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Chief Executive Keith Bartley gave a keynote speech at the fifth annual conference of the Standing Conference on Teacher Education North and South (SCoTENS) on November 23, 2007. The conference, entitled 'Teaching in the Knowledge Society', was held in Malahide, County Dublin.
Keith discussed the hallmarks of teacher professionalism and teaching as a learning profession; what we know makes for effective professional development; the importance of professional learning communities and the need for innovation in classrooms to be supported. He discussed findings from the GTC's annual survey of teachers and what we know are some of the obstacles to professional development, as well as the GTC's advice to Government in this area. He also spoke about the work of the GTC's Teacher Learning Academy, which aims to give public and professional recognition for teachers' learning, development and improvement work.
Other speakers at the event included Professor John Furlong, Director of the Oxford University Department of Educational Studies, Mr David Istance of the Centre for Educational Research and Innovation (CERI), Eamon Stack, Chief Inspector of the Department of Education and Science in Dublin and Dr Roger Austin, Senior Lecturer of the School of Education University of Ulster and Project Leader of Dissolving Boundaries.
SCoTENS is chaired by Professor John Coolahan and Professor Richard McMinn. For more information, see their website.
It is a great pleasure to be here in Ireland sharing our thinking – I have to say that the differences in our national education systems, as well as our common goals and objectives, mean that it is my belief that we obtain real benefit from sharing our thinking and reflecting about our practices.
I am also conscious that Eamon Stack, Chief Inspector, and Dr Roger Austin have set out directions that I hope to build upon. But first, Eamon’s paraphrase of Lawrence Stenhouse: “It is not enough that the teacher’s work should be studied; they need to study it themselves” encapsulates the thinking (and the quality of the man himself) that probably best explains why I am here today, in the role that I am privileged to hold. In the early 1980’s, as a teacher, I happened to fall in with what might be generously described as a ‘Lawrence Stenhouse appreciation society’. It used to meet regularly – and often into the early hours – in academic offices and bars around Norwich. Through long hours of wrangling with the likes of Barry MacDonald, Ian Stronach and Rob McCormack and their colleagues and students in the Centre for Applied Research in Education at UEA, I forged, in the smithy of my classroom (to paraphrase James Joyce), an enduring and restless curiosity about my practice as a teacher and about what takes teachers to higher and higher levels of professional practice. And that is what drives me still.
‘Professional’ is an often used – perhaps overused – word. We hear something described as ‘a professional job’, or someone’s approach being ‘very professional’ or indeed ‘very unprofessional’. But beyond this common usage, what does it really mean to be a professional; to be part of a profession?
The values and characteristics of a profession can be defined in many ways. They commonly include defined entry standards and a commitment to public service. Teachers often express their professional values through their own personal commitment to teaching and relate them directly to where they work and the pupils they teach.
And for me, as for many, a key attribute of a professional – and of a profession – is of course a commitment to career-long continuing learning, to updating our skills to adapt to the changing situation we find ourselves working in. To ensuring we remain flexible and able to deal with new challenges and opportunities. And in order to do that, to be able to analyse what skills, knowledge and attributes, we need to develop in the particular context in which we are working. That – and the use of that judgement to pursue what we need to learn – must be at the heart of what it is to be a professional.
We are after all a learning as well as a teaching profession.
As the professional body for teaching, the GTC in England clearly takes a particular interest in both the policy context and practical application of teachers’ continuing professional development and education.
The overall purpose of our organisation is to help improve standards of teaching and learning in England – in the public interest.
The public interest informs our role in registering and regulating qualified teachers – an assurance to the public that registered teachers are properly qualified and in good standing, and that the small number of teachers who fall below the high standards the profession sets for itself will be dealt with fairly and openly.
We also promote the highest possible standards of teaching and learning as well as ensuring minimum standards. We do this in our advisory role to Government and through the support on CPD that we provide to schools and teachers. So although we are not a CPD provider, we do have a clear interest in teachers’ access to professional development opportunities and what makes for effective teacher learning that has the all important impact on pupil achievement in the classroom.
And good CPD plays a role not only in the practice of the individual teacher, but in sharing the best, most effective practice across the profession, effecting change and improvement across the system. In this way, the individual can have an impact well beyond their own classroom and school.
There is now solid research evidence to demonstrate what – as teachers and teacher educators – we ‘know’ instinctively and witness daily. Namely, that well structured professional development opportunities can lead to successful changes in teachers’ practice, resulting in school improvement and better outcomes for pupils.
