Professional Documents
Culture Documents
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Executive Summary
Personalisation by Pieces (P by P) is an approach to achieving large scale change
towards a more personalised system of education. The approach is to find tools that
are useful in their own right but together form pieces of an aligned and coherent
system of change.
The advantage of breaking the change into pieces is that each individual can
contribute meaningfully and the pace of change can be controlled more easily. The
disadvantage is that it is possible to lose sight of the larger purpose of educational
reform and the connections between the pieces. The role of leadership and vision is
therefore essential and PbyP is intended to provide simply a range of tools to make to
assist the process of change.
The PbyP toolkit grows and improves over time but where possible the principles
behind each tool should be applicable at every level of the education system including
learners, teachers, leaders and policy makers.
The following tools make up the current PbyP toolkit
Central direction and purpose
Core Aims: Asking the right questions to agree the key purposes of education
Overarching Alignment Structures
SECRET: Aligning all core aims in ways that can be widely shared
REORDER: Ensuring that all aspects of the vision or plan are aligned
Change Process
The Continuous Improvement / Learning Cycle
Core Aims Focus: Venn diagram approach
Engagement Scale
Framework for defining progression
Skills : Defining the discrete skills required to support learners
Ladders : Defining progression as a set of progressive steps
Online tools for evaluating actual progression and sharing expertise
peer assessment online for learners
learner driven impact assessment for teacher action research
peer assessment online for teacher action research
system level monitoring and evaluation
Central direction and purpose
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Change Process
Change has to be continuous and evaluative. The change process in PbyP is a cycle
which, like the ancient game of hoop and stick, must be kept turning through constant
attention. The pace of change cannot be faster than you can run and cant be so slow
that its direction becomes changeable and erratic!
This basic principle is applied to learning, teaching, organisations and systems. As a
learner centred philosophy it begins with defining a learning cycle for the individual
and extends this same concept to the organisation.
Change is simplified if processes are common to all and agile enough to be applied to
all contexts. Central to PbyP is this idea that young learners are not a separate species
from all other learners and we should attempt to make very clear links between how
learning is identical for children, adults and organisations if we are to maximise the
impact of role models and the need for empathetic relationships.
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I have now asked this question of schools in 85 countries and to over twenty
ministries of education. The answer in each case is almost identical and has remained
constant since I was attending school myself.
Predicting the future of education is too risky. Who could have predicted the spread
of mobile phones or the impact of the internet, let alone the impact of the next ten
amazing innovations we dont yet know about? Yet I would guess that the answer to
this question is likely to stay the same throughout my lifetime and so it is a sound
basis on which to set up an education system fit for the future
The total list of all responses gaining more than one vote, that I have ever received is
shown below
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When pressed further and asked to choose three from these, the similarity is even
more striking. The following list shows all of the responses to this second task I have
ever received from group workshops.
This is the blue print for our education system and it is up to us to maintain this focus
as we find new innovative ways of using the tools available to us to achieve it.
This process is often referred to as connecting to the moral purpose or core aims of
education and this tool is really more concerned with this process than the outcome.
So the first piece of advice in transforming a school would be to use this tool widely
with stakeholders in a systematic way. The response from each audience may be the
same as the one above or it may be different. The purpose is to make sure that before
transformation starts, the direction the whole community want to travel in is
uncovered. It is important that all views are presented. For example there are three of
those shown in the list above which evoke passionate negative responses and
excellent debate. It is an important part of the process to allow such debates to play
out.
For example in the case of Is prepared for todays job market the response is
frequently that preparing people for todays job market is pointless in the 21st century
because the pace of change is so rapid that it will no longer be relevant by the time
school is completed. This debate uncovers the wider debate about how exactly do
you prepare people for a changing job market. If you observe trends such as those
reported by Levy and Murnane, you may conclude that the best way to prepare people
is to enhance their creativity, collaborative skills and ability to adapt.
A second example is the case of Learns the subject knowledge in the curriculum.
Once again the debate centres around the fact that future learners are able to look up
any information they need in seconds using the phone in their back pocket so how is
information different from knowledge? Perhaps we turn information into knowledge
through debate and deep engagement, the very activities that are so often curtailed
because of the amount of content we need to cover in the curriculum. Can we know
the knowledge that will best serve learners in the future? Should we concentrate on
the process of finding information and converting it into knowledge rather than the
knowledge itself?
These are all deep and useful debates that would not be able to be engaged with in
such depth if they had not arisen from an open discussion.
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I have sometimes altered this question to be Imagine it is 2030 and you are giving an
international presentation to your peers. You have just enough time to draw out the
three achievements of all your learner that you are most proud of, which three would
you choose?
This is particularly useful if trust levels in the audience are low and there is a fear of
change or a deep entanglement with current stressful problems. By placing it much
further into the future it forces people to contemplate the core of education despite the
reality of their current experiences. Interestingly, when it is phrased in this way the
list reduces and the four most controversial phrases tend to not appear.
