Overview
- Teachers are passionate about learning, but not necessarily good at it. We know how important teacher quality and collective teacher efficacy is, but schools are still in a cycle of reactive professional learning.
- Are teachers ready to learn? School leaders need to create the right culture and environment that enables teachers to learn.
- We need to overcome brain malfunctions. Cognitive biases affect us all, increasing our self-awareness will improve our decision-making.
- Teachers are at various stages of the Dunning-Kruger curve. How can we get The Personal Trainer, The Chef, The Train Driver, The Carpenter and The Card Collector all collaboratively working towards school improvement?
- Changing teacher attitudes towards professional learning can be a delicate process. However, if we don’t do it, we can’t expect change to occur and then our young people are the ones who lose.
Teachers are passionate about learning, but not necessarily good at it
Despite teachers being some of the most passionate professionals in the world there is such a varying degree in attitudes towards professional learning. Why is that?
“The quality of the individual teacher is one of the most significant variables influencing how much progress students make in school.”
Hanushek and Rivkin, 2006
Visible Learning has also found that Collective Teacher Efficacy (collective belief of staff in their ability to positively affect students) has a bigger impact on student learning than feedback, motivation and socio-economic status! So, research tells us how important teacher quality is and the need for school staff to, “all be on the same page.” Yet, as Zach Groshell wrote, many schools “seem trapped in an endless cycle of reaction rather than proaction, and trial by fire learning rather than professional learning.”
Are teachers ready to learn?
“People are naturally curious, but we are not naturally good thinkers; unless the cognitive conditions are right, we will avoid thinking.”
Dylan Willingham, Why don’t students like school
The OECD’s Teaching and Learning International Survey, 2018 found that, “the overwhelming majority of teachers say they joined the profession to contribute to society and make a difference in the lives of children and youngsters; and for most teachers, high levels of admin work are a much greater source of stress than long hours teaching in the classroom.” This finding is further exasperated when teachers have to also deal with this thing called COVID-19! Australian Education Survey – Examining the impact of COVID-19 found that, “more than two-thirds of all teachers indicated that they worked more hours than usual every week.”
2018 PISA data continues to show a long-term decline in reading, maths and science skills for Australian students. When compared with some of the high performing countries, teacher quality appeared to be given a much higher priority.
Like our learners in the classroom, school leaders need to create a positive culture and environment for teachers to learn in. Coming from a business background where, “time equals money,” I feel schools need to be looking at how teachers’ time is being spent. This is supported by Peps McCrea in Motivated Teaching where he writes about how our motivation allocates attention based upon the best available investment. If we want teachers to spend their time thinking and learning, then we need to ensure that they are in the right headspace to be doing so.
Are schools creating spaces for teachers to feel:
- Valued
- Purposeful
- Psychologically safe
- Sense of belonging
If teachers aren’t feeling these things, we could create the best teacher professional learning curriculum with the most amazing resources, but there would be no buy-in from those selling it – the teachers!
We need to overcome brain malfunctions
Cognitive biases affect everyone all the time. Improving our understanding of them will increase your own self-awareness, decision-making and ability to empathise with others. Here is an overview of some of the common cognitive biases that affect educators:
When we think we know more than we do. I previously wrote about how I have gone through the different stages of the Dunning-Kruger curve and later in this article I will look at how it affects teachers’ attitudes towards learning.
We look at new information based on preconceived ideas. Relevant for teachers and leaders to know what misconceptions their learners might have. Also need to be aware that learners may interpret information in a way that justifies their previous thoughts even if that wasn’t the intentions of the teacher.
We make decisions based on how much we have previously invested. Many schools and teachers stick with programs that are dated and lacking in support from research due to the time or money that has been invested.
When we know what we know, it can be hard to understand what others don’t know. When trying to teach someone, we need to know what prerequisite knowledge is required for the learner to understand the concept. Do we need to pre-teach vocabulary or provide graphic organisers to help them connect the new information.
We can over-emphasise a person’s actions towards their personality. I find this one relevant because it goes to show that it does matter what people think of you! Whether you’re trying to influence the students in your class or make whole-school changes, remember that what you are saying and doing might only be received positively if the people think positively about you.
When you believe or do something based on what others around you do. Schools are suckers for jumping on board with whatever is trending in their social circles. For school leaders, Barbara Blackburn has spoken about when pushing for change how 5-10% of people will do everything, 5-10% will do nothing, so aim for the middle to drive it.
When we make poor decisions in order to avoid confrontations within a group. If we haven’t created a psychologically safe environment or there is an outspoken leader, often teachers will bite their tongue to avoid disharmony with others.
More info on Cognitive Biases
- This page allows you to test your own cognitive bias
- Tower Gate Insurance put together these great graphics on various cognitive biases (thanks to Paul Moss for the share).