A recent study commissioned jointly by GTC England and the Association of Teachers and Lecturers drew on twenty research reports about CPD for teachers in England published between 2002 and 2006. The study was a systematic review and synthesis of studies commissioned by or for a policy maker audience and aimed to provide a trustworthy overview about professional development that could inform the policy environment.
The study found evidence that effective, structured and reflective CPD does have an impact on teachers’ attitudes, knowledge and skills. It also concluded that good CPD is likely to improve teacher motivation and morale and improves pupil learning and achievement.
I will return to what the evidence tells us about what makes for effective CPD. But how do we create opportunities for access to good CPD opportunities that maximise impact in the classroom – and support effective knowledge sharing among teachers?
The policy climate around CPD in which we operate in England has shifted considerably in recent years. GTC England has made the case for increased teacher access to CPD since we came into being in 2000. Now, there is a real consensus about the benefits of high quality development opportunities - to the point where this school year sees the introduction of new performance management arrangements that will see the CPD requirements of every teacher in England being identified as part of performance reviews.
A new professional standards framework for teachers has also been introduced in England this year, outlining the requirements teachers need to meet at each stage of their career.
Together, these recent developments put in place a requirement to assess teachers’ CPD needs, and a framework for career progression. But we believe a third element – a CPD curriculum covering context; specialism; leadership; pedagogy and professionalism – would further support teacher learning. This curriculum needs to be systematic and coherent, focused clearly on impact on teaching and learning and sustained throughout a teacher’s career.
And strategic leadership of CPD in schools is vital to create the conditions where high quality opportunities for professional development truly fit the needs of individual teachers in their context and for their pupils.
Our knowledge about what makes for effective CPD has increased dramatically in recent years. The research synthesis also examines this issue.
One of the key findings of this research is that the greater the influence that teachers have in identifying their own professional development and learning needs, the more likely they are to find it effective. The study also identifies a number of other key factors in effective professional development:
The research also advocates a well structured and sustained approach to CPD over time – although it was also suggested that many teachers tend to equate professional development with a fairly traditional approach to in-service training and one-off external courses.
Roger Austin underlined the significance of teachers’ perceptions of collaborative learning being profoundly influential on the outcomes for their pupils. And thus, how important it is to both challenge and develop teachers’ experiences.
Our report also highlighted the value of professional learning communities within and between schools. These communities were also the subject of research carried out for GTC England, the (then) Department for Education and Skills and the National College for School Leadership.
The report concluded that effective professional learning communities exhibit eight key and inter-related characteristics, and at the risk of inducing list-fatigue these were:
The researchers found that learning communities were created and sustained through explicit promotion and maintenance and by optimising the available resources and structure – they didn’t simply come into being. School leadership and management was an important factor. The commitment of individual members of staff was also important, as were links with other schools, and focused CPD co-ordination.
In thinking about how we can maximise the benefit of professional learning opportunities - for teachers, for pupils, for the whole school, and across the system as a whole - it may help to think about CPD as essentially a way of bringing about change and improvement.
In the Innovation Unit’s recent publication ‘A D&R System for Education’ Tom Bentley and Sarah Gullinson tug away at the means by which systemic change and innovation can be delivered within our education systems. They comment on the array of research-led approaches to innovation and improving practice but conclude that this research and development model is insufficient to bring about real and lasting changes in classrooms.
They observe that ‘effective innovation cannot be a free for all where evaluation and validation are concerned.’ It must be more than a ‘this works for me in my classroom’ but not be hidebound by a kind of education star chamber though which only ideas that work can pass.
But how does a teacher act as an agent for change to bring about improvement in the classroom – and indeed contribute to change on a wider scale? First, they need to identify what it is about their own teaching that they want to work on, and, vitally, what is already known about it. They will plan what they want to learn, and how they will put this into practice – what it is that they will change. Along the way, they will seek support and feedback from colleagues. They will want to evaluate the impact of what they did and of course they will want to share what they have learned so that improvements in practice can be spread more widely – both in and beyond the school.
The GTC Teacher Learning Academy has been piloting a structured approach drawing on these ‘core dimensions’ of effective learning for the past three years. I’d like to return to the Teacher Learning Academy shortly.
Teachers taking part in the annual GTC England teacher survey give an encouraging picture of access to professional development opportunities, albeit with some caveats. While increasing, access appears to be patchy, with differences between groups of teachers. According to last year’s survey, in general, the more senior the teacher, the more likely they were to feel that their professional development needs had been met. There was also a split between phases, with secondary teachers generally less satisfied that their needs had been met.
