A work in progress?
Going to scale with
Small Class Teaching:
Professor Maurice Galton
Faculty of Education, University of Cambridge
mg266@cam.ac.uk
1
2004: Teacher talk during lessons
4%
3%
8%
12%
indiv
indiv-group
indiv-class
group-no focus
class-no focus
73%
2
Some implications of this finding
The figure for the average % observation when no pupil
was in focus was 73% (class) and 12% (group)
During this time (85% of the lesson) pupils were
either
 Listening to the teacher talk or watching him/her
demonstrate
 Singing a song or reciting a poem/story/ writing on
the board in unison
 Working on a task while teacher monitors activity
In a 35 minute period, there is a maximum of 5.25
minutes to give individual attention ( either alone in a
group or as part of the class). With 20 pupils this
gives a maximum of 15.75 seconds. With 40 the
figure is halved (7.9 sec).
3
And in 2010/11
The figure for teaching when no pupil is
in the focus of the teacher now
averages around 65%
Most of the increase is due to:
More group and pair working
 Improved questioning during whole class

Still work to do on feedback designed to
help pupils work out for themselves
where they went wrong as opposed to
being told their errors.
4
Where have I been ?






To 5 week course sessions
To support sessions back in school
To course evaluations
To learning circles
To class lessons
To talk to course managers, school
principals & staff
5
A Partial & Personal View
1.
2.
3.
4.
These visits are a small fraction of the
total activity.
Other evidence exists, most importantly,
teacher evaluations.
There is also the feedback from schools
and of support staff from EDB.
By sharing we can create a ‘bigger
picture’.
6
Some observations
Teachers I have talked to have been very
positive about the courses they have
attended, the support back at school, the
overseas trips and the importance of
learning circles.
I have some concerns

The variation in the leadership of
learning circles across schools.

The overall balance of the 5 week
courses.
7
Developing
an
appropriate
pedagogy for
maximising
the
effectiveness
of smaller
classes
8
Six Principles
CURRICULUM
PEDAGOGY
ASSESSMENT
QUESTIONING
LEARNING
OBJECTIVES
PUPIL PARTICIPATION
ASSESS-MENT
FOR LEARNING
PAIR/GROUP WORK
FEEDBACK
9
Justification for the Six Principles
1.
2.
Empirical: John Hattie’s meta analysis of
numerous studies shows that following
these principles results in considerable
gains in attainment, improved motivation
and attitudes.
Theories of learning (particularly social
constructivist ones) predict many of
these empirical findings, particularly the
idea that ‘talk drives learning’.
10
The meaning of pedagogy
The SCIENCE of the ART of teaching
•
As a science: the ideas or principles that
underpin how students learn.
•
As an art: the capacity to adapt these
principles so that they work in practice. In
the classroom few situations are alike so
teachers learn these skills through
experience and by sharing craft knowledge.
Gage , N.(1978) The Scientific Basis for the Art if Teaching, New York: Teachers
College Press
11
Using the 6 Principles
As a scaffold or
framework
Not as a
straightjacket
12
Some reflections on the use of
groups




Many group activities are not sufficiently
challenging to be worthwhile and tasks could be
better done in pairs or individually.
Little use is made of ‘spontaneous grouping’ (e.g.
asking pupils to discuss a question with their
neighbours).
Teachers often neglect to de-brief class on how
well they worked in their group and set targets for
improving next time.
Part of the difficulty is lack of time. If group work is
to become a regular feature of lessons, can the 35
minute period be sustained?
13
Some reflections on the use of
class discussion




Too little exploration of pupils’ ideas before
beginning instruction (e.g. teacher demonstrated
that weight is judged by the feel rather than the
size of an object but could have given pupils the
objects and asked them to rank them in weight and
then discussed how they did it)
Too short thinking (wait) times between asking a
question and soliciting a response
Reluctance to depart from text to make the enquiry
more meaningful to encourage greater
participation
Again, considerations of time are often given by
teachers for limiting extended discussion, hence
reinforcing the need to explore the length of a
typical lesson.
14
About the
5-week
courses
(Teacher Professional
Development Course on
Enhancing Learning and
Teaching in a Small Class
Environment )
15
What School Principals can do to help



