community-led development clusters (transition)...community-led development clusters (transition)...

© 2018 The University of Manchester: SEERIH Transition Clusters, page 1

Community-led Development Clusters (Transition) Shared endeavour between SEERIH and Local Strategic Leaders, valuing parity of esteem and localised impact

A. Overarching Rationale B. Community-led Transition Clusters, aim to: C. What’s the problem? D. From Participation to Collaboration, across the transition E. Logistics to a successful Community-led Transition Cluster F. The 24-month CPD Programme

G. Review of Impact

H. Where next?

I. In Summary

Appendix

A. Overarching Rationale Community-led Development Clusters offer:

- increased local knowledge and association with head teachers, senior leaders and the University within Greater Manchester.

- a mechanism to support teachers to develop from ‘participants’ in professional learning in science to ‘collaborators’ in the process.

The ultimate result is to improve learner outcomes (attainment and aspirations) in science education in primary and secondary school. Specific focus is given to Key Stage 2 to 3 transition.

B. Community-led Transition Clusters Aims are to:

enrich the strategic development of science education through collaboration between primary and secondary schools in specific localities in Greater Manchester,

stimulate the development of communities of science teachers and subject leaders within a close geographical location focused on establishing through-curriculum provision, across the transition.


C. What’s the problem? Transition between primary and secondary school is an ongoing challenge (DFE 2013*1), and when working well supports young people to move, often to new schools, new curricula and new styles of learning. UK education typically sees secondary pupils taught by specialist subject teachers, where they move as cohorts between subject classes as opposed to remaining in one classroom with one main class teacher as in primary. ‘Transition activity’ can typically involve pupils visiting the secondary school for an ‘experience day’ within their last year of primary school. Pupils are offered exciting and engaging introductions to science laboratories, specialist equipment and the Science teaching team. In addition primary teachers share assessment data to inform new teachers of pupil achievement. The SEERIH Community-led Development Clusters aimed to change the dynamics of traditional transition between primary and secondary schools for science. Their design was one that focused specifically on teacher-to-teacher engagement through a 2-year professional learning programme. By working in this way, learning assets were shared between professionals with regard to teaching, learning and assessment practices in science. A focus on learning ‘with’ each other was a priority, where balance and equity was established and celebrated between teachers from the different age phases. Early scoping of the ‘feeling’ around transition with teachers and senior leaders was that it could be much better, and that it was acknowledged that too much repetition of learning took place in Year 7 and pupil motivation, in particular with boys, decreased into Year 8 (Informal discussion with Head teachers). Anecdotal conversations with primary teachers found that they felt their work was undervalued by secondary staff and that they weren’t convinced transition data was effectively responded to. Secondary teachers explained the challenge of wide-ranging primary school associations resulting in classes being made up from over 10 different schools at a time. Consistency of prior provision and scientific understanding resulted in the need to define a common baseline, which they acknowledged may result in some Year 7 teaching not being attuned well enough to specific pupil needs and abilities.

1 OFSTED (2013) Key Stage 3 – the wasted years. Accessible at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/key-stage-3-the-wasted-years

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/key-stage-3-the-wasted-years


D. From Participation to Collaboration, across the transition SEERIH’s framework for professional learning underpins the cluster experience. The Trajectory of Professional Development (ref, Figure 1, Bianchi 2017)2 guides the design and delivery of six one-day teacher-to-teacher engagements across 24 months. The cluster experiences are designed to support teachers who are most familiar to ‘participating’ in professional development, to engage in an increasingly ‘collaborative’ manner. This looks to see a shift in culture from ‘attending’ CPD and being ‘done to’, to engaging teachers in discussion and learning by practically engaging in an area of development together. When collaborating teachers will be seen to be increasingly challenging of their own practice and can justify their choices, whilst proactively listening and learning with others through shared endeavour and experimentation. Transition clusters collaborate across schools in the same geographical area, linked to one main high school partner.

Figure X: Trajectory of Professional Development (Bianchi 2017)

SEERIH’s input is to support and ‘stretch’ teachers thinking about pedagogy, considering a wide range of influences including curriculum, resources, language and communication between schools. The following diagrams illustrate how dynamics within the Community-led Transition cluster shift in over the 24 month engagement. In Year 1 ‘participation’ very much sees SEERIH leading and brokering the CPD experience, whereas in Year 2 SEERIH’s role becomes more ‘collaborative’ as teachers have been found to proactively direct their interactions with each other, and request expertise based on their shared interests.

2 BIANCHI, L., (2017) A trajectory for the development of professional leadership in science education, Journal of Emergent Science, Winter 2016/17, Vol 12, 72-83, The Association for Science Education.


