Englishagenda Ian Clifford PPT Final

Beyond the
polarisation of
learner-centred
and teacher-
centred
pedagogy
 Ian Clifford – British Council Burma
www.britishcouncil.org/englishagenda
Outline
Child-centred and teacher-centred
approaches – history and definitions
Evidence on CCA and ‘direct
instruction’ in Western contexts
The challenge of implementing
CCA in southern contexts
Failure of CCA in Myanmar
The English for Education College
Trainers (EfECT) project
Towards a more balanced
approach
“Learner-centred approaches” - 1
 Learner-centred education (LCE) /
Student-centred approach /
Child-centred approach (CCA)
 History of CCA
o Locke (1632-1704) – liberal
education
o Rousseau (1712-1778) centrality
of learner, teachers intervene
minimally in “natural
development of children”
o Pestalozzi (1746-1827)
o Froebel (1782-1852)
kindergarten
“Learner-centred approaches” - 2
 Competency (Bernstein)
 “Terms such as ‘constructivism’
or ‘student-centred’ … obscure
rather than clarify … details of
practices … not given …
assumptions already known.”
Westbrook et al, 2013
 Approaches associated with
minimal instruction (discovery /
problem-based / inquiry /
experiential learning)
LCE, CCA = Constructivism? - 1
What is learning?
?
LCE, CCA = Constructivism? - 2
 Piaget (1896-1980) –
Cognitive constructivism
 Vygotsky (1896-1934) –
social constructivism
 Learners construct knowledge – linking new

knowledge to existing knowledge
 But constructivism is a theory of learning and
knowledge acquisition, not a theory of teaching
“Teacher-centred” approaches
 Negative connotations:
 Hierarchical,
 authoritarian,
 transmission,
 memorisation
 rote learning
 Performance (Bernstein)
 Banking education
(Freire)
Direct Instruction 1
interactive whole class
teaching
Teacher being actively
engaged in bringing
the content of the
lesson to the whole
class (Muijs and
Reynolds, 2011)
Direct instruction - 2
 7 steps - Adams and Engelmann
(1996)
o Focus activity (‘the hook’)
o Stating the objective and
providing the rationale
o Presenting content and modelling
o Checking for understanding;
o Guided practice
o Independent practice
o Closure
A word on EFL
teaching
• The British Council often
styles its best practice EFL
teaching as “learner-centred”
• … and it’s difficult to teach a
language without peer-to-
peer communicative practice
• However, EFL teaching is
often very teacher-directed
and quite closely follows the
stages of “direct instruction” www.britishcouncil.org/englishagenda
Some evidence - 1
• Rosenshine (1979) – stronger pupil gains when teachers spend
more time actively teaching the whole class
• Missouri Mathematics Effectiveness Study teachers given
training around in direct instruction – more pupil gains in
standardised tests (Good and Grouws, 1979)
• ORACLE project - teachers labelled ‘class enquirers’ spent four
times longer using whole-class interactive teaching than
‘individual monitors’ and generated the greatest gains in maths
and language (Croll, 1996; Galton and Croll, 1980)
• Junior School Project – 50 primary schools – significant positive
relationship time spent communicating with the whole class and
achievement (Mortimore et al, 1988)
Evidence - 2
 John Hattie (2009)
 500 meta-analyses of
300,000 studies direct
instruction effect size of
0.59
 ‘teacher as activator’
approaches significantly
more effective than
‘teacher as facilitator’
approaches
“There is no large-scale empirical research which
shows that child-centered, activity-based
learning is superior to direct instruction in the
teaching of basic skills… all the large-scale
studies show direct instruction is superior”
(Freedman, Society for Advancing Educational
Research, SAER, 1993, p. 22).
… and not just tests of basic skills
 Follow-through project
 70,000 pupils from 180
schools – largest
education study in the
West ever
 Direct instruction
approaches showed better
performance better in
basic skills but also
cognitive and affective
skills
Gautier, Dembele 2004
“Why discovery learning does not work”
- Kirschner et al, 2006
 Two assumptions
 Because disciplines are based
on discovery students should
learn through discovery
 Because students actively
construct knowledge
teachers should give minimal
instruction
“Why
discovery
learning does
not work”
Long-term memory
“Why
discovery
learning does
not work” Working memory

