Leading Learning Through Professional Learning Communities Professor Louise

Leading Learning Through Professional Learning Communities Professor Louise Stoll “Creating Capacity for Learning” President International Congress for School Effectiveness and Improvement, Visiting Professor: Institute of Education, University of London Leadership Centre email: louise@louisestoll. com Hertfordshire Secondary Heads and Deputy Heads Wheathampstead Development Centre, 23 June 2004

Outline Professional learning communities: why now? What are they? What makes them effective? How can you lead learning through professional learning communities?

Professional learning communities: why all the interest?

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 and/or what you would like to plan to happen Beare (2001)

Three key change forces influencing schools 1. Powerful industrial sector associated with new technologies views education as a market place 2. Growing awareness of the need for new approaches to learning and realisation that the only genuinely marketable skill is that of learning itself 3. ‘Child power’: children with increasingly less regard for school as it lags behind the society it serves Papert (1996)

What do Teachers Need to Learn? • Understanding learning • Content knowledge • Pedagogical understanding • Emotional understanding • Fundamentals of change • New professionalism • Meta-learning Stoll, Fink and Earl (2003)

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)

What are professional learning communities?

Learning community. . . A group of people who take an active, reflective, collaborative, learning-oriented, and growthpromoting approach toward the mysteries, problems and perplexities of teaching and learning Mitchell and Sackney (2000)

Creating and Sustaining Effective Professional Learning Communities Project, 2001 -2004 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. Co-directors: Ray Bolam, Agnes Mc. Mahon, Louise Stoll, Sally Thomas and Mike Wallace

What makes professional learning communities effective?

Question What are three most distinguishing characteristics of your effective professional learning community/ communities?

An effective professional learning community may have an impact on: Øpupils’ learning process and progress, attitudes, attendance Øindividual teachers’ and other staff’s practice, morale, recruitment and retention Øindividual leadership practice Øorganisational learning practices among groups or across the whole school

How can you lead learning through professional learning communities?

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)

Focus of capacity building • creating and maintaining the necessary conditions, culture and structures • facilitating learning and skill-oriented experiences and opportunities • ensuring interrelationships and synergy between all the component parts Stoll and Bolam (forthcoming)

Working towards sustainability Ensuring supportive structures Growing a learning culture Professional learning community Creating and transferring knowledge Making connections Nurturing trust and relationships Offering learning opportunities Promoting inquiry mindedness Louise Stoll (2004)

Growing a learning culture Professional learning community

How organisations work when no-one is looking Morgan (1998)

Task Think about your school’s ceremonies, rituals and symbols. What do they say about your school’s focus? Is it on learning for all?

Expectations - Quotes from Improving School Effectiveness Project Teachers in Scotland “Home background, deprivation, parental views on education. Often survival is more important than taking on board educational opportunities”. “Some children are never going to achieve very much”. “…there are no limitations. You can come in this door and the world is your oyster… the children will be encouraged. Nothing is holding us back”. Stoll et al (2001) in Mac. Beath and Mortimore (eds)

Key Stage 3 Strategy Pilot – Year 8 Survey (2164 students) % agree I like work that challenges me 71 I have to think hard to do my work 65 My work is too easy 18 My work is too hard 14 I give up when work gets too hard 26 My teachers: % all/most Encourage me to do my best work 73 Help me to understand my work 73 Tell me how I can improve my work 70

Nurturing trust and relationships Professional learning community

Invitational leadership Leadership is about communicating invitational messages to individuals and groups with whom leaders interact in order to build and act on a shared and evolving vision of enhanced educational experiences for pupils. ØInviting yourself personally ØInviting yourself professionally ØInviting others personally ØInviting others professionally Stoll and Fink (1996)

Four Dimensions of Relational Trust 1. Respect 2. 2. Competence 3. 3. Personal regard for others 4. 4. Integrity 5. Bryk and Schneider

Professional learning community Offering learning opportunities

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

Professional learning community Promoting inquiry mindedness

‘A place of questioning where you must ask the question and the answer questions you’.

Leaders in a Data-Rich World Develop an Inquiry Habit of Mind Become Data Literate Create a Culture of Inquiry Earl and Katz (2002)

Leadership : comparison between different levels of responsibility Statements % teachers Pri Sec % middle managers Pri Sec % SMTs Pri Sec 53 29 72 38 87 80 The SMT openly 48 recognises teachers when they do things well 26 60 35 91 71 There is effective communication between SMT and teachers 46 60 48 86 87 Staff participate in important decision making 55 Mc. Call et al (2001) in Mac. Beath and Mortimore (eds)

What helps you to learn in school? Clearning 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)

There is one touchstone question for the critical friend, which is not too far away from what a teacher would, or should, ask in relation to the class or individual learner: ‘Will this help to develop independence, the capacity to learn and to apply learning more effectively over time? ’ Mac. Beath (1998)

Professional learning community Making connections

A collection of parts that do not connect is not a system. It is a heap. O’Connor and Mc. Dermott (1997)

Primary Strategy Curriculum Teaching & Learning Parents, Community, Partnerships ICT SEN EAL Professional development NLC Every Child Matters Foundation Stage

Leading networking “Scouting for talent” Making connections Inspiring people Facilitating learning possibilities Presenting new ideas using a model of collective inquiry Lieberman and Wood (2003)

Questions What are your most effective networks and partnerships and why? How do they help develop and sustain your own professional learning community?

Professional learning community Creating and transferring knowledge

Innovation and Best Practice Project Probably the most important outcome of the IBPP project was its lessons for teacher learning. The most powerful innovations incorporated teams of teachers learning by ‘working’ with new knowledge and, in the process, enhancing their understanding of the learning needs and capacities of their students. Cuttance and Stokes (2001)

Four key conditions for creative learning The need to be challenged The elimination of negative stress Feedback The capacity to live with uncertainty Lucas (2001)

Ensuring supportive structures Professional learning community

Structural conditions that support professional learning community Time to meet and talk Physical proximity Interdependent teaching roles Resources Communication mechanisms Planning Coordination of professional development

Working towards sustainability Professional learning community

Sustainable improvements are not fleeting changes that disappear when their champions have left. Sustainable leadership is not achieved by charismatic leaders whose shoes are too big to fill. Instead, it spreads beyond individuals in chains of influence that connect the actions of leaders to their predecessors and successors. Hargreaves and Fink (2004)

Working towards sustainability involves: Øattending to the other dimensions in an ongoing way Øregularly revisiting the learning vision and foci Øinducting, inviting and involving new staff Øembedding collaborative learning and teaching initiatives into school planning processes Øsystematically evaluating the process

Working towards sustainability Ensuring supportive structures Growing a learning culture Professional learning community Creating and transferring knowledge Making connections Nurturing trust and relationships Offering learning opportunities Promoting inquiry mindedness Louise Stoll (2004)

. . . discover and provide the conditions under which people’s learning curves go off the chart. Barth (2001)