‘In an effective school it can be hard to know where to go next in order to further improve professional development.’ Sara Bubb, 2009.
How can schools embed consistent good practice? In order to maintain a trajectory of improvement it is common for all schools to establish a regime of lesson observations but often these lead to teachers showcasing lessons rather than nurturing continued improvements in classrooms. In one London school OFSTED noted that ‘Leadership and learning are bound together in the sense that the adults in the college community are regarded as learners’. The Deputy Head responsible for teaching and learning and CPD had a ‘feeling’ that by engaging staff in small scale action research such an ethos could be realized. This HOW TO piece draws on this school’s experience to offer guidance on how to engage teachers in action research to improve practice.
School context
At the school many of the teachers had been or were already engaged in action research to some extent; some through in-school CPD opportunities, including an Early Professional Development programme, and some through more formal provision such as a Masters programme. This has helped develop much good practice in departments but it was not disseminated effectively across the whole school. These teachers were positive about their research and felt it had a positive impact on their teaching and learning and the Deputy was keen to encourage its wider use and for it to become a bigger part of the school’s culture. So I hoped that by making the research more overt and widespread it would encourage greater professional dialogue before during and after such research experiences. This was done through making research engagement a CPD opportunity for all teachers, delivered through what was called Action Learning Sets (ALS).
How to set up Action learning Sets.
Share the vision.
Engage all staff in the vision of the school as a ‘learning community’. Explain the role of Action Learning sets.
An ALS is a forum where teachers could meet with a group of other professionals with a shared interest in an aspect of Teaching and Learning. The groups are asked to discuss their shared interest, try out a few things in the classroom, reflect and feedback on this. The sets are made up of a small group of up to eight professionals with a shared interest in an aspect of teaching and learning. A ‘Learning Leader’ is appointed to run the sets, drawing on some theory and possible current educational or case study research.. At the end of the learning set experience any new ideas, proposals or policies may be put forward to the leadership team or further research carried out. Essentially it is an opportunity for high quality CPD lead by professionals for professionals based in classrooms to improve the quality of Teaching and Learning for students.