Self-Managers
Effective Participators
Creative Thinkers
Reflective Learners
Independent Enquirers
Team Workers
I originally included numeracy (use of number which is often also associated with
problem solving) and oracy (written and verbal communication including between
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Relationships
Environments
Opportunities
Resources
Distribution of Leadership
Evaluation
Recognition
I will explain these in detail in a moment but the following small scale example is a
simple illustration of the model. When I was at Eggbuckland school a group of
learners came to me to me wanting to set up a school shop.
I explained the importance of
R = having a good relationship with the dinner supervisors,
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Relationships
A description of how all relationships may need to change for the goals to be achieved. This includes
changes to
The relationship between teachers and learners,
The relationships between learners and the community
The relationships between the school and the local community
For example if the goals of the school were to enable greater independent working then it would be
essential to gauge the level of trust between teachers and learners and what would need to happen to
give teachers the confidence to allow greater learner autonomy.
If the goal is to provide a more positive environment then the role models provided by everyone in the
community are critical to improving relationships. Do people practice what they preach and live the
school vision?
Schools may need to actively engage the community through helping in nurseries and care homes as
well as promoting good news stories to the local newspaper if they want greater trust and engagement
in the local community through work experience for example
The internet brings new relationships and virtual connections. How does the school role model these
and give training in their use? Is the virtual world seen as an influencer in the school day and school
community?
A recent survey suggested that 87% of teachers in the UK were confident that the learners knew more
than they did about technology yet over 80% said their relationship to learners was expected to be that
of an expert. Clearly for greater uptake of ICT in the classroom this discrepancy in expected
relationships has to be addressed first.
Environments
Architects often talk about the feel of a space. Environments tell stories about who
holds power, who is trusted, what behaviour is expected and what should take place in
the space.
Environments have a direct impact on mood as well as effecting peoples ability to
learn, concentrate and collaborate.
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Opportunities
Often countries fill their curriculum full of facts and content that are forgotten very
soon after leaving school and which most of us prefer to look up on our phone. The
time spend learning all of this material often places serious restrictions on the time
available for true reflection and engagement. With such little time available for non
curriculum content are your goals achievable without considering the whole set of
opportunities available?
Which curriculum structures and learning opportunities will be used to build the skills
needed for the schools goals and ethos to become a reality. How will freedom of
route, personalisation, choice of pace or content be achieved through these
opportunities.
How do you ensure that the competencies, skills and attitudes for successful lifelong
thinking and learning are integrated meaningfully into all opportunities with clear
progression of challenge?
How are opportunities to improve learning outcomes through the use of technology
integrated across the learners work and modelled by teachers?
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Resources
All goals require resources of some description, even if it just your time. Which IT
resources, human resources and materials will be needed for the team goals or whole
school goals you are considering? How will the resources be distributed and used
effectively to maximise the value gained from them and help you achieve your goals?
Most changes need to be achieved through existing resources and so it is critical to
develop realistic goals that are not dependent on new resource or at the very least
have a Plan B should resources not become available.
How is continuity of resources and refreshing of resources built into the long term
planning? How is cost-benefit analysis used?
Distribution of Leadership
In terms of schools, goals are normally set around raising achievement. So if the goal
works, how will you scale it? Equally, the more good ideas are pursued the greater
the chances of success so how do you create opportunities for more individuals to
strive for more goals with more support? The answer eventually comes down to the
capacity for leadership in the organisation at every level.
How will leadership skills be fostered, grown and practiced so that gains can be
sustained? How will teachers share leadership to create sustainability and how will
learners get progressively challenging leadership possibilities as their skills are
grown?
Learners can provide an exceptional pool of developing and engaged leaders and the
role of learner voice and participation is critical here to grow capacity. What
opportunities for developing leadership in others can be built into the pursuit of your
own goals and how much leadership capacity will be needed to sustain them
How will independence with interdependence be modelled and developed?
Throughout the internet traditional hierarchies are being changed leading to more
direct action and engagement. How are learners and teachers helped to navigate and
engage in these new opportunities for community leadership. How are the skills of
questioning and bias developed so that leaders respect and negotiate with the people
they are attempting to lead.
Evaluation
How will you be certain that you have met your goals? It is critical that this is
considered BEFORE embarking on any project because it is important to know what
progression has been made as a result of you achieving your goals. Across a school,
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Recognition
It is central to the PbyP approach to believe that learners will only continue to be
motivated to learn in those areas where the gain for them or their team is similar to the
effort they put in.
Schools particularly, have to manage this environment by providing recognition that
is trusted as valuable by the community. If you are achieving a personal goal you
need that recognition at the end and if you are managing a larger scale project then
you either need to establish a strong team ethos so everyone benefits from the effort
of a few or your need to construct ways in which effort and achievement are
genuinely recognised.
Some key questions to consider may be;
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how will learners be recognised for their achievements and their contribution
The two alignment strategies of SECRET and REORDER are useful for determining
that there are no gaps in the process but there may still be misalignment in terms of
the basic educational philosophy in the school. For example, if a core aim of the
school was the promotion of leadership then depending on your educational
philosophy you may feel the best solution is to teach a course on great leaders or you
may feel the best solution is to provide all learners with experiences of leading
projects. You may equally well have a mixture of both.
