Effective collaboration Session 4 – Professional learning communities: schools and the wider community

Introduction Welcome to the Session 4, where we are going to consider schools and external institutions working collaboratively. In this session we are going to explore how knowledge is generated and transferred in professional learning communities (PLCs) where the partners come from both education and other areas such as business. The theme for this session is ‘Networked resource and collaboration’.

Schools and other communities In Session 1, in demonstrating the place of collaborative learning, we quoted from the Practising Teacher Standards (PTS). Session 4, in drawing on the wider networks schools and practitioners can become involved with, addresses two in particular. 9. Be actively involved in professional networks and learning communities which share and test beliefs and understandings with colleagues and contribute to the wider development of the school and profession. 54. Work co-operatively and collaboratively with other teachers and colleagues, including those from external agencies, to enhance the learning and wellbeing of those they teach.

Professional networks PLCs are a particular type of network – that is, a group brought together to address specific issues identified by practitioners using evidence and national/school data. It is likely that you already belong to a number of professional communities. Activity 1 In your learning journal, note down any professional communities that you are part of and their focus, e.g. mathematics, literacy, practitioner research. Beside them note down what resources they offer you, e.g. online materials.

Professional networks (continued) You might have found that you had to spend some time finding out what resources the networks you already belong to have on offer (though hopefully you were pleasantly surprised when you found them!). If you were asked to undertake the same exercise in school you may similarly find excellent resources – and teaching ideas – in other phase and subject areas that would be very useful but which you did not know about. In part this is to do with the pressures of time, but it is also about knowledge transfer. You may remember from Session 2 the idea of ‘sticky knowledge’. Knowledge transfer addresses the same area of getting knowledge shared: with so much information available, how can any network operate a successful system in sharing knowledge and ideas? Two important conditions need to be in place: preparedness and opportunity for discussion and trialling.

Knowledge transfer Effective knowledge transfer needs preparation from both partners in the process: we know that transfer of knowledge from research to practice is not straightforward. Research on knowledge transfer suggests that the capacity to absorb new knowledge is heavily influenced by preparedness, prior knowledge and openness to change. There is also a need for the partners involved in transfer activity to share knowledge bases, cultures and agendas. Effective knowledge transfer is not linear: much of the research on it points out that while policy makers assume that knowledge transfer works by giving the knowledge to the group that needs it, this is not the best approach. Knowledge transfer works better through processes that encourage discussion, problem solving and joint development (Ozga, 2004).

Knowledge transfer (continued) PLCs are thus perfectly positioned to take on the issue of effective knowledge transfer. The team comes together to effect change and to do so through discussion and joint development. If you would like to know more about knowledge transfer (also known as knowledge mobilisation), read: –From Research to Policy and Practice: Some Issues in Knowledge TransferFrom Research to Policy and Practice: Some Issues in Knowledge Transfer –Mobilising research knowledge in educationMobilising research knowledge in education –Using Evidence in the Classroom: What Works and Why?Using Evidence in the Classroom: What Works and Why? So let’s look at how this might happen in a network which involves school, outside agencies and other partners.

PLCs and knowledge transfer Your choice of project in this session should reflect your own community needs – both school and the wider community, and explore how your school might interact with other organisations – business, the arts, science and technology – which have knowledge and expertise useful for any PLC and which in turn would benefit from working with schools. The knowledge transfer will be something to be tracked through your learning journal.

Selecting partners Recalling that all PLC partners have to be in a position to contribute to both the group and the focus, it is better to select partners with either some links to your community or a track record of working with schools in the past in these capacities. The contribution you are looking for is a sharing of knowledge. It is unlikely that funds will be available at least in the first instance, though bidding for research grants from grant holders such as the Education Endowment Foundation may be a possibility later in the project.Education Endowment Foundation

Our project For this session, we have selected an example project which is going to focus on the development of internet resources for working in museums. The team is going to consist of three primary schools from a linked consortium, a local IT company which is offering two apprenticeships and wants to work with schools in identifying possible applicants, and a local museum. The focus is going to be on a Year 6 class learning about local history. The project has developed from the BBC’s A History of the World in 100 Objects, which the school has transferred to the ‘History of Our Area in 21 Objects’ (seven objects per school).

