Leading Learning Through Professional Learning Communities

1. Leading Learning Through Professional Learning Communities Dr Louise Stoll Immediate Past President International Congress for School Effectiveness and Improvement (ICSEI) Visiting Professor Institute of Education University of London louise@louisestoll.com Presentation Ministry of Education, Toronto, Ontario June 5 2006

2. Outline • Why are professional learning communities important right now? • What are they and what difference do they make? • How can you lead learning through professional learning communities?

3. Why are professional learning communities important and what difference do they make?

4. Futures Possible futures - things which could happen, although many are unlikely Probable futures - things which probably will happen, unless something is done to turn events around Preferable futures - things you prefer to have happen/you want to plan to happen Beare (2001)

5. The four pillars of learning Learning to know Learning to do Learning to live together Learning to be UNESCO (1996) A key change force ‘Child power’: children with increasingly less regard for school as it lags behind the society it serves Papert (1996)

6. In a fast changing world, if you can’t learn, unlearn and relearn, you’re lost. Sustainable and continuous learning is a given of the twenty-first century. Stoll, Fink and Earl (2003) If it’s not about learning, what should it be about?

7. Five Core Values constituting ‘the fundamentals of a proactive and responsible approach to professionalism’ Learning Participation Collaboration Cooperation Activism Sachs (1999)

8. Capacity . . . is a complex blend of motivation skill, positive learning, organisational conditions and culture, and infrastructure of support. Put together, it gives individuals, groups and, ultimately whole school communities the power to get involved in and sustain learning. Stoll, Stobart et al (2003)

9. What are professional learning communities and what difference do they make?

10. A professional learning community is: . . . an inclusive group of people, motivated by a shared learning vision, who support and work with each other, finding ways, inside and outside their immediate community, to enquire on their practice and together learn new and better approaches that will enhance all pupils’ learning. Stoll et al (2006)

11. An effective professional learning community has an impact on: • students’ learning process and progress, attitudes, attendance • individual teachers’ and other staff’s practice, morale, recruitment and retention • leadership capacity for learning across the whole school • a school’s capacity to engage successfully in networks and partnerships beyond the school

12. How do you lead learning through learning communities?

13. Three ways leaders handle pressures of education and change Coping Limit selves to managing school and respond only to directives from higher sources Diffusion Aware of new trends and indiscriminately set goals - “Christmas tree schools” (Bryk et al, 1998) Goal-focused Select a few reasonable goals, establish priorities, and ignore or manage other pressures Tye (2000)

14. Capacity building • creating and maintaining necessary conditions, culture and structures • facilitating learning and skill-oriented experiences and opportunities • ensuring interrelationships and synergy Stoll and Bolam (2005)

15. Growing a learning culture Being inclusive and empowering Ensuring supportive structures Professional learning community Nurturing trust and collaboration Developing networks, parterships and connections Designing deep learning experiences Promoting enquiry mindedness and innovation Louise Stoll (2005)

16. Questions What are the first things that catch your eye when you enter your school? What messages do they give out? If you were an anthropologist and you had to pick three artifacts that represented your school, what would they be and what do they represent? From Stoll, Bolam, McMahon, Thomas, Wallace, Greenwood and Hawkey (2006)

17. High C H A L L E N G E S Arousal Flow Anxiety Worry Control Relaxation Apathy Boredom High Low SKILLS Csikszentmihalyi (1990)

18. Promoting an Inclusive PLC Every teacher and nursery officer is a key worker for a number of children Every teacher andnursery officercoordinates a curriculum area All staff take turns to take notes at meetings Teachers and support staff are mentors to pupils Teacher and support staff set learning targets together for individual pupils Collaboration sheets help articulate joint work of teachers and support staff Support staff train teachers at PD days Support staff plan curriculum with teachers Bolam et al (2005)

19. Distributed leadership . . . incorporates the activities of multiple groups of individuals in a school who work at guiding and mobilizing staff in the instructional change process Spillane et al (2001) Distributed leadership is collective responsibility in action Stoll (2006)

20. Emotions, trust and respect It’s essential to have professional trust, respect, consideration, openness, and to unpick the words. It’s not ‘touchy feely’. Then you can inject the challenge to keep the setting moving forward. . . . the underpinning . . . one of the key elements. . . . There are going to be certain things where you think ‘I wish I’d done that’. But you learn from it and at the end of the day, if you have the respect of the other staff, which we have, we all learn from each other. Bolam et al (2006)

21. The decisive factor is almost exclusively the “horizontal” trust of staff among themselves and the “vertical” trust between management and staff. Without horizontal trust, there can be no transfer of knowledge; without vertical trust, no willingness to take risks. Sprenger (2004)

22. Teachers’ Learning: seven r’s Rehearsing and Refining Researching Practising Action research Trial and error Relating Reflecting Dialogue Peer observation Reflection in and on action Becoming assessment literate Mentoring and coaching Meta-learning Co-operative group learning Collaborative planning Reading Networking Study groups Book clubs Risking Internet Trying new strategies Seeing pupils as partners in ‘ Riting the learning process Journal writing/diaries Updated from Stoll, Fink and Earl (2003) Portfolios

