Developing Learning-Centred Classrooms and Schools

When schools eventually do return they will need to change to get children re-engaged! Chris Watkins suggests important starting points for the journey from teacher-centred to learner centred classrooms, and then identifies the sort of language for learning which will go on to develop learning-centred cultures in classrooms and schools.

One of the most curious things about life in classrooms and schools is how little it focuses on learning. Since classrooms appeared on this planet 5,000 years ago they have been characterised by teacher-driven activity systems. In those Sumerian classrooms where boys were learning cuneiform writing, the teacher inscribed syllables into the first rows of tablets of clay, the boys then had to inscribe their version, at which the teacher corrected their attempt, turned the tablet over and did some more. That form of relationship is described as the IRE cycle: Initiation – Response – Evaluation, and research of the last fifty years continues to find it as a dominant pattern in current classrooms ^2/3.

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      string(3954) "by those “standards” it was the best in London.ReferencesArya, H., Maskill, K., & Thorne, L. (2007). What If ? Oldham: Limeside Primary School ■ Bruner JS (1996), “Folk pedagogy” page 64 in his The Culture of Education, Cambridge MA, Harvard University Press. ■ Comenius (1632) The Great Didactic, Trans M W Keating 1967, New York, Russell & Russell ■ Mannion, J., & Mercer, N. (2016). “Learning to learn: improving attainment, closing the gap at Key Stage 3”. The Curriculum Journal, 1-26. ■ Hammond S.A. (2013) The Thin Book of Appreciative Inquiry (3rd Edition) Thin Book Publishing ■ James, M., & Pedder, D. (2006). “Beyond method: Assessment and learning practices and values”. The Curriculum Journal, 17(2), 109-138. ■ OECD (2016), PISA 2015 Results (Volume II): Policies and Practices for Successful Schools, PISA, OECD Publishing, Paris. ■ Patrick H, Anderman LH, Ryan AM, et al. (2001) “Teachers’ communication of goal orientations in four fifth-grade classrooms” The Elementary School Journal 102(1) 35-58. ■ Pedder, D. (2006). “Organizational conditions that foster successful classroom promotion of Learning How to Learn”. Research Papers in Education, 21(2), 171-200. ■ Reed et al (2012) The Adventurous School, London: Institute of Education Publications ■ Reed, J. and Lodge, C. (2006). Towards Learning-focused School Improvement. Research Matters series, No 28. London: University of London Institute of Education International Network for School Improvement ■ Southworth, G. (2005). “Learning-centred leadership”, in Davies B (ed) The Essentials of School Leadership (pp. 75-92): Paul Chapman and Corwin Press London ■ Turner JC, Midgley C, Meyer DK, et al. (2002) “The classroom environment and students reports of avoidance strategies in mathematics: a multimethod study” Journal of Educational Psychology 94(1) 88-106 ■ Vukman K. & Licardo M. (2010) “How cognitive, metacognitive, motivational and emotional self-regulation influence school performance in adolescence and early adulthood”, Educational Studies, 36 (3), 259–268 ■ Wall, K. & Hall, E. (2009). Developing New Understandings of Learning to Learn, Research Matters series No 33. London: University of London Institute of Education International Network for School Improvement ■ Watkins, C. (2002) Effective Learning. The National School Improvement Network (NSIN). Summer 2002. https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/83041.pdf ■ Watkins, C. (2004) Classrooms as learning communities  The National School Improvement Network (NSIN). Autumn 2004. http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.455.4201&rep=rep1&type=pdf ■ Watkins, C. (2009) Learning about learning. School Leadership Today. Volume 1.3. Imaginative Minds. http://www.excellenceeahttp://www.excellenceeast.org.uk/st.org.uk/uploads/Articles/2010/Dec/Watkins09Lngaboutlng.pdf ■ Watkins, C. (2010) Ed. Jane Reed. Learning, Performance and Improvement. International Network for School Improvement (LCLL)http://www.mantleoftheexpert.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/Watkins-10-Lng-Perf-Imp.pdf ■ Watkins, C. (2014) Developing learning-centred classrooms and schools in Mayhill, M. and Maclean, R. (2014) International handbook on Life in Schools and Classrooms: Past, present and future visions. Springer. http://chriswatkins.net/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/Watkins_14_Intl_Hbk.pdf ■ Whalley, C. (1998). “Using Appreciative Inquiry to overcome post-OFSTED syndrome”. Management in Education, 12(3), 6-7. ■ Yballe, L., & O’Connor, D. (2000). “Appreciative pedagogy: Constructing positive models for learning”. Journal of Management Education, 24(4), 474-483. "
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      string(2840) "following instructions; correct answer is the goal, following procedures is the method. (see publication: Watkins (2009) “Learning about Learning” wwhttp://www.excellenceeast.org.uk/w.excellenceeast.org.uk/uploads/Articles/2010/Dec/Watkins09Lngaboutlng.pdf.)How do classrooms you know fare on these features? Discuss your observations with colleagues.Schools which develop learning-centred practice get good results. In 2012 a headteacher I had worked with from a primary school in a disadvantaged area of Leeds sent me her school data under the heading “Best Results Ever”. In 2013 they were better again.The improved results are also less divisive. In the past I have written “The only intervention which achieves both equity and excellence is one that is learning-centred” (see publication: Watkins (2014) “Developing learning-centred classrooms and schools” http://chriswatkins.net/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/Watkins_14_Intl_Hbk.pdf) and since then evidence from a secondary school which developed a “learning to learn” programme demonstrated that attainment gap between socially disadvantaged students and others moved from 25% in the year before the programme to just 2% in the L2L group (Mannion & Mercer 2016).WorkListen in any classroom: “Get on with your work”, “Please Miss he’s copying my work”, “Home work,” “Schemes