Quality assuring teaching and learning... some thoughts...

I had two brilliant English A level teachers, one who was all (and taught us) 'Wuthering Heights' and one who was all (and taught us) 'Pride and Prejudice', they rarely agreed, except on one very clear point; academic writers must define their terms.  So what does 'Quality Assurance' mean?

'The maintenance of a desired level of quality in a service or product, especially by means of attention to every stage of the process of delivery or production.'

The problem with definitions is that they require further definitions; if we are quality assuring T&L what is the 'desired level of quality in (the) product', how do we evaluate teaching?  What constitutes great practice? What are the features of a good lesson?  Are there variables subject to subject and if so what are they?  Are there core common features and if so what are they?

With the leak of possible changes to the OFSTED framework, how does this change? Do we need to quality assure teaching given the myriad of issues involved in the process?

In an era where there might be no grade for T&L, how does the axis of our school T&L policy begin to change? There is an undeniable link between the accountability measures and how schools choose to quality assure their teachers' work.  At the time of writing this, the term "a rich education" was stimulating debate... does the emphasis now shift towards curriculum and away from T&L?

Will T&L leads now shift to curriculum leads or add this to their portfolio or is it something else entirely sitting with options and timetabling?  How does this change our sense of our school's work, its mission?  

The quality assurance measures of a school will reflect the context and culture of the school.  Yet there are clear pieces of research work which move the debate forward in terms of generic practices across the key stages, subjects, departments and disciplines, what Tom Sherrington calls 'collective action' ('10 Essential Discussions to have in any teacher team') where there is a clear sense of what great teaching looks like.  How do we work together as a team on agreed 'great teaching' practices that should be evident in everyone's classroom every lesson? Is this what quality assurance is?

Essentially, schools have to establish a standard to evaluate T&L against; to agree what great teaching and learning looks like in our context.  This policy should be at the heart of all school's T&L QA procedures and over the course of time should shift and develop.  My sense of this process is that it starts with middle managers and then becomes something that a smaller team take on and report back before publishing to ML and then whole school - perhaps using the Lead Practitioners?

John Tomsett and his teachers at Huntington school went through a process to do this as a school;

It's easy to agree with the terms of 'great teaching' used here in  (find it in this blog) which is really about Performance Related Pay and is a useful reminder of the impact of judging teachers on the community spirit of the school:

'It is potentially corrosive and pits teacher against teacher. Anyone who has worked in a thriving school knows that one of the reasons it thrives is because of its sense of community. I have been determined to prevent the new policy damaging our school’s culture and so far, so good.'

The corrosive nature of grading teacher observations as well as the lack of coherency in judgements has been well played out in the twittersphere, but beyond this, we need to recognise that T&L quality assurance processes have far reaching implications and therefore matter to teachers in a myriad of anxiety inducing ways.  We can't build community without respect, kindness and honesty, it is imperative that a quality assurance policy is steeped in these qualities.

'It's the teacher standards, stupid' and 'minimise the variables' are also quotes from John Tomsett's blog are helpful in creating policy; the teacher standards define the:

'minimum level of practice expected of trainees and teachers from the point of being awarded QTS' and need to be 'applied as appropriate to the role and context within which a trainee or teacher is practising... Following the period of induction, the standards continue to define the level of practice at which all qualified teachers are expected to perform... headteachers (or appraisers) should assess teachers’ performance against the standards to a level that is consistent with what should reasonably be expected of a teacher in the relevant role and at the relevant stage of their career' as the 'professional judgement of headteachers and appraisers is... central to... these standards.'

The standards give us these 'minimum' subheadings for the appraisal/quality assurance of teaching and learning:

• Part One: Teaching
• High Expectations which inspire, motivate and challenge pupils
• Promote good progress and outcomes by all pupils
• Demonstrate good subject and curriculum knowledge
• Plan and teach well structured lessons
• Adapt teaching to respond to strengths and needs of all pupils
• Make accurate and productive use of assessment
• Manage behaviour effectively to ensure a good and safe learning environment
• Fulfil wider professional responsibilities
• Part Two: Personal and Professional Conduct
• Teachers uphold public trust in the profession and maintain high standards of ethics and behaviour, within and outside school, by: 
• treating pupils with dignity, building relationships rooted in mutual respect, and at all times observing proper boundaries appropriate to a teacher’s professional position 
• having regard for the need to safeguard pupils’ well-being, in accordance with statutory provisions 
• showing tolerance of and respect for the rights of others 
• not undermining fundamental British values, including democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty and mutual respect, and tolerance of those with different faiths and beliefs 
• ensuring that personal beliefs are not expressed in ways which exploit pupils’ vulnerability or might lead them to break the law. 
• Teachers must have proper and professional regard for the ethos, policies and practices of the school in which they teach, and maintain high standards in their own attendance and punctuality. 
• Teachers must have an understanding of, and always act within, the statutory frameworks which set out their professional duties and responsibilities.
  (https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/665520/Teachers__Standards.pdf)

If you ever doubted the complexity of teaching and learning, this gives a true sense of how many plates we have to spin as a minimum.  The use of the words 'professional judgement' is interesting:  I well remember feeling overwhelmed by the expectations at the start of my career, but twenty years in can see that the standards are not enough to move teachers on to an expert level. The definition of 'professional judgement' is not immediately available on Google, but with some effort this definition suits our purpose for Quality Assurance:

'You may hear the terms ‘professional judgement’ and ‘practice wisdom’ used during your ITE course, particularly if you ask a teacher why they made a particular decision about how to teach. Sometimes, it is difficult for an experienced teacher to unpack what lies behind their decision-making processes (Hobson, 2002, Jones and Straker, 2006). What often lies behind professional judgements or practice wisdom is years of experimenting with different approaches, incorporating different ideas from research, theory and practice, and constant critical reflection.'

http://www.open.edu/openlearn/education/learning-teach-becoming-reflective-practitioner/content-section-1.2

Each school, each context needs to add to the definition of what it is to teach well in their context.  The professional judgements of those teachers in their classroom is key to this as is other quality assurance work such as departmental level results analysis, departmental SEFs and Line Managers overviews of strengths and weaknesses that need to be addressed across teachers and students work. Beyond this research into the wider workings of academic research and other schools in similar contexts would be interesting to look at.