Teachers are at various stages of the Dunning-Kruger curve
As a school leader, I am in the privileged position of being able to influence whole school improvement. As I have mentioned, I am aware of teacher workload, cognitive biases and stress levels and so I don’t like to waste time or make decisions that aren’t supported by evidence. However, even after making strategic and purposeful decisions, I have still received many interesting reactions from teachers during professional learning sessions and conversations.
It got me thinking about the different reasons behind their attitudes and I found that a lot of the time it linked back to where they sat on the Dunning-Kruger curve. So, here are my five types of teachers when it comes to attitude towards professional learning.
The Personal Trainer
Known for their enthusiasm and willingness to try new things. Will often say they are open to learning, but have a false sense of confidence in what they know. Like many PT’s, a lot of what they do comes from personal experience.
Usually at the early stages of their career or a teacher who hasn’t been exposed to many different experiences in their career. They can be easily influenced by the Bandwagon Effect and jump on-board the louder and more experienced Chefs.
I see the false sense of confidence as a positive because otherwise we might never try anything if we waited until we knew everything about it!
Is this you?
Take advantage of the fact that you have less cognitive biases to deal with. Knowing that you’ve still got a lot to learn if a great spot to be in and you can bypass a lot of the poor habits that other teachers have picked up. An easy accessible entry point to educational research would be Barak Rosenshine’s Principles of Instruction. Tom Sherrington has paired this up with classroom examples in Rosenshine’s Principles in Action.
The Chef
High level of confidence in what they do and can be vocal about the fact that it is the best way of doing things. Lack self-awareness and can become quite defensive when asked to do things differently. Will often look to influence Personal Trainers and Train Drivers.
These teachers can be highly influential on school culture and can be the biggest barrier to making whole school changes if they do not ‘buy-in’ to them. Think about those teachers who challenge others during staff meetings and question why they should have to change what they are doing if it works for them. Their confidence and ability to deflect critisisim can mask the lack of actual academic progress their students are making.
Is this you?
Some of these words will be hard to hear, but the first step in your own personal development is increasing your self-awareness. Like we say to our students, we all need to be lifelong learners and part of that process is being open-minded and genuinely questioning our own teaching practice. A great place to start your Science of Learning journey is this paper from Ambition Institute’s Peps McCrea, LEARNING: WHAT IS IT, AND HOW MIGHT WE CATALYSE IT? Be prepared for a dip in your confidence levels, but know there are many people to go to for support (Join the Facebook Groups below).
The Train Driver
Competent at what they do and happy to just “clock-in” and “clock-out”. Want to be given ready-to-use resources without having to think too much about it, as they have been let down by change processes in the past. These teachers want to be able to ‘hop in and go’.
They can be victims of the Sunk-Cost Fallacy, they just want to stick to what they have been doing or they’ll support change if it will make things easier. In conversations about making changes, they will use examples of what others are doing, rather than what the research says. They like to be organised and in control, they also realise that when you go through the learning process, you lose a bit of control and mistakes will happen. This is part of their reluctance to change.
Is this you?
I know that you’ve been burnt before, but don’t give up hope! If you don’t know who to trust anymore, you can start by using That’s a Claim a website with points to look at when deciding if something is supported by evidence. You need to bring purpose and meaning back into your teaching to increase your own motivation. Craig Barton has put together a bunch of Recommended Educational Research Papers for Teachers to Read it is categorised with summaries so that you can pick an area of interest to start with.
The Carpenter
The experienced professional with high expectations who surprises you with their humbleness and willingness to learn. They don’t necessarily engage in research, but have often unintentionally performed their own action research through meticulous data collection.
These are the teachers that other teachers want to be like. Their reputations are known across the school community and they can be quite intimidating to lead. However, when they are approached with the latest research they will usually be able to decipher it and put it into practice as they have the capacity to do so.
It can often be puzzling as to why these people aren’t in leadership positions, but often it’s because they just love the art of teaching.
Is this you?
You are a true professional, but you also know that deep down, you could still improve. Increasing your understanding of Cognitive Load Theory is a great place to start and this paper from NSW CESE – Cognitive load theory: Research that teachers really need to understand gives a great overview. You will find that there are many areas that you can tighten up from the way that you design learning tasks to how you explicitly teach. If you enjoy this, Sweller’s Cognitive Load Theory in Action by Ollie Lovell provides even more practical ways to apply your understanding of cognitive load theory in the classroom.
The Card Collector
Picked up their first piece of eduresearch out of curiosity and then got caught in a rabbit hole! Thought they knew a lot and then found Twitter and FB groups! Continually searching for more podcasts, blogs and books. Strong advocate for teacher professional development.