The 5 week courses on SCT are designed primarily to
improve pedagogy. School Principals can encourage
teachers who are confident in their knowledge and
practice to take part in them. These teachers can
then act as change agents back in school.
During the post-course follow up period when
teachers plan with their tutor a sequence of lessons,
ensure that the plan incorporates aspects of SCT as
well as covering ways in which the subject knowledge
is to be transmitted.
Encourage staff to formulate a set of questions based
loosely on the six principles. These can be used as
part of the evaluation/reflection process.
16
Some key questions about
extended class discussion




How many pupils generally participated?
Were thinking times sufficient?
Did the pupils’ responses indicate that
more than simple recall was taking
place?
Did the teacher’s responses help to
extend discussion?
17
Key questions about increased
cooperation between pupils




Was adequate time allowed?
Did the task allow most of the pupils to
actively participate for most of the time?
Did pupils need reminding about the rules
(e.g. taking turns, listening carefully etc.)?
Did the class have a chance to discuss how
well they worked as a group/pair?
18
Some key questions about
active pupil participation




As far as possible was the task situated in a
context which was meaningful for the
pupils?
Was there some initial exploration of the
pupils’ ideas before activity began?
Was the task sufficiently motivating?
Did pupils demonstrate understanding by
reaching reasonable conclusions?
19
Key questions in the use of the
assessment for learning
approach



Were the forms of classroom organisation
sufficiently flexible to allow groups of pupils
with similar learning needs to come
together?
Was much of the formative assessment
based on what pupils said and did rather
than what they wrote?
Does the teacher build these oral
assessments into a pupil profile?
20
Key questions about balance between
corrective and informing feedback



Did teacher praise effort as well as
success?
Did teacher’s questions help pupils to
spot where they went wrong or how they
could improve their work?
When correcting a piece of work, did the
teacher get the pupil to show how s/he
arrived at the answer?
21
Learning Circles


Learning Circles have
been a big success
(both within school
and between
schools).
There are some
improvements to
make them even
more effective.
22
Communities of Practice
Schools in Hong Kong have not, until recently, been organised as
professional learning organisations…


This is important because the organisation of schools as a professional
learning community is a key design feature of successful, effective,
sustainable innovations.
Schools organised as Professional Learning Communities are
characterised by
 distributed forms of instructional leadership
 the codification and dissemination of expert teacher knowledge
 appropriate forms of PD that support deep, authentic and continuous
professional learning and capacity building
 widespread participation in rich professional conversations
 institutionalised professional norms
 reflective pedagogical practice across the school
23
Factors promoting successful professional
learning communities
Offers intra- school
as well as interschool sharing &
support
Takes place over a
lengthy period
Involves
collaboration with
peers, mentors &
outside experts
Provides
resources &
opportunities to
practise new
ideas
Takes account of
contexts (school
environment,
pupils, etc)
Addresses key issues in
curriculum & instruction
Must be linked
to specific
content areas
24
ROLE OF THE LEARNING CIRCLE
COORDINATOR
Some teachers have been chosen to organise and
manage the between schools’ learning circles.
These teachers may not get sufficient training for the
task.


