It aint what you do, its the way that you do itthats what gets results

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It aint what you do, its the way that you do
itthats what gets results !

• A contribution from Ruth Sutton to our thinking
  about curriculum, assessment and learning for the
  21st century

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My purpose and the task

• My hope is to get underneath the flurry of
  apparent initiatives and return to some
  fundamentals about the how of teaching rather
  than the what of teaching
• Im also trying to bridge the gap between the
  vision of current developments in Scotland and
  the daily reality for pupils and teachers in our
  schools

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A three-fold task

• Use Assessment is For Learning AiFL) and the
  skills agenda as the context for reflecting on
  how policy initiatives translate into practice at
  the school level
• Look again at how real classroom change actually
  happens, and the idea of limbic learning
• Pick up the vision of change presented to us by
  Fiona Hyslop this morning

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A personal perspective

• All this is based on my own experience over 35
  years working with students, teachers, schools
  and school systems in England and Wales, New
  Zealand and Canada
• Its a practitioner rather than an academic
  perspective
• Ive been self-employed for twenty years and can
  therefore say what I want influence without
  responsibility can be self-indulgent, so beware
• Im delighted to be in Scotland after the
  frustrations of the education scene in England,
  about which the less said the better

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And a caveat

• Nothing that we identify as best practice is
  entirely new.
• BUT and its a big but after so many years of
  efforts to improve the problems are with
  consistency and sustainability.

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Three barriers to long-term improvement

• Inertia hard to get started
• Overload too much at once
• Entropy the tendency of things to fall apart

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Getting the water to the end of the furrow

• How do we get the water to the end of the
  furrow, to classrooms where children and young
  people work with their teachers, hour after hour,
  day after day?

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Is there plenty of water?

• No water shortage here
• 1988 Terry Crooks produces the milestone summary
  of global research linking assessment to
  learning, published in the previous decade
• 1998 Paul Black and Dylan Wiliam repeat the
  exercise, and reach the same conclusions

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And it keeps raining!

• Continuing research, and development of
  assessment understanding
• This could be the key to transform learning in
  the 21st century
• Check out the work of Anne Davies (Canada), Rick
  Stiggins (USA) Shirley Clarke (England) Michael
  Absolum (New Zealand, great new book Clarity in
  the Classroom,) Royce Sadler (Australia, an
  expert on feedback)

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The Big 5 Principles(identified by the UK
Assessment Reform Group,1999)

• The provision of effective feedback to students
• The active involvement of students in their own
  learning
• Adjusting teaching to take account of the results
  of assessment
• Recognition of the profound influence assessment
  has on the motivation and self-esteem of pupils,
  both of which are crucial influences on learning
• The need for students to be able to assess
  themselves and understand how to improve

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What happens when this water does reach the end
of the furrow?

• Measurable gains in student achievement
• Closing the gap greater improvements for
  students whose previous learning has been less
  successful
• Meta-cognitive development and higher order
  thinking
• Greater student self-efficacy and resilience
• Life-long learning skills

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Potential gains too for teachers and school
leaders as adult learners

• Clearer expectations
• Better feedback
• Greater respect for our capabilities
• More effective PD
• Greater professional confidence, risk-taking,
  rigour, collegial support and pride in what we do

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Intrinsic motivation the key features for
teachers as well as students
Self efficacy
Feedback for Self Awareness
Locus of control - As close to self as possible
Motivation
Achievement
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And whats in it for teachers, every day?

• More students achieve a better standard, with
  less nagging
• Fewer students are disengaged in class
• Reduction in low-level classroom disruption
• Students take greater responsibility for their
  own learning
• No surprise that teachers who adopt AFL
  strategies in their rooms rarely go back to
  previous habits why would they?

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Strategies that support learning the pumps to
drive the water

• Clear, shared learning objectives
• Criteria developed with and by the learners
• Coaching in how to apply criteria in self and
  peer assessment
• Planned opportunities for checking and decisions
  about next steps
• Improvement time, in class
• Student presentation of learning and evidence

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Whats the purpose of teachers planning?

• Planning for coverage
• Content is fixed
• Timing is tight
• Inflexible
• Students questions only matter if they within
  the required framework
• Looks neat and tidy
• All the space is filled
• Predictable and safe

• Planning for learning
• Content is decided after checking with the
  students
• Timing is looser
• More flexible
• Students questions provide opportunities for
  teaching and leaning
• Looks messy
• Some spaces are left blank it depends what
  crops up
• Less predictable and feels riskier

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Whats the purpose of teachers questioning?

