a passion for quality: teachers who make a difference christopher day

A Passion for Quality: A Passion for Quality: Teachers Who Make a Teachers Who Make a

DifferenceDifference

Christopher DayChristopher Day

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The Performativity Agenda: The Performativity Agenda: Challenges and Challenges and professionalismprofessionalism

Soul engineers or service Soul engineers or service providers?providers?

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The first, and most important, ability you can develop in a flat world is the ability to ‘learn how to learn’ – to constantly absorb, and teach yourself, new ways of doing old things or new ways of doing new things. This is an ability every worker should cultivate in an age when parts or all of many jobs are constantly going to be exposed to digitization, automation, and outsourcing, and where new jobs, and whole new industries, will be churned up faster and faster. In such a world, it is not only what you know but how you learn that will set you apart. Because what you know today will be out-of-date sooner than you think.

(Friedman, 2006, p. 309)

‘… a myopic obsession with growing the economy has meant that we have tended to ignore the negative well-being implications of the longer working hours and rising levels of indebtedness which it has entailed. In the process we have also squeezed the time and space we allow ourselves for pursuit of all the other activities which we know promote positive well-being and human flourishing.’

(NEF, 2009: 9)

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‘Scholars distinguish three kinds of ‘work orientation’: a job, a career, and a calling. You do a job for the pay check at the end of the week…It is just a means to another end…A career entails a deeper personal investment in work. You mark your achievements through money, but also through advancement…When the promotions stop…alienation starts, and you being to look elsewhere for gratification and meaning.

A calling (or vocation) is a passionate commitment to work for its own sake. Individuals with a calling see their work as contributing to the greater good, to something larger than they are. The work is fulfilling in its own right, without regard for money or for advancement. When the money stops and the promotion end, the work goes on.’

(Seligman, 2002: 168)

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Part 1: Part 1: Why passion mattersWhy passion matters

Part 2: Part 2: Good teachers: three innerGood teachers: three innerqualitiesqualities

Part 3: Part 3: Commitment and effectivenessCommitment and effectiveness

Part 4: Part 4: Effective and more effective Effective and more effective teachersteachers

Part 5: Part 5: Lessons for school leadershipLessons for school leadership

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Part 1:Part 1: Why passion mattersWhy passion matters

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‘‘There are strong empirical grounds for believing that teachers can and do make a difference and that consistent high quality teaching, supported by strategic professional development, can and does deliver dramatic improvements in student learning’.

(Rowe, 2003, p. 27)

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Fig 1 Teachers Make An Extraordinary Difference

(Sanders & Rivers, 1996)

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‘‘‘The effects of quality teaching on educational backgrounds are greater than those that arise from students’ backgrounds…A reliance on curriculum standards and state-wide assessment strategies without paying due attention to teacher quality appears to be insufficient to gain the improvements in student outcomes sought. The quality of teacher education and teaching appear to be more strongly related to student achievement than class sizes, overall spending levels or teacher salaries’.

(Darling-Hammond, 2000)

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Qualities of Good Teachers: Qualities of Good Teachers: Five Key Research FindingsFive Key Research Findings

• Technical and personal competencies

• Care and achievement

• Identity

• Emotional understanding

• Hope and resilience

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Part 2:Part 2: Three Inner QualitiesThree Inner Qualities

i) Relationships with students

ii) Moral purposes: care and courage

iii) Emotional identities

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i) Relationships with studentsi) Relationships with students

‘Teachers favour the more intelligent students in our class and don’t help us less intelligent students enough.’

‘The teachers don’t even try to understand us.’

(Reported in Bentley, 1998, p80)

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Relationships with studentsRelationships with studentsThe good teachers are the ones who know how to listen as well as talk, who don’t make you feel that your opinion isn’t worth anything. It’s not age that’s important, it’s their attitude to young people. There are some who don’t seem to enjoy what they’re doing, and there are others who seem so enthusiastic about their subjects. It’s brilliant being with those sort of teachers.

(Gillian, in White, 2000, p. 18)

There’s no substitute for the infectious human element of a teacher deeply in love with his subject. He alone will set fire to my soul. I need guidance to mould my chalky dreams into a rich and satisfying adulthood. My need is now, today. Tomorrow is somewhere else…

(Susan, in Blishen, 1969, p. 20)

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ii) Moral purposes: care and ii) Moral purposes: care and couragecourage

A way of living prospectively in and engaging purposefully with the past and present.

