Research-Led Approaches to Increasing Pupil Learning BOWDEN ROOM

Professor Robert Coe Director of the Centre for Evaluation and Monitoring at Durham University Research-Led Approaches to Increasing Pupil Learning

PRESENATION RECIEVED

Research-Led Approaches to Increasing Pupil Learning Robert Coe North of England Education Conference 2014 Nottingham, 15 January

∂ Outline  How can we use school resources to get the biggest increases in learning?  What can research tell us about the likely impact of different strategies?  How do we implement these strategies?  What else do we need do to make it likely that attainment will rise? 5 Improving Education: A triumph of hope over experience

Evidence about the effectiveness of different strategies 6

∂ Toolkit of Strategies to Improve Learning The Sutton Trust-EEF Teaching and Learning Toolkit

∂ Impact vs cost Cost per pupil Effect Size (months gain) £0 0 8 £1000 Meta-cognitive Peer tutoring Early Years 1-1 tuition Homework (Secondary) Mentoring Summer schools After school Aspirations Performance pay Teaching assistants Smaller classes Ability grouping Most promising for raising attainment May be worth it Small effects / high cost Feedback Phonics Homework (Primary) Collaborative Small gp tuition Parental involvement Individualised learning ICT Behaviour Social

∂  Some things that are popular or widely thought to be effective are probably not worth doing –Ability grouping (setting); After-school clubs; Teaching assistants; Smaller classes; Performance pay; Raising aspirations  Some things look ‘promising’ –Effective feedback; Meta-­cognitive and self regulation strategies; Peer tutoring/peer ‐ assisted learning strategies; Homework Key messages

∂ Clear, simple advice:  Choose from the top left  Go back to school and do it 10 For every complex problem there is an answer that is clear, simple, and wrong H.L. Mencken

∂ Why not?  We have been doing some of these things for a long time, but have generally not seen improvement  Research evidence is problematic –Sometimes the existing evidence is thin –Research studies may not reflect real life –Context and ‘support factors’ may matter  Implementation is problematic –We may think we are doing it, but are we doing it right? –We do not know how to get large groups of teachers and schools to implement these interventions in ways that are faithful, effective and sustainable 11

So what should we do? 12

∂ Four steps to improvement  Think hard about learning  Invest in good professional development  Evaluate teaching quality  Evaluate impact of changes

1. Think hard about learning

∂ Impact vs cost Cost per pupil Effect Size (months gain) £0 0 8 £1000 Meta-cognitive Peer tutoring Early Years 1-1 tuition Homework (Secondary) Mentoring Summer schools After school Aspirations Performance pay Teaching assistants Smaller classes Ability grouping Most promising for raising attainment May be worth it Small effects / high cost Feedback Phonics Homework (Primary) Collaborative Small gp tuition Parental involvement Individualised learning ICT Behaviour Social

∂ Poor Proxies for Learning  Students are busy: lots of work is done (especially written work)  Students are engaged, interested, motivated  Students are getting attention: feedback, explanations  Classroom is ordered, calm, under control  Curriculum has been ‘covered’ (ie presented to students in some form)  (At least some) students have supplied correct answers, even if they –Have not really understood them –Could not reproduce them independently –Will have forgotten it by next week (tomorrow?) –Already knew how to do this anyway 16

∂ Learning happens when people have to think hard A simple theory of learning

∂ Hard questions about your school  How many minutes does an average pupil on an average day spend really thinking hard?  Do you really want pupils to be ‘stuck’ in your lessons?  If they knew the right answer but didn’t know why, how many pupils would care? 18

2. Invest in effective CPD

∂ How do we get students to learn hard things? Eg  Place value  Persuasive writing  Music composition  Balancing chemical equations Explain what they should do Demonstrate it Get them to do it (with gradually reducing support) Provide feedback Get them to practise until it is secure Assess their skill/ understanding

∂ How do we get teachers to learn hard things? Eg  Using formative assessment  Assertive discipline  How to teach algebra Explain what they should do

∂  Intense: at least 15 contact hours, preferably 50  Sustained: over at least two terms  Content focused: on teachers’ knowledge of subject content & how students learn it  Active: opportunities to try it out & improve  Supported: external feedback and networks to improve and sustain  Evidence based: promotes strategies supported by robust evaluation evidence  Evaluated: so we know the impact on learning What CPD helps learners?

3. Evaluate teaching quality

∂ Every teacher needs to improve, not because they are not good enough, but because they can be even better. Dylan Wiliam

∂ Monitoring the quality of teaching  Classroom observation –Much harder than you think! –Multiple observations/ers, trained and QA’d  Progress in assessments –Quality of assessment matters  Student ratings –Extremely valuable, if done properly 25

4. Evaluateimpact of changes

∂ School ‘improvement’ often isn’t  School would have improved anyway –Volunteers/enthusiasts improve: misattributed to intervention –Chance variation (esp. if start low)  Poor outcome measures –Perceptions of those who worked hard at it –No robust assessment of pupil learning  Poor evaluation designs –Weak evaluations more likely to show positive results –Improved intake mistaken for impact of intervention  Selective reporting –Dredging for anything positive (within a study) –Only success is publicised (Coe, 2009, 2013)

∂  Clear, well defined, replicable intervention  Good assessment of appropriate outcomes  Well-matched comparison group EEF DIY Evaluation Guide Key elements of good evaluation

∂ 1.Think hard about learning 2.Invest in good CPD 3.Evaluate teaching quality 4.Evaluate impact of changes 1.Think hard about learning 2.Invest in good CPD 3.Evaluate teaching quality 4.Evaluate impact of changes Summary …

Research-Led Approaches to Increasing Pupil Learning