Inclusion and the issue of minimising the 'gap' in attainment across the school's cohorts is a key measure for OFSTED.  On this theme, Mary Meredith proposed at the start of the summer that we as a profession need to 'focus more on the art and (a) bit less on the mechanics' of teaching in a great tweeted thread where the nature of what it is to be an inclusive teacher was carefully addressed:

I like the division of teaching into subject teaching, rules/routines and inclusive practices; the level of specification of what it is to be inclusive is really important here.  A colleague was talking through all of the support she had put in place for a specific student towards the end of last term and feeling like she had done 'a lot', which she had, but was told to be 'even kinder still' by another colleague in her department: because of the integrity and reputation of that colleague with hard to reach students, the advice was taken on board and more support was given to the student. I heard the story being told to a further colleague later that day; 'Being kinder still' is a great culture to build into teaching through colleague mentoring.  These inclusive strategies are as useful for teachers as they are for students and make a useful addition to the ideas set out by Huntington in striving to acknowledge the action needed by the teacher to include all students.

Social and emotional support given to students has impact on outcomes, peer to peer coaching has impact on professionals, but any quality assurance policy for T&L needs to give teachers ways on extending their pedagogical and subject specific knowledge.  Durrington Research School and the work of the twitter giants, Andy Tharby and Shaun Allison would be my next go to place with their book series, 'Making Every Lesson Count'.

The power of the work of this duo and their school T&L blog, https://classteaching.wordpress.com/, is the focus on the minutiae of teaching and the necessary cycles of behaviour for students to be supported into purposeful practice.  If you haven't read the book, there are now a series of subject specific focused reads which really engage with the day to day practice of teachers in the classroom.  It's full of strategies to use within your classroom as well as really specific guidance in what to do to hone your developing craft.  I love that it is dedicated and experienced professionals sharing their hard won experience and know that engaging with this practice as a teaching team would develop any and all professionals.

Once a quality assurance framework is established - your "this is what great teaching looks like here" policy - there would be much merit in post observation reflective discussions focused on this work and the work of Doug Lemov and his website, http://teachlikeachampion.com/.  Both of this site and book give the teacher a chance to extend and develop autonomously beyond the whole school CPD.  There would be much merit in training up a small observing team, perhaps those lead practitioners again, in the work of these professionals(Tharby/Allison/Lemov) and all that it offers teachers in honing their craft. This would ensure that reflective conversations are not only policy, but resource based, giving every professional the best chance to continue to develop with teacher specific strategies and ideas to extend their individual practice.

My final go to piece would be the work of Rob Coe, Cesare Aloisi, Steve Higgins and Lee Elliot Major on 'What makes Great Teaching' for the Sutton Trust.   As well as identifying the facets of great teaching:

1. (Pedagogical) content knowledge 
   (Strong evidence of impact on student outcomes) 
   The most effective teachers have deep knowledge of the subjects they teach, and when teachers’ knowledge falls below a certain level it is a significant impediment to students’ learning. As well as a strong understanding of the material being taught, teachers must also understand the ways students think about the content, be able to evaluate the thinking behind students’ own methods, and identify students’ common misconceptions. 
2. Quality of instruction 
   (Strong evidence of impact on student outcomes) 
   Includes elements such as effective questioning and use of assessment by teachers. Specific practices, like reviewing previous learning, providing model responses for students, giving adequate time for practice to embed skills securely Executive Summary 3 and progressively introducing new learning (scaffolding) are also elements of high quality instruction. 
3. Classroom climate 
   (Moderate evidence of impact on student outcomes) 
   Covers quality of interactions between teachers and students, and teacher expectations: the need to create a classroom that is constantly demanding more, but still recognising students’ self-worth. It also involves attributing student success to effort rather than ability and valuing resilience to failure (grit).
4. Classroom management 
   (Moderate evidence of impact on student outcomes) 
   A teacher’s abilities to make efficient use of lesson time, to coordinate classroom resources and space, and to manage students’ behaviour with clear rules that are consistently enforced, are all relevant to maximising the learning that can take place. These environmental factors are necessary for good learning rather than its direct components. 
5. Teacher beliefs 
   (Some evidence of impact on student outcomes) 
   Why teachers adopt particular practices, the purposes they aim to achieve, their theories about what learning is and how it happens and their conceptual models of the nature and role of teaching in the learning process all seem to be important. 
6. Professional behaviours 
   (Some evidence of impact on student outcomes) 
   Behaviours exhibited by teachers such as reflecting on and developing professional practice, participation in professional development, supporting colleagues, and liaising and communicating with parents. 

