Report to Management Committee 25 July 2008 David Burton

Mid-Year Progress Reflection on mid-year progress with reference to the ‘Accountabilities – Teaching & Learning Coaches’ framework (as presented by SMR on 20 December 2007)

To coach and mentor teachers in a one-to-one situation All coaches are coaching teachers at their schools. Conversations based on protocols and data gathering. Most now have obtained dedicated time to meet with their teachers- to set goals and reflect on lessons, data and plan curriculum. Shift from ‘Coaching Light’ to ‘Coaching Heavy’ – digging deeper into teacher values and challenging pre-conceptions.‘Coaching Light’ to ‘Coaching Heavy’

To build teachers’ disciplinary and pedagogical content knowledge and their repertoire of high quality teaching practices. This is the focus of our role. This is also being done through modelling and team teaching.

To collaborate with teachers to plan and deliver curriculum and to provide feedback on the quality of curriculum delivery. TThis is now happening in nearly all cases as conversations turn to the curriculum that underpins lessons. TThe use of data has been a good vehicle to drive curriculum change as teachers reflect on the range of abilities in their classroom and the specific abilities/needs/misconceptions of individual students (some have been able to find extra time to plan curriculum changes too)

To support teachers to implement differentiation of curriculum to meet the diverse needs of students in their class. The use of data (eg On Demand testing & AIM data) has helped ‘open the door’ for us and to persuade teachers of the need to build flexibility into classroom practice.use of data Assessment for Learning in practice

To support teachers to develop rich assessment tasks and to utilise data effectively to inform curriculum planning and delivery and to monitor student learning. This has been happening, particularly in a primary school setting. The shift has been to encourage mathematics to be at the centre of a rich task, rather than an after- thought. This is still a challenge in a secondary school setting where no interdisciplinary Professional Learning Team networks exist but coaches working with teams in flexible learning spaces are experiencing successes. Good vehicle for ICT integration too, eg use of wiki, online tools and interactive whiteboard.

To promote and implement existing DEECD policy and resources. Focusing teachers on VELS and the progression points as well as the Assessment Advice Use of Principles of Learning and Teaching component mapping and student survey tools. Use of resources such as maths domain page, Scaffolding Numeracy in the Middle Years, Numeract Interview, On Demand Testing, Digilearn, E-potential Encouraging teams to apply for Teacher Professional Leave 2009 A focus of team PD too

To assist participating schools to implement practices that sustain improvement beyond the funded period of the initiative. Coaches have been working hard to ‘spread the word’ beyond the group of teachers they are working with, eg  Helping to create partnerships between schools  Leadership of professional development sessions, eg On Demand Testing, Digilearn Resources, use of Interactive Whiteboard in Mathematics Presentations to wider forums, Ed Times

News/Issues/Challenges Data timeline for next set up data 29th August- VELS data Sem 1 currently being collected by coaches. Specific issues being dealt with on case by case basis. Involvement of School Leadership Team, Team Leader and SEO in partnership with coach critical (case study to be discussed) Time provided for teachers to work with coach away from class- esp small primary schools and secondary schools Some Coaches spread too thinly? Difficult to have impact if only at a school for one day per week Need to think about schools we add/remove for What’s the criteria? How/when will this be decided? What will be our focus (year levels/curriculum areas)?