Mentoring Psp Stream A May09

1.1© Commonwealth of Australia 2007


The professional standards project

• was one of the suite of DEST funded national projects being undertaken to support the implementation of the MCEETYA National Statement for Languages Education in Australian Schools and the National Plan for Languages Education in Australian Schools 2005-2008

• was a nationally coordinated professional learning program for languages teachers, to improve the quality of languages teaching and thereby improve the learning outcomes of students

• was based on the use of the Professional standards for accomplished teaching of languages and cultures developed by the AFMLTA in 2005


Stream A: Module 1Getting to know the professional standards


Why have standards?

• Standards help to capture the professional nature of teachers’ work

• There is value in articulating what constitutes accomplished teaching and for this to be done by the profession for the profession


The standards

• The standards are designed to reflect the practice of accomplished teachers: that is they reflect the highest end of the profession

• The standards are meant to be developmental: they should be used to guide teachers in continuously developing their capabilities during their teaching careers

• There are two sets of standards:• Standards for teaching• Program standards

• The two sets recognise that quality languages teaching is not just about what teachers know and do, but about the contexts in which they work


Standards for teaching

• These are descriptions of valued practices of teachers

• Accomplished teaching of languages and cultures is reflected through the following dimensions:• educational theory and practice• language and culture• language pedagogy• ethics and responsibility• professional relationships• awareness of wider context• advocacy• personal characteristics


Standards for teachingEducational theory and

practice

• Accomplished languages and cultures teachers have knowledge of child/learner development appropriate to the level at which they teach and apply this knowledge in all aspects of their teaching.

• They engage with current theories of education, general principles of teaching and learning, and classroom management.

• They keep up to date with developments in the field of education through professional learning and professional reading.

• They are aware of the culture of schooling in the contexts in which they teach.

Suggested questions for reflection

• What do you know about the individual learners you teach and their capabilities?

• How comprehensively do you understand the discipline, traditions and debates in language and culture teaching?

• What is the culture of the school in which you teach?

• What do you know about the policy and curriculum documents which are relevant to language teaching?

• How do you make connection with other curriculum areas and with extra curricular interests?

The dimension of teacher’s work to which the standards

apply.



practice











Statement of standards: a description of what accomplished teachers do



practice











Questions for reflection: ways of working with the standards to investigate your own practice and needs.


Program standards

• Quality languages programs• are actively valued in their schools• focus on progression in language• have appropriate timetabling • are adequately staffed by qualified,

permanent teachers• are allocated dedicated space • have adequate budgets and resources• have appropriate class sizes and

groupings


Program standardsEffective languages and cultures programs are actively valued within the school culture. Languages and languages and cultures teaching and learning are valued explicitly in schools’ statements and implicitly in the schools’ planning, timetabling and resourcing for languages. Schools actively acknowledge and foster connections between languages and other curriculum areas.

Effective languages and cultures programs focus on progression in language learning both during the year and across years. They acknowledge learners’ movement through the program and ensure that prior knowledge is maintained and developed. They recognise that language learning is a life-long process and needs sustained learning during schooling.

How does the school demonstrate that it values the learning of languages and cultures?

How does the school demonstrate and foster connections between languages and cultures and other curriculum areas?

How is the programme planned to build on learners’ knowledge across the years of schooling?

How does the school support sustained language learning over a number of years?

Statement of standards: a description of good languages programs


Program standardsEffective languages and cultures programs are actively valued within the school culture. Languages and languages and cultures teaching and learning are valued explicitly in schools’ statements and implicitly in the schools’ planning, timetabling and resourcing for languages. Schools actively acknowledge and foster connections between languages and other curriculum areas.

Effective languages and cultures programs focus on progression in language learning both during the year and across years. They acknowledge learners’ movement through the program and ensure that prior knowledge is maintained and developed. They recognise that language learning is a life-long process and needs sustained learning during schooling.

How does the school demonstrate that it values the learning of languages and cultures?

How does the school demonstrate and foster connections between languages and cultures and other curriculum areas?

How is the programme planned to build on learners’ knowledge across the years of schooling?

How does the school support sustained language learning over a number of years?