This piece of research work gathers together evidence of how best to employ an observation framework for impact:

'Successful teacher observations are primarily used as a formative process – framed as a development tool creating reflective and self-directed teacher learners as opposed to a high stakes evaluation or appraisal. However, while observation is effective when undertaken as a collaborative and collegial exercise among peers, the literature also emphasises the need for challenge in the process – involving, to some extent, principals or external experts.'

https://www.suttontrust.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/What-Makes-Great-Teaching-REPORT.pdf

I have always believed that the classroom is a microcosm of the school, that what is right at a classroom level often gives us the best indication of what is right in leading professionals and this research confirmed this:

'A review by Timperley et al. details a teacher ‘knowledge-building cycle ' - a feedback loop for teachers – that is associated with improved student outcomes. Their synthesis ‘assumes that what goes on in the black box of teacher learning is 5 fundamentally similar to student learning’. And their findings suggest that teacher learning can have a sizeable impact on student outcomes.'

Teachers need to be challenged in a healthy way; too often school's challenge through mocksteds which increase threat as well as challenge.  In my early days of teaching in Shropshire, I worked within the advisory team supporting the creative arts adviser.  It was a fantastic opportunity to see some truly gifted subject specific advisers; one of my favourites was the maths adviser, who when calling a school to arrange a visit would always ask to teach a class with the HoD watching prior to starting any work with them.  The 'buy in' and genuine good will that this brought to his days with maths teams around the county was worth any level of squirming discomfort with the set 3 year 8's they always seemed to give him.  This is worth replicating on any level you can, through planning and delivering a team taught lesson where subject specialisms can be shared (e.g. a light unit for a physics class taught with theatre lights in school) or simply having the observee come and watch the observer before observing them. 

There is evidence within the report about how to use pupil voice and what the validity of this may be in establishing ways of improving student outcomes.  The issue with this is avoiding the 'popularity' game and ensuring that the students words are turned into action through briefings or helpful CPD.  Any evidence gained in this way needs to be tested before it results in action and again being honest, helpful and kind with the information you glean is paramount.

Over the twenty years of managing departments, year groups, faculties and houses, I have been asked to record information from quality assurance processes of observations in a myriad of ways; most of them too punitive, time consuming and ineffective.  The report from the Sutton Trust is clear that there are six principles of effective teacher feedback:

'Sustained professional learning is most likely to result when: 

1. the focus is kept clearly on improving student outcomes; 
2. feedback is related to clear, specific and challenging goals for the recipient; 
3. attention is on the learning rather than to the person or to comparisons with others; 
4. teachers are encouraged to be continual independent learners; 
5. feedback is mediated by a mentor in an environment of trust and support;
6. an environment of professional learning and support is promoted by the school’s leadership.'

The quality assurance processes of a school are 'formative assessments', part of a wider picture of whole staff CPD, subject specific CPD, departmental agendas, line management agendas and appraisal documents.  As Andy Tharby notes in his blog, 'always chose the simpler option' - time is our most precious resource.  Quick formative records of reflective post-obs conversations, records of CPD shifts to meet needs and reporting back to line managers can be rough recordings of oral feedback. (No stamp required)  Above all, continual reflection between your T&L team and the middle leaders/line managers will really help the school in addressing issues quickly.

There is an unpalatable truth is assessing the impact of T&L, which the Sutton Report sums up well:

'We define effective teaching as that which leads to improved student achievement using outcomes that matter to their future success. Defining effective teaching is not easy. The research keeps coming back to this critical point: student progress is the yardstick by which teacher quality should be assessed. Ultimately, for a judgement about whether teaching is effective, to be seen as trustworthy, it must be checked against the progress being made by students.'

And whilst a million caveats need to be added about single sets of class data, single observations, triangulation of evidence, consistency in observation practice, at some point you and the teacher/departments/whole school need to reflect on how what you did had impact on outcomes and how action can be honed in the coming year for the next cohorts; openly, honestly, kindly and respectfully.

I have a strong feeling that coaching has a strong part to play in any T&L quality assurance as the process needs to be self directed by the teachers involved within it and just as they are with students, relationships will be key to this work.  I would also strongly suggest that if you run an initiative like #oracy or growth mindset that your feedback forms direct the teaching practitioners involved to discuss this.  Everyone needs to buy into a view of what great teaching is in your context, everyone needs to feel supported through T&L processes to self evaluate and improve, challenge is helpful but should come without fear, observations need to be consistent, reflective conversations need to give teachers places to go to extend their practice, recording processes need to be active and simple and finally, the in house CPD needs to be tailored to suit the needs in the findings.  #simples

I wanted to end by returning to the two A'Level teachers I had who were polar opposites of each other, but who recognised this, told us about their differences at the start of the course and consistently used their differing views to build a fantastically strong and interesting course for us.  I favoured them both equally for different reasons as a student and recognise now as a leader that there is a huge lesson for us here in quality assuring the work of our teachers in our school. #valueteachers #recruitmentcrisis

If you had to choose one research paper to improve teaching and learning what would it be...

I was asked this at interview recently - if you had to choose one research paper to improve teaching and learning what would it be?

The quality of teaching is one of the most important factors in a student's education, all potential initiatives must be tempered with a clear sense of how they will help the student's learning as this is at the heart of T&L.  Any decision on a T&L initiative needs to address student outcomes, the support needed for students/parents/staff and then, through research, a 'best chance of success' strategy can be developed. 

