Teaching and Learning Research Programme
Improving Teaching and
Learning
Andrew Pollard
Institute of Education, University of London, UK
Graduate School of Education, University of Bristol, UK
ELTDP Symposium, Kuching,
20th February, 2013
Teaching and Learning Research Programme
1. Contemporary challenges?
2. International evidence
3. Professionalism for the future
4. TLRP
5. Making sense through principles
6. Making sense through conceptual tools
7. Looking to the future?
Teaching and Learning Research Programme
1. Contemporary challenges?
2. International evidence
3. Professionalism for the future
4. TLRP
5. Making sense through principles
6. Making sense through conceptual tools
7. Looking to the future?
Teaching and Learning Research Programme
Contemporary challenges? Key aims
Education plays a central role in any country’s pursuit of economic growth
and national development.
In today’s global economy, a nation’s success depends fundamentally on the
knowledge, skills and competencies of its people. It is no surprise that nations
with higher education levels tend to enjoy greater economic prosperity.
Education is also fundamental to nation building and unity. It provides
individuals with the opportunity to improve their lives, become successful
members of the community and active contributors to national development.
Through interacting with individuals from a range of socio-economic, religious
and ethnic backgrounds – and learning to understand, accept and embrace
differences – a shared set of experiences and aspirations for Malaysia’s
future can be built.
(Malaysia Education Blueprint, 2013-2025, preliminary report)
Teaching and Learning Research Programme
Contemporary challenges? Present results
The results from PISA 2009+ were discouraging, with Malaysia ranking in the
bottom third of 74 participating countries, below the international and OECD
average.
Almost 60% of the 15-year-old Malaysian students failed to meet the minimum
proficiency level in Mathematics, while 44% and 43% did not meet the
minimum proficiency levels in Reading and Science respectively.
A difference of 38 points on the PISA scale is equivalent to one year of
schooling. A comparison of scores shows that 15-year-olds in Singapore,
South Korea, Hong Kong, and Shanghai are performing as though they have
had 3 or more years of schooling than 15-year-olds in Malaysia.
(Malaysia Education Blueprint, 2013-2025, preliminary report)
Teaching and Learning Research Programme
Contemporary challenges? New ambitions
Historically, the Malaysian education system, like others around the
world, has emphasised the development of strong content knowledge
in subjects such as science, mathematics, and language.
There is increasing global recognition that it is no longer enough for a
student to leave school with the 3 Rs.
The emphasis is no longer just on the importance of knowledge, but
also on developing higher order thinking skills.
(Malaysia Education Blueprint, 2013-2025, preliminary report)
Teaching and Learning Research Programme
Contemporary challenges? Equitable outcomes
An equally important objective for the system is to ensure that student
outcomes are equitable. Unfortunately, to date, the outcomes have been
uneven.
States with a higher proportion of rural schools, like Sabah and
Sarawak, on average, perform poorer than states with less rural schools.
The gender gap is significant and increasing. Girls consistently
outperform girls at every level – with females comprising approximately
70% of the cohort at university level.
The largest equity gaps remain socio-economic in origin. The evidence
consistently demonstrates that students from poor families are less likely
to perform as well as students from middle-income or high-income
homes.
(Malaysia Education Blueprint, 2013-2025, preliminary report)
Teaching and Learning Research Programme
Contemporary challenges? National identity
With many public and private schooling options at the primary and
secondary levels, the Malaysian education system provides an
unparalleled degree of choice for parents.
Concern has grown over the increasing ethnic homogenisation of
schools, and the reduced opportunities for interaction with individuals
from wide a range of backgrounds that homogenisation may lead to.
These interactions are important as they help individuals develop a
shared set of experiences and aspirations for Malaysia’s future, through
which a common national identity and unity are forged.
