Mastery Learning is Where it’s At

Confusion over what Mastery Learning is can has created conflicting ideas and approaches. Heather Clements explains what it is and uses models of memory to clarify how it can be a meaningful and successful way to achieve deep learning.

Diverse group of friends work together on homework at the library. They have papers and pencils in hand.

It seems that virtually every school in the country is thinking about Mastery Learning, but from recent conversations with school leaders, it seems that very few of them have a clear understanding of what Mastery Learning actually is.

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      string(5782) "As an independent consultant I have the privilege of observing lessons in a wide range of schools across all ages and all subjects. This has given me a significant insight into the challenges facing teachers today. Faced with an ever-rising expectation of pupil outcomes and an increasingly complex pupil cohort, teachers are having to work harder than ever. However, that hard work has not consistently resulted in sufficiently improved outcomes for pupils, particularly in subjects where depth of understanding rather than acquisition of knowledge is required.Schools may be scoring highly in phonics or SPAG, where knowledge acquisition is key, but less so in reading, where depth of understanding and the ability to use higher order thinking is required to achieve greater depth. Mathematical knowledge and skills are learned but concepts are not always retained, resulting in frequent revisiting to ensure that pupils can apply their learning, with teachers expressing frustration with situations where pupils could do something last term that now eludes them. As with so much in education, these are dilemmas that have been facing teachers for decades and we need to look to theoretical research into teaching approaches that have been shown to have efficacy and in particular those that focus on deepening understanding and securing knowledge. SOLO Taxonomy – the Structure of Observed Learning Outcomes – is a taxonomy that describes the stages of learning and provides a conceptual structure that enables teachers to plan for progressive learning – moving from shallow to deep learning as cited by Hattie in his meta-analysis of interventions to raise achievement (Hattie, 2009).Understanding Solo TaxonomyThe Structure of Observed Learning Outcomes (SOLO) describes levels of progressive understanding, through five stages that are relevant to all subjects and areas of learning. In SOLO, understanding is considered as an increase in the number and complexity of connections students make as they progress from ignorance to expertise. Each level is intended to encompass and exceed the previous level. The SOLO taxonomy was created by carefully analysing student responses to assessment tasks (Biggs and Collis, 1982; Collis and Biggs, 1986). In developing SOLO, Biggs and Collis took into account many factors that affect student learning, such as students’ prior knowledge and misconceptions, motives and intentions regarding education, and their learning strategies. The result is a view of learning that has both quantitative and qualitative dimensions and applies to all ages and all subjects.The first level of SOLO (pre-structural) is a stage of ignorance that exists outside of the taxonomy. The next two stages (unistructural and multi-structural) are both levels of surface understanding or quantitative knowledge, in which knowledge is gained in greater quantity but does not result in depth of learning. Depth comes with qualitative knowledge – how ideas are understood in connection with other ideas. These connections enable the learner to move to an increasing abstraction, so the last two levels of SOLO are identified by the integration and connection of knowledge and by increased abstraction. Such fundamental change is cognitively challenging but we need to understand that depth is not the same as difficulty – a confusion that means that teachers find it difficult to pose higher order questions.The pre-structural level precedes the learning cycle and is not always the starting point for learners, some of whom may enter the learning cycle at different levels – indeed as adults we are rarely pre-structural as we tend to know a bit about most things drawn from our life experience. The learning cycle in SOLO is the sequence of stages from unistructural to relational, in which understanding grows and deepens with the aim that students will leave the learning cycle with the ability to express their ideas in the extended abstract. A student may find themselves in a different learning cycle for each topic or theme that they are learning about, and in each of those learning cycles they may be at a different level of SOLO. 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Collaborative Learning