A razor sharp awareness of the school's context is key, the Dylan Wiliam's adage that

"Everything works somewhere,

nothing works everywhere."

is a salutory reminder; 'in a world of infinite choice, context - not content - is king' (Chris Anderson). What matters to the school will be tempered by the issues within their unique context and their collective knowledge and understanding of the student body which can and will shift from year to year.  The EEF toolkit was once described as a "risk register" of "good bets" and "poor bets" rather than certainties - there is no substitute for knowing what is going on in the classrooms of your school and how it is having impact... or not.

Each school is challenged through the widely available and widely reaching research to think about what Simon Smith calls the "So What?" questions.  

The temptation might be to introduce each and every new shiny piece of research to staff through CPD, but this kind of 'flitting' from research paper to research paper is unlikely to produce sustained and effective change in students' learning.  If research teaches us anything, it is the need to be targeted and deliberate in what we chose to engage with and that which we engage wider staff with.

Data and the quality assurance work of the school will be key in assessing your 'so whats' as will whole school understanding of what it is to teach well in your context, which should be linked to how you appraise your teachers.  My "go to" blog for this is from John Tomsett (here) and also (here).  I love the deep thinking that his whole school has engaged in to identify their 'so what's' - it speaks volumes about the school they are building.  It's based in some of the most useful and practically applicable research there is like Rob Coe's work on 'What makes Great Teaching?' with the Sutton Trust.  Building a supportive and warm culture for teachers with clear expectations and acknowledgements of the T&L complexities, that all important sense of 'this is what we do here'; cue another Dylan Wiliam's adage...

Doug Lemov's approach to T&L is important here - he has codified specific things that effective teachers do, which other teachers can learn from through blogs, books and online recordings of these teachers in action.  It is truly great work and worth a mention here because of the wide ranging resources on offer, which allow staff to pick and choose and develop a program of CPD that targets their needs.  An awareness of this work could be a game changer for personalising CPD for teachers, which is where real success for individual teachers will happen.

Steve Adcock recently wrote a blog that referenced this approach and how it might be usefully transposed to the '6 Core routines of SLT' highlighting how expectations and understandings might also need to apply for leaders.  Building research approaches out into these areas of our practice could be a key area for a school to garner improvements; for example in our school we often talk of how underused the middle leadership team is - could we develop six core routines of middle leadership, target this work with group specific CPD and build agency within our school for students' learning?

Looking at research with middle leaders is key to leading improvements in T&L, I'd also be tempted to consider these pieces of research through Tom Sherrington's blog;

https://teacherhead.com/2017/06/03/teaching-and-learning-research-summaries-a-collection-for-easy-access/

All of these examples highlight moving from a generalised, intuition and experience led approach to T&L to using specific, targeted and informed strategies that are research based.  Using research to inform the specific tasks that we undertake every day is our 'best chance' for improvements if we chose well. Blogs are invaluable as ways of exploring and developing our understanding as professionals on what a piece of research might look like in action, how it might be employed, what the issues might be and how it might develop.

The work of professionals like Tom Sherrington and John Tomsett has had immeasurable impact on me as a professional and starting every teachers'/leaders' journey in discovering and using blogs is significant part of engaging with research through professional reading, but I was asked for just one paper...

There is only one paper that encompasses the whole of the T&L dynamic usefully and purposefully and warrants a whole school awareness for me  - where CPD sessions for staff can be widened into assemblies for learners and into Performance Development discussions and observation reflections for teachers.  It is a piece of research on the purpose of necessary behaviour for both the learner and the teacher, how the learner and the teacher can deliberately target this through specific T&L strategies and how this process can extend and develop learning for both the student and the teacher.

If I had to pick one piece of research to lead T&L work, I'd go for this - starting with how it deliberately identifies responsibilities of the process of teaching and learning process:

• STUDENTS are LEARNING and though there is great power in them becoming more aware of their learning processes within peer to peer sessions giving feedback and some instruction, they are the learner and must take on this responsibility.
• TEACHERS are TEACHING and though there is great power in them continuing to learn throughout their career, they are responsible for teaching the material necessary in such a way that it is learn-able.
• META-COGNITION is key to both roles; teachers and learners can plan for and target their learning/teaching and improve through reflective practice.

The specific strategies within the report lend themselves to purposeful self regulated learning over three key areas of practice:

• MOTIVATION
  Students need to bring a willingness to engage in the process and be prepared to persevere.  They have responsibility for convincing themselves to undertake tricky revision tasks, buying into the hard work early on to ensure future well being, for example, taking the test you know you'll find hard and knowing that practice moves you forward.  Independence in learning is one of the key complaints from teachers at our school - how do we develop and embed these skills?  How do we work in individual classes, across departments and across the whole school to coherently promote and address this gap in our students approach to learning?
  
  We are introducing ENDEAVOUR books (document files) for students next year, where each department will be sharing Knowledge Organisers of the half term's knowledge and skills to be covered, which tutors will be using in registration time to prime and engage students with.  Can we engage parents in sessions where we highlight how these booklets can be used at home?

• COGNITION
  The teacher needs to build skills like memorisation techniques or subject specific strategies like making marks with a different brush or using different methods to solve equations in maths into the original teaching.  These strategies are fundamental to acquiring knowledge and completing learning tasks.
  
  As a school, could we compare how fundamental knowledge is introduced and how it is taught in a memorable way - agree areas where a common teaching method would help students and identify where specific subjects need to create their own approach?
• METACOGNITION
  These are the strategies that we us to monitor, control and develop our cognition, where students should be enabled to evaluate whether a memorisation strategy has worked for them, where they should be able to select an appropriate strategy for the task depending on its content, where they are actively monitoring and purposely directing their learning independently.
  
