Leadership for Learning through Professional Learning Communities

Leadership for Learning through

Professional Learning Communities

Professor Louise Stoll

London Centre for Leadership in Learning Institute of Education, University of London

louise@louisestoll.com

Norwegian Directorate for Education and Training

Ungdomstrinn I utvikling Nettverk for utviklingsveiledere



What is a professional learning

community and why is it

important to leadership for

learning?



Recognising professional

learning community



Stimulating professional

learning community

development from the outside

7 Survival Skills

 Critical thinking and problem solving

 Collaboration across networks leading by influence

 Agility and adaptability

 Initiative and

entrepreneurship

 Effective oral and written communication

 Accessing and analysing information

 Curiosity and imagination

Wagner (2008)

Health is a state of

complete physical,

mental and social

well-being and not

merely the absence

of disease or

…the kind of education

needed today requires

teachers to be

high-level knowledge

workers who constantly

advance their own

professional knowledge

as well as that of their

profession.

Istance and Vincent-Lancrin with Van Damme, Schleicher and Weatherby (OECD, 2012)

Understanding and analysis

Capacity

. . . allows people,

individually and collectively,

routinely to learn from the

world around them and to

apply this learning to new

situations so that they can

continue on a path toward

their goals in an

ever-changing context.

Stoll and Earl (2003)

Who are they?

inclusive, trusting, mutually supportive groups of people

within and between schools

reflective, challenging and growth-oriented

Why do they

do it?

What do they do?

investigate, learn more about and deepen their practice

collaborative –

deprivatise practice

Make creating capacity a habit of

mind: develop professional learning

communities

How do they make a

difference?

by creating new

knowledge and developing their capacity, including teacher effectiveness

through their collective responsibility for pupils’ and colleagues’ learning

 teachers analyse impact of teaching practice on student learning and achievement

 they are supported to

process new understandings and implications for teaching

 the culture is focused on

improving students’ and staff learning

PLCs make a difference to student learning

(achievement and engagement) when:

Bolam et al (2006), Vescio et al (2008), Lomas et al (2010)

Distribuert ledelse og kollektivt ansvar Respektfulle, tillitsfulle og stimulerende relasjoner Støttende ‘arkitektur` og kultur Eksterne nettverk, og kritiske venner Overvåkning av prosesser og tegn på virkning Insprerende kjerne- formål og felles fokus Samarbeid om utforskning av og innovasjon i felles praksis

Characteristics of

professional learning communities

Go beyond the “Land of Nice”

City et al (2010)

In education‘s “Land of Nice”, being

nice to each other is equated with not

challenging each other.

Four dimensions of relational trust

1. Respect

2. Competence

3. Personal regard

for others

4. Integrity

Effective professional

development challenges

thinking as a fundamental

part of changing practice

learning isn’t only visible in

changes in practice but also “in one’s thinking about the how and why of that practice.

Kelchtermans (2004)

Intentional interruption

Katz and Dack (2012)

FOCUSING

What does our focus need to be? Where are we going to place our attention?

DEVELOPING A HUNCH

What is leading to this situation? How are we contributing to it?

LEARNING

[New professional]

How and where can we learn more about what to do? TAKING ACTION What will we do differently? CHECKING Have we made enough of a difference? SCANNING

What’s going on for our learners? What’s going on for our learners? How do we know?

Why does this matter?

Spirals of Inquiry

For equity and quality

The Research Lesson process

2. Identifying lesson study group and setting ground rules

3. Connecting with, and draw on what is already known about focus before starting

4. Identifying 3 case pupils

5. Jointly planning a research lesson based on the case pupils’ needs

6. Jointly observing and capturing data

7. Jointly analysing and recording – being explicit about what has been learnt

8. Finding ways of helping others learn from what has been learnt

Host school formulates key question

Host team introduces key question, theory and context to review team

Lesson observations, interviews, looking at schemes of work

Learning conversations between pairs of reviewers

Review team conversation and agreeing feedback

Feedback to host school

Ealing PLC’s Learning Review

Ealing Professional Learning Community reviewer feedback form

Area and focus of enquiry:

What do you see, hear, think is going on for students?

So what conditions for learning or adult behaviours facilitate what is going on?

Summary comment for end of day feedback – what key

strengths could the school build on to further develop learning?

Can you ‘see’

professional learning community?

What catches your eye as you

walk around the schools you

support? What messages do

these things give out? Are

Can you ‘hear’

professional learning community?

19

Working at this school has

offered me fantastic

opportunities to think about

myself as a teacher and a person.

It does keep me enthusiastic. I

get exhausted. I love teaching in

this environment. It’s so exciting.

It’s valuable learning for adults

and for children.

