Thoughts on equality inspired by Dr Arshad

This week I was lucky enough to attend The Stanley Nisbet Educational Colloquium Lecture which was delivered by Dr Rowena Arshad OBE, of the University of Edinburgh. The title of the lecture was “‘Race’ equality and Scottish School Education: Lessons from Research”.

In my new role, I am looking at creating a Professional Learning Package to support teachers to contribute to the equalities agenda, as equalities is an area that I think we (as teachers) often take for granted and assume that we are inclusive. Each time I have heard Dr Arshad speak, the same key point she makes disrupts my thinking. She says that

"to be truly inclusive we first must work out who and what we exclude, because only then can have complete inclusion"

We have Equalities legislation in place relating to race, gender, age, disability, religion or belief and sexual orientation. The Additional Support for Learning legislation states that there is a duty to provide additional support for learning when any child or young person needs support for whatever reason. This should promote equality and challenges all teachers and the education system to embrace and respond to the diversity of our learners, but is this truly working in practice? Dr Arshad uses her research into ‘race’ to discuss how equality is working in Scottish education.

The idea of ‘race’ is a contested term that doesn’t really have meaning, it could mean culture, it could mean ethnicity, it could mean skin colour, it could mean religion, it could mean so many things that in fact in this context, it has no agreed meaning. In Scotland, we view ourselves as being inclusive and not ‘racists’ and view racism as ‘elsewhere’ but that doesn’t mean it does not exist. Since in Scotland ‘race’ has never been an identifier of social organisation, we are uncomfortable and lack knowledge and confidence in discussing with young people issues of racism. However, as Dr Arshad says “by not acknowledging discrimination you are discriminating”. Is this attitude of ‘it’s not really a problem’ an appropriate way to deal with such a complex issue that does exist? Are we not letting down our young people if we don’t give them opportunities to talk about racism in school as a ‘safe places’ because teachers are fearful and anxious not to offend? If we are to support our young people to develop the skills to be global citizens and thrive in a global economy, do we not have a duty to discuss issues such as racism?

All of the Standards for teachers in Scotland begin with a section on professional values and personal commitment and the following statements can be found under the heading of social justice;  

I am committed to the principles of democracy and social justice through fair, transparent, inclusive and sustainable policies and practices in relation to; age, disability, gender and gender identity, race, ethnicity, religion and belief and sexual orientation.

I demonstrate a commitment to engaging learners in real world issues to enhance learning experiences and outcomes and to encourage learning our way to a better future.

These statements should be lived and breathed and evidenced in practice not platitudes on a page. Equality should be ubiquitous in the curriculum, in teachers practice, in the structures and frameworks in the education system.  In HGIOS 4, Inclusion and equality is a separate subsection of the Success and Achievements: QI: Ensuring well-being and equality and inclusion, should equality not pervade all of the indicators? The education system needs to challenge and surface inequalities by not adopting a ‘happy families’ approach where it is perceived that everything is alright, but seeking opportunities to challenge and discuss inequality in its many guises.

It would be accurate to say that most teachers are not confident in discussing ‘race’ issues as the somewhat homogenous nature of the teaching profession means that many have never encountered being the victim of racism. Teachers “need space for deep meaningful discussions” to develop their thoughts and abilities in structuring conversation with young people to facilitate discussions. We have to be braver and have conversations which move beyond discussing racism in terms of artefacts and beliefs, and move these conversations into the reality of being. For example, for a person with a particular religious belief, how does their religious identity complement or conflict with the ‘social norm’ and what may lead to them being excluded? How does this impact on their confidence, their self-esteem, their own perceived abilities?

To promote equality all young people, need to see themselves in the curriculum, in the education system and in society, to support the development of their own identity and support their aspiration whatever that may be. It is incumbent on the whole education system to address the needs of all, to promote and support equality for all.

Professionalism and Professional Learning

This week I have been doing some thinking about professional learning and how this is underpinned by teacher identity and values, and how these contribute to the professionalism of teachers, here are some thoughts;

First of all, I think we can all agree with Chapman who asserts that “the quality of teaching is a critical factor influencing students learning” (2012:387). So how do we as an education system, support teachers professional learning and provide a quality learning experience which influences both teachers as professionals and teachers daily practice?