SOLO Taxonomy for Deepening the Learning Journey

10 Oct 2018

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      string(5761) "cyclical process ofthe lesson, intervention or unit, in order to adjust teaching to needs.At the decision levelTwo key points to guide processes seem to be emerging:■ Learning needs to be visible to teachers and pupils – Hattie’s work on VisibleLearning is crucial to understanding the power and impact of this.■ We need to have a readily accessible way of identifying ‘surface understanding’ and‘deep learning’, ideally wider than the taught criteria.Making the leap to deeper learningWhat is emerging at impact level? The most significant implication, noted in ourdiscussions, is the frequency with which we are returning to the following sources forguidance, learning from the past to guide our development work.The significance and importance of the work of John Hattie, making learning visible,is being revisited. Hattie’s work guides us to ensure planning considers not only priorand intended achievement, but also learning dispositions. If we are to enable pupils tobecome self-aware as learners, we need to plan for and support the development ofthese and to create ‘growth’ mindsets – points relevant to both the guidance from theCommission on Assessment without Levels and current Ofsted expectations (see alsothe work of Carol Dweck and Shirley Clarke).Hattie’s work on the teacher as ‘activator’ picks up ‘mastery learning’ andchallenging goals. He talks about the art of teaching being to balance the need forsurface knowledge with deep processing of this knowledge. Both are essential, butcrucially, ‘You can’t do the deep stuff until you know the shallow stuff’.7 As one assessmentadviser said to me recently, ’I had forgotten how relevant and powerful this is’.We are revisiting the need for learning objectives and success criteria to use‘active’ verbs, in order to make learning intentions visible for assessment by teacherand pupil. How do you assess, for example, the curriculum requirement ‘to be awareof…’? Combining active verbs with a developing understanding of ‘mastery’, leadersand teachers have referenced tables such as the one below, drawn from the NationalCollege for Teaching and Leadership report ‘Beyond Levels’8, connecting Bloom’smetacognition and active verbs.The knowledgedimension1Remember2Understand3Apply4Analyse5Evaluate6CreateA. Factualknowledgelist summarise classify order rank combineB. Conceptualknowledgedescribe interpret experiment explain access planC. Proceduralknowledgetabulate predict calculate differentiate conclude composeD. Metacognitiveknowledgeappropriateuseexecute construct achieve action actualiseTable 1: From the NCTL report, ‘Beyond levels’, adapted from the work of David R. Krathwohl945Vol 7.3School Leadership Todaywww.teachingtimes.comLeadershipSkillsAssessmentHowever, while Bloom’s Taxonomy has proven an accessible and useful planning tool,which many teachers and pupils have become adept at using to structure questions,leaders and teachers are asking if we use it in a way that is too restrictive. In a taughtsession, is use of such a matrix sufficiently accessible to support the flow across ‘surface’to ‘deep’ learning for the breadth of teaching, learning and assessment?Hattie’s Visible Learning Labs are also asking questions about Bloom’s; they havebeen exploring the Structure of Observed Learning Outcomes (SOLO), created byBiggs and Collis. Is this a more accessible, easily applied tool, which supports planningand assessment across ‘surface’ to ‘mastery’? Using a simple structure, SOLO describesa progression of increasing complexity in learning to reach ‘deep’ understanding.Figure 2 has been a useful focus for discussion because it connects active verbs withprogression in a way that makes progression in understanding and learning visible toboth teachers and pupils, assisting our understanding of mastery.Figure 2 (Image: John Biggs)Both Hattie and Pam Hook have noted a high degree of consistency between teachersand pupils using SOLO to make judgements about achieved learning and next steps.10The progression from ‘quantified’ knowledge to connecting and using knowledgeindependently and purposefully in familiar and new contexts is easily understoodand instantly accessible. It is guiding planning, questioning, feedback and pupil self-awareness of their learning.If SOLO gives us a means by which to identify and respond to personalisedprogression in learning, how do we structure a taught session to include such a rangeof differentiation where we need to provide both support and independence? Onceagain, we are returning to past wisdom. The work of Belle Wallace, Thinking Actively ina Social Context (TASC), is a powerful resource. Revisiting the TASC Framework, we havebeen able to see how it connects to and supports many of the points discussed above.The TASC Framework:■ requires collaborative learning, supporting mixed ability classes and/or groups, anda culture committed to the development of ‘growth mindsets’;■ employs a simple structure that connects learning skills and questions to promotemetacognition and self-awareness as a learner;■ can be aligned with Bloom’s and supports use of SOLO; sohttp://www.johnbiggs.com.au/academic/solo-taxonomy/46Vol 7.3School Leadership Todaywww.teachingtimes.comLeadershipSkillsAssessment ■ provides for focused independent application of learning, requiring and prompting‘deep’ learning/mastery.The TASC wheel (Image © Belle Wallace, used here with permission)In Table 2, I have summarised developing thoughts, indicating how using"
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Leadership

Is your assessment fit for purpose?

