professional learning and development: best evidence synthesis helen timperley, aaron wilson and...
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Professional Learning and Development:
Best Evidence Synthesis
Helen Timperley, Aaron Wilson and Heather Barrar
Learning LanguagesMarch 2008
Professional learning
opportunities
Teacher interpretation and utilization of targeted
understandings and skills
Teacher outcomes: change in practice no change in practice
Student learning outcomes: improved not improved
Student interpretation and utilization of targeted
understandings and skills
Student learning
opportunities
The Black Boxes of Teacher and Student Learning
Main Research Question
• What kinds of professional learning opportunities for teachers result in an impact on student outcomes?
Why limit the synthesis to studies with student outcomes?
• A professional development provider walks into a school …….
• Delivers a workshop• Supports teachers with ongoing observations
and feedback • Teachers successfully implement • Student achievement
DROPS
Leadership BES (Robinson, Hohepa & Lloyd)
Leadership Dimension Effect size
Establishing goals and expectations Average ES = 0.35
Strategic resourcing Average ES =0.34
Planning, coordinating and evaluating teaching
Average ES =0.42
Promoting and participating in teacher learning & development
Average ES =0.84
Ensuring an orderly & supportive environment
Average ES =0.27
The Process of Selecting Core Studies
Analysis of Student Outcomes•Adequacy of methodology
•Significance of impact
Core Studies•Medium to high methodology
•Substantive quantitative and/or qualitative outcomes
•Medium to broad range
Supplementary Studies•Medium to high methodology but low or no impact on student outcomes
•Lower methodological adequacy but with substantive outcomes
Mapped onto theoretical framework Used to inform synthesis
Characteristics of Professional Learning Associated with Medium/High Impact For Particular Contexts
▪Formal educational policies/curriculum ▪Prevailing discourses▪School organisation
Wider social context
The professional learning context▪People and practicalities▪Professional learning goals
Responses of diverse teacher learners/communities
Impact on diverse student learners
Content of the professional
development/learning opportunities
Activities constructed to promote the
learning
Learning processes
Mapping the Studies
• 97 studies analysed against 84 characteristics - 90%+ inter-rater reliability • Treated theoretical framework as neutral • Short description for each characteristic
entered onto an Excel spreadsheet• Lots of blanks
Synthesis StructureSummary of findingsSeparate syntheses for:• Mathematics• Science• Literacy• Reframing social constructions of studentsSpecific topics:• Multiple roles of assessment• Leadership• Professional learning communities• Secondary schools• The role of personal teacher theoriesCase studies
Reflection activity
In small groups, discuss one example of effective or ineffective professional development you had as a teacher (or similar),using the questions as a guide.
Voluntary or Compulsory?
• Neither who initiated the professional learning opportunities nor whether they were voluntary or compulsory was associated with particular outcomes for students
• What was more important was that teachers engaged in the learning process at some point.
Effective Contexts
• Extended time and frequent contact was necessary but not sufficient
• External expertise was typically necessary but not sufficient
• Prevailing discourses challenged• Not necessarily school-based• Opportunities to participate in a professional
community of practice• Active school leadership in school-based
cases.
Active School Leadership
•Effective leaders:
– Organised a supportive learning environment
– Participated in the learning with teachers – Provided alternative visions, targets and
goals for student outcomes and monitored them
– Developed the leadership of others.
The Content of Professional Learning• Reflected a view of teaching as a complex
activity• Different aspects of teaching & learning
integrated in a coherent manner• Aligned theory with practice• Established clear links between teaching and
learning outcomes • Assessment used to focus teaching and
enhance self-regulation• Sustainability rarely reported.
Integrating different aspects of content
Children show
improved learning
Teachers learn new
approaches and ways of
assessing these
Teachers recognize the improved learning through the new
assessment skills and tools
Teachers commitment to the new approach grows and they seek
further learning
Teacher Learning Activities
• All core studies employed a variety of activities • Apart from listening to those with expertise, no
single type of activity was common to all studies
• No individual activity stood out as more effective than others across studies or within particular categories
• Every type of activity that was associated with positive outcomes, was also associated with low or no impact.
Alignment of Activities to Content
• There was a clear alignment between the intended learning goals and the activities
• Individual activities often served multiple purposes
• Activities served to develop teachers’ understanding of the relationship between their teaching and student learning
• Providers engaged with teachers’ own theories of practice.
Typical Sequence of Professional Learning Opportunities
Front-loading of new learning
Repeated opportunities to revisit and refine new knowledge
Activities to translate new knowledge into practice
Range of activities to refine new
practice in classrooms
Catalyst or rationale to engage
Teacher learning processes
• Changing practice in substantive ways is difficult• Specific teacher learning processes were usually implied rather than specified•Teachers’ responses were also more often implied than specified.
New Understandings
• All core studies involved teachers developing new understandings and extending their skills through becoming aware of new information
• Some new understandings were consistent with current positioning
• Others created dissonance with current positioning
• A few developed enhanced regulation of own and others’ learning.
What knowledge and skills do our students need?
What knowledge and skills do we as professionals
need?
What has been the impact of our changed
actions? Deepen
professional knowledge and
refine skillsEngage students in new learning experiences
Teacher inquiry and knowledge-building cycle to promote valued student outcomes