tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6044576021219205068.post7167257090272347639..comments2024-03-28T00:30:15.013+13:00Comments on Claire Amos: Teaching as Inquiry: A mechanism for leading meaningful and manageable pedagogical changeClaire Amoshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10579894985450127837noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6044576021219205068.post-485945549162679942013-10-12T20:13:47.522+13:002013-10-12T20:13:47.522+13:00It must be exciting designing a new school and cur...It must be exciting designing a new school and curriculum. I teach in Wellington and I used to work at Global Focus Aotearoa. If you're not familiar with global education pedagogy you might be interested in this link, it lays bare some of the key aspects and it could be something your school is interested in. <br /><br />http://www.globalfocus.org.nz/uploaded/documents/Global_Perspectives_1.pdf<br /><br />All the best,<br /><br />RickyRickyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12754231640760015431noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6044576021219205068.post-3371205457443134132013-09-15T14:18:14.782+12:002013-09-15T14:18:14.782+12:00Hi Claire and Cindy...
Thanks for your posts. I co...Hi Claire and Cindy...<br />Thanks for your posts. I completed an internal self-review of the teaching as inquiry PLD structure that I had a hand in implementing at WSC over the last three years and the results show that many teachers struggled to do meaningful inquiries over this time. It often came down to 'time' to do the job well but it was also clear that the effectiveness of the facilitator of their group (or dept) was crucial as was the extent to which they 'bought' in to the purpose of their inquiry and how much they invested in it. Also - too many were not well linked to student achievement but ended up being about the teacher's own learning rather than about the impact on student achievement which many found difficult to measure meaningfully as well. We are continuing with it and I believe in the potential of it if done well - but the reality is that many will do it in a cursory fashion unless it is incredibly well planned and structured and monitored and it is really really hard to do that across the board. It will be interesting to see how well EGGS has been able to sustain this approach without the time provided under the ICT contract and/or once it is assumed that the understanding of the cycle is embedded into practice.Shaun Hawthornehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04360308510646595829noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6044576021219205068.post-90179280230931866952013-09-15T08:02:16.170+12:002013-09-15T08:02:16.170+12:00Hi Cindy,
I hear you that Teaching as Inquiry in ...Hi Cindy,<br /><br />I hear you that Teaching as Inquiry in itself is not a panacea but I think you hit on the 'why' later in your comment. Well led, supported and resourced Teaching as Inquiry is as close to a panacea as we are going to get. Quite simply because it context bound and born out of the specific needs of the learners. Teachers rarely do it effectively - this is an issue and most likely because no one has helped them to do so. They do need to be lead and supported through it and it needs to be well resourced. The times I have experienced it being effective (as an HOD and as PD facilitator) was where there was someone leading and supporting teachers through the process, and thats where the issue that PD for the most part is not sustained and resourced well enough to do this. You touched on a whole lot of other issues in your comment and I, like you, saw them first hand as a facilitator - where accountability and professionalism is lacking, any kind of sustained change, let alone improvement, is nigh on impossible (that for me is where the 'leading' of it is so important). In terms of how we measured change (and sometimes improvement) - at EGGS the ICTPD was focused around increasing student centredness and engagement. Levels of both we measured through a mix of qualitative methods in the focusing and learning inquiry phase. Some PLGs did this very thoroughly through focus groups and surveys. When I used it as an HOD we actually turned it around and teachers looked at an NCEA level and looked back over several years to see if there was a specific standard that was comparatively lower than others (so identifying a standard they may be teaching less effectively...or not prioritising), so for them the effectiveness was measured by their current classes results in that standard. A sort of backward way of doing it, by flipping the focus on the teacher needs rather than the student, but it was effective. <br /><br />The leading and accountability is as important as the inquiry itself. I just like it because it is (if done properly) an innately personalised model of PD. Hope that makes sense. We can of course debate this more next term. Looking forward to it!Claire Amoshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10579894985450127837noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6044576021219205068.post-72004774284046971552013-09-14T21:58:11.512+12:002013-09-14T21:58:11.512+12:00Hey Claire
Great piece! Well researched and writte...Hey Claire<br />Great piece! Well researched and written (of course) <br />However...<br />I think its all very well for Timperly, Alton-Lee, Wilson, Barrar, & Fung, 2008 et al ERO etc to bang on about teaching as inquiry as being the panacea to all PLD and student achievement ills..my concern is that in reality, in my experience (having been in schools widely, range of deciles over the last 18months) there are very few teachers who are using the teaching as inquiry cycle effectively if at all. In fact I can not name any...other than those whose hands have and are being held (tightly) to lead them through the process tiny steps at a time and once we let go of their hands I have my doubts about the sustainability aspect. <br /><br />I know teaching as inquiry is hugely powerful to lift student achievement and raise teachers' self-efficacy because I have seen it first hand. The issues that I continue to grapple with are a) how do we make teachers care enough to want to change what they do b) once/if they do care enough, support them to break poor pedagogical habits that are sometimes years in the making. (it takes as long to break a habit as it did to make it). There are so many teachers so far away from effective pedagogy, responsive teaching, assessment for learning, knowing a literacy strategy, appropriate scaffolding...etc that it makes my heart ache! The NZC is now old... and still the number of teachers who can explain the use of effective pedagogies is tiny... and teachers confuse inquiry learning with teaching as inquiry...strewth! Where is the accountability and professionalism? It is not ok for teachers to say we don't have time for this or we are already doing this or Im too busy..because this is the very essence of teachers teaching effectively so as to maximise engagement and learning. <br /><br />How did you measure the effectiveness of the inquiry cycle...did the teachers measure achievement before and after a teaching intervention and see positive change?<br /><br />Anyway great food for thought here. Thanks for putting it out there.<br /> Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05930287237535865313noreply@blogger.com