Linking effective professional learning with effective teaching practice

One of the reasons for the poor linkage betweenprofessional learning and changed classroompractice is that often professional learning intentions,as documented in teachers’ professional learningplans, are described in generic terms – such as,to improve boys’ learning or to become better atpromoting cooperative learning. The more generic thedescription of a teacher’s professional learning needthe greater the likelihood that the teacher will havedifficulty identifying what to focus on first and whatprofessional learning activities they should participatein. However, this problem is significantly lessenedif the teacher’s learning intention is described withmore precision by wherever possible identifying aparticular teaching strategy they wish to implement ora particular teaching technique they wish to master.Teaching strategies and techniques which can relateto classroom instruction or classroom managementare sub-sets of teaching practiceThe difference between a teaching strategy andteaching technique is that a strategy is a generalisedapproach to problems and a way to inform decisions;whereas a technique is something you do or sayin a particular way. And because a technique is anaction, the more it is practiced the better the teachergets at performing it. By focusing on concrete actionsthat generally can be understood and implementedin a relatively short period, and then improved overtime, teaching capacity is built step by step and thearmoury of strategies and techniques available to theteacher is extended.Individual and group professional learning plansbecome highly effective tools for promoting teachercollaboration and classroom improvement when theyare practical, action oriented and contain specific ‘bitesized’ learning tasks that are to be completed withina 10 week timeframe. Such a professional learningplan would include the one or two research-basedteaching practices that the teacher wishes to acquireor refine; the research-based professional learningstrategies that the teacher plans to use to enablethem understand the teaching strategy or techniqueand how to apply it; and the timeline within whichthe new practice will become part of the teacher’sclassroom instruction.The adoption of a ‘bite-sized’ learning task meansthat it is not too time consuming to learn and nottoo daunting to implement in one’s classroom. Italso means that professional learning plans can beregularly renewed as learning tasks are translated inclassroom practice. In this way, teacher improvementis a continuous process of accumulating expertisein evidence-based instructional and studentmanagement strategies and techniques.When determining the teaching strategies andtechniques that the school will adopt as its preferredset of teaching practices, schools have turned to theadvice provided by education departments and tothe growing number of books on effective teachingthat have moved beyond describing what an effectiveteacher does to describing how to implement effectivepractices. Robert Marzano and Doug Lemov areamong the most prominent in the current collectionof authors 24 who have been successful in extractingfrom numerous research studies those teachingpractices that are most effective in promoting studentachievement.Marzano nominates nine general instructionalcategories and 34 specific behaviours and organisesthese strategies into a framework of effectiveinstructional design and Lemov nominates forty-nine‘essential techniques’ which can be mastered oneat a time and which operate in synergy to produceexceptional teaching. Many schools are using theseevidence-based, micro-teaching teaching strategiesand techniques as the content for their professionallearning plans.Teachers in these schools are assuming greatercontrol of their own professional learning by focusingon a couple of teaching strategies and techniquesat a time and conducting teacher-led professionallearning activities that introduce and then helpto improve the application of these practices inclassrooms across the school. These strategies andtechniques are also what teachers look for whenconducting instructional walk-throughs and classroomobservations.By doing this, schools are successfully linkingeffective professional learning practices with effectiveteaching practices and thereby optimising theeffectiveness of their professional learning.24 For example, Cleveland, 2011, Cole 2008, Hattie, 2008, Lemov, 2010, Lewis, 2011, Linan-Thompson and Vaughn, 2007, Marzano, 2001,2003 and 2007, Marzano et al, 2005, Munro, 2002, Petty, 2009, Rogers, 2011 and Tomlinson, 2001.16 Linking effective professional learning with effective teaching practice