The solutions required do depend on the philosophy chosen and there are too many
educational philosophies to simplify. Also, schools in a state of change are often
switching between philosophies and may have staff on both sides interpreting the core
aims in very different ways.
For all these reasons there needs to be a tool which is easy to apply and able to be
used as a rough measure of educational philosophies in use so that misalignment can
be seen and accounted for. I developed the following tool for this purpose.
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The tool is very crude but I have found that it is instantly useable by learners, teachers
and school leaders and helps enormously with the job of explaining the role of
educational philosophy in the change process
T-Route
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
P-Route
Teacher Led
Knowledge delivered
Learners consume media
Competitive
Teacher assessed
Distinct from informal
Pace of the class
Single course
Predominant learning style
Restricted age range
Personalised by teacher
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
Learner Led
Knowledge created
Learners produce media
Communities of learning
Peer and Self Assessment
Formal, informal continuum
Individualised challenges
Multiple pathway
Choice of approach
Peer and multi age working
Personalised by learner
Personalisation of education is a good example to consider in terms of a Troute response and a P-route response.
In terms of T-route philosophy, personalisation would be interpreted as :
The teacher personalising FOR the learner
This means that the teacher would need to know the learner well enough to
decide what is best for them in terms of their learning and formulating an
individual route for them.
In terms of P-route philosophy, personalisation would be interpreted as:
The teacher facilitating personalisation BY the learner.
This means that the teacher would be focussed on the competencies of the
learner and their peers so that the learners ability to decide what is best for
themselves in terms of their learning would be continuously improved and the
support in doing this from their peers would also increase.
The following pages explore this distinction in greater depth
1.
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In this model the teacher constructs the learning for each of their
students. The focus is vey definitely on the effective delivery of the
curriculum content with the route chosen by the Teacher (T-route).
The following reasons are commonly given for the use of this
model;
Reason 1 It pushes learners further: Commonly teachers say
that they have to break up the learning and deliver it in different
ways because otherwise their students would not be able to
understand or they would not be motivated to do it themselves.
Reason 2 It is much more efficient: Without a carefully planned
route the learners would not be able to cover the curriculum in time
Reason 3 It utilises teacher expertise: The teacher is the
learning expert. They should direct the learning experience
because they are the ones most able to understand the process.
2.
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In schools with a clearly stated philosophy that places them far over into the
T-route there are often very talented teachers working towards P-route by
delivering the content that is required whilst also extending the competencies
through the ways in which they structure and present work. It appears,
however that the greater the emphasis on the content the more challenging it
is for the teacher to get this balance right. This problem is compounded by
the assessment system which is often focussed on the remembering of
content and so leads the teacher towards further T-route practice and leads
the school towards recognising such practice and encouraging it.
The following two sources illustrate this well. The first is a research paper by
Robyn Ewing of the University of Sydney in which she reviews a wide range
of research pieces in an attempt to determine the role of the Arts in learning
and concludes that it has a significant positive impact on not only the
academic performance of the learners but also of their underlying
competencies. One of the papers she sites is the following piece of research
that illustrates this conclusion.
The second source is from a 2010 OECD report on the expected reasons for
the success of Shanghai China in the 2009 PISA international educational
comparison tables of literacy, numeracy and science.
Teaching and learning, in secondary schools in particular, are predominantly
determined by the examination syllabi, and school activities at that level are
very much oriented towards exam preparation. Subjects such as music and
art, and in some cases even physical education, are removed from the
timetable because they are not covered in the public examinations. Schools
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work their students for long hours every day, and the work extend into the
weekends, mainly for additional exam preparation classes...private tutorials,
most of them profit-making, are widespread and have become almost a
household necessity."
Also at the top of the PISA tables was Finland in which a P-route, learner
centred approach has been followed for many years including considerable
investment in the training of teachers to enable them to facilitate the
environments for learning that develop learner competencies over the content.
The content is in fact able to be determined locally and the assessment of it
does not involve grades, nor is it used for comparison with other schools
directly. The quality assurance checks are around the action research
abilities of the teachers, hence the requirement for Masters level study.
The following quotation is also from the OECD and refers to the same 2009
PISA scores
Finnish classrooms are typically described by observers as learner-centred.
..students are expected to take an active role in designing their own learning
activities. Students are expected to work collaboratively in teams on projects,
and there is a substantial focus on projects that cut across traditional subject
or disciplinary lines. [students] are expected to be able to take sufficient
charge of their own learning to be able to design their own individual
programmeThere is no longer a grade structure; each student proceeds at
his or her own pace within [modules]. Every student constructs his or her own
study plan, which consists of different courses in various subjects according to
each students individual choices.
So in both cases the same content was delivered using the teachers expertise
in similar ways but critically the underlying competencies were progressed in
vey different ways. The following table is an attempt to summarise this and
the following two pages illustrate examples using the REORDER aspects.