(Havel, 1990: 181)

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HopeHopeHaving hope means that one will not give in to overwhelming anxiety … Indeed, people who are hopeful evidence less depression than others as they manoeuvre through life in pursuit of their goals, are less anxious in general, and have fewer emotional distresses.

(Goleman, 1995, p. 87)

An orientation of the spirit, an orientation of the heart…It is not the conviction that something will [by definition] turn out well, but the certainty that something makes sense, regardless of how it turns out.

(Havel, 1990: 181)

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The Enemies of HopeThe Enemies of Hope

• Cynicism (false consciousness)

• Fatalism (conservatism)

• Relativism (lack of moral andpolitical will)

• Fundamentalism (adherence totradition)

(Halpin, 2003: 10-30)

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iii) Emotional Identitiesiii) Emotional Identities

‘The ways in which teachers form their professional identities are influenced by both how they feel about themselves and how they feel about their students. This professional identity helps them to position or situate themselves in relation to their students and to make appropriate and effective adjustments in their practice and their beliefs about, and engagement with, students’.

(James-Wilson, 2001, p. 29)

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Dimensions of Identity

Personal

SituatedProfessional

StructureStructure

StructureStructure StructureStructure

StructureStructure

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‘a dynamic state, in which the individual is able to develop their potential, work productively and creatively, build strong and positive relationships with others, and contribute to their community’

(Foresight Mental Capital and Wellbeing Project, 2008: 10)

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• emotions are indispensable to rationaldecision-making;

• emotional understanding and intelligenceare at the heart of good professionalpractice;

• emotional and cognitive health are affectedby personal biography, career, socialcontext (of work and home) and external (policy) factors;

• emotional health is crucial to effectiveteaching over a career.

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Part 3:Part 3: Commitment and Commitment and

EffectivenessEffectiveness

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Research Finding 1Research Finding 1Teacher Commitment is Associated Teacher Commitment is Associated

with Teacher Effectivenesswith Teacher Effectiveness

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Fig. 2: Associations between commitment and effectiveness

Associations between commitment and effectiveness

(2)

72%

15%

13%

73%

13%

13%

61%

33%

7%

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

Upw ard Stable Dow nw ard

Mixed impact

Below expectation

Above/As expected

(N=46)(N=15)(N=100)

Cohort 2(N=161)

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Key Message 1Key Message 1

There are statistically significant associations between teacher

commitment and their effectiveness as defined by pupil

attainment.

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Research Finding 2Research Finding 2Teachers effectiveness does not Teachers effectiveness does not always increase with experiencealways increase with experience

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Professional Life PhasesProfessional Life Phases• Professional life phase 0-3: commitment, support and

challenge

• Professional life phase 4-7: Identity and efficacy in classroom Sub-groups

• Professional life phase 8-15: Managing changes in role and identity: growing tensions and transitions

• Professional life phase 16-23: Work life tension, challenges to motivation and commitment

• Professional life phase 24-30: Challenges to Sustaining Motivation

• Professional life phase 31+: Sustaining/declining motivation, ability to cope with change, looking to retire

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Recognising the impact of these influences in particular

professional life phases and providing informal and formal

targeted support are key means of building and sustaining teacher commitment and effectiveness.

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There may be a difference in the impact of environment between

those who teach in relatively more disadvantaged communities and those who teach in communities

which are more advantaged.

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Fig. 3: Resilience and FSM

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

Resilient Teachers 75%

(N=55/73)

FSM 1 FSM 2 FSM 3 FSM 4

71%

(N=66/93)

58%

(N=34/59)

84%

(N=59/70)

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There are specific influences which affect teachers’ effectiveness in

schools in different socio-economic contexts.

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Research Finding 3Research Finding 3The quality of school leadership is a The quality of school leadership is a key factor in creating the conditions key factor in creating the conditions for building and sustaining teachers’ for building and sustaining teachers’

effectiveness.effectiveness.