(Malaysia Education Blueprint, 2013-2025, preliminary report)
Teaching and Learning Research Programme
Contemporary challenges? Investment return
Malaysia’s consistently high levels of expenditure on education have
resulted in almost universal access to primary education and significant
improvements in access to secondary education. However, there remains
room for improvement on the dimensions of quality, equity, and unity.
Malaysia’s performance lags behind other countries that have similar or
lower levels of expenditure per student, such as Thailand, Chile, and
Armenia. This suggests that the system may not be allocating funds
towards the factors that have the highest impact on student outcomes,
such as the training and continuous up-skilling of teachers.
(Malaysia Education Blueprint, 2013-2025, preliminary report)
Teaching and Learning Research Programme
Aspirations for Malaysian
education by 2020
•
•
•
•
•
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)
Teaching and Learning Research Programme
Contemporary challenges? Implementation
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 4: Transform teaching into the profession of choice
Shift 5: Ensure high-performing leaders in every school
(Malaysia Education Blueprint, 2013-2025, preliminary report)
Teaching and Learning Research Programme
1. Contemporary challenges?
2. International evidence
3. Professionalism for the future
4. TLRP
5. Making sense through principles
6. Making sense through conceptual tools
7. Looking to the future?
Teaching and Learning Research Programme
Teachers Matter
Research on student learning demonstrates:
1. that most variation is attributable to
differences in student abilities and attitudes,
and family and community background.
2. that “teacher quality” is the single most
important school variable influencing student
achievement.
(OECD, 2005)
Teaching and Learning Research Programme
(McKinsey & Company, 2007)
The quality of an education system cannot exceed the quality
of its teachers.
The only way to improve outcomes is to improve instruction.
Teaching and Learning Research Programme
Some influential international research
Bransford, J. (Ed.) (1999) How People Learn. Brain, Mind, Experience
and School. Washington DC: National Academy Press.
Hayes, D., Mills, M., Christie, P. and Linguard, R. (2006) Teachers and
Schooling Making a Difference. Sydney: Allen & Unwin.
James, M. and Pollard. A. (2006) Improving Teaching and Learning in
Schools. London: TLRP.
Levin, B. (2008) How to Change 5000 Schools. Cambridge Mass.:
Harvard Eduction Press.
Hattie, J. (2009) Visible Learning. A Synthesis of Meta-Analyses
Relating to Achievement. London: Routledge.
OECD (2011) The Nature of Learning. Using Research to Inspire
Practice. Paris: OECD.
Sahlberg, P. (2012) Finnish Lessons: What the World Can Learn from
Educational Change in Finland? Boston: Teachers’ College Press.
Teaching and Learning Research Programme
OECD (2011) The Nature of Learning.
Modern societies and economies have experienced a profound
transformation from reliance on an industrial to a knowledge base.
Global drivers increasingly bring to the fore what some call “21st
century competences”. The quantity and quality of learning thus
become central, with the accompanying concern that traditional
educational approaches are insufficient.
Similar factors help to explain the strong focus on measuring
learning outcomes (including the Programme for International Student
Assessment, PISA) over the past couple of decades, which in turn
generates still greater attention on learning.
To move beyond the diagnosis of achievement levels and shortcomings
to desirable change then needs a deeper understanding of how
people learn most effectively.
Teaching and Learning Research Programme
OECD (2011) The Nature of Learning
Learners are recognised as core participants. Active engagement in
developing understanding of their own activity as learners is encouraged.
The learning environment is founded on the social nature of learning and
actively encourages well-organised co-operative learning.
Learning professionals are highly attuned to learner motivation and the
key role of emotions in achievement.
There is acutely sensitivity to individual differences among learners,
including their prior knowledge.
There is clarity of expectations and consistent assessment strategies,
including strong emphasis on formative feedback to support learning.
“Connectedness” is promoted across areas of knowledge and subjects as
well as to the community and the wider world.
Teaching and Learning Research Programme
1. Contemporary challenges?
2. International evidence
3. Professionalism for the future
4. TLRP
5. Making sense through principles
6. Making sense through conceptual tools
7. Looking to the future?
Teaching and Learning Research Programme
What is professionalism
for the future?