If this isn’t you, these will be the easiest people to get ‘buy-in’ from. After the initial skepticism, they will be the ones who will help you drive the changes that need to be made. They may need to be supported in developing their understanding of The Curse of Knowledge and that, “No, (insert name) is not stupid, they are just suffering from the Dunning-Kruger effect!”
Is this you?
If you have just entered the world of educational research, then your confidence has probably taken a hit. However, with each research paper/blog/podcast that you engage with, the learning will get easier. Persist in your pursuit of improving student learning outcomes. There will be many times of frustration after you realise that you have been doing something wrong for so many years or when you get shutdown by a Chef or Train Driver, but remember your purpose and that our young people deserve our best. If you’re looking for more educational research, blogs and podcasts check out my lists here!
Facebook Groups to support your learning
NSW Branch – Think Forward Educators
Changing teacher attitudes towards professional learning can be a delicate process
To make any whole school change, strong united leadership needs to be at the forefront. So that means initial shifts will probably have to be made at the top. However, asking people in leadership positions to change their mindset might be the biggest challenge of all! If overcoming cognitive biases and teacher workload wasn’t enough, you can throw in power and ego to really make things interesting!
When starting out with both school leaders and teachers we can take out the emotion and prevent Fundamental Attribution Error, by going straight to the research. In Teaching Walkthrus, one of the guides looks at using three point communication, where leader and learner sit side-by-side with the book/research in between them, as a way of avoiding negative feelings that the learner may feel when receiving feedback.
In Teaching Sprints, Simon Breakspear and Bronwyn Ryrie Jones wrote “Professional learning has a better chance of being effective if it’s school-based, job-embedded, sustained over time and supported by local school leadership” (Cole 2012; Cordingly et al., 2015; Timperley et al., 2017). This further supports the reasoning behind upskilling our teachers and school leaders.
The backlash you might get from teachers is that they are too time-poor and stressed to do professional learning. The message that needs to get across is that with professional learning they will gain time and an increase in self-efficacy from being a more effective teacher.
The Teaching Sprints process follows a similar path to what Dylan Wiliam has advocated for when it comes to professional learning and that is:
- Create small learning community groups
- Start with an initial exposure to research taking a “best bets” approach
- Partake in 2-4 weeks of Deliberate Practice
- Reflect and review the process
Take a long-term view and an understanding that schools will never be perfect places. Just when you feel that you are getting a grip on things there will be a large turnover of staff or departmental changes that are required. However, if we don’t do it, we can’t expect schools to improve and then our young people are the ones who lose.
Extra links to guide whole school improvement
I have written previously about Setting up systems to optimise learning and there are also many documents to use as guides such as:
- School Excellence in Action from the NSW Department of Education
- Education Endowment Foundation: Support for School Improvement Planning – The Tiered Model
- The Teaching Walkthrus series from Tom Sherrington and Oliver Caviglioli
- Evidence for learning: Putting evidence to work: a school’s guide to implementation
Overview
- Teachers are passionate about learning, but not necessarily good at it. We know how important teacher quality and collective teacher efficacy is, but schools are still in a cycle of reactive professional learning.
- Are teachers ready to learn? School leaders need to create the right culture and environment that enables teachers to learn.
- We need to overcome brain malfunctions. Cognitive biases affect us all, increasing our self-awareness will improve our decision-making.
- Teachers are at various stages of the Dunning-Kruger curve. How can we get The Personal Trainer, The Chef, The Train Driver, The Carpenter and The Card Collector all collaboratively working towards school improvement?
- Changing teacher attitudes towards professional learning can be a delicate process. However, if we don’t do it, we can’t expect change to occur and then our young people are the ones who lose.
References
Hanushek, E.A. and Rivkin, S.G. 2006, “Teacher Quality”, Handbook of the Economics of Education, Volume 2, 2006, Pages 1051-1078
McCrea, P. 2021. “Motivated Teaching: Harnessing the science of motivation to boost attention and effort in the classroom.” CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform
Thompson, M. and Wiliam, D. 2007, “Tight but loose: a framework for scaling up school reform,” retrieved from https://www.dylanwiliam.org/Dylan_Wiliams_website/Papers_files/Tight%20but%20Loose%20AERA%2007.doc#:~:text=The%20Tight%20but%20Loose%20formulation,theory%20of%20action%20of%20the
Wiliam, D. 2010, “Teacher quality: why it matters, and how to get more of it retrieved from https://dylanwiliam.org/Dylan_Wiliams_website/Papers_files/Spectator%20talk.doc
Ziebell, N., Acquaro, D., Pearn, C., Tiong Seah, W. 2020. “Examining the impact of COVID-19 Report Summary.” Australian Education Survey retrieved from https://education.unimelb.edu.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0008/3413996/Australian-Education-Survey.pdf