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Sustaining CommitmentSustaining Commitment

Leadership (76%)Leadership (76%)It’s good to know that we have strong leadership who

has a clear vision for the school

Colleagues (63%)Colleagues (63%)We have such a supportive team here. Everyone

works together and we have a common goal to work towards

Personal support (95%)Personal support (95%)It helps having a supportive family who don’t get

frustrated when I’m sat working on a Sunday afternoon and they want to go to the park

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Declining CommitmentDeclining CommitmentWorkload (68%)Workload (68%)It never stops, there’s always something more to do and it

eats away at your life until you have no social life and no time for anything but work

Pupil behaviour (64%)Pupil behaviour (64%)Over the years, pupils have got worse. They have no respect

for themselves or the teachers.

Pupil behaviour is one of the biggest problems in schools today. They know their rights and there’s nothing you can do.

Leadership (58%)Leadership (58%)Unless the leadership supports the staff, you’re on your

own. They need to be visible and need to appreciate what teachers are doing.

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Key Message 5Key Message 5Creating positive work conditions, meeting teachers’ professional and

personal needs and minimizing teacher burnout, are keys to

encouraging teachers’ resilience, promoting teacher well-being and

positive professional life trajectories, improving the conditions for teachers’

effectiveness in relation to pupils’ performance, and ultimately, school

improvement. These are key tasks for school leaders.

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Part 4:Part 4: ‘‘Effective’ and ‘More Effective’ and ‘More Effective’ TeachersEffective’ Teachers

Effective More EffectiveFocus on positive relationships

Challenging pupils’ ideas

Organised environment

Inspiring

Clear expectations InnovationDifferentiationPupil agency

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Effective More EffectivePraise and feedback Develop individual

relationshipsRapport Building self esteemBoundaries Engender trust and

respect

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Effective More EffectiveStructured New challenges for

independent learningWell paced Co-learningScaffolding Intellectual

stimulationHigh level of pupil engagementPupils aware of learning objectives

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Effective More EffectiveVariety of learning styles

Personalised support

Inclusivity Community of practice

Aware of individual learning needs

Engaging with peers

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Effective More EffectiveBright, organised classroom

Use of a wide range of technology

Student work Students confident in use

Use of technology Teacher made materials

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Effective More EffectiveTeachers aware of learning objectives

Offer pupils opportunities to reflect

Use feedback and review strategies

Self evaluation

Monitor and record achievements

Dialogue about learning

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Effective More EffectiveHigh expectations Expectations

individualised, consistent, sequential, differentiated

¾ part lessons with starter and plenary

Pupils had a measure of control over their own learning

Well structured with transitions between tasks 44

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Part 5:Part 5: Lessons for School Lessons for School

LeadershipLeadership

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Lessons for School Lessons for School Leadership (1)Leadership (1)

Principals listen carefully to the voices of their teachers, to avoid humiliating them, to acknowledge good attitudes and good work with praise and to demonstrate always, their deep love for their work as teachers.

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Principals have a moral duty to avoid being enemies of hope and to teach their teachers to be hopeful about their work.

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Understanding the nature of professional identity and building the capacity of teachers to create and maintain a positive sense of identity is an important part of principals’ everyday work.

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C.P.D. should focus upon developing leadership for learning communities if professional learning and development is to become an embedded part of teacher and schools’ responsibilities and accountabilities for raising standards.


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Principals have a responsibility to educate teachers to be resilient, to counter the ‘dulling of sensitivities’ and ‘managed professionalism’ of performativity agendas.

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To do so, principals themselves need to model the values, virtues and practices of good teaching through their reflective stance, scholarship, practices and abilities to cross boundaries as trusted citizens in different academic and practice communities.

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Fig. 4: The Passionate Principal

Knowledge about teaching,

range of teaching

approaches

Reflective, inquiry- led individual &collaborative teacher and

pupil learning

High expectations,

Ideals and standards - only the best will do

Honesty, Fairness, Practical Wisdom

Persevering, being persistent

in adversity

Person – centred learning with responsibility

Vision for learning and

achievement for all

Cognition and emotion (head, heart and hand)

The Passionate Principal

Hope and Optimism

Continuing Learning &

DevelopmentCare &

Courage

Commitment Resilience

Multiple emotional identities

External & internal relations

Moral Purposes

Christopher [email protected]

THANK YOU

a passion for quality: teachers who make a difference christopher day

Documents

good teachers

new ways

new things

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effects of quality teaching

kinds of work orientation

teacher quality