The essence of professionalism is the
exercise of skills, knowledge and
judgement for the public good.
But teacher expertise is poorly understood.
Teaching and Learning Research Programme
• ‘Pedagogy’ is the practice of teaching framed
and informed by a shared and structured body
of knowledge and combined with moral purpose.
• By progressively acquiring such knowledge and
mastering pedagogical expertise – through initial
formation, continuing development and
reflective experience – teachers are entitled to
be treated as professionals.
• Teachers should scrutinise and evaluate their
practice to make rationally defensible
professional judgements beyond pragmatic
constraints and/or ideological concerns.
Teaching and Learning Research Programme
‘Routine’ Vs ‘reflective’ action
Teaching and Learning Research Programme
Problem
Issue
Reflect
Dilemmas
Evidence
Collect evidence
Judgement
Analyse & evaluate
Teaching and Learning Research Programme
Three judgements
•
What aspects to investigate and why?
•
What evidence to collect and how?
•
How should the findings be analysed,
interpreted and applied?
Teaching and Learning Research Programme
How is evidence to be collected?
• Analyse (and improve) routine evidence on pupil
learning outcomes
• Develop specific methods to provide evidence on
particular issues
• Use occasional, but explicit, enquires as reflective
learning experiences
• Work collaboratively with colleagues if possible
STUDYING – LOOKING- LISTENING- ASKING (C3)
Teaching and Learning Research Programme
Problem
Issue
How are findings to be
interpreted?
Reflect
Dilemmas
Collect evidence
Evidence
and interpretation
Judgement
Analyse & evaluate
Teaching and Learning Research Programme
1. Contemporary challenges?
2. International evidence
3. Professionalism for the future
4. TLRP
5. Making sense through principles
6. Making sense through conceptual tools
7. Looking to the future?
Teaching and Learning Research Programme
Main features of TLRP 2000-12
• £43m, 100+ investments, 700+ researchers projects up
to £1.5m each, often with large teams
• All sectors of education (pre-school to elderly learners)
• UK-wide (England, Wales, Scotland, N. Ireland)
• Directors’ and Office Teams,
with developed organisational infrastructures
• Capacity building for researchers and research users
Teaching and Learning Research Programme
TLRP’s overarching aim:
‘to lead to significant improvements in
outcomes for learners ...
... at all ages and stages in all sectors and
contexts of education and training, including
informal learning settings, throughout the
United Kingdom’.
TLRP PROJECTS
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
Phase I
Early Years Education
Primary Education
Phase II
Secondary Education
Across School Phases
Research training
fellows
Scottish extensions
Welsh extensions
Phase III
Northern Irish extensions
Associated projects
WP in HE
TEL
Further & post 16
education
Higher Education
Workplace Education
Professional Learning
Lifelong Learning
Teaching and Learning Research Programme
TLRP THEMES
Learners and
learning through
the lifecourse
Political, economic and cultural contexts
Informal and formal learning contexts
Curriculum and domain
knowledge
Interaction and pedagogy
information technology
Assessment and learning
Learning outcomes
Educational issues
International
comparisons
Teachers, teaching
and training
Teaching and Learning Research Programme
1. Contemporary challenges?
2. International evidence
3. Professionalism for the future
4. TLRP
5. Making sense through principles
6. Making sense through conceptual tools
7. Looking to the future?
Teaching and Learning Research Programme
Teaching and Learning Research Programme
Why ‘evidence-informed principles’?
• affirms a holistic approach to teaching and
learning or pedagogy
• represents cumulative evidence and experience
• supports contextualised judgement by teachers,
tutors, practitioners and policy-makers
Effective teaching
and learning ....
1. EQUIPS LEARNERS FOR LIFE IN
ITS BROADEST SENSE
Teaching and Learning Research Programme
SOME TLRP EVIDENCE
• Broad conception of ‘outcomes’ to include, for instance,
engagement with learning (Ainscow), learning how to
learn (James).
