NPQML National College Leading Teaching - reflections on Learning centred leadership

Initial reflections

Successful leaders:

·         Using a variety of styles and strategies

·         Actively seeking out good practices but adapting them where necessary

·         Context matters

·         Optimistic, can-do individuals who are committed to making a difference for their pupils

·         Strongly person-centred,  putting a premium on professional relationships

Influencing:

·         Directly

·         Indirectly (largest and most common)

·         Reciprocally

Structure and systems are also important:

·         Planning processes

·         Target setting

·         Communication systems

·         Monitoring systems

·         Roles and responsibilities of leaders

·         Policies for learning, teaching, assessment and marking

Links to personalised learning - the five components of personalised learning being:

1.       AfL

2.       Teaching and learning strategies that engage and stretch

3.       Curriculum entitlement and choice

4.       Student centred approach to school organisation

5.       Strong partnership beyond the school

I am inclined to disagree with the description of coaching as a "short term, authoritative intervention to support improved performance or changing strategies and behaviours" and of mentoring as a "long-term developmental relationship that supports personal growth and learning". In my experience mentoring occurs when there is a need for support to be given to a colleague in order to improve their teaching through giving suggestions (for example with PGCE students or NQTs) whereas coaching, and questioning in a coaching style, can be used to further develop teachers who are more able to reflect on their own practice and determine their own options and action points for development.

Reflect on the extent to which each of the four components of learning-centered leadership (monitoring, modelling, dialogue and coaching) is a significant part of your personal repertoire of leadership behaviours. What does your 360-degree feedback tell you about this?

How comfortable are you with this approach to your work as a team leader?

Monitoring - strong link between very good monitoring and good or better teaching. Knowledge of teachers' strengths and development needs.

I need to improve my monitoring by doing more informal observations and holding more conversations with colleagues about teaching and learning. I also want to encourage colleagues to observe each other more in order to learn.

Modelling - the power of example, teachers watch their leaders closely for consistency and to test whether they do as they say. What leaders pay attention to is noticed.

I think I usually model well but remembering that "teachers watch their leaders closely" is quite a powerful incentive to ensure that I do this in all aspects of my role.

Dialogue - can often appear to be informal. What did you do and what happened because of it?

I want to have more dialogue with colleagues about teaching and learning and put more of a "premium on professional relationships".

Coaching - combines all three components

I want to have conversations in more of a coaching style with colleagues when discussing their teaching and learning. If colleagues are able to come to their own conclusions about what will improve their teaching and learning then they are more likely to follow through with suggested actions.

To what extent do your leaders and colleagues model this approach?

I feel there is a lot of good modelling within my school and this is combined with effective formal monitoring. It might be beneficial in terms of leadership to further develop our informal monitoring and dialogue. As a department we are exploring the power of coaching, this might have more influence if it were a whole school approach though.

Use part of a team meeting to explore this approach to leadership with your colleagues and prepare a response for discussion at your next face-to-face session.

I am planning on discussing this with my colleagues, in particular the informal monitoring and dialogue aspects.

ACTION POINTS:

See 'monitoring', 'modelling', 'dialogue' and 'coaching'.

NPQML National College Leading Teaching - reflections on theme 2: Leadership and Effective Teams

Successful teams:

Trust, open communication, common purpose and shared values, focus, commitment, collaboration, regular interaction, development of teaching and learning

Leaders should focus their influence, their learning and their relationships with teachers on the core business of teaching and learning

Effect sizes of the five dimensions (greatest to least):

1.       Promoting teaching learning and development (both promoting and participating formally and informally)

2.       Establishing goals and expectations (even in the face of multiple, conflicting demands) AND ensuring high quality teaching  (by planning, coordinating and evaluating teaching and the curriculum)

3.       Strategic resourcing (allocating material and staffing resources in a way that is aligned with pedagogical purposes)

4.       Orderly and supportive environment (clear and consistently enforced expectations and discipline codes)

ACTION POINTS:

1.       I think it is important to remember the 'promoting AND participating' aspect of development. I want to show that I am also in the process of developing in order to encourage my team to do the same.

2.       The point about 'multiple, conflicting demands' is interesting and reflects what teachers are faced with on a daily basis. It is still worth taking the time to focus on building a successful team despite all the other pressures.

NPQML National College Leading Teaching - reflections on account of practice 8: Behaviour Management

How do Tony Walsop and Sarah Lockyer ensure that members of their teams are consistent in their approach to behaviour management?

·         Be clear on whole school approach and what that means in the classroom. High expectations and performance management - each teacher is ultimately in control, don't allow standards to fall because it is the easier route. Instead take the time to plan for good behaviour

·         Discuss previous experiences and learn from this with colleagues

·         Model (don't just tell people what to do) - invite others to observe and sharing strategies that have worked, buddy up in pairs for team observation and coaching. All of this should build confidence in terms of behaviour management

·         Lesson observations, learning walks, analysis of on call system, marking scrutiny for quality assurance and consistency of the learning experience

·         Building relationships outside of the classroom - share strategies with students and parents

·         Feedback and evaluation from staff observations, student voice

What can you learn in terms of your leadership of your team in ensuring consistency? What impact will this have on your practice? How will you measure its effectiveness?

