Week 3: Creating a learning organisation

1. Introduction to Week 3

_{Teachers in Zambia working together to explore resources to support their planning}

Creating a culture in which everyone sees themselves as a learner – willing to adapt and find new ways of supporting all learners – is an important aspect of creating an inclusive school.

This week considers how to create the conditions for becoming a learning organisation and in this the central role of professional development and whole school monitoring

In order to develop as inclusive teachers, teachers need support. In order to develop the sort of active approaches to teaching and learning that were explained in the course ‘Inclusive Teaching and Learning’ they need access to professional development and the opportunity to collaborate, practise and reflect. This week considers the role of professional development in bringing about change. It describes a model for school-based teacher development (SBTD); provides an opportunity for you to critically review resources to support SBTD; and presents two case studies that describe how schools can bring about change through a collective focus on classroom practice.

A learning organisation is one which monitors how it is performing. New initiatives may have unintended consequences and will be experienced differently by different stakeholders. An effective inclusive school will regularly review what they do and why they do it. This week you will consider what might be monitored and by whom.

In this section you will:

1. Engage with ideas about professional learning
2. Consider models for SBTD and review some resources
3. Learn about examples of how SBTD has supported change
4. Explore ways in which a school could be monitored for inclusivity.

1.1. Activity Guide

2. Building a learning organisation

A ‘learning organisation’ is one in which everyone has the opportunity to learn and in which ‘learning for all’ is part of the ethos of the school. School-based teacher development provides such an opportunity for teachers, in a way which is likely to be effective in developing their classroom practice.

Organisational learning, also requires collective monitoring and reflection on new initiatives, systems and processes. A ‘learning organisation’ is one which reviews the impact of school, policies, roles and ways of working, so they know what they need to change.

Reveal

2.1. Optional reading

The OECD and UNICEF have published a booklet about schools as learning organisations, which you might be interested to read and use in your work:

https://www.oecd.org/education/school/school-learning-organisation.pdf

OECD (2016) What makes a school a learning organisation? A guide for policy makers, school leaders and teachers. Paris: OECD

2.2. Professional development

Professional development is an opportunity help teachers become more effective when faced with the challenge of meeting the diverse needs of learners in their classroom. This might involve challenging teachers’ attitudes to learners with particular needs and supporting them to examine their classroom practice and learn strategies that will involve all learners. Professional development activities might be formal – attending a course or taking a qualification - or informal – working with colleagues to develop resources.

2.3. Focus on knowledge for teaching

Experienced teachers have a great deal of knowledge: some is formal and academic, and some is informal, developed through experience.

• If they have been formally trained, they will know about theories of learning, of child development, curriculum design, and they will have the subject knowledge required to teach the syllabuses in their school.
• Over the years, they will have developed sound instincts – everyday they will make many decisions during their teaching about who to ask a particular question, how to respond to students, how to manage time in a lesson and so on. They will know how to pick up clues that tell them whether students are learning effectively and, if necessary, they will be able to change their lesson plan to help them learn better.
• They will also ‘know’ a great deal about the context in which they work – the culture in the towns or villages where their student come from, their aspirations, their attitudes, and where they live. They will have certain resources available to them and they will know how to use these most effectively.

The first type of knowledge is relatively easy to learn: they will have had lectures, read books and probably passed an examination. The second and third types of knowledge are more difficult to acquire, yet they are what are needed to be a really effective inclusive teacher.

If you studied the first course, you will have encountered these ideas in Week 4 where they were termed as:

• knowledge for practice (theoretical knowledge about teaching);
• knowledge in practice (knowledge about how to organise and teach a lesson, and how to respond to learners);
• knowledge of practice (knowledge of the context in which you are working).

You also learnt about reflection – a tool that individual teachers can use in order to evaluate and improve their own teaching. In this course, the focus is on working collaboratively to develop skills, through the process of ‘school-based professional development’.

2.4. Focus on professional development

Professional development often takes place in the school holidays, so as not to disrupt teaching, in a central venue, so people from various schools can attend. Alternatively, it can take place after school, or in the school day, with teachers being released from teaching to attend. Professional development is often linked to new initiatives, a new curriculum, or new examination syllabuses. In some countries, teachers get paid for attending; in others the cost of food and transport may be covered. Evidence suggests however, that traditional forms of professional development, based on a casade model, when a ‘master trainer’ passes on information by giving a formal presentation or lecture, are not very effective (power et al)

Evidence from Education sub-Saharan Africa (ESSA – a database of research from Africa – www.essa-africa.org) suggests that:

2.5. What kind of professional development?

_{Teachers working in pairs during a school-based teacher development session}

There are several reasons why attending a course, away from school is not particularly effective in the context of developing as an inclusive practitioner.

1. The sorts of changes being asked for are demanding and take time. Without the sort of follow-up and support that Daniel suggests, it is easy to become discouraged, especially if you are busy with other pressures on your time.
2. The pedagogy of the training often does not model the pedagogy being asked for. For example, the most effective way to learn how to organise group work is to take part in group work and then reflect on the experience, picking out what helped you to learn, so that you can re-produce this in your classroom. Listening to a lecture on group work is not very helpful, especially as there are no rules to follow – just a range of possibilities that you as a teacher need to adapt for your context. The teachers in the picture above are working in pairs. This will help their learning but will also help them understand what it is like to work in pairs and they will be better able to implement this strategy in their classrooms.
3. Teachers are very busy, so without the follow-up it is difficult for them to prioritise professional development activities.