  As a school a coherent cross curriculum approach to memorisation strategies, planning extended writing tasks, using discussion for deepening understanding will have an impact on how students develop their ability to learn independently.

A coherent approach to where research will be employed collectively and where there is room for autonomy would strengthen everyone's work - see Tom Sherrington's 10 essential discussions for every team blog.  The power of autonomy and collective action needs to be discussed at senior, middle and classroom levels to ensure that we are building on each others work where we can, but still have the creativity to teach our specialisms as a subject specific domain.

Across the 7 recommendations that could be worked on in department, cross department and leadership groups in our regular CPD sessions, the needs of the learner and the requirements and support needed by the teacher are slowly and coherently built up:

• Students need to be supported into and be motivated to work towards
• Understanding their strengths and weaknesses in subjects and across the curriculum
• Addressing weaknesses and attending to strengths
• Being motivated and engaged - whilst understanding that this is hard work sometimes
• Being ready to take on multiple challenges across the curriculum
• Engaging purposefully in dialogue about learning #Oracy
• Training themselves up to be confident at applying independent learning skills
• Teachers need to be supported into and be motivated to work towards
• Guiding students through cognitive and meta cognitive strategies
• Giving explicit instructions
• Engaging and motivating learners
• Supporting with a view to independence long term
• Modelling their thinking to students - verbalising the meta cognitive processes needed #Oracy
• Scaffolding through worked examples and pre-empting through this the removal of structures there to support, thus promoting independence
• Providing appropriate challenge
• Engaging in purposeful dialogue that coaches, guides and supports learners #Oracy
• Giving timely and effective feedback on both cognitive and meta cognitive tasks
• Putting meta cognitive processes at the heart of the learning
• Engaging in regular CPD and reflective coaching conversations with MLT/SLT leaders as appropriate

The cycle promoted by the report (plan, monitor, evaluate) supports the movement of students from novice learners to expert learners where the taught structures of meta cognition become automatic and unconscious.  It is not new to anyone, we all recognise that this is what good teachers do and it is therefore easy to cynically say, 'I do all of that already'.  I have been a teacher for 20 years and remember very clearly helping to write 'Learning 2 Learn' schemes in the early 2000's.  This research is much more direct and has a clarity of processes that our intuitive work didn't - if someone had asked me what meta cognitive processes were before reading the report I could have said in a generalised way that it was about teaching students to be aware of how they are learning.  Having read the work, I have used the real examples to extend my practice and build on them daily in the classroom.  

Reading this report together as a teaching body, being presented with clever summaries from the T&L team, interpreting it across departments, making recommendations and agreeing a collective responsibility action point list would change practice.  In the background, the inventive and creative classroom practitioner will be making autonomous changes to their practice and improving further.  This research report's genius is that it targets fundamental skills through specific and clearly identified practices and strategies, which every teacher can and will build on in their own way and where students will become effective, independent and strong learners.  #metameta

Find it here:  https://educationendowmentfoundation.org.uk/evidence-summaries/teaching-learning-toolkit/meta-cognition-and-self-regulation/

Be a teacher they can believe in; Restorative Conversations

‘We are what we repeatedly do.’
Aristotle

‘Habits change into character.’
Ovid

‘If you don’t like something, change it.
If you can’t change it, change your attitude.’
Maya Angelou

I have been a teacher for 20 years this year and every so often a 'new' idea comes round that you recognise as brilliant, but have lapsed out of using, ceased to focus on in the myriad of stuff we juggle.  This year it was restorative conversations for me as we started to use Paul Dix's 5 Pillars from his book, 'When the adults change, EVERYTHING CHANGES'.  They are:

1. Calm, consistent adult behaviour

2. First attention to best conduct

3. Relentless routines

4. Scripted interventions

5. Restorative follow up

(https://pivotaleducation.com/oc-five-pillars)

It chimed beautifully with our oracy initiative and seemed heaven sent - all the quotes I have become fond of for oracy were effortlessly applicable to this culture driven work.  

'A school is a collection of conversations.'

Peter Hyman

The Speaking Summit 2017

I found a huge amount of cross over with the practice that we had been advocating for oracy such as the meet and greet routine.  Like all teaching and learning work, the focus and specification which drive these strategies improve teacher practice by moving from a generalised approach towards targeted practice.  Aligning your practice to new strategies should create 'marginal gains' which impact on students' learning, otherwise... what's the point?  Here on the fifth pillar, the teacher is coaching the student into better behaviour practice and resetting their relationship with the student:

There will always be behaviour issues in a school.

Our response is what we can control.

Restorative follow ups or an RC (Restorative Conversation) as we call it has become a key part of our work.  I led CPD on the approach to reinforce the work that we did at the start of the year with our Pivotal Trainer, Paul Woodward.  We looked at a series of questions with staff from Paul's book and a series of scenarios.  Staff were given laminated cards of the questions and practised in coaching trios through the scenarios.  I have shared the power point here:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B63GBnitXqn6aUdIX1poS2loQkU/view?usp=sharing

Staff carry these scripted questions on their lanyards and use them in their restorative practice.  The picture below is of the card on my lanyard.  

In September, this was about giving staff confidence; using the experienced Pivotal practice as a starting point.  The questions are good and if I am stuck I still find I use them, but they aren't my words and often feel clunky in my mouth, not authentically me; this year has been about making the practice my own.  Like anything in teaching you naturally begin to blend the new ideas with the old.  