ACTION POINTS:

1.       Model and share strategies - invite people in to see my best practice and encourage others to go and see best practice that is happening elsewhere in the department

2.       Encourage staff to share strategies with parents (e.g. slips in planners, emails/phone calls home)

3.       Seek feedback from staff on whether changes have been beneficial, perhaps anonymously via surveymonkey

NPQML National College Leading Teaching - reflections on account of practice 7: What makes a good lesson?

After watching the video and comparing and contrasting the views of others with yours, what do you think are the ingredients of a good lesson?

From the video I would say that a good lesson consists of three key elements:

Preparation

Planning, well organised, subject knowledge, well informed teachers, resources, reliability (clarity, well evidenced, well thought through)

Learning

Students understanding of expectation of lesson, objectives, clarity of outcomes - what do we want to achieve? Pulled together at the end - what have we learnt? Learning is assessed and reviewed

Appropriately selected visible learning methods - making the learning process explicit with the teacher as an enabler

Engagement

Passionate teachers that interest pupils, if not then teacher can engage because of subject knowledge, engaging content that connects with the real world, challenge and element of surprise- blow your mind, take you somewhere else, use your senses, unpredictability to avoid a 'sanitised' learning environment.

I particularly liked the idea that a good lesson makes a difference, has an impact and is a social process where students take mutual responsibility for the learning of themselves and others.

Another element that I would perhaps add to this list is this pastoral aspect of teaching. Students, particular those from deprived backgrounds, often rely on their subject teachers for emotional support and, whilst it might be possible to recognise a positive learning environment during an observation, it is not always possible to recognise the extent to which a teacher might be supporting a student beyond the curriculum.

I think that I personally spend quite a lot of time of the first two elements and sometimes struggle to incorporate the third element - engagement. I think this is something that I need to seek the advice of other members of my department on and by modelling this encourage them to do the same for their weaker areas in teaching and learning.

How can you develop a shared understanding of what makes a good lesson across your team?

ACTION POINTS:

1.       Ask my team what they think a good lesson looks like and them compare to my answer above

2.       Get our team to work together and go into lessons to 'talent spot' and see what makes a good lesson

NPQML National College Leading Teaching - reflections on account of practice 6: Subject specialism

How do the staff in the maths department featured in this account of practice continue to develop their subject knowledge? How does the Head of Maths support them?

Passion for the subject- enthusiasm, interest, curiosity

Staff modelling discussion of the subject

Good post-16 uptake

Student questionnaire - subject knowledge important

Delegate and trust staff

Play strengths of staff

Avoid sounding panicked

Break things down and pass on to your team in a manageable form that they want to do

Decisions made and initiatives discussed as a team

Quality assurance but recognising a range of teaching styles

Same teacher for a class over the two years of GCSE or AS

Staff are encouraged to attend their colleagues’ lessons, not to judge but to learn. As Rebekah says, “It doesn’t matter how long we’ve been teaching, we’re always learning.”

Learning snapshots - 10-15min drop in agreed by participants and looking at student work and getting student views on written feedback

Organisation of looking after resources strategically delegated to department members

Two thirds of department meeting time focuses on teaching and learning with everyone expected to contribute

Association of teachers mathematics

Database of staff strengths and areas for development following observation

Maths society

Open door policy where students can ask any teacher

Student ambassadors

Peer mentoring with sixth form volunteers

7 features of outstanding teaching and learning document

Key word booklets

16 Q cards to select from and answer the question on

Easter revision booklet

In what ways do you support members of your team to continue to develop their subject knowledge, individually and as a team? What, for you as a leader, are the greatest challenges, and how do you overcome them?

Anything highlighted in bold above is something that we already do in our department in order to support members of the team in continuing to develop their subject knowledge.

ACTION POINTS:

In our department I think the greatest challenges are:

1.       Delegating to and trusting staff to complete tasks. If I make expectations clear and, as described in the account of practice, "break things down and pass on to your team in a manageable form that they want to do" and then follow up then hopefully we will create a culture of colleagues taking responsibility for the tasks given to them.

2.       Encouraging staff to observe each other to learn, not to judge. I will try to model this myself with other colleagues and set up informal learning observations for members of my team.

3.       Dedicating department time to teaching and learning. I will liaise with the Head of Science to ensure that structured time (with useful outcomes) is dedicated to teaching and learning in department meetings.

NPQML National College Leading Teaching - reflections on Opinion piece 2: Understanding and using data

What data do you need in order make sound judgements about your team’s performance?

Homework and assessment data, coursework data, data from interim reports (attainment, effort and indicative grades), KS2, KS3 and GCSE and AS data, GCSE targets and ALPs targets.