Long-term memory
“Why
discovery
learning does
not work” Working memory

 Problem-serving
approaches – can
lead to working
memory overload
– this inhibits
storage into long- Long-term memory
term memory
- Kirschner et al
 “research evidence
broadly favours
direct instruction
rather than
discovery learning” Working memory
- Coe et al, 2014,
Sutton Trust, “What
makes great
Failure to implement LCE in south - 1
Schweisfurth, 2011:
 “Review of 72 studies exploring the issues and problems
of implementing LCE programmes in particular settings”
 “the history of the implementation of LCE in different
contexts is riddled with stories of failures grand and
small.”
 Four broad explanations:
1. Problems with the nature of reform and its
implementation: Expectations of education reform are too
high and the speed of expected change too rapid. Often
education reform is expected to address a wide range of
other issues from democratisation to elitism
- Schweisfurth, 2011
2. Barriers of material and human resources: Practical,

material and resource constraints - infrastructure, class size,
teaching materials and teacher capacity.
3. Interactions of divergent cultures – “high power distance”,

“collectivist” cultures (Hofstede). Roles of teachers and
students – teachers expected to be in control – students
expected to be obedient.
4. Questions of power and agency – lack joined up reform of

curriculum, infrastructure, teacher education and
particularly, examination and assessment systems
The failure of CCA in Myanmar
 2007-2014 - JICA –
Strengthening CCA (SCCA)
project – “little positive change”
 2006-2014 UNICEF – Child-
friendly schools / Quality Basic
Education – “limited impact”
Learner-centred vs. teacher-centred?
 Need to reject polarisation: learner-
centred vs. teacher-centred (Barrett,
2007),
 Need to build on and broaden
repertoire of traditional whole class
teaching (Hardman et al, 2012)
 The best Southern teachers use “both
student- and teacher-centred practices
… integrating newer pedagogies with
more traditional ones … performance
model … informed by a competence
model”.
(Westbrook et al, 2013)
English for Education College Trainers (EfECT)
 Signing of MoU between British Council and Myanmar MoE

 Followed state visit by president Thein Sein to UK
 £4.5 million project – DFID and British Council
 46 expatriate trainers in 24 Myanmar training institutions
 1,500 – 2,000 teacher educator beneficiaries
 1 year improving English, 1 year improving teaching methodology
Myanmar Pedagogy
 Transmission model
 Recipe knowledge for recall
 Closed questioning
 Teacher feedback rare
 Pupils have limited opportunity to ask
questions or offer opinions
 Limited development of critical
thinking
 School buildings lack investment
 Classrooms hot, crowded and noisy
- Hardman et al, UNICEF, 2010
EfECT Needs
Analysis
Structured observations of
teacher educators
rote learning, drilling, chanting,
reading aloud, memorisation
choral response to questions
lack of confidence in using a
range of methodologies
Little evidence of staging, or
checking understanding
Reasons for not using child-centred
approaches
 Time
 The exam system
 Class sizes
 Classroom layout
 Student attitude and
motivation
 Lack of training
 Perception of other
teachers
EfECT approach to methodology
 6 months – interactive whole-
class teaching
 6 months - peer-to-peer
learning, creativity, critical
thinking
 Course aimed at A2 CEF level
 Structured lesson
observations at year start,
mid-point and end
 Using observation instrument
focussed on small incremental
changes www.britishcouncil.org/englishagenda
Approach to methodology year
First 6 months Second 6 months
Direct instruction focus ‘Learner centred’ focus
1.Introductory module 1.Effective interactive

2.Effective direct teaching
instruction / whole class 2.Planning and preparation
teaching 3.Assessment
3.Questioning skills 4.Critical thinking
4.Classroom
management
Changes …  Planning – clear learning
outcomes and logical, coherent
staging.
 Assessment – learning outcomes
assessed throughout the lesson
 Questioning – engaging,
checking, responding, wait time.
 Interactive classroom
management and feedback
 Resources – effective, motivating
adaptation
 Reflective practice – strengths
and areas for improvement
Minimum Standards for LCE
(Schweisfurth, 2013)
Criteria Can be met through Direct
Instruction?
Lessons are engaging, students motivated 
Atmosphere of mutual respect 
Learning builds on existing knowledge 
Dialogue in teaching and learning 
Relevant curriculum 
Skills and attitude outcomes as well as content 
– skills include critical and creative thinking
Assessment tests skills, allows for individual 

differences, not purely content-driven or based
on rote learning
34

Englishagenda Ian Clifford PPT Final

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Beyond the

 Learners construct knowledge – linking new

- Kirschner et al, 2006

- Kirschner et al, 2006

2. Barriers of material and human resources: Practical,

3. Interactions of divergent cultures – “high power distance”,

4. Questions of power and agency – lack joined up reform of

 Signing of MoU between British Council and Myanmar MoE

Direct instruction focus ‘Learner centred’ focus

1.Introductory module 1.Effective interactive

Assessment tests skills, allows for individual 

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