• Learner identities studied longitudinally, related positively
to self-confidence, resilience and outcomes but
demonstrated significant processes of social
differentiation (Pollard, Biesta).
• Promotion of thinking skills (McGuinness) shown to have
a positive relationship with attainment and effort,
although the effect needed time to build and was not
uniform across all learner groups.
• Most projects show the importance of developing
learning awareness, explicit learning practices, positive
learning dispositions, and learning autonomy (Nunes,
McGuinness, James, Blatchford, Hughes).
Effective teaching
and learning ....
2. ENGAGES WITH VALUED
FORMS OF KNOWLEDGE
3. RECOGNISES THE
IMPORTANCE OF PRIOR
EXPERIENCE AND LEARNING
Teaching and Learning Research Programme
SOME TLRP EVIDENCE
• In numeracy, understanding of rational numbers
(proportion and ratio) is important but difficult for primary
pupils to master. Relatively small teaching sequences
can boost achievement (Nunes & Howe).
• In literacy, spelling improved through explicit teaching
about rules of morphology (units of meaning) (Nunes).
Bilingualism, when embedded, enriched teaching and
learning in FE (Martin-Jones).
• Teacher review of assumptions about prior knowledge
and experience of certain groups of children often led to
improvements (Ainscow - inclusive practice; Hughes home-school knowledge exchange; Plowman - ICT in
early years; EPPE - pre-school settings).
Effective teaching
and learning ....
4. REQUIRES THE TEACHER
TO SCAFFOLD LEARNING
5. NEEDS ASSESSMENT TO
BE CONGRUENT WITH
LEARNING
Teaching and Learning Research Programme
SOME TLRP EVIDENCE
• Projects showed the importance of the way teachers
plan and structure activities during lessons, negotiate
goals, support classroom dialogue and provide
feedback.
• Teacher roles in scaffolding learning with ICT were
crucial (Plowman; Sutherland). Use of ICT can produce
gains in achievement (Bevan), but only with effective
mediation (Kennewell).
• Testing that focuses on factual recall often overestimates
students’ understanding of key concepts (Millar).
• Assessment for learning in the classroom is most
effective when supported by whole-school collaboration
and leadership (James)
6. PROMOTES
THE ACTIVE ENGAGEMENT
OF THE LEARNER
7. FOSTERS BOTH INDIVIDUAL AND
SOCIAL PROCESSES AS OUTCOMES
8. RECOGNISES THE SIGNIFICANCE
OF INFORMAL LEARNING
Teaching and Learning Research Programme
SOME TLRP EVIDENCE
• Group work projects (Blatchford & Christie) show the
benefits of efforts to improve the quality of group work
and children’s mastery of cooperation and collaboration.
Pupils made significant academic gains (effect sizes up
to 0.6) which were seen across schools in different social
contexts.
• Consulting pupils enhances self esteem and agency and
improves learning opportunities (Rudduck, Leitch).
However some pupils have more communications
competence and are ‘heard’ more than others.
• Young people draw on school experience, and develop it
at home, and bring home experience into school e.g.
computer expertise (Sutherland).
• Home/school knowledge exchange activities impact
positively on outcomes (Hughes). But this impact is
mediated by social class, gender and attainment factors
so there is need for sensitivity.
Effective teaching
and learning ....
9. DEPENDS ON
TEACHER LEARNING
10. DEMANDS CONSISTENT POLICY
FRAMEWORKS WITH SUPPORT
FOR TEACHING AND
LEARNING AS THEIR
PRIMARY FOCUS
Teaching and Learning Research Programme
SOME TLRP EVIDENCE
• Levels of professional commitment and resilience are
crucial to teaching quality and learner outcomes (Day).
• Through reflective inquiry with colleagues, teachers
develop knowledge and beliefs about learning - as well
as skills (James, Dudley).
