QUALITY TEACHING IN NSW PUBLIC SCHOOLS

Taken from the classroom practice guide

NSW Department of Education & Training

Quality Teaching• ‘The three dimensions and eighteen elements of

the NSW model of pedagogy represent a synthesis of solid and reliable research that empirically links these general qualities of pedagogy to improved student learning.’

• ‘The guide has been written to assist schools in building that shared vision, the eighteen elements of the model assist teachers and school leaders to talk about pedagogy and to understand what constitutes quality teaching’

• Quality Teaching in public schools – a classroom practice guide, NSW Department of Education & Training

Introduction

• Quality Teaching involves three main dimensions :

• Intellectual Quality• Quality Learning Environment• Significance

Within each of these three dimensions there are 6 elements which construct the dimension

INTELLECTUAL QUALITY

• Intellectual Quality refers to pedagogy focused on producing deep understanding of important, substantive concepts, skills and ideas. Such pedagogy treats knowledge as something that requires active construction and requires students to engage in higher order thinking and to communicate substantively about what they are learning

INTELLECTUAL QUALITY

• ELEMENTS:- Deep knowledge – knowledge is deep when it concerns the central

ideas or concepts- Deep understanding – evident when students demonstrate their grasp

of central ideas and concepts- Problematic knowledge – involves an understanding of knowledge not

as a fixed body of information, but rather as being socially constructed- Higher-order thinking – requires students to manipulate information

and ideas in ways that transform their meaning & implications- Metalanguage – high levels of talk about language and about how

texts work- Substantive Communication- sustained interaction about the

substance of the lesson

QUALITY LEARNING ENVIRONMENT

• ‘Quality Learning Environment refers to pedagogy that creates classrooms where students and teachers work productively in an environment clearly focused on learning. Such pedagogy sets high and explicit expectations and develops positive relationships between teachers and students and among students’

QUALITY LEARNING ENVIRONMENT

• ELEMENTS:- Explicit quality criteria – identified by frequent, detailed and specific

statements about the quality of work required of students- Engagement – identified by on-task behaviors that signal a serious

investment in class work- High Expectations –teachers communicate the expectation that all

members of the class can learn important knowledge and skills that are still challenging for them

- Social Support –encourages all students to try hard and risk initial failure in a climate of mutual respect

- Students’ self regulation – when lessons proceeds without interruption and when students demonstrate autonomy and initiative in their behavior

- Student direction – when teachers have control over the choice and time spent on activities, pace of the lesson and criteria by which students will be assessed

SIGNIFICANCE

• ‘Significance refers to pedagogy that helps make learning more meaningful and important to students. Such pedagogy draws clear connections with students prior knowledge and identities , with contexts outside the classroom, and with multiple ways of knowing or cultural perspectives’

SIGNIFICANCE

• ELEMENTS:- Background Knowledge – evident when lessons provide students with

opportunities to make connections between their knowledge and experience and the substance of the lesson

- Cultural knowledge – when there is an understanding, valuing and acceptance of the traditions, beliefs and practices of diverse social groups

- Knowledge integration –when meaningful connections are made between different topics and subjects

- Inclusivity- when all students in the classroom participate in the public work of the class and when contributions are valued

- Connectedness – when learning has value and meaning beyond the school

- Narrative –when the stories written, told or read help illustrate the knowledge that students are addressing in the classroom

REFERENCES

• All information in this power point is taken from the Quality teaching in NSW public schools ; A classroom practice guide.

Developed by the NSW Department of Education and Training. 2003