Where will you get the data you need in an appropriate format?

SIMs and interim report analysis from our data manager, department spreadsheets which are colour coded for comparison to ALPs target and GCSE target.

Do you know how to interpret it and apply it to your situation?

Interpretation in terms of percentages of each grade and key indicators such as A/A*, A*-C, A*-G for GCSE and A*-E for A level, interpretation in terms of value added.

How will you test it to ensure that it is valid and reliable?

Moderation of coursework, external marking of GCSE and AS examinations, work scrutiny for homework validity and reliability, moderation/discussion of marking of assessments with both colleagues and students. All data is recorded in departmental spreadsheets that can be easily updated and analysed.

How will you discuss it with your team?

Previously I have shared data electronically but I feel this has perhaps been lost in amongst all the other emails people receive on a daily basis. I am now going to attempt to have a personal conversation with each member of my department when interim data analysis comes in highlighting key areas for praise/concern and also hold more regular discussions about the data in our departmental spreadsheets and the students that require additional support.

What have you learned from the data and what actions do you need to take?

This will vary with each set of data - usually I find that there are certain individuals that need highlighting for extra support in lessons (simple strategies like making sure that they are required to answer a couple of questions each lesson or spending an extra few minutes with these individuals when circulating and facilitating activities in lessons). At GCSE any individuals who are at risk of not achieving can be selected for extra sessions to give them another attempt at improving their coursework score and at A level individuals who are not achieving are placed in a Chemistry study support group once a week for an hour after school where they focus on study skills. The data is often useful for highlighting early on which students we are concerned about through their indicative grade. I now need to make sure I have data conversations with colleagues rather than just expecting them to analyse the data themselves.

When and how will you review your findings? What are the implications?

When I receive the interim report data analysis I will take a day or two to analyse it before informally meeting with the relevant colleagues to discuss the key points and identify students that require additional support. It might be helpful to have a document to guide this (perhaps just an A5 sheet per class where we can make a note of which students are causing concern and what will be done). Hopefully this will raise teacher awareness of 'at risk' individuals and the subsequent conversation with students may be sufficient intervention to see an improvement. If not the teacher can also provide extra support in lessons to these individuals.

Having analysed the school-based data relevant to your subject, key stage or project, what are the implications for your team in relation to closing the gap?

2012 report

School deprivation factor of 0.37 (above the national average), and also above national average for FSM, ethnic minority groups, EAL, school action plus and statemented students

·         Chemistry GCSE - selective (triple) but above average for A/A* and A*-C, above school average

·         Core - below average A*-C, above average A/A*, below school average

·         Additional - average A*-C, above average A/A*, below school average

Areas to improve in science:

·         First language English

·         SEN without a statement

·         School action plus

·         Indian (but Bangladeshi above average)

·         A*-C

ACTION POINTS:

These findings should be shared with the department and particular areas focused on in lesson observations and work scrutiny. Students that are not achieving should be highlighted at the earliest possibly opportunity through data conversations with colleagues. High quality teaching across the board is obviously important in order to improve attainment but it might also be worth considering with colleagues, students and perhaps parents what barriers may be in place for the groups  that have been identified above. To evaluate the impact of leadership on closing the gap we should revisit the data.

NPQML National College Leading Teaching - reflections on account of practice 5: Using data in a secondary school to close the gap in achievement

How does Katrina identify gaps in achievement within her Faculty? Do you carry out a similar process? If so, how successful is it, and how could it be improved?

Look at the process by which Katrina monitors student progress and works with her line manager and team to implement strategies for improvement. How does this compare with the process in your school? As a middle leader, what can you learn from it?

Katrina comments on how her department uses a series of common assessments and written work (including formative assessment through homework, class work, smaller tests, etc) and makes comparison with baseline data to see early on whether both groups of students and individual students are progressing in line with expectations. I would agree that this early recognition is extremely important when considering how to reduce the gaps in achievement. The sooner support can be put in place the sooner improvements will be seen. I would also agree that formal and informal observations are useful for identifying where a Head of Department needs to help and also where to expect more from colleagues.

I found Katrina's constant use of the word 'intervention' a little concerning as I have come to associate intervention with additional time being spent with students outside of lessons. It would have been useful if she had been given the opportunity to elaborate on what she practically means by the use of this educational buzzword. When she mentioned the fortnightly meeting with her line manager to discuss data which then led to interventions and 'progress check points' being put in place before she reported back in the following meeting I did feel that this was a case of it looking like something was being done but that the actual substance in terms of what should be done for teaching and learning was missing. As I said, this may simply have been because Katrina was not given the chance to elaborate.

ACTION POINTS:

1.       Continue to monitor progress through both formative and summative assessments and data but perhaps hold more regular discussions with my line manager about the data

2.       Reflect on what 'in lesson' interventions could be put in place in terms of teaching and learning