Before I trained as a teacher, I worked in an MLD school that went from nursery through to year 11 as a resident artist for drama activities.  The experience was quite an eye opener as the children struggled with their own issues enough to make collaboration in drama very hard.  Coaching students into managing that through supporting them in lessons became a key part of my practice:  I got to know them in class before withdrawing them to try out some drama.  The RC words that I use are from that period of my training, I often think that it is where all my behaviour management success comes from - every teacher should spend some time in this sector.  A wizened old teacher (trusted with the year 11/10 class) modelled how to use RC's and how to build them into a coaching conversation.  I watched carefully and acted the part till I began to feel I could hold my own... my new restorative practice is a mix of this and Pivotal.

This is how an RC works for me now, I sit next to the student at a desk and write those words out in front us:

Action

Consequence

Reflection 

Change

I talk to the student within the opening of the RC through three really important ideas:

1. That without reflection we get stuck in a cycle where the same action leads to the same consequence, without ever moving on. I draw an arrow going up from consequence to action and another returning to consequence on the other side.  I say that this conversation is about breaking that cycle.
2. I introduce the definition of insanity attributed to Einstein: 'The definition of insanity is doing the same thing again and again and expecting different results.' 
3. I clarify that the quality of a real apology is action, not spoken words:.  Our behaviour beyond this conversation holds the true status of our apology; together we can make sure that this process leads to change.

Then I talk about the incident with the student, sat besides them so that it does not feel like a confrontation.  I listen as much as I talk and if facilitating the RJ between students have very specific times when it is their turn to talk.  The process necessitates high expectations of the students and their oracy skills, which is worth talking about and preparing them for before hand individually.  Sometimes we need time out slots alone, before reaching a shared agreement of what will happen next. It goes without saying that when you do it is as important as how!  Sometimes the process takes a couple of attempts across a few days or needs the presence of their tutor or parents.

There has been some twitter interest in the RC process and some evidence of it being used wrongly in school.  Sean Hartford, an OFSTED inspector no less, created this thread early in June:

'1. I know this will annoy some on here, but it needs to be said. A number of teachers have said to me recently that their schools are using restorative justice discussions when there is a ‘dispute’ between a teacher and a pupil. What this has actually meant is that the pupil has

2. played up in class and been insolent to the teacher when challenged about it, been removed from the lesson and then lied about what happened to the ‘receiving’ school leader. The teachers have then been expected to take part in the ‘restorative discussion’ as if they need to

3. justify their actions to the pupil (and ‘mediating’ teacher). This just seems wrong to me and undermines the teacher, when the pupil knows they will get such a hearing when clearly they have done something wrong. This sort of thing is wearing for these teachers and I am sure

4. cannot have been the intention of employing such restorative practices?'


I started this blog as a response to this thread. To me an RC is the very definition of 'rigorous kindness' - the expectation is high for both professional and student.  The intention is to reaffirm how the classroom works and your status as the teacher within that room. It's about confirming your role, not undermining it. I find these points are really helpful to raise persistently and calmly:

• I as the teacher have higher status than you, this does not mean you are powerless, but that you are safe and directed into your learning by an expert adult.
• You are expected to keep within the school rules; it's ok to struggle with this, but you need to recognise when you do and show willing to work at it.
• My responsibility in the classroom is for the teaching, you are responsible for the learning; it cannot happen without your investment.  Whilst each of us might swap to being a learner and a teacher at points, this is the natural order of the classroom.
• I am not responsible for your behaviour or work, you are.
• I have gained the qualifications that I need to do the work I do, I am here to facilitate you getting yours - whether you do or not is largely in your hands.
• They don't give GCSEs away with happy meals because they mean something about your investment and your work - the grade you get will reflect this to your college/university/apprenticeship/employers.
• Your behaviour reflects you, it cannot reflect me.
• I believe in you and I know you can do better.
• This (POSITIVE MEMORY) is how I always think of you in my classroom.
• It's ok to have made this mistake, it's not ok to keep making it.
• I once made a mistake like this/I had another student who made a mistake like this (ANNECDOTE) and this is what we did to make it better...
• In my classroom it is always about #LearningFirst

I think Theodore Roosevelt's daring greatly words are so pertinent to this process - I use them a lot in oracy too - because this work is really and truly rooted in the social and emotional processes of teaching.  It is hard personally and professionally, but if you dare to try it the gains can be huge for you and your students.  Your behaviour is a model for theirs; you can't teach kindness whilst being unkind.  Your behaviour is your integrity as a teacher, it is the proof of your beliefs and morals.  The RC is a strong representation of who you really are. Be a teacher they can believe in. 

'It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly'

Theodore Roosevelt

Embracing Student Engagement

Last week at our school, 205 year seven students all gave a speech about a topic of their choice, for which the only control measure is that it must be something they feel passionate about.  It was an amazing week, full of high levels of engagement, laughter, tears of all description and warmth.  Our strap line for the event is 'Embrace: your voice, your community, your future'.

The word embrace was lifted from our mission statement, which is a reference to Ron Berger's work on 'The Ethics of Excellence' and falls into our 'Faith in You' strand.

On the Monday morning of Embrace week as I did my duty on the main school doors, a year nine remarked to me that she knew I wouldn't be teaching her today as 'all the year seven's on our bus had them oracy books out'; she was just hoping she got to see the speeches or help with the year sevens prepare, rather than a dreaded cover lesson.  Behind her, on their way into school, several year sevens waved their oracy booklets at me and giggled in nervous excitement checking that they were off timetable for lessons one to three and reminding me, for the umpteenth time, what times their parents were coming in to watch them. The parents were universally positive about the challenge that their child had faced in preparing and giving a speech, many commented that they wished their own school had pushed them to do the same 'back in the day'.