Year 1: PARTICIPATE – SEERIH brokers engagement with teachers in the schools, encouraging connections

Year 2: COLLABORATE - Teachers become increasingly proactive in interconnecting with each other,

drawing on SEERIH in a collaborative, as opposed to leadership role

E. Logistics to a successful Community-led Transition Cluster Typically clusters were comprised of one secondary school and four to five local primary schools. Head teachers were given detailed information about the obligations for involvement and an induction meeting held to describe the manner in which the cluster will work.

SEERIH

Primary School

Primary School

Secondary School

Primary School

Primary School

SEERIH

Primary School

Primary School

Secondary School

Primary School

Primary School


School arrangements included:

A formal contract between School leadership and SEERIH, identifying at least 2 teachers to be involved for two academic years

Professional Learning Schedule (ref. Appendix A), outlining the number and nature of CPD engagement over the 24 months. These included 3 x ‘Engage Workshops’ plus 3 x ‘Enrich Workshops’ per academic year

At least 2 primary teachers from each school (Primary Science Subject Leader and one other) and 3 secondary teachers (with experience of teaching GCSE standard Biology, Chemistry and Physics)

Teachers were asked to be willing to: ● develop as a reflective practitioner ● develop a long-lasting motivation and interest to connect with other teachers in the cluster ● prepare fully for each meeting by undertaking a series of self-set gap tasks ● communicate as a cluster outside to designated meetings, e.g. at STEM Education events, via

Whatsapp (optional)

F. The 24-month CPD Programme The programme was made up of two types of input (Engage and Enrich) that focused on the joint sharing of assets and professional knowledge, as well as Head teacher/SLT breakfast meetings. Engage Inputs (compulsory attendance): Part 1: Secondary teachers offering subject knowledge 1-hour workshops on Biology, Chemistry and Physics. Topics were linked to the primary curriculum. Secondary teachers design and taught each session up to GCSE standard. Note: this was not secondary teachers designing primary school activities on topics, but an upskilling and confidence-building workshop for teachers to enhance teacher subject knowledge. Part 2: Primary teachers offering pedagogic knowledge 1-hour workshops on Working Scientifically, the Primary Curriculum and approaches to learning in primary settings. Open Door Visits: In Year 2, these structured visits were designed to offer opportunity for teachers to explore each other’s teaching ‘from the inside’. Teachers agreed to a set of ethical guidelines and agreed areas of focus when observing learning in each other’s settings. Enrich Inputs (encouraged but optional attendance): CPD opportunities within and across the region that were identified to be of benefit for the group to share in as a whole. This included specialist workshops, courses, regional and national conferences, Teachmeets and events, including the Great Science Share for Schools. Appendix A offers a breakdown of the 2 year model of inputs. G. Review of Impact Table 1 describes the impact teachers noted from each ‘Engage’ meeting across the two years (6 in total). Information is collated from teacher evaluation questionnaires, SEERIH consultant reflective


notes (in the form of end-of-day PMI), Head teacher breakfast meeting notes and informal dialogue with teachers. The Rochdale Cluster has been used as the focus for description in this case.

Engage Session

Main reflection(s) Description of impact

1 Externally motivated attendees Teachers as participators SEERIH as leader

The first session gave us a starting point, a feeling of excitement about what was to come along with a fear of the unknown and a slight distrust of the ‘others.’ Everyone got involved but when it came to the evaluation, not everyone saw it as a learning opportunity for themselves. We have a long way to go!

2 Externally motivated attendees Some primary teachers demonstrating a ‘done-to’ attitude (participators), whilst others starting to shift towards wanting a genuine shared-equal learning experience SEERIH as leader

Moments of joy where some members of the cluster started to notice and name the types of enquiry they were carrying out. Despite this, it is still early days and some misconceptions remain. Some primary members of the cluster still saw the purpose of the cluster as being ‘told’ what to do by secondary colleagues. Engagement was higher this time and the impact of the Autumn Enrich event was evident with one primary school taking the idea to their heart and hanging all their science teaching on stories.

3

Production of a shared resource brings the group together. Increase collaboration, supported by meeting each other outside these formal settings. SEERIH as leader-facilitator.

The relationship and trust between the teachers was starting to grow at this meeting. The time some of them had spent together at some of the enrich events had allowed them space and time to feel familiar with each other and have a shared history. The discussion around enquiry type logos had borne fruit and the cluster had finally agreed on some shared imagery and agreed to start using it from September 2018 from Year 4 to Year 8 across the cluster. Evidence of the impact of the TSW event was clear with some of the Primary presentations featuring some of that PD in pupil work from their school already.

