WORKSHOP
Reflective Teaching
and its Application
Andrew Pollard
ELTDP Symposium, Kuching,
21st February, 2013
The essence of professionalism is
the exercise of skills, knowledge
and judgement for the public
good.
Challenges in classroom life
The practical demands of classroom
teaching and the complicated nature of
educational issues ensure that a teacher's
work is never finished.
The Malaysian Education
Blueprint 2013-2025
Aspirations for Malaysian
education by 2020
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Access – 100% enrolment across all levels
Quality – top third in PISA, TIMMS, etc
Equity – 50% reduction in achievement gaps
Unity – shared values, embracing diversity
Efficiency – maximising outcomes within
budget
(Malaysia Education Blueprint, 2013-2025, preliminary report)
11 Shifts
• Shift 1: Provide equal access to quality
education of an international standard
• Shift 2: Ensure every child is proficient in
Bahasa Malaysia and English language
• Shift 3: Develop values-driven Malaysians
• Shift 4: Transform teaching into the
profession of choice
• Shift 5: Ensure high-performing school
leaders in every school
11 Shifts
• Shift 6: Empower JPNs, PPDs, and schools
to customise solutions based on need
• Shift 7: Leverage ICT to scale up quality
learning across Malaysia
• Shift 8: Transform Ministry delivery
capabilities and capacity
• Shift 9: Partner with parents, community, and
private sector at scale
• Shift 10: Maximise student outcomes for
every ringgit
• Shift 11: Increase transparency for direct
public accountability
Transformation impacts for
students
Expectations
• Students will learn in an environment where the fundamental
belief is that all students can learn and all students can
succeed. Teachers will have high expectations of students
regardless of their background or prior achievement, and will
provide them with the necessary support to meet those
expectations;
Engagement
• Students will have greater say in shaping their learning
experience. Teachers will work with them and their parents to
set their own learning targets. Teachers will also encourage
them to be advocates for themselves so that teachers
understand what learning styles work best for each of them. In
return, students will be asked to try their best at all times and
to work collaboratively with their teachers to reduce disruptive
classroom behaviour. All students will have the collective
responsibility to help make their school safe and conducive to
learning.
Transformation impacts for
students
Curriculum
• Students will have a richer school experience, both academic and
non-academic. There will be more community-based projects and
cross-school activities to foster interaction with individuals from all
walks of life. There will be more opportunities for students to pursue
their interests in academic, vocational or technical streams.
Pedagogy
• Students will have a richer school experience, both academic and
non-academic. There will be more project and group-based work to
develop students’ higher-order thinking skills and ability to work both
independently and collaboratively in groups. There will be more
opportunities for students to learn at their own pace.
Assessment
• Student progress will be recorded using continuous school-based
assessment as part of routine classroom practice and in relation to
six bands of achievement for each KSSR learning outcome. Each
child should have their own portfolio of evidence, with an additional
portfolio recording the best work from the class as a whole. (JW)
Meta-cognition
and thinking skills
Children have the capacity to reflect on their
own thinking processes and to develop
their learning strategies.
• Self-awareness
• Playfulness
• Self-regulation
Tharp and Gallimore, 1988
Learning in domains
Understanding about learning in particular
subjects is rapidly growing.
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Effective sequencing
Particular difficulties
Threshold concepts
Conceptual frameworks
Knowledge
Pupils find it hard to apply school knowledge
in everyday life, because it does not easily
transfer into alternative frames of
reference.
Teachers find it hard to draw on the funds of
knowledge which children develop and
use outside school.
Pros and cons of direct
instruction
Direct instruction refers to a teaching strategy
in which the teacher works with the wholeclass in direct, active and purposive ways. It
is very well established.
Direct instruction does have its limitations. It is
not effective with all pupils and is more suited
to teaching basic skills than to teaching
higher order thinking skills.
(Muijs and Reynolds, 2010)
Visible learning
Synthesis of over 800 meta-analyses shows:
• Almost all teachings strategies can be
effective, but some are more effective than
others.
