Out of the Box’ Empowering School Leaders through Action Research: Two Case Studies Thekla Afantiti Lamprianou Yiasemina Karagiorgi Vasiliki Alexandrou Marianna Karamanou Loizos Symeou

Presentation outline Introduction Conceptual Framework ◦ Action Research and School Improvement The context Action Research Model Methodology Case Study 1 ◦ Year 1 cycle ◦ Year 2 cycle Case Study 2 ◦ Year 1 cycle ◦ Year 2 cycle Discussion and Conclusion 2 This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This publication [communication] reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.

Introduction  This project: involved action research implemented in five Greek-Cypriot primary schools, during aimed at empowering school leaders to consider ways of improving school performance involved Action Research as a tool to help leaders reflect and explore how to make a difference to the school through collaborative school based enquiry, impacting upon teachers, students/pupils and themselves. enhanced reflection as an inward-looking dimension towards improvement of leadership practices 3

Conceptual framework Definition of action research as ‘applied research, carried out by practitioners who have themselves identified a need for change or improvement’ (Bell (2005)) Data gathering mechanisms can allow the ensuing feedback to be translated into development and/or modifications of possible action Use of cycle of data gathering, data feedback and data use, so that action strategies for school improvement can be inspired by actual data 4

Conceptual framework Action research emphasises the uniqueness of the context Focus is not placed on measurement of educational results Limitation: any ‘stories of implementation’ could only be illustrated to highlight ‘lessons learned’ without any claims on generalisability 5

The context Two public schools / head teachers with 3-5 years of working experience Highly centralized Cyprus educational system The only evaluation scheme currently implemented is teachers’ external supervision by the inspectorate An emerging educational reform plan ◦ introduction of school-self evaluation  indicators for school quality are practically non-existent  no information towards raising standards  SSE instruments / tools are absent 6

Action research model Action research model 7

Methodology – Data Methodology – Data The primary data sources included ◦ school leaders’ diaries with fieldnotes and systematic reflections ◦ Interviews Focus placed on the particular leaders’ experiences 9

Case Study 1 - Year 1 cycle School profile ◦ Small at the centre of Nicosia ◦ Years 1 – 3 ◦ With a large percentage of the student population that their mother tongue is not Greek (30% had both parents and 30% had one parent –mostly the mother- non-Greek speakers) 10

Case Study 1 - Year 1 cycle personnel meeting improvement of the oral language skills of the students questionnaire action plan committee to prepare a set of activities evaluate the outcomes – limitation – checklist Selection of a number of students in each class to monitor their progress (15 in total) Use of the particular checklist periodically 11

Case Study 1 - Year 1 cycle ◦ End of the first school year assessment of the progress of the project by discussing the results of the checklists  General impression was that the project was helping students improve their language skills both during break time and class time  Obstacle: the presence in each class of a quite important number of non-native Greek speakers  Decision: from the beginning of the new school year to create a new class for teaching Greek as a foreign language 12

Case Study 1 - Year 2 cycle ◦ Goal connected to the development of book reading, which has been a specific goal of the school for the last few years ◦ New class for the first and second graders who were non-native Greek speakers ◦ Alteration of the checklist used to evaluate students’ oral language skills ◦ April 2015 : implementation of a self-evaluation process among all students to describe their own abilities for oral communication ◦ End of year discussion to describe the results of the implementation of the two-year action plan 13

Case Study 1 - Year 2 cycle Reflection methods for the collection of the evaluation data were basically qualitative staff members concluded that this project helped all the students improve their oral language skills staff members participated actively to recognize, design, implement and evaluate the actions required for the success of the project the teachers worked cooperatively to implement and shared experiences during the completion of the action plan the teachers developed professional skills toward this specific goal and improved their teaching practices the project gave all the staff members the opportunity to create a culture of problem solving, of research and of “change”

Case Study 1 - Year 2 cycle Reflection on head teacher’ s role ◦ a role model for the teachers as a “research leader” and as a “life-long learner” ◦ the leader for a “change” toward better academic results for the students; ◦ used autonomy to design an action plan to meet the students’ specific needs; ◦ was able to research “within” the school community (students and teachers) on the specific needs and to improve solving a problem through the implementation of an educational plan; 15

Case Study 1 - Year 2 cycle Case Study 1 - Year 2 cycle Reflection on head teacher’ s role ◦ I used a tool that empowered me to recognize the unique characteristics of my school’s students; ◦ I was a pedagogical leader as well, since I was the coordinator of this project; ◦ I worked as a facilitator for a change in the school culture, since I shared good practices among school subjects and grade levels and discussed and evaluated the progress of the project; ◦ I was given the opportunity to share and collaborate between schools, since I worked collaboratively with another head teacher who was also focusing on the same specific goal. 16