Using information technology remained the area in which most teachers said they wanted to increase their skills. Teachers new to the profession were most likely to identify addressing underachievement, teaching gifted and talented pupils and those with special educational needs, raising aspirations and supporting literacy. New secondary teachers also cited behaviour management as an area where they wanted to increase their skills.
Although teachers tell us their access to CPD is increasing, there are clearly obstacles to be overcome in bringing about engagement in relevant and effective development opportunities across the profession. I don’t think it is a great surprise that time and opportunity are factors for many teachers. A school-wide strategic approach is also necessary to open up opportunities particularly for collaborative CPD. Observing, coaching and mentoring all have to be carefully planned for in a busy school environment. Although things look very different from say thirty years ago, the culture of the closed classroom door still persists to some extent.
GTC England has also commissioned – with the DCSF and Training and Development Agency for Schools – ‘Becoming a Teacher’ - a six year study of teachers’ experiences of their initial teacher training and early professional development in England. This year’s report focused on the teachers’ experience of their first year in teaching, and provides some particularly interesting perspectives.
The majority of the case study teachers interviewed found the CPD they received helpful. Where new teachers found their experience of professional development less helpful, they tended to cite lack of CPD that was tailored to their own context and what I think we would all recognise as a ‘stand and deliver’ style provision of training and development.
The findings also touched on continuity between teachers’ initial training and their early experiences of CPD once in school. Teachers in the Becoming a Teacher study spoke of some repetition during induction with what was covered in their initial teacher training. The researchers recommended that policy makers consider how greater continuity between ITT and induction in England can be secured.
And we have now embarked – with the Training and Development Agency and partners from higher education and initial teacher training – on work to explore these issues of continuity and coherence further.
Other research, that we have undertaken jointly with the Innovation Unit (and to be published shortly) has also identified some of the characteristics of successful teacher-led innovation and, encouragingly, discovered that many of these characteristics were also found in schools that fostered innovation. These have been classified as features of leader-led innovation and I share them with you now as part of this reflection on the environments that most effectively support teacher learning.
Innovation thrived in schools with strong and reflective leadership attitudes and behaviours. This included heads deliberately seeking new ideas from other sites; conscious reflection on in-school practices; deeply distributed ownership of both innovation and leadership of it; permission to experiment and for things ‘not to work’. These schools saw their leaders modelling innovative practice and enabling pupils to play their part in the design, fulfilment and evaluation of innovations. These schools and their leaders had a commitment to CPD as a core practice not a bolt-on. Time was made to initiate and experiment, and systems and processes for enquiry and reflection were in place, supported by good management and administration. Before we get too rosy however, it is worth remembering that many of the actions described as innovative are locked in single classrooms, many are actually about incremental change, many go unsupported and unevaluated and some are actioned on an idea without due reference to what is known from the research or academic knowledge base.
There is a challenge and an opportunity for school leaders here. We know that head teachers long for greater autonomy, less central direction, more freedom to manoeuvre. But they also need permissions – national policy needs genuinely to support innovation. And it is innovation with rigour, disciplined creativity – they are highly accountable professionals – who, we hope, are not going to experiment with the life chances of young people on the basis of hunches and guesses.
Finally, I should like to mention another piece in our research-informed jigsaw about effective teacher learning:
(DEMOS report: DIY Professionalism: Futures for Teaching by John Craig and Catherine Fieschi) This 2007 DEMOS research report argues that:
Teacher professionalism is inevitably linked to doing what is best for children.
Teacher professionalism, like teaching, is constantly evolving. What the public expect of teachers is changing, and in many cases, increasing – teachers are often expected to be responsible for child safety and welfare as well as their education.
Teacher professionalism is increasingly personal and the markers of it are increasingly cultural rather than formal.
Teacher professionalism is different for different teachers – hence DIY professionalism.
One of the roles of the GTC is to help create a new literacy in professional conversations – professional connection – there is strength for teachers in networks. When teachers take more responsibility for their professional work – they become more able to self evaluate, to develop their capacity as reflective practitioners. It follows that they are willing to accept – or take – ever higher level of personal responsibility. They are not just following rules, but internalising them so they create a highly personalised experience of teaching and professionalism.
So how is GTC England using the knowledge we have garnered about effective CPD to benefit teaching and learning, putting together our research informed jig saw? And how do we support teachers to access this knowledge?