4

Teachers show genuine interest to meet, intrinsic motivations related to ‘knowing each other’ from last year emerging. Level of pride in what had been achieved gelling the group. SEERIH as facilitator, requesting teachers to co-decide on focus going forward. Teachers still reliant on external organiser.

The new academic year started with enthusiasm despite one of the primary schools withdrawing, a new one had come to join the cluster in Rochdale. There was some adjustment as some slight variations in primary staff attending meant some new seeds needed sowing. The cluster started to edit some of the work they started last year and had really strong qualitative views on what they had produced, dismissing some of it entirely and heavily editing others. The information shared by secondary colleagues had evolved into a Q&A session moving away from the delivery model. There was excitement remaining from the GSS in the summer term and plans being made early to join in on a larger scale in 2018. The UoM staff member was becoming more of a facilitator that deliverer of PD experiences.

5

Growing trust and professional respect between teachers. Genuine ‘wanting to learn’ from each other. Primary teachers seeming to take a stronger leadership role in pedagogy. SEERIH as facilitator. Some teachers self-organising.

The Open Door Visits whilst in the secondary school were a testament to the growing trust and relationship between the teachers in the cluster. Ethics and protocols were agreed on easily and with confidence and the planning for the primary visits was organised before the end of the session. Use of the new logos has increased with nearly all schools using them as agreed and the minority that were not were enthused to do so after sharing the excitement of their launch as a lanyard keyring at the SEERIH conference in November and shared by SEERIH staff at the ASE


Annual conference in January 2018. Some concerns were raised within the cluster about the impending end to the cluster and what would happen next.

6

Teachers all demonstrating strong collaborative status. All with assets to share. Evaluation activity demonstrates progress and pride, with impact on day to day practice in classrooms. SEERIH moving to coach. Events and activities self-organised within the group. (Prospect that the group will continue without SEERIH beyond the 2 year programme)

All Primary schools presented a 5 minute session about the impact of the work of the cluster. They all talked about personal learning as well as ideas and development for the teaching of science in their own schools. The cluster has been inspired by the freedom of what next and has formed three smaller subsets, started a WhatsApp group for more informal interactions, and is planning to take the lead in the Rochdale GSS for 2019. Plans were laid to formalise the work the cluster has done with the logos and the ‘enquiry splat’ as a new SEERIH innovations website during 2018/19.

Enquiring Science for All: Teachers have grouped to complete a range of resources that have been made accessible on the SEERIH Innovations bespoke webpage. The range of resources offered aim to provide enough information for teachers beyond the original group to explore how primary to secondary learning develops across a range of topic areas.

J. Final statement The programme has been considered a success. It has challenged the traditional perspectives of school-to-pupil transition, and operated in a meaningful way with teachers. It is suggested that investment in teacher-to-teacher collaboration offers a more tangible and meaningful offer to schools seeking to develop and maintain quality provision in curriculum across the primary and secondary years. In this way, the Community-led Transition Clusters are different in their remit and goal. Whereas pupil transition days offer parents and pupils information about new schools, and motivate them to select the school – these are mostly to the gain of recruitment into the school. SEERIH offers these clusters as means by which to focus on learning and pedagogical consistency and sustainability, with a core focus on improving learning outcomes for all. For more insight into head teacher and teacher opinion on outcomes, view the SEERIH Community-led Cluster short film at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M39IeHtG6cY&index=2&list=PL1lNJr44zLlYchzUsPbSRCtHDUcTYqC6D

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M39IeHtG6cY&index=2&list=PL1lNJr44zLlYchzUsPbSRCtHDUcTYqC6D

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M39IeHtG6cY&index=2&list=PL1lNJr44zLlYchzUsPbSRCtHDUcTYqC6D


Acknowledgement to the Community-led Transition Cluster Schools

Rochdale Cluster: All Saints Primary School Bamford Academy Falinge Park High School Healey Primary School Meanwood Primary School Spotland Primary School

Bury Cluster: Cams Lane Primary School Greenmount Primary School Greenhill Primary School Holy Trinity Primary Lowercroft Primary School St Luke's CofE Primary School The Derby High School Bury Grammar School Boys Bury Grammar School Girls

Crumpsall Cluster: Abraham Moss Community School Charlestown Community Primary School Crumpsall Lane Primary School Irk Valley Community School Marlborough Road Academy

About SEERIH, SEERIH, based in the Faculty of Science & Engineering at The University of Manchester has a mission to be a nationally recognised hub of science and engineering education specialists focussing on achieving quality outcomes for learners through research-led, innovative continuous professional development, drawing on cross sector partnerships. E: [email protected] In collaboration with

mailto:[email protected]


APPENDIX A

YEAR 1

October ENGAGE day 1

SECONDARY LEADS: 3 x 1 hour inputs on science subject learning of primary national curriculum content Physics – mass/weight (Earth and Space); Chemistry – states of matter; Biology – evolution/inheritance PRIMARY LEADS: Working Scientifically in the science curriculum. Exploring the pedagogy of primary science and introducing five types of enquiry to the group

November ENRICH day 1

Visiting Primary Science professional (e.g. Storytelling Schools – ½ day exploring use of story in the teaching of science hosted at one of the secondary schools. Primary pedagogy focus – links made to secondary curriculum content)

December BREAKFAST MEETING day 1

Meeting of all head teachers from the cluster with SEERIH director to review the progress of the term and planning the term ahead.