It is a week where I do not get a single 'free' lesson; I lead the final rehearsals all morning, begin drawing up a final running list during break, lead the final rehearsal in lesson three, move the students and then parents into position in the hall  at the start of lesson 4, lead the welcome address and then introduce each student and sum up at the end.  At lunch, I do my duty as normal and then return lesson five for the final sharing, where I again move parents and students into position, lead another welcome address and introduce all those students.

We presented 20 -28 speeches in each sharing Monday to Thursday, approximately 50-60 students a day; on Friday, we have a nurture group day.  Any student who had struggled in their actual event or who had agreed with their Oracy teacher that the Nurture day would best suit them came all day Friday, when performances could be done in the hall with a smaller audience or in our nurture room with a very select audience.  This year we had 38 nurture students.  By the end of that day, I would have expected to be shattered, but I floated home.  It had been a brilliant week of hard work and I had genuinely valued every minute.

On reflection this weekend, I wanted to write this blog to share our school's practice and, through writing, explore the exceptionally high levels of engagement from students, teachers and parents that this event provokes.  It strikes me that this needs replicating throughout our curriculum - but what is it? What is happening that is so different from the everyday classroom experience for staff, students and parents... The truth is, of course, that I don't really know, but can make some educated guesses about why as a teacher.

• Shared Endeavour
  Within the course of the week, teachers and teaching assistants shared the speech writing endeavour by delivering speeches of their own; I delivered a speech exploring the fundamental learning journey that happens under the defined curriculum, Mr Judge delivered a speech about his love of biscuits, Mrs Chalk spoke of her new found love of running, our headteacher about his love of sailing and Miss Hoxworth gave a speech about being a teaching assistant.  Beyond this, year 8 students reprised their speeches from last year and shared these with year 7 in assemblies and during the event itself.  Staff and students shared the learning journey together, which can be very powerful - for example, as a drama teacher it would be easy for me to underestimate this challenge, by doing it every year, I renew my sense of just how vulnerable speaking as yourself in front of an audience makes you feel.  Indeed many students reflected to me in wonder that they could see my nerves, feel my fear after my speech was given - I was more present with them and them with me.
  Beyond this, the shared endeavour is marked by the attendance of parents who have usually shared all of the preparation through drafting and practicing and who therefore are welcomed to be with us when the speech is given.  This simple act raises the students engagement a great deal.
• A Rite of PassageThis is our second year of running a discrete oracy curriculum for year 7 that culminates in their Embrace speeches in the summer term.  Before you complete your speech,
  we give a significant small gift, a charm for students to wear out their nervous energy on.  We took this from Ryan Avery's assertion that public speakers should hold a paper clip to fiddle with.  Last year a key charm related to Mrs Chalk's speech about oracy being 'the key to it all', this year a moulded heart bead on a ribbon was given to symbolise this quote which I used in my speech where I argued that beneath the defined curriculum oracy teaches this fundamental truth:

 'Each of us is the result of a thought of god, each of us is willed, 

each of us is loved and each of us is necessary'.

• A Pressured Challenge
  Students are told that this is a deliberate pressured challenge and then given strong support from other students, staff, pastoral tutors, other subject teachers and parents.  We acknowledge the struggle and then we support it: through coaching peers in lessons, through a year 8 mentor scheme in tutor group time, through channelled TA support, through POP UP lessons across the curriculum when subject teachers stop teaching their subject and exemplify how the Embrace speech exemplifies work in their subject (For example, art teachers coloured in their speeches with them to talk about tones of expression, RE teachers supported the use of our faith in their content, Humanities teachers traced their arguments through a  persuasion bingo task etc.).  This support for the social and emotional challenge as well as the cross curricular significance of the challenge seems to add to the students' sense of its significance and worth.
• Free Content
  We had a whole speech about chicken.  We had a whole speech about listening: do you realise that god gave you 50% more capacity for listening than talking?  We had many speeches about inspiration - one which rewrote Maya Angelou's Rise poem and explored all the black women who gave our student hope - the most significant one was her mum, who wept openly in the audience as this was presented.  It is stunning how much young people have to say, it makes you feel like the future of the world is in safe hands.  Freeing content up and focusing only on structure and delivery seems to have a massive capacity for engagement.
• Unrealistic Expectations
  Unrealistically high expectations underpin every aspect of this program - I expect them all to flourish.  We talk about the significance of talk to their futures and to their communities, we instill a strong sense of purpose to the task - every opportunity they get beyond school will be through an interview.  We explore examples of excellent speakers like Barack and Michelle Obama and we expect our students to match it.  We teach them the four strands of oracy (Physical, Cognitive, Linguistic and Social/Emotional) and we expect them to nail every single one.
  From the start last year, everyone has achieved in their own terms more than they ever thought possible.  This is now the guiding philosophy - expect more of yourself.  The program has this kind of 'magic' feeling, but actually conversely the magic is the students' own commitment and investment.
• Changing the school day
  They get a whole day off timetable - the task has significance because of this, it merits a whole day off timetable.  The ability to work like this with the student changes the atmosphere in the room - the room itself is changed as we work all day in the hall, which is a very unusual experience for the students.  They do not sit on a chair all day; rather they constantly move between an audience and stage perspective.
• Scaffolds and Models
  I have spent the last two years sourcing great resources.  The students get a booklet with more scaffolds and ideas than they need.  We have recorded speeches from the start so this year's students could watch students modelling the process and they all engage in analysing and peer assessing this work.  We use famous examples - there is a session on 'You Tubers' and their oracy skills.  We work hard to ensure that these resources are constantly available on line (Google classroom and our school website) as well as materially - the photocopying budget is maxed out but gets impact.
• Acknowledging and Supporting Individuality
  The acknowledged aim of the project is to support their idiosyncratic and individual selves: they are pushed to be unique.  Another speech on Football, what's your angle? How are you getting the audience to buy in?  Another speech on bullying or racism, have a look at this exceptional example, can you match that?  If not, think of something else to talk about.
  The booklet that they are each given starts by ensuring that they have at least four ideas for topics explored in depth before they chose to focus on one - there are always many possibilities.
  I think the buy in here is through the investment that is then put into the task - the speech is a part of them, it reflects them.  They see others doing the same, the respect for the work builds respect for the individual and vice versa.
• Reciprocity
  You earn a badge.  The badge has the logo which reflects the sentiments of the taught process, our strap line.  Students keep their badges, if you gain a place as a year 8 mentor, you gain a badge in the new colour.  These students wear both badges. Its a mark of honour.
  Teachers who gain a badge wear theirs too.  It marks them out too.
  We try to wear the charms as well see below. You faced that challenge, you flourished, you grew too.  I think secondary teachers sometimes underestimate just how much the badge/sticker/merit can mean to student engagement.
• Love
  I tell the students I loved their speech.  Other students and teachers and parents do the same.  The process generates good feeling and love.  Students see this, through the year 8 examples now, but in the first year, they could sense it around the corner of the challenge, because they know from the start that their parents can be there.  There is so much love in Embrace - even the name suggests it.