• Active and guided instruction is much more
effective that unguided, facilitative methods.
‘The methods that work best lead to a very
active, direct involvement and high sense of
agency in the learning and teaching process’
(Hattie, 2010, p244)
Visible learning – focus on:
• establishing clear learning intentions and
success criteria
• students’ cognitive engagement with the
content of what is being taught
• monitoring student proficiency and
understanding (with evidence)
• providing timely and appropriate feedback
to students
• trying to see learning though the eyes of
the students
Visible learning
There is no recipe, no new teaching method. It
is a way of thinking: my role, as teacher is to
evaluate the effect I have on my students.
This requires that teachers gather dependable
evidence from many sources, and hold
collaborative discussions with colleagues and
students about this evidence, thus making
the effect of their teaching visible to
themselves and to others.
(Hattie, 2012, p19)
Innovating and taking risks
Imagining
Experimenting
Evaluating pupil learning
Learning ourselves
Creating again
....... expanding our repertoire of teaching
strategies
Discussion in a science lesson: UK
Discussion in a science lesson: Jamaica
Routine action
• Routine action is guided by factors such
as tradition, habit and authority and takenfor-granted assumptions.
• It is relatively static and unresponsive to
changing priorities and circumstances.
Reflective action
• Reflective action involves a willingness to
engage in constant self-appraisal and
development.
• It implies flexibility, use of evidence,
rigorous analysis and social awareness.
Problem
Issue
Dilemmas
Evidence
Judgement
Possible topics for
classroom enquiry
Teaching
• Proportions of teacher/pupil talk (make a recording, …)
• Clarity of explanation (record, consult children, …)
• Open/closed questions (record, use observer, …)
• Use of teacher time (keep diary, video, use observer)
• Use of praise (analyse marking feedback, use observer,
ask children for examples, quantify, …)
Learning
• Pupil engagement/time on task (focus on specific pupil)
• Pupil understanding (test, analyse errors by class, …)
• Learning disposition (questionnaire, record discussion,
..)
Possible topics for
classroom enquiry
Curriculum
• Continuity and progression (analyse documentation,
track pupil experience, …)
• Variety and pace (analyse actual provision, consult
children, …)
Class management
• Management of transitions (compare incidents, …)
• With-it-ness (monitor awareness, user observer, …)
• Catch-’em-being-good? (record action, analyse control)
• Relationships (diary, analyse incidents, consult children)
Opportunities and social consequences
• Inclusion/exclusion (search for patterns in rewards,
status, achievement, etc, by gender, ethnicity, social
class, etc)
Activity 1: Sharing and discussing an
example of successful practice
Work in pairs. In turn or otherwise, identify one
specific illustration of successful teaching and
learning in which you have been involved.
What made this successful?
What judgements did you make, and why?
What evidence informed your judgement?
What additional evidence might have helped?
Seven elements of reflective
practice
1. Consideration of aims and
consequences
2. A cyclical enquiry process
3. Enquiry skills
4. Attitudes
5. Judgement
6. Learning with colleagues
7. Creative mediation
1. Aims and consequences
Reflective teaching implies an active concern with
aims and consequences as well as means and
practical competence.
2. A cyclical enquiry process
Reflective teaching is applied in a cyclical or
spiralling process in which teachers monitor,
evaluate and revise their own practice.
Problem
Issue
Reflect
Dilemmas
Evidence
Collect evidence
Judgement
Analyse & evaluate
3. Enquiry skills
Reflective teaching requires competence in
methods of evidence-based classroom enquiry.
• Which facet of classroom life should be
investigated and why?
• What evidence to collect and how?
• How can findings be analysed, interpreted and
applied?
Questions for any enquiry
• Is design of your enquiry appropriate and
coherent? (sample)
• Does the evidence you have collected
really indicate the nature of what is being
investigated? (validity)
• Would the same sort of evidence be found
again, or by someone else? (reliability)
• Are the conclusions you have drawn really
justified? (analysis)
4. Attitudes
Reflective teaching requires particular
attitudes:
• Openmindedness
• Responsibility
• Wholeheartedness
5. Judgement
Reflective teaching is based on teacher
judgement, informed by evidence-based
enquiry and insights from other research.
