Towards a Holistic View of Teacher Growth

EIP Annual Conference, 2014

• Education as economic tool

• Development of the ‘need’ to control education

• Global competition in education (e.g. PISA)

• Change in teacher work from professional autonomy to ‘quantification of value’ (Stevenson & Wood, 2013)

Current Trends

What might be the impact?

• Rise of performativity

‘It is the data-base, the appraisal meeting, the annual review, report writing, the regular publication of results and promotion applications, inspections and peer reviews that are the mechanics of performativity.’ Ball (2003, p.220)

• ‘Worship’ of numeric data

• Move towards ‘dividuation’ (Deleuze, 1990)

• Rise of dromology (Virilio, 1986)

A Reductionist System

• Data becomes imbued with ‘truth’, e.g. effect sizes in Hattie

• Data begins to drive the system – development of a ‘cause and effect‘ system

• Does this begin to distort our view of teacher work (i.e. the quantification of value)?

Teacher ‘development’ in a reductionist system

• Ryan and Bourke (2013:412) make the case that, ‘…. Professional values are substituted by organisational values. Bureaucratic, hierarchical and managerial controls replace cultures of collaboration: there are competencies and licenses rather than trust.’

• Loss of trust leads to a narrowing view of teacher work through quantifiable standardisation and accountability

• The SEF, PRP, ‘performance management’ etc

• Where is the space of the autonomous professional?

The Dangers of Reductionism – denial of complexity: the case of learning

• How would you define learning?

• How do Ofsted define learning?

• How can these definitions be operationalised in lesson observations in a meaningful way?

• Our Lesson Study research has laid bare the shear complexity of learning – it can’t be reduced to a set of numbers and remain meaningful!

So What?

• All this suggests the need for a very different approach to education

• A possible alternative: Professional Capital (Hargreaves and Fullan, 2012)

Professional Capital = Human Capital + Social Capital + Decisional Capital

A Holistic Alternative – working with complexity

‘…the idea of competence is beginning to monopolize the discourse about teaching and teacher education. It is, therefore, first of all the convergence towards one particular way of thinking and talking about teaching and teacher education that we should be worried about. After all, if there is no alternative discourse, if a particular idea is simply seen as “common sense”, then there is a risk that it stops people from thinking at all.’

Biesta (2014, p.122-123)

• Beginning to imagine a different way forward

• How often do we ask ourselves about the aims and processes of education?

A Holistic System – some initial thoughts

• An accountability system which starts from the twin points of trust and responsibility (Green, 2011)

• A system which evolves and emerges rather than being in a state of perpetual revolution – slowing the tempo of change

In a typical school year how much time is given over to teachers discussing and developing teaching and learning in a way that suits them and allows them to identify ‘local’ challenges? Our Lesson Study research would suggest not a lot!

• Teacher ‘development’ has been replaced by ‘enforced change’?

• Do we need to think instead of a more holistic notion of teacher ‘growth’?

Growth Through Complexity

• Use of narratives based on data (which becomes diagnostic rather than ubiquitous)

• An organisational system of ‘growth’ which is bottom up

• Seeing the school as explicitly part of a wider community network

• Stop basing quality on ideas of ‘good’ and ‘outstanding’ which are constantly shifting and which are often not even internally consistent. This is a ‘dromological mirage’

• Adopt instead Biesta’s notion of professional ‘wise judgement’ which evolves and emerges over time

• Leads to our emerging concept of ‘pedagogic literacy’

In the classroom• educational wisdom

• using attentional skills• applying wise judgement

• reading the learners/classroom• dialoguing with learners

• learner-responding• reflecting-in-action• observing learning

• PCK: application• scaffolding

• assessing, AfL, feedback

Foundations in Personal Growth

• personal experience of learning and teaching

• professional skills e.g, planning; questioning etc.

• understanding through PCK• experience & reflection

• ethics

Organisational foundations • curriculum

• assessment frameworks• disciplinary cultures

• preparation • induction

• understanding/undertaking research

Socio-cultural foundations

• learning in action• professional learning

• collaborative development & learning• seeking advice about

teaching

Interpersonal foundations• interpersonal skills

• empathy• leadership skills

• firmness of purpose• ethics

• inspiration/motivation skills• managing behaviour for

learning

Affective foundatons• values

• attitudes• philosophies

• ethics• passion/care

Societal foundations• policy awareness

• socio-economic patterns • cultural frameworks• change orientations

•accountabilities

Teacher Growth – complex tensions

• It is a holistic and complex process

• Sees collaborative growth as central

• Sees the wisdom of experience as an important facet rather than a disease

• Teacher growth and professional accountability become central and positive – trust and responsibility (which also ensures commitment)

• Relies on narrative processes

‘…to see through a glass, darkly’ – working well in a complex context• A recourse to simplification and quantification leads to distortion. Campbell’s Law:

"The more any quantitative social indicator (or even some qualitative indicator) is used for social decision-making, the more subject it will be to corruption pressures and the more apt it will be to distort and corrupt the social processes it is intended to monitor.“

• Need a critical holistic approach. One based on data and narrative, on freedom and coherence, wisdom and innovation

• A system which liberates teachers to collaboratively explore and grow as professionals who have genuine and regular opportunity to discuss and develop teaching and learning

• The discussion of teaching and learning, added to reflection on numeric data should be used to drive a bottom-up process of organisational change and growth