Case Study 2 - Year 1 cycle School profile ◦ New area outskirts of Nicosia ◦ 292 students ◦ 16 classes ◦ 1 Special Education Class ◦ 24 teachers, a speech therapist, three teacher aides, 3 deputy head teachers, head teacher 17

Case Study 2 - Year 1 cycle Case Study 2 - Year 1 cycle September 2013: Use of an instrument -a ‘brainstorming’ guide on action research commencement October 2013: evaluate the most important inquiry area by the staff - Decision to focus on ‘the development of students’ oral communication skills.’ Set up a four-member-committee (including the head teacher) All staff members identified two weaknesses of students’ oral communication skills, and two expected outcomes of the intervention (based on their initial class observations) Contact the school’s advisor for Greek, and the CERE critical friend for support Developed the school’s own instrument -a 16-item- rubric

Case Study 2 - Year 1 cycle December 2013 : development of action plan February 2014 : first reflection - discussion on the project ◦ Changes:  specific activities were allocated to specific expected outcomes, and  the expected outcomes were organized in three categories: (i) vocabulary (ii) sentence formulation and (iii) oral text production. 19

Case Study 2 - Year 1 cycle Case Study 2 - Year 1 cycle May 2014: reflection - discussion on the project ◦ Satisfaction from the fact that this project gave the staff the opportunity (1) to reflect on a subject that they consider extremely important and (2) to exchange ideas, concerns, and good practices with their colleagues, ◦ Frustration with the complexity of the task, as far as not having a reliable assessment of the results of their effort, as well as the lack of attainment and achievement targets in order to know where to focus and which steps to take for each expected outcome, ◦ Common observation: when the teachers focused their instruction systematically and for a length of time on specific, concrete goals, essentially success criteria, the students displayed better results and seemed to improve their oral communication skills 20

Case Study 2 - Year 2 cycle Case Study 2 - Year 2 cycle September 2014: Sub-committees for each class in order ◦ to choose from and reduce the number of expected outcomes to the ones which are more relevant to their students’ age and level, and ◦ to break down these expected outcomes to specific achievement targets that would describe what success looks like when the learning goal is reached, and would be concrete and measurable. November 2014: ◦ the original plan was enriched with achievement targets per class, ◦ students’ self-evaluation checklists based on these targets were developed. 21

Case Study 2 - Year 2 cycle Case Study 2 - Year 2 cycle May 2015: Reflection ◦ Students’ achievement: all the teachers observed that once they focused systematically on a few, specific and concrete achievement targets, they saw an improvement of their students’ performance. ◦ Other methods for oral communication skills’ assessment such as video recording or tape recording: found to be extremely time consuming, even though the students enjoyed being engaged in them. ◦ Teachers’ own professional development:  learned a lot about oral communication skills characteristics and how to incorporate it in their daily instruction and planning,  benefited from learning about how to conduct action research,  engaging in action research made them more self-conscious about their teaching and their efforts to improve themselves,  enjoyed exchanging ideas, discussing about pedagogical matters other than school daily routine issues, designing co-teaching lessons, asking for advice from colleagues with expertise on relevant specific subjects (such as drama education) etc. 22

Case Study 2 - Year 2 cycle Case Study 2 - Year 2 cycle May 2015: Reflection ◦ Difficulties: time constraints and the absence of material, standardized tests and attainment targets on oral communication skills, ◦ Changed teachers’ view of instruction from a process by which the students learn to a process by which the school staff can learn and develop as well, by observing more focused and carefully, ◦ Gave the head teacher the opportunity to reflect on ways to  motivate teachers,  organize time, and  optimize human and material resources, for the school to develop a culture that promotes professional development, cooperation and improvement of students’ results. 23

Discussion and Conclusion Findings: 1.Leaders’ attitudes towards action research projects appeared positive. 2.Throughout the life cycle of the project teachers and leaders engaged in construction of shared meaning, discovering the importance of self- improvement. 3.In order to instill a culture of SSE with an emphasis on school improvement where all teachers can communicate openly and honestly about their own experiences, opinions and expectations to generate success (Vanhoof & Van Petegem, 2012), the leaders’ role is important. 24

Discussion and Conclusion Findings: 4. Problems related to the lack of structures in support of school improvement efforts, such as time resources and appropriate assessment tools. 5. The absence of evaluation frameworks (attainment targets) to measure students’ attainment caused certain difficulties in proceeding with the school improvement process. ➢ promo te an active role for head teachers and teachers in educational research and curriculum development (Stenhouse, 1975). 25

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