LEADING OUR FUTURE

TOGETHERNecessary Conditions

for Shared Leadership in Calgary

Public Schools

TEACHING AND LEARNING CONDITIONS SURVEY - 2010 Birthed from the survey of

teachers in the CBE conducted by Local 38 in early 2010

The “shared

leadership”

research

question for the

Local 38 study:

What are the

necessary conditions

for informed

transformation?

The path of autocracy: governance through forced compliance

Initiative fatigue:

“administrators have become managers and less connected to practice” (a teacher)

“I want to be in the classroom working elbow to elbow with teachers yet I can’t” (a principal)

The path of technocracy:excessive surveillance through growing bureaucracy andstandardization

“Early on I struggled with becoming the teacher I want to be. This was compounded by the fact that, despite my feelings prepared for my beginning years, I was being asked to do so many distracting, unimportant things. Then I could not articulate this “emptiness” at the time but now I can. So now I name it that way: frustration not my ineffectiveness.”

The path of effervescence: an obsession with achieving narrow, short-term and unsustainable targets

Growing use of digital reporting tools without appropriate assessment policy context

over-prescribed Programs of Study (1352 outcomes in Grade 7)

Accountability Pillar does not include teacher assessments

The strategic question: Will the three pathways of distraction limit

informed transformation in Calgary Public schools?

STUDY PARTICIPANTSRepresentative sample of 1,221 of Calgary

full-time and part-time teachers (55% response rate)79% female

21% male80% classroom teachers15% administrative designation

88% held continuing contracts; others held probationary or temporary contracts.

Teaching assignments: 5% Kindergarten; 50% grades 1-6; 18% grades 7-9; 18% grades 10-12.

Teaching experience: 45% had fewer than 10 years; 50% had 10-30 years.

THE GOOD NEWS 71 per cent agreed or strongly

agreed that CBE is a good place to work

65 per cent agreed that CBE values teacher professionalism

70-75 percent indicate satisfaction with a range of learning conditions (except for class size at 65 per cent satisfaction)

98 percent report positive relationships with students;

95 percent report positive relationships with parents

THE BAD NEWSSources of dissatisfaction: 31 per cent with class

size 46 per cent with support

for students with special needs

62 per cent work more than 50 hours per week

45 per cent do not have access to PD during the school day

reporting student progress and IPPs very significant issues (GLA, digital reporting tools)

LOCAL 38 SERVICES AND SUPPORTS

Females More Than 5 Years

Teaching

More than 20 Years Teaching

Continuous Contract Teachers

Non-Continuous Contract

and Probationa

ry Teachers

Find the ATA provincial website as useful.

Along with administrators and females find e-mail updates useful.

View local’s success in keeping members informed as excellent.

Least likely to view LENZ podcast as useful.

More likely to view LENZ podcast as useful.

Rate updates from local representative very useful.

ADVANCING THE INTEREST OF THE PROFESSION

Females Teachers with Administrative Responsibility

Over 45 Years Old

Continuous Contract Teachers

Non-Continuous

Contract and

Probationary

Teachers

Identify special support for special education as important.

Professional supports for new administrators is a priority for advocacy.

Improving access to and flexibility of maternity leaves is a low priority.

Raising awareness re: cultural diversity advocacy is a priority

Priority to improve process for awarding continuing contracts.

Secondary level teachers less likely to identify special support for special education as important.

Elementary teachers report addressing online reporting issues as needing advocacy.

PLANS FOR THE FUTURE

Highly mobile teachers in the early years of practice - temporary interruption in careers in the next 5 years diminishes with age and experience.

Female teachers and classroom teachers are more likely to interrupt their careers.

Of those planning to interrupt their careers, 37% will spend time with family of to have a child; 12% to further their education; 9% to investigate other job opportunities.

As age and experience increases, leaving for reasons other than retiring decreases.

37% predicted a change in school or division where they teach; 5% would leave the teaching profession.

LEADING OUR FUTURE TOGETHER: THE DESIGN CHALLENGE AHEAD Avoiding the

distractions of autocracy, , technocracy, and effervescence

Focus on sustainable innovation and structural changes in times of declining resources

Shared leadership not “cognitive despotism” (Crozier, p. 13)

A DESIGN FRAMEWORK FOR SHARED LEADERSHIP How can we all work together to

ensure that all students learn well?All stakeholder groups have valuable contributions to make.

Unite our efforts to ensure authentic public deliberation.

Transform how information flows in the system.

A DESIGN FRAMEWORK FOR SHARED LEADERSHIP Actions & Strategies organized into

four categories:

Sustain and improve: building on current successes

Redesign: rethinking current structures

Start: taking immediate stepsStop: discontinuing ineffective

practices

PLANNING AND SETTING SYSTEM PRIORITIES

Sustain & Improve Redesign Start Stop

Continuing support for teachers to

provide more attention to

our diverse & complex students

Inclusion, the CT Strategy, leadership

development, and high

school delivery models

Involving stakeholders in

decision-making

processes & solution-

making for system

issues/goals

Implementing initiatives without analysis,

consultation, and

perspective

CURRICULUM IMPLEMENTATION AND SUPPORT

Sustain & Improve Redesign Start Stop

Enhanced PD, supports for

students with mental health

concerns

AISI initiatives, school

timetables, PLCs, and K&E

Courses

Engaging stakeholders to support

initiatives such as system PD & mentorship

High rate & pace of

change, and degradation of

the K&E program.

CONDITIONS OF PRACTICE

Sustain & Improve Redesign Start Stop

Consultation process with

curricular experts & classroom teachers

Processes regarding

school improvement

Initiatives that promote

professional and personal health in all employees

New initiatives without

collaboration and planning

EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES

Sustain & Improve Redesign Start Stop

Investment in teacher PD

Emerging technology

projects require

collaboration and teacher

input

Considering the

physiological & emotional impacts of

technology on students and

teacher/student relationships

Technology initiatives that

lack consultation,

support, funding and relevance to

teaching/learning

ASSESSMENT, REPORTING AND ACCOUNTABILITY

Sustain & Improve Redesign Start Stop

Recognizing, supporting &

enhancing teacher

expertise in assessment

Online/digital reporting tools

Encouraging the province to

abandon unnecessary

GLA assessments

and PATs

Misuse of reporting and unnecessary

reporting

INCLUSIVE COMMUNITY SCHOOLS

Sustain & Improve Redesign Start Stop

Practices for increasing inner-city

school utilization

rates, supporting

literacy, and meeting the

needs of complex learners

RAM Funding and

Accountability processes to

better support schools and

students

Working with the

government, provincial ATA, the city, and

other partners to enhance funding &

supports for students in all communities

Monitoring schools in

communities with declining populations

WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE?

SCHOOL REPS HAVE A JOB TO DO!

Take this document back to your staffShare the PDF on the Local 38 website

Show the PowerPoint at a Staff Meeting Engage staff in Plus-Minus-Interesting

conversations & activities Bring feedback to the February CSR

meeting for a round-table discussion Talk it up in random conversations!