• Search for the right answer?
• OR
• Keep students on their toes?
• OR
• Make students think?
• OR
• Find out how their minds are working, and adjust
  teaching accordingly?

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Whats the purpose of teachers marking?

• To identify a level, score or grade to add to
  others to create an overall level, or score or
  grade?
• To check that set work is completed?
• To provide feedback and encourage improvement?
• How are these various purposes balanced?
• Can some be achieved more effectively and
  efficiently by involving the learners themselves?

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The power of habit

• Planning, questioning and marking are the
  fundamental habits of teaching
• We learn to do them by experimentation and
  practice
• Adult habits are hard to change
• HOLD THAT THOUGHT!

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The problem of the curriculum

• Are we barking up the wrong tree?

Subjects?
Skills?
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Skills the elusive goal

• Subjects or skills? A false dichotomy skills
  cannot be taught or developed in the abstract
• Subjects are, in part, the contexts through which
  skills are developed
• Subjects also have a life of their own, inspiring
  loyalty and turf protection
• Weve been here before, many times are we
  flogging a dead horse?

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A policy guide to dead horse flogging the options

• Dont tell anyone the horse is dead and hope they
  dont notice
• Change the horses name and keep flogging
• Blame the vet
• Blame the previous jockey
• Sack the current jockey
• Create a working group to discuss resuscitation
• Stop flogging, dismount, do an autopsy and take
  note of the results
• Find another horse and dont make the same
  mistakes again

Dead horse
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CFE focus on skills

• Under the heading of CFE were hearing about
• Skills for Learning, skills for life, skills for
  work
• Is this very different from previous attempts to
  focus on skills? How do we make it work this time?

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Developing a skills-based curriculum in your
school

• Outside-in
• Use teachers PD time to study the range and
  indicators of the required skills
• Create new learning tasks to develop them in
  every classroom
• Import a special programme to introduce
  skills-based teaching

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A different starting point?

• Inside-out
• look at the existing curriculum and how it is
  taught and learned
• Identify the skills already being developed, from
  the point of view of both teachers and students
• Compare this with the range and indicators of the
  skill requirements
• Tweak existing strategies to fill gaps and avoid
  unplanned repetition

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Outside-in or inside-out?

• Inside-out
• takes longer
• looks messier
• doesnt satisfy people who dont trust teachers
• is more likely to work and to be sustainable

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Intrinsic motivation the key features for
teachers as well as students
Self efficacy
Feedback for Self Awareness
Locus of control - As close to self as possible
Motivation
Achievement
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Limbic Learning

• What kind of learning does it take to deal with
  all this, for students, teachers school leaders,
  LAs all of us?
• The neo-cortex deals with information absorption,
  classification, recall
• The limbic brain deals with emotions,
  experiences.and habits

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From knowing to doing

• The practices of teaching and schooling are
  deeply ingrained or hard-wired
• Habits are formed and changed in the limbic brain
  not the neo-cortex
• They can only be changed through the limbic
  brain, by
• Practice, feedback, practice

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Changing habits according to Addiction Theory
(Proshaska)

• Pre-contemplation
• Contemplation
• First step
• Discomfort and floundering
• Practice
• Confidence
• New habit
• Coach someone else

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The Weightwatchers Model for whole school change

• Big, important, agreed goals
• Small steps and continual feedback
• Perseverance
• Collegial support and accountability
• Recognition of success

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SO

• In terms of current developments in Scotland
• 1. AiFL has always been, and still is, about how
  teachers teach, not just about using data to
  adjust teaching. It depends on re-thinking our
  habits of planning, questioning, marking,
  providing feedback and involving students

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• 2. The Curriculum for Excellence must be defined
  not in terms of what teachers teach, but how they
  teach, and what students learn as a result
• Fiona Hyslop talked this morning about CFE
  requiring a culture change and a collaborative
  process. No question that this is the way to go,
  but it will take time and practice, practice,
  practice to make it happen

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• 3. Changing the way the school does business, to
  focus on learning rather than teaching, may
  necessitate changing some hard-wired habits.
• We need to activate and cultivate our limbic
  brains to achieve this

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What do our limbic brains need?

• Strong relationships strong enough to welcome
  challenge
• Encouragement to take risks and take time, to
  drive the learning roots deep
• Great feedback, and the courage to act on it
• Belief in ourselves as learners, as well as
  belief in our students as learners
• And

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A song to help us remember

• To the tune of Frere Jacques, in four parts
• Clear objectives help our students
• With their work, with their work
• Then they need great feedback, ideas for
  improvement
• For success, for success

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Thats all folks!

• Thanks for your attention
• Please visit our exhibition stand M25
• Sutton.ruth_at_gmail.com