Agency, Voice and Participation: preparing to teach in Higher Education Professor Hazel Bryan School of Education

This session Explore how students learn Examine the implications for teaching in your own context

When we look for great teaching, what is there to see?

What do we know about effective learning and the role of teaching in this?

Constructivism: Piaget Swiss developmental psychologist ( ) Cognitive development The conditions for learning Learner as a ‘lone scientist’ Teacher as facilitator

Social Constructivism: Lev Vygotsky Russian psychologist ( ) “It is through others that we become ourselves” “What a child can do with assistance today, she will be able to do by herself tomorrow” Teacher role to scaffold the learner…

Social Constructivism: Piaget, Vygotsky, Bruner Things learner can do on their own

Jerome Bruner American psychologist born 1815 A spiral curriculum

A discourse of critical pedagogy… Pedagogy is deeply influential in terms of power relations, agency and the potential to oppress or liberate the learner (Giroux, 2011; Freire, 1992)

Dialogic Exchange…

Dialogic exchange…. The principle of “mutual trust leading to growth” (Williams and Burden, 2002, p.59) underpins this approach to learning and teaching. The learner’s relationship with the teacher in such a context is one that Freire termed a ‘dialectical relationship’ (Freire, 1971)…

…that is, the teacher’s role is defined in relation to the learner where “authentic dialogue” (Murphy, 2008, p. 32) forms the cornerstone of the relationship, and where learning is understood to be a joint enterprise. Freire rejects the notion of education as a kind of ‘banking’ (Freire, 2004, p.102).

Pedagogic Dialogue and Dialogic Pedagogy (Watson and Myhill, 2013) Pedagogic dialogue Teacher controlled Closed interactions Limited participation ‘Right’ answers valued Teacher owns truth Teacher talks most Closed structure Dialogic pedagogy Teacher managed Open interactions High participation All answers valued Shared quest for truth Extended student contributions Open structure

Transformative Learning Theory: Mezirow (2009) a disorienting dilemma; self-examination with feelings of fear, anger, guilt or shame; a critical assessment of assumptions; recognition that one’s discontent and the process of transformation are shared; exploration of options for new roles, relationships and action; planning a course of action; acquiring knowledge and skills for implementing one’s plans; provisional trying of new roles; building competence and self-confidence in new roles and relationships; a reintegration into one’s life on the basis of conditions dictated by one’s new perspective. (Mezirow, 2009, p. 94).

The construct of the learner… The potential of the space in between the learner and the tutor…

Agential pedagogy… an ethics of participation; transformative learning; meaning making; agential; Bandura

Starting with the self… Map your own learning journey to this point in time as a river… Decide on your starting point, consider those who have influenced you or hindered you… Reflect upon events that may have shaped your learning journey… Consider the tributaries, the way the journey has meandered, if it has almost dried up at times, when it was like the Everglades, if there have been waterfalls…

ClosedFramedNegotiated Content Tightly controlled by the tutor. Not negotiable. Tutor controls the topic, frames of reference and tasks; criteria made explicit. Discussed at each point: joint decisions. Focus Authoritative knowledge and skills; simplified monolithic. Stress on empirical testing processes chosen by tutor; some legitimation of pupils’ ideas. Search for justifications and principles; strong legitimation of pupils’ ideas. Pupils’ role Acceptance; routine performance; little access to principles Join in tutor’s thinking; make hypothesis, set up tests. Discuss goals and methods critically; share responsibility of for frame and criteria. Key concepts ‘Authority’; the proper procedures and the right answers ‘Access’; to skills, processes criteria ‘Relevance’; critical discussion of pupils’ priorities. Methods Exposition; worksheets (closed); note giving; individual exercises; routine practical work. Tutor evaluates. Exposition; with discussions eliciting suggestions; individual/group problem solving; lists of tasks given; discussion of outcomes; teacher adjudicates. Group and class discussion and decision making about goals and criteria. Students plan and carry out work, make presentations, evaluate success. Teaching styles adapted from Barnes et.al. 1987, in Capel, Leask and Turner, 2015

Closed, Framed and Negotiated Teaching Styles: a school example (Carpenter and Bryan, 2016) ClosedFramedNegotiated Children learning to solve equations in a maths lesson; teacher models the process; teacher gives pupils the sums to complete; teacher insists on the pupils using the method he/she has demonstrated; teacher marks the sums. Teacher sets the tasks; pupils shown a method; pupils are encouraged to try the method and reflect on the efficacy of it for them. Teacher presents the ‘unknown’ as a problem to be solved; pupils suggest ways this might be solved. They must test their methods on other pupils; pupils are encouraged to try their methods and then reflect on what happened; new methods proposed. teacher models ‘correct’ solution; when pupils are ‘stuck’ they ask. [

Closed, Framed and Negotiated Teaching Styles ( Carpenter and Bryan in Capel, Leask and Turner 2016) Water Aid project in Ghana wateraid.org /uk/where- we- work/page/g hana Closed style Read the piece together. Pupils answer the questions set by the teacher (for example, on the work of a cocoa plantation) Framed style Read the piece together Take one aspect of the project (for example, the work on a cocoa plantation). Teacher explains what is to be learned and sets activities for pupils to undertake. Negotiated styleRead the piece together Ask the pupils what they might do next if they are to learn more about the issues of running a cocoa plantation. What do they know? What do they want to know? Where might this information be held? How will the information be collected?

Adapted from Carpenter and Bryan in Capel, Leask, and Turner, 2016 CLOSED, FRAMED AND NEGOTIATED TEACHING STYLES Consider a lesson that you have either taught or have observed, map the key components of the lesson from a Closed teaching style:  how would the topic be introduced?  what resources will you need?  how will the students work?  what will your role be?  how will the work be assessed? Now repeat this task from a Framed and then Negotiated teaching style perspective and reflect upon the following questions:  what was the learning experience like for students in each mode?  how effective were the assessment methods in each mode?  what implications are there for resources in each mode?

Kolb’s Learning Cycle (1984)

Lectures…

Constructive alignment

In summary… Conditions for learning Interaction (student - teacher; student -student; student - text) Scaffolding; Balance of teacher talk to student talk; A spiral curriculum – opportunity to revisit; Your role is not to ‘bank’; The affective domain in learning