Teachers role in
Progressing Content
Teachers role in
Progressing
Competencies
T-Route
P-route
Fundamentally the role of the teacher is the same
in both models
Role of personal tutor or Role of creating
parent for every learner. stronger peer networks,
Breaks down in higher
distributing the learning
teacher: pupil ratios
through peer support
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Relationships:
Distribution of
Leadership:
Hierarchical
Evaluation:
Examination based
Recognition:
High academic
achievement praised
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Environments
Variety of spaces
and functions,
shared ownership
Opportunities
Diversity of routes
Resources:
Maximising learner
choice
Distribution of
Leadership:
Driven towards
widening leadership
at all levels
Evaluation:
Examination based
Recognition:
High academic
achievement praised
Collaborative working
Universal rules applying to adults and children
without privilege or exception
Calm negation, non threatening role models
Positive language and ethos for all groups
Teachers move rooms more often than groups
Staff and learners have equal quality social spaces
Qualified access to areas
Negotiated expenditure on dcor and furnishings
Learners can choose between environments
Larger spaces so teachers collaborate
Longer periods of time to allow for deeper
engagement and self organisation
Mixed age and stage working
Programme changes weekly or to fit projects
Frequent negotiation to set goals and set route
Open access to most resources
Multi function rooms and spaces
Learner controlled access to some spaces and
resources based on earned responsibility measures
Access to multiple teachers in any task
Some student controlled budget for resources
A clear programme for progressing learners
leadership skills through managing real life services
and projects
Learners co-developing and co-running services
Distribution of budgets is wide and includes some
learner led groups and organisations.
Competencies such as leadership and participation
are measured in terms of progression
Attitudinal surveys and open debates are used to
directly and openly influence decision making
Professional learning communities allow for
evaluation and feedback on teacher practice
Whole school aims which are the basis of annual
evaluation
Peer assessment is given high status
Aim to display or perform all work
Certificates awarded between peers, peers and
teachers and recognising equal right to recognition
Variety of methods for recognising competency
progression
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Whilst it is true that all learning could fit into this model, if we want peer assessment
to be a fundamental, the goals chosen initially must be recognised by all parts of the
system. This common framework of goals is the big picture underpinning PbyP.
The language chosen for these terms are, intentionally those of the learner so that
people at all levels of the system remain mindful of the similarities listed below;
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The setting of goals and targets are common to learners and organisations.
Learners seek support to challenge, question and guide, so too do effective
educational systems look outwards for examples and guidance from others.
In the same way that learners submit work there is a need for systems to effect
actual change and put in place real change
Peer assessment and peer review is essential and country systems often look
towards external review from the likes of OECD and others to verify or
evaluate their achievement using people who have achieved similar levels of
expertise in other areas and are therefore expert peers.
All valuable learning if shared, fuels further learning. This is as essential at
the system level as it is at the individual level.
Some activities
the school does
this year will
impact on all
three of these
core aims
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Those
The
Asked have chance to give feedback on the information you give them -
Listened
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
For wide agreement and a set of core aims that are alive throughout the organisation
there needs to be a systematic way of improving engagement by all stakeholders
gradually over time. It is better for an organisation to recognise that in reality it is
currently just informing learners about changes to their school rather than to pretend
that learners are actively involved. Recognising the current position and then taking
steps to move up the scale over time is more sustainable and measurable than
attempting to achieve engagement through a number of one-off events and initiatives.
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An example for one way of defining SECRET into separate skill types is shown
below.
Skill Area
Think
Self Managers
Manage Risk
Effective Participators
Persuade
Others
Creative Thinkers
Imagine
Reflective Learners
Enquirers
Team Workers
Set Yourself
Challenges
Explore a
Question
Take
Responsibility
Discrete Skills
Work it out
Feel it
Be
Go for it,
Organised
Finish it!
Find
Identify
Solutions
Issues
Take
Make Links
Creative
Risks
Plan-DoInvite
Review
Feedback
Evaluate
Stay
Evidence
Objective
Manage the
Build team
team
strengths
Share it
Manage
Emotions
Get Involved
Question
Assumptions
Share
Learning
Reach
Conclusions
Evaluate the
team
As a simple example, for effective team working you need someone who manages the
timings, checks people have the right paperwork and keep to task etc. In short there is
a skill set around just managing the team. You also need someone to lead the team,
taking responsibility for enthusing it to a common purpose. You need someone to
coach the members, praise strengths and deal with the emotional needs of the group
and finally someone to be aware that the team are a social group that need identity and
a sense of being in a team. Hence, teamwork can be split into a social team worker
skill set, and emotional set, a strategic set and a cognitive set.
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Think
Responsible Citizens
Successful Learners
Effective Contributors
Confident Individuals
Explore a
Question,
Persuade Others
Set Yourself
Challenges,
Imagine
Take
Responsibility
Manage Risk
Evaluate
Evidence
Plan-DoReview,
Make Links
Find
Solutions,
Manage the
team
Be Organised
Share it
Stay
Objective,
Identify Issues
Reach
Conclusions
Invite
Feedback
Share
Learning
Build team
strengths
Get Involved,
Evaluate the
team
Go for it,
Finish it!,
Take Creative
Risks
Manage
Emotions,
Question
Assumptions
After defining the discrete skills the next step is to define progression in these.
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Starting with the learner and looking at how the learning cycle can be
facilitated for them in terms of
Learners being supported in their setting of goals
Learners engaging in collaborative Mentoring
Learners Actively Researching (work!)
