In this talk at the Better Learning Conference 2019, our speaker Peter Dudley discusses how we learn/develop as human beings, not just as students. He also covers why it is difficult as an adult and/or teacher to improve your practice.
Peter has 25 years experience at the forefront of school improvement as a leader and researcher in the UK and internationally. He focuses on how to build strong, motivated and resilient teaching and leadership teams who are energised and skilled, to continually improve outcomes for their pupils, whatever the challenges.
At the conference, Peter discusses the idea of collaboration between teachers, middle leaders and principles. He gives examples from around the world of just what can be achieved when these align at each level.
What are learning communities?
As humans, we thrive in ‘communities’ – this is how we develop and learn right from when we are babies and are using our families/peers at nursery as models to learn from e.g. how to walk, talk etc. A high level of motivation is there from the very beginning as we are striving to achieve/mimic what we see in our environment so we can ‘join in’.
If we look at common western teaching practice; teachers are often stood in a room teaching the entire class on their own. The ability to work collaboratively with other teachers/departments is often limited, so the motivation to challenge yourself and/or your students can become stifled.
So, how does this affect a teacher’s professional development?
There are various factors that affect a teacher’s ability to work on professional development:
- Often you can’t ‘physically’ see our children/students learning.
- Most of our own learning exists in our sub-conscious minds (Tacit Learning).
- A large proportion of western schools have an assessment system that judges the teacher, it doesn’t help teachers to learn.
- Having the time capacity to tailor learning challenges to an individual’s level was rare, often a less challenging task (a median) would be chosen for the whole class.
- Teaching singularly in a classroom prevents teachers from being able to work as a team or experiment with techniques collaboratively.
How can we rectify this and build an educational leadership?
We have to create safe speaking environments for teachers. Talking is key in encouraging teachers to open up and feel secure enough to discuss areas they feel less confident in and would like to improve on. By building high levels of trust, people are more inclined to share and then the action of working collaboratively will follow.
Watch the talk below for more information on collaborative working approaches:
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