Our project: starting out In getting the group working together, the lead partner – in our case a primary school – is going to host a project planning meeting for all partners. This has to be a purposeful and productive meeting, so preparatory materials have been sent out in advance. This includes a link to a website on schools working with museums, an example of work already underway with the museums of Wales, a link to the BBC website on the original programme and a project plan.schools working with museumswork already underway with the museums of Wales original programme

Our project: action enquiry The agenda for the meeting is to establish final team members. (Are there other people to bring in? Learning support assistants (LSAs)? Parents/carers? Grandparents?) Confirm the focus (understanding the history of the area through using 21 significant objects, each of which will be a vehicle for a local history narrative). Plan the project with each partner being specific about what it is they will bring to the PLC. The project plan should include a realistic time line and clear outcomes and ways of sharing outcomes. Our action enquiry will also be about exploring the ways in which a PLC can effect knowledge transfer.

Our project: action enquiry (continued) Activity 2 In your learning journal, please note down: how you think the combination of partners will work, with any anticipated issues (positive and negative) any issues with the focus (positive and negative) your own observations about this format of PLC which involves partners external to school.

Our project: action enquiry (continued) Activity 3 As the project develops please record any critical incidents which strike you as significant. You will be asked to revisit this at the end of the project.

Our project: action enquiry – strategies In our own project, we are going to select 21 objects with the help of our museum partners. Each school will take responsibility for seven. Each object will be researched with our museum partner and written about as a short narrative. We are going to design the narrative so that the local links are made explicit from one object to another. Our IT partners are going to help us in building a virtual museum using each object. They are going to involve two students from a nearby secondary school who are interested in being apprentices at the company. They are going to build the website using WordPress and take photos of the objects selected. One school has been able to involve parents/carers and grandparents who are willing to talk about one or two of the recent objects selected (e.g. a picture of a local industry where they worked, now closed but which made the town prosperous in the twentieth century) and we are going to record those interviews and add them to our museum.

Our project: trialling and feedback; refine; outcomes With our partners, we will have regular meetings to review the progress of our project, what each partner has been able to contribute, and where there have been changes, why and whether these have been positive for the project. As we planned to work on this for one term, we will refine the project according to all our partners’ inputs, and then design our sharing of outcomes. The museum has offered to publicise and have a link to our virtual museum, and we are holding an end of term event for parents/carers and governors to come along and hear about the project. The students will be speaking about how we chose the items and what stories were learned about them. We will invite responses from our audiences and include some of the comments on our website. The final project meeting will be an evaluation of how each partner contributed and benefitted and what might be kept and/or changed next time. Finally and importantly, we will think about what we have learned from each other – an examination of our own knowledge transfer.

Your own action enquiry Activity 4 In your learning journal, using the example of our own project, we would like you to plan a PLC which draws in partners outside of school to build a shared project demonstrating knowledge transfer. If possible, make this into a project which you action and record real data from. If that is not possible, send your project to colleagues and if possible a potential partner outside of school for comment.

Your own action enquiry (continued) Activity 5 Reviewing your project and, if appropriate at this stage, returning to your earlier entry in the learning journal (Activity 2, slide 13), what knowledge transfer would you be able to identify happening? How did working in your PLC enable you to address the twin needs of effective knowledge transfer mentioned earlier (i.e. preparedness and discussion)?

Summary In this session you have: explored PLCs which draw on a wider community as well as schools explored the idea of how such groups can facilitate knowledge transfer, that is the exchange of knowledge in ways which make it accessible and useful for all partners designed a PLC using partners from outside schools evaluated, through your data collection in the learning journal, both the project and the knowledge transfer that has taken place.

And finally… looking back and forward In following this set of practitioner professional learning sessions, you have built a practical and theoretical understanding of collaborative teaching using PLCs. As a final activity, please watch the case study videos on the Learning Wales website which feature practitioners’ perspectives on PLCs.case study videos on the Learning Wales website