Stoll et al - Professional Learning Community Source Materials Booklet 5 (2006)

20

I feel we need increased levels of

trust, mutual respect and

consideration of each other -

teachers, teaching assistants and

all other staff. We need to pull

together more

I feel that some people get more

opportunities than others -

sometimes that can make me feel

that I am not valued as much as

other people

Creative Leadership Learning Project

Depth (level) of talk in social networks of maths teachers

Coburn and Russell (2008)

Low

Medium

High

How to coordinate text, standards, assessment, pacing

guides; how to organise the classroom; sharing materials or activities; general discussion of how a lesson went or

whether students were ‘getting it’

How lesson went, including why; detailed planning, including discussing why; specific = detailed discussion of whether

students were learning (but not how they learn); discussing teaching strategies in the context of observations; doing maths problems with discussion

Talk related to one or more of the following pedagogical

principles underlying teaching and learning approaches; how students learn, or the nature of students’ mathematical

thinking; mathematical principles or concepts

How ‘deep’ is talk between teachers in the schools you

work with?

Praktisere distribuert ledelse og kollektivt ansvar Pleie respektfulle, tillitsfulle og stimulerende relasjoner Sikre støttende ‘arkitektur` og kultur Koble seg til eksterne nettverk, og kritiske venner Overvåke egne prosesser og lete etter tegn på virkning Etablere/ utvikle inspi- rerende kjerne- formål og felles fokus Fremme samarbeid om utforskning av og innovasjon i felles praksis

Important dimensions in

professional learning communities

Gap analysis questionnaire

Each item is rated on two scales

A. How it is now B. How you think it should be

5 = strongly agree 5 = extremely important

4 = agree 4 = important

3 = uncertain 3 = fairly important

2 = disagree 2 = not very important

1 = strongly disagree 1 = not at all important

5 4 3 2 1 Structures (time, space etc) are 5 4 3 2 1

organised to support staff collaboration

5 4 3 2 1 J. Staff engage in collaborative 5 4 3 2 1

enquiry to enhance learning and teaching

5 4 3 2 1 K. High levels of trust and mutual 5 4 3 2 1

respect exist here

Auditing the current situation in relation

to your vision for the future

Complete the gap analysis questionnaire

for a school that you support. Share your

ratings with your team.

What issues would you need to consider in

helping rektors you support use this

Staff questionnaire results

Statements A %agree % uncertain %disagree

B % important % less important % unimportant

Structures (time, space etc) A 56 5 39

are organised to support B 90 8 2

staff collaboration

Staff engage in collaborative A 37 38 25

enquiry to enhance learning B 68 20 1

and teaching

High levels of trust and A 32 34 34

mutual respect exist here B 96 4 0

Work settings are language

communities . . . All leaders are

leading language communities.

Though every person, in every

setting, has some opportunity

to influence the nature of the

language, leaders have

exponentially greater access and

opportunity to shape, alter or

ratify the existing language rules.

Kegan and Lahey (2001)

How the Way We Talk Can Change the Way We Work

. . . how educators

make meaning

together and

jointly come up

with new insights

and knowledge.

These conversations

lead to intentional

change to enhance

practice and

pupil learning.

Learning conversations

What People Know Knowledge of those involved. People’s experience What Is Known Knowledge from theory, research and best practice

New Knowledge Knowledge created together through learning conversations and collaborative activity

Stimulus for conversation

Stimulus for conversation

What conditions that rektors can create

might improve learning conversations

between teachers in the schools you

support?

Comfort

zone

Learning

zone

Panic zone

Ensuring time Resources eg research articles, protocols Communication mechanisms, including social media Links with development plan and performance management Roles - coordinator(s)/ champions Staff deployment and hiring policies Adapted from Bolam et al (2005)

Architecture

(structures) -

facilitating

development

of PLCs

Deliberate practice

is purposeful in that

it seeks to improve

performance by

focusing on

specific elements.

What opportunities do

teachers have to practise

their new learning?

Supporting PLC development

from outside

In your table group

decide on the top three dimensions you would choose in order of

importance if you want to help a school develop its PLC (1 = most

important, 2 = next, 3 = third)

Would you make any

changes to the top three if you want to help a

school develop a

successful PLC?

What about helping a school develop a sustainable PLC? Praktisere distribuert ledelse og kollektivt ansvar Pleie respektfulle, tillitsfulle og stimulerende relasjoner Sikre støttende ‘arkitektur` og kultur Koble seg til eksterne nettverk, og kritiske venner Overvåke egne prosesser og lete etter tegn på virkning Etablere/ utvikle inspi- rerende kjerne- formål og felles fokus Fremme samarbeid om utforskning av og innovasjon i felles praksis