Problem
Issue
How are findings to be
interpreted?
Reflect
Dilemmas
Judgement
Collect evidence
Evidence
Understanding of enduring
educational principles
Analyse & evaluate
Evidenceinformed
principles to
support
professional
judgement?
6. Learning with colleagues
Reflective teaching, professional learning
and personal fulfilment are enhanced
through collaboration and dialogue with
colleagues.
Problem
Issue
How are findings to be
interpreted?
Reflect
Dilemmas
Evidence
Judgement
Collect evidence
Understanding through a
conceptual framework and
language for discussion
Analyse & evaluate
CURRICULUM
Aims
Concepts
representing
professional
expertise?
Contexts
Processes
Outcomes
PEDAGOGY
ASSESSMENT
Curricular
concepts
Pedagogic
concepts
Assessment
concepts
1. Society’s educational goals
Breadth
Principle
Alignment
2. Elements of learning
Balance
Repertoire
Validity
3. Community context
Connection
Warrant
Dependability
4. Institutional context
Coherence
Culture
Expectation
5. Processes for learners’
social needs
Personalisation
Relationships
Inclusion
6. Process for learners’
emotional needs
Relevance
Engagement
Authenticity
7. Processes for learners’
cognitive needs
Differentiation
Dialogue
Feed-back
8. Outcomes for continuous
improvement in learning
Progression
Reflection
Development
9. Outcomes for certification
and the lifecourse
Effectiveness
Empowerment
Consequence
7. Creative mediation
Reflective teaching enables teachers to
creatively mediate externally developed
frameworks for teaching and learning.
An example
Reflecting on displays of children’s work in
school – to celebrate their work, to set
high expectations and encourage
engagement
With thanks to:
Howe Park First School, Milton Keynes
Problem – Our display boards should reflect our
culture and expectations … but do they
engage the children?
Issue – the school environment conveys
messages about what is valued
Dilemmas – How to affirm children’s work and
emphasise teaching points? How to keep
displays fresh and not spend too much
time on them.
Evidence
Judgement - What to do next?
Welcome
and
induction to
school
Creative and physical development
Creative and physical development
Lowry in Milton Keynes
Lowry in Milton Keynes
Harvest
Harvest
Seasides
Seasides
Problem – Our display boards should reflect our
culture and expectations … but do they
engage the children?
Issue – the school environment conveys
messages about what is valued
Dilemmas – How to affirm children’s work and
emphasise teaching points? How to keep
displays fresh and not spend too much
time on them.
Evidence
Judgement - What to do next?
Questions for any enquiry
• Is design of your enquiry appropriate and
coherent? (sample)
• Does the evidence you have collected
really indicate the nature of what is being
investigated? (validity)
• Would the same sort of evidence be found
again, or by someone else? (reliability)
• Are the conclusions you have drawn really
justified? (analysis)
Problem
Issue
Reflect
Dilemmas
Evidence
Collect evidence
Judgement
Analyse & evaluate
Activity 1: Sharing and discussing an
example of a problem in classroom practice
Work in pairs. In turn or otherwise, identify one
specific illustration of a problem in teaching and
learning in which you have been involved.
What is the problem?
What issues may underlie the problem?
What actions are possible, and what are their
advantages and disadvantages?
What evidence might help to inform your judgement?
Reflective practice can:
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Develop professional judgement;
Enhance children’s learning and attainment;
Contribute to school improvement;
Be enjoyable and personally fulfilling;
Strengthen teachers’ contribution to policy
evaluation and development.
The spiral of professional development
Reflective action
‘Active, persistent and careful consideration
of any belief and supposed form of
knowledge in the light of grounds that
support it and the further consequences to
which it leads.’
(Dewey, 1933, p 9)
Useful websites
• www.tlrp.org
• www.reflectiveteaching.co.uk
• www.reflectiveteaching.co.uk/deepeningexpertise/conceptual-framework/