February ENGAGE day 2

SECONDARY LEADS: 3 x 1 hour inputs on science subject learning on primary national curriculum content Physics – Electricity; Chemistry – states of matter extended; Biology – The heart PRIMARY LEADS: Working Scientifically and further work on remaining two types of enquiry. UoM lead facilitates discussion around shared language of enquiry and starts to develop logos as outcome of this. Two Primary schools briefly shared how the cluster was starting to impact on their thinking and in some cases their teaching.

March ENRICH day 2

Visiting professional – Rosemary Feasey – Science and Maths – full day exploring practical graphing, language of science in maths hosted at University of Manchester as part of the Through the Science Window (TSW) program. Primary pedagogy and curriculum focus

April BREAKFAST MEETING day 2

Meeting of all head teachers from the cluster with SEERIH director to review the progress of the term and planning the term ahead.

May ENRICH day 3

SECONDARY LEADS: 3 x 1 hour inputs on science subject learning on primary national curriculum content Physics – Forces (air resistance, friction, pulleys); Chemistry – Chemical reactions; Biology – Microorganisms PRIMARY LEADS: Working Scientifically – clarity of terms and definitions between the cluster members (working scientifically, enquiry, primary science) completion of work to agree logos and early development of a ‘splat mat’ to share our ideas for examples of each type of enquiry used in our practice amongst all members of the cluster. Other two primary schools briefly shared the impact of the work they had done as a direct result of the cluster.

July ENRICH day 3

High school hosted a Great Science Share for Schools (GSS) satellite. Each primary school brought 8 children to share some work they had done in school based on the theme of ‘disasters.’ Secondary colleague took ownership over hosting and organising. Some wider participation of other children from the same year group had occurred in the primary schools prior to the GSS event. All presenting children referred to the type of enquiry they had undertaken

July BREAKFAST MEETING day 3

Meeting of all head teachers from the cluster with SEERIH director to review the progress of the first year of the cluster and planning the year ahead.


YEAR 2

October ENGAGE day 4

‘Let’s explore’ – 30 mins led by one or two of the primary schools to showcase an element of practice relating to science (e.g. stories in science) 20 minutes of focused input by secondary staff on Materials; Forces: Plants

Practical element led by secondary colleagues

‘Enquiry splat’ investigation starter – begin the collation of a range of activities across enquiry types and evaluate quality of contributions from Year 1 of the cluster

Beginning the development of the science series using the common proforma to identity key elements of practice.

November ENRICH day 1

Attendance at annual SEERIH teachers conference – all members of the cluster free to choose their own PD path through the rage of workshops on offer.

February ENGAGE day 5

Organisation of school visits – secondary teachers to visit a primary school, primary school staff to visit other primary schools)

Let’s explore – led by another two of the primary schools to showcase their practice

‘Enquiry splat’ – to further develop the enquiry examples and opportunities o Science series mapping: Humans; Materias; Sound & Light

Secondary subject knowledge input will be through the observed lessons in the afternoon)

Protocols of how to do an ‘open door’ visit – focus is working scientifically and diarising these visits

Visits to secondary classes to undertake first round of ‘open door’ visits.

March ENRICH day 5 OPEN DOOR SCHOOL VISITS An exchange between the different primary schools and the secondary colleagues. All primary colleagues visited one other primary school alongside the secondary visit, all secondary colleagues visited two primary schools and each other during the secondary visit.

May ENRICH day 6 Let’s explore

Enquiry splat

Review of visits – opportunity to discuss key points emerging from the visits undertaken in the spring.

Next steps for the cluster

Completion of the science series as far as possible

Review

June ENRICH day 6 Great Science Share for Schools. Secondary school hosted a satellite event to which the primary schools attended with small groups of children to share their work based on the theme of the 2018 British Science Week as in 2017. The organisation was again hosted and co-ordinated by the high school but this time there was engagement of more children in the ‘base’ primary and several of them hosted their own GSS event during the same time period for their own local communities to attend.

community-led development clusters (transition)...community-led development clusters (transition)...

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