23. Specific features of collaborative continuing professional development that might be linked to benefits External expertise Observation Peer support Teacher ownership Building on teachers' existing knowledge Cordingley, Bell, Rundell and Evans (2003)

24. Deep Learning Questions • Which activities are most powerful in helping to deepen staff learning and develop their practice? • How do you vary professional learning strategies for different needs and purposes? • In what ways are you trying to ‘spread’ and extend the development of deep learning activities? • To what extent are paraprofessional staff and school council members involved in learning activities? • What are your sources of external support and expertise to promote deep learning? • Adapted from Stoll, Bolam, McMahon, Thomas, Wallace, Greenwood and Hawkey (2006)

25. ‘A place of questioning where you must ask the question and the answer questions you’. Stoll et al (2006)

26. Leadership in a Data-Rich World Develop an Inquiry Habit of Mind Become Data Literate Create a Culture of Inquiry Earl and Katz (2006)

27. Staff survey Statements A %agree % uncertain %disagree B % important % less imp. % unimportant There is a shared A 37 40 23 whole-school vision of B 90 8 2 where the school is going High levels of trust and A 32 34 34 respect exist in this school B 93 7 0 There is effective A 40 37 23 communication between B 88 8 4 SLT and staff Teachers observe each A 15 46 39 other teach and give each B 41 27 32 Other feedback Teachers routinely collect, A 27 58 15 analyse and use data and B 37 36 27 evidence to inform their practice From McCall et al (2001)

28. What helps you to learn in school? Clear learning objectives and explanations I like to be clear what I am learning 93% agree My teachers explain things clearly 63% all/most Group work I enjoy working in groups 91% agree Making learning active and enjoyable I am really interested in my schoolwork 61% agree My teachers make learning fun 34% all/most 2164 Year 8 students – Evaluation of Key Stage 3 (Middle Years) Strategy Pilot in England – Stoll, Stobart et al (2003)

29. Connecting learning communities District and national NLCs Local communities as LCs International NLCs Within school PLC Wider community as LC Inter-agency LCs Districts as PLCs Policy makers as LCs Louise Stoll (2005)

30. Key features of learning networks Focus and purpose Collaboration Deep and sustained changes in practices and structures in schools Impact on pupil learning and engage-ment and success Profess-ional knowledge creation and sharing Accountability Leadership Relationships Enquiry Building capacity and support Earl and Katz (2005)

31. Key reasons when networks have a positive impact on improving teaching, learning and attainment • Specific focus – networks structured around clearly defined (and narrow) aims • Collaboration – to achieve network breadth and principal means to achieve in-depth transfer • Ownership of network’s goals and processes – important for sustaining collaborative activities. • Continuing professional development – principal means of effecting transfer of knowledge and practice within networks CUREE (2006)

32. Learning Walk Formulate key question Introduction & discussion Lesson observations and presentations Plenary Written and verbal feedback Evaluation Prudhoe School, adapted from NCSL

33. Learning from international visits . . . an understanding of culture and what it was possible for this to mean in schools. I feel I . . .have talked glibly about school culture and then wondered why, within wider communities, our values and culture have felt isolated. The integration and respect given to Maori rituals and culture and the valuing of parents as part of the process was enlightening and “real”. English headteacher after visiting New Zealand Stoll (2005)

34. Bridging social capital – inclusive Bonding social capital – exclusive Gittel and Vidal (1998) To bridge social capital requires that we transcend our social and political and professional identities to connect with people unlike ourselves. Putnam (2000)

35. Three types of conversation Instructional conversation – usually seen in classroom. Acquiring skill, guidance, knowledge external to ourselves Learning conversation – closer to conversation where mutual growth is end result. Relationship and task get equal attention Community conversation – vehicle for people to express and share diverse views, negotiate and reaffirm directions and vision and develop social capital West-Burnham and Otero (2005)

36. Structural conditions that support professional learning community Time to meet and talk Use of space Resources Communication mechanisms School development/improvement plans Professional development coordination and planning Staff deployment and hiring policies

37. Structure Questions How do you find time and space for colleagues to reflect, engage in dialogue, observe other colleagues, network with other staff and generally deepen their practice? How do you make regular time for your own reflection and development?

38. Chinese Bamboo When you plant it nothing happens in the first year, nor in the second year or the third or the fourth years. You don’t even see a single green shoot. And yet, in the fifth year, in a space of just six weeks, the bamboo will grow 9 feet high. The question is, did it grow 9 feet in six weeks or in five years? Dick (1992)

39. An effective professional learning community has the capacity to promote and sustain the learning of all professionals in the school community with the collective purpose of enhancing pupil learning. Bolam et al (2005)

40. PDFs can be downloaded from: http://www.standards.dfes.gov.uk/innovation-unit/collaboration/2127523/?version=1