in teaching quality within or between
schools?

Does Meridian
School have an
agreed definition
of great teaching?
Is it public? Do the
pupils know what
the schools idea of
great teaching is?

Developing great teaching

1. Focus on feedback
2. Define great teaching
3. Develop teacher learning

Making Time
Shorten school day once a fortnight to dedicate time to CPD
Increase class sizes so that each teacher has more students
in each class but less teaching time
Replace traditional meetings with dedicated free time for
CPD

Train pupils to effectively self and peer assess where

appropriate
Employ a student workforce! (to organise classroom, etc)
Optimise technology: there are hundreds of apps that will
arrange your docs my folder, create mark books for each
class and do calculations, etc.
Reorganise files to suit you: We spend 30 minutes a week
searching for stuff we cant find on our computers/desks

Every week
teachers
spend

59 hours
Working

2.2 hours
Training

Giving feedback
Observations

Student surveys
Data collection
How do you create a collaborative but challenging
teacher learning process?

Triangulate methods
Learning networks
across schools
(Singapore)

Learning triplets
(Cardiff)

In-school coaching
course (Essex)
Pupil
Feedback
(California,
US)

Live lesson
observation
(Bristol)

Given the choice, what would you do with your 2.2

hours of Development time this week?

Top Tips
Sustained professional learning is most likely to result when:
the focus is kept clearly on improving student outcomes;
feedback is related to clear, specific and challenging goals for
the recipient;
attention is on the learning rather than to the person or to
comparisons with others;
teachers are encouraged to be continual independent learners;
feedback is mediated by a mentor in an environment of trust
and support;
an environment of professional learning and support is
promoted by the schools leadership

Developing a culture of Trust

Trust
Trust between head teacher and
class teachers is crucial. It enables
a teacher to be vulnerable and
open about their areas for
improvement, in order to develop
their professional skills.

Fear
When fear replaces trust (fear of
ridicule, poor performance or
even job loss) it inhibits a
teacher's willingness to be
vulnerable and to develop their
practice.

Personal Reflection: Where do you sit on the Trust/Fear scale?