I mentioned earlier the development of the GTC England Teacher Learning Academy - TLA. The TLA was launched as a pilot project in 2004 and its development right from day one – in fact from well before day one when the idea was first conceived - has been underpinned by a very rigorous evidence based approach to what makes effective CPD.
The TLA recognises teachers’ professional learning that takes place every day in classrooms and schools. It provides a framework to support teachers to plan, carry out and maximise the benefits of many kinds of professional learning, whether something a teacher is undertaking in their own classroom, or as part of a more formal CPD experience. Teachers submit evidence of their professional learning for one of the four stages or levels within the TLA and their submissions are independently verified before TLA recognition is given.
So, TLA projects are not qualifications or courses, they are rooted in the classroom. Teachers are able to focus on their own role and the context they work in, addressing priorities for them, their pupils and their schools. Projects undertaken through the TLA help teachers to plan and make practical changes in the classroom of direct benefit to their pupils.
One of the core dimensions of the TLA is that teachers share the findings, ideas and best practice that come out of projects. This knowledge sharing can be with a colleague, across a school or beyond. TLA projects at the highest stage four are expected to make a significant contribution to the professional knowledge base.
Reflection – including professional dialogue and mentoring – is an intrinsic part of the process. So, teachers are not only effecting change in their own practice and their own classroom and for their own pupils. They are also influencing practice on a wide scale – and from the classroom upwards and outwards.
Through the TLA, teachers are able to draw on and practically apply robust evidence and theory in the classroom. One of the ways we are supporting teachers’ engagement with research is through our online Research of the Month feature. Trustworthy and relevant research on a chosen theme is summarised and illustrated in practical classroom contexts, frequently using teachers’ own published research as case studies. Research of the Month is increasingly featuring in TLA projects as teachers ‘engage with the knowledge base’ – one of the key requirements of the TLA. Research of the Month also provides a ready source of references for trainee teachers and their studies too.
Our three professional networks – for new teachers, for CPD leaders and for those promoting racial equality and diversity in schools – also play a role in helping teachers share and learn from one other; linking teachers nationally and putting them in touch with the latest research and evidence.
There are now teachers from virtually every local authority in England actively enrolled in the TLA - approximately 5,000 teachers from more than 1,800 schools. In the coming months and years we will be working with schools and partners across the education system to extend access to the TLA to more and more teachers.
And we’re hoping that the benefits of TLA submissions will reach not only those teachers who take part, and those with whom they share their knowledge. We would like to see a ‘bank’ of TLA submissions on a myriad of themes and topics available to all teachers in all schools. These case studies would be verified and accredited; teachers would know they were based on what has really worked for others – and that they got results in the classroom.
Teachers have told us through our survey that they want more opportunities to share knowledge among themselves, and we know how beneficial this can be. The popularity of the newly re-launched Times Educational Supplement’s online resource bank – where teachers can both download and upload tried and tested resources - demonstrates the appetite among teachers for sharing in this way.
New technologies are likely to have an important part to play in teacher learning in the future. The possibilities for interactivity – not just publishing – opened up by web 2.0 are very promising. And the technology – not the content, we’re not talking about Facebook for teachers! - that lies behind the social networking sites that have had such an impact in such a short time has much to offer.
There are many approaches to learning platforms being developed – and a very live debate is taking place about whether one solution or many is the key. The answer is likely to lie ultimately with the users and I have to observe that the list of failed attempts at providing an electronic platform for teacher portfolios is both long and distinguished. Nevertheless, I hope that some of the exciting developments that we are planning around digitising the submissions made through the TLA will actually translate into valid and valued mechanisms for sharing practice. But, at the end of the day we have to remember that technology is great for sharing information but teaching, at its best, is about inspiration. And the technology for inspiration is a human being – its me or you!
I have spoken a lot today about teacher learning in the context of the classroom – ongoing development for qualified and practising teachers. But of course it all starts with you – with initial teacher education and training.
For teachers, initial training is the beginning of their learning journey in the profession. It lays the foundations that will take teachers through qualification and into their first teaching post. But that learning journey is one that will continue. So as well as the core skills and knowledge that teachers need on day one of week one of the first term of their teaching life, initial training imparts the skills that will enable them to keep learning, adapting and improving throughout their career.
I should like to close with one further observation, namely that by the age of eighteen, every prospective teacher has had twelve or more years observing and experiencing good, bad and indifferent teaching. I suspect that they have already learned more about how to teach than they will learn in their teaching training and subsequent career!