Gewirtz (2009) discusses teacher learning occurring in three modes which are “participation, construction (social learning) and acquisition (deficit model), so teachers professional learning is complex as it is a mixture of pedagogy, subject knowledge and practice, and is also strongly influenced by values.

A teacher’s professionalism reflects professional learning and values, and can be considered an individual perspective. However, Mitchell (2013:388) argues that there is a tension in this concept of teacher professionalism being individual as it is also “consensually derived”. Thus, if an individual is being unprofessional then they are acting in ways that does not comply with the consensus.

There is an argument that professional learning focuses mainly on aspects of behaviours and rarely considers either the ‘lived experience’ or ‘meaning making’ and as it influences only surface level practice and does not help teachers to get underneath and deepen their knowledge and skills, it is ‘more new learning’ rather than ‘deepening learning’. Various authors have contributed to these differing ideas of professional learning, Guskey asserts that the goals of professional learning are defined by “change in the classroom practice of teachers, change in their attitudes and beliefs, and change in the learning outcomes of students”, and Mitchell (2013) discusses professional learning as “the process whereby an individual acquires or enhances the skills, knowledge and or attitudes for improved practice”, both contributing to the idea that professional learning is about ‘more new learning’. Day and Fraser are more aligned the deepening of learning through reflection and moral purpose, Day’s definition talks about “the process by which teachers review, renew and extend their commitment as change agents to the moral purposes of teaching” and Fraser (2007) contends that professional learning is about “broader changes that may take place over a longer period of time”.

Research can influence how teachers think about and engage in professional learning. Research can help to underpin practice but also challenge ideas and assumptions about practice and values. Engaging in and with research can supporting teachers to become agents of their own learning and help increase teacher professionalism, promoting professional autonomy to create and decide ‘my leaning needs’ and ‘my learning journey’. Therefore, professional learning undertaken by teachers should involve opportunities to work together and to ask questions of their own practice and indeed the practice of others, which needs to be promoted and supported. This is high on the agenda for Scottish education and must remain so, if we are to be true to the aspiration of being enquiring professionals.

Practitioner enquiry is a vehicle to support teachers to engage with theory, policy and practice within their own local environment and is congruent with the act of ‘becoming’. It should lead to deep transformative learning, which significantly informs and influences a professionals’ understanding, practice and impact on pupil experiences. Engaging in enquiry helps teachers to “‘let go’, unlearn, innovate and re-skill in cycles of professional learning throughout their career in response to changing circumstances”, Menter et al (2011) and Sachs (2003) argues that undertaking practitioner enquiry can “act as an important source of teacher and academic professional renewal and development”.

Engaging in research may take the form of a simple enquiry based on a few questions or may involve a more structured and systematic professional learning opportunity where the enquiry is more in-depth and rigorous in methodology, evidence of impact and analysis.

Other forms of professional learning can also support teachers to deepen their knowledge and improve their practice, and although attending a one-off event can be enjoyable and beneficial, unless this has impact on practice it is not the best use of a teacher’s precious time. Professional learning needs to challenge the ‘going on a course’ mentality and move to finding the learning and research that meet the professional learning needs of teachers and support their learning journeys.

Teacher professionalism and professional learning, asks teachers examine their own beliefs, assumptions and behaviours so they can contribute to equality and social justice for all learners. It asks teachers to continue to improve and deepen their knowledge, skills and abilities in ways that keeps their practice relevant, fresh and alive, and to balance accountability with professional autonomy. All of this is expected and more, from teachers who are in the main intrinsically motivated, dedicated, have an altruistic disposition and drive to make a difference to the young people of Scotland.