Learners Peer Reviewing and Peer Assessing
Learners sharing success and inspiring others
After these have been discussed from the perspective of the learner, the same model is
applied next to, facilitate the role of the teacher in terms of them setting
goals through to sharing successes
Teachers setting goals based on how they facilitate the learning for their
students
Teachers engaging in collaborative mentoring within professional learning
communities
Teachers using action research techniques as part of their work
Teachers engaging in peer review and peer assessment
Teachers sharing what works in ways that connect, support and inspire others
This same model is applied finally to the facilitation of school leadership
creating continuously improving, learning organisations
Schools setting clear goals in the form of core aims that align the work of the
community around common purposes
Schools networking with other schools and setting up collaboration and
mentoring opportunities
School leaders managing risk to enable experimentation and learning through
focussed action as part of a strategic plan
Schools evaluating their performance and being open to feedback from all
elements of the community.
Schools appreciating their role as part of a global system of learning in which
they have a responsibility to share what works with the provisos on its
accuracy and methodology so that the inspiration they gain from others is
qualified and builds long term trust.
Finally, case studies of current practice that illustrates some of these features have
been added to the section directly after this.
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Setting Goals
How can we support the learner to collaboratively set goals that will help them
progress in all the competencies which are fundamental to our model of education?
An example of one of the ladders used for this purpose in PbyP is shown below
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1
2
3
In my team I can praise each person for something they did really well. They would agree
with me.
When someone in my team has a complaint about me, I listen to what they have to say,
make lots of eye contact and see if I can agree with anything. I thank them and don't get
cross. I praise each person in my team very specifically (say exactly how and what they did
well) and am honest and open about exactly what I have done well and badly.
I can look at the whole team and suggest ways we could all work together better using
positive suggestions. If I think there is a problem, I can only raise it if I have a suggestion.
Evidence could be an evaluation of how well the team has met its targets and why or how
well the team delivers its service.
6
7
8
9
I can say 'well done' to other people when they have done something well.
I can praise each person in my team of 4 using their names and I can tell what I did well that
helped the team and what I did badly?
People who have worked together on a big project need people to appreciate them. At the
end of a project I produced a report/presentation/video that shares our successes with
people outside our team and also makes the team feel proud of the work they have
achieved. It must also hint at improvements needed for next time?
Even though it is essential people feel praised and valued after a big project, there will have
been mistakes and problems and it is just as important that these are recognised and not
repeated. My skill is to report on the successes and the lessons learnt together. The
balance is difficult to get right and I know I need to find ways of being sensitive and
supportive with positive suggestions.
When working in a group that I was not leading, I recognised the things people (including
me) did that caused distraction and lack of focus. I found ways to describe these to people
and describe my own failings so that I was able to reduce the distractions caused in the
group without taking any control from the group leader.
I have worked in the fields of QUALITY CONTROL or INSPECTION and have produced
reports/presentations/media based on evidence I have collected. My reports have helped
team leaders make decisions about how to move forward. I am balanced in my praise and
criticism. All criticism is constructive with specific suggestions for improvement and sensitive
to the feelings of the team and the need for people to be motivated and happy in their work.
The set defined as default for PbyP contains 24 skills each with 9 levels. Each learner
can target the area next in their own personal progression and can view this as a table
with successfully evidenced levels ticked and shaded in. A screen shot of the blank
profile is shown below
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The online version, of course, adds the flexibility needed to update the ladders as we
receive comments, place different sets of ladders for those who dont like the way I
have set out the discrete sets and alter the number of levels. It doesnt have to be 9
levels but we have found that this number provides about the right amount of
challenge between levels to make it workable.
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This example shows you one use of the Ladder tool but of course the website allows
any ladder to be shown and lots of schools have written their own. The key purpose is
to determine competencies that are important to all ages and communities then break
them up into a set of achievable steps: a Ladder.
At this point it is vital to make the point that we are not suggesting that this grid
should be used to assess children or even to assess any learners progress. It is
breaking up a whole set of completely interrelated skills into suggestions for ways to
progress.
The ladders must be owned by the individual and so each level is written in language
appropriate to that level of competency where possible and video versions are being
developed to avoid language and literacy issues being a barrier.
The skills framework helps to give structure to learners and is not a traditional course
in which a teacher can say today we are doing imagination level 5! If seen in this
context then the ladders and levels would be ridiculous as it is clearly impossible to
define something as imagination or creativity. What the ladders are intended to do is
provide the learner with ideas and stepping stones.
In the full online version we have achieved this by placing thousands of examples of
work behind each ladder level statement so that the individual learner can read the
initial statement in the ladder then click beyond to see all of the examples of what this
means in practice. These examples are from all over the world and from many
different ages and contexts. It may be possible in the future to remove the ladder
level description entirely and let learners get the idea of what the level means through
just observing this diversity of work.
The PbyP online tool is provided here as an exemplification of the approach. It is the
concept behind this that is important and there are many ways of building online
repositories of exemplar work without needing a licence to our online tools. I present
the particular online tool as an example to demonstrate and will use the other
functions it has in a similar way as an illustration throughout this document.