In the next activity, the case study describes some research that was carried out in Tanzania, which contributes to the debate about what form effective teacher professional development for inclusive teaching might take. The study used ‘learning study’ which contains some of the elements that Daniel mentioned in the audio clip in Week 1.

3. A Case Study of School-based teacher development

_{Teachers in Zambia working together in a Teacher Group Meeting to plan lessons}

There are many possible models for School based teacher development. An inclusive school will need to develop a model that works for that school, depending on the timetable, the roles, school priorities and resources. This case study describes a model that has been developed in Zambia.

In Zambia, school-based continuing professional development (SBCPD) is part of national policy and is known as SPRINT (School Programme for Inservice Training for the Term). It is based on research which suggests that continuing professional development is more effective when it is on-going, takes place in school and is linked to practice. However, the system in place, based on ‘lesson study’ has not delivered the improvements expected. An ‘enhanced SPRINT’ programme has been developed in Central Province, by a team from The Open University, UK and World Vision Zambia, working with the Ministry of General Education. This is described in the case study

3.1. Resources to support School-based teacher development (SBTD)

In the example from Zambia, national roles and structures are in place which were enhanced through the provision of resources. Evidence (ref), shows that resources for teachers to use as a basis for discussion made a difference.

Resources will bring in new ideas and examples of practice that help teachers develop inclusive classroom practices. In Week 4 of Inclusive Teaching and Learning, you were introduced to the concept of Open Educational Resources (OER) and had the opportunity to access some examples that support inclusive teaching. In the next activity, you will look in more detail at some resources designed to support SBTD and think about how they might be adapted for your context.

Working with the Kenya Institute of Special Education (KISE), in 2019, the Commonwealth of Learning and the Open University UK developed a SBTD course to support inclusive education. It was based on the system in Zambia and the experiences in Central Province. The resources are available here

3.2. Supporting school-based teacher development

The head teacher has a key role in communicating the purpose of this activity to teachers and convincing them of the benefits. They have a responsibility to ensure that the meetings are helpful and productive – and if possible, save teachers time because they will have opportunity to so some of their planning.

Policy makers can support this sort of activity through structures and clear expectations. For example, by allowing teachers time during the school day to meet and work together, by creating roles with clear responsibilities for supporting SBTD and through providing access to resources.

The opportunities are considerable. Teachers will have chance to develop their skills, to work collaboratively and to learn from each other. Learners will experience more inclusive teaching. The main challenge is helping teachers to make a mental shift from the idea that there is a ‘magic bullet’ – a right way to do things that always works – to the realisation that teaching is complicated and contextual. They need to work out what works for them in their context with their learners, drawing on expertise from others and reflecting on their own experience.

SBTD is part of the toolkit because it supports teachers in developing as inclusive practitioners. It provides opportunity for peer support, and reflection.

4. Monitoring progress towards creating an inclusive school

How does a school know that it is ‘inclusive’? In the next activity, you will consider how school can continually check that they are developing as an inclusive school. Are the systems and processes in place, working as they should? It is perhaps worth reflecting that committing to the on-going monitoring of the effectiveness of the school in addressing the needs of all learners, and teachers, is part of creating an inclusive ethos.

4.1. Monitoring inclusiveness

There are many different ways in which a school can monitor inclusivity.

What form the monitoring actually takes will depend on the context, but every school will need structures and processes in place to ensure that it takes place. This could include:

1. A senior member of staff with overall responsibility for inclusivity
2. Termly questionnaires for parents about aspects of school life
3. Teachers being encouraged to talk to learners about their experiences in school, and what helps or constrains their learning. This could be through a tutor group system, or through subject departments, or through the sort of activities in the picture above.
4. A school management committee, in which members take responsibility for looking at one aspect of school life. They could visit the school and become a ‘critical friend’ to a member of staff with responsibility in that area.
5. Visits from specialist teachers who focus on particular children with profound needs and the feedback they provide to teachers
6. Visits from Community leaders, which focus on an aspect of school life of particular interest within the local community.

Optional Reading: If you would like to know more about monitoring Inclusive Education, download and read this booklet from UNICEF called 'Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation'

4.2. Summary

This week you have thought about how a school can learn: how the teachers can best develop the skills that they need to be effective inclusive teachers, and how a school can monitor itself for inclusivity. In the last week of this course. The focus shifts to the wider community and stakeholders. What is the contribution of community organisations, families and children in creating an inclusive school?

References

Abonyi, U.K., Yeboah, R., Luguterah, A.W., 2020. Exploring work environment factors influencing the application of teacher professional development in Ghanaian basic schools. Cogent Social Sciences 6. https://doi.org/10.1080/23311886.2020.1778915

Grimes, P. (2010) A quality education for all. A History of the Lao PDR Inclusive Education project 1993-2009 Norway: Save the Children A_Quality_Education_For_All_LaoPDR.pdf (eenet.org.uk) Accessed 01/03/21

Msonde, S.E., Msonde, C.E., 2019. Re-Innovation of Learner-Centered Pedagogy in Tanzania’s Secondary Schools. Journal of Education 199, 142–154. https://doi.org/10.1177/0022057419854343

Wambugu, P.W., Stutchbury, K. & Dickie, J. (2019). Challenges and Opportunities in the Implementation of School-Based Teacher Professional Development: A Case from Kenya. Journal of Learning for Development, 6(1), 76-82.