29 Mar 2016

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      string(5685) "story.mailto:maisie@teachingtimes.commailto:maisie@teachingtimes.comhttp://teachingtimesbookshop.co.uk/product/teaching-and-leadership-skills/learning-assessment-pathways-laps/92Vol 7.5School Leadership Todaywww.teachingtimes.comPrimaryFileSchoolstories Identifying our prioritiesThe LAPs toolkit is structured around six pathways, each providing a specific startingpoint where you can begin to evaluate and improve practice. Here at Ravensthorpe, webegan with the Yellow Pathway, which is designed to help schools evaluate how wellthey create and sustain a culture of high expectations and achievement, purposefullyaddressing barriers to learning. My deputy head, Rachel Wheatley, and I felt the timingwas right to revisit our work on raising expectations and achievement for all. The threepieces of work highlighted in this article were carried out with teaching staff and schoolleaders. Rachel completed the enquiry (the third piece), as we wanted to review theeffectiveness of our Teaching Assistants (TAs) in light of Sutton Trust research.2This work underlined that we now needed to take provision to the ‘next level’ interms of curriculum development, learning to learn, metacognition and so on, if wewere to achieve our aim of teaching and learning being judged as ‘good’ overall. Theseareas fed into our next School Development Plan (SDP) as a result of using the LAPsmaterials.We began with the LAPs resource ‘A structure for a culture of high expectations’. Adiscussion of this document took place during a staff inset day in February 2015 whenreviewing the following SDP priorities:1. Ensure that high expectations are maintained for pupils in all years sothat they make good progress and achieve well in reading, writing andmathematicsa. To evaluate impact of intervention and support for pupils who fall behind and/or have additional needs to ensure that gaps to national averages are narrowed2. Improve the quality of teaching to ‘good’ overall (planning, lessonobservations, assessment, evidence in books)a. To develop teaching practice so that lessons are well differentiated withappropriate challenge to meet the needs of different groups of learnersb. To develop purposeful, discrete opportunities for higher ability children todevelop literacy and numeracy skillsc. To underpin the curriculum with ‘Attitudes lens’ and ‘Assertive mentoring’ toenable children to be more independent in their learning and to be resilientwhen solvingproblems“3. Improve leadership at all levels so leaders,managers and governors effectively driveschool improvement based on accurate self-evaluationa. To monitor the impact of pupil premiumspendingb. 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Leadership

Our journey beyond special measures

4 Oct 2016

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      string(347) "In this research report David Sands assesses the impact of school-based Masters-level professional development. He finds that it not only makes valuable contributions to growing leadership potential and the well-being of participating teachers, but that it can also provide structure and coherence to school-based CPD programmes."
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      string(4641) "practice.58……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………Powerful, high quality professional development ■■■■■■■■ Aims of the projectFrom modest beginnings, the MA programme haddeveloped into a major element of the school’s‘learning community of practice’ (Ibbotson, 2008).From conversations with the leader of CPD andcourse participants it was clear that the MA was highlyregarded. However, a considered and comprehensiveassessment of its effectiveness, in terms of its variousimpacts on pupils and staff, had at no time beenattempted. The research therefore aimed to assist theschool in developing a clearer understanding of whateffects this major investment was having on participants,their attitudes to school leadership and specifically ontheir Collective Teacher Efficacy (Goddard, Hoy andHoy, 2000).Collective Teacher Efficacy (CTE) is associatedwith the confidence, level of effort, persistence, sharedthoughts, stress levels and achievement of groupsof teachers. Goddard et al (2000) found a positiveassociation between high collective teacher efficacy andimproved achievement for pupils. Further research byTschannen-Moran and Barr (2004) found that CTEcreates high expectations for pupils and encouragesteachers to set challenging benchmarks for themselves.It was hoped that useful insights concerning therelationship between the MA programme, CTE andpupil achievement could be gained for the school.The research also attempted to identify differencesin the learning and experience of pupils, along withany changes in various areas of pupil performance. Byengaging participants in a process of reflection, it washoped to gain a detailed picture of what impact the MAprogramme was having and to move towards a simpleand user-friendly impact evaluation tool, incorporatingboth pre-and post-MA course planning and makingreference to school leadership.■■■ Research designThe sample chosen included past and current coursemembers and represented well over half the totalpopulation of 31. The principal research methodemployed was semi-structured interview. This seemedmost appropriate as it enabled an exploration of andaccess to teacher perspectives, attitudes and ideasand recognised the experiences and knowledge of theparticipants as an important aspect of the social reality59……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………Researchof teaching and learning. This data was triangulated byinterviewing the deputy head teacher responsible forCPD, and the HEI course leader. As well as gaining theirperceptions of how the course impacted on participants,the interviews focused on the extent to which theyfelt the MA course had impacted on the school andits pupils. Other evidence such as policy documents,Ofsted reports and lesson observations were also usedto triangulate the interview data.■■■ Summary of key findings1. Impact on teaching and the school(i) Classroom practice■ Interviewees spoke with conviction regarding theimpact that the programme had both on their ownclassroom practice and on that of their colleagues.They provided specific examples of where they feltpractice had improved. For example an assistanthead teacher whose dissertation was focused ondeveloping Teacher Learner Communities (TLCs) toimprove feedback, pointed to the project having had asignificant impact. This perception was confirmed bythe Ofsted inspection of June 2013 which reportedthat the weaknesses in feedback noted in 2010 hadbeen fully addressed, and was highly complimentaryof the assessment and feedback now practiced acrossthe school. In addition to this evidence, there was acorrelation between the introduction of TLCs andan improvement in lesson observation grades fromOctober 2012 (the introduction of TLCs) to June2013 (the Ofsted inspection). Pupils were also invitedto the year 2 TLC workshops in order to gain theirviews and develop a “shared language of learning”.■ Another participant"
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Professional Development

Powerful, high quality professional development

24 Oct 2014

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