neil barker & louise stewart - department of education and training, victoria
TRANSCRIPT
The Victorian Department of Education –
The Education State – Policy to Practice
Neil Barker – A/Executive Director Victorian Department of Education and Training
Louise Stewart - ManagerVictorian Department of Education and Training
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Ambitious targets for our students and our school system
Happy,
healthy
and
resilient
kids
Breaking
the link
Learning for life
More students develop strong critical &
creative thinking skills
More students
excel in reading
More students
excel in scienceMore students
excel in maths
More students excel
in the arts
More students stay
in education
Reduce the impact
of disadvantage
More students will
be resilient
More students are
physically active
Pride and confidence in our
schools
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Why a focus on improving student outcomes?
• Victorian students are performing well in national tests but we can improve.
• Over the past decade we have plateaued.
• We also face challenges in overcoming persistent gaps in outcomes for particular groups.
• We have pockets of excellence in our schools and our system. The challenge is to make this universal, providing high quality for each student in every classroom.
• We need to spread examples of great practice.
“…the good to great
journey marks the
point at which the
school system
comes to largely rely
upon the values and
behaviours of its
educators to propel
continuing
improvement.”
McKinsey & Co 2010, p.40
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The Victorian Framework has four elements
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• Improvement model
• Improvement initiatives
• Improvement measures
• Improvement cycle
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Evidenced-based approaches to school improvement
Excellence in teaching and learning:Professional learning communities
By working as a PLC, schools can focus on Excellence in Teaching and Learning as a priority through:• evidenced-based high-impact teaching
strategies• differentiated planning and assessment of the
Victorian Curriculum• building practice excellence
evaluating impact on studentlearning.
Professional LeadershipCommunities of Practice
• The CoP approach involves educational leaders and professionals working collaboratively with the goal of developing a collective responsibility for driving improvement using the Framework for Improving Student Outcomes (FISO).
Communities of Practice
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Evidence from around the world demonstrates that: – teaching quality and school leadership are essential to improving student
learning– teaching effectiveness is critical to improve outcomes.
…improving teacher and school leader expertise,
ensuring that teachers and school leaders work
together on common understandings about progress
and high expectations for the impact of their teaching
and school leaders who focus on developing
collective expertise among their teachers.
(Hattie, 2015)
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Effective professional learning is collaborative
Focus must shift from helping individuals
become more effective in their isolated
classrooms and schools, to creating a
new collaborative culture based on
interdependence, shared responsibility,
and mutual accountability. (DuFour & Marzano, 2011)
PLCs that are most effective use the
learning and inquiry cycle to guide their
analysis of practice and student data. (Timperley, 2008)
Teachers, working together, as evaluators of their impact
Effect size = 0.93
1
0
Teacher impact – getting beyond the plateau
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Latest evidence underpinning the PLC workWhat disciplined collaboration requires
Inquiry cycle
Working through a spiral of inquiry is sophisticated work that involves new
learning, unlearning of old habits, shifting practices, and incorporating new forms of
assessment. (Judy Halbert and Linda Kaser, BC)
Adaptive expertise/
co learners
(Timperley, Fullan)
Measuring teachereffectiveness
(MET project, Steve Cantrell)
STUDENTS
Enabling time and
structures
Instructional leaders
Professional
Learning
PLCRegional Managers from 2017
High-impact toolkit
Elements of the PLC approach (outputs)
Professional Learning Community Maturity Matrix
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There is certainly nothing new about teachers researching their practice or working together. But it is how they work together and the conditions that support this collective engagement that determines whether this shared work has any positive impact or outcomes at all.
(Disciplined Collaboration in Professional Learning project for AITSL,
http://www.aitsl.edu.au/docs/default-source/professional-growth-
resources/Research/dcpl_summary_report.pdf?sfvrsn=4)
Building on existing work
Inquiry process – central to the work of PLCs
• An inquiry process is central to the work of teacher teams and, when used
with a culture of challenge, the inquiry facilitates evidenced-based change
in practice – teachers working as researchers of their own practice
• The PLC inquiry cycle for a unit of work uses the same stages as the
FISO Improvement cycle
• Students - and their learning - are at the heart of every decision:
- How do we know the student?
- Recognising individual differences/progress along the curriculum
continua e.g. English, mathematics, science
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• Aligned to FISO Draft Continua of School Improvement.
• Articulates the dimensions and stages for critically reviewing your current PLC work and scaffold your future learning.
• Underpinned by substantial research evidence on highly effective PLCs for school improvement.
• Defines a paradigm shift:
– teachers’ professional learning embedded in their day-to-day work
– mindset shifts from a focus on measuring student outcomes to measuring impact of teaching on student learning.
• Designed as a tool which can be used:
– at whole school team level and inter-school levels to set goals, challenge and support for continuous, ambitious improvement
– to evaluate and hold self and others accountable.
PLC Maturity Matrix
Grey St PS - Practice
Video Grey St
Grey St PLC Meeting Pt 2
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Neil Barker, A/Executive Director, Professional Practice and Leadership Division, Regional Services Group, DET
Louise Stewart, Manager, Professional Practice and Leadership Division, Regional Services Group, DET
Contacts: