How to collaborate and disseminate best practice

How to collaborate and disseminate best practice

Based on our knowledge and research into adult learning, conversations with coaching specialists such as Alistair Smith and listening to Steve Munby’s advice to the first 100 Teaching Schools, we have come up with 5 pieces of practical advice to help support schools on their collaborative journey to improving practice, supporting others and ultimately raising student attainment.

1. The power of mentoring

This ‘Beginning Teachers Longitudinal Study’ has shown that only 10% of new teachers with effective mentoring left the profession after two years compared to 23% without a mentor. This would strongly suggest that if we wish to reduce ‘teacher churn’ and ensure teachers progress, then effective mentoring is a key factor. So all schools must ensure that all trainees and young teachers are supported by skilled mentors.

2. Use Video

It’s commonly accepted that video is a powerful tool for analysing performance. Teaching is no exception. Research into andragogy (adult learning) and experiential learning shows that adults learn best by doing. Video enables teachers to see their work as others would and also develop a level of self-reflection that is incredibly difficult to develop otherwise. This means that any self-analysis and feedback from peers results in real behaviour change and teachers enacting new strategies. Providing staff with the tools for video based learning, that involves the teacher in the process, will result in significant improvements.

Provide teachers with the tools to become truly self-reflective in their learning. Being involved their professional development is far for effective than traditional methods where CPD is “done” to teachers.

3. In house CPD

An alliance of schools will have access to a wide knowledge base and a range of skills. Mobilising this collective capacity, and effectively disseminating the best practice, depends upon enabling peer led learning and incorporating mentoring and coaching in a school’s professional development programme. Traditional lesson observations are time and cost intensive. This restricts the adoption of coaching and mentoring in schools. Using video technology removes these barriers. Video provides an interactive platform for teachers to develop productive coaching relationships with more experienced colleagues who can provide contextualised and objective feedback and discussion.

Schools that use technology to mobilise their in house skills and facilitate a culture of coaching will find that mentoring and coaching has more impact, is less time intensive and therefore kinder to the budget.

Start using the talent that resides within your school or alliance of schools.

4. Set up a collaborative network

An extensive learning community should be the cornerstone to any programme which intends to collaborate and disseminate best practice. Online communities and networks such as Twitter, facilitate a type of learning that is new, engaging and highly accessible. Schools should look to develop something along these lines to discover, develop and share the best practice in their school and schools in their alliance.

Setting up a collaborative network to discover, develop and share practice is one of the key challenges for Teaching Schools. To do this effectively they should look to embed technology that enables the sharing of practice over distance; which provides a platform for contextualised feedback; and allows the building of a library of best practice.

Discover talent in every school within the alliance and provide the tools for sharing.

5. Innovate, don’t replicate

Alistair Smith’s advice to Teaching Schools is to innovate rather than replicate. To collaborate and disseminate practice across an alliance of schools, the tried and tested methods that have worked in an individual school will not necessarily be sustainable. Don’t just think outside the box, throw it away; be flexible; and empower the teachers within the alliance to collectively become greater stakeholders in the process.

By providing a culture where supported experimentation and peer led sharing of skill and ideas is the accepted norm will allow teachers to try new things, challenge their status quo and continually strive to further their development not because their teaching has been pronounced weak.

Create a genuine culture of sharing and innovation where ‘best practice’ is not dictated, but facilitates models which allow it develop and thrive according to need

A technology enabled learning community and secure cloud based video collaboration allows teachers within an alliance to contribute to a wider community of practice and share at relevant times their own skills and experience with their colleagues. It can also facilitate the intensive one to one relationships needed to develop practice in a cost effective and scalable way.

Teaching Schools have come at the time when we genuinely have the opportunity to change what we do for the better. We have the opportunity to connect people on the basis of need and expertise and create opportunities for effective professional development within and between schools.

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