Professional issues update (2) 2009

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Term two, 2009

Welcome to the professional issues update

Each term we bring you information about current professional issues, learning and research.

This issue takes its focus from the curriculum support days. How do schools move forward to develop the NZC? We look at putting students at the centre; keeping the key competencies in their place; and how to lead teacher PD for better student learning.
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Key competencies need to be integrated NOT assessed

Monitoring does not equal assessment and KCs do not need to be reported – check out the very useful MOE website focusing on how to integrate key competencies into teaching and learning programmes:
Documentation about key competencies should draw attention to how students' capabilities were evident as they participated with others in a specific context. It should be useful to learners themselves, parents/caregivers, and teachers as a tool for reflecting on and thinking about strengthening key competencies in ongoing learning.
Documentation for monitoring key competencies is not about recording indicators, criteria, marks, grades, or rubrics.

Outdated self‐managing schools model needs to move on…

The new set magazine features an interview with Viviane Robinson. Her three key messages are: 1. the more leaders focus on the core business of improving teaching and learning, the bigger their impact on student outcomes; 2. the self‐managing school model should not be treated like a sacred cow – it needs to evolve to meet current needs; 3. effective school leadership resides in the leadership team, not just one individual.
This issue is not freely available online. However, you can access a hard copy from your staff library at school – or from NZCER (set 1, 2009:2‐4).

Meanwhile, here is a link to Professor Robinson’s address to principals. Even if you’re not in a leadership it’s worth a read. Ask yourself, does our SMT follow best practice for leading learning?
The big message from our synthesis is that the closer leadership gets to the core business of teaching and learning, the more impact leaders have on valued student outcomes. School leaders who build relationships with staff through a collaborative and tight focus on teacher and student learning can make a powerful difference to their students.

The system is not always right

John Smyth and Peter McInerney offer an excellent synthesis of their book, Teachers in the middle: reclaiming the wasteland of the adolescent years of schooling (2007), offering a 12‐point list they describe as an “enabling set of learning conditions for all young people, but especially for those from disadvantaged or urban backgrounds.”
They also engage with the “conservative assault” on young people, their schools and teachers, and directly challenge the value of “outcomes‐based curriculum… standardised testing regimes, and… more emphasis on formal, whole‐class learning of literacy and numeracy.”
Smyth and McInerney are concerned with “creating a learning environment which is respectful of young lives.” Their research and findings offer excellent ways forward – and generally align well with our Best Evidence Syntheses.

Free dip

Sometimes, set offers a “free dip” into past articles on the NZCER website. It’s worth checking this every so often, to see what’s up. This one, entitled “Getting the most out of professional development” takes the example of numeracy PD for maths teachers, to explore effective teacher professional learning programmes. They argue that, despite external funding and support (which are needed), “the school is the context for teachers’ ongoing learning.” This means that school practices need to enable teachers to reflect and develop using formative (rather than appraisal‐based) observations and approaches.