• Being Heard
  Don't we all want to feel that we are heard and valued? if someone promised an attentive audience, for your passions wouldn't you speak up?

I am going to contact parents and students to hear their voices and triangulate their ideas of why the event generates such motivation in a further blog.  I am hoping my guesses will be backed up and exemplified, because I am over the idea of a 'silver bullet' in education - my educated guess is that these suggestions mean more to some students and less to others, but cover enough diverse reasons to capture all of year 7.  

Beyond all this, I know I find oracy work so fulfilling and inspiring - a colleague who taught the programme this year reported that it was 'the best thing' he had been involved in within his teaching career - that matters; inspiring ourselves, matters. I think I teach best when I feel like this. I have offered the speech I wrote as a download here:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1O-nzN60CMextek4agHXrMuZBFOGJ4CUk/view?usp=sharing

We'd love to support you into setting up your own Embrace process and will gladly share resources.  Please get in touch - rebecca.tulloch@salford.gov.uk

Northern Rocks 2018

I brought three year 8 students with me to present on #Oracy.  Each student shared their #Embrace #Oracy speech from last year.  They were passionate, warm and full of their own personal righteous indignation in a way that many adults would struggle to match.  They are from left to right:

Isabelle Jackson who spoke about being a sibling

Millie Crook who spoke about music

Martin McDonough who spoke about disability

They were fearless, whilst sharing generously and confidently, speeches which we had not written for this arena.  As their teacher, the power of their moment on stage was what I know in my classroom, at our school celebration events, but seen with a fresh perspective...

As @ShonetteBason so amply demonstrated in her presentation, it's easy to become a disillusioned and cynical lemon sucker, 'people who when you've got an idea go... ooh we tried that in 1972 and it didn't work then', but who can also choose to cough their lemons up and actually start to take control of their own happiness.

As @jazampawfarr highlighted in her plenary speech with vulnerability and integrity by the bucket load, we can make a difference.  We do change lives.  We can believe in the power of our impact.

As @MeetParents (whose real name is Madeleine Holt - not Michelle or Melaine in my tweets from the opening event stated!) so consistently insists, accountability measures have created fear which when driven with a funding crisis leave us with a narrowed curriculum.

'Change the OFSTED framework so that headteachers can believe that the 

inspection is not based on data.  Until then it will take balls of steel 

to make different choices in school.' 

As @saddleworth_sch demonstrated with a class of year 8 students, the book 'Ways to live forever' by Sally Nicholls and their teacher, Matthew Milburn and his colleagues, courageous interrogation of texts allows us to acknowledge the mortality of our existence without fear. The interconnected work of a group of young people weaved themes of life and death, clinical details about cancer and understanding the relationships between friends and family into a piece of art that moved us far beyond the confines of the room.

And finally, as @DisIdealist said at the start, we have so much power as a profession when we work together.  There is power in choosing to agree (in reaching a shared agreement?) and in collaborative practice.

So with thanks to our students and Northern Rocks 2018, my perspective of my classroom can be summarised as:

Choosing a life without lemons,

Believing in the power of my impact,

Rejecting a narrowed curriculum and a life lived in fear,

Choosing a professional life lived with 'balls of steel',

Standing with my colleagues, because together we are a force to be reckoned with.

Thank you Team #Nrocks18 it has been a blast!  I can't wait to see what comes next and I pledge my allegiance to continuing to rock then!  My presentation is shared below.

My Presentation from Northern Rocks 2018

We are trying to develop a network in the North West of professionals working with Oracy.  Please email me on rebecca.tulloch@salford.gov.uk if you want to join us.