What Makes Great Teaching? Grounding Ourselves in Research

Robert Coe, Durham University

@ProfCoe

twitter.com/ProfCoe

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Take-aways

Great teaching is hard to define– What should we look for? What can we see?

Excellent (and poor) teachers/teaching are hard to identify – Signal is hidden by noise, biases & confounds– There are many ways to be good

Feedback can promote teacher learning, if– We are clear what we want teachers to learn– We are clear how we assess that learning– We give the right kinds of feedback in the right ways

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http://www.suttontrust.com/researcharchive/great-teaching/

Pedagogy: what does great teaching look like?

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We do that already (don’t we?) Reviewing previous learning Setting high expectations Using higher-order questions Giving feedback to learners Having deep subject knowledge Understanding student misconceptions Managing time and resources Building relationships of trust and challenge Dealing with disruption

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Do we always do that? Challenging students to identify the reason why an activity is

taking place in the lesson Asking a large number of questions and checking the

responses of all students Raising different types of questions (i.e., process and

product) at appropriate difficulty level Giving time for students to respond to questions Spacing-out study or practice on a given topic, with gaps in

between for forgetting Making students take tests or generate answers, even before

they have been taught the material Engaging students in weekly and monthly review

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We don’t do that (hopefully)

Use praise lavishly Allow learners to discover key ideas for themselves Group learners by ability Encourage re-reading and highlighting to memorise key

ideas Address issues of confidence and low aspirations before

you try to teach content Present information to learners in their preferred learning

style Ensure learners are always active, rather than listening

passively, if you want them to remember

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If you saw this in classroom observation or visits, how would you evaluate it?

1. Students working independently: self directed and self-reliant

a) Always good: strive for this

b) Good to see – probably positive

c) Neutral or not clear

d) Generally negative, but may depend

e) Definitely bad: needs addressing

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If you saw this in classroom observation or visits, how would you evaluate it?

2. Students engaged, excited, enjoying their tasks

a) Always good: strive for this

b) Good to see – probably positive

c) Neutral or not clear

d) Generally negative, but may depend

e) Definitely bad: needs addressing

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If you saw this in classroom observation or visits, how would you evaluate it?

3. Students teaching each other

a) Always good: strive for this

b) Good to see – probably positive

c) Neutral or not clear

d) Generally negative, but may depend

e) Definitely bad: needs addressing

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From the survey responses

Plenty of good frameworks being used But frameworks don’t define quality (even

good ones) Also need:

– Training (eg in observation)– Triangulation against other measures – Validity checking: local, real-time, ongoing QA

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Can we identify the best (worst) teachers?

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Methods of identifying effectiveness

classroom observations by peers, principals or external evaluators

‘value-added’ models (assessing gains in student achievement)

student ratings principal (or headteacher) judgement teacher self-reports analysis of classroom artefacts and teacher

portfolios

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From the survey responses

Use the best teachers as observers/coaches “Introducing a school wide observation team

to build, sustain and share great professional practice. (Made up of outstanding practitioners, not necessarily in leadership roles” (Ani Magill, UK)

Not much use of student surveys?

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Views of student surveys

a) I regularly use a validated student survey

b) I value student feedback, collected informally: ‘student voice’

c) I have not made much use of student surveys, but think they could have value

d) I would not want to use student surveys

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Do you want to identify ‘excellent’ and ‘poor’ teachers?

1. Identify excellent teachersa) No, never

b) Possibly

c) Yes

2. Identify poor teachersa) No, never

b) Possibly

c) Yes

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Teacher effectiveness

Poor

Average

Excellent

-Example for others to watch

-Lead on pedagogical support

-Team of observers-Reward and retain

-Most intensive support

-Requirement to improve

-Let go

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If you have used ‘state-of-the-art’, research-based approaches …

A teacher is identified as ‘poor’. What is the probability they really are poor?

a) 90%

b) 80%

c) 60%

d) 40%

e) 20%

f) 10%

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If you have used standard, school-based approaches …

A teacher is identified as ‘poor’. What is the probability they really are poor?

a) 90%

b) 80%

c) 60%

d) 40%

e) 20%

f) 10%

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How could this promote better learning?

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Sustained professional learning is most likely to result when:

the focus is kept clearly on improving student outcomes; feedback is related to clear, specific and challenging

goals for the recipient; attention is on the learning rather than to the person or

to comparisons with others; teachers are encouraged to be continual independent

learners; feedback is mediated by a mentor in an environment of

trust and support; an environment of professional learning and support is

promoted by the school’s leadership

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Five Strategies of Formative Assessment(Wiliam 2011 Embedded formative assessment)

Clarifying, sharing and understanding learning intentions and success criteria

Engineering effective classroom discussions, activities and learning tasks that elicit evidence of learning

Providing feedback that moves learners forward Activating learners as instructional resources for

each other Activating learners as the owners of their own

learning

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From the survey responses Requirements: Buy-in, trust, incentives, shared

mission and vision (goals), self-belief, relationships, confidence, collaboration & mutual support, high regard for teacher expertise, failure is an opportunity for growth, empowerment

Take control of PD – school-led, teacher-led How do you give critical feedback? So that critical

friend is not just a friend– “Teachers typically form personal relationships (their

friendships) at ‘school’ and cannot face the possibility of ‘upsetting’ a colleague by giving feedback that may threaten that relationship. Appraisers needed to be trained” (Paul Browning)

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Barriers

Time – never enough. But some build it in. – Pros & cons of using supply/substitute cover?

Staff who don’t think they can improve, don’t think they need to, or don’t want to try

Accountability systems

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Beware these traps

Overconfidence about knowledge of what is effective

Focus on teaching rather than learning Thinking that we are doing it already Overconfidence in assessments (even if

formative) of teaching quality Thinking that if we assess teaching we must

attach consequences to that (cf ‘assessment for learning’)

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Tools/strategies must …

Challenge the ‘we think we do that already’ trap

Keep the main thing the main thing: student outcomes

Build in impact evaluation: Does using it improve outcomes?

(Cannot work without background of good assessment of student outcomes)

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Practical toolkit ideas … Guide to help teachers to focus on what

really matters– Research-based elements of effectiveness: ‘what

works and why’

Tools to help teachers to see progress against immediate goal– Eg tool for tracking student time on task, quality of

questioning, high expectations

Assessments to keep longer-term goals in view (and evaluate against them)

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