A key next question is how to build a database of authenticated examples of work at
each level of your ladder in a sustainable and cost effective way. How do you assess
if a piece of evidence as being an example that should sit in the ladders. Our current
tools deal with this by automatically sending the work to peer assessors who have
already achieved this level of competency in a different school. Their peer
assessment also determines if the learner should progress to the next level up.
Collaborative Mentoring
The need to arrange learning in collaborative teams at every level is highly
compelling. Schools networked together are generally more successful as are teachers
working in professional learning communities and learners of all ages working in peer
supporting teams. The support, mentoring, coaching, challenge and skills transfer
achieved through collaborative working is significant.
Cambridge Education 2011
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Methods for achieving this at a structural level are discussed later in the teacher and
school sections but in terms of the learners, to support the individual at scale is
difficult as mentoring is dependent upon regular learning conversations which are
much more effective as part of a face to face relationship between mentor and mentee.
Research into this area suggests the meetings should be around ten minutes each week
and guided by the learner themselves. Scaling a ten minute one to one weekly
engagement is extremely difficult if the mentor is a teacher. For this reason
mentoring, where it does happen tends to either be with special focus groups that are
felt to need additional support or this role tends to be mainly provided by supportive
parents, work colleagues or peers informally.
In 1998 I began experimenting with the idea of producing a mentor meeting that was
so structured it could allow learners as young as eleven to sit together and have
meaningful learning conversations. Occasional meetings went well, supported by
printed guides and structures but it proved incredibly hard to provide the mentor with
enough information to both challenge and support their peer on a weekly basis.
In 2007 I tried structuring this meeting using a step by step walk through of available
up to date data on the mentee in which both would sit next to a computer screen and
have a supported meeting. Initial trials went well and the model was successful
Version two of these tools are inside PbyP online currently and, although numbers
involved are currently not of research significance it would appear from these small
numbers that
Peer mentoring does not happen spontaneously because peers are not initially
convinced of its usefulness
Once established peer mentoring is sustained and found to be valuable by
those questioned although it is still small numbers at present
The computer being present in the face to face meeting helps rather than
hinders the conversation.
Mentors as young as ten have been effective. I am convinced that it is just the
manageability of the tool and language used that is preventing this from being
effective at younger ages
Schools largely appear to be very dismissive of peer mentoring and this view
is noticed by the learners
Parents have used the tools intended for peer mentoring to good effect and
there is positive feedback from this sector
We still have extremely small sample sizes and very limited analysis to base
these conclusions on but the tools developed so far appear to have the
potential to be an effective and scalable solution to extending mentoring to all.
Current structure of the PbyP peer mentoring online tool
1. Each section has suggested discussion starters that the mentor can ask about
the learning that the mentee has engaged in since their last meeting
2. A space for notes against each section so that both can maintain a record if
required
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Peer Review
Having defined a progression in terms of ladders that are understandable to the learner
themselves, how does the learner know they are progressing up it?
This is achieved in the model using peer review, a practice widely used in other
spheres. In the scientific community, for example, your work is sent to a list of
reviewers who are unknown to you. This list is constructed from your peers and in
particular, those that are working in a similar field of study, at a similar level. In the
art world a similar process of reviews is followed. Peer review is also the fastest
growing use of the internet and is forming the basis of the newly launched Internet
2.0. Before the internet was made public in 1991, it was used by the science
community who developed it mainly for the purposes of peer review and collaborative
working.
The practice of peer assessment in education is also widely spread both in terms of
teachers peer assessing each other, headtechers working in teams and learners doing
paired reading and peer review.
In High Tech High in the United States the school already has a curriculum which is
peer assessed. Learners work on longer projects in response to a set of problems and
then have to present their final work to their peers who assess it.
The research around peer assessment identifies it as an extremely effective strategy
that is even more useful for the assessor than it is for the person being assessed. It
raises engagement and drives reflection and depth into the process. On the other
hand, teacher assessment and examinations based assessment are by comparison
much less effective and in some studies, damaging to both self esteem and feelings of
progression.
Peer assessment increases reflection and collaboration as well as ownership and
engagement but it needs to have structures that are unambiguous
1. The learner decides on the level they are trying to achieve
2. They compile their evidence or presentation
3. Peers at a similar or higher level of competence have clear guidelines given to
them so they can accurately assess and give positive feedback
In all of our studies this methodology has been effective providing that
the criteria is well defined and clear to the assessors,
the assessors have passed the criteria themselves and so are relatively expert
the feedback is entirely positive and constructive
training in how to provide constructive feedback has been given
there is a positive ethos in which the teacher is respectful of the final authority
of the peer assessment and does not override it.
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Goals :
Recognition that the goals they have set themselves are valuable and
worthwhile. Given that we have started from a common position of what are
the core aims to focus on, we have the learners selecting goals from ladders
which, in the views of most learners, teachers, parents, ministers and
employers are the core aims for success. Hence this is likely but cannot be
assumed. Teachers who are under pressure to deliver content based or subject
based target may be dismissive of aims that, although clearly important, may
not be on their current priority list. See the role of the school later.
2.
3.
4.
