An expert teaching team - in detail

Changes present new challenges

Every case study school in NSW (Erebus International, 2012 and 2013) experienced a process of change, most commonly in the way that student learning occurred both at the classroom and whole school level. Changes such as this bring diverse and unexpected challenges, with every member of the school community requiring tailored professional support.

Teachers and school leaders need effective and timely professional support

The NSW case studies highlighted the pivotal leadership role of the school principal, however leaders also reported the importance of acknowledging the professional learning that they needed to assist them in this role.

Teachers also needed appropriate professional support as change brings the challenge of adapting many aspects of their classroom practice. Teacher capacity must increase if change is to succeed and become sustainable.

Hattie (2009:254) notes that innovations to improve teaching expertise, student learning etc only touch a very small percentage of teachers. The value of providing professional support that is tailored to teachers’ (and students’ learning) needs therefore cannot be underestimated.
 

Professional development supports individual teachers and builds “professional capital”

Effective schools avoid the apparently easy solution of “one size fits all”. On the contrary, while some teachers may engage in learning new and different classroom methodologies, often through peer observation and mentoring, others may develop team leadership capacities at whole year or faculty levels. It is important for tailored professional learning experience to be aligned not only with current but also future or emerging responsibilities.

Hargreaves and Fullan (2012) suggest tailored professional support must be employed to build teachers’ “professional capital” to thrive on the change process. Indeed, almost 20 years ago Fullan (1993) cited the relationship between the teacher’s role as change agent and their holding a sense of moral purpose. However all tailored professional support must “make a difference in the lives of children”. As Fullan (1993:2) reiterates, “moral purpose keeps teachers close to the needs of children and youth; change agentry causes them to develop better strategies for accomplishing their moral goals.”

Expert teaching teams can take on responsibility for change

Whalan (2012) identified professional development as one of the key elements to ensure that teachers engage in a sense “collective responsibility” for the change process. Along with professional community, relational trust, accountability and efficacy, Whalan suggests that each of these “interconnected discourses” relates directly to the concept of “teachers’ collective responsibility”.

When a principal promotes and participates in teacher learning and development as a leading learner, the effect on student learning is significant (Robinson, 2007). School leaders are then more likely to be perceived by their staff as having pedagogical expertise to provide instructional advice and influence the quality of teaching in the school. Their advice is sought, respected and acted upon. (Whalan, 2012)

A “learning community” approach to building an expert teaching team

Teacher professional learning must not simply be an isolated activity that touches on individuals; it is also part of an effective schools’ culture. There is a vast difference between schools in which individual teachers attend courses or seminars that are of particular interest to themselves, and schools where all members of staff are part of a learning community. This means that teacher knowledge and skills are constantly refreshed and refined through a variety of planned interactions that might include peer observation, sharing of reflections or collaborative planning. This was exemplified in the NSW case study schools where tailored professional development was seen as one of the most important positive influences on sustained change.

References

Erebus International (2012). Evaluation of the take-up and sustainability of new literacy and numeracy practices in NSW schools – Final Report for Phase 1, undertaken on behalf of the NSW Minister for Education

Erebus International (2013). Evaluation of the take-up and sustainability of new literacy and numeracy practices in NSW schools – Final Report for Phase 2, undertaken on behalf of the NSW Minister for Education

Fullan, M. (1993). Change Forces London: Palmer Press

Fullan, M. and Hargreaves, A. (2012). Professional Capital: Transforming Teaching in Every School. New York: Teachers College Press

Hattie, J.  (2009). Visible Learning: a synthesis of over 800 Meta- Analyses relating to Achievement. London: Routledge

Whalan, F. (2012). Collective Responsibility: Redefining what falls between the cracks for school reform.  Amsterdam: Sense Publishers