of work”, “Have you finished your work?” It can be the dominant discourse of classroom life. But it can lead to a situation of meaningless work, as when people talk about being “on task” without assessing the learning quality or engagement.The discourse of “work” shifts the locus of agency: as Harrison (8 years) said to his teacher Donna: “When you work you work for someone else, and when you learn you learn for yourself.”Having spotted this, what can we do? This space invader gives us a starting example of how to change its effect: change from talking about work to learning: for example “homework” to “home learning”. Another school in Leeds had a whole-school assembly where the head said “From today on, no more work, only learning”. She reported that Year 1 children ran back to their classrooms excitedly enquiring: “Is it true? Is it true?”Can you think of other examples where the word “work” is used and you could experiment with substituting the word “learning”?When we have identified the space invaders we are empowered into “Naming and Taming” their negative effects.Survey your school’s website, counting the incidence of terms which fall under the categories: teaching, performance, work, learning."
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      string(5928) "Training, development or learning?What’s in a name? Over the years a variety of terms have been used when referring to the ongoing development of those involved in the teaching enterprise.  In-service training was often used to provide a distinction from initial teacher training. The once ubiquitous term continuing professional development (CPD) then gained considerable popularity and traction. It could be seen to embrace not just teachers but also other adults who work with children, and was a concept used in other professions as well.  Above all it was seen as a powerful expression because it signalled an on-going process that was a fundamental feature of what it was to be a professional – someone who took seriously and invested in keeping up to date and in improving their practice. In all of this there was an interesting debate about whether this was a process of training or education; was teaching a craft with skills to be acquired and honed or more of an art to be nurtured and developed (Fish, 1998)? In more recent times there has been an emerging emphasis on professional knowledge and indeed on the whole notion of professional learning (Timperley and Alton-Lee, 2008).  If schools are envisaged as being learning organisations then this embraces the learning of staff as well as pupils. This has led some commentators to use professional learning as a preferred term, or in the case of the Centre for the Use of Research and Evidence in Education (CUREE) the composite expression professional development and learning.  Schools as learning communitiesAdopting the perspective of teachers as learners within schools seen as learning communities raises intriguing questions about the nature of such learning and how it relates to the learning of pupils – is it similar and shared or different and distinctive?  Certainly there are some who see a distinction between pedagogy: child-led learning, and andragogy: “man” or adult-led learning (Knowles, 1984). But there is much that bridges the two; just as we aim to enable children to become curious inquirers who take increasing control of their own learning, so we also see the great benefits for teachers in becoming research engaged practitioners (Handscomb and MacBeath, 2006). Learning-centred classroomsAll these matters concerned with learning, development and growth are reflected in this issue of Professional Development Today.  The HOW TO section, written by Chris Watkins, is forthright in claiming that actually “learning is a rare focus in classrooms and schools” and that the dominant pattern persists of: “teacher initiates, students responds, teacher evaluates.”  Watkins provocatively claims that we have socialised children into schooling but forgotten to socialise them into learning! He provides step by step guidance to restoring and developing learning-centred classrooms where adults as well as children learn and flourish.  These HOW TO contributions provide much food for thought including the pithy observation: “The links between teaching and learning are complex and multiple. High-level learning doesn’t come from us teaching our socks off.” This brings to mind the Dylan Wiliam quipthat students go to school not to learn but to watch teachers work!Learning, leadership and school improvementIn the article by Christopher Chapman and Kevin Lowden they describe how the key concepts of professional learning, co-production and enquiry were built into their initiative, commissioned by the Scottish Government. This aimed to grow teacher leadership and build the capacity of schools, local authorities and their partners. They portray a “solution-focused approach” which promotes sustained collaboration across classroom, school and local authority boundaries to tackle educational inequality.  Evidence indicates significant outcomes showing that this School Improvement Partnership Project had a positive impact on both teachers and students. Teacher leaders developed considerable research skills and exercised leadership beyond their school context; and the Partnership helped to close the attainment gap for students. In terms of professional learning the authors suggest that such “networked improvement communities tend to flourish when they draw on a range of approaches including lesson study, instructional rounds, improvement science and collaborative action.”The next article also explores how a network sought to reduce educational inequality through a professional learning initiative – this time in Bristol and focused on the development of teaching assistants (TAs) to improve the transfer of children with high behaviour support needs from nursery into reception.  Interestingly the authors, Liz Jenkins and Rebecca Nelson, highlight the context of schools which have chosen not to convert to academies finding professional development opportunities drastically reduced.  This initiative attempted to redress this through a programme which enabled teaching assistants to collaboratively explore case studies. A key feature of this approach was moving from training directed by teachers or external experts to a greater emphasis on TAs’ control of their own development and “participation in a learning community for which they have shared responsibility.”Incremental coachingOwnership of one’s own professional learning is similarly a major feature of Peter Matthews’ research article.  He describes the research he has carried out into the practice of incremental"