Assessment : Respecting the collective view of the learners in the group and
setting up supported opportunities in which learners can peer assess and
review each others work. This may also be modelled in neutral ways by
asking for review of the work of learners not known to the group or review of
web based materials. In terms of role modelling, the clear role is for teachers
to be open to peer review of their own practice. This is a good indication of
the level of trust between the group and is a difficult position for some
teachers to take.
5.
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Teacher
Input stimulus,
guidance,
direction,
opportunities
Continuous improvement
Learning
Environment
Knowledge
Knowledge
Research
outcomes,
analysis,
conclusion
User
generated
content
A PbyP approach to this radical change in practice would be to make this form of
learning level 9 in a ladder for the teacher, their current practice level 1 and then
debate the steps required to transition from one to the other. By this method the
teacher could determine a goal that is appropriate for them. We would then work
through the other aspects of the learning cycle to ensure support was in place for them
to both be successful and recognised for that success.
This is discussed in greater detail in this next section.
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9
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
The final stage is for every teacher in the group to commit to carrying out one of these
goals in the next ten weeks with at least one of their groups.
Some teachers in the group will choose level 1 as their contribution so it is important
that however minimal it is, teachers do believe that it will have an impact. It is vital
that no value judgement is placed on teachers choosing different levels. The most
important thing is that ALL teachers set themselves a goal from this ladder they have
agreed together.
If a teacher chooses a level 1 this time then it may be because they are not confident
in this area or have considerable other commitments. Over time they can be
encouraged to take on progressively harder challenges.
Agreeing common goals in this way has exactly the same advantages as the common
goals agreed by learners in the previous section in that it opens up the scope for
collaboration and professional sharing.
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Perhaps it is not surprising but the ladders that teachers arrive at through this process
correlate well with each other such that even if the wording is very different, the level
of change of a level 3 for example is pretty consistent across schools.
In the PbyP online tools we have used this fact to instantly connect teachers together
from different parts of the world. Once they have decided on their ladder, the
teachers enter it into PbyP then each teacher clicks on the group they will be working
with, the level on the ladder that they have chosen and the start and end date for their
project. Finally they give a brief description of what they plan to do.
If they choose to make their email address visible, they are provided instantly with the
email address and brief descriptions from any other teacher in the system who is also
focussing on improving collaborative skills for their group and has set themselves a
challenge at the same level, together with details of past projects and ideas that were
successful.
This leads nicely into the next stage of the learning cycle which relates to the support
structures around the teacher.
Collaborative Mentoring
The case for teachers working collaboratively is well established. Such teams of
teachers are often referred to as Professional Learning Communities or PLCs. The
definitions of what constitute a PLC vary from author to author but my own
perspective is that teams of at least four and no more than eight are most effective.
In the Microsoft Innovative Schools Workshops I brought together the research
evidence together with a range of commentators views on the benefits for the teacher
the learner and the school community. The following piece of research from Bolam et
al provides a good summary of these different perspectives
1. The idea of a professional learning community (PLC) is one well worth
pursuing as a means of promoting school and system-wide capacity building
for sustainable improvement and pupil learning.
2. An effective professional learning community (EPLC) fully exhibits eight key
characteristics: shared values and vision; collective responsibility for pupils
learning; collaboration focused on learning; individual and collective
professional learning; reflective professional enquiry; openness, networks and
partnerships; inclusive membership; mutual trust, respect and support.
3. Pupil learning was the foremost concern of people working in PLCs and the
more developed a PLC appeared to be, the more positive was the association
with two key measures of effectiveness - pupil achievement and professional
learning.
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With PbyP the PLCs has the added dimension of common skills framework for the
learners and a common teacher ladder of shared goals. This makes the common focus
of the group easier to establish and allows for a deeper common language and shared
direction.
If a PLC adopts a simple set of rules such as never raise a problem unless you have a
solution and last one in buys the cakes! it can operate effectively and maintain
these common goals. It is important that common protocols are established early on
and meetings are regular and professional with a clear focus on solutions.
The core philosophy of PbyP would be to include learners in these professional
learning communities as partners in the learning process but I am unaware of studies
that have been done to confirm the wisdom of this so will fall short of setting it out as
advice. My personal experience is that the presence of learners on these teams raises
the level of professionalism and sharpens the focus providing the learners are free to
give up their position but feel valued enough to feel they are making a genuine
contribution. Visiting a nursery school in London using this approach with its
learners was an amazing experience and allowed me to see what was possible given
the right combination of school ethos and extremely intelligent adult construction of a
learning environment.
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Learner Surveys.
The basic idea here is to set up a questionnaire for learners before and after a project
to check that your own view of how impactful it was is matched by the view of
learners.
In the PbyP online tool I have produced ready made questionnaires constructed from
those questions that have provided useful feedback in surveys such as the TELLUS
and TRIPOD projects. The questionnaires go out automatically when the teacher
signals the start and end of the project. Then the results are analysed and fed back
anonymously.
Earlier I described how this system links up teachers doing similar projects. There is
therefore the option of making this analysis public or not. The advantage of making it
public is that for the first time I believe in education, you can search for ideas that
have been verified by the learners themselves as having been effective.