• Visits from teachers in other schools, or from other
departments/classrooms are valued for questioning
assumptions (Ainscow). When senior management
support innovation, it becomes more sustainable
(Hughes).
• Consistency between national, local, school and
classroom policy in teaching and learning is not always
apparent.
• If policy was more congruent with pedagogic principles
and supportive of contexualised teacher judgement, then
school and teacher effectiveness could be improved.
Teaching and Learning Research Programme
Enhancing learning outcomes?
TLRP’s evidence-informed principles are intended as
a contribution to a scientific foundation for policy
and practice
The emphasis needs to be on the quality of
contextualised professional judgement
Teaching and Learning Research Programme
Problem
Issue
How are findings to be
interpreted?
Reflect
Dilemmas
Judgement
Collect evidence
Evidence
Understanding of enduring
educational principles
Analyse & evaluate
Teaching and Learning Research Programme
1. Contemporary challenges?
2. International evidence
3. Professionalism for the future
4. TLRP
5. Making sense through principles
6. Making sense through conceptual tools
7. Looking to the future?
Teaching and Learning Research Programme
What do we talk about?
Curriculum
Pedagogy
Assessment
So, what happens if we compare and
contrast the concepts used to discuss
curriculum, pedagogy and assessment?
Teaching and Learning Research Programme
Concepts in HMI’s
The Curriculum from
5 to 16 (1985)
•
•
•
•
•
•
Breadth
Balance
Relevance
Differentiation
Progression
Continuity
Teaching and Learning Research Programme
So, a key contention:
Maybe …. that pedagogic concepts can be
organised in terms of their function (the work
that they do) and that, by making this logic
explicit, we could create a more robust and
sustainable conceptual framework for the
professional expertise of teaching?
Teaching and Learning Research Programme
Concepts are to do with:
CURRICULUM
Aims
Contexts
Processes
Outcomes
PEDAGOGY
ASSESSMENT
1. Societal aims To what vision of ‘education’ does the provision aspire?
2. Elements of learning What knowledge, concepts, skills and values are to be learned
in formal education?
3. Community context Is the educational experience valued and endorsed by civil
society?
4. Institutional context Does the school promote a common vision to extend educational
experiences and inspire learners?
5. Process for social needs Does the educational experience build on social
relationships, cultural understandings and learner identities?
6. Process for emotional needs Does the educational experience take due account of
learner views, feelings and characteristics?
7. Process for cognitive needs Does the educational experience match learners’
cognitive needs and provide appropriate challenge?
8. Developmental outcomes Does the educational experience lead to development in
knowledge, concepts, skills and values?
9. Cumulative outcomes Does the educational experience equip learners for adult and
working life and for an unknown future?
Teaching and Learning Research Programme
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
Teaching and Learning Research Programme
Professionalism
and Pedagogy:
a contemporary
opportunity
TLRP with GTCE,
2010
www.tlrp.org
www.reflectiveteaching.co.uk
Teaching and Learning Research Programme
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
Teaching and Learning Research Programme
1. Contemporary challenges?
2. International evidence
3. Professionalism for the future
4. TLRP
5. Making sense through principles
6. Making sense through conceptual tools
7. Looking to the future?
Teaching and Learning Research Programme
Raising standards and
opportunities
Teacher professionalism
and reflective practice
Evidence-informed
principles and conceptual
understanding
Teaching and Learning Research Programme
The most effective teachers:
• Recognise the complexity of teaching and
learning
• Never stop learning themselves
• Enjoy teaching
• Are supported in open learning professional
communities
Teaching and Learning Research Programme
1. Contemporary challenges?
2. International evidence
3. Professionalism for the future
4. TLRP
5. Making sense through principles
6. Making sense through conceptual tools
7. Looking to the future?
Teaching and Learning Research Programme
Teaching and Learning Research Programme
A valid educational
rationale based on
evidence-informed
principles?
(p8)