Lärarkompetens och professionsutveckling för livslångt lärande Professor John MacBeath, University of Cambridge.

Teaching and learning in a globalised environment In a time of change The Manufactured Crisis Intensification of Teaching The Magnificent Myth The Rise of Political Lying

Our pre-occupation with education as an engine of growth not only narrows the way we think about social policy. It has also narrowed – abysmally and progressively - the vision we have of education itself. Alison Wolf, Does Education Matter? THE MANUFACTURED CRISIS

The intensification of teaching “Nine and a half our days, class on Saturday, school during the summer and two hours of homework each night are non- negotiable...”If you’re off the bus you’re working” says Feinberg Each morning students receive a worksheet of maths, logic and word problems for them to solve in the free minutes that appear during the day.” Teachers carry cell phones with toll free numbers and are on call 24 hours a day to answer any concerns their students might have. “Ten calls a night may sound like a drag”, says Feinberg,” but everyone goes to bed ready for the next school day.” (No Excuses, Lessons from 21 High performing high poverty schools)

The Barber quartet uninformed professionalism 1970s uninformed prescription 1980s informed prescription 1990s informed professionalism 2000

When deals have to be struck our leaders tend to prefer deception over education. Eric Alterman, 2004 THE RISE OF POLITICAL LYING

THE POST TRUTH POLITICAL ENVIRONMENT Public opinion is shaped in response to people's maps or images of the world, and not to the world itself. Mass political consciousness does not pertain to the actual environment but to an intermediary pseudo- environment. When deals must be struck and compromises made on behalf of large purposes, Presidents tend to prefer deception over education. Eric Alterman, The Nation 2004

THE GRAND NARRATIVE There is no grand narrative that can speak for us all. Teachers must take responsibility for the knowledge they organise, produce, mediate and translate into practice. If not there is a danger that they come to be seen as simply the technical intervening medium through which knowledge is transmitted to students, erasing themselves in an uncritical reproduction of received wisdom. Giroux, Border Crossings

TALKING BACK TO POLICY Challenge orthodoxy Nurture diversity Build strategic alliances Affirm teacher leadership Put self evaluation centre stage

THREE MODELS  Parallel  Sequential  Collaborative

Banging on the chicken shed

PUTTING SELF EVALUATION CENTRE STAGE Back to basics

“Not everything that counts can be counted. And not everything that can be counted, counts.” Albert Einstein

What do we know about teaching? What do good teachers do? Does context matter? How do we know? Who evaluates? What are the tools? REVISITING TEACHING

Build confidence Keep the end in mind Assess skill level or prior knowledge Model behaviour Reward progress Demonstrate Encourage risk and failure TEACHING OUT OF SCHOOL

Political Moral Social INSTITUTIONALISING TEACHING

Multi task Read the context Find the bandwidth Create a climate for learning Manage time Maintain pace Balance task, individual and group WHAT DO TEACHERS DO?

Teaching is a subversive activity Teachers and students need to develop and maintain their in-built shock proof crap detectors WHAT DO TEACHERS DO?

THE TOOLS OF SELF EVALUATION

Observation Critical incident analysis Discourse analysis Specific skill focus Force field analysis EVALUATING TEACHING

THE FORCE FIELD Teacher Morale and job satisfaction

TOXINS ideas rejected or stolen constant carping criticisms being ignored being judged being overdirected not being listened to being misunderstood Southworth, 2000

NUTRIENTS being valued professionally being trusted being noticed being supported and resourced being listened to being respected Southworth, 2000

A focus on questioning DO I? ask challenging questions? pose questions in a non-threatening way? give pupils time to think critically? follow through on the implications of pupils’ answers? use and develop probing answers? ask questions only to the brightest or most likeable? ask difficult questions too early? always ask the same type of question? encourage pupil-pupil and pupil-teacher questioning? ask questions to which I know the answer?

How do you tell when you're out of invisible ink? If Barbie is so popular, why do you have to buy her friends? What happens if you get scared half to death twice? Why do psychics have to ask you for your name? Why do kamikaze pilots wear helmets? OK, so what's the speed of dark? THE BIG QUESTIONS

Birgit is fooling around The teacher shouts at her She shouts back The teacher puts her on detention Birgit doesn’t go. She has to help her mum The school says Birgit will be suspended Birgit’s mum comes up and shouts at the principal Birgit is suspended Birgit returned and pupils said ‘you’re the girl whose mum shouted at the principal Birgit got further behind in her work and got into more trouble

A good teacher Is generous Listens to you Encourages you Has faith in you Keeps confidences Likes teaching children Takes time to explain things Helps you when you’re stuck Tells you how well you’re doing Allows you to have your say Makes sure you understand Helps people who are slow Makes you feel clever Doesn’t give up on you Is forgiving

I taught Snoopy to whistle I don’t hear him whistling I said I taught him. I didn’t say he learned it

TEACHING AND LEARNING We must pursue the connections with aggressive curiosity and healthy scepticism Judith Warren Little

A FOCUS ON LEARNING

Moving Knowledge misconception self doubt inappropriate medium peer normslack of prior knowledge self talk

Imagine yourself on a ship sailing across an unknown sea, to an unknown destination. An adult would be desperate to know where he is going. But a child only knows he is going to school...The chart is neither available nor understandable to him... Very quickly, the daily life on board ship becomes all important... The daily chores, the demands, the inspections, become the reality, not the voyage, nor the destination. (Mary Alice White, 1971) DOING SCHOOL

Calvin and Hobbes by Bill Watterson Copyright 1993 Watterson/ Distributed by Universal Press Syndicate

What is distinctive about human learning? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?

think about thinking make ethical decisions store information outside the body construct meaning from experience think about feelings seek out problems learn in reciprocity construct abstractions portray thought and feeling

Storing information outside the body

I DO MY BEST THINKING often sometimesnever early morning late at night during the night on waking in the bath or shower driving with background music alone with my thoughts talking my thinking out loud with others around me teaching others mapping or diagramming doodling while running or exercising meditating acting out

THE LONGEST DISTANCE?

The longest distance in the world is between an official state curriculum policy and what goes on in a child’s mind Peter Schrag, 1988

TOOLS for TEACHERS Economical: simple and easy to use Informative: telling you something new Formative: offering options as to where to go next Adaptable: able to be used flexibly and accommodated to pupil, class or school needs Convivial: creating a sense of enjoyment, purpose and challenge

A RHYTHM OF LEARNING?

teacher talks about what we’re going to do mucking about help each other in pairs computers boring video pairs report back writing targets A RHYTHM OF LEARNING? teacher talking

“Somehow educators have forgotten the important connection between teachers and students. We listen to outside experts to inform us, and, consequently overlook the treasure in our very own backyards – the students.” (Soo Hoo, 1993, p. 389) THE TREASURE WITHIN

pupil learning teacher learning school learning THE LEARNING WEDDING CAKE

THE WHO HOW SCHOOLS IMPROVE 1.The rule of the vital few: A few exceptional people doing something different start and incubate an epidemic. 2.The stickiness factor: Some attribute of the epidemic allows it to endure long enough to "catch", to become contagious or "memorable". 3.The power of context: The physical, social and group environment must be right to allow the epidemic to then suffuse through the population. (Gladwell, 1999)

THE COMPLEXITY OF CHANGE

If you think you’re too small to make a difference, you’ve never been in bed with a mosquito.