They tend to concentrate on subject matter issues
and not relate this to generic teaching approaches.
They might lack the organisational and social skills.
Subject leaders usually run within school circles
 Many have not attended the 5-week courses so the
emphasis is again on subject matter issues.
25
The balance in reflective discussions
Because the learning circles are generally subject based, the
planning stage usually concentrates on subject matter
issues (What is it pupils should learn? What are the likely
misconceptions etc.). This is understandable but at the
evaluation stage much of the discussion continues to
concentrate on similar issues. In the sessions I saw,
comments tend to divide as follows:
 Craft knowledge issues (‘You spent too little time on
the introduction, You shouldn’t have handed out the
apparatus until you explained the activity’ etc.) About 60%
of comments were of this kind.
 Subject matter issues (Moving all ten units into the
ten’s column confused them. Some thought it represented
100). About 30% of all comments
 SCT issues (the discussion would have involved more of
the class if you had asked what they (the pupils) felt
rather than asking what the boy in the story felt) About
10% of all comments
26
What School Principals can do to help
Too great a concentration on craft knowledge can
be unhelpful in that because it is contextual, it is
often contradictory. The teacher finds it difficult
to decide which bits of advice to use.
 Pick teachers who are open to change to
participate.
 Discuss regularly with coordinators concerning
the management of learning circles (both the
organisation and personality problems, etc).
 Help coordinators to scaffold the discussions by
drawing up a list of possible key question, etc.
 Make certain the 6 key principles are being used
as a guide only and not too rigidly imposed.
27
Learning
Leadership
28
Leadership and Learning
School Principals responses varied
 Some provided extra time for
planning & reflection.
 Some used flexible time-tabling
to give several classes with same
year group.
 Some varied the size of classes
according to subject/ pupil
ability.
 Some brought back retired
teachers as cover.
 But some said nothing could be
done without more resources so
teachers had to surrender their
non teaching time to participate.
29
Leaders as learners
The most notable trait of great leaders, certainly of great
change leaders, is their quest for learning. They show
an exceptional willingness to push themselves out of
their own comfort zones, even after they have achieved
a great deal. They continue to take risks, even when
there is no obvious reason for them to do so. And they
are open to people and ideas even at a time in life when
they might reasonably think—because of their success—
that they know everything.
(Hesselbein, et al., 1996, p. 78)
30
30
Leadership studies



School leaders improve teaching and learning
indirectly and most powerfully through their
influence on staff motivation, commitment and
working conditions
School leadership has a greater influence on
schools and students when it is widely
distributed
Collaborative patterns beyond the school
strengthen the quality of learning and teaching
(Leithwood, 2006, Mulford, 2003, Carmichael,
2006)
31
Leadership is exercised
not at the apex of the
organisational pyramid
but at the centre of the
web of human
relationships.
(Joe Murphy, 1994)
32
5 Key Principles
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
A focus on learning: learning at the
heart of all we do
Conditions for learning: attending
to conditions which optimise
learning
Creating a dialogue about learning
and leadership
Sharing leadership
Sharing a sense of accountability
33
leadership
Organisational
learning
Professional learning
Student learning
34
Professor Michael Fullan’s advice
“It’s no use waiting for the
[educational] world to become a
reasonable one: It never will. The
question we need to ask ourselves is
what is it possible to do in an
unreasonable world?”
Michael Fullan & Andy Hargreaves (1991) What’s worth
fighting for in your school? Buckingham: Open University
Press.
35
MAKING LEARNING VISIBLE
The task of leadership is to make visible the how, why
and where of learning. It achieves this by conversations
and demonstrations around pupil learning, professional
learning and learnings which transcend the boundaries
of the school. The challenge for leadership is to nurture
the dialogue, to make transparent ways in learning
interconnects and infuses behaviour. It promotes a
continuing restless inquiry into what works best, when,
where, for whom and with what outcome. Its vision is of
the intelligent school and its practice intersects with the
wider world of learning.
(MacBeath et al, 2007)
36
A Desired Outcome?
Go to the people
 Live among them
 Start with what they know
 And when the deed is done
 The mission accomplished
 Of the best leaders
 The people will say
 We did it
 Ourselves

37
With those sitting near you
Share your experience & expertise
Is this analysis
correct?
How can the
period following
attendance at 5
week course be
best utilised?
How can learning
circles be made
more effective?
Please make one suggestion
What can be done
to develop
leadership for
learning
throughout
the school?
38