1. Leading Professional Learning: Challenges and Possibilities Alma Harris Director, Institute of Educational Leadership Michelle Jones Deputy Director, Institute of Educational Leadership (International)

2. Professor Alma Harris President ICSEI 2013

3. This interactive session will
Explore the relationship between leadership, school improvement and professional learning
Introduce a model of Professional Learning Communities used in various countries
Investigate the barriers to collaborative ways of working
Introduce ourselves why we are here- moral purpose
Collaboratiom
Mutual Learning

4. How do we ensure success for all students in all settings?…

5. The Bad, the Good and the Ugly
PISA
The Bad, the Good
and the Ugly

6. Old v New Reform (Harris, forthcoming)
Standardisation
Punitive
Compensates for worse practice
Control
Reductionist
Focus on Failure
De-Professionalisation
Professionalisation
Developmental
Advocates effective
practice
Empowerment
Expansionist
Emphasis on success
Professional Collaboration

7. Drivers (Fullan 2011:5) ‘Wrong’ Accountability
Individual teacher and leadership quality
Technology
Fragmented Strategies
‘Right’
Capacity Building
Group Solutions
Instruction
Integrated or systemic strategies

8. Mc Kinsey How the world's most improved school systems keep getting better’ 2010

9. The Most Powerful Levers
Leadership Capacity
Teacher Quality

10. School Improvement
Does not occur without some change in leadership or leadership practice

11. Leadership: What we Know
Leadership is the key lever of high organisational performance.
Successful organisations have widely and carefully distributed leadership.
Effective leaders grow and manage other leaders

12. FIVE DIMENSIONS OF EFFECTIVE SCHOOL LEADERSHIP
(Robinson, 2008)

13. So Leadership Matters
Leadership Matters

14. But
What type of school leadership transforms organisational performance and outcomes?

15. But What Type of Leadership?
Transformational
Instructional
Distributed
Strategic
System

16. Level 5 Executive
Level 4 Effective Leader
Level 3 Competent manager
Level 2 Team manager
Level 1 Capable individual

17. Level 5 Leaders Channel ego needs away from themselves
Focus on larger goals
Are ambitious for their institution and not themselves
Widely distribute leadership
Facilitate the collaboration of others

18. Pause and Reflect How far are you a level 5 leader?
Have you ever worked for a level 5 leader?

19. So we know What is important and what to focus upon
But how do we make it happen?

20. Effective Leadership is Distributed and Collaborative

21. Distributed Leadership is concerned with (Harris, 2008)
Building leadership capacity-
inter-relationships that build leadership

22. Distributed Leadership in context (Harris, 2006)
Leadership shifts according to need
Collaborative teams formed for specific purposes
Team membership changes according to task, roles and expertise..

23. Pause and Reflect
How far is leadership distributed or collaborative in your context?

24. Research suggests that professional development
is most effective when:
it addresses the concrete, everyday challenges involved in teaching and learning
Does not focus on abstract educational principles or teaching methods taken out of context.
Professional Learning in the Learning Profession: A Status Report on Teacher Development in the United States and Abroad Darling Hammond et al 2009 NSDC

25. Professional Learning Communities in Action

26. What’s in a name? Communities of Practice
Professional Learning Communities
Collaborative Learning circles
Communities of Interest
Professional Learning Teams

27. Professional Learning Communities as
A mechanism for distributing leadership
An infrastructure for change
A platform for professional learning

28. Connecting Professional Learning
Working together on the barriers to learning through collective enquiry, joint decision making and problem solving.

29. Professional collaboration
Collaborative practice is about teachers and school leaders working together to develop effective instructional practices, studying what actually works in classroom, and doing so with rigorous attention to
detail and with a commitment to not only improving one’s own practice but that of others as well.

30. Disciplined Collaboration
Disciplined collaboration means that teachers work interdependently through a process of focused and rigorous enquiry in order to improve their own practice and the practice of others.
In essence, disciplined collaboration enables teachers to reflect upon their own learning, as teachers.
(Harris and Jones, 2012: Jones and Harris, 2013)

31. Disciplined Collaboration
Focused collaboration that addresses the learning needs of students.
Professional learning that is most likely to improve learner outcomes.