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      string(6089) "How leaders influence organisational outcomesEffective school leaders have a strong sense of moral purpose and social justice. Their impact on students is largely indirect and is relatively small compared to other factors. However, what leaders do and say, and how they demonstrate leadership, does affect pupil learning outcomes; it is largely through the actions of others, most obviously teachers, that the effects of school leadership are mediated. School leadership influences student outcomes more than any other factors, bar socio-economic background and quality of teaching. There is little doubt that the research evidence reinforces the point that leadership matters. Furthermore, it is suggested that leadership for learning or learning centred leadership matters most. It is to this model of leadership that we first turn. Leadership for learningWhat’s in a name?What used to be referred to as instructional or pedagogic leadership has developed into leadership for learning or learning centred leadership. Hallinger (2012) notes how instructional leadership has been reincarnated as a global phenomenon in the form of ‘leadership for learning’. Timperley (2011:145) states that leadership that is focused on promoting effective teaching and learning has had a number of terms: ‘as with any idea that gains currency in education, the labels for this kind of leadership abound and have usually taken an adjectival form of instructional, pedagogical, or learning-centred leadership. Alternatively it is expressed as leadership of or for something, such as leadership for learning’. Learning-directed learning is another term used. Timperley goes on to say that Murphy et al., (2007) summed up the essence of the ideas expressed in these multiple labels when they said ‘the touchstones for this type of leadership include the ability of leaders:to stay consistently focused on the right stuff—the core technology of schools, or learning, teaching, curriculum and assessment, andto make all the other dimensions of schooling (e.g. administration, organization, finance) work in the service of a more robust core technology and improved student learning’. (2007, cited in Timperley, 2011:146)In broad terms, whatever its label, it is an approach to leadership ‘whereby the leader helps foster a learning climate free of disruption, a system of clear teaching objectives, and high teacher expectations for students. Elements include principal leadership, clear mission, teaching expectations, and opportunities to learn’ (Osborne-Lampkin et al., 2015:2).Focus on learning outcomesThis form of leadership is highly concerned with improving student outcomes, where the focus is on learning and leading teachers’ professional development. For example, Southworth (2002:79) states that ‘instructional leadership is strongly concerned with teaching and learning, including the professional learning of teachers as well as student growth’. Southworth has contributed significantly to the debate about learning-centred leadership and has developed a model which includes the strategies of modelling, monitoring and dialogue (Southworth, 2009; Earley, 2013). For Southworth, learning-centred leadership is about ‘the simultaneous use of these strategies in ways which mutually reinforce one another. It is their combined effect which creates powerful learning for teachers and leaders and which, in turn, inform teachers’ actions in classrooms and lead to improved teaching and student learning’ (ibid.:101). Learning-centred leadership emphasises the centrality of teaching and learning – including staff learning – and suggest that leaders’ influence on student outcomes is via staff, especially teachers. Leadership for learning has also been conceptualised as a combination of pedagogic and transformational leadership (Day and Sammons, 2013; Robinson, 2011). If this is the case, then how can leaders lead the learning? How might this form of leadership be operationalized in schools and classrooms? Leading the learning: making it happenPromoting professional learningWhen leaders act as learning-centred leaders, their role includes developing people, enhancing the quality of teaching and learning and having a positive impact on student outcomes, broadly defined. As noted above, Southworth (2009) discussed the learning-centred leadership strategies of modelling, monitoring and dialogue to which West-Burnham later added mentoring as underpinning all three (Earley, 2013). For the OECD, leadership for learning was about focusing on supporting, evaluating and developing teacher quality which included ‘coordinating the curriculum and teaching program, monitoring and evaluating teaching practice, promoting teachers’ professional development, and supporting collaborative work cultures’ (Schleicher, 2012:18). Senior leaders need to help teachers – who are leaders of teaching and learning in classrooms – to get better at what they do by enabling on-going professional development.In order to keep a focus on learning it is important to visit classrooms and participate in professional development, initiate and guide conversations about student learning, keep up to date and share learning with others, make pupil learning a focus for performance evaluation, establish teaching and learning as central topics for school-wide staff meetings, analyse data about student learning and use it for planning and to set goals for improvements in learning and then review progress in relation to these goals (NCSL,"
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Executive Leadership

Leading the learning – yes but for what purpose?

18 Apr 2018

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