References

Menter, I Elliott, D Hulme, M. Lewin, J Lowden K. (2011) A Guide to Practitioner research in Education. SAGE publishing

Sachs (2003) The Activist Teaching profession: Teachers and Teaching: theory and practice

Volume 9, Issue 2, 2003

Mitchel, R. (2013) What is professional development, how does it occur in individuals and how may it be used by educational leaders and managers for the purpose of school improvement? Professional development in Education, 39:3, 387-400

Reflections on ‘The Global Fourth Way’

During my week of annual leave, I had time to delve into the ‘The Global Fourth Way’ by Hargreaves & Shirley (2012), below are some thoughts and observations from this.

The globalisation of education has led to extensive policy borrowing and transmission across continents. In their book ‘The Global Fourth Way’ Hargreaves and Shirley (2012) discuss the changing paradigms of education across the globe and build on their previous work in investigating the conditions and readiness of education systems to move forward and react to our 21^st century learners.

Global education has many influencers and as we are influenced by a global economy we are in danger of education moving from being a traditional and altruistic venture into what Diana Ravich calls “venture philanthropy”. This is where prominent individual who create education foundations “converged in support of reform strategies that mirrors their own experience in acquiring huge fortunes, such as competition, choice, deregulations, incentives, and other market driven approaches” (p2). This backward looking model also has a foothold in the aspirations of parents who have a nostalgic attachment to traditional schools and their familiarity. This is well meaning and brings much needed money into the system but the direction of travel can be regressive referencing at ‘what worked for me’ and trying to replicate this in a different time not taking into consideration changes and developments.

Moving to a more innovate way of being and learning requires change. Christensen et al put forward their theory of disrupting innovation which predicts that a “vast wave of innovation” will overtake schools, leading to a transformation in public education. They warn that this may include the termination of schooling as we know it, unless the education system can adapt to digital innovations and embrace alternative providers. The current thinking of subject silos is one of the inhibiting factor which may prevent a reinvention of schooling but there has to be a will to change from the ‘purity and hierarchy’ of subjects and manage the backlash which will inevitably come from any innovation that challenges this particularly at ‘life determining points’ for high achieving children.

The Third Way found in some countries, e.g. England and Canada, evidenced some gains in terms of teacher’s morale and student achievement. The Third Way emphasises a top down model where data, in the form of target setting, is championed. The extensive use of data usually goes hand in hand with the use of technologies to support the data driven education system. Hargreaves & Shirley give caution here as technology can quickly become ‘overextended, distracting, and self-defeating’ (p39) and ‘exacerbate an already excessive belief in or dependence on data’ (p39) as a mean of improvement.

This leads us onto the Fourth Way which can be characterised by an ‘inspiring and shared moral purpose to transform learning and achievement for all’, with targets being self-directed ‘not politically imposed’ (p9). A broad curriculum with a range of learning for all young people, where teachers develop the curriculum collaboratively are also in integral to the Fourth Way of educational change.  Alongside this is an aspiration of data to inform teacher inquiry and decision making within communities of learning, where leadership is ‘about developing and sustaining responsibility for innovating and changing together’ (p9) – collective responsibility

The issue of assessment and testing is one that is predominant in the discourse in Scotland at the moment as the National Improvement Framework is being actioned. An issue with high stakes testing is that it can lead to a distortion of learning and teaching as teacher can ‘teach to the test’. Assessment should be seen as a signpost for the learning that has happened and how well it has been taught. It is more about the progress in learning rather than the product of learning at a particular point in time. Hargreaves & Shirley frame this as “learning is the true purpose of schools and the point to testing and all assessment should be to support that learning, not diminish and distort it” (p182). In the Fourth Way testing is

‘prudent, not pervasive. It is part of the system but does not dominate or distort it”

 Hargreaves & Shirley define five principles of professionalism, which are

·         Professional capital

·         Strong professional associations

·         Collective responsibility

·         Teaching less to learn more

·         Mindful uses of technology

 Professional capital is the product of human capital, social capital and decisional capital. Valuing professionals begins with the signals of trust and respect sent from leaders and policy makers. Where professionals are highly respected and engage with the public, they can enact their social capital that has a positive influence on the lives of their colleagues and the young people they work with.

