Effective Adult Learning

We want teachers to see PL as having a positive impact on their practice.

A recent OECD shows 97% don't see it that way despite significant investment

Adult learning

• is effective when it CHANGES practice for the better
• therefore it is effective when it improves TEACHING

Require all PD to be developed around an improvement cycle always tied to student learning.

How can this occur?

• many ways
• fundamentally must include CONNECTION to classroom practice

Change

• not just reading & observing others
• COMBINE with learning-by-doing
• collaborating & doing

Effective Adult Learning

• is where learners work towards learning goals
• & drive their own process of improvement

Effective PL

• involves teachers collecting, evaluating & acting on feedback to modify their teaching practices

Timperley et al. (2007)

• greatest effects for PL
• challenge teachers thinking & conceptions about student learning
• engage them to sufficiently develop their knowledge & skills in ways that improve student outcomes
• extended time & external expertise
• adapt & better meet student needs

Learning Communities

• shaped by four critical development questions that reflect the improvement cycle:

What is it we expect students to learn?

when they have learned it?

How will we respond when they do not learn?

How will we respond when they already know it?

These questions guide data collection & evaluation with a view to developing teacher practice to improve student outcomes.

Assess student's learning to identify their next stage of learning (at individual and school level)

Develop the teaching practices that provide for the next stage of student learning (and being clear what evidence supports this.)

Evaluate the impact of new practices on student learning & refine practice.

Operationalise the evidence for sustained impact