Once again I offer this as a conceptual illustration of what is possible and currently
functional but the concept behind the tool is that learners should provide feedback on
how well projects are meeting their needs not only as valuable professional
development for the teacher but also to encourage learners to reflect on different
teaching strategies and what works and doesnt work for them.
If learners have access to the internet at home then there are a number of free
packages on the web that allow for anonymous surveys to be constructed and sent
effortlessly. Survey Monkey is one such example.
Be careful to ask similar questions before and after the event and focus them on the
students perception of having made progress in the focus area of the project. For
example it would be useful to know if after a ten week effort on your part, how many
learners felt that their collaborative skills had improved.
Finally, never underestimate the powerful message that the teacher is practicing what
they preach and actually open to reflect on their own learning.
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Peer Review
This is one of the key roles of the Professional learning communities. It is exactly
such small focussed and trusted groups that can provide the kind of constructive
assessment and review that are needed.
In terms of PbyP there is an added dimension possible in that the evidence uploaded
by the learners during the project can be analysed in terms of quality, level and
frequency to provide further analysis for the teacher. This system of action research
and evaluation provides an impact assessment of the project which can be compared
with the attitudes of the learners and the feedback from colleagues to create rich
feedback to the teacher as a learner. Combine this with the rating by other teachers
online who read the description of the project, try to use it and give their feedback and
you begin to see how connecting teachers up through the internet in such focussed
ways is likely to impact enormously on the quality and specificity of feedback
available to the profession.
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3.
4.
Assessment : If the core aims of the school are to improve the confidence of
every individual, how effectively they participate in society or how well they
prepare the leaders of tomorrow then it is vital that such important core aims
are measured. If a school has a central core aim to achieve progression in X
and at the end of the year they have no idea if they have achieved progression
in X then the whole vision and mission of the school becomes little more than
a paper exercise. If all teachers are working towards progressing the schools
collective core aims then even if only by measuring the attitudes of the
learners there must be some clear assessment of the progress or otherwise that
has been made.
5.
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Setting Goals
Goals have to be clear, shared and structured in ways that makes them quick to adopt
without excessive planning and easily understood at all levels. Research such as that
conducted by OFSTED in the UK have consistently found that having no more than
four goals at any time is an essential rule of thumb at both the individual and the
organisational level.
Every teacher and often others in the school community will be doing projects this
year that will progress one or more of these core aims.
It is essential that teachers have as much creative freedom as is possible in terms of
what their project will be but by arranging the core aims in this way, teachers have a
tendency to choose projects that impact on more than one core aim at a time.
The simple act of displaying the core aims in this way drives teacher projects into the
middle space and thereby creates more opportunities for sharing experiences and
dialogue.
The Venn diagram tool described earlier can be taken a little further by asking
teachers to write their name in the space they feel their project sits. The poster then
becomes a visual guide to the range of activity taking place in the school as well as a
reminder of the collective core aims.
Example Project
by a member of
staff
School
Objective 2
Learners are
creative and
entrepreneurial
School
objective 3
Learners work
collaboratively
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Collaborative Mentoring
The following list of suggestions is a work in progress for a more comprehensive set
of tools. The need for organising schools in ways that drive collaboration and peer
support at every level and outwards to parents is very clear. The range of techniques
and approaches for achieving this is very diverse and highly context dependent. For
example some countries have a long standing tradition of team teaching in which
teams of teachers work in large spaces with numerous groups. In other countries
there is no precedent and it would be seen as an offense for another teacher to enter
your classroom while you have a class.
Given the scale of variation the only true statement is in terms of direction towards
greater collaboration at all levels including some of the following ideas.
Change the structures in your school and in your personal learning to make working
in teams part of every day life. Set out expectations and model mentoring behaviour
including
a) Arranging desks in groups
b) Maximise group working
c) Set team challenges
d) Remove walls of classrooms to make teaching a community act
e) Value lunch and social meeting spaces
f) Provide training to help parents structure their support of their children
g) Provide positive examples of success at levels similar to what learners are aiming
for so that aspiration is raised and examples set.
h) Set up common language so that people between schools and between home and
school can communicate from a common starting point
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Peer Review
The key questions for the review process are
Is there consistency between the core aims, the vision and the outcomes
achieved?
To what extent have the views of the learners been incorporated into the
review process?
How many individuals are driving transformation forwards within the school
and is the number increasing each time around the cycle?
How has progression in the core aims been measured or estimated?
How effectively have other schools been able to progress as a result of
adoption or shared learning with the school in previous years and how has this
learning impacted on the projects this year?
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Hellerup is an outstanding school in Denmark which has a clear set of goals focussed
on preparing learners for the changing world in which they are likely to be working
in.
In the view of the school it would be impossible to expect all learners to be engaged,
independent, responsible learners after school if they were not given training in terms
of experiencing these relationships and these role models in the school community.
The high degree of learner choice and empowerment is assisted by the excellent
policies of the Danish education system over many years but the school have gone
much further in taking this philosophy into every area in which learners could have a
voice and choice. The learning spaces are open and reconfigurable requiring teachers
to work in co-ordinated teams.
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