 The expectation of professional educators is in line with all professionals who are expected to undertake professional learning to upgrade their skills and knowledge, professional reflection on their own and the practice of others, professional enquiry through engaging with and in research. Hargreaves & Shirley go further as state that “being a professional means going far beyond what is in any written contract. If you are fixated on your contract then you have a job, not a profession” (p196).

All improvement should have impact on the pupil experience and outcome. As describes by UNESCO, learning should be about “know and learning to do” but also “learning to be, personally and spiritually, and learning to live together in community and society” (p189).

However, there are limitation in the cycle of improvement, described by Hargreaves & Shirley as the paradox of improvement which is “knowing you have to quit when you are still look like you’re ahead”. So know where you want improve, know how to improve and the impact of that improvement but be aware of when to quit and move on before you reach the attrition point, Hargreaves & Shirley state this as the need to “harmonise incremental improvements and disruptive innovations” (p27).

Reference

Hargreaves, A. & Shirley, D. (2012) The Global Fourth Way – The quest for Education Excellence: Sage Publications: London

Feilte, professionalism and professional learning

During the Teaching Council Ireland Learning Festival, Feilte, I was struck by the similarity between the conversation in Scottish education and education in Ireland. Hot topics for both nations are professionalism and professional learning.

Teacher confidence and professionalism is based on their knowledge, experiences, skills and abilities and is firmly rooted in the values, assumptions and beliefs they hold. So what are the small wins that motivate you and keep you in teaching and as a learner? 

While you ponder that simple yet profound question, think about your daily routines with your classes. What energy do you bring? Teachers are the catalyst for the learning that goes on in their room, they create the energy and vibe for learning. 

Where do you make a difference? Who have you supported to have a lightbulb moment? Who smiled at you, because you were the only person who said their name? Teachers cannot underestimate the 'power' they have to make a difference to a child's life.

At the heart of this is relationships. Developing relationships and knowing children is one of the most important factors in helping children learn. One of my core beliefs is "they don't care how much you know, until they know how much you care", so show them how much you care. This investment in children and young people is crucial and because you have invested time and energy, the children and young people have an increased investment in your relationship and become accountable for their own learning through that relationship.

Professionalism is underpinned by your values, assumptions and beliefs. In challenging your own assumptions, values and beliefs think about the 'white mask' that some children wear to fit in because they cannot see themselves reflected back through the curriculum or through the experience of education. Who are the 'invisibles' in your classroom? Who is wearing a 'white mask'? How are you displaying your assumptions about race, gender, sexual orientation, learning ability etc.? Do you need to stop and challenge your pedagogies and learn about yourself and how you project your values?  Do you understand diversity in all its guises so you can teach in an equitable way? Do you know and understand and use wisely, the influence you have in children's development?  And do you accept, understand and use wisely, your position as a role model?

Another aspect of professionalism that is profoundly impactful and requires time, space and energy is professional learning. Within the busyness of teaching, where do you find the time to try new things? To challenge your thinking? Or to develop your teaching practice? 

Time is a major issue for all teachers across the globe. There are competing demands such as administration tasks, preparation and correction and improvement planning which all consume large swathes of teacher’s non-contact time. Then teachers are expected to still have the energy to be creative and innovative in their practice.

In my experience the best way to innovate practice is by talking with colleagues both from within and beyond your own school. Teachers are the best resource in education. Professional collaboration and sharing is one of the best ways to move forward and challenge your practice. When you share your learning it becomes more powerful to you and is also more credible to your colleagues than an 'outside expert' telling them that 'it will work'.

Professionalism also requires teachers to have a voice and to think critically about policy and their practice. Teachers voices matter. Teachers can be the agents of change for the education system if they take responsibility for their own professional learning and become solution orientated, to become better tomorrow than they were today. Teachers should plan for meaningful professional learning that enhances their practice. The better prepared teachers are, by having a purposeful focus for both their own learning and the pupils learning, the better chance of improving attainment for all learners.

Excellence and equity can be achieved through the creation of space and time for professional collaboration and teacher agency.  The creation of time requires a change in the focus of the education system to prioritise professional learning. This change accompanied by a cultural shift to professional collaboration becoming the norm will empower teachers to challenge and support each other's learning and be the agents of change.