Questions for reflection: ways of working with the standards to investigate your own context


Using the standards for teaching

• The standards for teaching are designed to assist teachers to understand their own professional knowledge and needs for• performance evaluation: recognising and

articulating your professional capabilities• professional development: recognising and

articulating your professional needs• advocacy: recognising and articulating your

professional value


Using program standards

• The program standards are designed to assist teachers to understand their own professional context and needs for• performance evaluation: recognising and

articulating your professional capabilities and the impact of context on teaching quality

• program development: recognising and articulating your needs for effective language teaching both in your own practice and in your school context

• advocacy: a statement of values that can be used to achieve program change


Task 2: Linking the Languages Standards with the VIT Standards

• In groups, read through one dimension of the standards and decide: • Which of the VIT standards are addressed

through this dimension• Highlight these for display and to share

with whole group


Stream A: Module 2Using the professional standards


The standards as a guide to professional learning

• The standards are intended to be used as a guide and support for teachers in identifying and addressing their professional learning needs

• Using the standards as a guide involves• connecting the standards to what teachers

actually do in classrooms • developing an understanding of the standards

in this light • using this understanding in an ongoing way to

planning and reflecting on teachers’ own professional learning

• This ongoing approach to professional learning requires an ‘investigative stance’


Developing an investigative stance

• An investigative stance is not an ‘add on’ to language teaching and learning. It is• an orientation to noticing, documenting, and

making sense of the actions of teachers and learners

• an ongoing interest in using evidence about the classroom to develop language teaching and learning practice

• a way of developing a reflective understanding of your own teaching and learning and how the standards apply in this ongoing process in your particular teaching context


Investigation in teaching

Effective teaching is informed by personal knowledge, trial and error, reflection on practice, and conversations with colleagues. To be a teacher means to observe students and study classroom interactions, to explore a variety of effective ways of teaching, and to build conceptual frameworks that can guide one’s work

(Fischer , 2001: 29)


The value of an investigative stance for using the standards

• An investigative stance facilitates the use of the standards in guiding professional learning because• changing your teaching and learning practice

requires an understanding of what you and your students currently do

• in order to change what you do in your teaching context, you need to understand students’ own perceptions of and interactions with language(s) and culture(s), and consider the standards as a resource in this process

• in order to use the professional standards in professional development, you need to be able to monitor and reflect on the changes you are making


Where do you focus your investigation?

• The focus of your investigation depends at any particular time on the issue that you are addressing. This may be an issue arising in your professional context which leads you to use the standards or an issue you become aware of through your use of the standards. It may be• a particular question about teaching and learning in

your classroom• a particular area of interest/need for the teacher(s)• a particular professional learning focus of interest

in the school as a whole


What form might the investigation take?

• Your investigation is an ongoing project of noticing, documenting, and analysing/reflecting on your teaching and your students’ learning • the process of noticing involves asking questions

about your teaching and your students’ learning• the process of documenting involves gathering

and recording evidence which can inform your professional learning e.g. samples of students’ work, recordings of classroom interactions, your reflections on your teaching, and conversations with colleagues

• the process of analysing/reflecting involves interpreting how the evidence you have gathered answers the questions you have raised, and deciding on how that will inform your professional learning


2008 Teacher Investigations based on the PSP modules:

Learning, Learners & their life worlds:• Knowing students & encouraging self reflection by

students – increased engagement and motivation• Encouraging student goalsetting & seeking student

feedback – resulted in increased focus on oral language as this was what students were wanting

Identifying Language Specific Needs:• Recognising the value of the language specific

annotations, a team of teachers developed a set of Auslan annotations to help guide and clarify their teaching


Resources for Language Learning• Focus on resource selection and “games” –

particularly looking at effectiveness for engagement and learning

• Using Web 2.0 to develop connections for both teachers and students – skype, Wikis, Blogs, epals

Language Learning & Language Awareness• Primary Project “English = a cocktail of many

languages”• Using thinking tools to facilitate the language

of learning languages “metalinguistics”


Task 2: Using the standards in your professional learning

• Read through the standards and decide: • which question(s) you would find of value

in raising about your own teaching, or which question(s) would be relevant to an aspect of your teaching that you have already been reflecting on/wanting to further develop or change

• what kinds of evidence you might gather to investigate the question(s)

• how you might gather and record this evidence