32. DC Model
The DC model provides opportunities for teachers to work as an effective collaborative team, in a systematic and focused way, in order to generate new ideas and to change practice.
DC is about ‘next’ professional practice where new ideas are created rather than simply sharing or recycling old ideas.
The DC model is premised upon interdependent learning and it consists of three phases of professional learning- implementation, innovation, and impact.

33. DC Development and Research
Generating new knowledge through professional collaboration and interdependent learning
Co-construction rather than prescription
Sharing, refining and evaluating practices

34. Disciplined Collaboration: 5 Principles
Diagnosis – how far is the collaborative work based on an accurate assessment of learner needs?
Data – to what extent is the collaborative work informed by data and data analysis?
Development – is the innovation, intervention or new initiative that the collaborative group are proposing appropriate to address the identified learning need? Is there a fit between the diagnoses and the proposed development?
Distributed Leadership- to what extent is leadership within the collaborative group distributed to best effect?
Drive- has the collaborative group developed an implementation plan and considered how any changes would be sustained?
(Harris and Jones, 2012)

35. Professional Learning Communities
PLCs engage in processes of enquiry in order to improve student outcomes.
Through using evidence from school self evaluation, including data and teacher assessments, members of the PLC identify the strengths and needs of a group of pupils and then determine the strategies and skills needed to improve outcomes.

36. Characteristics of a PLC
Data informed
Distributed Leadership
Focused on Learner Needs
Experiment with Pedagogy / Instruction
Enquiry driven- outcomes lead to
change in practice and improved learner outcomes

37. School Priorities Effective Professional Learning
Effective Professional Learning
aligns with school improvement
priorities and goals.

38. Effective PL addresses school improvement priorities in context
Professional Learning
School Priorities
Student Learning

39. Phases of a PLC Harris and Jones 2009
1.Establish the Group
2. Identify a Focus
3. Action Enquiry
Innovation 4. and Change
5. Trialling and Feedback
6. Refining
7. Sharing Outcomes
(Interchangeable)
Impact
Implement
Innovate

40. PLCs
You do not DO PLCs once a week or once a term. Being part of a PLC is an on going process where teachers work collaboratively in cycles of collective enquiry / action research to achieve better results for the students they teach

41. Phases 1 and 2
Data informed

42. Finding a Collective Focus
What is the group interested in finding out?
Why do you want to know this?
What data analysis has helped you to identify this issue?
Is it a reasonable focus to be considering? Why?
Will learners benefit if you focus on this issue? How?
Are there any ethical issues you may need to consider?

43. What are the characteristics of a ‘good’ question of enquiry?
Data Generated/Informed
Specific
Measurable
Simply Stated
Easily Communicated
Linked to Improvement

44. Do these Pass the Test? Investigating Numeracy across the curriculum.
How can we get all pupils in the Foundation Stage to get more thoughtful and meaningful readers as well as becoming ‘metacognitive’ or aware of their thinking while they read?
Transition project yr 6 to yr 7
How can raise standards in humanities subjects in Year 10 through the introduction of a thinking skills programme?
Focusing on Literacy KS 2
What the factors contribute to the Year 8 dip and what strategies can we use to overcome these?

45. Phase 3 What research is there on…? Other teachers' practice
Where do we get more information?
What do we do next?

46. Approaches to Enquiry Learning Walks Lesson Study Peer Observation
Instructional Rounds
Peer Triads
Coaching and Mentoring

47. Phase 4
New strategies and approaches trialled by the PLC team

48. Phase 5
Keeping all staff informed of PLC activity and progress

49. Phase 6
Practice and embed new strategies
Assess impact

50. 5. Trialling and Feedback
Phase 7
1.Establish the Group
2. Identify a Focus
3. Action Enquiry
Innovation 4. and Change
5. Trialling and Feedback
6. Refining
7. Sharing Outcomes
PLC team reports findings and recommendations
PLC team shares outcomes with other educators

51. IMPACT
The DC model is predicated on producing an impact at three levels: learner, professional and organisational
(Harris and Jones, 2012)

52. Impact of the PLC Outcomes result in change: Teachers
Instructional Practice
Pupils
Learning experiences /outcomes

53. 7 Tests Clarity of focus Consistent and creative use of data
Collaboration with purpose
Communication of intent and outcomes
Capacity building through engagement and involvement of others
Coherent action
Change in practice

55. Without stones, there is no arch.
Marco Polo