1. Dr Dennis Francis Commonwealth Education Trust Being a Teacher

2. Course 2: Being a Teacher Week 1: What is a Teacher? Lecture 1.3: How can I best improve my skills? Foundations of Teaching for Learning

3. The Link between School Improvement and Teacher Development “Improvement must begin in the classroom, by working to get effective research-based teaching strategies into every classroom.” Gordon Cawelti and Nancy Protheroe Handbook on Restructuring and Substantial School Improvement TEACHERS ARE LEARNERS TOO!

4.  Help teachers to see each other as their most powerful resources for improving teaching.  Increase teachers’ belief - both individually and collectively - that they can have a positive effect on learning for every student.  Use the research base to identify elements of effective teaching and learning.  Increase each teacher’s repertoire of teaching strategies, so equipping teachers to meet the needs of an increasingly diverse student body. Teachers Improving Schools

5. Taking Charge of Your Own Development  Experience high levels of stress especially during the first years of teaching, or  Suffer from burn-out: no longer feeling able to meet external or internal demands, or  Stagnate: staying the same, not growing or developing, unwilling to challenge themselves. When teachers fail to take charge of their own career development they may:

6. Teacher Development “Teacher training or education is something that can be managed by others; Teacher development is something that can be done only by and for oneself.” (Wallace, 1991)

7. What is Continuous Professional Development (CPD)? CPD is:  The attitude and process of being a lifelong learner.  The conscious updating of professional knowledge and the improvement of professional competence throughout a person's working life.  A necessary requirement for ensuring survival and quality in any profession.

8.  Courses/workshops (e.g. on subject matter or methods and/or other education-related topics).  Education conferences or seminars (at which teachers and/or researchers present their research results and discuss education problems).  Qualification programme (e.g. a degree programme).  Observation visits to other schools. Forms of Professional Development (OECD, 2009)

9.  Participation in a network of teachers formed specifically for the professional development of teachers.  Individual or collaborative research on a topic of professional interest.  Mentoring and/or peer observation and coaching, as part of a formal school arrangement.  Reading professional literature (e.g. journals, evidence-based papers, thesis papers); and  Engaging in informal dialogue with peers on how to improve teaching. Forms of Professional Development (OECD, 2009)

10. Centered on student learning Integrated with school improvement Active, sustained learning The Focus of Teacher Development Content Context Design Linda Darling-Hammond and Nikole Richards, Teacher Learning, What Matters? (Educational Leadership, February 2009)

11.  Sustained over a period of time.  Directly connected to teachers’ work with their students.  Directly related to content and teaching strategies. Professional Development that Works

12.  Collaborative, involving active participation in teacher learning communities in which knowledge is shared.  Grounded in teachers’ questions, inquiry, and experimentation.  Supported by coaching and modelling. Professional Development that Works

13.  What was your best professional development experience?  What made it successful?  What was your worst professional development experience?  Why? Quality Professional Development

14. Professional Development… “….must have as its core process a ‘community of learners’ whose members accept joint responsibility for the high levels of learning of all students. The teachers in this community of learners must meet regularly to learn, plan, and support one another in the process of continuous improvement.” (Dennis Sparks in Handbook of Research on Improving Student Achievement)

15.  Shared values and vision.  Collective responsibility for pupils’ learning.  Collaboration focused on learning.  Group as well as individual professional learning.  Reflective professional enquiry.  Openness, networks and partnerships.  Inclusive membership.  Mutual trust, respect and support. Characteristics of a Professional Learning Community

16. Talk with your colleagues at school about developing a professional learning community and what that means. Write down a list of things that you would like to improve about your teaching. Think of ways in which you might do this. What do you need to support this? Read the article on Professional Learning Communities. Things To Do Next

17. Slides© Commonwealth Education Trust. All Rights Reserved. 1, 2, 6 Images: © schoolsonline.britishcouncil.org 3, 16 Images: © Microsoft Clip Art Copyright Notice Week 1, Lecture 3 Foundations of Teaching for Learning